vincec

Nice run by Fitz. Looks like he's fighting for a job.

I hate to think how much the Bills will miss Schobel this year. RBs are awesome.

OLBs are very weak. Kelsay looks like the best of the group and he's average at best.

Strange to see all the wide running plays. I thought the strength of the Bills OL was in the middle.

TE looked pretty good in that half. Was getting pressured (as he will most of this year) but generally reacted well. He showed improved pocket presence and was able to hit some short receivers in stride for good gains. It's really all about the QB on offense. If TE can continue to improve like this, the offense will be decent. btw- I thought Bell did well at LT when he was in there. It's night and day from Meredith.

So offense- improving... defense- so,so... special teams-

Wow. Spiller is a good draft pick.

If Spiller cuts that back it's a TD.

Need to be watching in IE or Firefox and download the Vshare plugin. Go the the sports homepage http://atdhe.net/index.html and try to open the feed from there. If you don't have the plug in, it should ask you if you want to download it.

http://atdhe.net/22530/watch-cincinnati-bengals-vs-buffalo-bills

Good pocket presence for once.

LBs can't cover the TEs... same old story. Sorry... can't really detect sarcasm to well online.

It looks like a worry right now.

Wow, special teams have gone into the tank. Where is Bobby April???

Another well informed journalist.

Nelson & Mitchell over Jones/Roosevelt and Moats. Otherwise, I think you nailed it.

Not really.

Whatever you think of the grades, this illustrates the fundamental problem with the Bills- they have no elite players to build around. In these grades, no one is above 80. Championship teams need some top players to win. A bunch of solid, hard working guys only gets you so far...

That lineup doesn't exactly inspire confidence. It's probably not even as good as the one they started last year with (Johnson vs TO, Ellis vs Schobel). I would say that the only clear upgrade is Spiller. The key to the season will be Edwards. If Gailey can get him turned around then the Bills will be OK, otherwise they are sunk. Just as a random side not that probably doesn't belong in this thread: I watched the replay of the Cowboys - Chargers game on NFLN last night and was studying Philip Rivers. He is less mobile than Edwards and has an slower release as well, but he gets the ball out of there quickly, decisively and accurately. Dallas has a pretty tough pass rush and they were definitely getting through the SD OL, especially the OLBs, but not only didn't they get many sacks, San Diego completed most of their passes against them and moved the ball rather easily. I couldn't help but think that Edwards would get crushed in the same situation due to his indecisiveness (fear?). Gailey has a lot of work to do for him to be a championship caliber QB.

So does this development show that we should or shouldn't feel comfortable putting Levi Brown on the ps?

This makes sense to me. Why is it that college coaches defer the toss 90% of the time then?

+1

I don't think this is true. Your choice is to either a) kick or receive or b) chose which goal your team will defend. If you defer your choice until the second half then you can chose one of these two options for the second half, but NOT both. Your opponent had the choice in the first half, and almost certainly chose to receive because if he chose to take the wind, you would choose to receive and then will choose to receive in the second half and they would have to kick at the start of BOTH halves. At the start of the second half, you will almost certainly chose to receive for the same reason. As a result, your opponent will get to chose the side of the field to defend. Here is the rule: http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/cointoss

In general, I say put your most experienced unit on the field first, especially in big games. They can best handle the situation and avoid making mistakes due to all the adrenaline flowing at the start of the game. If it's the Bills... I guess that's the defense.

With all respect to Mr. Tucker, who I'm sure knows a lot more about o-line play than me, it seems that the best running teams have dominating centers. Nick Mangold with the Jets, Kevin Mawae with the Titans, Ryan Kalil with the Panthers and even historically, I think of the Steelers with Dermonti Dawson and the the Oilers with Bruce Matthews. I agree though, that the interior of the Bills OL is the least of their problems.