PaattMaann

minus Byrd of course : ) its actually been kind of fun to watch this defense (finally) this year - minus the whole getting off the field on third down issues that still seem to plague us - but ill chalk that up to us being depleted through injuries for the most part and it being early on in the season

THIS and I think finally having an uber-capable coordinator will allow williams to do just that...

couldnt disagree more bullschit - Byrd is under a one year contract, show up and play bc THATS what you are being paid to do, hes not being paid to ride out this contract until his next one - hes getting paid, and getting paid VERY WELL, to play this year of football for the bills we all understand the whole garbage about it being a business - good, we get that, we understand why hes being a little biotch, doesnt mean we have to be a fan of his anymore, doesnt mean we have to like him as a player or respect him as a man....but your saying every NFL player in a contract year should sit on the sidelines because he could get hurt??? no, thats BS - hes being paid as one of the best players in the league for this year and he is sitting his crying ass on the bench i hope he never wears a bills uniform again

I do agree with this....WR screens and screens to Freddie/CJ to get them in space and lessen the impact of the constant banging with the big bodies - use Choice for the banging for the most part (this is NOT saying dont run Fred and CJ) to get you your 3-5 yards on first downs I am predicting this is the game that we unleash a few screen plays (finally)....

haha, no worries, it was a lengthy post - but one that I felt was needed considering I flipped from my original belief/statement that we were running for no gain too much on first downs Id still like to see more variety so we dont go against 7/8 man fronts on every first down, but it was working yesterday (for the most part)

thanks - I did classify the runs and pass plays as "successful" if they gained more than 3 yards and as I said - the overall day/numbers on first down did sound good to me - I went into looking at the stats with a preconceived idea that we ran too much, and unsuccessfully as well. But I was wrong, I wouldnt say we ran "Too much" in general, and since it was successful, we were justified in running that much... the issue I did come out with after looking at the first down numbers was A) the runs that were unsuccessful on first down were all classified as "up the middle" (jamming Spiller up the gut - which is necessary for sure every so often) and B) we followed unsuccessful runs with another unsuccessful run play on more than 5 occasions, all but one of which resulted in a punt - that is no bueno...variety, variety, variety I look forward to some more "spice" in the play calling as far as adding play action on first down more (2 for 2 in yesterdays game in that regard, one of which went for a long TD), screen passes - which we have not run ANY of after being the best team in the league last year, and more quick hitting slants and outs....and then we could be off to the races on offense

PTR - by my count the bills had 85 yards rushing on first downs in the first half - on 13 attempts - still a good 6.5 average - which I also noted above and said how you were to credit with the good call on their yards per rush on first down...(one of us had incorrect numbers lol and ive done my math off of ESPN play by play twice now) and i think if you re-read my post - I have changed my mind since our initial shout box discussion and said how we were overall effective with our first down rushes (I am ceding that point to you - you were and are correct) All that I added was I think we can be even more effective with more play action on first down (big gains/TDs as noted above) and some screens and quick hitting passing plays - which im sure will happen once EJ becomes more comfortable and confident I dont know if you are under selling the Browns D on purpose or accident - but their D is no joke and Horton has those guys playing a great brand of D - do you mean they wont be blitzing as much as the Jets? If so, I agree...but they have a front 7 that i think is just about as good as the Jets and will certainly be a step up from the Ravens D - we have a tough test ahead of us against this Browns D I couldnt agree more with your statement about our offense and coaches just finding their way...as stated in the OP - I like what im seeing, just cant wait to see whats in store for the next few weeks

Coming out of yesterdays game, I couldn't help thinking "why do we just jam Spiller up the gut every first down" - and that was not just my thoughts on yesterdays game, but every game we have had thus far....and then I was "discussing" this earlier with Promo in the shout box, and thought id go back and look at the numbers to see if my hating on the play calling was justified or not 21 total runs on first down compared to 9 passes on first down (2 of these were "forced" because of penalties on first down, putting us in first and long) Im actually OK with that number....ideally I would like that ratio to be more like 18 to 10 on runs/passes but thats simply splitting hairs - I think game long, it was the total number of passes and runs on first down was fair - but these numbers are slanted when you consider one drive that had 3 first down passes in a row, and some drives that had 3 or more runs on first down in a row (obviously here though, the offense is in a rhythm so why stop?) Here was what I think is the biggest problem with the running on first down, which is obvious, when it works, it works, and when it doesn't, it doesn't (duh) - on the first down runs where we gained less than 3 yards (there were 7 of those total), we punted four times, had a turnover on another, and then on the other two we had a FG and a TD (both drives started in opponents territory) - so we had 5 possessions that were "wasted" (yes, some of these are necessary throughout a game to set up upcoming plays and drives) - 5 times we also followed up an under three yard run with another a run than gained 2 yards or less (three times getting stuffed for a loss) - so the run, run, run mode had its drawbacks (short runs on first down tend to lead to punts) - but as PTR pointed out, we also gained 115 yards on those first down runs (5.5 average) of the first downs where we began by passing the ball - we had gains of: 19, 11, 42 (TD), 28, 24 (overruled, incomplete), and on the short field drive, we passed twice to begin the drive which set up FJ's nice 16 yard TD run The short: the play calling was slanted towards the run on first down, which it should be - we are a running team with a rookie QB - perhaps we should throw a little more on first down (the results were very positive, although, that is also set up by pounding the football a lot on first down)? The second half offense was terrible (punt, TO, punt, punt, TD, punt, punt, kneel down win) Personally id like to see some screen plays on first down, both RB and WR, and some quick hitting slants and outs that would "soften" the D up......with that said, the play calling was not nearly as atrocious as I had come out of the game yesterday thinking, a little more variety by Hackett and better execution on those pass plays by EJ and the offense could be rolling

thought this was particularly enlightening based on the sleeves discussion http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjkiebus/18-reasons-ej-manuel-is-not-prepared-for-the-nfl

all of the heartbreaking losses ive seen since birth makes me a better person

he has good pocket presence bro

people need to stop mentioning that he was the number 3 pick - that was not his choice, that was the bills choice - he can only play to what his potential is, not any other number 3 picks potential at a different position yes I would think you would want either a play maker or a franchise cornerstone from the number 3 spot - both of which Dareus COULD turn into - but for now we have to settle for him doing his job and making plays, which he did not do last year for various reasons (not making excuses, I was just as dissapointed in him as the next guy last year) - but there is room for growth and perhaps he could turn into a playmaker or a cornerstone but enough with the where he was drafted crap - if he does his job and makes plays and helps turn this defense into a top NFL unit, then hes OK in my book

but man there are no excuses for that TERRIBLE penalty - could have been very costly.....

as much as im in "adjust your gameplan to fit the part of the game" camp - cannot argue with this...SJ catches that and its probably a completely different discussion right now

1. Duffs (sheridan, or cheektowaga even, just not OP) 2. Amherst Ale House 3. Elmo's /end thread

There is a big difference in time management at the end of the 4th quarter, playing with a lead (albeit, one point) and throughout the rest of the game - we needed to run the clock down and still execute - I dont think anyone is saying we should have went for three plays of running inside and then punted... it all comes down to execution for sure, but that does not mean you cant milk the clock while executing - every offense should be able to slow the clock down, no huddle or not - as some one posted above, if the offense can only operate out of a one-trick no huddle offense then something needs to change Starting from 8 minutes left, the players did not execute and the coaching staff could have reacted differently and slowed the game down....this was one we should have won, but even after decompressing I still cannot see the argument for staying no huddle with 4 minutes left, yes we needed to score, as well as leave the Pats with as little time left as possible (big difference operating an offensive possession with 4 minutes left or 2)

84 touchdows in the first half

well, im guessing if he wakes up and cant walk on his knee because of swelling he wont play - so I guess there is a chance he doesnt? haha...but I guess that could be said for every player on the roster

or the facebook "like" or the twitter "retweet"

in the words of the famous douche Michael Kay..."seeeeeeee yaaaaa"

I like this post

I smiled

it should be "Brandon is cheap" not whaley

thought it was 6 weeks on the PUP list??

I am confused as to why Byrd is not reporting to camp - isn't it the case that the bills and byrd can NOT sign any kind of deal now until after the season or something? I swore I read/heard that they missed the deadline to get a deal done - so wouldn't holding out of camp not actually accomplish ANYTHING? (because even if the bills wanted to, they cant make any deals with him)