Astrobot

Orton needed 14 attempts to get on this list: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_td_perc_single_game.htm

Bills on first down: Q1 Run LG Run LT PlayAction long pass to Woods complete Sacked Run LG Run RG Play action TD to Lee Smith Q2 Play action to Watkins incomplete Run LG Run RG Run bounced out to LT Run LG Total first half: 32 rush yds, 125 pass yds, lost time of possession by 5 min. Q3 Play action off LG, but sacked Run LG Run LG Run LG Run RG No first downs the entire quarter Q4 Run RG hit in backfield (because they knew!) Run RG Run RG Run RG Kneel-down This imaginative play-calling is brought to you Nate Hackett.

In the NE game, the run blocking liabilities were, in order: 1. Seantrel Henderson, minus 2.2 going vs. Wilfork or Chris Jones 2. Eric Wood, minus 1.8 going vs. Wilfork or Casey Walker 3. Scott Chandler, minus 1.2 The run-blocking assets were, in order: 1. Cordy Glenn, plus 1.8 going vs. Chandler Jones 2. Cyril Richardson, plus 1.3 Dean Kindig ‏@TCBILLS_Astro 2m2 minutes ago Hearing #Bills OG play would be better with OC like Gailey (16 W, 32 L). Urbik in Gailey era: #37, #20, #21 Guard. Under Marrone: #20, #26

Now this has reversed itself, IMO. According to ProFootballFocus Premium Stats, Erik Pears is rated #72 OG out of 72. IR'ed Chris Williams is the cream of the crap at #61, and Newbie Cyril Richardson is #69. I have moved OG up to P2 and moved QB down to P2. Chandler is showing his best work. I'm moving TE to P3

Sammy's yardage was one-upped by Golden Tate today 87-134, but I'll take Sammy's upside over Tate's. http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014100502/2014/REG5/bills@lions#menu=gameinfo&tab=analyze

Game Balls: Orton (checked to a run on the Jackson two-point conversion, 308 yds) Sammy Carpenter Schwartz (emotional speech, defensive game plan) Jackson (pass protects, 8.3 ypc today)

You knew I'd take the bait. RD2---Connor Cook, QB, Michigan State RD3---Bryce Petty, QB, Baylor RD4---Chuckie Keeton, QB, Utah State RD5---Shane Carden, QB, ECU RD6---Cody Fajardo, QB, Nevada RD7---Rory Anderson, TE, South Carolina

I'm soliciting Positional Needs for DraftTek's October Mock, which will be out on Friday Oct. 3. I use TBD's opinions exclusively to submit the Bills' needs here. This is what I currently would submit: P1=QB. If Manuel isn't the guy, you have Kyle Orton. Period. This is Priority 1. Examples of RD2 QB selections? Kaepernick was #36 overall in 2011. P2=OG. Pears and Chris Williams? Meh. Cyril is one promising OG, Marrone doesn't like Urbik even though he was Top 5 OG in 2012. You could talk me into P3 and convince me Kujo could move inside... P2=TE. Anybody think we should have taken Jace Amaro in RD2 last year? Gragg has promise, granted, and Lee Smith is a great blocker with like 12 career catches, and there's fragile Chandler...Talk me into P3? P2=CB. Once a week one of the Bills brass says "You can never have too many corners". I'm not sold on McKelvin and Gilmore, although I like Graham. Marrone says we have 3 good corners. We need great. P3=DE43. Hughes-Lawson combined make one above-average DE, as Hughes rules vs pass and Lawson vs run. Mario shows flash but not $75M flash, and doesn't always hold the edge. Schwartz loves DEs. P4=RBF. "Running Back, Featured" has 2 guys on last year of contract, with Boobie Dixon and Bryce Brown waiting in the wings. Not a top need, but RBs can be had in RD6-7-UDFA. P4=RT. Seantrel is in a steep learning curve, and has very promising upside, but ProFootballFocus.com still has Henderson in the bottom 5 RTs in the NFL. Cordy's contract is up May '16. P4=OC. Bills brought in Macky McPherson and tried OGs at Center in TC. Wood is good and is a leader, but he's lightest guy on the line that's the heaviest in NFL. His contract runs through the '17 season. P4=DT43. Dareus showed immaturity before his TC but is almost great, Kyle is one of the 5 oldest on the team. Charles and Bryant look good. I could see P6, but think pressure is high priority for Schwartz. P4=ILB.Spikes is a temporary fix for the run defense but has no range compared to Brown playing in the middle. Spikes is rated extremely low by PFF (#56 among ILBs). We need a Hightower, Kuechly, Willis. P4=FS, SS. We have three above-average safeties ranking 4th (AWilliams) and 14th (Searcy) among all safeties. Duke is 10th vs the run. Byrd who? P6=OLB43. Once my highest need, I am jumping on the Bradham-Rivers-Alonso-Brown bandwagon. I think we're good, and we're deep. Randell Johnson will be good. Talk me into P4 or higher. P6=FS, SS. We have three above-average safeties ranking 4th (AWilliams) and 14th (Searcy) among all safeties. Duke is 10th vs the run. Byrd who? P9=RBC. "Running Back, Change Of Pace" is CJ Spiller. Possible that the Bills would draft his replacement or competition, but I'm betting not. What do you think? P9=WRF. "Wide Receiver, Featured" has Sammy, Robert Woods, and Mike Williams. It's unlikely they draft another young WR this coming year. P9=WRS. "Wide Receiver, Specialized" is Marquise Goodwin. Team speed is important to Hackett, but unless you argue for better hands over more accurate throws, I think we have a good one in Goodwin. P9=FB. Fullbacks Frank Summers and a tanklike Boobie Dixon are good for what we use FBs for in our system. One could argue picking up a late-round guy as they start coming off in RD6. P9=LT. Cordy Glenn is approaching elite-level, with a work ethic to match. Seantrel and Kujo are developmental LTs. I don't expect Glenn to be kicked inside to OG. Only question mark is the mystery illness. P9=PK. Placekickers shouldn't be drafted and we have a great one. P9=P. See above. What position would you upgrade the need for and why? What would you downgrade? Astro

10 Front Office sane moves: Additions of QB Kyle Orton and P Colton Schmidt. Orton played his cards right so he wasn't available until Bills showed the need. Moorman was a Pro Bowler, but declined rapidly. Development of a larger OL. We have winter in early October with winds. You're going to run more here. You needed a snowplow line. Release of G Doug Legursky. Too small for the above. Bringing in TDonahue to coach EJ. Relying less on Hackett to bring along QBs. Bringing in 2 vet QBs that can mentor EJ (Palmer, who is still a good mentor and likely a future QB Coach, now Orton). Parting ways with WR T.J. Graham. Drafting him was not this front office's idea. Saying goodbye to DT Alan Branch. Putting Kiko on NFI rather than IR. Re-signing Garrison Sanborn. He is a once in a decade long snapper. Re-signing FJax, even if just for Locker Room Effect. Snatching up Moeaki and putting him on Reserve/Injured List Giving Landon Cohen yet another chance. Having the cohones to move up to get Sammy Watkins. Trading away Sheppard for Jerry Hughes. Shep has been waived and Hughes had 10 sacks. Front office bonehead moves: Putting faith solely in EJ/Seeing backup potential in Tuel and Lewis. Not seeing need to back up Hackett with a QB Coach.

I first thought Landon Cohen, but he's already been with 1/3 of the NFL teams, so maybe we have a shot there.

My Ten: G Antoine McClain C Macky MacPherson WR Caleb Holley WR Tori Gurley TE Dominique Jones DT Landon Cohen DE Ike Igbinosun LB Jimmy Gaines S Kenny Ladler CB Kamaal McIlwain

All Transactions Since July 1 Down to the 53-Man Roster: Additions QB Kyle Orton P Colton Schmidt - Offense T Edawn Coughman G J.J. 'Unga G Doug Legursky G Antoine McClain C Jared Wheeler C Macky MacPherson QB Dennis Dixon QB Jordan Palmer QB Jeff Tuel QB Thad Lewis WR T.J. Graham WR Kevin Elliott WR Caleb Holley WR Chris Summers WR Tori Gurley WR Namaan Roosevelt TE Dominique Jones RB Ronnie Wingo FB Evan Rodriguez Defense DT Landon Cohen DT Damien Jacobs DT Alan Branch DE Ike Igbinosun DE Bryan Johnson LB Jimmy Gaines LB Xavius Boyd S Kenny Ladler S Deon Broomfield S Derek Brim S Jajuan Harley CB Kamaal McIlwain CB Sam Miller Special Teams P Brian Moorman P Jake Dombrowski K Dustin Hopkins Reserve/Injured List: TE Tony Moeaki CB Mario Butler CB Bobby Felder LB Stevenson Sylvester Reserve/NFI List (Eligible to Return Week 6-9) LB Kiko Alonso Contract Extension Garrison Sanborn Fred Jackson

I rarely laugh out loud, but this made me chuckle the most all summer.

Can I share this on Twitter? I just wet my pants.

He'll be back Week 9, after the bye, vs the KC Chiefs at home. There. I have foretold it.

May keep or trade Ponder. They need a #5 or 6 receiver. http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Turner_sees_3rd_QB_as_extremely_valuable_will_Ponder_make_the_cut081914

We'll see if the young Jedis can channel all of this anger at 4:30 Saturday. I'm thinking they will. They can't wait to hit somebody.

As they smoked a Blount.

Just read the news that camp is indoors today. Sucks because I was going to go and write copious notes. Morris said that Pears was agreeable, anything to help the team win. Morris said that Chris Williams was a decent tackle but a very good OG. His experience is his best asset. He also said they will use pulling guards and center more this year. I told him I saw that at camp, with Pears and Chandler, and with Wood and Chandler. Both effective in themselves, but Mario doesn't always set the edge. Will watch for pulling OL in the Bucs game.

I asked the first question on the show, about Landon Cohen. After Pat Morris was done being interviewed, I asked him a question about Hairston, who PFF rates as the best OT on our team Overall. He said, "Let me buy you a beer." We talked about how Hairston has been slid out to OT, will take more time, Cordy and Seantrel are elite, Hairston's 3rd, very good but first one in, Pears is the consummate pro and has done everything asked, Pears is better now with offseason scoping and is 100% for the first time in years, better than ever due to leg strength. It was the best time of my summer.

Marrone said yesterday that their job is to find the best five and put them in there. That experiment was delayed with Cordy being out. Marrone also said that time to gel is overrated. More important to him to have the right five moving forward. I think they go with Glenn-CWilliams-Wood-Pears-Seantrel this week, and I bet it works well both in running game and in pass protection. Second team I'd like to see is Seantrel-Cyril-Legursky-Urbik-Hairston, but the depth chart on the team site has Hairston at RG and Kouandjio at RT. The release of 'Unga leaves Hairston as backup at RG and RT, assuming Kujo is put on PS.

Kujo (Cyrus Kouandjio if you've been on vacation) has been playing RT with the 2s or 3s at camp, and sucks. Pears is doing better than I ever expected, so he's one of our OGs. He's 1. CWilliams and Pears are pairing well with the OT or with Wood. Those can work. CWilliams is 2 right now. Urbik and CWilliams are near their peak wheareas Cyril's upside is higher long term.Cyril is 3 now, with upside to be 2. I like McClain at times but he's not as consistent as Pears (a phrase I never thought I'd write). McClain is 4. Cyril will be good with experience, but IMHO won't be ready by Chicago, and I wonder if they'd be worried about 2 rookies next to each other. Haven't seen Hairston at anything but swing tackle, but think he'd be a 2 at OG. He's sticking around as he's got upside too.

I just posted that question on Twitter. Will let you know. Okay, they're just joking on Twitter, saying that he's winded.

The offense hardly had a blown-up or bobbled play IMHO.

Done! It's a beautiful day here in Pittsford, 77 degrees, half clouds, half sun, with a mild breeze. I got there at Period 2 and left early. Per.2----First down drill It's good to see Cordy Glenn nailing down the LT spot again. The dominos have fallen, with Seantrel now over at RT next to Pears who's moved inside to RG. Wood's at Center, and Chris Williams LG. Later, I notice Antoine McClain at LG, Hairston at LT, and Urbik hiking the ball. Everything at this point (pre-calisthenics) is done very slow and easy. They run a few plays with EJ at the helm, no drops: ---Pass to Mike Williams on the Right Side ---Play with Pulling Guard and a handoff to Fred Jackson (not any CJ this period, which may be notable) ---Goodwin looking like he's all the way back, hauling in a 40 yarder from EJ ---Watkins on a hook. Lord, he's smooth, and not looking like he has bruised ribs. ---Handoff to Jackson up the middle, moderately successful ---The pace is picking up as the plays go on. ---Swing pass out to Jackson ---Now Frank the Tank comes in and they run out of that formation, again up the middle. ---Same formation, fake to Jackson and throw for 20 yards to MWilliams ---Another throw to MWilliams, up in the clouds, and Mike Williams gets it (My WOW PLAY ONE). ---EJ goes out and Dennis Dixon comes in for two plays, one to Gragg and one to Marquise Goodwin. They are definitely practicing looking off a defender, then throwing in a different direction. ---EJ comes back in and runs a sweet pulling-Center play, with Wood coming left, leading Jackson on a sweep. ---Woods is in the slot with MWilliams to his left, but it's to Jackson off RG Pears, and one to Chandler running an in route from the left side. Per. 3 Calisthenics. There's a lively chatter going on that is encouraging. Easley and Hogan high-five each other and get in line. The refs on this side of the field are talking to each other with their backs to us, and a guy next to me takes their picture and says, "F U". I realize the Field Judge and the Umpire have made a great picture reminiscent of Johnny Manziel's gesture. I also notice TJ Graham is only as tall as Lee Smith's shoulders. I notice our 5th string TE, Dom Jones, just isn't getting down in his exercises. I had said he'd be a good PS guy. Maybe not. Per. 4-5 Positional Drills. I've said before that this is an 8-ring circus, and even this late into Camp it's still true. ---The entire Offense is lined up and go on the snap, run 20 yards, then the other half of the Offense does it, then they go the other way. They are conserving energy a bit. ---When they break into groups, the WRs are the most active. They practice getting off on the snap, then they practice a modified ladder drill where there are lines on the ground and they snake around each line. ---The WRs did a great drill where a coach is throwing to them as they run behind dummies. They have to be very alert, as they don't really know when it'll be thrown--after which of 5 dummies.I didn't see a miss, but I was distracted, but TJ dropped and did 5 pushups. ---OL is going into blocking positions at the whistle. Good one, because I have pictures of certain players not out of their stance at the snap while others are already into position. Chandler for one. ---Later OL is practicing sidestepping L and R ---TEs are on the blocking sled for a while, then move to a blocking-in-space drill. ---DBs are backpedaling 10 yards, then breaking into a run forward. They then move to the sleds and have to hit one 15x ---DL was practicing getting off on the snap of the ball vs coach's called cadence. Will help Landon Cohen a lot so he doesn't jump early, and I think Stefan Charles had an offsides as well in one of our games.. ---Bobby Felder is off to the side working out for a trainer, doing lots of ankle, lower leg stuff. ---There is a lot more team spirit out there this week. Players like Aaron Williams and Mike Williams seem to be pretty animated. ---The DBs are having the most fun during this segment. ---QBs and WRs went to the turf field for 15 minutes. Per. 6: 11 on 11 Drills ---Woods is positioned wide L for most of these plays. ---EJ handsoff to Fred for about 5-7 yards. ---In a 2 back set, EJ hands off to Summers, the up back, for 4 up the middle (now with CWilliams-Woods-Pears, it seems like there's more room for RBs. That'd be my question for Hackett. ---Spiller finally in there and rips off a big 10+ yard gain At This point, Doug Marrone gathers them all in the middle of the field, and I can't hear what's going on. But after the little 2-minute talk, there's more noise, more talk even on the D. ---Woods makes a nice catch on an in route from the L side of the formation. ---Fred Jackson has a nice seam to run through ---Fred Jackson out of the backfield catches a pass. A nice breeze comes up, to the relief of all of us, as I'm feeling the heat. ---Hogan, stioll playing with the ones, lines up wide L, Chandler goes in motion, and EJ throws to Goodwin for a nice pickup. Goodwin, by the way, is Top Five in the NFL Preseason for yards after catch per snap. ---They are picking up the pace even faster now, doing a little no-huddle. ---Chris Williams is the pulling Guard, EJ rolls and throws to Goodwin again. Goodwin bobbles it, but pulls it in for a 20 yarder (My WOW PLAY TWO). They reset the ball back at the opponent's 30 yard line. ---Tuel comes in and hands off a lot to Wingo. I'm losing interest at this point, and am pretty overheated despite the breeze. When they begin Kickoff and FG drills, I book out of there. I did notice Goodwin and Easley are the gunners on this side, so I'm going to bet they both are in the plans for now. Woods and Corey Graham are on the outside spots on the far side. My plan is to return for tomorrow's 8am practice, and possibly head over to Shooters in Fairport 1226 Fairport Road, Baird and Route 31F Fairport (near Abbott's Custard) for the John Murphy Show at 7:00-9pm. If anyone is interested in picking up supper there, let me know. Astro