hondo in seattle

I think both the O and D will be ranked in the top half of the league. But neither in the top 5. 9-7 But there are so many variables and unanswered questions. Will we see evidence of defensive buy-in? Will TT take the step forward that he needs to take? Will our injury prone stars stay healthy? And so on. 11-5 wouldn't shock me. Then again, neither would 7-9.

One of my surprises was keeping 6 safeties. Rex explains... Q: You have 11 DBs, six safeties and five corners. Were the six safeties rooted in special teams abilities? Was that the biggest factor and with five corners, are you comfortable knowing (Kevon) Seymour’s still got the hamstring? A: Well I think sometimes you prefer it the other way with the corners over the safeties, so I certainly get that. This is unusual, I’ve never had six safeties ever make a team so this is definitely unusual, and a big part of it is special teams, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Last year we almost had an ideal situation for receivers when you had two guys that were big time special teams contributors. This year we don’t have that, so that played into it. Just happens that we’re really heavy at that safety position. http://bills.buffalonews.com/2016/09/02/said-bills-transcripts-roster-cutdown-day-rex-ryan-doug-whaley-glenn-gronkowski/

Somebody hinted at this last week but I didn't believe it. Usually a team goes heavy at a position because they have talent there they can't bear to lose. That doesn't seem to be the case here. Is Rex cooking up some kind of 3-safety defense that he plans to field a lot? If they're worried about AW's fragility, would it have been better to cut him? I guess next to cutting Manny, keeping 6 safeties is the biggest surprise for me. Man I'd love to be a fly on the wall when DW, Rex, etc. sit down to discuss these decisions.

He needs to be efficient, like last year. He needs to protect the ball, like last year. He needs to stay healthy, unlike last year. And he needs to carry the team a couple times when the running game can't get untracked, unlike last year.

Says the Ryan defense is going extinct but offers no analysis whatsoever. Author has no obvious knowledge of Xs and Os and offers no insight into the Ryan led Bills D.

From the Seattle PI: With Lewis in the lineup, the Seahawks offense started to click in the second half of the season, averaging over 50 yards of total offense more per game giving up just 15 sacks over the last eight weeks of the campaign. http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/football/article/Seahawks-cuts-75-man-roster-9192007.php You're welcome. I thought the local Seattle papers might have a useful POV. Sounds like a solid backup.

From the Seattle Times: The Seahawks went 6-3 in Lewis’ starts last season, which included each of the last seven games when Seattle went on an offensive explosion to rally and get back into the playoffs... But with the emergence of Britt, who played left guard last season before being moved to center, the Seahawks apparently decided [Lewis' salary of $1.67 million] was more than they needed to pay a backup center — and since none of it was guaranteed the team will save all of it against the salary cap giving the team a little added financial flexibility as they enter the final week of the preseason, a time when players cut by other teams are often added to the roster, and trades are also commonly made. http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-waive-center-patrick-lewis-as-they-continue-roster-cutdown-to-75/

I'm as happy as I can be with our depth chart given we don't have an established franchise QB. This is a good group of unprovens. Oddly, while I know of course that TT, EJ and Cardale are each black, it never dawned on me until now that our entire QB depth chart is black. Or that this is some kind of accomplishment. In the army we used to say we're not black or white anymore, we're all green. All Bills players are the same shade of royal blue.

He might be right with 8-8, especially if we suffer any more key injuries. But he doesn't even acknowledge the possibility of the drought ending.

After a couple years of believing we had a lot of defensive talent but were bereft of offensive talent, it's interesting to see Clayton name more blue chippers on offense. I also think it's funny that he writes, "The Bills are more talented than given credit" since he's one of the guys who hasn't been giving us credit. Maybe he should have just explained that his previous assessments were wrong.

Rated 999th out of 102 quarterbacks when he came out according to Frank Cooney's College Football: http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=132702&draftyear=2014&genpos=QB College: West Georgia Number: 15 Height: 6-2 Weight: 228 Position: QB Pos2: Class/Draft Year: rSr/2014 40 Low: 5.00 40 Time: 5.10 40 High: 5.21 Projected Round: Stock: Rated number 999 out of 102 QB's

Sometimes my friends here influence my opinions. But not this time. I stand by what I originally posted. Kap is disrespectful when he sits for the national anthem and disrespect is never the answer.

I don't get this. Why is okay for Kap to have an opinion but not Jerry Jabber? Just because Kap has the right to express himself doesn't mean he should. Personally, I don't like hate speech, do you? Kap isn't spouting hate speech but he is disrespectful. He's the one "contributing to the destruction of the fabric of the country," not Jerry who served his country.

I fought for this country side by side with blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, etc. People of all colors have died wearing the American uniform. When Kap refuses to honor the flag, he refuses to honor them. And that pisses me off. I respect Kap for caring about injustice. I respect him for taking a stand. But I don't respect him for taking this stand. In my mind, he's disrespecting the folks I fought alongside in the Gulf War. The soldiers (minority/white/whatever) I served with are more impressive to me than Kap will ever be. There are guys out there today in foreign lands risking their lives for the ideals of this country. There are activists in the streets foregoing wealth to work for social equality, medical access, and so on to make this country better. And while there are some bad cops out there, there are also plenty of good LEOs who lay it on the line for their communities every day. Kap, on the other hand, is living a life of luxury and at the same time complaining about injustice. Instead of acting like a petulant child, why doesn't he man up and do something? If truly wants to make a difference, why doesn't he join a police force and become a force for equal treatment? Or donate his millions and his efforts to bring about social equality and justice? And if that's too much for him, why can't he at least honor the people who do work to make America great by putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem?

Good story.

The idea of America and the reality of America are different things. The idea of America is there to see in our public record: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, "The New Colossus" poem on the Statue of Liberty, MLK's dream speech, etc. When I served in the army - and when I stand for the national anthem - I do it for those ideas: liberty, justice, equality, and so on. Kap sees that reality falls short of the ideas and it disturbs him. Fair enough. But to be consistent, he should likewise refuse to wear a 49er uniform. I'm sure some of his teammates are racist and/or have other character flaws. Sadly some Americans fall short of ideal, as do some 49ers. You don't solve this by disrespecting the idea of country or team.

Good find. Hard working young man. Interesting how many different positions he's played, and how he adapted physically to his changing roles.

I'm already confident in the back end of the D. We have really good corners. To be confident overall, nothing that happens in the preseason will convince me that the D is better. Way too many third stringers and vanilla schemes out on the field this time of year. I need to watch the first game. What's the communication like? Are we getting pressure? The answers to those two questions will tell me a lot.

I believe we have the best coaching staff we've had in a long time. Yeah, I get that Rex can be buffoonish and there's no argument he screwed the pooch last year. But I still believe he's an above average defensive coach with an above average defensive staff. Roman is an above average offensive coach. During the drought, we've had some good defensive coaches and some good offensive coaches but never both at the same time until now. We might also have the best QB since Kelly (Bledsoe was good for only half a season). We've got some really talent at other positions as well. But playoffs? I'm not yet convinced. If nothing else, the past 16 years of fandom have taught me to be cautious with my optimism. Being in the playoff hunt this year wouldn't shock me. Then again, neither would a 7-9 season.

Was the O Line very good or is Roman good at making O Lines look good? Personally, I think it's the latter though you have to give the OL credit for executing the blocks Roman asked them to perform. Outside Incognito and maybe Cordy, we don't have an offensive lineman who will overwhelm his opponent in a one-on-one battle. In short yardage situations, we don't get a lot of push. But Roman's plays don't usually require offensive linemen to be road-graders - just in the right place doing the right thing at the right time.

As I recall, the Marv Levy Bills used to lose a lot of preseason games and still dominate the AFC. So I'm sure how much this matters, though I'd rather be #1 in the PFF rankings than #32.

Exactly right. And while there might have been more problems behind the scenes, in front of the scenes was enough for me. Multiple drug test failures, concussion issues, weight problems, lack of commitment (as suggested by the drug and weight problems) - he had to go.

A good way of saying it, Doc. Our #3 WR is the 5th receiving option on a run-first offense. There are better things to lose sleep over than our WR depth.

I think our receiving corps is fine. Sammy and Woods are a solid tandem. And we have a number of backups who are either young-and-promising, or have already been productive backups. Then - as mentioned - we have receiving options who are not WRs. You can't have Pro Bowlers at every position and when you consider this is a run-first offense, I have no issue with the quality of the receiving corps that DW has given Rex & Roman to work with.

If Cardale ends up taking Tyrod's job away from him and having a Jim Kelly type career, we'll all call you prescient. Personally, I was encouraged by what I saw of Cardale against Indy and mentioned elsewhere that I was impressed with the job Roman and Lee were doing with him. I acknowledged he could be TT's replacement in the future if TT doesn't live up to his potential. But Cardale never reminded me of Kelly despite the things you mentioned. But I love the optimism!