[Where is our PASS RUSH?]

my fear is that Maybin is taking cues from Donte "back tackle" Whitner. talk about a guy that i would not miss. can't believe the guy doesn't get 4 late hit penalties a game, but i guess when you hit with your back, it makes it look like you pulled up.. even if the guy is already on the ground.

[Levitre vs. Howard]

anyone notice the Bills offensive looked a lot better, at least initially, after Levitre went out? a few have been griping about his strength issues, and this may have backed that up. after Howard came in, who i admittedly did not think much of, we ran the ball down their throats for a while. put it this way, we certainly did not miss him. interesting.

[Where is our PASS RUSH?]

believe it or not, this is another thread about Edwards... don't let the subject fool you. on the few times the Bills would have gotten to the QB quickly, Rodgers delivered the ball IMMEDIATELY after the snap. not that it wouldn't be nice to get there quick unexpectedly sometimes, but in 3-4 most of the pass rush comes on a blitz, yes? some people can read the blitz, and some clearly cannot.

[Where did the slants go?]

what are you people talking about... that's all we run is slants!

 

no outs... no streak... no hooks... all slants into the middle. no wonder everyone looks covered to poor Trent. Chan should realize that "Open" to his QB means no DB in sight... which does not happen when you have 3WR's all running across the middle. another part of the problem is that Trent prefers the WR running the 4 yard slant and not the 15 yard slant. ugh.

[Randy Cross calls out Lee Evans, Bills WRs]

People don't seem to realize that when your QB is getting popped in the mouth constantly. Edwards took a few good shots today and popped back up pretty well. I'm still not an Edwards fan and I don't think he has what it takes, but you are dead on, it is extremely difficult to perform as a QB when your O-Line is as bad as ours currently is.

 

game one it may have been the O-lines fault more, as far as i could tell from stadium. but this week, with benefit of DVR, i'm placing more blame on edwards. Pack rushed 6 -7 people at him, all near the line and on my screen at same time... which means only 4 were dropped back in coverage, and he STILL had some time, and still got sacked. it was pathetic. numerous times i could spot WR's running free across the top of the screen that went unthrown too.

 

and yes, randy cross is an idiot. nice to call someone out on a pass over the middle when you don't watch the play back and see what really happened. maybe shoulda been caught, but definitely not alligator arms. they were extended. he just cut his route short and TE led him.

[Again, ignoring the QB and OL situation will doom us this year...]

So you would trade Spiller for Anthony Davis / Bulaga? Or you would trade Troup for Claussen? Or you would trade Spiller plus to move up for injured Okung? Or you want to mortgage the future and send Spiller plus multiple picks for Bradford? Or Troup and another pick to move up for Saffold or Tebow?

 

I'm just not sure where you see the better value at these positions than what we drafted that will be a short term fix. I look forward to having a great QB, but mostly I look forward to having a good team. Wasting multiple picks to move up or reaching for need are not ways to have this roster get the most talented it can get.

 

I don't like our weak spots, and I am iffy on Bell and not sold on Trent, but I just don't see the un-doom options out there that would have made us a better football team.

 

i probably woulda taken Clausen ahead of Troup, hoping Troup would be there in 3rd. never know if that woulda worked, but it's what i was thinking at the time.

 

Another option, if yer concerned with value, was trading down in first round, grabbing bulaga for RT, then taking Troup and Clausen in 2nd (assuming you could get/parlay trading down into another 2nd). then no Spiller, but 3 needs instead of 1 exciting non-need.

[Is Lee Evans a True #1 Receiver?]

boy this thread got stupid.

 

Lee is better that ANY receiver on the following teams:

 

Tennessee, Minn, San Fran, Seattle, Chicago, Oakland, Cleveland, St.Louis, Denver

 

he is about as good as any receiver on these teams:

 

Tampa, Washington, New Orleans, KC, Philly, Indy, Balt, Pitts, NYJ

 

some are debatable, some are not... the point is not that other WR's with better stats last year have bad QB's too.. it's that they have QB's who throw the ball.

[Buddy Nix Doesn't Think Much of McNabb?]

he also points out that their offense scored only 6 points (2 FGs). their TD came from Defense. not much better production out of McNabb.

 

of course our 9th and 10th WR in camp were better than their #2 and #3. their WR corps beyond moss looks worthless. and their line isn't good enough for TE's to run around every play unfortunately.

[Move Levitre to RT]

yeah, he's closer to a LT than a RT. RT is just as much a strength position. i do worry about the guy though, he doesn't get enough push on majority of plays. it's a large reason why QB can't step up in the pocket when OT's fail.

 

The thing I was saddest about in the off season was that we did not resign Incognito, especially after I saw him starting for Miami. I know Incognito had a bad rap but he seemed to be fine with the Bills last season and Miami hasn't had any trouble with him. It would have given us more options, especially with inevitable injuries.

 

also sad was Butler getting hurt and then retiring. no way we woulda let Langston Walker go if we knew that. he actually wasn't that bad at RT, just horrible at LT. by then we had Butler playing RT and didn't want a 5 million dollar backup, so we ditched him, then proceeded to need him ever since Week 3 of last year.

[What do you think is the reason why good FA wont come to Buffalo?]

all true, but what good FA's are we talking about? Who is so good that made it to FA that we needed? There have not been many the last couple seasons that I can think of. TO may have been one of the best and we DID get him. Karlos Dansby, but hard to top Miami as a destination for most of these guys. Bart Scott was a FA I guess, but the only teams in the running were his own team, and the free spending Jets who happened to have his former DC as head coach... and he still did not jump teams.

 

a 3-4 DE? Edwards was one of best available and we got him.

 

What else we really needed, QB and Oline, there has not been much out there.

[Is Lee Evans a True #1 Receiver?]

i did it a little differently, and found there are about 10 teams with a WR better than Evans... 10 with their best WR on par with Evans... and ~10 where Evans is better than anything they have.

 

so if you call a WR #1 because he's good enough to be the best on the team, then i'd say he's good enough... around middle of the pack. we are clearly better with him than without him though, so what matters beyond that?

[Are we the worst team in the NFL??]

i think we are tied for worst... with 15 other teams.

 

seriously, i lot of teams looked bad sunday. so objectively you have to give them all the same opportunity to show they're better than that, including the Bills.

 

Dallas essentially lost due to a backup O-lineman constantly unable to keep his hands to himself. it only takes a couple poor performances to bring down a team. let them make adjustments, and we can make better judgments after week 3.

[Who would you start at RT?]

Levitre was playing LT.. sadly, no one on the team is really "RT material", besides Green. but better to give teh QB time than be a mauler, so if he doesn't step up they'll have to try Meredith there.

[Interesting Rumor on BB.com Message Board]

Well, maybe the prospect of Lynch is not exactly thrilling them either...I don't see how The Bills could do much better than AJ Hawk for Lynch...I don't really care why Hawk has fallen out of favor in GB, I still think he's better than anything (including Poz) we can put on the Inside of the 3-4 right now...And who knows...If he goes back to being the AJ Hawk that entered the NFL it's like grand larceny for Lynch...From what I can tell most Packers Fans believe the guy is still pretty good vs the Run...I'm guessing he'd be our best tackling LB the minute he walks on to the field...

 

I'm a Michigan Fan and I have NO PROBLEM with the possibility of Hawk for Lynch...I'd do it in a half a heartbeat...

 

 

 

All due respect. But that is a terribly misinformed statement...He may not be playing up to the #5 Overall potential...But he's FAR from a bust and he definitely does not suck...

 

LB's rarely go high, and to take one #5 and he doesn't even start? i think that not only qualifies, but is the definition of a bust. or at best, he does not fit in a 3-4, which obviously doesn't help us.

 

doesn't mean he can't play for us necessarily, but Poz is back in 2-3 weeks and seems just as good... and A.Davis is the only LB with 3-4 experience so i'd think he'd stay. so Hawk would liekly be a backup here too. i do think Lynch has value as a 2 time 1000 yard rusher that is young, that is the important part.. what is he, 24? maybe sunday can be considered a showcase for each.

[Horrible Quote from Edwards!]

i think what you can read from these quotes of trent, from day one, is that he's more of a follower, a good soldier, than a leader. he's never criticized gameplans, or coaches, or teammates even in a veiled, generic way. in general, or at first galnce, this may seem admirable. but his tolerance of it over the years shows weakness. what QB never gets pizzed off (at anyone) or fired up (about anything)? look at lee evans.. pretty quiet guy, but read between the lines and you can tell he's not pleased. Edwards as a QB has a little leeway and he should use it. yell at the OC, yell at the Oline, or his receivers if they run a wrong route.

 

and i don't buy this "brainwashed by Jauron" garbage. DJ picked Losman as his QB over Holcomb specifically b/c you (quote) "need to get yards in chunks". in other words, Holcomb checked down too much. Edwards has said he plays like he's coached, but i don't think that ever meant DJ was telling him not to throw it deep. i'm sure his OC's said take what the defense gives you. TE's problem is that he doesn't seem particularly good at seeing what that is. checking down was fine when teams didn't know to cover fred jackson out of the backfield so close... once they did, Edwards was screwed b/c he always felt more comfortable throwing it short, even to a covered RB, than a 1 on 1 covered WR downfield.

[The Man Who Stopped Both Suh And McCoy]

i have no problem with getting a guy from a practice squad... but how many good players were *released* from practice squads? that's another step below. i don't think you release a guy from there unless you don't think too much of him, or he did something wrong. any examples? not saying it's impossible, but seems pretty unlikely.

[THE FACTS ABOUT KELSAY]

I have never been a Kelsay basher, but he was the worst defensive player on the field last sunday. Just callin it like I see it. I really hope he gets better, but he looked aweful last week IMO. Hopefuly, he will be able to make the adjustment. You know another play that catches a lot of sh*t here, looked really good last week. Keith Ellison. He was pretty good in coverage and made some tough tackles.

 

there were a couple plays early, first quarter for sure, that he looked out of place... and i thought the same thing. but after that i didn't notice him doing anything wrong. it was his first ever real game playing 3-4, so as with almost all the comments on game one... it's a little too early. let guys make adjustments to new positions and schemes for a couple weeks, before saying they absolutely can't do something. he'll never be great in coverage, but he should be above average at stopping the run out there, so... give him another couple games.

[2 free points?]

If the team didn't get ANY yards on the first 3 attempts, what makes anyone think that they would have gotten 10+ yards on the 4th attempt? And if that fails, Miami gets the ball at the 1 inch line. Game over. And punting at the 1 inch line means your punter is lined-up about 2/3 of his usual depth, meaning he won't get a good punt off and similarly put the Dols' offense in a great position.

 

if you don't believe you can get 10 yards on one play, you might as well kneel or punt becuase you aren't going to win. even trying to win is predicated on being able to get 10 yards in one play.

 

so i agree that they should have just gone for it. odds of making 10 yards on one play are better than any of the other options, and kicking a field goal is way more likely for these guys than getting a TD drive with 30 seconds left.

[Bills offense that bad or is Mike Nolan that good?]

their secondary was the the unfortunate surprise for me. figured there'd be some disarray there, but they were all over us most of the time (parrish TD being an exception).

[Let me ask this]

Because Edwards sucks and he plays the most important position. The easiest way to improve on a 17 for 50 rush line is to run (no pun intended) more plays. In order to run more plays you need 1st downs. In order to get 1st downs when you're averaging 2.9 yards per rush your QB needs to make an occasional play on 3rd down. But wait - the pathetic QB is not capable of making a play on 3rd down. So what do you want them do - run on every 1st and 2nd down so they can set up a 3rd&8? Because fans never complain about the playcalling being too conservative/predictable when that happens.

 

but you could look at it the opposite... since running is supposed to be the strength of the team, why didn't the run open up the pass? with the line getting blown up we really had no chance at running or passing effectively. maybe we needed a different gameplan, cuz whatever that was, we could not execute it or defense was playing it perfectly.

[*Sigh* I come to the board and find negative posts about]

i was disappointed with the play calling. being at the game you miss some stuff, but other things are evident and it appeared many times that WR's routes simply went nowhere... poor protection led to TE not finding people at the right time perhaps, or his own ineptitude, but it really seemed there were not a lot of easy completions to be had more than 3 yards downfield. not many hooks as someone pointed out, nor outs... i know we were happy chan seemed to put the crossing patterns into the gameplan in preseason, but when you get that much pressure, you have to have other plans and it looked like they did not.

 

also, the O-line besides Green was still not that good. there was pressure up the middle and from the other tackle spot too much to be called "good". Bell was okay, and should get better. Hangartner and Levitre were average at best.

 

hard to get encouraged about the offense when they only had 160 yards total offense... that's more than one player or a couple bad play calls.

[Mike and Mike....for real? worst team ever seen?]

The Bills have at least 5 huge questions in their front 7 on defense. But only 5.

 

Of the 11 players on offense, the RB position is good, they have a couple decent guards...ummm...the best WR would make another team an excellent #2 WR...umm...ummm...I've heard of the QB...ummm...ummm

 

As an outsider looking in, I wouldn't see much to look forward to. The high-flying Trent Edwards-led offense? The stalwart offensive line? The attacking D-line? The rough and tumble linebackers? The amazing WR duo? A TE who no linebacker can stop?

 

I am always optimistic in September and by December thinking WTF was I thinking in September.

 

I can't quit you Bills.

 

5 Huge question marks on front 7? who? dwan edwards is the most solid, and i think Poz and Adra Davis are both solid if not great in the middle. not question marks. NT maybe, but i think KW and TT will also be fine... not Jenkins' like run stuffers, but hold their own on most plays. even Stroud should be okay. the only huge ?'s should be the OLBs, Kelsay/Maybin and Torbor.

 

but anyways, do you think these "outsiders looking in" even look that far? i doubt it. we have no pro-bowlers, and we didn't draft a new QB like we were "supposed to", thus we suck worse than last year. ridiculous logic, but that's how these experts think.

[More OL and LB moves]

OG and TE were exactly all i expected, as we had no backups. meredith and wang are the backup OT's, and i doubt they are going anywhere... and there is no room for more. i suppose cutting Meredith is a possibility, but doubt there's anyone they like that much that they'd replace someone who's been through the offseason with them and knows the playbook.

 

LB? not only who do you want, but who do you get rid of? assuming you don't get rid of the starters at this point, backups are Mitchell and Maybin (not going anywhere) and Special Teamers... Ellison, Moats and the like. i think they're done until the first injury.

[Rooting for Injuries]

You guys need to get in touch with reality and come off this happy frappy love one another baloney.

 

You realize that NFL players are specifically trying to give other people a concussion on nearly every down? This is a man's game, get real.

 

After an interception, defenders always seek out the other team's QB and try to lay a cheapshot on him. Gregggg was coaching up the Saints D to specifically try to hurt Favre and others in the playoffs.

 

If some receiver goes across the middle, they are taught to knock him out so violently that he will be afraid to ever go across the middle again.

 

And you guys still won't address the question of whether it's okay to then root for Brady to get hit really hard where it just sidelines him for a play or two, just a minor injury? Can I root for that kind of hit? How about a hit so vicious it knocks him out for a half? A game?

 

Or should I just root for the Bills D to gently cradle him to the ground if they manage to touch him?

 

difference between hurt and injured... i think some want to scare WR or QB by rattling their cages, but not want to actually injure them and take them out so they can't play. certainly not for more than that game. and in most cases, players hit to dislodge the ball or tackle or whatever. i'm sure most of these guys have all been injured, and don't necessarily wish to end another's season.

 

for me as a fan, while i certainly did not mind brady going out for the season considering how much i "despise" him, i don't really want him or any bigtime players out so we have a better chance to win. that's not exactly bragging rights, it's a no-win situation. you win, it's "who cares?" and you lose it's even worse. if yer beating a team at or near it's best, it's nothing to get excited about.. kinda like beating the Colts to finish last year. okay, tiny amount of satisfaction for beating belichik i guess, but minimal... ;-)

[Kraig Urbik vs Geoff Hangartner, Cornell Green]

I thought Hangartner was one of the stronger elements of our line last year, not really saying much but none the less he definitely isn't a weak link on our line.

 

well, he wasn't terrible... but there were some of those studies/stats that labeled him one of the worst in the league, in terms of how often he got beat vs. doing his job etc.

 

he did seem to get owned more than your average Center, but we did go against some tough competition. i think we need better play there, but hopefully he can get it himself.. otherwise i'm all for trying Wood at center (at least next year) and letting Urbik and a new guy fight for the RG spot. right now though, the lineup is not changing.