Special_K

"Net, net" oh my God it makes me want to kill people and mutilate their corpses....

Matt Millen? Is that you? Or we could cover everything in 3' of Nerf. How fun would that world be?

I can't decide if I'm happy that we're talking about adding the first legit DC to our team since Dick LeBeau was here wet nursing Jerry Gray (ultimate fail letting him leave to keep Gray) or if I'm beyond distraught that I'm even entertaining the idea of being excited about the Wannstache.

Uhm, this one? After he came off the bench to win the AFC Championship game on the road @ Pittsburgh. Granted he didn't play in the game but he does have a ring and sans Drew they don't get to that game.

If Fitz throws 2 more TDs he'll become only the 5th Bill to throw 20 TDs in a season. Kelly did it 7 times, Ferguson 4, Bledsoe 2 and Flutie 1. He has a shot at getting up to #2 for TDs in a season. Kelly holds the record with 33 in 1991, Ferguson is #2 with 26 in 1983. Tell me again why we should be drafting a QB we've never seen play?

September 24, 2006 Losman threw for 328 McGahee ran for 150 Evans caught for 107 Parrish caught for 104 Buffalo lost 28-20 <edit> to add to the rarity, Chris Kelsay also had a sack that day.

The thing I'm interested in seeing is how the team does against a zone defense that brings pressure. Baltimore played a lot of man and got torched because their DBs suck - especially Fabian Washington. The Steelers don't do that and the zone will require much more precision from Fitz and the WRs. Pressure is inevitable as well. How will they deal.

I choose to beleive that that was to shut Wilson up. There was no real competition in pre-season. TE got the lion's share of the PT with the starters and was basically handed the job. To me that makes no sense if you're anew coach coming in with a clean slate. Therefore, RW threw his weight behind Edwards as he has done forever. When Edwards was so colossally bad it made the move obvious. You couldn't keep running Edwards out there at that point. RW's a meddling idiot but he knows how to make money and TE wasn't going to make him any money. It's the only scenario that makes sense for TE to go from starter to off the roster that fast. Ditto Lynch. That was R-Dubs boy and Gailey let him play himself out of town. Kudos to Gailey and Nix for figuring out how to beat the old fart. Let him have his way and don't be afraid to lose when you're at the BEGINNING of your contract since you know he will die before he pays 3 coaches at one time. Let the choices become self-evident and get your way in the end. If he's really smart he even found a way to let RW think it was his idea to make the moves. Gailey dealt with Jerry Jones, you think he's gonna get outmanuevered by an owner again?

Fitzpatrick is far from perfect and his inaccuracy is maddening at times such as the ball to David Nelson on the goal line. However, he really does seem to be hot and cold. When he's good he's really really good and when he's bad he's terrible. Like MOST quarterbacks he does much better when he has time to throw. The 2nd half line play improved significantly. Early in the game Fitz was getting pounded on every throw. Unlike just about every other QB we've had since Kelly though he stands in there and tries to deliver the ball rather than throw it away, check down, or turtle. That's good and bad. It's bad for obvious reasons, he throws balls into scary places and will sometimes throw a brutal pick. On the plus, he doesn't take sacks and he puts the ball up the field. I see this as a huge upside win for us. We know we need to improve our line anyway. Fitz with time will STILL throw the ball upfield, he just won't have to hurry. The time will improve the decisions. All QBs get decidedly mediocre when they're rushed but not all of them have the cojones to throw the ball into tight spots or stand in there and take the beating to deliver the pass. Fitz does both. Any rookie, Andrew Luck included, is a crap shoot. I'm happy enough with Fitzpatrick to spend our high choices on OT, DE and LBs to improve the team around him. Based on what Fitz is doing as starter there are only a couple QBs I'd rather have right now (play only). 1. Brady 2. Vick 3. Rivers 4. P. Manning (even though he's a lot more mortal with no weapons and a so so line) 5. Brees 6. Roethlisberger 7. Rodgers If we're looking long term I like Bradford,Sanchez, <edit> and Flacco. Everyone else is no worse than a push in my eyes and there are PLENTY of QBs who would be a downgrade including Carson Palmer whose decision making has been terrible for at least 3 years now. Cutler, McNabb, E. Manning, etc. are better in reputation only and are just as streaky as Fitz, if not moreso.

Just to clarify for those hung up on the PED discussion. He had 17 sacks in 12 games AFTER he served his suspension for that. The knee injury cost him all of 2008 and he was significantly nicked up last year. With everything considered he's totally worth a free look.

The late Jim Johnson also lost the NFC Championship game 4 times, giving up 29, 27, 14 and 32 points respectively. The game they gave up 14 the Panthers ran for 155 yards and their backs averaged over 4 yards a pop. He also lost a Super Bowl in which his defense gave up 24 points - and over 100 yards rushing. It might not be how you score points, but you can still control a game that way. The Eagles lost those above games as much because their own offense turned the ball over constantly...via interceptions. So perhaps if the offense ran the ball a little more they'd have not turned it over as often and not screwed over the defense and put up more points, if only field goals... The Eagles turned it over 4 times vs. the Pats. One more FG instead of INT would have gotten them overtime. I'm confused about how analysts can print this and then pick the Jets. Sanchez is gonna throw all over the place now? I thought we were all slurping Rex Ryan because he's gonna pound the rock? Also, were'nt we all over Tony Sparano's junk for the Wildcat which is running the ball? It's not about running or passing - it's about offensive creativity that creates big plays. Chris Johnson is as big a big play threat as there is and he's a running back.

I agree with you. We won 6 games in spite of ourselves. We were signing offensive linemen on Tuesday to start on Sunday. The only player we really lost was TO and honestly how much of a loss is that? Is that a 3 to 4 game difference? I doubt it. His loss is more than off-set by Spiller's entry. Did the defense get worse against the run? Is that really possible? I'm not saying we're world beaters but I don't get the math that suddenly puts us in St Louis and Detroit territory because we fired a terrible coach and lost TO That was also the Katrina year where they played the whole year on the road. They get a bit of a pass and I might even exclude them from this comparison on that basis.

I wouldn't discount George Wilson having a big year in that sort of role. He's shown some proclivity as a blitzer and has a knack for making big plays when he's on the field.

I'm not going to pretend to have enough 60's Packer knowledge to know if they ever countered the sweep with say an end-around or halfback pass (though I'd suspect they did some HB passing with Hornung in there) but I do know the Redskins ran their share of play-action passes to keep you off the counter-trey. I hear what you're saying though. You don't need 1,000 plays but you do need at least one distinct counter (that changes regularly) to every play you do have and that's where the deception and keeping people off balance comes in. Are they gonna run the counter trey for the 20th time today or is <insert Redskin QB here> gonna pull it back and throw it over my head. We have been BRUTAL at that and it needs to improve now.

Not that there aren't a litany of opinions saying we're terrible but who actually studies this team for a job outside of possibly the guys at the Snooze who we think are morons anyway? How many deep thinkers picked the Saints last year? Or the Dolphins to win the East after going 1-15?

I can't wait for the Miami excuse wagon to roll out of Bristol, CT when we hand their asses to them on Sunday.

One of the things the Bills have been terrible with for years is tipping plays via formation or personnel on the field. That they've been like that for so long is indicative of poor self-scouting, they had poor awareness of their own tendencies. My favorite example, that mercifully stopped last year, was a run play the Bills had. We lineup in the off-set I, Josh Reed lines up outside the numbers and comes in motion toward the tight end. If Reed did not continue all the way through the formation the play was a run 100% of the time. If they ran the same play and action with a different player split wide, say a TE, it was a pass 100% of the time. They did it CONSTANTLY. If I could sit home and call out plays from the couch without hours and hours of film study do you think the Belicheck's of the world saw it too? Hell, the Pats told you - they ALWAYS knew what we were going to do. That should not happen. Ever. Chan's challenge will be to break his own tendencies throughout the year and counter his "money plays" to keep the defense off balance. People run slower and are more tentative when they are thinking and diagnosing. When they know what they are doing before the snap they are more decisive and aggressive. Don't discount the effect of that over the course of a game.

You are aware that James Harrison was an UDFA, was cut four times by 2 different teams, played in NFL Europe, and was a HUGE question mark when he was tabbed to replace Joey Porter, right? It's hard to know who will be an impact pass rusher on this team until we see what they do in actual game situations. Believe it or not they actually DO have some players with some skills. While Chris Kelsay couldn't beat a RT regularly (or at all) to get pressure now he'll be up against TEs or RBs much more often 1 on 1 and that's a much better match-up for him. Maybin, while still hugely unproven HAS come to camp with some counter moves this season and is the sort of athlete that also be a tough match-up for a TE or RB. Ellis is an unknown. He had PR skills in college but was hardly got on the field with Jauron here so I'm not sure what that means. Roscoe Parrish hardly got in the game either but I think we agree he has physical skills. Pass rush can be achieved in several ways and not everyone has to be Lawrence Taylor to get to the QB. The Steelers have EXCELLED at getting the absolute most out of linebackers with limited skill sets via scheme. Joey Porter has never covered anyone in his life and nobody cares. James Harrison was JAG until the Steelers started scheming to use his talents. Kevin Greene was an OLB and again, never covered a soul. Ditto Greg Lloyd. Were those players great? yes. Would they have been as great in a Tampa 2? Probably not. I'm much more worried about pass coverage - but even with that we haven't covered a TE in 20 years and in the previous defense we had LBs dropping 15 yards deep and getting balls dropped in front of them anyway. Don't expect to see our defense putting LBs into man coverage situations. Expect lots of zone.

I agree re: Nirvana. At the time they completely opened my eyes to a new sound and I loved it. They were the first band that got me really to sit up and pay attention to music when I was a kid. I was 12 at the time and probably right in the wheelhouse of the grunge turn. I was too young to really get glam/hair rock {I still really don't and would absolutely have Van Halen and Motley Crue on any overrated list) alternative was weird and had way too much keyboard and terrible whiney euro-trash. Metal was still scary and I was way too young to have heard early Metallica at that point. Nirvana and Pearl Jam were a revelation that music with guitars didn't have to suck. Now? I'm a bit over it. They still have that place in my personal history but my love for their work had since been supplanted. That being said, I relish that they did not exist long enough to become and old/tired parody of themselves. They will always have that odd benefit that The Doors had in that they didn't have to live up to their early work and suffer through awkward transitional/experimental albums and post 40 tours full of equally aging fans. They will forever be in a time capsule and, as such, when you hear them you can easily transport yourself to the time when you first heard it. You don't have to unremember the reunion tour or feel the twinge of sadness when they couldn't quite hit all the notes anymore. Every time I put in Nevermind I'm 12, Kurt is 24 and the world seems new. I'm not going to pretend that I'm a music snob who knows every esoteric local band who never made it big and sneers at those who got record deals for selling out. I like what I like. Nirvana was good. Early Pearl Jam was good. In retrospect, early Metallica is just as good as post haircut Metallica is bad (honestly is there a less metal thing in the world than fighting something like Napster? F you Lars, the 18 year old you would want to kick your ass.) For me overrated is in the eye of the beholder and ends up being the type of music you don't get or a band who pimps themselves so hard that they become a joke.

Simpson's biggest asset was probably his KR skills and on a team with Terrence McGee, Roscoe Parrish, Fred Jackson AND CJ Spiller KR was not a place of need. I know I'm in the minority but I thought Bell was pretty ordinary. Yes I know he had numbers but he didn't seem to have much suddenness to him. He was slow in and out of cuts and didn't have big top end speed. Not that he's completely god awful, just that those guys are a dime a dozen.

TJ Houshmazilly, lock it up, CHAMPIONSHIP! In real life? Never happen.

Family had seats in what WAS Section M5 Row 6 Seats 9, 10, and 11 and I had one in M6 row 10, Seat 111. I think that's all section 311 now and sadly none of us live close enough to have season tickets any more. One trip a season if I'm lucky but this year is not looking good for that.

Ellison will play LB in the Nickel package. We have a complete lack of LBs with coverage skills. Expect teams to run a lot of inside traps and draws against the nickel when Kelsay and Maybin are on the ends and Ellison is on the field. I disagree, we'll finally see Parrish used correctly this season which will be a big plus. Aside from TO who was incredibly mediocre last year how are we that different from last year? We can even get Josh Reed back if we want him.