2003Contenders

I think they are trying to help preserve him for the long haul. When the weather turns bad, the offense is going to need to be able to run the ball. Also, if other defenses follow the Dolphins' strategy of dropping 8-9 guys into coverage, we are going to need to aggressively run the ball. Remember, also, that Marshawn hit that proverbial wall at then end of his rookie season.

Does anyone have a breakdown of how well the offense has done this year when facing the blitz? It seems to me that the Raiders and Rams blitzed quite a bit -- and then backed off in the 4th quarter, which also coincided with the offense getting its acts together. I know the Cardinals blitzed quite a bit, but that was primarily with JP in the game, and he has always had problems reading the blitz. The reason I ask is that I have a feeling that the Dolphins are probably going to try to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Trent, especially after having seen how the Chargers REFUSED to blitz -- and Trent wound up virtually untouched. From what I have seen, Trent certainly seems smart enough to be able to identify when it is coming, but have he and the receivers been able to make the necessary sight adjustments thus far this year to beat it?

You know, this could just be another match-up situation. I suspect that the coaches are more worried about Ricky and Ronnie this week than they are of the Chad. Thus, they are more inclined to want the larger bodies crowding the line of scrimmage as opposed to the sleeker guys in the deep secondary. Just a thought.

I wonder just how severe this injury to Schobel is. Last week they led us to believe that it was really no worse than it was leading up to the Arizona game. I wasn't too surprised to see him sit last week, since I suspected that the coaches decided it was best to avoid the chance of a set-back against a non-division foe like the Chargers -- with three straight division games on the horizon. Well, the Miami game is here, and it doesn't sound like he is playing again this week. Considering how well he has played against Miami and Pennington, I would have thought that Schobel would be chomping at the bit to get back on the field. That leaves me wondering if the injury isn't much more serious than we were initially led to believe. After all, it started up before the Cardinals game, rested during the bye, rested last week -- so we are now 4 weeks into it.

I don't think so. I believe this is the perfect example of the coaching staff trying to use the best personnel on hand to match up against the opponent. Namely, Fewell and Jauron saw Scott being a better match-up against Antonio Gates because of his size. Next week against Miami, who knows what kind of formation they will want to use to combat what they perceive to be Miami's top weapon(s). The idea of using all 45 guys that dress that day in a specific role is something that the Patriots have worked to their advantage the past several years. It's good to see the Bills doing the same.

Also liked the play where Jackson stiff-armed two defenders.

Who cares about who has the strongest arm? Jim Drunkenmiller may have had the strongest arm of any QB EVER -- and it didn't do him a lot of good.

Actually SD headed into the game with 17 sacks, good for 5th in the NFL. I wouldn't worry too much about the "low" score either. The Bills could have easily made it at least 26 if not 30 points but elected to be classy, safe and smart at the end of the game. As for stats, we out-gained San Diego (#1 offense in the NFL) by about 100 yards yesterday.

Wrong! The first turnover came just a couple of plays after he came in for Trent. The Cardinals went on to march down and score the first TD -- and everything continued to go south from there. Might the entire tone of the game been different if the first drive for the Bills had ended with a score and the Cardinals were not playing with a lead? Now, I blame that turnover more on the OL (Fowler in particular), than on JP -- but still...

I have a feeling that the foot injury may have had something to do with his less that stellar performance in earlier games this year. Hopefully resting it two full weeks will have him ready to roll on Sunday. He's had some career games going after Pennington.

I'm sure that good ol' Joey Porter will provide plenty of bulletin board material. The bottom line is that if this game is played mano y mano, the Dolphins do not stand a chance. The Bills just need to prepared for the trick plays that the Dolphins are sure to throw at them.

For all of those who point out that the Bills have faced teams at the "right" time (i.e. Seahawks with injured WRs, Jags with banged up OL, Rams and Raiders in turmoil, and Chargers looking ahead to the UK), the opposite can be said of the match-up against the Cardinals. The Bills picked the absolute wrong time to play the Cardinals -- coming home after an embarrassing loss to the Jets, where Warner was nailed for 6 turnovers, largely because he held onto the ball too long. Against the Bills, he played a near-perfect game (much like Trent Edwards did against the Chargers yesterday.) The MO for our defense is to disallow the big play and force the opposing QB to be patient and march down the field accordingly. Warner was able to do that -- Rivers wasn't. Some credit certainly has to go to Jauron and Fewell for using the extra week wisely to hatch some new schemes and giving Rivers some looks he hadn't seen before.

Agreed. That actually looked like a pretty good size hole that may have gone for a big gain if Marshawn hadn't tripped.

Yes, he did. I don't recall him making anay plays, but he was definitely on the field for at least a few plays.

Surprised that I haven't seen anyone here comment on his request to be traded. Obviously the trading deadline is over now, so it is moot for this year. Does anyone think he is worth pursuing in the off-season for a late-round draft pick? Or is he too much of a head case? (No pun intended)

I will have to say that the Chargers showed some class yesterday in defeat. Even Rivers was complimentary of the Bills.

Very cogent points. He was far from invisible. In fact, I seem to remember a big third down tackle on either Sproles or LT2 yesterday on what looked otherwise to be a big gain.

It's just shocking to see a mock where we are drafting as late as 29 in the first round!

Now Youboty is listed as a game time decision too: http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2008/10/17/injury-update-2/ Ugggg. That places an even bigger onus on McKelvin and Corner. Maybe stocking up on DBs wasn't such a bad idea after all. Also, what did Brown mean about Simpson's starting job being in jeopardy?

Agreed. I suspect that either Polian/Dungy were less than enamored with McCargo when they brought him in. Or they found out additional information about him after the fact -- and asked the medical staff to find the flimsiest of reasons for failing a physical.

Agreed. Moreover, I firmly believe that the Whitner pick was also a consensus pick on Marv's part. Remember that in the 2006 draft, there was a perceived drop-off after the first 7 picks. Some folks (some of them possibly in the War Room a the time) thought we should go QB with Leinart and Cutler still on the board. Some thought we should go DT with Ngata and Buckner both available. I believe that there were varying opinions not only about the positions but also the players at each position. Whitner was a safe selection that everyone could live with. And I think that may be why -- more than anything else -- Marv elected to go that route.

Oh, come on. That is purely revisionist and a parsing of situations so as to demonize TD. Look, Donahoe made a number of mistakes during his tenure with the Bills, but the 2001 draft was a good one. If you want to blame him for letting Clements and Jennings get away, then so be it. However, both of those guys signed such ridiculous contracts (as did Winfield at the time) that is is unfair to equate their having left the team with whether or not their draft selections were proper. Never mind also that TD deserves credit for handling the trading down aspect of the draft the way he did. Remember, he moved down to draft Clements, when many (myself admittedly at the time included) thought he should have drafted the OT (Kenyatta Walker?) that wound up with the Bucs -- and turned out to be a bust. That move was for an additional 2nd rounder, which TD later traded down again to garner an additional 4th. Thus, the trades netted us the following players: Clements, Henry and Brandon Spoon -- rather than just the OT that proved to be a bust anyway. I wouldn't go so far as to call Edwards a bust either.

I hear what you are saying, but I think there are a number of things to consider here. The track-record for under-drafting OL dates back to the Butler regime, as the only high draft pick I remember him investing was in 1995 for Ruben Brown. Donahoe at least tried with Mike Williams. I will say until my dying day that Big Mike had the talent to be an elite blocker; he just didn't have the desire, heart or ability to withstand pain. TD did spend a day one pick on Jonas Jennings, who played pretty well here before following the money to San Francisco. Duke Preston, a 4th rounder in 2005, remains a question mark. Let's also not forget the acquisition of Jason Peters, who went undrafted. The current regime (and I lump the Levy years in here too) decided to go the free agent route with Dockery and Walker. Neither has been a bust, but neither (especially Dockery) have lived up to the fat contracts they signed. And Butler hasn't played badly for a 5th round pick. So it isn't that they haven't tried. And it also isn't as if they continually strike out. The Mike Williams disaster, I believe, has somewhat magnified the situation. If Peters returns to form, Dockery and Walker play up to expectations, and Preston proves to be an upgrade over Fowler, then everything will be fine.

You know what? Maybe the Bills don't need a loser like this on their team. I mean, how many playoff games have the Chiefs won since Gonzo has been there? He wanted to play for the defending Super Bowl champs, a team that won the big one last year WITHOUT him. Evidently, he did not want to sign with a good, young team and represent the difference in getting them over the top.

I note that the blog doesn't say why he isn't practicing. Brown doesn't even hint that Fowler is hurt. Does that mean that the coaches have demoted him and promoted Preston to the starting center spot? IIRC, it was during the bye week two years ago that they made the switch moving Jason Peters to LT, where Gandy had been struggling. Very interesting...