34-78-83

I just wish all the pitchfork bearers would agree to STFU once their axe-weilding at One Bills Drive dreams are shattered when the Bills happen upon next season with the same GM and HC in place. But they won't.

Guys, It's no different than Losman or any other first time starter. It's gonna look ugly for the first 10 to 30 games of a young Qb's career unless his name is Marino or Rothlisberger. That's just the way it is.

... and then, suddenly , your console crashes and you lose all the work you just did on your madden franchise.

If that were true , then Marvin Lewis would have been fired this week. That would be the only possible outcome of an occurance such as what you speculate. This would be true for any NFL team under sane ownership (Raiders excluded of course). With that said, single (regular season) game results do not define a coach nor make him better than a coach he beat with an inferior team. It happens both ways and often in this league.

Jason Peters progressed more as a tackle in one season than most 1st round draft picks do. He can already be left alone in pass protection vs. the best rushers in the game. Still needs work in the running game but doing ok there too.

so Rich, do you think DeBrick would be worth trading up for? You've probably seen him more than most of us...

thanks

Crowell is in "stage 2" of his career contract-wise. To be fair , you can only compare him to guys at that level of contract or higher. That cannot be ignored IMO. See the Suggs reference from earlier. We got him cheap.

What typical type of value would be required to move up from say the 11th or 12th pick in the draft to #2 to get Ferguson? I know there's that Jimmy Johnson draft value chart out there somewhere. Also does that value (to move up) get outweighed by our need for having multiple picks in this year's draft?

Well he's defintely a clogger and is strong, which I like, but as some others have mentioned he just doesn't show any initial quickness off the snap nor lateral quickness. Actually he reminds me a lot of Fred Smerlas which is not necessarily a bad thing. Mind you, this was the only game I've seen him play in.

It's called foresight. Guys mentioned like Suggs, etc. are going to far exceed these dollar figures once their time comes due. And again, if you look at all the starting WLB's in the league right now (which Crowell happens to be at this point), and look at their tackles/sacks/ints (ie. production) he is closer to the top than he is the bottom.

Nope. He was still injured (from the NE game) and would have started both against CINCI and the JETS had he been healthy enough AND getting the reps in practice.

I didn't see any wink wink in your post so I'll assume your serious here. 1- he has obviously been more than a "barely adequate LB" this year. That's plain ridiculous. He has also improved steadily during the season, especially on shedding blocks. 2- I agree that he may not fit well on the strong side, but I'd be willing to bet he can play the middle in our scheme as well as he plays the WLB, plus he has proven to be a very good ST player. Maybe TKO plays the strong side next year as well.

I can see what some of you were saying now about him lacking quickness. He's looked good, not great.

Wow, in just 2 plays of the 2nd half, I am impressed. He just shed a double team and made a no gain stop on 2nd and long. A nice play prior to that as well...

Gotcha. Fair enough... I think I'm gonna check out the 2nd half and keep an eye on him.

Umm, just a question here... Isn't a "run stuffing DT" supposed to occupy blockers, hold (not necessarily advance) the line of scrimmage and clog the running lanes? Sounds kinda like what you guys were saying he was doing. I see the score at halftime is also 7-3 Oregon. Might that be due in part to some good defensive play by the Oregon defense?

Crowell might be a little light in the Butt (save your jokes ) to play the strong side. Then again, maybe some conditioning changes can help with that. I agree that he needs to be on the field if possible.

He would have gotten the starts if he weren't injured so that is a non-issue. The injury (occured early in the NE game) also explains why he threw wounded ducks for the rest of the game. Now for this week, it appears that JP is probably healthy enough to be effective again, but has missed out on many of the starter reps. We will see what happens with the decision of which qb starts, but I do agree that JP should start as long as he is healthy.

I would agree with this assessment as a possibility for next year. I'm not sure Crowell has enough of a "power pack" as they say, to play on the strong side.

I have the same wish as Kelsay to this point seems to have leveled off and is not good enough, and Denney is good but only as a role player. Generating pass rush with blitzing does not bother me in theory, just as long as you get an occasional rush with just the front liners. There are very few (4 teams I can think of off-hand) that have the luxury of getting consistent pressure with no blitz. With that said, I am hoping we're able to find a good rush end in round 2 or 3, because those top 2 guys probably won't be there when we pick.

I wasn't aware of the smoking rooms (haven't taken a flight in a long time). Sounds disgusting though, and I'm a smoker

Dickerson, is that you?

Positives going forward to next season: - Special teams (both coverage and return teams) are set - McGee improving steadily at cb - Milloy playing well again at SS - LB corps should be back to good form and Crowell provides excellent depth, if not a potential starter - Schobel improving steadily - Tim Anderson improving steadily and will atleast provide good depth. - Peters developing quickly at tackle. Could/should be steady at LT with his footwork and quickness. - Reed, Parish, and Evans all playing well. Questions yet unresolved: - O-line needs atleast 2 new players (is Preston one of them?) - Good run-stuffing DT needed - What will become of Moulds? - What will become of Clements? - Will JP take the next step in his development at QB? If some of those questions get answered, we should see better production from the running game and more time in the pocket for our Qb. This all may be an over-simplification but it is how I look at the future overall for this team.

True, but his level of play has certainly exceeded the normal expectations of a "depth" linebacker based on his progress this season.