KeisterHollow

What has me psyched about Marrone is his intelligence. I also like that he was once a player - which holds a lot of weight with players. Add to that his experience with TOP offensive minds in the game (currently, even) and throw in his seeming ability to adapt (Jauron's failure - and Gailey's - IMO, was their reluctance to change), and we have the makings of a coach who can build a team and compete. You need talent, and you need good assistants, but it looks as though he will have the support of the franchise in getting players, and he has an excellent defensive staff already. One other element necessary for success - enthusiasm / passion. You've got to get the players pumped (how important was Levy in that regard?). We will see, but I'm more excited about this hire than I have been since Williams.

If I had to rationalize Buffalo's reluctance to sign Byrd to a big money contract, I'd do so by saying they'd like to see him perform in Pettine's defense first. But, I also think they'd like to see Aaron Williams play, and Duke Williams, and some of the others - and IF it came to paying for Byrd and losing out on, say, Wood / Spiller / or some future FA we might bring in to make an impact, it might make SOME sense to want to wait and see what else we have in our other safeties. After all, you can usually only field 2 at a time. If those other guys pan out well, there might be some sense in bringing in help at a weaker position (guard, CB, LB...). That is in light of the above quote - a good pass rush can help the secondary. Finally, IF Byrd were only asking for, say, 6 million a year, I think the deal would be done by now. He's probably asking for 8 to 9 million a year, so in light of the potential we have with the other safeties, I'll hold off judgment on this situation and see how it pans out.

Of course it's premature, but the question is more intended to ask, how long will Pettine remain here IF the Bills D is very good. I say look no further than Seattle for a blueprint for that answer. How long was their D that good before the coordinator got a shot? 2 or 3 years. If we're very good, I say 2 years. Of course, it also depends on how badly Pettine would want to be a H.C. He might prefer to stick to the coordinator position for a while, as he's pretty young still.

Good analysis. My opinion is: interior O-line is our biggest offensive need, unless EJ proves inept, in which case QB is top priority. However, if EJ plays well then we're looking at interior O-line as our top offensive need, followed by TE. On defense we need that second shut down CB, but I think our overall LB corps still is light compared to truly good defenses (like San Fran, Houston). So, we find out which are our really good LB's, in this scheme, this year, and the ones who fail to live up or hold up we look to replace sooner than later next year. I'd imagine that would create a need for at least one good LB. I also think we're in need of a truly good NT. So, my total, overall needs, prioritized (supposing QB is good this year) would be: CB PS1, LG / C PS 2, TE, LB PS 3, NT PS4.

I'm going 10-12 wins, too; although, if it were 9-11 I'd feel better about it. I just think we have enough talent to be a playoff team, and I think our coaching is going to be among the best in the league this year. It all adds up, IMO, to a playoff contender. The only real question mark in my opinion is the QB spot. If we have really good QB play there's no reason we couldn't beat anyone. If we don't, then we could win as few as 5 or 6 wins.

Even at just 3, it's not too hard to pick em. EJ Manuel / Kolb - either one, whoever our QB is will carry the promise of this team on his shoulders. Look at just about any good team (Denver, NE, New Orleans, and even Baltimore, I'd say) and if you remove their QB, you have a team that MIGHT make the playoffs, instead of being a virtual lock. You put Peyton Manning on this Bills team, and there's a good chance we go12-4. Next is Alonzo. Every good defense needs to have that strength up the middle. This kid needs to have a good year for our Defense to play well. Bradham, too, for that matter, but I go Alonzo here because I think he's going to be a stud and really be a major force in what I believe will be a very good defense. Finally, I say Woods. We know what we'll get from Spiller, Jackson, and Johnson. However, this offense can take a major step forward if we have that second WR who can make plays and demand constant attention. You add a 2nd dynamic WR to good QB play with Spiller and Stevie, and you have a offense that can rank in the top 10. (BTW - if this post comes across staggered, or choppy, my apologies. My enter / return key doesn't work on this site anymore. It works on Word, or other programs, but just not here. So, I have to use the space bar to advance a line to the next line.)

I think it'd have to be a 3 WR set, with a TE and a RB - Johnson, Rogers, Woods, Chandler, and Spiller. That would be a nice group, I'd think.

I think the three biggest determining factors for Manuel starting will be: does he have a good enough grasp of the offense? Is he accurate on his passes, and does he go deep with accuracy? If Manuel can't do those things, then I think they let Kolb start the season. When I hear comparisons to Cam Newton, though, I get SUPER psyched for this offense - that kind of QB is a game changer (imagine how hard it'd be to defend against Spiller, our new group of WR's, if you have a big, mobile, ACCURATE passer who can just as easily run the ball 5 yards as throw it 15).

I believe, like our season in general, it will all come down to the QB play. I have total confidence in our defense. Our offense has enough weapons to be very good, too. We know our RB's are electric. We now have speed and talent in the WR corps. If our QB plays well, we should stand to have a chance at beating anyone, on any given Sunday, as it were.

What's so exciting, to me anyway, is that your list is a good one, HOWEVER, one could argue seeing, by year's end, Wood, Woods, Glenn, Stevie Johnson, Manuel, K. Williams, and Alonzo on there, too! That suggests there are a lot of young, talented guys on this team ready to SHINE!

Nice take - and, I agree. I've heard Pettine say he wants to create the sense, or illusion, of pressure even when pressure isn't necessarily coming, in terms of numbers of blitzers. So, if he statistically didn't bring the blitz as much on any given year, I'd say it had more to do with personnel and specific game situations than any philosophical weakness. Pettine was perhaps the best coaching hire of the entire offseason, for any team. He will give to the Bills fans what we've been missing since Wade Phillips - that's a bona-fide NFL defense. It's not the defense that is going to have to pull its weight this year.

That may be the case, and it may be that Pettine was simply changing the style of his defense slightly, but it may also be attributed to a change in personnel. I don't know about you guys, but I seem to recall the Jets defense looking more and more pedestrian, in terms of player names, over the last few years. It started out, when Rex first came over, as a beast of a defense, but these past few years the personnel changed and it was good, but not AS GOOD. Could the players abilities have accounted for this?

Pears was doing quite well before he got injured - and he's usually seen as a liability. I'd nominate Pears, Ubrik, and Hairston, who I also like quite a bit - and, who is capable of playing both tackle spots. Unfortunately, the roster is so deeply analyzed that everyone on defense has either been propped up as being full of potential, or they're waiting to be replaced (McKelvin).

It's about time this defense acts nasty!!! Show me a defense that other teams don't want to face and we'll see a playoff team here in Buffalo again.

Exactly what I thought - I don't think it's a coincidence that the Jets O-line has been pretty good over the last 4 years. The more I read about this defense, and think about it, the more excited I get about our prospects this year. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see Buffalo finish the year in the top 5 in the NFL in total defense. If Byrd comes back and we have Aaron Williams and Byrd, and Gilmore back in the secondary - that is a pretty good secondary. I have a lot of trust in Alonzo and Bradham, and our OLB's are going to be fine. And, I really think our D-line is going to be what we thought it'd be last year. It's my opinion - but I think we're going to have the kind of defense we will like so much we'll not envy ANY OTHER TEAM'S DEFENSE. It's been a LONG TIME since I could say that - since Pat Williams, Sam Adams.

Yeah, well in that scenario you would only have another guy looking to get paid in a few years. We have to sign the good players we have unless it's absolutely not possible to do so. We already lost Levitre. Losing Byrd as well is unacceptable. Two good safeties is much better than one good safety and some question marks (although I believe our depth there is good - it's still another matter; we need to keep our home-grown talent).

I've wondered about this - rather, marveled about it - that any player in the NFL could say they've never had position specific coaching at the highest intensity level. After seeing what has happened to that "experiment" in Buffalo with Fitz, I now suspect some players don't want to try to change what is natural, comfortable, and instinctual to them. When it comes to having success as an NFL QB, let's say we look at one bad passing play as a microcosm of the whole, and when the pass is intercepted or over/under thrown, the QB probably could say to himself that it was due to any of four or five different factors, if not more. It could have been setting feet, or the WR not having proper separation, or the QB's eyes being distracted right at the end, or the QB not seeing a specific defender. My point is, most NFL QB's probably tell themselves, "hey, I've made it this far, I must know how to throw the ball. It's the other things that usually go wrong!"

Goodwin reminds me a little bit of Sproles - he is short, but he's stocky. Graham, on the other hand, is almost 6' tall. That's not terribly short by NFL standards. However, he's skinnier than Goodwin. I think we have the makings of some very exciting plays with these two. Remember - there are things to hope for with each: with Graham, he had offseason eye surgery, and claims to be seeing things much better now (and, most of his missed catches last year were not catchable), and with Goodwin, he was always split between football and track. Only now is he able to concentrate solely on football, and football conditioning. Neither have to be stars, but if they can show decent enough hands, their speed on the outside, combined with Manuel's ability to chuck it 50 yards with ease, will really open up the underneath 15-20 yard routes for Stevie and Woods, and will help keep the running game open.

I wonder - I know this move is probably fueled most by the desire of Bills coaches to get Manuel more reps, but also, I think it speaks to their satisfaction with Tuel. I noticed on profootballtalk.com that Vontae Leach, the Ravens FB, is going to be released or traded. Hmmm... the Bills are going to use a FB, and to add that kind of blocker to help Spiller/Jackson, and to aid with QB protection - that makes sense to me, too. Now we have an open roster spot.

Yeah - it's obviously EASIER for anyone who likes the Bills, or just is speculating on football, to say, "Buffalo sucks", or "Buffalo needs to prove it to me before I believe in them". I've been a Bills fan since I was 12, and started watching the NFL, which is going on over 20 years now. Every year I'm the guy saying, "The Bills could be pretty good this year, or maybe make a wild-card, IF THEY DO THIS, or IF THEY CAN DO THAT". I try to focus on what needs to be done to improve and to become competitive. Sure, lately it's not taken too long to become obvious that such things aren't happening, and I, too, end up recording more games than watching live. What excites me this year - more so than in many recent years - is that almost all of the offseason things I'd of said they should do to become better have been done. Now it's just a matter of these guys going out and playing ball. I see us going anywhere between 6 and 10 wins this year, and having a good shot at the playoffs, so I am excited!

There are going to be a bunch of good players on the Bills offense - Woods, Stevie, maybe Rogers, Manuel - but despite their talents, C.J. is and will be the most electric, gifted, amazing player we'll have on this offense until he begins to wear down. He is WORLD CLASS talented. On Defense we also have a bunch of talent - Gilmore, Byrd, I believe Alonso will be very good, Mario, Dareus, K. Williams, and even Carrington, will all be good. The best? I think Gilmore might prove to be elite, as compared to all CB's in the NFL, and I'd bet Dareus has a good year, too.

We all know how imperative good Safeties are for Pettine's defense - and, I think we've got that position covered, and then some, so long as Byrd is playing for us. However, giving Pettine a shut-down CB like Gilmore, if he plays top 5, even, would pretty much allow Pettine to do all the things he did as a Jet - except, I think we have a better front 7. That would allow him to field a top 5 defense consistently. Imagine how much winning we could do with a top defense! I see wild-card very much in Buffalo's reach THIS YEAR.

He reminds me of a younger, more sociable, energetic Tom Coughlin. However, I suspect if I were more familiar with the old-school coaches of the 60's and 70's I'd have a couple better fits from that era.

I LOVE the fact that Buffalo has a young roster full of promise, that we're NOT in the salary cap HELL that some teams are in, or will be in in the near future. We've been pretty smart about things financially - which makes us a team that is set to be a real factor for the next 5 or more years. However, part of that is in retaining your own - and, as others have already noted, that money better be spent on guys like Byrd, Wood, Spiller, and Carrington.

Yeah - I zeroed in on that, too. And, I heard Marrone talk about how good EJ's been doing, and that he expected him to do so, but that EJ's almost exceeded expectations (which, I think, might be attributed to EJ's picking up on those blitzes, whereas Kolb and Jackson have been getting sacked quite a bit, I've read), and that the overall depth chart for the QB's going into camp IS GOING TO BE DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE. That, to me, is indicative of EJ's progress and his chances at starting - which is to say, it's NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION that he is the week 1 starter, at this point. They haven't ruled it out. I think it comes down to Kolb and EJ, and if they believe Kolb gives us a better chance at winning, then I'll support that view. However, I really think EJ's got the leg up to start on game day because Kolb has shown a susceptibility to get sacks. We'll see.