AKC

I'm with ya'. Embarass them with 220 yards rushing, prefereably right over T Bruschi.

Just watched some of the Raider/Chiefs game from last week. The Celebrity factor is high with Michael McDonald running the Raider D and Burgess Meredith coaching the Chiefs DLine, but the Chiefs fill-in for Willie Roaf is clearly underpowered and underskilled. I'll lose an awful lot of faith in Aaron Schobel if he doesn't raise Jordan Black's sacks allowed this year from 5 to 7.

The date of this might give you an idea of the white-knuckling that's been going on in my Bill's world- PreSeason Post

Very good point- one thing that should be obvious even to the most hard-headed of Bill's fans is that the QB is simply another piece of the puzzle and the idea that the QB is the most important postion on the team is simply foolish and proiven wrong game after game. The further our young guys get the better for them and us.

As Vince Lombardi pointed out, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". There's a reason the trophy isn't named after Hank Bullough. Another very wise and successful coach shared this with us: "Winning is the best experience".

I assume we'll try to get Gandy some help on that side on any 5 or 7 step passes. Considering the futility of our RBs blocking skills in the pass game Mark Campbell might spend a lot of time to his side on Sunday.

It's unsettling to have your nightmare play out before your very eyes with absolutely nothing that you can do about it.

I took another look at it- it looks clean unless he's got a handful of jersey and my resolution isn't good enough to tell.

Much to the delight of Larry Johnson, you'll see Sunday that we could have used a guy like Pat Williams too ;-)

Sam had a very active first quarter, short as that was for our D. Funny thing is by the Pat's thrid series he showed signs of fatigue and you're right, the package with Kelsay/Schobel/Denney and Anderson was used starting in the 2nd quarter. There was even a 3-4 play in the 1st quarter with the Pat's buried deep on their own side of the field where we used Sam, Aaron and Chris.

You might want to wind that one back- what I see on that play is actually great technique for a Tackle- McGinnest jumps the snap and gets a great start but Peters rides him upfield and out of the play, just the way it’s taught to OTs at every level. I’ve spent as much time over his stint with us watching Teague as any Bill since he’s been put in a lot of difficult situations, and I’d say your response regarding the breakdowns to his left side and the injuries to an effort player on his right have been by far the biggest cause of the low-lights for Trey. The great thing about football is that this week we get to see whether I’m correct on TT and co.- I don’t expect MWilliams to be a liability to Trey and Villarial appears healthy again- I’d think we should look good running AND passing Sunday unless the Chiefs find a way to exploit Peter’s inexperience. He’ll face Hicks who is almost a hybrid of Warren and McGinnest, the two guys he dealt with well in NE. Hick’s is no stronger than Warren and he’s not as quick as McGinnest. That suggests to me Peters should have another good outing. The wild card might be Jared Allen on the other side, a tough assignment for any LT. Gandy walks away with a good game Sunday it'll be time for the team to print some of his jerseys up for resale. Everything I’ve seen from Mike Gandy suggests to me he’ll be a starting lineman in the NFL again next season for someone. If we keep building towards the power running team our geography rewards I won’t be disappointed at all to see him topping our depth chart at LT next season. His lack of great lateral footwork will allow some very quick guys to beat him on occasion, but I’ve seen the best at the position give up occasional plays. Gandy’s cost/value ratio is the best of any player on our OLine, it’s crazy AFAIC to focus there as long as that ratio holds. As mentioned above - he gets a very tough test in pass protection against Jared Allen this week, the kind of player who should reasonably be salivating at a SUnday across from MGandy. (Since you're fond of puzzles) I figure if I can coax you into a few more posts in the string we’ll set the all-time SSALOP record. ;-)

We'll find out Sunday whether MW looks like a fit at G, and it would be tough to project Peters out as a starter after one game against predominantly the very one-dimensional Ty Warren, a guy a little stiff to be playing DE in even in the 3-4. The great thing is that Peters has had a full 2 weeks to consider those reps he had against Willie McGinnest, a pass rusher who has mode a lot of OLinemen look bad. Peters seemed to win the day on a lot of plays with sheer athleticism versus good fundamental technique, and that won't hold up every week. It' s great that he's an athlete, but he'll face some embarrasment sometime probably sooner rather than later as he's getting his footwork together- don't be surprised if it's by some 220 pound safety or uber-quick LB who beats him badly for a big play/plays. Overall though, giving Gandy and Teague a player to work with should make the left side far better in pass pro and it's hard to imagine the run game not benefitting over that side also. IMO Sunday's going to tell us an awfu lot about our offseason strategy for the 2006 season- one way or the other.

I really was eyeing the big boys and only went back to the receiving crew on a few plays where they were involved in something obviously good or bad. I only spotted Evans on two plays and he got his target set and hit it. Campbell's awful play was in pass pro. I'd say that he is much better on the move because of his very good range and ability to get his target lined up, what ails him in the passing game may be having his feet set up and that long body being unable to get low enough to get under his guy's pads. I have more of the 2nd half to watch, I'll keep an eye out; the sore thumb just always red flags Neufeld and my standard for MC on passing downs may be diminished as a result :-P Let me amend that on one point- I have noticed that the offense does a lot of plays with him where he has a chuck before his route, and there was a real good one for 8 or 9 yards in the NE game. He has a number of designed release or chuck blocks from the way I see it, this would not look good in single frame.

I fall on the other side of it- I'd say this could be a very good football team from the personnel side if this off-season we add: 1) A top run stuffing DT, the kind that is available nearly every year in Free Agency on the cheap since they don't have the sack stats to attract the big bucks. 2) A quality #2 blocking TE- the kind available virtually every off-season in Free Agency on the cheap since they don't have the big reception numbers to attract the big bucks. That would presumably give us a 3TE rotation with a downfield trheat, a reliable receiver and the bodies to REALLY stack up well in the RZ. 3) An answer at LOG or a depth pickup in the first half of the draft if Preston finds himself in the starting lineup before this season ends. 4) A one gap DT in the draft within our first 3 picks. 5) A FB in the draft or FA if Goldsbery isn't showing on the PS that he's making a serious run at knocking Damien Shelton off our roster in 2006. 6) Another gem CB in the middle of the draft with starting potential. 7) A legitimate B/U for Lawyer Milloy. Wasting picks on QBs simply because we don't have the other pieces in place is foolish. Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Tom Brady and Kurt Warner have won the recent Super Bowls; the talent level at QB on our roster isn't what's handicapping this offense.

I agree- one pass KH has proven to place well is the slant, I'm not sure how you throw that to the left if MW is standing in your passing lane! I'd guess Big Mike, if he's over the foot isses, improves our pass blocking a lot and our run blocking to a lesser degree. As you note, the quesiton will be what does he take away from us by being far too tall in the conventional wisdom of the game?

Had a chance to flip the NE tape in last night, some of my thoughts on the offensive side of the game: There’s common NFL talk about an OLine “gelling” over time- the reality of this presumption is that overall it’s more important for the 3 guys in the middle; the Center and both Guards; to work a s a single unit. Much of the game, and specifically in pass protection, the OTs work on their own with the middle unit typically being responsible for 2 defenders and any inside blitz pickup. With Chris Villarial seemingly healthy after multiple early season problems it was easy to see in the NE game just how well he works with Trey Teague. There’s a McGahee draw from our own 4 that these two completely open up for a 12 yard gain on first down- one of the toughest places to block on the field withthe attention defenses give to holding the middle at that end. The two work very well in pass protection together on that right side and Villarial did a commendable job when matched up one-on-one against Vince Wilfork for much of the day. The good chemistry between these two players is the kind of thing great offensive lines have between their front 3. It’s refreshing to see the team responding to the fact that on the other side of Teague we just don’t have the same, or for that matter any sign of decent chemistry. With any luck the Bennie Anderson experiment as a starter is over- Anderson is simply an incredibly inconsistent player who gives a decent effort on one down and is standing hands on hips before the whistle blows on the next. At his size Bennie should have been embarrassed to be pushed 3 yards back into Holcomb by Willie McGinnest coming on an inside stunt loop. It’s almost physiologically impossible for a guy with a 100 pound advantage PLUS ideal position to get flopped into his own QB. Benny doesn’t do a good job of using his hands and feet at the same time, it appears to me that mentally it’s simply too much for him to process and he ends up focusing on one or the other. He misses his pass blocking pickups either from a lack of vision, a lack of reaction or more likely a combination of both. As bad as Anderson plays at times, he has a guy to his left who gets a lot of very unfair things said about him. Mike Gandy plays surprisingly sound football at the LT spot- his one big liability is he doesn’t have a natural slide like the big money LTs, but he does have good fundamental technique; on running downs he engages and gets his weight out well over his waist very effectively and keeps his feet moving, in pass protection he normally makes good decisions about where to set and then he is patient waiting for his assignment to commit before he punches or controls the defender with his arms. He rarely gives up on a play and always seems to be looking for a target on the second level if he’s moved downfield. The first play after the Patrick Pass fumble is the second play of the game where Gandy puts his man down on the field on his back, in this case McGahee takes off through the hole for 9 yards. As surprising as Gandy has been, it’s safe to assume he’ll be even more effective once we find something more than a bloated up warm body to play inside him. Help at LG will also dramatically improve Teague’s undeserved reputation at Center. Trey Teague continues to be a superior NFL lineman in the open field and a major asset in the middle when he isn’t covering for injured or inept players to his sides. Look no further than the screen pass to McGahee on the second drive where Teague CONSUMES Mike Vrabel to open up the field for an 8 yard gain. There’s no doubt there are a few centers in the league you could plug into this team who would arguably be a better fit for a power running offense, at the same time we’ve been power running pretty effectively most of the season and the dimension a guy like TT offers in second level blocking expands dramatically what we can do with screen passes, misdirection plays, delayed runs and under routes. Jason Peters- I must say it was impossible not to appreciate the circumstances of his start and the effectiveness with which he played. I will expand on the good things he did but there was one major disappointment- on the Parrish reverse Peter’s failure to get a chuck on Ty Warren blew the whole play up- Parrish’s speed was negated by a big body standing in his favored path, it’s impossible to say how far Parrish might have gone without Warren’s presence but it looks to me like it may have been a good gainer. For the most part Peters was exceptionally effective against Warren. In fact watching how well he handled him one-on-one OI was surprised Belichick didn’t adjust to force him to play a quicker player before the Pat’s began lining up Willie McGinnest across from him occasionally beginning in the middle of the 2nd quarter. McGinnest gave Peters more of a challenge, and it made it clear that we wouldn’t want to see Peters playing at the other OT spot any time in the near future, but overall he held up incredibly well for a guy thrown into the lion’s den. I’m not someone who gets excited about the stunt plays like Peter's TD catch, but playing a game at the RT spot as effectively as he did has drawn me closer to becoming a Peter’s fan. It’ll be a can’t miss watching area of the field this weekend for me. Among our TEs I remain surprised by negative comments on Mark Campbell. All the guy does is play better than average at the TE position week in and week out, doing everything asked of him and having very few lapses (like the one bad whiff he had in NE). While for the most part this guy is arguably a top 20-25 TE in the NFL, the fact that the Antonio Gates, Algee Crumplers and Tony Gonzalez’s get the press is simply because of the media and fan obsession with players handling the ball. Campbell has developed into a damn good football player, and if we had another TE who could block in the mix he’d see more balls come his way. The B word is that Ryan Nuefeld is wasting space on the other end of our line in our 2TE run set, and Ryan Nuefeld is simply awful. On another of his pathetic missed blocks this season he forces Holcomb to throw the ball away, beginning the “grounding” discussion that ends up a no call. On the play, Roosevelt Colvin- plastic hip and all- makes a foot fake that send Nuefeld fallingto the turf to give the rushing lane up. Another play worth noting was the screen to Parrish- again the play is blown up, this time by a terrible Sam Aiken miss of tiny Ellis Hobbs. The balance of our team, from the OLine to our WRs, all have their assignments tied up. In fact Jason Peter’s has gotten downfield in position to spring Parrish for a major gainer, yet everything is blown up by Sam Aiken’s unbelievably poor shot at tying up an easy- and much smaller- target. I’m honestly convinced that from what I saw in our second drive from Willis McGahee that even at 47 years of age I could still throw a more effective cross body block. Damien Shelton’s whiff leading to a Holcomb sack was negated by NE penalty, but his continued ineptitude in most pass blocking situations in my mind makes it fair to call out our Running Back’s Coach Eric Studesville-for too many years we’ve had unwilling or awful blocking from our running backs and it’s time someone did something about it. If these players need one day every week of working with McNally then let’s get it done. We have occasional offensive line breakdowns but the simple reality of this Bill’s team, like its most recent predecessors, is that THE weakest link in pass blocking for us is from our running backs. This must change if we are ever to take advantage of the speed WRs we’ve spent dearly for in our recent drafts. OAN-I remember being confused during the live telecast by a Mike Patrick comment that McGahee “got back to the Line Of Scrimmage, Bruschi was in on the stop”. As it had appeared to me live, McGahee had just popped a first down up the middle of the Pat’s Defense. It all makes so much more sense now, realizing the idiots in the booth weren’t watching the football game at all.

It will be merely one more season if he refuses to recognize his miscalculations as to the importance of the first 3 players in the DT rotation. There's always holes to fill on a bottom 25 team but not a single thing would have gone further to have put us in first place today than had we addressed our lack of a 2nd starting quality DT in the offseason.

If I'm reading this right your premise suggests someone has crystal balls that allow them to tell the one promising 5th or later round QB from the 25 who will never start an NFL game?

With 54% going to the shameful broadcast by ESPN it wouldn't have been in the running anyway. The ABC response on the following Monday night broadcast, presumably to the media and consumer complaints lodged against ESPN within a day of the episode, shows the pressure the Networks are under to avoid stepping in sh-- like Theisman and Co. did. Part of this no doubt are internal concerns about ABC's upcoming promotion of Theisman into that Monday Night Football booth. Perhaps some further "campaigning" on the part of the league's fan base will convince ABC to kill the awful idea of advancing Theisman's pitiful broadcasting career.

Wish you could make it- with even the slightest luck the best stories will require a PM ;-)

Tell us agains how you don't actually get to watch the games because you're too cheap to buy DirecTV! Perfect Pat's fan- doesn't actually WATCH football, just buys what the local KMart has for jerseys.

Stop the presses! Hollywood Donahoe declares message board Trolls to be the true arbiters of maturity internet wide! Let no one say you won't dare to scale the weakest of limbs.................

What actions by a team, players or fans so far this season has earned itself the title of the most pathetic development?

While I can admit that it's possible to read the stats incorrectly, you on the other hand are forced to hide behind the fact that you have so little conviction in your research that you would refuse my bet- even when you'd have won it! I rest my case on the lilly-liveredness of the Pat's bandwagoneers on your refusal to stand behind your point when called out. And before you throw words like pompous and D-Bag around a Message Board, you might take a look around- it's a Bill's Message Board. I could choose to be a pompous D-bag by going to the Patsy boards and spending my time rubbing in how pathetic your team is this season, but that'd simply make me a pompous D-Bag like you!

You're inability to read stat sheets is immaterial to a conversation where you've insisted your false information is accurate. Bulger 2004 Splits ESPN