AKC

I've been stewing about this too though for a different reason; regarding the guys you can get to help for reasonable salaries- for instance look at TE, a position where other teams brought in help like Anthony Becht on the cheap to give them a legitimate 2nd blocker for their 2TE packages. We've used the 2TE package all year long with the DREADFUL Ryan Nuefeld playing in it- when you KNOW your philosophy is going to call for a lot of 2TE sets, DO SOMETHING ON THE CHEAP to guarantee you have the bodies to plug into it.

You could make that argument only if football were a complete vacuum and all third downs were exactly the same circumstances. The unfortunate reality is that they are not. Dynamics like what happens on the first and second downs dramatically impact what happens on third down. Here's some facts you should consider: Last year we were the 4th stingiest team in the league simply allowing teams to rush for first downs against us. In fact, throughout 2004 only 33% of first downs against us came running the ball. This year we give up over half of first downs against us on the ground. What the stats support is what we all saw during most of our games last year- we were leaving teams in 3rd and 5, 3rd and 6 situations with regularity, and in many cases on their first series. This allowed us to bring in the specialized pass packages to play out on 3rd downs, and consequently end up in the top half of the league in third down defense. This year we're at the bottom. One measure of the quality of your rush defense is rushing TDs allowed. This season we've already given up 11, which is almost double what we gave up ALL SEASON in 2004 when we were the 2nd best league-wide. This is probably the single greatest statistical indication of the quality of your interior D Lineman. Last year we were holding premier NFL running backs to 30 and 40 yard games, this year we're giving journeymen the opportunity to establish career records. Here's the simple truth: In 2004 our quality starting DLine was able to put opposing teams into long third down situations and end up getting our defense off the field- this year's defense regularly sees 2nd and 2 and 3rd and 1, phenomenon almost unknown to our 2004 D! And each 2nd and 2 or 3rd and 1 is likely to end up in a new set of downs, the cumulaitve effect being what we've seen all year inthe 3rd and especially 4th quarters- a debilitated DLine who can no longer stop even #2 and 3 backs. The best managers in football have stacked the DT position on their own rosters. We have flotsam and jetsam after our #1. Pat Williams wasn't the only game in town- but Ron Edwards and Tim Anderson never belonged on the START square. Donahoe simply blew this season away by refusing to bring in someone who could have at the very minimum given us a second starting quality DT at a time when ALL our better opponents have 3 and 4. Instead he appears to have assembled one of the thinnest rosters in the league with limited depth across the board except maybe at RB and WR. What we have assembled is a Fantasy Football team, not a team built upon the contemporary principals of the best managers in the league. Unless of course that league is FF.

In light of the Peters promotion, JP Losman has tendered his resignation as our #2 QB and would prefer the opportunity to wait and play for a Professional Football team someday in the future.

It's surprising to me that many would identify the '05 season with the Parrish pick first and foremost. Many of the best managers in league history have regularly made surprising picks in the early rounds, maybe the big difference being that they still were able to draft for depth at the key line positions on their team. With our lack of any quality draft depth along both lines (or our inability to get a guy like Preston more reps), not to mention at other positions like LB, Donahoe has put together the antithical team to all the modern success stories- the bottom line is that our cupboard is bare while the most potent of our contemporaries have been able to draw up from their rosters to plug in when someone goes down or a change is necessary to firm up a weakness. It makes one questions whether Donahoe was awake all those years in Pittsburgh.

What single management move since the end of the 2004 season has had the most dramatic impact on the fortunes of the Buffalo Bills in 2005?

A colonoscopy?

Maybe April as the wake up call? Considering Simon or Traylor Or how about really getting nervous by June? Edwards for Williams

The answer is NOT on our roster. The talent we've got has already managed to decimate our LB corp and give up season and career performances to opposing RBs; the trading deadline has passed and it would seem that short of enticing someone out of retirement, "hopeless case" would be a fitting synopsis. We do not, nor have we had at any time this season, NFL quality starters and depth at DT.

I think given time and strength training, plus a great big bag of those things NFL linemen don't take, Tim Anderson might become a very good run stuffing lineman in the NFL. He has good form on most downs, he just is too small today to be impactive. Can Sam do it? I think Bill's Fan makes the point well- he's the "complementary" linemen and to force him to "hold up ground", something more difficult for him than a PW type by his higher center of gravity, once again would find us doing the thing that got us into this disaster to begin with- trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. Sam is a penetrating DT who by the nature of his incredible size becomes a major asset in the run game- if he's playing next to a run stuffer. I suggested this off-season that if Edwards ended up our starting DT next to Sam in run packages, we'd see 200 and 250 yard rushing days against us- If anyone would care to see me revise that figure to 350 yards simply suggest Sam Adams manning the NT spot in a 3-4.

It was the great miscalculation of this past off-season. Look at it this way- even with a much weakened offense when compared to the last half of 2004, with PWilliams on our roster today we'd probably be a 5-2 team, or at worst 4-3 and in command of our division entering week 8. Instead we're a freaking laughingstock due to A) the inability of Ron Edwards to carry PW's jock in any positive way and B) our depth at DT to fill out the balance of the roles vacated by Edwards moving from our pass packages to our rushing package. The biggest problem I have with the miscalculations are that they seem so easy to recognize, and I'm going to bring them up one more time to suggest how some of the "remedies" offered in this string have no chance of working. First of all your run stuffer needs a low center of gravity like PW. Sam Adams has a high center for a big man and unfortunately he isn't the answer to any team's need for a solid run stuffer. Sam will always be the answer at penetrating DT, but not at the "stuffer" position. Edwards has a similar center of gravity to Sam, yet his far lesser talents at penetrating agsint run blocking leaves him, as pointed out here, a guy who's only attracting one body across the line. Sam demands 2 simply because of the trouble his first two steps will cause the offense. Anderson has a body type that might someday- with another 30 or 40 pounds of HGH permeated muscle- may become good in the run-stuffing role since he has the lower center of gravity you like in a run stuffer, he simply hasn't yet gained the size and strength to attract what is ultimately 1.5 blockers- a primary blocker and another assigned to chip him first before moving upfield. What has been proven pretty dramatically in the biggest personnel gaffe made by our management in many years AFAIC is that: A) The critical downs on defense are the running downs. The best teams have put an emphasis on the interior players in their run scheme because these are the guys that make your defense good. Sure the one gappers that play in the pass package will get the press and in most cases the bigger bucks, but it's the men of the run package who defenses are built upon. It's far easier to find acceptable talent at the pass package interior than the guys who play on 1st down, yet it's the 1st down linemen who have a dramatically larger influence on the quality of your D. Ron Edwards played in a top NFL defense as a passing down interior lineman last season- this year he his move to the run set precipitated the disaster we have become- and with NO end in site unless Lauvale Sape somehow does an Incredible Hulk impersonation for the balance of the season. B) Quality interior defensive linemen, even if they're specialists who only play run package defense, are some of the least visible players in the league yet they can be the most critical of all in today's NFL. And to prove that argument I offer you the 2005 Buffalo Bills, a train wreck out of the gate due to the incredibly unforgiveable failure of our management to add even ONE credible DT to our roster in the offseason, an off-season in which it became clear to some of us that depth at DT was by far our biggest problem. I think most students of the modern NFL could have objectively looked at our situation and penciled us in for a veteran run stuffer PLUS a true young talent not looking for the development time Tim Anderson had proven to need. The sad truth is the worst has happened- the lack of depth at DT has led to our inability to stop ANY offense but the Texans and our LBs being beat up and worse. The indicators are all there to suppose ONE single move to shore up the spot next to Big Sam would have kept us NFL contenders, instead we'll whimper this season away without even experiencing the hope of pretenders.

Stop being reasonable. My favorite off-season witticism: "Pat Willians is only on the field for 1/3rd of our plays" Based upon scientific results it is possible to support the conclusion the they are the most important 1/3rd!

I'm thinking something along the lines of pinned plus a feature like flashing/fading etc., something to catch the eye up on top.

Somehow I've manuevered for the past 14 years with Sheri without a "formal" arrangement, but should things ever get difficult I'm quite certain the State of California won't let that become a problem for anyone ;-)

Let's just say I've spent the last 5 years trying to turn my girl into Lori.

I can definitely get behind a rule like that. Where do I send my donation?

OUCH!- In answer to your second question, I would never ally myself with a mercenary organization who has not only screwed one but two fan bases. On the first one, it's from a buddy of mine who will be competing with me this weekend for the future display rights to our local Bills/Raiders Trophy called The D Cup.

There must be some logical explanation for how Lori can compile a must-read primer for our upcoming game and apparently hundreds of users here don't take the time to read it.

Raider's Fan Perspective: What an excellent post from the Bills Board. I only disagree with one thing. As with most writers, the consensus is that Adam Treu is not much of a drop off from Jake Grove, since Treu was previously the starter. While Treu is certainly capable, he doesn't generate the push that Grove does. True tends to be content to stand his man up, while Grove creates some running room. Langston Walker's play thus far has been poor, his one bright spot is that he blocks many kicks. Also, keep your eye on return man Chris Carr. He was very impressive in the pre-season, and but for a couple of shoestring tackles, he would have gone all the way several times this season. In my opinion, Oakland's biggest soft spot has been our pass protection. Against San Diego, Collins was repeatedly on his rump, even on short to medium routes with three step drops and only 4 men rushing. Bring on the "D" cup, and let the zebras stay the hell out and let the players decide the game!

Definitely the use- or misuse- of talent on the roster. Neufeld getting so many run down reps instead of ANYONE else on the roster. Our best running back sitting on 3rd downs while we were converting 1/3rd of our 3rd down plays. Edwards out of his skill set playing the run instead of the pass D sets. Insisting on passing the ball in the early games- clearly the weakness of the lines blocking skills- while our OLine has been one of the top 7 or 8 run blocking lines all year long, currently #6 in rushing yardage. To be fair, the team has adjusted three of the problems and the 4th unfortunately has adjusted itself.

It's not the way it used to be around here. We had well-mannered contributors from other teams who came in and shared in the knowledge pool. The poor element we've attracted of late, the kind who come in with monikers taking shots at our team, etc., have for the most part discouraged the great fans of the past who were regulars and earned the respect of those of us interested in the game.

I like your optimism but the only ball so far he took a downfield shot on had WAY less than it should have. Didn't seem to bother the guy who picked it off though. I don't see KH comfortable making 35 and 40 yard passes, but let's hope you're right and he surprises me on the sloppy ass Oakland turf we should expect Sunday.

I struggle with Bradshaw's legacy the same way I do with Brett Favre, although their levels of success are widely varied. The press during Bradshaw's day did him no favors in painting him as something less than the leader of the team and he always seemd to be making seat-of-his-pants throws when I watched him, much like Favre who I've seen far more of due to broadcast saturation. I have a difficult time geting him in the same company as the "Greatest" even though he has the hardware that suggests he deserves it.

Kind of like a Flea Flicker following 4 straight 8 yard runs inside the tackles? Mularkey has shown a lot of support favoring the element of surprise over sound coaching decisions- if we win in Oakland with KH and he makes a change to start the NE game he will have confirmed my worst fears about his selection as a head coach.

I always had a preconception about Cox that was vanquished when I met he and his wife. Speaking only in the short term, I have to say I thought he was very cool and very gracious, especially since I immediately qualified myself as a Bill's fan. We talked about "events" at RWS and he seemed to be very level-headed about his experiences there.

No one can argue that Young didn’t have the whole toolbox, but something Montana did better was read the field- he had the most innate sense of where bodies were and the instincts to tell which way defenders could and couldn’t move. You so rarely saw Joe get a receiver popped hard. At the same time the nod of better QB probably goes to Young since his skills allowed the 9ers to open the West Coast offense for more play action deep throws to complement his ability to go downfield, making him more of a threat than his predecessor. If you wanted to measure the best short passing QB of all time, it’s hard to imagine anyone picking against Montana for the simple reason that contemporarily to be as good as Joe you’d have to be a far better than Joe was. The fact is he was playing in a nearly theoretical system that forced him to relearn the QB position, and the only film he had of a QB playing in it was Virgil Carter. Somehow I get the idea that film wasn't of much value. The Walsh system reversed all the receiver progressions and Joe was really the grasshopper for Walsh- since he had such great success it seems only fair that to eclipse him you’d have to seriously surpass his accomplishments.