GunnerBill
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Posts posted by GunnerBill
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I don't think Manziel looked good last week. I don't know where that narrative came from. He looked like a college QB who goes from first read not being there to tuck and run and on one play hurtled head first into a defensive back. He looked exciting - sure, but good? No way. As said above I haven't seen last night's game yet.
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I agree Yolo. Ponder is the one likely to be cut and the Bills should be doing whatever they can to get to the front of the queue to take him. Thad did ok at times for us last year but he has been horrible in pre-season and teams will have more film on him this year too and I think he would find it more difficult. Some of the limited success he had last year was teams knowing nothing about him.
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If they cut Cassel I would be all over that. I said it when he was briefly a free agent at the end of the season. People forget with Cassel it is not just the year subbing for Brady but he had 2 years as the starter in Kansas City, the second of which he threw for over 3,000 yards, 27-7 TD-INT ratio and a 93.0 passer rating as the Chiefs made the play-offs. He then had an injury disrupted year the next year and played horribly in his last year at KC as he and Brady Quinn swapped the starting job between them, but i thought he was steady for the Vikings last year and he could push EJ for the starting job. However, they are not going to cut him. He will start the first 5/6 games at a guess before they think about going to Bridgewater.
Ponder I see as purely a back up in this league.
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Leadership is about control. I've said this countless times. If Manziel is losing control and giving people the finger in the middle of the game it reflects poorly on his leadership. Not watched last night's game yet I'll watch it later tonight, but I have to say I was impressed with the kid's control in the huddle in game 1 of pre season - he seemed in command.
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I liked Aaron Murray coming out too and I wouldn't have been against a flyer on him in the 4th or 5th round... we were jumping all round the board I lost track a bit of who was left at certain points after day 2 (maybe the FO did too? Haha). However, having not drafted him I don't want to trade for him, or anyone unless I can wangle a player for player trade. We have given up enough of next year's draft in my opinion. Equally at this stage I think we need an experienced back up who has played in this league, not another kid with potential.
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The real question as he is damn good is why we didn't when you have that rarity of a decent QB available go after for good money for Alex Smith. He has been excellent for years
I don't doubt that he would have given us a better chance to win last year and this year than EJ and you could have signed him to a 2 year deal and sat EJ and worked with him for a couple of years. But at the point Alex Smith was a free agent he had been excellent for TWO years in the NFL after Harbaugh had arrived. The year prior to that he was booed at Candlestick and benched for Troy Smith. Yea... that's right. Troy Smith... now of the CFL.
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Has Urbik lined up at centre at ANY point since Marrone came in? I haven't read that he has done it at all this camp and I don't think he has done it in a game. I hope I am wrong but I get the horrible feeling that they keep Legursky.
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I didn't blame him for the Benjamin catch last week... actually thought Benjamin got lucky by tripping or else he wasn't catching that ball he kind of tripped into the perfect spot. The one this week.... hmmmm... not sure he really knew where his man was at any point of that play.
Big year for him.
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Seriously guys? Is this where this pre-season has gotten to? If we had an elite QB the other players on offense would be better? No **** Sherlock.
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Philbin will be done if he doesn't make the play-offs. In other words.... Philbin will be done.
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The check downs on Saturday were what the defense gave him. I think you will see more teams do that against the Bills until we show that we can get things done in the red zone. They will sit off play deep and say "okay if you want to take 5 minutes off the clock dinking and dunking your way down here for 3 points be our guest. But you can't have the big play with one of your speed receivers down the field so you are going to have to find a way of punching the ball in to get more than 3."
No point forcing the ball down the field into mass coverage if it isn't on. Also there was no Watkins after the first series and it seemed big Mike wasn't in there every play as well.
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You might be right.... but even in year 5 in San Fran they were booing him and calling for David Carr, Troy Smith... in fact anyone to go in and play ahead of Alex Smith, he couldn't complete a simple 5 yard out route. So when writing off a Quarterback with 10 NFL starts under his belt I'd say best not to champion a guy who after 50 plus starts was considered a huge bust. Few Quarterbacks shine immediately in the NFL, most take a couple of years to show and a few (your man Smith included) take a lot longer than that. It was year 6 before he proved beyond any doubt that he could play at a level to be a genuine starting calibre QB in the league.
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The only problem with that is, by all accounts, Richardson looks better at RG, so putting him in LG would do nothing. I suppose they could have done the Urbik to LG and Richardson at RG, but it's being reported that that looked bad in practice. So as terrible as he may have been, until Richardson/Kouandjio look better, neither are a solution to the LG problem with C. Williams being out.
Whilst I agree with all that I'd have thought getting Richardson the reps would have trumped anything else.... unless they felt Urbik at LG was so bad it was risking EJ's health as well. I pondered on here last year why Urbik didn't move across when Levitre went so that we were at least relatively secure on the blindside.... maybe he is that terrible at LG.
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Would you trade EJ for Smith, straight up? I think that would be a no-brainer.
Yes - if my job depended only on a winning season THIS year and then I knew I was going. If my goal was to build a Superbowl winner long term then no. And Alex Smith is the prime example of why. EJ's rookie season was better than Smith's. Smith was terrible his first 4 years in the league. He took a loooonnngg time to develop into a genuine bona fide NFL starter. Then he has reached what I think all agree is his ceiling the past 3 years as a very effective game manager. I'd take the chance on developing my guy given that and allow him the same opportunity Smith had when he first came into the league.
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They can't put Koundjio in there with EJ at the moment because he is a risk to his QBs health he is getting beat so bad and that is too big a risk to expose your 1 NFL capable Quarterback to in pre-season. Henderson started, so that is 2 of 3 taken care of. I agree Richardson should have started ahead of Legursky though.
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One non Bills observation. Ryan Shazier was one of may favourite players coming out of this draft from my (admittedly relatively limited) exposure to college football. I was delighted to see him play so well, just disappointed it was against the Bills. If I'd known we were going to lose Kiko I might even have been banging the drum for us to draft the guy. I think the Steelers round 1 and round 2 picks are going to re-energise that old defense. Could be a fun team to watch this year.
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I had a long day on Saturday. The game kicked off here in the UK at 12.30am Sunday morning. I had been to a house party... I'd had 3 or 4 beers I got home, made myself a coffee and sat down to enjoy (ok... to watch) the Bills game. When I saw Legursky starting at left guard I started to wonder whether I was more drunk than I realised.... what on earth was that all about??
Anyway... back to the topic title... I accept the pre-season argument and I agree with the sentiments that you don't show everything early... but one observation I have from Hackettt's play calling in goal to go situations going back to last year was that when we gave the defense a pass play look, we passed and when we gave them a run look, we ran. I look at what the Texans used to do under Kubiak (before last season when it fell apart) and they had success with Foster in goal to go situations out of obvious passing formations. It seemed to simple, but teams bought it week in and week out.
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Coach Marrone's answer at the end of his post-game presser when asked "are you happy with the back up Quarterback play from Lewis and Tuel?" was clear - "No."
I think something will happen before the opening game guys. Marrone is going to be banging on Whaley's door saying "I need a backup who can play." Of all the names listed here Ponder and Orton are the two that I think are a) either available or likely to be available and b) suitable. I'd add Mark Sanchez to that list if he was going to available without us giving something up, but I doubt that he is and we have already weakened our draft position next year too much for my liking.
I can't believe some people still bang the Tebow drum, and to rate him above Sanchez is crazy talk.... as are vague statements like "but he's a gamer".... whatever that means.
EDIT: But I agree with what others have said... it has reached critical point now. The two guys we have are 3rd stringers at best.... we need a back up who can play.
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I was going to say Aaron Williams too. I was actually surprised by how big Kyle Williams' cap number was. Don't think it is beyond the realm of possibility that eventually that leads to him being a surprise cut. Not this year obviously... but once there are signs of his play falling off.
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Russ will stay and he should stay. The guy is passionate, bright, intelligent and has done a lot of good for the organisation. People talk about his hires of Buddy and Chan.... do you people realise what a mockery the Buffalo Bills were around the league in 2009? People didn't want those jobs. They hired Buddy who was a solid football guy (if a little old fashioned and behind certain trends) and then they went about putting a succession plan in place and finding a bright young thing as the long term answer. When the time came and that bright young thing took the reigns they backed him in attracting two other highly rated young personnel guys from other NFL teams in Calvin Fisher and Jim Monos. Russ Brandon gets it..... I think and sincerely hope that he (and Pegula if indeed that is who ends up in control) understand that the way you build winners is not by spinning wheels every time something doesn't work. That sometimes yields results, but only in the way a broken clock is sometimes telling the right time. It is the equivalent of throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks. Whaley and his team must be retained it is absolutely crucial for the long term success of the team. Then you look at the Head Coach and of course then it becomes purely a results business.
But Brandon has modernised so much about the Bills in recent years. If I was Pegula I'd be making it absolutely clear to Russ that he was safe, albeit he is obviously going to have to answer to somebody now in a way that arguably he hasn't been since January 2013.
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I cannot say that I was for or against getting Alex Smith when KC did...but to be fair Alex Smith did not just begin to shine in KC, he did however, just begin to shine when Harbaugh took over the 49ers a few years before that...Alex Smith, under Harbaugh's coaching and game plan, was asked to be efficient and accurate but not a world-beater, ala Favre, Manning, Brady, etc...he was given a strong running game and 1st class Defense and then told to make timely throws, which is what he did...he didn't pass for 4500 yards and 30 TDs, but he did have some of the fewest INTs in the game once Harbaugh arrived...Harbaugh and his style and Offense reinvented Alex Smith for what he is/was: a good, efficient QB that manages the game but is not asked to carry the Offense on his shoulders, and KC already had all the talent for a great Running game and good to great Defense, sound familiar??
Correct he did. But he is the ultimate poster boy for giving Quarterbacks time. People forget that at the end of the Singleterry era there were 49ers fans desperate for Smith to be ditched and for the organisation to "move on". There was clamour before the 2011 season for Kaepernick to start as a rookie... they were done with Alex Smith. Then all of a sudden he finds a system that fits him, a coach that trusts him and it all starts going right leading to him being considered a "hot" trade commodity after losing his job through bad luck in San Fran. Anyone arguing (and there are some on here who do) that EJ can never be a top 16 Quarterback and then arguing we should have traded for Smith because he is a top 16 Quarterback is simply defying logic to my mind. Smith is an above average starter in this league but it took him a long time to get there.
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Williams and Searcy will be the starting safeties with Duke coming up on the rails.
McKelvin and Gilmore will be the starting outside corners.
Robey will start at nickel and Graham will start at dime would be my guess.
Brooks could see some time at dime and Graham will be first cover for all 3 starting corners (cos nickel is pretty much a starting job in the NFL these days). I actually liked Searcy at dime in that package last year.... they could push him in there sometimes and bring Duke in at safety.
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I think they will keep 9 on the o-line. They can't put any of the three rookies on the PS because they would have to cut them first and I don't think any of the three would clear waivers to be honest it would be too huge a risk. The one they probably had planned to PS was Henderson but the way he has shown up in pre-season they can't do that now (and probably wouldn't want to anyway).
So if you go with the 5 vets listed in the post above plus the three rookies then you are left with very little inside depth. I expect as others have said it comes down to Hariston v Legursky for the final roster spot.
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Branch might be hovering close to the bubble - but I don't think he goes in the first wave of cuts. I don't see any great surprises on that list... a boatload of below par defensive backs, linebackers and linemen at a guess.
8/18 O line shuffle
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Glad to hear Urbik took some reps at C, even if they were with the second team. I asked in the roster projection thread has he ever done it under Marrone because before yesterday I'm not sure he had. He did it some under Chan but I don't think he has under Marrone to this point. I hope looking at him there suggests they are coming round to the idea of releasing Legursky.