sven233

Never said it was insignificant. Even said it would be a setback in the race for home field. Of course we don't want to lose it, but if there is any positive to take out of a loss is that it is just Week 1 and there is the entire rest of the season to try and get that win back. Of course it isn't insignificant.

I've said this in other threads since the schedule was announced and I will say it again here. Week 1 is just an unpredictable wild card and no matter what happens in the game, it is not going to affect my outlook on the season at all (well, outside of any injuries that may happen). Win by 40, lose by 40.....won't matter much in the end because these teams are likely on a collision course one way or another come January and both teams will be a lot different by then. If I had a lean, I think I would have it on the Ravens only because, for whatever reason, sometimes it takes us a while to get going in Week 1. I mean we win our share of games in Week 1, but sometimes it is a struggle, even against worse teams. Even last year we played a terrible first half before finally turning things up late against the Cardinals. We won't probably have that luxury of a slow start against the Ravens because their defense is so good. So, unless we come out cooking and keep the game within striking distance, I don't feel great about the game, especially with the questions we have in the secondary right now. All that said, though, win, lose, blowout, etc.......I don't think it is going to set back either team drastically in the long run. Obviously a loss hurts us in the race for home field, but we have 16 more to play catch up if needed.

I think the longer Dane Jackson plays, the better I feel about Tre being ready for Week 1. If there is any chance Jackson was going to have to be CB2 opening night, I have a hard time believing he would still be playing into the 4th quarter of the last preseason game. Not that I am overly confident in Tre being able to do the job, but until Hairston is healthy, he's probably the best answer we have on the roster for that spot. Even when he is healthy, it still may be a while before he can ramp up to take meaningful reps at that spot. Going to have some pains at that position I'm afraid no matter what way we end up going there.

Who knew pelvic soreness was all it would take to fix Bass...... Should have had it a long time ago!

Yeah..... He does some things well but he is very raw and the game is moving quick for him. Perfect PS guy, though.

Really looking forward to watching the All 22 of the defensive line. Walker has obviously flashed with several splash plays, but on a few of the clips out there, it looks like Sanders has been the one eating some double teams which has freed Walker up to go one on one. Not hearing Sanders' name, but if that has been true on several plays, if he's holding his ground against those double teams, then he's having a nice night as well. Either way, I am not sure we will see them in the 2nd half. But based on what we have seen, I think both of those guys get a lot of playing time even early this season.

That's a TD..... Incredible catch!

Hoecht with another great rush..... That guy is going to be a welcome addition after the suspension. He's shown very well for the most part this preseason. And it looks like they saw all they needed to from Bishop tonight. He played well. He may not be perfect, but if he can get his head in the game and use his instincts, he has all the physical traits to be good. Going to be up to him as to how good he will be but tonight was good for him.

Man, we got a 2nd string RB that can kick FGs and a 4th string TE that can punt. If nothing else, that has been fun to watch this preseason.

Two good reps from Bishop so far around the line and a decent clean up tackle on the 3rd play.

Stay healthy! GO BILLS!

While I have my doubts that it would work long term in the NFL, I would love to see a team invest heavily into the best man to man CBs I could find. Load up with them. Then, instead of playing base defense, I would like to rush with numbers. Put your lock down CBs on an island and rush everyone else. If they are blocking with 5, bring 6 or 7. It's basically playing Cover 0 all the time, but you would have to structure your team to be able to hold up on the back end. That's why you would have to have 3-4 premier CBs and get the most speed and power you can find everywhere else. They don't have to be stars because you are sending everyone, but they have to be "traitsy". If you are rushing 7 or 8, I would hope you can stop the run since every gap should be covered in theory "run downs" and you would have to keep an eye on RBs leaking out. But, if you are coming in waves, you can somewhat dictate to the offense what personnel they put out there and they would almost be forced to keep a TE or extra lineman in to block. So, it would take away some of the mystery of what the offense can do. Regardless, I don't think we'll ever see it because it is such a drastic change in the way you would have to play and you would have to full on commit to building your entire defense around the scheme. All your money and top picks would probably be funneled into the CB position because you need the best back there to pull it off. That's why you do see Cover 0 be very effective in spurts. But eventually they get burned because teams just don't have enough lock down CBs to make it work for extended periods of time. But I would love to see a team try it on a regular basis.

For those saying Beane wouldn't trade 2 firsts for Parsons, maybe that's right. But maybe it's not. Beane has made it very clear that a premier pass rusher would be his dream add to this team. Not only with the Von signing or the Bosa experiment this year, but he just came out and admitted a week or 2 ago that if he could add 1 player to our team from any other teams in the league, it would be Myles Garrett. Is Parsons as good as Garrett? No. But he is still one of the best pass rushers in the league and I am guessing Beane would absolutely be interested in adding him if he does become available. Would he trade 2 firsts to get him? I don't know. Maybe. The problem is the contract. To get him in, we would need to restructure a couple guys and trade a couple players away. It's absolutely possible to do. But will he want to trade 2 firsts and 2 players? I am guessing not. So, it's trying to figure out a compromise. All things being equal an I trading 2 firsts for him? If that is what gets it done, I am. We only have so many kicks at the can left with Allen in his prime and it's time to go all in. And while losing 2 firsts would hurt, theoretically they will be very late firsts. And trading up in the 2nd round is a lot easier to do than trading up in the first. So, you still want a pick in the 30s? You can make that happen if you want to. But there are only a couple of guys in the league better at Parsons in terms of rushing the passer. But a guy at his age at that quality doesn't come available that often. Sometimes you just have to take a swing. In the end, though, I highly doubt he ends up being traded.

He had a bad year last year for sure. But at one time, he showed some talent and does have some physical skills. I'd absolutely look at him if released because I do think he is better than Hamlin and the other depth we have. That said, he hasn't lived up to some of the hype he had coming out. PS. For those saying we need a strong safety and not a free safety....... While that may be true in theory, our defense runs best when we have position-less safeties. When Hyde and Poyer were running things, the brilliant thing about their pairing is that they could both do the same things and we could disguise what we were doing on the back end. Can he play both? I don't know. Haven't watched enough of him week in and week out to know what they have asked him to do. But, if there is one position group I trust McDermott to get the most out of, it is DBs and Safeties. I'd trust their judgement in regards to whether they want to bring him or not as they have a lot more tape on him than I do. Regardless.....I think we are rapidly approaching the point we need to do something whether it's him or someone else.

There's not a lot of positive redeeming value to take out of tonight, especially on first watch. Sure, there are a few things I want to take a look at on the All-22 when it comes out, but for the most part this one is just going to be flushed away. I'll look at guys like Sanders, Walker, and Jackson a little closer to see how they did, but beyond that, I am not sure anything interests me to look at closer that I didn't see tonight. While the result doesn't matter to me at all, what does matter to me is the overall poor play of the secondary and Andreeson. As good of instincts as Andreeson seems to have in the run game, it is completely the opposite in the pass game. He is lost out there and the ball is constantly going over his head for big plays. He has no spacial awareness in zone coverage and that's a bit problem on a team that loves to play zone. Last year, I thought he might be a guy that could get us through a game if necessary, but the more he has played, especially in this preseason, I am getting very concerned about the depth at MLB. We have a nice player Bernard as a starter, but I am beginning to think we are nowhere at the position behind him. And the secondary play was pretty horrific to say the least. I hate to hit the panic button in preseason games because there is no game planning. But the fact is, this team by all accounts wants to run more man coverage this season. And after what I saw tonight, I am not sure we have the players to do that. Jackson was awful. Hairston is hurt and going to be running way behind in terms of reps even when he does come back. And Tre, while a nice story and a great guy, isn't someone I want lining up in man anyway. So, I am worried about the depth there, at least until Hairston is healthy and gets his legs under him and enough reps to matter. And this leads me to the Safety position..... Ugh. I have a bad feeling we are going to be longing for the days of Hyde and Poyer holding it down back there for almost a decade. Look....I am not like many on here just writing Bishop off yet. I do think there is some physical talent there, but there's already questions about his health and how much he can play. The other question is whether or not he will get it mentally and he just hasn't been on the field enough to develop that either. Hamlin is a fringe backup. Rapp is a decent player, but he has injury concerns with the way he plays. Honestly, we just don't have much at the position behind him at this point and that could be a problem. I mean, a problem to the point where I am ready to bring someone else in. But is anyone that you can bring in going to pick up the defense in 2-3 weeks enough to make a difference? I mean, are we going to be desperate enough to bring in a physically shot Poyer that at least knows the defense as depth? I don't know. But if I am Beane, I am shopping around for a Safety for sure. There are other things I am going to go back and take a look at as I mentioned, but coming out of this one, it's about MLB and Safety depth for sure.