Bills Fan of St Augustine

While I may not agree with his assessment that the OL is old or aging, he is spot the F*CK on when he describes them as nonathletic! Wood sucks, too small and evidently not very strong either. Both runs we try from the one he gets blown up in a big way. Nothing new when our OL goes up against big physical DL. RG, RT are young and not NFL ready. Urbik is a marginal emergency fill-in. The left side is better but nothing to write home about; although RI was a great signing. As I said last year and the year before, we need to draft athletes at the OL positions (Big, strong, quick) and stop reaching for guys other teams passed on. Koujo, Richardson, Henderson, strike one, two and three. This has been a serious problem for a long long time predating 2009. ESPN: "A decent amount of pressure rests on the young shoulders of Eric Wood and Andy Levitre. The Buffalo Bills need these rookies to perform straight away for an offensive line that’s going through a serious overhaul slathered with skepticism. “We’re going to have five guys probably playing in new positions up front for the Bills,” Wood said ....Wood and Levitre are projected to be the starting guards, positions they weren’t known for in college." Some people on this board nearly cried when Levitre wasn't resigned and the Titans signed him to a six-year, $46.8 million contract that included a $10.5 million signing bonus and $13 million in guaranteed money.The Titans then traded Levitre to the Atlanta Falcons for a 2016 6th round draft pick. Why? Not big enough, not tough enough (6'2" 305 or same size as Wood)... Sign a free-agent OG (Lupati was a miss for us at 6'5" and 330lbs with good agility) is critical as is a RT. Draft a C who either beats out Wood or develops behind him for a season. Yeah, I know I'm living in the past. But the past is the current and likely the future if they don't build from the OL out. TT, Shady, Karlos, etc... look much better behind a premier OL.

Taylor may or may not be the answer, but he most certainly was not the reason we lost this game nor the season. My list includes: Very poor defensive play led by an overpaid and underachieving DL An offensive, offensive line. Can't punch it in from the one when your center is tossed around like a rag doll. Or make a comeback when your LT dives at a DEs feet and whiffs. Some point to Kelley as the last time we had a great QB and I agree, but he also had a great OL and lost when that OL got manhandled by massive DLs from Dallas and Washington. Gotta fix the holes in the OL. Coaching. Our play calling was very questionable throughout the year and especially early on when it mattered. The D tanking the way it did must be laid at the feet of the coaching staff. Injuries all around but especially in the D secondary hurt us later in the year. Big special team's gaffs that aren't the norm in Buffalo. All of the above come before Tyrod's play in what amounts to his rookie year. He will be back for next year and Manuel is still lurking. We do need to start drafting QBs in the 3-5 rounds and hope one hits. I liked Cousins coming out of Mich St and was disappointed when we didn't draft him. That said, he has struggled at the NFL level and only recently been anointed the Foreskins savior playing well but on a .500 team. QBs need time to develop and rarely do you get a finished product right out of college.

I wish Wood was average. See him get blown up on both goal line runs? Dude got picked up in the air and thrown to the ground on a power run. Can't be bullies with sissies at the point of attack.

The question is moot. We won't win out. No chance in hell. 8-8. This year, what an incredible waste of defensive talent. Thanks Rex.

High ankle sprain. I spent a couple months in a cast as a kid with similar.

Stats say Clay is getting the targets. I'd like to see a break down of where we throw the ball. Seems like we hit a lot in the flat and sideline. Middle feels underused to me. Maybe I'm wrong, but more quick throws into the seams or middle makes sense when we're being blitzed. Run some quick pick plays to free up both guys and quickly hit the one who comes open. TT still learning to feel the pressure and needs some quick reads to slants and crosses. Seemed early in the year there was some success up the seam to Clay? Can't ground and pound against run blitzes and stacked lines. Shady has been a marvel to watch of late, but the OL has been a glaring weakness against strong front sevens. My two cents...

Hate the Pats, but both calls were correct.

If the entire Patriot team including the coaching staff were shipwrecked and clinging to lifeboats, I would be rooting for the sharks.... Anybody bit the cheaters...

I really hope not as so many Bills fans have a hard enough time staying upright for a 1pm game. By 8pm, many will have passed out and will miss the game!

Any chance he's color blind and missed seeing the game?

Naw..they are at Denver and then at SD before getting us. They are tough at home but likely looking at 3-7 when we come to town. Winnable. We will lose to Pats. After that, we can beat the others. I bet we lose another home game and a winnable road game. 3 more losses would be ok at 9-7.

We were very lucky and I now have a major headache after watching our offense in the 2nd half. The OL got pushed around. Glenn in particular looked pretty bad. Shady was special. I don't know why we didn't look for Clay or other TE down the middle with quick throws to slow down their rush. No much from WRs either into the middle of the field which should have been open. We won ugly on the road missing the three "Bills" on D. I thought he jumped early....the throw was there...

I really don't think we'll get squat, but maybe someone out there is desperate enough to give us something. Jets for Geno straight up?

No hate here for Maybin. Serious questioning the talent evaluators that said the kid could play in the NFL at all as an undersized DE/LB. What a waste of a pick.

Should have been obvious to Rex. If it ain't broke don't fix it. So why did he try? Now he needs to fix it and soon! I agree. The only minor issue I would take with your post is that the two gap improves run D. On average that may be true or in theory, but when DL penetrate into the backfield consistently in the one gap, the opportunity for hits behind the line of scrimmage increases enormously. Its simply a better defense for the talent level (and compensation) we have on the DL.

Well I didn't see much from either one. I just checked the box score and they had Mario credited officially with one tackle, no assists, no sacks. Dareus only had an assist. I expect a lot more from both of them. They have a combined $27.2MM cap number! That's 20% of the entire team. Agree on the LBs and Brown in particular was dreadful. (Think I said Powell above) Also agree we are not good enough to run on trickery. I don't think our OL in particular are athletic enough to do much else but power blocking. Against weak Ds this works, but let's see how they fare against the Jets Thursday night.

I retain Woods and Glenn provided we don't overpay for either. For Glenn that means average starting LT money, not high end. No way he's worth a tag. Competent OL are in short supply so I would bring him back at a reasonable price. We still need someone to move the pile as none of our OL are particularly powerful off the ball besides RI. I let Bradham walk.

Complete lack of discipline on Defense. Where was Mario, did he play? Dareus had a couple of tackles but not much else. Hughes had his best game of the year, but all in the 2nd half. The "hit" out of bounds was consummately stupid! Missed Kyle today too. Powell has to learn to wrap up. I thought the secondary played very well. Front seven were awful for much of the game. Oh, and get Sammy the damn ball every game!

Agreed. And if you cut a bun in half for a burger, it still isn't a sandwich either. A beef on weck is not a sandwich. A french dip (who cares, it's french!) Anything served between two slices cut from a loaf of bread would constitute a sandwich. Submarines (grinders, hoagies, etc) are often miss-classified as sandwiches too.

I'm not buying it. The OL still can't block. We pay huge money for the DL to hold off OL so mediocre LBs can make plays... or not. We take way to many penalties some of which are just stupid like the taunting calls and other unsportsmanlike calls. It's not just learning a new scheme. Discipline is lacking, attitude is poor, professionalism is absent.

This.

Neither are viable back ups let alone starters. Cassel has no potential, EJ could have potential if he were hit hard enough above the shoulders and it jarred something loose. I'd still take EJ over Matt. Watch the Dallas game tonight? Vintage Matt Cassel.

Either would help, but I don't see it happening.

Well said. Too early, but not overachieving to be sure...

Another awful call in a long and awful season.