yungmack

Great post.

My guess is that linebackers will be a primary focus this coming off season (and draft). I think when Nixley looked at the roster, they had to decide which players were good enough to get them through this season and which needed to be really, really upgraded right away. The "good enoughs" will be addressed for next season. That includes Poz and Mitchell.

Bills release 19 players By Buffalo Bills * a * a ORCHARD PARK, NY - The Buffalo Bills today released the following 19 players: C Sean Allen RB Andre Anderson RB Joique Bell QB Levi Brown G Kirk Chambers DE Rashaad Duncan FB Rodney Ferguson C Christian Gaddis TE Andrew George WR James Hardy T Nick Hennessey WR Chad Jackson CB Ellis Lankster G Andre Ramsey WR Naaman Roosevelt CB Lydell Sargeant RB Chad Simpson G Jason Watkins LB Donovan Woods The Bills also announced that SS Jon Corto has been placed on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform and TE Derek Schouman has been Waived/Injured. The Bills roster now stands at the mandatory 53 players. After 12 noon tomorrow, Sunday, September 5, NFL clubs may establish a Practice Squad of eight players by signing free agents who do not have an accrued season of free agency credit or who were on the 45-Player Active List for less than nine regular season games during their only Accrued Season(s). A player cannot participate on the Practice Squad for more than three seasons.

I watched the game...twice for some parts...and I thought Brohm was very good, considering the abysmal play by the line, particularly Chambers. He has a good sense of touch, he's accurate, he's not afraid to put the ball into tight spots, he seems to read the defenses correctly and quickly, he's got a quick release, and if needed, he can chuck it a mile. And boys and girls, he ain't afraid to run it, which he did very well. The biggest difference between him and Fitz (to me) is that Fitz sometimes seems to lose his accuracy, and to start throwing gopher balls and floaters. I'm sure that's a matter of mechanics but I don't see that problem with Brohm. So if I had to pick between the two, it would be Brohm.

Our QBs are all decent enough and have been working assiduously in Chan's scheme for months now. In order for the Bills to pick up a Qb who gets cut today, the guy would have to be something really special and I seriously doubt there will be any QBs of that caliber available. As to extra O linemen, yeah, grab a few because our backups are horrendous. Look, I'm old, I'm under 200 pounds, but I swear I can do a better job than Chambers. If a decent TE is available, that might be a good addition. I already hate Foschi. We don't need RBs and WRs. The shame is the Bills are going to have to cut some guys who in years passed would have easily made the team. And I suspect we'll all be shaking our heads down the road when some of them go on to success elsewhere. LBs are a concern and (I know this is heresy around here) the depth of our DBs in this new system is a concern to me. They seem small and slow against the run, and tentative (which suggests they haven't really "gotten" the new system). If a great D lineman came available, I'd make a run on him. Otherwise, why bother? We already have guys who are just okay. My biggest concern continues to be special teams (though they have seemed to improve a little each game). I'll wait till the regular season before I officially become worried about Moorman and Lindell. To my eyes, Lindell's kickoff power looks to be in decline. His FG ability is as good as ever. Moorman hasn't seemed to be as accurate with his punts this year. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from them -- these guys are two of the best in the game. Still...

Nice assessment. What about Special Teams? They look scary-awful to me. Has De Haven had a stroke or in some other way suffered a loss of IQ?

Whether or not they keep Hardy likely comes down to roster room. If enough guys at other positions are cut, then maybe he stays. Otherwise, he loses in a numbers game.

Go to the video highlights on the Bills site. It's there.

Who cares what Warren Freakin' Sapp thinks about anything? On the other side of the situation, Jon Ritchie on ESPN chose the Bills as the most surprising team so far.

An interception is nearly always a possibility on a long pass, no matter the QB, no matter the team. It takes time to develop, it takes time for the ball to get there, and thus the defenders have more time to judge the throw and react. It's generally a high risk/high reward play. Pretty exciting though when it works.

I think we'd have to ask ourselves, Why would the Bills be interested in Leinhart in the first place? Obviously I'm not a "football man" anywhere near the level of a Buddy Nix. But even at my level of insight, it's clear that Leinhart's no upgrade at all over the QBs the Bills currently have. In fact, to me he looks inferior to our QBs. So unless Nix and Gailey can see a potential for greatness in Leinhart that has escaped everyone else in the league (with the possible exception of Pete Carroll), then I cannot for a second imagine them making a trade at this late date. Can you?

Now that's funny..........

Thanks for the insightful and highly informed analysis of the tackles.

If having sex with your sister was grounds to never get a job, no one in the Kentucky hollers would be working.

And do you think the Bills fans would have the patience to wait 14 years like they did in P-Burgh? There were jamokes on this board who were in suicidal mode after the first preseason game, already declaring that Gailey stunk.

Mac Speedy was not only hung over for the first Super Bowl, he was still drunk. And had a legendary performance. Dock Ellis once pitched a no-hitter while tripping on acid.

Good article. Thanks. Does make me shake my head in frustration that the Bills didn't grab Maurice Drew when they had the chance. For some reason, OBD just wasn't listening to me. Go figure.

I remember my heart sank when the Niners picked Patrick Willis.

Great analysis. An emerging characteristic since Buddy Nix returned to the fold -- two drafts now -- is that they are drafting what seem to me to be high character kids, level-headed, non-egomaniacal, who also had a strong commitment to their academics.

Kenmore's own Gregg Easterbrook has gone on to fame and fortune in the heady world of, well, all sorts of writing. But for football fans, his weekly ESPN column, Tuesday Morning Quarterback, is (or should be) indispenable. Here's the link to his latest column, largely of his take on the AFC as we head ever closer to Opening Day (or Afternoon, or Night, as the case may be): http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/100824_tuesday_morning_quarterback&sportCat=nfl

I'm not sure exactly how many guys are on the roster right at this minute after the flurry of signings and Matthews being waived/injured, but teams have to get down to 75 players after this weekend. Who do you think will go in this first cut?

Yeah, wouldn't want the Bills to get stuck with a bum like John Elway or Jim Plunkett.

I thought some of you might like to read a little bit about Andrew Luck of Stanford who I think just might be the best pro prospect QB in college. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0822-andrew-luck-20100822,0,3500844.story

Lots of talk around this board about which QB are the Bills likely to cut, Fitz, Brohm or Brown (Maybe even TE?). Whomever they choose, it doesn't bother me much because I can't see any of them coming back to haunt the Bills this season, if ever. HOWEVER, it's another story all together with the RBs. They're all so good that whomever they cut (or trade)is going to do very, very well for someone else. And I'm going to be grumbling about it. But I don't know what else they can do. Short of a season-ending injury to one of them before Miami, one and probably two, are going to be gone. I know it's a good problem to have, too many really good players at one position. But I'm going to hate it no matter who they cut.

Not to be too "lawyerly," but Gailey merely stated the obvious. He's keeping three QBs so, of course, Fitz and Brohm could make the team. Which doesn't mean they will. A better question would have been, "You have three QB slots so will you keep TE, Fitz and Brohm?"