Webster Guy

The question should be would you trade Spiller for the highest offensive lineman on the Bills draft board when we drafted Spiller. Maybe it was Bulaga, but it probably wasn't. Maybe it was Pouncey the center (who made pro bowl this year) or some other lineman. And I agree with the other posters that you can't evaluate NFL talent until they've played in the league a few years. I think the idea with Spiller was to utilize him in the same way Reggie Bush is used, and it took Reggie awhile to get used to the big leagues (and for the coaches to figure out exactly which plays matched his skill sets)

Cynics everywhere! I'm with ya Uticaclub, smoke em!

I dont agree that trading down is easier to do with a 2-4 vs 5-8. It depends on the rankings, skills and positions of the players available. For example, last year there was Bradford and Suh guaranteed NFL talents that teams would trade up for, but aside from Luck this year, I'm not sure teams will be giving up high picks to move into 2-4. Last year I remember Kiper saying Tampa was desperately trying to trade out of that 3 spot but didn't get any serious offers. What usually happens is someone drops to the 5-10 spots (AP, Rothlisberger, etc) that nobody expected to be sitting there and a team will trade into the spot for their guy. I 'll be glad if we lose to the Jets (AFTER the game is over) now that we can't spoil their playoff hopes, but I'll be rooting for Blue n Red during the game for sure. I think we are a better team.

My favorite thing that Chan brings is strong play calling. Whenever you have a head coach that calls the plays, there is no disconnect with what the OC wants and the head coach wants. For example, are we in 4 down territory right now? That's going to affect what I call on 3rd down and maybe even 1st and 2nd down if I know we're going to go for it in a 4th and short situation. We saw that work in the Miami game when we went for it on 4th with Freddie and we didn't have to take a timeout in order to decide what to do. Chan decisively called it in like any other play, the fins don't have time for major substitutions and we get the 1st and keep rolling on to score. When I see stuff like that happen its evident that this team is not only well coached in practice, but we have a strong gametime coach who knows what the hell he's doing. He puts Fitz in a position to succeed and plays to his strengths. Like Belichick said, we move the ball on everybody. It's nice to see and it makes this a really fun team to watch. Don't forget Fitz still hasn't played a full season yet in his career, so he's got tons more upside and will be even better next year.

Good analysis. Moats also has the lower back strength that can put tackles on their heels a bit. If you aren't strong enough to bullrush an O lineman once in awhile it's hard to set up any other moves especially with left tackles who just wait for your outside move and send you flying upfield and out of the play.

exactly.

Oh Dear God this thread just started weak and got worse every post. If I was the Mod i'd have pronounced this one dead a long time ago. It's like a bunch of A.D.D. drunk chicks that should've gone to bed three hours ago. Speakin of which. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dude London Fletcher was in the pro bowl last year. Are you saying he just got better after he left Buffalo and then learned how to tackle upfield more? He's team captain for the skins defense and he still makes a lot of plays when I watch him. If he came back to Buffalo he'd be the best linebacker on the team. Except for Moops. I mean Moats. The card says Moats.

Ive seen a few Cleveland games this year and big Shaun Rogers was unblockable. He seemed pretty much invisible today. If Rogers wasn't playing injured or sick, then our OL is better than I give them credit for. We ran it right down their throats even on plays when they had up to 9 in the box and they knew it was coming.

Not just Stevie going 7th round but look at David Nelson and Donald Jones. Undrafted and having very promising rookie years. It makes me think we should do nothing but draft big mean linemen on both sides of the ball for a few years until we get a better core.

This was the draft skinny on Arthur Moats. Because of his strong day I thought I'd look him up. This is interesting.... Read & React: Smart, instinctual player, but is still learning the linebacker position. Does not bite hard on play-action or misdirection, but takes a second too long to read run so linemen can reach him. Accelerates to the ball quickly once he recognizes the play. Run defense: Inexperienced playing the run from the stack, but flows through trash fairly well to attack the ball. Will overrun the play when scraping and take aggressive angles. Lacks size and length to get off pro linemen blocks when reached at the second level. Can avoid those blocks with violent hands, however, and can shed tight end blocks on the edge to stop the run. Plays low, using his low center of gravity to maintain leverage. Good effort to makes plays to the sideline and downfield. Pass defense: Flips open his hips fluidly when dropping into a zone, able to get good depth. Good awareness of players in his zone but needs to improve his route recognition, but that could come with time. Gives up height to tight ends when man-up but is strong enough to knock them off their route from the nine-technique. Stays low in pedal, able to change directions quickly to chase the play. Tackling: Explosive tackler who brings his hips and plants ballcarriers into the ground. Stays low into the man and rarely gets eluded once in the play, even if getting only an arm on the ballcarrier. Will chase plays downfield and be the second or third man into the pile, keeping his legs moving until the whistle is blown. Takes the correct angle when trying to prevent big plays. Has a chance to be a good inside special teams player because of his speed, hands and aggressive tackling. Pass Rush/Blitz: Explosive rusher on the edge with spin, outside-in, bull rush and swim moves. Spends a lot of time in the opponent's backfield with quickness off the snap. Gets under taller tackles' pads to push lesser tackles back and can go under their armpit to turn the corner quickly. Strong tackler who does not let go of quarterbacks once they are in his grasp and typically plants him in the ground. Intangibles: Team captain. Put in extra time in the weight room before his senior year to become stronger, as well as more time in the film room to be a smarter player. Coaches love his work ethic and leadership. Career Notes Fourth-year Duke and returning starter who the JMU staff expects to be among the nation's leading players at defensive end … versatile performer who has developed from a pass rusher to an overall standout player, said defensive line coach J.C. Price … starts the 2009 season eighth on JMU's career quarterback sacks list with 18.

Jared Allen is a beast tho. One of the best in the game and I'm not sure why this is but I never saw Bell get ANY help over there, TE or otherwise to even throw a little chip block on this dude. Their other stud DE Edwards is inactive on the other side of the line and the Williams boys arent pass rushers per se, so you'd think Chan would have neutralized Jared Allen with some blocking help and found his QB some goddamn time out there. Gailey has been good at halftime adjustments it seems, and I was shocked to see them leaving Bell all alone again in the second half. And they got more Jared Allen havoc and turnovers again in the second half because of it. What is up with that?

He just said he prefers this team. So do I. We're improved significantly over where we were last year, and our drafted guys havent even made an impact yet. Somewhere between the bottom of the barrel and a championship team is mediocrity, which is where most teams are in the league right now. We're exciting and fun to watch, but we have a worse record than last year. Would you rather watch the boring 16 point per game team we had last year that won more games, or the squad we have now that can go on the road in Baltimore and score 30 plus. For me its a no brainer. I love this team. Spiller is gonna finish strong this year too so its only going to get better.

Thats why I started this post, because there SHOULD be a correlation. Its OK to change GM's, although we had one of the best here and let him go. But the owner is always the owner and he's the one that can lead with some consistency with regard to player loyalty (within reason of course) It seems that the Ralph of the early 1990's had player loyalty and established a mutual respect with the players. That's faded fast since he hit his 80's and now in his 90's lets face it we're a company without a CEO or board of directors and it shows.

I know this has been beaten to death but we let big Pat walk for a 3 year $13 million dollar deal (he said he wouldve taken even less)and we just signed Kelsay to a 4 year $24 million dollar deal. Talk about organizational inconsistency. I don't care who your GM is at the time, if you have an astute owner he doesn't let that type of athlete and team leader leave to save a few peanuts. I understand letting Clements and even Winfield walk because of the FA money they wanted, but I feel embarassed for Ralph and how disconnected he has been to his team for so long now when you look at moves like big Pat's. Hindsight is 20/20 and yes he was getting older and at that questionable age for performance and durability, but he didn't want a long term deal anyway or crazy upfront money. I don't expect an NFL owner to be a talent judge or a financial expert, but you need them to be involved to the point that players feel some loyalty to them and vice versa. I hope our next owner brings this to the organization.

The think about having the first overall IF Luck comes out is you will get some sweet offers from desperate teams willing to do some Ditka/Ricky Williams type giveaway trades to move into your spot. The other nice thing about having the first overall is that you can start wheeling with other teams ahead of the draft because everyone knows exactly who is on the board and whose pick it is. Its yours! Our offense is pretty good right now, maybe we're better off winning three more games and turning things around with who we have, we'll still be in the top 5 or 6 probably and that's not a bad place to be on draft day. I want all linebackers or big bodied athletic lineman. No more little dudes or "skill guys" we need strength.

"Leads the League in Hits After TD receptions" dude that was seriously funny. Nobody can deny that Whitner is delivering some crushing hits this year. He says it's the new scheme, and maybe it is, but I just never remember him laying the leather so hard as he is now. He still has his challenges in coverage, like most SS's do, but I love the monster hits. He's downright obliterated some guys this year. If only he was a second round pick the poor guy would get so much less criticism than he does.

That hole was massive. If Spiller was healthy that's a layup. Not saying McKelvin isn't a great kickoff return guy, but he's not a ball handler/runner like CJ and nobody has the 100 yard speed that CJ does, (including Chris Johnson if you go by their times at the combine.) We need to get that dude back on the field against Minny.

I can't understand why everyone is so worried about how much money Evans makes. Its Ralph's money, not yours, and we're way under the cap so everyone needs to stop worrying about what the guy makes. He's not having a great year, but he's a great receiver and team player who signed a big contract to stay with us and play hard which is what he does as far as I can tell. Every decent receiving corps needs a talented, cool veteran to help the younger guys and to be a leader. If Gailey put Maybin in street clothes for 5 games, do you think he really cares about Lee's paycheck when he evaluates the offense? He would sit Evans in a second if he thought it would help the team or there was someone better on the bench. Lee has better hands than #13 thats for sure.

You're saying Lee Evans doesn't get open and everyone else does? Don't get carried away. If a team is playing man coverage on us, he still is the best option. He's not as strong at YAC but as far as getting separation and making the catch he's still one of the best in the league. I love the new guys too, but Lee is still the king in my book.

The irony is Ngata plays fast for his size, and he can penetrate/pursue really well. He would've been fine in the cover 2 scheme and still a force.

Sometimes it seems a little wimpy but like one poster said, if he already has the first down and he's being angled out of bounds I suppose its ok. The other thing not mentioned is that sometimes fighting for the extra yard causes turnovers, especially with the WR arms holding the ball instead of the usually stronger RB's who have way more experience with ball protection. Watch for Lee's production accelerating now that the coverage will lean toward Stevie. The other cool thing about this dude is that he is VERY gracious to the rest of the team in his interviews. He plays like he has something to prove as a 7th rounder but he doesn't have that annoying "im a black man nobody believed in" victim type approach like T.O. or some of these other guys that become vindictive in their interviews and only talk about themselves and their skills and how great they are. Bruce used to make me cringe with that stuff. I love humble, great athletes that are team players and Stevie is one of 'em.

OK, I'll bite... Both Mike Williams are WRs. One went to USC and is now with the Seattle Seahawks. The other Mike Williams went to Syracuse for awhile, quit the team, and is now playing for Tampa Bay. He is the one mentioned in the possible DUI situation. The Bills former OL Mike Williams is a third Mike Williams.

Good points, the OL acts as a unit for sure, and its a tough position to quantify. Eric was a first round guard pick and we got him in Philly's 28th slot and he's a good young NFL player who fits the Buffalo mold. That's good enough for me. GO WOODMAN !!!!!!!!

Yeah we hit the DVR rewind a few times yesterday to watch some of Kyle's plays. He was always a good pursuit/penetration guy but it's like he's stronger with the bullrush this year. Like he gets guys on their heels almost instantly. I agree with the poster, he changed a lot of plays indirectly by splitting the pocket with that push of his. Sometimes it was downright embarassing for the Lions interior linemen. When someone delivers a game like that upfront in the box, the linebackers flourish. They can hit, run, see and pursue so much better when the big fellas are representin' like number 95 was yesterday. Before the Detroit game, Williams had 42 tackles and three sacks, well on pace to shatter the career marks last year when he was a Pro Bowl alternate. Not sure if he'll make it this year with guys like Ngata, Wilfork, Shaun Rogers, Kris Jenkins in the AFC but he's definitely a great player.