Jump to content

ropeerasers

Community Member
  • Posts

    68
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by ropeerasers

  1. first is the defense. I know mario and anderson should help but we couldnt stop anything running up the middle last year. I know wanny is a good 4-3 def coach but when was the last time any of his def units were in the top 15 of the league? I dont know if wanny has the smarts to come up with something new in disguising the blitz packages and adjusting mid game. Plus there comes the draft. I know the past two drafts have been really good for us but if nix and company go way off the board again this year at 10 i might just shoot myself. If they go tannehill or reach for a LT i think im going to go nuts. Realistically im looking for a winning season first before i think about winning the division and a playoff win or 2.

     

    Wannstedt's last full year in the league was 2003. That year his Dolphins were the third ranked defense, fifth in stopping the rush and third in points allowed.

  2. I didn't see anywhere in that PBS link that said the majority or even a sizable number of major football programs -- the ones consistently sending players to the NFL -- are losing money and are requiring significant taxpayer subsidies.

     

    But beyond that the premise of your complaint is just so odd. You don't want colleges and universities assuming the cost of training the workforce for the NFL? That's a complaint about the existence of state-funded colleges, not athletics programs.

     

    I hate to break this to you, but taxpayers are also chipping in on the educations of engineers, nurses, accountants and hundreds of other professions. On top of that, there is no tv deal, licensed apparel and ticket sales to help cover those costs.

  3. To get back to the original point, Cowherd does have a habit of "breaking" dubiously sourced, unreliable "news" then never acknowledging it again after he is proven 100% wrong.

     

    After Urban Meyer resigned he went on and on about how he knew from an "inside source" who his replacement would be but couldn't reveal it. The next day and a half was pretty much just him teasing his fans about who it was. He promised that it would be a head coach from a successful college program and not a coordinator with no head coaching experience.

     

    Will Muschamp - an assistant from Texas with zero head coaching experience - was hired, and Cowherd never mentioned it again.

  4. Ah.... I was beginning to worry, because there didn't seem to be any delusional types saying that it wasn't that bad of a game. Thanks! Now I know I'm still in the world of Bills Fans. I am sincere when I say that we need the great diversity we have on the Stadium Wall. People who believe lightning could strike and the team could go all the way, those who keep following the team even though they keep chanting that it sucks, and everyone in between. I consider it free entertainment, a little therapy and even psychology 101. I can't wait until the team wins one game they shouldn't have, so the fanatical supporters can crow that we are "improving" and Chan's system is starting to work. Pay no attention to those who comment that we must "love 'em or leave 'em," and likewise forget about those who announce that they are quitting this forum. These people are missing the point of having a chat room.

     

    p.s. - I hope you are right.

     

    I don't think what I'm saying is any more delusional than thinking one loss automatically equates to picking first in next years draft. I DO NO think this is a championship or playoff contending team. I'm saying that the phases other than the offense were average to good. Our coaching choice this offseason had an obvious offensive bent, so it's not completely unreasonable to think that that phase will improve with more time in one way or another.

  5. Wait a min..

     

    Here's the problem. So many people were saying what you are saying in the Bledsoe yrs. It will

    be 11 years since we last made the playoffs. As long as people buy the seats, jersey's, drink the

    cool-aid so to speak, this will go on forever. This does not go down in other cities, don't make the

    playoffs in other cities...and they clean out the "ENTIRE OFFICE". No ex players from glory days of yore.

    For the amount of money we pay to watch professional football.....we still don't get "PROFESSIONAL" football.

    What I witnessed today was an embarassment. And I am sick of being embrassed.

     

     

    I understand the emotional response, but this team wasn't going to come out for the opener and all of a sudden by the a Superbowl team.

     

    Yes, people have hoped for improvements in the past that didn't pan out. Every other team in the league has gone through that at some point. I know it's been a long stretch of inept football, but that's not going to change overnight. True there are plenty of worst to first stories, but those are still the exception not the rule. And I don't think this particular team was/is set up to be one of those teams no matter how much I'd hope for it.

     

    So you're left with two possible scenarios:

     

    A) You hope for the team to improve this season, draft well next season then seriously compete in a year or two.

     

    or

     

    B) Give up.

     

    Feel free to do the latter, but I'm not to that point yet.

  6. Or at least as pleased as I can be with a loss. Honestly, I'm like everyone else and would much rather see a win where the offense dominated and where all the concerns about the QB and O-line were magically wiped away. But the chances of that becoming a reality were always minute given the recent history of this team.

     

    What I find reassuring about the game, though, was the fact that both the defense (especially the run defense) and special teams performed far greater than expected based on how they looked during the preseason. Even the optimistic among us, myself included, thought the best case scenario based on preseason was having a competent offense while struggling in other phases because of coaching and scheme changes.

     

    I, for one, am glad that didn't ultimately become the reality simply because of the offensive focus of this coaching staff. Rome wasn't built in the night, and years of incompetent offensive coaching won't be erased by week one of the first season under the new regime. In all likelihood, this offense is going to improve as the season progresses. Whether that progress happens with Trent under center is yet to be seen, but the point is we now know that when the offense gets up to speed it will be accompanied by decent defense and special teams.

     

    If we can follow this trajectory, we won't be elite in any of the three phases, but we'll be competitive in each. When was the last time you remember that being the case?

     

    I know a lot of you probably disagree with the assessment of the defense because of the lack of a pass rush, but I think all the players who switched positions will learn and grow more instinctive in their new roles. And when we get Torbor and Ayodele in the swing of things, the coaching staff will likely feel more comfortable in getting creative with exotic blitzing schemes.

     

    I recognize a lot of this sounds like rationalizing, but at the same time I don't think any of it sounds unreasonable.

  7. Hmmm I was unaware of that stipulation. They've been on EVERY time I've been home, and never have they taken a back seat to the Clowns... may be I'm just super lucky, or may be it changed this year)

     

    I don't live in Erie anymore, so I don't know if it has changed. And admittedly, they get bumped less often for the Browns then the Steelers, but it still happens with regularity.

     

    And it always seemed like the city was going to implode on weekend the Browns and Steelers played but the Bills were away, playing at the same time.

  8. Jonathan Stupar being the starting tight end is not only an indictment of the previous coaching staff in terms of talent evaluation, but a hidden truth of roster development in the NFL. This guys bio is interesting. Stupar is the nephew of Jeff Hostetler and the brother of current Penn State (linebacker U) linebacker Nate Stupar. His father was also a lineman at Penn State from 1976-79. Stupar is from State College, PA. This kid is from a genetic pool hotbed and a regional hotbed of high school football.

     

    Other notable undrafteds:

     

    Kurt Warner - Arizona

    Willie Parker - Skins (Pittsburgh)

    Wes Welker - N.E.

    Antonio Gates - San Diego

    Jeff Saturday - Indy

    Pat Williams - Vikings

    James Harrison - Pittsburgh

    Bart Scott - NYJ

    Antonio Pierce - Giants

     

    Look at all the teams. They have all been successful, granted some of these teams did not originally draft these players, still very interesting. Pittsburgh had 2. Maybe Doug Whaley can bring that to Buffalo. Maybe he already has one if David Nelson becomes a stud.

     

     

    The bills have nurtured quite a few of these undrafted players namely Pat Williams and the one you forgot...Jason Peters.

     

    Wes Welker was picked up by Miami and NE had to give a 2nd rd draft pick to get him.

     

    AND Antonio Pierce was a Redskin AND Bart Scott was a Raven. Plus, how could you possibly credit Arizona for Kurt Warner? If you want to get really technical, the only two from this list that are listed with the team they started out with are Harrison and Gates. But that's kind of misleading for two reasons. First, Harrison bounced around practice squads for other teams and NFL Europe before the Steelers brought him back. Second, while Saturday really started out as a rookie for the Ravens it was the Colts that truly took a leap of faith with him.

     

    But pretty much everyone else on the list were established veterans by the time they made it to those teams. I don't see how that's an indicator of anything but their willingness to spend on free agents.

  9. I'm over at the Raven's message board looking at what some of them are expecting for a deal like this.

     

    It gets pretty ridiculous. Things like Byrd, McKelvin and picks just for Gaither or saying that next years first round pick wouldn't be enough.

     

    I think they're going to be disappointed no matter where he is dealt.

  10. I have no opinion on Freeman really, but I just love these arguments people make on this board that boil down to "the only facts that matter are the ones that say I'm right!"

     

    So, yes, stats don't matter...except those stats that say he's bad...because - obviously - if they said he was good, they'd be baseless and stupid.

  11. Everyone loves to opine on Trent Edwards' arm strength, so I'm just wondering if this perceived lack of throwing ability is something that can change with some measure of specialized training.

     

    It seems like this specific problem plagues some young QBs then goes away as they mature (Tom Brady), but with some it only gets progressively worse with the wear and tear of multiple NFL seasons (Chad Pennington). With TO on the team now and Marshawn expecting a suspension, it's not ridiculous to think there will be a bigger emphasis on the passing game, at least in the early stages of the season. So, what can Trent do to make his arm strength NOT a liability (if it is one). Anyone have any insights?

×
×
  • Create New...