folz

Shaky start on the first few plays: sack, bad pass... But then settled down nicely and played well. Wasn't shy or afraid with the ball, put the ball up for the receivers to go get. Threw a few nice, quick slants. Beautiful sideline pass to Chad Jackson for 26 yards. Overall, he didn't make a bunch of big plays or anything, but he managed the game, kept the chains moving, and looked pretty poised and confident.

Besides our QBs and C.J., some guys who I thought played well tonight: No surprises here, but good to see: Leodis McKelvin (tight coverage) Kyle Williams (Looked good in the middle, still penetrating) Ashton Youboty (A man among boys playing with the 2s and 3s) Roscoe Parrish (He might be our real #2 even if he's working out of the slot) Young guys coming on? Joique Bell (Wow, 11 for 80 and a TD, nice blitz pickup) Naaman Roosevelt (A few nice grabs, sure hands) Chad Jackson (This kid is sick of moving around, he wants it, 5 for 52) Chris Ellis (3 solo tkls, 2 assists...he was around the ball a lot) Dominique Harris (3 tackles, sack forced fumble play, the kid hits hard) Anyone else jump out to you tonight?

I think Joique earned a spot on the roster after tonight...and he did pick up nicely on at least one blitz tonight, the commentators (Tasker and Bentley) took note of it. McIntyre was blocking well in the first quarter and they were definitely using him. If Fred and Lynch were in would we use a FB as much? Probably not, but I still think Gailey will want to keep one for offensive variety reasons. So, the question is can the Bills keep 5 RBs on the 53? Do any teams ever keep that many on their active roster? Would that mean one more receiver who has to go?

Like what I'm seeing from our young WRs and RBs in this game.

After a few rough plays to start, Brohm has made some nice throws. The Easley injury just might open a spot for Roosevelt...a couple of recs from Brohm, one for a first.

McKelvin has had some tight coverage tonight...nice tackle there.

I'm a little nervous about the special teams too... but don't forget, they're basically learning a new system also... Bruce is a good coach, hopefully he pulls it together.

That was a nice arm tackle by Ellis to save the first down on the Colts last series. He's been in on a couple of plays already.

Keep fightin' the good fight Promo...I'm with you. This team will be better.

Nice find Fingon...I had missed that thread. I was thinking even 2 out of 3 teams being successful switching to the 3-4 would show those posters who say most teams switching in the first year do not improve or it takes 2-3 years wrong, but 10 out of 12 shows that switching the D to a 3-4 should not be an excuse for anyone anymore as to why the Bills (in their words) are going to suck this year.

As to the original poster's question: I did like that in Spiller's interview he quoted Gailey saying something like "As coach says, it's a tough game for tough people" Hopefully Chan can inspire his men as Marv and other great coaches do... Don't underestimate leadership and inspiration...how many teams (in any sport) have we all seen that were loaded with talent and went no where because they weren't all pulling in the same direction towards the same goal or weren't motivated enough to lay it all on the line. And conversely how many times have we seen an underdog upset a more talented team because they were more inspired, motivated, working harder, etc.

You guys are crazy.... Talk to any player from the SB teams, or Bill Polian, or Bill Parcells, or Don Shula, they all praise Marv's leadership and football knowledge! Sure, he stunk as a GM, but really he was more of a figurehead in that role... stop letting that make you revise history. Sure they had to be a very talented team to get to that first Superbowl, but it was Marv's leadership that got them to 3 more. How many teams have even been to 2 in a row let alone 4? And to say that had nothing to do with leadership is just crazy. In the first superbowl we lost by a field goal in the last seconds of the game. That's about as tight as a game could be and that's against a Parcells/Belicheck coached team (that we had already beat in another nail biter just a few weeks earlier in the regular season). So to say Marv was totally outcoached again is an over statement. Marv helped reinvent Special Teams...do you think Tasker would be who he was/is without Marv. I could go on and on...but Marv is not overrated and is totally deserving of the HOF. "It is said that leadership is that unique quality which enables special people to stand up and pull the rest of us over the horizon. By that or any other definition, Marv Levy is one of the greatest leaders this game has ever known." Bill Polian "That's one of my frustrations, not getting Dan Marino back into the Super Bowl, and Marv had a lot to do with that. They had a great team with great players. Bill Polian made it all happen when he hired Marv, and Marv's genius and ability to coach was just the natural fit for Buffalo." Don Shula

From Allen Wilson's Buffalo news article http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article94267.ece : "Denver's switch to the 3-4 helped its defense improve from 29th in the NFL in 2008 to seventh last season. Green Bay's newly installed 3-4 ranked first against the run, fifth against the pass and second overall. The Packers were 20th in total defense while using the 4-3 in 2008. Conversely, Kansas City found little success in its move to the 3-4, ranking 30th in the league (It was 31st in '08). Which category the Bills fall in remains to be seen, but Edwards has no doubt the move to the 3-4 will be a success." So, can we agree that we have to wait and see...switching to the 3-4 (in the first year) does not guarantee success, but it also isn't true that every team that switches has to wait 2-3 years for improvement. And I think one of the biggest positives about switching to the 3-4 is that our offense will be practicing against it on a regular basis (since everyone in our division plays it). I am looking for improvement this year. I think a lot will ride on the OLBs. If a couple guys step up and play well there, I think we could turn into a pretty tough D by mid-season.

I'm not saying he should change the tone for Bills fans...its his article and he can write whatever he wants...I was more just noticing how it seems to me that his tone towards the team has changed since he left this board. And for me, an optimistic fan, it makes his articles less interesting for me to read because they seem less objective than they used to be. Some might say more realistic, but football isn't fun for me if I expect my team to lose every week... so until proven otherwise, I'm hoping for the best (despite our holes and question marks).

It was nice of Tim to say it does look like we're heading in the right direction, but it also seems to me that Tim's columns have gotten more negative about the Bills since leaving this board due to a few fans being rude. You throw in the line about our LB coach never having worked in the 3-4, but don't mention that our DC has been a LB coach for the majority of his career and was part of switching to a 3-4 three times in his career. I'm sure DeMontie talks things over with Davis due to his experience and since he is calling the plays for the D right now... but don't make it sound like if it wasn't for Andra the coaches wouldn't know what to do. I guarantee DeMontie is getting more of his knowledge from his own experience and from Edwards than he is from Andra. Tim added that line after talking about a quote from Kawika, but did Kawika actually say "DeMontie relies on Davis when it comes to 3-4 questions (because he doesn't know)?" That's what Tim implies. And who cares how packed and vocal training camp is...It's training camp. Does that mean we won't be rowdy at the Ralph during games this year? Does it mean the entire fan base has given up on the team? No. And let's not forget, last year was the whole TO show. We had more media and probably more fans come out than would be normal, so to anyone this year is going to seem quieter. I'm not saying Tim has it out for the Bills or anything and his articles probably aren't that much different from before, except in tone. I mean when you start out the article saying, "Of any preseason prediction I can make, the one I'm most confident in is that the Buffalo Bills will finish fourth in the AFC East," it doesn't matter what you say after that, you have basically said "These guys suck right now." (Whether its true or not) To show the difference in tone, he could have said something like. "Gailey is trying to establish a new culture with his first training camp. He wants people to use two adjectives that haven't been associated with the Bills for a long time: tough and disciplined. (that is quoted from his article--then he could have said) I don't know that it will be enough for them to overtake any of their division rivals this year, but the players are buying into it. The Bills do have some concerns and question marks..." The tone of the article could have been different and I feel like that changed with TG after he left this board.

Thanks for the reports...much appreciated by us out-of-towners "...working on play-action fakes, bootlegs, screens, and even slants." Halleluja! Shouldn't these be a staple of any offense? How often did we see any of these in the Jauron era. Ok, a few bootlegs while J. P. was here, and I remember one slant last year to Evans that went for a TD, but God bless Chan for bringing back a real offense. Now let's just hope it works. Which, of course leads to another point in the article about O-line depth. I'm not totally thrilled with our O-line, but I'm not as down on the projected starters as some...but if we sustain even one or two injuries on the line this year, we could be in trouble. I hope they bolster the O-line depth before we wrap up camp.

Hear, Hear!

Do you all what to know who the true Captain Checkdown is?...It was Jauron. How many times did Trent say last year, when questioned, I'm just doing what the coaches tell me to do. And behind an injured, porous Oline, with nothing resembling an offensive plan and a head coach playing not to lose, they were telling him get the ball out as fast as you can. There was no time for long plays to the WRs to develop and the coaches were afraid to call inside slants. And what are you going to do as the starting QB, disobey the head coach? Well then you'll be riding the pine. Its tough to have swagger, or be "It" when you're losing, probably questioning the game planning, not being allowed to show what you can do, not being allowed to sling it and try to win a game, etc. And if the coaches don't show that confidence in you, then the team starts to question you to, and frustration sets in. I'm not saying Trent is going to light it up, or become the next coming, but I bet he'll look better, be more confident, and take control of the offense better this year because the coaches and therefore the team will have more confidence in him and he'll be in a position where he feels like the guys will follow when he leads. You can have all the swagger in the world, but if no one is following, it means nothing. Now we just have to hope he makes good decisions, is accurate, and can stay healthy. But I'm rooting for him (just as I am still rooting for Brohm, Fitz, Brown, and every other guy on the team). And Trent's new look made me think of Broadway Joe, the scraggly hair and the sideburns. Maybe he can steal a little swagger from Namath.

Come on BillsVet... if the Bills won 5 more games over the last 4 years (that's 1.25 games a year), they would have been .500 for 4 years straight. So, don't make it sound like FightClub is crazy. 7-9 IS close to .500. It's depressing that we are talking about being close to .500, but nevertheless it's not an outrageous statement. And you make it sound like Chan has not been around football at all for 11 years. Sure it's been that long since he was a head coach in the NFL, but he has been an offensive coordinator since then in the NFL and he was a head coach as recently as 2007 (at Georgia). Plus, we were 6-10 last year, not 5-11. I'm not denying the questions that you and we have all raised (QB, LT, OLB, new schemes, pass rush), but don't try to purposely paint the picture darker than it is. And as far as ESPN and anyone who agrees with that ranking, over the last 10 years the 31st place teams have averaged 2.9 wins a season. I just can't see how we will fall to only 3 wins with basically the same players now healthy and with more experience (+ rookies and FAs) but better coaching. Yes, we have a lot of question marks including the coaching (because we haven't seen any games yet), but are we really going to lose 3 or 4 more games than last year with that mess of a season we had?

I'm not saying this should or will make you feel better about him, but George Edwards has been an NFL Defensive Coordinator before and he had already been hired to be the defensive coordinator for one of the top college teams (Florida) before leaving to come to Buffalo. So, I wouldn't say he was a nobody. 1991-1997 Coached in the college ranks for Duke, Florida, Appalachian State, and Georgia 1998-2001 Dallas Cowboys: LB coach 2002 Washington Redskins: Assistant Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers coach 2003 Washington Redskins: Defensive Coordinator 2004 Cleveland Browns: Linebackers Coach 2005-2009 Miami: Linebackers Coach 2010: Hired as Defensive Coordinator of the University of Florida Gators His DC stint with the Redskins ended when Spurrier resigned (he was not retained by Joe Gibbs) He was one of only 2 coaches retained by Sparano after taking over the job from Cam Cameron in Miami. In fact, he started with Saban, was retained by Cameron, and then retained again by Sparano. He has worked under Nick Saban (a Belichick disciple), Steve Spurrier, Marvin Lewis, Dom Capers, Dave Campo, Mike Zimmer, among others. There have been some articles saying he will run a Saban style 3-4. Prominent names Edwards has coached throughout his career include Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud (Georgia); Dexter Coakley (Dallas); LaVar Arrington, Jesse Armstead and Jeremiah Trotter (Washington); and Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas and Joey Porter (Miami). Former Florida now Dolphins LB Channing Crowder has referred to Edwards as “the best assistant coach in the NFL, period.” Plus, twice in his career he has been involved in changing a D from a 4-3 to a 3-4 (as a linebacker coach--and we all realize how important the LBs are in a 3-4 system and probably where our D needs the most help). Sounds like a pretty solid choice for what the team planned to do. We'll see if he works out or not, but he isn't a nobody without experience.

I'm not a Whitner basher, I think the guy is solid (although unimpressive for where he was drafted), and I like his passion for the team, but... I would start Wilson and/or Scott before I would start Whitner. I really don't see how the team doesn't start Wilson this year, unless the duties of the 3-4 are so different that Scott's or Whitner's skill set matches it better. But every opportunity G. Wilson has had over his career, he's impressed (well at least me). He's smart, a total team guy, and he played really well last year. I would start Wilson most of the time, but in games against teams with good pass catching TEs or middle receivers, play Scott a lot. Unless Whitner finally blossoms in this new system, under new coaches, I'd be very disappointed to see him starting this year.

I have no problem with people evaluating the team, seeing holes and question marks, wondering why they did or didn't make certain moves and then based on their opinion saying its going to be a rough season in the win column for the Bills. I also understand being cautious about what to expect from Nix, Whaley, Gailey, etc. because we have been through coaching and GM turnovers that didn't work out and sometimes change doesn't mean improvement. What I have a problem with is the people who guess 0-2 wins (we had six last year amidst a perfect storm of problems), trash players on the team (not evaluating how good they are or not or if we should stick with them, but just throwing out personal attacks), failing to recognize the talented players we do have (like one post I read that said everyone of our starters could be upgraded by third stringers from other teams), etc., etc. I have no problem being realistic about the team (even though I'm one who is optimistic), but how realistic is 1 win? How realistic is "we don't have one player that would start for another team?" There is a spectrum of optimism and pessimism and anyone on either extreme is not being realistic. The rest of us can discuss the issues, players, moves, coaching, etc. We can be critical of the team or players while still supporting them and not attack them personally. We're all Bills fans...but I think what people get tired of are not the people who aren't optimistic (trying to be realistic) about this upcoming season or coaching staff or whatever, but the ones who can never see anything positive about the team and trash the team any chance they get.

Do you like Grape, Orange, or Fruit Punch?

I didn't agree with everything Albany said, but I did like his last line. Just saying your optimistic about the team doesn't mean you're a head case that doesn't see the teams faults as well and expect them to go to the Superbowl or something. I'm optimistic because I feel like a breath of fresh air has swept through this organization. I might have been hopeful when G. Williams, Mularkey, and Jauron were hired, but I never felt like "these are the guys that are going to turn this thing around" like I do with Nix and Gailey. Do I think we will be a better team than last year? Hell Yes. Will that show in the win column? Maybe not, but I know we aren't going to be 1-15 Johnny. Am I still concerned about our OL, QB, and OLBs? Absolutely. We may not have the answer at these positions yet, but the OL and QBs won't be worse than last year if for no other reason than experience and coaching. And no I'm not just hoping for us to not be worse than last year and I would have been thrilled to have an all-pro QB and LT, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards for this season, so we just have to root the guys we have on to achieve their full potential until we can acquire the all-pros (they don't grow on trees). But they won't be worse than last year with all that went on. Do I expect us to make the playoffs? Expect, No. But I'm not automatically ruling it out either and God knows I'll be rooting for it till we're mathematically eliminated. Am I looking for (and expecting) a more exciting team that at least shows promise of what they can become down the road? You betcha. It's just more fun (for me) to be optimistic and I feel like the team is finally giving me cause to...and this time I don't think its just FO smoke and mirrors. I could be wrong, but how could it be wrong when it feels so right.

Just a few notes to keep the optimism flowing ... Gailey actually prepares a plan B and C (unlike Jauron and Co.), ready to overcome the worst case scenario instead of only hoping for the best: On K. Mitchell calling defensive plays: “Those guys have been in the fire so to speak, so you would like for those guys to be able to handle it as much as possible,” said Gailey. “Those veteran guys will end up getting the majority of that kind of responsibility on our football team. That’s what you want. You want your veterans to be able to do that. And in this day in age you never know when injuries are going to hit. You’re trying to make sure that we have as many people that can handle that duty as possible.” Coaches expect players to execute better (unlike, well, you know): "...the 11-on-11 segment had some spotty execution. So much so that offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins pulled the entire offense in for a huddle." A Coach with confidence? “You better have confidence in this business,” he said. ”If you don’t have confidence in this business you’re going to lose in a hurry. We have confidence that our system will put guys in position to make plays. You’ve still got to go make them, but I think we’re going to have guys that have some talent. We’ve got to make sure that they get the opportunity to go be special on the field and that’s what we’re working on. You try to have confidence without being cocky.” Chan Gailey And for all those who say we have no talent, how is our secondary looking? We may still have some big holes and question marks at important positions, but I bet there are a lot of teams who envy our offensive and defensive backfields (RBs, CBs, Ss). And I'm starting to get excited about our young WRs too. Kyle Williams. I've never understood the fans who don't think he's good. From day one that kid has been a player and that's all we've heard from both coaching staffs he's worked with, things like "now that's a football player". 66 tackles last year. In the radio interview (link below) he talks a bit about the switch and some of the things the D will do. I think he'll be just fine in the middle. It's hard not to root for him, he just seems like a funny, down to Earth kind of guy: http://rope.wgrf-fm.fimc.net/Norton_Interv...iams_062210.mp3 And Eric Wood is back, did you see Gailey light up in the interview talking about him. Keep the hope alive...Go Bills!