Rubes

Because he's playing against scrubs?

I found that somewhat encouraging. It sounds like Walker did fairly well, aside from a couple of breakdowns. Levitre and Wood still sound a little susceptible to the bull rush, but otherwise did reasonably well. And perhaps most encouraging is that Nelson played quite a bit with the starters, and from what this guy said, did a pretty decent job blocking. My impression is that Hangartner needs to get a little better, and Butler needs more time adjusting. If this team can keep its head above water the first half of the season, I think they could jell into a pretty good line by the second half. As long as our frigging running backs can figure out how to pick up a blitz.

Awesome pic.

No kidding, 38-10 at halftime, Rogers with 3 tds. On the road against the NFC champs. GB is looking like a real good team this year.

Fergy was a good quarterback, but I don't recall that he had a particularly powerful arm. I could be wrong, though, it has been a few years now.

I also have them at 10-6, but I honestly still think that 9-7 is a good possibility. I had them starting the season 1-3 (win against Tampa) but hitting 4-4 at the mid break, which I still think is possible (wins against Cleveland, Jets, and Houston). For some reason I had them 6-2 after the break, but I doubt that...more like 4-4 or 5-3 at best.

/thread

I know this and other related YouTube vids have been posted before, but I hadn't caught this one yet. It's the game when the Bills beat the world champ Steelers 28-13 in convincing fashion, establishing them as a legit contender. Fun to watch, of course, but you really notice a couple of things about the Bills offense in that game. - Fergy was, by no means, a powerful QB, but he had very good accuracy. He was also pretty darn good at play actions and other misdirection plays, which I think really helped against the aggressive Pittsburgh defense. - Notice how much the Bills used play-action and misdirection plays. The TD to Reuben Gant was a thing of beauty. - I was surprised just how much the Bills used screens and sweeps. They had an incredibly mobile offensive line and used that to their great advantage. Those were some of the best screens and sweeps I've seen in a while. - Quick, who were the Bills tight ends that year? Gant? Mark Bramer? These guys were run-of-the-mill tight ends, but watch and see just how much the Bills got them involved in the offense. Bramer made a bucketful of catches in that game, and Gant couldn't have been more wide open for his TD. The Bills had a good offense that year, but what impressed me most about that game was how well the offense appeared to be designed to take advantage of their strengths, and how prepared they seemed to be. It also made it painfully clear how important a mobile offensive line can be, and how important sweeps, draws, and screens can be to an offense (when executed well). We've heard about the notable lack of screens and draws the past couple of years because of our big, immobile offensive line, so I'm happy to see that we've become much more mobile this year and are starting to re-incorporate those plays into our offense. That alone should be cause for some optimism. It also shows you don't need an all-star TE to get them involved enough to have a big impact. When you demonstrate that you can get the TE involved in the passing game consistently, that creates a number of problems for the defense. I'm still waiting to see if this group can figure that out.

Nice! I suppose if Dick says it, I'd believe it.

D'oh! I think I ignored this thread once I heard his injury wasn't too bad. What'd I miss? What, you mean this? Yes, he's right, the wrist is proximal to the thumb. "Above" and "below" are not technical terms, so we don't really use that in describing relative positions.

Call me a freak, but the thing I liked the most about Norwood is that he didn't do the now commonplace pansy thing that kickers do when they line up a kick, take two or three steps back, and then two carefully measured steps to the side. He just lined up the kick and backed up on the diagonal. Classy. Then again, maybe if he had done the pansy thing he would've made that kick. Crap.

I look at it as the Bills front office just trying to determine ahead of time if they'll need to draft a CB next year in the 1st round, or if they'll be able to wait until the 2nd.

If he did, I wish he'd teach me how to do that. My lasting memory of the 2008 season is Duke Preston's final, glorious mistake against the Pats.

Damn, I didn't notice that. Everything is in the Eastern time zone except one game?

We also forget that he missed a 47-yarder wide right -- on turf -- the game prior to that, in the AFC Championship blowout. It was almost a mirror image of the SB kick.

ZING!

Yeah, that second-rate Sam Wyche guy really worked out for us too.

Isn't it called "Safari"?

Patriots are using a 4-3 defense at least as much, if not more, than a 3-4 alignment. Linky Linky Two Of course, knowing how badly we struggle with a 3-4, I wouldn't necessarily expect to see much 4-3 when we play them.

You mean like how we easily converted a 3rd and 1 with a 5-yard run up the middle? Or how we compeltely stuffed them on 4th and 1 with a massive surge up the middle? All is not lost.

Truth. In the future, when everybody here is slathering all over some unsigned free agent, wondering why the Bills haven't made a push to sign him, I wish we could all remember this point.

I saw that, too. I was wondering who he was going after, but who knows.

Sweet, thanks for letting me know.

No problemo, it was fun. The near-interception was actually not a miscommunication; there was a receiver breaking inside behind where Poz was, clearly the intended receiver. My guess is that it was a poor throw because of just enough pressure by Williams. But that receiver wouldn't have had a chance to catch Poz based on the way the route was going. I initially thought it was Ellison's fault, too, but after watching it a few times, I don't think so as much. He was already lined up fairly deep, and he only took a step back towards what looked like a zone assignment, and then immediately adjusted when he saw the TE break into the shallow flat. I wouldn't expect Ellison to charge forward toward the TE right off the snap, as this would probably put him in a bad position if the route was deeper. My sense is that the play was designed to get the TE into a dead spot in the shallow zone and to have him take it outside, getting him away from the OLB on that side (Ellison). The defensive alignment is designed to leave the zone in the flat uncovered, but it's then up to McKelvin to prevent the receiver from getting outside and allowing Ellison to make the play. I actually think the play would have worked even better if Collins had waited a second or two longer to throw it, which would have forced McKelvin further down the field covering the WR and leaving the TE completely alone with more room to rumble.

What the hell, I'm bored, nothing good on TV, and the wife is out. 1st/10 - Pass for 10 Quick pass to the receiver off the line of scrimmage, which was essentially a WR screen pass. McKelvin, covering the target receiver, was 8-10 yards off the LOS (why?). McGee, covering the other WR on the same side (coming in motion), is blocked out of the play. The left guard and tackle release off the line and get out in front of the receiver to block, so with the other WR there were three guys out in front of the target WR -- one blocking McGee, the LT blocking McKelvin way downfield, and the LG blocking Mitchell, the next closest man available. The best part of the play for the defense is that McGee, while being blocked, forced the runner inside, where the tackle was made by Schobel, who ran all the way back from the LOS. Nice hustle by Schobel, otherwise this play might have gone for many more yards. Not exactly sure how you would defend this play. Well designed and executed. 1st/10 - Run for minus-3 This play is essentially made by Ellison, of all people. He charges the outside and takes on the RT well into the backfield, slowing the RB and forcing him inside into the charging Scott and Poz. Pretty much everybody did a nice job on that play and beat their man, including Williams and Mitchell. Scott was actually lined up at the line of scrimmage to cover the TE, but the TE blocked down inside on Kelsay, taking him out of the play. Scott was then blocked by the nearby WR, who Scott basically tossed aside to take out the running lane. Poz and Mitchell made nice reads and attacked the play. 2nd/13 - Pass for 12 Collins takes a three-step drop and throws a quick pass to the left flank to the TE, so there is no chance for the pass rush to impact anything. FWIW, the Bills rushed four, and nobody appeared to be doing much. The TE runs a three-yard out pattern and is uncovered off the line; Ellison is covering that side but initially backs up into a zone before reacting. McKelvin drops his WR coverage when the pass is caught, but fails to force the TE back inside to Ellison. Instead, the TE gets outside of him, and McKelvin can't make the tackle, which would have limited the play to a 5-6 yard gain. Ellison has to run a long way to get outside to the runner, forcing him out of bounds. This one essentially comes down to the TE (Crumpler) vs. McKelvin. That's a big guy for Leodis to bring down by himself, but that's why he gets paid the big bucks. It also looked like McKelvin hesitated for an instant as he switched from the WR to the TE, which was probably the difference in allowing the TE to get outside of him instead of forcing him back inside. Another well-designed play as it isolated the TE against a much smaller DB, but Crumpler did a nice job getting to the outside to make the play. 3rd/1 - Pass for 14 Play-action pass, two men in the backfield. Bills have five defensive linemen in, with Denney in for Schobel, along with Williams, Johnson, Stroud (yes, 3 DTs), and Kelsay. Kelsay is actually lined up as a LB in an upright stance, over the TE, and he plays like a LB, dropping back to cover the TE who releases off the line. By the time he realizes it, though, he's well behind the TE on his pattern. Bills rush five by blitzing Poz up the middle. This play succeeds mainly because Denney, who is left one-on-one with a tiny RB, gets taken out by a block to the knees. Good technique by the RB, but Denney has to beat this guy. It also suceeds because Mitchell, who picks up the TE as he crosses over the middle, gets taken out by the referee on a nice "pick" play. Whitner makes little effort to take on the TE (Crumpler) downfield and basically gives him a little shoulder brush while Kelsay and Ellison stop him after a nice gain. 1st/10 - Pass incomplete Collins takes a five-step drop and releases quickly, so the pass rush is mostly negated. Bills rush four, with Denney still in for Schobel. Only Williams gets some penetration, which may have impacted Collins throw, but tough to tell. This is the ball thrown right into Poz's hands, but he drops it for some unknown reason. As someone else pointed out, if he had caught it, I believe the chances are very good that he takes it back for 7. Nobody from TEN ran a route in the left flat -- one back went over the middle, the other went to the right flat, and Poz had both Mitchell and Ellison in position to block for him while catching the INT in full stride. Probably only Collins would have had a chance to stop him, but I'm sure the sight of Mitchell and Ellison would have made him think otherwise. Oh so close. 2nd/10 - Run for no gain TEN has two TE and one back. Bills in base defense, with Schobel back in for Denney. Run starts to the left, then cuts back to the right. Williams gets blocked well out of the play, and Schobel does nothing but watch. Stroud gets stoned on the play by a single blocker. Kelsay swings outside, well out of the play. Why does this play get stopped? The main reason is because of Williams. Williams gets double teamed at first by the C and LG, but the LG is supposed to release and block Poz up the middle. But, the LG can't release to get to Poz because Williams gets pushed too far back into him by the C (alternatively, you could say Poz was fast enough to get past the block). Kelsay does a nice job of sticking with the play, coming back to help Poz make the tackle. Ellison gets blocked by the RT but also does a nice job holding his ground. 3rd/10 - Pass incomplete Shotgun, three receivers. Bills rush the usual four; Ellison is removed for the extra DB (as opposed to Mitchell). Kelsay and Schobel swing wide, and are never a threat. Stroud is double teamed (sort of), and goes nowhere. Williams does a decent job slipping past his blocker, putting a wee bit of pressure on Collins, and seems to interrupt his follow-through some. The pass is overthrown, maybe because of this. Coverage is by Florence, who would have had to make the one-on-one tackle to prevent the first down. For those of you interested, the Bills DBs were playing bump-and-run coverage right up at the line. So there you have it...four good plays by the defense (minus-3 yards rushing), three bad plays (3 of 5 passing for 36 yards). Can't really say much from one series, but Poz looked very good overall, and Ellison actually fared well also. I'm struck by how important it is for every player to win their one-on-one battles. I'm not encouraged by our defensive line, but Williams did have some decent plays and seemed like the only effective lineman. It doesn't look to be much different than last year, though. Will Maybin make a difference? I hope so. Certainly couldn't do that much worse than Kelsay, who seems like a non-factor most of the time.