Rockinon

I see a lot of criticism for play calling and CJ. Me, I think Marone was trying to get a good feel for the OL's weaknesses. The fact that we picked up 4 OLmen in the off season tells me he was not impressed with their performance at all. CJ can run up the middle with a decent block by an offensive guard. He would run where the hole was supposed to be but there was never anything big enough to run through last year. You cannot just use CJ for sweeps. That's ludicrous. He has to be able to run in multiple directions. Off of left tackle, right tackle, left guard and right guard. The threat to run in any given direction is how he will succeed best. This notion that he cannot run up the middle is just wrong. Give the guy a frigging hole to run through and he'll be fine. What we are going to see is a lot of running, just like last year. I don't think Hackett is going to abandon that. The difference is putting road graders in to help with that. We should also see a big improvement with pass protection as well. Bigger is definitely better. I like where we are heading. This team is planning to implement a smash mouth style of play, instead of trying get all cutesy with trickery. I'm looking forward to seeing dramatic improvement by our offense this year.

We might see 3 new starters on the OL week one.

I really think this is a non-issue because I think the NFL really is not interested in moving the Bills anyway. Frankly, I see these politicians as nothing more than fist pumpers so that when the Bill don't move anyway they can then pat themselves on the back and act like they are responsible for keeping the Bills in western NY.

Can we just stop with the "Bills with Brady" dialog. That just turns my stomach. There is nothing that would make me happier than flat out defeating NE with their precious Brady. The final game we had against NE last year was a failure because our defense could not stop the run. Brady was under pressure the whole game and could not get anything going through the air. With an improved defense and a competent offense, the Bills knock NE off with ease. It's coming. I can smell it.

Add 4 more. Great Idea!

Johnny(Hollywood) Football

Did you not notice that we picked up 4 massive Offensive Linemen to go along with our shiny new WR? Everything that has been wrong with the Buffalo offense for the last 10yrs(with the exception of QB) has been a weak, small and untalented OL. We have had some good receivers and running backs but could never ever bulldoze our way to a one yd gain on a goal line TD. This team has been running all of these tricky plays because they have been incapable of just lining up and daring a defense to try and stop them. The AFCE is loaded with big defensive lines. Guys like Wilfork have been destroying our offensive line for years. That just just changed. This team will not be scared to run on 3rd down in short yardage situations any more. How many times have we watched a play, screamed at the TV or questioned a play call when we know they should have run the damn ball? We don't run in obvious short yardage situations because our OL has been weak. You have to take into account the number of sacks this team had last year to get an idea of what's going on. You also have to ask yourself why a guy like CJ Spiller is not torching defenses too. We had Cordy Glen and Eric Wood who have performed admirably, but now we have finished the very foundation of what it takes to build a great offense.....a big nasty offensive line.

Thurman Thomas's wouldn't mind moving to Batavia with his sports bar in Batavia Downs all ready. BTW, stopped in there a few weeks back and the place was hopping. They had a hell of a good band playing in there. I know you folks that live in Buffalo would hate to see the team move outside of Erie County, but Batavia is not that much of a stretch. Shoot, I travel over 6hrs from Potsdam, NY to get to the Bills games. If you aren't willing to travel 1hr to go to a game, well........just pitiful.

This Watkins trade didn't really thrill me, but it is growing on me. When I saw how many new OLmen we got this year, I began to realize that the Bills are trying very hard to fix the offense. This team has been loaded with talent at skill positions for some time. Not over the top talented but one can argue that our RBs are among the best in the league. The WR position has seen infusion of young talent over the last couple of years. I know people think of our TE position as a weakness.....i don't really agree with that. No, we don't have a league leading pass catcher there. We do have a team leading receiver there. I have been concerned about OL more than anything in recent years. There have been arguments on both sides of this topic, but I can only think of one way to describe our offensive line......small and weak. That just changed. The offense's woes could very well have ended with the new additions here. Back to Watkins. I saw how EJ struggled to get the ball to Stevie last year. He was trying to use him as his clutch receiver a lot, but they just never really got things going. Some of it was EJ and some of it was Stevie. Either way, they just didn't seem to click. Watkins is a receiver that gets after the football. EJ just seems like he needs one good mister clutch to toss to. That, so far appears to be just what Watkins is. Yep, this trade is kind of growing on me.

So is the reply at the end of that article begining with "Young man..."

I don't know about you guys. My opinion is that Buffalo had the best running back tandem in the NFL last year. However, one stat really does stick out. CJs 2nd worst in the NFL at getting stuffed. You can say it's the injury. You can say it's CJ's indecisiveness. Me...I think the OL was the biggest culprit. CJ is built for speed and ankle breaking cuts. He's not a freaking bulldozer. What he does need is a little space so he can get to the next level. I normally don't like stats because they often don't steer you toward correct conclusion. To me you can't just focus on a specific stat line because there is so much more to the big picture. The Bills picked up FOUR OLmen between FA and the draft. That kind of tells you something. So does the number of injuries our backs had to deal with. Our big guys are supposed to be absorbing those hits, not our most valuable skill players.

Sounds very thoughtful and intelligent. Catholic upbringing......talks about how he thinks he went exactly where he was supposed to(God's plan). Also says "Chip on my shoulder? Yea...you could say that". He's going to be a good one.

Don't sleep on Gragg. Chandler is pretty decent and Moeki could end up being a surprise.

I'm not entirely sold on the wide 9 formation. But given our defensive coordinator's propensity to use it, I think he has something in mind. There are a lot of different things defenses are doing across the NFL. We know we have talent. The trick is to know your strengths and then capitalize. We may all ready have what we need on the roster......or not. It will be fun to see how they line up and see what kind of stunts they use.

Well that explains it then!

Can't wait to see how the new recruits on the OL effect this. And the running game for that matter.

My biggest pet peeve last year was watching the OL disintegrate before a play could even develop. Didn't matter if it was run or pass. This happened a lot. Way more than even a mediocre NFL team usually allows. Offense, I think we should see some improvements. Special teams was another one. It just sickens me that a couple of years ago, Buffalo came into the season with a top rated unit because we had some great return men only to discover that the NFL basically killed the kickoff return by moving the ball closer to the receiving team. However, Buffalo's kick coverage unit botched a lot of plays. Supposedly, we now have some guys who can step into coverage roles now. I am not sold on Crossman until he proves otherwise. I would give him the preseason to prove his worth. If he can't, can him. I wanted him gone last year. Hackett, I am giving a pass for now. I want to see production. Until then he is still just a journeyman. Marone on the other hand, I think he has some great traits. He does not appear to be a micro-manager who is always interfering with other coaches. I like that about him. He gets a pass too. He needs to show results too. As for the WRs, all of them are young guns. I think their inexperience showed last year. Overall, we had a lot of rookies in a lot of areas last year, coaches included. This is the year when we will find out if they belong in the NFL. In addition to the OPs list, I'd like to see some improvement by some of our young linebackers as well.

This has me wondering what the plan is too. We only know that our new coach is 4-3 guy. We also know that defenses in recent years have been mixing things up. 4-3 and 3-4 alignments are not what they used to be. I think our new defensive coordinator will have a plan to make the most of the talent on hand. Perhaps, what we a perceive to be a weakness isn't really a weakness at all. It's funny how we assume that a certain alignment will be run in a specific way. Maybe the Bills will still be looking for a DE....maybe they won't. I'd like to think that there is some sort of a plan in place though. I just hope the don't start using terms like "fit it up"

Not official yet, but yep. Brim looks like a heck of FS. Made a lot of plays for UB. And yea, there are going to be other opportunities to bolster our roster between now and the regular season.

It's slang. Don't tell me what gonzo means in my neck of the woods. We are only speculating here. But I like a certain FS out of none other than the UB that the Bills picked up as an undrafted. Not saying he's a sure thing or anything, but he could push for a spot. The OL is going to have some pretty good battles. One of the big DBs could move to safety. A lot could happen to this roster. With our new defensive coordinator, some things could change.

Pears and Hairston might be gonzo. And the Bills have been pretty busy with undrafted free agents. Someone will rise up, but overall the OP is close.

Yep. The passing attack will benefit too. We won't have to leave someone to chip block as much. That means TEs and RBs will also contribute more to the aerial attack. The OL is going to be the difference IMHO. Both run and pass should see a boost in production.

Tired of hearing "it's a passing league". This may be true, but people are way overlooking the run game. With the beef we have on the OL, no way do we pass in goal line situations. This is going to be smash mouth offense!

100% agree. Everyone is so focused on the passing game these days, the Bills just might be the team that sets the tone with the run. Can't wait to see short yardage situations. The guys Buffalo picked up for the OL are huge, powerful men. The pass will benefit, but the run is so overlooked. We have a whole herd of humungous linemen.