BillsVet

OK, well, when we can't stop the run like last season because our DT's have no ability to penetrate please do not complain. And do you know who Marcus McNeill is? He was a rookie of the year candidate playing LT for SD last season. The #50 overall pick. Of course, he's been in the league one season, but he got raves from across the NFL. It's not impossible to find people who can start right away in the league who are better or equal to a veteran. The O-Line is the most important part of a football team. An OL that can run and pass block keeps the D off the field and puts up points. But your defense needs to be strong up the middle in the cover-2. And ours isn't strong right now.

It's easy for safeties to play well in the Cover-2 when they're consistently 15-20 yards off the ball, regardless of down. Yes, Whitner made 104 tackles, but has anyone looked at enough tape to determine where those stops were made? I'm just asking. Fewell and DJ decided to minimize the effect of having rookies playing safety by playing them back. While I don't have a link to something to back this, I'm willing to bet the defensive coaches had to implement something to reduce risk in their secondary. It's unfair to describe a player as good by the amount of tackles he's made. If it's also unfair to say a player is good if their rookie season was good. Whitner may be a great player. He may be a Bob Sanders type of game changer. But I'm not going to jump the gun and call him a premier talent just yet. We'll see. Until then, Buffalo selected a player that did not fit in with Marv's belief in building the lines first. Ngata was there and we were told he didn't fit into our plans on defense. That's fine, but last year's version of a defense didn't exactly fit in with stopping the run either. That's why you had a MLB with 150+ tackles, and a rookie SS with 100+. The front four simply could not make more stops within the first 3-4 yards of the LOS.

I think many people complain because this team is thin at several positions. If you take an objective look, there are multiple positions that have absolutely no depth and an injury would mean catastrophy. As important as the draft is, you cannot fill your team with drafting. It's common knowledge that RB, LB, DT, CB, S depth, a #2 WR, and TE could use upgrades. That's more than most teams have. Reasonable free agent acquisitions at LB or CB would have gone a long way to providing more security. The front office for their own reasons decided against this. The perceived impatience with a lack of free agent/trade acquisitions should not be confused by fans who understand just how short we are on talent at certain positions. Knowing the draft will provide 2-3 players maximum per year is a big part of that as well. Buffalo did acquire 4 players in free agency, which is more than some teams did, but we certainly have more needs.

That, in a few sentences, says it all about the Cover-2 and what Buffalo has. No, you don't need a great run defense. But when the opposing team averages 140+ ypg against your defense, something is wrong. Sure, the Cover-2 excells by forcing QB's to throw into that zone, but the means to defeat the Cover-2 remains to run the ball. Not allowing the CB's, LB's, and the S's to drop into their zones is the key. And Buffalo was run over like a pair of railroad tracks. Indy is always cited as the best example. The Bills didn't have the ability to tighten their belts when it mattered most. Indy did in the playoffs against LJ, and later Chicago. I don't know what they did, but Buffalo didn't have the personnel last season, and outside of Darwin Walker, have added no one capable of making a huge difference this year. That's why I think Amobi Okoye is the answer. Sure, he's a DT, but he's got more upside than Kyle Williams will ever have. You can't teach talent or speed. Okoye wins everytime. Some people fall in love with certain players and cannot admit that there's someone available who's better. Amobi Okoye will be the answer in the Cover-2. And he will allow Crowell and Pervis to make stops. DJ is a defense first, second, and third coach. He wants defense to win games, not offense. IMO, he instructed Fairchild to modify the offense and take less risks. Hence, the Indy game and not going to the endzone at all. We just didn't have enough defense that game.

You saw that too Tennessee Boy? Not bad.

Be careful with your negativism. Realism is strictly monitored and in fact not appreciated. Seriously, there are areas that look better on paper than they actually are. How many teams in all sports look great on paper (Carolina 2006) and end up playing poorly. There are also plenty of teams that play better, (New Orleans) but pre-season predictions should mean almost nothing. That said, this team has several needs. RB, LB are the principle needs with DT, CB, S depth, #2 WR, TE, and G depth are needed. It is early, but there will be no more significant signings in FA (perhaps Turner, but a dream) and the rest of the needs will be filled with rookies. This fits in with where Buffalo will be salary cap wise. I think they'll be somewhere near the NFL minimum, so rookies will figure prominently.

It's not so much the numbers of first day selections, it's the quality of picks. This is the same team that drafted Cade McNown, David Terrell, and Rex Grossman during Jauron's time there. The talent selected on the defensive side of the ball far outweighs the offensive side. Now, I'm not saying DJ was the principle reason behind this. We'll never know for sure. They've just had more defensive success than offensive. If we say that 50% of 1st round picks are busts or underperformers, I'd take my chances with having 3 or 4 2nd and 3rd round picks. There's a greater chance of success in those rounds and Chicago demonstrated that from 99-03

Obviously you've been feeding Tim Anderson this off-season if he weighed in at 328. Good initiative, bad judgement. Now his pizza places will suffer. Why didn't you give some to Keith Ellison, everyone's favorite undersized OLB.

Based on what? And if so, who?

Is that you Jimmy? You're restaurants aren't really that good. And those meals you feed the military people aren't good either. If you have some habanero, I suggest putting it on that excuse for sausage you make.

On paper we're not better. Then again, the Sabres were picked dead-last for the 2005-06 so that doesn't mean much to me. Youthful teams are an enigma. They can either play good football or make terrible mistakes. That's quite a dichotomy, but they'll be better in the long term. When that is I don't know. They've purged so much this season, but I can understand the moves. I only wish they'd have added some more talented and experienced players at CB and perhaps LB. I say that knowing Free Agency didn't offer much. Guys like Nick Harper and Cato June were available, but with cap issues (to fit into cash to the cap) we aren't going nor were we planning to spend more than we did.

Don't think Buffalo goes Levi Brown, he's projected at LT and we've got one. Ben Grubbs will be the only first round G selected and I don't think Marv is high on rookie OL, thus the moves in FA. If Willis and Posluszny are there, I think Willis has more potential. Both are high character players, but will need to get stronger. Don't think Buffalo goes offense in Round 1 (of course anything is possible) given Jauron's penchant for defense. During his tenure in Chicago, the Bears had a pretty good record in selecting defensive players. (Urlacher, Briggs, M. Brown, C. Tillman, R. Colvin, Azumah) With so many people talking CB, what does that say for Youboty? Or is this proposed CB in Round 1 going to be McGee's replacement should he fail this coming season? I prefer Revis over Hall for the simple fact he's as fast but bigger and better against the run. Still, if Okoye is there, you've got to love that guy. I think he'll only get better. After all, he's 19 years old!

Funny, thing, did anyone see a safety going at #8 last season? Was Mike Mayock crazy when he made that prediction? I'm not saying I've got a crystal ball, but this team is capable of doing anything. Why do we assume we are satisfied with our DT's? After all, we were terrible against the run with Tripplett and McCargo. (insert sarcasm here, this is the usual defense against a guy being on a team that doesn't win or play well. P. Manning, LT, Marshall Faulk, Walter Payton, hell Dick Butkus, and a cast of hundreds fit this at some point in their careers) Tripplett can't dominate on his own. We're hoping for a lot out of Williams, but because none of us are scouts, how do we know how much he can improve? If you have a chance to grab a more athletic and quicker DT in Round 1, shouldn't you? The DT's and MLB are the most important positions in this defense. Everything else gets easier from there. I like Amobi Okoye...he's got character, tremendous potential and he's young. Sure McCargo is there, but nothing is set in stone. Besides, the season is 5 months away. Lot can happen.

As we've said many times on the board, you can paint statistics any color to illustrate an opinion. I'm simply using what was used to say Fletcher was an All-Pro and I don't agree with that opinion. If your numbers (and Chris Brown's) are correct, that's about 1 tackle per game. So there, I'm using stats to argue for my position. That's not enough from a MLB is a Cover-2. Think Urlacher makes 1 big tackle a game? Probably not. Tank Johnson and Tommie Harris combined with Ian Scott make guys like Briggs and Urlacher go from excellent to great LB's. The Cover-2 demands excellent up the middle players. We didn't get that last season and the DT's lack of gap penetration was a big part of why we couldn't stop the run. Fletcher would be much better with guys like John Henderson and Marcus Stroud. I'll agree with that. But I don't think he'd be much better with what we have now at DT. It's not that simple. You could say DeMeco Ryans was a big playmaker, up there in tackles and the Defensive Rookie of the Year. However, on closer review of the numbers his front 7 was so weak that the LB's had to make tackles. Tackles do not equate into stellar play. Somtimes it can just illustrate a poor front 7.

Thanks...I'd been a little hard on the front office earlier in some of my posts. Taking a balanced approach is something that needs to be maintained. After all, no football team every won a game by virtue of what they have on paper. The front office has a plan, if they didn't they wouldn't really have jobs. The draft will provide more answers and I'm excited about it. Can't wait for 28-29 April. Running the ball and stopping the run: It's obvious Marv wasn't joking. If Jauron's advising him as much as I think, then Marv knows how important DT's are to the success of the Cover-2.

I disagree. London made a lot of tackles (and many people like to cite the statistic) but if they were all down-field as some say, then he's not worthy of All-Pro status. Perhaps Pro Bowl, but he's not better than Urlacher or Al Wilson. DT is still a need, despite the optimism over the Walker deal. He's a pass rusher more than a run defender. I'm sure some will see that as too pessimistic, but if everyone wants to lampoon Brodrick Bunkley, the Eagles did choose the latter over the former. I'd have to trust the Eagles, along with other select teams in the NFL, because they consistently make the playoffs. With Buffalo's new regime, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The DT position is upgraded, sure. But if we can get guys like Ellison in the sixth round, why do we need to make LB a priority this season like you're suggesting. You can get guys (hello Angelo Crowell) in the second and third. I'd like to see Amobi Okoye and then we'll see at LB. There's plenty of LB talent available. At OLB, Beason, R. Alexander, Tim Shaw, Justin Durant, and some others are going to be there in the second and third. Edit: Not to mention ILB's Siler, and David Harris. Great DT's are harder to find than good LB's.

He got fired for not being good enough as a broadcaster. ESPN's ratings for MNF, while not network level, were extremely high. It placed as one of the highest rated cable shows on television last year. If they're getting rod of him after a season like that, there must be a good reason. Jaworski will be an improvement. He's just a negative personality. I don't think people want to see that.

His tender was 2.35M this season or a first and third compensation should he leave as an RFA without the offer being matched by SD.

Joe Theismann ranks the top 5 NFL franchises? ESPN must be joking. This guy is the most controversial personality they've got for football. He gets bounced from MNF and they have the audacity to let him write for ESPN? As if his opinion matter more now that he's a studio guy. And Dallas as one of them? Theismann's Top 5

I know it's from Bob Davie, a college guy who didn't do so well at ND, but here's a breakdown of the Cover-2. Very similar with the SI article from December. Of course the Bills will probably be more complex, but these are the basics. Cover2

I recall people describing the Cover-2 as being a defense in which each player must be in the correct position at all times for it to work. The MLB drops into coverage, the WLB and SLB take their zones. The safeties divide the field for the deep ball and the CB's have their areas about 8-15 yards downfield. Meanwhile, the D-Line must place pressure on the QB in order to allow the coverage people on pass plays to remain in their area. Not to mention, the Cover-2 forces a QB to make plenty of accurate passes in the short and intermediate passing game. Peyton Manning didn't beat us deep, but he made enough close passes to defeat the Cover-2 that day. David Carr completed several passes against us, but thankfully we had some late heroics to overcome that. The cover-2 is extremely precise. It requires system players. It has little margin for error. But running the ball is the key to defeating it. Sports Illustrated had an excellent article about it back in December. Very informative. Of course each team will have their own version, but these are the basics to it. Forcing teams the throw is how you win with the Cover-2. A great example of this was the NFC Title Game in 1999 when Kurt Warner and the Rams managed only 11 points against Tony Dungy's stingy defense. It was enough to win though. Since then, the Cover-2 has become even more popular, though its origins are in the Steel Curtain Defenses of the 70s. Several teams run a defense associated with the Cover-2, but it's amazing how the 3-4 has made a comeback, because PIT was the only team running it a few years ago. Not saying either one is better than the other, but the 3-4 is more abundant now than 5 years ago.

Here goes, but last season Jauron implemented the Cover-2, he was talking about being faster and quicker on defense, particularly the front 7. That's fine, but the Cover-2 is beaten by an effective rushing game, as evidenced in severak games last season. So while I'm sure they know some things about players like Spikes, D. Walker, and others on their draft board, you still must have players with enough size to shed blocks. Undersized players like Cato June, and perhaps Keith Ellison can thrive with good instincts and speed, but speed alone does not win matchups against quicker and stronger players. Those D-Lineman must free up the LB's to make tackles. I realize quickness and speed aren't the same thing, but they are somewhat similar and not always necessarily interchangeable.

Walker seems like a financial gain as well. Not saying funds are in any way demonstrative of his play, but he's about 2M per year than what Tripplett gets on average. To get an experienced player for that money is fiscally and personnel-wise a smart move. Be careful about saying DT is a strength. Last year's quartet of Tripplett, Williams, Anderson, and a brief appearance by McCargo was very thin against the run. Pardon the obvious, but I don't think Walker is the difference maker against an opponent's running game. I do however like his abilities to rush the passer from the center of the D-Line. I think Amobi Okoye is probably only a remote selection at this point. I'd really like to get him, but when compared to the need at LB, we're probably not after DT help. Then again, this is the Bills front office and they'll be counted on to do the unexpected.

Absolutely hilarious.

My question before we say the Bills are geniuses is this: Why was Walker available? Great salary dump though.