Donte is starting?

[Mr. WEO]

I think the point is that our HC (rightly so) doesn't care about last year's statistics. I think he intends to put the players with the proper skills in the proper positions. Whitner, no matter how well Wilson was rated by anyone, anywhere, can play the run, play near the line, diagnose plays, get other players into the right positions, and ultimately provide the best versatility of any of the safeties. It's not about salary, it's about putting a player a position that he's suited for and playing to his strengths.

??

[Ghost of Rob Johnson]

Not if he was drafted to play in a different system than the one we will be running (which he was).

Don't they have safety's in the 3-4

[offyourocker]

Selecting Donte at #8 was a bad decision, but he's not a bad player. He's our best player at strong safety and will be our starter. Deal with it.

 

Right on. He might have a big mouth and make promises he can not hold but he is not a bad player

[ceeroc1]

ok whitner is a very solid db and its great we have depth....wilson is good but donte is clearly better when he is not injured.

[Thoner7]

Generally you are right, but I do not believe that is a correct rendition of the SS role in the Cover 2 which was our base D (and which more accurately was like the version of the Cover 2 known as the Tampa 2 in that it was similar to the Tampa 2 in that we used the MLB as a middle of the field deep cover guy but we never had the quality DT play that Tampa had at the height of effectiveness of this D).

 

In the style Cover 2 we played rather than the SS having his prime responsibilities be pass coverage on the TE or an RB who comes out of the backfield into the pass route and having his primary run responsibility be the 8th man in the boxm in our base D the SS actually had deep coverage duty on the WRs.

 

The FS positions and the SS positions were basically the same in the Bills Cover 2 since they actually had essentially the same roles on opposite sides of the field regarding pass coverage. Both Ss were called upon to make reads on regard to whether the run was headed their way and in particular whether there was a receiver headed to the deep outside flag pattern they had primary responsibility for, but actually to some extent Byrd and Wilson made glitzier pass coverage plays than Whitner as the way Byrd in particular and also Wilson to some extent played great centerfielder roles picking off poorly thrown and excelling at tip drill INTs when the ball was thrown poorly to the primary receiver on the play.

 

Perhaps Whitner can be faulted actually for playing the run well in that he focused primary attention to his work on the run rather than concentrate on the INTs which Byrd did so well on and Wilson made some notable plays.

 

Actually though I think a bit of what happened was that opposing OCs likely passed a lot trying to exploit the young and relatively inexperienced at S Wilson and these two athletes made them pay for their mistakes.

 

 

Cover two - or Tampa two - is a coverage. While that is our base D, the Bills didnt run that coverage every play. Wilson spent more time at the line of scrimmage last season than he did playing a deep half of the field. In fact, when we did keep two safetys deep it was Byrd and Whitner with Wilson still on the field at the LOS - yes we used 3 safeties at once.

 

I struggle to see how so many think Wilson played FS last season, and I also struggle to see how others believe Whitner is the better SS? At least from last years performance.