Cant really argue with these comments

[Green Lightning]

I am more concerned about the LB'ing this year than I am about the o-line. It would be nearly impossible that the o-line - if healthy wouldn't take a step forward. Bell is the key to this. The Bills really have no outstanding LB'er and a bunch of at best mediocre ones.

 

 

This would be my take as well. I think we'll be much better offensively and our downfall will be at LB, particularly against the pass. Tight Ends and RB's out of the backfield will kill us this year.

[Red]

C'mon guys. We all know these preseason prognostications are worthless.

 

First off all, none of these guys see the intangibles. What has really killed the Bills the past year or two? Back to the Levy era, it has been 'lack of an identity'. Nobody on the coaching staff knew the first thing about offense. Now, that's not to give Modrak a pass, because as evidenced by the recent Bills getting cut by different teams (Josh Reed, JP Losman, Sam Aiken, etc) we can see that he is worthless as a talent evaluator.

 

But watching the Bills of the past year or two, lack of identity is accurate. They were too predictable. No diversity. No adjustments. No slants, for gosh sakes!! Players from other teams have been quoted repeatedly that the Bills were too vanilla; opposing defenses knew what the Bills were always going to be doing, etc.

 

Yet even in that vanilla approach, they were still competitive. They still hung on in games. Looking back on last years games, there were about 3 or 4 where they were owned. The Super Bowl winning Saints was not one of them. The Bills were in a 10-7 slug fest until it got away in the 4th.

 

We also have to look at strength and conditioning. Having the strength and endurance to play an entire game is key. Having power and explosiveness in the 4th quarter is absolutely essential. With our history of injuries and quotes from other teams (yet again) claiming last year how they would not worry if it was close (or even if the Bills were ahead), the Bills would crack eventually. That's discipline. That's endurance. That's strength. When you're tired, one of the first things to go is discipline. How many times in recent years have we seen the Bills driving to take control (or win) a game, but find some offensive lineman false start in the 4th quarter, or hold? Those are errors of poor conditioning and poor discipline. I think (read: hope) that our new strength team will have these guys finally conditioned to win, and all of those ridiculous, drive-killing false start and holding penalties will be a thing of the past.

 

Finally, I don't think enough can be said about the culture of winning Gailey, Nix, and Whaley are bringing to the Bills. Attitude. From chewing out some idiotic punks giving Trent a hard time at the last week of training camp, to creating an offense w/versatility and punch, we should be seeing a team out there on the field. Something we have not seen in some time.

 

Now, how much do the intangibles matter? Well, we don't yet have a LT. I'm not sure we have a dominant pass rusher. But if the offense is 3 steps and fire, and Spiller keeps defenses on their toes, the offensive line will get somewhat of a break. If we start putting points up on the board other than field goals, maybe OTHER teams will be having to play catch up for a change. That helps a pass rush too.

 

All in all, who knows?

 

Only time will tell.

 

GO BILLS!