My observations of first half

[bobinaz]

I know this has been discussed in various threads, but more so as a rebutal to the chicken littles, but I watched the first half in which the starters played and had this to say:

 

There were a few positives. The run D looked pretty good. The lineman were able to plug the lanes. When the run did get through to the next level it ususally was for about 3 yards and the LBs stopped it.

 

At times the O-line was able to open some lanes for Spiller and Fred. Fred ran with some intensity, especially on that 20 yard scamper after Jones was leveled. Chandler did ok at times blocking. Pass protection had its moments and Fitz had some time to throw.

 

I thought special teams looked better than last week. The fake punt was nice to see. With Smith, I expect to see more gadget plays during the regular season.

 

As for the negatives. The thing I noticed most that's probably causing so much grief with the O-line is inconsistency. Gailey had Rinehart, Levitre moving around. Granted I know he's trying to see what combination works best, but I'm hoping this week he's seen enough to know who the starters will be in what combination and leave it alone, and let them build cohesiveness. With that said, you should see the pass protection and run blocking improve.

 

As for the run game, I don't see Spiller as the starter. He still stutters and has no patience at times. Gailey shouldn't even entertain this idea. Let's call this game an experiment to see where Spiller was.

 

Chandler needs to learn how to adjust and pick up the blitz. Twice he let a defender run in untouched as his ran downfield. Clearly he should have been held in to help Bell. Bell was overwhelmed at times. The right side was guilty as well.

 

Fitz' timing was off. He had passes that would normally have been on the money on the crossing routes, but they were either low or behind the WR, or they were high.

 

The defense was burned constantly by the screens. Usually it's self critiquing and they adjust, but not tonight. McKelvin was out of position at times.

 

I thought some of the officiating was bad; Broncos offensive holding mostly.

 

All in all, for a second preaseason game we should have seen some improvements, and there were some. Whether it is the lack of game planning, Gailey still finding the right fit along the O-line, the poor training camp this past week and it carried over, or just wanting to get out alive with few injuries, I think we still need to be optimistic and give them a chance. Sure, you have some teams that are tearing it up and some that are just hanging in there that you wouldn't expect, but this is the preseason. Flame away, but it's all base plays and Gailey along with the coaches need to see what they have in the players. Again, no OTAs, no mini-camps. You can't expect them to be in mid-season form after just 3 weeks of camp while trying to fit several OTAs and mini-camps into 1 1/2 months, still audition players, and introduce new plays. That's just too much to ask.

 

Rest assure that Gailey isn't happy. Who in their right mind is going to do a Jim Mora impersonation and publicly air out the dirty laundry. He and Nix know there are weaknesses. I wouldn't be surprised if after the roster cuts begin, they bring in a few tackles and guards to try out. C'mon folks, stay positive. We've been here in this position for 11 years now and yeah it sucks at times, but we all knew that any improvement wasn't going to happen over night. Go BILLS!!!!!

[zow2]

I think Denver was playing to win and be physical....buffalo was trying some things. Against Jacksonville this week they need to play to win. Can't go 0- for preseason and not get any momentum.

[Phil Hansen Forever]

I think Denver was playing to win and be physical....buffalo was trying some things. Against Jacksonville this week they need to play to win. Can't go 0- for preseason and not get any momentum.

Why not? It worked for Levy. How many preseason games did they win; not many from my recollection.

Edited August 21, 2011 by Phil Hansen Forever

[cale]

Why not? It worked for Levy. How many preseason games did they win; not many from my recollection.

 

Seriously? Do you see any difference in the team we have now compared to the Super Bills of the 90s? I mean, try hard - there must be one or two things that look different...

[first_and_ten]

Seriously? Do you see any difference in the team we have now compared to the Super Bills of the 90s? I mean, try hard - there must be one or two things that look different...

Was it the brand of bear they drank?

[3rdnlng]

Was it the brand of bear they drank?

 

The 90's team drank Grizzly while this team drinks Pooh Bear.

[buffalo_bills]

I know this has been discussed in various threads, but more so as a rebutal to the chicken littles, but I watched the first half in which the starters played and had this to say:

 

There were a few positives. The run D looked pretty good. The lineman were able to plug the lanes. When the run did get through to the next level it ususally was for about 3 yards and the LBs stopped it.

 

At times the O-line was able to open some lanes for Spiller and Fred. Fred ran with some intensity, especially on that 20 yard scamper after Jones was leveled. Chandler did ok at times blocking. Pass protection had its moments and Fitz had some time to throw.

 

I thought special teams looked better than last week. The fake punt was nice to see. With Smith, I expect to see more gadget plays during the regular season.

 

As for the negatives. The thing I noticed most that's probably causing so much grief with the O-line is inconsistency. Gailey had Rinehart, Levitre moving around. Granted I know he's trying to see what combination works best, but I'm hoping this week he's seen enough to know who the starters will be in what combination and leave it alone, and let them build cohesiveness. With that said, you should see the pass protection and run blocking improve.

 

As for the run game, I don't see Spiller as the starter. He still stutters and has no patience at times. Gailey shouldn't even entertain this idea. Let's call this game an experiment to see where Spiller was.

 

Chandler needs to learn how to adjust and pick up the blitz. Twice he let a defender run in untouched as his ran downfield. Clearly he should have been held in to help Bell. Bell was overwhelmed at times. The right side was guilty as well.

 

Fitz' timing was off. He had passes that would normally have been on the money on the crossing routes, but they were either low or behind the WR, or they were high.

 

The defense was burned constantly by the screens. Usually it's self critiquing and they adjust, but not tonight. McKelvin was out of position at times.

 

I thought some of the officiating was bad; Broncos offensive holding mostly.

 

All in all, for a second preaseason game we should have seen some improvements, and there were some. Whether it is the lack of game planning, Gailey still finding the right fit along the O-line, the poor training camp this past week and it carried over, or just wanting to get out alive with few injuries, I think we still need to be optimistic and give them a chance. Sure, you have some teams that are tearing it up and some that are just hanging in there that you wouldn't expect, but this is the preseason. Flame away, but it's all base plays and Gailey along with the coaches need to see what they have in the players. Again, no OTAs, no mini-camps. You can't expect them to be in mid-season form after just 3 weeks of camp while trying to fit several OTAs and mini-camps into 1 1/2 months, still audition players, and introduce new plays. That's just too much to ask.

 

Rest assure that Gailey isn't happy. Who in their right mind is going to do a Jim Mora impersonation and publicly air out the dirty laundry. He and Nix know there are weaknesses. I wouldn't be surprised if after the roster cuts begin, they bring in a few tackles and guards to try out. C'mon folks, stay positive. We've been here in this position for 11 years now and yeah it sucks at times, but we all knew that any improvement wasn't going to happen over night. Go BILLS!!!!!

Great post. Exactly what my thoughts are; sure we looked bad last night, but its the second game of the preseason for crying out loud! I'm confident our boys will get it together and have a good season. GO BILLS!

[Offside Number 76]

I know this has been discussed in various threads

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Fitz had time to throw? Not really. Watch it again. Bell, for one, was on a swivel.

 

Someone on another post suggested moving Wood back to guard and reinstalling Hang at center. That makes sense as Wood at center was a tweak of the line. We first have to build one before we tweak it and whatever raises fewer concerns should be the way to go at this point.

[bobinaz]

Is that all you've got there number 76? I do believe this is a discussion board and all are welcome. What, are you the interim moderator?

[BobChalmers]

Fitz' timing was off. He had passes that would normally have been on the money on the crossing routes, but they were either low or behind the WR, or they were high.

 

This. Fitz was horrible - even when he had time he was throwing behind the receivers.

 

The thing about this game is - Denver's offense is good - it was last year too. They lost games on defense. There were times when the Bills D wasn't getting it done last night, but - this just in - Brandon Lloyd is freaking good. The Broncos can score. Holding them to 14 in the first half w/o using much scheme is pretty good.

 

What was sad was our compete lack of a pass offense. The OL was bad, but Fitz was worse. Spiller looked good in my book. Had multiple long runs against the Broncos starters.

[Offside Number 76]

Is that all you've got there number 76? I do believe this is a discussion board and all are welcome. What, are you the interim moderator?

 

You couldn't put it in the GDT or the first-half thread? Your observations are so much more special and important than anyone else's? Should everyone do this?

[John from Riverside]

I have no problem with him doing this.....why allow his post to get buried in the varius chicken little posts dominating the board?

 

This. Fitz was horrible - even when he had time he was throwing behind the receivers.

 

The thing about this game is - Denver's offense is good - it was last year too. They lost games on defense. There were times when the Bills D wasn't getting it done last night, but - this just in - Brandon Lloyd is freaking good. The Broncos can score. Holding them to 14 in the first half w/o using much scheme is pretty good.

 

What was sad was our compete lack of a pass offense. The OL was bad, but Fitz was worse. Spiller looked good in my book. Had multiple long runs against the Broncos starters.

 

 

I just dont think the offense has its timing yet....it showed on the two attempts at touchdowns one was long and one was short

[Chilly]

This. Fitz was horrible - even when he had time he was throwing behind the receivers.

 

The thing about this game is - Denver's offense is good - it was last year too. They lost games on defense. There were times when the Bills D wasn't getting it done last night, but - this just in - Brandon Lloyd is freaking good. The Broncos can score. Holding them to 14 in the first half w/o using much scheme is pretty good.

 

What was sad was our compete lack of a pass offense. The OL was bad, but Fitz was worse. Spiller looked good in my book. Had multiple long runs against the Broncos starters.

 

Agreed with you on Fitz and I'm hoping it's just timing. He was throwing behind receivers all night.

 

Also agreed on Spiller, he was a surprise to me. I might get murdered on this board for saying this, but I thought Kelsay was a nice surprise as well. He was pretty solid.

 

Torbor and Bell had the worst performances on either side, with Torbor being terrible. I can't see him staying on the team very long. McKelvin was bad, too, as previously discussed.

[NewEra]

This. Fitz was horrible - even when he had time he was throwing behind the receivers.

 

The thing about this game is - Denver's offense is good - it was last year too. They lost games on defense. There were times when the Bills D wasn't getting it done last night, but - this just in - Brandon Lloyd is freaking good. The Broncos can score. Holding them to 14 in the first half w/o using much scheme is pretty good.

 

What was sad was our compete lack of a pass offense. The OL was bad, but Fitz was worse. Spiller looked good in my book. Had multiple long runs against the Broncos starters.

And the Denver defense was the leagues worst in many important catergories. They looked great against us. Which says a lot about our offense so far. I think every team is going to bring the house and go 1on1 vs our wrs, putting the pressure on Fitzy to make a smart and accurate throw. If that's the case, we could be in trouble. Teams aren't afraid of a team that throws 20 4yard slant patterns and 6 screen passes a game. Chans in a predicament. We can't throw the deep ball because we have no time to throw, which makes us pretty easy to game plan for. Bring the heat and pressure the wrs off the snap. This is one of the reasons I love our wildcat package. It's really the only thing we have to mix it up with. I'm not a fan of gimmicks, but I'm a fan of them with this team.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Why not? It worked for Levy. How many preseason games did they win; not many from my recollection.

True but we knew they were great but now not so much.

[BobChalmers]

Torbor and Bell had the worst performances on either side, with Torbor being terrible. I can't see him staying on the team very long. McKelvin was bad, too, as previously discussed.

 

Bell was having a rough time - I didn't mind him being initially surprised by Miller's speed, but Dumervil - while good - should not have been a surprise.

 

Torbor is at or near the top of my list of players that I don't understand how they are still on the team.

[tennesseeboy]

This. Fitz was horrible - even when he had time he was throwing behind the receivers.

 

The thing about this game is - Denver's offense is good - it was last year too. They lost games on defense. There were times when the Bills D wasn't getting it done last night, but - this just in - Brandon Lloyd is freaking good. The Broncos can score. Holding them to 14 in the first half w/o using much scheme is pretty good.

 

What was sad was our compete lack of a pass offense. The OL was bad, but Fitz was worse. Spiller looked good in my book. Had multiple long runs against the Broncos starters.

I missed the part where he actually had time.

[Quinn Early's Ghost]

I know this has been discussed in various threads, but more so as a rebutal to the chicken littles, but I watched the first half in which the starters played and had this to say:

 

There were a few positives. The run D looked pretty good. The lineman were able to plug the lanes. When the run did get through to the next level it ususally was for about 3 yards and the LBs stopped it.

 

At times the O-line was able to open some lanes for Spiller and Fred. Fred ran with some intensity, especially on that 20 yard scamper after Jones was leveled. Chandler did ok at times blocking. Pass protection had its moments and Fitz had some time to throw.

 

I thought special teams looked better than last week. The fake punt was nice to see. With Smith, I expect to see more gadget plays during the regular season.

 

As for the negatives. The thing I noticed most that's probably causing so much grief with the O-line is inconsistency. Gailey had Rinehart, Levitre moving around. Granted I know he's trying to see what combination works best, but I'm hoping this week he's seen enough to know who the starters will be in what combination and leave it alone, and let them build cohesiveness. With that said, you should see the pass protection and run blocking improve.

 

As for the run game, I don't see Spiller as the starter. He still stutters and has no patience at times. Gailey shouldn't even entertain this idea. Let's call this game an experiment to see where Spiller was.

 

Chandler needs to learn how to adjust and pick up the blitz. Twice he let a defender run in untouched as his ran downfield. Clearly he should have been held in to help Bell. Bell was overwhelmed at times. The right side was guilty as well.

 

Fitz' timing was off. He had passes that would normally have been on the money on the crossing routes, but they were either low or behind the WR, or they were high.

 

The defense was burned constantly by the screens. Usually it's self critiquing and they adjust, but not tonight. McKelvin was out of position at times.

 

I thought some of the officiating was bad; Broncos offensive holding mostly.

 

All in all, for a second preaseason game we should have seen some improvements, and there were some. Whether it is the lack of game planning, Gailey still finding the right fit along the O-line, the poor training camp this past week and it carried over, or just wanting to get out alive with few injuries, I think we still need to be optimistic and give them a chance. Sure, you have some teams that are tearing it up and some that are just hanging in there that you wouldn't expect, but this is the preseason. Flame away, but it's all base plays and Gailey along with the coaches need to see what they have in the players. Again, no OTAs, no mini-camps. You can't expect them to be in mid-season form after just 3 weeks of camp while trying to fit several OTAs and mini-camps into 1 1/2 months, still audition players, and introduce new plays. That's just too much to ask.

 

Rest assure that Gailey isn't happy. Who in their right mind is going to do a Jim Mora impersonation and publicly air out the dirty laundry. He and Nix know there are weaknesses. I wouldn't be surprised if after the roster cuts begin, they bring in a few tackles and guards to try out. C'mon folks, stay positive. We've been here in this position for 11 years now and yeah it sucks at times, but we all knew that any improvement wasn't going to happen over night. Go BILLS!!!!!

 

These are great observations. But every single team has had an abbreviated off-season, so that can't be the reason we're having a poor pre-season. After watching these last two games, I feel like we absolutely have the weapons to have a great season, but the execution is horrendous. I really can't get a feel for the play calling just yet, because it's preseason, but we need to be far more aggressive on offense, and start utilizing our play makers. I just don't think we can rely on our D to be on the field all game and bail out the sputtering offense. But, as you say, we'll see in the coming games.

[CookieG]

Fitz had time to throw? Not really. Watch it again. Bell, for one, was on a swivel.

 

He had 3 seconds to throw once, I think, on a play action. It wasn't any different against the Bears.

 

They moved the ball down the field through screen passes and personal fouls. Don't think you can make those your base offense.

 

I don't think the starters have completed a pass thrown over 10 yards, yet.

 

 

That's not good.