No Need to Panic

[CJPearl2]

While we all had high hopes for the first pre-season game, let's not get crazy over the results. Here is why:

 

1) Remember how ****ty we looked last pre-season? Remember how good we looked the first game? Game plans for pre-season are basic. We aren't opening up the playbook until week one. Especially this year against a division rival. Do you really think we will throw 16 times in a row at any point this year?

 

2) Other teams looked just as ****ty. I watched some of the Pats-Saints and GB-SD. All the offenses struggled as they often do early in pre-season. Rivers and Rodgers didn't look that good and either did Brady. But does that mean they won't play well during the season? Of course not. Same can be said for Fitz (even though he is not in the class of those QBs).

 

3) No injuries. We left the game intact. No injuries. Ryan Matthews, the Chargers' RB that many predict to have a huge year, got hurt on his first run. He is out 4-6 weeks, maybe more.

 

4) Backup positions look much better than in previous years. While the starters didn't look so hot (although I thought the starting defense looked pretty good), the backups played fairly well. You can tell that this team has much more depth than previous years. This is also evident when watching special teams, where backups usually play. Better backups, better special teams. Not to mention a kickoff specialist that kicks the **** out of the ball. No more lobs to the 5 yard line. This helps field position and avoids special team injuries.

 

Get off the ledge. Let's stay healthy for the season and see what happens.

 

Carry on.

Edited August 10, 2012 by CJPearl2

[bills1960]

First team D looked good enough to me for preseason game one. Youngsters like Gilmore, Potter, Brooks and Graham looked ahead of the curve. Not awful, I'm interested to see how much then can change by next friday.

[Reed83HOF]

Preaseaon is not about the Wins and Losses, it is about getting work in on areas that you feel you need to improve on, get a feel for where the newcomers are and in the next couple games to determine the depth chart and positional battles.

 

As the articles on the front page indicate, the goal was to have Fitz call his own plays in the no -huddle. With the 'Skins playing a base 3-4, he decided not to call running plays. It is no big deal, we know that is a strength. It was also good to have the OL (Glenn specifically) get more experience against a pass rush and a decent DE in Orakpo (ugh why did we take Maybin? Rhetorical question). It also gave the coaches tape to see how the WRs are running their routes against a D other than our own.

 

Overall, I am not concerned about our #1s and starting units, we know what we have. The backups on Offense in this game give me some concern. First being the backup OL, lots of penalties. It is hard to gauge Thigpen & Young with the backup OL and WRs, as far as feeling pressure and rushing their throws & drops, wrong routes etc. Overall my feeling is that Young neither hurt or improved his chances and Thigpen hurt his chances. Young played as expected, he can run when he is in trouble. He does have a strong arm and, but is poor at reading a D and can misfire his throws at times. He is awkward to watch throwing as he hardly steps into his throws, I am assuming this is due to his arm strength. I am not a QB guru, but doesn't proper footwork help the ball's trajectory? As far as Thigpen, I could throw better than him. To give full disclosure, I never liked the VY signing, but he is a member of the team now. I just want the best players we have to find their right spots on the depth chart. I would like to see Thigpen and VY get a shot with the first stringers for a few series before I make a final determination, but as of last night Thig hurt his chances and Young was neutral and could easily win the battle by default.

 

A positive offense backup was Johnny White. On the defense Moore was a surprise and Brooks looked really good. I was high on this kid when we drafted him, he has high potential. Mid to late rounds picks are usually guys who are weaker in skill areas, smaller in build than the standard wants/likes for their position or that they simply didn't get enough play time to show a big picture of work; the latter is where Brooks falls. It will be interesting to watch him develop.

 

LT was a big concern of ours this offseason, overall Glenn looked good. He did get beat once, but held his own the rest of the plays. Hopefully this continues.

 

Next game I really would like to see the WR situation get worked on (depth chart, catching, route running, timing) with a balanced run game, see Thig or Young play with the 1s, watch Glenn development, and the battle between Morrison & Moats.

 

Not going to hammer the backup QBs too much, but our options as of now looks like we either run with VY as the backup, he does give us the best chance to win between him and Thigpen. Do you look for cuts such as McCoy or possibly Matt Moore as an upgrade? Is it too late to fiddle with that position as we are at advanced stages of playbook integration?

 

We still have holes to fill so this isn't going to be a perfect or magical season. Fitz is on the hotseat, we still need another viable starting WR, can Wood stay healthy, we still need more depth at Safety, and with a pass rush we will see where we stand with our LBs.

[HOUSE]

I think the loss is disastrous.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

I'm not panicking!

 

Are you panicking?

 

Who's panicking?

 

I'm not panicking!

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

I have the game recorded on my DVR but still haven't got around to watching it... What has ME not panicking is Gailey's press conference... That guy can't hide his emotions at all which is what I love about Gailey and he was smiling a couple times in the interview which is the reason why I believe he knows what we don't... Hence why I'm not panicking...

[jjmac]

 

Next game I really would like to see the WR situation get worked on (depth chart, catching, route running, timing) with a balanced run game, see Thig or Young play with the 1s, watch Glenn development, and the battle between Morrison & Moats.

 

I'm going to politely disagree with you on this. Fitz needs to work with the ones until we figure out who the starting WRs will be.

[shoretalk]

I'm going to politely disagree with you on this. Fitz needs to work with the ones until we figure out who the starting WRs will be.

 

I totally agree with you ... what needs to happen is that the Bills' braintrust has to decide it's time to wave goodbye to Thigpen so that Young can get all the reps with the 2's, we still have Smith for emergencies plus there will be several back-up's floating around looking for jobs during the next few weeks and I am sure at least a couple who qualify for the PS.

 

This organized scrimmage with the worst officiating team I ever remember was just a position test. I liked the push up the middle with Dareus and Williams ... Anderson showed his high energy level in that one heap into the scrum. Sheppard was in the right place in stopping the run and seemed to be doing his job. Impressed with Brooks and the recovery speed of Green.

 

Frankly, I liked what Chandler was doing. He was establishing to anyone watching the game film that the Bills have a tall and viable weapon over the middle. Did you really want him to go half speed?

 

Stevie was Stevie!! And, that's really good for us. And, in TJ we may have solved our deep threat question; he was impressive every time the ball went in his direction. And, we have a kicking dynamic duo that can kick field goals in THE RALPH and boot them out on every kickoff!

 

I wanted a win (Especially since a good friend who is a Redskin fan feels he has avenged last year's game in Toronto ...) but I'll take what we saw with some of the penalties due to the officials not our players. And, I think Gailey will successfully work out the kinks!

 

No injuries ... some decent play and questions remaining about wide receiver and linebacker. Plus some reserves.

 

On to next week ....

[FleaMoulds80]

I have the game recorded on my DVR but still haven't got around to watching it... What has ME not panicking is Gailey's press conference... That guy can't hide his emotions at all which is what I love about Gailey and he was smiling a couple times in the interview which is the reason why I believe he knows what we don't... Hence why I'm not panicking...

 

noooo...get out of here. the head coach knows something we fans don't? shocker.

 

Preseason means nothing. He obviously thought our passing game and young WRs needed the reps. Probably why we threw the ball so dam much.

[jjmac]

I totally agree with you ... what needs to happen is that the Bills' braintrust has to decide it's time to wave goodbye to Thigpen so that Young can get all the reps with the 2's, we still have Smith for emergencies plus there will be several back-up's floating around looking for jobs during the next few weeks and I am sure at least a couple who qualify for the PS.

 

This organized scrimmage with the worst officiating team I ever remember was just a position test. I liked the push up the middle with Dareus and Williams ... Anderson showed his high energy level in that one heap into the scrum. Sheppard was in the right place in stopping the run and seemed to be doing his job. Impressed with Brooks and the recovery speed of Green.

 

Frankly, I liked what Chandler was doing. He was establishing to anyone watching the game film that the Bills have a tall and viable weapon over the middle. Did you really want him to go half speed?

 

Stevie was Stevie!! And, that's really good for us. And, in TJ we may have solved our deep threat question; he was impressive every time the ball went in his direction. And, we have a kicking dynamic duo that can kick field goals in THE RALPH and boot them out on every kickoff!

 

I wanted a win (Especially since a good friend who is a Redskin fan feels he has avenged last year's game in Toronto ...) but I'll take what we saw with some of the penalties due to the officials not our players. And, I think Gailey will successfully work out the kinks!

 

No injuries ... some decent play and questions remaining about wide receiver and linebacker. Plus some reserves.

 

On to next week ....

 

I'm not overly concerned yet because of our history of going totally vanilla in preseason, and the fact that we had 2 OL starters out. I just want to see us cut down on the mistakes in the next game.

 

noooo...get out of here. the head coach knows something we fans don't? shocker.

 

Preseason means nothing. He obviously thought our passing game and young WRs needed the reps. Probably why we threw the ball so dam much.

 

Coach probably wants them to get as many reps as possible with which to base his cuts.

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

noooo...get out of here. the head coach knows something we fans don't? shocker.

 

Preseason means nothing. He obviously thought our passing game and young WRs needed the reps. Probably why we threw the ball so dam much.

 

Anybody tell you that you have a lot of attitude? Sarcastic much? You need a nice joint of some O.G. Kush my friend... Relax yourself... You're too hype for no reason...

[billsfan_34]

Come on everyone.....it was the first pre season game.....ite really meant to evaluate talent and work out some kinks. Everything is vanilla .....we are gonna be ok ......and I mean that !!!! Enjoy ur weekend , do yardwork, BBQ, have some beers etc......And don't FRET.

[cmjoyce113]

Chill out with the yard work part... I mean if you want me to "enjoy" my weekend any way.

[HOUSE]

Who could possibly panic after a preseason game. Even if Buffalo won 63-0 it STILL means nothing.

 

Do you know how many preseason games the Superbowl Buffalo Bills won?

Answer 1, look it up.

Edited August 11, 2012 by HOUSE

[Nanker]

!

[jumbalaya]

2-14 .... I can see it coming

[Joe W]

Well they have to start getting used to winning . Even though it's only preseason they've now lost nine of their last ten games.

[Roc Bronson]

The Jets so far look like the worst team in the preseason so far. But some of the stuff writing around here has me thinking we're in the regular season lol.. Let's chill and get the ugly out the way now, so when the true test come, we rain down a fire storm upon the Jets.. B!I!L!L!S!

Edited August 11, 2012 by Roc Bronson

[gobillsinytown]

Great post. Although it's not unusual for the more casual fans to over react to preseason games, sometimes the preseason posts on this board are really funny. Preseason is important, but mainly to determine depth. Most NFL teams know who their starters are going to be before preseason begins.

There are always a few training camp and preseason battles for starting jobs, but most positions are already settled.

Preseason is not important for determining how the team is going to play during the regular season. Teams deliberately don't show most of their playbook during the preseason. The closest a team might get to showing their regular season looks is during the 3rd game, and that's only for the first half.

I'll quote from Fitzy from the first game: "We didn't have a gameplan." This means that they were basically playing pitch and catch, and trying to get some work in for the no huddle offense.

So, there is no reason to panic at all, because we didn't see anything remotely like what the team will look like in the first game.

 

 

 

 

While we all had high hopes for the first pre-season game, let's not get crazy over the results. Here is why:

 

1) Remember how ****ty we looked last pre-season? Remember how good we looked the first game? Game plans for pre-season are basic. We aren't opening up the playbook until week one. Especially this year against a division rival. Do you really think we will throw 16 times in a row at any point this year?

 

2) Other teams looked just as ****ty. I watched some of the Pats-Saints and GB-SD. All the offenses struggled as they often do early in pre-season. Rivers and Rodgers didn't look that good and either did Brady. But does that mean they won't play well during the season? Of course not. Same can be said for Fitz (even though he is not in the class of those QBs).

 

3) No injuries. We left the game intact. No injuries. Ryan Matthews, the Chargers' RB that many predict to have a huge year, got hurt on his first run. He is out 4-6 weeks, maybe more.

 

4) Backup positions look much better than in previous years. While the starters didn't look so hot (although I thought the starting defense looked pretty good), the backups played fairly well. You can tell that this team has much more depth than previous years. This is also evident when watching special teams, where backups usually play. Better backups, better special teams. Not to mention a kickoff specialist that kicks the **** out of the ball. No more lobs to the 5 yard line. This helps field position and avoids special team injuries.

 

Get off the ledge. Let's stay healthy for the season and see what happens.

 

Carry on.

[Reed83HOF]

I'm going to politely disagree with you on this. Fitz needs to work with the ones until we figure out who the starting WRs will be.

 

I somewhat agree with what you say. I will point out that Fitz played with the same set of WRs last year with the exception of TJ; and the OL is the same players with the exception of Glenn - not a whole lot has changed personel-wise on that side of the ball. When they were healthy, we were putting up decent numbers and 5-2 last season. While he could use some work, due to changing mechanics, I think it is more imperative for the WRs to run the routes and make their reads based on the play called and they can do that with FItz, Thigpen or Young as QB. This goes for them catching the balls thrown their way as well. If they don't make the catch, you can then point to the finger to the WR or a bad pass thrown by the QB. In Gailey's offense, the ranking of a #1 or #2 or even #3 isn't that important.

 

The OL is in the same boat, Pears has been injured Hairston is at RT, Urbik at C and Glenn at LT; Livitre is the only one not shuffled. This version of the Line should get some extended playing time as well. Wood has been injured the last 2 season, freak injuries, but injured nonetheless. Again it doesn't matter who they protect as a QB - they need to get their work in as well.

 

In order to best gauge where the backup QBS are, we need them to be able to step in without a lot of work with the #1's due to a Fitz injury. A few series with the starting OL and WRs would be the best way to gauge them...

 

It is only a preseason game - the sky isn't falling, it is all vanilla and we are just trying to get some work in. Game #3 will see the starters get the most playing time, usualy the first 1/2 and possibly some game planning. In game #2, I would like to see the first team WRs (maybe even without SJ) and OL get more work when Fit is out and having time with Young and Thigpen.

Edited August 11, 2012 by reed83 4th Rounder