The Voice of Truth Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 1. Lack of toughness 2. Fitzpatrick 1. In an interview on BuffaloBills.com Eric Wood was asked questions about the problems the Bills are having. He fairly clearly stated that he felt the team has gone soft in the 2nd half. Initially, he stated that they "laid down". Prior to this all of what he said backed this up. Because "laid down" is a strong term, a reporter called him out a bit and said "laid down is a loaded term, what do you really mean by that?" At that point Wood backtracked a bit and said he didn't think they quit. Translation of all this: The team quit and has gone soft. Eric even went on to say that there are leaders in all the position rooms and he does not feel it is his place to call out players in positions other than O-Line. He said something like it is not his role to call anyone out on the defense (strongly hinting that the defense has gone extremely soft). Think about this. The NFL is a really physical league and putting emphasis behind all of your hits and bumps leads to a lot more pain on Mondays. It really does take a lot of mental toughness to fight hard throughout an entire game and this team is not displaying that toughness. That is by far the Bills biggest problem. 2. Fitzpatrick obviously has not played well and it is fairly clear that he is a game manager at best. And when you're not even sure if he is good enough to be a game manager, you're in trouble. I hold just a little reservation on this because at the beginning of last year he showed an ability to really light it up. I'm talking he was carving defenses up drive after drive at times. However, I do not think that was his true quarterback self manifesting. He is not a good NFL quarterback and very likely never will be. Some of his misses are very costly and should be easily executed by an NFL QB. The Hope: 1. Somehow, somebody rips into the softness of this team and somehow they get tough. Kyle William might be a good guy to do it. I think there is talent on this team and if guys play hard and tough, I think the results would be a lot different. 2. The defense keeps the Bills in games and this allows Fitz to be a game manager. Occasionally, he shows flashes of early 2011 to get us back in games. I really think these are the two biggest problems. The toughness might be fixable. The QB thing has to be addressed in the offseason. Until then, hopefully Fitz can at least be average and consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papazoid Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 #1- Franchise QB #2- Backup QB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Fitzpatrick has 5 tds & 0 picks in our 2 wins. In our 3 losses 7 tds & 8 picks. I don't think he cost us any game due to the beat downs we incurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOKBILLS Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Fitzpatrick has 5 tds & 0 picks in our 2 wins. In our 3 losses 7 tds & 8 picks. I don't think he cost us any game due to the beat downs we incurred. So you think he's good enough? You really want to plant your flag on that one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanInUticaTampa Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 (edited) So you think he's good enough? You really want to plant your flag on that one? I don't think that is what he is saying. I think he is saying that since the loss was so bad, fixing just the quarterback won't fix this team. There is something much more troubling with this team than a qb problem Edited October 10, 2012 by DanInUticaTampa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlj1972 Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 The defense seems to be very vanilla and has anyone else noticed how much we miss the production of David Nelson in the slot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 MLB QB Unfortunately the heart and soul of both units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve O Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Special teams playing pretty well. Offense and defense appear to be the two biggest weaknesses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanInUticaTampa Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 MLB QB Unfortunately the heart and soul of both units. Yup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 So you think he's good enough? You really want to plant your flag on that one? Do you think a 35 year old Tom Brady has us any better than 3-2? I'm giving you the Jet game (a big stretch) but conceding the Pats & San Fran game. These last 2 opponents are potential Super Bowl contenders & the class of their conferences. I believe this skews our perception. I think Fitz can be a top 10 QB if surrounded by enough weapons. Think he would be benefitting from AJ Green vs Dareus? I advocated us getting Green - a guy who is clearly a top 5 wideout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2o Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Fitzpatrick has 5 tds & 0 picks in our 2 wins. In our 3 losses 7 tds & 8 picks. I don't think he cost us any game due to the beat downs we incurred. The Jets scored 21 pts. off of Fitz's picks in the first game and another 3 pts. after the Spiller fumble. Turnovers deflate the defense and never give them a chance to regroup on the sideline, minus the occasional turnover after a long drive. The Jets beat us by 20. Any questions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 The Jets scored 21 pts. off of Fitz's picks in the first game and another 3 pts. after the Spiller fumble. Turnovers deflate the defense and never give them a chance to regroup on the sideline, minus the occasional turnover after a long drive. The Jets beat us by 20. Any questions? The Cromartie pick ended the game - no question. The Revis pick was bad communication & the tipped pick #2 happens. Didn't we make Sanchez look like Brady? What happened vs Pats & Niners? You think he lost those games? Our young defense is our #1 liability look at the numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Voice of Truth Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 Some interersting responses. I think there is a lot of credence to the opinions that having a top notch defensive coordinator would change some things. No way in hell if Wade Phillips or Mike Nolan were coaching this defense would you see these record numbers put up by opposing offenses. At the same time if the offense was being operated by Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, I think there is something infectious about that which can translate to the defense (another good point made by some). I have heard multiple retired defensive players speak of how the team loses hope if the QB is incapable. My current opinion is that the defense is just flat soft and Fitz doesn't have anything to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 "Lack of toughness" is such a meaningless critique. I'm not saying it's wrong; it is unquantifiable, though. I think if you want to talk about things you can actually see on film, they are just not well-coached enough to be in the right position on plays. They are predictable and when teams know what to do against them, it becomes very easy. Ryan, Belicheck and Harbaugh have each demonstrated this, now. No one should be running on Kyle Williams and Dareus. This kind of thing has to be figured out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonprophet Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 (edited) 1. Somehow, somebody rips into the softness of this team and somehow they get tough. Kyle William might be a good guy to do it. I think there is talent on this team and if guys play hard and tough, I think the results would be a lot different. Management needs to send a message and that means somebody has to be cut. Since the defense is the worst performing unit that player will be Ruvell Martin. Edited October 10, 2012 by nonprophet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuncha Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 1. Owner 2. GM/Coaching Any questions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outsidethebox Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 1. Defense 2. Offense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geno Smith's Arm Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 (edited) 1. Lack of toughness 2. Fitzpatrick 1. In an interview on BuffaloBills.com Eric Wood was asked questions about the problems the Bills are having. He fairly clearly stated that he felt the team has gone soft in the 2nd half. Initially, he stated that they "laid down". Prior to this all of what he said backed this up. Because "laid down" is a strong term, a reporter called him out a bit and said "laid down is a loaded term, what do you really mean by that?" At that point Wood backtracked a bit and said he didn't think they quit. Translation of all this: The team quit and has gone soft. Eric even went on to say that there are leaders in all the position rooms and he does not feel it is his place to call out players in positions other than O-Line. He said something like it is not his role to call anyone out on the defense (strongly hinting that the defense has gone extremely soft). Think about this. The NFL is a really physical league and putting emphasis behind all of your hits and bumps leads to a lot more pain on Mondays. It really does take a lot of mental toughness to fight hard throughout an entire game and this team is not displaying that toughness. That is by far the Bills biggest problem. 2. Fitzpatrick obviously has not played well and it is fairly clear that he is a game manager at best. And when you're not even sure if he is good enough to be a game manager, you're in trouble. I hold just a little reservation on this because at the beginning of last year he showed an ability to really light it up. I'm talking he was carving defenses up drive after drive at times. However, I do not think that was his true quarterback self manifesting. He is not a good NFL quarterback and very likely never will be. Some of his misses are very costly and should be easily executed by an NFL QB. The Hope: 1. Somehow, somebody rips into the softness of this team and somehow they get tough. Kyle William might be a good guy to do it. I think there is talent on this team and if guys play hard and tough, I think the results would be a lot different. 2. The defense keeps the Bills in games and this allows Fitz to be a game manager. Occasionally, he shows flashes of early 2011 to get us back in games. I really think these are the two biggest problems. The toughness might be fixable. The QB thing has to be addressed in the offseason. Until then, hopefully Fitz can at least be average and consistent. Exactly how I feel. I have hope that the defense will get better, and expect them to have some good games. Fitz I have no hope for. We have seen his best, and it's not enough. Th defense is lacking motivation more than talent. I would normally say that people complaining about Wannstaedt being up in the booth, and needing to "get in their face" were being silly, but the way this team falls apart, I think he needs to be with them if only to get a better idea of how they are feeling, and what is going on on the sidelines during these collapses. Edited October 10, 2012 by Geno Smith's Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Barbarian Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 #1- Franchise QB #2- Backup QB and Wanny ... and LBs ... and Secondary ... and 3 of the front four ... and WRs ... and HC ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsrcursed Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I don't know if this team is too talented to be 2-3, but they're certainly too talented to have given us those wonderful games against the Pats/49ers. Coaching is a BIG problem with this team. Pick any two coaches you'd like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts