I think we're overreacting with the game yesterday.

[BillsFan3434]

Other than our defense letting them go down the field on us on multiple occasions (which is a legitimate concern) I think our offense we shouldn't take too much away from this game.

 

EJ was out and Kolb went out with concussion symptoms after that I'm sure Marrone told Tuel to not go out there and get himself hurt, just finish the game. Which is why you didn't see a lot of throws down the field and a lot of 2 runs 3 and outs which is why the defense got put in a tough spot all game.

 

I think the only thing we should take away from this game is the lack of pressure (which could have been by design) and the lack of run defense. Other than the special teams played well, CJ played well, our starting O went down the field and responded to Washington's TD drive. I wouldn't focus too much on the offenses 3 and outs.

 

Does my argument seem valid? Anyone have any thoughts? I didn't think Marrone wanted to come out of the game with 0 quarterbacks and didn't want his only quarterback going out there in preseason looking down the field 10-20-30 years while he gets blasted.

[mead107]

It is preseason.

[Best Player Available]

Other than our defense letting them go down the field on us on multiple occasions (which is a legitimate concern) I think our offense we shouldn't take too much away from this game.

 

EJ was out and Kolb went out with concussion symptoms after that I'm sure Marrone told Tuel to not go out there and get himself hurt, just finish the game. Which is why you didn't see a lot of throws down the field and a lot of 2 runs 3 and outs which is why the defense got put in a tough spot all game.

 

I think the only thing we should take away from this game is the lack of pressure (which could have been by design) and the lack of run defense. Other than the special teams played well, CJ played well, our starting O went down the field and responded to Washington's TD drive. I wouldn't focus too much on the offenses 3 and outs.

 

Does my argument seem valid? Anyone have any thoughts? I didn't think Marrone wanted to come out of the game with 0 quarterbacks and didn't want his only quarterback going out there in preseason looking down the field 10-20-30 years while he gets blasted.

True there is overreaction. Just like there was in the other direction after the first 2 games.

[swnybillsfan]

i agree that we shouldn't jump off the ledge after this preseason game. however, i also believe that this game has shown a lot of areas that the bills need to work on and improve quite a bit. so if you can try to encompass the entire preseason as a whole, i think that we have seen as many or more reasons for optimism as those of concern. and i think the season will be one of both growth and improvement as well as growing pains.

[GG]

Other than...

 

How was the play Mrs Lincoln?

[Matt in KC]

I agree with you, BF3434. I think many Bills fans have PTSD though, and will need awhile to calm down.

 

The CBs playing way off must have been by design - - it was a big change from what we've seen recently. Couple that with a lack of blitzing and players returning to their first game and some bad bounces, and we looked pretty bad.

[BRAWNDO]

Yesterday proved what we all knew, the Bills are lacking in depth some positions.

 

If the team looks better in Week 17 then it did in Week 1, that would be considered a success and something to build on.

[eball]

It was disheartening to see the 1st string defense perform so poorly, whether they gameplanned or not. That is the biggest disappointment I took from yesterday.

 

I don't really care too much what happened on offense because "our guy" wasn't out there. Kolb led a TD drive and then Mr. Glass broke again. Tuel is overmatched, and it was obvious.

 

I view Thursday's game vs. Detroit as a glorified practice, and hopefully Marrone has already made 95% of his roster decisions so he won't put key guys out there for any extended period of time.

 

I'm not "over" reacting to the game, but it wasn't any fun and I have to admit the "oh crap, we might suck again" feeling entered my consciousness shortly before halftime.

[YoloinOhio]

I had to process this game, and watch the 1st half again this morning, before revisiting the board. Overall, I am sure fans overreact in these situations with every team. With Bills fans, it is worse because we have been through so many down years, just when we thought everything was looking up (maybe), it was like it landed with a big thud. In my mind, no team is every as good or bad as they look in the preseason. The coaches and players want to win the game, but more importantly the 3rd game is what determines the roster cuts. We saw a lot of guys in there who we won't see in the reg season, and a lot of starters who were not Also, there was definitiely a different approach on defense - for whatever reason. I am OK with this, they have their reasons. That, along with missed opportunities and all around bad tackling. A few bright spots: Our starting QB wasn't in - we hope upon hope he makes a difference when he does. 2) Robert Woods is a baller and solild #2 WR. 3) Stevie looked good for his first game back, although a bit rusty as we saw with the fumble 4) Spiller is a stud, 5) Kicking game and kick return game - thumbs up.

 

I won't go into the ugly parts of the game, I am sure everyone has already hashed and re-hashed that stuff.

 

The worst part of the game for me wasn't the score, but the injury to Gilmore. I just can't spin that any way but bad. Really hoping for the best but worry our luck ran out with EJ and CJ's "injuries" ending up minor. I hope his is too though!!!!

[Just in Atlanta]

I agree. It was just a dramatic difference between the first two weeks, when we looked explosive on both sides. Plus I think the Skins are going to be one of the best teams in football. Damn, they look solid, and appear to have depth, and I don't think I'm saying that just because our team looked so bad.

 

Gotta keep negative--and positive--reactions in check here. Right now this team is all potential. Up and down, great and comically bad are what we should expect from this young team this season.

 

Also keep in mind Pettine's Jets were pretty bad against the run, even though the teams generally finished in the top 8 Ds each year. So with our lack of LBs, I would not expect a shutdown D against the run this year. Plus, we're lacking at depth at CB. The good news, I find it incredibly hard to believe our D won't be substantially better than last year's.

 

As for O, well, I frankly expect an exciting show. Ups and downs for sure. But we have the best running back duo in the NFL IMO, a bevy of talented WRs, and a capable offensive line that should be sufficient at pass blocking assuming we have a mobile QB (Manuel). If we have Kolb, we could be talking dangerous territory cause this guy ain't mobile, is injury prone, and has happy feet.

 

Basically, as fans, we should approach this as having a team that go from lighting it up to crashing and burning in one quarter. Just enjoy the ride. It should at the very least be better than last year with Fitz and Wanny out.

[Kellyto83TD]

Same over reaction that has been the last 13 years... Oh wait we were right! I don't know how else to put it, we got our asses kicked starter to starter and it wasn't really close. Their THIRD STRING QB looked like Tom Brady / Joe Montana on us. Still can't stop the run, still can't cover the pass, still can't get pressure against good teams.

[Ronin]

The first team D has played poorly throughout the preseason.

 

We'll see if that changes overnight once the regular season gets here, but it was hardly limited to yesterday's game.

 

The first team O playing against first team Ds hasn't fared much better.

[yungmack]

For whatever reason, the Bills went with a very vanilla defense. I have no idea why. They aren't going to trick opponents into thinking Pettine has changed his approach. Maybe he was hoping to knock some swagger or complacency off of the players. It was odd though.

[Buftex]

I think, too, this whole notion that the 3rd pre-season game, somehow has more significance than others is complete BS. As much as anything, coaches are trying to get through these games without costly injuries. It didn't work for the Billsyesterday. I originally only kind of half-watched the game, during my fantasy football draft, but watched a little closer later on last night. True, there wasn't a lot of good to take away from this game..but there was some, for some individual players Kiko Alonso, Macrell Dareus and Jerry Hughes (again) kind of stood out to me.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Buftex

[Meatloaf Sandwich]

If I don't overreact then I will end up disappointed more often.

[Dragonborn10]

Are we really overreacting? They are a 5-11 team with an injury or two away from 2-14.

[Wing Man]

Any defense is going to have a tough time being on the field for 81 plays, it's going to have a bad day. The offense just couldn't stay on the field and it shows just how good Manuel is in orchestrating Ben's offense. Kolb is a disappointment in the sense that he hasn't been able to keep up with Manuel, concussions happen to everyone in the game. If Manuel is on the field, more than likely we have the 81 plays and they're scrambling. It's going to be tougher judging some of these players if Tuel has to play the majority of the last pre-season game.

[Billsguy]

Pre-season is definitely the season to overreact. The same people who were praising the Bills the first two weeks are now re-considering.

 

Here is what we know. The Bills finished 6-10 last year. They are still a 6-10 team until proven otherwise. They will have a new unproven QB in Buffalo. They will have a new rookie head coach and a new rookie offensive coordinator, They will have a new defensive system to be learned by players who were terrible last year. They have major problems in the secondary. They have a woeful group of linebackers. They have a seriously under performing defensive line. They have many other defiencies too.

 

This team has way too many question marks to seriously consider themselves playoff contenders. Right now this year looks like another transition year. Year number 14 without the playoffs is highly likely.

 

However, if every one of the question marks works out for the best, they may win 8 games. The chances of everything going perfectly is about 3%.

 

There are some signs of light at the end of the tunnel for sure, but not yet sorry to say.

[Max997]

EJ was out and Kolb went out with concussion symptoms after that I'm sure Marrone told Tuel to not go out there and get himself hurt, just finish the game. Which is why you didn't see a lot of throws down the field and a lot of 2 runs 3 and outs which is why the defense got put in a tough spot all game.

 

Then why would they stay with the hurry up?

[CodeMonkey]

For whatever reason, the Bills went with a very vanilla defense. I have no idea why. They aren't going to trick opponents into thinking Pettine has changed his approach. Maybe he was hoping to knock some swagger or complacency off of the players. It was odd though.

I thought I saw a lot of blitzes out of the Bills D yesterday which I would not call vanilla. I could be wrong though. What would have made it not vanilla to you?

[thebandit27]

Wait, you mean that wasn't the most important game of the 2013 season?

 

The DOOOOMED squad on this board would have you believe otherwise.

[yungmack]

 

I thought I saw a lot of blitzes out of the Bills D yesterday which I would not call vanilla. I could be wrong though. What would have made it not vanilla to you?

I've only watched the 1st half so far but though they have done some blitzing, the defensive sets seem basic or "traditional," not like they looked in the previous weeks or even in practice. It's not blitzes that make Pettine's D dangerous, it's putting uncertainty into the O bymoving players around befor the snap. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't seen much of that so far today. Now I'll go watch the 2nd half.

[BillsFan3434]

I've only watched the 1st half so far but though they have done some blitzing, the defensive sets seem basic or "traditional," not like they looked in the previous weeks or even in practice. It's not blitzes that make Pettine's D dangerous, it's putting uncertainty into the O bymoving players around befor the snap. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't seen much of that so far today. Now I'll go watch the 2nd half.

you could just skip the parts we are on offense if that wouldn't take longer than the actual drive

[TXBILLSFAN]

Other than our defense letting them go down the field on us on multiple occasions (which is a legitimate concern) I think our offense we shouldn't take too much away from this game.

 

EJ was out and Kolb went out with concussion symptoms after that I'm sure Marrone told Tuel to not go out there and get himself hurt, just finish the game. Which is why you didn't see a lot of throws down the field and a lot of 2 runs 3 and outs which is why the defense got put in a tough spot all game.

 

I think the only thing we should take away from this game is the lack of pressure (which could have been by design) and the lack of run defense. Other than the special teams played well, CJ played well, our starting O went down the field and responded to Washington's TD drive. I wouldn't focus too much on the offenses 3 and outs.

 

Does my argument seem valid? Anyone have any thoughts? I didn't think Marrone wanted to come out of the game with 0 quarterbacks and didn't want his only quarterback going out there in preseason looking down the field 10-20-30 years while he gets blasted.

I agree on the offense being out of sync --- there were two sure TD's or at minimum long completions to Graham that went back due to PI/poorly thrown balls --- and the SJ13 turnover -- As for the Defense --- that's 50% of the team ? --- my concern is limited to the 1st team getting out physicaled by Skins O-line and run/passed all overed by White/Grossman --- if I didn't know it, I would have thought this was the 2012 D -- and that's not good --- over-reaction is being limited because it is pre-season -- let's hope Pettine rallies this group --- or Brady will put another 52 spot on us and no offense will be able to overcome that !!

[Fan in San Diego]

It was very disappointing to say the least to watch them play. Washington is a legit playoff and superbowl contender. It shows us how far we need to go to be a contender again. we will beat bad teams and get beat by good teams. Could be another 6 and 10 season.

[1billsfan]

It was very disappointing to say the least to watch them play. Washington is a legit playoff and superbowl contender. It shows us how far we need to go to be a contender again. we will beat bad teams and get beat by good teams. Could be another 6 and 10 season.

 

I disagree. The NFL is a QB driven league. Washington was the Buffalo Bills of the NFC before they got RGIII. Look at how far away the Colts were in 2011 without Manning. What this team needs is for EJ Manual to become a franchise QB to be a contender again.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Other than our defense letting them go down the field on us on multiple occasions (which is a legitimate concern) I think our offense we shouldn't take too much away from this game.

 

EJ was out and Kolb went out with concussion symptoms after that I'm sure Marrone told Tuel to not go out there and get himself hurt, just finish the game. Which is why you didn't see a lot of throws down the field and a lot of 2 runs 3 and outs which is why the defense got put in a tough spot all game.

 

I think the only thing we should take away from this game is the lack of pressure (which could have been by design) and the lack of run defense. Other than the special teams played well, CJ played well, our starting O went down the field and responded to Washington's TD drive. I wouldn't focus too much on the offenses 3 and outs.

 

Does my argument seem valid? Anyone have any thoughts? I didn't think Marrone wanted to come out of the game with 0 quarterbacks and didn't want his only quarterback going out there in preseason looking down the field 10-20-30 years while he gets blasted.

 

 

yeah but it was annoying how flat they were, no one on the same page either, hopefully this wakes them up

[ganesh]

Other than our defense letting them go down the field on us on multiple occasions (which is a legitimate concern) I think our offense we shouldn't take too much away from this game.

 

EJ was out and Kolb went out with concussion symptoms after that I'm sure Marrone told Tuel to not go out there and get himself hurt, just finish the game. Which is why you didn't see a lot of throws down the field and a lot of 2 runs 3 and outs which is why the defense got put in a tough spot all game.

 

I think the only thing we should take away from this game is the lack of pressure (which could have been by design) and the lack of run defense. Other than the special teams played well, CJ played well, our starting O went down the field and responded to Washington's TD drive. I wouldn't focus too much on the offenses 3 and outs.

 

Does my argument seem valid? Anyone have any thoughts? I didn't think Marrone wanted to come out of the game with 0 quarterbacks and didn't want his only quarterback going out there in preseason looking down the field 10-20-30 years while he gets blasted.

 

My biggest disappointment was that our offense went 3-and-out on their last SEVEN drives. For guys who are fighting for their roster spot including our 'stable of talented wide receivers' it was a shame that they could not get ONE first down on those seven drives. That showed LACK of EFFORT. On the biggest stage of their lives, they were not motivated? Something is very wrong here.

[Tcali]

Same over reaction that has been the last 13 years... Oh wait we were right! I don't know how else to put it, we got our asses kicked starter to starter and it wasn't really close. Their THIRD STRING QB looked like Tom Brady / Joe Montana on us. Still can't stop the run, still can't cover the pass, still can't get pressure against good teams.

what are you talking about? Our D set records last year.

[CodeMonkey]

My biggest disappointment was that our offense went 3-and-out on their last SEVEN drives. For guys who are fighting for their roster spot including our 'stable of talented wide receivers' it was a shame that they could not get ONE first down on those seven drives. That showed LACK of EFFORT. On the biggest stage of their lives, they were not motivated? Something is very wrong here.

It could also show lack of ability.

Edited August 26, 2013 by CodeMonkey

[Sisyphean Bills]

what are you talking about? Our D set records last year.

 

You are correct.

[Luka]

Bills fans? Overreact? Nooo...

[OCinBuffalo]

Read my avatar. This is the precise reason I created it.

 

Also, it's the same reason I changed my title. Even though some things/times will look bad this year, we cannot surrender to despair. We are finally moving in the right direction. That much is obvious. Anyone who thinks we aren't, either isn't thinking much at all, or, has an agenda that includes being negative for the sake of being negative.

Edited August 26, 2013 by OCinBuffalo

[The Big Cat]

The most important takeaway: Washington is much better than Minnesota (who barely limped into the playoffs on the back of near-record setting performance from AP) and Indianapolis (who barely limped into the playoffs on the back of a giant horseshoe rabbits foot).

[Jauronimo]

My biggest disappointment was that our offense went 3-and-out on their last SEVEN drives. For guys who are fighting for their roster spot including our 'stable of talented wide receivers' it was a shame that they could not get ONE first down on those seven drives. That showed LACK of EFFORT. On the biggest stage of their lives, they were not motivated? Something is very wrong here.

Thats because Iron man Kevin Kolb, leader of men, tamer of the domestic dog, went down in a blaze of fire, felled by his only weakness: physical contact. Every single one of those players will tell you Old Wooden sides Kolb is the heart and soul and adenoids of that team. Those players would gladly follow Kolb into battle no matter how badly the odds were against them. They'd follow him to the gates of hell or to IR and back and then back to IR again, if Kolb asked them to. You can't fault them for losing all hope when Kolb went down. After all, if Kolb can't handle the dreaded Skins 3rd stringers than what chance do the rest of them have?

[FLFan]

It could also show lack of ability.

It could also show a watered down, conservative approach in an effort to protect the only healthy QB suited up. The second half offensive performance is not of concern to me. The first half defensive performance is. Hopefully there is an answer for that, although without Gilmore I fear they will be forced into more conservative schemes.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

I thought I saw a lot of blitzes out of the Bills D yesterday which I would not call vanilla. I could be wrong though. What would have made it not vanilla to you?

 

Vanilla as i always understand it in the preseason context is where they run base defenses without scheming or game planning for a specific opponent.

 

They may still blitz, but they don't target the blitz to the Side a respective o has more difficulty picking it up for example.

 

They don't disguise pass coverage to confuse the QB they are facing or figure out how to shutdown the opposing key player or running/passing play.

 

So little or no game planning, film study and adjustment for tendencies.

[YoloinOhio]

Vanilla as i always understand it in the preseason context is where they run base defenses without scheming or game planning for a specific opponent.

 

They may still blitz, but they don't target the blitz to the Side a respective o has more difficulty picking it up for example.

 

They don't disguise pass coverage to confuse the QB they are facing or figure out how to shutdown the opposing key player or running/passing play.

 

So little or no game planning, film study and adjustment for tendencies.

I am pretty sure they were doing this in order to weed out guys to cut. It looked bad. But there were a lot of guys out there we won't see again. And a lot of guys who were not out there who will start.

[artmalibu]

The way I see it is that the Bills only play 3 maybe 4 teams better than the Skins, so the season will not be as painful as the season..

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

I am pretty sure they were doing this in order to weed out guys to cut. It looked bad. But there were a lot of guys out there we won't see again. And a lot of guys who were not out there who will start.

 

I'd like to agree with you but Theisman was adamant the bills defensive starters were out there well into the fourth quarter. What a Super beta douschebag he is.