A Few Thoughts About The Game, in no particlar order.....

[HurlyBurly51]

 

 

Was anyone paying attention to Gilmore's last 11 games last year? And his training camp and pre-season before he got hurt? How quickly we forget.

 

But it is beyond unreasonable to expect major impact after such a long layoff.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

Agreed. Gilmore was exposed long before today.

[K-9]

Gilmore has a lot of promise. But why the F he was in there today with a club hand I have no idea.

 

The D was terrible today. Forget the excuses, they were terrible, 4th and 15 and the Bungles showed the Bills D no respect and made it look easy. Very disturbing.

 

Lewis overall played considerably better than I expected. That last TD he hit the receiver over the top and in stride. Unlikely that Manuel makes that perfect of a throw.

 

Those that like to blame the zebras for every loss, please shut up. If you had your eyes open you would see equally bad calls that went the Bills way.

 

The Bungles D collapse was an amazing thing to behold. The Bills almost made them pay for it.

 

We've seen EJ make a few throws like that. The bomb to Woods against the Ravens comes to mind.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[boyst]

Agreed. Gilmore was exposed long before today.

wait.

 

HUH?

[Chandler#81]

 

 

Can we wait a little bit longer before making this conclusion? Plenty of winnable games coming up and we should be getting healthier.

 

I didn't say 'stick a fork in 'em', but we're 1-4 in Conference with Home games (RWS) waning rapidly and we're NOT gonna catch NE in the Division..

 

For all intent and purpose..

[K-9]

Agreed. Gilmore was exposed long before today.

 

Is this a snarky response. I can't tell. Exposed? Over the last 11 games last year, Gilmore was one of the best CBs in the league. And he was having a GREAT camp and pre-season, poised to pick up right where he left off.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Thurmal34]

4) Gilmore was pathetic on the short pass for a long gain with approx. 11 min. left in the 2nd quarter. He was blocked out of the play and pushed around like a rag doll. That said, if we want to pretend that he was a good draft selection/shut down corner, we can do that too. We an also debate as to whether or not Santa Claus is real.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if your ax is being ground with the Bills FO for selecting Gilmore or if it's with Gilmore himself, but you better find another whipping boy in either case. Gilmore was more than fine in his first action of the 2013 season, and even by not playing in 13 has had a better year than the DBs selected ahead of him. The true measure of what will make it a great pick or not is if the Bills can keep him beyond 2017.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Thurmal34

[bschmoove]

Normally an on point thread. Tonight? Off like the clothes on a hooker.

[Simon]

Is this a snarky response. I can't tell. Exposed? Over the last 11 games last year, Gilmore was one of the best CBs in the league. And he was having a GREAT camp and pre-season, poised to pick up right where he left off.

 

GO BILLS!!!

The biggest problem he had last year was with some truly awful technique that occasionally got him in trouble and that never seemed to get corrected throughout the year. I pin a lot of that on Catavalos, who never seemed to do a single thing for any of the Bills DB's in all his time here.

Considering the significant improvement we've seen in the gmaes of both McKelvin and AWilliams, I have high hopes that Gilmore is going to take the same step forward when he actually returns for real.

[Thurmal34]

 

2) Spiller had 5 carries for 55 yards. Many of his carries seemed to fall 1 or 2 yards short of a first down. Still in all, these were great numbers for a situational running back.

 

 

The fastest player to get to 1,000 yards since 1934 is now a situational back?

[Bill from NYC]

 

I didn't care for the pick at the time either but it is no reason to rag on Gilmore, who brings everything he has at all times.

His entire game is predicated on challenging receivers and attacking them at every opportunity. Playing with one arm completely neutralizes the strength of his game and makes him a shadow of a shell of himself. Putting him on that field today was like asking Larry Homes to step in a ring with his left arm tied behind his back; there is simply no way he can compete like that.

The Bengals realized that before hte game even started and immediately fed him a heavy diet of hitches and reverses; plays where he needs to get off blocks and make tackles to be an effective corner. They continued to do it all day long and made several huge plays because of it.

If you want to give the Bills staff some grief for allowing an injured player to convince them he's ready to play when in reality he's going to be a liability, go for it. But giving Gilmore the business for not being able to succeed in an impossible situation just isn't fair. If he continues to be victimized once he's able to play with two hands again, by all means call him out. But there is no way he can play anything even remotely resembling his game when he's physically incapable of fighting his opponent.

 

P.S. Today is the first time ever you stumped me with a lyric!

 

[K-9]

The biggest problem he had last year was with some truly awful technique that occasionally got him in trouble and that never seemed to get corrected throughout the year. I pin a lot of that on Catavalos, who never seemed to do a single thing for any of the Bills DB's in all his time here.

Considering the significant improvement we've seen in the gmaes of both McKelvin and AWilliams, I have high hopes that Gilmore is going to take the same step forward when he actually returns for real.

 

After the first five games of last year, you would be hardpressed to find too many glaring technique errors on the part of Gilmore. It's literally hard for a CB to play his position much better than he did over the last 11 games.

 

And your're absolutely right. I can't wait for him to come back for real, too. But I wasn't expecting much out of him today, anyway. But he needed to get on the field and use his legs, etc. in this defense in the interest of returning to his old form ASAP. I'd like to think he was well-served by the experience today, despite his playing with one arm.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Solomon Grundy]

Thank you for highlighting Hogan, there was a reason he was cut from 3 different teams. Please stop with the Easley chants, he's no better than Hogan.

[FLFan]

Have respecf for you Bill, and as usual, this will probably be the last intelligent thread of the week, but you are way off base on Gilmore. I think just about anyone given the situation would not put much stock in today's performance. I also think you are being a bit short sighted on Marrone although I was very upset with that sequence at the goal line in the first half. Very mike smith like. I do

Not want to see that again.

 

The bottom line is that the defense let the the bills down today. I thought Lewis was great. Obviously, they should have won this game.

[MDH]

I find it interesting that you single out Gilmore. This D has so many issues and guys not pulling their weight yet you single out the guy who has a club on his arm and hasn't played a down of football in 2 months? A guy who, despite what you want to believe, played very well in the 2nd half of last year- particularly for a rookie. You might not like 1st round CBs but you can't be serious with jumping on him under these circumstances. You could jump on anybody else and it would make more sense.

 

It makes it pretty obvious that you watch these things with your own agenda in mind.

[RunTheBall]

Your comments about Gilmore are simply a reflection of your bias against first round DBs and not an objective critique of his performance overall. Of course he was rusty today and one could argue he was a bit of a liability with the club on his wrist but your generalizations of him are wrong.

 

RTB

[boyst]

The fastest player to get to 1,000 yards since 1934 is now a situational back?

Until he proves otherwise, I cannot say I disagree. I wish I knew what it was. I've watched him closely. I think he just needs to settle down and hit the holes instead of making them.

 

The only conclusion I can draw is that this line is entirely different to him. Something has changed. He did not catch on early two seasons ago when this line was still rather rough, and last season it was 3 or 4 games in to the season that he really appeared to be the dynamic back we knew he could be.

 

If he can start to get in rhythm with the line and offense maybe we will see something better then this.

[Dan]

At this point, my biggest concern with this team is the coaching.

 

1. To the original point about Hogan... how can he still be out there with all his drops and Easley on the bench. Every fan watching the game can see that Hogan doesn't have it. Why can't the coaches?

 

2. This continual running up the middle, off center. It's just not working. Stop it. Every fan watching the game can see it. What can't the coaches.

 

3. That 4th and goal play. Really? First of all, after 3 tries, take the easy FG, tie the game and keep your offense's confidence flying high. But, if you do run a play, why pick a play you rarely ever run that calls for a back up lineman and the fullback to be e 2 receiving options? Whe does that make sense?

 

4. OT. you can't go conservative. I understand that an interception ends the game, but punting from your 10 isn't much better. The QB had just had a great drive to tie the game, you gotta give him a chance. The run, run, pass conservative plan is just wrong there.

 

Once again, I see us losing a game that just looked winnable. But our coaching and game plan just came up lacking when the young players needed it the most.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Your comments about Gilmore are simply a reflection of your bias against first round DBs and not an objective critique of his performance overall. Of course he was rusty today and one could argue he was a bit of a liability with the club on his wrist but your generalizations of him are wrong.

 

RTB

Gilmore was outstanding last season and played very well against very good WRs. Has to play press man and have his 2 hands to really showcase his abilities. If he was their biggest problem they would have the best d in the league.

 

 

[Bill from NYC]

 

The biggest problem he had last year was with some truly awful technique that occasionally got him in trouble and that never seemed to get corrected throughout the year. I pin a lot of that on Catavalos, who never seemed to do a single thing for any of the Bills DB's in all his time here.

Considering the significant improvement we've seen in the gmaes of both McKelvin and AWilliams, I have high hopes that Gilmore is going to take the same step forward when he actually returns for real.

 

Simon if you have noticed, I don't argue with you all that much about anything, let alone about defensive backs. But my friend, Gilmore hurt us today. And I do await the time that he proves to be worth such an early pick, let alone a "shutdown corner." Do you see it coming?

 

[Big C]

Thank you for highlighting Hogan, there was a reason he was cut from 3 different teams. Please stop with the Easley chants, he's no better than Hogan.

 

To me, Easley outperformed Hogan in the preseason. He was a beast. I'd like to see him get a chance out there.

Until he proves otherwise, I cannot say I disagree. I wish I knew what it was. I've watched him closely. I think he just needs to settle down and hit the holes instead of making them.

 

The only conclusion I can draw is that this line is entirely different to him. Something has changed. He did not catch on early two seasons ago when this line was still rather rough, and last season it was 3 or 4 games in to the season that he really appeared to be the dynamic back we knew he could be.

 

If he can start to get in rhythm with the line and offense maybe we will see something better then this.

 

The CJ I saw today was doing what CJ does best: Get to the outside and outrun the defense. As I said earlier, a healthy CJ would have taken one of those to the house. Hackett finally called plays according to his strengths.