Who hurt and who helped.... Pre-season game 2

[fansince88]

Not an EJ fan but glad we took him instead of Nassib.

That was my point earlier. If EJ is willing to stay at Back up money then keep him.

[BADOLBILZ]

I thought Albright really helped himself, looking like one of the best player on the field when he played. He looks like a great developmental backup.

 

 

Albright has been a real surprise. He just continues to look like a vet playing out there and I expect him to play most of the next two games and make the 53(and possibly the active roster opening day).

 

I think my biggest takeaway from the game is that the systems have really gained traction.

 

The defense is coming together with essentially a bunch of spare parts, many of which would be terrible in an attack like Schwartz' which is totally reliant on having playmakers up front.

 

This is the advantage of Rex D. You don't need a bunch of stars up front. Rex exposed himself as a one trick pony DC last year but that one trick still works effectively if the players know what they are doing and execute it unselfishly.

 

Still concerned about the lack of pass rush ability in the players they have but if they continue to close passing windows on third down and force punts we will learn to like it.

 

On offense Tyrod was late on some timing/sideline throws but he is looking even better than last year when holding the ball or escaping the blitz.

[Beerball]

At this point I don't know if it's funny or sad that we are arguing about our back up qb.

 

I get the feeling of it was anyone but EJ this discussion wouldn't be happening.

Meh!

 

I'll prepare to dodge the bullets and arrows, but do we? If you look back, EJ was considered a raw prospect as well. I'm no QB guru, but I see a different player right now than what I saw even last year. With some guys it takes longer -- and perhaps the coaches EJ has worked with the past two offseasons have helped him develop.

 

I fully understand this is likely EJ's last season in a Bills' uniform -- but a part of me holds out hope he will consider returning with a modest contract to be the backup, if nobody is bidding for his services as a starter.

He impressed the heck out of me last preseason so I'm going to hope that we don't find out how he can do in a real game this year.

[Kelly the Dog]

Basically, what the NFL wants is no kick returns. They either want you to start from the 25 or make an onside kick. Except they don't want you to have to declare that you are going to use an onside kick the way you have to declare your 2 point conversion attempt now. Problem is, they don't know how to make this happen.

 

Eventually, they will just eliminate kickoffs and make teams declare their intentions. Maybe 2 more seasons until this happens.

The problem of course, is that the decision to move the ball to the 25 is criminally ill-conceived and very likely to create more KR and not less. The Bills, for example, will be better off letting Carpenter kick it to the goal line than Gay kick it 8 yards deep. As soon as they made that rule, Gay lost his job. They will keep him until the final cuts to keep Carpenters leg fresh but it's an incredibly dumb rule.

[Beerball]

 

@YardsPerPass

Gotta give Worthy a gif...

 

dude made plays

Yes, he did.

[Kelly the Dog]

Albright has been a real surprise. He just continues to look like a vet playing out there and I expect him to play most of the next two games and make the 53(and possibly the active roster opening day).

 

I think my biggest takeaway from the game is that the systems have really gained traction.

 

The defense is coming together with essentially a bunch of spare parts, many of which would be terrible in an attack like Schwartz' which is totally reliant on having playmakers up front.

 

This is the advantage of Rex D. You don't need a bunch of stars up front. Rex exposed himself as a one trick pony DC last year but that one trick still works effectively if the players know what they are doing and execute it unselfishly.

 

Still concerned about the lack of pass rush ability in the players they have but if they continue to close passing windows on third down and force punts we will learn to like it.

 

On offense Tyrod was late on some timing/sideline throws but he is looking even better than last year when holding the ball or escaping the blitz.

Agree on the defense. On the Tyrod comment I think he just made mistakes with velocity at least as much or more than being late. He's the kind of QB that throws as hard as he thinks it needs to be thrown rather than some who throw hard most every ball. I thought the one to the right that was broken up he just needed to gun it harder and it would have been complete. He just didn't put enough oomph. Same with the incompletion to Woods OB. He lofted it because Woods was open and it was a foot OB. If he gunned it, like he surely can, it would have been a completion. Good game by him though. He really could be the answer. He's really in command of the offense.

[26CornerBlitz]

@BuffRumblings

#Bills player observations vs. NYG: Tyrod's dazzling performance, Jerel Worthy's big afternoon and much more.

https://t.co/ygOZb9o1eL

[BADOLBILZ]

Nobody seemed to have started one of these for last night's game yet so here was my take... who helped themselves and who hurt themselves as the Bills beat the Giants 21-0.

 

Helped:

 

​Kouandjio and Groy.... ​I think both of these guys have probably ensured themselves of places on the 53. Kouandjio has been one of the feel good stories of pre-season so far for Buffalo having finally looked like an NFL calibre tackle. Him taking that swing job definitely should help the Bills feel better about their depth at the position. Ryan Groy continues to be ahead of Velasco at this stage as the interior swing guy after another solid outing and interestingly when Velasco came in for Eric Wood they switched the two around from last week as Groy moved to centre and Velasco (more of whom to come) came in at guard. I think Groy has the edge at both spots.

 

The defensive backs.... It was a good night for all the Bills defensive backs. The first unit (which interestingly included Duke Williams rather than Robert Blanton alongside Corey Graham) shut the Giants and Eli Manning down and the guys that are in that mix in the second / third units, Corey White, Sterling Moore and Jonathan Dowling for example, all made plays.

 

Jerel Worthy and Leger Douzable.... These two were both extremely active around the football once they came in to relieve the first team defensive line. They blocked running lanes, got into the backfield and harassed the overmatched Ryan Nassib. They started the night top of the backup D-Line shuffle in my mind and did nothing to disprove the theory that they are next in line.

 

Walt Powell and Greg Little.... The plays that these two made should help them separate in the crowded receiver battle. Walt Powell's contributions in the first two games both as a receiver and a returner should pretty much book him a spot on the team so long as he stays healthy. He showed up again with 3 grabs for 46 yards. Greg Little had 3 for 35 and a touchdown and I have to believe that he leads the battle to be the "size guy" in the receiver room come the final shuffle, ahead of Dez Lewis and Jarret Boykin who was held without a catch last night.

 

Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan and Dennis "You presume I know what's going on" Thurman.... Man the defense impressed last night. The communication is noticeably better than a year ago. Will it carry through to the regular season? The proof will be in the pudding but for now at least it looks like they are as good as their word.

 

 

Hurt:

 

Fernando Velasco.... ​A second appearance in two games on this list for the free agent pickup. I said last week that I wanted to see him at guard before I totally gave up on him.... well it wasn't quite as horrific as him at centre but he still got beat on a couple of plays forcing EJ and Cardale to throw before they really wanted to. I'm not impressed and I don't think he is a total lock for the roster if someone who is an out and out centre that the Bills like got cut late by another team it wouldn't amaze me if they picked him up and let Velasco go.

 

James Wilder Jnr.... Not as bad as last week but he still seems to lack the explosion that you need at the NFL level. Seems to take him a long time to get up to full speed. He is definitely a longshot for the roster right now although they might still bring him back for the practice squad because he does have more size than the others now that Karlos has gone.

 

Justin Zimmer.... Compared to Worthy and Douzable it was a less positive night for Justin Zimmer. His lack of size does seem to go against him and he was physically overwhelmed on a handful of snaps where he allowed offensive linemen to get on him early... one of those sprung the big 67 yard run that was the Giants only real offensive success of the night. I struggle to now see him making the final 53 man roster.

 

Jordan Gay.... Given a chance to show he could be more than a kick-off specialist Jordan Gay proved that he is just a kick-off specialist. If Carpenter handles everything in game 3 then that is a sure sign to me that Gay's job is in jeopardy.

 

Nick O'Leary.... Still looks slow, still looks like no threat with the ball in his hands and still looks ineffective as a blocker. Definitely behind Clay and Gragg, probably behind Annen and Dray.... but did you know he is Jack Nickluas' grandson? Yea, so that's cool.

 

I haven't seen the replay yet but from my seat Zach Brown really stood out.

 

As mentioned earlier in this thread Albright looked really good.

 

Corey White had a tremendous game.

 

Agree on Worthy and Douzable. Douzable stood out last week too.

 

Really good weeks from Tyrod and Shady........but Roman please don't go second year Dan Henning and Kevin Gilbride and start outsmarting yourself by throwing to the FB. Don't put the ball in the 11th best players hands.

 

Duke continues to look like a starter out there...........that is a REAL development.........Kujo is more of a mild surprise. He allowed a sack and another QB hit and got blown up in the run game the play after the sack. He's a lot better than the abysmal OT that he was before but still probably gives up 2-4 sacks with EJ at QB if he has to line up against a good DE for 4 quarters, which is not really acceptable. He is becoming the kind of OL that a dynamic run threat like Tyrod can make look serviceable though and when he gets his hands on he can engulf a DE.

 

I thought Powell didn't help himself. Rex says the issue with him is inconsistency and mental errors and that continued yesterday. He had a pre-snap penalty and bobbled a punt........has made some ok catches but has not really finished any real big plays. He will have two more games and a lot of snaps to prove he can be relied upon.

 

Little had a good day but I am still concerned about his lack of an extra gear. He's not much of a change of direction guy either so I'm not really feeling it yet.

 

Dez Lewis hurt himself by not really standing out when given the chance.

 

Cardale had a bad, sloppy game.

 

Otherwise agree with your hurts.

[vincec]

The problem of course, is that the decision to move the ball to the 25 is criminally ill-conceived and very likely to create more KR and not less. The Bills, for example, will be better off letting Carpenter kick it to the goal line than Gay kick it 8 yards deep. As soon as they made that rule, Gay lost his job. They will keep him until the final cuts to keep Carpenters leg fresh but it's an incredibly dumb rule.

Yes, but they don't like teams always starting from the 20. That's reduces scoring.

[Solomon Grundy]

That is the essence of EJ.

 

At his best, he just let's it rip. Sometimes it's a great play and sometimes a crazy throw into double coverage. At his worst, he is super tentative and doesn't pull the trigger at all.

 

But he is never consistently good.

In 2 preseason games this year, I haven't seen any tentativeness in his play. He knew where he was going with the ball pre snap. He shows much improved command of the huddle. He's often had to tell the receivers where to line up and had to admonish them when they ran the wrong route. That ball to Goodwin was an anticipatory throw. The problem was that he thought Flash was going to run upfield as opposed to the sidelines. Like eball said, wish he had this coaching a couple years back.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Nobody seemed to have started one of these for last night's game yet so here was my take... who helped themselves and who hurt themselves as the Bills beat the Giants 21-0.

 

Helped:

 

​Kouandjio and Groy.... ​I think both of these guys have probably ensured themselves of places on the 53. Kouandjio has been one of the feel good stories of pre-season so far for Buffalo having finally looked like an NFL calibre tackle. Him taking that swing job definitely should help the Bills feel better about their depth at the position. Ryan Groy continues to be ahead of Velasco at this stage as the interior swing guy after another solid outing and interestingly when Velasco came in for Eric Wood they switched the two around from last week as Groy moved to centre and Velasco (more of whom to come) came in at guard. I think Groy has the edge at both spots.

 

The defensive backs.... It was a good night for all the Bills defensive backs. The first unit (which interestingly included Duke Williams rather than Robert Blanton alongside Corey Graham) shut the Giants and Eli Manning down and the guys that are in that mix in the second / third units, Corey White, Sterling Moore and Jonathan Dowling for example, all made plays.

 

Jerel Worthy and Leger Douzable.... These two were both extremely active around the football once they came in to relieve the first team defensive line. They blocked running lanes, got into the backfield and harassed the overmatched Ryan Nassib. They started the night top of the backup D-Line shuffle in my mind and did nothing to disprove the theory that they are next in line.

 

Walt Powell and Greg Little.... The plays that these two made should help them separate in the crowded receiver battle. Walt Powell's contributions in the first two games both as a receiver and a returner should pretty much book him a spot on the team so long as he stays healthy. He showed up again with 3 grabs for 46 yards. Greg Little had 3 for 35 and a touchdown and I have to believe that he leads the battle to be the "size guy" in the receiver room come the final shuffle, ahead of Dez Lewis and Jarret Boykin who was held without a catch last night.

 

Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan and Dennis "You presume I know what's going on" Thurman.... Man the defense impressed last night. The communication is noticeably better than a year ago. Will it carry through to the regular season? The proof will be in the pudding but for now at least it looks like they are as good as their word.

 

 

Hurt:

 

Fernando Velasco.... ​A second appearance in two games on this list for the free agent pickup. I said last week that I wanted to see him at guard before I totally gave up on him.... well it wasn't quite as horrific as him at centre but he still got beat on a couple of plays forcing EJ and Cardale to throw before they really wanted to. I'm not impressed and I don't think he is a total lock for the roster if someone who is an out and out centre that the Bills like got cut late by another team it wouldn't amaze me if they picked him up and let Velasco go.

 

James Wilder Jnr.... Not as bad as last week but he still seems to lack the explosion that you need at the NFL level. Seems to take him a long time to get up to full speed. He is definitely a longshot for the roster right now although they might still bring him back for the practice squad because he does have more size than the others now that Karlos has gone.

 

Justin Zimmer.... Compared to Worthy and Douzable it was a less positive night for Justin Zimmer. His lack of size does seem to go against him and he was physically overwhelmed on a handful of snaps where he allowed offensive linemen to get on him early... one of those sprung the big 67 yard run that was the Giants only real offensive success of the night. I struggle to now see him making the final 53 man roster.

 

Jordan Gay.... Given a chance to show he could be more than a kick-off specialist Jordan Gay proved that he is just a kick-off specialist. If Carpenter handles everything in game 3 then that is a sure sign to me that Gay's job is in jeopardy.

 

Nick O'Leary.... Still looks slow, still looks like no threat with the ball in his hands and still looks ineffective as a blocker. Definitely behind Clay and Gragg, probably behind Annen and Dray.... but did you know he is Jack Nickluas' grandson? Yea, so that's cool.

 

Albright looks great, can shed blocks and has good pass rush moves, just needs to gain 30 pounds

[Coach Tuesday]

 

I haven't seen the replay yet but from my seat Zach Brown really stood out.

 

As mentioned earlier in this thread Albright looked really good.

 

Corey White had a tremendous game.

 

Agree on Worthy and Douzable. Douzable stood out last week too.

 

Really good weeks from Tyrod and Shady........but Roman please don't go second year Dan Henning and Kevin Gilbride and start outsmarting yourself by throwing to the FB. Don't put the ball in the 11th best players hands.

 

Duke continues to look like a starter out there...........that is a REAL development.........Kujo is more of a mild surprise. He allowed a sack and another QB hit and got blown up in the run game the play after the sack. He's a lot better than the abysmal OT that he was before but still probably gives up 2-4 sacks with EJ at QB if he has to line up against a good DE for 4 quarters, which is not really acceptable. He is becoming the kind of OL that a dynamic run threat like Tyrod can make look serviceable though and when he gets his hands on he can engulf a DE.

 

I thought Powell didn't help himself. Rex says the issue with him is inconsistency and mental errors and that continued yesterday. He had a pre-snap penalty and bobbled a punt........has made some ok catches but has not really finished any real big plays. He will have two more games and a lot of snaps to prove he can be relied upon.

 

Little had a good day but I am still concerned about his lack of an extra gear. He's not much of a change of direction guy either so I'm not really feeling it yet.

 

Dez Lewis hurt himself by not really standing out when given the chance.

 

Cardale had a bad, sloppy game.

 

Otherwise agree with your hurts.

Kujo = Oher?

[Ralonzo]

Correct about Corey White. Rewatched on the DVR and he had a month's worth of passes defensed. Maybe it's grading on a curve because of crab QB'ing, but dude still made the plays.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Ralonzo

[Mr. WEO]

 

Albright looks great, can shed blocks and has good pass rush moves, just needs to gain 30 pounds

 

 

Cut him for showing up underweight!!

[bmur66]

Spikes was out there knocking the rust off. I liked him backing up Worthy. That man can stuff the run.

[BaaadThingsMan]

So who is going to be Dareus substitute and how did he look yesterday?

looks like Jerel Worthy. He looked pretty damn good yesterday, level of players being what it was. I thought he played mostly against first and second string though. He'll rotate in.

[PromoTheRobot]

EJ is EJ. He is the backup for 2016. I doubt Whaley will want to keep him beyond that. I guess a lot depends on how fast Cardale develops.

[ganesh]

EJ is in his fourth NFL season and second with Roman as OC

Cardale is in his second pre-season game

 

That said, EJ has helped his case as an NFL backup QB. Question is will he be a career backup with the Bills or bounce around the league seeking greener pastures

Next year there will be some team that will offer him backup money but the carrot to compete in training camp for a starting gig and he will be gone then and there is always 2-3 teams in the league that have unsettled QBs at the beginning of the season.

[Punching Bag]

I am honestly amazed Gay has not been cut yet. I thought he would have been gone by the time I woke up this morning.

 

Why? They do not need roster slot yet and they can save some leg from primary kicker.

[folz]

Agree with everything with one exception. I thought Ryan Groy was awful yesterday. Constantly getting pushed into the backfield, and seemed particularly bad in the run game. I think he is better than Velasco, but that's like saying a poke in the eye is better than a kick in the nuts. I hope they are able to find someone decent on waivers for quality depth.

 

Completely agree with Johnny H! Gunner, thanks for starting this thread and I think you're pretty much on point, but I also saw Groy get blown up quite a few times. I expect he'll make the roster, but I would be very worried about our run game if he had to see much action this year.