What is the biggest question mark going into Game One

[Tenhigh]

 

 

If you find yourself evaluating if people are fun at parties........then you probably are not fun at parties.

 

Been around some of our homers here at tailgates and just like they B word about fans here they B word about them(and everything else) at the tailgate.

 

And yes, there is a difference between criticizing a professional organization that hasn't even reached the minimum standard for a successful season once in 16 years and BITCHING about fans who still support them.

 

My position is that this area is where you can achieve a more in depth football discussion.........if you gotta' B word at the tailgate you are just lazy or probably a B word by nature.

So for those of us keeping score at home, when you B word abou the team, its ok, because unlike anyone in the Bills organization, you have your crap together. But when someone calls you a B word for being overly critical, they are just bitches?

And I am most worried about our offense having suceess keeping the defense off the field.

[Maury Ballstein]

Castaways playing defense or Trenative Tyrod holding the ball forever

[Boatdrinks]

The starting offense. They got almost zero playing time together this preseason. I'm expecting things to be a bit sloppy. On defense, the lack of pass rush in preseason was startling. They both appear to be genuine concerns heading into the opener.

[aristocrat]

which gatorade flavor to dump on rex post game.

[The Wiz]

How I'm gonna drag my ass into work Monday after drinking all afternoon.

[chris heff]

The starting offense. They got almost zero playing time together this preseason. I'm expecting things to be a bit sloppy. On defense, the lack of pass rush in preseason was startling. They both appear to be genuine concerns heading into the opener.

I wouldn't worry about either of those things. The offense has had weeks of practice together. This D generates sacks by biltzing and confusion, you don't show any of that in preseason. So don't lose sleep over those things. Worry about the LBs, oh and Rex

Edited September 10, 2016 by chris heff

[NorthBuffaloKid]

Poor officiating/penalties

[Tenhigh]

How I'm gonna drag my ass into work Monday after drinking all afternoon.

Damn, I forget that one every off season.

[gr8billsfan]

How will we NOT screw this up?

[Buffaloed in Pa]

Pass rush and depth at olbs

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

Jordan Mills trying to block Terrell Suggs!

[John from Riverside]

Jordan Mills trying to block Terrell Suggs!

He is gonna get lots of help im sure

[Boatdrinks]

I wouldn't worry about either of those things. The offense has had weeks of practice together. This D generates sacks by biltzing and confusion, you don't show any of that in preseason. So don't lose sleep over those things. Worry about the LBs, oh and Rex

Ok , I get the concern over LB position. What should I be worried about re: Rex though? I didn't have a huge issue with anything I can recall last season. Perhaps there was a problem with a challenge situation or something, but other than that I'm not sure. I'm much more concerned about the players not committing penalties , for example, than any thing Rex Ryan may do.

[bonechiller]

If Tyrod can utilize the middle of the field, and tight ends more.

He throws a great deep ball, but if he continues to progress and utilize entire field, offence could be fun to watch this year.

[K-9]

Front seven.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[chris heff]

Ok , I get the concern over LB position. What should I be worried about re: Rex though? I didn't have a huge issue with anything I can recall last season. Perhaps there was a problem with a challenge situation or something, but other than that I'm not sure. I'm much more concerned about the players not committing penalties , for example, than any thing Rex Ryan may do.

He turned a top ten D into a bottom ten.

[Chandler#81]

LB play

[BADOLBILZ]

So for those of us keeping score at home, when you B word abou the team, its ok, because unlike anyone in the Bills organization, you have your crap together. But when someone calls you a B word for being overly critical, they are just bitches?

And I am most worried about our offense having suceess keeping the defense off the field.

 

No that's just your perverted take.

 

What exactly does a FAN of a PROFESSIONAL football team.....owned by a billionaire with an anti-trust exemption........have to do to qualify as having "their crap together"?

 

The NFL ain't St. Joe's high school.

 

People who assign even a shred of blame to Bills fans for the organizations losing are just plain irrational(at best).

 

The NFL is a product.......on the field organizations are judged by wins and losses.........so yeah, if they don't win......they EARN the criticism for the product they put on the field.

 

If they don't win for 16 f*cking years they deserve to be laughed at more than anything.

 

Personally, I think they could win 10-11 games and make some noise in the playoffs.......less talented teams have done it before.....but I fully understand why they are being written off.

 

They've EARNED it.

 

And remember......they got a vigorous fluff job last offseason and still couldn't get it up on gamedays so what is the difference whether the fans or media Billieve or not?

[norton20]

My biggest question mark is can they stay healthy? I think they are competitive when they are healthy but do not have quality depth in a number of places.

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

I dunno - - my brother Darryl's usually a good prodnostigator but he's still debilitating on the question of Ginger or Mary Ann.

[Boatdrinks]

He turned a top ten D into a bottom ten.

Perhaps. Or did he? As soon as I knew Ryan was hired I expected the D to take a step back. Not due to any preconceived opinion on Ryan's defensive philosophy, just that it is completely different from what preceded it. That generally means a regression , at least at first. Some players will not be a scheme fit ( Bradham) and others will not buy into a system they don't care for( M Williams). Then there will be growing pains as players learn a whole new system with new checks and new responsibilities. To expect the D to be improved from the previous year is to hope a whole lot of things go perfectly. They obviously didn't. But these changes fall at he feet of the owners not of Rex Ryan. He's going to do what he does : run his system. The owners knew this when they hired him and it would be true of any coach. They do what they know. If they wanted to retain the Schwartz defensive system, they should have made him the HC or hired some HC that agreed to retain Schwartz. Expecting a completely new defensive system to work swimmingly in year one is not realistic. That said, I see a lot of holes in this defensive roster. Especially at LB. mostly due to injuries. I still think they will be better than last year, more like the D at the end of last season than at the beginning .

Btw the Bills finished 14th in defense in 2015, and 7th in the AFC . 15 Th in scoring defense. Not in the bottom ten.

[Tenhigh]

 

No that's just your perverted take.

 

What exactly does a FAN of a PROFESSIONAL football team.....owned by a billionaire with an anti-trust exemption........have to do to qualify as having "their crap together"?

 

The NFL ain't St. Joe's high school.

 

People who assign even a shred of blame to Bills fans for the organizations losing are just plain irrational(at best).

 

The NFL is a product.......on the field organizations are judged by wins and losses.........so yeah, if they don't win......they EARN the criticism for the product they put on the field.

 

If they don't win for 16 f*cking years they deserve to be laughed at more than anything.

 

Personally, I think they could win 10-11 games and make some noise in the playoffs.......less talented teams have done it before.....but I fully understand why they are being written off.

 

They've EARNED it.

 

And remember......they got a vigorous fluff job last offseason and still couldn't get it up on gamedays so what is the difference whether the fans or media Billieve or not?

Nice hedge, lol. You sanctimoniously talk all offseason about how they suck and won't amount to crap and that the team has no shot at anything, and then you sneak that little 10-11 game comment into the mix just so if they do well, you can say that you always knew they could do it. You are clearly more vested in being right than seeing the bills win, and that is insufferable, at least to me. If you really are a Bills fan, I hope that all of your heavy handed negativity is wrong for BOTH of our sakes, and that today the Bills kick off what is going to be a great season.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Tenhigh

[Dr. K]

PENALTIES.

 

Can the Bills under Ryan play disciplined football and not throw the game away on stupid penalties? They may have improved in other areas, but I am skeptical about seeing any improvement there.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Dr. K

[billsfan_34]

This will be a great thread for all the pessimists to air their grievances!!!

17 years gives them that right

[NoSaint]

17 years gives them that right

Yea, you'd have to be working pretty hard to actually qualify as a pessimist at this point. There are few, if any, around these parts that truly qualify. Our view as fans just skews everything optimistic.

[Rocky Landing]

Yea, you'd have to be working pretty hard to actually qualify as a pessimist at this point. There are few, if any, around these parts that truly qualify. Our view as fans just skews everything optimistic.

That's very true. For example: We're not the Browns!

(Although, they may have a better season than us...)

[Matt in KC]

Biggest question mark: Sammy's foot

?

[Boatdrinks]

PENALTIES.

 

Can the Bills under Ryan play disciplined football and not throw the game away on stupid penalties? They may have improved in other areas, but I am skeptical about seeing any improvement there.

While I too am skeptical about the team's ability to improve in this area, I don't automatically assign penalties to Ryan. Or any head coach, for that matter. The Bills have had penalty issues under most coaches in recent memory. There are so many factors involved, the largest of which is the Officials. While 90% of blame for penalties should fall on the players ( they are , after all the ones committing them) and no HC encourages his team to get more penalties, the Officials are inconsistent. Often , flags are thrown against teams that have a reputation of not being " good" . Judgement calls, like PI often tend to favor " good teams". And everyone knows holding could be called on nearly every play. Some officials seem to call a pretty clean game, and others are more biased and throw more flags in general. Also, not all penalties are equal. Sometimes an O lineman gets beat and just has to protect his QB, for example. So the Bills have to fight bias that comes from years of losing, and sometimes the opponent just has better players and beat guys one on one. The worst penalties , though are pre-snap penalties and personal fouls. Those are even more on the player, because the coach can't concentrate for you and can't stop you from losing your cool. Aqua Talib, for example. Great player that has been on good teams, but still gets penalties . Doesn't matter who's coaching him. You are not going to change that guys personality. Ultimately the players are responsible for not getting penalties of concentration and PF's. The Bills have a lot of the same players and look to be weaker at some positions. Because of that, I expect penalties to still be a problem.

[Dr. K]

While I too am skeptical about the team's ability to improve in this area, I don't automatically assign penalties to Ryan. Or any head coach, for that matter. The Bills have had penalty issues under most coaches in recent memory. There are so many factors involved, the largest of which is the Officials. While 90% of blame for penalties should fall on the players ( they are , after all the ones committing them) and no HC encourages his team to get more penalties, the Officials are inconsistent. Often , flags are thrown against teams that have a reputation of not being " good" . Judgement calls, like PI often tend to favor " good teams". And everyone knows holding could be called on nearly every play. Some officials seem to call a pretty clean game, and others are more biased and throw more flags in general. Also, not all penalties are equal. Sometimes an O lineman gets beat and just has to protect his QB, for example. So the Bills have to fight bias that comes from years of losing, and sometimes the opponent just has better players and beat guys one on one. The worst penalties , though are pre-snap penalties and personal fouls. Those are even more on the player, because the coach can't concentrate for you and can't stop you from losing your cool. Aqua Talib, for example. Great player that has been on good teams, but still gets penalties . Doesn't matter who's coaching him. You are not going to change that guys personality. Ultimately the players are responsible for not getting penalties of concentration and PF's. The Bills have a lot of the same players and look to be weaker at some positions. Because of that, I expect penalties to still be a problem.

You are living in a fantasy world. Look at that game and tell me the Bills are not an undisciplined, poorly coached team.

 

Also, the Bills were NOT a heavily penalized team in the last six or eight years before Ryan showed up.

[MDH]

And like a few of us said: QB.

[Freddie's Dead]

Defense. The offense is going to be fine. Can Kyle play DE? Can we stop the run without Mr. Big Puff? Will our LB's be any good as a unit? Will AW last more than a game? Will the Duke be the new Duke or the old Duke? CB is the only place on D where I'm confident.

In the immortal words of Rex Ryan, What the #$%^ was I thinking? D came up huge today easily played well enough to win. For some reason, Tie-rod refused to throw the ball down the field. Can I change my answer?

[BADOLBILZ]

Nice hedge, lol. You sanctimoniously talk all offseason about how they suck and won't amount to crap and that the team has no shot at anything, and then you sneak that little 10-11 game comment into the mix just so if they do well, you can say that you always knew they could do it. You are clearly more vested in being right than seeing the bills win, and that is insufferable, at least to me. If you really are a Bills fan, I hope that all of your heavy handed negativity is wrong for BOTH of our sakes, and that today the Bills kick off what is going to be a great season.

 

 

"What exactly does a FAN of a PROFESSIONAL football team.....owned by a billionaire with an anti-trust exemption........have to do to qualify as having "their crap together"?"

 

Not being able to answer that question is the baseball bat to the face of your argument. Knocked the f*ck out!

 

You guys need to realize that it's not you against the fans and the media.......it's about the organization managing personnel well, game planning effectively, executing and showing mental toughness..........they once again NEED to get better in at least two or three of those regards.......and it really shouldn't be as hard as they've made it look year after year.

[Boatdrinks]

You are living in a fantasy world. Look at that game and tell me the Bills are not an undisciplined, poorly coached team.

 

Also, the Bills were NOT a heavily penalized team in the last six or eight years before Ryan showed up.

 

I did not say that I thought the Bills are a well coached team ( nor have they been in recent memory) or that they were disciplined. I simply said all penalties are not equal and I do not automatically assign them to a coach. BTW , you have to go back to the 2011 season to find a year when the Bills were in the bottom half of the league in penalties against. That was also the last season they had fewer penalties than the Jets. Jerry Hughes got called for a PF today. What a surprise. That's been his history. I don't care who's coaching the guy. I was more concerned with the bad tackling I saw, and questionable game plan, and poor QB play than I was with penalties. Much bigger reason that they lost than penalties.

[Tenhigh]

 

 

"What exactly does a FAN of a PROFESSIONAL football team.....owned by a billionaire with an anti-trust exemption........have to do to qualify as having "their crap together"?"

 

Not being able to answer that question is the baseball bat to the face of your argument. Knocked the f*ck out!

 

You guys need to realize that it's not you against the fans and the media.......it's about the organization managing personnel well, game planning effectively, executing and showing mental toughness..........they once again NEED to get better in at least two or three of those regards.......and it really shouldn't be as hard as they've made it look year after year.

SMH, I love when people make my point for me. Nobody said the Bills don't deserve criticism. Tyrod looked awful today, and Roman called a miserable game. The point of my first post in this thread called you out for being hypocritical. The seconded called you out for trying to cover your butt in case the Bills did well today, well, congrats, they didn't, so you didn't need the hedge after all . But jesus man, every one of your posts reads like you are the drunk frat boy that wandered into the nerd house, and you are looking to hand out wedgies to any nerd that dare defy you. Baseball bat to the face? You can't possibly live like this in real life. Maybe try civil discourse, consider occasionally agreeing to disagree? This is a place where Bills fans congregate to discuss football in a reasonable setting, isn't it?