TheyCallMeAndy Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Interesting quote from our DC in article by CB on who will be the starting LB's. Always figured whoever loses at MLB will split time with Alexander at SAM. Though no one knows for sure whether Brown or Ragland will nail down the middle linebacker job, what does seem certain is both will be on the field at one of the three linebacker positions this fall. Frazier all but confirmed as much this spring.“You’ve got three linebackers on the field and we hope that we’ll try to mesh the right three in our 4-3 scheme and maybe that’ll be Lorenzo (Alexander) and Preston together or maybe it’ll be a different configuration,” said Frazier. “You always want to get your 11 best on the field and I believe that those guys (Brown and Ragland) will be part of our best 11.” I always felt Preston Brown was a decent LB, and seems like fans have written off how good Reggie Ragland can be in any scheme. With Hodges in the mix, this should be a fun summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest K-GunJimKelly12 Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Preston Brown has been pretty bad the last two years and should probably kick his candy bar habit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 I'm not surprised. Brown was a decent football player in the 4-3. No one, outside of the corners, was more hindered by Rex. I expect Preston Brown to return to a solid starter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swnybillsfan Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 I'm not surprised. Brown was a decent football player in the 4-3. No one, outside of the corners, was more hindered by Rex. I expect Preston Brown to return to a solid starter. i am in this neighborhood. i remember watching brown in the beginning of his career, thinking this kid could be a really solid player for years to come. then rex came to town and brown looked lost at times. he also seemed to be a lesser athlete in rex's defense. i have no idea how, or why, or if i was just imagining things...but i just kept thinking "this is NOT the same kid that was flying all over making plays in schwartz's defense". i believe he is a much better football player than he has shown the past couple years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Its early.....we will know more when we get to camp. I was never sold that Brown was a bad football player.....just one of those guys that you are always looking to improve upon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill from NYC Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Brown was a decent football player in the 4-3. No one, outside of the corners, was more hindered by Rex. I expect Preston Brown to return to a solid starter. I strongly disagree. Dareus stood there at times jumping around like a 350 pound ballerina. He was also used quite a bit in coverage. Just thinking about this is sickening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyBills Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 I strongly disagree. Dareus stood there at times jumping around like a 350 pound ballerina. He was also used quite a bit in coverage. Just thinking about this is sickening.[/quote, Looking back , the whole scheme was sickening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 I strongly disagree. Dareus stood there at times jumping around like a 350 pound ballerina. He was also used quite a bit in coverage. Just thinking about this is sickening. have to agree. i'm not on the brown train, i'm not on any of our linebackers bandwagons for that matter. but brown was overachieving with schwartz. i don't think he's that amazing, but he has the potential to be pretty good to good again. dareus, though, i really don't know if he can recover from what rex did again. he's the type of player that needs to enjoy what he does for the best of his ability. i hope leslie fraziers rep is true and he can get dareus in to the game agian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 I'm not surprised. Brown was a decent football player in the 4-3. No one, outside of the corners, was more hindered by Rex. I expect Preston Brown to return to a solid starter. Great problem I suppose but in a league with mostly nickel formations that puts Lorenzo and Hodges on the bench mostly. Not the highest end starters but decent depth. lB should be a steady but not spectacular unit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark80 Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 (edited) Preston Brown is terrible. Period. End of story. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy cannot tackle anyone without being pushed ahead 2-3 yards, needing help, or risk the guy breaking the arm tackle for huge games (see Dolphins games). It is not Rex Ryan's fault that the guy over pursued his assigned hole over and over and over again leading to huge gains. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy simply cannot shed a block and make a play. Stop blaming Rex Ryan for all of our terrible players performance. Some of guys are just terrible. Now, Ragland was a tackling machine at Alabama and in the limited time he was on the field last summer. That is something to get excited about, not Preston Brown. Edited July 9, 2017 by Mark80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Preston Brown is terrible. Period. End of story. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy cannot tackle anyone without being pushed ahead 2-3 yards, needing help, or risk the guy breaking the arm tackle for huge games (see Dolphins games). It is not Rex Ryan's fault that the guy over pursued his assigned hole over and over and over again leading to huge gains. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy simply cannot shed a block and make a play. Stop blaming Rex Ryan for all of our terrible players performance. Some of guys are just terrible. Now, Ragland was a tackling machine at Alabama and in the limited time he was on the field last summer. That is something to get excited about, not Preston Brown. I'm not sure how you absolve Rex when the team was 9th DVOA in 2014, 15th in 2015, and 28th in 2016 with virtually the same guys? No one is saying Brown is great but he's not terrible. Rex (and Rob) made guys worse with their scheme and lack of communication. We will see this year just how bad they were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aristocrat Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Brown hasn't allowed a td in pass game in two years Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2o Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 This is just coach speak and trying to boost the guy's confidence. Hope he plays well, but if gets outplayed in the preseason he will be a backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 I strongly disagree. Dareus stood there at times jumping around like a 350 pound ballerina. He was also used quite a bit in coverage. Just thinking about this is sickening. Used in coverage "quite a bit" is a real exaggeration. I remember seeing a story after the 2015 season when all the DLs complained about it showing that each DL had averaged a bit over a play a game in coverage. This was a change-up, not something they were doing all the time. But I agree that Dareus just hasn't been a force the past couple of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilcoam Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 First off, Buff finished 28th 2 consecutive years in D DVOA, not 15th in 2015 Secondly its a fact some players have good and or bad years under completely different systems You'd silly to just write folks like Bradham and Cockrell just because a HC/DC like Rex thinks they don't fit his system It would be equally premature to just write off Preston because he played poorly in Rex's system Preston is superb depth behind Ragland Maybe even our best depth player on the whole unit where player D depth is a serious issue this year My only issue is Frazier say's we need 3 LB's, sure, but if you are playing 65% in nickel or dime then you only need 3 LB's a mere 35% of the time Most of the time it'll be just 2 LB's, and Lorax would so far coming into camp be the best LB vs the pass Now Brown could be that #2 guy when you are not in a run formation with Ragland/Hodges jc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyK Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 I love the idea of having the best 11 on the field no matter who they are, but all coaches say that when they first get a "New Job"...I remember Rex saying he can coach a 4-3 or a 3-4 early on, we all know how that worked out. Lets hope Frazier means what he says Go Bills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Tuesday Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Preston Brown is terrible. Period. End of story. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy cannot tackle anyone without being pushed ahead 2-3 yards, needing help, or risk the guy breaking the arm tackle for huge games (see Dolphins games). It is not Rex Ryan's fault that the guy over pursued his assigned hole over and over and over again leading to huge gains. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy simply cannot shed a block and make a play. Stop blaming Rex Ryan for all of our terrible players performance. Some of guys are just terrible. Now, Ragland was a tackling machine at Alabama and in the limited time he was on the field last summer. That is something to get excited about, not Preston Brown. Wrong, sir. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2017/2016-defeats We like to think that our readers are the smartest, most well-informed group of football fans out there, but odds are a lot of you are scratching your heads right now and asking "Who on earth is '52-P.Brown?'" That would be Buffalo linebacker Preston Brown, who has quietly started 46 of 48 games for the Bills since he was drafted in the third round in 2014. Brown hardly fits the profile of a big-play defender, with only three interceptions and one sack in his career. But Brown did a little bit of everything in 2016: Twelve run tackles for loss. Nine run tackles for stops on third or fourth down, including four with 1 or 2 yards to go. Seven tackles on completed passes for third-down stops. One tackle for a loss on a completed pass. One sack. One forced fumble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler#81 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Preston Brown is terrible. Period. End of story. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy cannot tackle anyone without being pushed ahead 2-3 yards, needing help, or risk the guy breaking the arm tackle for huge games (see Dolphins games). It is not Rex Ryan's fault that the guy over pursued his assigned hole over and over and over again leading to huge gains. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy simply cannot shed a block and make a play. Stop blaming Rex Ryan for all of our terrible players performance. Some of guys are just terrible. Now, Ragland was a tackling machine at Alabama and in the limited time he was on the field last summer. That is something to get excited about, not Preston Brown. Damn, Mark. Hyperbole much? I enjoy your posts, but this reeks of a vendetta. 1st off, NO ONE playing in the NFL for 3+ years is terrible. They're the finest football players on the planet. What makes or breaks teams fortune has more to do with schemes and locker room. I don't argue that PB looked lost a lot of the time the past 2 seasons, but I put that firmly on the scheme which did not match his strengths. A few of those terrible plays you reference certainly appeared to hi-lite PB's diving missed tackle, but I saw them as him racing over to the ball carrier from a position he shouldn't have had to come from and his diving attempt was born out of desperation because NO ONE else was around the ball carrier for another 15-20 yrds. As fans, we have no choice but to accept the words of the coaching staffs and Leslie is firmly in Brown's corner -for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROONDOGG55 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 i am in this neighborhood. i remember watching brown in the beginning of his career, thinking this kid could be a really solid player for years to come. then rex came to town and brown looked lost at times. he also seemed to be a lesser athlete in rex's defense. i have no idea how, or why, or if i was just imagining things...but i just kept thinking "this is NOT the same kid that was flying all over making plays in schwartz's defense". i believe he is a much better football player than he has shown the past couple years. I saw the same thing. I thing it has to do with the simplicity of Schwartz's scheme. He allowed the players to read and react to what they saw as the play developed. Rex had way too many checks for the MLB to call and adjust to. We should see the old Preston in Frazier's / McDermott's 4-3 scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondo in seattle Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 (edited) FWIW, PFF gave Brown a score of 49.8 based on last season. 60.0 and below is considered "Poor" - the lowest classification they award. Brown was PFF's worst rated starter on either side of the ball. I'm guessing for all the reasons given that Brown will improve with McD & Frazier. But how much? Maybe all the way up to PFF Average (70 to 79.9)??? https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2017/6/27/15882900/pro-football-focus-rankings-buffalo-bills-27th-best-roster-tyrod-taylor-lesean-mccoy Edited July 10, 2017 by hondo in seattle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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