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Good Night / Bad Night - Pre Season Game 4


GunnerBill

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Morning guys.... my final one of these of the year. Pre-season is over.... we won a game and now it is full steam ahead for week 1. Hope you have enjoyed these threads through pre-season and appreciate the comments / thoughts and feedback.

 

Good Night for......

Nate Peterman - My view on him coming out is pretty well known, I was not a particularly big fan. I think though that you have to say he has improved with every game this pre-season. He does look tailor made to play in this scheme and I love how quickly he is getting the ball out (granted it was against Detroit's backups). Make no mistake Tyrod remains the starter but I'm not sure the season does sink or swim on his availability in quite the way I feared at one point.

Gerald Hodges - Had a really nice game. Made some tackles in the run game and showed really nice range in coverage on a couple of occasions as well. Whether his role is purely the #2 MLB or whether he ends up rotating in with the 1s in some packages during the season remains to be seen but I like where he is at.

Brandon Reilly - Injury allowing... this walk on at Nebraska turned UDFA just made an NFL football team. His career might have been on the line last night and he went out and played like it was even making a hit on special teams. He should be very proud of the camp and pre-season he has put together.

John Miller - Competition? What competition? This cannot be serious. John Miller is a decent NFL starting guard. He has outplayed Vlad Ducasse conclusively and he had a really nice night with some big blocks in the run game driving his guy back.

Run game - Over 200 yards rushing and this was the best our run game has clicked all off-season. It looked to me like it was just a tad less vanilla as well with some pulling and a couple of counter runs but I'll need to go back and watch the all-22 (these games kick off midnight UK time I'm often watching through the desperation to sleep). Miller I have already mentioned by Dion Dawkins had a monster run block for the Jonathan Williams touchdown too and JWill has alleviated a lot of concerns with a strong pre-season. Banyard vs Taiwan Jones promises to be one of the more interesting decisions over the next 48 hours - both had good nights.

Bad Night for......

Andre Holmes - I'm not sure if he was out there and maybe if he didn't play at all that suggests the Bills are happy that he has made the roster. But he has a pretty pedestrian pre-season stat line and while he was silent or standing watching last night Brandon Reilly and Daikiel Shorts made their cases again. With the comp pick angle at play I can see Holmes being a surprise cut.

Bradley Sylve - The battle for a possible 6th cornerback berth remains alive and while Sylve's rivals in that competition Sayles and particularly Mabin made plays Bradley Sylve over pursued and whiffed on a tackle for the long catch and run touchdown. That might consign him to the cut bin.

Michael Ola - Ola was just about still in with a shot of a place in the 53 if the Bills keep a 9th lineman until the 1st Quarter injury. That could spell the end of his time in Western New York.

Rory Anderson - The big tight end was never making this team but he had a chance at an NFL pre-season touchdown to take away as a memory and put something on tape as teams look to shape practice squads and just couldn't bring it in. I know that ball wasn't perfectly thrown.... but it is a play a professional has to make.

Brandon Beane and staff - Not so much a bad night as a long one. Beane and co now have to cut this roster to 53. There are about 42 names that pick themselves.... the final 10 or 11 spots are going to be essential to crafting a football team that can compete this year and develop looking towards the future. I wish him and the personnel guys luck. We need them to nail it.

An that's it. The end.

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I watched John Miller every lay he was in and he played his ass off. I see no competition at that position. Ducasse whiffed a couple of times on blocks.

Also zeroed in on Dion Dawkins, that kid gets a nice push in the run game. Also liked Reilly kid though I was sure the QB was going to get him killed.

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Really hmmm he says otherwise

"I think it's bigger than that," coach Sean McDermott said of Peterman making his case as a potential opening-day starter if needed. "It's developing a young player, regardless of what position. We wanted to get him out there and give him a good look in a couple of series, and I thought he did a good job."

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