Bernard, Torrence and Benford all officially starters

[newcam2012]

39 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

Excited about Torrence and the upgrade he can provide.

I haven’t seen much from Bernard that tells me he’s going to be good.

I've seen enough to tell me he stinks. 

[Roundybout]

1 minute ago, newcam2012 said:

I've seen enough to tell me he stinks. 

Like what? He didn’t do anything last season.

[newcam2012]

18 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 

 

 

Hyde had a back injury 

Hyde already banged up. Don't think he will be healthy all year. Seems like his body has broken down. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

12 minutes ago, appoo said:

Hamlin is the box safety and Hyde the deeper safety to Poyer's box safety...one would think that's going to be Taylor Rapp

Rapp is a box safety as well. Cam Lewis is prob the best in coverage out of the three backups 

[newcam2012]

15 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

I think Damar Hamlin is #3 or maybe even #4 if Hyde cannot play.

Damar is good at the run and a liability on the pass. 

10 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

A reminder.... Dodson was ahead of Bernard at the point Bernard got hurt in camp. 

 

I hope but I do not have much expectation.

To be honest, I expect bad...

[CNYfan]

I have been unhappy with Bernard, but in deference and respect I will wait to see how it plays out.  

I hope I am wrong about Bernard's ability to play ok enough.  

[Doc]

I’m hoping Kirksey is called up from the practice squad for game day.

[newcam2012]

4 minutes ago, Roundybout said:

Like what? He didn’t do anything last season.

Come on dude. He filled in a bit when Edmunds was hurt. The guy looked lost and couldn't shed a tackle. 

 

Let get honest here. There is absolutely nothing that indicates he is an effective starter. Kirksey will be there shortly. 

[Max Fischer]

22 minutes ago, Max Fischer said:

 

Bernard is not undersized. He's bigger than Milano and slightly lighter than Roquan Smith. 

 

It's amusing that some have disagreed and disliked this comment when it's just a simple fact. 

[Westside]

7 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Damar is good at the run and a liability on the pass. 

To be honest, I expect bad...

That’s a shocker 😒

[boyst]

My take with linebacker is that at least we will see what we have early. If we start to struggle with him starting we have that Kersey guy, Paul kersey???

 

That, and make room to bring AJ back.

[BringBackFergy]

If Bernard can break up a pass, tackle for a loss, possibly intercept a ball or shoot to the correct gap, he'll be an upgrade at MLB.

[Punching Bag]

7 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Rapp is a box safety as well. Cam Lewis is prob the best in coverage out of the three backups 

 

Which is why I think he is #4 safety not Damar Hamlin.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Bills fan base hate a draft pick more than Bernard? Holy smokes.

 

[K-9]

Starting Bernard at MLB is a total indictment of Dodson, Klein, and whoever else we saw at the position all summer. That said and even though we didn’t see it this summer, Bernard is probably the better cover guy of anyone else at the position. Front four has to keep him clean on run downs because he can’t shed a block worth a damn.

[John from Riverside]

1 hour ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Bernard was expected, and I will be rooting for him to rise to the challenge, but I have a feeling it will be short lived and Kirksey will take over in the next few weeks.  

 

Seemed like Dane was leading for CB2 most of camp and preseason, so the late push by Benford was a bit of a surprise and considering Dane had a great camp, that is encouraging that Benford did enough to still over take him.  I still think Elam gets mixed in when they are going man/press type coverages or need more speed on the field, but what a story for Benford to be a late pick and over take a quality vet and a first round pick.  

 

O'Cyrus was a no brainer, he looked the part all camp and preseason.  Really looking forward to seeing him in action and he is going to get thrown into the fire out the gate with his Jets front line.  

Really excited about Ocyrus It normally takes a little bit of time for line to acclimate.

He took that job over a seasoned vet. Can’t wait to see what it looks like in year two

[noacls]

58 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

Bernard is terrible. He's undersized and for being so you would expect him to be super athletic which he's not. If he would have played in the preseason we would have all seen that. I definitely don't like the idea of them experimenting with him in a live game. This is going to be bad. Hopefully Kirksey will be available but I doubt it 

If Bernard is one thing it's a above average athlete

Edited September 6, 2023 by noacls

[Buffalo_Stampede]

5 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Come on dude. He filled in a bit when Edmunds was hurt. The guy looked lost and couldn't shed a tackle. 

 

Let get honest here. There is absolutely nothing that indicates he is an effective starter. Kirksey will be there shortly. 

I mean he could’ve been lost. Rookie MLB in his first action. 

[Special K]

15 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

Bummer about Elam 

 

Bummer the Bills drafted Elam when there were so many other quality players at positions of need.

 

Benford panning out from the 6th round is helpful to the Bills, but it makes it all the more harder to take that the Bills drafted Elam instead of players like Devin Lloyd or Breece Hall with that 1st round pick.

 

As for Torrence, really excited for him....a great pick in the 2nd round by Beane as I see him as a starter on this O-line for the next decade.👍

[nbbillsfan]

I feel pessimistic about our ability to stop the run.

[Not at the table Karlos]

3 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 

Which is why I think he is #4 safety not Damar Hamlin.

I could see Rapp being used as more of a LB. He's very good against the run. 

[Process]

30 minutes ago, Max Fischer said:

 

Bernard is not undersized. He's bigger than Milano and slightly lighter than Roquan Smith. 

Could care less what Google has their weight at, there is no chance he's bigger than Milano. Bernard looks more like a WR than a LB.

 

 

[Punching Bag]

Just now, Not at the table Karlos said:

I could see Rapp being used as more of a LB. He's very good against the run. 

 

I think he is an alternate to Taron Johnson.  He is extremely high energy player due to his special diet.

[boyst]

5 minutes ago, noacls said:

If Bernard is one thing it's a above average athlete

He has 30¼" arms? Jesus. Someone tell Hulk Hogan or Arnold. Dudes huge. 

[appoo]

This was Bernard's participation by week last season

 

 

He was exclusively Matt Milano's backup and played the Will. his only PT came when Milano was injured in the Steelers game and the Jets loss in week 9. 

 

So if you're saying he sucked at MLB because of what you saw last season, you should realize you never saw him play MLB last season

[Buffalo_Stampede]

4 minutes ago, nbbillsfan said:

I feel pessimistic about our ability to stop the run.

Been that way for a while.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

In all due respect to Bernard, I hope he's not on the field a lot and we run with three safeties.  

I agree with this if Hyde plays.  
 

Rapp is the ideal guy to fill that LB/big dime role playing instead of Bernard.  He might be a better run defender than Bernard as it is.  But if Hyde is out, I’d prefer Rapp plays S and Bernard get the inside snaps, rather than Rapp inside and Hamlin or Lewis taking Hyde’s spot.

 

it’s going to be interesting.  Our DL and run D needs to be on point or it’ll be a long night.  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 minute ago, appoo said:

This was Bernard's participation by week last season

 

 

He was exclusively Matt Milano's backup and played the Will. his only PT came when Milano was injured in the Steelers game and the Jets loss in week 9. 

 

So if you're saying he sucked at MLB because of what you saw last season, you should realize you never saw him play MLB last season

The fear is because he fell down the depth chart as the season went on. Typically you’d think a rookie with starting potential would rise up. 
 

But hopefully it was a learning the defense issue. Plus injuries at safety didn’t help.

[appoo]

4 minutes ago, nbbillsfan said:

I feel pessimistic about our ability to stop the run.

I don't feel awesome about this either, but when healthy we have a pretty good battery of DTs for Gap Control purposes

[Buffalo_Stampede]

2 minutes ago, NewEra said:

I agree with this if Hyde plays.  
 

Rapp is the ideal guy to fill that LB/big dime role playing instead of Bernard.  He might be a better run defender than Bernard as it is.  But if Hyde is out, I’d prefer Rapp plays S and Bernard get the inside snaps, rather than Rapp inside and Hamlin or Lewis taking Hyde’s spot.

 

it’s going to be interesting.  Our DL and run D needs to be on point or it’ll be a long night.  

Our defense for whatever reason is prone to giving up a huge run. I think it’s because of our safeties taking poor angles but it’s a problem.

[Roundybout]

15 minutes ago, Special K said:

 

Bummer the Bills drafted Elam when there were so many other quality players at positions of need.

 

Benford panning out from the 6th round is helpful to the Bills, but it makes it all the more harder to take that the Bills drafted Elam instead of players like Devin Lloyd or Breece Hall with that 1st round pick.

 

As for Torrence, really excited for him....a great pick in the 2nd round by Beane as I see him as a starter on this O-line for the next decade.👍

Eh, we were putting out the corpse of Josh Norman and Levi Wallace. We needed to draft a good CB.

[appoo]

2 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

The fear is because he fell down the depth chart as the season went on. Typically you’d think a rookie with starting potential would rise up. 
 

But hopefully it was a learning the defense issue. Plus injuries at safety didn’t help.

I'm not at all trying to be argumentative or even say I'm confident in Bernard - but McDermott literally never took Milano or Edmunds off the field unless they were injured.  Those two played a 100% of the available snaps after week 9.  After Week 9 the only other linebacker to play was AJ Klein, and he only barely played. 

 

But there is absolutely space for McDermott not liking what he saw out of Bernard in that WK9 Jets game and shelving him. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

14 minutes ago, noacls said:

If Bernard is one thing it's a above average athlete

Cole Beasley would have a great linebacker athleticism grade too. 

[Special K]

4 minutes ago, Roundybout said:

Eh, we were putting out the corpse of Josh Norman and Levi Wallace. We needed to draft a good CB.

 

Only problem is that we didn't!!🙂

[Simon Says]

1 hour ago, wppete said:

Damn…. That’s a very light LB group. If we play Nickle majority of the time with Nernard and Milano the Jets will keep running it with Cool and Hall. 

Babich said early this summer that he was ted the MLB to be a "match up" player i.e. coverage LB

[NewEra]

14 minutes ago, Max Fischer said:

 

It's amusing that some have disagreed and disliked this comment when it's just a simple fact. 

And that’s one of the reasons that’s that Milano isn’t a middle linebacker….

Roquon weighs 236.  Bernard is 222.  How is that slightly lighter?  And Bernard doesn’t look any bigger than he did last year.  Put on 14 LBs of muscle and tell me you’re slightly heavier afterwards.  And “slightly” stronger.  Roquon is much stronger, takes on blocks much better and has advanced instincts.  Did I meantion he has 14 more

pounds of muscle than Bernard.

 

that’s why people disliked your post.  I wasn’t even one of them, but it’s obvious to me why they disliked it

[appoo]

2 minutes ago, Special K said:

 

Only problem is that we didn't!!🙂

Benford, I think, is going to end up really good. He's got a lot of great athletic traits to be a zone corner, and he's actually a bit quicker than I thought he'd be. What he showing is better ball skills than pretty much anyone expected

[newcam2012]

21 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Bernard? Yikes. Hope he doesn’t embarrass himself. 

Liability with clears. My only hope is that he doesn't get exposed too much. A D like performance grade might be good enough. Kind of like taking a college class pass or fail. 

[noacls]

2 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Cole Beasley would have a great linebacker athleticism grade too. 

Uhh... What are you talking about? 🍎 to 🍊 

[Special K]

3 minutes ago, appoo said:

Benford, I think, is going to end up really good. He's got a lot of great athletic traits to be a zone corner, and he's actually a bit quicker than I thought he'd be. What he showing is better ball skills than pretty much anyone expected

 

Agree on Benford......Elam not so much.