Terrel Bernard Appreciation Thread

[BuffaloBill]

May be the biggest surprise so far this season.

[ngbills]

49 minutes ago, SCBills said:

That interception was not simply right place, right time.  
 

He had to show ball skills to secure that.. and did.   Something in his second game, that we rarely ever saw from our “pro-bowl” MLB of the past five years. 

Really? My 10 year old daughter could have caught that. And to say Edmunds could not have made that play is just absurd. 

 

 

54 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Trumaine Edmunds had 8 tackles yesterday and he has lots of money 

No - 16 tackles

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, ngbills said:

Nobody is wrong about him. MLB is still a need for the Bills. He did less to hurt them this week than last. That was mostly because the DL dominated not him.
He had 6 tackles as a MLB. It’s not like he was flying all over and had 20 tackles. Not all interceptions are created equal - unlike Milano his was luck and just right place right time. 
Bills one. The D played well. So his play is noticed less. That is good. But I doubt anyone was watching saying wow, look at that 43, he is baller. 

 

He led the team with 6.  20 tackles would be even more impressive when you consider he played 34 snaps.  

[ngbills]

56 minutes ago, JDHillFan said:

He was on the field for 34 plays. The remaining 5 plays LV ran were against backups. How many tackles should he have racked up?

Obviously 34 tackles then...My point is he played an ok game. The coaches will watch the tape and there will be some good and some bad. How the game played out because the Bills DL and Bills overall dominated the game he was not required to do much. I would not sell this performance as a we have our future all pro mlb like he was out there just destroying people and tookover the game. The team got the job done, he got an easy pick and otherwise what noticed a ton which is good. 

4 minutes ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

He led the team with 6.  20 tackles would be even more impressive when you consider he played 34 snaps.  

Your MLB will lead your team in tackles 90% of the time. That should be expected not used as a see he played great stat. 

[SCBills]

10 minutes ago, ngbills said:

Really? My 10 year old daughter could have caught that. And to say Edmunds could not have made that play is just absurd. 

 

 

No - 16 tackles

 

Good thing I didn't say that.  

 

I wasn't a fan of the Bernard pick, and was extremely underwhelmed with what we saw from him as a rookie, but to say MLB is still a need based off his play so far comes off as personal bias.  That's not to say MLB won't be an issue, but through 2 games... it is not. 

[Eastport bills]

Seems pretty solid and quick in his reads. He will be important vs Miami and Jax. I can’t look at Dodson anymore. I hope Williams sees the field a little more.

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

17 hours ago, Rigotz said:

How wrong were all of us about this guy??

 

Wait a minute.

 

Are you saying this entire board was wrong and Beane and McD were right ???

[TheBrownBear]

Good start so far.  I liked his college tape, so I'm not surprised.

[BuffaloBillyG]

Hey, I like PFF this week. 

 

In all seriousness, this is a case where the grade meets the eye test.

[JerseyBills]

19 hours ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

He definitely is off to a great start, let’s keep this thread going all season. Bills don’t need elite MLB play, just solid. The Nard-Dog has been an awesome surprise so far.

It's not like we were getting elite mlb play before Bernard. He looks better in alot of aspects than Maine and Milano looks better than ever, he's everywhere, not sure if it's because Nard or not.  Back to back 1st team all pros incoming?

Edited September 18, 2023 by JerseyBills

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

19 hours ago, Rigotz said:

How wrong were all of us about this guy??

 

- Led the team in tackles Week 1 and Week 2.

- Huge interception Week 2 and a nice PBU.

- Looked solid in coverage, redirecting routes and erasing short gains. 

- Surprisingly good in run fills both weeks. Quick trigger and getting downhill fast. Sure tackler.

 

I don’t think any of us saw this coming, but a HUGE development if what we’re seeing early continues.

Agreed- also the front four was dominant against the run, so he didn’t have to shed and tackle. 
 

I expected he’d be good in coverage ….

[Mango]

19 hours ago, Andysplaylist said:

Just watched YouTube and you are right! Wow, they look like the same player, makes much more sense that a corner could catch him. So Bernard really didn’t have a great first game, noticeably improved this game

I disliked the 40’s for LB and DB’s. It adds a ton of confusion. 

[Coach Tuesday]

Bernard's small stature may actually help him wriggle through the gaps.  He's kind of a tunnel rat.

[HardyBoy]

4 hours ago, ngbills said:

Obviously 34 tackles then...My point is he played an ok game. The coaches will watch the tape and there will be some good and some bad. How the game played out because the Bills DL and Bills overall dominated the game he was not required to do much. I would not sell this performance as a we have our future all pro mlb like he was out there just destroying people and tookover the game. The team got the job done, he got an easy pick and otherwise what noticed a ton which is good. 

 

Your MLB will lead your team in tackles 90% of the time. That should be expected not used as a see he played great stat. 

 

Have you watched any film? Do you have any reason in terms of actually knowing anything about what you're really watching for anyone here to take this as anything more than just a blustering and likely awful hot take?

 

NFL football is no question the most complicated and least understood sport there is...I can understand coverage concepts and such, and I would never ever claim to know anything about the sport I am watching and frankly anyone who claims they do, without actual bonafides to back that up are walking Duning Kruger blowhards.

[ngbills]

Just now, HardyBoy said:

 

Have you watched any film? Do you have any reason in terms of actually knowing anything about what you're really watching for anyone here to take this as anything more than just a blustering and likely awful hot take?

 

NFL football is no question the most complicated and least understood sport there is...I can understand coverage concepts and such, and I would never ever claim to know anything about the sport I am watching and frankly anyone who claims they do, without actual bonafides to back that up are walking Duning Kruger blowhards.

I re-watched every play from the first game. Have not done so for the 2nd game yet. Not a ton of plays so should not be a hard one to do. I both played later coached at the college and high school levels. So do have experience watching tape.

 

Bernard has been better since the 1st have of the Jets game. He was bad in the first half of the Jets game and would call him average since then. if you can protect him, he is not as much of a liability. Or if he is in coverage he is not as much of a liability. Nothing special, just hopefully wont hurt you. 

 

Without being in the room it is hard to say, but it looks like he is still learning to call the D. There is more confusion than is typical pre-snap. He can get lost if a guy gets a block on him and has trouble shedding the block. The Raiders could not get past the DL this week so Bernard didnt have a ton of chances. He was in coverage a lot more than stopping the run, which is good. Also had him lined up tight with Milano a lot, I assume to protect him and put more guys in the box. 

[GunnerBill]

17 minutes ago, ngbills said:

I re-watched every play from the first game. Have not done so for the 2nd game yet. Not a ton of plays so should not be a hard one to do. I both played later coached at the college and high school levels. So do have experience watching tape.

 

Bernard has been better since the 1st have of the Jets game. He was bad in the first half of the Jets game and would call him average since then. if you can protect him, he is not as much of a liability. Or if he is in coverage he is not as much of a liability. Nothing special, just hopefully wont hurt you. 

 

Without being in the room it is hard to say, but it looks like he is still learning to call the D. There is more confusion than is typical pre-snap. He can get lost if a guy gets a block on him and has trouble shedding the block. The Raiders could not get past the DL this week so Bernard didnt have a ton of chances. He was in coverage a lot more than stopping the run, which is good. Also had him lined up tight with Milano a lot, I assume to protect him and put more guys in the box. 

 

I agree with some of this.... yesterday was definitely partly a result of the Bills Dline dominating. Especially in the middle Oliver and Jones won most of their reps and that did make his game easier. But I think he was better than average yesterday. I agree poor first half v Jets, average 2nd half, pretty good yesterday even if not fully tested because of the performances in front of him. 

 

I also agree he still has to improve pre-snap, both in recognition and in authority calling it. As was pointed out earlier it looked on the TD pass as though he recognised we were lined up wrong but couldn't get the guys to fix it. You have to take control there, hard as it is for a young player. 

 

Ultimately compared to where I feared we would be "not a liability" would be a very good outcome and I trust the defense to work around him. Anything better than that is money. 

[ROCBillsBeliever]

1 hour ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Bernard's small stature may actually help him wriggle through the gaps.  He's kind of a tunnel rat.

 

He also coincidentally has hair like Pat the Rat... coincidence? 🤔

[Chaos]

He's played great so far.   Its a shame he is so old (24).  

[HappyDays]

13 hours ago, ngbills said:

And to say Edmunds could not have made that play is just absurd. 

 

I mean, Edmunds had several opportunities to make that exact play over the course of his career here and missed them. Are you really choosing this hill to die on? Edmunds was not a playmaker, he was a scarecrow.

[John from Riverside]

13 hours ago, ngbills said:

Obviously 34 tackles then...My point is he played an ok game. The coaches will watch the tape and there will be some good and some bad. How the game played out because the Bills DL and Bills overall dominated the game he was not required to do much. I would not sell this performance as a we have our future all pro mlb like he was out there just destroying people and tookover the game. The team got the job done, he got an easy pick and otherwise what noticed a ton which is good. 

Your MLB will lead your team in tackles 90% of the time. That should be expected not used as a see he played great stat. 

This is true, but Bernard has shown the propensity to be a playmaker
 

Something Edmonds was not