Stamer and LBs?

[Last Guy on the Bench]

Help me out. The Bills training camp program(D&C production I think) and the official depth chart (not worth much right now) list Stamer as the strong side backup (Posey's position), Crowell as the weak side backup, and Haggan as the MLB backup. I've seen three practices and some video and I could swear that when I've been paying attention I've always seen Haggan on the TE side, Stamer on the weak side, and Crowell in the middle. Am I crazy? I watched the scrimmage last night, but forgot to look at where they were all playing.

 

The reason this matters a lot right now, is that Stamer is playing out of his shorts and Crowell has looked pretty good too. I'd much rather see Stamer pushing Posey (who is a real weak link in my mind - whenever I focus on him, he looks bad - and he never makes big plays). Stamer will never get any real time behind Spikes, barring injury. I'd also like to see Crowell backing up Spikes, as he's got some good speed, and Haggan in the middle where he can be pushed by Ezekial for a key backup/future starter spot. I like Haggan as a special teamer and a give-your-starter a breather guy. But I don't think he plays fast enough to start. Maybe he'd be a decent SAM, but Stamer looks a lot better at this point.

 

Anyway, where the heck are they playing right now? Is the official info right (making me an idiot)? I hope so, because I would love to see Stamer take over that SAM spot by opening day.

[Last Guy on the Bench]

Bump. Anyone?

[Typical TBD Guy]

During preseason, it's not unusual to see a team's backup LB's practice at both the middle and outside. They do so to show any extra versatility that might give them a leg up on the other backup competition.

 

I have yet to see the 2005 Bills play, but I do remember that last preseason Stamer played some downs in the middle and Crowell played some at all 3 - middle, sammy, and will. Haggan I think stuck at middle the whole time last year, but maybe this year he's expanding his talent portfolio a bit beyond MLB and special teams!

 

When all is said and done, I bet we keep 7 LB's and here is where I think they'll "officially" go:

 

starting WOLB: Spikes

starting MLB: Fletcher

starting SOLB: Posey

 

backup WOLB: Crowell

backup MLB: Haggan

third string MLB: Ezekiel

backup SOLB: Stamer

 

However, don't be suprised to see the backups play in other LB slots during the season. It all depends on injury situations and specific matchups with the opposing offense's personnel.

 

FWIW, I think our LB's are strong all around, from starters to backups. I'm not really sure why Posey gets a lot of fan hate as a starting SOLB. With Fletcher and Spikes soaking up so many of the plays, how much more could a 3rd guy in this LB corps do?

 

Then again, I'd like to see more pass rushing from the strong side, and if this is more of Posey's fault than Jerry Gray's, yeah I guess I'd be all for Stamer getting a shot. No doubt Stamer has the attitude and intensity of a pass rusher!

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I unfortunately did not note their positions either (LBs not being a major point of decision making for this team and thus not a major focus of my attention). I also decided not to record it because while amateur tape review by us fans is pretty uninformed and meaningless for the most part during pre-season and merely meaningless during regular season I think it is really misinformed for the most part in terms of scrimmages so I do not have tape either.

 

However. the great thing about football now that play has begun is that doses roll around pretty quick so I will look for this against Indy.

 

As far as the Posey issue, I think he has gotten a bum rap in terms of TSW assessment so far.

 

1. Being a weaker player at LB than Spikes and Fletcher is no indictment at all.

 

2. Being the "weak link" in a D which was second statistically in the league last year is likely not much of an indictment either.

 

3. A lot of the disappointment of Bills fans in him I think came from him posting some very good sack numbers (8 I think) for the Texans in their 3-4. Particularly because we were used to a Bruuucccee like performance at DE and we had the likes of Chidi Ahanatou at LDE we were really eager for the next Bryce Paup to come along and strengthen our sack game.

 

Alas, Posey did struggle a bit here his first year as he struggled to learn the transition from the 3-4 to the 4-3.

 

I think he proved you never get a second chance to make a first impression and folks have disappointed with his play. However,

 

1. He has been a constant starter on one of the best Ds in the league the last two years.

 

2. His role has changed a lot from the sackmaster days wih the Texans 3-4 to manning the strongside LB role in the zone blitz scheme we run. In our scheme it seems that Fletcher and Spikes are employed more as going for the sack than Posey is. I say this not merely due to the number difference in results but based on watching the games there were simply few plays I can remember where Posey came in unblocked as the zone blitz tries to create and he simply whiffed on the sack. Maybe he got picked up by an RB backing up the line but i think more likely we had Spikes come in because the weak side offered less traffic for him to blitz through.

 

3. Though his tackles came no where near comparing to Fletcher and Spikes (again no crime there) he did post 66 tackles placimg him 6th on the team eather than him being a weak link bringing up the rear among starting defenders.

 

I think Stamer is a great player to watch as well. However, I see no big problems with Posey's play and if Stamer is going to take his job it will not come to him by default because Posey is a negative. Stamer will have to take it away woth a clear case he cannot be kept off the field.

 

Stamer's play is not there yet. The best play I thought he made last year was a moce INT where he tipped a pass at the line and kept focus and managed to make the catch also, However, in order to take Posey's job I think we will have to see him do this every other game or so rather than 3 great plays a season.

 

For now if folks want to make a case that Posey is bad that really makes sense, they need to:

 

1. Provide some clear cases where fan observations that he turned the wrong way or was badly positioned actually led to the other team scoring or making a big gaom.

 

2. Explain why our D is so productive overall if he is such an obvious weak link. One would think that other teams would pick on him all the time as they went after him and tried to stay away from Fletcher and Spikes. He often is lined up right behind Denney, you would think with all the bitching about these two that it is a guranteed six anytime they are on the field together.

 

For now that case has not been made so I think the call to get rid of Posey (who us quite cap affordable) seem to be little more than fact free opinion.