What can we do now; will we see any

[DrPJax]

Is our quarterback play the only reason that we are having such a dismal beginning to the season, and are there any other possible solutions that we need to look at to salvage the season.?While losman's play has been less than impressive, I believe it's the defensive team's poor play that has really let us down..

 

Our defense has repetitively failed to hold teams from converting third downs, and have been guilty of prolonging drives by committing stupid penalties negating any positive plays that they have had. A classic example was today's play by Nate Clements that negated a 12 yard sack on third down and resulted in a drive that culminated in a field goal for the Saints. How many times has the containment broken down, to allow the opposing quarterbacks to scramble for a first down? Every time our defense fails to stop the team on third down a bar, losing the battle for field position and either allowing the other team to score, or allowing them to flip the field position on us. The result is requiring a inexperienced quarterback to have to convert longer drives and the statistics are against that in the NFL. We're not creating turnovers, and we are not putting our offense in a position to have a shorter field to operate like we did last year during our winning streak. One of the reasons we're not creating turnovers is we are not getting any pressure on the quarterback. Specifically, we get no pressure up the middle, and Sam Adams has practically disappeared. With no pressure up the middle the opposing quarterback either steps up into a well-defined pocket, or breaks containment for a good scramble. We could have addressed this issue this year by signing Corey Simon. I believe this was a major mistake by Donahoe, and I don't think we'll be able to fix this until next season in free agency. If we can fix our problem with getting pressure up the middle, I think this will allow our ends to perform better and result in more sacks, pressures and possibly turnovers, and obviously shore up our run defense.

 

In addition to our defensive play, our special teams have also let us down so far. Our special teams left 10 points out on the field before the first half was over today. During our win streak last year, our special teams provided a spark for many of those wins. Due to lack of concentration, Magee's incredible return was stopped short when three blockers lost focus and allowed the final Saint to get in and trip him up. That was inexcusable, and I think Campbell also was the player responsible for holding on Freddie Smith's long kickoff return. Instead of starting a drive on the opposing team's 35, we were forced again to start our own 30 yard line. All of our games have been marked by this sloppy penalty plagued play. Unfortunately, Lindell also chose to revert to his previous form when he missed the 45 yarder. Rather than being tied at the half, this flipped field position that allowed New Orleans to drive for another field goal and we were down 13 to seven.. Our special-teams play is the one area I think that will probably correct itself as the season goes along, but the lack of focus so far has been a disappointment and contributed to our losses. It is not all on JP and the offense; we are not playing mentally sharp football in this phase of the game either.

 

Finally, what can be said about our abysmal offensive performance? I agree with many of you that have already stated that the majority of the blame should be on Tom Clements. With the exception of the first half against the Texans, the playcalling has been atrocious. The opening drive today was well done, but Clements shows no ability to adapt his playcalling based on either previous success or failure of prior plays. He shown a Gilbride- like quality to abandon the run despite the exceptional play of McGahee. I think our passing schemes are poorly devised. We are keeping our tight ends in for maximum protection, and only sending out. two wide receivers and occasionally a third slot receiver. I think our tight ends have only caught two passes in four games. Most productive passing teams in the NFL are taking advantage of a tight end; for example, look at Kansas City, San Diego, Dallas. We also continue to run out routes and JP continues to struggle with his accuracy hitting them. There was one quick slant run over the middle today, and it was caught by moulds for a first down. I don't know why we continue to avoid these, as I think these quick routes could help JP's confidence. Clements also refuses to run any reverses to get Evans or moulds involved, and the reverses would also make other teams defensive ends stay at home and allow JP to roll out more effectively. Denver did this very effectively last week against Kansas City. I would solve these problems by stopping the maximum protection, spreading the defense out with either four receivers and one back or five receivers, and then let JP use his scrambling ability to avoid the rush. That's why we made the decision to go with him instead of Bledsoe wasn't it? Our tight ends are absent for some inexplicabe reason, and We need to get more receivers out in the patterns. Hopefully when Parrish returns that will provide a difficult matchup for the nickel back or linebackers on the opposing team. If Clements demonstrates another poor game of playcalling against Miami, mularkey should either take over playcalling himself or allow Wyche to assume offensive coordinator responsibilities. Our current schemes will continue to fail against the better teams we will be playing.

 

Finally, I think we have to stick with JP The rest of the year and quit pulling him. It's obvious our backup quarterbacks are no answer, and we need to find out if we really do have a quarterback of the future. With our poor offensive line play, Holcombe will not stand a chance of offering us any improvement. It's obvious our lines on both sides of the ball need to be addressed by Donahoe, but it is what it is for this year. Pulling JP in the fourth quarter, today, when we are only down by six, just serves to delay his development that much longer. More than any other thing this year, I feel that our coaching on the offensive of side of the ball has failed terribly, and our defensive tackles poor play has hurt us the most defensively. We should be able to correct the offensive problems now, but I'm less optimistic that we'll be able to find a quick fix for our defensive woes. I believe the next two weeks will tell us a lot about our hopes with mularkey and his future in Buffalo.

[Talonz]

FFS, is this you?

[Mikie2times]

Good post, agree with everything you said.

[Fan in San Diego]

Is our quarterback play the only reason that we are having such a dismal beginning to the season, and are there any other possible solutions that we need to look at to salvage the season.?While losman's play has been less than impressive, I believe it's the defensive team's poor play that has really let us down..

 

Our defense has repetitively failed to hold teams from converting third downs, and have been guilty of prolonging drives by committing stupid penalties negating any positive plays that they have had.  A classic example was today's play by Nate Clements that negated a 12 yard sack on third down and resulted in a  drive that culminated in a field goal for the Saints.  How many times has the containment broken down, to allow the opposing quarterbacks to scramble for a first down?  Every time our defense fails to stop the team on third down a bar, losing the battle for field position and either allowing the other team to score, or allowing them to flip the field position on us.  The result is requiring a inexperienced quarterback to have to convert longer drives and the statistics are against that in the NFL.  We're not creating turnovers, and we are not putting our offense in a position to have a shorter field to operate like we did last year during our winning streak.  One of the reasons we're not creating turnovers is we are not getting any pressure on the quarterback.  Specifically, we get no pressure up the middle, and Sam Adams has practically disappeared. With no pressure up the middle the opposing quarterback either steps up into a well-defined pocket, or breaks containment for a good scramble.  We could have addressed this issue this year by signing Corey Simon.  I believe this was a major mistake by Donahoe, and I don't think we'll be able to fix this until next season in free agency.  If we can fix our problem with getting pressure up the middle, I think this will allow our ends to perform better and result in more sacks, pressures and possibly turnovers, and obviously shore up our run defense.

 

In addition to our  defensive play, our special teams have also let us down so far.  Our special teams left 10 points out on the field before the first half was over today.  During our win streak last year, our special teams provided a spark for many of those wins.  Due to lack of concentration, Magee's incredible return was stopped short when three blockers lost focus and allowed the final Saint to get in and trip him up.  That was inexcusable, and I think Campbell also was the player responsible for holding on Freddie Smith's long kickoff return.  Instead of starting a drive on the opposing team's 35, we were forced again to start our own 30 yard line.  All of our games have been marked by this sloppy penalty plagued play.  Unfortunately,  Lindell also chose to revert to his previous form when he missed the 45 yarder.  Rather than being tied at the half, this flipped field position that allowed New Orleans to drive for another field goal and we were down 13 to seven.. Our special-teams play is the one area I think that will probably correct itself as the season goes along, but the lack of focus so far has been a disappointment and contributed to our losses. It is not all on JP and the offense; we are not playing mentally sharp football in this phase of the game either.

 

Finally, what can be said about our abysmal offensive performance?  I agree with many of you that have already stated that the majority of the blame should be on Tom Clements.  With the exception of the first half against the Texans, the playcalling has been atrocious.  The opening drive today was well done, but Clements shows no ability to adapt his playcalling based on either previous success or failure of prior plays.  He shown a Gilbride- like quality to abandon the run despite the exceptional play of McGahee.  I think our passing schemes are poorly devised.  We are keeping our tight ends in for maximum protection, and only sending out.  two wide receivers and occasionally a third slot receiver.  I think our tight ends have only caught two passes in four games.  Most productive passing teams in the NFL are taking advantage of a tight end; for example, look at Kansas City, San Diego, Dallas.  We also continue to run out routes and JP continues to struggle with his accuracy hitting them. There was one quick slant run over the middle today, and it was caught by moulds for a first down.  I don't know why we continue to avoid these, as I think these quick routes could help JP's confidence.  Clements also refuses to run any reverses to get Evans or moulds involved, and the reverses would also make other teams defensive ends stay at home and allow JP to roll out more effectively.  Denver did this very effectively last week against Kansas City.  I would solve these problems by stopping the maximum protection, spreading the defense out with either four receivers and one back or five receivers, and then let JP use his scrambling ability to avoid the rush.  That's why we made the decision to go with him instead of Bledsoe wasn't it? Our tight ends are absent for some inexplicabe reason, and We need to get more receivers out in the patterns.  Hopefully when Parrish returns that will provide a difficult matchup for the nickel back or linebackers on the opposing team.  If Clements demonstrates another poor game of playcalling against Miami, mularkey should either take over playcalling himself or allow Wyche to assume offensive coordinator responsibilities. Our current schemes will continue to fail against the better teams we will be playing.

 

Finally, I think we have to stick with JP The rest of the year and quit pulling him.  It's obvious our backup quarterbacks are no answer, and we need to find out if we really do have a quarterback of the future.  With our poor offensive line play, Holcombe will not stand a chance of offering us any improvement.  It's obvious our lines on both sides of the ball need to be addressed by Donahoe, but it is what it is for this year.  Pulling JP in the fourth quarter, today, when we are only down by six, just serves to delay his development that much longer.  More than any other thing this year, I feel that our coaching on the offensive of side of the ball has failed terribly, and our defensive tackles poor play has hurt us the most defensively.  We should be able to correct the offensive problems now, but I'm less optimistic that we'll be able to find a quick fix for our defensive woes.  I believe the next two weeks will tell us a lot about our hopes with mularkey and his future in Buffalo.

462444[/snapback]

 

 

Best post I have read in a long time. I agree with most if not all of your observations. Please pin this and send to TD.

[DrPJax]

Best post I have read in a long time. I agree with most if not all of your observations. Please pin this and send to TD.

462505[/snapback]

 

Thanks for the feedback; tried not to be to emotional and just wanted to think of some constructive ways of righting this ship. I think we can turn the offense around if Clements or someone else (Wyche) adapts, but the defense that was to be our backbone is failing terribly. We just get no push in the middle, and this is dragging our ends and secondary down as well. If we could pick up Winborn from the 49'ers, who sounds like he just got caught up in a problem with the way the new staff was using him, I would seriously consider going more to a 3-4 to have better playmakers on the field. I think we might get a better rush that way without having to keep sending our safties or corners in blitzes. Also with the Spikes injury and Posey being in his last year of his contract next year, Winborn would be a good fit. We could also then use our draft picks to fortify both lines. I also think we really need to watch Vincent's play. He may have finally hit a wall, and he looks slow and out of position frequently to me. Might even consider putting Greer in there for more speed, or if we continue to tank, consider getting Leonard some playing time. This is a critcal time for TD to make a move, as we are about to lose the season.

[NJ_BillsFan]

I really hope we stick with JP for the rest of the season. He can only get better. Buffalo has not stuck with a struggling QB without there being a controversy in a very long time. We need to stick with JP like the Giants stuck with Eli last year.

[Bill from NYC]

Your post is good and well thought, but I find it hard to blame Coach Clemens for this mess. I don't think that he was the man who brought us the likes of Jerman and Anderson. Also, I have a problem with the following:

 

>>>>>I would solve these problems by stopping the maximum protection, spreading the defense out with either four receivers and one back or five receivers, and then let JP use his scrambling ability to avoid the rush.<<<<<

 

Are you calling for LESS protection? Imo, if JP is left to run for his life all day, he will surely be injured, perhaps seriously. I am thinking that the only chance JP has to play well (assuming there is a chance) would be for the Bills to establish a ground game, and work in some passes thereafter, although that didn't even work against Atlanta.

 

Again, I think that TD should be held accountable for this mess.

[grabowr30045]

I don't agree with all of it. I think part of the problem is using the same type of defensive schemes in preseason and then carrying it over into the regular season. Teams have had enough time to develop offensive schemes around our blitzes and that's why we are not getting adequate pressure. Two weeks in a row and I don't understand why we didn't have a spy on Vicks and Brooks especially on 3rd down. I blame this mostly on Gray not all of the defensive players.

 

MM is pulling Losman not because of JP but because of the team. The players on both sides have absolutely no faith in him. It's hard to go out and play when you know your QB is going to be poor.

 

Regarding Moulds, two balls that hit his "finger tips" shouldn't be classified as his fault for not grabbing them. The one out to the sidelines was so damn high that he had to use only 1 hand otherwise that corner would have crushed his ribs. Is it worth it for 3 yards? I certainly don't think so.

 

I look at the OL and it is bad. Trey Teague is really sucking it up as center this year. Not having M. Williams is hurting as well. Bernie has no speed and is doing a poor job of blocking. One bright note has been Gandy. I thought he has played well considering he had big shoes to fill.

 

Finally, most of you are trying to compare this season to last and JP vs. Joe and the Volcano (Eli, Carson, etc.). We are going to suck it up this year. Last year, we played relatively weak teams (I'll throw Seattle in there because they were all over the map) and we don't have that luxury this year. We can beat the worse 7 or 8 teams in this league and that's about it. There won't be no 6 game winning streak this year. With respect to JP, I look at past history and it isn't on his side (I'm talking about his college days). The guy really wasn't that good at Tulane. As with Rob Johnson, everyone looked at the tools but the decision making wasn't there. Isn't Rob and JP eerily similar? I certainly think so.