BADOLBILZ Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 The Bills defense was very bad prior to the bye week changes. Now the key player in that change(Clements) is gone, and the steady, consistent, durable MLB is gone as well. I'm not a big fan of Fletcher, he can't stack and shed so his defenses will always be vulnerable to the run at his position, but he and Clements were the guys who came away with the turnovers. That's kinda' important. There are really no solutions in FA. The draft........well let's just say we aren't going to replace that production next season from the draft. The next time that happens will be the first. And that is to get back to last year's level. Which wasn't good enough. Not to throw a wet blanket on the acquisition of a good guard and some JAGs but, how is this progress? Have the Bills gone from being one of the worst run defenses to being the worst defense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Damn it, Badol........I'm getting you some happy pills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_red Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Wait till the draft is over, right now the D looks avg. at best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattypro89 Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 The Bills defense was very bad prior to the bye week changes. Now the key player in that change(Clements) is gone, and the steady, consistent, durable MLB is gone as well. I'm not a big fan of Fletcher, he can't stack and shed so his defenses will always be vulnerable to the run at his position, but he and Clements were the guys who came away with the turnovers. That's kinda' important. There are really no solutions in FA. The draft........well let's just say we aren't going to replace that production next season from the draft. The next time that happens will be the first. And that is to get back to last year's level. Which wasn't good enough. Not to throw a wet blanket on the acquisition of a good guard and some JAGs but, how is this progress? Have the Bills gone from being one of the worst run defenses to being the worst defense? be optomistic. were not gonna know anything until the season starts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneonta Buffalo Fan Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 No. It might seem bad now, but I think we will get some good defensive players in FA and in the draft. Remember Whitner and Simpson were studs even though they were rookies. I think we might have some more studs on defense in the draft. Character is key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBob2232 Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I dont know. We have a very young defense. Simpson, Wittner, Ya-booty, McCargo, Ellison. Throw in a probable rookie starter somewhere and half our guys have less than 2 years experience. Too difficult to tell how bad (or good) this crowd will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneonta Buffalo Fan Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I dont know. We have a very young defense. Simpson, Wittner, Ya-booty, McCargo, Ellison. Throw in a probable rookie starter somewhere and half our guys have less than 2 years experience. Too difficult to tell how bad (or good) this crowd will be. No. It might seem bad now, but I think we will get some good defensive players in FA and in the draft. Remember Whitner and Simpson were studs even though they were rookies. I think we might have some more studs on defense in the draft. Character is key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffaloed in Pa Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 No. It might seem bad now, but I think we will get some good defensive players in FA and in the draft. Remember Whitner and Simpson were studs even though they were rookies. I think we might have some more studs on defense in the draft. Character is key. I don`t know about STUD`S .I too am worried about the D. But I`m willing to wait a couple games into the season.How many of those happy pills you got cable lady? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I have to think that Whitner, Simpson and Ellison will be marginally if not significantly better. I am hoping that McCargo is a decent player with flashes of his first round potential. I am pretty confident that Crowell can take the place of Fletcher in the middle. I am hoping that Spikes can return to near form, or that we release him and use the 5 mil to sign a decent replacement. I would have to think that the second year in the defense will make the guys who were missing all kinds of lanes and assignments and angles will be able to cut down on the ridiculous amount of long runs and 10+ yard runs that we gave up. That said, losing Nate will hurt a lot. McGee will have to step up. Kiwi will need to be resigned. Youboty will have to not be an embarrassment. We need some kind of veteran replacement for Nate. At least a serviceable DT acquisition like Ian Gold or the like could help a lot. Not make us good but close some of the floodgates. One of the ways the defense can be better is the offense controlling the ball, and the offense being able to get a lead or two so the defense doesn't have to play on its heals and let other teams run all day on them, but rather be forced to pass a little more. I also think that Fewell did pretty well with what he had to work with. Remember, we were middle of the pack in defense the second half, especially in scoring defense, and that was without Crowell, Spikes and McCargo, as well as having to teach the defense to the team and the NFL to Whitner and Simpson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawgg Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Yes. Do the Bills now have the worst defense in NFL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsCelticsAngelsBama Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Yes. But they would be in the top three in the Big East. Quit being so negative ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JStranger76 Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Studs? They played OK as rookies, nothing special. We need more talent on D very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drnykterstein Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 But we have the best young Safety tandem in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 If during the off season last year, you would have said the Bills defense would be: Schobel - Tripplett - Kyle Williams - Kelsay Keith Ellison - Fletcher - 1/2 a Spikes Clements - McGee - Whitner - Simpson I would have thought they were by FAR, and without question, the worst defense in the league. But the reality was that they weren't. They were at the lower end of the second third, somewhere around 18-20th. And that was with 5-6 rookies playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 I have to think that Whitner, Simpson and Ellison will be marginally if not significantly better. I am hoping that McCargo is a decent player with flashes of his first round potential. I am pretty confident that Crowell can take the place of Fletcher in the middle. I am hoping that Spikes can return to near form, or that we release him and use the 5 mil to sign a decent replacement. I would have to think that the second year in the defense will make the guys who were missing all kinds of lanes and assignments and angles will be able to cut down on the ridiculous amount of long runs and 10+ yard runs that we gave up. That said, losing Nate will hurt a lot. McGee will have to step up. Kiwi will need to be resigned. Youboty will have to not be an embarrassment. We need some kind of veteran replacement for Nate. At least a serviceable DT acquisition like Ian Gold or the like could help a lot. Not make us good but close some of the floodgates. One of the ways the defense can be better is the offense controlling the ball, and the offense being able to get a lead or two so the defense doesn't have to play on its heals and let other teams run all day on them, but rather be forced to pass a little more. I also think that Fewell did pretty well with what he had to work with. Remember, we were middle of the pack in defense the second half, especially in scoring defense, and that was without Crowell, Spikes and McCargo, as well as having to teach the defense to the team and the NFL to Whitner and Simpson. You can't just plug anybody in and expect it to work. Think Bobby Shaw. Think Ron Edwards and Tim Anderson. Think Ian Scott, actually. He was nothing more than a bit player in Chicago, and when Tommie Harris went down, the defense suffered a HUGE dropoff. You can't replace difference makers with JAGs. That's the problem the Bills will face. Some of the young players should improve, but I think it's quite clear that a lot of the deficiencies they had were covered up by having star vets like Fletcher and Clements in place. These guys weren't making the plays last year, they were complementary players. Trying Crowell inside would be an acceptable calculated risk if the defense were a little more stable, but the fact is, he got hurt last year. One of the concerns I've always had about Crowell is that his brother, who was a star player, punched out of the league prematurely because of injuries. Maybe they have to draft a MLB early to replace Fletcher, which just means one less pick to address(not necessarily FILL) other holes. We'll see what happens, but IMO this is one step forward for the offense and two steps back for the D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKC Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 this is one step forward for the offense and two steps back for the D. That seems like a perfectly fair assessment of our situation today. The question becomes whether we can dramatically alter that before the second day of the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I think we DO have one of the worst, if not THE worst defense, in the NFL today. In fact, we're going to get our asses handed to us tomorrow. Oh, wait. We don't play tomorrow. We don't play for SIX FREAKING MONTHS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Or new philosophy: best defense is a good offense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I actually see it as one large step backward for the defense (because of Nate) and three steps forward for the offense as it should dramatically improve RB and running game, the QB and passing game, the future, and even the defense, dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 If during the off season last year, you would have said the Bills defense would be: Schobel - Tripplett - Kyle Williams - Kelsay Keith Ellison - Fletcher - 1/2 a Spikes Clements - McGee - Whitner - Simpson I would have thought they were by FAR, and without question, the worst defense in the league. But the reality was that they weren't. They were at the lower end of the second third, somewhere around 18-20th. And that was with 5-6 rookies playing. That's why they call them difference makers. After their rookie years, Clements and Fletcher were both clearly difference makers. Can't say the same for Whitner, Simpson, Ellison or Williams. I like Whitner, but he is a PRIME candidate to be the next whipping boy of TBD because the expectations of this guy are WAY out of line with his ability. People want Troy Polomalu or Bob Sanders and they think that's what they have, but Whitner hasn't shown that kind of explosive ability. When teams start converting third downs and he's the guy making the tackle 10 yards downfield, they will not understand. If he turns out to be Mike Doss, it's going to get ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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