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"Blah blah blah looks good." "So-and-so looks bad." "Whatshisname was a horrible draft pick."

 

Ahh, you gotta love preseason.

Whats funny is you knew that thread was coming just after watching one half. I wonder if you would have started this thread if we were kicking a$$? :unsure: In a way you agreed the starters sukced tonight in the first half :lol:

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Whats funny is you knew that thread was coming just after watching one half. I wonder if you would have started this thread if we were kicking a$$? :unsure: In a way you agreed the starters sukced tonight in the first half :lol:

What's even funnier, at least as far as you guys go, is that this is a complete deja vu from seaons past right down to your predictions and statements.

 

Isn't it up to the team to prove at some point that it's not simply business as usual? I mean you guys talk as if the default is that we barely missed winning the AFC Championship laste year when it's the other way around.

 

Of course you won't recognize or admit that. Otherwise I don't think anything's funny after that. I find it pathetic that the team appears to stink again and that the reasons why are supported here.

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Whats funny is you knew that thread was coming just after watching one half. I wonder if you would have started this thread if we were kicking a$$? :unsure: In a way you agreed the starters sukced tonight in the first half :lol:

 

Hey knew the thread was coming 10 years ago. It happens every year and is as predictable as anything.

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Hey knew the thread was coming 10 years ago. It happens every year and is as predictable as anything.

 

Yup.. Most "looks good/looks like stojan" preseason talk is just standard discussion. Most of it is 100% fine. We always split into two crowds about this time, though. There is the "man we're going to suck BAD" group and there is the "you can't tell from the preseason" gang. The reality is always somewhere in the middle. You can identify short comings in individual players, but it's pretty difficult to gauge how the unit as a whole will operate.

 

I tend to reserve real judgement until the final preseason game. If, by that time, weaknesses and issues haven't really been addressed, you'll sometimes see them bleed into the season. Last year's preseason was a pretty good gauge.

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"Blah blah blah looks good." "So-and-so looks bad." "Whatshisname was a horrible draft pick."

 

Ahh, you gotta love preseason.

 

I was sorely tempted to post a preemptive "It's PRESEASON, people. Get a freakin' grip." post yesterday.

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Yup.. Most "looks good/looks like stojan" preseason talk is just standard discussion. Most of it is 100% fine. We always split into two crowds about this time, though. There is the "man we're going to suck BAD" group and there is the "you can't tell from the preseason" gang. The reality is always somewhere in the middle. You can identify short comings in individual players, but it's pretty difficult to gauge how the unit as a whole will operate.

 

I tend to reserve real judgement until the final preseason game. If, by that time, weaknesses and issues haven't really been addressed, you'll sometimes see them bleed into the season. Last year's preseason was a pretty good gauge.

Excellent strategy, I am all in :lol:

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Hey knew the thread was coming 10 years ago. It happens every year and is as predictable as............

 

...missing the playoffs? Seriously, I agree that one preseason game does not tell you everything you need to know about a team, but you apologists are at the exact opposite of the spectrum. How gullible can you guys be taking the bait from Da Big Man?

 

What I saw of the team was about what I expected. IMO, they are still not a team that is ready to go toe-to-toe with the best. But they can always fall back on their ability to play conservative football and good special teams, and that is good enough to keep them in games, and win quite a few when they are otherwise outplayed. It's not where I want them to be, or where a lot of you expect them to be. That style won't get them to the playoffs. But right now they STILL can't run block and they STILL can't stop the run. Edwards still doesn't have a quality TE to post-up and keep the chains moving. They have more talent at WR and CB, but the bigger problems still appear to be there. Hopefully they improve greatly by opening day.

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I agree that a couple of series of watching the starters play is not enough to make any substantive assessments of their regular season performance. But, is it too much to ask for the starting units to show any indication that they have fixed anything from last year. The offense couldn't score a touchdown. The defense couldn't stop the run. Even the freaking Lions scored a touchdown with their first unit on Thursday.

Why is it wrong to question the perceived weaknesses on this team, at this point. At this point, this team needs to show its fans something every time that they step on the field. After 10 years of mediocre football, they should be prepared to be criticized when they fail to meet expectations. First preseason game or not, these guys have had the same amount of training camp, offseason workouts, etc. as anyone else. I was very excited about finally being able to see some Bills football on TV, again. But once again, I came away feeling like these guys may never put it all together. Hopefully I'm wrong, but its up to them to show me something.

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...missing the playoffs? Seriously, I agree that one preseason game does not tell you everything you need to know about a team, but you apologists are at the exact opposite of the spectrum. How gullible can you guys be taking the bait from Da Big Man?

 

What I saw of the team was about what I expected. IMO, they are still not a team that is ready to go toe-to-toe with the best. But they can always fall back on their ability to play conservative football and good special teams, and that is good enough to keep them in games, and win quite a few when they are otherwise outplayed. It's not where I want them to be, or where a lot of you expect them to be. That style won't get them to the playoffs. But right now they STILL can't run block and they STILL can't stop the run. Edwards still doesn't have a quality TE to post-up and keep the chains moving. They have more talent at WR and CB, but the bigger problems still appear to be there. Hopefully they improve greatly by opening day.

BINGO. Forgot the conspicuous lack of pass rush, though. Otherwise spot-on.

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I guess we might as well hang up the cleats and call in sick for the rest of the season. All the "experts" on TBD say we are done for, I guess that means there's no longer any need to play the games. We know everything we need to know about the upcoming season from two series in the first preseaon game. :lol:

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I guess we might as well hang up the cleats and call in sick for the rest of the season. All the "experts" on TBD say we are done for, I guess that means there's no longer any need to play the games. We know everything we need to know about the upcoming season from two series in the first preseaon game. :lol:

You nailed it. Unfortunately most of the posters in here are too young to recall that the perennial playoff teams from the early 90s under Marv Levy -- a coach with a similar style and philosophy as Jauron -- rarely looked as though they could get out of their own way during the preseason. I'm NOT suggesting this team is anywhere close to those teams, but the bottom line is that preseason is for PRACTICING certain specific things that may not show up in the stat sheet or scoreboard.

 

The Bills' starters on offense did not look in sync last night. Do I think that means they will suck this year? Of course not. This was their first live action under a new OC and with several new components (two different tackles, Hardy, etc.). Anyone drawing broad conclusions from this performance, quite frankly, doesn't get it.

 

That doesn't make me an apologist or a homer. It's common freaking sense.

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You nailed it. Unfortunately most of the posters in here are too young to recall that the perennial playoff teams from the early 90s under Marv Levy -- a coach with a similar style and philosophy as Jauron -- rarely looked as though they could get out of their own way during the preseason. I'm NOT suggesting this team is anywhere close to those teams, but the bottom line is that preseason is for PRACTICING certain specific things that may not show up in the stat sheet or scoreboard.

 

The Bills' starters on offense did not look in sync last night. Do I think that means they will suck this year? Of course not. This was their first live action under a new OC and with several new components (two different tackles, Hardy, etc.). Anyone drawing broad conclusions from this performance, quite frankly, doesn't get it.

 

That doesn't make me an apologist or a homer. It's common freaking sense.

Yes we lost during preseason in the Kelly era, but the starters would come out and drive the field to touchdown then call it a night. This team dosen't do that and if you are going to compare you should remember those days clearly.

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Yes we lost during preseason in the Kelly era, but the starters would come out and drive the field to touchdown then call it a night. This team dosen't do that and if you are going to compare you should remember those days clearly.

What part of "I'm NOT suggesting this team is anywhere close to those teams" did you not understand?

 

Reading comprehension -- try it out sometime.

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Whats funny is you knew that thread was coming just after watching one half. I wonder if you would have started this thread if we were kicking a$$? :thumbsup: In a way you agreed the starters sukced tonight in the first half :thumbsup:

 

So sais the person who did that exact thing.

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Look, I'm not concerned based on last night's game. It was a first-preseason game against team that already had a game in the books (didn't that happen last year, too?) So, 1/5, whatever.

 

I'd just be happier if I spent the game saying "Well, I know it's preseason, but damn these guys look good" instead of "Well, at least it's just preseason." We've had such a paucity of regular and post-season excitement, at least we could get a little in August.

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I was going to start a separate thread, but since this one is right up its alley, I'll post my thoughts here. If we're going by one half of a pre-season game...

 

Let's start with the easy part. The ST's should once again be dominant. McKelvin gives the Bills a replacement for McGee, who can now concentrate on defense. That is, until McKelvin becomes a starter and then...well, we'll just wait until then to see who's returning kicks. I like the idea of both Parrish and McKelvin on punt returns.

 

Onto defense. The only series I care about is the first one. That's the one Stroud played. And the Bills were without McGee, Crowell, and Whitner, which represents over 25% of the starting defense. The Redskins gained 28 yards on 6 plays, including 3 yards on 2 running plays, and ultimately had to punt. Considering this was the first pre-season game for the Bills, the 2nd for the Redskins, and how they marched through the Colts' defense in the 1st pre-season game (albeit with their defense also missing some starters), I'll take it.

 

Now onto the offense. Overall it was a sloppy effort. There were mental mistakes and dropped passes galore. They'll need to tighten things up over the remainder of the off-season, but I saw enough good stuff out of the younger guys to lead me to believe it can happen. But I think they need Peters back and Walker back on the right side to really get something going.

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