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What is your reaction to this preseason?


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First the positives:

Leodis McLovin is one bad a55 return man. He just needs to learn to leave punts inside the 10 alone.

James Hardy is an awesome addition.

It appears that we will see much better play calling/formations out of the O this season.

 

Now the negatives:

Marv said it best. Run and stop the run. Has this team shown in preseason that it has improved in either area over last years team that finished in the bottom of the league in both areas? I think not. Stroud has not demonstrated that he is still a pro-bowler and McCargo has proved that he is a certifiable porch dog.

The O-line desperately needs a healthy Jason Peters. They couldn't run block their way out of a wet paper sack.

 

OBVIOUSLY it was just preseason, but judging from what I have seen, my optimism has taken a pretty hard hit. With Seattle and Jacksonville on tap, an 0-2 start on the way to 7-9 to 9-7 seems likely. What say you???

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McKelvin does seem to be a great return man. Edwards was all you could ask for against the Steelers. Lynch looks ready to step up his game as well. Evans is playing for a contract. This is good. Chambers looks as if he might be a good OT some day. A healthy Poz will help this team a ton. He didn't light up in preseason, but that's OK. He is a hitter, and he showed that. I gotta admit, Preston didn't look as bad as he usually does, but that is a reach.

With Jason Peters, this team might be able to take it to a higher level. Without him, they will perhaps tread water. This is what we have been doing for a decade or so, treading water. Posters can pretend that things are OK, but they are not.

Even with Peters, we are thin at OL, and our center is a highly paid question mark. Chambers makes me optimistic enough to think that he could step in and cover a while for Walker or Peters. Bell? Please. He isn't anywhere near ready, assuming he ever will be.

 

Will Jauron be a good enough coach to overcome our problems? History tells us no. He was a head coach that nobody else wanted. He did OK with less talented Bills teams by playing not to lose. Is he Dick Vermeil? No, he seems closer to being second rate than elite.

 

To answer your question, the Pittsburgh game was great. It gave us reason for hope. Overall, between the failure to work out a deal with Peters, and the failure to extend Evans, the main thing that the preseason indicated to me was that we have lots of return men, lots of defensive backs, a better OC, and very shaky mamanement.

 

There is talent on this team. It always sucks to let good things go to waste.

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Yea I think that is a pretty horrible analysis for the most part. We beat up on Pitt and Indy, two of the better teams in the AFC when the starters were in. Why would your optimism take a hit when both Trent and JP led the team down the field for scores, while the starting defense allowed zero TD's in those 2 games? Stroud looked solid I thought, the starting O-Line was fantastic without Peters allowing for multiple 10+ play drives, and the two "positives", Hardy and McKelvin, showed less than Steve Johnson and Reggie Corner. I couldn't disagree more.

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Yea I think that is a pretty horrible analysis for the most part. We beat up on Pitt and Indy, two of the better teams in the AFC when the starters were in. Why would your optimism take a hit when both Trent and JP led the team down the field for scores, while the starting defense allowed zero TD's in those 2 games? Stroud looked solid I thought, the starting O-Line was fantastic without Peters allowing for multiple 10+ play drives, and the two "positives", Hardy and McKelvin, showed less than Steve Johnson and Reggie Corner. I couldn't disagree more.

My advice to you:

1.Learn to read.

2. Get a piece.

3. Ease up on the attitude. (#2 should help with that)

 

I did say that I liked the way the new O looked. I wish our second year starter in a new O would have gotten more than 31 snaps though.

Stroud did not look good. He generated absolutely no pass rush and was handled one on one all the time. I just hope that he was coasting through the PS in order to stay healthy. That is a possibility and the success of this team in the regular season depends greatly on how this one player performs.

Are you kidding with Steve Johnson and Reggie Corner? Johnson will be lucky to make the team. And what are Johnson and Corner going to do to run and stop the run?

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!@#$ Jason Peters.

 

That's what say me.

 

I'll second that and add Mr. Parker to that list.

 

Unfortunate that Edwards got hurt. More playing time he needs. Bills look to have much better depth this year at most positions. Starting lineup has more experience at most spots, so Jaron an Co. have more to work with. Bills need a good start to the season (3-2 or better in first 5) IMO if they want to sniff the playoffs.

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OBVIOUSLY it was just preseason

 

Those are the only 5 logical words from your post.

 

I only judge one thing watching those 4 meaningless contests: If the Bills come through them with no serious injuries, I judge the preseason a complete success. I choose to wait until Marcus Stroud plays more then 2 series a game before I conclude that he doesn't have it any more. As long as the Bills don't put 17 guys on injured reserve again, there is no way they end up worse then 10-6 this year, even with their "horrible" play in the preseason.

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My hopes are:

1. The Turk is showing he can successfully call an offencive game plan.

 

2. The defence was running a vanilla game plan.

 

3. marsha brady is hurt more than the pats* are lettin on, favre is overwhelmed by N.Y. and a new offence, and the tuna is realizing he has more work than he barganed for.

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I'll second that and add Mr. Parker to that list.

 

Unfortunate that Edwards got hurt. More playing time he needs. Bills look to have much better depth this year at most positions. Starting lineup has more experience at most spots, so Jaron an Co. have more to work with. Bills need a good start to the season (3-2 or better in first 5) IMO if they want to sniff the playoffs.

 

Really? I remember Wade Phillips first year in 1998. His Bills started 0-3, and were 1-4 in first 5. They ended up 10-6 and wild card. Conversely, the preseason SB Champs of '08, the 4-0 Lions, started last season 6-2 and ended up 8-8 and out of the playoffs. So I don't get your "first 5 games" importance. I can't imagine too many Giants fans who predicted a SB victory for their struggling team after the first 5 games last year either.

 

Talk about the "drive-by media" immediate gratification 24 hour ESPN mentality on this subject! The preseason and the first 5 regular season games will not make or break the Bills 2008 season - chill out and have some patience! The 16 games are a marathon, not a 40 yard dash.

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Really? I remember Wade Phillips first year in 1998. His Bills started 0-3, and were 1-4 in first 5. They ended up 10-6 and wild card. Conversely, the preseason SB Champs of '08, the 4-0 Lions, started last season 6-2 and ended up 8-8 and out of the playoffs. So I don't get your "first 5 games" importance. I can't imagine too many Giants fans who predicted a SB victory for their struggling team after the first 5 games last year either.

 

Talk about the "drive-by media" immediate gratification 24 hour ESPN mentality on this subject! The preseason and the first 5 regular season games will not make or break the Bills 2008 season - chill out and have some patience! The 16 games are a marathon, not a 40 yard dash.

 

Arbitrarily cherrypick examples much? The first 31% of the regular season matters. A lot.

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Really? I remember Wade Phillips first year in 1998. His Bills started 0-3, and were 1-4 in first 5. They ended up 10-6 and wild card. Conversely, the preseason SB Champs of '08, the 4-0 Lions, started last season 6-2 and ended up 8-8 and out of the playoffs. So I don't get your "first 5 games" importance. I can't imagine too many Giants fans who predicted a SB victory for their struggling team after the first 5 games last year either.

 

Talk about the "drive-by media" immediate gratification 24 hour ESPN mentality on this subject! The preseason and the first 5 regular season games will not make or break the Bills 2008 season - chill out and have some patience! The 16 games are a marathon, not a 40 yard dash.

 

It is a psych thing. If you are 6-2, you are not under pressure to win every game at the end. Last year we were 7-6 and had to win the remaining 3 to get it....That was too much pressure for a young team to handle. The Redskins who were worse than us, but were a more seasoned team with Portis/Collins won the last 5 to make the playoffs. It works both ways depending on the type of roster.

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I think we looked good throughout pre-season, new Offensive playbook is certainly a hell of a lot more entertaining, we have lot's of quality depth on about all postions with the exception of the OL which looked horrible throughout the preseason and will give us lots of trouble during the season and maybe DL depth - at least the starters look pretty awesome there. Specialteams rocks as usual.

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Arbitrarily cherrypick examples much? The first 31% of the regular season matters. A lot.

 

Sorry, arbitrarily cherrypicking for proof or not, the first 31% of the season does not matter enough to claim that if the Bills are not at least 3-2, they won't sniff the playoffs. What if Peters needs 6 games to get into shape and the defense needs that many to jell, and they are 2-3 or even 1-4? That less then awesome team from 2004 went on a 6 game winning streak and almost made the playoffs, remember? (Oops, there I go cherrypicking for another example, darn it!). Forget examples. My point is that I won't be giving up on the Bills if they start slow.

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The Bills have proven that yet again they are a .500 football team at best. My largest concern is that TE didn't get enough reps with the starters and that could make weeks 1 and 2 very tough, even thought we are going to lose to both teams anyway. :oops:

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