Bills Biggest Weakness for 2009

[Kenwick]

After looking over the talent on this years team here is what I came up with.

 

Special Teams with Coach April, will again be a top Special Teams Unit. He is a great coach.

 

The Defense has improved, especially the D-line with the addition of Maybin, the return of Schobel and a healthy McCargo.

Bills will have a improved pass rush and a upgrade at safety. The Defense will get better.

 

The Defense looks to be a top 10 to 12 team over all in the NFL....

 

It is the offense that is still questionable. They scored 21 a game last year and that should improve to hopefully 24 a game. Many improvements have been made with major up grades at WR, TE, RB, QB, and the O-line. T.O has been added to the WR position. Nelson is added to the TE position, Rhoades to the RB position, Fitzpatrick at QB, and of course the entire offensive line will look like new with lots of good new talent. Out with the rotten and in with the new quality players. These new players will surprise a lot of fans. They are winners with big hearts. I like what the F.O. did with the line.

 

The worry some part of the team however is the coaching. They are all coming back.....

 

They more then anything now need to improve over last year.

 

Jauron needs to manage the games better on field... Using the clock is a big weakness with him and substituting.

Turk has all the weapons he now needs to be a good Offensive Co-ordinator... It is his play calling that looked very bad last year. When the announcers of a game can call the offensive plays before they are run, you can only imagine that the opposition also knows what the Bills will call next. That's discusting......

 

Perry Fewell also has all the tools he will now need. He has pass rushers in Maybin, Schobel and Ellis. Good strength up the middle of the D-line with solid linebackers. The secondary has been greatly improved by adding Byrd and McKelvin coming on strong at the end of last season. Now all he has to do is get the players ready. Against the Cardinals last year our defense got torn apart. The players complained after the game they were not prepared. That is the Defensive co-ordinators job. Getting the players prepared for games...

 

Right now I see the weakest part of this years team not on the field but on the side lines... God help us... Go Bills

[Stussy109]

the biggest weakness right now is a solid starting DT along side Stroud. Williams, Johnson and McCargo are truly backups. This is why one of the rumors I was most excited about was the acquisition of John henderson. That would have showed me this team is serious about stopping the run and making a playoff push.

[Tcali]

After looking over the talent on this years team here is what I came up with.

 

Special Teams with Coach April, will again be a top Special Teams Unit. He is a great coach.

 

The Defense has improved, especially the D-line with the addition of Maybin, the return of Schobel and a healthy McCargo.

Bills will have a improved pass rush and a upgrade at safety. The Defense will get better.

 

The Defense looks to be a top 10 to 12 team over all in the NFL....

 

It is the offense that is still questionable. They scored 21 a game last year and that should improve to hopefully 24 a game. Many improvements have been made with major up grades at WR, TE, RB, QB, and the O-line. T.O has been added to the WR position. Nelson is added to the TE position, Rhoades to the RB position, Fitzpatrick at QB, and of course the entire offensive line will look like new with lots of good new talent. Out with the rotten and in with the new quality players. These new players will surprise a lot of fans. They are winners with big hearts. I like what the F.O. did with the line.

 

The worry some part of the team however is the coaching. They are all coming back.....

 

They more then anything now need to improve over last year.

 

Jauron needs to manage the games better on field... Using the clock is a big weakness with him and substituting.

Turk has all the weapons he now needs to be a good Offensive Co-ordinator... It is his play calling that looked very bad last year. When the announcers of a game can call the offensive plays before they are run, you can only imagine that the opposition also knows what the Bills will call next. That's discusting......

 

Perry Fewell also has all the tools he will now need. He has pass rushers in Maybin, Schobel and Ellis. Good strength up the middle of the D-line with solid linebackers. The secondary has been greatly improved by adding Byrd and McKelvin coming on strong at the end of last season. Now all he has to do is get the players ready. Against the Cardinals last year our defense got torn apart. The players complained after the game they were not prepared. That is the Defensive co-ordinators job. Getting the players prepared for games...

 

Right now I see the weakest part of this years team not on the field but on the side lines... God help us... Go Bills

Biggest weakness is still the front 7 of the D. Our LBs are barely average and we are maybe average now at DE now that we have Maybin. 1-2 years away. 2nd biggest weakness is at LT with Fatso. 3rd biggest weakness is TEs head--concussion prone. OH wait..... ranking with a new system...at number ZERO...is our head coach Dicck Jauron.

[GOBILLS78]

My pet peeve with this team has been its absolute, utter inability to get off the field on third down defensively. That's been the story since '03. They cannot get off the field on big downs. If they can do that (i.e. get some heat on the quarterback and stuff a run once this century), it will go a long way.

 

Seriously, if there's a stat for third-down efficiency for opposing teams against the Bills defense, I'm willing to bet the Bills rank in the bottom five in the league.

[ColdBlueNorth]

After looking over the talent on this years team here is what I came up with.

 

Special Teams with Coach April, will again be a top Special Teams Unit. He is a great coach.

 

The Defense has improved, especially the D-line with the addition of Maybin, the return of Schobel and a healthy McCargo.

Bills will have a improved pass rush and a upgrade at safety. The Defense will get better.

 

The Defense looks to be a top 10 to 12 team over all in the NFL....

 

It is the offense that is still questionable. They scored 21 a game last year and that should improve to hopefully 24 a game. Many improvements have been made with major up grades at WR, TE, RB, QB, and the O-line. T.O has been added to the WR position. Nelson is added to the TE position, Rhoades to the RB position, Fitzpatrick at QB, and of course the entire offensive line will look like new with lots of good new talent. Out with the rotten and in with the new quality players. These new players will surprise a lot of fans. They are winners with big hearts. I like what the F.O. did with the line.

 

The worry some part of the team however is the coaching. They are all coming back.....

 

They more then anything now need to improve over last year.

 

Jauron needs to manage the games better on field... Using the clock is a big weakness with him and substituting.

Turk has all the weapons he now needs to be a good Offensive Co-ordinator... It is his play calling that looked very bad last year. When the announcers of a game can call the offensive plays before they are run, you can only imagine that the opposition also knows what the Bills will call next. That's discusting......

 

Perry Fewell also has all the tools he will now need. He has pass rushers in Maybin, Schobel and Ellis. Good strength up the middle of the D-line with solid linebackers. The secondary has been greatly improved by adding Byrd and McKelvin coming on strong at the end of last season. Now all he has to do is get the players ready. Against the Cardinals last year our defense got torn apart. The players complained after the game they were not prepared. That is the Defensive co-ordinators job. Getting the players prepared for games...

 

Right now I see the weakest part of this years team not on the field but on the side lines... God help us... Go Bills

 

Not to rain on your optimism, but...

 

I would say that our pass rush is still unproven:

 

Maybin is a raw talent, and we have no idea if it will translate into actual pressures or sacks. As it is, he is too weak against the run so he should only see playing time on 3rd and long or 4th and long situations.

 

There is no guarantee that Schobel will come back fully from his injury. McCargo may perform better now that we have a new defensive line coach, but he hasn't shown much of anything yet.

 

Trent had an annoying propensity last year to start games really poorly. It's a real head-sratcher when you watch him thread passes between defenders when playing catch-up late in a game, yet he starts the game overthrowing wide open receivers or one-hopping balls at their feet. Rather than applaud the offense for their ability to come back and make a game of it, I would rather see them start strong and keep the lead. Our defense is geared to playing with a lead, and there is a whole dictionary of blitzing plays that Perry doesn't even tough unless we are playing with a comfortable lead. We have a lot of ball hawks in the secondary and if we can blitz our linebackers and safeties we can usually force the turnovers.

 

What if Trent gets hurt (again), who is are reliable backup that can manage a few wins while he recovers?

 

The offensive line is a huge question mark, we will probably have two rookies in the lineup, they will make mistakes. If they are not game killing or QB killing mistakes we may have a chance of being competitive down the road.

 

Coaching. We were clearly outcoached in several games. The confusion on the sidelines, the questionable challenges and the abysmal clock management has to stop. Why call pass when we are running the ball down the other teams throat. If it works keep doing it, coaches sometimes think that they have to come up with a wrinkle when it can be a simple as using the thing that works over and over again till the other team forces you to use something else (the emphasis is on "forces").

[OrangeJuiceSimpson]

My pet peeve with this team has been its absolute, utter inability to get off the field on third down defensively. That's been the story since '03. They cannot get off the field on big downs. If they can do that (i.e. get some heat on the quarterback and stuff a run once this century), it will go a long way.

 

Seriously, if there's a stat for third-down efficiency for opposing teams against the Bills defense, I'm willing to bet the Bills rank in the bottom five in the league.

 

I agree. But I think the reason is because our DE's have been awful nad I don't see it being much better this year.

 

I don't think Maybin will contribute very early on and Schobel is only getting older. And as far as I know Chris Kelsay is still Chris Kelsay. I guess we'll have to rely on Buffalo's 2008 sack master, Ryan Denney.

[Whites Bay]

Boy, THAT'S an easy one. Defensive Tackle. Defensive Tackle. Defensive Tackle. I'm SO hoping we sign Bryant for the minimum (with a #)$%load of incentives) and see what he can do. I'm already practicing my beer-can-toss-at-the-TV for all the unsuccessful "3rd-and-5" stops. Sorry, I mean "non-stops". Get Stroud a partner, collapse the pocket.

 

"Kill Them!!!! Destroy Them!!! Oh-BLUE-terate them......" (Anyone recognize that line?)

[afcfan1]

1. OL

2. DL

3. LB

4. QB

 

Not looking good when the 2 weakest parts of your team are the offensive and defensive lines. But who really cares when you have a threat like Fred Jackson in the backfield. Superbowl it is!!!

[billsrcursed]

the biggest weakness right now is a solid starting DT along side Stroud. Williams, Johnson and McCargo are truly backups. This is why one of the rumors I was most excited about was the acquisition of John henderson. That would have showed me this team is serious about stopping the run and making a playoff push.

 

I guess I'm in the minority, but I disagree with Williams. I think he has what it takes to start in the NFL. If Maybin pans out ( and we can actually blitz like an NFL team) I'd imagine things will open up for him. I've been watching some replays of games last year on NFL Network and I am seeing more and more some of the things he was able to do for us that may have been overlooked by many. Is he Stroud, no. BUT, I actually expect him to really break out this year if my above points play out. Either way, guess we'll see....

[Maddog69]

In my opinion, the biggest weakness right now is the coaching staff. They cost us 2-3 victories per year over the last 3 yrs.

[BLZFAN4LIFE]

In my opinion, the biggest weakness right now is the coaching staff. They cost us 2-3 victories per year over the last 3 yrs.

 

"We looked pretty darn good in practice on Friday. Our guys practised hard, they did. But it's hard to win in the NFL and obviously, we're disappointed".

[djcalvin79]

i don't expect the defense to be any worse than last year - they were bad on 3rd down situations, and can only really get better.. i hope!

 

apart from the two rookies, we have a backup playing centre.. no guarantees of stability there. add walker at LT and we have a lot of potential issues..

 

i still maintain though that coaching is what will make/break us. a good coaching unit can make a group of average guys overachieve. a poor coaching unit like ours can steal defeat from the jaws of victory, multiple times in a season.

[gflande1]

I still think coaching is still our biggest weakness.

 

As far as any position on the team, I need to see a couple games before I can say what our weaknesses are. I agree that we are improved on paper, but saying that WR is no longer a weakness because we got TO is a bit early if you ask me. The same goes with every other position.

 

I think its going to be a long season, against some very tough competition.

[spartacus]

My pet peeve with this team has been its absolute, utter inability to get off the field on third down defensively. That's been the story since '03. They cannot get off the field on big downs. If they can do that (i.e. get some heat on the quarterback and stuff a run once this century), it will go a long way.

 

Seriously, if there's a stat for third-down efficiency for opposing teams against the Bills defense, I'm willing to bet the Bills rank in the bottom five in the league.

the biggest reason why teams are able to convert 3rd downs is that they run effectively on 1st and 2nd downs to make 3rd down a run / pass option -

 

The Bills then play too soft in coverage making it easy to pick up short yardage.

 

bringing in Maybin as a pass rush specialist will not help much if the 1st and 2nd down history repeats, because teams will exploit Myabin's weakness against the run on anything shorter than 3rda nd 5.

 

The Bills failed to improve the front 7s ability to stop the run - so unless the defense plays in perfect sync and gets much m re aggressive and the offense keeps them off the field- the team will continue to get dominated on the ground.

[spartacus]

It all rests with the coaches

 

1. they have to stop the run with a small undersized front 7

 

2. they have to devsie schemes to somehow utilize a DE which makes the front 7 even smaller

 

3.they have to quickly develop cohesion on an OL where all the players are new to their positions and find a way for a fat slow overpaid blob can hide at LT without hamstringing the offense more than it was in 2008

[djcalvin79]

the biggest reason why teams are able to convert 3rd downs is that they run effectively on 1st and 2nd downs to make 3rd down a run / pass option -

 

The Bills then play too soft in coverage making it easy to pick up short yardage.

 

what will it take for Fewell to get our secondary to stop playing 5-10 yards off the receivers??

 

a new defensive coordinator methinks..

[djcalvin79]

3.they have to quickly develop cohesion on an OL where all the players are new to their positions and find a way for a fat slow overpaid blob can hide at LT without hamstringing the offense more than it was in 2008

 

do you really believe that Walker will be much worse than the hapless output we got from Peters last year?

[PushthePile]

1. Qb - I've seen enough of Trent to say he is our best option. I've also seen enough of Trent to realize he's still a long way from being a good Qb. This fanbase hasn't seen a competent Qb in a long time, and I have severe doubts we have one now.

This isn't the absolute weakest position, but by a longshot the most important.

 

2. Defensive Philosophy - This defense doesn't make plays. The strategy seems to be very conservative. They play like a boxer who avoids contact at all costs. A guy who is just satisfied to go the distance and not get knocked out. The Bills don't confuse or create any pressure for their opponents. Sacks, turnovers, and big stops on third down are a rarity. Whether you believe this philosophy is due to scheme or being handcuffed by a horrific offense, it's clearly not ideal. To steal a line from Herm Edwards "you play to win the game". They play like they are terrified of getting blownout.

 

3. Lines - This team doesn't have a guarantee on either line. I know anyone can be injured but most teams can pencil in a few names and feel good about positive expectations. I think Stroud is the closest thing to that on the Bills and he is always an injury risk. Who else is a known commodity? I feel good about the potential of few names but that is hit or miss. IMO, both units are dangerously thin as well. I don't blame this FO either. Dockery and Kelsay were both a huge waste of money and Peters just didn't want to be here. The team brought in four good young players and we will see how that translates onto the field this year.

 

4. Lbs - The bottom line is this unit is painfully average. IMO, Mitchell is the only Lb that has a shred of playmaking ability and don't be confused it is only a shred. At this point I give the benefit of the doubt to Poz. I do think he can develop into a nice reliable player. He has the potential to be the workhorse of the defense and a player like Fletcher or Spielman is very important. Unfortunately, he is not there yet and his lack of explosiveness is just magnified by the whole units troubles. The third Lb isn't really known right now. If it ends up being Pisa, I believe the starting three would be much improved from last year. If it that position is filled from the current roster, the unit will struggle. Unless of course a longshot comes through (Bowen, Harris, Thomas).

[Thurman#1]

do you really believe that Walker will be much worse than the hapless output we got from Peters last year?

 

 

In a word, absofreakinglutely.

 

1) OL's complete lack of continuity

2) LT

3) QB's lack of experience and inconsistency

4) Unless we get Tinoisamoa, OLB

5) The safety who plays with Donte

6) Our rotationals DTs. The first two are starter standard, and maybe even Johnson, too. After that, question marks.

 

Many of them could improve. I expect the OL to improve as the season passes and inconsistency is often a problem with very young QBs like Trent. Who knows, McCargo could actually play well with a different coach (though I doubt it).

[Beerball]

I'm really surprised that no one has mentioned coaching. Has everyone around here bought into the big cat's way of thinking?

</sarcasm>

 

Our achilles heal is the gentleman who wears a hat on the sidelines. He's unemotional. He can't make the correct decision at critical times during games. He is cold runny oatmeal. He's a really really nice guy and the players respect him, but he can't coach.

 

Past that...this O-line has a ton of work to do. How quickly they come together will have a huge impact on the offense. I question the talent level too, but hopefully the coaches are right about the new guys. Who's not a new guy...at least in terms of starting position?

 

D-line...can the generate a consistently strong pass rush?

 

Safety...will the tinkering work? Probably 2 new starters (at their position) at critical positions.

 

LB...must have someone better than Ellison starting. Can Poz make an impact? Yeah, he made tackles but how many of them made you <gasp>? I can remember 1.