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What I saw from last nights game


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One play that happened on...one of out how many screens? He wastes way too much time trying to make a huge play everytime and more often than not gets stuck with a yard or 2. He dances way too much and when he's isolated he doesn't go anywhere. I'm sorry the guy is not the weapon everyone thinks he is on offense. If the only pass you can catch is a screen what do you think defenders are going to cover him for?

 

Listen, I'm not some huge Parrish fan, but that play he made last night was sick. On a 2nd & 4 type of play, throwing a screen in his direction is a no brainer. Then once in a while have Trent pump one deep.

 

And while I have no tangible evidence to back this up, Roscoe Parrish on a GOOD offense with GOOD gameplanning could be a 50-60 catch/year game breaker. Give him a QB like Manning or Brees or a creative OC and he could be electric. Unfortunately our squad is retarded and will never figure this out.

 

Cut Lynch and replace him with Xavier Oman. Or at least get Oman some touches. He is too big, fast, and strong not to be out there for us.

 

Totally agree. Cut Evans too and find out what Bucky Brooks is up to. And get Bruce back on the d-line.

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I Tivo'd the game and have now watched every play several times, focusing on different players/units with each playback. Some of the comments I'm reading probably have to do with some people being unable to watch parts of the broadcast or not really paying attention in the latter stages of the game.

 

Wood played better than Levitre. Neither was flawless. Wood may have problems with quick athletic guys in space (Kearse beat him one time really badly) and Levitre will have problems with the nose tackles in our division. But for their first start together and being rookies, I thought they were not bad with lots of upside.

 

Demetrius Bell was about the same. Some plays he looked very good and on others not so much. It looks like he's still getting used to the speed of the game. I'm quite pleased that the above three got tons of playing time because that's what they need.

 

I don't know what game you guys were watching because Gibran Hamdan looked very good to me. He threw the ball well and showed excellent pocket awareness. He also showed a command of the offense lining up everyone pre-snap. If his footwork looked bad to some I would suggest that it was because he was under almost constant pressure (as was Fitzpatrick). I think the #2 job should be up for grabs and agree with another poster on a different thread that I would have preferred to see Hamdan finish the game to get valuable reps rather than seeing Matt Baker out there (for no good reason). Fitzpatrick moved the team but couldn't get it into the end zone (thanks in part to some bad play calling). He looks just as I thought he would, as a slightly more athletic Alex Van Pelt. For the sake of improving both men, the backup quarterback job needs to be an open competition.

 

The recently picked up DT Derrick Jones played quite well. He's very big and athletic and quick off the ball and the Bills need to be more physical on both lines. Spencer Johnson was getting pushed around quite a bit.

 

What Ellis Lankster needs to improve upon is not being too aggressive and biting on the first move. But if Yobouty can stay healthy, and with Reggie Corner clearly improved, this is not a big issue. Lankster is a player who needs more polish. He's our 6th CB.

 

Jonathan Stupar looks like an excellent football player. He caught and blocked well and bounced right up after absorbing that helmet to helmet personal foul. He's the only tight end on the roster who appears to block well. I was very disappointed in Derek Schouman. He missed two blocks on running plays in limited playing time and is quite undersized. I don't like that he is #1 on the depth chart right now. With our offensive line as presently constituted, we actually need a good blocking tight end more than a receiving one right now.

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Thoughts on last night’s game:

 

1st Quarter:

Defense looked brutal. Bad reads, poor angles really made us look bad so far. McKelvin was totally confused by an out route resulting in a 3rd down conversion. Mitchell had Chris Johnson stopped for a loss, but hesitated as they turned the corner and Johnson burnt him for a first down. The fake punt should have been read immediately, but to the Titan’s credit it was executed flawlessly.

The offense looked pretty good for the most part in the no huddle. Other than when Levitre got blown up, Edwards made some pinpoint throws and moved the chains very well. For the most part I thought the first line played well for the first game of the season. I think they will be improved over last year.

 

2nd Quarter:

Missed the interception by McKelvin so I can’t comment on it right now. Wow, I take back a lot of the things I said about Xavier Omon. He looks totally different out there. It looks like he’s dropped a little weight and has been working hard at improving his game. His run on the 3rd down conversion was great, almost thought it was a rookie Lynch for a second there. If he continues to improve like this Buffalo’s backfield is set for years to come. Fitzpatrick’s unorthodox cadence threw the defense off a little. I’m very impressed with Wood and Bell, and think that side of the line is set for a while. Hoping to see a little more out of Levitre, but it’s still early. Reggie Corner and Nic Harris looked pretty good on defense. Ellis Lankster’s speed on defense looks to be useful, but he often gets beat on stop and go routes like we saw on the touchdown play for the Titans. That is something that he’ll need to improve upon this year. Bruce Hall has no business being on returns and I think with Omon’s strong showing so far he won’t be on the roster too much longer. As usual missed opportunities and mistakes are costing the Bills points in the first half

 

3rd Quarter:

Nothing too impressive here on either side of the ball. Anyone who thinks Hamdan is better than Fitzpatrick has to be kidding themselves. Lankster is still having trouble on underneath routes. Ashlee Palmer has looked very good at OLB, much better than I had initially predicted. He could be a very good UDFA pick up for the Bills. WGRZ has lost the feed to the game so I can’t watch any further at this point.

 

4th Quarter:

Missed most of the quarter due to weather difficulties in Buffalo. Matt Baker serves no purpose on this roster. He was a very mediocre QB at North Carolina and there are plenty of other QBs that went undrafted that deserve a roster spot over him. CJ Hawthorne is another guy who has no business out there on return teams. Shawn Nelson still looks to have a ways to go before he’ll be a true contributor, but I’ll give him a pass for now because he was working mostly with 3rd string talent or less at QB. Disappointing game, but at least there are 4 more to work on things prior to the season.

 

Invisible players on the field:

 

Lee Evans – I know the starters were only out there a short time, but I would have liked to see the ball go his way at least once.

 

Keith Ellison – Don’t think I saw him around the ball at all tonight.

 

Players that impressed me:

 

Eric Wood – He looked very good tonight on the right side and I think we have the real deal here.

 

Demetrius Bell – Also looked very good tonight for the most part. He’s still a work in progress, but at least he is in beta testing now.

 

Ashlee Palmer – I thought he moved very well towards the ball carrier and put himself in position to make some solid plays out there.

 

Xavier Omon – Wow what an improvement over last season. He looks trimmer, faster, and is finding daylight quickly. If he keeps this up, it’ll be hard for the Bills to not carry 4 RBs on the roster.

 

Bryan Scott – Looked very good out there tonight and I think he’s got the SS position all wrapped up this year.

 

Needing some improvement:

 

Ellis Lankster – He’s fast and he can find the ball well in zone coverage. However, he looks pedestrian in Man to Man coverage getting beat consistently on underneath and stop and go routes. He needs to improve on this to have any shot of seeing real playing time during the regular season.

 

Andy Levitre – He’s good, but he’s not ready to start. He needs to hold his point of attack better and stay low coming out of his stance. He can be good, but he needs a lot of playing time and work throughout the rest of the preseason.

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick – He wasn’t awful, he wasn’t good. Ryan definitely needs to work on a few things like touch and seeing the whole field. He did run the no huddle fairly well and made a couple decent throws that were dropped. Needs to improve on his screen passes and not hanging his receivers out to dry.

 

Roscoe Parrish – He has to quit auditioning for Dancing with the Stars every time he catches a pass. Like Reggie Bush finally started figure out, Roscoe needs to realize using the same juke move isn’t going to work every time you touch the ball. He needs to get up field with the ball instead of hitting a homerun on every little screen.

 

I was less than impressed with Jauron going for a 20 yard FG on 4th and 2. In a regular season game, I could see that as being what to do early on, but it’s the preseason, you’re losing and you haven’t found the end zone yet. Those are the things that need to be worked on in these games, not worrying about keeping it close for a 4th quarter comeback. While I certainly was not impressed with where the offense and defense are currently at right now, I do think that the offensive line has the potential to be much better than last year’s line. The 1st team passing attack actually looked very good to me, other than the interception. I like the reads Trent was making and I thought he moved the ball very well out of the no huddle. This offense is going to wear defenses out as long as they stay away from the 3 and outs.

 

The defense needs to get Aaron Maybin out there as soon as possible because there still is no pass rush talent behind Aaron Schobel. Chris Ellis looked absolutely lost out there again the 2nd and 3rd stringers. No one on the defensive line impressed me last night. I would like to see more of Ashlee Palmer the next few games. He really jumps off the line of scrimmage and made some good reads last night. I think he could be very dangerous as an edge rusher in passing situations. I also would like to know the reasoning behind having our CBs consistently 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. They aren’t slow and they won’t easily be beat over the top. The problem I’ve seen time and time and time again is that they don’t react quickly enough to the out route and the underneath routes. Why? Because they are so far off the ball they need to try to come back 5 yards to jump and under route and if they miss, they have so much momentum going in the wrong direction they get burnt. This really needs to stop if they hope to have any chance of beating teams like New England* and Miami at any point this year.

nic harris was making plays out there as well.

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Another interesting note, at least for me, was that I knew since I saw my first practice this year that the Bills would not play C Marvin Philip in the preseason. I mentioned before how good he looked to me out there, and I was betting on the Bills not playing him so they could stash him on the practice squad. My thoughts were confirmed for last night, at least.

 

On another note, Brandon Rodd is really, really bad.

 

Oh, and once again, Wood actually played worse than Levitre.

 

He got hurt in practice the other day and may be out for the season. He's about to get stashed on IR.

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Thoughts on last night’s game:

3rd Quarter:

Nothing too impressive here on either side of the ball. Anyone who thinks Hamdan is better than Fitzpatrick has to be kidding themselves.

 

Players that impressed me:

 

Eric Wood – He looked very good tonight on the right side and I think we have the real deal here.

 

Needing some improvement:

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick – He wasn’t awful, he wasn’t good. Ryan definitely needs to work on a few things like touch and seeing the whole field. He did run the no huddle fairly well and made a couple decent throws that were dropped. Needs to improve on his screen passes and not hanging his receivers out to dry.

 

Roscoe Parrish – He has to quit auditioning for Dancing with the Stars every time he catches a pass. Like Reggie Bush finally started figure out, Roscoe needs to realize using the same juke move isn’t going to work every time you touch the ball. He needs to get up field with the ball instead of hitting a homerun on every little screen.

I agree with a lot of what you said, but a couple different points of view...

 

Hamdan looked way better than Fitz. He was calm and cool running the offense. He saw the whole field and delivered the ball where he was supposed to. Fitz wasn't bad, just not even close to the Chroisen One.

 

Eric Wood did look better than Levitre, but he got manhandled a couple times. NBC showed one play where a 3rd string DL drove him easily into the backfield, collapsing the pocket in the process.

 

I got the opposite impression of Roscoe. It was more a reinforcement of how Turk needs to find ways of getting the ball in his hands. He's a underutilized weapon in the Bills offense.

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I watched the game at a bar with friends, so I couldn't go into detail like some people on here (how you can tell which offensive linemen performed well and which didn't is beyond me), but I will mention one thing- anyone who doesn't think that Roscoe Parrish has ridiculous talent, needs more touches, could be a very useful player in a functioning offense, etc..., isn't paying attention. That play he made on that quick-almost-lateral pass (screen, hitch, whatever) where he made an ever so slight juke and the guys jock fell out of his pants and the next thing you know he's 10-15 yards downfield- that's all Jauron should need to see before realizing he's got to get this guy involved this year.

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Ok, for my detailed summary

 

Wood good

 

T.O good

 

Nic Harris good

 

Omon good

 

Posluzny good

 

Corner good

 

And Trent? I will help ya Magox...

 

Trent Good (in short wide open throws)

Trent Bad throwing down field - He makes another bad decision throwing down field. The OL allowing pressure up the middle is irrelevant on the play, it was a very bad decision as he threw into triple coverage...the ball should never had been thrown there on that play regardless of the protection.

 

Its only the first preseason game, and prior to that play Trent looked good and confident...however, how many terrible decisions like this can his ego take is my question. Can he play through it? Last year once his struggles got worse he clearly lost some swagger and confidence. There is plenty of time to get it together, but once again I wonder if he is capable of reading the D fast enough and effectively as he really struggled with that all season last year...

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Great stuff as always WVU.

 

I agree about Bell, playing against the 1st team Tennessee defense he looked pretty good and I hope he continues to improve. Nic Harris looks like a man out there - he's bigger than I thought and aggressive. I hope he's on the field more often than mot. Bryan Scott continues to impress.

 

I am really getting sick of Schouman - I don't see the coaches fascination with him.

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I watched the game at a bar with friends, so I couldn't go into detail like some people on here (how you can tell which offensive linemen performed well and which didn't is beyond me), but I will mention one thing- anyone who doesn't think that Roscoe Parrish has ridiculous talent, needs more touches, could be a very useful player in a functioning offense, etc..., isn't paying attention. That play he made on that quick-almost-lateral pass (screen, hitch, whatever) where he made an ever so slight juke and the guys jock fell out of his pants and the next thing you know he's 10-15 yards downfield- that's all Jauron should need to see before realizing he's got to get this guy involved this year.

 

Agree but using the hitch pass to Parrish more often depends entirely on the coverage. On the play you mentioned, the CB was playing 10 yards off. It was a good read by the QB and Roscoe does what he does best, makes the first guy miss. But if that were press coverage, something Roscoe sees a LOT of because he has problems with it, the QB doesn't make that throw.

 

GO BILLS!!!

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My 2 cents. WTF is up with Whitner? I know this is the 1st action in a while but the guy needs to be more aggressive at the point of attack. On Whites TD he was in position to make a hit and just stopped. Couple of plays that I saw were very unimpressive. Needs to step up.

 

The O-Line looked pretty good on passing downs but they need to get that run blocking down. We have too much talent in the backfield to be a bad run blocking team.

 

Levitre wasn't too bad but he needs to work in his technique, he is young it will come in time. I watched Walker on the OL mostly and he seemed to hold his own against a pair of good DE's. Guess we will have to wait and see how he progresses.

 

Mitchell looked lost as well out there. I will chalk this up to being the 1st game since last year and leave it at that. Lets hope the next outing goes a lil better.

 

Oh and the pass rush was non existant. Not sure if we didn't blitz that much but my god KC had all day. TEN looked like they were bringing a guy or 2 on every play.

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And Trent? I will help ya Magox...

 

Trent Good (in short wide open throws)

Trent Bad throwing down field - He makes another bad decision throwing down field. The OL allowing pressure up the middle is irrelevant on the play, it was a very bad decision as he threw into triple coverage...the ball should never had been thrown there on that play regardless of the protection.

 

Its only the first preseason game, and prior to that play Trent looked good and confident...however, how many terrible decisions like this can his ego take is my question. Can he play through it? Last year once his struggles got worse he clearly lost some swagger and confidence. There is plenty of time to get it together, but once again I wonder if he is capable of reading the D fast enough and effectively as he really struggled with that all season last year...

 

I thought it was a good read on the play, but a bad throw, which looked like it was caused by the pressure. He hit the lineman with his hand during the release and that could have been the difference between having the ball sail on him (as it did) and dropping it inbetween the two defenders (Lee was open, but about 2 yards behind where the ball landed). I really hope that something like this doesn't mak ehim gun-shy in the future. To make the offense work, he has to throw the ball into coverage and be able to accept a pick here and there. Getting 50 yards and throwing a pick is much better than going three and out. Good teams can at least get a first down or two before they give the ball back. This will help mitigate the time of possession problems the no-huddle causes.

 

Also, if you look back to the 90s Bills teams (mid-90s actually) you see tha tthe no huddle stopped working so well because we kept going three and out, which wore down the defense and put the opposing offense on the field all the time.

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My thought were that Roscoe Parrish is nothing more than a streak and a punt returner. He got run over by two throws to the end zone in the second quarter because he is too small. He is not a red zone receiver. Also, I thought the D-line looked horribly inconsistent. Especially in the second quarter. The defensive ends were getting pinched and there was little run support from the line backers. ... Not sure the problem. The offensive line looked like they were learning... Not bad considering there are two rookies and guys playing out of their natural position...

 

This was a good test for the lines which I think are the key to the Bills season. If they don't improve it is going to be a long one. Might as well sign Michael Vick.

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