VJ91

Link: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/797924.html Here's my favorite Perry "3rd Down Fool" line of the article: "He's more then capable of running the defense"...Fool says of Buggs..."I may not be as complex as I'd like to be, just so he can play fast and not have to think as much. But he's more then capable of getting us into the checks and some of the things we'd like to do" First of all, that is not exactly high praise for the intelligence level of your number two middle linebacker. But I really need to take issue with 3rd Down-Fool's statement about how much he's going to have to dumb down his "complex" calls out there. Complex calls?? Complex calls?? He must be using all of his complex exotic play calls for first and second down. He only makes one freakin' defensive call for any and every third down play: I don't know the complex name for it; but translated into laymens terms this is what Poz and now Marcus will be calling every third down: "Nobody blitz, nobody get to the QB, and nobody cover anybody - zone defense......READY, BREAK!" I will admit that Perry's boys looked better on first and second down, and they did put some good pressure on Brady during those downs too. But when Brady broke the huddle for third down, he was smiling inside. This bend but don't stop anyone on third down cover two gap defense is driving me nuts. Here's a complex scheme for you Perry, blitz the QB on third down every now and then!

First of all, and this has been beaten to death already, the Bills had zero blocking set up for Leo. They had to have their hands team ready to field an OSK, in case Belicheck chose to go that route. So Bobby April should have screamed specific orders for Leo to down the ball if we were lucky enough for Gosto to kick the ball all the way into the end zone, since there would be zero blocking for Leo if the long kickoff would not have made it that far. Obviously, April forgot to have the quick talk with Leo. Secondly, after deciding against all logic to run the ball out of the end zone, Leo did a nice job making it all the way to the 30. Great. An extra 10 yards to start our "3 and out drive" from, as you say, and an extra 10 yards farther for Moorman's punt to travel. Good job being stupid Leo, you gained an extra 10! But wait, he must have imagined that he had run 101.5 yards instead of just 30, because he was determined to fight for that extra one half yard to make it over the goal line....er...the 30 yard line! Instead of just wrapping both arms around the ball and curling up into the fetus postion to protect the ball and himself the very second a Pat touched him at the 30, the mind boggling idiot was trying to break tackles until of course, one of the Pats ripped the ball out of his stupid arms and forced him to do the one damn thing he could not, fumble the ball away. So your argument falls very lame in this case. Conservative was not only the smart move, but really the only move every one of the 32 head coaches would have gone in the same situation, DJ or no DJ.

I don't understand your point on Kelly. His last season he led the Bills to a 10-6-0 record and a wild card playoff game at home against the upstart Jags. His Bills lost that game, while he got knocked out of the game injured. He called it a career after that, but what would you give to see the Bills win 10 games and earn a home playoff game today?? I don't think Jimbo played "a year too long" at all. And as far as Todd Collins was concerned, wasn't he a third round draft choice? How does that qualify as a "reach."? If anything, the Bills should have used an earlier pick on a better QB of the future back then. And I have never heard that Wilson tells his people who to draft. If he did, the Bills might very well have taken Doug Flutie as a rookie out of BC with the number one pick in the '85 draft, while HOF er Bruce Smith would have gone to the team drafting second. And Jeff Litwin is the bean counter. Russ Brandon is the marketing guru, and Jim Overdorff is the contract and salary cap guy, in the "inner circle." I think we had better all hope that the current group of people running and coaching the Bills makes a run at the playoffs this season, because at 91 years old, I dont' think Wilson has any intention of hiring another strong willed yet outstanding football guy like Parcells or Holmgren or an experienced GM, to come in and blow it all up for him again. He may be forced to fire DJ if he doesn't at least win 9 games this year. But I would not look for an experienced expensive coach to replace him. Most likely April or Fewell will come in and try their best.

Nice post. Kind of reminds me in a different way, of my unbending support of Jason Peters out here. I never told anyone I am a "Jason Peters" fan for life, and now root for the Eagles. My only take is that I will always think the Bills should have paid him and kept him as their anchor at LT for the next decade. I will never wish an injury on any NFL player. But I really don't care if he becomes another Mike Williams bust for Philly or continues his Pro Bowl career. I have no intention of coming out here in January and saying "I told you so" if he gets voted to another Pro Bowl. Forget him, he's gone now. I am only a die hard Bills fan that like you, wants to see the team and every player on it succeed.

Please stop trying to prove the Bills offense sucked. It did not suck. They scored 17 points against a very good Belicheck coached defense on the road in a very loud hostile environment, on MNF after a horrible preseason. Add Schoebel's TD and 24 points is the most the Bills have scored against New England in how many years now?? Personally, my opinion is that neither Owens or Evans (combined 15 Million dollars worth of WR), played well at all. Both dropped perfect third down passes that would have kept two drives alive. Neither seemed to be open at all most of the night. In a terrific all around effort, there is only two areas where the Bills really sucked. Their 3rd down defense, and Leodis McKelvin's run backs. (Lest we forget, he fumbled another one that Harris was able to scoop up and advance another 12 yards earlier in the game!) I cannot imagine why McKelvin should be allowed to run back another kick off this season. If DJ and April go all "shake it off Leodis we still love you man" and keep him back there, they at least had better run a lot of drills where the defenders try to rip the ball out of his hands over and over in practice.

It would be even funnier if Whitaker resembled Ted Cottrell at all. Actually, I thought Ted looked more like one of Gladys Nights' pimps with that crazy suit he was wearing, then one of the best defensive coaches of his time.

Letterman "Top 10" worthy. I laughed out loud.

Whitner dropping his head when he did not need to (and how any NFL player could be that wreckless when players get paralyzed doing that is beyond me).....both T.O and Evans dropping third down passes that would have kept both drives alive.....Bell lining up behind the line, twice....McKelvins' two fumbles running back kicks.....and Perry Fewell's soft zone defense with no blitzing on every third down. There's a few "excuses" for why the Bills managed to lose a game they still should have won anyway. The problem with the collapse, is that for we long time long suffering Bills fans, it was completely "imaginable." In fact, I'm sure all of us were imagining all kinds of ways for the Bills to hand the game to Brady. I'm hoping all these young kids on the team get pissed off enough this week to make some changes in the losing mentality that is; the Buffalo Bills. This team showed it can compete and it can win 9 or 10 games if they can stop making all of these stupid mistakes week after week.

Yes, didn't you hear? Mike Shanahan played golf at Oak Hills Country Club in Rochester Saturday, and Russ Brandon belongs there. Add it up, and Ralph will be up at the podium announcing Shanahan as his new coach at 2:00 PM today. Seriously folks, nobody with a brain stem can blame DJ for last nights' melt down with 5 minutes left.

I absolutely expect the Bills to lose to the Saints. And the Bucs game could go either way. Your 2-1-0 expectation may very well become an 0-3-0 nightmare. The Perry Fewell no blitzing all zone defense will continue to stay on the field 3rd down after 3rd down, and by the third or fourth game these talented kids will feel like they've already played about 10 freakin' games. Please don't think Brady is the only QB in the NFL who can find an open receiver on third down with all day to sit back in the pocket. Someone has to convince Perry to blitz on third down, or the Bills will set the record for yards allowed in a 16 game season. On first and second down, the defense looks fearsome. But this is not Canadian football.

From what I saw last night, the Bills would be the odds on favorite to win the Grey Cup this year. Unfortunately, in the NFL, nobody punts on 3rd down. I know it's Brady and a great offensive line, but why does Fewell go into that zone defense - no pass rush - mode on every third down? Hey, the Bills stopped the Pats on two 4th downs . But on third down, there simply was no stopping Brady all night. On offense, what the hell was up with Evans and T.O. last night? This is why the Bills invested about 15 Million between the two of them this season, so they could catch 5 or 6 balls combined, and both drop vital 3rd down passes? On the other side of the field, Moss and Welker certainly earned their superstar money, didn't they? I don't care about gameplans, or how much better Brady and his line are then Edwards his line are. The kids on Edwards' line gave him time to find either guy downfield plenty of times last night. The truth of the matter is neither one got open. I thought Evans was going to have 16 - 100 yard games with the addition of Owens this season. This is his break out year, right? Too bad. The young players, including Edwards, played like the superstars while our supposed older stars, with the obvious exception of Aaron Schoebel, who was by far the Bills' MVP last night, played like rookies. When Schoebel sacked Brady just before Maybin got there, I saw a spark that did not exist last season with the defense. Now if Fewell can somehow figure out how to get his guys off the damn field on third downs, this team could sneak right into the playoffs this season.

Looking at the team realistically with all of the upheaval and big changes made so close to the first game of the season, I would change your numbers a "tad": 5-0................. 0% 4-1................. 5% 3-2................. 25% 2-3................. 25% 1-4................. 40% (This realistic start should lead to DJ being fired soon!) 0-5................. 5% I'm like every other long time Bills fan. I'm hoping the Bills surprise the world beginning even with a Monday Night Miracle tonight. Unfortunately, while I certainly hope for this, reality sucks, and so do the Bills, at least on paper, before kickoff tonight.

No kidding? I'm shocked. I've come out on every Peters thread and predicted he will continue to make Pro Bowls for the Eagles, who gladly paid more then the Bills were willing and traded a first round draft pick to get him. Thanks for validating my feelings, although one game does not a 16 game season make. It's nothing but sour grapes and hate for the Peters' bashers out here. I just thought it was smart football business to pay your best offenesive lineman and left tackle fair market value. Why not, the Eagles did.

The Vikes had line problems all game?? That's funny, I thought I watched the Vikes beat the Browns 34-20: Favre: 14/21; 110 Yards 1 TD 95.3 rating (He was sacked 4 times, I'll give you that, but the guy's 40 years old!) Peterson: 25 Carries for 180 Yds 7.2 Yds/Carry 3 TD's. (Any "weak links" out of those numbers?) Vikings Total Yards : 310. So, what game were you watching?

The Bills drafted Levitre a few picks before the Vikes took huge Phil Loadholt. Loadholt is a "load", 6'8 335 lbs. He's already starting at RT today against the Browns for the Vikings. Watching this kid play pretty well today, I'm confused as to why the Bills took a smaller RT in Levitre, and went to the trouble of converting him into their starting guard, when Loadholt was available for them to draft. Brad Butler had just finished playing a pretty good season at guard, so he could have stayed there with a year experience under his belt, while obviously, Loadholt would be the Bills' starting RT going into tomorrow night. Instead, OL coach Kugler had to help Levitre learn the guard position coming from playing tackle, and Butler had to learn the tackle position coming from guard.

Troy Palamalu took himself out of the game because he forgot how violent the game is! How ironic, being that Troy is one of the hardest hitters and fastest defenders in the game today. Watch the replay of the fumble he tried to pick up and run with while there seemed like 22 other players diving for the ball at the same time. He bent down, tried to skoop the ball up and found himself with his legs spread too far apart half up and half down, and at that instant, 260 pound Alge Crumpler rolled up on top of one of his knees. All Troy needed to do in that situation, was what his coaches started teaching him to do in Pop Warner Football. Dive onto the football while rolling up into the fetal position, protecting your knees and elbows, while still recovering the fumble for your offense!! Very stupid move by a super star safety. There were way too many bodies all around him to think he had a prayer of scooping the ball up and running anywhere with it. So sure, football is a violent game and the Steelers play more violently then most teams. But you have to be smart in order to survive and get up to play the next play, too!!

I remember the talk was how hard the players did play for good ol' Gregg Williams during his three infamous seasons here to begin the decade. I believe his 3 year record was 17-29-0. So much for "playing hard for your coach" being the most important thing, eh? In football, despite how violent it is, the most important thing is the same as in every other organized sport played, the champions every season of every sport is the one team of that sport, that has the best mixture of talent and desire. The best coaching in the world takes teams nowhere without that special mix.

Pretty good opinion. I have to add into the equation the Bills "budgetary" thinking. Wood and Levitre were drafted in the first and second rounds respectively , and were paid very good money considering the fact they are rookies. I don't think any other team in the NFL watches their bottom line closer then the Bills. Why do you think a proven classy experienced veteran running back who ran for over 100 yards in the Super Bowl just three years ago like Rhodes was cut despite the fact Lynch is still slated to miss the first three games of the season. Money. Somehow Rhodes became less valuable as Brandon and Wilson thought about the money they signed him for. And as if Langston Walker wouldn't be a valuable back up left tackle behind the new kid, or could not have been moved back to his starting right tackle spot that he manned pretty well all of last season after Peters showed up. Money. Somehow he became way expensive to keep on the team at all. So what happens now if one of the young tackles on the line gets injured, and/or Jackson or Omon go down tomorrow night? Will Russ and Ralph still be happy about the money they saved cutting Rhodes and Walker then??

It's hard to argue with your 3-13 prediction. However, I've been a Bills fan for over 40 years now, and this has been the strangest training camp / preseason I can ever remember. And even stranger yet, I think DJ has finally gotten pissed off with his coaching staff and players, and since even he knows this is his last season to win, he is making crazy moves to at least give his team a chance. I'll stick with my original 9-7-0 prediction, and base it on DJ being right dumping Turk-ey and Walker, promoting AVP and Bell when the whole football world thinks he's crazy or that Ralph Wilson's wallet told him to do it. Hope springs eternal for us Bills fans, and this year there's hardly any reason to hope for a better record then your 3-13. I'll say this much, if the Bills cannot make this insanity into a miraculous 9-7-0 season, I hope they do finish 3-13 or 2-14, making them right in the running for the number one draft choice next year. I cannot stomach another 7-9-0 or even 6-10-0 record, and a draft pick just out of the top 10 yet again.

Aaron Maybin - 9 Aaron Schoebel -7 Chris Kelsay - 4 Ryan Denny - 5 John McCargo - 3 Kyle Williams - 3 Marcus Stroud - 2 All others - 10 Total Sacks This season: 43 - HUGE improvement as Fewell sees the light and sends more blitzes, and Mabin & Byrd add some much needed speed into the overall pass rush.

...no, we only get "Son of Karl Malone" at LT. Or, at least we think he's Malone's son...I don't think Demetrius and his Dad are on very good speaking terms these days, or any days for that matter. But if Bell has some of his Dad's natural athletic ability who knows? He could be our next Jason Peters. In the meantime, noting that Bell's back up is a guy the Bills feel so strongly about they cut last Saturday and then scrambled to bring back today, I think DJ should mail or e-mail or text or tweet a huge thank you to genious Bill for trading Seymour away before the game next week!!

Very good! But the earlier poster was right. Modrak and Guy are still here, and Levy was more of a "sounding board" and "consensus maker" then real NFL GM. Well, it is time to stop living in the past, but one more comment: why the hell didn't Wilson send Modrak and Guy packing along with Donahoe before he called on his old friend Marv to help out??

Blitz? Perry Fewell doesn't blitz! Oh wait, sometimes he will send someone on a funky "zone blitz". I love those. We get the monumental pleasure of watching a Patriot running back take the short pass from Brady, who barely gets bothered by the safety or LB blitzing up the middle right into a pile of humanity, while Schoebel or Kelsay are left looking beyond stupid as they sprint behind the back to make the tackle 24 yards downfield. Yeah, those blitzes are really effective. The best the Bills can hope for is not to get called for roughing the QB, tacking another 15 yards onto the 24 yard gain, as the safety or LB finally break through the humanity, totally out of control, and possibly attempt to slam Brady to the ground out of sheer frustration! Dude, why on earth do the think the Bills defense cannot stop a single 3rd down play - like, ever! Fewell hates blitzing.

There goes the last of Ralph's $29 Million dollars his fellow "Golden Boy" Marv Levy spent on the offensive line in 2006. $14 Million down the drain on Dockery, and $15 Million on his buddy Langston Walker. Throw in that underwhelming #8 overall draft pick, Levy's first as GM, Donte' Whitner, who still hasn't made a standout play going into his 4th NFL season as starting strong safety, and has since been pushed over to free safety, and you really have to hand it to our old Hall of Fame coach. I remember Marv bragging about how he wanted to rebuild his defense from the middle out. Um, well, wouldn't Halati Ngata fit that idea better then Donte Whitner, a hard hitting but slow strong safety who does not have a natural knack for covering tight ends, intercepting the ball, or making tackles near or behind the line of scrimmage? And as we worry about the lame preseason Trent Edwards, another Levy draft pick, has had going into the Monday Night game, may I remind everyone that Jay Cutler was still on the board when he chose Donte "The Answer for the Middle of Marv's New Defense" Whitner. You know I loved Marv as a coach, despite losing all 4 SB's in a row. But man he sucked as a GM for two years!

The owner's daughter was a real NFL scout at the time. She had every right to be in the draft room if she wanted to be a part of the process. What the hell was the problem with Polian and Linda Bogdan anyway? They managed to co-exist well enough to build a 2-14 joke into a 3 time SB team in 7 years, and then all of a sudden, they have this huge argument that leads to Polian getting fired?? Only in Buffalo.