San Jose Bills Fan

And this is the most important thing. Rodak replaced James Walker who doesn't even deserve to have a job. I haven't formed an opinion of Rodak yet but he couldn't possibly be worse than Walker.

Well Metzelaars warned me and I admitted to him that I'd not really seriously watched Kolb play. Having watched his performance yesterday (even taking into account a bit of adversity he's had to deal with) I agree with both of you that he doesn't look like anything more than a mediocre quarterback. I also agree that the discussion about cutting Kolb has grown more legitimacy. There are two weeks left in the preseason so a lot of this stuff will sort itself out.

I guess what I'm saying is that because Minnesota plays Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Seattle this year which are all pressure defenses that this is something the Vikings are gonna have to deal with anyways. In addition I believe that you'll be seeing an increase in the amount of pressure defenses played in the NFL as well as an increase in the number of teams which run a no-huddle and/or uptempo offense with read-option and packaged plays. So if these things are in your future, why take a conventional approach which (for one preseason game at least) prohibits you from making clear evaluations on many of your players? I think it's at least arguable that Frazier's conventional approach to this game hurt his team on several levels including confidence, and preparation for future opponents. I think you're overstating the case for New England's offense. Yes, Brady will be superb. Yes, their O-line is young and improving and Yes, their running backs stable is very good. On the negative ledger, they've lost 4 of their top 5 receivers from last year. Hernandez is gone and Gronk is questionable for the opener. Going from Welker to Amendola is a wash. All things considered it's not a given that their offense will be as good or better than last year's edition.

How much do I owe you?

I recall when Marrone made the announcement that Kolb would start this game. Then I went to the video of EJ's presser and you could tell that even though he was being very professional about it that it bothered him a great deal. I think a lot of people underestimate EJ's competitive fire and his desire to be great.

In that case Frazier hung his team out to dry and as a result, the game was less valuable to them than it could have been. JMO.

BTW Promo, the stadium in Jacksonville is not older than The Ralph.

On the other hand, when EJ was in the game there was not a single starter in the game for the Bills. His running backs were Zach Brown and Tashard Choice. He had Lee Smith at tight end. His wide recievers were Brad Smith, Chris Hogan, DeMarco Sampson and Brandon Kauffman. The offensive line was Thomas Welch, Legursky, Snow, Williams, and Sam Young. It was very impressive.

I haven't been paying close attention but I agree with K-9's impressions of where the safeties are lining up. I wonder if their duties are being divided conventionally (non-Pettine-wise) for the very reason that Pettine can't use Searcy interchangeably? On a related note I know Duke Williams got some first team snaps in practice this past week and I wonder if he'll leapfrog Searcy at some point soon. If that were to happen it seems like Pettine would be able to use his safeties interchangeably as Williams is a far superior athlete to Searcy IMO. We'd have two Williamses starting on the D-line and two Williamses at safety. Do we need another nickname for this defense?

:lol: Not to hijack the thread talking about Byrd but great post. Especially the bolded. I asked before weeks ago rhetorically and I'll ask again here: I wonder if the buzz and enthusiasm surrounding the Bills preseason might have some effect on Byrd's strategy on when to report?

That one drives me crazy!!! Here's another one from today (from a poster that I like): "Parker and Byrd will reside themselves to the fact that the Bills control Byrds destiny for the next two years and be done with it." http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/160429-jerry-hughes/page__st__40#entry2873693

Add to that Marrone's credo that "you pass to score and run to win" and the fact that the Bills have run the ball on nearly half their plays (80 of 163) and it looks like Buffalo might finally have a team with a stout defense and a strong run game. Just the kind of team a city like Buffalo should have.

Gaughan is excellent. Sal is excellent. My biggest gripe is with the national guys. If I was paid six figures to know this stuff, I wouldn't be lazy and rationalize (as I'm sure they do when spending their money for nice things) that I don't have enough time to know all the teams.

This explains a lot. Without watching the game, you couldn't see how different the team's energy and confidence was when EJ was on the field as opposed to Kolb. You couldn't see the differences in their body language. You couldn't see Kolb disagreeing with Lee Smith and Tashard Choice after incomplete passes. You couldn't see EJ's "eye of the tiger." Even the stat line which was overwhelmingly in favor of EJ doesn't begin to tell how much better EJ was than Kolb.

I believe after a few down years that New England's O-line has been rejuvenated by some high draft picks and had a good year last year. I believe they're considered an up-and-coming unit.

I've been losing faith in them for years but the recent coverage of the Bills has accelerated my loss of faith.

Such a great point AJ. Maybinizing is a losing pass rush strategy. Yes occasionally you'll get a coverage or second effort sack on the "return trip" when running past the pocket but it's always better to compress the pocket and trap the quarterback in an ever-shrinking space. Many QBs are very uncomfortable having no escape lanes when they're in the pocket. Better to trap them and not let them extend plays with their legs.

Well-stated however IF Frazier didn't have the team watch tape of the Bills-Indy game and at least put some emphasis on how he knew the Bills would approach it, then he was borderline incompetent. IF the Vikes didn't prepare for the Bills, Frazier essentially hung his team out to dry. Why not use the Bills predictable approach to this game as an opportunity to stress protections? I wonder how the Shanahans will approach next week's game?

It's a funny issue in that Kolb was having a hard time completing dink and dunk passes last night. We've seen the laser-guided rockets EJ threw to Dickerson last week and Kaufmann this week so we've gotten a glimpse of what EJ's capable of. I'm happy to keep the downfield passing game under wraps for now.

There were also more than a few comparisons to Doug Flutie.

Good point. Interestingly the high point of Rogers' career was his freshman year while the high point of Easley's career was his senior year. Measurables-wise, Easley generally is superior, at least in size and speed. Anyways if the preseason ended last night, I think Easley would make the team and Rogers would not. Luckily for Rogers, there's two more games for him to state his case.

Brilliant.

Bradham looks very athletic but not very instinctive to me. I think he'll be adequate in the mix of talent around him. Moats was solid but it's definitely a step down from Alonso. Hughes was a pleasant surprise as a run defender. He could actually turn out to be a good all-around linebacker. Dowtin has some talent but the Bills still need to upgrade this area because it's a bit thin. Hopefully Kiko with his reckless style can stay healthy all season.

To the short passing game, EJ's accuracy has been outstanding. Captain Checkdown himself could never dream of throwing these "extended handoffs" the way EJ does. Except for a few throws last week against Indy when he had "first game of his NFL career jitters," EJ was very accurate. Last night he was much better and as I've mentioned before, his height, length, and athleticism allows him to place balls optimally that give his receivers run after the catch yards. Because of his combination of size and athleticism, EJ gives himself many more passing lanes than do other QBs. Only Cam Newton and Kaerpernick compare to him in this regard. EJ can see the field whether stationary or on the move and he can deliver the ball.