thewildrabbit

Interesting read from ESPN, http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/12109/bills-camp-report-day-26 "Second-round pick Cyrus Kouandjio has struggled for much of training camp and by all accounts had a rough afternoon Wednesday in one-on-one pass-rush drills. That changed Thursday when Kouandjio had some quality reps in that same drill. Coming back from his final rep, he got a fist bump and a pat on the back from coach Doug Marrone. It's a sign of progress. From WGR 550 on day 17, http://www.wgr550.com/pages/9034669.php?pid=421251 "Manuel was sacked three times throughout the day but the collapsing pocket didn’t seem to rattle him at all. In fact, the Bills quarterback dropped all the way back and looked for whichever target had already won, or was in the process of winning, and delivered his passes with confidence." Gonna be interesting to see how the first string line plays this Saturday. Henderson, Urbik, Wood, Richardson, Pears.

Interesting notes from WGR 550 on camp day 16 about the line. "Urbik struggles" & Bills’ Day 16 MVP: G Cyril Richardson http://www.wgr550.com/pages/9034669.php?pid=420959 "Bills’ Day 16 LVP: G Antonie McClain" If we fans have learned anything about how this team operates in regards to expensive vets vs newer, less expensive players that become starters. Should Pears, Urbik lose their starting jobs I would have to think the Bills will then release them. Legursky will probably keep his job as backup center simply because he is less expensive. Should those two lose their starting positions the smarter thing to do would be to retain the better talent in Urbik as backup center / OG, and release Legursky. We will see. This preseason game against the Steelers will show which starters can play on that line and who can't as the Steelers D line dominated in last years game at Pittsburgh. In any event the Bills players should get some good experience in going against a team that made them look so bad last season.

What a lot of people are over looking is that LA needs a new NFL stadium before any NFL team will even consider moving there. So far nobody wants to front the one to two billion dollar cost to build a new state of the art NFL stadium. Not the City, county, not the state. Nor the many groups that have proposed such plans to those venues. The 49er Levi's stadium in Santa Clara cost a little over 1.3 billion to build. Recently the NFL has given great thought to building a new stadium in LA, and then leasing it to whichever team desires to move there. This is entirely why the Raiders are in discussions with city officials in San Antonio, as Mark Davis doesn't want his team to play at the LA coliseum. He wants a new, smaller stadium to hold around 65k. Oakland doesn't want to build it, and neither does LA.

Not just how good the team played at home. It was how bad the Bills O line played on the road vs those home games, and against teams with bad records. That first Jets game in week 3 the Jets had 8 sacks on EJ, and Spiller had 10 rushes for 9 yards! That NY D line dominated the Bills line. Then go to the (3-6) Steelers, (4-9) Bucs games on the road and the same thing, as that Bills line was dominated badly. Only 3 sacks by Pitt but they kept they Bills run & pass game in check. That Steeler game went exactly like this, FG, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, INT, punt, TD. The Bills only TD came with 05 seconds left in the game. The Bucs had 7 sacks, and Spiller 11 rushes for 22 yards. Those road games were embarrassing to watch. Hence the reason GM Doug Whaley drafted 3 O linemen, and brought in another OG in free agency. So, do those modern charts, graphs figure in the team around the QB?

I don't think you can use statistics or graphs to chart how quickly a QB develops, and its not entirely just about the player. Dan Marino developed very quickly. But then his first season as starter he got together with his two new WR's (Marks Bro's), and spent the entire summer throwing passes to them in preparing for the up coming season. It also helped that his HC was Don Schula who recognized the talent he had in Marino, and went from a run first offense to a total passing offense. My take is how quickly a QB develops, and ultimately how good he becomes is almost entirely dependent on his coaching staff, and his surrounding team. Clearly he needs to have all the physical tools to compete, and the desire to be great. Over the years I've witnessed so many good QB's with great potential thrown into bad situations and have watched them to never fully develop at all. Archie Manning who went to an inferior NO Saints team, and himself knowing that his sons deserved better then to be drafted by a bad team and then be forced to face an entire career under constant duress, which will never allow a QB to develop properly. I'm entirely convinced that Archie talked Eli into forcing the Chargers to trade him to the NY Giants. Jim Plunkett comes to mind as the only beaten down QB that was eventually resurrected, and he went on to achieve success in winning two super bowls. In fact the only NFL QB who started and won two super bowls, and isn't in the HoF. Before the 71 draft Plunkett was refereed to as the best pro QB prospect ever seen. He won the Heisman trophy in 1970 for Stanford. The Boston Patriots drafted Plunkett #1 overall, and he went to a team that was 2-12 the year before. in 71 Plunkett won UPI AFC rookie of the year. Needless to say behind a very weak O line Plunkett was pounded on game after game, year after year going (3-11 in 72) (5-9 in 1973) (7-7 in 1974). Along the way the Patriots started building an O line, drafting John Hannah in 73, along with RB Sam "BAM" Cunningham. Then In 1975 the Patriots drafted Steve Grogan. Prior to the 1976 draft the Patriots traded Plunkett to the 49ers where he was able to take serious another beat down behind a bad line. In 1978 Al Davis acquired Plunkett and sat him on the bench for two years while allowing him to recover from all those years of beatings on bad team. He then went on to win two super bowls for the Raiders. Steve Young went to a terribad Tampa bay team in 1985, and sucked for two years on a bad teams. Then went to San Francisco, and sat behind HoF QB Joe Montana for fours years. The rest is super bowls, and HoF under one of the very brightest offensive minds in HC Bill Walsh.

Freddy was going against the Panthers first string D. Then Dixon scored only once in the 2nd quarter going against Carolina's 2nd string. But then, my reasoning also came after reading this regarding Sunday's workout, and scuffles. "Apparently someone said something mildly offensive to cause the brief scrum Sunday." http://bills.buffalonews.com/2014/08/10/practice-report-temperatures-rising-bills-hit-dog-days-august/

I read the article, and came away with the thinking that Freddy doesn't like all the extra work involved in the upcoming scrimmages. Quite frankly I don't think Fred gives a hoot about Dixon and his 3.1 YPC average, or his meager 2 TD's a year for the last 4 years. Much less worry about losing carries to a guy who might not even make the final roster. I think Freddy will do better punching the ball in the end zone when his O line can actually move someone off the line of scrimmage.

Same. Glad to see him get a chance to play for his home town team. I think the 49ers may end up in the playoffs again this year.

I gotta believe this is all Hackett / Marrone and only the lord knows what they see in this kid to have kept him on the roster last year over Matt Flynn. No QB coach, no vet QB, and no senior assistant offensive coach last season was very puzzling to me. Now this year they have a QB coach, senior offensive assistant coach along with veteran QB Dennis Dixon. Whaley did draft 3 O linemen, and signed another OG in free agency so he is doing his part to upgrade the offense. Anyway, it is only preseason game two and the Bills still have 3 more preseason games to go. So lets hope those backups look better in the upcoming games.

I tend to stay away from Bills players simply because the Bills offense has been so inconsistent for so long. Freddy turned out to be the better pickup last year, and he was ranked as a late round pick

I like it that Marrone is putting his team though some tough paces, and making his players actually earn their positions this year. Multiple scrimmages is a great way to get the younger players prepared for the regular season. OTOH, I can understand Freddy's point, and some consideration should be given to the senior players who have little to prove at this point. They don't need the added injury risk in practice or scrimmages. Guys like Mario, Eric Wood, Freddy, CJ, Chandler, Kyle Willams should be doing more stationary bike work then reps. JMO On another note that (3-7) Pittsburgh D line manhandled the Bills O line in week 10 last year, and it should be a real test to see how the current Bills players look against them in preseason.

Thanks for the link Yolo. Borderline free for all, as RW made no specific terms in his will to keep the team in Buffalo...he did setup that lease tho Morgan Stanley really not a good choice to control this sale, as they had no real prior experience in selling a pro sports team. Some calling the sale process a "circus". Who we know or think will keep the team in Buffalo Terry Pegula- known bidder Tom Golisano- now known bidder Donald Trump- known bidder Jim Kelly / Jeff Gundlach- now known bidder - minority share with bigger owner? We know or think will move the team eventually JBJ / MLSE -----? rumors are, seems like several other Canadian NHL owners are now interested in pursuing the Bills. This to screw with Pegula? -----? -----? We know for a fact the NFL would rather see a single owner win the bid then a group.

Poor Sammy must have had hand cramps after all those sigs. Anyway, had him sign a mini helmet, and I was chomping at the bit to get it signed

JBJ a finalist now! wow, this really sucks. all bids were supposedly under one billion...

and always has been. average against bad players, bad against good players, and outright terrible against really good players. In my view. This team has in the last decade sought to have great players on their D line, and yet allowed less then average players on the O line. The Bills solidify some positions on the line and fill other positions with below average players, and think this strategy will win games. I was really hoping Pears, Urbik, Legursky would be history to start this season, and as of now that isn't going to happen. At least Henderson may take over at RT once Glenn returns to LT.

To me what helped Kelly be so great was his ability to run the 2 min drill to perfection. So much so in fact the Bills ran the 2 min drill for 60 min by calling it the hurry up offense. All the great QB's have that ability to run the 2 min drill when needed. EJ has shown on occasion that he can run it very well. In my view that 2 min drill with 1:08 was all on Fitz to at least get 50 yards! The guy couldn't even get a first down in four tries against the leagues worst defense. Fitz sucks!

I like "crazy good" players like Kiko However, I don't like crazy who can't control their mental issues on and off the field. incognito has a storied history of being disruptive with every team he has been with. He was already on the Bills roster and they knowingly cut him before he could stir up trouble. The only reason the Dolphins signed him was because he sought counseling after being cut by the Bills. Something he deemed a low point in his life. Huge difference between a player who plays with a controlled mean streak, and contains himself from doing stupid things like causing penalties. Then being fined by the league for verbal abuse to refs, being benched by the HC for sideline confrontations. Constant harassment to other players. From 2006 to 2009, Incognito drew 38 penalties, including seven unnecessary roughness calls, more than any other player during that span. The Rams cut him because they deemed they no longer wanted to deal with his mental issues The Bills cut him because they didn't want to deal with him either. The Dolphins gave him a chance and he returned the favor by disrupting their entire 2013 season with his continued harassment of another player! This player caused another player to leave the team, and then the team suspended Incognito indefinitely. so the Dolphins lost their starting LT & OG because of him.. constant racial slurs, really? Would you seriously want the Bills to sign player that would create the kind of turmoil / baggage that comes along with Incognito?

Sadly, he does have superior talent. But his crazy is not really conducive to building a good team. I know I wouldn't want a player who is so mentally ill that he takes a baseball bat to a 300,000.00 car in a fit of rage. Yolo was posting in the O line thread talking about trying to obtain Alex Boone from the 49ers, who is currently holding out. The Bills have a huge line, its just that big doesn't always equal talent In all fairness to Incognito he did have a real reason to harass Martin, and just went about it the wrong way. Some players are very devoted to protecting the QB, and Martin was an abject failure at RT, and became even worse when they stupidly moved him to the blindside. The man has serious mental issues, and needs serious meds & therapy.

While I would like to see this, I highly doubt it will happen. I know I wasn't thrilled with the line getting stuffed by the Panthers at the goal line. Same stuff, different year. I didn't like Chris Williams when he was signed, and after watching him whiff, and have lousy push in Carolina, I like him less. Glenn getting cleared is great news, and hopefully that line plays better. Again, while I would like to see this. I gotta wonder if the team is still being held in restraints concerning the bottom line.

Which is exactly why I'm glad so many here have no control

Yea, Cooks looks to be an early favorite of Brees. Gonna be interesting to see which ends up on top this year.

Great to hear.

This moron destroyed his own 300k Ferrari in a fit of rage with a baseball bat... http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/richie-incognito-destroys-his-own-ferrari We haven't heard much from him lately because he is lurking around trying to find a new team stupid enough to sign him. He can go nuts after.

This team needs to show clear improvement, and not stagnation like they did last year. There is far to much talent on this team to only go 6-10, and it was all on the coaches & GM for a multitude of stupid mistakes. Their fate is in their own hands, and I can see new ownership keeping the status quo even with a 7-8 / 8-8 record as long as the team fights hard in every game.

Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas... Four preseason games to go.