vincec

Exactly my thoughts in watching that play. I know that it's a lot easier to relax and make good decisions when you're not worried about the pass rush, but realistically that's not going to be the case this year. If Edwards is going to have a good year he's going to have to make good, quick decisions in the face of some pressure. It wouldn't hurt if he developed a little more mobility inside the pocket either.

Don't joke. Even at his age, I'll bet that Bruce would be an upgrade in obvious passing situations...

So this is all bs then?

Yeah, right.

Yes.

Exactly. Everybody is really good, shows a lot of promise or is underrated... until the Bills waive them. Forget the non sense that the coach's are feeding the press and fans. Look at when they play and their performance on the field. At this point, Bell is not even the backup tackle.

I actually agree with all of this except the "solid pass rusher" part. Anyone who thinks that hasn't been watching. Against the run, however, he is solid. Not dominant, but solid. If we could replace him in passing situations with a pass rushing specialist (like Maybin), then we might have a RDE combo worth something.

Why do so many people seem to think that Walker belongs at RT? Is it because he is too slow to play LT? Walker looked like a strong pass blocker last year (for a RT) but his run blocking was not great. You could see that by how little confidence the Bills had in running to the right last year and Kugler confirmed it in an interview recently: "... I think he's suited for left," Kugler said. "He is a talented pass protector. He knows he has to improve on some things in the run game ...." (http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/676853.html) A good pass blocker and mediocre run blocker doesn't sound like a RT to me. He's one of the Bills best 5 lineman so he will play somewhere for now, but I'd say that he needs to try and make the transition to LT if he want's to stick around here long term. Butler still has a lot to prove, but I'm kind of excited about him and Wood on the right side as a run blocking tandem.

Not that it matters, but Fowler lost his starting job to Duke Preston (what does that tell you!). Preston took over when Fowler got hurt and kept starting at C the rest of the season even when Fowler was healthy. In the second game against NE when Butler was hurt, I assumed that the Bills would play Fowler at C and Preston at G as they had done earlier in the year, but instead they kept Preston at C and started Chambers at G even though he had never played G before. That's when I knew that Fowler had fallen off the depth chart.

Well, he can't be that good a backup. Last year when Butler was injured the Bills played Chambers at guard instead of Fowler, who was healthy. Considering that Chambers had no guard experience that I know of at that time, I'd say that confidence in Fowler as a backup was pretty much out the window.

Walker is obviously not going to make it at LT long term, partly because of his attitude, but I didn't see him dominate at RT last year the way some people are saying. He was a strong pass blocker, but the Bills had almost no confidence in the right side of their line in the running game. Everything went behind Peters and Dockery... even though they weren't really producing. I spent a lot of last year wondering about this and then I read an interview with a Bills coach (I believe Kugler) saying that Walker has a lot of work to do on his run blocking. I have a feeling that Walker is not moving back to RT under any circumstances. If the Bills were really happy with him at RT then they would've left him there and used a different approach at LT. I think that it's LT or bust for him with the Bills.

The Bills can just make a list of their top 5, and then turn it upside down for the draft.

Well, these are compelling, well reasoned and intelligent opinions. Hey, I got one too... "Up your nose with a rubber hose." That should make sense to someone at your level.

How do you know? Neither one of them has played a down in the NFL or even preseason.

The weather's nice. You just need to stop reading this board.

I would feel much better about Walker at LT if he had a better attitude about it. Up until now, it has sounded like he is doing it because he has to and has not really embraced the challenge. That is a recipe for failure.

I hope that this is true. Josh Reed is a tough guy and a good blocker, but he is not a tight end. Running out of 3 WR was the key for the K-Gun bills. The Bills were so good at this that many teams played their conventional personnel against it and not nickel. I think that any team playing in Buffalo MUST be able to run the football to win, so if the Bills play a lot of 3 WR then they will have to learn to run out of it.

My guess is that defenses will vary their approaches according to their personnel and philosophy, but I'm fairly confident that we'll see a lot of: 1) Two deep safeties and 7 men in the box, daring the Bills inexperienced and newly assembled offensive line to consistently open holes in the running game. Defense will try to get decent pressure with a 4 man rush. Yes, the Bills can throw to Jackson or Nelson but these guys are not Marshall Faulk and Tony Gonzales. It'll be slow going against these types of defenses and consistency will be the key. 2) 8 man fronts with 5 and 6 man pass rushes. Secondary will disguise their coverages as best as possible to confuse Edwards. Bills will need good, quick reads by the QB and solid blitz pickup against this. The Bills will need to hit a few big plays against this approach to chase teams out of it.

Exactly. Anyone can claim to be an expert now regardless of their qualifications.

I think that the thinking was that we could improve the OL faster through FA instead of waiting for draft picks to develop.

No. 1) A "successful" season by Rhodes in which he actually has a meaningful number of carries would be a miracle. Plus, the guy's 30 which is starting to get up there for a RB. 2) No one is going to give Buffalo anything good for Lynch. Good running backs are the easiest things to find in the draft. The two 3rd round picks and one 7th that the Bills got for McGahee was a steal. I doubt we'd get that for Llynch. I would assume one 3rd round pick at best. 3) Lynch is the best of all three of the running backs you mentioned.

All I am saying is that it's not all about the OL. Buffalo has enough talent on offense to perform well with just average play from the OL. They don't have to dominate. BTW- Arizona was 8-8 the year before last, with essentially the same personnel and coaching staff that they had last year. I wonder how "laughable" comparison would've been in 2007. Let's give Schonert a chance with a little talent to work with.

I think that too much is being made of the OL situation. This offense will play as well as Trent Edwards does. With TO, Evans, Reed, Parish, etc. the Bills are going to look at passing to open things up in the running game. Good quick reads by the QB and short drops will be the goal. If we can back the defenses off of the line and keep them off balance, the Bills will be fine. Look at what Kurt Warner did with Arizona last year. They didn't have a strong OL.

No, he did that because the players starting ahead of him, like Mike Gandy and Mike Williams, were playing very poorly.

To this point in his career, Peters is one of the most overrated players in the league. He has had one good season. He is basically living off of his potential as a young athletic player who has a high up-side. Everyone is imagining how great he will become when he re-commits himself and has a few more years of experience. He is not great yet. He may become a consistent pro-bowler, but there have been a lot of young players on the brink of greatness before they got derailed. In fact, it's more the norm than them making it. Either way, Peters basically forced the Bills to trade him. At least Graham got that part right. The Bills got good value for him, so it is what it is. Maybe both teams will benefit or maybe neither, we'll see how the next two of three seasons pan out.