Mister Defense

Good point and example. So they were not just silent when it came to the specifics of the game, they were inaccurate too. I caught the reference to Williams as well, a first year player. What a shame Green was so unprepared and lazy. Williams was the best receiver in the CFL last year and is now trying to show that he could do great things in the NFL as well. And last night was another step ahead for Williams. What an interesting story and they were sitting right in the middle of it. But neither man knew anything about him. That is really bad preparation. If Gumbel and Green had knowledge like that themselves, they would they have been able to share it with the audience and engage them more. More importantly, that kind of knowledge could have made both of them more interested and engaged in the game.

Just checked, and surprised that Gumbel is 73! But that is no excuse. Even if he has lost it a bit, he could easily have information in front of him to guide him. And the things we are talking about in this thread don't require a lot of mental acumen. I agree with those that say his voice sounds good, easy to listen to. But it was clear had done almost no work, just sat down and (and extremely poorly) did the play by play in the broadest sense of that. But ditto for Green as well. And the director and producer as well.

I agree, with both Williams and McKenzie making the team. Look at the off season focus on offense. Hard to imagine the Bills risk losing 1-2 receivers who could make a difference this year as these two might. Nice to see the Bills this year having to make so many of these tough decisions on their final roster, a good sign of a much improved front office and organization.

Yes, once he got going McCoy looked pretty good, like an NFL running back again. I hope this continues.

No, it was not overkill. THREE to FOUR mentions of who made the defensive plays in the entire second half when the Bills were on defense! 3-4! And almost zero mention of ANY preseason Bills information. Those are abysmal statistics.

Yes. I always wondered why he and Simms stopped working together. But now it seems likely a football guy like Simms couldn't work with someone who seems to know and care so little. I have never heard of this, but will see if this is possible on my tv. A great idea, as during the year I can do that and listen to the Bills radio broadcasts when weak and careless broadcasters are doing on TV.

Yes, I think after last night, Williams may be on the roster. He offers the size and physicality that are not apparent often in other Bills receivers. If it is a decent throw and near Williams, he will grab it. He will also make the catch on most contested catches. His production in the CFL is just more evidence that the Bills will use to decide that Williams is needed.

This was possibly the worst performance by a network broadcasting team of an NFL game that I have ever seen. Like many Bills fans I was watching the Bills/Lions game to see how individual players performed. But good luck doing so last night! Lazy, unprepared Gumbel almost never mentioned the Bills defensive players who made the plays. This became increasingly clear to me as I watched the tape of the game late last night. So in the second half I started keeping track of how often he did this. By late in the fourth quarter Gumbel, paid millions to be a play by play broadcaster, had stated the name of the Bills defensive players 3-4 times in the entire second half!, mainly for sacks or almost sacks--almost nothing else. Without a current roster with me, and almost no replays of the defensive plays, I had no idea who was involved--on almost every play. And Green was no better, almost never even commenting on the play after. Not on the player, not on the play call, just general BS from him. Immensely unprepared. The same lack of detail, lack of preparedness and professionalism, was apparent in all aspects of this very lazy broadcast. They almost never looked beyond the VERY broad outcome of the play on either defense or offense, almost never getting close to the details of what actually happened on the plays. This lack of preparation and competence was just as clear in their complete lack of knowledge of almost all that has happened in training camp on either team--almost zero on the individual players, their stories, and how things have progressed. Or how they may turn out. I think Tasker and Catalano have been doing a pretty solid job on the preseason broadcasts, especially in the Panthers game. So I was shocked at how awful Gumbel and Green did last night. This is their job, what they should be doing all week to prepare, but clearly Gumbel and Green did almost no prep work, and worse, seemed to care almost nothing about this important 3rd preseason game. They, and their producer/director, should all be held accountable. Did others notice these same things from this dynamic duo?

Strange to me that so many want Jason Peterman to fail. While I am glad he is not in a Bills uniform, it would be a great story if he could stick with a team and be a solid contributor. I am not betting on that happening, but why trash a guy who seemed to work hard while here, was a good teammate, and seemed to have good overall character? The guy became a bit of a national joke, so it would be great for him to redeem himself and make a living in the NFL for a while..

Well said; looks like an excellent draft. The last time I can remember that the Bills had drafted so well as the Bills have over the last few years was when Polian was here. And this seems like the best coaching staff since then too. Great signs for success this year and long term.

But I think One Bills Drive with Murphy and Tasker is a good show, with good analysis, objectivity, and good guests. They struggle a little to fill 3 hours every day, which makes sense to me, especially in preseason, but it is a good show, podcasts. I just started to listen to Bills' podcasts more regularly and found most of them were awful outside of the professional radio. Even worse about Schopp is how unprepared he seems to be, how little legwork he clearly does to get ready for his show. Tons of filler and useless information there to go with his lack of objectivity.

I think may end up being the line. Seems like the 5 best lineman and lineup. I hope this is the case. There will likely be some tinkering, changing during the year.

The more I think about this, the more I think that Prescott has really embarrassed himself. He wants to be the highest payed player in the NFL! There is no legitimacy to his salary goal, a complete pipe dream.And Prescott turned down a new 30 million a year contract! It makes him look arrogant and ignorant. He is making a fool of himself.

Thirty million a year for Prescott would be too much--and he turned that down!! The problem in Dallas is that Jones pumps the team up with so much hot air that the star players think they are hall of famers early in their careers. I hope they give him a huge salary! That, and a poor (duh) head coach in Jason Garrett would mean one less team to compete against for championships. How 'bout them Cowboys?

What a poorly written article--I was surprised that this was from an actual sports writer (?). It adds nothing to the conversation at all. When something is that poorly written it should set off warning bells that the article's content is usually a joke too.

Thanks for the daily updates, Astro!

Nskehe will be 34 this season so my point is the Bills are now in the market for long term right tackle. But if Nskehe plays great then, yes, the Bills will be less likely to start looking now. Obviously we hope for the latter scenario.

Ford did not look like an NFL tackle in the limited video I watched of him after the draft--too slow, lacking the athleticism a tackle needs. Makes more sense at guard. The more experienced Nsekhe will start at right tackle. It also means that the Bills are back in the market for a right tackle, maybe even before this season. Probable starting Offensive line: LT- Dawkins LG- Spain C- Morse RG- Ford RT- Nsekhe But Ford needs to play better now at guard or won't start this year.

I assume the OP is just messing around with some of his comments, such as the possibility of the Bills trading Foster for a 3rd or 4th round pick before the season?? An oversupply of NFL quality receivers on the Bills!?!! Good idea: trade away what, from all appearances, seemed to be one of your best young players last year, in one of the weakest areas of the team, to a desperate enough team for a mid round draft pick. We don't know if Foster will become the star he looked like he may become last year, but our eyes did not deceive us. (And most of the other players mentioned, like Bodine, generally have almost no trade value at all.) Whenever I read a bizarre and ridiculous post like this it makes me want to go back and check what the poster's views were on things like the Marshawn Lynch trade and see if they thought that (one of the worst moves in the history of the Bills) was a good, logical idea too...

We should all be extremely grateful that Beane and McDermott would NEVER even consider being on that drama creating, team dividing spectacle. I think this will be the case for as long as they are in Buffalo.

Yes. I can't believe I didn't even think of Lawson until I read your post as he was a much improved last year and made some big plays. I think the Bills will regret declining his 5th year contract option this summer. THAT would be huge if Lawson excels now. Imagine how good this defense can be if Lawson, Murphy, Oliver, Hughes, all play to their potential this year.

Surprised that his name has not come up before this. More of a 'hope' it happens for me this year, but if he played well, and then Kroft comes back strong, then an extremely weak area of last year's team becomes a strength. Would move this offense to another level.

Yes, as with Singletary and Williams, if players like Murphy (and Johnson, though less vital here as the secondary looks solid) rise to their potential, and a player like Ty, then the Bills will be an excellent team. The good thing this year is it seems likely that several of these players will come through--and move the Bills to the next level. And it is different this year than in others, as the base of the team is much more solid than it has been in a long time, so these players can then be the key to a great year..

What do you mean about Jones?? I have no idea! If this happens and McCoy rebounds then this would be one of the best stories of the summer--and instill even more hope for a great season.

Almost every summer at least one player pleasantly surprises in training camp and preseason. I realize that this is more about hoping this is the case than anything else. This summer, my prediction is that Duke Williams and Devin Singletary will be those players. In this case, if these two players come through, combined with a great defense and Josh Allen progressing, the Bills will be a very solid playoff team. They can help turn around two of the weakest areas from last year and also play a big role in Allen's progression.