Dan

Very interesting revelation, indeed. Wouldn't you know it, Bell gets injured and slows his progress. You have to wonder how much that will impact the situation. The big problem here was putting Wood at RG to begin with. If you put Bell in at LT, it only makes sense to put Walker back to RT. But, then do you shift everyone around.. Butler back to RG, Wood to LG? Or do you leave Wood at RG and take the better of Levitre or Butler at LG? I'm not sure how tough it would be for Wood to switch from RG to LG, but I'd think it's preferable to not switch the guy around every other month. So, does it just leave Butler out in the cold?

Of the regular season? You and I both know there will be a plethora of posts by the end of the 1st quarter tomorrow claiming he's slow/undersized/lost and we should have drafted Orapko. I'm certain any pleas for rational thought will fall on deaf ears.

Apparently, Jauron is still the coach. Who else goes for a field goal with time running out and your down by 4?

Maybe you're reading the wrong board?

You have to remember that whatever the Bills do is wrong. If they trade a disgruntled player, that gives half effort for a first round draft pick; then they're fools for caving in and giving the player what he wants. If they sign the player to a large contract and he continues to give half hearted effort; then they're fools for not seeing this. The only potential winning scenario for the Bills would have been to keep Peters on the team, but don't rework his contract. That way when he keeps sulking, at least he won't be costing alot of money. Of course, the team is wasting a roster spot on someone that's underperfoming and will eventually cut/trade him for next to nothing. But at least they showed him, huh. Of course, in 2 years these same people will denigrate the FO for not trading him when they had a chance to get a 1st round pick. See, so the FO really did screw up after all.

Drop one safety to run deep with Evans and the CB. That leaves 9 guys to crowd the LOS. Hence, no running lanes, no YAC for WR screens and checkdowns, plenty of sacks/QB hurries, and one of the worst offenses in the league. Why our coaching staff can't see this and make the appropriate changes is beyond me. As others have said, when all you do is take what the defense gives you, you're playing right into their hands. Ahhhhh... does it really even matter? At this point, its like putting the ball on a tee and the kid still striking out. Some kids just shouldn't be playing.

I think tonight at 9:30.

Perhaps. But, can you see the humor in the current situation? JP was widely ridiculed because all he did was look for the long bomb and wouldn't use outlet receiver. (I'm not saying that's true, just saying that was what was being said.) Trent was built up and seen as the next great thing. Now, he's being ridiculed because all he does is look for the checkdown, out receiver and doesn't throw it long enough. (And, unfortunately, that is quite factual.) It's kinda like that old saying... be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. Well, we all got it.

I thought about starting a new thread and just posting this. Absolutely, spot on, IMO.

What happens on Sunday?

What does that have to do with anything? Can say, without any doubts, that if Ngata were a Bill he'd have as many interceptions as he currently does? All I'm suggesting is that too many people are comparing apples to oranges. Not only do the 2 players play different positions, but they're on different teams. The only link between them is that many here thought we should have drafted one over the other. Hence, my suggestion that this discussion is more appropriate for a do you think the FO knows what its doing-type question. Why don't we argue that Whitner sucks because Mangold is better? The truth is many people just want to validate that they were right and Ngata would have been a better pick. He may have been; although until he suits up for the Bills its all speculation. And I contend that it has nothing to do with Whitner's value to the team.

IMO, Ngata should be left out of any discussion of Whitner. Whitner's play on the field has absolutely nothing to do with Ngata's play in Baltimore. If anyone is upset about not selecting Ngata in the draft, that should be saved for a different poll. Do you think the FO screwed up not taking Ngata (for ex.)? But, remember, football is a team sport and very few players have ever played in a vacuum being able to single handedly improve the fortunes of a franchise. Yes, in Baltimore, Ngata looks great. However, there's absolutely nothing to guarantee that he'd be playing anywhere remotely the same had he been in Buffalo these last few years. Given the talent around him and the coaching staff around him, I'd bet he'd look very average. For evidence to support my claim, look no further than Jim Leonhard. So, how good has Whitner been for the Bills? Let me answer with another question. How good does anyone look on this poorly coached team?

Don't worry... some of us got it. Man it's shaping up to be a long season.

Maybe this is why Trent/Jauron are so afraid to open the passing game up? Trent throws one pick in 3 games and people are dissecting every aspect of the throw. Who cares. All QBs make mistakes and throw interceptions. All WRs make mistakes and drop the ball/allow a DB to make the int. What bothers me is that, that one pass was pretty much the end of Trent looking downfield in the game. He has to brush those things off and keep attacking the defense. I'll take 2 ints a game if he follows them up with a few TDs as well.

Journey?? This thing has become some kind of Arthurian quest for the lost grail. I'm pretty sure the beauty wore off years ago. Now, we're just wandering through the wilderness disillusioned and lost. Many of us can't even remember what we're looking for.

Now that's what I call service with a... smile. Thanks.

It's a good Bruce interview, but I'm getting tired of lookin at that guy's butt every day.

Bingo.

Jimbo needs to sit down with Trent and slap him around till he grows a set and learns to fight back.

9 drives, 3 games, 0 touch downs. Absolutely abysmal preseason thus far for the first team offense. Makes you wonder if they'll try and show something, anything this weekend against Pittsburgh. At some point just sheer pride has to kick in, right?

Seeing as how the Bills apparently haven't been practicing to actually play against any of our opponents, I'm not sure he missed all that much.

Precisely. There are multiple instances where the QB may get tackled behind the LOS and therefore he's sacked; yet there's no clear lineman to blame it on. So, it really is a pointless measure of a lineman's performance. However, that doesn't mean it's totally without merit. In an unofficial review of game tape, I would certainly do this. If anyone can recall the youtube compilation of Peters' 11.5 sacks (I'm disinclined to find the link), clearly several of those sacks were on him - unless his assignment was to block air. While, for several more it's much harder to tell who, specifically, is to blame due to blocking assignments. However, with that being said, whether its your blocking assignment or not, shouldn't a lineman recognize a defender coming through untouched and try to get in his way - especially if the guy he's supposed to block isn't there? For example, during the GB game, we had a nice run to the left side set up. The RB (#22, maybe) ran out and had plenty of room; #77 pulled out there was one DB coming in untouched. He ran right by #77 and hit the RB for a 2 or 4 yard loss. I call that a screw up. I'm sure #77 was coached up to seal the edge by stopping the DE, so that's where he was looking. But, the DE was held up at the line and no where in sight. So, why not look for someone else coming in free to block? Technically, he may have done his job, but realistically, he screwed the pooch. I see much of the line play the same way. I don't care what your assignment is on Friday. I don't care what X's and O's are drawn on the chalkboard. When you hit the field, defenders don't know that their supposed to go to certain gaps. So, you have to adjust and react. If a player can't do that and continually lets guys run by him untouched, what good is he? It's why the safety blitz is so effective against the Bills. You have a safety coming in untouched, with noone responsible to block him. Rather than someone do something about it, they all just keep their head down, hide behind their assignments and let the QB get clocked - the QB included. Someone has to recognize the breakdown and react to it. But, it's easier to stand around and say it wasn't my fault, I guess.

Very much as I see it as well. I could care less that they lost the game. Or even that they looked disinterested. However, when Trent comes out afterward and says, in essence, we looked so bad because we haven't played against a 3-4 defense since last December and that's a hard defense to play against; well, that makes me more than concerned for the season. My only hope is that he and the team are sandbagging it, intentionally, to try and gain some edge over the Pats* in week 1. Because, if they're not spending at least some of their practice time going against 3-4 defensive alignments, then I think it's entirely worthwhile to ask just what the heck they're doing with all this practice time. Its absolutely unthinkable that they haven't, at this point in the offseason, practiced or prepared for the defensive alignment that every other team in our division utilizes. Maybe they're content with just winning the AFC west. I don't really know. It just defies all logic and common sense.

I'm watching. My assessment after 1.5 quarters... the Packers showed up to play a game of football. The Bills thought it was another walk through practice. They seem slow, disinterested, apathetic, confused.

yeah.