Bob in STL

Freddy is playing his cards now. Imagine the beating Fitz will take without Jackson there to pick up blitzes?

After 3 years the picture will be clear that they need another three years. I am not saying that to be negative. Why you ask? Because we are building through the draft only. After three years we might draft a franchise QB and a legitimate LT. It will take them three more years to develop. Even then, that assumes some of the current players that Nix has drafted actually turn out ok. Since the Bills are not using trades or Free Agancy to improve their talent it will take them longer than most other teams.

I can understand Spiller getting more reps in preseason. Spiller needs to work on ALL aspects of his game such waiting for his blockers, pass route running, and blitz pickup. Jackson can get less reps and still could have started against Denver. Jackson should be number 1 until Spiller beats him out. Chan should know this?

I am shaking my head in disbelief. Levitre, is not a "pile of crap" at LG. He did a good job last year. They chose to make an example out of him and platoon him with Rinehart. Competition is good, right Chan? All of a sudden Levitre is good enough to play LT, the most important position on the OL? Buddy, read your roster --- did you not know at draft time that your tackles were Bell, Pears, Wang, Wrotto and Howard (who is really a Gaurd). Buddy, are you even trying? Wake up please! Are you playing for Andrew Luck? Lee Evans, one of the few legitimate NFL starters on our offense, is shipped out for a fourth round pick? That was going to make us better? They want to see Spiller play more so they alienate Fred Jackson, the only complete running back on the team. They have lots of opportunities to play Spiller without handing him a position that he did not earn. I am shaking my head in disbelief.

He made a few plays against 3rd and 4th stringers in preseason last year too. Then he did crazy celebrations.

I can tell your frustrated. I did notice the loss of Evans in the first half of the Denver game. We looked silly just trying to go deep. Hopefully what we were seeing was a plain vanilla offense and poor execution, and not a foreshadowing of things to come.

Let's remember that he is playing aginst plain vanilla backups and camp fodder. Also remember that Matt Cassel looked like Joe Montana in Belicheck's system. I prefer Dareus, but after the first round a QB would have been nice. I think the guys they liked were gone. Someday we will draft a QB again, someday we will draft a LT too.

From within themselves. That's the only place it can really come from.

It is one preseaon game so I try not to get too negative about it. We were difinitely not ready to play and it looks like John Fox threw a lot at us that we did not have answers for. I cannot believe the talent between the two is that far apart. The two biggest observations from me: 1. Our OL is not any further along than last year at this time. In fact, it may be worse. (Even though Wood and Bell are healthy) 2. Our defense looks a lot worse without Merriman.

Something is wrong in the middle, not sure if it is the line calls but something is wrong and the play has degraded. Levtre-Hang-Wood looked better at this point last year then Levitre-Wood-Urbik and Wood was not even healthy. Levitre is getting the heat from Gailey but the RG looks even worse. Both tackles are suspect but everyone knows that except for Buddy and Ralph.

John, I repsect your opinion and I enjoy your posts. I do want to mention a few things about the OL that go against some of your points here. Bell - true a full year of conditioning should help. Let's hope that yesterday was an aberation because he looked very bad. Overall, I see Bell as a good backup LT and not suitable as a LT on a playoff caliber OL. LT is a postion that the Bills have neglected for years. Will Woolford was the last first round LT that we drafted and that was in the late 80's. Hard to believe. Levitre - You say looking stronger and better? Not according to the coaches who are platooning him with Chad Rinehart. Middle of the line - something is wrong here and I do not have enough insight or video to tell what it is. Levitre is getting the heat but I am wondering about Wood at center and Urbik at RG. Yesterday was not a good day for the middle of the line either. Hargartner is a TSW whipping boy but last year we started with Levitre-Hangartner-Wood and we looked better than Levitre-Wood-Urbik do right now... that is my opinion. Pears - who nows? He may be better than Green/Howard/Wrotto but he looks as bad as Bell. There is constant pressure pouring in from the edges, Fitz has lttle choice but to throw short most of the time. Preseason is half over and I do not see any substantial improvement at any position on the OL.

To all the yougsters and newbies telling us old farts to be patient, I admire the positive outlike. I recall those days. Ok. I am not sure what you see about this administration that I cannot. I think Buddy Nix is a good college talent evaluator. He is putting all of his eggs into the draft basket. It is still too early to even grade his drafts yet. Next year Buddy will have to spend more money and we shall see what he does with free agency at that time. So far he has done nothing outside of the draft. Chan Gailey is a proven excellent Offensive Coach. Jury is still out on him as a head coach though. His decision to swith to 3-4 last year seemed to be a bad one. The Spiller pick? Hmmmm. I've been watching this team since 1963. I have seen many bad teams, some that were just plain eye watering bad. I have seen a few good teams ('73-75), a few very good teams ('80-81, 98-99) a great team (64-65) and even a great era(88-95). I am patient and loyal with this team. I try to be fair. We all, as Bills die hards, we deserve the right to be cynical every now and then. Cheers.

By the second preseason game you need to see more out of the starting offense. I would like to see them move the ball in each series they play. Score a TD and no turnovers. OL blocking and the general timing of the offense needs to start looking sharper. On defense we need to see the starters an the first wave of backups continue to pressure the QB. Getting off gthe field on 3rd down is important. In the secnd half we will look at everybody so expect a mixed bag. Would like to win the 1st the 2nd quarter. After that it does not matter much.

I have not seen enough to tell who is getting outplayed. I think if you check one of my first posts on the subject you will see I said that Chan could be sending a message. Here is the excerpt: No way do you move a starter (such as Andy Levitre) out of the first rotation just to look at another player simply to "see what he can do". That is counterproductive. Levitre is out because the coaches are sending him a message. This is a wake up call. Levitre now must earn the job back. fast forward to today and I am now reading that Chan is rotating Levitre and Rinehart. There is defintely a competition going on which is good. Like many others, I am more surprised that Rinehart is pushing Levitre and not Urbik.

It is stories ike this that make me concerned about Nix as a GM. I have no doubt he is an excellent scout and can help us to draft better players than we have in a long time. It is all the other things a GM does that concern me. So far I do not see him using all avenues to imorove the product on the field.

I am not saying that, Chan Gailey is.

I cannot say since I do not get to see practice or film. I can only belive what Chan is saying. Levitre needs to step up. Common thought is that Levitre is the best of the three but right now that is not the case. I do not believe in hidden agendas to give Urbik and Rinehart more reps. We are talking professional sports here.

Let's see ... Whitner -- gone Poz -- gone Maybin -- gone Kelsey -- check McKelvin -- check Hangartner -- che- uh no, replace with Urbik or Levitre any TE on the roster -- check ...

Donte? Drayton? Doyle?

Not really. Two very important factors to an offensive line are cohesiveness and timing. The players need to know what each other will do in any given situation and the only way to get to that level is to play together all the time. No way do you move a starter (such as Andy Levitre) out of the first rotation just to look at another player simply to "see what he can do". That is counterproductive. Levitre is out because the coaches are sending him a message. This is a wake up call. Levitre now must earn the job back. Levitre may very well win the job back and Rinehart may inevitiably replace Urbik but not for the reasons you state. It is clear that the coaches are less happy with Levitre than Urbik. At least for now. Thank you Chan for creating some competition. These guys need it.

Buddy Nix, have you been taking those "how to" computer night classes at the public library again?

I can see this scenario: Chan: Hey Hangman we need you work with the first team at RG this week. Hangartner: Coach, I am just not sure that is something I am interested in. Let me check with the wife and get back with you. Seriously now --- The RG job was handed to Urbik and it is his job to lose.

Yes. 1. He has a funny name. 2. He is about to become another temporary legend on TBD.

I clearly stated the reluctance. If he wanted to draft a tackle sooner he could have. Concur with building the defense first. It is the OL depth, or lack there of, that really concerns me.