jahnyc

1. Poz breaking his arm is a big loss. We have no depth at linebacker. How can we go into the season with Palmer and Buggs as back-ups? I hope they can play. 2. Give the defense credit. Time of possession was ridiculously in favor of the Pats. They did their best and they must have been exhausted at the end of the game. I like the way McGee plays. 3. Sorry, Bell was awful, both in terms of critical penalties and his play. I do not blame him, he is not ready and the coaches should not have put him in that kind of a situation. I understand that the team may not have had a choice but to trade Peters at the end, but managment should have picked up an adequate LT for this season. 4. TE played okay, but he still needs to take some shots downfield. 5. The intererior line play exceeded my very low expectations. Hangartner was active and made some nice blocks down field. 6. Special teams were not special. What happened? Moorman was off, no return yards and coverage was poor. I will not mention McKelvin. 7. Freddie looked great. 8. Most importantly, please do not put the Bills on MNF, Sunday Night Football or Thursday Night Football ever again. I can't take it any more.

I thought he looked terrible and he made so many critical penalties. He is not ready and he should not be out there.

I don't think the Bills should cut Whitner, but with this team, anything is possible. Also, I believe that Whitner is scheduled to make close to $4 million, and if economics is part of the analysis as to who gets cut, then this could be more possible than any of us would otherwise think.

I also think it could be Whitner.

We should hire this guy, he would only help (in whatever role, assistant, consultant, OC). He has a lot of experience and has a very good reputation.

The most important thing I forgot to include in the original post is that the front office needs the leadership of a skilled football guy (GM or President) for free agent acquisitions and the draft. The approach over the last ten years or so has been poorly defined and feels very ad hoc from year to year. I think many of us would agree that a team with strong lines, the ability to run the ball (which is critical in poor weather) and a strong-armed quarterback would be a good start.

1. Right now, our o-line may be the worst in the NFL. Losing Peters (even the fat, out of shape and unmotivated Peters) has hurt the team significantly. 2. Turk is in over his head. He was never an OC before becoming the OC in Buffalo, and it shows. The offense is inept, and the inability to game plan against 3-4 defenses is telling. 3. The defense is average, and not good enough to win games on their own. 4. The so-called experts are right more than our front office. Whitner was a reach, it will be hard to replace Peters, and McCargo was not a first round talent. 5. Edwards will not thrive in Buffalo. Maybe it is the o-line or Turk's offense, but his unwillingness to throw down field exacerbates the problems. 6. The no-huddle will not work for the Bills because of the o-line and the play of Edwards. Also good strategy to announce the no huddle offense in preseason so that all of the teams that you play will prepare for it. 7. The Bills needed more than TO and Hangartner as free agent acquisitions. Having said that, I have no confidence in the front office's ability to identify talent, and I am concerned that Hangartner will not be an improvement over Fowler/Preston.

There is a lot of blame to go around, and I think Turk is part of the problem. What do you expect from an OC who had never been an OC before? The Bills do this all the time, and it never works out. Sprinkle in a terrible o-line and a qb who does not throw down the field and you have a disaster on offense.

The Bills searched for a quality LT for years after Will Wolford. Fina was okay at times, and so was Jennings, but Peters was the first real talent at that position in more than ten years. It is really hard to find a quality LT, and they do make a big difference on offense.

I think it is a fair point that trading Peters and releasing Dockery has had a very negative short term impact on the o-line. Wood seems like a player, but why does everyone expect the o-line to gel this season? That would assume that the front office acquired the right players to improve the o-line and the coaches have the ability to get two rookies and two holdovers (Walker and Butler) ready to play at a high level at new positions. Unfortunately, I have no confidence in the front office or the coaches that this will happen.

This is a bit depressing to me. The Bills lost Peters (we can argue, but at a minimum, a solid LT), so you would think that they would try to find a replacement for him at LT. Instead, they move Walker who was ok at RT, back to a position he could not handle when he played for the Raiders. Then the Bills draft Wood (a good move) and then Levitre (another guard, and they moved up to the second round to draft him). But Levitre has never played guard, and there may be issues about his size and ability to play guard. If playing Bell was a possibility, why did we draft Levitre? Picking up a LT in the draft or in free agency would have made a lot more sense. There would have been no need to draft Levitre, Butler could have stayed at guard, and Walker could have stayed at RT. Now we have a mess, and our LT will either be a project who may not be ready, or a veteran who does not want to play at that position and likely should not be playing at that position. Go Big Red!

Tim, Thanks for all of the great info. We very much appreciate it. Any insight into whether Trent Edwards and TO have developed any kind of a rapport (on the field and/or off the field)? Have not heard many comments about Trent from TO. It also seems that Lee Evans has been somewhat tepid in his comments about Trent recently. Any sense of that relationship, or Trent's relationship with the players on offense in general?

Yes, it is preseason, but... 1. It seems that Trent's confidence is not where it needs to be. I don't think TO's presence helps, because it doess not appear that they are building much of a rapport. Add in Lee Evan's tepid support and DJ's comments after the game, and I think there is a real problem brewing. One thing that is obvious is that while Trent can be very efficient, he is not making enough throws down the field. 2. The o-line is not jelling and there are many questions. Is Hangartner an upgrade? Can he handle nose takles in the 3-4? I guess I expect Hangartner to be a bust since our front office has not made one good free agent acquisition in five years (other than maybe Stroud, who the Bills received in a trade). Can Butler be an effective RT? Is Levitre a starting caliber guard at this point? Does he have the size to be an effective guard? Is Kugler a good coach? Has there been a drop off since Mouse retired. Not to be a pessimist, but I don't think the line will be ready for the Pats. 3. It hurts that Maybin signed late. I think it will be difficult for him to have a major role early in the season. Maybe it will not matter or maybe he would not have been ready in any event, but it sure would have helped to have in camp on time. I do not blame the Bills for this. 4. The team has not been developing any real superstars on offense or defense. There still seems to be some potential, but I am puzzled why no one other than Peters has been playing at a pro-bowl caliber level. I would have thought that Poz, Whitner and Evans would be at that level by now. I have a feeling that Whitner is in line to be replaced (by Byrd). Is it the coaching, the scheme or the drafting (i.e., the players)? I do not like the Tampa 2, and the defense is still not even close to playoff caliber. I miss the days of Pat Williams and Ted Washington. 5. The problems with the 3-4 defense are bizaare. Why is the offense still impotent when they face this defense? This makes no sense to me. 6. I guess the front office and the coaches were right about Crowell. I had read that he was in a fight to make the Bucs (before his injury). 7. I am somewhat optimistic about the draft class. Wood, Nelson, Harris, and Lankster have all showed ability.

The stats are not particularly surprising, except with regard to Butler. I thought the play of the o-line improved after he came back from injury. His stats are interesting, lowest score but a decent yard per run number. If he really did not play well last year, then I do not understand why we should expect that he will play better at right tackle (or why the Bills extended his contract last year). I am glad that the Bills addressed the interior of the o-line, but it is clear that the tackle position will be the next position that will need to be addressed. I do not think that we can reasonably expect Walker and Butler to excel at LT and RT, respectively. I am sure that opposing coaching staffs are drooling over attacking our tackles, our rookies in the intererior of the line and our inexperienced players at tight end. Not a recipe for keeping Trent Edwards healthy.

I think the o-line will be a real problem next year, but with future potential. We will miss Peters, and moving Walker to LT weakens both tackle positions. Wood and Levitre may become very good players, but it is unreasonable to assume that they both will be strong starters next year since they are inexperienced and will be learning new positions. With Peters, Dockery, Fowler/Preston and Royal all departing, there will a lot of new faces on the o-line next year, and they will need time to develop and gel. Unfortunately, our offense may be stymied while they try to do so.

I understand your point, but I really don't think this is about Brandon. Even if he is exceptionally competent, he has to rely on people who have made poor evaluations/decisions for years (i.e., Guy). Also, with cash to cap and other financial constraints, do the Bills really have the ability to compete? Sometimes I wonder.

I don't understand these types of posts. How can any of us evaluate Russ Brandon and the front office at this point? Who knows about the players that have been drafted or the other moves that have been made. I don't even know if Brandon is making all of the decisions, or if he is, when he was given this power. A couple of things I do know. First, Brandon does not have a background in scouting or prior GM experience. Second, some of the people in the front office in key positions are the same people who have been making poor evaluations for years. Third, the Bills have not made the playoffs in ten years. I really hope Brandon has success and our draft turns out to be a great draft. It is time for some positive results. Until this happens, I will have my doubts about our front office.

Some thoughts below. 1. I think this draft was weaker than many of us realized. The top ten in the first were not significantly better than the players picked at the bottom of the first. Many of the analysts were commenting on the overall weakness of this draft. Not a bad idea to trade up into the second under those circumstances. 2. Not sure I understand taking a guard in the first and in the second. I thought Butler was decent. Will they move him to RT? Is there a message here? Weird since Butler was extended last year. 3. Not to state the obvious, but Maybin is the key to this draft. This will be a great opportunity to evaluate the acumen of our talent evaluators since there were a number of similarly ranked defensive ends available when we picked Maybin (i.e., Ayers, Brown and Orakpo). I am concerned about his boom/bust potential. With the 11th pick in the first round (and with all of the money that he will be paid), I would want to draft as much of a sure thing as possible. Maybin, only starting one year at approximately 226 pounds, seems like a project and anything but a sure thing. 4. Are the Bills sending Whitner a message? Clearly, if Byrd can play and start at FS, Whitner will be back at SS. I can't imagine he can be happy about this, paritcularly since I thought there was concern that Whitner was getting too beat up at SS. I think the reality is that the Bills did not think they were getting enough plays from the FS position (i.e., interceptions), including when Whitner played at that position. 5. Interesting that none of Edwards, Boldin, Schefler were traded this weekend. It is hard to trade players when teams know that they are being shopped. I think trading Peters was terrible, but at least the Bills were able to get something in return (not enough, of course). 6. How can the Bills go into the season with Walker at LT and Bell/Chambers at RT? Maybe there will be another answer (i.e., Jones), but this seems like a disaster waiting to happen. It was weird to draft a second guard that may not get any playing time instead of a tackle. 7. Will Ellison be the starter again? This seems like a another problem area that still needs to be addressed. Our DT tackle situation is poor as well after Stroud. Johnson was something of a bust and McCargo has done nothing. No DTs drafted?

1. The Bills picked Wood and Levitre. The latter is projected inside as a guard. With Butler at RG, who plays left guard and center? The Bills have Wood, Levitre, Hangartner and McKinney to compete for those spots. I assume that Chambers will compete with Bell for RT. Is the plan to move Butler to RT? Will Levitre play tackle? Why two interior picks and no RT or LT? 2. I thought Whitner was moving to free safety, in part to protect him. Will Byrd be the new FS and Whitner will return to SS? 3. Who will be playing at TE? I can't believe that Fine will be the starter. 4. What about LB? Will Ellison remain the starter? Overall, another strange draft from the Bills. I do not understand the Byrd selection or taking two guards on the first day.

If Byrd can play left tackle, then we did okay.

I am not worried. Any mock by the Bills' front office has got to be completely different than how things really play out.

I had understood that the Bills paid TO a $4.0 millon signing bonus. If accurate, then this cannot be true.

I still fear that the Bills will take Pettigrew at #11, but I hope the selection is a DE. If it is, I expect that they will try to trade up from #28 to nab Pettigrew with their second pick in the first round.

I think the drafting of players has been okay, maybe slightly above average or average, but the Bills are atrocious at acquiring free agent talent. Dockery, Spencer Jonhson, Fowler, A. Thomas, Webster, Peerless Price, Reyes, Whittle; the list is long. The talent lost to free agency or from trades is becoming a real problem (and clearly is superior to the talent acquired). Peters, Winfield, Greer, Clements, Pat Williams--a pretty good group of players. Factor in the constant need to replace players lost, and it becomes clear why this team cannot improve.

I agree that the Bills have more important needs, but I have a bad feeling that he will be the pick at #11.