ChasBB

Saw some college video of him -- looked like he was mostly blocking TE in college. Would like to see just about anyone take Chandler's spot at this point.

JW - I appreciate your input. This is precisely why I asked the question -- reporters, such as yourself, have insights on these matters that I do not. And, I agree with you -- as I've alluded to a couple of times above, already, that there is nothing earth-shattering in this particular incident of Williams returning to safety -- anyone who remotely follows the team could've figured out that was about to happen. That said, I do not think that my concerns should be entirely dismissed -- as evidenced by the Super Bowl shovel pass story above. And the Antoine Winfield story you share just underscores my concerns (albeit not due to open practices) that I hope the Bills are coaching-up their players properly on what to share and what not to share with the media. Yes, the case I used to highlight the closed-practice argument regarding Williams is a weak one, but I still believe my overall concern about limiting information as much as feasibly possible is a legitimate concern. Most games are decided by only a small handful of plays. And it only takes one little tidbit of carelessly-guarded information to tip-off the opponent about one (or more) of these plays and to possibly play a factor in determining the outcome of a game (and, again, I reference the Super Bowl shovel pass story). If there's one Bilichick out there who will tape the opponent's signal calls, then you have to figure there are more Bilichick-types out there. Furthermore, if a Bilichick-type will tape the opponent's signal calls, where will they stop?

Maybe you are right. I just hope the Bills organization is always being vigilant about protecting themselves is all. Thanks for your reply -- good points.

Agree. I'm not much of a Rex fan, but I do admire him for this.

You're right, I do not know that they as being casual for sure based on one reporter having one tidbit of information. I'm just saying if I'm the coach, no reporter is going to know where Aaron Williams is going to line up under my watch. I'm not giving the opponent anything -- nada, zip, zilch -- the opponent gets not one little tidbit of info from me if I'm in charge. This reporter somehow figured how where Williams was lining up. That shouldn't happen. And this is probably a small matter in this particular case, but it opens the possibility that the Bills' are not being as protective of their plans as they need to be. Also, as per the media relations policy link that Chandemonium provided above (http://www.pfwa.org/2012MP.pdf), it states that only LOCAL media is permitted -- which, of course makes sense. If I'm the Bills, I'm having a little side conversation with the local reporter who made that statement about Aaron Williams appearing at safety in practice and reminding him that he can be uninvited from these press conferences. To me, Marrone was clearly a little annoyed with the question.

I don't think regular season practice quite the same as training camp because now they are game planning, unlike training camp -- totally different matter, IMO. This is not something to be casual about (as evidenced with the shovel pass story above).

Oh, and here is the key excerpt from the shovel pass story (http://sports.espn.g...10122-article35): "The Bills had a surprise for the Dallas Cowboys that Sunday in Atlanta in 1994, but the camera had an even bigger surprise for the Bills. Scouting and film study had told the Bills the favored Cowboys were vulnerable to the shovel pass, so Buffalo amended its usual game plan to include it. The idea was perfect: Thurman Thomas would sneak inside to exploit the hard rush employed by the Cowboys' defensive line. Buffalo planned to use it three or four times, to rip off chunks of yardage and keep the pass rush honest. One play, many uses. It could have been Levy's masterstroke. "This camera, however, recorded the Bills on a Saturday afternoon, practicing the shovel pass. It was shot for background footage for an Atlanta TV station, meant to convey nothing. But the Cowboys caught a glimpse of the Bills practicing the play, and they got ready for it. So ready that the Bills, of all rotten luck, could do little more than suffer their fourth and final Super Bowl loss of the '90s. "I still don't know where that camera came from," Kelly says now. "The play was our surprise, and instead we got surprised."" Glad to hear this, but I'm still curious as to how this reporter knew Williams was playing at safety if this is true. Seems they might be a bit lax with their enforcement. If I'm the Bills, I'm personally escorting these guys OUT of the facility.

Ok, thanks for that information. I did not know that. I would hope the team is paying attention to when this portion is and is being pretty generic during this time period -- or even knowingly doing something different than they will do in the game to throw people off. That's just the way I'd approach. No way I'm tipping my hand to anyone about any aspect of the game plan or personnel decisions no matter how minor they may seem. Sure, nothing earth-shattering about Williams going back to safety, but that's one less thing the opponent has to guess about. Yeah, I'm probably making too big a deal of this, but I have more of a Belichick mentality with stuff like this. Less is better. Very interesting about all practices being open for 30 minutes. If I'm Marrone, my team is doing stretches for 30 minutes. No way I'm running plays in front of a bunch of media types. I recall Jim Kelly lamenting the fact that they practiced the shovel pass in front of cameras in preparation for one of the Dallas Super Bowls and Jimmy Johnson just happened to see the clip and so prepared his defense for the shovel pass. This type of stuff seriously impacts wins and losses.

I found it interesting that the opening question in today's Doug Marrone press conference (http://www.buffalobills.com/video/videos/Doug_Marrone_Wednesday_Press_Conference/2dc72eb3-6644-45e4-999e-f091f529bd7a) was someone who appeared to have some insight as to what position Aaron Williams was practicing at today. Here was the question: "Aaron Williams was at safety today. Is that the plan this week in terms of where he'll be ... ?" To me, it didn't look like Marrone was too thrilled about the question and tried to answer it as vaguely as he could. I don't know what the policy is, but if I'm the coach, no effin way am I letting the general media in to watch practices. What the hell is wrong with this organization when it comes to stuff like this? All regular season practices should be fully and completely CLOSED to the media.

With the secondary getting healthy, I like this team's chances of stringing some wins together starting now.

I agree. I think Bills win, too.

http://movie-sounds.org/romance-movie-sound-bites/breakfast-at-tiffany-s-1961/snow-flurries-expected-this-weekend-in-new-orleans

No, it's not ok.

How many times did we fans torch Jauron for not even trying to score at the end of a half. Now we got a guy who tries to score and still no one is happy. If he scores or at least gets first downs, everyone is happy. I'll take Marrone ANY DAY over what we've had in the past. I like the aggression and I don't give a damn who's stadium we're playing in.

+1

Hey, I know I'm being simplistic, but the NFL isn't going to move move Buffalo ahead of Miami even if Buffalo destroys Miami today. However, destroying Miami today would be a nice start in that direction!

No, the Jets are 3-3 and the Bills are 2-4. Sorry, it's all about the Win column -- that is the only stat I rely on to determine the better team. Oh, and it's the only stat the NFL relies on, too. Right now, the Jets are the better team (not to mention they already beat the Bills, too).

Until the Bills have more Wins than Miami, Miami is the better team. It's all about the Win column -- it's the only stat that matters.

At this rate, how many QBs will be floating around in free agency next season who know the Bills' playbook inside and out?!

Why do you assume I think they'd take a QB with the top pick?! Never said Manning was done. Agree with you entirely about the talent around Manning. Didn't mean to insinuate they'd take a QB with my reference to Luck -- just talking top pick here, is all.

I think the hit on the punter above the one of the kicker is even more brutal.

I kind of envy the Giants right now and the Colts a couple of years ago in the Luck sweepstakes. At least these near-perennial playoff teams know how to tank it the right way and get the top pick of the draft. Mediocrity kills.

If the playoffs started today, a 3-3 team would capture the final wild card spot. That means Buffalo is only 1 game out at this point (not withstanding tie-breakers). Too early to give up on this season. They could easily have a much better record. This team needs to learn to WIN and decide they will NOT walk off the field losers. They can be good enough to earn a wild card spot, but they have to understand no more moral victories -- that's just not good enough.

EJ up in the box with OC

+1