MRW

I'm finally seeing what you saw in Edwards, Bill. IMO it just wasn't all there last year but he had a great performance today and is rapidly becoming a very good player. So I'm on board with Edwards.

Yep, I'd be a bit surprised if the coaches were getting anything out of this. The NFL definitely is, though.

First of all, you're comparing sacks given up between a right guard and a left tackle. Completely different positions. Second, the team management certainly seems to think he's better than Butler. They're paying him that way. Third, observers around the league have Peters marked as one of the most promising young linemen in the game at the moment. Fourth, yeah he did make the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl is not always the best gauge of talent, but for an UDFA offensive lineman to get in there shows me something. Fifth, why am I even arguing this? Butler better than Peters? Are you kidding me?

Ha! Well, that is evidence (as if we didn't know) that even the best coach can't do it without the players. Martz ran that franchise into the ground with his emphasis on his gimmicky players for offense and lack of attention to D, OL, and ST. April has to be loving it here with a front office that takes STs as seriously as he does.

As much as he frustrated me at times, I though DJ was the right coach for a team as talent-starved and in upheaval as the Bills have been the last two years. The team badly needed a stabilizing influence, which he provided. The question for me was always whether he could take a team with more talent to the next level. Based on the look of things, we should have our answer by the end of the season. I like the impression so far, but I'm not going to go overboard praising him just yet.

Question - how much longer do you think April flies under the radar? As I watch retreads and QB coaches take head coaching gigs around the league I wonder why no one is considering April. His special teams are consistently the most prepared and imaginative unit out on the field on Sundays. I think he's richly deserving of a shot at at a head gig, as devastating a loss as it would be for the team.

I'm sorry, but I read through this topic and I continue to feel like I just watched a completely different game than those arguing that Peters should sit even if he's ready, or even that he's trade bait (ha!). Chambers had a very solid game, for a backup tackle. To think that means we shouldn't get our best 5 offensive linemen out there as quickly as possible is just crazy talk.

With JP's beard, this takes on a whole new meaning.

There's sticking to your guns, and then there's cutting off your nose to spite your face. I'm glad the Bills didn't give in to Peters, and I'm ecstatic the line performed as well as it did against Seattle. However, when Peters is in game shape, it would be ludicrous to keep him off the field to prove some further point, IMO. Saying that the Bills line is better without him is wishful thinking at its finest.

I felt JP got a bum deal from this organization, but it's water under the bridge. Personally I hope he keeps the beard for entertainment value. Who knows, by week 5 there may be a family of birds nesting there. I'm one who's been critical of TE in the past, but he wasn't making big mistakes out there, and in the first 20-25 minutes no one on either side was catching anything. Conditions looked pretty bad out there. He also played smart, stepping up in the pocket and giving Chambers the opportunity to buy him time. If he delivers this kind of solid play you won't hear any complaints from me.

The Democrats called the FISA bill a "compromise" too. That choice of words alone doesn't really tell us anything.

Peters/Walker is a massive upgrade over Walker/Chambers, even if Peters doesn't know all the fine details of the offense.

I like this Tim Graham fella. Has a good sense of humor but seems to take his job seriously and actually offer some insight.

I've been impressed with how Fewell has coached an undermanned defense (much like how I've felt with Jauron and the team as a whole) and now at least on paper I think he has the players to do more. This has the makings of the strongest secondary I've seen in a while. I think it all comes back to Stroud though. If he is a force in the middle I think you will see Fewell become more comfortable with really letting things fly.

Haha, yeah, I'm trying to make a name for myself with a bold prediction so I can come back in 5 months and say "I told you so!"

He's like a coach on the field.

Barring injury to key players (Brady, possibly Moss) I don't see them having any trouble making the playoffs. I do think they will find their regular season success from last year tough to duplicate. Their defense has some serious question marks. Still, they are still the best team in this division and I don't think the Bills are going to knock them off this year. What I saw last year vs. the Patriots was a team that didn't even think it belonged on the same field as them, then went out and proved it. I'll be pleased if the Bills at least show some heart this year. Last year's games were disgusting.

But it really is meaningless to cite what the offense as a whole scored during the game and use that as an indication of how the starting team performed. I don't intend that as a personal attack against you, but in my opinion you're simply not making a good argument here. I'd be equally dismissive if the Bills had put up massive point totals in the third and fourth quarter and someone was trying to present that as evidence that the offense would be an unstoppable juggernaut this year. "Preseason is meaningless" is an easy phrase that gets thrown around entirely too much in my opinion. Let me ask you this, if Trent went through this preseason and went 5/20 for 30 yards with 2 picks, would you or would you not be concerned? Isn't the fact that he did considerably better than that worthy of some notice and possibly some cautious optimism? Preseason doesn't tell you everything, but it tells you something.

I'm not making a big deal of it, but I do think it's worth pointing out that in previous years pitiful offense in the preseason has presaged pitiful offense in the regular season. It's nice to see that change this year at least; if the offense had come out as flat in the last two games as it did in Washington I think people would be concerned and rightly so. As far as whether preseason is meaningless - yes, if you look at final scores and base your hopes or fears on that it absolutely is. But I don't think it's unreasonable to look at how the players who will be starting opening day perform. (And where you see axiom, I see cliche.) Please refrain from trying to cast me as some woolly-headed optimist. I don't know what I've posted that you're basing that on, but it's pretty obnoxious.

Why do they play the games then? What's really meaningless is when you take stats for the entire game and use them to characterize the performance of the starting offense. Somehow, I'm not too concerned that the offense scored just 17 points against the Steelers when the starters put up 14 of those points on the first two drives.

Henning saw and was able to nurture the seeds that would eventually blossom into mediocrity.

3 years is a long time. Yes, there's no need for the Bills to antagonize him, but do you have any evidence that that's what the team is doing? I certainly haven't seen anyone from the Bills front office saying "Screw Jason Peters, we don't need him." Right now both sides are playing hardball, but until I see some proof otherwise, I don't think either side is treating it as anything other than just business. And whatever hurt feelings there may be, there's another two seasons after this one for the Bills to toss a nice juicy contract extension in front of Peters which I am confident he will sign if the price is right.

Please Bill, stop.

If you're basing things on preseason, TE locked up the starting spot with his performance against Pitt. One or two exceptional outings from JP at this point would not change this. Now, if Edwards really struggles during the regular season (and I mean JP first year starting kind of struggles), you may see JP coming in. But I doubt that because I see Edwards being at worst just ineffective, not looking totally unready.

I still like JP and hope he does well but if you think there will be a QB controversy based on how he does in a preseason game you are delusional.