4BillsintheBurgh

I have a rough idea. I know if we actually find a franchise qb it will be almost impossible to have both.

No, it means the same head coach is in his third year. Does anyone know if we still follow "cash-to-cap"? Assuming we do of course, until the new owner may change that philosophy.

Following your reasoning Kirby, don't you think it's a good idea for the staff to get Hogan on the field this preseason with the ones to see if he can handle the pressure starting given his past? Plus maybe it motivates Woods? It seems to me like he has handled it this preseason, right? I haven't seen him drop too many balls and he hasn't made it easy on Woods to get reps with the ones. I have to imagine there is some mental training to be able to catch a football under the pressure of a game and he needed some time to work that out. While I agree with you about the talent or a seemingly low ceiling with Hogan, you also need guys that can move the sticks. With Hogans work in the offseason and our lack of of a high quality te I think he can play a role in the offense and not just special teams this year. I kind of look at him like Josh Reed, he's a slot guy that can catch the ball and hopefully get first downs. But unlike when we had Josh, I think the talent level of our other wr's is high so I am not so concerned about Hogan if he can get open and catch the ball once the season starts, which he has given every indication he will be able to do per this preseason. Comparing him with Da'rick is tough though because I think you have a slot guy versus an outside guy and I'm not sure they were ever in direct competition for a roster spot. Just my opinion.

When I was at camp he got some reps during the 1 on 1 portion of the practice and he didn't look too accurate. If he needs injury to get a chance so be it, but I don't think he shows enough in the reps he does get at practice to warrant him playing with the twos. It's a disservice to the twos and I agree that we do not need to spend reps on him. Heck, I'd rather have seen EJ with the first team oline play into the third quarter for at least two or three of our 5 preseason games this year.

+1 Playing time is earned, not given. If a qb can't make the throws in practice you haven't earned it. Tebow is the ultimate "gamer" and look what that's gotten him.

My thoughts are that he was so much larger than most in college he did not need to have refined technique, he could pretty much maul folks. His weak bench press and poor combine in general tells me that he didn't work hard enough in college. Now that he's in the nfl and the guys are strong, big and fast, he needs to spend time on technique and strength. Kujo hasn't played football for too long, and he has potential for the future. Since we have Pears it's a good gamble that if Kujo reforms his body and technique he may be able to make some waves at RT. I think he looks a lot like Mike adams, the ot on the steelers from ohio st. Mike had to play a little last year, sucked then and he still isn't ready to be a starter. Hopefully Kujo is driven to improve himself, and I assume that desire is why the Bills drafted him.

I had forgotten about the jumps Cle made to get those players. When you move up, esp with the 3rd rounder, you better be correct about a guy. Although you could look at that pick as Trent Richardson and a third.

You do have a couple more picks coming though, and you should compare the whole package. That will probably be easier to do next year around this time.

The steelers allow zero video of the practice. I was talking to Chris Brown and he was concerned about getting a report filed due to no highlights. I told him me and a guy I met at practice could do a re-enactment if he wanted. So I think the only way the fans get anything useful out of what's going on is for someone to transcribe it. Actually, I know Astro does some work for us and there is that Mike guy who does something similar for another website but I haven't seen much of that this year. Just some of my non-professional report observations: Out of the injured Bills, I only saw Meoki and Goodwin working with the trainer, performing some foot skill drills etc. I was watching the steeler lbs on the bills rb/te in 1 on 1 drills from field level and we did pretty well. Freddie looked like he saw stars at one point, but didn't go down or anything. I should have watched Spiller more, but I did not think about it and I ended up walking around the field to the bleacher side in order to get a better look at the overall practice. The 1 on 1 drills with the db/wr's were interesting and I thought the steelers wr's got open more than they should have. I saw the Moye catch on Gilmore and it just looks like Gilmore takes a few extra steps, almost looping around to get back to the wr. He did it when another guy ran a slant on him too. I will say most (not all) of the plays made seemed to be against our guys likely to not make the team. Robey made a couple good plays in this session. The main thing I took from the 7 on 7 drills was we were getting the ball out pretty slowly. There were some nice throws but also some bad ones and at least one occasion where the ball never came out at all. Offense: I watched the Bills offense vs the Steelers D primarily in the 11 on 11 drills and the Bills had execution problems in the passing game. Whether the throws were off or the passes dropped, it looked sloppy to me. I was not encouraged by the work any of the qbs put in. EJ has a long way to go and Tuel/Thad were up and down. Consistency is a big deal at any of the positions and we didn't have much yesterday between the qb's/wr's. Balls were thrown to the wrong hips or at the knees or on the outside of the catchable arc. I worry about our guys' ribs at this point, some of the balls had hospital written all over them. The one Sammy dropped had him outstretched in the middle of the field and I thought if he had made the catch he could have protected himself, it would have been close. I thought the running game was decent, and Spiller showed his explosiveness a couple times. The steelers should still have a pretty good run defense this year so I was happy with what we did against them even though every play wasn't a home run. I didn't think Rodriguez had a good practice, I think he missed a pass blocking assignment and dropped at least one ball. Wingo didn't do well either but I think both of these guys aren't making it anyway. QB's I thought EJ had his up and downs but it looked like he is getting some coaching to try and help. While I was disappointed, I don't think he's that far off of where he should be. I don't think he has the accuracy to be in the P Manning/Rodgers/Brady/Brees class of qb I think he could still get to the Flacco type qb. He needs to keep improving and he's certainly the best we have, but I do not think he will put it together until later in the season. I thought Tuel looked like the #2 and Thad the #3. Thad had too many poor throws to go with his couple of good throws/runs and Tuel was less extreme and slightly better with the good verus bad throws. Dixon just wasn't getting much done out there. EJ and Hogan threw about 10 passes after practice working on an square in and stop route. I was guessing one of them had an issue on it during practice. I was actually hoping I would see some more throws but that was about it. WR's At the beginning of practice TJ was warming up with the top wr's and not participating in the kickoff coverage unit walk thru and I think he is not making the team. He did do some punt returning during the team portion, dropping one ball and running a couple others back. He has good plays and bad during team work, but I will also join the "I don't see how he makes the team" crowd. I hope he does well enough on punt returns during these last preseason games to where someone will give us a low round pick for him but I'm not banking on it. Hogan caught the ball consistently, he was the only one that I saw doing that. Out of the practice squad candidates Tori Gurley caught my eye a couple times and I thought Roosevelt had a decent day. I expected more from Elliot and no one else caught my eye. Overall I was disappointed with the offense and the qb play along with the wide receivers as detailed above. I couldn't really see the oline enough to comment on the pass blocking, but I think the ball wasn't coming out too quickly and that didn't help. I can see why the reporters were not happy but since this was my first bills camp practice ever I don't have much to compare it to. Defense When I did look over to the defensive side of the practice field on 11 on 11's it seemed to go better because there wasn't a lot of cheering from the crowd and most of the time when I looked over the defense was making a play, either a run stop or a tackle/pass breakup. But take it for what it is, me stealing glances over there in between offensive plays. I am excited about the first team run defense, to me they have looked for real and should get that part of our d into the top half of the league. So in the end watching practice took a little of that offseason hope out of me, and while our passing game will be better I just don't know if we'll have enough to make the playoffs. It was one practice, but it confirmed for me some of he things that have been written that were identified as problems. Hopefully our passing game will be good enough to hurt teams playing 8 in the box. If we can do that I think we can win some games. We just need better execution.

Well, it's either that or Marrone likes bigger oline than Chan because of what he expects them to be able to do. So I don't think Urbik and Pears are long term answers, and if one of the Marrone guys can supplant a Chan guy sooner rather than later, then great.

I think my main counter will be Sammy Watkins. Sounds like a plan coming together.

One nice thing about playing the nfc north is schwartz has a lot of info on them and probably an axe to grind. That's not going to hurt. I think we get to 10 wins if all facets of our team play to their talent.

I'll throw "Smooth" into the ring.

If I remember correctly, Bryce Browns issue was holding on to the ball. Hopefully he's got that issue corrected.

I'm guessing he has to lose some weight and they don't want to do it too quickly.

Do you mean Elliot? I think Hogan already is on ST. You have to look at slot vs outside wr's also, if we keep 6 do you have 3 guys on the inside with woods doing both in a pinch or do you go with 2 inside including woods and 4 outside? I also think we may see some TJ Graham returning KO/punts late in preseason games if the front office thinks they can get something for him in a trade. If he can catch the ball consistently in practice, of course.

I think the one issue with the hurry up offense and the subsequent pressure it puts on your defense is that you tend not to use starters/high snap count guys for special teams. We seem to have enough talent on special teams to excel from the non-starter pool and the onus will be on Crossman this year to have the guys making plays.

Other than not getting the tickets?

You sent the wife in? Is your picture up in the store as a "do not let this man in"?

I'm with you. On the other hand, a lot has been said about how well Hughes was performing going against OT's not named glenn. I think kujo is a mauler but he isn't strong enough or good enough technique-wise yet, but we'll see how he progresses through camp.

Still recovering from http://www.anthrocon.org/

Pittsburgh had a stadium that still had the original principle owed on it after 30 years. Voters voted against any taxpayer funded solution. Heintz field was still built. At least the state made the team increase the tax base by building up the area businesses as a way to get something back for the taxpayers. I feel articles like this one contribute to the downfall of newpapers/reporters because of a lack of content. The guy has listened to some people and then gives his opinion. How about an example where a community was hurt and why along with an example of where it worked and why.

I am going to try, I should be able to. I will try to get a ticket to the night practice, that should be good.

I'm with you Estro. I think the biggest factor in the change of thought process was Ralph's passing. I think OBD got that "we're probably one and done" feeling so they did what they could to improve their resume by signing folks and making the move for Sammy. As far as cap space, that could be looked at a reason to not franchise him, but I think that can also be worked around as the Saints did when they decided Byrd was worth 9 mill a year and they didn't have the space. I think the bigger issue was the cash outlay, especially if they wanted to spend some money in free agency already. And the players understand the business side of the game also so I doubt there was any hard feelings or distractions there even if he came in late. If I remember correctly he even sat one extra week last year because Marrone and staff thought he needed the time after he said he was ready.

1. Johnny Manziel - Minnesota 2. Jadeveon Clowney - Jacksonville 3. Blake Bortles - Cleveland 4. Khalil Mack - Texans 5. Mike Evans - Buffalo