2020 Our Year For Sure

Ah maybe this is what happened. We were in a 3-4 alignment if I recall, with Kelsay the OLB on that side and Davis the ILB. The tight end is lined up on this side and is either going up the seam, or doing one of those 4-5 yard hitch routes. Davis takes a couple of steps in Kelsay's direction and makes contact with the tight end-- Kelsay breaks inside toward the tight end as well. My assumption was that Davis was chucking the tight end and that Kelsay's responsibility was the flat, and that he didn't realize McFadden was running a route and so broke inside to help out. The reality may have been that it was man-to-man coverage and that Kelsay had the TE and Davis had McFadden, and Davis was trying to get outside and got picked as you say. I wish I hadn't deleted the show off my DVR. This explanation does make more sense though.

My favorite football show that doesn't feature Chris Berman had quite a bit of Bills coverage this week, both good and bad. For those who haven't seen it, Sterling Sharpe hosts a panel alongside Joe Theisman, Brian Baldinger and this year Matt Millen. They do a good job of delving into the X's and O's for all 16 teams (there is a seperate show for the NFC) and it's obvious there is a significant amount of work put into it throughout the week by everyone involved. The Bad Matt Millen highlighted Leodis McKelvin and said Buffalo's secondary needs to do a better job of making a play on the ball in the air. They showed three plays where D. Moore of the Raiders beat McKelvin down the field. The first I think was in the 1st quarter, Leo had good coverage but failed to make a play, the second Moore had McKelvin beat cleanly and had no chance for a play (though Millen didn't seem to notice), and the third was the Raiders' final touchdown (which many posters are putting more on Wilson). Think it was Sterling said the Patriots* will attack your weaknesses, and for the Bills defense its the linebackers. He said Shawne Merriman used to be a premier pass rusher in the league, but the "legs aren't there." They showed one play where Merriman is trying to rush outside and called Merriman's legs "dead," saying "they actually stop moving here at a certain point," and for a moment, they did. As they rolled the play, however, I observed Merriman continuing to fight and eventually rounding the corner, but too far downfield, a la Schobel/Kelsay many a time. My personal thought is that we all know what we saw in the preseason; the man still has athleticism. The arm, though, is concerning, and he may never be healthy enough this year to prove he's still got it. Seemed like they disagree and don't believe he's capable of a very high level of play anymore. Continuing the LB theme, believe it was Theisman highlighted a swing pass to McFadden that went for a touchdown in which Andre Davis and Chris Kelsay both went to the tight end in the middle/seam, leaving DMC all alone in the flat. I'd think it was Kelsay's fault as he's the one lined up outside. Theisman commented that you can't make these errors against New England*. Think it was Sterling that said our LBers are "old" and lack the speed to make up for these kinds of mistakes. When they did the Raiders/Jets matchup one of them (believe it was Theisman again) talked about how Rex Ryan 'makes a living' stopping people from running the ball, and the Raiders won't get the same looks against the Jets that they did against Buffalo, complete with tape of a bunch of successful McFadden runs, many of which he got the edge on us. The Good They all had only good things to say about Fitzpatrick. Love the way he reads the defense, gets the ball out of his hands quickly. Theisman commented he loves the way Gailey has put the offense together and that Fitzpatrick is the perfect match. Somebody talked about how most of it is underneath stuff and he's been good at finding the right guy and has almost always been accurate with the ball. Freddie got some love as well. They showed The Rifle's mic'd up segment, complete with a pregame visit from Jim Kelly on the field. Jim wished Fitz good luck, have a great game, and hugged him. Fitz was low key and almost mumbled when he said, "Thanks Jim, good to see ya." Went to Sterling and Theisman alone on a different set and Sterling said this Bills team is starting to remind him a lot of the Buffalo Bills '91 team "that went to their second SuperBowl." Theisman commented, "I remember them." They showed a Kelly touchdown pass followed by a Fitz touchdown pass, a Thurman touchdown run followed by that 40-yard TD run Freddy had to make it 21-10 where he put that nasty juke on the safety. Sterling said Fitzpatrick has 7 TD passes through two games, and Kelly had 8. Freddy started off this year with two 100-yard games, and "guess what," Thurman started off the year with two 100-yard games as well. "For this reason, I'm picking the Bills." [everyone else took NE*] Sharpe went on to say the Bills aren't just a surprise team, he believes they're ready to be "one of the best teams we talk about every week." Said Buffalo is "poised to break out." Hope I'm getting those quotes right, if not its very close. They also talked at some point about how New England* has been playing a lot of man coverage, highlighted Vincent Jackson's performance last week and said Buffalo will attack down the field and in the seams looking for this "trail or man coverage." I probably left some stuff out, it was a few hours ago that I watched. Perhaps someone else who saw can dot the I's and cross the T's, and correct me if need be. If you get the chance I highly recommend checking this week's episode out, tons of interesting Bills coverage and a chance to learn something about every other AFC team. I'm reasonably sure you'll find it more informative than most of the other football coverage you'll find on television. Let's hope Sterling Sharpe is the smartest guy in that room, huh?

Fitz called Captain Jackson our emotional leader as well. He is crucial

It's the worst when I wake up early Sunday morning. You wanna forget about what's coming so the time will go faster, but you just can't! The anticipation is too great

So far I'm very wrong about Demetrius Bell, and couldn't be happier about it!

Very scary considering how good Shawne is at using his hands to fight off offensive lineman and how important that is for any pass rusher, but especially he in particular.

Haha well done

Hope so! But keep in mind this could be Freddy's only big payday as an NFL player. It makes sense he'd want to be paid market value.

$5M a year won't get it done with Captain Jackson in my opinion. Believe I read that Adrian Peterson is getting $13M/season over the first 4 years of his new deal. Don't think Freddy will be happy with less than half of that. I'm thinking around 8 a year.

To go with John's point, David Nelson in particular looks like a very good blocker. Might be why they run some play action plays where he is used like a tight end, chipping before catching a pass near the line of scrimmage. Did Steve Johnson talk about his health at all?

Boston Globe reporter says on her Twitter Hernandez has an MCL sprain and will likely miss 1-2 weeks. Boston Herald also thinks it likely Still have to worry about Gronkowski-Chad-Branch-Welker-Woodhead in the passing game, but you'd think it would change their gameplan and limit the two-TE sets they love to run.

I do believe we were out of timeouts here, Beerball. We had burned one needlessly when the clock was already stopped, and we used the final one after the third down completion to Nelson.

Isn't Seymour playing DT in a 4-man front for them? Agree with your sentiment here though. Bell is the BIGGEST surprise in the early going in my opinion, and there have been a bunch of nice surprises on this team. Pears...should be a backup. He's not horrible but he makes a few blunders every game. I'm no coach but I do think he was better yesterday than in week 1, however.

here here! Well said, John

Good stuff Bill, agree with every one of your points except I'm on the fence about #2. Maybe you can share with us what it is about Merriman that has you so encouraged. He did look like a monster in the preseason. McKelvin is a disaster. Sometimes the coverage is decent and sometimes he gets beat clean. Unfortunately even when he's there, he is useless because he never makes a play on the football. Stevie Johnson needs to show the poor kid how to go up and attack the ball in the air. Here's to hoping he's not on the 2012 roster. We are going to miss McGee like mad before the thing is over, we already did today. Despite ALL FOUR (Boss) of their top receivers being out to injury, silver helmets ran wide open through our secondary the entire game. It was baffling. Kelly the Dog is right that Campbell played well, but I thought we made it easy for him. At a certain point my father and myself agreed that we might as well start blitzing because we couldn't cover anyone anyway. It's frustrating to watch a pass defense that can't get a rush yet can't cover at the same time. Seemed from here that McKelvin got thrown at far more than Florence on the other side, who I still think is solid. Don't feel like going back and quoting, but to the guy who bolded and agreed with the statement, "I like everything about where the team is at right now," yet has in his signature, "Keep hope alive, new ownership in 2011": Buddy Nix put this team together. Who do you think put Nix in a position to do so? We know the man isn't perfect, but the point stands. Ralph was responsible for the Bills' failures, and is also responsible for the Bills' successes. I'm blown away by both Fitzpatrick and Captain Jackson. The Rifle said in his postgame conference that Freddy is the emotional leader and that the team rallies around him. He also mentioned 3 or 4 different times the confidence he got from the guys with him in the huddle, how good it felt to "know we were gonna get the job done before it happened." And you can see it in their play on the field. Everyone plays at full speed, everyone is decisive-- even Spiller who was the picture of indecisiveness last year. Freddy, Fitz and Stevie lead by example and this entire offense has bought into what Gailey is selling. I believe they can drop 30 on any team in the league because I am 100% sure that THEY believe it. You can make the unprovable argument that we'd be significantly better with Lee Evans, but between the guys mentioned plus Nelson and Chandler, Fitz has a healthy compliment of reliable weapons to go to, even with Roscoe out. Stevie Johnson's health is still crucial, however. The reason it's good we have cap room is so we can lock up those three offensive leaders, and I fully expect the front office to make that happen before long. Pears still makes me nervous, seems susceptible to the bull rush. I'm even more nervous with Chad Rinehart next to him. He doesn't look ready to me. Hope Chan can coach him up in 7 days. I see the point made often that Fitz doesn't get much time to throw, but he's so damn good at reading the defense and deciding where to go with the football quickly that it doesn't even matter. It really can't be stressed enough and it's one of the main reasons we won today. He and Gailey are just a picture perfect match. Gailey is a terrific leader for a young football team, he knows what strings to pull (see: Levitre, Andy), what messages to send his players and what they need to be prepared for each week. I remember him saying during the week that he tried his best to get them to understand how physical and taxing this game was going to be, and how they needed to play 4 full quarters and fight through it. I think they got the message, Coach. George Edwards...I don't know, gentlemen. They'd split their fullback out wide and he'd get a 10-yard cushion like he was Marshall Faulk. Minimal blitzing on a normally-jittery quarterback like Campbell. As previously stated, 4th and 5th WRs on the depth chart running loose in the secondary for 60 minutes. Thank heaven for Marcel Dareus and Kyle Williams, the two best players on our defense are right in the middle of the line where they can control the run game and push the pocket. We really need to find a perimeter rush somehow, someway, however, or more quarterbacks will take advantage in similar fashion to Campbell. Back to the lab, Wanny. I can't tell you how much fun we had watching this game today, I've never seen one quite like it. When it was over it felt like we'd survived a tornado. Guess that's part of what it is to be a Bills fan! 2-0! Damn that looks good! Kick your heels up and SHOUT!

It doesn't matter if he stays with the receiver or not because he never makes a play on the ball in the air. Knock the ball down young man!

Who the hell thinks about THIS less than 12 hours before we follow up an opener like the one we had last week?

Moreso Cincinnati in recent years

The fact that he's winning is exactly why we DO care, haha

this isnt legitimate until 'Fitz' is an option! I like Amish Rifle myself but gotta give 'em the choice or its a paper crown

The problem is that Ralph's favorite team is the Lions.

The defensive lines are very similar to my eyes. Both teams are crazystrong in the middle but with average Ends, but with a good rush 'backer that will take plenty of snaps in a 3-point stance. Both DLs have good depth to boot. While I believe [Pro Bowler] Kyle Williams, Dareus, Nick Barnett and Andra Davis will again do a solid job of clogging the running lanes in the middle, I'm concerned about McFadden's ability to get to the edge and make you pay for it. Jamaal Charles did find some room outside last week. You can say the same about the other side, however-- the Raiders OLB by your own admission are suspect, and Buffalo did a great job last week of opening holes in the run game, be it inside or out. What worries me if I'm a Raiders fan looking at this game is that Buffalo's passing game was more effective in week 1 than Oakland's. Chan Gailey and Ryan Fitzpatrick are locked in and clicking on all cylinders right now. If you're honest with yourself, can you say the same for Jackson and Campbell? Additionally, Jackson couldn't get his team mentally prepared to get through a football game without shooting themselves in the foot via penalties, even given weeks of preparation time. What happens now in a shortened week? The Raiders are a better football team than most people will give you credit for. They are solid along both trenches and have a dynamic, workhorse RB and that's more than a lot of teams can claim. I shouldn't think this would be a blowout either way unless someone starts turning it over like mad. But Buffalo has a better signal-caller and is playing with more focus and discipline. Add in the energy level of a home opener and the Bills have to be the frontrunner here.

This calls for a poll! Someone do the honors !

With you on the Pittsburgh pick, Seattle is awful and LeBeau will embarrass T. Jackson. If they couldn't run on SF they won't be able to run here either. Good timing for Roethlisberger and company to get on track after last week. I'm taking a chance and jumping in on Buffalo this week. I imagine Gailey and Wannstedt watching the Raiders-Broncos tilt live, finding the weaknesses in Oakland on both sides of the ball. We looked so well-prepared in KC and I believe we will be again. Then there's Oakland, with their 2-3 day practice week, with their rookie head coach Jackson taking them cross-country and back in time 3 hours. Never a certainty with our Bills of course My third bet is Baltimore -6 @TEN. The Ravens were machine-like in week 1, while Tennessee losing to a team like Jacksonville was a big letdown. Rookie HC Munchak just doesn't seem to have it together yet, following an abbreviated offseason that saw them bring in a new starting quarterback and lose the face of their franchise to holdout through the majority of their preparation time.

Other than find a Drew Brees and improve the offensive front, what is it Buffalo needs to do to approach a team like the Saints?