Got_Wood

Well, I think Trent no doubt has the rest of the year to prove he is worthy. Not looking great so far, but there is still time for him. I'm not a big fan of running anyone out of town without giving them a fair shot first. Now Jauron on the other hand...

Of course it is. But it's the quarterback's job to find these guys. In fact, that is Edwards #1 priority on game day: find open receivers. If he can't do it, then he has to go. BUT, I actually have faith in Edwards. I think he is capable. But like I said, we need to start forcing the big play. I REALLY don't want to have to groom another starting quarterback in Buffalo.

I think a lot of it has to do with the way he's coached. The playbook has consisted of a lot of Fred Jackson and our TE's so far. Once again, TO and Evans aren't here to be decoys. And it has to fall on Trent's shoulders if he can't find these guys. From Evans after the game: “I don’t think the philosophy necessarily has to change, the way that things were going we had plenty of opportunities,” Evans said. “We just didn’t get it done. I feel like we had some opportunities and we just didn’t take advantage of them.”

I agree. They have been open on some of those routes in games, but Edwards hasn't found them. Here is one issue I had with a particular play I saw yesterday: We had Owens wide right, Fine lined up on the right, Evans wide left, and Reed in the slot on the left side. When the ball is snapped Owens and Evans just run straight up the field both half speed as if they're supposed to just run the corners out of the play, Reed runs a 7 yard dig across the middle and Fine runs a 7 yard out. Problem with this play: Reed and Fine ran to the SAME EXACT SPOT ON THE FIELD and the defenders were crowded around them. Edwards didn't even have another option on the play because Owens and Evans were just jogging down field. Seriously. This was the worst play design that I have ever seen. And it wasn't the only one. If these are the plays they're drawing up for these guys, we've got bigger problems than Edwards not finding them.

Didn't Romo do that against us in that Monday night game? Actually I think he had FIVE interceptions that game. But they kept coming back at us with aggressive football. And we all know what happened that game...

I've watched Evans and Owens run down field and get open TIME after TIME. Talk to anyone else who has been at games and they will tell you that these guys are getting open and Edwards does not see them. Edwards continuously opts for the shorter routes underneath to Reed, Jackson, Schouman (now gone for year), and Fine. I have serious doubts that Edwards can ACTUALLY SEE DOWN FIELD. Either he has terrible vision or he isn't a playmaker. He isn't hitting Owens when he needs to. For example: instead of hitting Owens on his out pattern when he came out of his break, he threw it late and too far outside for TO to make a play out of it. He needs to throw immediately when Owens makes the cut. Evans routes where he caught it were all short routes. Nothing to stretch the field. Once again, no seams, fades, posts, post corners, etc. Fastest guy on the field and no looks deep. My challenge to the coaches: ram it down Edwards throat. Show him film of Evans and Owens open. Come game time force him to throw those intermediate and deep routes 15-20 times against Miami. I don't care if he throws 6 interceptions. He has to prove that he can see these MILLION DOLLAR RECEIVERS down field. If he can't, he's not an NFL QB.

He is a gambler. He likes to jump routes and take risks to try and get an interception. To exploit this, I hope Trent will use some pump fakes a little bit more often. And if we can draw up some double moves for our wide receivers, we might be able to get guys like TO and Evans deep down the field. Greer is a very good corner, but he can be beaten. I don't want to see Edwards get picked on a quick out pattern like we've seen Greer do a few times here in Buffalo. I'm really looking forward to this game. Should be really exciting to watch.

It's funny that Rex Ryan was so open about it though. This has to make Belichik really mad. The next time those two teams play, it's going to get ugly.

I agree, it's fair play. I guess the point of this post is to point out the fact that it's week 2 in the NFL and it's too early to find out who the best teams are and aren't (as evidenced by our start last season). They had some help this last game, and they are a beatable team. I'm really looking forward to playing these guys.

It's a lot easier to plan for the New England offense when you have a QB that ran the offense for the Patriots and watched Brady's every move during training camp the last 2 years (he watched Brady before he went down last season as well). Here are some quotes from Rex Ryan: "He did a great job of preparing our team, running the scout team, putting in some plays that they would check to if they saw certain looks" "We got plenty of coaches here, but he was helpful on the practice field." Full article here: http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/3453/ryan-on-oconnell-the-kids-a-jet ://http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/pos...the-kids-a-jet ://http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/pos...the-kids-a-jet I'm guessing O'Connell knew Brady's tendencies, some of the offensive play calls, what plays they run in certain formations and scenarios, etc. The Jets may be a good team this year, but they had some help in this one. I hope we demoralize these guys when we play in a few weeks. I would love for the Bills to be the team that shuts Rex Ryan's big mouth up!

I agree completely there. But, the throws to Evans were off a bit (excluding the TD). That can be fixed.

I have to say, the whole argument that Trent doesn't have an arm is kind of over hyped. Looking at the game tape of the throw that TO dropped, that throw was about 55 yards in the air on a rope. AND he had a DE sprinting around the corner in his face about to drill him. I think Trent and his receivers need to continue working on their timing. I think it is just chance that the 2 throws to TO were timed better than the throws to Evans. Even the touchdown throw to Evans was more of a lofted throw as opposed to a deeper throw that a WR needs to catch up to. Well placed by Trent though. I really like what AVP is doing with Trent, and I think it will only get better.

Haven't heard any news yet about who we might be looking to bring in. Anyone see anything out there?

If he wants to be back on this team, I think we could use him now. If we can't get Runyan, this has to be the best route for us. Thoughts?

Similarly, Demetrius Bell said that the referees didn't warn him first about being off of the line of scrimmage before throwing the flag. Officials are required to do this before calling ticky tack penalties that kill drives. Those really made me mad. Something that would NEVER get called in our favor. But once again, Jauron stood there without screaming at the referees. If you get in the referees face about it, they won't call it again. But he's a push over.

To quote Bill Belichik himself (I hate him but he's an intelligent coach), he said that you can take the same small set of plays and just tweak them slightly and find success. So basically we could run the same 8 plays in a game and tweak the WR patterns slightly to find holes in the opponents defense. This isn't rocket science, and any decent WR can make these adjustments. I'd like to see us do more of that as we progress this season under AVP.

Yeah, there are actually a few more I didn't mention. Just thought I would point out some of the key plays I noticed.

Bump, just so you guys can get a look at this...

Taking a look at the Patriots on film, they find various ways to get their best WR's open against a defense that is expecting it. Take a look at these clips (link to video)and see what schemes they used: At 0:12 in the video: They line up trips left and get Welker matched up against a linebacker (Poz) and get a mismatch. They run off the 2 receivers out wide and get Welker on a quick out underneath. Easy grab and a quick gain. 0:49 in the video: This is what we need to learn more than anything. Once again, trips right formation and Welker is mismatched on a linebacker. Welker runs a quick 5 yard hitch route, and he's not open at all. Brady pump fakes an out route to Baker and keys back in on Welker, and he adjusts his route sprinting towards the middle of the field. He gets separation from Buggs and almost gets in the endzone. Routes may not be open initially, but receivers need to find open space and adjust to get open so their QB can find them. 1:18 in the video: This is one of the easiest ways to get your best receivers open. The TE is lined up in the slot and Moss is spread out wide. The TE runs straight at the defender pushing him out of the play, and Moss runs underneath the TE easily wide open and runs for a very big gain. The pick play is classic, and works all the time. Belichik has been using it against us for years. 1:48 in the video: This play shows that Belichik and Brady looked at film at halftime. Basically Moss sprints straight up field, and basically stops at a window where there is a break in coverage. Literally he just ran to a spot and waited for the ball. We need to make these type of in-game adjustments in order to beat good teams. It's a must. 2:33 and 2:55 in the video: This really kills me. Once again, the Patriots obviously looked at film and found a hole in our coverage. They literally used the SAME FORMATION and the SAME PLAY on BOTH touchdowns at the end of the game to beat us. The same TE seam route to Watson right between the safeties. They found a play that worked and beat us with it TWICE. And we didn't adjust. This is just smart coaching and a smart QB. We can learn from this though. I really hope we build on this game and start to use the weapons we have strategically to beat our opponents. It's a big test for AVP and Trent, but they can do it.

Now I'm starting to think people get it.

My argument would be that TO was within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. The corners can jam receivers, and the receivers should be able to push away from contact. That's my 2 cents on that call. Debatable though.

Thanks for the truthful post there codemonkey.

2 penalties for illegal procedure on Bell is ridiculous. TO's offensive pass interference was BS. And Denney's defensive holding was awful as well. The 2 unnecessary roughness calls we got were already on 1st down. And Wilfork is known for diving at people's knees, and Adalius clearly body slammed Trent. The Patriots were getting the benefit of the doubt last night.

At the other end of the spectrum, I saw Maybin and Mitchell get held MULTIPLE times last night and nothing was called. The referees can call penalties on almost every play if they want to. It is up to their discretion of when to make the call. They clearly turned their heads to the Patriots offensive line penalties last night.