Now That I Watched The Game Twice, A Review

[Guest Guest]

I see no sarcasm button here, so I will assume that you are serious with this question.  How long did it take Bruce Smith?  Answer:  Longer than one season!

 

How long did it take Phil Hanson?  Answer: Longer than one season!

 

How long did it take Marcellus Wiley?  Answer:  Longer than 3 seasons!

 

How long has Kelsay been playing?  Answer: 1 season!

10787[/snapback]

 

they've got to get the Nebraska out of him

[Guest BAD-OL]

1. Drew is the only QB in this roster. Zolman is fodder. DB took a couple sacks. Didn't really have a chance. Threw the ball well. Travis Brown reportedly tore his ACL. Gone. Feel sorry for him. Still, I never bought into this guy, despite all the friendly reports. Must find a backup QB immediately.

2. Willis " Half Speed " Magahee. For those yelling for trading Henry, please STFU. I actually thought how Simonton would have blown through some of those holes, let alone Henry. He is running on guts. Needs another year.

3. Marcus Sullivan - Please just cut him now. Just made no effort on a few plays. One got Bledsoe sacked and DB had to bail several other times, due to Sullivan.

4. OL - Showed ability to run block. Teague looks like a different player. Blocked very well. Someone posted said Lawrence Smith looked shaky. I kept watching the middle of the line and saw them doing well ??? I missed his supposed " bad play ". Mike Williams had one bad miss on a pass block assignment but played better. His run blocking was very good.

5. DL - Schobel was beating his man constantly in the 1st Quarter. Made 3 tackles in the backfield. Pat Williams was in the backfield several times. Adams plugged the middle. Kelsay needs to shed his blocks a little better. He'll learn.

6. LB's - missed a couple tackles early, then played better. Fletcher played well after missing his 1st tackle. Gildon did little to impress. Missed a few tackles. He's on the bubble.

7. J. Greer dropped an easy INT from Manning.

8. Kevin Thomas made a nice play on his TD- ball was tipped and he jumped into a pack of players to grab the ball and take off. He's played very well this summer.

9. Milloy broke his arm. Wire will probably start early on this season.

10. Izell Resse made some nice plays, especially coming up in run support.

11. Like some little things I saw from DT's Tim Anderson and Ron Edwards. I like our rotation in the middle.

12. Nate muffed a punt, then missed a punt return TD by inches. Last guy just tripped him. Darn.

13. Freddie Smith - fumbled twice returning kicks. Rhodes ran away from him on another long return. Bye-bye...

 

Conclusion - Sloppy game for both teams. Bills had many fodder types playing ST's on coverage. May explain the breakdowns. Last chance to show the Coaches something, etc..

Travis, Jennings, Marcus Price, McGee sat out. Their replacements didn't take advantage of the situation. ( Magahee,Sullivan,McFarland ( who was beat on the Brown injury), Greer.

 

Offense- The projected Starters have yet to play a game together. Seems someone is always being rested or hurt. Once the Line gets together and Henry is healthy, I'll feel better. Moulds dropped an easy one but so did Harrison. He looks sharp. Shaw made a nice grab. Josh Reed looks good. Run blocking is there.

Defense- Middle of the Line playing well. Schobel played excellent last night. Kelsay and Denney continue to rotate. Have played some very basic formations, showing little in the blitz dept. I remember a couple last night, with Fletcher coming up the middle.

 

Find a backup QB and just work on execution in the Lions game. Don't let Drew throw much. He looks fine. The line just needs to get reps. Get Henry healthy.

 

I'm hardly in panic mode. Reserved confidence but many good signs are there. The OL breakdowns were NOT the starters last night. Saw some good holes Henry or Simonton would have ripped through. Willis could not.

10705[/snapback]

 

 

I'm not in panic mode either, but I am resigned to a lousy season. These guys really suck. I was very disappointed with how Bledsoe's play declined as the game went on. He was making quick reads and good throws early, but when that didn't produce success and the Bills fell behind, he reverted to last years form looking at the pass rush, holding the ball too long and of course that hairbrained decision to take off running with the ball as precious seconds ticked away in the final drive of the first half. Ugghh.

 

In general, it's a team that lacks character on the field and has no identity. Methinks TD made another mistake when he thought changing head coaches would make these guys a more mentally tough team. They are veterans and they is what they is, and it wouldn't bother me a bit if they put a fuse on this roster, lit it and started from expansion. Don't like watching them play and despite ample talent there isn't a player on the roster who really rises to the occasion and deserves admiration. Plenty of talent, not enough heart. Whatever the reverse of synergy is, they got it. Now that I've dropped all the cliches, I must say I do like the coaching staff. Very nice offensive game plan and I like the turnovers that are being produced from basically the same defensive personnel. If this staff took over in 2000 instead of GW, the team might actually be fun to watch.

 

I will agree with you that April probably had his hands tied because the team needed to get a look at some scrubs, the Bills have good kick coverage personnel and should do OK there. I really did not like seeing F.Smith getting all those touches, either. He makes Antonio Brown look like "White Shoes" Johnson. If they like him that much, just put him on the practice squad but don't make us endure all the fumbles and tripping over his own feet.

[Rico]

  In general, it's a team that lacks character on the field and has no identity. Methinks TD made another mistake when he thought changing head coaches would make these guys a more mentally tough team.  They are veterans and they is what they is,  and it wouldn't bother me a bit if they put a fuse on this roster, lit it and started from expansion.  Don't like watching them play and despite ample talent there isn't a player on the roster who really rises to the occasion and deserves admiration.  Plenty of talent, not enough heart. 

11022[/snapback]

That was the worst thing about last year's team, I really hope you're wrong & we see otherwise once the season starts.

Any revert to last year re: effort would be totally unacceptable.

I'll take a 0-16 team with heart over a 6-10 team with no heart.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Someone on another board timed the amount of time Bledsoe had to throw and it was at most 2.5 seconds. Not good. The fact that he was (really) 11 for 17 with 2 drops is pretty amazing, for a "statue" who "can't read defenses or make short throws." Sounds like Jennings should be back at practice tomorrow but probably won't play until Jax, and that will help things out, as will Henry's return. I have to say I'm disappointed in Evans.

 

As for the ST's, they were horrible last night. However I learned a few things. First of all, the Bills didn't play Dorenbos who is the regular LS'er, because they wanted to see if they could go with roster-locks Neufeld and Teague on punt and kick snaps, respectively, so as to save a roster spot. Well they basically ended up guaranteeing Dorenbos a job, which is probably the way to go anyway. So that messed up punts, FG's, and EP's. In addition on the punt block, the Bills only had 10 men on the field. As for the returngame, McGee, who was pretty much established himself as the best returnman on the Bills, and a pretty good returnman overall, wasn't playing.

[Guest Guest]

Someone on another board timed the amount of time Bledsoe had to throw and it was at most 2.5 seconds.  Not good.  The fact that he was (really) 11 for 17 with 2 drops is pretty amazing, for a "statue" who "can't read defenses or make short throws."  Sounds like Jennings should be back at practice tomorrow but probably won't play until Jax, and that will help things out, as will Henry's return.  I have to say I'm disappointed in Evans.

 

As for the ST's, they were horrible last night.  However I learned a few things.  First of all, the Bills didn't play Dorenbos who is the regular LS'er, because they wanted to see if they could go with roster-locks Neufeld and Teague on punt and kick snaps, respectively, so as to save a roster spot.  Well they basically ended up guaranteeing Dorenbos a job, which is probably the way to go anyway.  So that messed up punts, FG's, and EP's.  In addition on the punt block, the Bills only had 10 men on the field.  As for the returngame, McGee, who was pretty much established himself as the best returnman on the Bills, and a pretty good returnman overall, wasn't playing.

11041[/snapback]

 

You're right on the money MadBuffalo. Neufeld and Teague snapped the first half last night, and Dorenbos came back in sometime in the second half. Neufeld is capable of snapping on punts, and Teague is capable of snapping on field goals and PATs. However, a bad field goal snap by Teague is how Moorman hurt his hammy in practice, and Neufeld's snaps are noticeably slower and less accurate than Dorenbos. Moorman's timing is tuned into the speed and accuracy of Dorenbos' snaps. Neufeld should only be used as a last-resort guy in case we need him. Leaving Dorenbos in as the short and long snapper eliminates a variable on special teams, and contributes to a more consistent special teams for the Bills this year.

[Magic54]

Sorry, that last post was me, I forgot to log in.

[Dan Gross]

The one thing that seemed to stand out early to me was that the defense appeared to be over-pursuing the play. They seemed to be very aggresive in the play-calling, and had good penetration to the backfield, but deep in the backfield (where the quarterback would be on a pass play, but behind the running back...). It almost seemed like they expected the Colts to come out passing, and thus got burnt by the run plays. Even then, the first string D was strong overall. Look at the drive charts from the first half. Indy had only one drive (out of 7) that went for more than 20 yards (technically, as the Clements fumble starts a second drive...). Twice the Indy offense were given the ball in our red zone, and both times they had to settles for FG's...How often does that happen to Peyton and Co.? In the end, they never converted on 3rd down.

 

And the offense? I think Mark summed it up pretty well. With how ineffective Willis was early, I was actually getting frustrated with how much they kept to the run, as well as their insistence on keeping inside the tackles with it. I believe that Travis would have been much more effective Once again we end a game with as many run plays as pass, even though we trailed by more than a score through most of the game. You know last year we would have come out throwing once we were down 10-0 (if we weren't throwing before then...). Moulds was interviewed after the starters came out, and the first question they asked was if he was concerned about the offense not scoring. He said the "right" answer, to the effect of "we didn't do any game-planning and we didn't use a majority of the play book," and that he wasn't overtly concerned.

 

Am I concerned moving forward, all things considered? Yes. Am I encouraged by seeing things getting done better this year than last? Definitely. Bottom line: can't wait to get through the next garbage game and get to the 12th!

[CosmicBills]

I have to say I'm disappointed in Evans.

 

11041[/snapback]

 

Why do I keep hearing this about Evans? WR is one of the toughest positions to adjust to in the NFL for rookies. It takes most WRs 3 years to get comforatable...Evans has had 3 games!

 

If you need a reminder, just look at Moulds' first two seasons...

 

There are very few rookie WRs who come in and play well. Moss and Boldin are exceptions, no the rule.

 

THat is why I think Josh is going to have a great year this year (the rule of 3) and all we need from Evans is for him to stretch the field and make one or two catches a game.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Why do I keep hearing this about Evans? WR is one of the toughest positions to adjust to in the NFL for rookies. It takes most WRs 3 years to get comforatable...Evans has had 3 games!

 

If you need a reminder, just look at Moulds' first two seasons...

 

There are very few rookie WRs who come in and play well. Moss and Boldin are exceptions, no the rule.

 

THat is why I think Josh is going to have a great year this year (the rule of 3) and all we need from Evans is for him to stretch the field and make one or two catches a game.

11150[/snapback]

True. I just got my hopes up after reading some of the TC reports. My own fault.

[CosmicBills]

True.  I just got my hopes up after reading some of the TC reports. My own fault.

11160[/snapback]

 

Don't let it happen again

 

I hope I'm wrong about it, it would be great to see Lee break out this year. I'm just not counting on it. However, I still think he will be an excellent WR down the road.