One Edwards down, one to go

[BillsPhan]

If George Edwards, Gailey's hand-picked linebackers coach he promoted up to DC, wanted to run the identicle soft schemes with almost zero blitzes Perry Fool used to run before him the previous 4 years, then why on earth did he make almost every front 7 player have to learn to play new positions in a brand new 3-4 defense??

 

I understand what Gailey is doing with his offense. He gave Trent every chance to "be the ball" as the wise Chevy Chase once said. Edwards not only was not the ball, he also could not bring himself to throw the ball when the real bullets started flying after his "pretty preseason."

 

So now the Bills have a real NFL caliber QB, who despite his "bad arm", managed to throw for over 250 yards and a 93 rating his first game - on the road agains the Pats - no less. Fitzy could be another Trent Dilfer - managing a great running offense behind a great run blocking O-Line, while depending on his even greater defense to win games for him. Except of course the Bills are not a great running offense and their O-Line is god-awful, and the defense is even worse then his offense, and that of course will obviously lose almost every game for poor Fitzy this season. But who cares? I love the guys moxie and confidence compared to Edwards' fear of failure in the pocket. And we all hope the O-Line improves as the year wears on.

 

But this defense is inexcusibly bad. Blitz, George, blitz! Who cares how good Brady was at reading your blitzes? (not that he had even one to read all day anyway!) How much worse could Brady have torched your defense by blitzing?? And maybe the blitzing could have made a little dent in that "run defense" of yours!! Perhaps have slammed Benjarvis Green-Smith-Jones-White for some losses in the backfield a few times??

 

Yes, maybe George Edwards should be the next Edwards on Gailey's list to "cut" from the team, if he can't come up with better game plans then that crap against the Pats he through out there last Sunday!

[Big Turk]

Fitzy could be another Trent Dilfer - managing a great running offense behind a great run blocking O-Line, while depending on his even greater defense to win games for him. Except of course the Bills are not a great running offense and their O-Line is god-awful,

 

Well, the only problem with your argument is that the OLine is not god-awful at run blocking, and haven't been for over 3 years now. They are actually above average. Ranked 12th last year and 13th the year before. This year thanks to the Miami game where they played 11 in the box against us half the game because they knew Edwards wasn't throwing more than 5 yards, we are ranked 18th, which will likely go up as the year progresses. Fred Jackson's career average is 4.5 yards per carry, Lynch's right around 4.0...that is not a poor run blocking line, sorry. There are a whole lot of teams with much worse run blocking lines than ours. Let's base things on facts, not blindly copying what a bunch of other people who don't know their facts say...

[BillsPhan]

Well, the only problem with your argument is that the OLine is not god-awful at run blocking, and haven't been for over 3 years now. They are actually above average. Ranked 12th last year and 13th the year before. This year thanks to the Miami game where they played 11 in the box against us half the game because they knew Edwards wasn't throwing more than 5 yards, we are ranked 18th, which will likely go up as the year progresses. Fred Jackson's career average is 4.5 yards per carry, Lynch's right around 4.0...that is not a poor run blocking line, sorry. There are a whole lot of teams with much worse run blocking lines than ours. Let's base things on facts, not blindly copying what a bunch of other people who don't know their facts say...

 

Great points...12th last year running the ball is a lot better then I thought they were ranked. Who knows just how badly Trent Edwards made the O-Line look during his time under center?? That Jets' defense will be a great test to see if Fitzy can continue getting the ball out and downfield, and if Lynch and company can continue their 4.0+ averages.

 

But I expect to see some pressure "packages" from George and his vaunted 3-4 defense coming against Sanchez this week, that's for sure!

[BobChalmers]

Well, the only problem with your argument is that the OLine is not god-awful at run blocking, and haven't been for over 3 years now. They are actually above average. Ranked 12th last year and 13th the year before. This year thanks to the Miami game where they played 11 in the box against us half the game because they knew Edwards wasn't throwing more than 5 yards, we are ranked 18th, which will likely go up as the year progresses. Fred Jackson's career average is 4.5 yards per carry, Lynch's right around 4.0...that is not a poor run blocking line, sorry. There are a whole lot of teams with much worse run blocking lines than ours. Let's base things on facts, not blindly copying what a bunch of other people who don't know their facts say...

 

Oh there's more wrong with his argument than that. How about getting all licquored up over Fitz's performance just under 250 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INT, 23 points against what is one of the worst D's in the league this season.

 

 

As for the defense - the issue is obvious - our LB's are horrible - especially when Keith Ellison - who was too small to play OLB in a Tampa 4-3 (where the OLB's are actually supposed to be smaller) is now an ILB in a 3-4 filling in for Poz. Ray Lewis - Ellison is not.

 

As an aside - why they decided to switch to a 3-4 this year when LB was the weak spot - well... I was saying they should go to a "big" 4-3 instead of the Tampa-2 crap.

 

Right now it seems like they are in a nickel 4-2 half the time anyway - I guess two straight games against teams much better at passing than running will do that.

 

Really - it's ridiculous to read much into the Bills right now. So much of what they have done is exactly mapped to who they were up against:

 

They've played 3 of the better teams in the league, with two on the road, so it's no surprise they are 0-3.

 

The first week they played a team with a great defense and a weak offense, and what do you know - they lose a close low-scoring game.

 

Week two they go to Lambeau field against one of the best teams in the league, that has one of the best QB's and probably the best pass defense in the NFL - both in the secondary and in the pass rush, and what do you know, they can't pass block, and their defense gets picked apart.

 

Week three, they again go to play one of the best QB's in the league, but with a Pats defense that is very suspect - particularly with a very young secondary, and much of their former talent in the front seven gone - and what do you know, all of a sudden our O-line blocks better, but the defense struggles to stop Brady to Moss and Welker and their 1st round pick TE - like that doesn't happen to a lot of teams?

 

Our run D has looked shaky for two weeks - in part because we're always in a nickel worrying about Rodgers and Brady. The run D did pretty well against Miami's Brown and Williams - maybe because against Henne they could stay in the base 3-4???

 

Honestly - why is it so hard to consider the opposition when evaluating their performance??

 

Here's my prediction for this week - if Revis plays, even the mighty Fitz will have no luck getting Evans the ball. What a shocker when that happens, eh?

Edited September 29, 2010 by BobChalmers

[Orton's Arm]

Well, the only problem with your argument is that the OLine is not god-awful at run blocking, and haven't been for over 3 years now. They are actually above average. Ranked 12th last year and 13th the year before. This year thanks to the Miami game where they played 11 in the box against us half the game because they knew Edwards wasn't throwing more than 5 yards, we are ranked 18th, which will likely go up as the year progresses. Fred Jackson's career average is 4.5 yards per carry, Lynch's right around 4.0...that is not a poor run blocking line, sorry. There are a whole lot of teams with much worse run blocking lines than ours. Let's base things on facts, not blindly copying what a bunch of other people who don't know their facts say...

A good point. Last year's offensive line takes a lot of grief for its pass protection, as well it should. That was some of the worst pass protection I've seen the Bills provide in the last ten years, which is saying something!

 

Its run blocking was inconsistent, and there were too many times when defenders would beat their man and make their unwelcome presence felt in the backfield. But the OL made up for that by being unusually good at downfield blocking and other things which require good sprinting speed. The overall run-blocking effort was probably about what you'd expect from an average OL. The Bills got above-average play from their RBs last year, so the average yards-per-carry stat is going to reflect the elusiveness of Fred Jackson and the tendency to manually haul people forward for a few extra yards of Marshawn Lynch.

[Green Lightning]

We couldn't blitz the Pats as they have killer tight ends and a HOF QB that ate up our slew footed DE's ...umm OLB's I mean. We spent most of the game in the nickel and got b'slapped with the run. Short story is we need more talent.

[DanInUticaTampa]

It is way too early to call out George Edwards. The reason we can't blitz is obvious, schobol was our best and he is gone. It is the talent, not Edwards. And saying Fewell was a problem last year is just insane now that he is with the giants, a "good" organization. Fewell was not one of the problems last year.

 

I wouldn't blitz that much with these LBs either.

[thewildrabbit]

Oh there's more wrong with his argument than that. How about getting all licquored up over Fitz's performance just under 250 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INT, 23 points against what is one of the worst D's in the league this season.

 

 

As for the defense - the issue is obvious - our LB's are horrible - especially when Keith Ellison - who was too small to play OLB in a Tampa 4-3 (where the OLB's are actually supposed to be smaller) is now an ILB in a 3-4 filling in for Poz. Ray Lewis - Ellison is not.

 

As an aside - why they decided to switch to a 3-4 this year when LB was the weak spot - well... I was saying they should go to a "big" 4-3 instead of the Tampa-2 crap.

 

Right now it seems like they are in a nickel 4-2 half the time anyway - I guess two straight games against teams much better at passing than running will do that.

 

Really - it's ridiculous to read much into the Bills right now. So much of what they have done is exactly mapped to who they were up against:

They've played 3 of the better teams in the league, with two on the road, so it's no surprise they are 0-3.

The first week they played a team with a great defense and a weak offense, and what do you know - they lose a close low-scoring game.

Week two they go to Lambeau field against one of the best teams in the league, that has one of the best QB's and probably the best pass defense in the NFL - both in the secondary and in the pass rush, and what do you know, they can't pass block, and their defense gets picked apart.

 

Week three, they again go to play one of the best QB's in the league, but with a Pats defense that is very suspect - particularly with a very young secondary, and much of their former talent in the front seven gone - and what do you know, all of a sudden our O-line blocks better, but the defense struggles to stop Brady to Moss and Welker and their 1st round pick TE - like that doesn't happen to a lot of teams?

 

Our run D has looked shaky for two weeks - in part because we're always in a nickel worrying about Rodgers and Brady. The run D did pretty well against Miami's Brown and Williams - maybe because against Henne they could stay in the base 3-4???

 

Honestly - why is it so hard to consider the opposition when evaluating their performance??

 

Here's my prediction for this week - if Revis plays, even the mighty Fitz will have no luck getting Evans the ball. What a shocker when that happens, eh?

Excellent post

 

 

Ya know what is even more scary then the fact that Bills fans don't take the opponent into consideration when judging Buffalo Bills player performances, its when the head coach makes the same sort of determination.

 

OMG! Fitz played so much better against the Pats then Edwards did in his first two games... The fans all rejoice the slaying of the inept QB... little do they realize that the HC could have pulled an ineffective QB at any time during the first two games. It would have been interesting to see Fitz encounter the exact same problems that Edwards encountered!

 

 

The first game, the Dolphins started out run blitzing and spying Spiller to shut the rookie down first thing, much to their surprise the Bills O line was so bad that they could get to Edwards in around 2-3 seconds, so they kept blitzing. I watched and counted from the snap to release and Edwards had 2-3 seconds max to get rid of the ball in those first few series. In the 3rd play of the first series the OLB on the left came untouched and sacked hard from the blindside in 2 seconds!

On the next series Edwards gets rid of the ball in 2 seconds and he is slammed to the ground immediately after completing the pass for a first down, again the defender came untouched from the left side

 

I could go on and on about all the little details about how the offense was totally ineffective most of that Miami game, like how many times did we see the RB's get hit in the backfield as soon as they got the hand off or as soon as they touched the ball on a screen pass, check down pass.That showed the O line blocking and protections were horrible in both the Miami and GB games. The game plans stunk, the Bills were in the shotgun 75% of the time against the Dolphins, telling them that they were going to pass and daring them to stop them. The HC never changed anything until 8 min in the 4th QTR and the offense drove right down the field and scored. It was funny watching the post game interview as Gailey couldn't explain how they became so successful on that last drive.

 

The Bills were obviously better against the Patriots simply because the Patriots have the 27th ranked defense, have a bad pass rush and a bunch of rookies playing in their defensive secondary.The offensive line and protections didn't miraculously improve because of the QB change, it improved because they played a team with an inferior defense

 

Bottom line, this is all water under the bridge, the head coach made his bed and now gets to sleep in it ... I count the days. So many blinded by the hope of something new and different is better. I'm certain many opinions will change along the course of the season, Jets- Ravens-Steelers will show the most

[BillsPhan]

Excellent post

 

 

Ya know what is even more scary then the fact that Bills fans don't take the opponent into consideration when judging Buffalo Bills player performances, its when the head coach makes the same sort of determination.

 

OMG! Fitz played so much better against the Pats then Edwards did in his first two games... The fans all rejoice the slaying of the inept QB... little do they realize that the HC could have pulled an ineffective QB at any time during the first two games. It would have been interesting to see Fitz encounter the exact same problems that Edwards encountered!

 

 

The first game, the Dolphins started out run blitzing and spying Spiller to shut the rookie down first thing, much to their surprise the Bills O line was so bad that they could get to Edwards in around 2-3 seconds, so they kept blitzing. I watched and counted from the snap to release and Edwards had 2-3 seconds max to get rid of the ball in those first few series. In the 3rd play of the first series the OLB on the left came untouched and sacked hard from the blindside in 2 seconds!

On the next series Edwards gets rid of the ball in 2 seconds and he is slammed to the ground immediately after completing the pass for a first down, again the defender came untouched from the left side

 

I could go on and on about all the little details about how the offense was totally ineffective most of that Miami game, like how many times did we see the RB's get hit in the backfield as soon as they got the hand off or as soon as they touched the ball on a screen pass, check down pass.That showed the O line blocking and protections were horrible in both the Miami and GB games. The game plans stunk, the Bills were in the shotgun 75% of the time against the Dolphins, telling them that they were going to pass and daring them to stop them. The HC never changed anything until 8 min in the 4th QTR and the offense drove right down the field and scored. It was funny watching the post game interview as Gailey couldn't explain how they became so successful on that last drive.

 

The Bills were obviously better against the Patriots simply because the Patriots have the 27th ranked defense, have a bad pass rush and a bunch of rookies playing in their defensive secondary.The offensive line and protections didn't miraculously improve because of the QB change, it improved because they played a team with an inferior defense

 

Bottom line, this is all water under the bridge, the head coach made his bed and now gets to sleep in it ... I count the days. So many blinded by the hope of something new and different is better. I'm certain many opinions will change along the course of the season, Jets- Ravens-Steelers will show the most

 

So let me get this straight. I try to give credit where credit is due, and I'm wrong. Fitzy still sucks, he only played well because the Pats have a horrible defense. I call out Edwards for not blitzing more, and I'm still wrong. Blitzing would have only made it worse right??

 

Here is what you will find out against the Jets this Sunday, however. Fitzy will still play well, despite the fact the Jets have a great defense, because he is a better NFL quarterback then Edwards. That does not mean I'm saying he is a great QB, or even a good solid starting QB. I am simply saying he is an NFL capable back up QB with some moxie and confidence who will move the ball for the Bills - yes, even against those might Jets defenders. Secondly, I expect more blitzes and pressure from Edwards because his front 4 offered none, and no matter how crappy his LB'ers are, they can still sprint in after the QB and maybe possibly pressure him into a quicker bad throw or God forbid, even sack him.

 

So please feel free to tell me how much is "wrong" with this opinion, I feel it will be proven to be fact this week. Fitzy will play well, and the Bills will blitz more. Will they win? Most likely not, but at least they should play better - at least on defense, anyway.

[RkFast]

Fire the DC becuase he doesnt blitz enough.

 

GONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thewildrabbit]

So let me get this straight. I try to give credit where credit is due, and I'm wrong. Fitzy still sucks, he only played well because the Pats have a horrible defense. I call out Edwards for not blitzing more, and I'm still wrong. Blitzing would have only made it worse right??

 

Here is what you will find out against the Jets this Sunday, however. Fitzy will still play well, despite the fact the Jets have a great defense, because he is a better NFL quarterback then Edwards. That does not mean I'm saying he is a great QB, or even a good solid starting QB. I am simply saying he is an NFL capable back up QB with some moxie and confidence who will move the ball for the Bills - yes, even against those might Jets defenders. Secondly, I expect more blitzes and pressure from Edwards because his front 4 offered none, and no matter how crappy his LB'ers are, they can still sprint in after the QB and maybe possibly pressure him into a quicker bad throw or God forbid, even sack him.

 

So please feel free to tell me how much is "wrong" with this opinion, I feel it will be proven to be fact this week. Fitzy will play well, and the Bills will blitz more. Will they win? Most likely not, but at least they should play better - at least on defense, anyway.

First off I didn't make any comments about the Bills defense, I highlighted the other posters statements about the offense.

 

Anyone who doesn't think Fitz lost that game against the Patriots is in denial, an INT in the end zone and another with 5 min to go. That's what he does, that's why he didn't get 1st string, he will always throw as many INT's as TD's, everyone stated this all off season, everyone knew he could be wildly inaccurate at times. I imagine Gailey will have Brian Brohm starting before to many more games.

 

My problem is cutting Edwards after only two games, particularity when you have a rookie O line coach calling protections still learning his job, and the entire team learning a new offense.

 

Fitz may very well play decently against the Jets pass rush, I kinda doubt it though.... It should be interesting to see if that O line and Fitz play as well as they did against the Pats.

 

 

 

All I gotta say is the Bills could have easily beaten the Patriots last year with Edwards as QB, he played well in that game,. It was the rookie DB and the offense's lack of being able to run the ball to kill the clock that lost that game