Just Caught The First Half

[Bill from NYC]

1) The numbers might not suggest anything great, but I got good vibes from Fitz. Obviously, we need him to stay in one piece.

 

2) You can say that this was only preseason. Go ahead, tell me the Bears have a poor OL. That said, Merriman is for real. I know what I saw, and this man is going to wreak havoc. We all knew he was fast, but he was completely agile and he hits like a truck. Now, can he get hurt? Yes. Can he stop caring? I suppose. But as we speak he is a double digit sack man. Again, I know what I saw.

 

3) The first team OL had no real push. Once again, Levitre was the best of all of them.

 

4) The backup OL made me want to cry. Wrotto is weird. He sure is big enough to play RT, but he looked totally out of shape. Did anyone else notice that he looked as if he didn't have the wind to finish plays?

 

5) I don't like gadget players, but our best one is going to be Brad Smith imo. That's right, better than Spiller. We shall see.

 

6) Dareus looked great. It was his FIRST GAME and he was all over the place. Now HE is in shape!

 

That's all I got folks.

 

GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited August 15, 2011 by Bill from NYC

[akm0404]

Agree with all points made, except I'll add that Wrotto doesn't confuse me - he is simply terrible. Urbik also looked clearly out of his league.

[Buffaloed in Pa]

I thought Merriman looked more power than speed. Whatever, it was a big improvement.Barnett looked a little rusty. Kelsay tries but misses alot on plays to his side. He just has NO lateral movement. He needs to add more weight and go back to d-end ,even if he is alittle small.

[Chilly]

Just got done watching the first half myself. I thought Fitz did decent. He definitely has an unnatural look to him when he throws the ball, like he forces it every play. He had a few nice plays, and I'll be happy when the season starts so we can see what he can really do, instead of these short passes/screens on every play.

 

Speaking of our QBs, I'm hoping Thigpen's issue is he only had 6 practices, and not that he sucks. He sure looked decent in KC that one year.

 

I agree with you on the Bears OL, they may suck, but the Bills got pressure and Merriman looked great. Here's to him staying healthy!

 

Outside of Urbik, I didn't think the OL was bad. They opened up some holes in the run game and did a pretty decent job in pass protection. Urbik was horrible, though. And yeah, some of our backups are puke-inducing bad. God help us if Wrotto ever starts a game.

 

I was a fan of the Brad Smith signing, but I'm not convinced on using him to throw yet. That being said, he's only had 6 practices with the team, so I'm willing to give him a pass for a while (same with Thigpen). I also thought Spiller looked pretty decent tonight. Would like to see them both be used as situational weapons and make some plays for us.

 

And yeah, Dareus is great!

[Doc]

Just got done watching the first half myself. I thought Fitz did decent. He definitely has an unnatural look to him when he throws the ball, like he forces it every play. He had a few nice plays, and I'll be happy when the season starts so we can see what he can really do, instead of these short passes/screens on every play.

 

Speaking of our QBs, I'm hoping Thigpen's issue is he only had 6 practices, and not that he sucks. He sure looked decent in KC that one year.

 

I agree with you on the Bears OL, they may suck, but the Bills got pressure and Merriman looked great. Here's to him staying healthy!

 

Outside of Urbik, I didn't think the OL was bad. They opened up some holes in the run game and did a pretty decent job in pass protection. Urbik was horrible, though. And yeah, some of our backups are puke-inducing bad. God help us if Wrotto ever starts a game.

 

I was a fan of the Brad Smith signing, but I'm not convinced on using him to throw yet. That being said, he's only had 6 practices with the team, so I'm willing to give him a pass for a while (same with Thigpen). I also thought Spiller looked pretty decent tonight. Would like to see them both be used as situational weapons and make some plays for us.

 

And yeah, Dareus is great!

Urbik was fine except for 1 play where Wood didn't help out enough. Give 'em some time.

 

As for Smith, he was 1/3 for 11 yards and reportedly Easley dropped a catchable ball. In any case, to make the "Wild Bill" more effective, he's going to have to throw from time to time.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

Urbik was fine except for 1 play where Wood didn't help out enough. Give 'em some time.

 

As for Smith, he was 1/3 for 11 yards and reportedly Easley dropped a catchable ball. In any case, to make the "Wild Bill" more effective, he's going to have to throw from time to time.

 

I completely agree. IMO...Urbik has been receiving a lot of unnecessary criticism for his play in this game. Typical overreaction from this message board. From what I saw (and I watched the starters very closely) Urbik played well with the exception of one play. Furthermore, the entire offensive line, tackles included, looked pretty darn good for it being the 1st pre-season game.

 

The offensive line take time to gel, and thus, I expect this group to get better as the season progresses.

[Doc]

I completely agree. IMO...Urbik has been receiving a lot of unnecessary criticism for his play in this game. Typical overreaction from this message board. From what I saw (and I watched the starters very closely) Urbik played well with the exception of one play. Furthermore, the entire offensive line, tackles included, looked pretty darn good for it being the 1st pre-season game.

 

The offensive line take time to gel, and thus, I expect this group to get better as the season progresses.

Considering Peppers is a beast and Idonije got 8 sacks last year, the OT's did a fine job. And there's still time to improve.

[Fixxxer]

Merriman combines speed and power, he got into the OT's pads and drove him into the QB, that was nice to see.

 

Wrotto was dreadful, matadors in Spain are watching film on him as we speak.... Howard should move back inside, his natural position is at OG.

 

Fitz and the WRs will be alright with more reps, nice to see Chandler involved in the passing game. I saw Martin and Causssin on the field but I didn't noticed Nelson. Martin, as usual, whiffed badly on his guy trying to seal the edge, hopefully Chandler is better at the POA.

 

Never liked the wildcat and I wasn't convinced we made a good move signing Brad Smith. Doc is onto something with the Wild Bill name though, that sounds good. If Brad Smith can get first downs running that formation I won't complain.

 

Thigpen and Brown were erratic, tough to look good behind a very suspect line. Hopefully they pick up their games.

 

Dareus, monster.

 

Andra Davis showed why he should be the starter until Moats or Sheppard can take his spot, I like his physicallity, Barnett should compliemnt him well at the other ILB position.

 

Jasper needs to learn how to use his hands, he pushed his guy almost every time but he had trouble disengaging. Heard looked more polished than him.

[BEAST MODE BABY!]

I completely agree. IMO...Urbik has been receiving a lot of unnecessary criticism for his play in this game. Typical overreaction from this message board. From what I saw (and I watched the starters very closely) Urbik played well with the exception of one play. Furthermore, the entire offensive line, tackles included, looked pretty darn good for it being the 1st pre-season game.

 

The offensive line take time to gel, and thus, I expect this group to get better as the season progresses.

 

Urbik looked slow to me numerous times. Got blown up on that one play with Spiller. On the Spiller screen, other O-Linemen were coming up to block. Urbik was a few steps behind.

 

Also, Johnny White looks really good. David Martin missed horribly on a backside block on a White run. We are starting to build some depth at skill positions on this team. But our Oline is the weakest part.

 

Also, on the Bears TD, I think it was Spencer spun to get upfield and we lost containment and the QB ran in.

 

It's preseason though. We'll keep improving. And Dareus is simply awesome.

[BiggieScooby]

Chandler got absolutely leveled by 5 guys on his second catch. I like what I saw. Looks like Fitz found him pretty easily. Spiller looked good in the slot against Lance Briggs, and had they been playing on better footing might have had a big gainer. Stevie Johnson can run a slant, but can he go deep? Namaan Roosevelt looks like a smart route runner and displayed his great hands. I was happy with the defense and I am concerned with our depth at OL. The second team OL looked pedestrian.

[cale]

I don't know why we try to outsmart ourselves...Just play Moats outside. Sheesh...Spell whomever is in front of him. He had a killer season last year. Leave him be.

[reddogblitz]

I only caught the 1st quarter and 7 minutes into Q2. Fitz looked decent. Dink 'n Dunk. I know this isn't the offense we'll be running the regular season, but it did like an offense that Trent would have liked. Fred looked awesome. Spiller had a couple of good plays.

 

The starting defense looked really good. Would be great to see a Bills defense out there this year that can control the other teams offense for a change.

 

Interesting to see Easley run back the opening KO.

 

Like the other guy said, I hope Tyler was just out of sorts from not much practice and the he doesn't really suck. Whenever I saw him play for the Fish he looked bad. I'll give him more time, but so far it looks like Fitz' job is safe.

[Coach Tuesday]

Wrotto looks like a fat nightclub bouncer and I assume that's what he'll be doing come September. I didnt get a look at Hairston, but if he shows anything in the preseason that Wrotto should be sent packing. Amazing that these morons would head into yet another season with no depth at the tackle position.

[ajzepp]

 

 

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Jasper needs to learn how to use his hands, he pushed his guy almost every time but he had trouble disengaging. Heard looked more polished than him.

I was just watching some of the 2nd half again and I saw the same thing with regard to Jasper. This kid is raw with a capital R. WAsn't effective at all, and it was mainly due to technique and getting tangled up with the blocker. He's a really long way from becoming a player, but the good news is that he's got tons of upside. Just needs a LOT of coaching.

 

On the other hand, I thought 59 Coleman looked pretty good at times coming off the edge. He got a nice push on a few of the plays I saw, though I question his strength. He also seems to be off balance quite a bit, as he's easily redirected at times. And lastly, Carrington looked significantly bigger to me than he did last year. Those 20 lb really made quite a difference...this guy will be part of the Dline rotation for sure.

[CodeMonkey]

Just got done watching the first half myself. I thought Fitz did decent. He definitely has an unnatural look to him when he throws the ball, like he forces it every play. He had a few nice plays, and I'll be happy when the season starts so we can see what he can really do, instead of these short passes/screens on every play.

I noticed that at camp. I think it is because he has that odd 3/4 delivery, almost sidearm. He has to throw as hard as he can every pass to get any zip on it at all and that makes it looked forced. And this also causes his accuracy issues particularly on the longer routes. At least that's my theory. But overall he is fine for now.

Edited August 15, 2011 by CodeMonkey

[zow2]

Fitz is just one of those QBs who looks average to below in practice and seems to really have to heave the ball to get velocity but in games he just moves the chains. He's definitely the guy this year.

 

I can see they will use Spiller to catch more balls out of the backfield. Good move. This guy needs the ball in his hands in space. I hope he has learned to go more north-south and take what he can. Freddie looked in mid-season form. Johnny white seems to be more of the Spiller mode but more power and less speed. He showed some soft hands as well. Now these guys just need some blocking.

 

I like Brad Smith and I'm looking at this as we traded Lee Evans for Smith and got a 4th rounder as well. Smith just gives us a weapon in many different areas. My main concern with WR is that we lack a home run threat. Maybe Stevie or Donald Jones will emerge. Heck, Roosevelt did get some crazy YAC at UB but that was against college kids. Easley has not shown me anything but now that he has a game under his belt maybe he will loosen up. You just can't expect any offense to go 10 plays, 80 yards more than once a game. Too many things go wrong. You need an offense that can pick up chunk yardage. We'll see how it goes. I still don't think they would have one more win, or one less loss with Lee Evans.

 

Don't feel like writing about the defense but the 1st team looked like a big improvement. Once you get to the 2nd and 3rd string we are in big trouble. Must stay unjury free.

[BuffaloWings]

To top it all off, I actually enjoyed reading this thread. Good comments, good discussion, and none of "this guys sucks, cut him" or "why the hell did we draft this loser?" comments.

 

Bill, I'll always look forward to your comments. It seems like the intelligent ones at TBD feed off of them and we end up with an enjoyable discussion - regardless of what we think of the players.

[Rockinon]

I noticed that at camp. I think it is because he has that odd 3/4 delivery, almost sidearm. He has to throw as hard as he can every pass to get any zip on it at all and that makes it looked forced. And this also causes his accuracy issues particularly on the longer routes. At least that's my theory. But overall he is fine for now.

I noticed that about Fitz's throwing motion too. While growing up, I got a lot of comments about the way I throw a baseball(3/4). Not side arm, but not overhand either. The thing is, overhand never felt natural but I was more accurate and more powerful that way. Fitz does find ways to move the chains though, so as long he performs I can overlook how odd he looks.

[BobChalmers]

Chandler got absolutely leveled by 5 guys on his second catch. I like what I saw. Looks like Fitz found him pretty easily.

 

Hehe - well Chandler IS 6'7" !!

 

He should be easy to find, and it takes five guys to level him!

[buffalopdc]

I agree with the comments made, and I must say this is best post and replies I have read in a while. The biggest weakness I saw watching the first half (and the second as well) was special teams. My thought (pronouced hope) is they told Moorman and Lindell not to kick it out of the back of the endzone so they could review coverage assignments. That being said, it did appear that the special teams players lost containment several times and the tackling was weak. I hope this is a result of having a bunch of undrafted players and late round rookies on ST, but looking back to last year I cannot help but think that ST has taken a step back with Dehaven and the new rule changes. One of our stenghts now seems to be becoming a weakness. Note: I did not pay too much attention to our returns as I know that returns will be better with out actual starting return men.