What are your biggest concerns about the Buffalo Bills?

[marauderswr80]

No order....

 

Woods health

Depth

LT

Entire team health

LB

[mrwilson60]

Seriously, I don't think there's any place for that crap here. Critiquing management decisions and the ability of players/coaches is one thing. RWS has done more good, for more people, than any of us could imagine. Show some freaking respect; you come off like a complete douchebag.

Thank you, well said. Mr Wilson doesn't deserve this. He has given much more than he has taken in his life. His donations to spinal cord injury research being an example. Good karma has it that Kevin Everett walks today. People like Ralph Wilson Jr. drive the research that has therapeutic hypothermia saving quality of life in thousands of spinal cord and brain injured people. He is a gentleman in what has become a four letter world. When did we become so vulgar and disrespectful?

Edited April 1, 2012 by mrwilson60

[sllib olaffub]

I think it's a bit different way of saying the same thing - there are different kinds of smart. There's creative and innovative smart. Then there's practical and think fast on your feet/be flexible smart.

 

I think Chan is creative and innovative smart - given all the time he needs. I'm worried he isn't practical-smart

 

I don't think it's an accident that season opener and the game after the bye week were blowouts. Chan had plenty of time to prepare.

 

What I worry about is that Chan isn't as quick-thinking and flexible in his thinking as the pressures of the NFL season require the OC to be.

There isn't a lot of time during the season- there's a reason head coaches sleep in the office. The ability to power through sleep depriviation and overwork and keep your head and your drive and your edge gets less with age.

 

Add in that Chan is trying to fill the role of both OC and HC, and something's got to give. I'm afraid what gives is the game planning and quick adaptation of the game plan to injuries.

 

I'd probably feel better if Chan had brought in a true OC this off season.

 

Hey, I like your thinking with this response. It brings up some worries/concerns of my own. I wondered last year, as the season fell apart, what the cause was of what I was seeing. I knew it had to be either:

1. Defenses had figured us out, and we didn't try to adapt to beat their adaptation.

2. Fitz was injured or regressed, and he was making it look like defenses had figured us out when really he just wasn't making plays that would otherwise turn bad plays into good ones.

3. Our injuries made running our offense hard, and our backups weren't good enough.

 

So - what bothers me about all this is this: If Gailey knew our backups weren't good enough, and that our offense wasn't working, why not try something else? We had two good running backs for most of the season, and at least one - why not go to a run first offense, allowing Fitz to have to make less plays, and maybe keeping that seiving defense off the field? It got to the point where I was wondering if they weren't TRYING to lose games - or, NOT TRYING TO WIN games, if their season for them wasn't more of a long drawn out TRY OUT - on the one side for Wanny, and on the other, to run what Gailey wanted to run, and to see who could do it, thereby telling him who to replace, and also letting them get a better draft pick.

 

I know that is nuts, but Nix and Gailey weren't planning on taking last year's team and calling it a rebuild; they expected a few more years in the plan, and they wanted higher draft picks early, so they could get the kind of guys they need.

 

But, if they weren't in some way okay with losing last season, then it brings up issues any way you slice it. Why didn't Gailey adjust? Why didn't they have a better backup? I mean, what is the sense of having a backup who isn't good enough to backup a QB? COME ON, MAN! Why did they go into a season with so much extra money and without any better help at certain positions (although, who is complaining about the money now? Maybe we just need a longer view, or a little more trust?). So, yeah, I have worries about Gailey and his ability to change, when needed. But, maybe he'll prove to us all that he is a Genius of the highest order, and that he just needed a few more pieces and a little better luck. I have to admit - if he does it without a better QB I will tip my hat to him forever, because that is my biggest worry - Fitzpatrick. I just don't think he has it, and I worry that we won't go after the right QB when we have the chance. We need another QB, just in case, and he ought to be good enough to cause some excitement and hope if he's thrown in.

[SpecialK15]

First for me is the offense in general.

The defense should be able to hold their own this season.

But if Gailey comes out with his 5-wide short-slants thing again all season and fails to adapt to defenses figuring that out, the offense will sputter.

 

If Gailey truly is an offensive genius, this is the season we will see it.

 

The great thing about the spread offense is that there are so many options, especially with if you play with someone in the backfield. You can look to go deep and if it's not there you have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th option. I feel like a defense on any level can't anticipate where the ball is going. With a couple good running backs, it also spreads out the secondary and opens up holes in the middle to run. Too many good things to like about our offensive plan. Scoring was never really a worry for me (see the first half of the season before injuries happened). All we need now if a true #2 to emerge and make the whole thing more consistent and dangerous.

[PDaDdy]

youre very full of yourself, for someone who's not really saying much.

 

your position: the concept of an "elite/franchise" quarterback is a joke, and it can't be defined.

the reality: we haven't won a playoff game in 16 years, since we last had a franchise quarterback, fitzpatrick has never had a winning record in his career, and either a manning, brady, brees or rothlisberger has pretty much won every super bowl for the past decade, and if they didn't win it, they were playing in it.

 

your position:the running game is going to make a comeback in the NFL, because the league is cyclical.

the reality: the super bowl champions had the 32nd ranked running attack in the league last year. new england was 20th.

 

i will continue to use facts - you keep talking in a condescending manner about how you have vastly superior knowledge of how the league works that one day maybe the rest of us will be privy to.

 

you can't define an elite quarterback? but if you woke up tomorrow and read the buffalo news that we had cut fitzy and signed drew breese, i bet you would reply to a thread that said we had just acquired a top 5 qb in the league and were considered super bowl contenders.

 

Usually, LOL but I have said quite a bit. I can define a franchise QB using another brave poster's idea who had the stones to suggest a simple one. Completing 65% of your passes and a 2 to 1 TD to interception ratio. Sounds pretty decent to me. The only problem is that only 4 QBs satisfy that criteria in the entire league and some aren't who you think they are.

 

What if you relax that criteria? Now more and more QBs qualify as franchise. The problem is that once you put individual performance statistics to it not TEAM wins and losses or super bowl appearances it shows you that some QBs you think are franchise AREN'T and some QBs you think aren't franchise ARE.

 

Even using individual QB statistics is difficult because it doesn't take into consideration the team around the QB. Is Aaron Rogers Aaron Rogers if he isn't on the Packers? Matt Flynn has outplayed Rogers on the same team. Is Matt Flynn franchise because he can put up the same kind of numbers Rogers could in Green Bay? Is it possible that the talent that GB has on that side of the ball helps to MAKE a decent QB look franchise? That's how we ended up with Rob Johnson. That is how Kevin Kolb's job is not a sure thing in Arizona. That is why Matt Cassel who looked like Tom Brady lite just looks "lite" in KC even with Dwayne Bowe who is one of the best young WR in the league.

 

Again you illustrate my point. Not every team has the cap money to sign a Drew Brees for one. How franchise was Drew Brees when San Diego was drafting Phillip Rivers and Brees lost his job? Really. Seriously. Think about that. Everyone judges a franchise QB in HINDSIGHT! Apparently you're only franchise if you have gotten to or won a super bowl like say a Trent Dilfer or a Jeff Hostettler.

 

The great thing about the spread offense is that there are so many options, especially with if you play with someone in the backfield. You can look to go deep and if it's not there you have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th option. I feel like a defense on any level can't anticipate where the ball is going. With a couple good running backs, it also spreads out the secondary and opens up holes in the middle to run. Too many good things to like about our offensive plan. Scoring was never really a worry for me (see the first half of the season before injuries happened). All we need now if a true #2 to emerge and make the whole thing more consistent and dangerous.

 

I guess I understand some of the fear that other people have you bring up exactly the point to address it though. We know what Fitz is capable of in this system when people are healthy like ...oh say...his near probowl center Eric Woods, maybe a consistent starter at LT for a few weeks in a row and maybe a WR or two that could run faster than a 4.5 and wasn't just plucked off the street or out of the stands to play that day. Just sayin'.

 

I wasn't worried one bit about the offense when we were healthy. Everyone forgets the high scoring games and the come from behind last minute victories that Fitz captained. The team went to hell when the injuries struck and an over matched Edwards' defense gave up on average 27.1 points a week.

Edited April 1, 2012 by PDaDdy

[Deadstroke]

Lets bring some pessimism back to these parts!

 

Since the Mario signing, and the Anderson signing to a lesser extent, I think it's safe to say that the overwhelming majority of us have at least allowed ourselves to imagine grabbing a 6 seed next season, and for one glorious weekend, being part of the NFL playoff conversation. It would definitely be fun, and there's little doubt in my mind it can happen. Hell, I've said it in many threads, and I'll say it again here: New England is old, and on a decline, despite making the super bowl. We could easily WIN the division outright next year, and host a playoff game (or 2?) at the Ralph.

 

But let's look deeper than that. What are you worried about with this club? And please - take the "They're going to move to LA" talk to another thread. Theyre not moving.

 

Personally, my biggest concern is at quarterback.

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick is amazing - my favorite player on the team by far, and the first professional athlete since John Starks of the 1998 New York Knicks that I can 100% root for and feel like he's not just doing it because "it's his job." He's a great underdog story, a good interview, seems like a funny guy, and the story that after home games he goes back to his house with his wife and grills with his neighbors is awesome, and shows why buffalo is the most bad ass team in the NFL.

 

But. In the back of my mind, im fairly certain that he is not a quarterback that can win a super bowl for this team. As hard as it is to admit, when you look at the list of super bowl winning quarterbacks in the league right now (the Mannings, Brady, Rothlisberger, Breese, et. al) Fitzpatricks name doesnt belong up there by a long shot.

 

With that being said, what really worries me is this: We have acquired the talent now to not be a perpetual 6-10, 7-9 team - but rather the perpetual 10-6, 11-5 team. The one that loses in heart breaking fashion in the divisional round, or maybe the conference finals if we have a lights out defense and amazing drafts the next 2 years. We won't be drafting in the top 3 for a LONG time. Essentially, we have absolutely no way to ever aquire an elite QB to go with this defense.

 

So my biggest concern - we are now the San Diego Chargers East. The team that looks great every offseason, but just can never. get. over. the. hump.

 

I am not worried about QB. I think Fitz will do a fine job this year with all the other offensive pieces in place and finally good health.

 

I worry about injuries first of all and then probably the CB position. I like them, but...