McD Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 ... After seeing the preseason, I'm not as excited for this season as I was a month ago. I'm hoping that the "Chan Gang" can work out some kinks and cover their weak spots, but until I see it I'm not convinced. I was thinking a 9 or 10 win season was doable, but now I'm thinking 7 or 8 is more realistic. We still need another WR threat and better QB and LB play. I'm just not thinking that it will automatically appear week 1. Any thoughts to the possibility that we get things straightened out before the "Jest" game? McD
BillsFan-4-Ever Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 I finally say the Steelers rerun on DTV. I was OK with the first quarter 7 to zip score. I was even inpressed with most of the second quarter w/the exception of the fumble. You can't judge a team by its preseason Debbie
Meathead Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 fortunately i am not like many fans who have incredibly bad preseason amnesia every year and forget that once the real ball is in play everything that happened in preseason games except injuries and the bottom ten of the roster is meaningless ten wins
KD in CA Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 I don't think there is anything 'downer' about having an objective opinion about the team. Clearly the positions you mentioned do not appear to be areas of strength, and unless one or more of them exceed what they've shown so far (and the other areas play up to their potential), the Bills will probably not make the playoffs. I do think their schedule is favorable enough to reach 9 or 10 wins even with the current weaknesses.
metzelaars_lives Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 You'll be just as excited come September 9th...
McD Posted August 30, 2012 Author Posted August 30, 2012 McDebbie, lol... nice! I'm a 43 year old lifelong Bills and Sabre fan... it's tough to stay "positive" all the time. Loyal yes, but damn this bad stretch has really taken its toll on me. To me there's always hope, until we're out of contention. I just won't set my hopes as high as I had them a month ago. If I do that I stand a much better chance of not suffering a heart condition, stroke, hypertension or severe depression, lol...
Luxy312 Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 (edited) Have you watched anything of the preseason Debbie? The Jets have played 3 games and haven't scored an offensive touchdown yet. The Patriots have gone 1-3 and looked aweful. Ryan Tannehill said he has no clue what teams are in what divisions and thought the Chiefs were in the NFC North. Until actual games start being played, there's nothing to do but be optimistic about what might happen. There were so many of those great Bills teams of the 90's that looked like a turd during the preseason, that it's not even funny. The Bills have added quite a bit of talent from last year. There's plenty to be optimistic about yet. Edited August 30, 2012 by Luxy312
HeHateMe Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 This team would have lost 9 games in a row to end the season last year if not for Tim Tebow playing like a high school QB in the 2nd to last game. Yes there were injuries but that is downright terrible. They have 2 divisional wins in 2 years.. Yet some people here have them having a legit shot at winning the East this year... How about we start with being competitive in our own division and winning some of those games..
McD Posted August 30, 2012 Author Posted August 30, 2012 Luxy... C'mon brother, we all know the 90's Bills OWNED the 1st qtr of their games and didn't give a damn about the outcome. I've not seen a dominating performance yet by our O. Honestly, I could care less what the rest of the League does in the preseason. We know the Pats will be fine, we know the Fins will struggle, but the "Jest" are still a mystery. I agree we added talent, but I played football, I coach football, I know football. We need some better QB, WR and LB play, or we too will struggle. Brady will KILL our soft middle as will the rest of the league, then we're asking Fitz to light it up all season long....? That's a concern to me.
millbank Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 Agree with original post.. Don't really put much stock into pre season . But it would appear this season will be about a much improved defense, teams stopping the Bills running game, daring them to beat them with the pass. I truly want to believe otherwise but being honest just do not see them good enough at wide receiver or Quarterback. Still think they a good draft and free agent signings away from playoff team... they much better , but just not good enough... will glad to be wrong...
Mr. WEO Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 fortunately i am not like many fans who have incredibly bad preseason amnesia every year and forget that once the real ball is in play everything that happened in preseason games except injuries and the bottom ten of the roster is meaningless ten wins Amnesia? Hmmm....It's hard to remember "10 wins" following a good or bad preseason for this team. Seems like so long ago....
Billsrhody Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 McDebbie, lol... nice! I'm a 43 year old lifelong Bills and Sabre fan... it's tough to stay "positive" all the time. Loyal yes, but damn this bad stretch has really taken its toll on me. To me there's always hope, until we're out of contention. I just won't set my hopes as high as I had them a month ago. If I do that I stand a much better chance of not suffering a heart condition, stroke, hypertension or severe depression, lol... Haha I'm with you.. optimism is hard to come by sometimes. Sept 9 cant come fast enough!
mike6683 Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 YOU CAN NOT JUDGE THE NFL UNTIL THEY PLAY FOR REAL!!!!!!!
Luxy312 Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 Luxy... C'mon brother, we all know the 90's Bills OWNED the 1st qtr of their games and didn't give a damn about the outcome. I've not seen a dominating performance yet by our O. Honestly, I could care less what the rest of the League does in the preseason. We know the Pats will be fine, we know the Fins will struggle, but the "Jest" are still a mystery. I agree we added talent, but I played football, I coach football, I know football. We need some better QB, WR and LB play, or we too will struggle. Brady will KILL our soft middle as will the rest of the league, then we're asking Fitz to light it up all season long....? That's a concern to me. Outside of the Patriots and a small number of other games, they may have one of the softest schedules in the NFL. If you coach and know football, then you would know that teams don't get better by losing players (i.e. the Jets). They're a couple of locker room comments away from a complete implosion. While limited in action, the Bills starters have done that. They haven't spent a bunch of time on the field, but have been able to score. I'm mostly concerned with the play of our linebackers. To me, that's where this team will "true up" against their opponents. I guess my ding on you was really for finding a reason to be pessimistic. If they come out flat against the Jets in the first week, I'll be on your page. However, if a traditionally (last 8 years) bad road team goes to New Jersey and takes a "W" from NY, I'll be the first one to say "I told you so". They have to start somewhere and some time, and when they do, I'll be there.
quinnearlysghost88 Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 There should have to be a mandatory moratorium on comparing the preseason to the regular season. Starting now. We've run out of topics, so now we're just eating our young.
Bangarang Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 How many times are we going to see threads like this?
McD Posted August 30, 2012 Author Posted August 30, 2012 Outside of the Patriots and a small number of other games, they may have one of the softest schedules in the NFL. If you coach and know football, then you would know that teams don't get better by losing players (i.e. the Jets). They're a couple of locker room comments away from a complete implosion. While limited in action, the Bills starters have done that. They haven't spent a bunch of time on the field, but have been able to score. I'm mostly concerned with the play of our linebackers. To me, that's where this team will "true up" against their opponents. I guess my ding on you was really for finding a reason to be pessimistic. If they come out flat against the Jets in the first week, I'll be on your page. However, if a traditionally (last 8 years) bad road team goes to New Jersey and takes a "W" from NY, I'll be the first one to say "I told you so". They have to start somewhere and some time, and when they do, I'll be there. I don't think I'm being pessimistic at all. I see it as realistic. The LB play will show it's head quickly. Teams will go to a 3 step drop and kill us with slants, underneath patterns, bubble screens, and seam patterns... moving the chains at will. Ok, that's what I'd do until it was stopped. I like the makeup of the D with the exception of the LB play. On the O side, I have to see consistency from Fitz as well as another WR stepping up and being productive. The Jest game will not tell you the story of this Bills team (unless the Bills were to lose badly). To me they have a 60-70% shot at winning that game, but it should be 80-90%. We'll see...
Malazan Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 There should have to be a mandatory moratorium on comparing the preseason to the regular season. Starting now. We've run out of topics, so now we're just eating our young. or making brand new topics on something that is being discussed ad nauseum in other threads and yet, for some reason, people feel they need a 'new' thread on it.
Buftex Posted August 30, 2012 Posted August 30, 2012 I am not lettting the pre-season affect how I anticipate this season...but I am also not one of those who thinks adding Mario Williams and Mark Anderson to the roster all of the sudden makes the Bills an instant contender either...honeslty, I can live with missing the playoffs (again!), as long as i see some very tangible improvement...I expect that from the defense...they couldn't be a lot more ineffective than they were the last few years, and Williams/Anderson, and the quality of experienced depth on the D-line, should make the defense fun to watch. I think the improved D-line will, eventually, pay off as far as improving the secondary and linbackers. My biggest concern is our passing game. Chan seems enamored with it, even when it is not effective...and I am not completely sold on Fitz. I would love for him to be "the guy", but I just don't know if he can do the things he needs to do to make this team a serious contender. I would like to see Chan stick with the running game a little more...it could be an offensive strength (Fred has looked tremendous in pre-season) and may help to hide some of our weaknesses.
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