RevWarRifleman Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 I am ecstatic about this season. No Pickspatrick, more speed on offense, some attitude on defense. I haven't felt this great about us for a long time. All right, Marauder24. I like the enthusiasm.
mjt328 Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 Post-draft is always a time of very high optimism. But realistically, we all know this team will not succeed until it gets a high level of play from the QB position. Drafting EJ Manuel was (hopefully) a big step in the right direction. But even if he is destined for a great NFL career, it could take some time for him to get there. Most likely, we will start the season with Kevin Kolb and get the same level of play as we did with Fitzpatrick. There is a good chance that Manuel will break the starting lineup before the season is over - which will likely mean some growing pains.
truth on hold Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 Have to look at it relative to competition. Just within the division jets are a mess and we should sweep, pats will have their act together from the get go and should sweep us (at least we get by any fantasy of perfect season with opening day loss), and Miami I see as similar to us with reasons to be optimistic but still in the process of putting it together. So I see a split with miami. This gets us to at least .500 in the division. Pre season will be especially important this year with all the changes and open competition at qb
12Kachy Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 2-14. We have to win two games somewhere. This team is going to implode. status quo. Nix is still here. He will probably trade spiller week 3 for a 5th round pick.
bobblehead Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 Speed needs to be the identity. I want to see the bills become identifiable to that.
SRQ_BillsFan Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 >= 4 wins. Draft was nice but new coach and too young.
Dorkington Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 Before the draft, I was in the 2-3 win camp. Post draft, I think we are in the 5-7 win camp. I think we still have a lot of holes on our team, but we also have a lot of young talent. As long as we KEEP our solid-good players, and fill holes/weak spots with more next off season, we will be moving in the right direction. The problem is, we tend to lose solid-good players, and not replace them.
Dr. K Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 The fact you think Fitzpatrick was a good QB for the team pretty much voids any other point that you make, but I will reply to the highlighted areas above. Fitz was not a good QB for us as everyone outside of a few Buffalo Bills' fans knows. I won't dispute your TD numbers, however I will point out that when the game was + / - 7 points in the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick threw one TD and 4 picks and had a passer rating of 55.5. (By comparison, Kolb's rating was 103.4 in the same situation) People throw out 3400 yards like it's a fantastic feat in today's NFL. Reality check: this is not 1995. Fitz's 3400 yards were 18th in the league. 18th! How is that a stat to brag about? One of the biggest issues with Fitzpatrick is his consistent inconsistency in the 4th quarter. He simply could not be counted on to win games when it mattered. His INT vs the Titans is symbolic of Fitz with the game on the line. I'm not even going to mention his lack of a deep ball. Oh wait, I just did. I'm ecstatic to see him gone. Second point: Yes, I do. We were 6th in rushing last season but 13th in rushing attempts. If you have a QB who is an innacurate, turnover machine and a very good running game, logic dictates you run the ball more. The Vikings understood this and made a playoff appearance. Chan did not and won 6 games. Again. Marrone loves to run the ball. We can run the ball. Running the ball effectively opens up so much of your playbook in terms of play action, etc. So yes, I expect our offense will score points. I always take "average" points per game with a grain of salt. We scored garbage time points vs. the Jets. We scored 3, 9, 12, 13, 17 and 10 points in losses during the season. So saying we "averaged" over three TD's a game does not tell the total story of the season and our offense. Point 3: To what do you attribute the huge step backward? The fact we might actually run the ball on 3rd and 1? The fact that we have exponentially increased our athleticism and speed on offense? Or perhaps the fact we just might have a QB who can complete a pass over 20 yards and defenses might just have to respect it? I don't know, maybe we will digress because this coach will realize the special player he has in Spiller and will strive to get him the ball as much as possible. Pardon me for the sarcasm, but I finally see some FO moves that absolutely get me excited about this team. Check my history and you will see that I have been one of the most critical members of Fitzpatrick on this board. Ridding ourselves of him makes us a better team already. Adding the young talent we have is a reason for optimism. If the defense improves, Lord knows they cannot be worse, and if Marrone uses a ball control, run oriented offense (which, by the way, actually reduces 3 and outs and runs time off the clock to rest the defense), I think we will have a competitive team. Regardless, this is the most excited I have been about the Bills in years. I am absolutely aware of Fitzpatrick's limitations. But I do not see (unless Manuel takes off from Day One the way Wilson and Luck and RG and Cam did in the last couple of years, which I am not expecting) that Kolb is going to give better overall QB play than Fitz, or that the new offensive system is not going to have equivalent difficulties to the ones Gailey's had (if not necessarily the same ones), or that the rookie receivers are suddenly going to be a quantum leap above the ones we got rid of. At the very least I think there is going to be a learning curve. And we obviously have different opinions the comparable abilities of Fitz vs. Kolb (do you really see that Kolb is that superior? Based on what, ,exactly?). And I don't think if you give Spiller the ball ten more times a game he is going to maintain his 6.0 yard average per carry. Etc. I think we can agree that the defense has to be better--or at least I would be surprised if it isn't. I guess we'll just have to disagree for now. The camp and pre-season may change my mind about the offense. We'll just see what happens. As I say, I'll be happy to be proven wrong about this. Before the draft, I was in the 2-3 win camp. Post draft, I think we are in the 5-7 win camp. I think we still have a lot of holes on our team, but we also have a lot of young talent. As long as we KEEP our solid-good players, and fill holes/weak spots with more next off season, we will be moving in the right direction. The problem is, we tend to lose solid-good players, and not replace them. This
Bills Fan888 Posted April 30, 2013 Author Posted April 30, 2013 LOL, High Hopes. I hope they go 16-0, but let's be realistic. I think this is gonna be a hard year for the Bills. Lots of growing pains and not enough Pro Bowl talent on the roster means anywhere from 2-5 wins imho... If we only got 2-5 I would be shocked. I just don't see this team regressing with a coaching staff that looks like it completely blows our old coaching staff out of the water. Combine that with a moderate upgrade in talent and I can't see any reasons for us to do worse than we did last year.
ColdBlueNorth Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 My expectations are a steadily improving team that can find enough continuity to perhaps get a Wild Card spot or at least compete for one. I am rarely a rose-colored glasses kind of guy, but I think we have a lot of talent on the defensive side of the ball that has never-ever been used properly. Add to that mess the defensive talent was gathered around misguided attempts to align personnel to a moving target of defensive philosophies brought in by the bargain basement parade of lack-luster defensive coordinators that did not have a proven track record of building great defenses in the first place. The net result was a defense that spends each of the last several seasons kissing the cellar floor. That fragmented approach to personnel and philosophies left us with a lot of pieces that simply did not fit together well and the new regime has jettisoned many of the misfit toys. Letting go of the players that did not fit what they are trying to run does not mean the Bills lack talent. Pettine said when he took the job - the cupboard is not bare when it comes to the talent-level of our defensive players and I think he is a good judge of the talent needed on that side of the ball. Pettine has the pedigree and the proven ability to use a variety of fronts and pressure packages to field a successful defensive unit. I believe that he will help this team match up against the NE spread offense, but unlike Wannestedt who seemed to totally unravel when teams adjusted to his game plan he will not sit by like a deer in the head lights if a team like NE shifts in the second half to a run package and starts pulling and trapping and running off tackle. I simply cannot envision him sitting baffled, unable to adjust personnel or strategy while a team like NE rushes for a zillion yards in the second half of a game. So yes, I do think the defense will be competitive pretty early on. That leaves the offense. The offense will have a lot of growing pains, but actually may get out of the gate faster than folks think simply because teams are not that familiar with the kind of offense Marrone and Hackett will run and how they will use the many offensive weapons at their disposal. NFL defenses (the good ones) catch on fast though and I think they will have some games where they just cannot get out of their own way. For those games I am hopeful that field position and solid defense will give the offensive unit enough opportunities for one of the many play makers on offense to catch a break.
Trader Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 Too early for my prediction. I need to see the QB's, receivers and the offense and the new D. I will make a prediction after the last pre season game.
Corp000085 Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 Away too early. Hard not to be optimistic, but I'll reserve my thoughts till preseason game 3 at the earliest. The whole "it's just preseason" is an excuse for failure. If this team shows a spark during preseason, then we can talk. Oh screw it, 19-0 baby!!!!
Prickly Pete Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 I am absolutely aware of Fitzpatrick's limitations. But I do not see (unless Manuel takes off from Day One the way Wilson and Luck and RG and Cam did in the last couple of years, which I am not expecting) that Kolb is going to give better overall QB play than Fitz, or that the new offensive system is not going to have equivalent difficulties to the ones Gailey's had (if not necessarily the same ones), or that the rookie receivers are suddenly going to be a quantum leap above the ones we got rid of. At the very least I think there is going to be a learning curve. And we obviously have different opinions the comparable abilities of Fitz vs. Kolb (do you really see that Kolb is that superior? Based on what, ,exactly?). And I don't think if you give Spiller the ball ten more times a game he is going to maintain his 6.0 yard average per carry. Etc. This The problem I had with your post is "They didn't lose because they could not score. They lost because they couldn't stop anybody from scoring." Misleading at best. Kolb might suck, and the offense might not get better, but they definitely lost games because the offense was crap (of course the defense sucked too). All that window dressing for Fitz is just disingenuous. Go ahead and say the team still sucks, but don't try to paint Fitz as a good QB. Unforgivable.
Dr. K Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 The problem I had with your post is "They didn't lose because they could not score. They lost because they couldn't stop anybody from scoring." Misleading at best. Kolb might suck, and the offense might not get better, but they definitely lost games because the offense was crap (of course the defense sucked too). All that window dressing for Fitz is just disingenuous. Go ahead and say the team still sucks, but don't try to paint Fitz as a good QB. Unforgivable. Where did I say Fitz was a good QB? I said Kolb is no improvement. I gently suggest that you may have a Fitz fixation that is making it hard for you to see Kolb (or the rest of the offense) accurately. What I was saying is that I do not at this point expect the offense to play better than it did last season. I expect a step back before there is a step forward. Not that last year's offense was sterling, or that Fitz was a superior QB. And I stand by (and elaborate on) my statement that if the defense were even adequate, instead of the worst in Bills history, the team would have won at least three more games in 2012.
catskillbill Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 I have been a fan of this team for 50 years and I still go into every game expecting to win. So I have to agree with The Senator. 19-0 Baby!
jethro_tull Posted April 30, 2013 Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) how about improved with a chance to surprise? fundamentals trending in the positive direction- *A credible second wideout target. You cannot underestimate how fundamentally important this is and will be. *A quarterback who can hit first down targets. Moving the chains will be the best defense. *A fresh, imaginative book of offensive plays. Hackett has been a scholar of the game since his youth. *A proven defensive coordinator and a head coach who will not settle for mediocrity. The defense grossly underachieved with respect to their collecive talent level. Edited May 1, 2013 by jethro_tull
3rdand12 Posted May 1, 2013 Posted May 1, 2013 Expectations??.... I have none. I am in pure wait and see mode. After last year this is how I roll. a zen thing ? not a bad perspective at all.
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