Frazier: "(Brown and Ragland) will be part of our best 11"

[Johnny Hammersticks]

Sam: Ragland/Lorax Mike: P. Brown/Ragland Will: Hughes/Humber

[26CornerBlitz]

Sam: Ragland/Lorax Mike: P. Brown/Ragland Will: Hughes/Humber

 

Hughes is playing DE.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

Hughes is playing DE.

Oops...meant Hodges.

[Paul Costa]

I think Lorax will be a rotational DE on passing downs more than a every down LB. I'd be fine with Brown ,Ragland and Hodges as starting Lb's. On second down at least one is coming out anyways.

[3rdand12]

 

Ha, yes, I do have it out for Preston. I will not deny that. There are fundamental things a MLB has to do in my mind. First and foremost is tackle well. I can say with a high degree of certainty that more times than not when I saw a play (and I'm talking up the middle more so than the outside) that a guy got dragged for yards on a tackle, or attempted an arm tackle that was run through, or went to the wrong hole leaving a gaping hole where he should have been, Preston Brown seemed to be the man at fault. So, after noticing this, I tried to watch him solely on a number of plays during games. What I saw then was Preston eaten up by blockers with no shedding ability at all.

 

Now, can some of it be Rex's fault? Maybe he was assigned the wrong holes to attack, I don't know. But a MLB who can't get off blocks and who can't tackle, well, that's not a coaching problem IMO, that's a player problem. Add to that the complete dysfunction on the communication side of things, which is also usually a MLB job. I attribute that aspect more to Rex and the coaching staff though, but other MLBs have done fine with these coaches, even excelled with Lewis and Harris.

 

Terrible may be an exaggeration as I'm sure he would be a good depth guy to have. But if we end up depending on him to be our run stopping, team leader on defense, well, I think we are in trouble then.

I too have focused on a player. I did it with Mario Williams while he was still being defended. I did it with Gilmore, just to see for myself.

Preston fell off the cart and played poorly all on his own, as well as being lost in the Ryans gibberish

I am going to suggest he had a right shoulder injury.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

Ragland will be one of the best 11. Hopefully brown will be the starting mlb for the second team...the guy is way to slow and is nowhere near good enough. How can hodges not be an every down LB in this defense? I don't know how much I believe this thread

[26CornerBlitz]

Ragland will be one of the best 11. Hopefully brown will be the starting mlb for the second team...the guy is way to slow and is nowhere near good enough. How can hodges not be an every down LB in this defense? I don't know how much I believe this thread

 

What?

[Dragonborn10]

I strongly disagree. Dareus stood there at times jumping around like a 350 pound ballerina. He was also used quite a bit in coverage.

 

Just thinking about this is sickening.[/quote,

Looking back , the whole scheme was sickening

 

Rex was a disaster but the zone blitz is one of the great defensive innovations of the last couple decades. Everyone uses it.

The issue is not the zone blitz. It is not using the D-line to penetrate and pass rush instead they just occupied blockers. That works if you have Wilfork or Ted Washington. If you have Dareus and KW they should rush the passer and penetrate on almost every down.

I think Lorax will be a rotational DE on passing downs more than a every down LB. I'd be fine with Brown ,Ragland and Hodges as starting Lb's. On second down at least one is coming out anyways.

This is how I see it too.

Also there will be times with Washington at DE (unarmed) and Hughes at OLB. Probably against run heavy teams or situations.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

 

What?

benched

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

Honestly, the "Best 11" to me makes me think more along the lines of going with a modified Big Nickel as a base. Realistically, we in a league setup when the majority of times you are in subpackages more than a standard 3-4 or 4-3 base, and I see value in being more flexible in a nickel situation than having to risk Brady ripping us because they go no huddle and we can't get subs in. Going off of what Micah Hyde mentioned, he sees himself as willing to be a hybrid safety/LB.

 

Now, to be honest, I don't love the prospect of either Ragland or Brown as a pure WLB, and I have worried about MLB. But if you are telling me that we are going to yank LorAx (really an edge rusher) from SAM on nickel downs to slide in Seymour as an extra CB, and move Hyde into the box to line up over the slot receiver or TE while Poyer centerfields...well, I feel better about Brown and Ragland to shade the other have the field and run stuff respectively.

[26CornerBlitz]

benched

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Brown gets key snaps as the starting MLB especially early in the season as Ragland gets acclimated to the NFL and playing in a 4-3 defense.

[Alphadawg7]

Im confused, was this ever in question? I mean I thought it was pretty clear our 3 LBs are Lonzo, Brown, and Ragland.

 

Actually, us fans feel/think Lonzo and Brown may be liabilities vs the run and that's why they went out and brought in Hodges, who got a terrific PFF LB rating last season, just a bit below Zack Brown, and specifically vs the run, rated 12th best in the NFL, right after, sic, Bradham

 

Based on last years stats, Hodges and Lonzo, are the best 3 down LB's, and one of Brown and Ragland, will begin as a backup, though Frazier seems to contradict what alot of us are thinking, lol

 

Considering we should be in nickel/dime 65% of the time, and only 2 LB's will see the field, I see a rotation of sorts, Ragland and Hodges being the primary LB's on run downs, both come out for Lonzo and Brown on passing downs, that works, and now having brought Hodges in, re-upped Lonzo, and depending upon if Ragland is the real deal, our LB's situation is not as dire as it once looked, might turn out to be a strength, however no one really knows until the guys hit the field, let alone, who is starting, etc, its all a transitional year

 

jc

 

You know what, honestly I forgot about Hodges. Good point...he hasn't been getting talked about much, and forgot we signed him. I really liked that signing too. So that makes more sense to me now. Thanks for reminding me about him.

You don't even need to look at statistics to know the defense sucked.

 

Yet many people post statistics to defend the defense. They sucked and any semblance of a decent defense this team is a playoff team the last two years.

 

Exactly...and the only people defending the defense are those that want to discredit Tyrod as much as possible and make him the bigger problem over the defense when it was without a shadow of a doubt the Defense was the bigger issue that kept this team from the playoffs, not the offense.

[Canadian Bills Fan]

This is why I actually like preseason games.

 

I cant wait to see what Brown and Ragland look like

 

 

 

CBF

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

I think Lorax will be a rotational DE on passing downs more than a every down LB. I'd be fine with Brown ,Ragland and Hodges as starting Lb's. On second down at least one is coming out anyways.

I think you're right. He is a monster on ST coverage, and keeping his legs fresh at his age will be important. Our other LBs are much younger, and if a player goes down, Alexander would be a nice replacement.

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

You know what, honestly I forgot about Hodges. Good point...he hasn't been getting talked about much, and forgot we signed him. I really liked that signing too. So that makes more sense to me now. Thanks for reminding me about him.

 

Exactly...and the only people defending the defense are those that want to discredit Tyrod as much as possible and make him the bigger problem over the defense when it was without a shadow of a doubt the Defense was the bigger issue that kept this team from the playoffs, not the offense.

 

Regardless of their reasoning, anyone that defends the defense if the last 2 years should not be taken seriously.

 

Taylor may have some issues, but if the defense had performed close to a top 10 unit these last 2 years, the Bills would have been in the playoff discussion in the end. Taylor and the offense would have been "good enough". Every (non-dilusional) fan knows this.

 

The only thing that will hold this defense back from improvement over last year will be injuries, IMO.

[baskingridgebillsfan]

I'm not sure how you absolve Rex when the team was 9th DVOA in 2014, 15th in 2015, and 28th in 2016 with virtually the same guys? No one is saying Brown is great but he's not terrible. Rex (and Rob) made guys worse with their scheme and lack of communication. We will see this year just how bad they were.

Rex had plenty of issues but he did not have the same personal

[Kirby Jackson]

Rex had plenty of issues but he did not have the same personal

From 2014 to 2015 they lost Spikes and Searcy and added Darby and moved Graham over. I don't see that as a massive change to the roster.

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Preston Brown is terrible. Period. End of story. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy cannot tackle anyone without being pushed ahead 2-3 yards, needing help, or risk the guy breaking the arm tackle for huge games (see Dolphins games). It is not Rex Ryan's fault that the guy over pursued his assigned hole over and over and over again leading to huge gains. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy simply cannot shed a block and make a play. Stop blaming Rex Ryan for all of our terrible players performance. Some of guys are just terrible.

 

Now, Ragland was a tackling machine at Alabama and in the limited time he was on the field last summer. That is something to get excited about, not Preston Brown.

As Rex's agent, can he pay you as much as when he was coaching?

[Gunsgoodtime]

ame="JerseyBills" post="4426570" timestamp="1499635291"]

 

Rex was a disaster but the zone blitz is one of the great defensive innovations of the last couple decades. Everyone uses it.

The issue is not the zone blitz. It is not using the D-line to penetrate and pass rush instead they just occupied blockers. That works if you have Wilfork or Ted Washington. If you have Dareus and KW they should rush the passer and penetrate on almost every down.

 

This is how I see it too.

Also there will be times with Washington at DE (unarmed) and Hughes at OLB. Probably against run heavy teams or situations.

Wouldn't he have a better chance getting to the QB armed?

[Mark80]

As Rex's agent, can he pay you as much as when he was coaching?

 

Just wondering, where exactly did I proclaim any support whatsoever for Rex Ryan? Just because I don't think it is Rex's fault that Preston cannot tackle does not mean I think Rex Ryan was as good coach.