Why are so many ppl saying we need....

[JPL7]

im not saying that a DT or depth at DT isnt important to have. but i must say we do have 2 glariing needs. a CB for depth and the future and also an o-lineman. we need either a center or a tackle plain and simple. at 55 ill take spencer or terry over any DT. And if somehow Cory Webster were to fall or another solid CB, ill take them also. now if we make some moves and acquire multiple picks in the 2nd, then yea, id love to have Castillo. great college player, should be a solid pro. but our needs at OL and Cb far outweigh our needs at DT.

[d_wag]

So now you're on a relentless campaign to resign all our crappy players before their contracts are up too?

 

Just kidding. Edwards isn't crappy, but he is just as likely to tank as a starter as excel. He has most of half a game down pat after three years, and basically gets pushed around at the other 60-70%. His sacks last year, while excellent plays and showing a fine burst and knack in the passing game, clouds people's eyes IMO over the fact that he still gets regularly pushed around in the running game. I'm hoping it finally comes together for him, and he still has a chance to be good, but I would not lock him up to any contract of any significance now. Just an opinion on him.

311462[/snapback]

 

here is my take:

 

if he does play well and improves his play, his price will increase dramitically.......as a result, it is then unlikely that TD would make any effort to retain him based on the opinion that he will be "over-priced" by the market and he will not resign in buffalo for what TD deems his "value".........therefore, we lose a good young player and receive no compensation for it......

 

but what if he does fail this season? if after all this time the bills can't figure out if this guy is good or not, they aern't doing their job properly.......TD (and his group) have watched ron edwards for dozens of hours on college tape, seen him in hundreds of practices, graded him on over 40 NFL games, and seen him in the locker room for 4 years - they should know NOW whether they want him around long-term or not.......

 

i can only assume that given the fact the bills are handing the job to edwards that they assume he will excel in the role.......if they think he will fail and are prepared to let him walk at the end of the year as a result, they are letting down the team by not addressing this hole in free agency.....

 

it's all about being pro-active with your own players, not reactive......if you wait for ron edwards to "step up his game" you will watch him walk out the door next off-season -- simple as that.........if they reward him now, he will reward them during this season and beyond......

[MrLocke]

People raise this argument about Pat Williams only playing about 60% of the snaps last year and our run defense was good, however I do not buy this because he was most likely in on 1st and 2nd down when teams run and not 3rd down when teams usually pass. So of the downs that he played probably 80-85 percent of them were running plays.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

People raise this argument about Pat Williams only playing about 60% of the snaps last year and our run defense was good, however I do not buy this because he was most likely in on 1st and 2nd down when teams run and not 3rd down when teams usually pass. So of the downs that he played probably 80-85 percent of them were running plays.

311863[/snapback]

 

Agreed that PW was mostly in on expected running plays and thus was in on 1s and 2nd rather than on 3rd and their is a skew as to whether teams are more likely to run or pass on these downs. However, i think this is quite likely skew rather than an absolute commitment to run on 1st and 2nd and an absolute conmmitment to pass on 3rd.

 

64% of plays I think that was the number but ould be off =/- 4) actually surprised me to find out that number was so low. While it is still closer to the rule than the exception that PW was in, the number allows for a fair number of potential run ning plays that I see no sign from these numbers on the part of Gray to go with other players beside PW a significant amount of the time. Usually friom my memory this was mostly Edwards, but occaisonally we would go with runblitz scheme used in an unusal way and it was Denny who was lined up on the inside.

 

My sense that the DT position is not in crisis, but there is now grave uncertainty and if things go badly I'm not sure we have a lot of options:

 

1. As folks have pointed out if Adams goes down we are probably cooked. Edwards elevated his play and was quite comfortable for me as a reserve and if he needed to step up and start a game or two. However, we need Anderson to really step up and threaten to start because then I think we have a more certain plan B. Any doubts the braintrust has about Edwards or Bannan makes DT a priority get for us.

 

2. We actuallty only went with three DEs last year which struck me as thin. Either Ritzmann needs to be the real deal or its drafting yet another DE (following Denney and Kelsay that is a need for our DL. I think more likely we will want to acquire a swing guy who can comfortably play both DT or DE. A player with this flexibility has become more of a rarity as DTs bulk up in this league and use of the DE as an outside speed rusher expected to be quick both increase. Our use of the run blitz puts an even higher premium on our DEs needing speed and agility to cover the short and medium zone on pass plays.

 

I hope we are blowing smoke to confuse the enenmy by listing Bannan as an OG. For now we have but three players manning the DT slot and this does not sound like much of a rotation for the DL to me.

 

Drafting or signing another DL person may be a key need for this team.

[Kelly the Dog]

here is my take: 

 

if he does play well and improves his play, his price will increase dramitically.......as a result, it is then unlikely that TD would make any effort to retain him based on the opinion that he will be "over-priced" by the market and he will not resign in buffalo for what TD deems his "value".........therefore, we lose a good young player and receive no compensation for it......

 

but what if he does fail this season? if after all this time the bills can't figure out if  this guy is good or not, they aern't doing their job properly.......TD (and his group) have watched ron edwards for dozens of hours on college tape, seen him in hundreds of practices, graded him on over 40 NFL games, and seen him in the locker room for 4 years - they should know NOW whether they want him around long-term or not.......

 

i can only assume that given the fact the bills are handing the job to edwards that they assume he will excel in the role.......if they think he will fail and are prepared to let him walk at the end of the year as a result, they are letting down the team by not addressing this hole in free agency.....

 

it's all about being pro-active with your own players, not reactive......if you wait for ron edwards to "step up his game" you will watch him walk out the door next off-season -- simple as that.........if they reward him now, he will reward them during this season and beyond......

311818[/snapback]

Well if you have been watching Ron Edwards for three years and think he is good enough to warrant a substantial contract extension now, when he has been extraordinarily mediocre as a back-up and quite lousy as a starter, I am not sure what you are watching. You can't say they know if he is going to be good this year or not, whether they've watched him in practice and no one else but him. He has to produce consisently in the games for long stretches of time to be paid well and he has yet to do that and you cannot tell if he is going to do that from practice.

 

Frankly, I don't even think he starts this year. Perhaps the first couple games but unless they draft a DT at #2, I have a feeling that they're going to primarily use Anderson on rushing downs and Edwards on passing downs, with both spelling Adams once in awhile.

[MrLocke]

Agreed that PW was mostly in on expected running plays and thus was in on 1s and 2nd rather than on 3rd and their is a skew as to whether teams are more likely to run or pass on these downs. However, i think this is quite likely  skew rather than an absolute commitment to run on 1st and 2nd and an absolute conmmitment to pass on 3rd.

 

64% of plays I think that was the number but ould be off =/- 4) actually surprised me to find out that number was so low. While it is still closer to the rule than the exception that PW was in, the number allows for a fair number of potential run ning plays that I see no sign from these numbers on the part of Gray to go with other players beside PW a significant amount of the time. Usually friom my memory this was mostly Edwards, but occaisonally we would go with runblitz scheme used in an unusal way and it was Denny who was lined up on the inside.

 

My sense that the DT position is not in crisis, but there is now grave uncertainty and if things go badly I'm not sure we have a lot of options:

 

1. As folks have pointed out if Adams goes down we are probably cooked. Edwards elevated his play and was quite comfortable for me as a reserve and if he needed to step up and start a game or two. However, we need Anderson to really step up and threaten to start because then I think we have a more certain plan B. Any doubts the braintrust has about Edwards or Bannan makes DT a priority get for us.

 

2. We actuallty only went with three DEs last year which struck me as thin.  Either Ritzmann needs to be the real deal or its drafting yet another DE (following Denney and Kelsay that is a need for our DL. I think more likely we will want to acquire a swing guy who can comfortably play both DT or DE. A player with this flexibility has become more of a rarity as DTs bulk up in this league and use of the DE as an outside speed rusher expected to be quick both increase.  Our use of the run blitz puts an even higher premium on our DEs needing speed and agility to cover the short and medium zone on pass plays.

 

I hope we are blowing smoke to confuse the enenmy by listing Bannan as an OG. For now we have but three players manning the DT slot and this does not sound like much of a rotation for the DL to me.

 

Drafting or signing another DL person may be a key need for this team.

311936[/snapback]

 

 

Wow. One of the most insightful posts since I've started posting. You said only a 3 man dt rotation. are you not a member of the lauvale sape fan club?

[MrLocke]

Well if you have been watching Ron Edwards for three years and think he is good enough to warrant a substantial contract extension now, when he has been extraordinarily mediocre as a back-up and quite lousy as a starter, I am not sure what you are watching. You can't say they know if he is going to be good this year or not, whether they've watched him in practice and no one else but him. He has to produce consisently in the games for long stretches of time to be paid well and he has yet to do that and you cannot tell if he is going to do that from practice.

 

Frankly, I don't even think he starts this year. Perhaps the first couple games but unless they draft a DT at #2, I have a feeling that they're going to primarily use Anderson on rushing downs and Edwards on passing downs, with both spelling Adams once in awhile.

311955[/snapback]

 

The only thing I can say for Edwards is that perhaps he has bulked up some gotten stronger and is better able to tkae on offensive linemen.

[Kelly the Dog]

The only thing I can say for Edwards is that perhaps he has bulked up some gotten stronger and is better able to tkae on offensive linemen.

311965[/snapback]

I think he has gotten better and better each year, from woefully bad, to terribly inconsistent, to not altogether awful with flashes of brilliance. He has a chance to be decent to good this year, especially if he makes the leap that he made from year two to year three. But he still is weak against the run and that is the most important element for a DT. 5 sacks is pretty damn good for a DT but it still means one every 13 quarters of play.

[MrLocke]

I think he has gotten better and better each year, from woefully bad, to terribly inconsistent, to not altogether awful with flashes of brilliance. He has a chance to be decent to good this year, especially if he makes the leap that he made from year two to year three. But he still is weak against the run and that is the most important element for a DT. 5 sacks is pretty damn good for a DT but it still means one every 13 quarters of play.

311986[/snapback]

 

Krumrie has also most likely been helpful to him. I've never been to a Bills game but have read on here he is intense to put it mildly.

[Sound_n_Fury]

The most important element of a defensive game plan is to stop the run. Quality DT's that can cog the middle and protect LBs running to the ball are the key to accomplishing this.

 

With regard to the Bills, I have a nagging feeling SA may only have one more good year left in him...he wore down terribly in the Pittsburgh game last year, when the Steelers ran so well.

 

TD's modus operandi has always been to draft a replacement for a key player one year early, so I'd not be surprised to see a DT like Hawthorne be the pick if they stay at #55.

[AKC]

im not saying that a DT or depth at DT isnt important to have. but i must say we do have 2 glariing needs. a CB for depth

 

That goes right to the heart of the string- is the depth at CB more important than the depth at DT? Not for my money, not at all. You can see the depth being built by the winningest defenses in the league right now and it's DT they stock up -look at the CB situation on NE last year- didn't their playing an old receiver in their pass packages stand out to you? Clearly THEY see DT as supremely more critical than CB.

 

and the future and also an o-lineman. we need either a center or a tackle plain and simple.

 

This is just a continued perpetration of the hoax that Trey Teague is not a very good performer in our offense, something that tape of our '04 season does not bear out. In fact, the addition of another big interior run blocking guard to his left side this off-season strongly supports keeping exactly the type of player Teague is at OC- a guy very competent in space who has the time in the league and division to make our line calls. Making an argument at the LT spot could offer some credibility to your argument, the continued harping on one of our 3 best OLinemen does nothing to forward it.