What Positions Will Bills Have Difficult Decisions

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

As the season shapes up I feel things are coming into order, but clearly there is a lot of work to be done to get things in order. However, that is what pre-season is for and a big part of why the game is fun.

 

There are some chores I view as difficult which means to me that it is not clear what we should do to get better or that the strategies being taken seem unlikely to work out.

 

However, there are other chores which I view as hard to do, but not difficult to figure out as what it is going to take is simply a lot of hard work and let the chips fall where they may, if we work hard we'll do as well as we can do.

 

The RB situation in 2003 (and seemingly continuing on) is very hard but not difficult at all. WM simply had to work hard and if all the things went the way the Bills docs said they would we would end up with a top 5 talent at RB. The other thing which made this situation not difficult at all was the fact we had a former Pro Bowl RB in place if the chips broke badly for WM's knee or he proved not be a hard worker.

 

The current RB situation is not a difficult one for the Bills at all as they hold all the leverage with Hnery until 2006 at the earliest and are taking steps like interviewing Thomas and Hearst which move this situation from not being difficult to not even being hard once we get a credible RB back-up in place.

 

The following is my position by position distillation of what I see as the status of each position:

 

RB: Hard (moving toward Easy- Our #1 RB looks to be one of the best in the league and Williams gives us what appears to be a potent 3rd down RB. Management of the #2 RB situation may be hard to pull-off if this problem ends up getting solved by making peace with Henry, but we have most of the leverage and if we identify a #2 like a Thomas to sign and with Gates drafted this situation is in good shape.

 

WR- Easy- The table is laid for recreation of the go-go WR scheme of 2002 with Moulds returning in his role after a productive season last year, Evans taking the speed WR role Peerless had and three candidates (Reed, Aiken, Gates) for the number 3 WR. The WR question is whether one of these 3 will be bad enough to cut or will we have to decide whether to keep Fast Fredy Smith as a 6th WR in the Antonio Brown return guy role. The coaches will need to chose a winner of the #3 battle rather than create this position in a player.

 

QB- Hard- The uncertainty of whether a first year starter can handle this position which handles the ball every offensive play makes this one hard uncertain work. However, the acquisition of a #2 in Hiolcomb who has had some success stepping in and knows his role so their is no QB controversy to go with the hiccups Losman and all first year players have means though this situation will be hard it should not be difficult. The #3 QB decision is interesting as it is a sign that by resigning Matthews who seems to have more to offer as a mentor than as another potential producer at QB we are clearly committed to the JP era.

 

TE- Easy- How did this position become an embarassment of riches so quickly after it seemed like a big question mark mere weeks ago (the answer is you hire a former TE as HC). If Euhus and Campbell are 100% after their injuries as reported, the drafting of Everett (who is reported by many to be an athlete who will push his way onto the filed very quickly) means that all three TE slots are locked in. This is to bad for Neufeld who recently resigned and has gone quickly from #1 on the depth chart to most likely getting cut unless he can win a job as an H-back. Add to this we are going to have to cut Trafford who stepped up to at least catch a JP pass last season and the Jason Peters who seems to be a T now actually stuck with this team because of his TE skills and their are two teams worth of TEs here.

 

OL- Hard- If there weren't so many candidates for the 7 to 8 active jobs and 2 development players (16 at last count) then this would be clearly a difficult chore as the LT slot is unfilled for now.

 

However, the presence of multiple candidates (including two who were starters -though meidocre for them- for other pro teams at LT) and the presence of JMac will make this a hard task to accomplish but not a difficult one to see how he will make this work. As confused as the OL situation is today at the beginning of mincamp, it was actually even more uncertain a year ago today as the LG had been cut, the RG was new to the team and the RT was in the midst of a professional meltdown. Questions reined among fans about the C and his ability and about the LT headed into FA.

 

Todays situation is unsettled but:

 

1. MW revived his game last year and possibly could become even more at T for the Bills.

2. Villarial has a year under his belt and the RG situation is locked down.

3. Questions still remain about Teague but his post-injury performance last year is seen by many Bills partisans as his best work as a Bill. If Teague moves to LT, Tucker filled in nicely for Teague last year when called upon andthe drafting of Duke Preseton in a deep draft for centers hassome folks seeing him as an immediste starter.

4. Andersi=on seems to have the LG position and even if folks judge him to be the weak link in the Ravens crew last year, he clearly is an upgrade for the Bills over the uncertainty at LG at this time last year when Pucillo was the leading candidate and over the course of the season where we had a player from the Ravens PS starting at LG for us.

5. Candidates for this job include Teague, Gandy and even Jason Peters.

 

Finding the OL crew will be hard work to do but not difficult for the resources we have in place to pull off.

 

DE- Hard - I was somewhat tempted to put this one into the difficult category because I am most comfortable with 4 DEs and conceptually I only am confident in three (Schobel, Kelsay, Denney) but given we made only having three work last year and there are a few candidates of unkown quality (the listed DEs and any swing talents), I just think this will require the usual hard work to find a 4th and Gray;s nastery of therun blitz provides us with flexibility here anyway.

 

DT- Hard- Again there is temptation to declare this a difficult task as well, given that two candidates to fill Phat Pats shoes are on the roster, Phat Pat actually only saw action on 58% of the D plays (folks can pretend this was simply because he came out on 3rd down but 42% of the Bills D plays last year were not 3rd downs) and things may still be in play to get some additional help here so I think this one will involve hard work to make it come out OK. but this is not a difficult situation in my book.

 

LB- Hard- This would be easy if there was not such a dropoff from the starters to the back-ups. The starters need to stay healthy or someone needs to use ST to step up.

 

CB- Easy- McGee was forced to step up last year but he did and I am comfortable with him as a developing starter though he had some adventures as a young position player last year. Clements is in a contract year that should heighten play and continue the development that earned him a Pro Boel berth. Thomas and greer are both solid nickel guys and worse cones to worse Vincent can switch back from safety. People can look for truble by harping on the 06 FA status of Clements but this is 2005 right here, right now.

 

S- Hard- Vincent stepping in with Milloy makes this an older but savage duo. Former starter Wire is fine for me as a back-up but the other back-up will need to be filled from several canddates. Unless someone gets hurt, this should need only hard work to nail it down.

 

ST Easy- - What will they do for an encore. It will be hard to replicate last year's results but all the ST studs are back and they are reinforced with new speedy guys. The punt game appears great behind Moorman and the coverage guys. The punt return duty has three credibl candidates foe action. The KR duty saw McGee get a Pro Bowl berth. The kickoff unit (including great work by Lindell) is back in full force.

 

The outstanding ST question is the one about PK work is Lindell. From 45 yards and beyind he did not produce and MM showed no congidence in him. He shanked a couple of makeable kicks inside of 45. Statisitically he did improve last year but not enough to justify the faith placed in him. Lindell will need to do hard things to improve his game but the rest of the ST can do the "Easy" job of performing as before.

 

Overall, I think all issues confronted can be solved and I look forward to this year.

[MartyBall4Buffalo]

S- Hard- Vincent stepping in with Milloy makes this an older but savage duo. Former starter Wire is fine for me as a back-up but the other back-up will need to be filled from several canddates.  Unless someone gets hurt, this should need only hard work to nail it down.

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I take no issue with any of your other position analysis, however this one I do.

 

While Milloy and Vincent are no spring chickens and yes they have the potential to be an amazing safety duo, even better than last year as vincent spent no time in camp playing safety and milloy was injured the first 6 weeks of the season. If these two can stay healthy and get through a camp and preseason together I expect huge things for 2005.

 

 

I think wire is a bigger question mark as a backup than our fs backup rashad baker. After pushing izell reese out of the starting lineup Baker to me at least proved to be an adequate replacement and I think with more seasoning is our future starter at fs once Vincent gets put out to pasture so to speak. Maybe I'm too over optomistic, but I like the fact Baker is a bit of a ballhawk and has a great mentor in front of him.

 

Coy Wire on the other hand I'm still dissapointed he's on this team. I was hoping we kept pierson prioleau as he has shown to be good in blitz packages, a fiesty st's guy, and I think a tad bit better in coverage than coy wire. Backup ss is still a big question mark, and if milloy should go down and wire is the primary backup I believe our pass defense will take a huge hit.

[Cr8ZyA$$BillsFaNnTexas]

I think Roscoe Parish is in the mix at wideout ....MM will put him on the field ...Roscoe will present match-up problems that defenses will have to address..he also played QB in HS ...MM noted that and sees him in a slash/trick play role ...My bet is that he will throw a pass early in the season

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I take no issue with any of your other position analysis, however this one I do.

 

While Milloy and Vincent are  no spring chickens and yes they have the potential to be an amazing safety duo, even better than last year as vincent spent no time in camp playing safety and milloy was injured the first 6 weeks of the season. If these two can stay healthy and get through a camp and preseason together I expect huge things for 2005.

I think wire is a bigger question mark as a backup than our fs backup rashad baker.  After pushing izell reese out of the starting lineup Baker to me at least proved to be  an adequate replacement and I think with more seasoning is our future starter at fs once Vincent gets put out to pasture so to speak. Maybe I'm too over optomistic, but I like the fact Baker is a bit of a ballhawk and has a great mentor in front of him. 

 

Coy Wire on the other hand I'm still dissapointed he's on this team.  I was hoping we kept pierson prioleau as he has shown to be good in blitz packages, a fiesty st's guy, and I think a tad bit better in coverage than coy wire.  Backup ss is still a big question mark, and if milloy should go down and wire is the primary backup I believe our pass defense will take a huge hit.

323650[/snapback]

 

You're probably right about Wire though I think he could have been a better player and was horribly developed by GW/Gray/Jackson who were relying on their FA pick-up Jenkins to start and when he had nothing left they were forced to use Wire at a position he had never played at any level of organized ball. Its really too bad because all I hear indicates he is a good athlete with a Stanford brain, We should used him as primarily an ST guy from the gitgo.

 

Baker really impressed last year. However, I need to see another year of production before declaring him the real deal (not that he needs my affiration).

[splinter21]

did you guys hear about the undafted rookie kicker we signed from kansas state?? i read that hes a sure shot within 40 yds. highly decorated. so maybe eithe rhim or that european dude will win out the kicker spot from lindell

[LabattBlue]

I think the toughest choices in terms of the 53 man roster will come at OL, Safety & CB.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I think Roscoe Parish is in the mix at wideout ....MM will put him on the field ...Roscoe will present match-up problems that defenses will have to address..he also played QB in HS ...MM noted that and sees him in a  slash/trick play  role ...My bet is that he will throw a pass early in the season

323656[/snapback]

 

 

It certainly seemed with both Parrish and Everett the MM and the boys had specigic reasons for wanting them and specific plans for training and using them which seemed a bit different from the best athlete available mantra that all teams say. but the Bills have done a better job sticking to than most teams.

 

I think some of the surprising Bills choices like Reed when they had Peerless and Moulds and McGahee when they had Henry are two of the "old" style Bills picks. I Ironically those picks ended up looking very far thinking as Reed'sprescence and first year production allowed them to let Price walk and Henry carrying the RB water most of the 03 season allowed them to comfortably let WM sit and heaPerhaps the MM needs and the use he can out an O player to make the Bills needs non-traditional.

[BILLS4LIFE]

I think:

 

TE

Backup RB

3rd WR and backup WRs

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I think:

 

TE

Backup RB

3rd WR and backup WRs

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The great thing about all these decisions is that they will be hard (my language meaning they will take work but be fun and that it will be tough to go wrong choosing amongst many options) but not decisions where we have few options and a bad choice really hurts the team.

 

TE- (assuming Everett recovers) we actually have three (Eve, Euhus, Campbell) an also three credible options were we to need them (Peters, Neufeld, Trafford). This one is hard because Peters will need to be kept somewhere and the other two involve cuts of 04 contributors.

 

#2 RB- I think TH has few choices but to play hard if we decide to keep him. Williams is a good 3rd down back and if we sign Thomas (or Hearst has enough) they would be fine #2s.

 

WR- Moulds and Evans are set and I think we will find a good slot guy from the 3 choices of Reed, Aiken and Parrish. Even the failed Reed has demonstrated he can produce at #3 as a rookie. The hard choice is whether we can keep Fast Freddy who contributed in 04 as a PR.

[Reuben Gant]

I think CB is one of the more difficult choices. It looks like they have some good UDFA's, and they will also have to consider who will impact special teams. The choice will be hard because past McGee and Clements, there is a lot of parity.

[Fixxxer]

I think CB is one of the more difficult choices. It looks like they have some good UDFA's, and they will also have to consider who will impact special teams. The choice will be hard because past McGee and Clements, there is a lot of parity.

324283[/snapback]

 

hey that's my avatar

 

battle positions:

 

3rd WR

TE

OG

3rd RB

C

[Kelly the Dog]

One thing about MM and TC is that they mix it up, especially with the WR. Just because a guy is unofficially #2 or #3 or #4 or #5 it is not like CB and when your top guy goes down your next guy goes in, or you have set nickel and dime packages. I saw games where Aiken was one of two WRs because he can block. Fast Freddie would come in for a couple plays, etc. I expect Parrish to be unofficially #3 but that doesn't mean Aiken or Reed won't be in there in place of him when we go three wide. I think Parrish plays the most, however, of the non-starters. With this group, especially of varying talents, I expect the Bills offense to resemble garanimals.

 

Furthermore, if unfortunately Moulds or Evans goes down, I would expect Aiken or Reed to replace him as the starter before Parrish, even though Parrish may be #3.