Where are the Bills for Plan B at each position?

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

In today's NFL injuries and the need for substitution seem more necessary than ever before.

 

It's an odd collision of two factors. One is that as players get bigger and faster the chance for traumatic injury seems higher than ever before (both from hits and players doing insane cuts as speeds their tender joints can't handle). However, on the good side medical science has advanced to a level where a players who season or career might have been over can now do advanced rehab work and with the help of a fill-in players like Terrell Owens actually come back to play and produce.

 

One of the great things which I loved about the Bills of the early 90s was that if Thurman went down, got nicked or simply needed a blow I felt fine about Plan B Kenny Davis coming in for him. The Bills teams proved deep enough (even Kelly was well replaced by Frank Reich who was the QB for the greatest game ever played with the comeback against Houston and also filled in for a critical 3 game piece during one of our SB runs) that they had great Plan Bs at each position with the back-up being able to enter the game with little drop-off in the short-term and at least some possibilities over the longer term.

 

One of the reasons the Bills 4 SBs in a row is not likely to be matched is under the salary cap and the CBA, its difficult if not impossible to assemble the depth we had. Teams like NE found a replacement for this by having lowly thought of players step up to even be great when needed (Tom Brady for Bledsoe is the prime example) and also by emphasizing the need for their best athletes to be good football players regardless of position.

 

However, I like what the Bills are doing in terms of their Plan Bs if the starter is unable to perform for some reason on offense, but prayer for health across the board on the D seems to be the thing to do. This is my cut:

 

Offense-

 

QB: Holcomb is a solid back-up for JP

 

RB: Uncertainty here due to TH situation, but if he recognizes reality and that he is forced to play and play hard if he wants a big FA payday, i love the fact we might have a former Pro Bowler as a reserve.

 

FB: Questions here with Burns as the lead back-up for a spot we visualize as being for a player at the level of a Sam Gash or Larry Centers. I acutally feel better about this spot being used as an H-back with Neufeld if Shelton goes down.

 

TE: We may already be at the Plan B stage where 3 players deemed potenial starter quality all have ACL issues, but there are 2 players (Neufeld/Trafford) with NFL experience, 1 guy tearing up NFLE with superior TE play (Gomez) and a reputed phenomenal athlete who actually made his bones so far in the NF: as a TE and ST ballhawk rather the non ball touching position of LT he is slated to play. Its confused but I do like the depth.

 

WR: Our two starters look like world class and there are 3 candidates for the slot receiver position (Reed did it well as a rookie but has disappointed trying to make him a #2, Aiken is regarded well and will need to prove it, Parrish is our first pick in this draft). Add to this that we might actually keep 6 as Fast Freddy scored a TD on ST last year and I feel good about our ability to identify 5 or 6 WRs from the 12 WRs on our roster.

 

G: I see 4 keepers between Villarial, Anderson, Tucker and Geisinger when 3 players are essential at this spot.

 

C: I see 3 keepers between Teague, Tucker and Preston when 2 players are essential at this spot.

 

T: This is the problem area as we are actually lacking a Plan A at LT unless someone steps up. If the Bills can acquire someone capable of manning this job from the bunch we have or can pick up a cap casualty the problem really becomes who do we cut rather than searching for someone to take the job. We'll see.

 

Defense- I think here we are going to have depend on a versatile scheme if someone goes down rather than player quality.

 

DE: 3 is the bare minimum essential for the DE position and three is the number we got. I actually feel far better about Denny than many posters on TSW as the fact is simply that the Bills had an incredibly productive D last year with only 3 DEs on the roster as Ritzmann went on the IR. Denney proved to have the flexibility to fill in at either E spot and used his huge wingspan to play well in the short zone on the run blitz and used his run stopping ability to make-up for the fact he is no sack artists. Anyone who wants to claim he is loser simply has to explain how the Bills performed well statiscally on D last year if the oft used Denny was such a stiff. He was not.

 

DT: Plan A here is uncertain as Phat Pat is gone. However, Anderson and Edwards (due to him finally playing well last year as a sub) have some possibility here. However, here is where I think we lack even a credible hope as plan B.

 

OLB: Our ST guys showed production on ST but this is way different than showing potential as plan B, we are left hoping for health here.

 

MLB: Both Crowell and Haggan impressed on ST but the same deal as we hope forFletcher's health.

 

CBs: It does amuse me that folks have their panties all in a wad over Clements entering his FA year. This strikes me as a great thing in terms of performance as producing will bring him great rewards. In addition, if he does produce I say fine as we should be able to increase his salary comfortably given the likelihood the salary cap will go way up when the new TC contracts are done. Finally, even if he walks or is hurt, we are two deep for nickel candidates, we drafted a 4 year cover guy and that isn't even counting that we now have a proven CB playing safety in Vincent. I see no problems which cannot be dealt with at CB.

 

S: Baker needs to make the same showing as a sophmore he produced as a freshman, Wire gets one more chance to learn the position after we destroyed his development as a player by rushing him along in a position he never played before.

[shoveldog]

Good Analysis. I'd fully agree with most points here. I think you will find we are not in as dire a position at DT as you think. Watch Edwards and Anderson step it up... keep an eye tuned to Anderson. I agree with you 100% on the CB issues and Clements. I'm excited and can't wait 'til they start training camp.

 

Oh, wait that's something positive... am I allowed to say that here?

[DonInBuffalo]

The Bills management's decision to not go for Shelton or other "plan B" for LT leads me to believe they think Jason Peters could eventually develop into a fulltime role there. They aren't pushing him; it could easily be next year this time before he's even ready to compete for a starting job.

 

IMO the late round RB pick in this year's draft (forgot his name) will obviously be competing against Burns for the backup RB/FB/ST roster spot that Burns had last season. Burns has unfortunately shown that he's not capable of handling a #2 or 3rd down role, so he's essentially competing for the last RB spot on the roster.

[Britbillsfan]

Overall I like the Bills depth this year. We have some areas of concern but that is pretty much the same accross the board in the NFL.

 

Nice little analysis, thanks.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

The Bills management's decision to not go for Shelton or other "plan B" for LT leads me to believe they think Jason Peters could eventually develop into a fulltime role there.  They aren't pushing him; it could easily be next year this time before he's even ready to compete for a starting job.

 

IMO the late round RB pick in this year's draft (forgot his name) will obviously be competing against Burns for the backup RB/FB/ST roster spot that Burns had last season.  Burns has unfortunately shown that he's not capable of handling a #2 or 3rd down role, so he's essentially competing for the last RB spot on the roster.

332575[/snapback]

 

The Peters question simply strikes me as one of the great oddities in football this season.

 

I am one who agrees with JMac that he is not a miracle worker and folks should not expect that of him. However, my sense is that if he can actually turn Peters into our starting LT for this season then miracle worker he certainly is.

 

The notion which makes this even possible is that idea that Peters is such a phenomenal athlete that he can master this position which is critically important as it guards the QB blindside. Yet, if this were to happen then:

 

1. Peters will have overcome the fact that he was such a non-blocker as a TE that he was only able to make the PS despite having some tremendous suze, speed and soft hands as a pass catching threat.

 

Why did Peters have such trouble blocking as a TE and suddenly (within roughly a year) can be trusted to guard the QB's blindside?

 

2. Peters will have overcome a series of brain cramps that resulted in a historically low Wonderlic score and a difficulty grasping changing line calls. This has led to him making simplistic mistakes such as him checking into a game last year at TE with an OL number and not telling the refs he was eligible. The Wonderlic is no all telling panacea, but expect him to blow some plays due to confusion.

 

The downsides of him messing up a play guarding the QB backside seem pretty huge to me given the investment in JP, I do not expect LT pefection in blocking, but I want a guy who can decide to take the penalty and tackle the rusher if necessary or at least has the smarts to yell JP look out when he gets beat.

 

3. The Bills will have effectively neutralized Peters' phenomenal athleticism as a TD maker by taking the ball out of his hand by making him an ineligible receiver by making him an LT and also having him concetrate on being a starting LT rather than an ST player.

 

I know we have a huge need at LT and this is an important position, but he is such a TE pass catching threat he made the PS purely on pass catching ability and forced the Bills to activate him because he was going to be poached off our PS by another team interested in his TE skills if we didn't. He quickly proved he was unblockable on ST and not only blocked a punt, but had the athleticism and soft hands to recover and take the ball for a TD.

 

Is it a good judgment for the Bills to neutalize his TD scoring skills by making him an LT and can he possibly be trusted to guard the QBs blindside this year even if he is such a phenomenal athlete?

 

I think not. If he is in fact such a phenomenal athlete then let him score TDs for us as a TE or by focusing on ST. If we do see him as an answer at LT I really do hope JMac is a miracle worker cause that is what it will take.