Jeff Posey?

[Frez]

Does Jeff Posey even play for the Bills anymore? I never hear his name called.

[Thailog80]

Does Jeff Posey even play for the Bills anymore? I never hear his name called.

420215[/snapback]

 

Jeff " Scotch Tape" Posey......you put him on the field and he's invisible.

[Beerball]

Jeff " Scotch Tape" Posey......you put him on the field and he's invisible.

420218[/snapback]

Hey, good one!

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Take another look.

 

Posey's name is not called a lot or at all, but it appears to me this has a lot to do wuth the inability or lack of interest from the commentators to explain how the Bills D works that an inability of Posey to play his position or play it well.

 

Posey is NOT the high profile impact player that one would get from let's say a Lawrence Taylor. This is flat out true.

 

However, though being as good as LT, Bruce or Spielman should be the goal of any player, they are not that good. However, not being that good is not the same thing as saying that player sucks or should or can be replaced with the constraints of the salary cap.

 

One of the disappointing things for me in TSW discussion so far this season is that there are some folks on TSW whom i have found over the years to be pretty knowlegable about their football comments (outside of some odd thoughts that folks like Raion Hill were the answer, but look at my own misestimation of Dusty Ziegler so we all are wrong sometimes). However, I think even these knowledgable folks have fallen into the trap that because Posey's name is not called that this means he sucks or that because Edwards or Denney did suck as a rookie (they could not even be actitvated much of their first year they were such libilities on the field) that they still suck.

 

This is not correct and I think a good football based analysis shows this.

 

The starting point for me is this premise:

 

1. The Bills D is far from perfect (the debacle in NE and the horrid performance to end the season against Pitts last year are two examples).

2. Yet, the D was quite good last year and its #2 statistical ranking correlated with some good play and was the foundation for the win streak which almost got us into the playoffs last year (ST contribution was also huge and the O was along for the ride)

3. The D once again looks solid in the firs three games of the exhibition season and the scrimmage

A. They overwhelmed the Packers in the first scrimmage which in part was due to their aggressiveness the Packers were not prepared for but also due to their speed and toughness.

B. They were very tough and effective in their firs game against Indy and once again benefitted from a higher level of aggression than their opponents rather than just simply being better players but their quality play shown through. One of the great things was that some of the back-ups like Haggan showed they were on top of the game mentally though they did finally get caught amidst the final subs on a play like the Pack TE scroring on a seam route.

C. The rematch against the Pack was interesting as the first Favre drive showed in part that one cannot rely on intensity differences all season. However, the team did not let the Pack score again showing that they are simply better players (though given the dismal Pack showing against NE yesterday it may be the pack O is just not very good.

D. The D was really the only thing on the field yesterday that worked very well as the offense was really the INTs and the FG unit and I think it is foolish to look to the D as the primary place we need to improve as the D lost the lead they created in a late Bears TD.

 

The bottomline here for anyone who over-analyzes the individual play on the Bills D players is that while one might find fault with aspects like what direction they turn, doing lateral rather than vertical movement on the line or whatever, these problems do not correspond much to giving up points or big plays.

 

It is simply bad analysis to indict the performance of a player in a big way when his unit has been very effective in a big way.

 

Folks are correct to point out any failings they see, but they also need to point out how these failings:

 

1. have caused problems for the Bills in terms of TDs, big yardage losses or W/L on some consistent basis (for example the Bills gave up a big run to the bears in a drive that ended up for them with an FG. there seemed to be a problem with a hole in the DL, with poor tackles as the player went through that hole, and lame pursuit which allowed him to break the run, but it also was an epidsode and not the story of the teams typical D play this pre-season or even this game)

2. can be improved with what we got on the roster (I see little more than wishful thinking that Stamer playing would be an upgrade on Posey but I'd love to see someone argue this point with more than fact-free opinion using examples from game situation, height/weight demographics, combine #s or something measurable.

3. could be improved by picking up an available player on the waiver wire or from someone else's PS or even through some trade fantasy.

4. could be improved by the player in question addressing a particular problem with their play (for example the word was from inide talk that Denney's particular problem as a rookie is that he did not bend his knees enough when he was in his stance and ended up having horrible leverage when he engaged a blocker. he was easilt toosed aside by even the slightest vet despite having very good height and weight himself. It became apparent as I looked back at the early film at how he played that this failing was true, but that as he finally was activated he had worked on this issue. A look at the film now reveals to me a player who is actually quite athletic and not only uses his body well but has a lot of body to use with is wide arms.

 

If I hadto pick stars on the Bills D it would be Pro Bowlers like Clements and Spikes. However, if ialso had to identify players who are crucial to it working, I would add folks like Denney, Fletcher and Posey to the list because of the critical role they play in making the Bills D work (not perfectly) but pretty darn good.