Jeff Posey -

[Simon]

Yikes! You must be kidding. Posey makes virtually NO plays for an entire series of games. What would be so wrong with a starting linebacker making something happen? Tackle somebody, force fumbles or INT's, sack the Qb. He does nothing like that. You can watch the Bills game after game and never know he was suited up. UGH! Did Posey play today? How can a starter on defense never get mentioned for 60 minutes when the opponents RB's are picking up 150+ yards a game?

 

I didn't mean to imply that he was playing great or anything. But at least he's playing more physically, being agressive at times and holding the POA occasionally. He still pass rushes like a girl and struggles in coverage but at least he's finally showing a little pep in the step when attacking the ground game. It may be inconsistent and nothing to write home about, but to me it looks a little better than the weaker efforts we've been seeing from him the last couple years. Is it contract time for him?

Cya

[Lori]

He's not what is wrong with this team.  Since our Dline stinks maybe we should go to a 3-4.  Play Sam as the NT, play a defense the Pats are not prepared for--our base D will give up at least 30 points to New England.

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Just out of curiosity, which four LBs would you use?

[VABills]

Just out of curiosity, which four LBs would you use?

485802[/snapback]

Exactly. We are only Fielding 3 adequate LBers now, how do you add a 4th. Plus what about depth, you would need at least 2 reserve LBers.

[1959BillsFan]

Exactly.  We are only Fielding 3 adequate LBers now, how do you add a 4th.  Plus  what about depth, you would need at least 2 reserve LBers.

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It is an interesting proposition if you have the personnel to do it. The key is not only players, but more on the coaches.

 

Wade Phillips did that a while ago. Because of injury to a DT, he was forced to go from a 3-4 to a 4-3. The next game, the Bills won. He then kept mixing up the 3-4 and the 4-3 with fairly good success. Kind-of-like Bellicheck. He probably got the idea from Phillips.

 

I would have to believe it is easier to do from a 3-4 to the 4-3, just because of the personnel types. A lot of times, DEs in a 3-4 were converted DTs, while LBs were converted DEs.

 

As far as this team, it couldn't work, because these "coaches" can't make adjustments now. What makes anyone believe they could make an adjustment of this magnitude???

[justnzane]

It is an interesting proposition if you have the personnel to do it. The key is not only players, but more on the coaches.

 

Wade Phillips did that a while ago. Because of injury to a DT, he was forced to go from a 3-4 to a 4-3. The next game, the Bills won. He then kept mixing up the 3-4 and the 4-3 with fairly good success. Kind-of-like Bellicheck. He probably got the idea from Phillips.

 

I would have to believe it is easier to do from a 3-4 to the 4-3, just because of the personnel types. A lot of times, DEs in a 3-4 were converted DTs, while LBs were converted DEs.

 

As far as this team, it couldn't work, because these "coaches" can't make adjustments now. What makes anyone believe they could make an adjustment of this magnitude???

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umm i think you missed the point. all the bills would have for depth at LB is Haggan and Ezekiel, while you would have sam and anderson rotating and bannan and Sape riding the pine. this means the coaches physically couldn't do it with any rational reason .

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

If you are saying that Posey's greatest strength is the oh-so-difficult task of differentiating between a run and a pass, then you are critiquing him as much as I ever have.

And just because he can tell the difference between a handoff and a dropback does not mean he is doing his job.

No he didn't

Spikes saved a TD on that play; the only thing he did wrong was fail to be born with 23 foot long arms which would have enabled him to make the play in Vincent's zone where the pass was thrown.

Oddly enough, from what I've seen Posey has been playing his best ball since the Bills signed him.

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While it was amusing to read the replies to your post where folks actually took you to task for the one semi-positive thing you said about Posey (no good deed goes unpunished), I am happy to respond to your particular responses to my post.

 

There are two keys to any anti-posey rant which would make it the real anaylis that makes TSW great rather than simple whining and crying which is all to oten the usual fare on TSW:

 

1. Speciifc examples of plays which make a difference.

 

Generally, I have found even your usually well thought out post to be simple mewling and puking about Posey because last season you were able to state your opinion (we are all entitled to our opinion regardless of whether we link it to objective evidence or not) that he turned the wrong way, did not attack enough or whatever. However, you did not that i saw link these views to any specific plays that led to the other team scoring points or even getting big gains of yardage because of these alleged player faux pas by Posey.

 

In the absence of supporting specifics, my views fell back to overarching results and the facts were that statiscally the Bills were #2 in the league in terms of defense. If Posey was so noticeably bad this accomplishment is even more pjenomenal by the Bills as they were statistically productive even with this stiff at OLB. No one can claim that the Bills D was perfect last year (the team did not make the playoffs) but they were pretty good and in the absence of anyone being able to site specific examples of Posey's play resulting in givng up the TDs we gave uo last year or in the absence of folks being able to connect us giving up big yards to his play it seems a pretty reasonable assumption to me that his play was productive last year.

 

2. One can't reasonably claim the results are good this year and if he is to blame who do you replace him with.

 

The Bills D sucks this year and Posey deserves his share of the blame and this share is substantial because he logs a lot of playing time. However, the key is who do you replace him with that is better. Some posters have advocated replacing him with Stamer. I do not see this happening because the coaches seem to have judged that Stamer has taken a step backward this year as he used to at least back-up on position play but now he is a pure ST guy. These posts do not seem to recognize this reality.

 

Of more interesting note is that Haggan seems to have stepped up and not only is now on the depth chart backing up Posey, but actually is getting credit for some production in position play with tackles and pass break-ups.

 

The key question to me and the point I would love to see folks opinions on is not the usual whining about Posey (he was a stalwart on a productive D last year so his lack of high profile stats of sacks or picks did not phase me) but whether folks see any objective or even semi-objective reasons for whether Haggan can become the playmaker we want in relief of Posey.

 

I saw little problem with Posey not being a playmaker as long as the D was productive in the absence of anyone being able to point to specific cases of Posey giving up points or big gains. However, this D is now bad and if Haggan can be the playmaker we need to make the D productive again i am all for this.

 

Posey has never been a difference-maker for the Bills but given the huge investment we were making in Spikes and Fletcher I had no expectation under the salary cap that we could afford more than Posey logging a lot of hours and being an adequate player on a productive D last year.

 

However, this year we are bad and want/need things to be different. Is Haggan that difference-maker? Maybe and if so then sit Posey down. If not, i don't think Stamer can be or Ezekial is so we will have to make do with him not being a difference maker but not being bad (or at least as bad as Milloy -who with his broken hand and age is missing tons of critical tackles such as the one where Lamon Jordan scored on about a 16 yard run, not as bad as Tim Anderson who as a younger player was simply beaten at the point of attack several times on Sunday, and not as bad as the early play of Crowell -though he shows signs of getting better and got both a sack and an INT against NYJ as he got swallowed up by a few blockers.

 

The focus on Posey was unproven and seemed misplaced last year and because we need a difference maker this year he can be easily replaced now but only by a player who has a shot at being a consisent diffierence maker at LB. Maybe this is Haggan and I am curious to hear whether your or others think he can be.

[bdelma]

Keith Newman's brother.

[jester43]

Yes, he is wrong for this team!  Everybody plays a part in this atrocity.

 

Try this sometime if you are looking for a BIG laugh: look at the game replays when the defense is on the field. Then try to spot Posey anywhere near the ball when the play unfolds. He is like David Copperfield- he vanishes into thin air.

 

When, and if, you do spot him it is usually when the offense is heading back to their huddle after the play. Where does he go? The invisible man.

 

I did an analysis of his play last year and what I found horrified me. He is really a substandard linebacker. I posted this observation during pre-season and nobody wanted to believe my reaearch.

 

Maybe now the cloak of invisibility will be removed from an obvious weak link.

 

So what to do about it? Get faster linebackers who know how to find the ball and get involved.

With the game tied 10-10 and Lamont Jordan about to score on a running play, the Bills put in Josh Stamer. Have you ever seen a linebacker try to stop a play with his eyes closed? Watch the replay of this TD run. Hilarious watching Stamer on that play. He had no clue how to tackle or what to do to stop Jordan. Brutal. Maybe why Posey still starts.

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THANK YOU FOR THAT POST. it is 100% on target and leads me to what i believe is the single most glaring weakness TD possesses. he is NOT good at stocking the roster with talented players! are we completely devoid of talent? of course not. but too many of our guys get pushed around too often. good grief, have we converted a 4th and one all year? i don't give a damn that mularkey gave the ball to shelton- he could give it to jerry sullivan himself and we should still get the touchdown 9 times out of 10.

 

and yeah, posey is not a real good linebacker. he wasn't anything special in houston, nor is he here.

[jester43]

umm i think you missed the point. all the bills would have for depth at LB is Haggan and Ezekiel, while you would have sam and anderson rotating and bannan and Sape riding the pine. this means the coaches physically couldn't do it with any rational reason .

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bryce paup?

[Rico]

Re: going to a 3-4,

Halfway-decent back-up LBs are a dime-a-dozen, I don't think it would be too much trouble signing a couple FA's for depth. And if we did, I don't think Stamer starts, it'd be Posey - Haggan - Fletcher - Crowell. Looking back to his days with the Texans, Posey might even benefit from such a move.

 

The problem would be the DL, neither Schobel nor Adams would be a good fit, might work out better for Kelsay though. Too bad, this would be a good way to help our run defense.

[34-78-83]

Or here's a crazy thought: Play more base 4-3 defense with a much more modest sprinkling of blitzes, thus allowing for much better control of gaps.