So Many Question Marks

[H2o]

I long for the days of four consecutive Super Bowl losses compared to the days we face now. All of us Bill fans are enduring a stretch that's getting comparable with the Cincinatti teams of the mid to late 90's in my opinion. The only thing we haven't had is the first pick in the draft every year. If they would've never brought in Bledsoe and we could be about done with this rebuilding thing by now.

 

Besides the fact that our offensive line is very shakey, we have an AGING LB group with Fletcher (31 and possible departure after 06'), Posey (30), and Spikes (30 and coming off of a torn achilles). Put all of this together with the fact that we really don't have a solid QB and you are looking at another 3 to 5 years before Buffalo plays any meaningful football games again. Playoff games that is.

 

All of these needs are going to have to be addressed in the short-term. I do believe that the Bills just got a steal in LB Courtney Watson. I also believe that he will be Fletcher's eventual replacement. Crowell is not good enough to replace Spikes and nobody knows how Spike is going to look coming off of such a SERIOUS injury. Everything a LB does involves stress on an achilles so all we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best with Takeo. Crowell is too slow to play that position and will get beat on the outside alot. The linebacker they drafted this year, Kieth Ellison, ran a 4.83 40-yard dash. That's comparable to a turtle at the LB position. Posey is just Posey. He's decent, but nothing special at the LOLB position. All of these guys are aging and soon to be losing a step. It is a fact that we just can't overlook.

 

Now to the OL of the Bills. We have Peters, who is a promising young talent at Tackle, already in place along with Gandy. Gandy is a little undersized at the Tackle position. We have an aging Villarial and a newly acquired Tuten Reyes at the Guard slots. Then a newly acquired Melvin Fowler at the Center position. Preston and Geisinger give us a little depth, but it's not very good. It'll be interesting to see if Butler, Merz, and Pennington can contribute anything to one of our weakest links from last season or if they can even make the team for that matter. Bottom line, we need some guys who know how to protect their Quarterback consistently. Then the very next play open a hole big enough for Willis to bust through for a gain of atleast 4 to 5 yards.

 

Finally, let's take a look at the QB position. Do any of you actually believe that JP is the long-term answer? I don't believe he is and I believe this year is his last chance to prove that he's got what it takes. There's questions about his attitude, work ethic, and overall intelligence. Those are 3 things that a QB must have to succeed in this league. You have to be able to command the huddle in a way that brings your teammates together. If they just see you as a pompous turd then I guarantee you that will lead to the QB being hit more times than he would if he was a likeable guy. They say that JP just doesn't put in the effort needed to succeed at this level. It seemed pretty evident to me last season with his lack of recognition of defenses. Hopefully he's worked on that this offseason. Finally, they say he just doesn't seem to have the learning capacity to take it all in. Walking around looking confused at times as to what he should do. Holcomb is old and has too weak of an arm to be a QB in the AFC East. Nall is really nothing more than a back-up. This is not like the Madden Football games where you can basically build any person into a star, this is real life and some people just aren't cut out for the position or the pressure that comes along with it.

 

We, Bills fans, are in the midst of the darkest days that I can remember for our beloved franchise. Rebuilding days. We do seem to have a good, young core of DL, DB's, and potentially WR's, but now it's time to get the rest right. Hopefully, over the next couple of years, through free agancy and the draft, Marv and Ralph can work together to build us a winner again in Ol' Buffalo. We could end up like the Browns turned Ravens of a few years ago though. Our team get some pieces, move to another town, draft a few more, and next thing you know the new LA team has won the Big Game. That would would be disgusting wouldn't it? I hold on to hope though. Hope that our team can right the ship, hope that our GM can get it together, hope that our owner can keep us where we belong (IN BUFFALO!!!), and hope that someday while my heart is still beating we can win a Superbowl for every Bills fan that has ever lived. For every player that has ever donned a Bills jersey, especially for the guys who were around for the 4 straight losses. Heck, I hope they win one so people will ease up on Scott Norwood a little. LOL!!! I know that this is a pain-staking process, but hang in there Bills fans. It won't be long and something simply has to go our way.

[Beerball]

It won't be long and something simply has to go our way.

707011[/snapback]

JSP is willing to take your bet.

[RuntheDamnBall]

A couple things, and I'll try and keep it out of the argument zone and in the discussion zone:

 

1) A lot of people have questioned JP's accuracy and leadership abilities, but I don't think I've seen a single report that he does not put in the work needed to succeed at this level. His work ethic, OTOH, is probably his most oft-praised characteristic. As for his performance, we'll see. Things do tend to slow down for a second-year player and if he is to succeed, he will begin to see more of the field. This will be his second year of really dressing as a qualifiable starter candidate after a broken leg in year one. There needs to be progress.

 

2) A lot of the question marks for you seem to be glass-half-full/half-empty things. TKO could very well come back -- he is one I wouldn't deny in terms of his determination to do it. The line? Who knows. Maybe this is the year that we, like NE, plug in some dependable FA vets who can do the job in Fowler and Reyes. I would not say that our line, QB, WRs, DL are a recipe for certain success any more than I would call them certain to fail.

 

That's the nature of this year's team. A lot of maybes, a lot of question-marks. But in today's NFL it doesn't take a lot for things to click and just work out. There's enough parity that many teams are dealing with problems similar to ours. It's the uncertainty that has us, well, uncertain and a bit worried. They'll play the games and we'll find out soon enough.

[Dan]

I, for one, am becoming more optimistic about our team this season. Now I'm not saying we'll be 11-5 and in the playoffs, I'm just becoming optimistic that we'll return to respectablility and be 8-8. And that would be a great seson, all things being considered.

 

This is definitely a rebuilding year. We've replaced or added personnel every level. A new GM and coaching staff are reason to celebrate in and of themselves. Then, we added players at every position on the team and cut several of the biggest problems we had.

 

You can argue that we haven't added any sure starters to replace or compete with existing players. However, no one knows how guys will turn out. We've all seen high draft round players bust; we've also seen big name, high priced free agents bust; just as we've seen no name low budget guys bust. The bottoml ine is.. no one knows how these players will turn out until well into the season.

 

A few specific comments: The LBs may be a future problem, but I find it hard to believe they'll be our weakest unit this season. So why not wait till next year before we fret over them. JP may or may not be a good quarterback, but any one claiming to have any insight into this after watching him play last year is speaking in conjecture. He was a rookie on a piss poor team, of course he had a problem reading defenses. Regarding JP and many of the players... why not wait until training camp or even a few games into the season before we start judging their bust factor.

 

So, I say lets give the new guys, new coaches and new management a little time to see if we truely are doomed. Who knows, maybe Marv knows a little something about football and he's actaully taken steps to make us a decent team. I welcome the change and hpe for the best, but expect the average.

[Pyrite Gal]

I can see your points but my reaction is fear not. Concerned yes, but fear not.

 

While many of the negatives you raise our true, there are also positives ranging from the ST being among the best (if not the best) in the league two years in a row. The D having a total meltdown last year, but finishing at least statistically high the two years prior to that and now a D guru as HC is changing the recently failed scheme.

 

The O has been a disaster area and should be viewed as such until they prove something. Yet, all of this I think is rooted in the Bills frantic over-emphasis on the QB position since the end of Kelly's career. By force the team is going back to basics and dealing with the QB issue in terms of getting a number of average to mediocre talents rather than spending more dollars on trying to hit a homerun (which has caused dusasters like having to buyout Kelly, trading for Hobert, the RJ/DF flap, and TD banking too much on the young JP).

 

Yet, even on O there are hopeful signs which in no way are a solution to our problems, but have a reasonable shot at taking a small ball approach of being better than the dismal state of 05.

 

I think it hard to deny:

 

1, The likely current OL starters are not great players but look better than the MW/Bennie Anderson crew. Do you disagree?

 

There are still big questions as to whether we have the horses to play back-up but there certainly are some strength in numbers as we hope to find 5 legit back-ups and development players for the PS from Preston, Gibson, Jerman, Butler, Pennington, McFarland, Geisinger, Thomas, Merz. etc. While this is no likely solution it should be better than last year.

 

2. None of the three QB prospects is likely to be an answer, but together it is likely that one of them will step up to hold the position.

 

While I do not think that it is probable that JP will produce the form which got him picked by us, he did show some progress and potential in his first year mop-ups from his debacle when thrown into the NE game, to taking a needless penalty but stil successfully burning clock in his next appearance. His next appearance also got off to a rocky start, but taking a needless TO instead of a needless penalty was an improvement over his last troubled start and in the end he successfully led the team to a score. His progress in his first mop-ups fooled TD into cutting the inadequate but better than the young JP at QB. The meltdown as the Team recognized that TD had consigned the 05 team to training for JP rather than taking their best (even if it was bad it was their best) shot at winning.

 

JP generally sucked last year, but there were flashed like his hook-ups with Evans against the Fins and his previous year's slow but steady progress that means while I think you cannot reasonably feel he probably will do it, it would also be foolish to simply right him off and say he cannot step up to adequacy.

 

Holcomb demonstrated that he is a solid #2 with his play but also undersocred why he has never been consistent as a starter in the NFL. He has a smaller but still real chance of adequacy as a QB than JP.

 

Nall is a wildcard, but his QB rating in his brief appearances and having sat and watched the master Favre makes him an unlikely but possible third shot. The kwy iIMHO will be the braintrust not falling into the same trap as Butler, TD and Ralph of handing the job to a player who has done nothing on the field and instead choosing a winner from how they actually perform.

 

3. The WRs Evans who has produced reasonably his first two years that him stepping up to #1 WR is not an outrageous notion. Betweem PP. Parrish and maybe Davis there are #2 prospects, and the loser of this battle joins Reed as players capable of being a #3. When you add Aiken, Fast Freddy, Nance and even Wilson as reasonable shots at #4 and #5 we should be able to produce 5 WRs from these 9 players.

 

4. WM ain't no team leader, but he is the fastest Bill to 2000 yards rushing in his career and actually has solid prospects for producing even better on the field if we have a good O scheme which uses him properly on 3rd downs.

 

I see a larger RB question on whether we in fact have back-ups and an FB of the quality we want rather than gnashing my teeth at all about WM and OTA attendance. He simply will not be the traditionally stalwart RB we traditionalists love, but if he puts up 1250 rushing yards and catches the ball as a pro consistent with what he showed in college I couldn't care less about how many baby mommas he has made. I simply will not have sex with WM but will root for him like heck if he rushes and catches for us.

 

On D, I like the move to the Cover 2 and the large chunk of great players led by old man Vincent we have as DBs. We have 5 starter LB slots and though Fketcher is 31, he has shown no signs of hitting the wal in terms of production as he easily led this team in tackles last year.

 

TKO is a question mark as to whether he will come back at 100% but for this year 80% of TKO is better than 100% of many NFL LBs. I think Crowell actually was quite impressive as a fill in starter for Spikes last year and easily merited being extended. He finished second in tackles, got 3 sacks and even a couple of INTS. i dio not know what you want from a first year starter playing out of position from where he trained. Posey may be a gone, but gets a shot at long as there is any question about Spikes. The back-up corps of Stamer, Haggan and now Watson looks solid to me.

 

The DL to me is the ?, but clearly Juron has something brewing as he is going to take on this task with his top 4 DTs on the depth chart maxing out at a traditionally puny 304 lbs. I think we plan to implement the Cover 2 in some exotic new way in terms of how the DTs are employed and our now reinforced LBs back them up to stop the run.

 

I have no idea how this is going to work, but the good news is that former NFL Coach of the Year Jauron has forgotten more than I remember about D coaching.

 

Likei said, there is a ton to be concerned about and I do not expect this team to make the playoffs this year. However, there are are reasonable prospects for it to be better than last year (injuries will tell the tale). I think the team is holding off spending cap money in hopes thy will at least be competitive this year and can them make targetted and defined big purchases in FA next year to even be a likely playoff team in 07.

[H2o]

We have alot of youth that's going to be learning on the go this year. You figure McCargo and Williams alternating a spot on the DL, Youboty probably at Nickel Back, and Whitner at SS are all rookies. The NFL game is faster and the athletes are better, 5 times better, at every position than they are in college. They are all going to have to adjust. I also don't believe that Ko Simpson is going to be on the sidelines all year. About week 8 and on he will be getting more and more PT, watch what I tell you. They are going to start to phase out Vincent. With 4 rookies starting on the defensive side of the ball, it will be hard to win. Unless of course these guys are all consumate pros as they come into the league that is.

 

RB will be fine with A-Train backing up McGahee, but FB after Shelton is a question mark. Major injuries though would put any team in a bind, just like it would us. The OL is improved I must agree. Anytime you can get rid of two problems (Anderson & Williams) and bring people who have decent experience and track record as far as starters. The LB situation will be upon us quicker than any of you believe. It's 50/50 right now whether the team will even want Fletcher back. The questions surrounding Spikes after his injury still abound and Posey is no better than decent. Next year's draft is where they address these areas hopefully.

 

As far as this year goes, I bet we win 5 or 6 games at the max. We're probably looking more like a 4-12 or 3-13 team that's going through alot of growing pains. JP is in a make or break year. I hope that he does turn out to be Jim Kelly reincarnate for our franchise, but I don't think it will happen. Holcomb is a solid old #2 guy, but not starter material. He couldn't even wrestle the job away in Cleveland. CLEVELAND, when Tim Couch was there!!! Nall, a starter? He was #3 behind Aaron Rodgers in GB. Number 3 behind a rookie and he'd already been in the league a couple of years. Special Teams is great and all, but it doesn't tackle the other team's running backs or wide receivers. It also doesn't rush the passer or block for our backfield. We are in the midst of an overhaul and I've accepted that. It's all going to be a learning curve and process that we have to go through to get us back to a point where people don't want to play us anymore again. Hopefully it won't take long.

[Albany,n.y.]

     We, Bills fans, are in the midst of the darkest days that I can remember for our beloved franchise.

707011[/snapback]

 

I take it you weren't around in the late 60s, mid 70s and mid 80s. There were times in each of those decades when the Bills were the laughingstock of the league. We lost the top pick in the 1979 draft to the friggin' CFL, and that was a team on the upswing at the time it happened. The USFL killed us, taking Kelly & Cribbs away from the Bills. The fact that the Bills had consecutive 2-14 seasons during the life of the USFL was hardly a coincidence. Players (see Chip Banks) would refuse to come to the Bills when traded for. One could say the mid 80s were the darkest days, but things were so bad in the late 60s-early 70s (when we signed the top pick in 1972 it was Walt Patulski) and mid 70s that they would be challenged if they labeled the 80s slump as the darkest days.

 

Dark days, you don't know dark days.

[Pyrite Gal]

We have alot of youth that's going to be learning on the go this year. You figure McCargo and Williams alternating a spot on the DL, Youboty probably at Nickel Back, and Whitner at SS are all rookies. The NFL game is faster and the athletes are better, 5 times better, at every position than they are in college. They are all going to have to adjust. I also don't believe that Ko Simpson is going to be on the sidelines all year. About week 8 and on he will be getting more and more PT, watch what I tell you. They are going to start to phase out Vincent. With 4 rookies starting on the defensive side of the ball, it will be hard to win. Unless of course these guys are all consumate pros as they come into the league that is.

 

RB will be fine with A-Train backing up McGahee, but FB after Shelton is a question mark. Major injuries though would put any team in a bind, just like it would us. The OL is improved I must agree. Anytime you can get rid of two problems (Anderson & Williams) and bring people who have decent experience and track record as far as starters. The LB situation will be upon us quicker than any of you believe. It's 50/50 right now whether the team will even want Fletcher back. The questions surrounding Spikes after his injury still abound and Posey is no better than decent. Next year's draft is where they address these areas hopefully.

 

As far as this year goes, I bet we win 5 or 6 games at the max. We're probably looking more like a 4-12 or 3-13 team that's going through alot of growing pains. JP is in a make or break year. I hope that he does turn out to be Jim Kelly reincarnate for our franchise, but I don't think it will happen. Holcomb is a solid old #2 guy, but not starter material. He couldn't even wrestle the job away in Cleveland. CLEVELAND, when Tim Couch was there!!! Nall, a starter? He was #3 behind Aaron Rodgers in GB. Number 3 behind a rookie and he'd already been in the league a couple of years. Special Teams is great and all, but it doesn't tackle the other team's running backs or wide receivers. It also doesn't rush the passer or block for our backfield. We are in the midst of an overhaul and I've accepted that. It's all going to be a learning curve and process that we have to go through to get us back to a point where people don't want to play us anymore again. Hopefully it won't take long.

707349[/snapback]

 

I see only three games where right now I am pretty sure we lose. Those are @ NE, at Chicago and @ Indy.

 

Of the remaining 13 games, I think we end up favored in about half of them. It will not be because I think we're going to be that good, but because based on their past performance over the last several years, I think there is a good chance that Detroit, or Houston, or the Jets will be bad enough that they stand a reasonable chance of even being beaten by a bad team in their house.

 

My question for folks is not whether they think the Bills will be bad or worse, but why do they have so much confidence in Houston, Detroit, or NYJ that they assign the Ws to them which a 3-13 or 4-12 finish by the Bills would likely mandate.

 

Based on their past play, we have pretty good shots at NYJ, GB and probably TN at home. We even have reasonable shots at playoff teams like MN and SD at home *(unless they eat their cheeseburgers when they fly across country) and certainly at this point facing a 2005 non-playoff team like Miami or Jax is certainly a winnable game for us.

 

For folks who pick this team to 3-13 or 4-12, rather than taking the easy way out and simply whining about the Bills why do they have faith in these opponents who seem pretty troubled based on their past performances in the real world.

 

Even the Fish given their rich history of end of season implosions and events like Wicky getting the boot again should make one feel that the home (and actually probably even the road game) are far from definite losses even if the Bills are a bad team.

 

What case do folks have for confidence in our opponents?