Bills Needs by Looking at Competition

[Pyrite Gal]

According to Marv, a hallmark of his Bills teams will be competition. He has said that competition makes everyone better and its tough to argue with that. One way that I think is good for assessing our needs is to look at the level of competition at each position.

 

This perspective not only should provide insights into what the Bills are going to be looking for in terms of depth as they go deep into the draft, but also in terms of identifying the critical needs where we have little competition for starting spots.

 

RB- The most recent site of change in Bills land and a look at the level of competition makes it clear why the got the deal done with A-Train

 

Starter competition- slim to none as A-Train is the only potential candidate and as his maximum # of games started in his career is 13 back in 03 (also the last time he broke 1000 yards) he is unlikely to be a starting quality player.

 

Depth competition- slim and none as Shaud Williams is all there is and he should be gone in the view of many fans.

 

WR- Starter competition- Bills appear set with Evans continuing to get better and PP being merely adequate as a #2 but does present a speed threat which could still be used better by Fairchild. If Evans went down PP would be asked to assume his speed slot (a clear drop-off but at least scheme would still be run. if PP went down either Parrish comes in as speed complement or Reed impressed folks with his RAC last year.

 

Depth- Parrish and Reed appear more than adequate as back-up talents not ready to start (ye t in Parrish's case). Davis and Aiken provide good depth and some ST achievement chops.

 

OL- Starter competition- for the first time in years a solid starting 5 appears set to emerge with Peters, Dockery, Fowler. Preston, and Pennington as likely starters all of whom have played adequately at their positions for extended numbers of games during their careers

 

Depth- Langston Walker and Brad Butler both are possibilities to replace Pennington with Walker being a real possibility in terms of adequate play. Whittle will challenge Preston and Merz also got a start last year and this spot is most in play. Preston is a natural center and back-ups Fowler who started 16 for the first time in his career last year. Bills are clearly trying to develop Merz as a swingman as he is the 3rd C and also the 2nd LG. Interestingly Gandy remains on the roster as the 3rd LG and is another candidate who may go if someone wants him but if we get him on the cheap he is a potential swingman for us as he played well at LT in 05. Butler is the back-up behind Peters and he needs to step up this camp and demonstrate the talent which got the Bills to pick him despite an non-character episode he had in college.

 

Things are not guaranteed to be set on OL, but we go 2 and sometimes 3 deep there so 5 starters should be found.

 

TE- Starter- Royal showed potential last year but ultimately the failure to have a productive running game and him failing to recognize he was deep in the endzone on one catch he made but he did not even try to tightrope his feet down raises significant questions for fans about his adequacy even the coaches seem quite satisfied.

 

Depth- Cieslak actually impressed folks but it was more as an FB than as a TE and this appears to be a make or break year for the highly regarded low producing Everett.

 

A look at the lack of overwhelming competitive opportunities (there is a tight competition but seemingly amongst inadequate players) here is something that would lead me not to be surprised if we see a TE we like we go for him

 

FB- A wasteland

 

 

QB- JP appears to be the real deal, it is to be hoped Nall has shown enough in practice that he can be the back-up and we then need to find a good development propect for disaster QB as I hope we move beyond Holcomb one way or the other.

CB- Bills appear to be counting upon the Cover 2 scheme to make it unnecessary for us to spend top dollar for a CB (NC was simply not worth what the market would give him to sign a long deal and since the Bills would not offer him enough scratch even the cost of franchising him was beyond what is was worth paying a CB in a Cover 2.

 

Starters- McGee was so bad he deserved benching last year, but the benching seemed to get him to get his act together. IMHO he was benched not because he suddenly became a bad athlete, but because he was not mentally playing the Cover 2 correctly as he needed to recognize he had some deep responsibility when the rookies were not in a position to cover deep particularly when there was no one coming into his short zone.

 

However, he did get the mechanics of working the scheme down much better in the second half of the season. In conjunction with the Bills changing things up so that NC generally was covering the other team's better receiver, his game improved enough so that they chose to challenge NC more rather than simply picking on McGee. The coaches have clearly made a decision that McGee is ready to handle the #1CB slot in this defensive scheme which minimizes the big play opportunities for a CB and emphasizes more press coverage.

 

Yet, the question marks which surround the #2 slot speak to the lack of competitive pressure which may force McGee to play better. Youbouty shows a scouting report based on his college play which indicates he was built for the cover 2 scheme. His strengths are that he is good in press coverage and has shown good hand fighting skills. His limitations coming in were a concern that even though he has plenty of speed how well he played with his back to the QB and also that he tended to look inside to give run support to much relying on a speed advantage he likely will not have against pro receivers to catch up. However, as the way we play the Cover 2 is mostly going to call for him to play press and turn over the receiver to the Ss and MLB when they go 15 yards or more, the Cover 2 should play to his strengths and minimize his weaknesses.

 

Many fans seem to be whining that he is unproven and did not pull off the same achievements as NC and AW of producing as a rookie. Yet, the facts of what happened reduce this complaint to more of a whine when the facts are that in his three games last year and one start Youbouty was certainly adequate (and actually played quite well in his surprise start against NYJ when he and the D stymied the rag armed but cagey Chad Pennington).

 

The word was that when he came out early last year, that pundits felt that with another year in school he could make the first round. As far a it goes, he had the year of schooling last year and actually it works better for us that this learning year consisted of 16 Bills games and practices rather than perfecting his game at OSU. I think it is highly likely that he will be able to hold down the nickel slot (as AW did in his first full year of play rather than start at CB as some imply) and quite possible that with a year of training and practice and the CB position required to play the short game in the Cover 2 it is even conceivable he could start at #2 CB.

 

Back-ups- Greer is a solid nickel but though he often has great pre-seasons he never has been able to be a consistent producer in the regular season so I do not see him as a #2.

 

Overall, I think it is still critical that the Bills get another CB with potential to start at #2. However, given that the Cover 2 devalues the playmaker role for the CB letting NC walk was a smart mover because the market pretty clearly was gonna give him a bigger contract than he was likely worth to the Bills (he would have been stupid to ever re-sign with us) and even the franchise tag CB salary he would gotten this year is still above his worth to the team in terms of building a winning team. The Bills need to sign a second tier CB and that should be good enough to offer competition to Youbouty to make me comfortable with these 4 CBs.

 

LB-

 

Probably the area of greatest question marks on the team as not only did the Bills and F-B not make a deal, but other starters Crowell and TKO are both coming off of injuries.

 

Starters- Marv talked about the Bills sliding Crowell over to MLB and since the word is he already is 100% recovered from the injury which landed him on IR this makes sense as Crowell was drafted to play MLB and was the back-up to F-B for two years where he learned signal calling. He actually played well at MLB in his pre-season looks and was easily the most talented back-up on the teams so that it was him who came in at SLB when ditched Posey and came into the Will slot when TKO went down.

 

The MLB in the Tampa 2 type scheme we run is called upon to both tackle like a DT on run plays and cover like a safety on pass plays and most important be able to quickly read and tell the difference between the two on plays. Many folks are advocating drafting Willis to start in F-Bs place. My argument is that yes he is a very good player and yes rookies have been able to start right away for many teams at LB. However, the way we play the MLB calls for such a diversity of applied skills that I simply see any rookie going through a probably painful learning curve while he learns to read NFL plays like a vet.

 

The idea of drafting Willis makes a bit more sense to me since I have seen some reads on his college career that he can play the Sam slot as well. If he learns his trade as the SLB for a while I think he can solidify the MLB slot for us for years, but if he starts at MLB it seems like a pretty clear sign to me that the Bills have written off qualifying for the playoffs for 2007 and this will be yet another development year.

 

The TKO situation is up in the air particularly since there is talk of trading him or letting him go. I hope not as I think he was actually nagged by injuries in 06 because he worked too hard to come back. If he comes back, we slide Crowell over and then draft Willis (or Timmons, or Poluszny, or whomever the Bills think is the best option as Willis is likely the best of this bunch but in a LB draft class which appears pretty weak (no top 10 ranked players by any estimation I have seen) LB class, the differences between these players is not so huge that I would pass by an opportunity to get another draft choice or so to move down and if I have to settle for one of the other two I do not feel horrible. In fact, there is a reasonable chance that the Bills can trade down a couple of times and actually still pick Willis according to some mock drafts.

 

In the end, my fantasy would be to see the Bills trade TKO for Briggs, and then slide Crowell over and pick the best OLB they can and there is a possibility we have one of the best LB crews in football (a guy can dream can't he).

 

Back-ups- I think we are solid at back-up though I think none of these players can start consistently for a full season. However, Haggan is a great ST player and solid back-up and there is even some thought of Ellison being able to start again for this team. Add to this an apparently bulked up Wire who is a far better LB than safety and even Manning who got some starts with GB and if the starting situation is solved this is a formidable unit.

 

DL-

 

I think this unit can be very good this year, but there is a big question as to whether this improvement will come through development or drafting.

 

Its a rotation so in some ways the starter/back-up division is not wholly accurate. Still the very good year had by Pro Bowl starter Schobel should be noted, and though Kelsay is probably a prime example of how the new CBA has inflated salaries of players lucky enough to hit the timing right, he and Denney are not a bad pairing in the rotation. Hargrove really did not impress me with his play though his attitude is likable and good and makes this a fairly solid rotation where if Kelsay plays like he is paid or Hargrove shows in his play what he showed in his cheerleading this could be fun.

 

DT is the big question mark, but between Triplett (who disappointed for a big buck acquisition). Williams who surprised as an adequate starter and McCargo who in some judgments had just begun to turn it around when he got the IR injury, a reasonable rotation can be found at DT. The interesting thing is that most fans (and I) are willing to say adios to Anderson and if Okoye or Branch fall to 12 the big improvement in the run game may be found in the trenches rather than in the LB choice.

 

This is my sense of the field positions.

[I 90]

Its like that Christmas letter from an enthusiastic aunt when you're expecting a another card with a snowman on it.

 

 

Only a few notes... Fred Jackson appears to be more interesting to Marv at RB than were Ken Simonton and his ilk.

 

The WR's are certainly in competition if the the various packages are judged by their effectiveness rather than their appropriateness to situation. Roscoe could force his way onto the field on earlier downs if he should develop into something special. If the entire core progresses we may be spared the power running identity( 3.7 yards and cloud of huh ?).

 

Never mind the cover 2 -- I think anything goes at corner. Draft, post draft cuts, street free agents stlill out there... Marv will sweat over this position.

 

Linebacker is indeed a place to dream. Many useful players, many possible combinations; if they are serious about competition there could be a huge cut to be made.

 

The offensive line is far from fixed with the two signings. Walker hasn't demonstrated the ability to play any position in his career thus far (this training camp would be nice). Fowler is Gandy-esque in his competence, professionalism and unfortunately in his expendability. The late second day draft picks are what they are -- so let the competition begin.

[The Senator]

Well, I did read the part saying "a hallmark of Marv's Bills teams will be competition" - and the part about "This is my sense of the field positions." Now what was the rest of it about?

[mellaman101]

Well, I did read the part saying "a hallmark of Marv's Bills teams will be competition" - and the part about "This is my sense of the field positions." Now what was the rest of it about?

 

 

Only competition you will have with this team is if you play some Nintento Tecmo Bowl... 1992.....

 

 

LONG season heading our way....