My Meaningless Opinion

[BillsWest]

Man, and I thought I was bad w/ my teams! Then again, all of the other teams I root for have won a championship before (Houston Rockets-2, UNC hoops-3, PENN STATE football-2). Just waitin' on that last one...

 

No kidding, my teams' just stink. The Giants have good starting pitching and then throw 120 million at Zito, meanwhile they can't hit anything out of the infield. Sabean will continue to "do due diligence" in looking at bats that can help. I never realized due diligence meant dumpster diving. The Clippers: sign Baron Davis thinking that that will keep Elton Brand in LA, nope. Two whole wins for the season. At least they got rid of Elgin. The Buffalo teams......no need to say anything there.

 

It all comes down to smart moves and spending money by the front offices. Where and how did I go SO wrong!

[Dan]

This seems to be a theme....we're not talking the 1985 Bears or 2000 Ravens here, but the defense has played well enough for the team to win. If the coaches didn't have their heads up their a$$e$, the offense could have easily given this team 2-3 more wins.

 

I'll say this until there's no tomorrow - this team has the talent and players to win. They just need the right staff to bring it all together.

With each passing week, this fact seemingly becomes more and more apparent.

 

 

I still contend that the Pats*, Jets and Fins aren't as good as their record indicates. However, each of them appear to have coaching staffs that have been able to capitalize on the weak schedules we've all been playing this season. The Bills coaches, quite simply, have not.

[commish95]

It's only one game and we're still 6-6. All is...........well? Forget that! It didn't look "well" to me.

 

I was wondering how many scapegoat-ish "Lindell cost us the game" posts I'd see on the board after this game. While it would've been nice for our kicker to hit those FGs, especially a 19 yarder, is he THE problem in a game where the offense can rack up over 350 yards and yet come up w/ just 3 points? All his fault, is it? Get rid of him, and the Bills do what in this game? Lose 10-9?

 

Defensively, the Bills tried hard to keep the offense in a position to win this one, but even they had their rough moments. I saw plenty of poor tackling, coverage issues in the secondary, and the front 7 get blown off the ball on occasion. One time, I saw Marcus Stroud get taken for a ride well outta reach of the play. The (lack of a consistent) pass rush continues to be a huge issue w/ this team. It had a lot to do w/ this loss, as the Bills couldn't generate any heat on Hill and force him into turnovers. I wonder how many more games like this the Bills will endure before realizing that the pass rush stinks and needs to be addressed strongly in the offseason. Once they can bring the heat and force QBs not to have enough time to bake cakes, finish their holiday shopping, or complete work on their doctoral thesis, maybe then we'll see guys like McKelvin, Greer, and McGee come up w/ the kind of turnovers that can work in the Bills' favor instead of working to bring them down. Also, the linebackers really need to do more. Mitchell had a nice open field tackle, but there weren't many other standout plays from this unit. Posluszny needs to step it up big time.

 

Was I the only person who thought the team appeared to have lost their composure @ the end of the first half? Blown timeouts and questionable play calling seems to be more the norm than the exception lately. There were other blunders, such as Roscoe Parrish's attempt to return the punt inside the 5 yard line instead of just letting it go into the end zone and starting @ the 20. I could understand more if it was a once in a while thing, but these types of errors seem to turn up every weekend.

 

Did anyone else see the play on the FG drive where James Hardy, alone on the weak (left) side, did basically nothing on a play designed to go to the strong (right) side? He didn't run a route to steer the defenders away, he didn't try to come back and block down. He did........nothing. It was pathetic.

 

Speaking of the wideouts (thanks again to Big Cat for his thread of his observations), I was surprised that Tony Boselli saw what I've seen in regard to our wideouts. They just do not do a great job of getting open. Now, I know there are times when guys have been open and were not seen (Lee Evans, among others, in the Cleveland game comes to mind), but for the most part, our guys do not create separation and find the open spots in the zone. They run half a** routes (see Hardy's weak attempt @ whatever it was he was trying to do on the FG drive) and don't seem to know when to break them off due to what the defense is trying to do. They have gotten open, but more often than not, I've seen them appear to just go through the motions and not do that something extra to help out the QB.

 

Special teams wise, this game reminded me of the Oakland game. What I mean by this is that the Niners obviously prepared well for Buffalo's special teams and were ready. I don't know if the same can be said of our guys. This was not a stellar game for what has been the best part of this team in recent seasons. Now, that said, I still rooted like crazy for the guys to break one and take it the distance. Why? I just had no confidence in the offense being able to put the ball in the end zone. I sure wish I was wrong 'bout that.

 

So, here we are. The team is 6-6, all but out of the playoff chase, and looking like one of the worst teams in the league. I wish I had better news and a rosier outlook, but it's hard to come up w/ one after witnessing these last 8 games. I had mentioned to someone how I thought there was a chance of this team having their third straight 7-9 season. Now, I'm just hoping they can get to 7-9. A better record would be nice too, but I won't be greedy. I know technically that they could go 10-6. But, seriously, what evidence is there to show that this can be done? They have 3 return games vs divisional opponents and another against a team that just beat one of our divisional opponents ON THE ROAD! Considering this, there is a chance the Bills could finish 6-10, w/ 5 consecutive losses. It seems so unbelievable but, then again, we Bills fans have been through this kind of heartbreaking tailspin w/ this team over the years. How things have changed since my trip to St Louis. Ugh!

 

OK Must comment.

 

You pick apart everybody except for the QBs. Why is that. Thats funny. I mean you pick apart a Rookie in a play going to the opposite side of the field but yet you cant comment about the several poorly thrown balls to the WRs. I have been to several games. The WRs do get open but the bills have a scared momma at QB

[R. Rich]

OK Must comment.

 

You pick apart everybody except for the QBs. Why is that. Thats funny.

 

I guess 'cause I thought they did such a tremendous job of leading this team.

 

 

I mean you pick apart a Rookie in a play going to the opposite side of the field but yet you cant comment about the several poorly thrown balls to the WRs. I have been to several games. The WRs do get open but the bills have a scared momma at QB

 

I've been 'round here long enough to know the locals will supply plenty of "(name of ineffective QB here) sucked" threads after the games. I honestly didn't want to overstate the obvious. Both guys were awful, and I do believe I touched on that in my first response in this thread.

 

As for the WRs getting open, I think I touched on that also:

 

Speaking of the wideouts (thanks again to Big Cat for his thread of his observations), I was surprised that Tony Boselli saw what I've seen in regard to our wideouts. They just do not do a great job of getting open. Now, I know there are times when guys have been open and were not seen (Lee Evans, among others, in the Cleveland game comes to mind), but for the most part, our guys do not create separation and find the open spots in the zone. They run half a** routes (see Hardy's weak attempt @ whatever it was he was trying to do on the FG drive) and don't seem to know when to break them off due to what the defense is trying to do. They have gotten open, but more often than not, I've seen them appear to just go through the motions and not do that something extra to help out the QB.

 

 

I have seen guys get open also (I've also been to a few of these games), but I see it as more the exception than the norm. In the 4 Bills games I've witnessed live this year, I cannot honestly say there were guys open all over the field all day being missed by QBs.

[commish95]

I guess 'cause I thought they did such a tremendous job of leading this team.

 

 

 

 

I've been 'round here long enough to know the locals will supply plenty of "(name of ineffective QB here) sucked" threads after the games. I honestly didn't want to overstate the obvious. Both guys were awful, and I do believe I touched on that in my first response in this thread.

 

As for the WRs getting open, I think I touched on that also:

 

 

 

 

I have seen guys get open also (I've also been to a few of these games), but I see it as more the exception than the norm. In the 4 Bills games I've witnessed live this year, I cannot honestly say there were guys open all over the field all day being missed by QBs.

 

Thanks for clearing that up

 

 

Heres a thought. Neither Trent or JP anticipate very well. How often do you see them throw the ball before the WR makes a cut. ONE of the main reasons the WR are so called "never open" is because the QB will wait untill the WR makes the cut. Once they make the cut, The DB covering just increased there percentage on making a play on that WR. Therefore look like they are being covered tightly. If the QB would leard to anticpate and have that extra step or two to work with then it would help out all the WR. Prime example is what Jaws was talking about on the MNF game this year.

 

As far as Hardy, I think his route running and seperation has been not bad ever since the Miami Game. Turk said he was open twice and should of had two TDs against the Jets but was never thrown to. Needles to say, this offseason TRENT and Hardy will need to build some rapport with each other. He has only been thrown to 23-24 times and a lot of them where poorly thrown balls. He will learn to adjust to those throws as he bulks up a bit.

[Beerball]

I have seen guys get open also (I've also been to a few of these games), but I see it as more the exception than the norm. In the 4 Bills games I've witnessed live this year, I cannot honestly say there were guys open all over the field all day being missed by QBs.

Really stupid question alert...why is that?

 

Is it the receivers? Is it the offense? You watch other games and you often see a receiver either beat man coverage or find the 'soft spot' in a zone. It's not like we're playing max protect all of the time.

 

Jaws talked about Edwards needing to anticipate and trust in the receivers and I get that. I respect his opinion on QB play (as opposed to other color commentators...Boselli, Tasker etc...meaning I take Boselli's statements about nobody being open with a grain of salt) so I gotta believe there is something to what he says. BUT...what about those 5-8 times a game where you see (on TV) a wide open receiver?

[R. Rich]

Thanks for clearing that up

 

No prob.

 

Heres a thought. Neither Trent or JP anticipate very well. How often do you see them throw the ball before the WR makes a cut. ONE of the main reasons the WR are so called "never open" is because the QB will wait untill the WR makes the cut. Once they make the cut, The DB covering just increased there percentage on making a play on that WR. Therefore look like they are being covered tightly. If the QB would leard to anticpate and have that extra step or two to work with then it would help out all the WR. Prime example is what Jaws was talking about on the MNF game this year.

 

Again, I've seen where the DBs are helped by the QBs' indecision this year, but I've also seen routes cut short and/or rounded off instead of being sharp and precise (see Parrish, Roscoe) and where guys were running stride for stride w/ out speedy wideouts (see Miami game, where Evans, on a go route, couldn't outrun a Miami defender that the announcers had mentioned earlier in the broadcast had been picked on by the previous 2 opponents). It bears repeating, I've seen the wideouts get open, but I cannot say it happens more than it doesn't.

 

As far as Hardy, I think his route running and seperation has been not bad ever since the Miami Game. Turk said he was open twice and should of had two TDs against the Jets but was never thrown to. Needles to say, this offseason TRENT and Hardy will need to build some rapport with each other. He has only been thrown to 23-24 times and a lot of them where poorly thrown balls. He will learn to adjust to those throws as he bulks up a bit.

 

True. Like they say, it's usually 2-3 seasons before a wideout blossoms. We'll see if/how he develops over the next couple seasons. Hopefully, the QB will do more in the way of developing also.

[R. Rich]

Really stupid question alert...why is that?

 

Is it the receivers? Is it the offense? You watch other games and you often see a receiver either beat man coverage or find the 'soft spot' in a zone. It's not like we're playing max protect all of the time.

 

Jaws talked about Edwards needing to anticipate and trust in the receivers and I get that. I respect his opinion on QB play (as opposed to other color commentators...Boselli, Tasker etc...meaning I take Boselli's statements about nobody being open with a grain of salt) so I gotta believe there is something to what he says. BUT...what about those 5-8 times a game where you see (on TV) a wide open receiver?

 

 

Yep, there are time when guys are flat out missed when open out there. You should've been @ the Monday Night game, hearing the crowd trying to alert Edwards that Evans (many times) and Hardy (on a few occasions) were WIDE OPEN down the field! Thing is, this is not a Buffalo phenomenon: it happens everywhere. It's like holding: happens on every play. Thanks to things such as a pass rush or a misread/blown blocking assignment, QBs don't have time to calmly scan the field and find the perfect choice on a routine basis. Well, unless they're playing the Bills, that is.

[cåblelady]

Yep, there are time when guys are flat out missed when open out there. You should've been @ the Monday Night game, hearing the crowd trying to alert Edwards that Evans (many times) and Hardy (on a few occasions) were WIDE OPEN down the field!

.......followed aptly with a chorus of wtf(?). Yeah....you probably heard me.

[Lori]

Anyone listen to Losman's comments after the game? Kind of confusing because you can't really hear the questions, but I think the writers have finally figured out that the team is a mess. Time outs wasted, Parish fielding a punt at the 1 and on and on and on. Anyway, Losman said it was an 'in house issue' and you guys (press) 'won't get anything else out of me.' I would love to see a transcript.

 

After that game I watched Pitt play. What a joy to watch a team play with purpose and crispness. Weather was crappy and they dropped a bunch of passes, but Ben R kept chucking the ball and they made enough good plays to compensate. Defensively they are a handful and a half. That DC of theirs seems pretty good. (why didn't we keep him?)

 

Ask and you shall receive, but they don't put the precise questions on the quote sheets ...

BUFFALO BILLS QUARTERBACK J.P.LOSMAN

On the outlook for the last few games

 

It’s tough, because as much as you want to think of one game at a time, you are thinking playoffs at this point in time. You’re thinking the games you have left you have to win, period. Maybe we can lose one, but we needed this one. Coming off the win last week we were high, and we wanted to get the ball rolling. When you get two or three in a row, it’s going to be hard to stop us. That’s pretty much the toughest thing right now, just dealing with looking at the rest of the way. We have to win all of our games to get to the playoffs.

 

 

On entering the game after halftime

 

I just knew when we went in to the locker room at halftime. (The training staff) was going to wrap (Trent Edwards’) groin up, and just to be ready. Right before we were running on the field they let me know.

 

 

On being prepared to come in to the game

 

I felt pretty comfortable, I was in a good mood, I was happy. I think the guys were excited, everybody was pumped and ready to go. There are no excuses there.

 

 

On a specific play where there appeared to be confusion

 

I think there was a little confusion before the play, right? Was there confusion before the play? We had a little confusion there for whatever reason, lining up later but (San Francisco) did a good job covering. What they did today two man and different forms of two man. They were playing man (coverage), but with guys behind them that could trail underneath. You try to win inside with your inside routes one on one. If not, they propose great running lanes for the quarterback. Two man is a great time for a quarterback to take off and pick up five or six (yards). (San Francisco) did a great job of closing those lanes.

 

 

On the way the team played in their current position in the standings

 

You can’t make these mistakes, especially this late in the season, especially when we need as many games as we want. You guys could look into that many different ways and analyze that, but we didn’t deserve to win anyway, regardless of if we went down and tied it and took it to overtime. You can’t have that many mistakes, penalties, drops, whatever the situations were. We had a fumble, there was no way that you’re going to win a game in the NFL playing that way. I don’t know what the reasons are, but they need to be fixed real quick.

 

 

On possible communication issues

 

We had good (sideline to field) communication. There were some other issues going on, but this is an in-house game. I can only tell you guys as much as I want to tell you. I’ve been in this situation before many times. It is an in-house game. Nobody will get anything out of me, ever. You guys can try, but it’s not going to happen. We’re a very close knit group, regardless of what happens.

 

 

On the game from a personal perspective

 

Personally, it’s a great opportunity. There’s a lot of football in my career left, I’m pretty young and plan on playing this game for quite some time longer. This is a small little bump in the road, this is the beginning stage. I’m not really worried about that, it will take care of itself over longevity. Right now, focusing on the issue is pretty frustrating, but that’s it for that question.

 

 

On issues that could have been corrected

 

That’s even more frustrating. You look back and critique yourself watching the film on what you could have done, what we should have done. It’s (the coaches) job to watch the film to figure out what’s going on and what’s going wrong schematically, if you will.

 

As for me, by the time Lindell nailed the upright for the second time, I already knew damn well that a Bills win would be grounds for a felony theft charge. Amazing. Run for a hundred-and-however-many yards, get inside the 20 four times (including first-and-goal twice), and score THREE POINTS.

 

I find myself agreeing with Chuck Pollock's take more often than not, probably because I've been reading his columns since I was a kid. This week is no different, so I'll let him handle it ...

This Bills loss should silence playoff talk

It’s time Bills’ coaching staff got scrutinized

[robkmil]

That work out OK?

 

Was his choice not ours

[Sisyphean Bills]

Jauron is what he is and his problem is the same reason everybody really likes him. He's a really great guy and generally people really want him to succeed. He tries to stay positive, keep everyone looking for the silver lining, letting everyone do what they need to do to get better, etc. But, like Pollock said, this is a very young team without proven leadership and seemingly without accountability. When something isn't working, nothing seems to change.

[robkmil]

Yeah, but he made up for it with a holding penalty away from the play which nullified a huge run by Jackson.

 

Wasn't a hold on the replay

[robkmil]

Did anyone else see the play on the FG drive where James Hardy, alone on the weak (left) side, did basically nothing on a play designed to go to the strong (right) side? He didn't run a route to steer the defenders away, he didn't try to come back and block down. He did........nothing. It was pathetic.

 

I saw this too and din't know what was going on. Did he not know what to do, not run a route because it wasn't his number? Was he designed to stay there?

 

What a waste of a player on the field.

[Beerball]

Ask and you shall receive, but they don't put the precise questions on the quote sheets ...

Thanks, much appreciated.

 

On possible communication issues

 

We had good (sideline to field) communication. There were some other issues going on, but this is an in-house game. I can only tell you guys as much as I want to tell you. I’ve been in this situation before many times. It is an in-house game. Nobody will get anything out of me, ever. You guys can try, but it’s not going to happen. We’re a very close knit group, regardless of what happens.

This is the one that got me. So there was good sideline to field communication but there were issues going on. Those issues weren't coming from the sidelines so they must have been coming from the booth. Anyone else think Turk was peeing his pants trying to come up with a play?

[Sisyphean Bills]

This is the one that got me. So there was good sideline to field communication but there were issues going on. Those issues weren't coming from the sidelines so they must have been coming from the booth. Anyone else think Turk was peeing his pants trying to come up with a play?

Sounds like the coaches were arguing on the headset with one another rather than giving the players clear directions. Hey, it's only been 12 regular season games and 4 pre-season; give it time.

[rockpile]

It's hard for me, based on what I've seen from the Bills lately, to believe they'll win any of the last 4 games. That doesn't mean I'll jump ship. It just means I may be watching my favorite team implode @ the end of the season yet again.

 

You mean it is OK to criticize poor play and NOT be accused of being a band wagon jumper? WOW!

[Beerball]

File this under FWIW and do with it what you will.

 

Receivers were open

By Chris Brown - Posted December 2nd, 2008

Just had an opportunity to watch some film from Sunday’s game against San Francisco.

 

Yes, I know why bother with a game that’s dead and gone.

 

But one thing that I took away from watching the offense was that there were receivers open… a lot.

 

After the game there was a general consensus that the 49ers did a good job covering Buffalo’s wideouts, but there were a lot of plays where Lee, Josh and Roscoe created separation or were sitting in a hole waiting for a pass.

 

Now I’m not indicting the quarterbacks here. Sometimes they just don’t see them in time and the window closes or their view is obstructed by a lineman or an umpire (which I saw happen on one play).

 

But I don’t think you can pin the offensive struggles on the wideouts in this game of all games this season. There appeared to be consistent separation for a good amount of that game.

 

Does that mean they’ll make more plays this week? I don’t know. But Miami has a suspect secondary so I’m hoping that’s the case.

[BuffaninATL]

Wasn't a hold on the replay

 

Agreed...I was at the game and saw the play live and again on the big screen replay - no holding by Hardy. A very weak, BS call - we got jobbed