This Dude Gets a Free Pass, Why?

[My Friends Call Me Tebucky]

Being white buys him time with the "blue collar" fanbase of Buffalo, but if we're sitting here this time next year and he STILL hasn't made a play, a lot of people are going to be hating on the guy.

[Peter]

To a certain extent he has gotten a pass. He has been ok, but is not an upgrade over Fletcher or a healthy Spikes. Patrick Willis is a better LB at this point.

 

The lingering image that I have is when Portis ran over him at the goal line in preseason. He has a tendency to try to run around blocks rather than take on blockers. As a result, he leaves running lanes open.

 

Having said that, he is effectively a rookie. I am not ready to give up on him.

[VJ91]

I'll give you a hint. He's white. There're a lot of people on this board that get all giddy when there's a white player. (See the reactions to Brian Leonard prior to the 2007 draft if you need an example.) Plus he's a high character guy and a Penn State guy. That's a lethal combination around here.

 

Why pull out the race card? I have not seen one person on this board get "all giddy" over white Buffalo Bills. I will agree that linebackers from Penn. State get special respect, but that is usually well deserved. In fact if anything, I have seen the white guys on the Bills get bashed more then anything else....Schobel and Kelsey leading the bash party.

 

Poz has played worse then I had hoped this season. But so has the entire defense. I'll give the kid one thing, when he hits somebody, they go down instantly. That is something you can build on as he learns to shed blockers better - don't forget he's only in his second season.

[eliteqb]

To a certain extent he has gotten a pass. He has been ok, but is not an upgrade over Fletcher or a healthy Spikes.

 

I agree totally with that. He's not playing up to all the hype. Based on post draft comments and media, I thought we were getting another Urlacher. Maybe he'll be really good someday, but he's not real good right now....

[VOR]

The Defense has been protected during the "slide" because no offense has really had to score. Especially the last two weeks, but they couldn't get off the field against the Jete, Pats, Browns, and the Cardinals.

Are you for real? Are you trying to claim that opposing offenses haven't been trying to score because they know the Bills' offense can't score points?

 

As for the games you mentioned, outside of the Cardinals game, the offense was bad, putting the defense in bad spots and leaving them out on the field. Not to mention any semblance of a pass rush left when Schobel got injured.

[Paup 1995MVP]

Paul Posluzny. I keyed on this guy while watching the defense against miami, is he even on the field? Oh yeah he's getting drive blocked 10 yards down the field, standing in no man's land in the zone scheme's, or getting pushed aside like my niece when he's trying to blitz. If this is the Middle Linebacker we our going to build our team around our defense is in big trouble for a long time. But his hair is really dreamy and he has a strong jaw line so he's got that going for him. Gimme a break, we need some bad asses on this defense. I don't think we have any.

I agree with you. Poz has definitely not been a gamechanger for us whatsoever. You don't look at his play and say this guy is special. It's as simple as that. He is pretty solid near the line on inside running plays, but in space his pass coverage skills are surely lacking. And who can forget Matt Cassell's touchdown run up the middle early in the Pats game. Poz was maybe 10 yards out of the play. It is too early to say that the guy sucks, but he certainly hasn't shined and taken over this defense. We have two guys on defense who have shown playmaking ability most of the season. And that is Marcus Stroud and Brian Scott. Other than those two, who has stood out and made much of a difference? The rest of our defense has been marginal at best.

 

Forget points allowed. Our defense rarely takes over a game. Miami only scored one touchdown, but moved the ball when they needed to the entire game. We still need upgrades on defense if we want to compete for anything other than last place in our division.

[KnightRider]

You can deny it all you want, but there is a huge segment of this board that totally marks out for white players. I'm not turning it into a whole big racial thing, but I'm just calling it like I see it. Owen Schmidt is another name that comes to mind.

 

Yes you are. Your statement is the equivalent of, "Just kidding; But seriously."

 

If you want to smear the board, stand up like a grown up and defend your position, or shut up.

[K-9]

I'll give you a hint. He's white. There're a lot of people on this board that get all giddy when there's a white player. (See the reactions to Brian Leonard prior to the 2007 draft if you need an example.) Plus he's a high character guy and a Penn State guy. That's a lethal combination around here.

 

Are you joking? Am I missing the sarcasm? I hope so. If not, you're out of your fu*king mind.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[cody]

Poz get a pass because he is a 2nd round draft pick playing his 16th NFL game.

Kelsey & Denney were not widley critisized until they signed big $ deals after thier rookie contracts.

 

Poz's cap hit this year is 1/2 of Kelsey or Denney's.

[VOR]

Forget points allowed.

Points allowed is THE most important statistic. It's a game of scoring more points than your opponent, not yardage, turnovers, sacks, etc. Forget everything else.

[macaroni]

There's been some decent white wr's as of late, but white rb's. I can fully understand why people scoff at it. I'm white and mention the idea of a white rb that starts for your team, like people around here wanted to draft brian leonhard for, and I'll scoff at it. Ideally I can care less what race a guy is, but there hasn't been a productive starting white tailback in decades.

 

 

I know what you mean ....... as a matter of fact watching football as early as the 50's that was my attitude about a black QB. The NFL should have never let a black man play QB because there hasn't ever been a sucessfull one ........ and coaches, what about coaches ........... scoure the history show me a winning black NFL coach during the 30's ..... 40's ...... 50's

[thebandit27]

Dude this isn't some big social comment on inequality. The people around here tend to mark out for white players. That's it and that's all.

 

He's so right, I mean look at the way people protect guys like Trent Edwards, JP Losman, Ryan Denney, Chris Kelsay, Rian Lindell, and--heck, who says we need to stick to players to make the point--nobody ever criticizes Dick Jauron, Russ Brandon, or Ralph Wilson. In fact, I don't think there's been one post the entire season that absolutely rips any of the guys mentioned above. Go waste your time on another subject. This is ludicrous.

[bflobarry]

Is he even on the field? Yeah, he's on the field. He leads the team in Tot's with 91 (73 solos). I know we have problems all aspects right now, but c'mon, don't pick on Poz. You could argue that he's the only one doing anything out there. He doesn't make BIG plays because there is NO pass rush and he's too busy tackling dudes all over the place.

This defense, and every other, is designed to get the MLB to the ball. EVERY MLB on every team SHOULD be leading their team in tackles. Period. Poz is average at best, Whitner too. Try to name one really significant play that either has made all year. There aren't any. I like 'em both, but they are very ordinary players.

[bbills17]

Is he even on the field? Yeah, he's on the field. He leads the team in Tot's with 91 (73 solos). I know we have problems all aspects right now, but c'mon, don't pick on Poz. You could argue that he's the only one doing anything out there. He doesn't make BIG plays because there is NO pass rush and he's too busy tackling dudes all over the place.

 

He's the middle LB, he should be leading in tackles. That doesn't change the fact that he's mediocre. As the original poster said, key on him and then key on other 'great' middle LB'ers in the league, Poz is an ok LB but not the great one we thought we had when we drafted him.

[Dawgg]

Paul Posluzny. I keyed on this guy while watching the defense against miami, is he even on the field? Oh yeah he's getting drive blocked 10 yards down the field, standing in no man's land in the zone scheme's, or getting pushed aside like my niece when he's trying to blitz. If this is the Middle Linebacker we our going to build our team around our defense is in big trouble for a long time. But his hair is really dreamy and he has a strong jaw line so he's got that going for him. Gimme a break, we need some bad asses on this defense. I don't think we have any.

 

Once again, the Bills traded up to get a mediocre player.

 

Marv was one of the worst GMs ever.

[pkwwjd]

Forget points allowed. Our defense rarely takes over a game. Miami only scored one touchdown, but moved the ball when they needed to the entire game. We still need upgrades on defense if we want to compete for anything other than last place in our division.

 

One of the few times that our D did take over a game was against the Jets when Poz caused a bad pass to be returned for a TD. Of course, the D gave the game right back on the next possession ... letting the Jests to drive right down the field.

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

I agree with you. Poz has definitely not been a gamechanger for us whatsoever. You don't look at his play and say this guy is special. It's as simple as that. He is pretty solid near the line on inside running plays, but in space his pass coverage skills are surely lacking. And who can forget Matt Cassell's touchdown run up the middle early in the Pats game. Poz was maybe 10 yards out of the play. It is too early to say that the guy sucks, but he certainly hasn't shined and taken over this defense. We have two guys on defense who have shown playmaking ability most of the season. And that is Marcus Stroud and Brian Scott. Other than those two, who has stood out and made much of a difference? The rest of our defense has been marginal at best.

 

Forget points allowed. Our defense rarely takes over a game. Miami only scored one touchdown, but moved the ball when they needed to the entire game. We still need upgrades on defense if we want to compete for anything other than last place in our division.

 

This post illustrates the wrong attitude that most people have on this board. That attitude being that a player is either a gamechanger or he sucks. Aren't you all aware that most players in the NFL don't fit either of these categories. Most players aren't gamechangers and most players don't "suck". Now, Poz has fit into this gray area. He's forced one fumble and recorded zero sacks, but he also leads the team with an impressive 91 tackles. He's average so far. Not everybody has to be in a polarized category.

[Jdorn]

I think POZ is a good young MLB in the league that is still learning the position. Is he a Patrick Willis? no he certainly isnt but if I remember that draft Willis the player we had tabbed went a pick ahead of us to the 49ers. When you are watching other teams MLB's to compare to Poz make sure to see how the line in front of these players are performing because aside from Stroud I think our D line is quite easy to push downfield or wide of the play.

 

Bottom line we need some beef if the opponents linemen are driving 5 yards downfield its quite hard for a linebacker to make plays in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage. If I remember correctly wasnt this a big part of the reason London Fletcher made alot of tackles 5 to 7 yards downfield? Is Poz the second coming of Urlacher? no he isnt but he is a solid young player who should continue to improve. Even more so if our D line could hold the line of scrimmage.

[Hazed and Amuzed]

He's the middle LB, he should be leading in tackles. That doesn't change the fact that he's mediocre. As the original poster said, key on him and then key on other 'great' middle LB'ers in the league, Poz is an ok LB but not the great one we thought we had when we drafted him.

 

 

Do any of you guys know what the MLB's job is in the Tampa 2 defense? They are more of a support system then a playmaker with a particular focus. Their main duty is to support the run, cover vacant blitzing olb spots and to drop back in coverage. In our case Mitchell is our main blitzing LB and Ellison, being the smallest and the weakest of the three needs support in all area's. That being said, with the lack of pass rush that our 2 DE generate Poz is left with a lot of responsibility. That would be why he leads our team in tackles but it would also be why he isn't tearing up the field as a free roaming playmaker like an Urlacher.

 

That and he hasn't even played a full season people! I get the racism card, I see it here from time to time but I think like Lynch gets a pass for the crap around him so should Poz.

[Haven Moses]

Most big runs against us are cutbacks where Poz has overrun them.