A Few Thoughts About The Game

[manateefan]

A very unfortunate win. Anything that helps DJ keep his spot with the team is bad. I was truly unhappy they won. First time in 35 years of following this team I felt that way after a win.

 

Not much of fan if you are rooting for them to lose because you don't like the coach. There have been coaches and players over the years that I didn't like but I never root for Buffalo to lose.

[NavarreFL_Bills_Fan]

Again, a great synopsis.

 

While the Denney comment may be true, he at least made a few plays out there today. How many did Kelsay make, who in

my opinion is the guy we most need to see take a hike....

 

for every tackle in the backfield by Denny, there seems to be 3-4 where he's out of position....the reverse by Royal, a big run by cutler, and a pitchout to the RB. I think an impact DE is one of the Bills biggest needs this offseason

[No QB - No Bueno]

Somebody advocated trading Peters for Boldan. In my fantasy world, the Bills trade him for Fitzgerald. Big dominant kid who was born in Minneapolis and played hs and college in Pennsylvania. What cold?

[NavarreFL_Bills_Fan]

Interesting how much we didn't miss Peters today. The guy's good, we should extend him, but he needs to get his head on straight.

 

 

The Bills still shoulda extended him this offseason. We would have less hate posts from bills backers....AND, he might have come cheaper. Now they have to pay a TWO time probowler.

[Bmwolf21]

Somebody advocated trading Peters for Boldan. In my fantasy world, the Bills trade him for Fitzgerald. Big dominant kid who was born in Minneapolis and played hs and college in Pennsylvania. What cold?

EDIT: Never mind. I see you edited your post already.

[No QB - No Bueno]

EDIT: Never mind. I see you edited your post already.

 

I love Fitzgerald in a non-prop 8 way. Losing Peters would be tough assuming no replacement is around, but something about him screams minor malcontent.

[Bmwolf21]

I love Fitzgerald in a non-prop 8 way. Losing Peters would be tough assuming no replacement is around, but something about him screams minor malcontent.

I like both the Cards WRs, but as a Nole alum I lean toward Boldin.

 

But yeah, either guy would be a huge help.

[StupidNation]

I definitely don't recall him getting toasted over and over again. I remember multiple plays where guys would make catches in the seams and I'd think, "Why the hell is there nobody within five yards of this guy?" I don't know whether or not you're trying to somehow pin those plays on Whitner...to me, that seems to be a problem with the scheme.

 

Again, I'm not saying Whitner is perfect, but I think he's a slightly above average starter, making him easily our best safety.

 

3 plays in particular stood out to me, Royal running right past Whitner on the 70 yarder, another running play in open space where Whitner whiffed, and the INT he should have made if he was playing the F'ing ball.

 

On top of that there were several plays he showed up late after the tackle. No aggression on reads, no attacking the ball, and no feel in the secondary on assignments.

 

If you want to know why no one was around it's part of the FS's job to pick the side of the field you think the ball is going to. I watch him closely every game and he isn't a FS or a SS that changes games.

 

Kelsay has to go or be depth, same with Whitner, and Ko.

[No QB - No Bueno]

3 plays in particular stood out to me, Royal running right past Whitner on the 70 yarder, another running play in open space where Whitner whiffed, and the INT he should have made if he was playing the F'ing ball.

 

On top of that there were several plays he showed up late after the tackle. No aggression on reads, no attacking the ball, and no feel in the secondary on assignments.

 

If you want to know why no one was around it's part of the FS's job to pick the side of the field you think the ball is going to. I watch him closely every game and he isn't a FS or a SS that changes games.

 

Kelsay has to go or be depth, same with Whitner, and Ko.

 

The one thing that's evident about the Bills safeties is that they are not very athletic (save for Scott who plays with some physicality ) or instinctive.

[May Day 10]

Denney has way more TD receptions than Bruce Smith

[/dev/null]

Denney has way more TD receptions than Bruce Smith

 

Yeah but who would you rather go driving with

[Koufax]

12) I know.....I know.....this hurt our draft selection order, especially with San Fran winning. That's OK; a win still feels very good from where I sit.

 

As I feel obliged to say every time I hear something like this: winning always comes before draft order. The experience of winning another game for the 35 players who will come back matters more than a few slots in the draft crap shoot. So don't apologize for feeling good about a win. Our organization should.

 

Go Bills

[The Dean]

As I feel obliged to say every time I hear something like this: winning always comes before draft order. The experience of winning another game for the 35 players who will come back matters more than a few slots in the draft crap shoot. So don't apologize for feeling good about a win. Our organization should.

 

Go Bills

 

 

Steely Dan made a very good point in another thread. (I can't believe I actually typed that.) I higher draft pick is a consolation for losing...not a reason for it.

 

I swear some of these people would probably purposefully golf (or bowl) poorly, just to get a bigger handicap.

[Paup 1995MVP]

On the late 4th down play, he actually did get outside and then failed to block a soul. As Freddie is getting tackled, Dockery is standing on the sidelines watching. He's terrible.

 

Bill, I'm genuinely curious. As much as you like Peters, I call bull sh-- on his behavior in the off-season and today as well. He came in late and took a while to get up to speed. He's had some great plays and good games--but also quite a few boneheaded plays. Thoughts? (I am not in favor of running him out of town...just saying I'm not having an easy time liking this kid.)

 

 

This may be unpopular, but I have a big feeling that Peters is going to pull the same stunt this offseason as last. No way is he worth huge left tackle money. If the Bills are smart, and they can find a willing partner, they should trade Peters. Chambers and the rookie Bell will not be much of a dropoff. Peters is overrated. I would trade him for a high 2nd and a high 3rd round pick. Of course I would take a 1st, but noone is probably going to give that up for him.. All you have to do is watch the film and see that he is a lazy player who is a good athlete, not great, who gets beat more than once in awhile. He takes a lot of penalties and that is from not concentrating enough. He could care less about being a Bill, so lets get what we can for him and spend our money elsewhere. For this team to move forward, guys like Peters need to be shown the door.

[The Dean]

They have to keep him JA. There is no choice. The guy is a tremendous left tackle. Badolbilz raised the issue o moving him to RT, and I want to address this.

Imo, he would be the best RT of my lifetme. That's right.....better than Bob Brown. Better than even Erik Williams. That said, will Dick Levy draft a first round LT to replace him? Hell no! And, if they trade him, will Dick Levy use the pick on a defensive back? Hell yes!

 

Our best option is to re-sign him at the going rate, which is high. The guy can play, like him or not.

 

 

I agree the Bills should attempt to keep Peters, and LT is a fine place for him. If they decided to move him to RT, though, why would they need a 1 st round LT to replace him? A look at a few of the league's better offensive lines, shows that isn't the way it has to work. The following is based on the depth chart at NFL.com. Some of the listed starters may be injured. Tight Ends weren't considered. This is simply illustrative:

 

Michael Roos, the ONLY starting lineman on the Titans who was drafted by the Titans, was a 2nd round pick.

 

The Giants David Diehl was drafted in the 5th round. Round 2 is the highest any starting player on the Giants starting OL was drafted.

 

Ryan Clady was drafted in the first round by Denver. Two starting linemen for Denver were picked in the 4th round (the highest next to Clady).

 

The Steelers LT, Marvel Smith, was drafted in the 2nd round. The earliest any other starting Steeler lineman was selected is the 4th round.

 

On four of the best lines in football, ONE player was a 1st round pick. Another two or three were 2nd round picks.

 

 

My point is, good linemen, on great lines, come from many places (there are as many undrafted as there are 1st and 2nd rounds combined in this analysis) and don't HAVE to be drafted in the 1st round...or even the 2nd. I would love to see the Bills have better luck identifying offensive line talent, wherever they decide to acquire them. But, I simply can't buy into the idea that offensive linemen MUST be drafted, and drafted in the first two rounds, for a team to be successful.

 

I'm all for the team strengthening the lines (on both sides of the ball), but they aren't in shambles, by any means (with the exception of DE). Should the team decide to go after a talented Tackle in the 1st, or 2nd, round, I'm all for it. I'd love to see more guys drafted by the Bills on the starting lineup. (Mostly because that would mean they are doing a better job of identifying the talent). But, I wouldn't conclude that they aren't interested in the lines, should they go in a different direction.

 

If they don't draft an offensive lineman in Rd 1, it should come as some consolation that I don't think they will pick a DB there, either. Not this time, at least.

[keepthefaith]

Not much of fan if you are rooting for them to lose because you don't like the coach. There have been coaches and players over the years that I didn't like but I never root for Buffalo to lose.

 

Have it your way. Just no reason to support this coach into the future. No reason to believe he will ever win a playoff game as a head coach. You want to prolong the agony, fine. I wish for him to move on so the Bills can get busy building a winner.

[The Dean]

This may be unpopular, but I have a big feeling that Peters is going to pull the same stunt this offseason as last.

 

 

If he doesn't get a new contract, he almost certainly will hold out, IMO.

 

If he gets a new, respectable (but not top LT money) contract, I guarantee he won't hold out.

 

He is worth more than he currently makes, and less than he thinks he deserves. There is a deal to be struck, I think.

[Paup 1995MVP]

I will admit upfront I saw barely 5 minutes of this game....

 

 

-Why are the Bills notorious for playing well and winning MEANINGLESS GAMES!?!?

 

-This further solidifies my opinion that Ralph Wilson was wrong and the Bills did not fall to grace because of a lack of talent (though a lack exists), but rather because of poor coaching decisions. In terms of talent, the Bills are no better or worse than the Broncos and even if the Broncos miss the playoffs, they will have a winning record. At least 3-4 games that the Bills lost can be attributed to poor coaching decisions.

 

-Someone mentioned that this teams downward spiral came following Reed's injury and today's game was proof of his value. He is Edwards favorite receiver. Too bad he is not a threat beyond 12-15 yards. He is a great slot receiver, the Bills would do themselves a whole lot of good if they find a reliable TE or 2nd WR this offseason and let Reed do his thing with even less attention. He could be a poor man's Hines Ward. By the way, Parrish will never be a poor man's Wes Welker (unless we get better blocking, Randy Moss and he becomes smart).

 

 

-I would argue that today's game showed even more that the main goal this offseason should be to add some athleticism and power to our defense. Especially at the position of OLB and DE. Our defensive is severely undersized and not athletic enough to become a "game changing defense". I say draft the best available defensive athlete that is NOT a defensive back. Someone that can pop the QB and not get fooled on misdirection bull sh-- plays. I didn't see the Eddie Royal reverse but the Ravens/Steelers would never have let that happen.

 

 

-Whitner is good, but not at #9.

 

-Losman and McCargo might go down as some of the worst draft picks since Ryan Leaf/Mike Williams. Both might be out of the NFL within a season.

 

-Leodis McKelvin might go down as one of the better players drafted in 2008.

 

- Jauron still needs to go. The bittersweet part of this victory had nothing to do with our draft position, it had to do with giving Wilson some cover to make this terrible deal with Jauron public. If anything, this game was just Wilson's flak jacket. Hopefully the fans have a high powered bazooka to counter.

We definitely need a tight end that can be a receiving threat. We must have the LEAST PRODUCTIVE tight end's in the league. We need at least two more studs in our front seven to rush the passer and just make plays. Have you ever seen less athletic linebackers than Poz and Ellison? And we still get nothing from our front four.

 

Whitner is NOT GOOD..His instincts are very poor, and he is certainly not a game changer. He plays like a sixth or seventh round pick. Can he cover anyone big or small? The Bills would do well to find some new safeties because none on their roster can cover anyone. Scott is good in run support and that is where it ends. The team played with tremendous heart today. When TE is on, we will always have a chance. But we are still lacking at several key positions for us to be a contender. But a win on the road against a good team is tremendous. When was the last one we had? Does anyone even remember?

[Sisyphean Bills]

If he doesn't get a new contract, he almost certainly will hold out, IMO.

 

If he gets a new, respectable (but not top LT money) contract, I guarantee he won't hold out.

 

He is worth more than he currently makes, and less than he thinks he deserves. There is a deal to be struck, I think.

Oh, c'mon! We won today without him. He sucks. Just cut the bum!

[BillsVet]

A look at a few of the league's better offensive lines, shows that isn't the way it has to work. The following is based on the depth chart at NFL.com.

 

You can't generalize offensive lines and LOT's into one group.

 

There are some LOT's who were drafted in the 2nd round and below. Elite LOT's generally go in the first round, given the skill set and physical requirements to play the position.

 

It's why Andre Smith, Eugene Monroe, Michael Oher, and Jason Smith will all go in the first round this year. LOT's go in the top 5 yearly.