WVUFootball29 Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Thoughts on last night’s game: 1st Quarter: Defense looked brutal. Bad reads, poor angles really made us look bad so far. McKelvin was totally confused by an out route resulting in a 3rd down conversion. Mitchell had Chris Johnson stopped for a loss, but hesitated as they turned the corner and Johnson burnt him for a first down. The fake punt should have been read immediately, but to the Titan’s credit it was executed flawlessly. The offense looked pretty good for the most part in the no huddle. Other than when Levitre got blown up, Edwards made some pinpoint throws and moved the chains very well. For the most part I thought the first line played well for the first game of the season. I think they will be improved over last year. 2nd Quarter: Missed the interception by McKelvin so I can’t comment on it right now. Wow, I take back a lot of the things I said about Xavier Omon. He looks totally different out there. It looks like he’s dropped a little weight and has been working hard at improving his game. His run on the 3rd down conversion was great, almost thought it was a rookie Lynch for a second there. If he continues to improve like this Buffalo’s backfield is set for years to come. Fitzpatrick’s unorthodox cadence threw the defense off a little. I’m very impressed with Wood and Bell, and think that side of the line is set for a while. Hoping to see a little more out of Levitre, but it’s still early. Reggie Corner and Nic Harris looked pretty good on defense. Ellis Lankster’s speed on defense looks to be useful, but he often gets beat on stop and go routes like we saw on the touchdown play for the Titans. That is something that he’ll need to improve upon this year. Bruce Hall has no business being on returns and I think with Omon’s strong showing so far he won’t be on the roster too much longer. As usual missed opportunities and mistakes are costing the Bills points in the first half 3rd Quarter: Nothing too impressive here on either side of the ball. Anyone who thinks Hamdan is better than Fitzpatrick has to be kidding themselves. Lankster is still having trouble on underneath routes. Ashlee Palmer has looked very good at OLB, much better than I had initially predicted. He could be a very good UDFA pick up for the Bills. WGRZ has lost the feed to the game so I can’t watch any further at this point. 4th Quarter: Missed most of the quarter due to weather difficulties in Buffalo. Matt Baker serves no purpose on this roster. He was a very mediocre QB at North Carolina and there are plenty of other QBs that went undrafted that deserve a roster spot over him. CJ Hawthorne is another guy who has no business out there on return teams. Shawn Nelson still looks to have a ways to go before he’ll be a true contributor, but I’ll give him a pass for now because he was working mostly with 3rd string talent or less at QB. Disappointing game, but at least there are 4 more to work on things prior to the season. Invisible players on the field: Lee Evans – I know the starters were only out there a short time, but I would have liked to see the ball go his way at least once. Keith Ellison – Don’t think I saw him around the ball at all tonight. Players that impressed me: Eric Wood – He looked very good tonight on the right side and I think we have the real deal here. Demetrius Bell – Also looked very good tonight for the most part. He’s still a work in progress, but at least he is in beta testing now. Ashlee Palmer – I thought he moved very well towards the ball carrier and put himself in position to make some solid plays out there. Xavier Omon – Wow what an improvement over last season. He looks trimmer, faster, and is finding daylight quickly. If he keeps this up, it’ll be hard for the Bills to not carry 4 RBs on the roster. Bryan Scott – Looked very good out there tonight and I think he’s got the SS position all wrapped up this year. Needing some improvement: Ellis Lankster – He’s fast and he can find the ball well in zone coverage. However, he looks pedestrian in Man to Man coverage getting beat consistently on underneath and stop and go routes. He needs to improve on this to have any shot of seeing real playing time during the regular season. Andy Levitre – He’s good, but he’s not ready to start. He needs to hold his point of attack better and stay low coming out of his stance. He can be good, but he needs a lot of playing time and work throughout the rest of the preseason. Ryan Fitzpatrick – He wasn’t awful, he wasn’t good. Ryan definitely needs to work on a few things like touch and seeing the whole field. He did run the no huddle fairly well and made a couple decent throws that were dropped. Needs to improve on his screen passes and not hanging his receivers out to dry. Roscoe Parrish – He has to quit auditioning for Dancing with the Stars every time he catches a pass. Like Reggie Bush finally started figure out, Roscoe needs to realize using the same juke move isn’t going to work every time you touch the ball. He needs to get up field with the ball instead of hitting a homerun on every little screen. I was less than impressed with Jauron going for a 20 yard FG on 4th and 2. In a regular season game, I could see that as being what to do early on, but it’s the preseason, you’re losing and you haven’t found the end zone yet. Those are the things that need to be worked on in these games, not worrying about keeping it close for a 4th quarter comeback. While I certainly was not impressed with where the offense and defense are currently at right now, I do think that the offensive line has the potential to be much better than last year’s line. The 1st team passing attack actually looked very good to me, other than the interception. I like the reads Trent was making and I thought he moved the ball very well out of the no huddle. This offense is going to wear defenses out as long as they stay away from the 3 and outs. The defense needs to get Aaron Maybin out there as soon as possible because there still is no pass rush talent behind Aaron Schobel. Chris Ellis looked absolutely lost out there again the 2nd and 3rd stringers. No one on the defensive line impressed me last night. I would like to see more of Ashlee Palmer the next few games. He really jumps off the line of scrimmage and made some good reads last night. I think he could be very dangerous as an edge rusher in passing situations. I also would like to know the reasoning behind having our CBs consistently 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. They aren’t slow and they won’t easily be beat over the top. The problem I’ve seen time and time and time again is that they don’t react quickly enough to the out route and the underneath routes. Why? Because they are so far off the ball they need to try to come back 5 yards to jump and under route and if they miss, they have so much momentum going in the wrong direction they get burnt. This really needs to stop if they hope to have any chance of beating teams like New England* and Miami at any point this year.
sullim4 Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 The ball did go Lee Evans' way - on the first drive. It was picked off.
ans4e64 Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Another interesting note, at least for me, was that I knew since I saw my first practice this year that the Bills would not play C Marvin Philip in the preseason. I mentioned before how good he looked to me out there, and I was betting on the Bills not playing him so they could stash him on the practice squad. My thoughts were confirmed for last night, at least. On another note, Brandon Rodd is really, really bad. Oh, and once again, Wood actually played worse than Levitre.
MattyT Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 No one on the defensive line impressed me last night. I would like to see more of Ashlee Palmer the next few games. He really jumps off the line of scrimmage and made some good reads last night. I think he could be very dangerous as an edge rusher in passing situations. Great writeup. It doesn't mean much, but the D-Linman that stood out to me was Derrick Jones. Very quick off the snap. Like you, was also impressed with Palmer. Also, Ellison did see a decent amount of action....just wasn't ever in position....always playing catch up.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Oh, and once again, Wood actually played worse than Levitre. <geico caveman> Uh, what? </geico caveman>
Rico Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Invisible players on the field: Lee Evans – I know the starters were only out there a short time, but I would have liked to see the ball go his way at least once. It did, and the ball got picked (not really his fault). Only the 1st pre-season game (and first of 5 of that), but as I said last night, it is obvious that T.O. will be the #1 WR, he totally outclasses Evans on the field (if not off). I just hope Evans is cool with this.
ans4e64 Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 <geico caveman>Uh, what? </geico caveman> Here is my post from the other threads about the interior of the line last night. You guys on this Wood and Levitre bullsh*t are an absolute joke. "Wood is amazing and Levitre got abused." And why do you say that? Because you saw Levitre get pushed back once, and didn't see Wood get pushed back, so that must mean Levitre sucked and Wood was great. Too bad none of you actually watched them play specifically. Wood missed more blocks than Levitre did. Go back and watch. Go back and count. I had missed assignments at Wood 3, Levitre 2. Stop coming up with an analysis off of one damn play. Anyone that actually watched Wood and Levitre on every play, after the game, can see that what I wrote is true. But most of the morons see Levitre getting pushed back, and then when one idiot starts claming at how bad Levitre was and how good Wood was, the rest of the gang follows suit.
MattyT Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Only the 1st pre-season game (and first of 5 of that), but as I said last night, it is obvious that T.O. will is the #1 WR, he totally outclasses Evans on the field (if not off). I just hope Evans is cool with this. They will both have their opportunities, but right now I'm just loving the fact that picking up first downs is going to be infinitely easier this season with TO catching passes in the 5-12 yard range like he's taking a walk in the park. There's going to be a lot more 3rd and long conversions this season.
Sisyphean Bills Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Nice post. I disagree on Fitzpatrick though, slightly. I thought he looked distinctly below average. After all, he is not a rookie but a veteran QB with starting experience in the NFL and was playing against the Titans backups. When Edwards pulls up lame again, there is no reason to think Fitzpatrick can run this up-tempo offense from what he displayed last night.
MattyT Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Nice post. I disagree on Fitzpatrick though, slightly. I thought he looked distinctly below average. After all, he is not a rookie but a veteran QB with starting experience in the NFL and was playing against the Titans backups. When Edwards pulls up lame again, there is no reason to think Fitzpatrick can run this up-tempo offense from what he displayed last night. Sad, but true...and Hamdan's footwork is terrible.
Sisyphean Bills Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Sad, but true...and Hamdan's footwork is terrible. Yeah, but he seemed to settle into the flow of the offense better than Fitz. JMO.
stuckincincy Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Thoughts on last night’s game: 2nd Quarter: Wow, I take back a lot of the things I said about Xavier Omon. He looks totally different out there. Omon - 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarter rb's looking good in preseason is pretty common.
GOBILLS78 Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Here is my post from the other threads about the interior of the line last night. Anyone that actually watched Wood and Levitre on every play, after the game, can see that what I wrote is true. But most of the morons see Levitre getting pushed back, and then when one idiot starts claming at how bad Levitre was and how good Wood was, the rest of the gang follows suit. I thought Wood was OK, but he did get b*tched on Owens' second catch.
thebandit27 Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Thanks for the thoughts. I guess I'll throw my hat in the ring too: - I thought both rookie guards played decently, but not great. Honestly though, I didn't expect much more than that. Wood missed a few assignments, but blocked extremely well when he knew what he was doing. Levitre had his one terrible play (looked more like he was late getting out of his stance and never got his feet set than anything else to me) and missed an assignment that I saw, but got settled down and did fine after that. - I didn't notice Demetrius Bell, which I guess is a good thing for a tackle. I did, however, notice that Langston Walker was very, very slow on the off-tackle running play by Lynch in the 1st quarter. He took for-ev-er to get out to his man and it probably cost the team a big-gainer. I really, really, really don't want to turn this into a Peters thread, but I must say that all 3 of us in the room were thinking the same thing on that play: if that's peters, that play goes for 15 yards. - Nic Harris looked great. Not just for a rookie either. He was aggressive, solid in tackling, solid in man coverage, and stout at the POA. I thought he got lost a little bit when he went to zone coverage, but I think he'll pick that stuff up over time. - Kyle Williams...was really good at times, and it shocked me. The guy that stood out on the starting D was Posluszny, but every time he made a play it was the result of penetration through a hole that Williams created. Now, the fact that Marcus Stroud occupies two guys coupled with Kevin Mawae not playing probably didn't hurt, but still, he looked good. - I still struggle with whether it's the scheme or the CBs, but nobody on this team ever gets between the receiver and the football...ever. The only guy that did that last year (and the previous year) left for New Orleans in FA, and I already miss him badly. McGee and McKelvin really don't look like they can hold up one-on-one, and I'm not just basing that on last night; last night was more of a confirmation than anything else. Just my 1 cent.
deep2evans Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Thoughts on last night’s game: Roscoe Parrish – He has to quit auditioning for Dancing with the Stars every time he catches a pass. Like Reggie Bush finally started figure out, Roscoe needs to realize using the same juke move isn’t going to work every time you touch the ball. He needs to get up field with the ball instead of hitting a homerun on every little screen. Couldn't disagree more. Roscoe is one of only a few guys who can catch a screen pass, with no blockers, and still turn into a positive play. He broke a guys ankles on one cut, got the first down, and got out of bounds. If we're going to run that play, what more can you ask for?
WVUFootball29 Posted August 10, 2009 Author Posted August 10, 2009 Couldn't disagree more. Roscoe is one of only a few guys who can catch a screen pass, with no blockers, and still turn into a positive play. He broke a guys ankles on one cut, got the first down, and got out of bounds. If we're going to run that play, what more can you ask for? One play that happened on...one of out how many screens? He wastes way too much time trying to make a huge play everytime and more often than not gets stuck with a yard or 2. He dances way too much and when he's isolated he doesn't go anywhere. I'm sorry the guy is not the weapon everyone thinks he is on offense. If the only pass you can catch is a screen what do you think defenders are going to cover him for?
WVUFootball29 Posted August 10, 2009 Author Posted August 10, 2009 Also, for the play to Evans, I missed the first 2 minutes of the game so I'm assuming it happened pretty early on.
Hossage Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Cut Lynch and replace him with Xavier Oman. Or at least get Oman some touches. He is too big, fast, and strong not to be out there for us.
DaGimp Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Cut Lynch and replace him with Xavier Oman. Or at least get Oman some touches. He is too big, fast, and strong not to be out there for us. Cut em all and keep Bruce Hall-he's awesome
ThereIsNoDog Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Derrick Jones (DT) looked to merit more playing time with the non-scrubs.
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