WVU's Notes and Observations

[WVUFootball29]

Made it back from my road trip to Bangor Maine just in time to watch this abomination of a football game. Today we're going to keep things short and sweet.

 

1st Quarter

 

I thought the linebackers looked pretty good on the first drive sniffing out the sweep early for a loss, however the whole defense could not find a way to stop the draw which was part of the reason the Steelers marched all the way down the field.

 

I don't care what anyone says, Kyle Williams is the hardest working player on this team and the only one who has shown anything remotely close to the drive and talent to be a starter and a winner in the NFL so far this preseason.

 

The 3 and out express got an early start this week negating any momentum that the fumble created.

 

The Bills D turns around an answers with a 3 and out of their own, unfortunately this is one of the last drives the defense looks good.

 

The right side of the line looked pretty good when run blocking...pass blocking was a different story.

 

Penalties and mental mistakes took the Bills out of this early. The special teams looked uncharacteristically sloppy tonight.

 

The draw play continues to be a dagger to the cover 2 D all night long allowing the Steelers to pick up 3rd down conversions at will.

 

McKelvin made a nice adjustment to stop Limas Sweed on a quick hitch at the end of the 1st quarter.

 

2nd Quarter

 

The Bills pass rush is pretty uninspiring, even with Maybin in there. They just can't seem to put any pressure on the QB with just a 4 man rush and its allowing QBs with a sense of pocket presence to stand back and pick the defense apart.

 

Trent's pass to Reed was his first TD pass of the year. Unfortunately it was James Farrior who caught it for a TD.

 

Edwards looks to have zero confidence in his offense right now. He can't throw downfield because pressure is getting to him before his WRs get open. When they do get open and he tries downfield he's bouncing his hand off his linemen who are getting blown up into the backfield.

 

From this point on in the game I'd just be repeating myself from the previous weeks so the 2nd half notes are going to the abridged version:

 

Fitzpatrick looks more comfortable running the No Huddle and continues to improve.

 

Chris Ellis and Copeland Bryan are giving all they have to make this roster.

 

Lankster still needs to work on adjusting to underneath routes.

 

Maybin's sack should really be credited to Reggie Corner for forcing Roethlisberger back into Maybin who was held up at the point of attack.

 

Pittsburgh's 4th String QB Mike Reilly looked like Big Ben picking the cover 2 apart as the third team moved the ball fairly well against the defense. If that says anything its more about the cover 2 being easy to dissect by a superior offensive mind and proper execution of plays than it does about the talent on the field. At least it says that about the Bills version of the defense.

 

The Buffalo players last night looked lost, unmotivated, and lacking passion to even be out on the field. I'm not sure if this is to blame on the players themselves or the coaching staff and their ability or the lack thereof to get their players fired up. I know its just the preseason and the games don't mean anything in regards to records, but the display the Bills have put on thus far are providing a scary foreshadowing of things to come.

[GaryPinC]

Agree with your assessments completely, WVU. My brother and I were at the game in the nosebleeds (which is really way the hell up in that stadium). Some things to add:

 

-O-line still hasn't gelled, it seemed to me that Pittsburgh played base defense most of the time but when they brought LB blitzes Buffalo didn't handle it well. Just worry about this unit when the stunts and blitzes of regular season set in.

 

-Maybin did ok but wasn't that impressive to me in this outing. Didn't expect much from him though and it seemed to me Pittsburgh game-planned for him and his speed with double team and LT/LG quickly dropping back in pass protection. Give Maybin credit for maintaining separation and having field awareness

 

-Buffalo was clearly auditioning Copeland Bryan and Ellis with the 1st team D. To me, Ellis won this competition. He always seemed to maintain good separation from the blocking and was very aware and moving well to the play on the field. Bryan was active and had a couple decent plays but he also wasn't establishing good separation much of the time and getting blown up. As much as I'd like to see Denny/Kelsay gone I think Bryan'll be the odd man out in the DE contest but hopefully he can be put on the practice squad because he clearly has potential.

 

-Nic Harris spent no time with the first team D. Can only assume he doesn't know the defensive playbook well enough, though Ellison did make a couple good plays last night.

 

-1st team offensive line had no substitutions the entire time they were out. Those hoping for Bell to step in at LT will have to wait until the regular season. For the record, I think if Bell gets his shot move Walker back to RT, either Butler or Levitre coming off the bench (I favor Butler in reserve). Wood played some second team at guard, spent no time at backup center and realistically it's not an option in my mind that they try him at center this year.

 

-Trent Edwards is just a mess. It seemed to me he's checking down off his downfield reads too quickly and content to dump. Pittsburgh played some good coverage but Evans would break away from single coverage after TE had looked elsewhere. Also, in the second quarter, TE got pushed out of the pocket and scrambled right. Josh Reed was running a flat route on the sideline which he quickly turned upfield when Trent was flushed. The DB froze for a second and Reed was open for a full second before the safety came over to help. All this was right in front of TE and he never took advantage of it as he was focussed short. TE does not appear comfortable nor on the same page with his downfield recievers.

 

-Poz looked good, Donte is an ok safety but not the impact safety we were hoping for.

 

-Looking at Dominic Rhode's kickoff return in the second half, it seems like he does have some gas left in the tank so that's good news. Bobby April's return teams look really sloppy though.

 

-On Pittsburgh's offensive touchdown, Buffalo's LDE (Denney I think) was lined up so far off the end of the line of scrimmage that the touchdown run was only a formality. How the hell do you line up so far down the line in a goal-line D?

 

-Overall, this whole thing was just ugly, not much of any D-line push/pass rush and the offense was just putzing around out there. Left just before the end of the 3rd quarter because sadly getting back to Cleveland a little earlier was much more appealing than stomaching watching the backups screw around.

 

-The sad thing about watching the Bills is that they just seem to react to the other team and have no identity to assert on the other team.

 

For those who like to fly the "it's just preseason/doesn't matter banner" I understand that but can only say this: The score is meaningless but our first team O can't even execute basic plays in these games. D is not much better. How they pull this together in time for the patriots I have no idea and will pray that somehow it happens. At this point I do not expect them to beat the Pats and am just hoping it isn't a complete debacle.

[WVUFootball29]

Agree with your assessments completely, WVU. My brother and I were at the game in the nosebleeds (which is really way the hell up in that stadium). Some things to add:

 

-O-line still hasn't gelled, it seemed to me that Pittsburgh played base defense most of the time but when they brought LB blitzes Buffalo didn't handle it well. Just worry about this unit when the stunts and blitzes of regular season set in.

 

-Maybin did ok but wasn't that impressive to me in this outing. Didn't expect much from him though and it seemed to me Pittsburgh game-planned for him and his speed with double team and LT/LG quickly dropping back in pass protection. Give Maybin credit for maintaining separation and having field awareness

 

-Buffalo was clearly auditioning Copeland Bryan and Ellis with the 1st team D. To me, Ellis won this competition. He always seemed to maintain good separation from the blocking and was very aware and moving well to the play on the field. Bryan was active and had a couple decent plays but he also wasn't establishing good separation much of the time and getting blown up. As much as I'd like to see Denny/Kelsay gone I think Bryan'll be the odd man out in the DE contest but hopefully he can be put on the practice squad because he clearly has potential.

 

-Nic Harris spent no time with the first team D. Can only assume he doesn't know the defensive playbook well enough, though Ellison did make a couple good plays last night.

 

-1st team offensive line had no substitutions the entire time they were out. Those hoping for Bell to step in at LT will have to wait until the regular season. For the record, I think if Bell gets his shot move Walker back to RT, either Butler or Levitre coming off the bench (I favor Butler in reserve). Wood played some second team at guard, spent no time at backup center and realistically it's not an option in my mind that they try him at center this year.

 

-Trent Edwards is just a mess. It seemed to me he's checking down off his downfield reads too quickly and content to dump. Pittsburgh played some good coverage but Evans would break away from single coverage after TE had looked elsewhere. Also, in the second quarter, TE got pushed out of the pocket and scrambled right. Josh Reed was running a flat route on the sideline which he quickly turned upfield when Trent was flushed. The DB froze for a second and Reed was open for a full second before the safety came over to help. All this was right in front of TE and he never took advantage of it as he was focussed short. TE does not appear comfortable nor on the same page with his downfield recievers.

 

-Poz looked good, Donte is an ok safety but not the impact safety we were hoping for.

 

-Looking at Dominic Rhode's kickoff return in the second half, it seems like he does have some gas left in the tank so that's good news. Bobby April's return teams look really sloppy though.

 

-On Pittsburgh's offensive touchdown, Buffalo's LDE (Denney I think) was lined up so far off the end of the line of scrimmage that the touchdown run was only a formality. How the hell do you line up so far down the line in a goal-line D?

 

-Overall, this whole thing was just ugly, not much of any D-line push/pass rush and the offense was just putzing around out there. Left just before the end of the 3rd quarter because sadly getting back to Cleveland a little earlier was much more appealing than stomaching watching the backups screw around.

 

-The sad thing about watching the Bills is that they just seem to react to the other team and have no identity to assert on the other team.

 

For those who like to fly the "it's just preseason/doesn't matter banner" I understand that but can only say this: The score is meaningless but our first team O can't even execute basic plays in these games. D is not much better. How they pull this together in time for the patriots I have no idea and will pray that somehow it happens. At this point I do not expect them to beat the Pats and am just hoping it isn't a complete debacle.

 

Exactly what I said not long ago. The Bills style and DJ's gameplans and strategies look like they are word for word out of a textbook. They're bland and are lacking originality. The coaching staff doesn't seem to have their own take on how the team should be run.

[GaryPinC]

Exactly what I said not long ago. The Bills style and DJ's gameplans and strategies look like they are word for word out of a textbook. They're bland and are lacking originality. The coaching staff doesn't seem to have their own take on how the team should be run.

 

Yea, and even though TE seems to compliment the coaching there's got to be players on that team disgusted with the coaching but unwilling to speak out. These are pro atheletes but how do you play hard when always forced to play it safe and react to what the other team does?

 

In one of these articles over the last couple weeks it was mentioned that the Bills didn't run screens last year because their linemen weren't quick enough to get out in space and make the play work. Any real coach knows screens can be a critical play in slowing down a defensive push. If I had an o-line that couldn't move their fat a$$es enough to set up a screen, I would let them know in no uncertain terms that we need to be able to execute, then I would make them run the same screen play over and over and over and over again in practice until they could do it quick enough.

 

DJ and Turk just cross it off the list and move on.