Joe Fergy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I too thought that was an embarrassing article by someone who clearly does not get it. There is a chance that they could go 0-16 just like there is a chance that they could go 16-0. But this is a team that for all their terrible struggles has won SEVEN games three years in a row, and that has been disappointing. I just don't get how we are seven games worse when: D-Line: Way better with Schobel and Maybin added Linebackers: Better as they play together and Poz develops Secondary: Better as the whole unit is still on the upside of their career and playing together. Special Teams: A push, but the best in the league all around Receivers: Better than last year with the addition of TO Backs: Probably worse to have Lynch sit three, but Freddie is good and Marshawn is still young and will be fresh for 13 Tight Ends: Couldn't be worse than last year really, negligible but at least as good. QB: I would have to expect better than last year with another year experience. O-Line: Where everyone has their doom coming from, but really: RT: Walker 2008 vs Butler 2009? Butler was good enough to have Walker cut, and Walker was uninspiring last year RG: Butler 2008 vs Levitre 2009. I consider this a downgrade for now as I liked Butler at guard C: Can't consider this a downgrade since we were pretty weak, but I have to see how it plays out LG: Dockery 2008 vs Wood 2009. Early to say, but I will put my money on Wood over the $49m bust LT: Peters 2008 vs Bell 2009. Obviously this is an unknown and a downgrade, but Peters was not stellar last year and Bell is athletic and motivated, so while this is the focus point of attention right now, I don't see it as a 7 win swing. Schedule: Harder, but you never know before the season starts how the schedule plays out. We play better 2008 teams than last year, but when we beat the Seahawks last year everybody thought they were a playoff team, and when we lost to the Cardinals everyone thought that was a shock, so let's not overemphasize the importance of this quite yet. My prediction: we probably start 0-1 and DiCesare will be 15 games away from calling it, but I will take the over on his 4 any time with as much money as I can scramble together, and I will obviously take the over on his 0,1,2,3 possible wins :D I agree, I wish there were more level headed people here and I do think the center is a upgrade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Week 1 Mon, Sep 14 @ New England Patriots Week 2 Sun, Sep 20 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Week 3 Sun, Sep 27 New Orleans Saints Week 4 Sun, Oct 04 @ Miami Dolphins Week 5 Sun, Oct 11 Cleveland Browns Week 6 Sun, Oct 18 @ New York Jets Week 7 Sun, Oct 25 @ Carolina Panthers Week 8 Sun, Nov 01 Houston Texans Week 9 Sun, Nov 08 BYE Week 10 Sun, Nov 15 @ Tennessee Titans Week 11 Sun, Nov 22 @ Jacksonville Jaguars Week 12 Sun, Nov 29 Miami Dolphins Week 13 Thu, Dec 03 New York Jets (Toronto) Week 14 Sun, Dec 13 @ Kansas City Chiefs Week 15 Sun, Dec 20 New England Patriots Week 16 Sun, Dec 27 @ Atlanta Falcons Week 17 Sun, Jan 03 Indianapolis Colts How many sure wins do you see? Personally I don't see any and I don't remember going into a season like this ever. How many teams do we have a realistic chance against? I count 5 (splitting with miami & nyj). How many if the breaks go our way? I count 3. So, best case is 8 wins, worst case 0. If the over/under is 7 I'm betting the under. (obvioulsy we don't know how injuries will affect teams including the Bills. This prognostication is based on personal opinion only and can never be used to say "I TOLD YOU SO!!!" to the author.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHFO Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 DiCesare is right. Train wreck ahead. Hide the Women and Children!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 An actually QUICK no-huddle makes a bad O-Line more competitive against a confused Defense. And quick, disguised screens to the left flat almost ALWAYS compensate for a LT getting schooled all game long. Alex van Pelt probably knows this from his days with the K-Gun. I think he'll remember how to make it quick. There's no such thing as a disguised screen or a quick slant when the defense doesn't respect the long throw or the OL protection in general. Bills may get upfield for 30 - 40 yards, but unless the OL can protect and TE takes some shots upfield, they will get destroyed in every single game. I didn't care that Bills lost in preseason. I cared that they hardly got more than one first down in a drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 The Bills have gone 7-9 their last 3 seasons, had an 0-6 Division record last year, a coach who is coaching for his job, just fired their OC, lost both starting OTs, are starting 3 O-lineman who have never played in an NFL game before, have an OC with barely any coaching experience, a QB who looked mediocre and scared all preseason, and think a rookie is going to make all the difference in a pass rush. I don't think its ridiculous to think the Bills have the potential to be terrible this year. I hope they aren't, but its certainly not looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 He is right. Our offensive line can't get it done and neither can the defensive line. We AREN'T as good as last year, we are far worse. The three opponents in the division are far better than us at the line of scrimmage. I'm beginning to suspect he's right as well, but I'll wait until after monday night to get a better idea of whether we are as bad as we look or as disorganized as I think, or as hopeless as DiCesare maintains. Come on offensive line...show us skeptics something to change our minds! PLEASE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoner7 Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 4 wins is a realistic ceiling for this team, but I do agree going 0-16 is highly unlikely. So what should we agree on, 1-4 wins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbuckley9091 Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 4 wins is a realistic ceiling for this team, but I do agree going 0-16 is highly unlikely. So what should we agree on, 1-4 wins? We'll start out 2-7 (Dick may be fired..one can only hope) We'll finish 5-2 (easier part of schedule, gelling of O-line) End Result 7-9 (This will result in either Dick staying or whoever took over staying...No Bill Cowher or Shanahan) The cycle continues Please kill me now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 The Bills have gone 7-9 their last 3 seasons, had an 0-6 Division record last year, a coach who is coaching for his job, just fired their OC, lost both starting OTs, are starting 3 O-lineman who have never played in an NFL game before, have an OC with barely any coaching experience, a QB who looked mediocre and scared all preseason, and think a rookie is going to make all the difference in a pass rush. I don't think its ridiculous to think the Bills have the potential to be terrible this year. I hope they aren't, but its certainly not looking good. Don't point out reality to those with rose colored glasses. They do not appreciate it. I'm thinking the Bills will have 4-6 wins. That makes me an optimist among many predictions I've seen lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthICE Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/columns...ory/789022.html That's pretty much the general consensus around the league. Talked (via e-mail) to a writer from one of the NYC papers a few hours ago, and they said, "The potential for disaster is huge -- how confident can they be when they're making all these changes a week before kickoff? Nobody noticed before this late hour there was a problem???" Great line. Exactly. Fans need to really take off the homer glasses and see this team for what it is. We could possibly gain the first overall pick in next years draft. And the thing is, this team is more likely to draft in the top 3 than post an winning record. The other things I think fans need to understand is most of the people making these predictions, don't care about Buffalo or any other team per say. So this is not an 'attack' on the Bills. They don't hate Buffalo etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Rich Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 That's pretty much the general consensus around the league. Talked (via e-mail) to a writer from one of the NYC papers a few hours ago, and they said, "The potential for disaster is huge -- how confident can they be when they're making all these changes a week before kickoff? Nobody noticed before this late hour there was a problem???" I've heard a lot of that as well, but I have heard some encouraging remarks from a few folks. I only wish one of those few were myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damj Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I have no delusions of grandeur with this team. It is about an average to slightly below average team in the NFL with Jauron as coach. I still think a good coach could get this team to the playoffs in any given year. However, saying this team is 0-4 win team is about the most ridiculous thing I have seen. This guy is acting like every team we play is going to be as good as the New England Patriots, and the Bills have no chance to win any game. If there is one thing I hate more than the guy who thinks the Bills are going 16-0, its the guy who gives them a shot of going 0-16. It is virtually impossible to do this in the FL this year. Other than Detroit, who had a roster that was much, much worse than the Bills last year, there is no team in the league with that little talent to pull off this feat. For him to even suggest this is utter nonsense. The Bills will likely finish right where they always do under Jauron---right near .500, teasing everyone about a playoff birth into early December before losing a winnable game to seal their playoff drought extension again. The schedule is harder on paper, but we all know teams change so much from year to year that can't really be counted on to mean much of anything... DiCesare, you should be ashamed of yourself for writing such drivel. The Bills aren't making the playoffs this year(without a minor miracle), but they certainly aren't gonna win 4 games or less either..way to overreact in the complete opposite direction of ultimate fan boy...people who know nothing about football shouldn't be allowed to write about it and force others to have to read it. Bottle Crack, make millions...DiCesare must be a user Let's see ... we blew up the o-line and are starting 3 rookies ... Trent looks to be regressing ... tissue paper thin at RB, an OC who is 5 days into the job and has never called plays in the NFL, an awful head coach who is a scared, conservative, play not to lose and loses anyway coach, an average D, unless Maybin and a healthy Schobel can generate a pass rush ... a tougher schedule and a tougher division ... I'm not quite as pessimistic ... I predict 5 wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fingon Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 We won 7 games in 2006, even though we had a bottom 3 offense and defense. We will win more than 4 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasper13 Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I agree with Bob. I think the Bills have a better chance to go 0-16 than they do to go 8-8. If they win 6 games it will be a minor miracle. Schedule is a killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Bucs and Chiefs didn't add their alleged starting LT to the scrapheap, though. I'm on record as saying both moves could turn out to be upgrades, but I'm definitely not a fan of the timing ... Agreed. There's a huge difference between letting those 2 go in jan/feb or even in july, compared to the beginning of september. I happen to think we're better off with Bell at LT and AVP at OC, but i really have to wonder about an administration that doesn't realize they were a big problem until after a month and a half of training camp and practices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderbread Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 If the Bills are a 0-4 win team with Jauron, how many wins do they get if Bellichick coaches them? Probably 10. I'd say that in this league coaching accounts for approx 30% of the games. The other 70% is players and proper execution. Face it this franchise is a running joke. If you remove yourself from the Turk firing, and the LT being released. You still have the same mediocre team with the same corpse coach. Believe me I am trying to get excited and get behind this team. But for crying out loud they are making it hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judman Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I just plain hope he is wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Definitely a possibility. 7 wins is the upper range for this unit this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LABills08 Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Brian Billick is rarely tongue tied, but when asked about the Bills he had to pause to search for adjectives and ended up sputtering something like: "It's just wrong. I've never seen anything like it." Link to this? Or full quote? I have not yet seen this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt. Dan's Revenge Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I agree with Bob. I think the Bills have a better chance to go 0-16 than they do to go 8-8. If they win 6 games it will be a minor miracle. Schedule is a killer. Mannnnnnn that lame-ass excuse pisses me off. That's what everyone said last year when almost all thought Seattle, Jacksonville, and San Diego were going to make the beginning of the season a disaster, Miami was going to suck again, The Pats* were going to win 14 games, etc. Before the year begins, the schedule means JACK SH*T so stop acting like it does. Teams get better. Team get worse. Guys get injured. No one can predict any of those things accurately enough to start crying about a "killer schedule". Please stop it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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