My Meaningless Opinion

[R. Rich]

First off, gotta say it was a great football weekend, since:

 

1. PENN STATE won

2. "that school" lost

3. UB won (now 3-1 when I attend games!)

4. Bills beat the Jets

 

Can't get much better than that. Throw in a Baltimore loss (here come the excuses from the locals), and it's complete.

 

 

QB controversy? Hahahaha!!!! Neither guy has shown much this year, but I'd rather see Edwards as the starter than Fitzpatrick. Much like Edwards for most of the season to date, Fitzpatrick was horribly off target on short to medium throws. If there truly is any kind of controversy, then it shows how rough things have gotten.

 

Marshawn Lynch made some decent runs in this win, but I also saw more of the hesitation, juke and stutter step crap from him as well. If he can be more decisive in his running, he would be lethal.

 

Shawn Nelson seems to be coming along as a receiving TE, but he has a long way to go in terms of blocking.

 

Lee Evans ran some solid routes? Is this bizarro world or something? Props to him for not only running a sharp route on the slant, but by actually positioning himself so that the defender couldn't just jump it and either get a pick or break up the pass. Now, if he did that on a more frequent basis, then I'd be ready to believe he's what everyone else thinks he is.

 

Not a very solid job by the O line. Sure, they only gave up one sack, but Edwards was harassed all day before being knocked out of the game and Fitzpatrick had to do a lot while rolling out of the pocket as he was chased 'round. Jenkins was a beast before his ACL tear; Hangartner, Wood, and Levitre were nothing special. Jermon Meredith was okay in there @ RT. I don't think Jonathan Scott will be back in the starting lineup any time soon....unless there's more injuries.

 

Speaking of, maybe it's time to call out the strength and conditioning program? Just sayin'. Guys have been dropping like flies, and it's not just this one game. Remember last year's legendary IR list?

 

And since we're calling people out, how insane is it that there are some who would want Bobby April as an interim coach if Jauron were to be fired? Have you seen the play of the Bills' special teams this year? They're as undisciplined as we've seen 'em in years. Way too many penalties and guys just flat out not knowing their job.

 

Oh yeah, and to those who have blasted Kyle Williams over the past few years; how did you like the interior D line w/ him out of the lineup? The guy may not be an All Pro, but he gives a game effort and this year, he's making some very nice plays.

 

I still see Marcus Stroud being single blocked far too much for my liking. He's a good player in the middle, but I'd like to see him do to interior O linemen what DTs are doing to the Bills' interior guys; throw 'em all over the place and make more negative plays, be it sacks, pass deflections, or tackles for loss.

 

Run defense? What run defense? Again, I see Stroud being single blocked, which allows for guys to get to the 2nd level and get to our undersized LBs and blow them out of the play. Thomas Jones had canyons to run through....yikes! I'm not sure how they can shore it up, other than guys have to step it up (Stroud) and maybe the coaches need to be a bit more creative w/ their personnel, like maybe run blitzing more w/ the LBs and/or the SS? I'm not sure if that's the answer, but can it be any worse than what's going on?

 

The LB unit was awful. Posluszny looked like he needed more time, 'cause he certainly didn't look ready on Sunday. Ellison keeps getting overpowered, which allows for big gains by RBs and London Fletcher-esque tackles by Ellison. Palmer showed some flashes out there, but man would it have been nice to see him make that INT and run it back for a score. Another almost pick, something I bet the Bills would be among the best in the league in were it an official stat.

 

I thought the secondary did more to keep the Bills in the game than any unit. I know, duh! Terrence McGee did his best Don Beebe impresonation not once, but twice in this one. The second one was costly w/ the personal foul, but the effort was first rate. Another injury issue, though. Ugh! Nice job in coverage by Reggie Corner and Drayton Florence. Yeah Sanchez stunk it up, but these guys had something to do w/ that, they did not?

 

Special teams........aaaarrrgh! What's w/ the penalties, fellas? You're killing us! Props to Moorman for having a great day on the road. I'd say props to Fred Jackson, but his good work was killed by the damn penalties! Sorry, but Bobby April's free pass has expired. Clean up this mess, coach.

 

As for coaching? Well, I said to some folks I was watching the game w/ that the Bills were going to have to win this game in spite of their coach. They did. Why, when you had the ball and a timeout, did you not try to get the ball closer for Rian Lindell on the last drive in regulation? It was shades of Marv Levy letting the clock run down after stopping the Giants' last drive in Super Bowl XXV. These kind of decisions, plus the boneheaded mistakes and penalties, show that this team has a lot of the same issues they had before Jauron was hired. So, why does he remain the head coach if they can't do such simple things? Your guess is as good as mine.

 

Bottom line, the Bills won. We fans will take it. That doesn't excuse the mistakes, bad cocahing calls, and other ills that are harming the Bills. Be glad you stole one in New York, and correct the problems. Hey, you stumbled out the gate (again), yet you're just a game below .500, so I guess that's something. There is a chance to get healthy record-wise w/ games coming up against Carolina, Tennessee, and Jacksonville. But, all of those games will be on the road and none of 'em are gimmes. And considering the rest of the home schedule (divison games w/ Miami, New England, and Jets, plus Houston and Indianapolis), there is very little room for error from here on out. Get @ it, and make something of the 2009 season. Go Bills!

[Beerball]

My meaningless responses:

Sit Edwards for at least a month. Fitzpatrick isn't worth the price of admission, but Edwards is pathetic at this point. Maybe a sit down will help him, but I know it can't hurt.

 

Jackson did a real nice job returning punts & kicks. If you can get a bucket of balls for Roscoe send him packing otherwise let him be inactive the rest of the year.

 

Saw some decent run blocking from the line. Someone yesterday likened Lynch to a chess piece...two steps right two steps forward or something like that. I liked the analogy or simile or whatever it was.

 

Nelson made a very nice catch on a ball thrown behind him.

 

Special Teams not so special for sure. At least we got a little something going in the return game, but penalties, too many men on the field etc.

 

Linebackers were conspicuous in their inability to be conspicuous.

[muffmonster]

I don't think that Fitz is our savior by any means, but how can people say they still want edwards as the starter? We have been watching 1 season and a half of Edwards regressing to the checkdown king.

 

Fitz came in off the bench distributed the ball around the field, and anticipated and escaped pressure. Hell I saw a pump fake....when was the last time a bills QB did that. Give him a chance with a full week of practice and then lets decide. I would rather watch his frightening throws then the predictable checkdown king.

[2003Contenders]

I would give Fitz the nod for the next two weeks. That gives Trent 3 weeks (counting the bye) to clear the cobwebs and watch from the sidelines. In the meantime, see how Fitz performs in those two games to see what decision should be made during the bye week.

[Gavin in Va Beach]

Nice post sir. I was curious though if you or anyone knows what happened to Maybin? Is he in the witness protection program?

[LABills08]

The LB unit was awful. Posluszny looked like he needed more time, 'cause he certainly didn't look ready on Sunday. Ellison keeps getting overpowered, which allows for big gains by RBs and London Fletcher-esque tackles by Ellison. Palmer showed some flashes out there, but man would it have been nice to see him make that INT and run it back for a score. Another almost pick, something I bet the Bills would be among the best in the league in were it an official stat.

 

I actually was not all that impressed with Palmer. I think that we fans have a tendency to equate "not playing awful" with "playing well". I don't think Palmer was terrible, but he was an undrafted free agent who is the size of Ellison. I didn't see any flashes other than on that missed pick-6. I'll tell you what, a linebacker needs to make that play. That ball went right through his hands. He was out of place on a LOT of those big runs.

 

Its tough to say what is a bigger concern to me come this offseason.....our linebackers or a huge DT. Maualuga has already shown what a big hitting linebacker can do for a defense, even as a rookie.

 

Also, just a correction, we are 2-4. 2 games below .500.

 

One last point on Ellison. One might find these stats interesting:

 

 

Ellison: 35 Solo Tackles, 61 Total

P. Willis: 35 Solo Tackles, 49 Total

 

I know, I know, Willis also has 2 sacks and 2 INTs and Ellison is making a lot of those tackles 10 yards down the field, but its interesting to note.

[stuckincincy]

First off, gotta say it was a great football weekend, since:

 

The Jets' coach was an idiot.

 

I've never agreed with this modern thought that says stick with a QB who is stinking up the joint, so as allegedly not to hurt his da*n ego. How could a player off the bench do any worse?

 

I would have benched Sanchez after the 1st half, and read him the riot act every moment I wasn't paying attention to what was going on on the field. CBS changed coverage from TEN@NE* to BUF@NYJ, so I saw the 2nd half. And a sulky QB. Infuriating. At least, he should have got his morose as* of the bench and rah-rah'd for his D.

 

Ryan robbed his players out of a win, IMO.

[timba]

The head injury thing will be leading to Fitz starting the next game or two. I really hope Edwards watches closely. While Fitz definitely isn't an answer at qb, he will at least show that having some faith in your receivers will lead to some big plays.

[SouthGeorgiaBillsFan]

I actually was not all that impressed with Palmer. I think that we fans have a tendency to equate "not playing awful" with "playing well". I don't think Palmer was terrible, but he was an undrafted free agent who is the size of Ellison. I didn't see any flashes other than on that missed pick-6. I'll tell you what, a linebacker needs to make that play. That ball went right through his hands. He was out of place on a LOT of those big runs.

 

Its tough to say what is a bigger concern to me come this offseason.....our linebackers or a huge DT. Maualuga has already shown what a big hitting linebacker can do for a defense, even as a rookie.

 

Also, just a correction, we are 2-4. 2 games below .500.

 

One last point on Ellison. One might find these stats interesting:

 

 

Ellison: 35 Solo Tackles, 61 Total

P. Willis: 35 Solo Tackles, 49 Total

 

I know, I know, Willis also has 2 sacks and 2 INTs and Ellison is making a lot of those tackles 10 yards down the field, but its interesting to note.

 

It isn't even worth the few seconds you spent typing that actually. Tackles are the most completely useless statistic that has ever been tracked (except maybe pitchers' win-loss records in baseball). It means absolutely nothing, as typically, the more tackles defenders are making, the more plays they are defending and thus the less effective the defense actually is.

 

In high school I lead the state in tackles in our classification for 3 consecutive years, by more than 20 tackles each year. If I was that much better than everyone in the state, I would be playing for the Bills instead of typing about high school on this message board. But the fact is our unbelievabad defense simply afforded me about twice as many plays and I was in on the tackle with probably at least twice the frequency as any solid defensive unit would have allowed.

[Albany,n.y.]

The Jets' coach was an idiot.

 

I've never agreed with this modern thought that says stick with a QB who is stinking up the joint, so as allegedly not to hurt his da*n ego. How could a player off the bench do any worse?

 

I would have benched Sanchez after the 1st half, and read him the riot act every moment I wasn't paying attention to what was going on on the field. CBS changed coverage from TEN@NE* to BUF@NYJ, so I saw the 2nd half. And a sulky QB. Infuriating. At least, he should have got his morose as* of the bench and rah-rah'd for his D.

 

Ryan robbed his players out of a win, IMO.

I've never seen a QB benched with a 10 point lead, that's what the Jets went into the 2nd half with. Do you realize that the garbage behind Sanchez is worse than Sanchez? Kellen Clemens is an outright bust & Eric Ainge & Kevin O'Connell ain't any better. Since Ryan really had no alternative, he had little choice but to hope to win with Sanchez playing badly and get the win in spite of him, while giving him valuable experience-it almost worked. If Ryan cost them the game, it was by having Sanchez continue to throw instead of relying on his running game. Even when the Bills were stacking the line, the Jets still were getting a big gain running every once in a while. Ryan should have let his running backs win the game, not Sanchez lose it.

[Flbillsfan#1]

Great Football weekend.

 

1)Bills Won............I enjoyed watching the 2nd half.

 

2)Gators Won.....two TOUGH Games in a row.

 

3)UB Won

 

QB controversy? The ONLY reason the Bills signed Fitzpatrick was to avoid that. The problem is Trent is playing so poorly that Fans will accept ANYONE in his place. Did ANYONE expect the Bills to win when Trent stepped on the Field to start the 3rd quarter after putting up his usual 3 points in the 1st half? I sure didn't.

 

Lee Evans............I have been saying he will show how good he is when the Bills get a GOOD QB. Wait until next year.

[EasternOHBillsFan]

My great football weekend is coming up very soon, namely:

 

1. Penn State will get the loss they have needed to effectively end their season's championship quest from "that team".

2. The Bills will have a BYE.

 

Ohh November, you can't get here soon enough!!