A few points that I want to make

by sireric on Oct 6, 2008 12:27 PM EDT Comment 16 comments

1st - Does anybody remember when Mike Mularkey took the job for the Bills? Bill Cowher told him he could have either TE coach Ken Wisenhunt or QB coach Tom Clements to be his OC. Mularkey chose Wisenhunt, but was overruled by Donahoe and was forced to take Clements. After watching that Cards attack yeaterday I can't help but wonder, "What if?"

2nd - Am I the only one who thinks Hamdan would be a better option then J.P. if Trent can't go vs. the Chargers? (more on that later)

3rd - I thought the days of poor run-blocking were behind this team. I was willing to give it time, and wait until Peters got back into the swing of things before losing faith, but I would have thought I would see improvment by week 5.

4th - Am I the only one who is tired of seeing a Bills defender stop an opposing runner in his tracks for a loss, only to see the runner, push, juke, stutter-step and spin his way out of it and turn a 2-3 yard loss into a 2-3 yard gain? I would really like to see the 1st guy make the play consistently.

This FanPost was written by a registered user of Buffalo Rumblings. Its views do not necessarily reflect the views of Rumblings' editorial staff, but are just as valued as our own.

0 recs | Comment 16 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I never heard that first point. Is that really how it happened? I’m not sure if Whisenhunt would have been more effective, but he probably couldn’t have been worse that Clements.

Hamdan? Eh, I doubt it. I dont’ think either would be effective in there. Nobody knows if Hamdan is any good, or if he’d be able to read a D…

Poor run blocking will never leave us it seems. We can’t beat that devil for some reason.

Denney missing that tackle really hurt yesterday. That was a 3rd down when the game was still close. It doesn’t help when our guys fly into the backfield and just grab at the runners instead of actually hitting them and wrapping up…

by Kurupt on Oct 6, 2008 12:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Fundamentals with this team's D seems to be just MENTAL sometimes

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend of poor fundamental football the past couple of weeks. Denney’s very very poor attempt/arm tackle of Hightower being one. But another being Youbuty attempting a kill shot in the 3rd quarter I believe on the AZ TE in the flat. He went for a highlight hit rather than just sticking the guy, which is what he has done 100% of the time the other 4 games this year. He was lucky he had backup to prevent a 10+ yard gain.

Some people are going to grump that I complain about that to much, but poor judgement and poor tackling are a VERY serious reflection on how well the coaches on D are doing getting their players ready for a game, and I think Fewell screwed the pooch royally on this one folks. His players look scared, listless, and woefully unprepared to make adjustments on the field against the Cards. And Fewell definetly did a very piss poor job of making ANY adjustments on the field or at halftime to stop the Cards attack.

These guys on D all play in the NFL for a very simple reason, they have proven to be among the best in the world at this sport, meaning they could get it done in College, High School, Middle/Jr. High School and Pop Warner. They don’t suddenly get sucky without help from the people whose jobs it is to get them ready to play every Sunday. Who knows, maybe Fewell told them to start planning their bye week vacations this past week rather than have them practice.

Fear the mighty helmet wearing gopher, he is coming for your soul....

by WABillsfan on Oct 6, 2008 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

we didnt follow the blue print

NY laid out the blue print in how to beat AZ, we just couldn’t get it done. Pressure was the word of the day, and we couldn’t even get close. I know its easy to say the tackling was bad, but a good RB in this league can get out of a one on one against a DL when in space. The real question I have is why is there only one defender to make the tackle? We need to gang tackle and our LB ‘rs need to fly to the ball. As far as your second point, yes you are the only one who thinks Hamdan would be better. JP didn’t play very well, but he was not our biggest problem. He is a very easy target for blame, but that game was lost by not executing on run blocking, and not getting after Kurt W.

by bad karma on Oct 6, 2008 4:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

EXACTLEY!

by jimkutica on Oct 7, 2008 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

irritating i guess...

after watching the game where were our lbs? i feel like every play they were 6 yards out of position and something the coaches did not address. not to mention the drive where we took the field goal why did we run it 3 times in a row? yea i get that jp isnt our starter but that doesnt mean u throw away the passing game. and on the play that robert royal fumbled why didnt jauron throw the flag? i mean i dont think royal was down but still ur not goin to need the time outs why not just go ahead and take the chance? and what happened to use blitzing? i thought we played a very predictable game on o and d.

by billsstein on Oct 6, 2008 8:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yesterday looked a lot like the past few years where we play super reactive and let the other team dictate everything we do. That’s why we have struggled so much in beating good teams, and usually get smacked around by them. For example, against Jacksonville we came out strong on O and the D played smash mouth, hitting the Jags in the mouth like they usually do. Part of the reason we won that game. Yesterday, we let AZ do whatever they wanted and did nothing to get them out of their rhythm. It was the Jauron we’ve grown to expect in some ways, something we hadn’t seen much of thus far this year.

by Kurupt on Oct 6, 2008 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

tackling

You guys crack me up. I’m not saying there hasn’t been poor tackling, but everybody lauds Lynch’s and Jackson’s abilities to break tackles and make defenders miss, but then you act like no other RBs in the NFL have that ability. Sorry, but there are other RBs that can do that. Sometimes you just have to applaud their abillity to do the same thing Lynch and Jackson have been doing.

by thefourwinds on Oct 6, 2008 10:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You’re right, it just seems as though every RB the Bills face turns into Earl Campbell.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Oct 7, 2008 6:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good points...

I think the most important of those four points is the run blocking. I think the fact that we are 4-1 despite our below average rushing attack (less than 100 YPG) shows our potential but in the long run (this season) we have to improve on that if we are going to be a real contender in the AFC this year, especially when we play against some of the better offenses on our schedule (a good ground game will help our defense out a lot by controlling the clock, keeping our defense off the field and will help us score more points).

I think another point you should add is our pass rush. This season (before playing us) Kurt Warner was sacked every 11 attempts (10.8 actually). It’s unacceptable that he could throw the ball 40+ times against us and not get sacked once. I understand that he was killing us with the short quick passes, but getting in his face on those plays forces turnovers and we weren’t able to do that either.

by BuffaloWill on Oct 6, 2008 11:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

do you think Hamden can put up a 101+ QB rating

that’s all JP could do!! I’m not sure what TEs QB rating is(somewhere around 85) but I know it’s not that high! I also realize QB rating isn’t the whole story but JP was not to blame for that loss. he put up 220 yrds on Arizona, had 3 scoring drives and did it all while jason peters and company were handing out invitations to the backfield all day.
The Offens and defensive lines were both horrid and should be the main focus of repair during the bye week!!

by jimkutica on Oct 7, 2008 8:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Edwards’ QB rating is 94.

by Brian Galliford on Oct 7, 2008 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thank you

by jimkutica on Oct 7, 2008 10:08 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If you take away his one big pass his rating was 67, not exactly a glowing performance.

In a game where points were necessary, he didn’t help put any on the board. That’s what we needed as the D continued to get crushed….

by Kurupt on Oct 7, 2008 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

didn't help?

he had three scoring drives, passed for a touchdown, ran one in and got into field goal range. If the defense put up any kind of a fight at all the team might have had a chance.
even if you go with 67 (which is rediculous, you can’t just ignore the 85 yard TD pass) as his QB rating…look at the circumstances…the cards were rushing him all day long and getting zero resistance from the O-line. but that’s OK you keep hating on him.

by jimkutica on Oct 7, 2008 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, but in a game where we needed points to have a chance, he didn’t do a whole lot to get us there. 17 points against a team that had given up 56 the week before isn’t exactly good.

Why can’t you look at the 67 passer rating? That’s how he played outside of one pass and is a good indicator of the game he had, not the 102 or whatever it was he finished with.

I don’t understand your blind love for Losman. We’ve seen this same story so many times over and over again. Losman can’t get the job done. Maybe in small bursts here and there, but when the pressure is on, he doesn’t respond. Losman wasn’t the reason we lost Sunday, but he didn’t do a whole lot to keep up.

by Kurupt on Oct 7, 2008 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

For me it boils down to this: This offense was made for and built around Trent Edwards. That is a fact. Trent’s quick thinking, pocket prensence and ability to read a defense are critical to running this offense. Which back-up is more like Trent in those regards, J.P. or Hamdan? If J.P. had half Trent’s pocket awarnesst, and was able to read a defense he would still be the starter.

Never once did I say that J.P. was to blame for last weeks loss. I feel that Hamdan is a better fit to run the offense then J.P. THAT IS NOT A KNOCK ON J.P.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Oct 7, 2008 5:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs