Evaluation of the Bills

by buffaloboy90 on Nov 30, 2008 5:02 PM EST Comment 7 comments

I first want to say that I am a die hard Bills fan, and I just feel helpless and depressed right now.

It's easy to blame the QB when the team is losing, but in the Bills situation I don't think it's the QB's fault. BTW I don't think most Bills fans fault Trent Edwards.

The offensive line played an outstanding game, giving our two QB's plenty of time to make passes. However, none of our receivers could get open downfield. Bills fans, lets face it, Josh Reed is a number 3 receiver and is not by any means a number 2 receiver. He is a very good player, and I happen to be a big fan of his, but he's just not talented enough to be a number two.

What the coaches need to do:

1. See what James Hardy has to offer. I know he is young, however, our playoff hopes have basically gone down the drain. We need to start developing our young players. We drafted Hardy early in the second round. The guy was a playmaker in college, and a touchdown machine. The same goes for Steve Johnson. Simply throw both of these guys the ball. Start giving them all of those first team reps in practice too.

2. We need to have Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch on the field together at almost all times. The dolphins do a much better job of utilizing their two talented running backs Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. I would argue that Lynch and Jackson, combined, are equally if not more talented than Brown and Williams.

3. Switch Roscoe Parrish and Fred Jackson on kick returns. It seems that Jackson is always our second resort as a kick returner. If people want to kick the ball away from leodis, then have Parrish be the second option.

4. Switch Leodis with Jackson on punt returns. Again, have Roscoe and Leodis as our top two returners.

Positives:

1. I was impressed with Derek Schouman's play today. He showed us that he can be a consistent player in the future. I like his character and work ethic.

2. Ryan Denney has been quietly stepping up his game in the past couple of games, this will only help our D-line rotation in the future when Schobel gets back.

3. Leodis McKelvin is developing very nicely. Sure, he got burned by Isaac Bruce today a couple of times. However, covering a guy like Isaac Bruce is a GREAT learning experience. I'de say he faired pretty well for a rookie.

4. Bryan Scott showed he can be a dependable player for us in the future. Maybe the Bills could upgrade their secondary by starting him at strong safety and Whitner at free safety. Just something to think about.

5. Duke Preston seems to be playing better. I know he is not a popular player amongest Bills fans. But he does deserve some credit, it looks like he's put in a lot of hard work.

6. Because we are basically out of the playoff picture, we can start to develop our young players.

Negatives:

1. Trent Edwards got injured.

2. We continue to struggle against 3-4 defenses. This may forshadow our future offensive performances against other 3-4 teams. Namely the Jets, Patriots, and Dolphins.

3. Lindell's confidence is clearly shaken. The Bills may not be able to depend on him as much for the rest of the season.

4. We are basically out of the playoff picture. Even if we win out, which is probably not going to happen, we probably would lose some type of crucial tie breaker.

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

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leodis et al.

two PI calls against leodis were bs, and also came at really bad times. gore fumble helped the second one disappear. regardless, wouldnt say he played well today. isaac bruce is 70 years old and wide open on every 3rd down play? it doesnt matter who is covering him, he shouldnt be making plays. leodis is going to be a beast, and made good plays today, but i wasnt impressed with the 1 game performance. leodis’ future looks good though.

it is almost better for my state of mind to lose to teams like CLE and SF, really shows that (unforunately) this is not a very good football team right now. all the teams we thought were good that we beat ended up being bad (sea, jax, sd). the way we lost today is unbelievably irritating (coaching, kicking, punting, red zone, penalties, the fundamental things very good teams do without a second thought; also, please run the ball 40 times a game against defenses like this and with qbs like ours), but it really doesn’t matter considering our upcoming schedule.

thought 7-9 or 8-8 coming in, a year away from a playoff win, after the past few weeks that looks about right. really disappointed in the coaching over the past few weeks, but still feel solid about the future. feel like they knew they needed to run today, and did with ease, but still reacted to being down by a touchdown throughout the game like they had to focus on the pass. with losman in, i would have been perfectly happy to run the ball 20 times in a row. not that edwards was any better, but when you bring somebody in who hasnt practiced with the first team all week you can’t expect too much.

if edwards and his groinage were healthy enough to play in the second half, i am very disappointed in the decision to put jp in. cant deal with another young qb being forced to look over his shoulder.

by jmorris0823 on Nov 30, 2008 6:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

3rd paragraph

by playoff “win” i mean “berth”.

by jmorris0823 on Nov 30, 2008 6:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think the Bills problems come from their lack of play makers. The coaches can only do so much. But at the end of the day, hardly any of the Bills players are winning 1 on 1 match ups. None of our receivers can beat anyone besides Lee Evans. None of our defensive lineman can beat someone besides Marcus Stroud. Not surprisingly, other teams put two people on both of those players I just mentioned to make sure they don’t beat them.

We need another dominant pass rusher and another dominant receiver very badly.

However, I do agree that the Bills should have run the ball more.

by buffaloboy90 on Nov 30, 2008 8:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree. It’s not all about playmakers, and what we need certainly isn’t another WR. We need to develop either Hardy or Johnson into a good #2. We need a starting center. We need upgrades on defense. Most of these are little things. Not big blockbusters, just little things that will make this team good. We have a good RB. We have a big play WR. Our D has Stroud, and while Schobel, Mitchell, and Poz aren’t dominant forces, they are all above average for starting NFL players.

by Hopefulcynic on Dec 1, 2008 3:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the comment!

I agree that we need to develop James Hardy and Steve Johnson. However, it might take 2 or three more years to develop Hardy as a #2. Steve Johnson’s upside may be limited as a very good # 3 receiver, however I could be wrong. Also, I do not think we need big blockbuster guys.

by buffaloboy90 on Dec 2, 2008 3:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

See what James Hardy has to offer.

Hardy is out there a decent amount, you just never notice the guy because he doesn’t get open and therefore, nobody throws him the ball.

We need to have Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch on the field together at almost all times.

That is going a little (way?) to far. Miami has both RBs out there a few more non-wildcat plays per game than Buffalo does. Buffalo could definitely use more two RB sets, but almost every play is a little crazy.

Switch Roscoe Parrish and Fred Jackson on kick returns.

I don’t think Roscoe would make a good kick returner at all. He is much better going sideline to sideline than he is running north and south. Punt and kick returns are totally different and Roscoe just can’t do both.

Switch Leodis with Jackson on punt returns.

Fred Jackson has only fielded 6 returns all year and actually has the best average on the team at 14.3 yards. The Bills only leave one returner back there and that will be Parrish. Don’t expect to see McKelvin or Jackson on the field in PR situations much or at all. I do think that if Parrish were to miss more time than McKelvin would get the nod as the starting PR.

I was impressed with Derek Schouman’s play today

He had a solid game. I still think Fine and Royal are better players though and that Schouman might have a tough time making this team next year.

Ryan Denney has been quietly stepping up his game in the past couple of games

Totally agree. I might have to rethink my stance on Denney getting cut sometime in camp next year. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he beats out Kelsay or Ellis for a spot.

Leodis McKelvin is developing very nicely.

I’m with jmorris. McKelvin was OK, but nothing more. He did look promising again.

Bryan Scott showed he can be a dependable player for us in the future.

SS slides down my offseason needs list a little bit every game. The Bills could use a versatile backup who could come in and play either safety spot and push Simpson off of the roster this offseason.

Maybe the Bills could upgrade their secondary by starting him at strong safety and Whitner at free safety.

They made that switch a month or two ago. It’s just been tough to notice because of Whitner’s injury. But when they are both healthy they will be on the field together 80-90% of the time and they will be the Bills starting safeties going into next season.

Duke Preston seems to be playing better.

I couldn’t disagree any more. He played against the worst starting NT in the league, got a lot of help from the guards and I thought he still looked pretty bad. We just aren’t ever going to see eye to eye on Preston.

We continue to struggle against 3-4 defenses.

Kinda, but we have had as much trouble running the ball as passing the ball against 3-4s this year, but we ran all over SF. The 49ers rushed 4 most of the time during the first half and Trent still struggled. I’m not sure if Trent’s bad day was at all related to SF’s scheme.

by kaisertown on Dec 1, 2008 4:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Hardy:

The Bills could have NO DOUBT given him more chances to develop by throwing him fades in the end zone. I think every time they are in the red zone they should dedicate a down to throwing the ball up to him. He is 6’ 5’’ with a 37 inch verticle. He caught 16 td passes his senior year at Indiana.

We need to have Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch on the field together at almost all times:

Fred Jackson is a GREAT receiving running back out of the backfield. He could probably even play as a slot receiver for us. Idk if it’s a stretch to put them on the field ALMOST every play. If teams take Lee Evans out of the game, Fred and Marshawn are our only other threats. We simply do not have enough play makers on the field to help our QB’s when Fred and Marshawn are not in.

We continue to struggle against 3-4 defenses:

We did run the ball well, but not when we needed to. We only scored three points, so I’m not sure how you could say we did better, but I guess that is your opinion.

by buffaloboy90 on Dec 2, 2008 3:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs