i could have seen this game but I can’t wait to catch the highlights. I wanted to see Trent be efficient and have some moxy and leadership and it sounds like that is what happened. I think this is a great confidence booster and the best part is , is that no one got significantly injured from what I have read.

Offense certainly looked better, no need to really elaborate there, but the miss on the block by Langston shows that he is a bit slow at the point of attack against a speed rusher. All the more reason we need Peters, which is of course obvious.

Edwards looked smooth and crisp and accurate.

Lynch looked good as did the run blocking.

Good to see Evans making good catches and running good routes, as well I think Hardy, who did not make a catch is still grasping the mental part of the game as he was scolded by Evans on one occasion. I also think he was running with the first team almost exclusively, maybe some with JP under center and the 2nd team, but may have helped Evans or Royal get open more…not sure.

Defense looked okay….Youboty got burned big time for that TD and one other time as well. Also felt George Wilson could have made a play on the TD, but oh well. Nice to see Whitner get the INT, he is a class football player, and also looked stronger stuffing the run than he did last season. Also, I thought Stroud looked quick coming down the line. What is most interseting about 99 is that he still fits the mold for the type of D-lineman that Jauron and Co said they wanted in Buffalo; quick penetrators with speed to run down runners on the line. He mayt be huge, but he is tall and lean and can get after it. Another thing about Roethlisberger having “too much” time or at least a chance to scramble is that I don’t think it is good sportsmanship to pummel the other teams star quarterback in preseason, just doesn’t seem right. Just like how the Steeler’s DE almost pile-drived Edwards during his sack, which would have probably started a rumble.

Chris Ellis looked very good both against the run and pass. On the play where he sacked Leftwich, he had an excellent spin move and showed good closing speed. He plays his gap well against the run.

And I am going to stop, but how about that return…McKelvin is quite fast, no doubt about it. He is quickly making a case for him to be returning kicks this year, as discussed in a thread about a month ago or so. I love McGee, but the threat of either one taking it to the house is great, and if you throw in Parrish, that is a triple threat possibly unmatched in this league

three things I saw tonight that excited me:

1. AWESOME playcalling – anything but vanilla! They had 4 WRs and 1 back… ON FIRST DOWN! unheard of in Buffalo. Kudos to Turk (and i’m sure they’re holding some back for the regular season as well)

2. Starting Defense was decent. They kept Big Ben and the Pittsburgh number 1 Offense off the scoreboard. They were excellent against the run. Big Ben’s 40 yard TD pass came against the second string defense.

3. I’m still concerned about depth, all around. The o-line is depleted by injuries and Peters and the second string defense across the board is underwhelming. Here’s hoping we have some luck with injuries this year!

P.S. Best Trent looked as a Bill, Keep it up!

P.P.S. How do you take the NFL’s best punt returner (Parrish) off of the field for another great (McKelvin)? It’s a good problem to have I guess!

Bryan Scott – pretty much in Mendenhalls face that entire drive before he got the TD

Duke Preston – seemed like he owned the second team player of the steelers as the run game was able to gouge the middle of the D

Xavier Omon – ran hard and had a 4.4 ypc average…and didnt fumble…unlike Dwayne Wright……(im not gonna be suprised when he gets cut)

Derrick Dockery – was great pulling tonight……the entire line was pretty awesome

Brad Butler -rock steady….what a great signing by the Bills….

How about that thing on JP’s face. From “Trade Me Beard” to “Terrorist Bear”; by the time the regular season comes along we’ll have “Team Wolf”.
Anyway, he was “accurate” but his decision making is flawed, and did not seem confident in the pocket. Shouldn’t JP be the one running down the field for 22 yard scampers?
Also, even his screen pass was a “bad” throw. He has no touch. Anyway, some one should tell him he’ll get a scooby snack if he gets another TD

The Bills looked much better in their 2nd preseason game and fan’s have to be exited to see the new look offense, which clearly is allowing the Bills to open it up a little more. How many times did we see Edwards out of the shotgun on first down last year? It is great to see the RBs used out of the backfield in the receiving game as been the case in camp this year.

Getting the RB down the field 5 yards and getting him the ball fast on the first couple of downs, will hopefully limit the number of third and longs this year. Our red zone offense should be much improved this year in this scheme (along with the addition of Hardy) and it was great to see the tight end used last night for two TDs.

Still some concerns on defense getting to the QB and the ‘bend but don’t break’ principal still seems to be in effect.

I’m gonna have to agree and say our D was just being classy. They’re very fast and could have clobbered Big Ben multiple times but they don’t want to get hurt or injure another team’s star player. There was even a shot of Marcus Stroud hugging Roethlisberger instead of taking him down and I think Tasker commented about that. Given a real game situation, there’s no doubt in my mind Ben would have been on the ground more than a few times.

Did Donahoe forsee the Bills in Canada because the jerseys he switched to look similar to the Montreal Alouettes. I hope like hell that Brandon petitions to the NFL to go back to the throwbacks (my favorites) or the 90’s versions with the white helmets.

In my opinion, Omon performance last night pushed him ahead of Wright as the third RB on the team. Wright’s only problem is his fumbling. Unless they give him the Travis Henry cure, he be cut along with Bruce Hall who should be gone today.

Just wondering?

Glad to see Evans getting open and Trent hitting him downfield. We need that to be a money combo this year. I also liked giving him a chance to pick up some YAC, something he hasn’t proven yet. He’s got the speed and strength to succeed there.

Also glad to see Lynch and Jackson used early and often in the pass game. As LGB mentioned above, it’s good to use those plays on first downs to reduce 3rd and longs later on. I agree.

We need Peters badly. Trent almost got killed today because Walker’s too slow to be a LT. We can probably have a similar run game with the current lineup, but I dread seeing Trent getting punished because Peters is out.

With 10 days until the Colts game, and a few days off, wouldn’t this be a great time for the FO and Peters to really get together and hunker down to get something done??

I’m still not impressed with our secondary. Still too much cushion on WR’s and struggles on 3rd downs. I know we need a pass rush, but our secondary just seems a step slow at times. I want to see more of Simpson in the preseason as well. Bryan Scott looked great last night though. Great against the run and wasn’t awful against the pass. If Simpson goes down, I’d be more comfortable switching Whitner over to FS than bringing Wilson in…

Not sure I can agree with our D letting up on Ben R. That’s how OUR guys can get hurt. Maybe they weren’t out to drill him, but they sure as heck aren’t going to just avoid hitting him.

Love McKelvin returning kicks though I’ll stick w/Roscoe and McGee to start the year.

For the film session, can you see how Fine, McCargo, and the LB’s did?

Any word on how bad Schouman’s knee is?

I have been reading this site for the last couple months and have been a bills fan for 20 years. For the first time in a really long time I think we have an above average squad and not only that but a team that could be good for a long time. Nice work Dicky J.

Here are a few thoughts that I havn’t seen anyone mention and I never read the open game threads. Just too many posts for me to catch up on.

If the Bills were running their standard cover 2, then Holmes’ long TD catch is as much Wilson’s fault as Youboty’s and it is probably more on Wilson than Youboty. Wilson is supposed to be the corners safety net on those deep routes. That is the entire point of the cover 2.

I thought Chris Kelsay looked pretty decent against Washington and had another solid game last night. He isn’t great against the run, but he doesn’t deserve a lot of the flak that Bills fans have given him on this blog. He was terrible rushing the passer last year, but he has drawn a holding penalty two games in a row that would have resulted in sacks. I thought Kelsay was going to emerge into a solid starting DE last year and he actually regressed some instead. He should be better this year.

Poz looked good. We are going to see him register a lot of tackles 5+ yards downfield, but people need to realize that is just the nature of the position. All of his tackles can’t be around the line of scrimmage. As long as he continues to make some plays in addition to tackles downfield a bit, then he is doing his job.