Rumblings: Bills Fans want more from Whitner

I like that part of the excuse to move him to FS is to minimize hits he gives/takes. Unfortunately, until he learns to tackle better, it won’t matter. He’ll always be susceptible to injury with his technique. And it’s not like he was out there delivering big hits to anyone either. In fact, Whitner has never delivered a bit hit in his career as I recall. I don’t count hitting Chad Ocho Cinco when he was on the ground a big hit.

No matter what, you are correct. It’s put up or shut up time for Whitner. Now or never. Do or die. (insert other cliche here)

It’s a good idea and one Brian has been spouting for a while. With that said I like Bryan Scott or could see a new SS come in and play.

CANNOT PLAY SS….why do you think Scott came in and took that job from him? Cuz Whitner sucks at it. He can’t cover, doesn’t make big plays hitting guys over the middle, isn’t a great blitzer, and is overmatched in the box. The only option is to let him play FS, but even there I am not sure what his value is. We need Safety help badly, and I for one have had about all I can take from Whitner…..him and Schobel better put up or shut up this year, cuz I’m sick of hearing them talk about how good they are and start making plays to show us why they are so called “leaders” of our defense

I say put Bryan Scott at SS, move Whitner to FS. We’ll know then.

which is why if the value is there to draft a S of get one via FA, we have to do it…..we have to upgrade our back end……

This is a point I want to make…..is that while we don’t generate many sacks, I think the Tampa 2 is also predicated on fast, cover a lot of ground Safeties that make big hits over the middle (ie John Lynch, Bob Sanders) come to mind. Whitner is not in POSITION enough to make those hits, and seems to lack the “instincts” to be in the right spot. I think he is fast enough, has enough power and all, but bottom line is he doesn’t have the football instincts. So while, our lack of pressure doesn’t help him, I still see Bryan Scott and heck even George Wilson make more plays than Whitner because of their ability to get in position and a nose for the football…..one could argue Wilson is a better FS than Whitner, and that is not a bold statement by any stretch of imagination……Wilson just is even a worse tackler than Donte but I’d argue he has better instincts on balls deep in the secondary….We need a FS…..and maybe the value is there in round 3-5 for one

I kind of skimmed through this thread. I didn’t really have time to read every comment, but to everyone who thinks whitner is a “terrible tackler” I have some thoughts for you.

First let me say that I don’t think Whitner is any better than an average starting safety and he might even be a little worse than that. But I don’t understand how people can be so critical of a 205-210 pound safety for averaging 6 tackles a game. I don’t mean to be critical, but I think many of the bloggers here really lack perspective. I think a lot of the Bills fans here expect our linebackers to tackle like defensive lineman and out DBs to tackle like LBs. Here is something to ponder:

Think back to how many tackles Lynch and Jackson broke last season. Try and remember how often the first person to get a hand on them actually tackled them. Marshawn and Fred are awesome at either making the first guy miss and breaking an arm tackle or just straight up running into a guy and staying on their feet, making the tackler look like a complete fool. Are all the pros that Lynch and Jackson beat for extra yardage bad tacklers? Or are those guys just average NFL players who can’t make every tackle?