A term we are very familiar with after last preseason, "vanilla" is used to describe the type of playcalling that is utilized during the preseason so as to not show a team's strategy or full playbook during the preseason. Last year, this term was all the rage when the Bills puked out of the gate early last August after many NFL analysts, such as John Clayton from ESPN, came out of Bills camp encouraged, at least by JP Losman and his exceptional ability to be "King of Practice".

After a promising end to the 2006 season, where Losman was the eleventh rated QB in the league (at least in the last half of the season) many Bills fans were very optimistic that he was going to "get it" and that optimism was high even though we were missing weapons, because at least we had our qb of the future...maybe.

Then came preseason 2007, and frankly, JP stunk it up. I couldn't believe that this QB I had my faith in was still running around like a rookie who had to put down the Tulane drum set to study the playbook. He ran around, he was inaccurate, and it was very disheartening. However, there was an excuse. VANILLA

That had to be it. Fairchild was merely calling too simple an offense to be effective against defenses that were just playing too complicated for the preseason. And why is that rookie number 5 looking so good? Must be the third stringers he's playing against. 

Now the reason I am bringing up last year's preseason, is because once September came along, we learned two things; Fairchild cannot call plays and Losman was not the QB of the future. Both elements combined help create offensive problems, that when Losman went down and the rookie Trent Edwards still looked better, the playcalling was still crap.

Now its 2008. Starting QB, Edwards; Offensive Coordinator, Turk Schonert,; weapons added, 2nd year progression of Marshawn Lynch and a giant sized WR James Hardy just to name two besides other possible positively developing players like Jackson and Schouman. Optimism is even higher this time, and it looks like we are going to do all the things that we didn't last year with a QB who seems to not have drum beats going off in his head when he is under center. But just remember, if they come out looking crappy on August 9th, a spade is a spade, and don't blame it on the "vanilla"; just pray they get their act together come September.

These are my observations, position by position

O-Line - Frankly, I did not notice alot of what they did on the field, in terms of winning battles, etc. I did see that the pocket collapsed a few times, although the majority of the time, the qbs having good/decent protection most of the night. There were some times when the pocket was flushed, but it was very apparent that it was not "full go" at Bills camp in some respects.

Random note: Brad Butler's stance is interesting as his ass is pretty low to the ground, especially for how tall he is. 

All around the players look good.

D-Line - Stroud is tall, fit and agile. Kyle Williams seems intrenched as the starter. He must have shown this coaching staff alot in terms of development to do so. However, when you look at McCargo, you can see clearly that we are talking about two different athletes. McCargo is shorter like Williams, but his body and legs seem abit different in terms of how he stands, as his lower legs almost bow out under the pressure of his upper body which is very stout. Again, I did not watch close enough to see how each gets out of there stance, but as for Williams, he seems to be in good shape and a little bulkier muscle wise. Spencer Johnson is taller than both Williams and McCargo and seems very athletic. Again, just to make it clear, the practice setting is not one to get a full picture of what these guys are capable of from a complete perspective. Just another vindication for the need for pre-season to evaluate talent in terms of who to keep, and also has something to say for star players, who put alot of work into staying in shape and being mentally ready, but who are professionals and no how to conduct themselves during practice so to keep up there durability in the trenches. Didn't notice much of Ellis either.

TEs - Schouman is the starter. And he looks good. Solid routes, good hands, good body size. He is a smaller TE, but he is lining up at TE and FB, making catches, and blocks pretty well for what I've seen. He also has good speed and quickness. Royal seems unspectacular and runs with the second string. Courtney Anderson is tall and moves well, but I did not get a great look at him, but did see him and Schouman on the field together so it could be a red flag for Royal's demise. Fine ran with the thirds and seemed like a rookie.

RBs - Lynch is the best player on the field. He just is and that is that. On a nice intermediate pattern a ball bounced of his chest pretty badly, like he had stone hands, but that was his only bad play. He runs hard and close to the ground. He is fluid in his movement, and he has great size. Wouldn't be surprised if he added at least 5 - 10 lbs. His blocking is also improved as he got right into Kawika Mitchell and seemed very strong in engagement. He also caught some good swing passes and split out wide at least once. He seems to carry himself like a star player, and is hands down the most athletic of the backs. Fred Jackson looked pretty. He has a knack for catching the ball, but I would have to say from what we heard before today, tonight may have been a less impactful night for him. Wright seems smaller than Lynch, but pretty quick and low to the ground. Perhaps his height make him seem smaller. And Omon showed a willingness to take on defender. Omon and Wright both coughed up the ball. FB Barnes seems like a good football player. While his horse caller may be deceiving, he looks big and intimidating out there, has good strength in his blocks and has good hands out of the backfield. I'd say he is a good pick up for this team at this point.

LBs - Kawikia Mitchell is big, fast, and scary looking. With the long hair out the back and the tinted visor he looks like the predator out there. On one play, Ellison was in the wrong position and tried to tell Mitchell where to go, but Mitchell corrected in him in what seemed like a quick burst of veteran leadership, or at least a better player exalting his trumping power over the younger and lesser player in Ellison. Either way, that has made our team much, much better. Not sure if Crowell was there, and that is perhaps why Ellison was in there, but it may have been just a player i missed. Posluszney seems good, but I did not get a good luck at all he was doing or the other players, except to say that now more than ever, DiGorgio and Ellison look extra small with Mitchell out there. Bowen also seems like a very good athlete.

WRs - Evans, Reed, Parrish all seem solid. Hardy needs to polish up, but he also looked good besides one drop in a drill i saw. He is very tall, and was able to also just take a ball in traffic that I saw. Out of the rest, Steve johnson looks good, and the rest are only okay. So that may be a early prediction to keep five receivers, and maybe two on the practice squad, so to leave way for an extra TE or something else.

Secondary - McGee looks solid. Greer looks very quick and good on the ball. Youboty seems good, and so does Will James, although I did see James get beat. I think McGee had an int but I might be wrong, and I think Greer may have too. McKelvin seems like he showed up late, but looked pretty solid in drills and running with the second team with James. But like I said, Youboty seems good in drills and looks to have bulked up. Reggie Corner looks like a rookie out there, but he also seems good. That might then be an extra player to have, giving us six corners, McGee, Greer, James, McKelvin, Youboty, and Corner. That's if we only keep five wideouts on the active and Youboty or corner plan to make good on Special Teams.

Did get to much of a look at the safeties, but did see Wendling make a play or two, and Whitner had solid coverage. When 11-on-11 started, Ko Simpson was excused from the rest of practice and perhaps Chris Brown has something on that.

QBs - Edwards had a solid night, but not without his problems. He threw a couple balls into the dirt, and did not get a good throw on a roll out when flushed out of the pocket. However, for the most part, he completed probably 70-80% of his passes on the night and did seem to be still improving, trying to get certain things down, while also hitting good targets when given the opportunity. For small period of time it seemed all the qbs including Edwards were just checking down one after another, as they aired it out not so frequently. I think there was some good coverage though. I wouldn't say an off night for the offense, but it was a "regular" night let's say, with nothing spectacularly good  or bad. Jp did not practice because of his thumb, and donned a "trade me beard" as he watched the practice. Hamden seems okay and actually the other qb, Baker seemed okay as well, but neither seemed that great.

Overall - a very ho-hum practice, but a nice night and I left not knowing if we were going to be 11-5, 5-11, or 8-8; just that it is getting closer and thats good enough for me.

Fresh from reading the front page article on Buffalo Bills, the Bills are blessed to have a competition going for return man on kickoffs and punts.

It was stated there by Bobby April clearly, "This kid (McKelvin) wants to do it. He'll make Terrence better, or he'll beat him out or he'll make Roscoe better or he'll beat him out. I mean Terrence and Roscoe are our guys, but this guy comes in here hungry. He wants to play."

I love it. McKelvin the collegiate record holding return is drafted by a team with arguably, but pretty much definitely, the best return tandem in the league in McGee and Parrish, and now will challenge them for not one, but both return spots. If that were to happen  it would be unbelievable, because if McKelvin beats them out, he is truly a special player. And if he doesn't, then both Parrish and McGee will be better for fending him off all summer. It's a win-win.

Not sure if this was reported here or seen as I did at NFL.com, but our new rooks should all be here (none playing for Ohio St. this year) this Friday through Sunday for their first time learning the system.

One thing to note, as most of you may know, is that at www.buffalobills.com, lead reporter and blogger Chris Brown does an excellent job of recapping the day's workouts for all the mini-camp and training camp and I wouldn't want anyone here to miss it.

Also, I just wanted to put this out there as an opinion, but that if all goes well this season, there by the Bills show steady improvement and the positions addressed in the past three drafts are still solid and our FAs we need to sign are, then we will be able to get very specific when it comes to next year's offseason and grabbing players to take us to the top.

I will make no predictions until after pre-season, but have felt better each year since Jauron came in, and only during last year's preseason when I watched JP and the passing attack struggle and the defense get mauled with injuries that I knew last year would be bad, even though it ended up being better than I thought considering the injury and QB factors.

GO BILLS

I find it very interesting that one day after Rumblings' Brian Galliford wrote an article about the Bills 2008 draft being as surprising as the 2006 draft where we took Whitner, that the Buffalo News' senior draft and overall NFL writer, decided to put his own spin on the same topic.
This very well could be an indication of something moany of us might have suspected. That this is the best Buffalo Bills sight around and where the best talk and debate takes place.
Plagarism anyone? I guess I can't blame him, but maybe he should at least name his sources.
To me, Brian and the crew could write for the Buffalo News as they are better than those chumps anyhow, but I'd rather have'em here.

Mike Mayock, who was one of the only draft gurus to have the Bills pick Donte Whitner in 2006, has a video on Nfl.com (mock picks 11-20) and has the Bills picking Tenn State CB Rogers-Comrartie.
He opens by saying not enough value at #11 at WR and then makes his case for the corner.
This of course depends on whether he is there or not, but personally, I like the pick granted there are other receivers in the later rds that can make an impact.
However, I can argue that CB could be just as great a need as WR, especially if you have questions about McGee as a number one, which I definitely do, much more so than Lee Evans as a top wideout.
If this is the pick I am happy, but only if we still can nab at least two offensive weapons later at WR and TE.