Why Can't The Bills Win The East

[BigGabes23]

Last year the AFC East was Probably the worst divison in football (NFC NORTH CLOSE) Show me how any of the AFC East Teams got better.

Maimi - Culpeper was healthy for the Vikes 1-4 start and just plain sucked. The Los of Ricky Williams is big when you consider that Ronnie has never carried the full load for an entire season in his life, and got knicked up in split time last year. Thier seconday is Pathetic. This Does not Help:

Dolphins first-round S Jason Allen recently underwent arthroscopic knee surgery.
Uh oh. Allen struggled mightily with injuries at Tennessee, although in the end his draft stock didn't suffer. Scout.com reports Allen is expected to be ready for camp, when he'll likely start at free safety. Jul. 20 - 3:27 pm et
Source: dolphins.scout.com

Pats - It is looking like their only playmakers will Be Maroney and Chad Jackson. Branch is a hold out and Dillion is on the downside of his career. Mcginist is gone, and so is mr automatic Vinatiery. Their entire defense and o-line is another year older, which is not a good thing.

Jets - IMHO the worst team in football. They helped their O-line in the draft, but neither first rounder will have an instant impact. Curtis Martin is very old. They have no recievers, and now no Abraham.

Bills - If anyone thinks their week 17 2005 team is better then the week 1 2006 team, they must be high. (not to re-hash this) but they have upgraded WR1 WR3, DT1, DT2, SS, QB (a new JP), TE1, TE2, C, RT, LG, ROLB (TKO).

IMO they are the only team that has improved.

[patmoran2006]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

First off, Branch is FAR from the downside of his career.. WIth the rookies in that lineup, that offense could be more explosive than ever.. Brady will be hungry after finally losing a playoff game.

Miami is a mystery, They are a paper-champion right now, but Im far from sold on them.. I love Ronnie Brown though he's very much for real.

The jets are 1-2 years away just like us.

Anything is possible sure.. But I do not see us competiting with NE this year at least.

[patmoran2006]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

And BTW you wouldnt say the Jets have improved with Brick and Mangold on their OL, as well as bringing Ramsey to compete at QB? Oh yeah, they have a new Bellicheck disciple at HC as well.

The Jets are going to be better, but they're like us.. They are getting younger and going backwards a little bit to be able to move forward.

[BigGabes23]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

Branch is holding out.... but I agree not on the downside of his career.

The best QB on the Jets roster is Kelly Clements (and that sould say something). Their Oline did improve long term, but starting two rookies can't be good.

[patmoran2006]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

Branch is holding out.... but I agree not on the downside of his career.

The best QB on the Jets roster is Kelly Clements (and that sould say something). Their Oline did improve long term, but starting two rookies can't be good.

i'm not hating on the bills by saying this, but I think most would agree here.

I'd take Brick and Mangold and start them TODAY over Gandy and Fowler, and you should be arrested for Homerism if you dont agree with that.

[jamze132]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

I would say that New England is still the team to beat. And say what you want about Miami finishing strong last season. Buffalo finished strong the season before last and look what happened last year. Granted, they don't have the division in the locker room and on the field like we had but nothing is guaranteed. I do think Culpepper improves them at QB, if he's healthy. Yes New York is improved on the o-line but it won't help them all that much this season. I can honestly say that Buffalo seems like the most improved team in the division. Yeah, people say that we don't have a QB yet and that we reached on two draft picks in the first round, but I think Buffalo might actually suprise some people this year. They may even shock some people. I already have my letter ready to that tool, Mel Kiper when Whitner lights it up.

[bledslow]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

Dillon was hurt for the majority of last year,he still got some good football left if healthy. im sure jackson and maroney will make some plays this year,along with branch/watson and caldwell---.

bills will not win the division because n.e simply has the better team and coach.

Branch will be playing this year,if he doesn't,he automatically gets put back into the same position next year and will not be able to become a free agent after this season if he sits out.so if he wants to become a free agent next year,he HAS to first play out this season.

[justasportsfan]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

I'd take Brick and Mangold and start them TODAY over Gandy and Fowler, and you should be arrested for Homerism if you dont agree with that.

Other than Brick,You mean hand rookies the job without competition? Chad's not gonna like that. He might as well sit out the season if he knows he's gonna be broken in two in the first play of the season.

[jamze132]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

i'm not hating on the bills by saying this, but I think most would agree here.

I'd take Brick and Mangold and start them TODAY over Gandy and Fowler, and you should be arrested for Homerism if you dont agree with that.

I would too. And I'm a Homer.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

If the Sabres - who before the season were thought to be too small upfront, with no bigtime scorers and no clearcut number 1 goalie - could make the Eastern Conference finals, I can see no reason that the Bills can't win the AFC East.

[!Papacrunk!]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

The Dolphins are still rebuilding. Even though they're still rebuilding, they're still going to do everything they can do to still be competitive.

Our secondary was bad last year, but even though it was bad, Saban was able to have it at least be decent enough so it wouldn't be a hindrance to the rest of the defense. We were horrible on 3rd down defense because we didn't have the talent, and ESPECIALLY the speed to get to the recivers in time. On the one side, that was a secondary that Saban adopted, minus his drafting of Travis Daniels and last year's signing of Lance Schulters. Schulters was good enough, but he just doesn't have the wheels anymore. At least now, Saban is starting to invest more players of his picking to the team, but especially the secondary, who knows what the final result will be. I don't have the numbers handy, but at least all of the players brought into the secondary, a lot of them are quite fleet of foot. A large improvement over last year's secondary, as far as the speed department goes. One little bit on Allen--Jason Allen is 100% from the hip injury, and as far as the arthoscopic surgery, that stuff is pretty common where peeps are fine within days of that, a week top, but I'm no doctor. Hopefully that won't be any kind of indicator for his career to come.

Who cares about the 6 game winning streak? Taylor has said that the 6 game winning streak was LAST year, and has no bearing on THIS year, because he was still watching the playoffs from his TV. Just focus on improving every play, and not worrying what the scoreboard may read.

Brand new defense and coaching personnel last year. It was a good thing that they mixed the 4-3 with bits of 3-4 defense since it took a while for the defense to get accustomed to the new defense being implemented. Once the players started to understand the how and the why of the new defense, the defensive stats started to improve as the season went on, especially towards the end (coming in 2nd in the NFL in sacks for one example.) Now they are in year two of Saban's hybrid of the 3-4/4-3 defense. Instead of making sure they get the plays right, they can now utilize the defense to an even greater amount, and hopefully control the tempo of a game, even if the offense may struggle a bit. On the other side, with new faces to the secondary, the complete defense may not be 100% with the process, but at least a majority will be completely familiar to it, allowing even more wrinkles to the d, especially with the addition of Dom Capers to the coaching staff. I was pretty excited that we added another teacher to the coaching staff, one that is lauded my a lot of people, as a great teacher of the 3-4 defense and its nuances.

The offense is still another part of the rebuilding process. Culpepper is a big question mark until he successfully has a complete game, and even at that point, he may not be completely stellar until he has more games under his belt. Just like one can't pin one good season as a complete representative of one's career, one sure can't pin one bad season on as a representative of one's career either. There's a chance that Culpepper may not be the answer, he may play like he did last year for the rest of his career, and make people wonder what happened to the '04 and previous 'Pep. He may reinjure his knee, have some sort of setback. It could happen. With the previous regime, I would've freaked out and waited for the sky to cave in. Even with only ONE season under his belt, I've got faith, some may say blind faith, but I've got faith in Saban to make the right decisons if something like this ever does happen. Harrington is, at this point, been a dissapointment. Even though he hasn't been the best a high 1st rounder could've been, at least he has a lot of NFL starts under his belt. Good enough insurance policy for me at this point. Saying that the dreaded setback or something bad was to happen to 'Pep, we'll have to live with losing a 2nd rounder (hmm, I believe we have the practice doing that already,) and invest another pick on a young QB for the future. On the other side, the gloom and doom may not happen, and all of the exceptionally great signs that Culpepper has shown will continue, and he could regain his previous form. Anything is possible.

As a player, I like Ronnie Brown. Great attitude, good runner, and a very good receiver. Having Ricky last year was a great luxury to have, but Ronnie was going to have to be the #1 eventually. I see it as a positive that we have a talented running back that has very fresh legs, that could extend his career even longer than some RBs today. I'd have to check last year's injury, but if it wasn't for Ricky being here, Brown may have been good enough to have started the game anyways. I do wish that the Dolphins add someone during training camp for depth, especially if something was to happen, we would have a decent back to step up. At one point, I've read that Miami has been interested in Michael Bennet from the Saints, but I think there has been other teams interested in him as well.

No matter what happens for the Dolphins or any team in the AFCEast, positive or negative, the AFCEast championship still goes through New England. It's still there's to lose. So to reiterate, the Dolphins are on a better track then they were since the 4-12 season, they're still rebuilding, but will still compete as if they're playing for a championship game. No matter what, like any season, I can't wait for the season to start.

(I think this may be one of my longest posts ever on BZ, lol)

[Marino13Phins]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

I've seen this response a thousand times about miami: "we(bills) finsihed the season strong, and look what happened to us the season after."

I'm not trying to start a war, and hype what miami did last year, but just becuase you did it doesn't mean it will happen to Miami too.
I could go as far as to say you will finish this season 4-12 becuase you are in a similar situation as to what Miami was in.

You don't have a defined started qb, even if Losman wins the job he probably isn't going to go a good enough job to take the pressure of Willis, they can stack 8 in the box against willis and cause him to do nothing. And Losman isn't going to beat to many people.

Just like waht they did to Ricky when we had Fiedler.

But like I said, just becuase it happened to us, doesn't mean it's going to happen to you. I am just tired of hearing people discredit what Miami did last year by saying that you guys finished the season strong and then sucked it up the next year.

This is a new year... lets just see how things pan out.

[Mitchy moo]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

I've seen this response a thousand times about miami: "we(bills) finsihed the season strong, and look what happened to us the season after."

I'm not trying to start a war, and hype what miami did last year, but just becuase you did it doesn't mean it will happen to Miami too.
I could go as far as to say you will finish this season 4-12 becuase you are in a similar situation as to what Miami was in.

You don't have a defined started qb, even if Losman wins the job he probably isn't going to go a good enough job to take the pressure of Willis, they can stack 8 in the box against willis and cause him to do nothing. And Losman isn't going to beat to many people.

Just like waht they did to Ricky when we had Fiedler.

But like I said, just becuase it happened to us, doesn't mean it's going to happen to you. I am just tired of hearing people discredit what Miami did last year by saying that you guys finished the season strong and then sucked it up the next year.

This is a new year... lets just see how things pan out.

I personally cannot see how miami is picked in the middle of the field and we are at the bottom. Miami had a good finish, weeee. Does that improve them this year? no.

[!Papacrunk!]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

I personally cannot see how miami is picked in the middle of the field and we are at the bottom. Miami had a good finish, weeee. Does that improve them this year? no.

Does anyone have that animated GIF of the stick figure guy bashing his head repeatedly until his face his a crushed bloody mess? I feel like this now.

[Amare]

Re: Why Can't The Bills Win The East

It goes
1. Pats
2. A- Phins
2. B- Bills
3. Jets