What I dont understand.....

[xXSpIkes5IXx]

... Is how we can be worse than we were last year.

You can call me a "homer" but i just dont think we can be as bad as we were last year.

The QB situation is the same...and maybe Losman will step up and start to give us a reason to be hopeful

Our running backs..are improved, we added A-Train, who should be better than shaud as a spell back for Willis

The O-line is still a major area of concern, but cmon, how can tuten reyes be WORSE than Bennie Anderson, I dont think its possible

Rather than going in to every position on the team, i just want to make my point clear. Sure we let a few guys go, like Sam Adams, who didnt do ANYTHING for us last year. Lawyer Milloy, who is still a servicable strong safety, but is past his prime, and dosent quite fit our defensive scheme. I think we will miss E Moulds, and i think he was our only significant loss this year.

Remember, we didnt have Takeo for most of last season, and hes back this year, even if hes not 100%, hes still better than most of the LB's out there. We added a ton of Defensive line depth, something we sorely lacked. No wonder we couldnt stop the run when we were starting Justin Bannan at Defensive tackle, Lauvale Sape and Jason Jefferson recieved significant playing time.

In Conclusion, I think something went very wrong last year. I mean you dont return 10 starters from the #2 defense in the league, and plummet to 29th. Our team underachieved and i have every reason to believe we will bounce back. We may not have the #2 defense in the league, but mark my words we will not be 29th or worse. Remember we still have 7 starters from that defense 2 years ago. (8 if you count the benched posey).

I see the Bills getting 7 wins this year, or potentially more. Especially since we have an easier schedule.

[OpIv37]

The loss of LeBeau was a major reason why the D struggled- it usually takes a year for that type of thing to catch up. The loss of Pat Williams was the other reason- with him and Adams in there, it was impossible to run up the middle. Losing him and not replacing him changed the entire D.

This year, the DL is still awful. Last year, we had one starting caliber DT in Adams. This year, we have one starting caliber DT in Tripplett. We did nothing except replace one DT who doesn't fit the new system with one who does. In addition, other than Schobel, this DL is not capable of getting the pressure on the passer that is necessary for the cover 2.

TKO may not be 100% and may not even play the first week. That means Mario Haggan could be starting at LB, which scares the **** out of me.

The QB situation is the same as last year, the OL may be mildly improved, the receiver situation is worse than it was last year. And who knows which McGahee will show up- the one who tore it up at the end of 04 or the one who didn't give a **** last year.

You don't make 1 minor upgrade to the #29 overall D last year and have it go to #2. This team has to learn new systems on both sides of the ball and will struggle immensely.

[Historian]

All addition by subtraction.

[xXSpIkes5IXx]

Sam Adams was injured for most of last year, and he wasent dominant when he was playing. He didnt even start. In fact the only thing he did for the team was call out MM. And you are saying we did nothing to improve the line? Are you telling me John McCargo, Kyle Williams, and Larry Tripplet arent an improvement over Jason Jefferson, Lauvale Sape, and Justin Bannan? The D-Line is ALL about depth. Having good depth on the D-line will help surmount the fact that none of our DT's is a probowler. Last year we had guys in the rotation who should be playing in the CFL.

This year i dont expect our D-line to be as good as 2 years ago, but we arent going to give up 150 rushing yards in 8 games.

[OpIv37]

Sam Adams was injured for most of last year, and he wasent dominant when he was playing. He didnt even start. In fact the only thing he did for the team was call out MM. And you are saying we did nothing to improve the line? Are you telling me John McCargo, Kyle Williams, and Larry Tripplet arent an improvement over Jason Jefferson, Lauvale Sape, and Justin Bannan? The D-Line is ALL about depth. Having good depth on the D-line will help surmount the fact that none of our DT's is a probowler. Last year we had guys in the rotation who should be playing in the CFL.

This year i dont expect our D-line to be as good as 2 years ago, but we arent going to give up 150 rushing yards in 8 games.

See the first Jets game from last year- The Run D was bad when Sam Adams played and downright awful when he didn't. All Tripplett did was replace Adams. McCargo will be rotating in with Tripplett. Tim Anderson may still be starting. The DL still sucks because guys like Anderson who should be in the CFL are still on it.

Different isn't necessarily better and better isn't necessarily good enough.

We may not give up 150 in 8 games but I wouldn't be surprised if we gave up 150 in 4 games and 130 in 5-6 more.

[John Doe]

Sam Adams was injured for most of last year, and he wasent dominant when he was playing. He didnt even start. In fact the only thing he did for the team was call out MM. And you are saying we did nothing to improve the line? Are you telling me John McCargo, Kyle Williams, and Larry Tripplet arent an improvement over Jason Jefferson, Lauvale Sape, and Justin Bannan? The D-Line is ALL about depth. Having good depth on the D-line will help surmount the fact that none of our DT's is a probowler. Last year we had guys in the rotation who should be playing in the CFL.

This year i dont expect our D-line to be as good as 2 years ago, but we arent going to give up 150 rushing yards in 8 games.

Good Post.

[ParanoidAndroid]

I think it's going to be a while before the Bills' version of the Tampa-2 comes together well enough to say the defense is better. I have a feeling we are going to get run on a lot. However, talent-wise, speed-wise, and youth-wise, the defense is much improved and when they do come together they will be a much more competitive team. There are questionmarks, yes, but they hold some promise.
McCargo is getting time in both the one and three. I wouldn't be surprised to see him starting next to Triplett by the end of pre-season. Anderson spent some time on his butt in games last year but was starting to make plays behind the line near the end of the season. He has to work on not overpursuing and taking himself out of the play which it apeeared he was doing more often earlier last year than later.
They have Haggan in with the first team instead of Posey which tells me either they think he is good enough, or they are confident that Spikes will be ready and they are getting Mario some extra experience. I think the latter is true. The trio of Crowell, Fletcher and Spikes is a darn good one.

[patmoran2006]

I think it's going to be a while before the Bills' version of the Tampa-2 comes together well enough to say the defense is better. I have a feeling we are going to get run on a lot. However, talent-wise, speed-wise, and youth-wise, the defense is much improved and when they do come together they will be a much more competitive team. There are questionmarks, yes, but they hold some promise.
McCargo is getting time in both the one and three. I wouldn't be surprised to see him starting next to Triplett by the end of pre-season. Anderson spent some time on his butt in games last year but was starting to make plays behind the line near the end of the season. He has to work on not overpursuing and taking himself out of the play which it apeeared he was doing more often earlier last year than later.
They have Haggan in with the first team instead of Posey which tells me either they think he is good enough, or they are confident that Spikes will be ready and they are getting Mario some extra experience. I think the latter is true. The trio of Crowell, Fletcher and Spikes is a darn good one.
really solid post

[feelthepain]

I like what I'm reading. Seems there were a whole lotta reasons the Bills had a bad season in 05. Given everything I've read so far, God himself couldn't have coached the Bills to a winning season last year, so how could MM?? I'm not willing to give MM a get out of jail free card, but given all the things above and the fact that MM quit and wasn't fired, I think it's clear MM could have had a lot more sucess had he not lost so much from 04 to 05. Your previous GM TD and current owner Ralp Wilson have a lot to do with the talent on the roster for MM to coach. I just don't see how MM can be looked at like the Bills failure was his lack of coaching, rather the lack of talent to coach. Here are the facts, 04 he had a lot more talent to coach he was 9-7 in 05 he had a lot less talent and was 5-11. I think it's a simple conclusion.

[ParanoidAndroid]

I like what I'm reading. Seems there were a whole lotta reasons the Bills had a bad season in 05. Given everything I've read so far, God himself couldn't have coached the Bills to a winning season last year, so how could MM?? I'm not willing to give MM a get out of jail free card, but given all the things above and the fact that MM quit and wasn't fired, I think it's clear MM could have had a lot more sucess had he not lost so much from 04 to 05. Your previous GM TD and current owner Ralp Wilson have a lot to do with the talent on the roster for MM to coach. I just don't see how MM can be looked at like the Bills failure was his lack of coaching, rather the lack of talent to coach. Here are the facts, 04 he had a lot more talent to coach he was 9-7 in 05 he had a lot less talent and was 5-11. I think it's a simple conclusion.

Not quite. He was asked to resign. Also, he didn't know how to use the talent he had. For example, if you have Moulds and McGahee on your team, you don't sit them down in favor of Shaud Williams and Sam Aiken when it's 3rd and goal in the 4th quarter and you're losing by 3.

[feelthepain]

Not quite. He was asked to resign. Also, he didn't know how to use the talent he had. For example, if you have Moulds and McGahee on your team, you don't sit them down in favor of Shaud Williams and Sam Aiken when it's 3rd and goal in the 4th quarter and you're losing by 3.



Hmmm, thats not how I heard it! I read he was to be the HC and a day later he came back decided he didn't want the job. It would make sense, he was given no power to bring in or keep talent, so if you have no control over your future destination then why stay?? As for his decisions with Moulds and Aiken, didn't Moulds do something that was considered detrimental to the team and was suspended a game for it?? I think it had something to do with not wanting to play with JP!!