OpIv37's late postgame thoughts

[OpIv37]

I'm out of market and had to TiVo NFLN's replay of the game. I just finished watching it so here goes:

The Bad:
-Kelly Holcomb. His passes are slow, he never goes downfield, he can't avoid the rush, and he made two ill-advised passes (one that was an INT for a TD the other way). He flat- out sucked.
-pass blocking and Jason Peters.
-Special Teams, with the exception of Lindell and 3 good kicks by Nick Setta. Even Moorman looked average except one good punt. I found this particularly disappointing because this unit was dominant last year and is pretty much unchanged.,
- Pass D- the defenders seemed uncomfortable in the zone and weren't really sure where to be- I also counted 3 drops on potential INT's (Youboty, Leonard and one more). The DL seemed to be getting some penetration but wasn't getting there in time.
-Terrance McGee got owned
-Josh Reed had his obligatory drop.
-PENALTIES, although I'm not gonna panic on this yet because it's the first preseason game and some of the guys commiting them won't be on the team or won't be playing much.
-Kliff Kingsbury has no business being on an NFL roster. I've played backyard football with guys that can throw better than him.

The Good:
-JP Losman. He struggled against Carolina's 1st team, especially with accuracy, but showed some signs of a veteran. He threw two passes to guys who were being held and drew at least 3 offsides penalties. He made plays with his legs and kept his eyes downfield. His accuracy needs to improve and he needs to calm down a little in the pocket, but the kid's got a cannon and is showing signs of development.
-Kyle Williams. He was getting into the backfield and made some tackles, including 2 against Carolina's 1st team (minus Delhomme). This guy may be a true run stuffer in this D.
-Run D was better than I was expecting. Bowen was a missile on running plays- I hope his injury isn't serious.
-Sam Aiken played well on O and ST.
-There will be NO WR screens against this team this year- our CB's are too good at open field tackles. Even Greer stopped two WR screens in their tracks.
-ALL the RB's looked good (except McGahee but he only played 2 series and the rest of the O stunk it up). Gates better be on the team this year. I also liked the way TE's and WR's were being used in the run-blocking schemes.

Comments on coaching: Again, I liked the run-blocking schemes. I didn't like the 2 runs on 3rd and long, especially the one on 3rd and 18 on the last drive. It was too conservative and predictable- even I knew it was a draw play as soon as they broke the huddle. Other than that, no real complaints.

Guys who did nothing: Rosoe Parrish, Martin Nance, Donte Whitner, Peerless Price. It's not that they were bad- they were just complete non-factors. Based on what I've been hearing about these guys in camp, I was hoping they would show something in the game.

Overall, I see more struggles moving the ball on O and a lot of open passing lanes, particularly early in the season. And this QB **** needs to end- Holcomb was just awful. I doubt Jauron will hand the keys over after 1 preseason game, but Losman definitely earned it tonight. ST needs to get back to last year's level. Keep an eye on Kyle Williams and Eric King. Jackson will be cut- not because he did poorly but because all the guys ahead of him played well.

[JerseyBoofaloBills]

ya what he said.

hah out of a 1 to great scale. these notes were great. hah totally agree with everything you said.

[shelby]

Very positive, Op, i'm impressed!

Seriously, nice breakdown.

Whitner led the D in tackles with 4, btw.

[chernobylwraiths]

I was the first one to give opinions on the game but everybody else felt the need to make their own thread. :( :cry:

[LtFinFan66]

:snicker:

[Mitchy moo]

nice OP, I think your right on!

[BlackMetalNinja]

Pretty accurate assessment in my opinion Op... Here's to hoping things improve on a weekly basis!

[madness]

Very positive, Op, i'm impressed!

Seriously, nice breakdown.

Whitner led the D in tackles with 4, btw.

That's because this time he started with the bad and ended with the good. :snicker:

Great assessment OP. I didn't see the game but everything you said matched up with all the reports I read. I'm glad you got to see what type of presence Bowen can be. Whitner better show what he's cable of while he has a chance. This may make up for some of the time he missed at camp.

As for the QB situation, I'd really like to see Holcomb get sent packing for the #3. He had his chance to compete with JP one on one and blew it. Now let JP and Nall battle it out without having to split reps between three QBs. I think Nall can push JP to that next level better then Holcomb ever could.

[jmb1099]

Good stuff. I remember reading an interview with Jauron and he mentioned that this would be the first time that the team would engage in any full contact. I've been thinking about that and have concluded that it has to be a factor of some sort for all of them. The schemes they were running were very vanilla by design, we all knew they would be going in. So I guess what I'm waiting for in the next game is to see if we add some sprinkles or stay strictly vanilla. The other thing I'm looking for is to see how much (if any) a factor the "no hitting in camp" policy had in the first game. It appeared they started to settle down a bit after a while, the next game should be an indication.
After a shaky start, Losman settled down and looked like an NFL qb. He put together 3 scoring drives (yes it was against scrubs but he was also playing with scrubs). More reps will help solidify his performance. If he can take a couple less sacks, which by the way are better than ints for td's, toss a td, and complete 62.5% of his passes again than DJ will name him the starter and rightfully so.

[Saratoga Slim]

Not to be repetitive, but nice summary. Those were my observations to a T.

I hope we don't have to worry about McGee. He was getting picked apart. That's not a player I was expecting to have question marks about.

[Saratoga Slim]

After a shaky start, Losman settled down and looked like an NFL qb. He put together 3 scoring drives (yes it was against scrubs but he was also playing with scrubs).

Good point (about JP playing with scrubs against scrubs). A solid performance this friday should pretty much lock the job down for JP. Unless Nall somehow wanders back into the mix.......interesting to see if they let him, or if they decide to keep it a 2-man competition so as to permit the winner some camp and preseaon time to work consistently with the first team.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Thanks for your analysis OP. Very balanced. Good work. And, much appreciated.

[The last buffalo fan]

Ok, now just tell us, what you really think .............................................................







J/K, Great breakdown man!! :peace:

[Michael82]

Nice job, man! I knew you could be positive! :up:

:bf1:

[OpIv37]

Nice job, man! I knew you could be positive! :up:

:bf1:

I believe in giving credit where credit's due, and even though we didn't do everything right, some people deserve credit for their performance.

[L.A. Playa]

Dora must have given you some, that seemed so relaxed

[justasportsfan]

Parrish and Price cannot be faulted for their lack of catches. PArrish caught 2 passes. One for a first down and one that was not counted because of a penalty. Price was barely on the field. Hardly any of the starters were on the field. He couldn't have gotten a pass from Holcomb anyways.

Check out the stats on nfl.com. The ball was very well distributed by JP. PLayers were in and out of the ballgame.

[North_Coast]

Good analysis, OpIv.

I would only disagree partly on the ST. Moorman didn't do as well as expected, but Lindell hit FGs from 50 and 45. Setta looked pretty good, too. He'll make somebody's roster if he keeps it up. I think that the kick coverage was pretty good and, as usual, pretty hard hitting. With all the kids and new guys trying to stick by playing ST, STs are always an adventure in preseason, as witness the block of Moorman's punt.

[OpIv37]

Parrish and Price cannot be faulted for their lack of catches. PArrish caught 2 passes. One for a first down and one that was not counted because of a penalty. Price was barely on the field. Hardly any of the starters were on the field. He couldn't have gotten a pass from Holcomb anyways.

Check out the stats on nfl.com. The ball was very well distributed by JP. PLayers were in and out of the ballgame.

I suppose it's a legitimate defense for Parrish that he was on the field with Holcomb. I was still expecting to see more of him and Price though. Reed was listed as a starter but he was on the field for almost the entire first half. It seemed like Jauron was using the game to iron out his depth chart for every position EXCEPT receiver.

Losman seems to favor Reed and Aiken. But Reed still can't catch.

[OpIv37]

Good analysis, OpIv.

I would only disagree partly on the ST. Moorman didn't do as well as expected, but Lindell hit FGs from 50 and 45. Setta looked pretty good, too. He'll make somebody's roster if he keeps it up. I think that the kick coverage was pretty good and, as usual, pretty hard hitting. With all the kids and new guys trying to stick by playing ST, STs are always an adventure in preseason, as witness the block of Moorman's punt.

they had the blocked punt and Moorman only had 1 good punt to two bad ones. I agree that Setta looked good and the coverage wasn't bad, but the return game wasn't up to par- Smith made one good move but still only got 6 yards and the rest of the returns were non-factors.

[Mudflap1]

I'm not going to repeat line for line what Op said, but I'm going to add some things that I noted:

1. I think the Panthers' game plan was to have Delhomme come out throwing for a series or two, get his reps in, see what Keyshawn can do, and then run the ball more after that with DeAngelo Williams, etc. On the other hand, i think Buffalo's game plan was to be completely vanilla on defense (with their base defense) and be vanilla on offense (don't turn the ball over, establish the run) to try to get the basics down. Obviously, our line could not get a decent push against Carolina's starters, and their pass rush murdered Holcomb.

2. Holcomb did suck, almost to the point where you'd think the guy was on the take or something (of course he's not, but he was really, really bad).

3. Losman did not move the ball much in the first half, but he was doing some very good things he was not doing last year. He was consistently making the right reads with his progression, and he was avoiding pressure while keeping his eyes downfield to try to find late-developing openings with his receivers. He simply wasn't accurate at first, but then settled down and made some nice throws. Much different quarterback than last year.

4. McGee did get beat, but a lot of it wasn't his fault either. I counted that Matt Bowen was late at least three times on pass plays off of McGee where McGee had outside contain, and Bowen was supposed to help over the top. Bowen was decent in run defense, but I can see now why the Bills got rid of Lawyer Milloy and went so hard after Whitner. You need that strong safety who is fast and can come over the top in pass protection on McGee's side of the field, but also can line up somewhat close to the line of scrimmage and get in there on run defense. Let's hope Whitner is the real deal.

5. Kyle Williams did look great. In fact, the run defense didn't look half bad overall. Even Tim Anderson wasn't atrocious.

6. No pass rush to speak of. That being said, it didn't look like there was a lot of blitzing either, which coincides with the vanilla game plan theory.

7. The defense (DB's in particular) are very good tacklers.

Things to look for in preseason game number two:

1. It will be interesting to see how Losman does starting and how long they'll let him play for. Will he only get three series like Holcomb, or will he get 2+ quarters?

2. The starting offensive line needs to play better. They need to protect the quarterback and get some kind of push in the running game. Playing Carolina first might have been a blessing in disguise actually, as the Panthers have a top 3 defensive line and were fired up (as Super Bowl contending favorites) to get out there and hit somebody. Maybe it will inspire the coaches and the line to play that much better.

3. Is Kyle Williams as good as he looked against Carolina?

4. Which receivers will separate themselves from the pack? Nobody really stood out Saturday. I'm really not into Josh Reed either.

5. Will a tight end step forward? Everett had a couple of catches, can he build on that?

6. Will Whitner and the other young DB's start stepping up?

Jon

[justasportsfan]

I suppose it's a legitimate defense for Parrish that he was on the field with Holcomb. I was still expecting to see more of him and Price though. Reed was listed as a starter but he was on the field for almost the entire first half. It seemed like Jauron was using the game to iron out his depth chart for every position EXCEPT receiver.

Losman seems to favor Reed and Aiken. But Reed still can't catch.


I's hard to be productive when you are in and out of the ballgame. I was more surprised that Nance and Royals didn't catch a pass.

Reed will be fine.

I watched the game again last night and it seemed that Fox was trying to win the game while Jauron was just watching his players audition.

[jmb1099]

I'm not going to repeat line for line what Op said, but I'm going to add some things that I noted:

1. I think the Panthers' game plan was to have Delhomme come out throwing for a series or two, get his reps in, see what Keyshawn can do, and then run the ball more after that with DeAngelo Williams, etc. On the other hand, i think Buffalo's game plan was to be completely vanilla on defense (with their base defense) and be vanilla on offense (don't turn the ball over, establish the run) to try to get the basics down. Obviously, our line could not get a decent push against Carolina's starters, and their pass rush murdered Holcomb.

2. Holcomb did suck, almost to the point where you'd think the guy was on the take or something (of course he's not, but he was really, really bad).

3. Losman did not move the ball much in the first half, but he was doing some very good things he was not doing last year. He was consistently making the right reads with his progression, and he was avoiding pressure while keeping his eyes downfield to try to find late-developing openings with his receivers. He simply wasn't accurate at first, but then settled down and made some nice throws. Much different quarterback than last year.

4. McGee did get beat, but a lot of it wasn't his fault either. I counted that Matt Bowen was late at least three times on pass plays off of McGee where McGee had outside contain, and Bowen was supposed to help over the top. Bowen was decent in run defense, but I can see now why the Bills got rid of Lawyer Milloy and went so hard after Whitner. You need that strong safety who is fast and can come over the top in pass protection on McGee's side of the field, but also can line up somewhat close to the line of scrimmage and get in there on run defense. Let's hope Whitner is the real deal.

5. Kyle Williams did look great. In fact, the run defense didn't look half bad overall. Even Tim Anderson wasn't atrocious.

6. No pass rush to speak of. That being said, it didn't look like there was a lot of blitzing either, which coincides with the vanilla game plan theory.

7. The defense (DB's in particular) are very good tacklers.

Things to look for in preseason game number two:

1. It will be interesting to see how Losman does starting and how long they'll let him play for. Will he only get three series like Holcomb, or will he get 2+ quarters?

2. The starting offensive line needs to play better. They need to protect the quarterback and get some kind of push in the running game. Playing Carolina first might have been a blessing in disguise actually, as the Panthers have a top 3 defensive line and were fired up (as Super Bowl contending favorites) to get out there and hit somebody. Maybe it will inspire the coaches and the line to play that much better.

3. Is Kyle Williams as good as he looked against Carolina?

4. Which receivers will separate themselves from the pack? Nobody really stood out Saturday. I'm really not into Josh Reed either.

5. Will a tight end step forward? Everett had a couple of catches, can he build on that?

6. Will Whitner and the other young DB's start stepping up?

Jon
The only receiver that stood out in my opinion was Aiken. After Reed dropped a pass he stayed pretty decent, not great, but serviceable.

[The last buffalo fan]

I'm not going to repeat line for line what Op said, but I'm going to add some things that I noted:

1. I think the Panthers' game plan was to have Delhomme come out throwing for a series or two, get his reps in, see what Keyshawn can do, and then run the ball more after that with DeAngelo Williams, etc. On the other hand, i think Buffalo's game plan was to be completely vanilla on defense (with their base defense) and be vanilla on offense (don't turn the ball over, establish the run) to try to get the basics down. Obviously, our line could not get a decent push against Carolina's starters, and their pass rush murdered Holcomb.

2. Holcomb did suck, almost to the point where you'd think the guy was on the take or something (of course he's not, but he was really, really bad).

3. Losman did not move the ball much in the first half, but he was doing some very good things he was not doing last year. He was consistently making the right reads with his progression, and he was avoiding pressure while keeping his eyes downfield to try to find late-developing openings with his receivers. He simply wasn't accurate at first, but then settled down and made some nice throws. Much different quarterback than last year.

4. McGee did get beat, but a lot of it wasn't his fault either. I counted that Matt Bowen was late at least three times on pass plays off of McGee where McGee had outside contain, and Bowen was supposed to help over the top. Bowen was decent in run defense, but I can see now why the Bills got rid of Lawyer Milloy and went so hard after Whitner. You need that strong safety who is fast and can come over the top in pass protection on McGee's side of the field, but also can line up somewhat close to the line of scrimmage and get in there on run defense. Let's hope Whitner is the real deal.

5. Kyle Williams did look great. In fact, the run defense didn't look half bad overall. Even Tim Anderson wasn't atrocious.

6. No pass rush to speak of. That being said, it didn't look like there was a lot of blitzing either, which coincides with the vanilla game plan theory.

7. The defense (DB's in particular) are very good tacklers.

Things to look for in preseason game number two:

1. It will be interesting to see how Losman does starting and how long they'll let him play for. Will he only get three series like Holcomb, or will he get 2+ quarters?

2. The starting offensive line needs to play better. They need to protect the quarterback and get some kind of push in the running game. Playing Carolina first might have been a blessing in disguise actually, as the Panthers have a top 3 defensive line and were fired up (as Super Bowl contending favorites) to get out there and hit somebody. Maybe it will inspire the coaches and the line to play that much better.

3. Is Kyle Williams as good as he looked against Carolina?

4. Which receivers will separate themselves from the pack? Nobody really stood out Saturday. I'm really not into Josh Reed either.

5. Will a tight end step forward? Everett had a couple of catches, can he build on that?

6. Will Whitner and the other young DB's start stepping up?

Jon

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[SABURZFAN]

mcgee did look horrible. :ill:

[ublinkwescore]

Well, I'll be damned... Op can actually observe some positive things.

Will you agree then that if our run d does re-materialize this year, our D as a whole will very possibly be top 10? (which will help our O out immensely simply for the fact that they'll spend more time on the field than they did last year). Kyle Williams I think had his name mentioned more than McCargo did (or Triplett for that matter).

[OpIv37]

Well, I'll be damned... Op can actually observe some positive things.

Will you agree then that if our run d does re-materialize this year, our D as a whole will very possibly be top 10? (which will help our O out immensely simply for the fact that they'll spend more time on the field than they did last year). Kyle Williams I think had his name mentioned more than McCargo did (or Triplett for that matter).

It depends on how quickly the LB's and DB's catch onto the system. There were several plays last weekend where it was obvious that the players did not know where they were supposed to be in the passing scheme, or didn't know if they had help over the top.

If KW can continue to play at that level and the run support from the safety position is strong and the players figure out Fewell's system quickly enough, I suppose it could be a top 10. But that's a lot of "if's".

[ublinkwescore]

I only counted two - and there's a lot of talent on our D side of the ball.

[Mudflap1]

Keep this in mind when critiquing McGee...

His job in this defense is basically to protect the outside of the field. Over the top on the inside is primarily the strong safety's territory to help, and underneath on the inside is McGee/linebacker. While McGee was not on his man like glue, he was preventing the WR from going outside. The problem was, the posts were open on him because the safety was not stepping in (Bowen at the time, but Whitner at least once or twice also) to provide assistance. Remember, it's a zone, so certain guys are responsible for certain areas. It looks like it was all McGee's fault, but in reality, it wasn't. That being said, he can play better.

Jon