Some Musings before Season Opener

[Bufftp]

The national media and some of the more "realistic" psoters here have the Bills as worse than last years 5 win team. I am not sure why. No, I am not one of the "extreme optomists" posters prediciting a 10-12 win season either.

Yet I find it hard to be truly realistic and see a worse season or worse team than last year.

J.P. is improving.

Willis looks the Best he has in his 3 years here and may become the back we expected.

Takeo is back and looks healthy.

The coahing staff seems better than what we had the last year.

I think we should be better than last year.

[clumping platelets]

I agree :eek:

[BILLSROCK1212]

The national media and some of the more "realistic" psoters here have the Bills as worse than last years 5 win team. I am not sure why. No, I am not one of the "extreme optomists" posters prediciting a 10-12 win season either.

Yet I find it hard to be truly realistic and see a worse season or worse team than last year.

J.P. is improving.

Willis looks the Best he has in his 3 years here and may become the back we expected.

Takeo is back and looks healthy.

The coahing staff seems better than what we had the last year.

I think we should be better than last year.

i cudnt say it any better i do believe we actually have a shot at the division though if everything were to fall in place like the 'fins having a bad D and losing the close ones while the Pats have injury problems and the offense not being able to succeed without Branch but one of those teams most likely the 'fins will be able to pull it out but honestly this is the best post of the offseason

[chernobylwraiths]

I'll put my two cents in.

While the "new regime" has seemed to clean house and gotten rid of the "previous regime's" dead wood, please remember that one of TD's biggest faults is bad hiring of coaches and not addressing the offensive and defensive lines sufficiently. He made some really good moves and decent draft picks. McGahee, Evans, Losman, Shobel, Crowell, Clements, McGee were all draft picks by TD and Fletcher, Spikes and Vincent were all brought in by him as well as other players.

Just because this administration is getting rid of players from under the last one doesn't necessarily mean it is good.

I think however that they are headed in the right direction and will be an improvement over last year. I am looking forward to this season. It has taken a little longer than in the past, but I knew it would come with the coming of the season. I think this administration hasn't created unrealistic expectations as the last one did.

[goodkarma]

I think we should be better than last year.

So what's your prediction? I think 5 wins is about accurate, maybe 6.

[SABURZFAN]

i'm guessing 6 wins at the most.

[ublinkwescore]

You guys that say we're only gonna pull out 5-6 wins obviously haven't checked the schedule, or seen that we have an O that can score from anywhere on the field.

[Bufftp]

So what's your prediction? I think 5 wins is about accurate, maybe 6.
Godd question GK.

I forgot to add that the O-Line looks improved over last year and should jell in 4-5 games and even get better.

I would say this team is at least 2-4 games better than last years team.
so 7-9 to 9-7, possibly even better with a few bounces there way.

But I absolutley believe they are not as bad as last year or as bad as some people think.

I think we may be seeing the begining of something special.

[YardRat]

I expect thme to be better. Whether or not that shows up in the win/loss column remains to be seen.

[SABURZFAN]

You guys that say we're only gonna pull out 5-6 wins obviously haven't checked the schedule, or seen that we have an O that can score from anywhere on the field.


does that make me a Homer or Realist? :huh:

[mybills]

I expect thme to be better. Whether or not that shows up in the win/loss column remains to be seen.
Exactly! :up:

[bills_7]

Will be anywhere from 7-9 to 10-6.. just need fumbles and/or bounces to come our way

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I expect thme to be better. Whether or not that shows up in the win/loss column remains to be seen.

That's exactly how I see it as well.

I agree with everything that Bufftp said about JP, Willis and all of the parts of the team that look to be better than last year and I also think that this team will play harder and be more of a cohesive team than last year. So, overall, I do believe that they will be a better team than last year's 5 win team.

The question is whether that improvement over last year will translate into more wins than last year's pitiful total. The schedule is potentially easier than it was last year, but the problem that I see is that this is a very young, inexperienced team with little or no quality depth at some very key positions.

It is great that the Bills have added some quality young talent this off-season--youth and speed are great to have--but young, inexperienced players also have a tendency to make boneheaded plays at times due to their inexperience that cost their teams games. The old adage used to be that you would lose at least one additional game for every rookie in your starting lineup (one reason George Allen hated rookies!) and, while the adverse impact of rookies may be somewhat less now in this day of free agency, it is still true that young, inexperienced players will make as many bad plays at critical times in games as they will good ones. And, with the Bills relying so much on young, inexperienced players, I think we will see that a lot this season.

And, that is if the team can manage to stay relatively healthy this season. The Bills starters show a lot of promise for better things, but the team has very little depth at a number of key positions and in many cases their depth is very raw, inexperienced and still in need of development. This is especially the case on both the offensive and defensive lines as well as at linebacker. While you can't anticipate injuries, it is likely that, at some point during the season, the Bills will have to rely on one or more of their inexperienced, raw youngsters to play a larger role than anticipated. And, even if their depth players play reasonably well, that could be a problem.

If they can stay reasonably healthy, I do not see this team finishing worse than last year's team. But, I'm not sure how many more win than last year's team they will be able to get. Because this is going to be such a young team, one of the things that it is going to have to learn over the course of this season is how to win. I think that one more win (6) than last year is definitely achievable and two more wins (7) is possible. But, IMHO if this team were to win three more games and go 8-8 it would be an absolutely great season. On the other hand, key injuries could really hurt their record and prevent them from achieving these totals, even if, overall, the team is better.

As I see it, this will be a season of not just "peaks and valleys", but of "peaks and chasms" where the young talent struts its stuff one week and looks looks like a bunch of lost college kids the next. Still, because the coaching is better, the team will play harder and the talent is younger and, in some cases, better, I think that it will be an interesting team to watch and one that will be a lot easier to root for regardless of their record.

[OpIv37]

You guys that say we're only gonna pull out 5-6 wins obviously haven't checked the schedule, or seen that we have an O that can score from anywhere on the field.

doesn't matter when our zone D is full of holes and our DL still has a long way to go.

[~CHIEF~]

Let's Hope!

[ublinkwescore]

does that make me a Homer or Realist? :huh:

That makes you Naive - why don't you take that little bet I offered? you know the one where my ZoneBucks say that we'll win at least 7 games, and yours and/or any other takers' ZoneBucks say that we'll win 6 or fewer.

[ublinkwescore]

doesn't matter when our zone D is full of holes and our DL still has a long way to go.

Our DL isn't necessarily where it needs to be, but it does still make big plays doesn't it? And the talent we've got in the secondary will be fine after a few weeks. I bet there are a lot of teams that would kill to have the youth and talent we've got in our secondary - no matter the scheme they're playing. Just remember one thing before you attempt suicide Op - young talented teams who are playing in new systems take a while to get the systems down. You had to have noticed how good Chicago's DBs were last year - they were in my opinion the best in the league and they are no where near as physically gifted as our guys are - just give it a few weeks. Not to mention Urlacher is no Spikes, and Fletcher isn't that far behind Urlacher. Their DL was clearly better than ours, but a "big play" DL like we've got I think will suffice - it too will get better as the season progresses (that's why I'm not saying we'll make the playoffs, but best case scenario, we finish 9-7 - worst case scenario, we finish 7-9).

[Jan Reimers]

The national media and some of the more "realistic" psoters here have the Bills as worse than last years 5 win team. I am not sure why. No, I am not one of the "extreme optomists" posters prediciting a 10-12 win season either.

Yet I find it hard to be truly realistic and see a worse season or worse team than last year.

J.P. is improving.

Willis looks the Best he has in his 3 years here and may become the back we expected.

Takeo is back and looks healthy.

The coahing staff seems better than what we had the last year.

I think we should be better than last year.
I agree, and also think we're better on the O line and TE, have more speed at WR, and have added a number of good, young players on D. Inexperience will be our biggest problem, but I look for a motivated, hardworking, well coached team that will play together. I'd like a good record, but think we still may be a season away from being a playoff contender.

[SABURZFAN]

That makes you Naive - why don't you take that little bet I offered? you know the one where my ZoneBucks say that we'll win at least 7 games, and yours and/or any other takers' ZoneBucks say that we'll win 6 or fewer.


why don't you go get your ass kicked by some more crackheads?

[Bill Brasky]

The national media and some of the more "realistic" psoters here have the Bills as worse than last years 5 win team. I am not sure why. No, I am not one of the "extreme optomists" posters prediciting a 10-12 win season either.

Yet I find it hard to be truly realistic and see a worse season or worse team than last year.

J.P. is improving.

Willis looks the Best he has in his 3 years here and may become the back we expected.

Takeo is back and looks healthy.

The coahing staff seems better than what we had the last year.

I think we should be better than last year.
You can be a better team and still have a worse record.

1 of 3 things can happen.

1 - JP will struggle, as most see happening, but will continue to improve.
2 - He will come flying out of the gates, more prepared and better than we assume, and the Bills will be a sleeper team potentially fighting for a playoff spot.
3 - He will completely bomb and his career will be over.

Out of those three I think (1) is the most viable...

I feel this team is better than the team they had last season, but they will lose several close games and finish with 5 wins. That is not a bad thing.

I'd take a 5 win season + some close losses over 5 wins and lack of heart the rest of the time - as was the case last year.

I think next year is the year to watch. The only thing Bills fans should worry about this year is JP's development, or lack there of. I'd rather see him improve over the course of a 5 win season instead of playing the QB carousel to eek out an extra meaningless win or two. If he continues to improve, our QB situation can be put to rest. If he stumbles out of the gates and never recovers, this team is back to square 1.

[BillyT92679]

8-8

[OpIv37]

young talented teams who are playing in new systems take a while to get the systems down. You had to have noticed how good Chicago's DBs were last year - they were in my opinion the best in the league and they are no where near as physically gifted as our guys are - just give it a few weeks. Not to mention Urlacher is no Spikes, and Fletcher isn't that far behind Urlacher. Their DL was clearly better than ours, but a "big play" DL like we've got I think will suffice - it too will get better as the season progresses (that's why I'm not saying we'll make the playoffs, but best case scenario, we finish 9-7 - worst case scenario, we finish 7-9).

you said it yourself- "take a while to get the systems down". Guess what? We don't have a while- we open with 3 division games.

And what does Chicago have to do with anything?

And you're giving Spikes too much credit. Before the injury, he was clearly better than Urlacher. Now, who knows? Sam Cowart, who had the same injury as Spikes, was cut this week.

And what makes you think Ryan Denney and Tim Anderson have "big play" ability. The only big play guy on our line is Schobel and possibly Kyle Williams. Tripplett's good but I wouldn't call him "big play".

[Captain gameboy]

I think we win 6-7.

More importantly, I think we have stability.

I just hope we can live through a 6-7 win season without calling for heads.

Its one thing to predict it, as many have.
Its quite another to live through it with the big picture in mind.

I think there will be quite a few rough Sunday nights around here.

[Bufftp]

Its quite another to live through it with the big picture in mind.


An excellent point Gameboy, one that can be viewed in many aspects of life!