For better or worse, Bills' CBs remain unchanged

[Don't Panic]

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/05/bills-cbs-remainunchanged020507.html


Buffalo lost No. 1 corner Nate Clements to San Francisco in free agency, and that's why it was expected to fill the void via the draft. Instead, though, it appears the Bills are ready to hedge their bets with the five-man rotation currently locked into roster spots -- Ashton Youboty, Terrence McGee, Kiwaukee Thomas, Jabari Greer and Eric Bassey.
Whether that will prove to be a good thing remains to be seen, obviously, but cornerback isn't exactly the most important position in the Tampa 2 defensive scheme, which is what the Bills run. The onus is actually put on the front seven to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks, thus giving the receivers less time to find openings in the secondary.
Next season, one thing's for certain: It is imperative that Buffalo's revamped front seven applies consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks, particularly in the AFC East, which has big-time talent at receiver. If not, the likes of Youboty and McGee could be watching Moss, Coles, Chambers and Co. race to the endzone on numerous occasions.


A little love for Bassey in there, too. Point is clear: get to the quarteback or prpare to struggle.

[mybills]

I'm so sick of hearing about Moss. He could break his leg in week one, and the media will have nothing to suck on. Not to mention, he's only signed for one year.

[elltrain22]

Call me crazy, but I am optimistic about our defense as a whole this year, CB included. I have always been a big Clements fan, even at OSU, but I agree that within the Tampa 2 dee, the cb position itself is not the ideal position on the field. I also am optimistic about Youboty. I liked this kid alot in college, and w/ some good coaching who's to say he couldn't have a pretty good season for us. We never saw it coming from McGee, so all's I'm saying is why not a premiere athlete like Youboty?? Forgive me for looking at the glass half full....

[feelthepain]

Call me crazy, but I am optimistic about our defense as a whole this year, CB included. I have always been a big Clements fan, even at OSU, but I agree that within the Tampa 2 dee, the cb position itself is not the ideal position on the field. I also am optimistic about Youboty. I liked this kid alot in college, and w/ some good coaching who's to say he couldn't have a pretty good season for us. We never saw it coming from McGee, so all's I'm saying is why not a premiere athlete like Youboty?? Forgive me for looking at the glass half full....


Ok, well did your front 7 really improve?? Will they be able to move from the 27th run D to a top 10?? Defenses need to do more then put pressure on the QB, they need to shut down the run game. Otherwise who cares what people do through the air? Remember the reason teams need a big fat body in the middle is to gobble up blockers and keeping them off the LB's. The Bills don't have anyone like that, so Posluszny will have to fend off linemen istead of being free to look for the RB's and shutting down the rumming game.

[Don't Panic]

Ok, well did your front 7 really improve?? Will they be able to move from the 27th run D to a top 10?? Defenses need to do more then put pressure on the QB, they need to shut down the run game. Otherwise who cares what people do through the air? Remember the reason teams need a big fat body in the middle is to gobble up blockers and keeping them off the LB's. The Bills don't have anyone like that, so Posluszny will have to fend off linemen istead of being free to look for the RB's and shutting down the rumming game.

True, but if those linemen have to worry about a constant pass rush (cross your fingers), they won't be able to hit the second tier.

[mybills]

Ok, well did your front 7 really improve?? Will they be able to move from the 27th run D to a top 10?? Defenses need to do more then put pressure on the QB, they need to shut down the run game. Otherwise who cares what people do through the air? Remember the reason teams need a big fat body in the middle is to gobble up blockers and keeping them off the LB's. The Bills don't have anyone like that, so Posluszny will have to fend off linemen istead of being free to look for the RB's and shutting down the rumming game.

Not sure what a rumming game is, but can any team answer those questions 100% accurately? Nobody knows which college player excels at the NFL level, until it happens.

[alohabillsfan]

Ok, well did your front 7 really improve?? Will they be able to move from the 27th run D to a top 10?? Defenses need to do more then put pressure on the QB, they need to shut down the run game. Otherwise who cares what people do through the air? Remember the reason teams need a big fat body in the middle is to gobble up blockers and keeping them off the LB's. The Bills don't have anyone like that, so Posluszny will have to fend off linemen istead of being free to look for the RB's and shutting down the rumming game.


OK mister need a gobble-up fat ass d-lineman who fits that mold on the 2 defenses that just played in the super bowl? FYI the Bills run defense got alot better when they signed Dockery, Whittle and Walker. The Bills offensive line will be alot better which will improve our running game, passing game and total offense, which will force teams to pass! Thats the way the Tampa 2 teams win games! If the offense sucks the defense can and will be exposed.

[feelthepain]

OK mister need a gobble-up fat ass d-lineman who fits that mold on the 2 defenses that just played in the super bowl? FYI the Bills run defense got alot better when they signed Dockery, Whittle and Walker. The Bills offensive line will be alot better which will improve our running game, passing game and total offense, which will force teams to pass! Thats the way the Tampa 2 teams win games! If the offense sucks the defense can and will be exposed.


The Colts could make up for their weakness on run defense with an offense that could outscore anyone, teams didn't spend a lot of time running the ball on the Colts cause the Colts were always ahead and teams were forced to play catch up pretty much eliminating the ablility to run the ball against them, the Bills don't have that! The Bears had the 2nd best rushing D in the league, but also could score a lot of points, they just didn't score a lot of points consistently.



FYI the Bills run defense got alot better when they signed Dockery, Whittle and Walker


Ummm, how'd the Bills run defense get better by signing these guy's?? The Bills did sign those guy's, but only one of them has really produced in the NFL and that's Dockery and he's not exactly a probowler.

[justasportsfan]

Ummm, how'd the Bills run defense get better by signing these guy's?? .
you're right, we don't know yet. Only time will tell.

The Colts could make up for their weakness on run defense with an offense that could outscore anyone, teams didn't spend a lot of time running the ball on the Colts cause the Colts were always ahead and teams were forced to play catch up pretty much eliminating the ablility to run the ball against them, the Bills don't have that! .
Oh but now you know? :coocoo:

[DynaPaul]

I'm so sick of hearing about Moss. He could break his leg in week one, and the media will have nothing to suck on. Not to mention, he's only signed for one year.

Moss is merely attempting to run the old "Sign up on the cheap on a team destined to go to the Super Bowl and get a ring and then sign with some other team for a fat payday and then slack off" scam. Don't think it's gonna work though. Maybe he's been talking to Andre Rison?

[Statman]

Ok, well did your front 7 really improve?? Will they be able to move from the 27th run D to a top 10?? Defenses need to do more then put pressure on the QB, they need to shut down the run game. Otherwise who cares what people do through the air? Remember the reason teams need a big fat body in the middle is to gobble up blockers and keeping them off the LB's. The Bills don't have anyone like that, so Posluszny will have to fend off linemen istead of being free to look for the RB's and shutting down the rumming game.
Our front-7 really hasn't changed except for Spikes and Fletcher out and Posluszny in.

Trying to explain the rest here is like attempting to get a mob to think rationally.

Our run D will get worse. Many here think that teams will first try to throw against us.

[Goobylal]

Why will the run D get worse? Were Fletcher and Spikes run stuffers? Ding! Thanks for playing!

I'm expecting a better defense because everyone will have had a year in the cover-2, especially the rookies, who should improve above and beyond that because they have their 1st NFL seasons behind them. That also includes Hargrove who was added mid-season. I love the addition of Walker, I'm expecting McCargo to be healthy, and Poz has the talent, smarts, and desire to learn the playbook and calls and be the starting MLB, or an OLB if need be. I think that CB is somewhat of a concern, but again, the cover-2 relies more on the safeties, who as I alluded to, were rookies who were new to the NFL AND cover-2 last year. I'm hoping Youboty is as good as the coaches seem to think he is, though.

[Statman]

Why will the run D get worse? Were Fletcher and Spikes run stuffers? Ding! Thanks for playing!

Ancient Proverb: Never bring a knife to a gun fight!

Yes, Fletcher and Spikes were better at stuffing the run that at pass protection. In fact, Fletcher was not at all good at pass protection which you'd know if you'd actually been watching the team while he's been on it. Spikes was a superlative LB prior to his injury and he will improve this season. He was good at everything.

Ding! Thanks for responding.


I'm expecting a better defense because everyone will have had a year in the cover-2, especially the rookies, who should improve above and beyond that because they have their 1st NFL seasons behind them. That also includes Hargrove who was added mid-season. I love the addition of Walker, I'm expecting McCargo to be healthy, and Poz has the talent, smarts, and desire to learn the playbook and calls and be the starting MLB, or an OLB if need be. I think that CB is somewhat of a concern, but again, the cover-2 relies more on the safeties, who as I alluded to, were rookies who were new to the NFL AND cover-2 last year. I'm hoping Youboty is as good as the coaches seem to think he is, though.
OK, so "you're expecting..."

Great! And I'm expecting to receive a check for $10 million any day in the mail.

Our defense, as with pretty much any variation of the Cover-2 can and will only work if the front-4 is able to penetrate and clog running lanes, something that we were miserable at last season. So hope and say what you may, things don't merely improve for teams in the NFL because there's enough mental energy from their fans "hoping" for improvement or merely because enough time passes. There's a thing called talent and we have none in our front-4. Not one of our defensive linemen specializes in stuffing runs. Not one.

If you're hoping for something out of Walker (Darwin), then you're going to be sorely disappointed. Horrible trade for us as Spikes will continue to improve and become at least back up to average standards of play. Walker isn't that anymore on a good day and was never much beyond that to begin with.

You're expecting McCargo to be healthy. Great. But he'll have to step things up ten fold from what he showed last season when he was all but transparent while he was on the field. You're wasting your hopes there and I'm telling you now that he'll once again have injury issues with his foot thereby ending his run in the NFL. If you understood orthopaedics and stress fractures, which I do, then you'd have a greater understanding there.

You're "hoping that Youboty is as good as the coaches seem to think he is." I can say the same thing about 20 players over the last two or three seasons.

Keep in mind, we have pretty much yanked a RT, Pennington, who allowed only 2 sacks and had only 1 holding in 9 starts and 11 games total, and paid through the roof for a guy that allowed 11 sacks and had 3 holding penalties in only five more games and not even twice the starts.

Seems to me that your hopes may be misplaced.

Posluszny seems to be good in run defense but he alone isn't going to make the difference for us. The rest of what you're "hoping" for just isn't founded other than to say "I'm hoping" which does nothing to make it happen.

Some of what you say has merit, but the degree of which can be questioned. Also, there are counter-merits too such as opponents will now have a season's worth of film on us whereas last year they had none. We also had quite a few new players last year and this year we have really only Pos and Lynch in key positions for teams to "figure out."

So while there is in fact some merit in what your hopes are based on, there are also equally valid reason why any such advantages will or can be negated either entirely or partially.

But to your points, not including Posluszny, name one front-7 defender, starter or backup, that has as his primary strength stuffing the run/clogging the rushing lanes, etc.? Just one.

[Statman]

By the way, Pos is good in run defense, not great at it. His knocks are that he has trouble shedding blocks. (Run defense)

[John Doe]

Our front-7 really hasn't changed except for Spikes and Fletcher out and Posluszny in.


Dead Wrong.

McCargo is healty.

Walker brings experience and is an upgrade over Anderson.

Kyle Williams has a year under his belt.

[Goobylal]

First of all, I wasn't saying that Fletch was a great pass protector; just that he wasn't a great run stuffer. And you're laughing at me for my expectations, yet you say that Spikes "will be better?" Sorry but he's done. An Achilles is the LAST type of injury you want to see a player suffer, outside of amputating a limb, especially in an older guy.

And yes I think that it's not unreasonable to expect a healthy and more experienced McCargo to help the defense up the middle, along with Walker who is the penetrating type of DT they've been looking for. I also don't think it's unreasonable to expect something out of Youboty, who was a 3rd rounder last year and who by all accounts the Bills like a lot.

[Typ0]

our defense lacked depth last year and went backwards.