A few comments on the 1st quarter

[OpIv37]

Why the first quarter?
1. Because the only thing that matters is what the starters did
2. Because that's all I've had time to watch so far.

So, I'll start with a few good comments:
1. Poz looked great.
2. Scott looked pretty good.
3. Lynch still looks good.
4. Hangartner and Bell held their own, which is better than I thought they'd do.
5. If Trent gets time to throw the ball, TO will really help this offense.
6. The no-huddle seemed to work. This is the one area where I will give the coaches credit. I think they're blowing smoke up our asses right now and we're going to be seeing a lot of it once the real games start.

And now, the bad:
1. The DL looks like absolute garbage. Stroud and Williams got ZERO push up the middle. Schobel made some nice "hustle" plays to catch up with the RB AFTER a 4 yard gain but also got very little penetration. Did Kelsay even play? They announced him with the starting lineup but he was invisible on the field.
2. Keith Ellison- see the Kelsay comment above.
3. McKelvin struggled against the starters.
4. The two rookies on the OL look like friggin rookies.
5. Our vaunted S/T got owned. That fake punt was the most obvious in the history of the NFL and it was just embarrassing that the Bills fell for it. I put that mostly on the coaches. They also had a good return by Bruce Hall negated by a stupid penalty.
6. As long as we're on the subject of coaching, why the hell was Schouman trying to block VanDanBosch on that 3 yard loss? Stupid. And the DB's are STILL playing too far off the LOS, which is why McKelvin couldn't stop that 3rd and 15. And Whitner didn't do anything particularly good or particularly bad, mainly because it looked like the coaches still have him hanging back playing center field.
7. Aaron Maybin looked.... oh wait, he was watching the game at home on his couch, just like the rest of us. ****.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to watch the rest of the game later and make some comments on some of the rookies and back-ups.

[OpIv37]

Oh I forgot- Levitre looked VERY raw and our TE's were ineffective as well.

[Night Train]

Not bad at all.

What frustrates me on D is watching DE's on several plays trying to cover RB's,TE's & WR's near the LOS. I hate the Cover 2.

That 1st play for the Titans from scrimmage. The WR goes in motion with McGee following. McGee properly picks up the inside slot WR and points McKelvin to his man. McKelvin drops back 10 yards, then takes off running backwards from the LOS. The WR catches the ball on a quick out, picking up blockers while McKelvin is 20 yards downfield. That basically sets the tone for the night that nothing has changed.

The D can't stop sweeps, short swing passes, slants..you name it. You win with D first and the Bills continue to run a failing scheme. Players are still completely lost on responsibilities. No rush at all.

Ugh !

[OpIv37]

Not bad at all.

What frustrates me on D is watching DE's on several plays trying to cover RB's,TE's & WR's near the LOS. I hate the Cover 2.

That 1st play for the Titans from scrimmage. The WR goes in motion with McGee following. McGee properly picks up the inside slot WR and points McKelvin to his man. McKelvin drops back 10 yards, then takes off running backwards from the LOS. The WR catches the ball on a quick out, picking up blockers while McKelvin is 20 yards downfield. That basically sets the tone for the night that nothing has changed.

The D can't stop sweeps, short swing passes, slants..you name it. You win with D first and the Bills continue to run a failing scheme. Players are still completely lost on responsibilities. No rush at all.

Ugh !

oh yeah I forgot to mention that- the most egregious example was Schobel trying to cover Chris Johnson on a wheel route.

[Prov401]

75% of our hopes this year, lie in the trenches. Whether we can protect Trent, and open holes, as well as our D penetrating and pressuring the QB. Everyone who read my thread, 'The cover 2 sucks', knows how I feel on our defensive strategy, so I won't discuss that.

Here is something that is greatly beneficial this preseason, preparing us for the regular season. The Bears, Packers, and Steelers are all good opponents for us. And the second to last preseason game is always the one where the starters get the most playing time. There isn't a better team to go against than the SuperBowl champ Steelers, in such a game. My focus is strictly on the O & D-lines, CB's, and Trent.

[BillsWin]

Chris Brown said Schouman didnt play. but I thought I saw him too. You may be thinking of Stupar who played almost all game splitting time with Fine and Nelson.

[OpIv37]

Chris Brown said Schouman didnt play. but I thought I saw him too. You may be thinking of Stupar who played almost all game splitting time with Fine and Nelson.

Was he wearing #80 or something that could easily be confused with 80? I'll go back and look again, but I'm pretty sure the guy that missed the block was wearing 80, which is Schouman's number.

Either way, the point holds true. It was a TE trying to block a great DE, which is just dumb on the part of the coaches.

[Akhippo]

Why cant our TEs do anything of promise, yet BIG ole Crumpler was getting his the whole time he was in there. This isnt A Gates here.

How is our only hope at DE, C Ellis, getting manhandled by a rookie TE who isnt a good blocker. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE. I could never fathom B Smith getting pushed around by someone like that.

Agreed, that bubble screen epitomizes our p poor defensive scheme. How can you start running backwards when you already have a ten yard cushion. NE is going to eat us alive just on that play alone.

How can you have three unblocked STers ALL go for the fake without one even considering blasting the punter. Then to have him go forty yards for a TD. Forty yards without getting touched.

Why does Fitz look like he chucks and ducks when he throws the ball?

I do like though the use of the no huddle/hurry up/K gun whatever. If perfected, it should help us with stronger rotational D lines.

Also the use of toss sweeps. Get those guys the ball in space. Throw in the counter trey and we have something going. Run those D lineman all over the field.

[BillsWin]

Was he wearing #80 or something that could easily be confused with 80? I'll go back and look again, but I'm pretty sure the guy that missed the block was wearing 80, which is Schouman's number.

Either way, the point holds true. It was a TE trying to block a great DE, which is just dumb on the part of the coaches.

I know, I saw that too. but I was watching the chat on bb.com and Chris said Schouman was out because they wanted to give the other TEs more looks.

I saw it too OP. I wasnt correcting you, just telling you what I saw Chris Brown write. CB is wrong sometimes. :up:

[OpIv37]

Ok I watched the rest of the game. Just a few brief additions:

-Did Jauron really attempt to ice HIS OWN KICKER on a 47 yard attempt? Props to Lindell for a great game, and I want to kick Jauron in the nuts.

-Bowen, Nic Harris, Omon, and Nelson all looked good, albeit against inferior competition. Of the group, I'd say Harris has the most potential and Omon has the least.

-The backup defensive linemen didn't look any better than the starters. It was disheartening to see Chris Ellis and McCargo struggle against 2nd and 3rd stringers. I was hoping those guys would be part of the rotation.

-Ellis Lankster looked ****ing clueless out there.

-Levitre didn't look quite so bad against the 2nd and 3rd stringers, so the basics are there. I guess there's still some hope...

[Nighthawk]

Wood did not look out of place...he held his own. Levitre struggled a bit...I'll give him some time and then judge him.

[GreedoII]

Perry Fewell's scheme is vanilla in preseason and in the regular seasn which makes me believe what you saw Sunday you will see all year. I think it's lack of talent as well as lack of coaching abilty to adust to the talent you have. If they had pass rushers I think this defense can somewhat work. Unfortunately the key people you need to run this outdated defense are D-lineman and capable LB which we have none of. So we keep tryimgto fit that same old square peg in that old round hole yet again for the 4th straight yr. It's like watching a rerun of the last 3 yrs. Just put in a tape from 2006-2008 and it's no different from what you saw on Sunday. Continuity indeed....

[THATHURMANATOR]

Why the first quarter?
1. Because the only thing that matters is what the starters did
2. Because that's all I've had time to watch so far.

So, I'll start with a few good comments:
1. Poz looked great.
2. Scott looked pretty good.
3. Lynch still looks good.
4. Hangartner and Bell held their own, which is better than I thought they'd do.
5. If Trent gets time to throw the ball, TO will really help this offense.
6. The no-huddle seemed to work. This is the one area where I will give the coaches credit. I think they're blowing smoke up our asses right now and we're going to be seeing a lot of it once the real games start.

And now, the bad:
1. The DL looks like absolute garbage. Stroud and Williams got ZERO push up the middle. Schobel made some nice "hustle" plays to catch up with the RB AFTER a 4 yard gain but also got very little penetration. Did Kelsay even play? They announced him with the starting lineup but he was invisible on the field.
2. Keith Ellison- see the Kelsay comment above.
3. McKelvin struggled against the starters.
4. The two rookies on the OL look like friggin rookies.
5. Our vaunted S/T got owned. That fake punt was the most obvious in the history of the NFL and it was just embarrassing that the Bills fell for it. I put that mostly on the coaches. They also had a good return by Bruce Hall negated by a stupid penalty.
6. As long as we're on the subject of coaching, why the hell was Schouman trying to block VanDanBosch on that 3 yard loss? Stupid. And the DB's are STILL playing too far off the LOS, which is why McKelvin couldn't stop that 3rd and 15. And Whitner didn't do anything particularly good or particularly bad, mainly because it looked like the coaches still have him hanging back playing center field.
7. Aaron Maybin looked.... oh wait, he was watching the game at home on his couch, just like the rest of us. ****.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to watch the rest of the game later and make some comments on some of the rookies and back-ups.
Great points. I pretty much agree with all of this.

[Mahdi]

A couple of additional comments to OPs.

Ryan Denney - I thought he looked way more explosive than last year. He is mixing up his rushes more and is using his long arms to bull rush way more effectively.

McCargo - Thought he held things down nicely. When McCargo is in the game for a starter I rarely see a drop off, and the same was true last year early in the season when he was healthy. He definitely makes our DL better and fresher.

Derek Fine - Looks like a very sure handed TE. Trent threw a fast ball to him from 8 yards and the ball just stuck in there under tight coverage. If we can get that consistently from our TEs were already better than last year.

Bell - What a bonus he would be if he could play LT sooner rather than later. Walker is a RT.

OL - They have a lot of work to do in run blocking.

[billsfanone]

The one thing I think will make or break our d is aggressivness. In the gameplan, not only the play from the players. They looked nice last year when they were blitzing. They looked horrible when playing the bend but don't break style. There are so many reasons to hate bend but don't break that I don't know where to begin. But I'll try:
1) the front 4 never gets pressure
2) it doesn't disrupt the opposition
3) the lets the opposition get into a groove
4) it doesn't force mistakes from the opposition
5) it makes the aggressive players overpursue to overcompensate
6) it lets the opposition set the tone, not the other way around.

[mybills]

They need to teach our little rookie returner how to call a fair catch. I was pulling my hair out! He finally did it at the end, but he could have been killed. :nervous:

[OpIv37]

They need to teach our little rookie returner how to call a fair catch. I was pulling my hair out! He finally did it at the end, but he could have been killed. :nervous:

I wouldn't worry too much about it- Parrish or McKelvin will be back there once the real games start.