Well Tim Graham, what do you think?

[BillsWin]

Tim tweeted this before the game:


With a decent showing tonight, Bills could have the AFC East's best third (most realistic) preseason game. Not sure what that means ... about 13 hours ago (http://twitter.com/TimGrahamESPN/status/22368601788) via web

Well, what does it mean? Because I believe the Bills did have "the AFC East's best third (most realistic) preseason game".


Really, what does this mean? Should I be excited or stay in the gloomy guss club?

[jamze132]

Well our starting defense is not ready for the opening kickoff, nor is our ST.

[Michael82]

I think he means that the Dolphins looked like crap and couldn't score a TD. The Jets offense was putrid and didn't score until the 4th quarter and lost. plus the Patriots had an ugly game and lost. With the Bills 35-20 win...they had the best Week 3 pre-season game.

[Michael82]

You could look at it like I do...the rest of the division is mediocre (except the Pats) and if Spiller keeps kicking ass, along with Fred Jackson and if Trent Edwards keeps improving....they might win more games than everyone thinks.

I still see this as a 7 or 8 win team. They will beat the Dolphins in the opener, but start out slow and then go on a winning streak later in the season against Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Cincy.

[Buddo]

You could look at it like I do...the rest of the division is mediocre (except the Pats) and if Spiller keeps kicking ass, along with Fred Jackson and if Trent Edwards keeps improving....they might win more games than everyone thinks.

I still see this as a 7 or 8 win team. They will beat the Dolphins in the opener, but start out slow and then go on a winning streak later in the season against Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Cincy.

I'm with you on this one. They aren't anywhere near as bad as advertised, and both the Jets and Fins have been 'talked up' way too much. Sanchez and Henne, are no more 'proven' than Edwards is tbh. With brady, the Pats still have to be the team to beat, although if the Fins were starting Pennington, I might be less inclined to back against them.

[YardRat]

It doesn't mean anything, it's preseason. I want to have the best game on opening day.

[Novacane]

I'm now more worried about the defense than I am the offense.

[Extremebillsfan247]

I'm now more worried about the defense than I am the offense.Yeah, this idea has a following. I'm concerned too. We got gouged pretty heavily by their running game in the first half and Palmer just had all day to throw in there. No pass rush equals points on the board with a QB like Palmer who has multiple weapons at the ready.

Now, I do realize as Gailey said in his presser last night that the defense, like the offense, is still in the learning phase of the new scheme. It could take them awhile to get the hang of it. But, there isn't a lot of time for adjustment so close to the start of the season. That is what has me worried. I think as the season goes on, the defense will get better. But early on I am fully expecting them to struggle.

[Goobylal]

I want to see the defense with Kyle Williams in there and more blitzing and stunts, before I get all concerned. The same for the ST's and the guys who will actually be playing them.

[psubills62]

Yeah, the rest of the AFC East, especially Miami and the Jets, looked pretty poor. The Jets run game looked good and their defense was pretty good, but Sanchez had another "meh" game. Miami looked bad, period. New England looked decent, especially when their first-team offense played against St. Louis' second-team defense.

In the end, it's hard to read too much into these third preseason games, but it's generally more reasonable to read into those games than any of the other preseason games.

I'd love to see a correlation done on how a team performs in their third preseason game (obviously taking into account strength of opponent, etc.) vs. how well said team does in the regular season.

[tampabay25690]

The only team that scares me at all is NEW ENGLAND in our division.........

Think about it until Coach and Brady are in New England they are still the team to beat.

Miami doesnt scare me they have Chad Henne, Jets are the MEDIA'S paper champion and it's getting quite annoying.......Mark Sanchez really scare you??? Losing Thomas Jones will hurt this team more then many will think......

[trapezeus]

patriots have an old defense. i think if the bills offense is truly for real and can adjust, spiller has the speed to expose this overrated defense. a dick jauron team headed by a rookie OC in AVP exposed their defense.

I think the jets are their own worst enemy. and i think the dolphins are a mid level team that still is run only. i think they are the logical choice for people who aren't fans of the AFC East. for those who watch it, it seems to me that the east may be wide open.

[Throne Logic]

Well our starting defense is not ready for the opening kickoff, nor is our ST.

Don't sweat it quite yet. In the preseason, with very little game-planning and vanilla defensive play-calling, offenses tend to have the advantage. Wait until our defense sets up a plan and shows constructive blitz options that respond to in-game situations.

As far as special teams go, this is a unit that absolutely cannot be evaluated until the final roster is set. There are so many packages that use around 60 players off that 83 man preseason roster, most of which will obviously not even be around come next week. When the roster is set, DeHaven will actually know who he will have to work with and can coach accordingly.

I really don't understand why so many people are so down on Bruce D. He was responsible for some really fantastic special teams during the Super Bowl years. One ridiculous play in Tennessee seems to have tainted a number of view points.

[jamze132]

Don't sweat it quite yet. In the preseason, with very little game-planning and vanilla defensive play-calling, offenses tend to have the advantage. Wait until our defense sets up a plan and shows constructive blitz options that respond to in-game situations.

As far as special teams go, this is a unit that absolutely cannot be evaluated until the final roster is set. There are so many packages that use around 60 players off that 83 man preseason roster, most of which will obviously not even be around come next week. When the roster is set, DeHaven will actually know who he will have to work with and can coach accordingly.

I really don't understand why so many people are so down on Bruce D. He was responsible for some really fantastic special teams during the Super Bowl years. One ridiculous play in Tennessee seems to have tainted a number of view points.
Dude I know about vanilla and not game-planning during pre-season. I also know that our defense has a bunch of scrubs on it. Poz is never going to be more than mediocre, Whitner sucks ass, McGee is getting too old to hang with the #1 WRs, McKelvin is about as smart as my old Dell laptop, and our entire D-line can be described as poop. I think Byrd was extrememly lucky last year and I doubt he'll even have 5 picks all season, but you can take it to the bank that he will have more missed tackles and blown assignments than games played.

Even if Spiller pulls a Chris Johson, it won't make up for the debacle on defense which is about to be showcased in less than 2 weeks. I would love nothing more than to eat some crow, but I don't see it happening this year.

[BILLSROCK1212]

well...we always beat Cinci, so it means we will beat them again