Demon
06-24-2003, 02:04 AM
I subscribe to The Sporting News Magazine and this past week in the June 23rd issue there was a nice article on the Buffalo Bills defense on page 14. I would have posted this earlier but i was busy all week and today i found the same article on-line.
Pretty good article about the Bills defense, i will post the article here, but please for the love of god go to a local newsstand and buy the magazine! It's only like $3 and you get pictures plus your helping Sporting News survive!!! Anyways, Spikes is looking good in a Bills jersey :)
New-look Bills appear ready to contend
June 18, 2003 Print it
Scott Pitoniak
For Sporting News
The folks seated behind the visitors' bench at Ralph Wilson Stadium delight in getting inside an enemy player's Riddell, peppering opponents with language more suited for The Sopranos than SportsCenter.
But when linebacker Takeo Spikes traveled to the Ralph with the Bengals for the season finale last December, the Bills' 12th Man opted for a different strategy: love. They were intent on making Spikes feel at home.
"I wondered if I had gotten dinged, and maybe I wasn't thinking straight," Spikes says. "Bills fans being kind to an opposing player? No way. I had to be hallucinating because those folks make Buffalo one of the toughest cribs in the league to visit."
There was a method to the diehards' madness. Realizing their sieve-like defense could use a playmaker such as Spikes, who was soon to become a free agent, they recruited him as if he were a high school phenom visiting a college campus. They did everything but have one of the Buffalo Jills cheerleaders deliver him a tray full of chicken wings along with a list of the poshest homes available in the Buffalo market.
"I wound up having a big game that day, and they took notice," recalls Spikes, who finished with 16 tackles, including a sack that resulted in a Bengals fumble recovery. "They were shouting things at me like, 'Great job audition, Takeo. Keep it up. Just don't hurt any of our guys because you're going to be their teammate next year.'"
A six-year, $32 million contract and the opportunity to play for a winner ultimately lured Spikes to Buffalo after five seasons with the Bengals. But the sales pitch by Bills fans factored into the equation.
"I hadn't experienced an atmosphere like that since my college days at Auburn," Spikes says. "That they would be that passionate and that knowledgeable told me that this was a place for me. I guess from all the free-agent acquisitions the Bills have made, I wasn't alone in thinking that way."
Indeed, his signing was part of a talent grab in which the Bills landed more than 10 free agents since the end of the season. With the addition of Spikes, space-eating nose tackle Sam Adams, linebacker Jeff Posey, defensive end Keith McKenzie and free safety Izell Reese, you can bet your Bledsoe bobblehead there won't be a repeat of last year's ineptitude -- a defense that finished last in the league in takeaways, 29th against the run and 27th in points allowed.
"I think the sleeping giant is about to awaken in Buffalo," says Colts GM Bill Polian, the lead architect of the Bills' Super Bowl run in the early 1990s. "Last year, (Bills GM) Tom Donahoe did a great job repairing their offense, and this year he appears to have done a similarly great job of fixing their defense. So much, of course, can still happen, with injuries, bad bounces of the ball, etc. But on paper, that's now a football team that has to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball."
That's a pleasant situation for defensive coordinator Jerry Gray, whose unit was so lacking in talent and experience the last two seasons that he occasionally felt like he was trying to put out a forest fire with an eyedropper. Gray will get help this season from former Bengals coach Dick LeBeau, one of the league's most respected defensive strategists and Spikes' first coordinator.
"With all the acquisitions, we've become a veteran unit overnight," Gray says. "With this group, we no longer are in that constant teaching mode."
The changes come not a minute too soon for coach Gregg Williams, whose job is on the line despite guiding the team to an 8-8 record in 2002 after a 3-13 first year. For the first time since coming to Buffalo from Tennessee, Williams has the players necessary to implement aspects of the attacking "46" defense he ran successfully as the Titans' coordinator. "We've gone from having a few playmakers to having playmakers pretty much across the board," he says.
The newcomer who should have the biggest impact is Spikes, an underappreciated talent who endured seasons of 3-13, 4-12, 4-12, 6-10 and 2-14 in Cincinnati. His first name is a Japanese word meaning "great warrior," which pretty much describes his play for the Bengals -- even if most folks never noticed. Anonymity figures to be less of a problem on a team that should contend for a playoff spot.
A 6-2, 245-pounder with great strength, agility and speed, Spikes, 26, is powerful enough to make helmet-rattling stops at the line of scrimmage and quick enough to run down ballcarriers sideline to sideline or drop into coverage. He has averaged more than 100 tackles a year and has missed only one start, that because of his father's death.
Perhaps his greatest achievement in Cincinnati was his refusal to become "Bengalized." It angered and frustrated Spikes that some of his teammates had grown to accept losing.
That's why Buffalo is so refreshing for him.
"I feel like I've been born again," says Spikes, whose No. 51 jersey has become the hottest seller in Buffalo. "From the baggage handlers at the airport to my teammates, I feel a whole different attitude about football here. After winning just 19 games in five seasons, it was important for me to come to a place where we could win right away."
In Cincinnati, Spikes was a marked man on game day; opposing teams game-planned around him. That won't be the case in Buffalo because he'll be surrounded by Pro Bowl-caliber talent. Spikes will play weakside linebacker in the 4-3; London Fletcher, who set a Bills record with 209 tackles last season, will man the middle, and Posey, who produced eight sacks with the Texans, will play on the strong side. With Adams (350 pounds) and Pat Williams (315 pounds) tying up blockers in front of them, the linebackers should thrive.
"Adams is like Ted Washington," Polian says. "He's one of those immovable objects. He and Williams are going to free them up to make even more plays. That's kind of scary, given the talent and determination of guys like Fletcher, Spikes and Posey."
The defense also is strong on the flanks with lockdown cornerbacks Nate Clements and Antoine Winfield. If Posey and right end Aaron Schobel (15 sacks his first two seasons) increase the heat on quarterbacks, the team expects Clements and Winfield to have more interception opportunities.
This is not to say this defense will draw comparisons to the '85 Bears. There remain question marks at safety, left end and nickel back, and there are no guarantees all the newcomers will mesh as a unit.
Now it's up to Williams to prove he deserves to be an NFL head coach. Donohoe clearly has given him the talent to succeed, but Williams will need to be at the top of his game, especially considering the Bills play in the AFC East, the league's most competitive division.
One thing is certain: The Bills can't help but be better at stopping runners (4.5 yards per carry allowed in 2002), rushing the passer (31 sacks) and producing takeaways (19). They also will be less reliant on Bledsoe, who passed for a franchise-record 4,359 yards but faded in the second half of the season.
"We put too much pressure on Drew and the offense to outscore teams," says Gray. "You can't survive that way. We definitely didn't carry our share of the load, but I'm confident that's about to change."
There is no reason not to be confident. On paper, this is a playoff team. Anything short of a postseason berth will be a huge disappointment -- and Williams will be gone.
Scott Pitoniak is a columnist for the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/articles/20030618/479025.html
Pretty well written. Any thoughts?? Just makes me more excited for Opening day!!!
Edit: Added Link
Pretty good article about the Bills defense, i will post the article here, but please for the love of god go to a local newsstand and buy the magazine! It's only like $3 and you get pictures plus your helping Sporting News survive!!! Anyways, Spikes is looking good in a Bills jersey :)
New-look Bills appear ready to contend
June 18, 2003 Print it
Scott Pitoniak
For Sporting News
The folks seated behind the visitors' bench at Ralph Wilson Stadium delight in getting inside an enemy player's Riddell, peppering opponents with language more suited for The Sopranos than SportsCenter.
But when linebacker Takeo Spikes traveled to the Ralph with the Bengals for the season finale last December, the Bills' 12th Man opted for a different strategy: love. They were intent on making Spikes feel at home.
"I wondered if I had gotten dinged, and maybe I wasn't thinking straight," Spikes says. "Bills fans being kind to an opposing player? No way. I had to be hallucinating because those folks make Buffalo one of the toughest cribs in the league to visit."
There was a method to the diehards' madness. Realizing their sieve-like defense could use a playmaker such as Spikes, who was soon to become a free agent, they recruited him as if he were a high school phenom visiting a college campus. They did everything but have one of the Buffalo Jills cheerleaders deliver him a tray full of chicken wings along with a list of the poshest homes available in the Buffalo market.
"I wound up having a big game that day, and they took notice," recalls Spikes, who finished with 16 tackles, including a sack that resulted in a Bengals fumble recovery. "They were shouting things at me like, 'Great job audition, Takeo. Keep it up. Just don't hurt any of our guys because you're going to be their teammate next year.'"
A six-year, $32 million contract and the opportunity to play for a winner ultimately lured Spikes to Buffalo after five seasons with the Bengals. But the sales pitch by Bills fans factored into the equation.
"I hadn't experienced an atmosphere like that since my college days at Auburn," Spikes says. "That they would be that passionate and that knowledgeable told me that this was a place for me. I guess from all the free-agent acquisitions the Bills have made, I wasn't alone in thinking that way."
Indeed, his signing was part of a talent grab in which the Bills landed more than 10 free agents since the end of the season. With the addition of Spikes, space-eating nose tackle Sam Adams, linebacker Jeff Posey, defensive end Keith McKenzie and free safety Izell Reese, you can bet your Bledsoe bobblehead there won't be a repeat of last year's ineptitude -- a defense that finished last in the league in takeaways, 29th against the run and 27th in points allowed.
"I think the sleeping giant is about to awaken in Buffalo," says Colts GM Bill Polian, the lead architect of the Bills' Super Bowl run in the early 1990s. "Last year, (Bills GM) Tom Donahoe did a great job repairing their offense, and this year he appears to have done a similarly great job of fixing their defense. So much, of course, can still happen, with injuries, bad bounces of the ball, etc. But on paper, that's now a football team that has to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball."
That's a pleasant situation for defensive coordinator Jerry Gray, whose unit was so lacking in talent and experience the last two seasons that he occasionally felt like he was trying to put out a forest fire with an eyedropper. Gray will get help this season from former Bengals coach Dick LeBeau, one of the league's most respected defensive strategists and Spikes' first coordinator.
"With all the acquisitions, we've become a veteran unit overnight," Gray says. "With this group, we no longer are in that constant teaching mode."
The changes come not a minute too soon for coach Gregg Williams, whose job is on the line despite guiding the team to an 8-8 record in 2002 after a 3-13 first year. For the first time since coming to Buffalo from Tennessee, Williams has the players necessary to implement aspects of the attacking "46" defense he ran successfully as the Titans' coordinator. "We've gone from having a few playmakers to having playmakers pretty much across the board," he says.
The newcomer who should have the biggest impact is Spikes, an underappreciated talent who endured seasons of 3-13, 4-12, 4-12, 6-10 and 2-14 in Cincinnati. His first name is a Japanese word meaning "great warrior," which pretty much describes his play for the Bengals -- even if most folks never noticed. Anonymity figures to be less of a problem on a team that should contend for a playoff spot.
A 6-2, 245-pounder with great strength, agility and speed, Spikes, 26, is powerful enough to make helmet-rattling stops at the line of scrimmage and quick enough to run down ballcarriers sideline to sideline or drop into coverage. He has averaged more than 100 tackles a year and has missed only one start, that because of his father's death.
Perhaps his greatest achievement in Cincinnati was his refusal to become "Bengalized." It angered and frustrated Spikes that some of his teammates had grown to accept losing.
That's why Buffalo is so refreshing for him.
"I feel like I've been born again," says Spikes, whose No. 51 jersey has become the hottest seller in Buffalo. "From the baggage handlers at the airport to my teammates, I feel a whole different attitude about football here. After winning just 19 games in five seasons, it was important for me to come to a place where we could win right away."
In Cincinnati, Spikes was a marked man on game day; opposing teams game-planned around him. That won't be the case in Buffalo because he'll be surrounded by Pro Bowl-caliber talent. Spikes will play weakside linebacker in the 4-3; London Fletcher, who set a Bills record with 209 tackles last season, will man the middle, and Posey, who produced eight sacks with the Texans, will play on the strong side. With Adams (350 pounds) and Pat Williams (315 pounds) tying up blockers in front of them, the linebackers should thrive.
"Adams is like Ted Washington," Polian says. "He's one of those immovable objects. He and Williams are going to free them up to make even more plays. That's kind of scary, given the talent and determination of guys like Fletcher, Spikes and Posey."
The defense also is strong on the flanks with lockdown cornerbacks Nate Clements and Antoine Winfield. If Posey and right end Aaron Schobel (15 sacks his first two seasons) increase the heat on quarterbacks, the team expects Clements and Winfield to have more interception opportunities.
This is not to say this defense will draw comparisons to the '85 Bears. There remain question marks at safety, left end and nickel back, and there are no guarantees all the newcomers will mesh as a unit.
Now it's up to Williams to prove he deserves to be an NFL head coach. Donohoe clearly has given him the talent to succeed, but Williams will need to be at the top of his game, especially considering the Bills play in the AFC East, the league's most competitive division.
One thing is certain: The Bills can't help but be better at stopping runners (4.5 yards per carry allowed in 2002), rushing the passer (31 sacks) and producing takeaways (19). They also will be less reliant on Bledsoe, who passed for a franchise-record 4,359 yards but faded in the second half of the season.
"We put too much pressure on Drew and the offense to outscore teams," says Gray. "You can't survive that way. We definitely didn't carry our share of the load, but I'm confident that's about to change."
There is no reason not to be confident. On paper, this is a playoff team. Anything short of a postseason berth will be a huge disappointment -- and Williams will be gone.
Scott Pitoniak is a columnist for the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/articles/20030618/479025.html
Pretty well written. Any thoughts?? Just makes me more excited for Opening day!!!
Edit: Added Link