SI report Buffalo Bills, Straight to the point.

[MDFINFAN]

This is pretty straight to the point, they're aren't pretty uping anyting about no team...


Buffalo Report (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/2003/preview/bills/)

[LABillsFan]

I guess that would be reason 47 why I don't subscribe to SI. They put too much color on black and white issues and it seems they'd rather ramble on than stick to the story. The comparing of SA and SG to beer the "don't win superbowls thing is just mud slinging and filler.

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by LABillsFan
I guess that would be reason 47 why I don't subscribe to SI. They put too much color on black and white issues and it seems they'd rather ramble on than stick to the story. The comparing of SA and SG to beer the "don't win superbowls thing is just mud slinging and filler.

I agree, this is a fickled article, but I guess you have to read between the lines...very blurred.

[WG]

Well, I do agree that if we happen to go 2-4 in the division again, we're toast!

As well, he's right on when he says that we have no WR depth after Moulds/Reed. I cannot imagine that for all the decent WRs available, we didn't go for one w/ greater potential or experience. Shaw didn't do anything even remotely impressive last year, even as a starter. Jett is washed up and also never did anything but the occasional big play which we're trying to get away from, at least on paper. That leaves Aiken. 'Nuff said.

I think we would do fine if Reed got hurt, but if Moulds went out, we'd be hurtin'!

Areas where we're paper thin at depth:

OL, WR, LB, DL

[The Natrix]

Buffalo is in Northern NY?

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by Wys Guy
Well, I do agree that if we happen to go 2-4 in the division again, we're toast!

As well, he's right on when he says that we have no WR depth after Moulds/Reed. I cannot imagine that for all the decent WRs available, we didn't go for one w/ greater potential or experience. Shaw didn't do anything even remotely impressive last year, even as a starter. Jett is washed up and also never did anything but the occasional big play which we're trying to get away from, at least on paper. That leaves Aiken. 'Nuff said.

I think we would do fine if Reed got hurt, but if Moulds went out, we'd be hurtin'!

Areas where we're paper thin at depth:

OL, WR, LB, DL

Wys you read between the lines, that's no fair, but I think you make good points, that's some of the things I saw, but didn't won't to be the first to state it because everyone here what have thought I was trying to be negative..but I'm not, I try to talk straight football with the occassional good humor thrown in. If you read the one they did about the phins, you're find they were even harsher..One thing about the Phins that's glaring and they didn't mention it, is if Ricky goes down, what's the impact..it would be great..our play action, the 8 man boxes, the force situation of making us pass more..I'm not sure if we can go back to being a passing team. If you guys lose Moulds, that will be very difficult, Reeds I don't think can carry the load of a Moulds..

[Doc]

If Terrell Owens got hurt, the 49'ers would be hurting. If the Colts lost Marvin Harrison, likewise. Maybe the Rams could overcome the loss of Bruce or Holt.

[WG]

Originally posted by MDFINFAN


Wys you read between the lines, that's no fair, but I think you make good points, that's some of the things I saw, but didn't won't to be the first to state it because everyone here what have thought I was trying to be negative..but I'm not, I try to talk straight football with the occassional good humor thrown in. If you read the one they did about the phins, you're find they were even harsher..One thing about the Phins that's glaring and they didn't mention it, is if Ricky goes down, what's the impact..it would be great..our play action, the 8 man boxes, the force situation of making us pass more..I'm not sure if we can go back to being a passing team. If you guys lose Moulds, that will be very difficult, Reeds I don't think can carry the load of a Moulds..

Well, I agree. Much of this is predicated on injuries, or lack thereof. Sure, if the Fins lost RW they'd be screwed. He carried your O last year when Fiedler was out!

But w/ us, same thing, if Moulds goes out we're hurtin'! Any of the interior OL-men IMO. Unlike many other Bills fans, I'm not countin' on last season's 7th rounder or this season's rookie 5th to be able to block for a QB who can't move! If Spikes or Fletcher got hurt we'd be screwed. Spoon already proved he can't play MLB when Cowart was out. Crowell, a rookie, a light one to boot at MLB, is laughable! And we may not even have a solid starter at LDE and we have absolutely no reliable depth at DT either. So pretty much any DL injury and we're hosed!

So yes, injuries play a huge part, and that's what scares me this year. That's partly where I fall short on figuring what TD was thinking this offseason and w/ the draft in particular. We could have drafted William Joseph to relieve the DTs, but instead we took a player who will be a non-factor this season. Kelsay won't start or be valuable this year. He didn't do well in college v. against his peers who made the NFL, so why should that change this season? Crowell's a light LB who will likely end up playing OLB in the pros, but for anyone to think he'd adequately fill in at MLB as a 6'0"/234 lb. rookie would be foolish. EJ Henderson may have been able to. At least it's conceivable.

So we could have had some depth at WR by better options available in FAcy. We also had some options for OL other than Tucker who hasn't shown anything in the NFL. We could have taken a DT w/ a tremendous upside in Joseph.

But, we didn't. So now we have a significant lack of depth at WR, LB, DL, and interior OL. Oh well.

But these analyses are based on the basic starting lineups. I will say that it appears that our OL-men are pretty durable. Same w/ Moulds who's had no significant injuries in the past. Reed is stocky enough to make us think he's durable as well. Spikes, Fletcher, same thing. W/ Adams and Schobel and whomever our LDE is, I'm a bit more concerned however, which is why I think that drafting Joseph would have been much wiser.

[MDFINFAN]

I hear you Wys, the interesting thing is injuries are a part of this game, and it killed us last year...the injuries actually exposed the fact that we didn't have great depth. On D, we're pretty deep everywhere, even if Sam or Pat go down, we still have Jamar and Buckley and Gamble wasn't bad as a nickle when he had to play. Our DL is extremely deep, even with D. Bowens going down with a ACL, we have the starters and 2 backups, plus L. Williams who led NFLE this year in Sacks. The softest area on D is LB's..I really wanted to keep Rogers as depth, but his salary wouldn't allow that., other than Zacks backup, we have no proven depth. Your D reminds me of our O last year. One injury or 2 from disaster.
While Griese is the more proven QB, I really like the untested Sage, I really think he's a Brady clone, waiting to be unleased..Your WR position is exactly like our's was last year..1 injury where do you guys go...If both teams are injury free this year, this will be a very interesting year..I notice that SI took a bye on the Pats, almost gave them a clean report card.

[WG]

Last year IMO what hosed you was the marginal drop from Fiedler to Lucas.

I.e., Fiedler's play extrapolated over 16 games was to about a 23TD/14INT/3,300 yard level.

Lucas on the other hand extrapolated out to ~12TDs/18INTs/3,000 yards.

That type of turnaround is what killed you guys. Keep in mind that you were 5-1 when Fiedler went out and under Lucas, and largely due to his ineffectiveness, you went 2-4. If you had only been 3-3 and likely you would have been even better, you would have won the AFC East outright!

It's one thing if you QB comes in and plays to a 20/20 level, has some good games, and some bad, but Lucas had no great games at all and 3-4 poor ones. So it was the marginal difference that affected you the most.

[RUDEbyallMEANS]

Wys Guy, not sure exactly if you answered this in another thread.... just curious as to how you feel about Fiedler as a QB..?? You're Bledsoe report was very rare.. Not many people think Beldsoe is a bad QB.. So just curious.

[Jan Reimers]

Originally posted by Wys Guy
Well, I do agree that if we happen to go 2-4 in the division again, we're toast!

As well, he's right on when he says that we have no WR depth after Moulds/Reed. I cannot imagine that for all the decent WRs available, we didn't go for one w/ greater potential or experience. Shaw didn't do anything even remotely impressive last year, even as a starter. Jett is washed up and also never did anything but the occasional big play which we're trying to get away from, at least on paper. That leaves Aiken. 'Nuff said.

I think we would do fine if Reed got hurt, but if Moulds went out, we'd be hurtin'!

Areas where we're paper thin at depth:

OL, WR, LB, DL

Wys - I don't think we're that thin at LB or DL. Spoon can play, Polk is developing, and Crowell was a very productive college player. Bannan and Edwards are capable backup DTs, and we have a number of DEs - if Jones is healthy, we may be OK.

I do wish we had another WR and at least one more experienced interior OLman, however.

[LtBillsFan66]

A serious sports columnist would not include the following in an offseason report:

to wear the Bills' CFL-style uniforms. (And when they wear the blue-on-blue, it doesn't get any harder on the eyeballs than that.)

Did Melissa and Joan Rivers write the column?

[TigerJ]

I'll concede that Buffalo's depth at OL, LB, DL, and WR is unproven. I don't think weak is the right term. We won't really know that untill or unless something happens to the starters. We live in an era where every team has weak, thin or unproven areas. I think the OL, LB, and even DL are far less vulnerable than they've been over the last couple years. WR is probably a little thinner than it's been because of PP's departure.

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by TigerJ
I'll concede that Buffalo's depth at OL, LB, DL, and WR is unproven. I don't think weak is the right term. We won't really know that untill or unless something happens to the starters. We live in an era where every team has weak, thin or unproven areas. I think the OL, LB, and even DL are far less vulnerable than they've been over the last couple years. WR is probably a little thinner than it's been because of PP's departure.

Actually unproven is weak..until they prove themselfs, it's basically the same..much like the phins OL depth.

[SoCalBillsFan]

best line in the article:

Spikes' move to Buffalo makes sense from a football perspective, but he obviously doesn't care about looking good on the field, where he will have to wear the Bills' CFL-style uniforms. (And when they wear the blue-on-blue, it doesn't get any harder on the eyeballs than that.)

Sorry, im still not used to the new unis!