How Does This Defense Strike You?

**OpIv37** · 05-05-2006, 06:43 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

If Tripplett and McCargo don't start at the same time, our DL will get owned by the run just like last year. I'm still worried that we only have one starting DT in Tripplett. Schobel is fine but the other DE slot makes me nervous.

Linebackers- if Spikes is anywhere close to 100%, this unit should be fine. We need to start phasing out Posey.

Corner- It depends on Clements- if he shows up and if he plays at his 04 levels. McGee is a playmaker- he sucked at corner in 04 but really came on last year. Hopefully Youboty can make a contribution here.

S- Wire sucks, Bowens is too slow for the cover 2 and Vincent has lost a step. This position really depends on Whitner's and Simpson's ability to step up.

**OpIv37** · 05-05-2006, 06:44 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

one more thing- starting two rookies at S and with the possibility of Youboty starting over Clements at corner- expect a lot of stupid rookie mistakes. Down the road it will be a solid D, but this year is going to be LONG.

**ryjam282** · 05-05-2006, 07:01 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Thats the thing, in this type of defense it takes the majority of the guesswork out of it. Each player has there designed zone and has to be disciplined enough to stay in it. Rookies wouldn' t be having "rookie" mistakes as they are put in the position to do stupid things.

**Mr B** · 05-05-2006, 07:29 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by OpIv37

one more thing- starting two rookies at S and with the possibility of Youboty starting over Clements at corner- expect a lot of stupid rookie mistakes. Down the road it will be a solid D, but this year is going to be LONG.

I disagree with that. I think they will do well and the only reason they will get owned is because the lack of a pass rush.

**OpIv37** · 05-05-2006, 07:33 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by ryjam282

Thats the thing, in this type of defense it takes the majority of the guesswork out of it. Each player has there designed zone and has to be disciplined enough to stay in it. Rookies wouldn' t be having "rookie" mistakes as they are put in the position to do stupid things.

but offenses do things to trick defenses, like flood zones. It's difficult to count on rookies to stay disciplined and have the presence to respond to the offense, plus they will have to adjust to the NFL speed and the length of the season.

**OpIv37** · 05-05-2006, 07:34 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by Mr B

I disagree with that. I think they will do well and the only reason they will get owned is because the lack of a pass rush.

come on- Ryan Denney's good for AT LEAST 12 sacks

**TedMock** · 05-05-2006, 07:53 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by OpIv37

one more thing- starting two rookies at S and with the possibility of Youboty starting over Clements at corner- expect a lot of stupid rookie mistakes. Down the road it will be a solid D, but this year is going to be LONG.

This is just the problem the team will have with the fans. Your statement is 100% true. There WILL BE a lot of stupid, rookie mistakes. Growing pains. Instantly the "brilliance" that now fills Ralph Wilson Stadium (what happened to the smartest fans around?) will start screaming that these guys suck, they were horrible picks, let's run the GM and coach out of town, etc.

However, there will be that minority of slightly irritated fans who do realize that this is a young team that was in desperate need of a two-year overhaul with a lot of new youth on the field, a new GM and a new coach. Stay the course. I don't expect a winning record this year. I'm optimistic, but I'm realistic. I want to see steady improvement and fewer mistakes as time goes on. If by some miracle this team wins 6 or 7 games with steady improvement; that's a collossal success for Marv, Dick, and Co. It suddenly makes us more attractive to free agents as well. Although several people want to complain about the o-line, we did improve via free agency. Not with blockbusting moves, but with definite upgrades. The wild card here is going to be JP Losman's decision making. If given a fair shot, he should also get better. If he doesn't, we have to go rookie QB next year. Holcomb isn't taking us anywhere. He's a nice backup, nothing more. I know nothing about Nall, so I'll reserve comment until I actually watch him play.

**OpIv37** · 05-05-2006, 07:57 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by TedMock

This is just the problem the team will have with the fans. Your statement is 100% true. There WILL BE a lot of stupid, rookie mistakes. Growing pains. Instantly the "brilliance" that now fills Ralph Wilson Stadium (what happened to the smartest fans around?) .

the frustration of 7 years of losing tends to get in the way of the ability to think. It doesn't matter that Marv and Dick were not responsible for it. It doesn't matter that a two-year rebuilding process is probably necessary. If the team takes the field, makes stupid mistakes, and sucks, the fans will be pissed. And after 7 years of sucking, they have every right to be: If this organization didn't make so many mistakes in the past, a two year rebuilding process wouldn't be necessary.

**HHURRICANE** · 05-05-2006, 08:02 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

After reading this our DL still scares the crap out of me. I think we are going to major league suck this year!! Our secondary is the only thing that is really exciting. The problem is this. Without a pass rush we could have the greatest secodary in NFL history and we are still going to get torched back there. No pass rush = someone is getting open, somewhere. PERIOD.

**LifetimeBillsFan** · 05-05-2006, 08:08 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by OpIv37

one more thing- starting two rookies at S and with the possibility of Youboty starting over Clements at corner- expect a lot of stupid rookie mistakes. Down the road it will be a solid D, but this year is going to be LONG.

You're right, OpIv, this season is going to be LONG...no matter what it was going to be a long season this year. The point is that NEXT YEAR the Bills will have a young, talented defense with some experience that will be competitive and has a chance to be very good.

Posey is gone after this season. Vincent, too. Fletcher may or may not be. Denney is a back-up at best and is likely to be gone after this season as well.

Kelsay may actually play better in this type of defense, although I never expected him to be that great as a pro, but, if he and Neill don't provide any pass rush, that's when the Bills can go out and spend money for a free agent DE who can rush the passer. The rest of the positions are pretty much set with young guys.

After the way that the Bills imploded last season, this was going to be a looong season one way or the other--there were too many old guys and malcontents to get rid of and too many holes to fill to turn things around in one offseason anyway. And, if the team was going to have a rough season anyway, why not transform the team on one side of the ball so that, in a year it that part of the team could begin to be pretty good, instead of being mediocre on both sides of the ball because you've had to add a bunch of rookies to both units. At least this way, the Bills can have a decent defense NEXT YEAR while they try to work in the rookies and replacements that they still need to get on offense--that should give them more of a chance to win games next season at least.

**HHURRICANE** · 05-05-2006, 08:19 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by LifetimeBillsFan

You're right, OpIv, this season is going to be LONG...no matter what it was going to be a long season this year. The point is that NEXT YEAR the Bills will have a young, talented defense with some experience that will be competitive and has a chance to be very good.

Posey is gone after this season. Vincent, too. Fletcher may or may not be. Denney is a back-up at best and is likely to be gone after this season as well.

Kelsay may actually play better in this type of defense, although I never expected him to be that great as a pro, but, if he and Neill don't provide any pass rush, that's when the Bills can go out and spend money for a free agent DE who can rush the passer. The rest of the positions are pretty much set with young guys.

After the way that the Bills imploded last season, this was going to be a looong season one way or the other--there were too many old guys and malcontents to get rid of and too many holes to fill to turn things around in one offseason anyway. And, if the team was going to have a rough season anyway, why not transform the team on one side of the ball so that, in a year it that part of the team could begin to be pretty good, instead of being mediocre on both sides of the ball because you've had to add a bunch of rookies to both units. At least this way, the Bills can have a decent defense NEXT YEAR while they try to work in the rookies and replacements that they still need to get on offense--that should give them more of a chance to win games next season at least.

It's feasible that we could go 3-13. People better be ready for low expectations. Besides Willis and our secondary, my Madden experience is going to blow this year.

**LifetimeBillsFan** · 05-05-2006, 08:24 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by OpIv37

the frustration of 7 years of losing tends to get in the way of the ability to think. It doesn't matter that Marv and Dick were not responsible for it. It doesn't matter that a two-year rebuilding process is probably necessary. If the team takes the field, makes stupid mistakes, and sucks, the fans will be pissed. And after 7 years of sucking, they have every right to be: If this organization didn't make so many mistakes in the past, a two year rebuilding process wouldn't be necessary.

But, those mistakes WERE made and no amount of crying about it is going to undo it. And, there's nothing that Marv can do about that, either. He inherited a team that was a mess!

All that he can do is clean up the mess--which he has started. And begin to rebuild the team from the bottom up with what little he had to start with on a 5-11 team. And, realistically, that was going to be at least a two year process, no matter what.

And, there were only two ways to do that: bring in a couple of older, experienced free agents and hope to patch enough holes to maybe squeeze into a playoff berth so the fans would stop whining about not having a winning season in X many years, or try to build a young team that has enough young talent to sustain a run for a Super Bowl championship, with a foundation strong enough to continue to contend if it doesn't go all the way the first time it makes the playoffs. That's what Polian did when he took over the Colts--but he had the # 1 pick in the draft the year that Peyton Manning came out, so he went offense first and built his defense later. Marv's building the defense first and, if he doesn't have a QB who can lead the team to a SB on the roster this year, he will have his shot at one in next year's draft....with a young defense to help that QB out if he has to draft him.

**LifetimeBillsFan** · 05-05-2006, 08:34 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

Originally posted by HHURRICANE

It's feasible that we could go 3-13. People better be ready for low expectations. Besides Willis and our secondary, my Madden experience is going to blow this year.

No doubt, it could happen. If it does, the Bills will draft their top rated QB in next year's draft and everyone can complain when he stinks the joint up as a rookie. But, at least he will have a young defense that will only be getting better as he grows into the job and gets better.

But, if it turns out that JP or Nall actually can play the game well enough to lead this team to mediocrity this season, Marv just has to fill in the weak spots on the offense (and perhaps add a pass-rushing DE) to make the team competitive and perhaps even good enough to make the playoffs next season if the offense can gel enough during the season to win some close games.

My point is that, with experience, this group of young players is just experience and one or two players away from potentially being very good NEXT year after they take their lumps this season (Perry Fewell even said that they would take some lumps this year in his PC yesterday). And, as ugly as it could get this season, that's a big step in the right direction after where this football team was at the end of last season!

**justasportsfan** · 05-05-2006, 10:01 AM

Re: How Does This Defense Strike You?

My biggest concern whether it's the D or the O are the abilities of our coaches. If they are great at their jobs, they should be able to teach these rookies and vets to learn the system and adopt to it sooner than later. I hate to keep refering to the Pats but it didn't matter to them when they had an injured backfiled, they still won with rookies.

Our seven years sucked mostly because of coaching. It won't matter if we had rookies or probowl vets.

How Does This Defense Strike You?

How Does This Defense Strike You?

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