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The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Yes it's been forever since I posted a thread. Been a little busy but all good!
The truth is that nobody really knows what's going to happen this year. Everyone keeps talking about how great our D is but they didn't look so hot last weekend. Everyone is complaining about the offense but we have very limited packages in the pre-season (for good reason) so who really knows what it will look like. Here's the facts as I see them:
1) Manuel has not looked great on his throws. What people don't seem to know is that he has spent most of his time shortening his throwing motion. It's not uncommon for second year QBs to actually get worse, not better. Hopefully his shorter take back will start to get comfortable and with a real offense and running game he'll be ok.
2) The O-line is actually pretty exciting and has depth. There will be mistakes but it's a huge line and I think will continue to get better.
3) Watkins and Williams should be terrific at saving Manuel this season. So maybe point one will be irrelevant.
4) If we keep all four we might have the most depth at RB in the league.
5) Chandler is still cathcing balls so another option for Manuel.
6) Our secondary looks a little more vulnerable than I originally thought.
7) Landon Cohen had a great pre-season. So what? It's a great feel good story but if he makes the team I'm not feeling like he'll have that big an impact.
8) The D should be decent, I'm not so sure about great.
This team is going to be about momentum and some luck. If they get blown out week 1 it's going to be very hard for a young team. If they win early and gain confidence there is a ton of talent on this team to carry them through to the ________. I dare not say it because even I'm too big a realist to go there.
Bottom line is that our season starts a week from Sunday. This team has alot of talent and certainly many question marks. Nobody, including me, can honestly say how good or bad this team will be.
I think the booing can start after week 1, not before.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
So in summary - the Bills could be good, or bad, or OK..
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NaturalBornSpiller
So in summary - the Bills could be good, or bad, or OK..
Yes, they will be some in between 0 and 16 wins.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
This season will boil down to the run game: if we succeed and take the pressure off EJ, he will be fine. If we do not, Cleveland has two top-5 picks next year.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
We know nothing until the season is over. We can speculate all we want, but the bottom line is, with everything we've seen, does it look good? Not really, but can it get better? We don't know.
Until then, we can meticulously tear apart our starting QB and whine about a new owner/impending move to our hearts content!
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
I believe there's significant talent on this team. I was so depressed after the Bucs game, I just have this feeling it's going to be a long, frustrating season.
There's a lot of pressure on a young, what should have been 4th round draft pick. I don't see it ending well.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
casdhf
This season will boil down to the run game: if we succeed and take the pressure off EJ, he will be fine. If we do not, Cleveland has two top-5 picks next year.
That's pretty much it. This season's on Spiller and Jackson (just like the last 3). If they can reliably pound the rock and move the chains, then maybe this thing comes together into a winning season.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Love the post HHURRICANE. If you read what you are saying in the context of the many ups and downs on this board and the way fans insist on delineating each other in their own personal struggles it's really fantastic. I also agree that perhaps more than we have ever seen this ship can go either way LOL. It really rests on the QB position and I am willing to say that is a very large unknown he might actually be good!
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
this is the deepest team weve had in a long time but an injury to qb or a couple to lb and its basement land again
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Hal ... EJ doesn't even have to get injured to send us to the basement.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
What we know:
Manuel ain't cuttin' it.
The linebackers are not going to be good against the pass and do not have the players on paper that should make it better.
The secondary without Byrd is nothing special at best.
The run D should be stout. But teams no longer win by stopping the run, they win by stopping the passing game.
The hype on the WRs has been overrated. Watkins hasn't shown anything in preseason games. Woods has a lot to prove, and when your best WR on the field has been Williams then there's definitely room for improvement to say the least.
We're weak at TE.
The OL should be average or better than average from a talent perspective.
Hackett doesn't know what he's doing.
It's highly questionable whether Marrone does.
Downing doesn't seem to have had much success with Manuel.
We couldn't stop any above average passing teams last season and lost to all of them and play more of them this season.
It's difficult to imagine this team being among the top 2/3 under any circumstances. Far too many loose ends.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Welcome back HH... Never thought I'd miss your posts. Hear that Fletch/Swiper?
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Yasgur's Farm
Welcome back HH... Never thought I'd miss your posts. Hear that Fletch/Swiper?
No one cares what you think.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HHURRICANE
I think the booing can start after week 1, not before.
Booooooooooooooooooooo!
Oh...sorry guv'nah. Got a bit carried away there.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
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Originally Posted by
bleve
I believe there's significant talent on this team.
Not really. Aside from what coastal thinks, the DL is the strongest corps on the team. Even they are inconsistent. Next are the wideouts and they are just above average, maybe grade them in the top 10 if you're a homer. No one else will. I'll give a nod to Carpenter at kicker and thank Miami for letting him go. The rest of the positions are average to mediocre.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Where's the cut Fred Jackson thread?
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
As talented as this team is, they know they're going to lose 9-11 games with EJ running the offense. Where's the motivation?
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Yasgur's Farm
Welcome back HH... Never thought I'd miss your posts. Hear that Fletch/Swiper?
LOL
It's a real shame that my primary purpose for posting here isn't to win some popularity contest, isn't it.
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gebobs
Not really. Aside from what coastal thinks, the DL is the strongest corps on the team. Even they are inconsistent. Next are the wideouts and they are just above average, maybe grade them in the top 10 if you're a homer. No one else will. I'll give a nod to Carpenter at kicker and thank Miami for letting him go. The rest of the positions are average to mediocre.
I think you're stretching things quite a bit about the WRs. I think you'll change your tune during the season somewhat. For starters Woods is only in his second season and still has a ton to prove. Watkins hasn't proven a thing, has been knocked for getting bottled up by 1st-team CBs, and has three catches for 21 yards on 7 targets in the preseason. He could be the next Eric Moulds, Jerry Rice, or Justin Blackmon, you don't know. Mike Wiliiams is Mike Williams, not Troy Vincent. After that there's no one worth mentioning that's even average.
I would rank the strength of the units as such:
DL - A-
OL - B
RBs - B- (Only because Jackson's 33 and the oldest RB in the league, C- w/o Jackson)
WRs - C+ (Until Watkins, Woods, and Williams step up quite a bit)
LBs - C-
DBs - C-
TEs - C-
QB - D
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Re: The realist point of view.........Bills really could be Good or Bad this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Typ0
EJ doesn't even have to get injured to send us to the basement.
i just dont think its that bad. ppl are WAAY overreacting to whats gone on in preseason. personally i believe i see improvement in his game - hes finding quys quicker, progressing through reads more smoothly, and has been good on timing routes where he throws the ball before the receiver has turned
i feel ej has had more bad luck than anything this preseason. one game he moved the ball well but had a bunch of passes batted down, which was weird but really just an anomaly. the last game he had a fumble and a bad luck gift pick when chandler fell
a normal incremental improvement for a second year qb from ej should be good enough to keep this team competitive. with all the good receiving targets and an improved oline (once they gel) ej only needs to be decent to give them a shot to win, which i think he will be
its possible he might never be better than he was last season but i seriously doubt that. hes going to be better, we just dont know how much and where he will end up. but im pretty certain its not going to be nearly as bad as most vocal fans are projecting right now