Category: Uncategorized

1. If the outcome of this game was a surprise to you, wake up…
2. Lynch continues to impress on an unimpressive offense.
3. Steve Fairchild has to go! The sooner the better.
4. This game was over the moment Poz went down. We are in real trouble with all the injuries on defense.
5. Expect to start hearing disgruntled talk from Lee Evans. Rightly so, Steve Fairchild is not trying to get Lee involved in the offensive play calling is horrible.
6. Rich Gannon was right our offense needs a lot of work and it starts with the coaches.
7. For a moment we all thought we can win this game (when it was 7-3). Then Poz goes down and Brady shows why he is a Super Bowl MVP.
8. The Pats may be cheaters, but they still are the best team in the NFL and we are one of the worst.
9. I thought we might be able to beat the Jets, but with all the injuries it is not possible. I think if we were healthy on defense a lot could be and would be different so far this year.

Its been a rough start to the 2007 season for the Buffalo Bills. So bad, in fact, that Bills fans are already starting to call for the head of their quarterback on a platter. Indeed J.P. Losman’s 251 yards passing sounds like the stat for one game rather than a combined two game total. However, things are not quite as bad as they seem. Bills fans need to keep things in perspective before they panic and call for a quarterback change.

Fans are desperate for a winning season and rightly so. It’s been a long time since the Bills sniffed the post season flowers. The Bills have not made it to the post season in this millennium. A change at quarterback to the rookie Trent Edwards would surely set the club back at least another two seasons. Is this really what fans want? The Bills’ greatest chance of seeing the post season in the near future is to stick with J.P. Losman. A deeper look at the stats shows that this might not be such a bad idea.

All too often too much weight is put on yardage in the NFL. The weekly rankings of offense and defense are based purely on yardage and take absolutely nothing else into account. A glaring example of this would be week 1 for the Bills. The Bills defense allowed the Broncos to accumulate 470 yards of total offense. Thats a large number and certainly not a sign of good things, but they only allowed 15 points. By yardage the Bills were 31st in the league. By Points Allowed they were ranked 15th. Say what you want about it, but ultimately points are what matters. Even after getting dominated by the Steelers in week 2, the Bills defense is still 21st in the league for points allowed despite their 31st ranking for yards allowed. Bend but don’t break at work. The Bills defense has allowed touchdowns in 3 out of 8 redzone situations. Thats only 37% of the time, a very commendable stat. Particularly considering that two of those touchdowns came late in the Pittsburgh game when the Bills Defense had been on the field for 40 minutes. Had the offense gotten a few first downs and gotten closer to sharing time of possession equally with their opponent, these scores would have never happened. In other words, despite the laundry list of injuries, the Bills defense is playing well enough to keep the team in games. There’s a lot they could do to play better, but considering the youth on the field, the defense has played pretty well.

Which brings us back to the offense. The offense has been largely unproductive in the first two games. That much is certain, but all hope is not lost. The Bills have been rock solid on first downs, averaging 6 yards per rushing attempt on first down, it would seem that they ought to be in good shape to be moving the ball down the field. The team hasn’t been able to string together three consecutive positive plays though. Fans are blaming Losman, and he has not looked sharp at times for sure. In reality though, despite claims from observers, Losman has completed 63% of his passes. Good enough for 16th in the league, better than e. Manning, Young, Garrard, Boller, Green, McNair, Roethlisberger, Leinart, Grossman, Campbell, Bulger, Romo, McNabb, Smith, Anderson, Jackson and Clemens. So the critics who claim Losman has been inaccurate are really full of it. The problem is that Losman’s completions are for an average of 5.46 yards per attempt. He may have missed some reads that could have gotten him more yards at times (most quarterbacks do) but ultimately, the defense has taken away anything over 5 yards. Buffalo’s receivers have been forced to take short out patterns and small gains in the middle and fight for yards. This was particularly a problem in Pittsburgh, when Josh Reed was out with an injury. Reed is the teams’ best slot receiver both because of his smart play and ability to break tackles after the catch. In his absense, Roscoe Parrish got more balls thrown his way, and led the team in receptions for the game, but Roscoe is small and several times was tackled for a short gain because he was unable to break the initial tackle.

Losman was heavily criticized by the media for calling for a more open offense. The Media spun his comments into a direct criticism of the coaching staff. I don’t think that was Losman’s intention, but if it was, can you blame him? The Offensive play calling has been pathetic at best. I don’t think the Bills have tried a reverse yet, audibled even once or done anything that is even remotely difficult to cover. Beyond Lee Evans, the Bills don’t have a really dangerous second receiver, but several solid 3rd receivers. Bill Belichick often points out that its awfully hard to cover all four of Buffalo’s receivers when the team goes 4 wide. Yet the Bills have mostly used 2 receiver sets, giving Losman minimal options even when the revamped line has given him time to throw. This doesn’t put Losman in a position to succeed and makes it much easier for the opposing team to run blitz packages. It seems that Steve Fairchild has been so afraid of his opponents pass rush that he has left extra guys back to block, making it easier to cover the receivers and inviting the opposing team to do just what he is trying to stop them from doing, Blitz.

Fairchild needs to put more faith in his 100 million dollar offensive line and get more targets out running patterns for Losman. Perhaps it is because the line was so bad last year that he is hesitant to do so. The result is making it awfully hard for the Bills offense to perform. Losman wants Fairchild to open things up a bit and take the leash off his quarterback. Critics have argued that if Losman can’t make the simple stuff work, what says he can handle himself in a more open offense. Hmm, lets see, maybe, last season? The first half of the season in 2006 Fairchild kept the leash on his offense and they struggled and mostly embarassed themselves. Then, after the bye week, he took the leash off and let Losman play football. Surprise surprise, the team suddenly had a powerful offense. The argument that Losman (or any quarterback) should be able to perform well in the NFL using only a rudimentary basic playbook is ridiculous. NFL defenses are way too good for any team to get away with calling bland and predictable plays. We will be waiting all season for success if this doesn’t change.

Bills fans should also take into consideration that the Bills have started the season by facing the top defenses in the league. The top three defenses in the league going into week three are New England, Denver and Pittsburgh. And no, its not just because Denver and Pittsburgh played Buffalo that their stats are so good, they did the same thing to the other teams that they have played. This week the Bills face the Patriots who have shut down the Jets (who are worse than the Bills) and the Chargers who are very talented but suffered a huge drop off in coaching talent since last year (what were they thinking?). The Patriots are still one of the best, if not the best, team in the league. The Bills have a huge challenge ahead of them on Sunday.

On the positive side, Paul Posluszny is third in the league in tackles (it helps that he has had to play 40 minutes per game, more time on the field means more tackles). Marshawn Lynch has looked like a superstar. He hasn’t had a 100 yard game yet but he was running against Denver (90 yards, was close) and Pittsburgh (65 yards but the Steelers haven’t allowed a 100 yarder in 20+ games). If Fairchild can mix things up a bit better with the passing game to make things a bit less predictable, Lynch will have more of an impact.

The Bills haven’t beat the Patriots in years and it looks unlikely that it will happen this week. However, this team is playing with a lot of heart and will make this a much closer game than the 16 point spread implies. (I think that’s the largest spread I’ve ever seen in the NFL!) Aaron Schobel loves sacking Brady and has done so 10.5 times, more than any other player in the league. The Bills as a team have sacked Brady more than any team (30 times). Its a divisional matchup and anything can happen. There’s always the possibility that Brady gets hit hard and loses some touch in the game as a result or that Randy Moss gets ejected for soem crazy infraction. Anything could happen. But in all likelihood, the Bills will give up a heartbreaking loss to the much better Patriots. If the Bills can at least put up a fight, it will go a long way to helping their season. Patriots 28 Bills 24.

Its brutal to have to start the season facing the three best defenses in the league, but hope is on the horizon. Next week the Bills play the Jets, ranked 24th, then Dallas ranked 26th, then Baltimore ranked 4th (doh!), then the Jets again, then Cincinnati ranked 30th, Miami ranked 25th, The Pats again, Jacksonvilel ranked 12th, Washington ranked 16th, Miami again, Cleveland ranked 32nd, The Giants ranked 29th and the Eagles ranked 6th.

Send your comments to bplewak@yahoo.com and mention the Buffalo Bills in your subject line.

Losman sucks.

Full article coming.

Won’t be a whole lot longer though.

Might be something like “Losman really sucks.”

Have to give props to the defense.

Need to cool off now.

Losman sucks.

-The John

1. Yes, Bills fans we are that bad…
2. If JP continues to play this bad and especially next week we will start to hear rumblings of playing Edwards… I was really hoping JP would turn his poor play around, but alas he has not. It looked like the same guy we saw two years ago. He holds the ball to long and makes poor decisions. No Int’s, which is good but we need to see consistent play from JP.
3. Our defense has to stop teams and force 3 and outs Pittsburgh punted once. They have to help themselves. Our defense was so tired to start the 3rd quarter. These guys are going to be in great shape by the end of the season…
4. It is a shame that Lynch has to play on such a bad offensive team. All his yards he earns himself. He is not getting much help from the multi-million dollar o-line. Yes, our offense is that bad.
5. Again our offense play calling in the first half was boring. We opened up the 3rd quarter with some nice play but no one seemed to have enough juice in the tanks to keep it flowing. Note to Dick you need to start a game this way…
6. I really don’t think if we had been healthy on defense the outcome would have been any different.
7. Leonhard is on target for 16 int’s and a probowl appearance 🙂
8. Expect another blowout next week. New England will convert redzone possessions into TD’s.
9. It is going to be a long year. We may want to start lowering our expectations and start rooting for a #1 pick.

I want to start off by saying that my heart goes out to Kevin Everett and his family. Nobody should have to go through what he is going through. It is a terrible tragedy and hopefully something that the team can rally behind. That being said, all the injury coverage has made Bills vs Steelers coverage hard to come by, so I am going to try to stick to the football. Kevin our prayers are with you.

Week one did not go as planned for the Buffalo Bills. Not only did they play poorly in many aspects of the game, but they also suffered 4 major injuries. Besides the well publicized injury to 2nd Tight End Kevin Everett, the Bills lost Ko Simpson for the season at Free Safety, Coy Wire is out indefinitely at backup linebacker and Jason Webster is out potentially for the whole season at Corner Back. Its never good when a team suffers that many serious injuries, but it could have been worse.

Ko Simpson is really the only significant loss in the group and his loss was lessened by the outstanding play of Jim Leonard in his stead. Leonard finished the first game with a team leading 13 tackles and an Interception. You can’t ask for much more than that. If Leonard can continue with that type of play, the Bills will have no trouble weathering Simpson’s injury. Simpson being out for the season will be more damaging next season as the team was hoping to see some magic between Donte Whitner and Ko Simpson develop this year. Maybe Whitner and Leonard will be the tandem the Bills are looking for instead? It remains to be seen.

Coy Wire is an emotional player that brings a lot to the table especially on special teams. It will hurt the team not having him on the field, but he will likely be back later in the season depending on the severity of his knee sprain. Wire was already filling in for Keith Ellison who may be back before Wire. The Bills appear to have decided to play undrafted free agent John DiGiorgio on the weak side in his place. With DiGiorgio, Posluszny and Crowell, the Bills have a fast and fairly talented linebacking corps. They are inexperienced except for Crowell however so they will probably make some mistakes as the season progresses. Posluszny had a great first game as a starter, picking up 9 tackles. He made some mistakes too, but Poz seems like the kind of player that doesn’t make the same mistake twice. He will just get better and better as the year progresses and he started off pretty strong.

Jason Webster looked a lot better in practice than he did in preseason games or in week 1. His injury forces the Bills to start Ashton Youboty. Youboty was drafted in 2006 to replace Nate Clements. He didn’t play much last year due to the death of his mother. His development is a little behind, but he will probably improve a lot more rapidly by seeing more playing time. He is bound to make mistakes, but Webster wasn’t exactly getting the job done, so I don’t see any fall off here. There could end up being significant improvement depending on how Youboty does. Youboty gets a bit of a break in that he will mostly be covering Santonio Holmes on Sunday when they face the Steelers. Holmes is a solid receiver, but he is also a former teammate of Youboty’s from Ohio State. Youboty is very familiar with Holmes and it will make his assignment a bit easier than it would be otherwise. I’m not saying Youboty will shut down Holmes, but he ought to be able to do respectably against a player he knows so well.

Going into week 2, the rest of the Bills need to step up their play. Week 1 was a sloppy performance, but it was sloppy for Denver too. Bills fans shouldn’t give up on their team based on week 1. First of all, J.P. Losman had a bad game. This doesn’t mean he regressed. It means he had a bad game. Thats all. If you actually go back and look at the film, Losman didn’t make that many mistakes. The weather was wet which seems to effect Losman more than it should. Despite that, Losman completed 67% of his passes. That means he was on target. He wasn’t throwing up lame ducks, the Denver cornerbacks (easily the best in the league) shut down the Bills’ receivers. Losman took what he could get, which wasn’t much. The ugly interception was the result of Denver grabbing the facemask of the intended receiver and getting away with it. Losman was not “crisp”, which seems to be his goal, but he wasn’t as bad as the numbers indicate. In week 1 all teams are still getting the wrinkles out, and the Broncos were able to get a jump on a Bills offense that needed a little more time together.

The Bills offensive line showed a lot of promise although they were inconsistent. At times they did a great job protecting Losman, especially in the first series. They also blocked for Marshawn Lynch well on several occassions. But there were also times when they looked confused and allowed the pass rush to come right through or did not get any blocks in for Lynch. These times will become less and less frequent as the season goes on and the Bills revamped line has more time to get comfortable playing together. The sooner the better, but it will probably be a few weeks before they are really in sync.

Marshawn Lynch looked outstanding in his debut. He came right out and had 3 back to back solid gainers in the first series. His only major error came on that first series when he blew a block that caused the 14 yard loss on the sack. Bills fans have got to be really excited about this kid. especially considering how unreliable the blocking was in this game. If the line can play just a little better this week than they did in week 1, Lynch will be well over 100 yards. My biggest complaint regarding Lynch was that the coaches only gave him 19 carries. After reviewing tape, it should be obvious that he will get nearly every carry in week 2. He looked that good. He also made at least 6 plays that were of the sort that we never saw from Willis McGahee. The 23 yard TD where he broke tackles and dragged a defender into the end zone would not have happened with Willis carrying the rock. Also the 4th and 1 play where Lynch got the first down with sheer will and determination was not typical of McGahee.

The Steelers are heavily favored over the Bills mostly because Losman had a terrible week 1 and Roethlisberger had a great week 1. But look at the opponents. Denver made a push for the playoffs last year and is expected to make a push this year as well. Cleveland went 4-12 last season and has been selected by many to come in dead last in the NFL this season. They are so bad that they fired their starting quarterback after week 1. Roethlisberger threw more interceptions last season than any other quarterback in the league. If the Bills can bring pressure on the quarterback with Schobel and Kelsay, they can count on some turnovers coming their way. Is Big Ben back? Maybe. Pounding on the worst team in the league isn’t enough to convince me. Lets look a little deeper at Big Ben’s performance last week. Yes he had 4 passing TD’s but they were all short passes in the red zone. Overall he had 161 yards in the air. Nothing to get excited about. His completion percentage was 52% (compared to Losman’s 67%).

No it wasn’t Roethlisberger that won the game for them, it was their backs. The Steelers had 206 yards rushing. This looks like their Super Bowl formula. Rush the ball and only have Roethlisbereger pass when he has to. It worked against the worst team in the league. The Bills are a lot better than they looked in week 1, even with the defensive injuries. The Bills will still struggle against the run, but need to slow it up just enough to force the Steelers to the air. Roethlisberger is not what the Bills should be afraid of. Willie Parker is the player that can kill the Bills. If Losman can play well and get the offense rolling (which he should be able to do against a more forgiving Steelers secondary) the Bills have a chance in this game. The Bills defense needs to keep the Steelers out of the end zone and take field goals as they did in week 1. If they can do this, the Bills will be able to pull out an upset. It is critical that the Bills get an early lead. They have a slight advantage in that the world still hasn’t seen the Bills offense functioning as it was designed. A few surprises get the Bills a much needed confidence boosting win in honor of their fallen comrade. Bills 21 Steelers 17. (either way you should pick the Bills against a 10 point spread, thats way too large for this early in the season)

Season record so far:
0-1
1-0 versus the spread

There has been some discussion lately over my former facebook profile picture. The short story is we were talking about German food in an email discussion revolving around our BBR game day coming up. Well I thought since we were talking about German food at a Bills’ game, why not Bills related German clothing? Since I’m an American, I’m stereotypically a culture ignoramus, and the only article of German clothing I could think of was a lederhosen, so I found a pic on the internet and photoshopped it to look like this:

There you have it, also those who have corrected us in saying Heineken was a Dutch beer are correct. Sadly, most Americans don’t even know they are two different countries and if they did, certainly could not point to either on a map.

Let’s hope she’s a Panther’s fan.

Well Bills fans we definitely got some answers this week. Some things thought during the preseason turned out to be wrong, others right. I’m just going to do a quick run down because we mentioned most of this on the show.

DEFENSE: Well POS has some big shoes to fill, but for his first time out I was really happy. I’m an outspoken POS fan and I’m looking for big things from him this year, he was worth the trade up. I know injuries are never something to cheer about (unless you’re a Jet’s fan) or ever something to laugh at, but you have to see the humor in Jason Webster. The Bills took a chance on a guy who has a reputation for getting hurt, and he goes out for most of the season during the first game.

During the preseason the Bills defense was criticized for being soft, they played about as soft as it gets, the only real aggression I saw today was from POS, Schobel , and McGee (although he had the hands of a Tyrannosaurus Rex). I’m not a coach, but I had the idea that if you actually tackled opposing teams, you would have a better chance.

OFFENSE: Talk about your lame-dash-oh. This offense is predictable, poorly planned, and ever more poorly executed. That said, Lynch is awesome, he alone was worth the price of admission. I know it’s only been one game, but he looks a lot like Thurman Thomas.

Champ Baily actually laughed when we went deep on the 4th quarter 3rd and 5 that lost us the game, as I’m sure God did too. “Silly Buffalo” said God, “Watching them run that play was like watching Britney Spears apply for Mother of the Year.”

Back to Lynch, would somebody explain the logic of “running back by committee?” I feel like Lynch is Paul Simon and Thomas is Art Garfunkel, how long until we shed the dead weight?

SPECIAL TEAMS: With Captian (and Master of the Universe) Brian Moorman at the helm, you can’t go wrong, if only Brad Butler knew the snap count. I’ve always thought Rosco as one of the most exciting players in the NFL and he proves it again.

Finally, I want to talk about Kevin Everett (or Keverett as I affectionately call him). The team prayer was one of the most inspiring things I have seen in professional sports. This injury is why mothers don’t let their sons play football. That said, this is going to be a major distraction, my only hope is the team uses this to band that much more together. Kevin, the millions of us Bills fans are praying and pulling for you, God bless.

-The John

1. Lynch is the real deal! The 4th down conversion and the TD run was purely awesome. I look forward to more of Lynch he and Roscoe were the two best players on the field for the Bills (of course moorman was awesome, but we expect that).

2. Steve Fairchild needs to learn how to call a football game. Our offense looks lame… Not much different from last year’s team we run for two downs and then try and throw… Denver was all over the play calling. The coaching staff needs to let JP audible when there are 10 guys in the box instead of handing off to lynch for 2-3 hard earned yards.

3. Defense is still spending too much time on the field to let Denver recover from 3rd and 23 and then two 4th down conversions. I think they were just tired.

4. We have the best special teams in the NFL. They are the reason this game was close until the last second.

5. Our offense needs to learn to not self destruct when we drive into the opponents side of the field. Lynch saved one drive but everything else was a dud from sacks to penalties. No fault to no foot on the miss, if bone head did not false start that field goal is good.

6. Steve Fairchild gets the dunce of the week for calling a long bomb on 3rd and 5. Duh, Steve we needed a first down.

7. Was i the only one who noticed POS was calling a TO on the 4th and 3 that Cutler ran for a 1st down. I saw him call it a few seconds before the snap. I think the NFL should let something like that get reviewed. Because POS was running towards the sideline judge and Cutler ran the other way the D was not ready because they called a TO. The announcers never mentioned it. Bad call by the refs. I guess in Buffalo we always need something to blame on a loss.

8. Finally, our thoughts and prayers are with K. Everret and his family. Sunday night he is in surgery. That does not sound well. I thought it was a great picture when the whole team gathered in a circle to pray for him. I think this speaks a lot to the unity Dick Jauron has created with this team. Kevin we hope and pray for a full recovery…

-Drake

Hey remember me?

Well Bills fans I’m back and I’m stepping up my role with the BBR this year. So what does that mean? Well that’s an excellent question I myself would like an answer to. I actually wrote a really long and in depth article about the Bills draft, my thoughts, where I thought the team could go this year, etc. Then before I published it I looked around and noticed that everything I wrote was already said/written by everybody else. Coming to the realization that I had nothing new or interesting to say, I stayed quiet, honoring the ancient Chinese proverb, “Everybody already thinks you’re stupid, shut up stupid.”

Still trying to find my role on this BBR team overflowing with analytical talent, I’m going to try to fit in where and when we’re thin, sometimes that means filling in as a co-host, sometimes that means writing articles, sometimes it means getting coffee, and sometimes showing the supermodels who visit around the studio (which we don’t have…yet. Note to self: remember to ask Greg to build a studio and invite supermodels).

As some of you might know, the guys are planning an upcoming interview with my favorite player Brian Moorman, and as my favorite player I have a very important role in that show, which is nothing. So, not wanting to be left out I’ve done some investigating on the pro-bowl punter and complied some fun facts that the guys can use in their interview, and at the same time start my Brian Moorman for President… Of the Universe! Campaign.

(Me + Moorman jersey + Bills cheerleaders = Best. Picture. Ever.)

One time Brian Moorman was walking down the street and a bully tried to pick on him. Brian gave him a warning, but the kid didn’t back down. Having no other choice, Brian removed the kid’s braces… with his foot.

Brian Moorman gave J.K. Rowling the idea for Harry Potter, suggesting it was better than her original idea, which was a low fat cook book.

Brian Moorman single handedly won the Cold War for the U.S. When the Soviets launched a secret spy satellite that would have given them the information that would have won the war, Brian Moorman, sensing his country was in danger, went out into his backyard and punted a ball into space that destroyed the satellite. When the Soviets found out that the Americans had such a man, they called it quits right away, which was a good move if you ask me. The act earned Moorman The Congressional Medal of Awesome.

Although this is unconfirmed, it is rumored that Air Bud is actually Brian Moorman’s dog.

(This is my mom’s dog doing an impression of Brian Moorman on game day)

One time Dick Jauron told Brian Moorman what to do… just kidding.

The real reason David Beckham came to America was to be closer to Brian Moorman. Even though he’s on the other side of the country, he knew that L.A. was closer than England. He tried to come to Buffalo, but was unsuccessful since Buffalo doesn’t have a soccer team, and that’s because nobody in Buffalo really knows what soccer is.

Superman has a Brian Moorman poster on his wall.

One time Brian Moorman was held up in a bank robbery. When instructed to get on the floor like the rest of the hostages, Brian Moorman just laughed and showed the robbers his number 8 jersey. They got scared and ran out of the bank. The mayor was so impressed that he gave Brian Moorman all the money that would have been robbed from the bank and he in turn gave it to charity, his own charity. Brian Moorman has no need for money; the fact that he is the highest paid punter in the NFL is simply a statement of dominance.

Brian Moorman was walking down a road one night when he came to a bridge. Before he could cross the bridge a giant troll appeared, and said, “In order to cross this bridge you must answer correctly these three questions.” Brian agreed and the troll began to ask the first question. Before he even finished the question Brian Moorman kicked the troll’s head clean off. Stupid troll.

It turns out the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was actually “The Lost Punt of Brian Moorman.” During a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brian Moorman punted a ball so high it appeared lost forever. The truth is the ball traveled so high it went back in time and hit the earth with such ferocity that it caused the extinction of entire races of giant lizards and plunged the Earth into an ice age.

Santa Clause asks Brian Moorman for Christmas presents.

The Transformers play with Brian Moorman action figures.

Christopher Columbus said he discovered the new world because, “Brian Moorman told me to.”

So you can see, Brian Moorman has been with us throughout history. Who do you think told Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel? As a thank you, he put Brian Moorman in the picture. I know you might not have noticed this before, but take a closer look (click image to enlarge).

(Who does the guy on the left look like?)

Brian Moorman is an inspiration to us all. He is the reason we don’t throw a brick through our TV when the Bills mess up on 3rd down, he’s the reason a child laughs, he’s the reason George Washington crossed the Delaware and he’s the reason the Bills are going to have a better season than the Lions and win me $20, take that Doug! It’s good to be back, go Bills!

-The John

Probably one of the biggest question marks for the 2007 Buffalo Bills is Cornerback. The departure of solid but over-hyped starter Nate Clements to free agency with no obvious replacement has the national media saying less than positive things about the Bills chances in the coming season. Things may or may not be as bad as it seems, but one thing is for certain, the Bills are depending on young inexperienced players to step up into the void.

Nate Clements was certainly the anchor of this position in the past, but how much of an impact player was he really? The truth is, Nate looked a lot better before Buffalo implemented the Tampa Two defense. Nate is a cover corner, he is really good an keeping tight coverage on a single receiver. Even the best receivers in the league struggled against Nate in his time in Buffalo. The result is that opposing teams’ number one receivers generally had quiet days against Buffalo and Nate Clements when, and only when, Buffalo used a man coverage scheme. In other words, when you tell Nate Clements, “see that guy over there, he’s their best receiver, cover him all day.” he does a good job. However, when you play more of a zone type scheme that requires that the cornerback be reactive and read the field, Nate’s play slips off real quick. Nate is not very good at reading an offense and reacting to the play. This was very obvious in the first part of 2006 where Buffalo attempted to run their intended defensive schemes. Nate got eaten alive. Then around the time of the BYE week, Perry Fewell asked Nate to just shadow the best receiver on the other team and forget the scheme. It worked out ok, but thats not the defense the Bills are building. Nate just didn’t fit. All that aside, Nate Clements was tied with a bunch of players for 33rd in the league in interceptions last season. Think that was an off-season for Nate? Think again. Nate Clements has a total of 23 Interceptions in 6 years in the league. The most he has ever had in one season was 6 (which he achieved in 2002 and 2004). 6 Interceptions would have landed Nate 7th in the league in 2006 had he made that mark. Asante Samuel and Champ Bailey who are really difference makers each had 10 interceptions in 2006. Nearly half Nate’s career total. The reality is that no corner puts up those kind of numbers every year, but Nate never has. Interceptions come to players that are reactive and can hang in the zone and read the play.

Even though the Bills were right to let Nate Clements walk (especially considering the silly sum he received from the 49ers), they really don’t have a replacement for him. The Cornerback roster for the Bills is thin and not very exciting:

Terrence McGee
Jason Webster
Kiwaukee Thomas
Ashton Youboty
Jabari Greer
Eric Bassey
Chris Thompson
Reggie Lewis
Duane Coleman
Riley Swanson

You never can tell what diamonds in the rough might be in there, but this isn’t the kind of list that puts fear in the hearts of the opposing quarterbacks and receivers. Terrence McGee is listed at number one and he is a marginal corner at best. What makes McGee exciting is his return capability (the Bills will be crazy to take him off kick returns, starting corner or not, he is way too good, all-time franchise leader). In fact he is so good running through chaos with the ball that its worth sacrificing his often blundered coverage on the field for the chance that he makes an interception. McGee, when he gets the ball has high odds of making a big return or scoring a touchdown. This is the innate part of playing football, the natural vision. McGee is still pretty raw but his mistakes are more correctable. Nate Clements has all the technique but lacks the feel for the game that McGee has. McGee will need some work, but could take the next step this season. If not, the Bills may be looking deeper into their depth for Cornerback talent. Is it there?

Jason Webster figures to be the number two guy, he has played great so far in his minicamp work. While may consider this position open, I think Webster has it locked up. He has tons of experience and is a reliable piece in an otherwise wide open cornerback situation. He has more experience than McGee but has never been a real big play maker. Thats why he is the lock for the number two spot and not number one.

Kiwaukee Thomas came on strong in 2006 and should be guaranteed a roster spot. He was solid when the Bills used 3 cornerbacks in their nickel package. He also came in and played well spelling for Clements and McGee in 2006. Ashton Youboty possesses all of the talent to be the number one guy but so spot time in three games his rookie season. He seems to be a little slower on the uptake than the Bills would have liked, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a shot at doing something in 2007. Jabari Greer has been a solid backup and special teamer and will also likely be on the roster.

Between Bassey, Thompson, Lewis, Coleman and Swanson things are wide open for maybe 1 roster spot. The Bills may hold onto a couple good prospects on the practice squad in this area as well, so its likely that 3 of these guys could be around in September, if only on the practice field. Since the Bills don’t have a stand out corner they will be looking for diamonds in the rough and want to keep a few young guys around to see if they develop. Prior to camp it would be silly to guess which one of these guys will take the next step.

I’d like to see Webster, Youboty as the starters with McGee and Thomas rotating in heavily and filling the Nickel role. McGee has had a much greater impact on special teams so it seems stupid to have him focus on the part of his game where he has had less success. McGee has scored 4 touchdowns on Special Teams and only one on defense. The Bills will be playing more cover two and more zone than they did last year. They want fast reactive players. Guys that can break on the ball and take it away. Expect more turnovers for the Bills secondary in 2007 but also expect more blown coverages.

The Bills may have to rotate players a bit in the beginning of the season to see what group works best, but they have a lot of young players who may shine when given the chance. Then again they may not. The 2007 Bills with a little luck will have a solid if not daunting corps of defensive backs.

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