Picked this up on the Bills MB.
Today, 08:00 PM
NFL Starter
Group: Members
Posts: 339
Joined: 19-July 04
From: Rochester, NY
Member No.: 12460
Wow. Today was hot. I honestly don’t know how these players do it. As a fan, I was tired, just standing there. Overall, I liked today. I think our tempo is starting to improve, and the team is starting to really get excited.
Just a few quick notes to start, Ross Tucker & Kevin Thomas are still nursing injury’s, so I doubt they will be in the GB scrimmage. Sobieski, I don’t even remember seeing. Who cares where he is honestly
JP is getting mixed reviews from everyone I hear or talk to. He is making some great plays, and he is making some mistakes as well. But at the end of the day, I still like him more than Bledsoe. I never thought I would say that, I hated to give up on Drew, but I just like the fact that we can do so much more with JP. I remember last year, the red zone drills, Drew always struggled. Rarely did we get in the end zone with a pass. JP showed today that he can get it in the end zone a lot of ways. He buys us a lot more time. I don’t agree with people who are saying they aren’t impressed with him, because I am. To think he was going to come in and just blow everyone away, that was wishful thinking. What impresses me with his knowledge and athleticism. You can tell he worked hard on knowing the offense during the offseason because his mistakes are not really coming mentally. He is prepared on every play, and he knows who to look for, who to look off, and when its time to move. I just think he needs to work on his consistency, and time is his worst enemy. We are closing in on 5 weeks until the opener, and he has to show he can put longer drives together, and hit WR’s in stride every time. For every time he hits Evans on the run, he short arm’s him on the next. He’ll hit Roscoe in the hands on a cross route, then toss one 3 feet over his head on the other. And I think its totally normal. You can tell, he needs the experience to get all that out. It just bother’s me to hear all these “experts†or whatever they self proclaim themselves, say “He hasn’t impressed meâ€Â. I’d like to pull the sound bites of how impressed they were last year watching Big Ben in Pittsburg. I think another great thing about the QB situation is the defense JP is trying to beat. Our veterans are showing him quickly, that certain passes won’t work in the NFL. JP is a smart kid, he rarely makes the same mistakes. It’s just a matter of time before he feels totally comfortable.
Don’t be surprised if Shaud Williams starts the season as the #2 RB on the depth chart. He’s will see good carries in the preseason, and if he can maintain his current success, I think the coaches like him enough to use him as Willis’ backup. One thing he could improve in is his blocking and blitz pickup. He isn’t gifted with Joe Burns size, so he has to make up for that in better blocking. I was expecting Reshard Lee to come in a really take over that spot, but to me Lionel Gates has been just as impressive as Lee. Neither are really making big enough plays to get in front of each other. Joe Burns missed a block today that really got RB coach Studesville hot. Coach kicked a foam block when he saw it happen and yelled at Joe for missing the same block yesterday too.
So far I’ve really been impressed with all the TE’s. Neufeld, Euhus and Campbell all block well. I can see why the scouts like Cieslak too, I could see him making the practice squad easily. With the injury’s last year at TE, I think they could keep 5 TE’s (Campbell, Euhus, Neufeld on active – Everett on IR – Cieslak on PS). Trafford is too inconsistent to be out there in my opinion. He is okay at everything but not great at anything.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the O-line in action. For the most part, I’ve liked how they have performed. But they also need consistency since at least 2 new starters will be on the line. Look to see how often the use Bennie Anderson to pull, something he will probably do more here than he did with the Ravens. A couple of times on run plays, I’ve seen him be first one down the field pulling to the left. If Gandy can stay healthy and play how he has been playing, he will bury all talk to sending Teague to LT. I really like our draft pick of Duke Preston. He has ideal size for a center and has looked good with the second unit so far. My biggest fear is depth. At guard and center, we have options (Tucker, Smith, Preston), but at the tackles….That could arise a problem. Peters is Gandy’s backup and McFarland is Williams backup. Neither have seen regular season time at their current positions. Who knows, Peters could be our next answer at LT, but I don’t think he is yet. I still see McNally working with him a lot, on technique and mental mistakes. McFarland has had more time at his position that Peters, but I still wouldn’t like to see him start at RT this year. And they are the backups of two often injured players. The preseason will tell us a lot about our depth since the backups will be in majority of the time.
I don’t envy the coaching staff for having to make the decision on who to keep at WR. Josh Reed is having a good camp, like he always does, so how can you cut him now? I can see him dropping to the 4th slot though. Roscoe is just more disruptive for the defense. His speed just makes him so much more of a threat than Reed, and his route running is just as good. I don’t think there is any way Aiken gets let go because he is the answer is Moulds goes down. His size and experience puts him at the X spot backup. I think Haddad, Freddie Smith and George Wilson are the 3 most likely candidates to be playing for a possible final spot. Haddad & Smith also make punt returners, so that could make Wilson the odd man out.
The defense I don’t have much to say about, other than they look great. This is my 3rd year at camp, and each year I think they look better. Troy Vincent at FS is going to be our biggest answer to giving up big plays. He just knows how to play the game, as corner or at safety. I think Coy Wire is having his best camp ever as well. He’s drawn a lot of praise for his tackles and pass break ups. Jabari Greer might be suffering a bit of Sophomore slump. He is being put in the nickel since Kevin Thomas is out, but he isn’t making the most of the opportunity. I wouldn’t be surprised if Eric King is in front of him on the depth chart at some point this year.
As for Pat Williams backup, I don’t know if you can go wrong with either Edwards or Anderson. Both show a lot of potential and heart. They have consistently been able to rush the backfield and close the holes on the line. They could both see the same amount of plays each game in a rotation.