The Buffalo Bills Hold Their Future In Their Own Hands

Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre…

Did I just fill the League’s required quota of any writings covering the NFL over the last few weeks?  I hope so.  Because, despite much talk about the Jets displacing the Bills as the new threat in the AFC East, the players at the St. John Fisher facilities really don’t have any need to shift away from what their primary focus needs to be for success in this upcoming season – themselves.

They showed exactly what needs to be worked on against the Redskins.  The Tampa Two – a system I feel like the only defender of at points – can and will work IF, and only if, responsibilities are met.  That means the penetration of the front four needs to be equaled by a holding of positions when said penetration occurs.  If the front seven collectively roll off blocks, instead of punishing and driving back the blockers, the hideous open lanes we saw all too often last season will remain the Achilles’ heel of this defense.  Achilles’ heel doesn’t even cover it – unless the semi-constituted front seven dictate their own broken line two seconds after the snap, there will be a gnashing of teeth throughout the Niagara Frontier for the next half-year.

The other major concern has to be that of one of the team’s strengths – its speed.  It’s not that this young squad is losing speed – in fact, the players seem to be moving faster than ever.  But as we saw, tremendous speed + not enough positional responsibility = off-speed draw and screen vulnerability all day.  From the painful season opening against the Broncos to the grinding loss to the Giants, the most consistent pattern weakness we saw developed last year has not yet been addressed satisfactorily.  There needs to be a fundamental improvement in team and individual awareness over the remainder of the preseason.

Oh, yes – it would also be nice to see any attempt to reconcile with Mr. Peters.  For about the next ten days, there is not a major drawback to him not being on the field.  Past the preseason’s Week Three, however, there starts to be an increasing concern about re-establishing the chemistry that was just coming together last season.

Take a look around the rusty corner of the ol’ East.  The Asterisks, as always, are a Brady-injury away from a sub-.500 team, but with him in there their mechanics will be, at the very least, moving efficiently.  The Favre-era in New Jersey, even without proper tackle protection and a consistent defense, will at the very least produce strange wins when not expected, and will reduce the yawns incurred from actually watching one of their games.  (Bear in mind, however, exactly how many combined winning seasons the Pack’s divisional opponents put together during Favre’s reign.  I’m not sweating the trade.)  The Dolphins – well, they’ll still be providing some cheap laughs.  But there is at least a veneer of competence down there days.  Perhaps we’re witnessing a return to proper AFC East dominance.  If this Bills team doesn’t let themselves down, they’ll do just fine, regardless of the competition.