Stillers vs.
Bills Pre-game:
It will be tough
to find much of interest in this encounter; this is the last pre-season game
for both teams and it is highly likely that no set of starters will play
much.� Beyond that, these teams will
meet in Week 4 of the regular season; given the wildly inflated importance your
average coach attaches to his genius scheme, I think we can be sure that
neither team will show much.
I�ll be watching
anyway and, probably, you will too.� The
Bills will come in 2-1 in pre-season having lost 24-10 to St. Louis, beaten the
Eagles 6-3 and, last weekend, whipped the pitiful Bengals 20-10.� The Bills have been on top at the half in
each game.� They gave 17 to the Rams to
lose in the 4th quarter.�
They led the Eagles thru-out and, judging by the fact that they
out-gained Philly 366/187, probably dominated.�
They certainly did that against the Bengals; although the halftime score
was just 12-10, the Cin-Cats sole TD was on a 76 yard run by some scrub.� The Bengals couldn�t put anything together
behind the Great White Mitchell; in fact, the Bills had a safety and (2) INT
during Mitch�s brief tenure as a starter.�
All in all, the
Bills have looked decent in pre-season but, of course, that means little.� Match-ups are all and here are some that may
be interesting:
When Buffalo
has the ball:� Under O-Head Mike Sheppard, Buffalo is
installing a West Coast type scheme.�
IMO, this is a peculiar choice for a cold weather team but the fact is
that the Bills had few options.� Last
season, Buffalo could neither establish the run nor protect their QB.� This suggests that their OL wasn�t
much.� That may be so but the Bills did
little in the off-season to improve that group.� LOT John Fina is okay and LOG Reuben Brown can be a force (for
good or ill) but the rest of the Bill O-line is highly suspect.� That so, their QB will have to get rid of
the ball and, for that reason, the antique Larry Centers, check-down receiver
extraordinaire, is the #1 FB.�� The
Bills have some talent competing at RB with rookie Travis Henry battling
holdovers Shawn Bryson and Sammy Morris but even the great Juice, in his prime
and with a cutting blade clutched in his off-hand, would have trouble gaining
ground behind this line.� Turning to
Stiller-centric items
Interior OL
vs. Clancy/Hampton and Bell:� Against Philly, starting OC Billy Conaty
went down with a shoulder injury.�
Michael Early is the backup and, while big, was un-drafted and is
untested.� Starting ROG Jerry Ostroski
broke his leg and is out for the year; his replacement is 340# Corey Hulsey who
has Early-like credentials.� These young
Bills will bring 660# of beef to the LOS; despite that, I�m looking for the
Stiller NT to excel in this game.� I
doubt these young O-linemen will be able to react in time to check Kendrell
Bell.
ROT Jonas
Jennings vs. Aaron Smith: Smith
keeps getting better; Jennings is a willing but raw rookie.� Smith will take advantage early; after he
sits, we�ll see Chris Combs square off against Bills back-up ROT Kris Farris.
RCB DeShea
Townsend vs. Peerless Price: �Price hasn�t done much but, unlike Toy, he
has started for two seasons.� Townsend
played well against Johnny Mortan and, probably, can handle Price too.� The Bills have a couple interesting rookie
WR including 6�-2� high jumper Kwame Cavil and OSU non-grad Reggie
Germany.� Townsend, Simmons and Poteat
will be out-sized but should hold up okay.
D-side bubble
battles:
Battles vs. Bell
for #4 safety.
Hoke vs. Combs
vs. the ghost of Chris Sullivan for #4 and #5 DE.
Kurpeikis vs.
Knight for #8 LB.
�
When the
Stillers have the ball:� After years in the 3-4, the Bills
are going with a 46 variant of the 4-3.�
Whatever; what we see Thursday will be, say, a tenth of the
package.� Given that the starters will
sit early:
Give Tee the
first half:� Martin�s pre-season numbers, 9/20 with a
pick is not good.� However, in the Twin
Cities, Martin was victimized by his WR.�
I think he can play in the league but that remains to be shown.� The 1st half Thursday is the
last, best test available.
Sit Hines
Ward:� Ward bruised a knee in practice Monday;
let him rest.� Hines is the most
professional WR in the current corps; he is a player you can win with but the
jury is out on every other WR.� Sit Ward
down; test the rest.
Keep the Bus
in the barn:� With or without the Bus, the Stillers will
have to run the ball effectively to win.�
Fu is the closest thing to a surrogate Bus; I�d like to see him get some
carries out of the power-I and against the Bills top D-unit.� Amoz will have a different package; like Fu,
he needs some work with the top O-line against the Bills best, or near best.
Marvel vs.
Phil Hansen:� Hansen is a good approximation of Rob
Burnett; he is a crafty, powerful but not overwhelmingly talented veteran.� Currently, Marvel is the weakest link; the
fate of the Stillers OL, increasingly, rests with this young tackle.
Spike and Toy
vs. CB Ken Irvin and Antoine Winfield:� Irvin has talent but makes errors; Winfield
could be the best CB in the league if only he weren�t 5�-8� or so.� Winfield is the LCB; match Spike on this
man.� Irvin is the RCB; we�ll see if Toy
can make him miss.� Nate Clements backs
up Winfield; if Clements plays to his rep, he�ll shortly make an all-former-OSU
CB tandem with Winfield.
The immortal
Lance Brown:� Another former Stiller brought to the
snowy north by former Stiller Tom Donahoe.�
Brown is listed as the 3rd team RCB.
O-side bubble
battles:
Brown vs. Baker
for Malcolm Johnson�s role as �the other tall WR.�� This may be described as the Danny Farmer memorial.
Taylor vs.
Blackwell vie for the Michael Adams trophy as KR specialist WR.
Janes vs. Tuman
for H-back/FB.
Ross vs. Vincent
for the role made famous by� Justin
Strlyczek.
�