SB Nation - Tutan Reyes

Texans Sign Tutan Reyes & Darnell Bing

Mike Kerns — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:08:51 -0000

In a move to provide depth to a quickly diminishing position, Houston signed Tutan Reyes to their active roster yesterday. Darnell Bing was also signed to the practice squad after Buster Davis was released yet again.

Reyes, a 31 year old, 6-foot-3, 310-pound 10th-year pro, has played in the league for seven different teams since being drafted by New Orleans in 2000 out of Ole Miss. He isn't expected to start, but could easily step in if asked to. Rookie Antoine Caldwell and veteran Chris White are expected to battle for the vacancy left by the injuy to Mike Brisiel.

"Some of the terminology is pretty similar to what I've seen in the past in the league," Reyes said. "I'll learn the offense, get in there and provide depth. If they need me to step in there and play, that's what I'm here for."

Darnell Bing was a first-team All-American safety at USC in 2005. He moved to outside linebacker after being drafted by the Raiders in the fourth round in 2006. Bing played in four games with the Detroit Lions earlier this season, recording four special teams tackles and a fumble recovery, and was released on Oct. 6.

Giants do the roster shuffle

Ed Valentine — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:30:24 -0000

Since I know some of you guys are dying to get these, here are your New York Giants' roster moves today. Here is the scoop Ralph Vacchiano of the NY Daily News.

The Giants added a running back today, but it wasn’t the one that was expected.

Rather than promote Allen Patrick from the practice squad, the Giants claimed Gartrell Johnson off waivers from the San Diego Chargers. The 5-11, 218-pound Johnson was the Chargers’ fourth-round draft pick out of Miami. He is considered a powerful inside runner who was could be good in short yardage.

Patrick, meanwhile, didn’t even get to stick around at all. He was cut from the practice squad earlier today.

Johnson, who rushed for 176 yards on 43 preseason carries, clearly must have caught the Giants’ attention because they decided to go with him over a couple of promising players with more experience. The Giants had what one NFL source said was a "sizeable" workout of running backs today, that included Lorenzo Booker and may have included T.J. Duckett, too.

The Giants also cut CB DeAndre Wright and TE Kareem Brown from the practice squad. They replaced them with TE Bear Pascoe (Fresno State) and DB Michael Coe (Alabama State).

To make room for Johnson and linebacker Michael Boley on the active roster, the Giants cut veteran offensive lineman Tutan Reyes and defensive tackle Leger Douzable. Boley was added to the roster after spending opening week on the suspended list.

My take: Typical Jerry Reese to find a player like Johnson, who might have a future, instead of going to a player like Duckett, who has a past. Also, I am very surprised to see Reyes get released. During pre-season I thought of him as the first lineman off the bench. Guess I was wrong!

'Kudos & Wet Willies:' Final pre-season edition

Ed Valentine — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Winslow Townson - AP

New York Giants wide receiver Sinorice Moss (83) catches a touchdown pass in front of New England Patriots safety Pat Chung (25) in the first quarter Thursday.

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OK, before I get to the good stuff I am giving myself a 'kudos.' Getting to the end of last night's Giants-Patriots exhibition was torture, but I managed. Without even falling asleep once. A miracle! Anyway, here is your final pre-season 'Kudos & Wet Willies.'

Kudos to ...

Lawrence Tynes: Might be the only time other than games after which he kicks a game-winner that a kicker will get first 'kudos.' Tynes kicked a 46-yard field goal and then made a tackle on special teams. Even more impressive for a wimpy little kicker, he threw the returner out of bounds and got himself a 15-yard penalty. Tom Coughlin won't agree, and neither would I in a regular-season game. But, it was pre-season and I enjoyed Tynes' macho moment.
Receivers: What was that about the Giants not having receivers who could make plays? There were a lot of impressive performances last night. Oh, and I said receivers because I am including tight end Kevin Boss among the impressive players. Let's look at some of the top performances.

Sinorice Moss -- Two catches for 35 yards and two touchdowns, one from Eli Manning and one from David Carr. For good measure, Moss added a 31-yard kickoff return. If this indeed was a fight to the finish between Moss and Derek Hagan, Moss wins by TKO. Hagan made a nice special teams tackle, but had just one catch for 8 yards and dropped a potential touchdown pass right on the goal line.
Domenik Hixon made just one catch, but it was a beauty. Hixon made a leaping catch while fighting off a defender for a 38-yard gain.
Hakeem Nicks had just one catch, but it went for 64 yards and a score. Nicks. also well covered, made a beautiful adjustment to the ball, snagged it and ran away from the defense.
Kevin Boss made two nice receptions on the opening scoring drive. I hope the Giants remember to make him a key part of the passing attack beginning Sept. 13 against the Redskins.
Mario Manningham had four catches for 74 yards. He ran good routes, and made the plays on everything thrown in his direction. Can't do much better than that.

William Beatty: The rookie left tackle started in place of David Diehl, played most of the way and held up well. I don't think his name was called all night, and that is a good thing.
Allen Patrick: I still don't think he has a shot at anything other than the practice squad, but he ran hard and totaled 50 yards on just 8 carries.
Antonio Pierce: For just getting on the field. Hooray!
Tutan Reyes: The veteran offensive lineman slid over to center when Adam Koets sprained an ankle, and did the job. I feel much better about the backup center position after watching that.
Travonti Johnson: One bad penalty, but eight tackles and played pretty well overall. I'm still not sold on him, but he has a good shot to be a backup safety.
David Carr: Went 6-for-6 for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Looked composed. David Philips, wherever you are, I know you are smiling.

Wet Willies to ...

DeAndre Wright: Got smoked by veteran Greg Ellis for a long pass that set up a New England touchdown late in the first half. I shouldn't worry about it, though. Wright will be lucky to get a practice squad invite.
Andre Woodson: If there was any doubt about Woodson's fate on the 53-man roster, he sealed it last night. I don't see any chance he makes the team. He threw a first-half Pick Six after locking in on his receiver, and ended up a woeful 6-for-19 for 98 yards. I can't give Rhett Bomar 'kudos,' since he was just 2-for-7 with a goal line interception in a paltry five minutes of work. Bomar, though, had three passes (two to Shaun Bodiford and one to Ramses Barden) that probably should have been completed and he ran twice for 27 yards, including a 16-yard scramble for a first down. He at least looked like a professional quarterback, seemed comfortable and showed he can make the throws.
Kenny Ingram: Made one tackle and whiffed at least twice. Before the game I thought he had a shot at the practice squad. Now, I'm not so sure.

Football Outsiders Almanac, New York Giants, Part III: The offense

Ed Valentine — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:00:16 -0000

More photos » by Mike Groll - AP

New York Giants offensive linemen Shaun O'Hara (60) and David Diehl (66) hit a blocking sled during Giants training camp at UAlbany.

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We continue our look through the 2009 Football Outsiders Almanac summary of our New York Giants with a look at this year's offense.

We have been over and over the wide receiver situation. If you are a Football Outsiders' devotee you know they have done exhaustive research and concluded the Giants were actually better last season without Plaxico Burress than they were with him. I am not going to belabor the receiver issue any further. You can buy the Almanac or download the free Giants chapter if you want to read that portion.

Instead, I thought I would look at some of the other points FOA makes regarding the Giants' offensive success.

The FOA makes the assertion that the group most vital to the success of the 2009 Giants is not the receivers or the running backs. Rather, it is the offensive line.

The place where New York has impressively managed to avoid injury for two years running is on the offensive line. No starter has missed a regular-season game for two seasons. It’s a remarkable accomplishment,
considering that no other team has seen its starting five linemen make it through two consecutive seasons without missing a single start since 2003. In 2002 and 2003, both the Chiefs and the Vikings managed to pull off the feat; neither made it to three years, although the Chiefs’ starters only missed a single game in 2004; the Vikings’ linemen missed 18 games in each of 2004 and 2005.

For the Giants, the basis of their team’s strength is in the combination of the offensive line with fullback Madison Hedgecock, so losing even one player for any period of time would be a huge problem. When Kareem McKenzie struggled with a back injury last year and had to come out for periodic extended breathers in the middle of games, he was replaced by utility lineman Kevin Boothe, who proceeded to nearly get Eli Manning killed. The team has only Boothe and second-round pick William Beatty for recognizable backups, so an injury to a key player like right guard Chris Snee or center Shaun O’Hara could be disastrous for the offense.

My take: I have to agree that this is an area that worries me. It has been well-documented that even the center-quarterback exchange has been difficult in camp for any center not named O'Hara. Boothe is now on the shelf with a pectoral injury, Beatty is not ready, no one knows how much Tutan Reyes has left, or if Guy Whimper and Adam Koets can actually play.

All I can say is, cross your fingers and hope we don't have to find out.

The FOA had this to say about Manning.

The once-embattled quarterback had his best season as a pro in 2008, improving his completion percentage and yards per attempt while cutting his interceptions in half, although it’s worth noting that his six dropped interceptions were tied for thirdmost in the league. Manning still has accuracy issues — his rating of 80.9 percent on our accuracy index (see Appendix) was below the league average of 82.6 percent, and 26th amongst quarterbacks who threw at least 100 passes, but he has improved his accuracy on crossing routes and short out patterns.

My take: Eli will never be a model of perfection, or a guy who piles up great numbers. He is flawed, but he wins. That is what counts.

The Almanac also has a little nugget about offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. I'm sure the Gilbride haters in the crowd will appreciate it.

Kevin Gilbride took some heat for his play-calling against the Eagles in the Divisional round loss, but the problem was less with the scheme and more with the execution. Gilbride has had a habit of wearing out his welcome, though, so it wouldn’t a surprise to see the blame fall on him if the offense gets off to a slow start. Head coach Tom Coughlin appears to have moved on from his old drill instructor style of coaching permanently, but again, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if the team does struggle at the start of the year.

My take: Gilbride has a ton of different offensive weapons with a wide variety of skill sets. His job is to find the right ways to use those skill sets, and watching him try to figure it out will be one of the most fascinating -- and, I'm sure, most talked about -- stories of 2009.

New York Giants training camp: Thursday morning practice report

Ed Valentine — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:00:07 -0000

More photos » by Mike Groll - AP

New York Giants wide receiver David Tyree (85) blocks teammate DeAndre Wright during NFL football training camp in Albany Thursday.

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The intensity was turned up -- way up -- during Thursday morning's practice session at New York Giants training camp.

The Giants went with shoulder pads for the first time, and there was some intense hitting.

Coach Tom Coughlin was still not happy with his offense, even though it looked a little better.

"The defense played well this morning. The quickness of our front was obvious ... saw some strong penetrating moves on the part of three or four different guys.

I'm disappointed in the fact that when we put the pads on it's time to put the pads on and you don't expect people to come clean ... but, it'll pick up. It's always that way early. Defense has been playing well, and the offense has gotta get in tune with it and catch up."

Here are some highlights.

Linebacker Kenny Ingram laid the first big hit of camp on rookie running back Andre Brown, most definitely signaling that things were getting serious. Ingram introduced himself to Brown again later in the camp with another nasty open-field hit.
Brown had a nice practice, popping through a couple of holes, including a nice bounce outside on one run. Not to be outdone, Danny Ware also ran the ball well this morning, including a nifty cut back run on a pitch out. NIce little competition between the two of them developing.

Here are some other defensive highlights.

Kenny Phillips made a couple of excellent run stops.
Chris Canty stuffed Ahmad Bradshaw on a run up the middle.
Aaron Ross came clean on a corner blitz and would have destroyed Eli Manning in live action.
Zak DeOssie had a couple of nice plays, including a highlight stop when he straightened up tackle Cliff Louis, and stopped Brown in the backfield.

Here are a few other offensive highlights.

Sinorice Moss caught the one long ball of the day from Manning, getting behind Aaron Ross. The Giants also ran a reverse to Moss that looked like it could have gained a good chunk of yardage. Someone on the sidelines yelled 'Mr. August' when Moss hauled in the ball.
Pretty good morning for Hakeem Nicks, who made a couple of good catches over the middle in traffic. Nicks missed a chance for a couple of big plays downfield, though. On one, he was behind his defender and Andre Woodson overthrew him. On another, Woodson badly underthrew him and Nicks attempted to adjust but could not haul in the ball. That one was in the end zone.
The other rookie receivers -- Ramses Barden and Travis Beckum -- each caught a handful of balls this morning.

Couple of lowlights.

These would, of course, involved center to quarterback exchanges. Kevin Boothe and Andre Woodson messed up one, it looked like Adam Koets and David Carr messed up another. There was also a third, but I couldn't see who snapped it. Veteran Tutan Reyes ended up taking a few turns at center. Who woulda thought Grey Reugamer would be the biggest off-season loss on this team? My guess is the backup center is someone who is not currently on the roster because right now if Shaun O'Hara is injured the Giants are in a world of hurt.
The other lowlight was a dropped pass by Brandon Jacobs. Please, please Kevin Gilbride -- do not call plays where Jacobs has to catch the ball.

An off-beat note.

Ever wonder what a placekicker does to keep himself busy during practice? Well, both Tuesday and today Lawrence Tynes took turns running pass routes during some defensive positioning drills. Tynes also took some turns playing quarterback during another set of cornerback drills. He can throw a little bit, by the way. Oh, the one disconcerting thing? The assistant coaches call Tynes 'LT.' Umm ... fellas, that's wrong.

This year's useless try at predicting the Giants' season-opening 53-man roster

Ed Valentine — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:00:11 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, left, runs a drill with Rhett Bomar (5) and Andre Woodson during mini-camp last month. The competition for a roster spot between Bomar and Woodson will be one of training camp's most interesting.

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OK, so with training camp only days away it is time to take a stab at predicting the season-opening 53-man roster. It's an exercise in complete futility. I mean, there is no way to predict injuries, and no guessing what veterans might get picked up right before the season starts.

But, I will take a stab at it anyway. Before Week 1 I will have to remember to look back and see how close I got.

Quarterbacks: Starter -- Eli Manning. Backup -- David Carr, Andre Woodson, Rhett Bomar.

The obvious fight here is between Bomar and Woodson for the third slot. Bomar, this year's fifth-round pick, was better than Woodson, last season's sixth-round pick, in the mini-camps. There is very little reason to think that won't still be the case in training camp. The Giants kept only two quarterbacks on the 53-man last season. Most teams keep three, and I am going to base this choice on Tom Coughlin keeping three.

The picks (3) -- Manning, Carr, Bomar

Running Backs: Starters -- RB Brandon Jacobs, FB Madison Hedgecock. Backup -- RB Ahmad Bradshaw, RB Danny Ware, RB Andre Brown, RB Allen Patrick, RB Dwayne Wright.

The roster spots here are easy to pick. The fight that will develop for carries behind Jacobs is not. I haven't got a clue who will emerge as the true backup behind Jacobs. I know, however, that between Bradshaw, Ware and the rookie Brown I'm not worried about it.

The picks (5) -- Jacobs, Hedgecock, Bradshaw, Ware, Brown.

Tight Ends: Starter -- Kevin Boss. Backup -- Michael Matthews, Darcy Johnson, Lee Vickers, Travis Beckum.

Third-round pick Travis Beckum wasn't drafted to block. Kevin Boss can block, but he is a pass-catcher. That means the third tight end has to be a big-time blocker, and that's what Matthews is.

The picks (3) -- Boss, Beckum, Matthews.

Wide Receivers: Starters -- Steve Smith, Domenik Hixon. Backups -- Mario Manningham, Sinorice Moss, David Tyree, Taye Biddle, Shaun Bodiford, Derek Hagan, Micah Rucker, Hakeem Nicks, Ramses Barden.

There are likely six roster spots to be had out of this group, and barring injury or trade it is pretty clear who will get them. That means a sad goodbye to Super Bowl 42 hero David Tyree. It also means cult hero Micah Rucker is likely playing for a spot on the practice squad.

The picks (6) -- Smith, Hixon, Manningham, Moss, Nicks, Barden.

Offensive Linemen: Starters -- LT David Diehl, LG Rich Seubert, C Shaun O’Hara, RG Chris Snee, RT Kareem McKenzie. Backups -- T Guy Whimper, T/C Adam Koets, T Andrew Carnahan, G/T Kevin Boothe, T Cliff Louis, G/T Terrance Pennington, G Tutan Reyes, G/T Orrin Thompson, T Will Beatty.

Each and every Giants' fan should pray that this starting offensive line, one of the league's best, continues to stay healthy. There isn't much in the way of dependable backups.

Second-round pick William Beatty should make the team. Veteran guard Tutan Reyes is likely in. The versatility of being able to play guard and tackle probably gets Kevin Boothe a slot. There has to be a backup center, so Adam Koets probably also sneaks onto the roster.

The picks (9) -- Diehl, Seubert, O'Hara, Snee, McKenzie, Beatty, Reyes, Boothe, Koets.

Defensive Linemen: Starters -- LE Justin Tuck, LT Barry Cofield, RT Fred Robbins, RE Osi Umenyiora. Backups -- DE Mathias Kiwanuka, DE/DT Chris Canty, DT Rocky Bernard, DT Jay Alford, DE Dave Tollefson, DE Maurice Evans, DT Anthony Bryant, DT Jeremy Clark, DT Leger Douzable, DE Robert Henderson, DE Tommie Hill.

If everyone gets through camp healthy, some very good football players will wind up being available to the NFL's other teams. I doubt there is another unit in the league that is this talented and this deep. The hardest cut out of this group will be Dave Tollefson, a popular player who has played well at times in sporadic opportunities. But with all this depth, with Jay Alford doubling as snapper on field goals and PATs, and with the talented Maurice Evans likely ending up on the practice squad I don't know how Tollefson sticks around.

The picks (8) -- Tuck, Cofield, Robbins, Umenyiora, Kiwanuka, Canty, Bernard, Alford.

Linebackers: Starter -- SLB Danny Clark , MLB Antonio Pierce , WLB Michael Boley. Backup -- MLB Chase Blackburn, MLB Jonathan Goff, WLB Bryan Kehl, WLB Gerris Wilkinson, SLB Zak DeOssie, SLB Kenny Ingram, SLB Clint Sintim, MLB Kelvin Smith.

The picks (8) -- Clark, Pierce, Boley, Blackburn, Goff, Kehl, DeOssie, Sintim

Defensive Backs: Starter -- LCB Aaron Ross, RCB Corey Webster, FS Michael Johnson, SS Kenny Phillips. Backup -- CB Vince Anderson, SS C.C. Brown, SS/FS Steve Cargile, CB Kevin Dockery, CB Bruce Johnson, CB Travonti Johnson, FS Sha’reff Rashad, CB Terrell Thomas, CB Stoney Woodson, CB DeAndre Wright.

The Giants are deep and talented at cornerback, a fact that is incredibly important in today's pass and blitz-happy NFL. They aren't so deep at safety, and I think that might leave room for undrafted free-agent Sha'reff Rashad to sneak onto the roster.

The picks (9) -- Ross, Webster, Johnson, Phillips, Brown, Dockery, Rashad, Thomas, Wright.

Kickers (2): P Jeff Feagles, K Lawrence Tynes

Feagles is the best in the business at what he does. Tynes makes many Giants' fans nervous, but he is a perfectly acceptable veteran kicker.

-- New York Giants schedule

20/20 Hindsight: Re-examining the Bills' 2006 off-season

Brian Galliford — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:15:10 -0000

TE Robert Royal joined the Bills in 2006 (photo source)

To say that the current front office regime of the Buffalo Bills has taken a lot of criticism over the past three-plus years is an understatement. The group - featuring GM Marv Levy (for two years), COO Russ Brandon (for two years), head coach Dick Jauron and VPs John Guy and Tom Modrak - has made several bold personnel decisions through four off-seasons of re-building, and the result has been three consecutive 7-9 seasons. When finger-pointing, most Bills' fans fingers - we'll leave you to speculate on which fingers are used - are pointing directly at this group.

As hindsight is 20/20, we thought it would be prudent to take a look back at the regime's initial off-season in Buffalo, transitioning between 2005's 5-11 group (led by GM Tom Donahoe and head coach Mike Mularkey) and the '06 Bills that would finish 7-9 under the leadership of Levy and Jauron. How did the Bills get there? More importantly, looking back three years later, do we perceive the season as one of progress or recession?

Here's how the 2006 off-season (with a bit of in-season dashed in) unfolded in Buffalo. Your homework? Tell us whether or not you like what happened.

+ Jauron chooses - then sticks with - QB J.P. Losman
When Jauron arrived in Buffalo, he inherited a murky quarterback situation. The 2005 Bills, behind Mularkey and his desperation to field a winner, split QB duties between Losman - a first-year starter - and veteran Kelly Holcomb. Jauron held an "open competition" during training camp for starting quarterback duties, but it quickly became apparent that Losman would beat out Holcomb - which, of course, he eventually did.

Far more importantly, Jauron stuck with Losman, even after the team started 2-5. Jauron's patience paid off a bit, as Losman would go on to enjoy his best season as a pro, finishing the season with an 84.9 quarterback rating, 3,051 yards passing, 19 TD and 14 INT. The Bills closed out the season 5-4, with a Christmas Eve loss to the Tennessee Titans permanently derailing their playoff hopes. Clearly, we all know how Losman's career finished in Buffalo, but Jauron gets a thumbs-up for this move - in the midst of re-building, he got a full year out of his inherited young quarterback, found out what he had in the asset, and nearly pulled a playoff appearance out of the decision.

+ The mid-season O-Line shuffle
Buffalo started the season 2-5; during their Week 8 bye, Jauron elected - rather boldly, I might add - to re-shuffle his offensive line. Mike Gandy moved from left tackle to left guard. Jason Peters flipped from right tackle to left tackle - a position at which he would earn two Pro Bowl berths in later seasons. Rookie seventh-round draft pick Terrance Pennington took over at right tackle; while starting C Melvin Fowler and RG Chris Villarrial (with Duke Preston as an injury fill-in) remained, Tutan Reyes found himself on the bench.

By all accounts, Buffalo's offense functioned better during a stretch that saw the team put up a 5-2 record to reach 7-7, on the cusp of the playoffs. The Bills improved their per-game scoring average to 22.2 points per game over their final nine games (5-4), as opposed to just 14.3 points during their 2-5 start. Again - a bold, in-season move by the Bills' coach that paid dividends.

There were some good moves made, clearly, but not all was peachy keen during '06 - the initial season for the current regime. Head on in past the jump for other important developments during the 2006 season.

+ Finding five rookie contributors in the Draft
In an off-season in which the team rid itself of some veteran roster fat (see below point), the Bills did well to find five rookies that were able to contribute positively in 2006. S Donte Whitner (Round 1), S Ko Simpson (Round 4), DT Kyle Williams (Round 5), LB Keith Ellison (Round 6) and OT Terrance Pennington (Round 7) all started games, with the first three on that list emerging as full-time starters. Three more players - DT John McCargo (Round 1), CB Ashton Youboty (Round 3) and OT Brad Butler (Round 5) have contributed as well, though the rookie season impact of each player was largely minimal.

+ Shedding veteran roster fat
The first thing Jauron and the current regime did upon arriving in Buffalo was get rid of overpriced and/or underachieving veterans. Household names such as WR Eric Moulds, OT Mike Williams, DT Sam Adams and safeties Troy Vincent and Lawyer Milloy were let go. TE Mark Campbell, OG Bennie Anderson, C Trey Teague and LB Jeff Posey joined them. The Bills didn't have salary cap issues at that point in time, but losing these players didn't exactly hurt them in the long run - not even Adams, a pretty good player in his heyday, was productive post-Buffalo (23 tackles and 2 sacks in his final two seasons).

- Weak free agent class
Perhaps the most frequently-referenced and noticeable downfall to this initial off-season was the lack of impact found in the free agent class. Take a look at the veteran players brought in:

RB Anthony Thomas
WR Peerless Price
WR Andre' Davis
TE Robert Royal
OG Tutan Reyes
C Melvin Fowler
DE Anthony Hargrove (trade)
DT Larry Tripplett
CB Kiwaukee Thomas
S Matt Bowen

Tripplett was the "big" signing of the group, yet he lasted just two unspectacular seasons in a Bills uniform. Royal became notorious for dropped passes and key fumbles. Fowler was a major flop as the starting center, eventually being replaced by the aforementioned Preston - who also is no longer with the team. Perhaps the best player of this group is Davis, a speedy wideout that saw little playing time offensively, signed with Houston in 2007 and promptly put up solid receiving numbers (33 receptions, 583 yards, 3 TD) while returning 3 kickoffs for touchdowns. The sad reality is that of the names on this list, only Royal and Fowler lasted more than two seasons in Buffalo, and neither is with the team any longer.

- Lack of big-play impact
This ties into the free agent group listed above, but also counts for the nine players the Bills drafted (all of whom have been mentioned aside from seventh-round OG Aaron Merz) - Buffalo was unable to find a single long-term impact player during this critical first off-season. Not even Whitner - widely considered one of the NFL's best young players at the safety position - nor other starters from the draft class (Williams and Butler) have earned the "difference-maker" label. Buffalo did well to find a few starters in this draft class - Williams and Butler in particular were excellent picks - but the overall lack of play making from their rookies and, more importantly, their free agents really hamstrung a young team playing behind a young quarterback. Which leads me to my last point...

- Where is the help for Losman?
Any time you're building around a young quarterback, you need to surround him with weapons. Maybe Jauron knew at that point in time that Losman wasn't really his guy; maybe he just wanted to address the defensive side of the ball first (his first five draft picks in Buffalo were defenders, after all). Either way, Trent Edwards wasn't in the picture at that point in time. Losman was the future then. We gave him three late-round rookie linemen, two journeyman veteran linemen (Fowler and Reyes), Peerless Price and Royal. Losman didn't even have a full season's worth of starts under his belt at that point in time; Lee Evans and Willis McGahee were effectively all he had offensively. The offense was productive at times, sure, but is it any surprise that teams eventually figured out that to stop the Bills, all you had to do was double-team Evans?

There's a lot to like about this initial off-season - in particular trimming veteran fat, getting a deep (if unspectacular) draft class, and committing themselves to one quarterback. Those were good moves; so was the mid-season re-structure of the offensive line. But the lack of impact from the rookie class and what many might consider one of the worst free agent classes in team history considerably weakens any positive that emerged from Year One of the Jauron regime in Buffalo.

The poll question is self-explanatory, and the comments section is open. Before you ask, the answer is yes - we'll be doing this for 2007, 2008 and even 2009 as well.

Poll

2006 Buffalo Bills off-season approval rating, three years later - cast your vote!

Approve

135 votes

Disapprove

208 votes

Unsure

71 votes

414 votes | Poll has closed

Bills/Jaguars: Big Cat Country's Take

Brian Galliford — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:48:37 -0000

Buffalo Bills (1-0) at Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)
SB Nation's Jaguars coverage: Big Cat Country

The Buffalo Bills are set to square off against the Jacksonville Jaguars in just over three days' time, and these teams could not be coming off of more different Week 1 results. The Bills dominated the Seahawks in a 34-10 win in their home opener; the Jags, however, dropped a 17-10 decision to division rival Tennessee, losing several offensive linemen along the way. The events of Week 1 have many Bills fans believing that a Week 2 game that most of us had chalked up as a loss might, in fact, be a winnable game.

Want more low-down on the Jaguars? Big Cat Country is the place to be, and the man who heads up that effort, River City Rage, was kind enough to answer a few questions of mine about his Jaguars as we start mentally preparing for this game. (OK... I'm just straight up ready for the game, as I'm sure many of you are. But we might as well talk about it until then, right?)

Buffalo Rumblings: With a banged up offensive line and a dinged up Jerry Porter, how concerned are you about the Jaguars' ability to be balanced offensively?

RCR, Big Cat Country: Honestly, I'm terrified. The tackles - Khalif Barnes and Tony Pashos - get a lot of attention, but our running game was driven by Vince Manuwai. Having the entire middle of our line stocked with second tier players will drastically change the way the Jaguars operate. In many ways, the Jaguars will have to learn to pass in order to set up the run, rather than running to open up the passing game. David Garrard will need his recievers to run short crisp routes and exploit their size advantage in order to move the ball down the field. Look for short passes and a lot of dink and dunk. That is, unless Tulan Reyes can prove to be a road grating run blocker. Ed. Note: Don't count on it.

Buffalo Rumblings: Talk a bit about David Garrard, who had a terrific 2007 season. How confident are you that he can replicate that success in 2008?

RCR, Big Cat Country: I will tell you for a fact that David Garrard will throw more than 3 interceptions. I can also state for a fact that he'll throw more than 18 touchdowns. I'm not expecting him to match his numbers - he'll throw more picks, especially with the protection breakdown - but he'll also throw closer to 27 or 28 touchdowns. Opposing teams are going to key off against the run, and if Porter, Matt Jones, Reggie Williams and Marcedes Lewis can continue to develop in the Jaguars' system (and stay healthy), they'll offset the inevitible decrease in rushing TD's.

Buffalo Rumblings: Gregg Williams takes over what has traditionally been a strong Jaguars defense this season. Which player(s) has he been attempting to emphasize in his scheme? Does the defense have a weakness?

RCR, Big Cat Country: Yes, the weakness is that we have to get there. Gregg Williams called a blitz on 3rd and 15 that Mike Smith would have never called. Rather than play conservative, the Jaguars attacked and got burned to the tune of a 44 yard catch and run by Bo Scaife. The Jaguars and Gregg Williams want to be aggressive, but they can't do so until the players can get there. Derrick Harvey and Quentin Groves were drafted (at a cost of picking NO offensive linemen, that's the definition of irony) to bring the heat. Williams also thinks that Reggie Nelson is greater than or equal to Ed Reed and the three of them are going to be featured. Weaknesses include: relying on rookie defensive ends to create a pass rush that was not there and moving a cornerback (Brian Williams) to strong safety and assuming he can stuff the run.

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I'll tell you what, folks - I'm not scared of Jacksonville's offense, and not just because Buffalo's defense played well against Seattle. The Jaguars will score more points on Buffalo than the Seahawks did, and they'll very likely have an easier time of it moving the ball, with or without half of their offensive line. But the Jaguars need to make big plays offensively - they aren't a team that can chip their way down the field five or six times a game and come away with points, unless it's supplemented with big chunks of yardage - and Buffalo's defense is tailor-made to avoid such a development.

Their defense, on the other hand, will keep the Jags alive in this one right until the bitter end, for better or for worse. We've seen the Gregg Williams defense - in fact, the Bills beat it last year when Williams was the defensive coordinator in Washington. Williams has better talent to work with in Jacksonville. The Bills should be able to move the ball - if they can do it against the stingy Seahawks defense, they can certainly do it against Jacksonville - but they must absolutely avoid turning the ball over, because that's the lifeblood of the Jaguars. Turnovers turned a close game into a blowout when the Bills visited Jacksonville last season.

Much more on this game this afternoon and in the coming days. Time to start building up the adrenaline, Rumblers.