A bit of a brain dump:

All through training camp and the preseason, I got confused what was going on in the Bills receiving corp.  Donald Jones got promoted to the starting Z role.  Based on the way things ended last year, it seemed like he was jumping David Nelson who had generated more production last season.  There was quite a bit of explanation that this was because Jones is faster and could thus be a better replacement for Lee Evans in threatening defenses deep.

Two games into this season, things seem to be progressing similar to last year.  David Nelson has returned to being a favorite target of Ryan Fitzpatrick and been quite productive, while Donald Jones made a couple of key plays in crunch time yesterday, but has so far had a much lower level of overall productivity.

So, the best way that I can understand the Donald Jones promotion in training camp was that it was a decoy to get defenses to focus on a receiver who hasn't yet reached his potential and keep the focus off the emerging talent of Nelso.  The reason Fitzy wasn't throwing to Nelson in the preseason because he wanted to get comfortable with other guys. 

It's hard to tell how Jones is doing from the TV coverage.  Is he really drawing coverage away from the inside guys?  I hope so, but so far Fitz targets him much less than Stevie.  (I hope Stevie can heal up quickly!)  Hopefully, Jones' increased activity in the offense at the end of yesterday's game is a sign of things to come.  With Stevie's groin issue and cramps, it seems like it will force Jones more strongly onto Fitz's radar.  Hopefully, he continues his steady development and can start to build off of his key role in yesterday's game.  However, my memory is that Stevie always had an ability to get open and score touchdowns in the few chances he got during his first and second years.  So, it seems like Jones has a ways to go.

Yesterday reinforced the impression that David Nelson has already developed into a polished receiver who probably should have been drafted in 2nd round.  (James Hardy, anyone?)  And the Bills should treat him like it.  I would love to see him locked up with a long term deal soon!  His press conference makes him sound like a super guy to have in locker room.  While it's possible that won't be able to get a whole better than he is now, he seems like a great asset for the Bills and his production seems to indicate that he should have a starting role.

Sadly, Nelson's entrance seems to indicate the another step in the gradual reduction in capability of Roscoe.  It is such a shame that the Bills finally got a coach who knows how to use him only once he reached the stage of his career when he gets hurt all the time.  It would have been great to get him involved in the offense back when he was in his prime. Not sure it's really worth re-signing him.  I guess Namaan isn't as fast, but Namaan seems healthier at this point and I look forward to his return to the playing field.

The Solomon Wilcots commentary on the Johnson v Johnson matchup was fun to hear.  It's so great to have a receiver that has such great moves and catching ability that he forces the other team to foul him.

When will our second tier receivers start catching the ball?

It's also nice to be talking about the skill position guys because the men in the trenches are doing their jobs.  There was a lot of talk about the Raiders D-line before this game.  While they bottled up Freddy for the first half, Fitzy generally had lots of time to throw.  And then we all saw what Fred did in the second half when cracks started forming in the Raiders line.  Were the cracks helped by Rhinehart's appearance?  Did Brian's prediction that Rhinehart would take over for Urbik get forced on the coaching staff due to injury?

Fred Jackson needs to get paid.  His performance yesterday was that of a >$5million/year back.  That run to start the second half was so money.  The Bills owe him in back pay for those sort of plays that he has been making for years.  He is absolutely right that his salary now is a joke and makes the Bills look cheap.  He may be my favorite Bill of all time.  Can't wait to see what he can do to New England next week!

Let's go Buffalo!

One of the great things the Bills did in their first two drives was chew up lots of game clock.  The offense let the defense get a good rest and defense responded by quickly getting the ball back.

I wanted to see if anyone had opinions on Fitzy's decision on the 3rd drive to hit the home run with Stevie on the first play.  While it staked the Bills to a big lead, after that play the Jags seemed to find new life.  They scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive and finally started having success against a Bills defense that to that point had been stonewalling them.  Sure, the Jags were helped by two questionable calls, but a couple of running lanes opened up that hadn't been there before and the pass rush seemed to be a couple seconds slower.  It just made me wonder if the Bills defense would have appreciated a bit more rest and while the throw to Stevie scored a touchdown, it might have gotten the Bills out of the rhythm they'd established.  

I'm thinking here of the analogy to baseball where the leadoff hitter will take a couple pitches after the pitcher strikes out.  Maybe the Bills should have called a couple running plays.

This was one point of worry for me in an otherwise very positive first half.  It seemed like it continued the trouble the Bills had last year of getting a big lead and then losing focus and letting the opposition come back.  And boy, it sure would be nice to win some games this year.

Disclaimer:  These two guys are unrelated, thoughts about them just happen to be bouncing around my head on this Thursday morning.  Also, this is my first fanpost.

I think Tim Tebow is an amazing football player.  I agree strongly with Tony Dungy's comments Sunday night that winner's win and that's who you want to have on your football team.  I've developed a strong fear that all the discussions Bill Belichick has had with Urban Meyer means that the Patriots will use their first round pick on Tebow and he will torture we Bills fans for year to come.  It is the perfect time for the Patriots to draft a new QB.  Brady will be great for another 2-3 years.  The Pats can work Tebow in gradually running spread/read-option/wildcat type stuff just like Meyer did at Florida to add more concerns for defenses to prepare for.  The Patriots already run a fairly spread offense, so it would not be the huge adjustment that has crippled spread QBs like Alex Smith in the NFL.  And with Brady in place, there is time for Tebow to learn the offense and perfect his mechanics.  My naive assessment is that Tebow has the tools to develop into an incredible thrower.  It seems to me that he has a really strong arm.  I don't know anything about mechanics.  I just know that he completes passes when he needs to and one time I turned the TV on and it showed him throwing the ball a heck of a long way.

I'm not sure the Bills are in a position to do anything about this short of offering the head coaching position to Urban Meyer, drafting the Pouncey twins and Tebow's roommate, Riley Cooper who he seems to look for in the clutch (and who makes the plays).  The current Bills offense would not suit Tebow at all.  I think if you wanted to tap into his intangibles, you'd pretty much have to mortgage the franchise on the kid and hire a coach specific to his talents, which would be a huge gamble particularly with Tebow's recent concussion issues.  I don't think that any of the coaching candidates currently being discussed run offensive systems that would optimally utilize Tebow's talents.  It's hard for me to advocate taking such a huge gamble, but I sure hope a team other than the Patriots drafts him.

Which brings me to Mike Martz who Chris Brown said was praising Perry Fewell extravagantly so that he would get hired as offensive coordinator.  I think Martz would be the perfect fit to coach the offense if Deisel Fewell gets poured on the Bills as coach next year.  In fact, I think Martz would be one of my requirements if Fewell is brought back next year.  This offense was designed several years ago by Steve Fairchild in the Martz image, though the architect was far less skilled.  What would happen if the master came to town?  I would love to see what Martz would do with all the weapons that we heard so much about this year, but have yet to be truly utilized.  What would he do with Freddy and/or Marshawn in the Marshall Faulk role?  Would Marshall Faulk stop predicting bad things for the Bills on the NFL Network?  Wasn't Ryan Fitzpatrick raised in the Martz system?  Would we see the return of Gibran Hamdan who followed a similar career path to Kurt Warner (minus stocking supermarket shelves and spiky haired wife)?  Is Trent Edwards a good fit in a Mike Martz offense?  Would Martz be able to resuscitate Edwards' career?  Does Kurt Warner really have that much stronger of an arm than Trent?  My major concern is that the Mike Martz offense seemed to work best in a dome and I get concerned about how it would work in the bad weather (so all the December home games would have to be played in Toronto ;().  I'm also not sure that the current receiving corp is fast enough (Josh Reed, Steve Johnson, Hobbly Hardy), but maybe that would provide an actual use for Roscoe outside of returning kicks.  I do think that Perry Fewell would give Martz the latitude that Mike Singletary wouldn't in SF. 

Just to be clear:  Mike Martz would be a terrible offensive coordinator for Tim Tebow, but might be a good fit for the Bills.  I think the Martz offense would require drafting an OT (Orlando Pace equivalent?) in the first round and, of course, a GM who understood Martz' wants and needs (which unfortunately might exclude Eric DeCosta).  It would also mean a showy, glitzy form of aerial football that I'm not sure fits the Buffalo ethos (but then the no huddle K-gun seemed to be appreciated).  Martz just seems to go well in my mind with the offensive players that are currently in Buffalo and Coach Diesel.  Coach Fewell seems to have the spark to motivate players required for a head coach and Martz loves to tinker with offensive strategy.  We'll just have to see if the Bills can keep "playing like hell and winning" as the season winds down to justify keeping Coach Fewell.  If the Bills do, I think bringing in Martz is an interesting possibility.

Let's go Buffalo!