Die Hard Sports Fan

Hello Bills fans.  Im not going to lie.  It feels great to be 5-1.  What a great team victory it was this past Sunday in Orchard Park.  I wanted to talk a little bit about one of the defensive captains and team leaders Donte Whitner.  This past weekend, the Bills used Whitner as a free safety, strong safety and corner.  Whitner has been asked to play so many roles in Perry Fewell’s defense.  Bryan Scott has played strong safety and George Wilson plays free when Whitner is called upon to cover the slot receiver.  With Terrence McGee and Ashton Youboty bothered by injuries, Whitner has taken control of the secondary.  He is playing more of a “hybrid” safety role similar to what he did at Ohio State.  Its amazing that after the Bills selected Whitner 8th overall back in the 2006 draft, many experts called it a reach without realizing what type of player he was.  Whitner has been on the field since his rookie year and is becoming one of the best safeties in the game.  I give credit to Marv Levy because without his eye for talent, the Bills would be without a great leader.  Check out the article on timesunion.com.  Go Bills. 

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Hello Bills fans.  After listening to Trent Edwards postgame press conference, I came to realize how important Coach Dick Jauron is to this franchise.  Edwards said that not only does he want to win for his teammates but he wants to win specifically for his Coach.  In sports today, you very rarely hear a player say what Trent said about Coach Jauron.  The players on this team love him and will fight to the end to get a win for their coach.  Safety and special teams captain George Wilson said, “Ask every single guy how he feels about coach Jauron and I guarantee you, I’m willing to bet my salary that you won’t hear a single negative word uttered about the man.”  This team is extremely close and that is a credit to Coach Jauron.  Look at last season with all the injuries.  The team stayed together and was in the playoff hunt in December.  Im happy that Dick Jauron is the coach of the Bills and hope he gets the contract extension that he deserves.  Check out the full article on timesunion.com.  Go Bills. 

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The Buffalo Bills named their team captains today.  Six were named in all and of the 6 captains, 3 are retutning from last season. 

Lee Evans (offense), Chris Kelsay (defense) and Brain Moorman (special teams) were the 3 captains that were named again for a second straight year.  Second year quaterback Trent Edwards was also named a captain on the offensive side of the ball.  Thrid year saftey Donte Whitner, who has showed great leadership for such a young player will also represent the defense.  George Wilson, the backup saftey was given the 2nd special teams captains role.

All of the players were voted captain by their teammates.

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The season is starting in just under 5 games with the Buffalo Bills home opener just around the corner.  The game is of course on Sunday, September 7^th when the Bills take on the Seattle Seahawks at the Ralph at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time).

So what am I going to do for you guys out there reading this?  Get you pumped for the regular season opener!  From now until Sunday I will be covering the Bills as a team and their chances of making the playoffs.  First, I will cover the Buffalo Bills defense.  I will list the depth chart of the position in my breakdown of the D position by position and give them an overall grade along with some commentary of the team. 

DE

1. Aaron Schobel

2. Chris Kelsey

3. Ryan Denney

4. Chris Ellis

5. Copeland Bryan

The Bills have a very solid group of defensive ends on the roster this year.  That means they will have a good duo out there on any play seeing as the Bills like to rotate in the freshest players on the D-line…  Schobel has made the pro bowl two years in a row but he is trying to improve his sack total for this year after only 6.5 sacks last year, the lowest in his career since his rookie season back in 2001…  Kelsey is trying to return to top form after he battled nagging injuries all last season.  He underwent off-season surgery on his torn tendon in his ankle…  Denney is also trying to return to top form after he had to undergo foot surgery.  He was only able to play in 7 games last year due to the injury… Chris Ellis is the rookie DE from Virginia Tech.  He was selected by the Bills in the 3^rd round.  Ellis could be used as a situational pass rusher and is also good against the run.  Fast fact, the last DE selected by the Bills from VT, Bruce Smith…  Bryan appeared in only 2 games last season and was later put on the IR in December.  Before joining the Bills last season, Bryan was on the Bear practice squad…     

GRADE: B

DT

1. Marcus Stroud

2. Kyle Williams

3. John McCargo

4. Spencer Johnson

            The Bills are hoping that a healthy Stroud can return to his former pro bowl form.  The 6’ 6’’, 306 lb. tackle was brought in to help improve the Bills D against the run which finished near the bottom of the league last season.  Stroud will also get some double team attention at the line giving the DEs and LBs some room to run and make plays…  The 25 yard old Williams just signed a contract extension this off-season for 3 more years in Buffalo…  McCargo, the former 1^st round pick (26^th overall) in the 2006 draft was fined this spring for being overweight.  He reported to camp in shape and looks to build into a starting DT…  Johnson came over in the off-season as a free agent from he Vikings.  He didn’t put up huge numbers because he played behind the monstrous Williamses in Minnesota…

GRADE: B- (Grade will improve after we see how Stroud plays)

MIDDLE LB

1. Paul Posluszny

2. John DiGiorgio

            Poz is BACK!  After fracturing his forearm in the Bills Week 3 game last year he is back at 100%.  The guy just has a nose for the ball and is a great tackler.  Through the first 3 games last year, he led the Bills with 26 tackles (remember he didn’t even finish the 3^rd game)… DiGiorgio had a very good year last year filling in for the injuried Posluzny.  He had 113 tackles last season to go along with 2 sacks and 1 INT.  Provides great depth at the MLB position…

GRADE: B+

WEAK-SIDE LB

1. Kawika Mitchell

2. Jon Corto

            Mitchell was an early free agent signing for the Bills.  The Superbowl Champion is highly underrated.  He had 86 tackles, 4 sacks and 1 INT to go along with 2 forced fumbles.  Something to remember, his last game in Buffalo on December 23^rd of last season, he had 2 sacks, forced a fumble, and returned an INT for a touchdown… Corto is the Orchard Park native now on his hometown Bills squad.  He was on the Bills practice squad last season…

GRADE: B

STRONG-SIDE LB

1. Angelo Crowell

2. Keith Ellison

            The 27 year old Crowell is entering his contract year with the Bills.  This is the last season of the 3 year deal he signed in 2005.  He too is another Bills LB that is highly underrated.  He had 126 tackles last season that led the team…  Ellison also played significant time last season.  He had 39 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 INT in 12 games last season…

GRADE: B+

CB

1. Terrence McGee

2. Jabari Greer

3. Ashton Youboty

4. Leodis McKelvin

5. Reggie Corner

            McGee was the clear choice for the #1 corner spot.  McGee has 78 tackles and 4 INTs last season in 15 games… Greer looked to be the odd man out with the Bills after they selected a bundle of corners in the draft.  He has played hard though and the Bills coaching staff is impressed.  He earned the #2 spot for at least the first half of the season…  Youboty was another guy that was as good as gone before the preseason but he played hard and had two very good games.  He won the nickel corner spot because of his great progress… McKelvin was the #11 pick in this years draft.  He has looked so-so in the preseason.  He has either made a good play or has completely messed it up.  It will be interesting to see whether he plays a lot at all this year.  A candidate to play in the dime and quarter packages for the Bills (which they don’t run very much at all)… Corner was a ball hawk in college and had a sharp preseason.  The rookie has even be rumored to be ahead of McKelvin on the depth chart…

GRADE: C+

FS

1. Ko Simpson

2. George Wilson

            Simpson is looking to rebound after he was injured in the Bills 1^st game last season against the Denver Broncos and then placed on the IR for the year.  The 4^th round draft pick from the 2006 draft is looking to have a breakout year and also continue the chemistry with SS Donte Whitner after the two started their entire rookie seasons together…  Wilson played in 12 games last season after Simpson and former Bills safety Brain Leonard went down, before of course he went down to injury also.  It occurred before the last week of the season.  He ended the year with 37 tackles and 2 picks…     

GRADE: C

SS

1. Donte Whitner

2. Bryan Scott

3. John Welding

            Whitner guaranteed that the Bills will make the playoffs this season.  He has been an unofficial team captain since he was drafted.  He shows great leadership and also builts team chemistry by having the team over for film watching and he even took McKelvin under his wing during the off-season  Hard qualities to find from a 23 year old entering his third season of NFL play…  Scott returns for another stint in Buffalo after he played in 15 games last season, most in a special teams role… Same goes for Welding.  Will play in the special teams role…

GRADE: B

Overall the Bills defense has a good mix of playmakers and role players.  Due to all of the injuries last season, the Bills now have good depth at almost all of their positions.  They are a young D that flys to the football.  Look for team to improve as an entire unit this year.

Here is the rundown on what I will be covering the rest of the week:

Weds: Bills Offense

Thurs: Bills Special Teams

Fri: Breakdown of the Bills Schedule and Chances of Making the Playoffs

Sat: Game Preview with my Picks of all of the Winners in Week 1

Sun: Game recap with Commentary 

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Hello Bills fans.  The Buffalo Bills currently have six safeties on their roster.  Strong safety Donte Whitner is going to be called on a lot more this upcoming season.  Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell will use Whitner in various roles including free safety.  Ko Simpson was the starting free safety until he was lost for the season in the first game.  Simpson is coming back from an ankle injury and stated that he is close to 100 percent.  It was a big loss when Ko went down because both he and Whitner played well in 2006.  Veteran backup strong safety Bryan Scott was re-signed and will provide great depth and special team play.  Second year safety John Wendling is a demon on special teams and will continue to backup both the free and strong position.  Converted wide receiver George Wilson played real well last year filling in for Simpson.  Wilson showed that he can play safety and had a interception returned for a touchdown in his first game starting against the Cowboys on Monday night football.  In my opinion, the safety position is one of the strongest on this team.  Our depth players had valuable experience last season filling in for our injured players.  Im sure the team will sometimes use three safeties on running downs and keep Whitner in the box.  Whitner is a physical corner that is developing into a solid player.  Wendling, Wilson and Scott will be helping out the special teams just like they did last season.  I cant wait to see this defense in action.  Go Bills. 

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