The new MLB in Buffalo (1 Viewer)

[Sup_Yo]

I was holding out hope Morrison would land someplace where he'd be starting. Looks like a drop at this point.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Torbor is on IR. Nickel job opening for Morrison perhaps.

 

[cr8f]

Torbor is on IR. Nickel job opening for Morrison perhaps.

What do you think of Barnett?

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Torbor is on IR. Nickel job opening for Morrison perhaps.

No chance that Davis gets any extra packages?

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Torbor is on IR. Nickel job opening for Morrison perhaps.

No chance that Davis gets any extra packages?

Definitely a possibility. I'm just figuring they may try to get Morrison some regular work, and Davis was already out of those packages before.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Torbor is on IR. Nickel job opening for Morrison perhaps.

No chance that Davis gets any extra packages?

Definitely a possibility. I'm just figuring they may try to get Morrison some regular work, and Davis was already out of those packages before.

Any noise at all from practice on whats happening in sub packages thus far?

 

[Frostillicus]

Is A. Davis really more talented than K. Morrison? I feel like Morrison will be starting sooner rather than later.

Not even close dude. You kidding here?

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Any noise at all from practice on whats happening in sub packages thus far?

yesterday was his first day of practice so not much yet.http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Morrison-settling-in-with-Bills/5116eb52-54fd-4e46-ab6e-5fc0653bd51f

Morrison settling in with Bills

By Chris Brown, Lead Journalist

Monday was his first chance to line up with new teammates in a new system with a new coaching staff. Fortunately for Morrison he’s been through change before.

“I’ve got to play a lot of catch-up,” he said after his first practice. “The good thing about it is I’ve played a lot of football in this league. I know a lot of different defenses. This is going on my seventh year, my fifth head coach so I’ve been in a lot of systems before, fourth defensive coordinator, fourth linebacker coach. I’ve seen the game through a lot of different eyes and I’m excited to bring my knowledge of what I’ve learned over my first six years over here.”

At this point Gailey and his defensive staff have yet to assign him a specific position, though he worked with the inside linebackers.

“He’s a veteran linebacker that’s played ‘mike’ linebacker a decent amount and he’s been productive over the years,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “He brings some experience, speed and hopefully some good play to our football team. It’s going to take some work to get him involved and get him acclimated, but we’ve got a little bit of time so we’ll do the best we can.”

The addition of Morrison maintains a solid core of veteran linebackers on Buffalo’s roster as he replaces the experience lost by the season-ending shoulder injury suffered by Reggie Torbor.

“We’ve got some guys that have played in games before and know their way around the game so we feel pretty good about that and we’ve got some good young ones,” said Gailey. “It’s going to be an interesting fight to see how that turns out.”

It’s presumed with Morrison arriving so close to the start of the regular season that Andra Davis and Nick Barnett will remain the starting linebackers on the inside in Buffalo’s base defense. Beyond that there would appear to be opportunities for Morrison to get on the field, perhaps in some of George Edwards’ subpackages.

“I’ve started the last 95 consecutive games in my career,” said Morrison. “I’ve never missed a game in the NFL. One thing is I study hard, I work hard and just on Sunday you can count on me to be there. That’s how I’ve always been. My role here is still kind of up in the air because I just got here, I’ve got to play a lot of catch-up, learn a lot of defense, until that happens I’m definitely comfortable with sitting behind Andra and Nick and just being a part of a rotation.”

For Buffalo to land a player the caliber of Morrison this late in the offseason was a veritable coup. Even Gailey admitted they were surprised he was still available so late in the game.

“We were fortunate,” he said. “There were other teams that were after him and we were fortunate to get him on our football team.”

“I had interest from other teams but I was looking for the opportunity that I could go out and be a positive leader on a football team,” Morrison said. “Buffalo was always a team that called me from the beginning when free agency first started. They were kind of deep at linebacker and as the numbers kind of got thin I said, ‘You know what, that’s a team that I’d like to play for.’”

 

[onionsack]

Is A. Davis really more talented than K. Morrison? I feel like Morrison will be starting sooner rather than later.

Not even close dude. You kidding here?

A. Davis is a two-down thumper, a liability in coverage, and hardly an All-Pro. He's had a pretty good preseason but I don't think it would be that surprising if he starts to cede more and more snaps to Morrison over the season.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

The 4-3 front was much more apparent (to me, anyway) in this week's game, especially after the discussion from this thread last week.

I took a bunch of screen shots but thought this one really showed what they were doing pretty well. They lined up like this on nearly every base snap I could find.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/jags06.jpg/

Looks like a 4-man front with SLB Danny Batten (Merriman's position) lined up on the line of scrimmage in a 2pt stance) and Davis/Barnett at MLB/WLB.

An interesting sidenote, I sent an email to one of the reporters who covers the Bills to ask why this story hasn't been getting any talk from the major media outlets that cover the team. Got a reply which basically sounded like my initial response (e.g., that they've been using 3-4 as their base but playing a lot in the nickel).

Also, Bryan Scott looked like he replaced Torbor in the nickel in the Jaguars game. Bills might continue to do that instead of forcing Morrison or Davis into that role. Scott has filled in as a linebacker in the past and obviously brings solid cover skills. If he can hold up against the run well enough, seems like he could hold onto that job for a while.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

An interesting sidenote, I sent an email to one of the reporters who covers the Bills to ask why this story hasn't been getting any talk from the major media outlets that cover the team. Got a reply which basically sounded like my initial response (e.g., that they've been using 3-4 as their base but playing a lot in the nickel).

I sent him a long reply with a bunch of screenshots from the Jacksonville game.Here was the reply:

Aaron,Thanks for the photos ... I agree, those photos are 4-3 defense ... The first series of Chi & Den were more traditional 3-4 (on the few plays the offense was in regular) ... I asked Kyle Williams about it and he said, look, even when we're in 3-4 we play 4-3 principles. We never play head up on the center. We don't play 2-gap. We play an 'under' front - (meaning shifted away from the TE) ... Kyle is shaded over the shoulder of the center, the other DT is playing 3-technique ... (This is in general, there are some cases where they'll have Troup 2-gap.) ... Pittsburgh and Dallas almost never play 2-gap either ...-Mark.

just passing it on.

 

[Jene Bramel]

An interesting sidenote, I sent an email to one of the reporters who covers the Bills to ask why this story hasn't been getting any talk from the major media outlets that cover the team. Got a reply which basically sounded like my initial response (e.g., that they've been using 3-4 as their base but playing a lot in the nickel).

I sent him a long reply with a bunch of screenshots from the Jacksonville game.Here was the reply:

Aaron,Thanks for the photos ... I agree, those photos are 4-3 defense ... The first series of Chi & Den were more traditional 3-4 (on the few plays the offense was in regular) ... I asked Kyle Williams about it and he said, look, even when we're in 3-4 we play 4-3 principles. We never play head up on the center. We don't play 2-gap. We play an 'under' front - (meaning shifted away from the TE) ... Kyle is shaded over the shoulder of the center, the other DT is playing 3-technique ... (This is in general, there are some cases where they'll have Troup 2-gap.) ... Pittsburgh and Dallas almost never play 2-gap either ...-Mark.

just passing it on.

Excellent. There's some issues with his response (I disagree that the first series of Chi and Den were 3-4, Pittsburgh plays more 2-gap than he's suggesting) but Williams' confirming that Buffalo will be using underfront principles this year is cool stuff. So awesome that these guys will take the time to answer those kind of questions.