In uneven performance, some Bills defenders shine

By Anthony Bialy  |   Wednesday, August 22, 2007  |  Comments( 32 )

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If the purpose of the Bills' defensive effort during Atlanta's first drive last Friday was to pad the tackling stats of the secondary members, that mission was accomplished. The performance during most of the first series, with Falcon ballcarriers breaking through deep into the backfield, was uglier than the home team's blue jerseys/blue pants combination. But, jumpsuit-looking uniforms aside, the 'D' stiffened its resolve and stuffed the Falcons just shy of the goal, indicative of the bend-but-don't-break style the unit played for much of the second preseason game.

The great series of stops on four downs inside the 10 was commendable, although it obviously would have been better if the defense had kept the Falcons from marching down the field at all. Still, the way the unit responded while facing the difficult situation it created is at least a partial triumph. Particularly, new linebacker Paul Posluszny continues to play astoundingly well, as he came up with a few huge stops by zeroing in on rushers in that linebacker way of his. In addition, he was astutely conscious of where plays were going while making fantastic tackles the whole drive.

Posluszny's best moment of the evening came on fourth down, as he and safety Donte Whitner combined to drop running back Jason Snelling for a loss of 2 yards on a play that began at the 1-yard line. It came a few plays after Anthony Hargrove figured out another way to hurt his team, this time on the field by jumping offside on a second-down pass that had been stopped at the 5.

It was the most unnecessary penalty at the worst moment, and those sort of plays, combined with his suspension and personal rowdiness along with Ryan Denney's devastatingly inopportune injury, might lead to General Manager Marv Levy signing veteran free-agent end Al Wallace to replace the excessively troublesome Hargrove as a backup and rotational contributor. At the moment, the Bills and Wallace are reportedly close to a deal.

On the other end of the performance spectrum, Terrence McGee intercepted a ball, something he didn't do once in 2006, as he took advantage of the Matt Schaub trade. Joey "Does He Still Go By Heisman?" Harrington horridly underthrew a deep pass, and McGee did his job by locating and vacuuming up the floating ball. It's a nice omen for a player who had a down year on defense last season.

Also promising is the Coy Wire switch. Demoted to largely watching games while a member of the defensive backfield, he is performing well enough at his college position of linebacker that he could compete for playing time, at least in some short-yardage, four-linebacker packages. His problem was often biting on fakes as a safety, and it seems as if he's able to confidently rely on his instincts when lined up closer to the action.

Wire is also playing with that crazy sort of Stanford-style wildness and intensity, evidenced best by the fumble he forced early in the second quarter through a rough collision with the aforementioned unlucky Snelling, who was involved in a few plays that made his opponents look good.

The beefed-up Wire is working toward shedding the unappealingly dreadful notion that his skills aren't a good fit at the professional level. Instead of functioning as a somewhat bulky safety, he's put on enough mass to look, and play, like a linebacker. In his sixth season, Wire could meaningfully contribute to a defense that, if the second bit of preseason action is any indication, is capable of lapses but also sharp resolve when it counts.
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About Anthony Bialy

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CommentsComments: 32  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Michael Sluder		03:39 AM
08/22/2007
Hello Mr. Bialy, I agree with your article on some points. I don't think that Anthony Hargrove's offside penalty in...
No.2
K-GuN		04:08 AM
08/22/2007
I agree that away uniforms look no class for me. Anyway, Poz is my hope on DF and this year might be the last chance of JP to...
No.3
Marv Levy		08:05 AM
08/22/2007
Today I plan to sign Al Wallace to a one year contract. Yes the defense that I have helped to put together is starting to come...
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