Back in the summer there was a great deal of speculation as to whether Michael Vick was signing with Buffalo. It never happened, but on NBC’s Football Night in America, analyst and Vick mentor Tony Dungy speculated on the possibility of it happening in the future.

Here’s exactly what Dungy said Sunday night when asked to assess Vick’s future.

Dungy: “I told Michael to just worry about this year. It’s technically up to Philadelphia. If they want him back, he has to stay there. If they don’t, there are some teams looking for quarterbacks – Cleveland, St. Louis and Washington. But I think a dark horse is Buffalo…They talked originally. There was some communication there. I think that could be a good spot.”

As we explained in our pass rush story on the home page today, Buffalo’s veteran defensive linemen have been given the freedom to improvise with their pass rushes by the defensive coaching staff. Chris Kelsay explains how it happens.

“We’ve got total communication out there all the time. We have our calls coming in from the sideline with Paul (Posluszny) handling that in the headset, but we’ll set something up while they’re determining what we’re going to play,” said Kelsay. ”If it’s a blitz, obviously we just take the stunt or whatever (tackle-end) game we just talked about off, otherwise we go with it.

“We’ve gotten to the point where certain down and distances combined with the knowledge of the opponent and where we are on the field we kind of know what to expect from Perry (Fewell) and what call he’s going to give us. If he has us going four man (rush) we’ve already discussed it, and if he wants us to blitz we just ‘ice’ the stunt and we run the blitz.

“We communicate better and play off of one another better and we’re having fun. Any time you do something as a team or as a group there’s just something special about that. Prior we were running stunts that were drawn up on the blackboard and most of the time you know who is going to make the play. But with this your buddy is helping you out and he’s just as much a part of making a play as you are and vice versa and it’s fun to play like that.”

While Chris Kelsay and the rest of the defensive front has been instrumental in improving their sack total from a year ago, he’s not letting he and his defensive linemen get all the credit.

“We’ve had some good coverage and they’ve had to hold the ball at times and that always helps as well,” said Kelsay. ”We can’t just put all the credit on our backs, there are 11 guys out there and every man is important.”

Proof of that is the fact that George Wilson is third on the team in sacks with 2.5.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell credits his new defensive line coach for helping to make a difference in the pass rush area.

“Chris Kelsay has improved in his ability to rush,” said Fewell. ”I just think coach Sanders has had a good impact on all of them from a rush mentality.”

No game on Sunday for the Bills, but Fan Friday rolls on. Here’s some answers for your questions. And remember you can always email me at (AskChris@bills.nfl.net).

1. Hi Chris,
 
Do you think the Bills will remain with the huddle for the remainder of the season? I think it helps a lot with a young offensive line when it comes to getting the play count down.

Also I really think some of the most successful plays on offense have been when they move the pocket and Fitzpatrick bootlegs to the right and when they run draw plays with Jackson (it’s a great way to break a blitz). Do you have any information on whether these will become more implemented into the Offense?
 
Thanks,
Jeremy | Buffalo, NY

CB: I do believe huddling up will continue to be the main approach. The offense has so many other problems right now where if huddling up can eliminate the false start penalties they’re going to stick with it.

As for some of the plays you mentioned I believe moving the pocket is a good idea in light of the deficiencies in pass protection at times. If I remember right on the touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick to Evans in the Jets game, they rolled Fitzpatrick away from where the pressure appeared to be coming from (left side) and slid protection in that direction to hold it up.

I do like draws plays particularly with Jackson in the lineup, but I’d also like to see the screen game return to the offense. It’s been used sparingly since Week 1.

2. Hey Chris,
I was wondering, why doesn’t the league make every QB wear the double helmet, ala mark kelso, to deter concussions? Why dont you see ANY player, for that matter, wear them?
 
Thanks, Ryan

CB: The league has a contract with one specific company (Riddell I want to say) to use their helmets, which to this point do not include the extra protection technology being developed by Mark Kelso and a couple of other outfits. One of those outside companies hope to pitch to the NFL their helmets for the sole purpose of preventing head injuries.

But you make a good point. In a quarterback-driven league where they develop extra rules to protect QBs to keep them on the field, to keep offenses entertaining and keep fans in the seats and watching on TV, you’d think they’d be eager to move forward with such helmet technology. It’s coming, but when exactly I don’t know.

3. Hey Chris,
Byrd looks like the next Ed Reed do you see him making it to the Pro Bowl THIS YEAR?

CB: I’d like to say yes, but he’s not on the ballot. A lot of fans have asked how can he not be on the Pro Bowl ballot in light of the season he’s had. That’s the problem, the ballots are printed up before the season really gets rolling so what happens during the season can get a bit lost in the shuffle.

Byrd was not even a starter at the beginning of the season, so being put on the ballot was unlikely back then. That’s not to say he’s not a viable candidate by any means. Heck he leads the league in interceptions. I just think it’s going to be tough because he’s not on the ballot, he’s a rookie and he’s playing for a team that’s doesn’t have a winning record.

4. Hi Chris-
I’ve been thinking about what the Bills do when Whitner & Scott come back from injuries. Byrd has to start. He may be our best draft pick in the last decade.

So I would keep him at free safety, maybe bring back Whitner at strong safety.DW is pretty good at run support & the occasional safety blitz. However Scott may be even better at run support than Donte.

Considering the sorry state of affairs with the linebacking crew, any thoughts on trying Scott at LB? He couldn’t be any worse than Buggs or Palmer were, & Draft doesn’t impress me either. The Bills toyed with the idea of trying Scott at LB during training camp, didn’t they? What do you think of that idea?  I’m comfortable with George Wilson backing up at both safety positions.
Go Bills
Pete
Gilbert, AZ

CB: Well the Bills gave Scott some reps at the LB position during the bye week. It looks as though he’s a reserve option if Keith Ellison’s quad injury keeps him out of next Sunday’s game. Donte Whitner however, still is not practicing. That could change next week, but if not Scott will likely be plugged back in at SS.

It’s tough to say how it’s all going to play out with all the variables, but I think if Ellison plays, Scott starts at SS. If Ellison sits we just might see Scott at LB with Wilson staying at SS in the starting lineup, provided Whitner can’t return. It all depends on how comfortable the defensive staff would be in playing rookie Nic Harris.

5. Hey Chris,
 Being from Ohio I got to finally watch the Bills again (after the season opener) vs the Browns then again vs the Jets. I noticed in the Cleveland game that Byrd was all over the field. So I ask you this, is it too early to jump on his bandwagon and make the argument for defensive rookie of the year? Has Buffalo ever had a DB start off this hot before?

Thanks,
Jim

CB: Don’t think it’s too early at all. His stiffest competition right now is Houston LB Brian Cushing, who you saw turn in some big plays against the Bills last week. He’s leading all rookies in tackles and has made game changing plays with forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, sack and interceptions.

Right now I see it as a two-horse race, but Byrd is the real deal. We’ll see if any other rookies join the competition in the season’s second half.

Whether or not a Bills defensive back has ever started as hot as Jairus Byrd (7 INTs in 8 games and 6 starts), the answer is yes. Butch Byrd, the franchise’s all-time interception leader with 40 in his Bills career actually has seven interceptions in the first six games of 1969. The only problem was he didn’t post another interception the rest of that season.

Henry Jones (1992) had six interceptions in his first seven games and Nate Odomes (1993) had six in his first eight in their career-high interceptions seasons, so they were pretty close to Jairus. 

The Bills’ record holders for most interceptions in a season (Billy Atkins-1961, Tom Janik-1967) got off to decent starts as well, but not as good as the rookie Byrd. Atkins had seven interceptions in his first 10 games and nine in his first 11 games that season before finishing with 10.

Janik had six interceptions in his first 12 games, but had a three interception game in Week 13 that season to have 9 heading into the final game where he posted one more pick to finish with 10.

Looking at a statistical analysis of Buffalo’s run defense it’s clear where their opponents are getting their chunk yardage on the ground.

Sure you can make the argument that their run defense struggles everywhere, but the numbers breakdown through the first eight games shows that their opponents are getting their biggest gains on the outside. Here’s the breakdown of where across Buffalo’s defensive front, from largest average gain to lowest, their opponents are most successful.

Bills left end – avg. gain 7.31 yards – (NFL rank 31st) - 29 plays
Bills right flank – avg. gain 7.08 yards – (NFL rank 27th) - 25 plays 
Bills left flank – avg. gain 6.81 yards – (NFL rank 25th) - 16 plays
Bills right interior – avg. gain 5.87 yards – (NFL rank 26th) - 46 plays
Bills right end – avg. gain 4.77 yards – (NFL rank 27th) - 31 plays  
Bills left interior – avg. gain 4.5 yards (NFL rank 25th) - 34 plays
Bills middle – avg. gain 4.23 yards (NFL rank 17th) – 78 plays 

What does it all mean? Tough to say. Sometimes overpursuit, which the Bills have been guilty of a number of times this season, leads to a cutback run to the opposite edge and a big gainer where nobody’s home. And that will bump up the average (e.g. Thomas Jones 60-plus yard run to the Bills left side in Week 6). Other times it is poor tackling or just getting beat on a play.

I’m just surprised the average gains are so large on the edges because this defensive scheme is based on flying to the football and pursuit. They have faster linebackers by design. We’d have to see every run play outside to see if speed to the ball is being hindered in some way, either by linemen getting to the second level or by poor reads or some other factor.

Regardless none of these numbers are all that good. They need to whittle some of these averages to under four yards per carry if the run defense is going to make any kind of noticeable improvements in the season’s second half.

With third down conversions a major focus for the Bills in their bye week, I came across some interesting figures.

As we mention in today’s story on the home page (Offense focused on moving the sticks) converting on third and short has been one of the biggest problems. Further proof that the run game is doing it’s job are the following numbers.

On first down this season the run game is averaging 3.91 yards per carry. On second down its averaging 4.18 yards per carry. Those add up to 8.09 yards combined, leaving a lot of third and shorts to convert, but they still haven’t happened.

I realize that the Bills aren’t running on every first and second down, but the figures are even better in terms of average gains on first and second down when Buffalo is passing. On first down they’re averaging 5.41 yards per pass play. On second down its an average of 4.79. Nothing fantastic granted, but those two averages together make for 10.20 yards gained, which is a first down without even the need for a third down play.

The worst combination of run and pass from the first and second down averages equals 8.70 yards. It still leaves third and short, but converting in short yardage has been difficult. It’s what has the Bills ranked 30th in third down conversion percentage (26%). Incomplete passes have been the biggest problem and there are more errant throws than drops. Sacks (yes, sacks on third and short) are part of the problem too.

Hopefully the Bills rectified a lot of what has ailed them on third down in their two bye week practices and their execution improves in the second half because the Bills are robbing themselves of extra offensive plays on the field each week by not converting. Last week was a perfect example. Buffalo was 2-10 on third downs and as a result had just 45 offensive plays in the game compared to 76 for Houston, which accounted for the disaparity in time of possession as well (Houston – 39:08, Buffalo 20:52).

The bye week practices were an opportunity for Buffalo’s offensive linemen to tighten up their individual game with a hard core return to the basics.

“We got back to fundamentals as an offensive line,” said Eric Wood. “We went back to the basics of training camp and there have been breakdowns in technique and when you get into the heat of the season you’re focusing more on scheming and game plannning for each individual player so we got back to more individual techniques.”

Demetrius Bell said they worked with linemates and individually.

“You’re going to be working with a guy or you’re going to be on an island by yourself,” said Bell. ”We took everything back to the fundamentals. If it was a zone step over and over, don’t step under yourself. Or a technique in pass block, don’t open your hips right now. We took it all the way back to the basics and kind of started over.”

Buffalo at the midway point of the season still had some measure of success in the run game as they hit the break averaging exactly four yards per carry on the ground. But Bell wants more.

“I think it can be five to seven yards a carry,” he said. ”With the talent we have up front, athleticism, I don’t think there’s a reason why we couldn’t get six, seven yards a carry.”

If that happens sustaining drives will quickly become a whole lot easier.

Bills head coach Dick Jauron commented on Jairus Byrd’s status a couple of days after his visit to a specialist in Philadelphia concerning his sports hernia surgery and groin injury.

“I’ve talked to him, he feels good about the trip,” said Jauron. ”It kind of reinforced what we’ve been telling him here and what he knew, but it was definitely worth the trip. We anticipate he’ll be fine as we move along. I’m not saying it won’t be sore, but he understands that.”

It sounds as if Byrd should be good to practice at some point next week. If not Monday when the team returns from their bye weekend, then Wednesday. Byrd also seemed to feel as though he’ll be fine especially coming off this down time.

“I’m thankful we have a bye week,” he said. ”It came at the right time. So we’ll get it right.”

In lamenting about his own team’s inability to stay on the field as an offense, Terrell Owens put a unique perspective on how much of a disadvantaged situation they have put their defense in time and again in the first half of the season.

“Offensively, we’ve talked as a unit as far as what can we do better to kind of help the defense out a little bit because offensively we just haven’t been getting it done,” Owens said. ”If you look at the box score, obviously, those scores they can be misleading because we’ve lost a lot of games in the third and fourth quarters and that’s really due to our defense being on the field more so than they should.

“Just in this last game offensively we only had like 45 plays and defense they were out there like 70-plus plays. When you give a team a short field, Barney Fife and Alvin and the Chipmunks can go out there and score (laughs). It’s like we have to at some point across the board take it personally to help this team out from an offensive standpoint.

“How do we get that done? Who knows? I think there’s some time during this bye week that I think the coaches and the players they’ll have to evaluate themselves and assess what’s going on. What did we do good? And then correct the things and try to make the things better that we did bad and terrible.”

How Barney Fife, the bumbling deputy on the Andy Griffith show finds his way into the same sentence as Alvin and the Chipmunks is unknown, but the point was made. And it was funny. So while Owens and a lot of the players may not have the answers they do know what the problems are. So hopefully the coaches can put them in greater positions to succeed and the players in turn can execute more consistently.

Terrell Owens provided a taste of his sense of humor as the team broke for their long weekend on their bye week.

Owens was asked if his bye week plans included taking in a Lakers game (he’s a big NBA fan) or getting some sun on an island somewhere. Here was his response.

“You never know,” said Owens. “I’m definitely not going to Mexico. Not going to Cabo. I’m just going to relax. I may go through Dallas and then go on to L.A.. Just try to get some relaxation in.”

Owens was poking fun at former teammate Tony Romo’s getaway with former girlfriend Jessica Simpson to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, during the bye the Cowboys had in January 2008 before their first playoff game against the Giants, which they subsequently lost.

Although SS Bryan Scott put his chances of appearing in a game at LB for the Bills as extremely remote, head coach Dick Jauron had a different assessment.

When asked about the chances of possibly seeing Scott at OLB where he practiced the past two days with all the injuries at that position, Jauron did not dismiss it.

“It is (a possibility),” Jauron said. ”We wanted him to get some work there with him this week just to look at it. He’s a good football player and he’s an experienced player. We’re just so beat up at that spot that it made sense to do it. So that’s what we’ve done with these couple of days or work.”

Scott felt he would only play there in a crisis situation, but the Bills aren’t that far away from such a scenario. Kawika Mitchell is already lost for the season and Keith Ellison is nursing a quad injury. If Ellison can’t go next week, Scott could very well be starting at LB.

Last Sunday rookie Nic Harris filled in for Ellison when he left the game and fellow rookie Ashlee Palmer has seen some time on the field as well, but it’s clear the defensive staff wants experienced players on the field with Chris Draft’s recent insertion into the starting lineup. It’s not unreasonable to think that they’d like to have a seven-year vet to line up alongside Poz and Draft if Ellison can’t play in Week 10.

Trent Edwards came through the bye week practices fine according to head coach Dick Jauron, but naming a starting QB is not a decision he can make at this point.

“As we said the other day it’s a transition week for him,” said Jauron of Edwards. ”The main thing will be to see how he is and how he gets through it. And he’s practiced well. Our three days of work this week he’s practiced well. We’ll use Monday as the same kind of thing. So far he’s done a nice job.”

It sounds as if the monitoring of Edwards post-concussion is still ongoing and will continue through Monday when the team begins the practice week for the Week 10 matchup at Tennessee. Presumably that will end next Wednesday when the team begins installing the game plan for the Titans game and will need to have a decision made as to who is getting the reps as the starting QB in practice.

Bills head coach Dick Jauron is prepared to make a decision on James Hardy, but it’s unlikely to come this week.

“James has done a real nice job. We have that 21-day window and my understanding is it runs right through next Wednesday, so we’ll keep looking at it and look at our roster and see what we can do and what we think at that point,” said Jauron. ”We’ll run it right up to the time.”

The deadline for Jauron and his staff to make a decision is Nov. 11, and it sounds as if Jauron intends to use all of the time allotted to him to make that call.

Some are not participating due to injury, some are not participating just because their bodies need to heal up. Here’s the rundown of players not practicing here on Wednesday, the final bye week practice this week.

WR Justin Jenkins
S Donte Whitner (ankle)
CB Terrence McGee (knee surgery)
S Jairus Byrd (groin)
FB Corey McIntyre (knee)
LB Keith Ellison (quad)
C Geoff Hangartner
OT Jamon Meredith (knee)
WR Terrell Owens
WR Josh Reed
WR Lee Evans
TE Shawn Nelson (migraines)
DE Chris Kelsay
DE Aaron Schobel (groin)
DT Kyle Williams (knee)
DT Marcus Stroud

Returning from injury to practice Wednesday was Jonathan Scott, who is coming off a high ankle sprain that forced him to miss each of the last three games.

The Tennessee Titans might be 1-6, but their RB Chris Johnson is predicting a 10-0 finish.

Prior to Tennessee’s first win of the year in Week 8 over the Jaguars (30-13), Johnson said he believes his team can do it while appearing on Sporting News Radio.

“We really believe like we can … like we started off 10-0 last year … before we played Jacksonville, we sat down and was like we really feel like we can go 10-0 in these last ten games,” Johnson said. “We still want to make the playoffs and we know it’s going to be a very, very tough thing to do, but that’s what records are for — they’re meant to be broken. I don’t think a team that ever started out 0-6 ever went to the playoffs or anything like that. We’re trying to do something nobody has ever done.”

Asked to follow up on that statement after the win over the Jaguars, Johnson didn’t back down even though the Titans still have the Colts to play again this season.

“We look at our last nine games and we don’t think there’s a team on there we can’t beat,” Johnson said.

That would include the Bills who face the Titans in Tennessee in Week 10 (Nov. 15).

The 10th Annual Hunter’s Hope Candlelight Ball will be taking place in just a couple of weeks, on Nov. 20th at Samuel’s Grande Manor in Clarence. 

Corporate sponsorships and tickets are still available for this worthy cause. For more information you can go to the Candlelight Ball site online or call the Hunter’s Hope Corporate office at 667-1200 ext. 207.

With the news Tuesday that Terrence McGee had minor knee surgery and needs a couple of weeks to recover, it’s going to be awfully close in terms of whether or not he’s going to be able to play against Tennessee.

It usually takes 2 weeks or so to recover from those minor knee procedures. That would make his availability for the Tennessee game iffy at best. Without McGee, Buffalo would presumably start Reggie Corner and Drayton Florence outside, and then when they go to a nickel package, Corner would move into the slot with Ashton Youboty outside.

Of course Week 10 is still a ways off and McGee is a gamer. Either way this was really McGee’s only option. This way at most he should miss only one game instead of two. McGee has been playing through this knee problem since the Miami game in Week 4. Easy to see why he’s called Game Day.

Here’s the rundown of Bills players set to be on the airwaves Wednesday.

Josh Reed – Norton in the Morning, 97 Rock @ 7:30 AM

Andy Levitre – Iron Mike in the Morning, 97.7 HTZ-FM (St. Catharines, Ontario) @ 7:25 AM

George Wilson – Shredd & Ragan – Player of Week – 103.3 FM The Edge @ 4:15 pm

Free agent LB Derrick Brooks has a job. It’s just not the one everyone was expecting.

Brooks is joining Sirius NFL Radio. Every Friday throughout the season, the longtime Bucs star will host The Red Zone live from 1:00 – 3:00 pm with former Bills lineman Ross Tucker.

Bryan Scott was getting reps at outside linebacker in practice Tuesday.

This is not the first time it has happened as the strong safety has taken reps there before as an emergency option. That again appears to be the case, and with the extra time during the bye Scott is getting a refresher.

“I think it’s more just in case of emergency and make sure that I’m prepared,” said Scott. ”I probably won’t have to do it, but just in case you want to be ready.”

Scott took reps at LB last year when the LB unit was shorthanded. With Keith Ellison nursing a quad injury the staff apparently wanted to give Scott some extra reps there so there is an emergency option they feel comfortable with behind rookie Nic Harris, should he be forced to step in like he did last week when Ellison left the game.

“It’s just a different read so instead of being eight yards off the line of scrimmage you’re down in the box all the time. It’s fine.”