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Eric Wood, the Buffalo Bills' starting center has yet to participate in the team's training camp due to rehabilitation from a season-ending knee injury suffered last year. With Wood out of the fold, guard Kraig Urbik is taking the first team reps at center, with Chad Rinehart holding down the right guard position.
The Buffalo Bills' secondary was subpar to say the least last season, ranking 19th in the league. They allowed 3,704 yards through the air, passing touchdowns, and allowed a 93.1 quarterback rating to opposing signal callers. The team addressed the position last year with the selection of Aaron Williams in the second round and Justin Rogers in the seventh, while addressing it twice in this year's draft with Stephon Gilmore and Ron Brooks.
With the transition back to the 4-3 defense, the Buffalo Bills' linebacking corps will look completely different than that of 2012. The middle linebacker is the quarterback of the defense, meaning that he has to make sure every teammate is in the correct position. Middle linebackers responsibilities are stopping the run and dropping into coverage, in addition to blitzing on occasion. With inside linebacker starting this year, let's take a look at the Bills' middle linebacker situation.
Kelvin Sheppard
The 2011 Buffalo Bills had an extremely tough time stopping the run and covering tight ends, which came from poor play of the linebacking group as a whole.
But after a year of experience together, the unit should be on the same page. The weakside linebacker is usually the fastest of the three linebackers, because he is the pass coverage linebacker. It is an extremely important position, and the Bills have some nice depth there.
Let's take a look at the weakside linebacker position of the Buffalo Bills.
Nick Barnett
The Buffalo Bills had issues with their linebacking corps last season, but finally added some depth in the draft. Coupled with the experience the youngsters on the roster have been getting, it could be time for this group to step up. The strong-side linebacker is extremely important to the group as they are covering a tight end and are responsible for assisting in run defense.
With that being said, let's take a look at the strong side linebackers on the Buffalo Bills' depth chart.
Kirk Morrison
If the Buffalo Bills expect to be legitimate playoff contenders in 2012, the defense will have to drastically improve over their 2011 performance.
Overall, the defense was ranked 26th in 2011. If you break it down, the defense was ranked 19th against the pass and 28th against the run, allowing 139 yards per game on the ground.
He's been called a better version of Roscoe Parrish, but does that mean T.J. Graham will be a play maker for the Buffalo Bills in 2012?
The Bills' 2012 third round draft pick, Graham has had his share of backers and detractors. From having explosive speed and the ability to make defenders miss to his oft-questioned hands, there is a lot about Graham's game that makes people talk. But the biggest part of his game that's been talked about has been will he be able to improve his route running.
The Buffalo Bills are hitting the silver screen! Well, sort of.
According to Deadline,
“About a month-and-a-half.”
That was the last thing Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz told WGRZ-TV about when the public should hear that a new lease agreement has been reached. Now, with no doubt in my mind that a new lease will be reached, it’s time to start looking into what should be in the new lease.
The first thing needed is a steep relocation fee.
Buffalo Bills’ left guard Andy Levitre has been told that there have been some preliminary talks regarding a contract extension, according to WGR 550′s Joe Buscaglia.
Speaking with Buscaglia after practice, Levitre stated,
“There have been some small talks, but I don’t know how far along anything is,” he remarked. “I don’t know if they’re just getting started or what not. There hasn’t been any numbers thrown around or anything like that, so maybe just getting started.”
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