High On Lenny; Down On Bills
December 10th, 2021
“This isn’t fun,” says a Bills legend.
Any fan of 1990s football saw plenty of Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas. The dude had eight consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons in Buffalo and played in four Super Bowls.
And guess what? Thomas knows Leonard Fournette.
Thomas is very tuned in to all things Bills and was a guest on WGR-AM in Buffalo this week. There he explained that last year he and Fournette had a discussion about offseason training, and Thomas talked about how impressive it’s been to see Lombardi Lenny become a polished receiver.
Fournett’s growth reminds Thomas of himself coming out of Oklahoma State — where it was a run-first program — and arriving in pass-happy Buffalo and working with Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly on receiving after practice.
As for the Bills’ chances against the Bucs on Sunday, Thomas didn’t sound upbeat. He said it saddens him how much the Bills have struggled with inconsistency after going 13-3 last season. “This isn’t fun,” he said.
The film says run against Buffalo, Thomas said, but he expects the Bills to have problems however the Bucs come at them. “Even if the Bills do stop that run against Tampa Bay, I mean they still gotta deal with Mike Evans, [Chris] Godwin and all the rest of those guys,” Thomas said.
December 10th, 2021 at 10:04 am
This would be a statement win.
December 10th, 2021 at 10:11 am
This game is gonna go like the Cowboys vs Bucs game week #1
And whichever team the refs decide to be biased towards will win. Physical game
December 10th, 2021 at 10:33 am
Tick toc, tick toc….bucs are on the clock. We are running out of time to get this machine called the Buccaneers, running on all cylinders.
The offense, can still be spotty, TO’s and penalties are still killing drives too often. The defense plays well in spots, but the defensive backfield, and pass rush still have a significant way to go if we are to get far into the playoffs.
Though empirical by nature, there are times one must go with his gut.
This game just may be our watershed event in this 2021 NFL season. Lose it, and pray for a miracle to get back to the Super Bowl. Lose it, and going deep into the playoffs begins to look like “fool’s gold”.
December 10th, 2021 at 10:34 am
Kyle Brandt says Josh Allen is going to go wild and crush the Bucs. Dean back?
December 10th, 2021 at 10:44 am
kyle brandt has terrible takes.
December 10th, 2021 at 10:54 am
Thurman Thomas is a Cowboys defense, twice, away from being considered an all-time great. That Buffalo offense was great, but the NFC was just more physical back then… when physical D was allowed.
This game could decide #1 seed. If the Bucs win out, very good chance at #1. If not, another playoffs of road games if they get past Washington in the first round.
December 10th, 2021 at 11:06 am
Buffalo has arguably the best pass defense in the NFL, Tampa Bay has the most potent pass offense in the NFL. It’s strength against strength when throwing the ball. Where Buffalo isn’t as formidable on D is stopping the running game. They’re not bad at stopping the run, they just aren’t as adept at that phase of defense.
I’m sure Bowles will keep two high safeties to try containing Josh Allen’s deep pass plays. Just keep pass-rush pressure on Allen, he has a tendency to look around to see where the pressure is coming from. It’s a double-edged sword, he loses track of his receivers and he’s slow at finding an open man afterward. That’s one of the reasons why Allen takes off on runs, it masks his deficiency at seeing and processing the field. This means working on containment (particularly along the edge) and only blitzing judiciously.
I’m a bit worried about Josh Allen on the run. Tryon in particular has trouble reading the plays as they develop.
December 10th, 2021 at 11:31 am
Yes, Josh Allen can hurt us with his Legs, but not as bad as we can hurt them with our Offense.
Yes, they may have the number one pass defense in the NFL, but that is because they have not played us yet!
The Bills are 0 and 2 in their last 2 games. They will be 0 and 3 when they leave Tampa.
December 10th, 2021 at 1:32 pm
#1 pass defense means Jack when your all pro corner is broken.
December 10th, 2021 at 1:40 pm
@74 Bucs Fan
Taron Johnson is a quality backup, and he’s going to get Pro Bowl level safety support.
December 10th, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Josh Allen has fallen lately. His accuracy is going down and Buffalo’s run game has stopped running.
I don’t see how they can keep pace with the Bucs on the scoreboard.
It should be a damn good game, though.
December 10th, 2021 at 5:21 pm
Bucs are fortunate to have Fournette. I would run Lombardi Lenny, then Rojo. Use the clock to frustrate the demoralized bills. Then run Lombardi Lenny again. The Bucs O-line needs to dominate.
December 10th, 2021 at 6:10 pm
Thomas was great. The predecessor of Marshall Faulk.
Really wish those Bills teams would have won one of the Super Bowls… Mainly the one against the Giants
December 10th, 2021 at 6:15 pm
The Bucs will win by 21 pts on Sunday! Mark it down……
December 10th, 2021 at 8:12 pm
@chris
Sadly, Kyle Brandt’s son has better takes.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:50 am
View 132, Thurman Thomas and the Bills were one wide right Scott Norwood miss from their rightful place at least one time. (How sad is it that when you type “wide right” into Google or any search engine, and Scott Norwood is still the first thing that comes up)