Buffalo Bills begin regular season preparations for their week one opponent

Buffalo Bills quarterback Nathan Peterman and throwing velocity on sideline passes As the Micah Hyde Jersey , Nathan Peterman will be the quarterback under center against the Baltimore Ravens. While it’s undeniable that Peterman consistently produced during the preseason, many fans are still filled with trepidation. One oft-cited concern is the dreaded sideline pass.To demonstrate why this pass is so troublesome for Peterman, we turn to math and science, because that’s kind of my deal. But first, let’s find a sample play. Nathan Peterman throws this short pass to Logan Thomas,and Mike Jordan nearly has a pick-six. Yikes! This pass wasn’t even likely to have earned the Bills a first down even though it was a second-and-six scenario. The term “short pass” doesn’t lend itself to visions of high difficulty. Let’s lay some groundwork on what makes this pass so tough. We have a few things to juggle here. First and foremost, as most readers surely guessed, the idea of a “short pass” is actually somewhat misleading when we talk sideline throws. The first problem is that we’re used to seeing stats based on the amount of yards gained. In this case, assuming no yards after the catch by Logan Thomas Bills Rafael Bush Jersey , it’s a mere four-yard throw. Based on where Peterman’s hand is when he releases the ball, we’re already looking at ten air yards. That’s more than double what you’d see on the stat sheet. If you’ve heard of Pythagoras and his work with triangles, you likely already know the next step. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the GIF above just saved me more than 80,000 of them. Everything should be front and center, giving us our approximate real distance of 60 feet, or 20 yards. It turns out that the air distance is actually five times greater than the yards gained. The camera angles the NFL uses makes it very difficult to grasp just how wide the field is (160 feet, or about 53 yards). Sideline throws ramp up the distance needed to deliver the ball much higher than the broadcast footage suggests. There’s one more thing that makes these throws so dangerous. The first thing to note with this illustration is the seemingly illogical distance comparison. This is how much the camera angle skews what we’re seeing. If thrown straight forward we’d be calling this a decent heave downfield. The angles also reveal another layer of the difficulty with a sideline throw. Pay very close attention to the cornerback. With the pass that’s thrown, the defender has easy access to read the quarterback the entire time. Mike Jordan is also in position to start driving forward quickly Bills Star Lotulelei Jersey , as he’s breaking out of a backpedal rather than a sprint. Jordan is in prime position to cut around Thomas as well, due to the angle of attack. Now visualize a pass over the middle. The defensive back is likely shadowing the receiver and attempting to stay with him stride-for-stride. This creates a higher level of difficulty in reading the quarterback. It’s also much harder to change direction when sprinting than while backpedaling. The receiver should be more directly between the quarterback and defensive back, making it harder to jump the route. EDIT: One of the more frequently cited concerns with Nathan Peterman is a weaker arm, resulting in relatively low pass velocity. Sideline throws combine the worst of all worlds for a quarterback. Despite the often short gains, the travel distance is more like a mid-tier throw than a check down. Making matters worse, the positioning for defensive backs is rarely more advantageous. Many passes can be conceptualized as a race between the ball and the defensive back (with the receiver as the finish line). Sideline throws then give the defender a head start, making throwing velocity all the more important. This Sunday, the Buffalo Bills will be looking to string together their first winning streak of the year when they take on the Houston Texans. We spoke to Chris Watkins from Battle Red Blog for a scouting report on the Texans. Chris talked about everything from the health of the team’s quarterback to his thoughts on whether the team will make a move ahead of the trade deadline in a couple weeks. 1) How important was it for the Texans to come out of the Cowboys game with that overtime victory?Frankly, it was the season. Even though the Jaguars and Titans only have three wins Cheap Tre'Davious White Jersey , if ever there was a “must win” in Week 5, this was it. It put the Texans somehow one game off the pace in the AFC South and helped to build confidence that the Texans can get this thing turned around after such a horrific start. Really the resurgence started in Week 4 when the Texans returned to more of the offense that worked so well in 2017. I still have no clue why Bill O’Brien insisted on extending the offense’s preseason three games into the regular season, but here we are.2) Is there any reason to be concerned over the chest injury Deshaun Watson is dealing with?Absolutely. It’s no secret locally or nationally that Watson has been getting thrashed both due to poor offensive line play and to his own recklessness. Specifically in the win over the Cowboys, the offensive line had by far its best performance of the season in terms of protecting Watson - but suddenly Watson was putting himself at risk by not throwing the ball away and not sliding on runs. Couple that with some questionable designed-run play calls and it’s no exaggeration to say Texans fans know it’s a “when” scenario and not “if” Watson misses extended time due to injury.3) What has been the glaring weakness on the team so far?I have to give you three. In no particular order 1) The offensive line play. It’s been decent run-blocking and also terrible. It’s been terrible pass-blocking and also average to below average. Plus they’ve had a different starting lineup for each of the first five weeks if I’m not mistaken. 2) The secondary has been a MESS. The unit had its best game of the year by far against the Cowboys, but of course the Cowboys currently do not have a plus QB and they may be the least talented WR corps in the NFL. 3) Bill O’Brien. Confounding play calling, head-scratching clock management, questionable challenges (and non-challenges), lack of aggressiveness in obvious scenarios that call for it, and above all - the above-referenced flip back to the offense that better suits Deshaun Watson over whatever-the-hell was happening in weeks 1-3.4) With the trade deadline a couple weeks away Cheap Josh Allen Jersey , do you see the team looking to make any moves?I do not. It’s never been this team’s M.O. and I don’t expect that to change this year. If anything they could make a very minor move for the offensive line or secondary, but I doubt even that will happen unless they feel like they can get something for JD Clowney - but they would be NUTS to move him, in my opinion.5) Aside from Hopkins v White, is there another matchup you are looking forward to seeing?The Houston pass rush against the Bills O-Line/Josh Allen. I saw some VERY ugly numbers about Allen’s effectiveness when he’s under pressure - dead last in the league if I’m remembering correctly (Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Chris is remembering correctly). The Texans will be coming after him HARD, and Houston is pretty good against the run so I’m not too worried about Shady and Ivory getting a ton of yards, especially after how the Texans bottled up Ezekiel Elliott.