FightinIrishBills

Ugh. Consolation isn't what comes to mind

Just a thought, but I do believe that around this time last year, many folks (not just on here) were singing the praises of the current QB class. On paper, it looked as if they could all be world-beaters: Bradford, Clausen, Tebow, McCoy, Pike, LeFevour, and, the biggest tragedy of all, Jevon Snead, were all being projected to be successful at an NFL level. I disagree heavily with the strength of next year's class. Locker, in my opinion, does not have the decision-making ability that an NFL level QB needs. Luck could be very successful, but I think he needs more time to develop his game. Ponder and Pryor--no thanks, Pryor especially. It's the same knock that I have on Locker, but Locker is even more gifted athletically. The only QB I think will transition to do well in the NFL is Mallett.

1. I'd have to be at my best friend's house. He's the one who brought me back into the fold when I was a wayward fan, and the only person I know IRL who shares my optimism and excitement for the team every year. 2. I think South Buffalo would be absolutely destroyed. 3. No. Every person in Buffalo will own a "Buffalo Bills Superbowl Champions" t-shirt...and every little kid will own a Trent Edwards jersey Also, even though this video has probably been watched a million times by everybody, any talk of a Bills' Superbowl win makes head straight for Youtube. Enjoy if you haven't seen it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PlWZDZboQw&p=15C4404C488AC9BF&playnext=1&index=2

I'm as big of an optimistic homer there is, but I offer this as a cautionary tale: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/100823_nfl_preseason_hall_of_fame&sportCat=nfl It's a list of preseason "Hall of Famers" through the years. In the "obvious but true" category, ou might look great in preseason, but you never really know until the game goes live. That being said, I stand by my prediction of 8-8

Didn't see the game yesterday, but you really weren't watching if you thought he was average at Notre Dame.

Good analysis OP. Repeating the "Jake Locker as #1 pick" mantra isn't solely the domain of Bills' fans, although some folks' unbridled optimism at the thought of having the #1 pick to get him is unique, I think. This is Locker's big year to shine, and while I do think he has some talent, he's a product of the media hype machine. As is, I don't think Locker has the accuracy or decision-making ability to succeed in the NFL.

*Massive homer alert* Watch out for the Irish this year. Take a look at the schedule for a minute and tell me who they won't be favored against: 09/04/10 vs. Purdue Notre Dame, Ind. 3:30 p.m. ET 09/11/10 vs. Michigan Notre Dame, Ind. 3:30 p.m. ET 09/18/10 at Michigan State East Lansing, Mich. 8:00 p.m. ET 09/25/10 vs. Stanford Notre Dame, Ind. 3:30 p.m. ET 10/02/10 at Boston College Chestnut Hill, Mass. TBA 10/09/10 vs. Pittsburgh Notre Dame, Ind. 3:30 p.m. ET 10/16/10 vs. Western Michigan Notre Dame, Ind. 2:30 p.m. ET 10/23/10 at Navy East Rutherford, N.J. 12:00 p.m. ET 10/30/10 vs. Tulsa Notre Dame, Ind. 2:30 p.m. ET 11/13/10 vs. Utah Notre Dame, Ind. 2:30 p.m. ET 11/20/10 vs. Army Bronx, N.Y. (Yankee Stadium) 7:00 p.m. ET 11/27/10 at USC Los Angeles, Calif. 5:00 p.m. PT That doesn't mean they're going to win every game they're favored in. Far from it. But of all the games out there, the only one that I would say is going to be a really huge challenge on paper is the Utah game. Yes, Michigan and Michigan State are always brutal games. Same with BC. Pittsburgh is always a wild card, and for the love of God, if ND doesn't beat USC this year, I'll drown myself in a vat of Bailey's and Guinness. I do follow a lot of college football, but right now, the only thing I have on are my green Notre Dame homer goggles. Go Irish!

Come on now, that's a sensible answer based in reality. Haven't you heard that the Bills have been and always will be the worst franchise in football?

I definitely get where you're coming from--it would be awesome to have another field general a la Jimbo to lead this team again. And flame away, but the most recent QB to come out of the draft who I believe exhibits this quality is Jimmy Clausen. However, I don't think that a player instantly has that trait; rather, I think it's developed over time and through their unique team situation. That being said, I think Mallett has shown sparks of this so far in his college career. I'm with you though, this is Mallett's year to shine. Unfortunately Arkansas' defense is just awful, so he's really going to have to chuck it up a lot again to have them be competitive. I'm still very excited about him though, despite the relatively recent injury problems (this is another knock I have on Jake Locker--a huge injury like that, just like Sam Bradford's, is prone to show up again.) Haha and I think the rest of the country is hoping to see the whole of the SEC get their asses handed to them by someone

Being someone who watches a lot of college football, I've also watched the kid play a few times (including in person his freshman year--a 38-0 drubbing of Notre Dame. I still get PTSD flashbacks on that one). Obviously opinion is subjective, but what do you define as a "gamer"? Or for that matter, what is your definition of "intangibles"? I would argue that Ryan Mallett is in fact more of a gamer than Levi Brown. I'm not really sure what you're basing your contention that he "rises up when the game calls for it". Granted, you might have watched a lot more Troy games than I have, but the only one that stands out in my memory that stands out is that bowl game duel against Central Michigan. Great game, no doubt, and Levi Brown put up a hell of a performance. However, Ryan Mallett had games where he carried Arkansas on his back against some of the best teams in the country; keep in mind that they were one missed field goal away from potentially beating #1 ranked Florida last year. The only game where I wouldn't say that he looked outstanding is against Alabama, and to be honest, nobody looked good against Alabama this year (they're not sexy, but they have my vote as one of the best and most complete college football teams of the last decade). I don't really know what you consider a gamer, but everything I saw out of Ryan Mallett last year has me convinced of the guy's big game ability. Not to knock Levi Brown, but relative to his strength of competition, he didn't show nearly as much in his college career as Mallett already has. And yes, I do know that Bobby Petrino runs a pass-heavy offense--one similar to which our very own Brian Brohm thrived in at Louisville. However, I believe that Mallett is a true talent who will thrive at the next level--and in my opinion, is a gamer with a great deal of intangibles.

Haven't you heard? Any game won by the Bills is a fluke, and any loss is a clear sign of this franchise's inferiority.

Wow.

Ha, time might make fools of us all. I was only saying that the recent draft class, when viewed from last year, was really exciting. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that a lot of people last year were very high on the QBs in question. A year later? Well not so much, judging from the draft. I'll tell you what though, if by chance we are very poor this year and land a high enough draft pick, I'd be very happy with having Ryan Mallett under center

Not to be too contrarian, but I believe that if you asked someone in 2009, the QB class of the 2010 draft was projected to be great as well: Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Jevon Snead, Tony Pike. Obviously, it's way too early to even think about saying this class is great or not. Judging solely on the draft, however, this QB class turned out not to be the homerun draft for quarterbacks that a lot of people projected in the past. Whether it was due to lack of need at the position or seeming deficiencies in the players themselves, many of the projected big picks dropped low (including the unfortunate case of Jevon Snead, who dropped out completely). My opinion? The 2011 draft class isn't that impressive, at least as of now. Jake Locker is way too speculative of a pick. Ryan Mallett and (to a lesser extent) Andrew Luck are big prospects, although I think Luck does need more time to develop. But the rest? According to WalterFootball.com, in the top 10 for the upcoming QB class are Christian Ponder, Terrelle Pryor, and Ricky Stanzi, just to name a few. Not discounting that these guys could have big years in 2010, but from what we've seen already from them, I really see no reason for looking at the potential of this class on par with the '83 class.

Going 0-16 is a necessity towards getting better? The Detroit Lions would like to have a word with you.

Count me in as one who thinks the Locker hype is unwarranted. I believe that this is a case where the guy's measurables have the collective masses salivating over his potential (a la Jamarcus Russell). And yes, I do watch a lot of college football and have watched Jake Locker a good deal. I'm underwhelmed by his decision-making and accuracy, and would rather not have this guy be the hypothetical QB of the future if we are in a position to take him (assuming, of course, his draft stock doesn't tank to Jevon Snead levels). Ryan Mallett, on the other hand...

Can we at least watch a regular season game (I would say a whole season myself, but that's just me) before anyone talks about how Nix "F'd up the team"? The small sample size of information that we do have of the Gailey/Nix era is not complete enough to make value judgments like "too cheap or too dumb".

Ha, good rebuttal to my rebuttal. I do agree with you that preseason is about game planning, but my only caveat is that we're not seeing what Gailey is seeing. As in, he might be seeing a look or a particular player movement in a small but important way that the rest of us aren't looking for. Yes, Gailey is calling the plays but his game plan for the preseason might be (and probably is, I would think) very different than what he would do in a regular season game. I also agree with you that the Bills are a young and inexperienced team. You could be right, too, that a big preseason showing could increase their confidence. However, you have to think that the injuries to Jackson and Lynch might have affected Gailey's strategy. With such a young and inexperienced team, the Bills can't afford a slew of injuries. Pushing the team too hard during that game, especially with the nominally tougher practices we've been hearing about, could have been a lot more detrimental to the team's overall well-being. Again, I'm with you about the horrors of preseasons past. But while it is trite and oft-repeated, this is a whole new coaching regime we're seeing here. And though I think you're right that we did see a bad preseason game, we can't distinguish if it was by error or by design. In the best of all worlds, I want to see a team wearing a Bills uniform win every game or at least look solid. I am concerned about some of the sloppiness we saw on the field, but I'll reserve judgment until the first whistle is blown against Miami

And what in your previous history as an NFL head coach has led you to this conclusion? Again, we don't have a window into the mind of Chan Gailey. I'm not sure whether or not you're saying that: A.) Chan Gailey doesn't have a plan to evaluate his players B.) Gailey doesn't have a long term plan towards the season opener At the risk of raising the spectre of Dick Jauron, evaluating coaching in the NFL is hard to do. Is having a long-term plan for both players and the season opener directly correlative to "setting the tone in the preseason"? To put it another way, does coach have to, as you say, instill a "winning attitude" in the preseason to be directly successful as an NFL head coach? From the outset, you're working with incomplete information regarding coaching in the preseason. We don't know their plans for evaluating players. We don't know what they're willing to show and what they're being coy with. Preseason games are a live scrimmage that give the team a chance to practice against real competition, with the risk for coaches being that they can lose players to injury and give away too much by way of game planning. A good coach strikes a balance between the risk and the reward, seeing only as much as he wants to see before playing a "vanilla" brand of play. I disagree with your contention that a coach has to set a winning positive attitude "preseason or not". How do you know? Again, are you an NFL coach? All that matters to me is how the team performs during the course of the season. We'll know whether or not this team really has a winning attitude when the games actually mean something. Another case of incomplete information. Again, I'm really not sure what you were saying regarding a coach's plans in the preseason and the relation to Chan Gailey. But I will say that without an adequate body of information, how do you evaluate a coach in the preseason? You argue that both players and coaches are judged based on preseason play; however, there is no reasonable way of judging either a coach's long-term plans/evaluations or his team's "winning attitude" based on one preseason game.

You're all griping about the coaching in a preseason game? Regarding the 4th and short situation, let me ask you this: if we had gone for it there and someone got hurt, would you all be praising the decision? Or would you be upset that Chan took an unnecessary risk in an inconsequential game? How about if Chan does have a play designed for that situation, but would rather not give that look away in the preseason? I don't have access to Chan Gailey's mind and neither does anyone else on this board. I'm sorry, but getting worked up over a coaching decision in the preseason is asinine. Let's hold off on the doom and gloom until we see the guy coach a regular season game for us.

Because when you're Chicken Little, the sky's always falling.

Preseason is a time to work out the kinks. The Bills were sloppy, I'll give you that (a lot more so than I thought I'd see on defense). There is, however, a reason why they say "that's why they play the games". If it were the middle of the season and we were 1-7 and still looked like this, then you might have cause for the hysterics. But after 1 preseason game? Come on, let's at least get a real look at this team first.

I agree that Thigpen falls in line with the type of QB we already have. I believe that Chan made Thigpen look good, not the other way around, and I'm hoping that he can do that with the talent we have on our roster right now. Do you really think that being the league loser is the best hope for the Bills? I'm genuinely curious whenever I hear this line of logic. The Bills are a small market team with a history of drafting poorly, at least in the first round. Could we really take the hit of busting on the #1 overall pick? I'm not of the opinion that Jake Locker is worthy of being a #1 (maybe a top 10) pick, but even if that where he's projected at the end of next year, do you think that taking the risk of him pulling a JaMarcus Russell is something we should look forward to? It takes a lot to turn around a franchise, but I don't know if "bottoming out" is necessarily the key to success. Looking at the drafts of the past few years (just a quick unscientific glance), there have been some picks within the top 3 that immediately brought their team success (Carson Palmer and Matt Ryan stand out) and others that haven't (paging David Carr). It's a fairly obvious point, but I would rather see the team draft smart in the later part of the 1st round than take a huge gamble. As for the hype surrounding Locker, here's a short, cautionary tale in two words: Jevon Snead.

I'm definitely biased, but I will say that throwing strength is not a knock that I've ever heard on Clausen. I've watched Clausen for the past 3 years, and noodle arm he is not. Any floaters I've seen him chuck up were desperation throws as he was getting destroyed by his porous O-line in his freshman and sophomore years (which might fall under the domain of poor decision making). However, I might be going out on limb here, but I really believe he was the best QB in college football this past year, and possibly in the draft as well. Did I want the Bills to take him? Absolutely. I was consoled by Spiller (once in a decade talent, and the absolute best player in the draft judged solely on his college career) and Torrell Troup (a solid player at a position of big need). But Clausen really has the potential for greatness. I don't have a crystal ball handy, but I think that for all the knocks on this year's QB class, it'll emerge as one of the best we've seen in a while, including next year's, Ryan Mallett excepting (and yes, I HAVE heard of Jake Locker).

I didn't watch the game yesterday, so I can't comment. But at Notre Dame? Did you ever watch the games? I'm just curious what you base your opinion on.