Coach55

sans Dilfer, because I didn't watch enough of his games... 1. Drew Bledsoe (first eight games) 2. Alex Van Pelt - his 2-6 stretch in 03 showed he was a baller, even though his team was terrible (Statline 168-286 - 58.7%, 1950 yds, 11 TD, 8 INT's. That is 6.8 YPA, 244 Yds/Game and 80.6% rating. ) 3. Kelly Holcomb - agree with your analysis 4 (tie). Trent Edwards - Best of crap 4 (tie). Drew Bledsoe - post first 8 games he contracted RJS 6. Fitzpatrick - he has heart, but just not that talented 7 (tie). Losman 7 (tie). Johnson - to pick between 2 QB's with probably the best physical tools of anyone on this list to better than the other is a mockery. One was the most sacked QB in NFL history. The other, barely a step above that. Neither had pocket presence or could make a decision.

I totally disagree. Jackson's numbers were probably significantly inflated due to the talent around him. Defenses were keying on LT and Antonio Gates. He would have 1 on 1 coverage with no safety help over the top. Even an average WR would be able to put up good numbers with the talent in SD. I am not sold that Jackson is any better than the receivers on our roster (not saying that he is not). I am all for the LT upgrade however.

1998 - Johnson goes 3-3 as a starter (2-3 if you exclude the Colts game where Flutie came in after Johnson was hurt) 1999 - Johnson goes 1-1 as a starter (beating the Colts 2nd teamers and losing the music city miracle) 2000 - Johnson goes 4-7 as a starter 2001 - Johnson goes 1-7 as a starter So during his 4 year stretch in the regular season Johnson went 8-17 where the rest of the QBs went 24-15.

I could forsee the Bills swapping Fitz and a 2nd for Troy Smith and Jared Gaither. There is a reason that Gailey doesn't want to release a pecking order. If he knows who his top 2 are, he could trade the 3rd. Based on my interpretation of mini-camp so far, Brohm and Edwards seem to be a step up on Fitz. Throw in the fact that Fitz is a smart guy and has starting experience, he would be a desired backup. Not saying that Smith is an answer, but the Bills might be able to solve their LT issues and get a potential starting QB without giving up much.

I think he is way better off that this party was at a public place as opposed to his or someone's house. If there was gunfire on his property and the cops were called, he is in way deeper hot water. Here there is at least plausable deniability.

Okay, the current state of the roster is as follows: QB - Rob Johnson RB - Willis McGahee RB - Booker Moore WR - Bucky Brooks WR - Perry Tuttle TE - Tony Hunter LT - Mike Williams LG C RG RT - Jerry Crafts DE - Erik Flowers DT - John McCargo DT - Phil Dokes DE - Walt Patulski OLB - Tom Cousineau ILB ILB OLB - Eddie Robinson CB - Chris Watson CB SS - Raion Hill FS - Travares Tillman K - Jake Arians P - Rick Tuten For those who are questioning why Johnson and McGahee are listed as the worst - Johnson - was anointed to be the QB to return us to greatness. All he did was become the most sacked QB in NFL history. There are MANY other terrible QB's in Bills history, but few were touted to be so good and yet were so bad. McGahee - Talent wise I agree he is no where near the worst. He was highly touted, came in and took Super Sperm all-pro Travis Henry's place and then proceeded to bad mouth the city to the point he was ostrocized by fans. He is a player who nobody liked at the end. As for the rest, there are tons of crappy players out there who made the team, but if a player is drafted in 7th round and they made the team, you can't really consider them a bust. I am looking for crappy players who were "supposed to be" good.

I apologize for the half-baked post. Was working on and had to go into a meeting, so rather than continue I just felt like getting the post out to see where everyone was...

Over the course of the last 50 years there have been some highly touted players, please give me your input for the biggest busts to ever dress. I have populated a few, but would love to see what this board comes up with. QB - Billy Joe Hobert or Rob Johnson RB - Willis McGahee RB WR - Bucky Brooks WR TE LT - Mike Williams LG C RG RT DE - Erik Flowers DT - John McCargo NT - James Patten DE OLB ILB ILB OLB CB CB SS FS K P

Info source: http://www.nfl.com/probowl/story?id=09000d...mp;confirm=true

Sorry, I was picking up Alan Faneca in my tackle column. He should be a guard and was a first rounder, adjust accordingly. My point is that using the small sample size I took, the background of the pro-bowl players seem to be highly touted or undrafted. We have 2 high draft picks (Wood and Levitre) and a whole lotta notta. Not saying we need 5 pro-bowlers on the line, but we may have 2 that fits the "pro-bowl" bill.

I was looking at the 2009 pro-bowlers and found an interesting stat. Each player was either a high draft pick or went undrafted. Shows you either need to be a diamond in the rough hidden at some small school or truly highly touted... C - 1 1st, 2 2nds, 2 undrafted G - 3 1sts, 1 2nd, 2 undrafted T - 7 1sts, 2 2nds, 1 undrafted

How about Bill Polian? As for players (not previously mentioned) Shayne Graham - has been decent for the Bengals Martin Mayhew - solid starter at CB

Flutie became a drummer.

The Bills definitely should go back full-time to the throwbacks - simple and classy. As for the Sabres, I personally was a fan of the black and white jerseys with the sick Buffalo head. I am glad they are dumping their current garbage, but I am not sold on the potential new ones either. The black and white jerseys were actually a top seller in the league, now they are in the cellar. I know blue and gold are the traditional colors, but cool is cool and the black and white ones were cool.

One of the things that has been severely lacking under the Jauron era is the passes in the middle of the field. As one of my previous posts, I commented on Gailey's use of the middle in OTAs. Much is argued that throwing over the middle is more difficult. I don't understand why this argument flies. Yes, I understand that WRs have the chance of getting hit by a LB causing more pain. But think about this simple math: The field is 53 yards wide, so if a standard dropback is about 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage, a 10 yard out would be in the air for a total of 30 yards (this assumes the receiver has 2 yards at the sideline for the reception) If you were to run a 10 yard crossing pattern or slant, again assuming a 7 yd dropback, the pass would be in the air for 17-20 yd range, pending where in the middle of the field Not that I am a football genius by any means, but logically, shouldn't you be able to hit a target 10 yards closer with a way greater degree of accuracy. On top of which the ball would be in the air for 1/2 to 2/3s of time giving less time for the DB's to react. Thoughts?

By the way - before I get chastized for my previous post for people saying sacks are a result of "how the line plays", might I remind you of the Flutie/Johnson Sack per dropback statistics who both played behind the same line: Flutie - once every 23.15 dropbacks Johnson - once every 7.03 dropbacks

When comparing Losman to Edwards, 2 significant statistics nobody is addressiing. Sacks - Losman was sacked once every 10.14 dropbacks vs Edwards at once every 15.24 dropbacks Fumbles - Losman fumbled 34 times in 33 starts vs Edwards 14 times in 30 starts. Sacks kill drives and Fumbles cost ballgames. Not saying that Edwards is great, but you can't just look at his "offensive" statistics. Losman had a severe case of Rob Johnson Syndrome. Edwards is a headcase, but has yet to get RJS. TE is handsdown better than JP.

...the amount of underneath crossing patterns that are being run in OTAs. There seem to be a ton. These are classic Andre Reed type plays and would love to see them back as they can be big gainers when you clear out the zones. I don't know why these were non-existent in the Jauron era.

Rob Johnson and Todd Collins worked in a functional environment and failed. AVP was never given the opportunity. Losman operated in a pseudo-functional environment and failed. Edwards, likewise. If AVP played in the late 90's (based on his short-lived perfomance when they went 3-13), he could have been good. He knew how to read defenses better than the rest listed, however was completely not-protypical. 6-0 tall, overweight, slower than dirt. But if you look at the 8 games he started in 2001, he was: 168-286 - 58.7%, 1950 yds, 11 TD, 8 INT's. That is 6.8 YPA, 244 Yds/Game and 80.6% rating. Yes, he was only 2-6, but that team sucked. He is the perfect example of someone who could've been if given the opportunity.

I was thinking about the following - If Gailey is truly an offensive genius, he will find a way to get the best 5 offensive weapons on the field at all time. Which would mean Spiller and Jackson should both be on the field for 75%+ of the downs (pulling one for Roscoe in obvious passing situations). If we are to run this type of offense, Lynch becomes invaluable as he theoretically could back up both positions. Personally, I would feature Jackson and use Spiller as a second "flex" back that lines up all over the places and motions a lot. When Jackson, comes out, Lynch moves to tailback. When Spiller comes out, Jackson moves to Spiller's position (as he is a more dangerous receiver than Lynch) and Lynch again moves to tailback. With the versatility of the 3 backs we have, we should be able to get 45 touches a game between runs and passes amongst the 3 of them - with Jackson getting 15-20, Spiller 15-20 and Lynch 10-15. As much as Lynch the attitude is a problem and an annoyance and I am not a fan of - the guy can play football. We should truly try to make this 3 headed monster work.

Given the talent we currently have, if Gailey is any good at maximizing QB's, we may have a team.

If you consider that Buddy Nix was the head of scouting last year in a year we didn't have a GM and this year he was a GM, you can consider that he either picked everyone or heavily influenced the people who were picked in the draft or free agency. Think about who we acquired in the past 2 years that could be starters: RB - Spiller TE - Nelson WR - Easley LT - Meredith LT - Wang LG - Levitre C - Wood C - Hangartner RG - Calloway RT - Green DT - Troup DE - Carrington DE - Edwards OLB - Maybin ILB - Batten ILB - Davis OLB - Moats S - Byrd CB - Florence Effectively, by next draft, Nix will have replaced every starter.

The more telling thing is how inept our offense is. Based on these statistics, we are - 30th in Yds/Drive - 26th in Pts/Drive - 28th in TDs/Drive - 27th in Punts/Drive - 31st in Drive Success Rate This is despite the fact we were 10th in average drive start.

As much as you are joking, he did have a good long ball (that's about all)...

Uncle Rico