shoretalk

Total class!!! Even within the jaded N(o)F(un)L(eague) some real and good moments can happen. Kudo's to Tampa Bay!!

I already reached for the Advil. Lee was a quality player for the Buffalo Bills when he was in his prime. Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey realized that Lee's rather one dimensional style had lost more than a few steps so Buddy stole a 4th rounder from Baltimore knowing that Lee's effective moments are only archives now. Graham is a mystery but based on Buddy's track record I am going to trust his judgement in moving up to get Graham. We were able to fill the needs you whine about in this draft. The potential (and, that is all any draft choice can offer) that Graham provides with his speed is the perfect counter to Stevie and Nelson. Time is on Graham's side but time has run out on Lee's nice little career (A quality team player and good guy in the community.).

The only thing that matters to Kiper is his hair and his mouth. The man has no relevence other than he turned a basement hobby into a very lucrative career. If you follow his picks through the years you will see that his in-depth knowledge fails to match reality time after time. When he grades a team he is grading them against the KIPER pre-draft insight. So teams that do not pick the way Mel wanted them to pick get lower grades and those foolish enough to buy into all of his picks get the higher grade. Frankly, I am more interested in what sports writers have to say about our draft more than Kiper and no of it will matter until we get a few seasons from these picks.

I just received a phone call ... it is a reliable source, can't reveal which of the draftnik's he (or she) has been talking with but this source has reliably stated that they have contacts inside various war rooms ... There is a shocker in the making ... please remember that this is coming from a reliable source but I can't provide the links, the cell phone number nor the code that was used in passing this information to me but there it was THE CALL and I still am not sure if I like it. The Bills will be trading for Andrew Luck immediately after the Colts fulfill their promise to Luck to draft him. So in a way this isn't moving up but according to my source the Colts are no longer feeling happy with Luck preferring the interesting options that the number 10 slot is providing this year. The source I am using has effectively reported the Bills number one picks that last few years following the selections so I have complete confidence in this update. It's not really a move up but it is bringing us some LUCK that this board all dreamed about last year ...

Miami appears to love Tannehill so he will be gone providing the Bills with another of your 10 to choose from. However I am really starting to believe Buddy wants to trade down and get another pick or two. Gilmore, I agree, is a Buddy type of player and his comment that Kuechly can play any LB position could show he is open to picking him but not as a MLB because they are sold on Sheppard in the middle. A good top ten list.

Thanks ... my brother will be in from Virginia too so maybe we'll head down there to help your buddy out! Is the pizza any good?

I am coming to town for the Bills' Friday night party but we are looking for a good place to watch the Thursday night draft picks. Does anyone have a recommendation?

I have been going to Bills' games since the mid 1960's. I was a season ticket holder when The Ralph opened until I moved out of state in 1977. I continue to come home for Bills' games and with my Virginia-based brother have once again purchased season tickets. Living in South Jersey, I have experienced the worst fans anywhere in Philadelphia where you can get killed for wearing an opposing team's jersey. I have seen women pushed on steps just for being a fan of the wrong team. To the bullying teen who implied that it is ok to pour beer on someone wearing a Brady (Believe me I hate the Pats as much as any other reasonable fan does but I do not hate their fans.) the civilized answer is that you need therapy! These are not war zones ... these are games played by wealthy adults. Overall my Bills' game day experience at The Rslph continues to be one that I can bring my daughters to although when they were younger I did have to hurry them past fans losing their tail gating meal on the floor of the concourse and explain why an adult would purchase and wear an obscenity filled t-shirt from an Abbott Road vendor. At first I was going to be dismissive of this post but after reading it I think it is a good idea. I don't need to watch a Bills' game surrounded by drunks shouting F you ref F you Brady F you Ryan, etc.. The opposing players, coaches and the ref's cannot hear the F's but neighboring fans with children, older parents, or spouses trying to be supportive of their husband's support of the Bills do! We can shout our cheers and boo to our heart's content but the purchase of a ticket does not give permission to ruin the day for those in neighboring seats! Boot the bums and then test them!

All I know is that I LOVE MY DH GATE Dareus jersey from last year. And, it did not set me back like these new nike prices will (And, just think they are made in the same Chinese sweat shops but this time Nike makes money too.).

:worthy: I am so with you ... I could not believe the stories this morning. What an idiot this guy from WUFO news who is pushing the idea. Let's see ... here are the problems or my reasons to object to any thought of this (And,I will gladly admit that the stadium and the University of Buffalo's new campus both should have been built downtown back in the Seventies but that was then and this is now.). #1 - Can any one tell me what is wrong with watching a football game at THE RALPH (Other than sitting outside, which is where football should be played anyhow.)? The sight lines are great and I drive to Buffalo from New Jersey to watch the onfield game not to spend time admiring the hallways, go-go girls, video screens in the rest rooms, and other accomodations that these new billion dollar stadiums deliver on. For the seven or eight home games a year I do not need a dome, I want seats that let me see the field, and I want affordable seats that do not require a licensing fee. #2 - There is NO BETTER stadium in the country for pre-game tailgating than the RALPH. As noted by many players, there is a college atmosphere in Orchard Park that I am pretty sure would be lost if we went to having that downtown stadium. #3 - Even though I stopped being a taxpayer in New York State years ago (Who knows I may be back ...), there is no way that New York State, the City of Buffalo or Erie County or any combination of these should spend a penny on a new stadium that would also require road improvements and new costs for police on the more crowded Buffalo streets. #4 - Who are the property owners/politicians who would make money off the deal? #5 - So, does THE RALPH become a landmark to nothing? The County owns that property and it will become worthless if the Bills move to the City, which again is a loss for taxpayers. #6 - There is a claim that this would be a multiple use facility for things like concerts, high school sports, etc.. If I remember correctly, I have seen The Who, the Rolling Stones and others at THE RALPH. High school championship football games have been played there. And, even the debut of the NHL's new hit New Year's Day outside was at THE RALPH (would not have been played in a Dome). I was a season ticket holder when THE RALPH opened in 1972 and now 40 years later I am a season ticket holder. To me it is a great stadium to watch a game in and a fun place to walk around at before the games begin. There is a great history at THE RALPH and when the network cameras come on every Sunday the field looks great, the stadium looks first class and there is nothing to regret not having a stadium like Dallas or New Jersey does ...

You lose me as soon as you post that Tannenhill is a "franchise" pick. He may be a good pro quarterback at some point in his career but on draft day someone is going to pick him way too high and then have to sit back waiting for the potential to show up. The Bills better not have Richardson on their board because that selection will not help the team. So, that means two of your seven that the Bills "will pick" are not picks for them. So back to my morning coffee chuckling over the Tannenhill caravan!

I went back to do the edit and on my original post nothing in the first sentence is in bold.

Thanks ... I had not had my coffee yet but nfl.com was my source so they need to fix their records. Even with coffee, I might have missed this one.

Of course you can! What I was trying to do for all of us was rather than use conjecture or bad memories to actually look at the last several years' drafts to see who was drafted by teams other than the Bills and how they worked out. At no time was I trying to say that this was an exclusive element of the draft for complete failures or for hidden superstars. Now, what I would love to see is someone else digging back into Kiper's records to see how he did with these drafts because so many people hang on their every word or even invest their hard earned monies into their publications. It was reassuring to see that linemen and wide receivers when allowed to develop can become solid starters (as noted earlier in responses to my post).

Actually I trust them too ... am feeling better about the Bills than I have in years (My VA based brother and I (NJ here) bought our season tickets a couple of weeks ago. GO BILLS!

After reading the insightful commentary on this board, I decided to look at the facts of all the players selected as picks 7-10 from 2006 through 2011 to see how successful they all were. Now, I did not have time to see what Kiper and the other experts thought about all these guys but there are very few bonafide superstars (I did not bother to put Peterson's stats in because we all know what he has done.). Take a look and remember back when you may have been ranting about our picks ... maybe you were dreaming about one of these guys playing at OBD! And, I would love to read how the experts lined these guys up if anyone has time to do that. The statistics listed initially are career statistics. 2006 DRAFT 7- Michael Huff SS Raiders – 324 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 9 interceptions. 2011 started 11 out of 12 games with Raiders with 32 tackles and 2 interceptions. 8 – BILLS PICK DONTE WHITNER – 2011 with Niners started 15 out of 15 games played with 49 tackles and 2 interceptions. 9 – Ernie Sims LB Lions – 361 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 1 interception. 2011 started 4 out of 13 games with COLTS 32 tackles. 10 – Matt Leinart QB Cardinals – 350 completions in 608 attempts 6.5 yards per pass. 15 touchdowns, 20 interceptions and 29 sacks. 2011 with Texans 2 games played 1 started 10 out of 14 with a 4.4 yard per pass average. 1 touchdown with 0 sacks or interceptions. 2007 DRAFT 7 – Adrian Peterson RB Minnesota - SUPERSTAR 8- Jamaal Anderson DE Atlanta – 95 careeer tackles with 7.5 sacks started one game in 2011 with Colts 9 – Ted Ginn Jr WR Miami – 159 career receptions 12.9 per catch 6 touchdowns. Started 3 games for Niners in 2011 kick return 23.2 yards per return with 3 touchdowns punt return 11.2 yards with 3 touchdowns 10 – Amobi Okoye DT Houston – 109 tackles over 4 years with 15 sacks; started one game in 2011 with Bears BILLS PICK with #12 Lynch 2008 DRAFT 7- Sedrick Ellis DT New Orleans – 52 career tackles with 12.5 sacks; started 15 games with Saints in 2011 8 – Derrick Harvey DE Jaguars – 92 career tackles with 5 sacks; played in 5 games in 2011 with Denver and did not start any. Now with Bengals 9 – Keith Rivers LB Bengals – 121 career tackles with 2 sacks and 2 interceptions; started 13 games with Bengals in 2011 10 – Jerod Mayo LB Patriots – 342 career tackles with 4.5 sacks and 2 interceptions; started 13 games with Patriots in 2011 BILLS PICK with #11 McKelvin 2009 DRAFT 7 – Darrius Heyward-Bey WR Raiders – 99 career receptions (*2011 – 64 receptions (21 in last 3 games) with 15.2 per catch) 14.8 per catch with 16 career touchdowns. Started 14 games with Raiders in 2011 8 – Eugene Monroe OT Jaguars – 42 starts in 45 games player (14 starts in 15 games in 2011 with Jag’s) 9 – BJ Raji NT Packers – 62 total tackles with 10.5 sacks. After only 1 start in his rookie season, he has started all 16 games in each of 2010 and 2011. 10 – Michael Crabtree WR Niners – 175 receptions 2240 total yards 12.8 per reception with 12 touchdowns. Started 14 of 15 games played in 2011 with 874 total reception yards. BILLS PICK with #11 Maybin 2010 DRAFT 7 – Joe Haden CB Browns – 110 tackles, 2 sacks and 6 interceptions. Started 15 out of 15 games with Browns in 2011 with 0 interceptions, 53 tackles and 1 sack. 8 – Rolando McClain LB Raiders – 136 tackles 5.5 sacks with 1 interception. Started 14 of 15 games in 2011 with Raiders with 77 tackles and 5 sacks (1 safety). 9 - BILLS PICK with SPILLER 10 – Tyson Alualu DT Jaguars – 50 tackles with 6 sacks. Started 16 out of 16 games in 2011 with Jags and had 21 tackles with 2.5 sacks. 2011 DRAFT 7 – Julio Jones WR Atlanta – Started 13 of 13 games with 54 receptions and a 17.8 per catch gain (total yards 959) and 8 touchdowns 8 – Jake Locker QB Tennessee – Played in 5 games with 34 completions in 66 attempts and per pass average of 8.2 yards with 4 touchdowns and sacked 5 times. 0 interceptions. 9 – Tyron Smith OT Dallas – Started all 16 games 10 – Blaine Gabbert QB Jaguars – Started 14 of 15 games played. 210 completions out of 413 attempts with per pass average of 5.4 yards. 12 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Sacked 40 times. BILLS PICK with #3 DAREUS

He was not at fault for where he was picked but he has proved himself to be a solid but pretty much average safety but average is better than below average and yes he looked impressive for the Niners. Donte did everything that Bills' coaches asked him to do and at no time was in a position to aggressively becoming an interception machine, which is what this board's naysayers probably wanted out of the #8 pick. If you look around the league it's easy to see that the draft is really a crap shoot and most teams can count the same number of big time failures that the Bills can. Plus, every team can look at players drafted after their pick and say could of, would of, should of.

THANKS!!! He is definitely worth a look!! What pursuit ... at least in this video his motor doesn't stop and he does some amazing things that if transferable to the NFL will benefit some D.

Well put! Finally, the Bills had a line on the field each week that other teams could be envious of. The line was not the problem with the Bills last year and we actually had some quality depth. However, if we lose Bell to free agency there is no doubt that we will need to pick up a LT hopefully in the draft. Even if Bell comes back to us with his tail between his legs, a LT pick up is a must and Nix has pretty much confirmed this. Hairston will eventually move over to RT where he will compete with Pears but either one of them are above average. It feels so good to not have a line that can't open holes or prevent sacks (Yea ... Fitz releases early but the line still does what it needs to do on pass protection.) and the number of penalties on the line were below the league average. Really do not know what the whiners want ... no team has 5 pro-bowl players but if Wood stays healthy we are close to having at least two at that level in Wood and Levitre.

Uh, NO! Let's see ... there is not a single player worth our giving up our #1 pick and Jackson to move up. And, all of the positive PR generated by the Williams' signing and Nix staying true to his word would be blown apart if they traded Freddie away on something as foolish as your suggestion. As for the violent nature of the game. Although I have always loved the hard hits, there has not been a single moment in my life time that I wanted a player knocked out of a game. What I wanted was their bell to be rung hard enough that they were always looking for Bruce and therefore diminishing their ability to throw the ball. Living in the Philly region I will admit that their fan base sadly thrives on hurting anyone who is opposed to their teams. That's why Veteran's stadium had a judge on duty during Eagles' games. Fans wearing opposing colors have been pushed down steps and beaten nearly to death by these sick so called fans. Their cheering the Irvin hit does not justify the hit. And, the one thing you did get right ... the New Orleans' bounty system does make it seem like Tony Sparano was running the Saints.

let's see ... Williams, Rogers, Florence as the top three with McGee still capable of serving in a reserved role and our punt returner/kick-off specialist McKelvin also in the mix for depth. I think we are starting from a decent place in comparison to most teams in the league. Could we be better? Of course but I really think that Williams is going to come into his own this year.

Not interested in washed up players who have long ago seen their better days. Frankly, I think the options that are on the roster now are better than Ocho is now and I'd rather not see the Bills waste any money on him. There are quite a few decent receivers in the draft so let's take a pass on OCHO and let him fade into arena football with TO.

One thing that Buddy said recently about the team he inherited was that he knew it would take time to turn the mess around. To argue that he has been unsuccessful thus far because of the team's record is frankly an unfair judgment because we all know how bad the team was. Frankly, the drafts that have occurred since Buddy has been in Buffalo are finally building a team. We will now have to see if the building blocks are going to work but since Day One all we have received from Nix is honesty and an apparent effort to build a winning team.

A couple of points ... first, the best available LT appears to be this guy named Bell. There are no 'better than average' LT's out there. Second, all this Kelsay hate clearly comes from those who did not watch him when he played with his hand down. He did his job, which wasn't necessarily to make the big play but if you watched him play from the DE position you will see him pressuring the quarterback, pushing the run back inside and pursuing with energy when the plays were on the other side. He is not going to be a superstar but he is a quality player and to just cut him is foolishness. Third, Dwan really doesn't fit in this new D based on his history but the coaches know best and we finally have a D coach who knows his stuff so I will trust Dave W. to make the right decisions!