Never NEVER Give-up

Hysterical post !!! For those who agree with it - you are the glass-half-empty pessimists that need to calm down. Go see the Merriman article from today's Bflo News & posted here on TBD! Take note the Bills are talking to Burnett, Clabo and Babin!! Now if they would just go after Zack Miller . . . .

Free Agents that helped teams to the SuperBowl: Charles Haley (SF & Dallas), ditto fo Neon Deion. Saints picked-up Brees, Jabari Greer, Anthony Hargrove & Darren Sharper. Was Steve Young a FA? Chas Woodson & Ryan Pickett were key players last year for the Pack. Plaxico Buress for G-men. Jonathan Scoot by Steelers last year (ok - I had to slide that in there). I am sure there are others - it goes to show that they can be and should be a means by which the Bills add a player or two each year to help them improve.

You cannot JUST rely upon building through the draft when you have years like 2007 - Poz's draft year. Now that he's gone, we have none, zero, nada players from that draft!!! Four short years ago and not one player drafted that year is on the roster. Granted it was not on Nix's watch, but it points out the fallacy in his thinking. One or two Free Agency pieces per year - at least one of them a starter, should be their target as long as the team dwells in the lower half of the league, maybe the lower 75%. Heck, even Buddy says they chart all the FA's and if there is a guy out there that will improve the team, they will go after him. So my question is if you were, say . . . 4-12 last year, & had only 1 pro-bowler, dontcha think there might be 1 or 2 guys out there who can help you???? It is an insult to our intelligence to say no. Now it's only Wed, and Fri 6pm is when players can actually sign; and Thurs - all teams will be making some roster adjustments . . . so Buddy may still get a player or two, let's hope he does or this will be another 4-12 to 6-10 year. Since trades are becoming more scarce, the draft and Free Agency are really the only ways you can build a team. I agree the draft should be your foundation and FA's should be the missing pieces that can get you over the top. But when your draft choices either fail to make your team or they choose not to sign a 2nd contract after 4-5 years, you REALLY need to utilize Free Agency to avoid falling behind your competition.

By Jason La Canfora | Published: July 26th, 2011 | Tags: Paul Posluszny, Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars Veteran LB Paul Posluszny agreed to terms on a six-year deal with the Jaguars, a league source said Tuesday. Posluszny had difficulty leaving the Bills, who fought hard to keep him, but the chance to move to a 4-3 defense and some opportunities the Jaguars provided led to his decision.

Calm down - no one can be signed until Friday.

Calm down. This is no big deal. Remember, the owners were all in Atlanta yesterday. SOME Player Reps were in Washington and others were scattered. Not to mention, those 32 Player Reps need to get buy-in from the 1900 or so rank & file members. That said, the Player Reps didn't have he same docs the owners had last night - so they couldn't vote on it at their 8pm conf call. So in our world of constant gratification (& electronic media), we all wanted an answer from the players right away. However, last night without all the necessary information, may players & player reps were skeptical of the owners and fearful they were executing a power play and PR campaign to cast the players in a bad light if they didn't quickly ratify the new plan. So overnight, D. Smith andthe Reps reviewed the docs and feel better about the plan. It was much ado about nothing. Give the players a few days. First they have to agree they like the plan informally. Then they need to re-establish the union, then they can all vote on it. Just a few more days . . . .

Maybin is the poster child for why the Bills only win 4-7 games/year. Misses like this in our drafts over the last bunch of years have crippled us. This year, if Spiller, Troup and Carrington do not look like guys the Bills can rely on for the next 5-10 years - 2010 will be another bad draft year despite the later round success. Geeze, every time I hear Maybin, I think Orapko . . . When I hear Whitner, I think Ngata . . . it goes on & on McGahee . . . Lynch . . . Just think how good we'd be if we had hit on 50% of these choices!!! Oh well. Water under the bridge, right? But 2 of the 3 from last year - Spiller, Troup and Carrington need to come thru this year. The 2011 class needs to do the same, led by Dareus. I like Buddy & Chan, but if the top 3 picks from the last 2 drafts do not result in 4 solid Bills players for the forseeable future, Buddy will need to go! ======= By the way. There have been other topics about the worst thing thing that has happened to the Bills or the top 5 bad things . . . there's only one answer . . . the black cloud formed when Polian left. Everything else was tolerable compared to that.

How could they be nasty???? They wouldn't dare!! After all, we GAVE them SB XV !!

A few years ago I wanted to do the same thing for different reasons. My dad and I went to the Administration Building and just asked - we drove over to the tunnel and walked out onto the field!! It was pretty cool. My suggestion is: > be humble and polite in your request > be honest (not saying you wouldn't be) > go at a time when little or nothing is going on at OBD Ya never know . . .

Bottom Line: The Bills take a step back if Poz leaves. Who would replace him? How long will it take to at least get someone as good as him into our lineup? It won't be this year - therefore it's a step back. I see Poz as part of a solid team defense. As better players begin to surround him - he will be better too. Sign him and get another stud ILB and another OLB and his play will most assuredly improve. If Merriman can make a go of it, Poz will also improve. Andra Davis & Akin the Yodeler are the stiffs - they are why we have the worst run defense - not Poz! Here's hoping Batten and the other young LBs are a cut above our stiffs - the run-D will immediately improve with Edwards-Williams -Dareus playing in front of them.

Analysts always say the Bills are looking to upgrade the OL because it is has been weak. Analysts are really saying the Bills SHOULD BE interested in Clabo - then they'll pan the Bills when they don't go after him. (We see it every year.) The Bills have to be more calculating, they don't have Pegula-money, so they won't take Sabre-like chances. I doubt they'll go after an OL in FA. The Bills seem happy with what they have. They feel Bell will be MUCH stronger this year because all he had to do was train for the upcoming season, whereas last year he could only rehab his injury - no strength training . . . ditto for Wood. RT? they believe they have the mix of Vets and the rookie to handle that spot. So I don't see the Bills going OL in FA. I think they also believe their TE's are good enough. They expect Nelson to grow and have Chandler in case he doesn't. I would love Miller (and still hope they go after him), but I don't see it happening. The Bills need to re-sign Poz & Florence. If they don't, the additions they make elsewhere will be offset by their losses - - with no net gain, the Bills will not be able to improve if they constantly add two, lose two, etc. Poz may not be an all-star, but he's on the cusp - a solid core-guy. If the Bills want to upgrade their LB's (& defense) as many teams do (see Giants), Poz is the best LB in FA. He must be re-signed! I think the Bills will try and sign a FA QB (I hope Vince Young) and maybe LB help. We'll be lucky to see one new face via FA.

With Bflo's 64%, I wonder if that's 64% of WNY AND Rochester AND Southern Ontario AND Toronto - - then that'a an awesome number. If it is just the Bflo area, it's a pretty anemic number.

sorry. SuPPerstars perhaps, but no superstars yet!!!

It's just nice to see some acknowledgement from the NFL Network that there is a franchise in Buffalo. I know the team's performance has relegated it to an irrelevant status, but during the offseason when we are starved for news, it's nice to hear something positive about our team and not the snickers and jokes we have heard before and have grown oh-so-tired of hearing. By the way, as most know, the NFL Network has been listing the top 100 players from last year. (Or so they say, because when they mention McNabb at 100, they cite past performance??? I thought it was for LAST YEAR!!!!) Lombardi mentioned there were 6 Cowboys in the top 100 and he/Dukes chuckled and said "6 players from a 4-12 team??? But that's a topic for another discussion." I mention this to contrast it to 0 Bills being mentioned. I know we don't have any supperstars (yet), but Kyle Williams, Stevie Johnson are mentionable - especially if 6 'boys can make the list.

Jacgues Lemaire & Bob Newhart

He talked about the new uni's. How the blue reminded him of when he played and how the helmets are real sharp. He said the Bills did not make a mistake in their decision to not draft a QB this year saying there was no QB worthy of a top-5 selection, noting Newton is a great athlete but a long shot. He said he thinks vets won't be hurt by the lockout, but younger players . . . He said he thinks the Bills are close to turning the corner and that he knows Buddy from when he played and that he's doing a good job. Then he talked about his Jim kelly Camp and how he's been doing it for 24 yrs and that many current NFL'ers have gone tru it with him (Shawn Springs, Anthony Dorsett, the Gronkowski's). Tht's about it. In the nest "story" they asked Jamie Dukes & Mike Lombardi who should be in the HOF that isn't. Dukes said it's not even worth discussing - Andre Reed for sure. Lombardi agreed and went into how Charles Haley is being snubbed.

The key word is "known", as in no KNOWN plan. Maybe when he leaves it to his wife (there's NO estate tax there), she will sell only a controlling interest with a stipulation the team remain in WNY. Or she sells all of it with the same stipulation. The problem here is I am speculating - and so is Jerry Sullivan. When there's this much money on the table, there are a myriad of potential scenarios that could play out. Running through all the scenarios only serves to drive people crazy with the speculation. As we have no control and one option is NOT having the community buy the team, we are wise to let it run its course, enjoy the rebuilding Buddy & Chan are leading and support the team so when Mary Wilson or some other party/parties comes along, they need to consider keeping the team right here. One thing no one ever seemed to consider . . . if the Bills were perrenial winners, would there be as much talk of moving the team? We'll never know. Jerry is right, not one of the greedy NFL owners cares if the Bills stay put. The Bills are not considered an institution like Cleveland who got another franchise. (I don't know why Cleveland is considered special, the Browns haven't done anything special since the early 60's.)

I agree with Hondo. The Bills' lines have hurt their rushing performances - for both Lynch & Freddy. The problem with Lynch is he only takes football seriously on the field - he doesn't feel the need to act a certain way (maturity) off of it. Freddy has proven more effective, both running/receiving. As the Bills' line improves - I DO expect them to be quite a bit better this year (health permitting) - watch Freddy & Spiller have minor & major breakout years, respectively. Everyone will wonder where that's been (it's been hidden behind poor lines). Looking at the list - I would have put Freddy in group C - I would take him over any one of those other guys. The only demerit on him is his age, but lite treadwear somewhat counter-balances that. Spiller barely played and didn't play all that well when he did. I wouldn't have ranked him, I'd have given him an incomplete. I AM really looking forward to see if he can breakout this year. As Marv always used to say, therookies to watch are last year's rookies. (Troupe on Def too!)

Everyone agrees (us & the veteran players) that it's great that the rookies are here, but George Wilson (wisely & thoughtfully) will not let them participate in all the workouts - like agility drills for fear of injury. It would eat into any bonus they could get and could be a cause for getting cut. The cost of injuries are the responsibility of the players/rookies. They DO need to be careful. Damn lockout!!

Chan has said he will use David Nelson as a tight-end in some situations because he is a little bigger that the other wide-outs (though not for blocking - just to have another receiver on the field who can create a defensive mis-match). Also they are very high on the guy (is Chandler his name?) they picked up on waivers from Dallas late last year. He is huge (good blocker) and has a good set of hands supposedly . . . this is why they didn't draft a TE in April. They are really high on him. Shawn Nelson - this will be his year to take a big step forward. He could be great. He could be a bust. I hope for the former. He needs to stay healthty to establish any consistency. I love Stupar - good hands & really gritty, but a little small (hurts his ability to block) and not as fast as you'd like to see. Hasn't shown a great ability to get open. But he catches whatever is thrown to him.

Green Lightning NAILED it. 'nuff said. All QB's are average in the face of pressure and when Buddy/Chan see a better QB available to the Bills - they'll go get him. By the way, one WASN'T available to us in the 2011 Draft a few weeks ago - that's why one wasn't drafted.

I wasn't able to listen in. I hope you can provide some info from the interview.

His risk taking works very well against the lesser teams - it intimidates them. The key is how you respond - ya gotta go for the win, you can't play not to lose as many do. Hopefully, as the Bills improve, so will some of the risk taking. They really aren't that big of a risk if you have skilled personnel carrying out the assignments.

Sold on Newton - I hope not!! Decide for yourself . . . go to espn.com; search Gruden on Newton. Gruden does this with all the major QBs - do it for Gabbert, Ponder etc. When Gruden asked Newton to give an example of "the verbiage at Auburn", to give his favorite play call, all Newton could do/say was sigh/exhale and say "Boy, you really put me on the spot", umm "36". That's it!!! 36!!! SERIOUSLY. It took him over a minute to come up with that. Talk about uncomfortable pauses!!! Taking him as our QB would be like you or me taking over as QB and saying this in the huddle, "Stevie, run a slant towards our bench: Lee, run a post; Roscoe do a 10-yard out and Stuppar, stay in and block" There are calls for all these routes - abbreviations for the jobs to be carried out on every play - He either lacks the intellect to do the QB job, or he doesn't care enough to get proficient at it - this should be enough to disqualify him for any of our picks - I'd accept him as an undrafted FA - but that's it!!. Gruden gave great examples of some of his offense's play calls and was talking about how confusing and complicated they have become - that's when he asked for a sample of the Auburn verbiage. "36"!!! Yikes!! Maybe the guy is a great athlete, but unless we're taking Fitz's brain and putting it into Newtons head - we need to SAY we're gonna draft him and promptly draft someone/anyone else when our pick comes up at 3. The future will tell us for sure - but we need a LOCK at 3. Mayock also wondered how much he yearns to be great - Can you say "Offensive Tackle Mike Williams". Maybe one of the nicest guys the Bills ever drafted - but he's no Football Player!! We need to be sure the guy we draft says "Football is my life" - Miller or Dareus will be fine - One of them should be available. Final word - Stay away from Newton, very far away!!

Mike Mayock, NFL Network Draft Expert said Bowers is the best pure pass rusher to come out since Bruce Smith. I have never seen him play - I'm just passing along whatI heard.