Punch

The only explanation is that he had Trent on his fantasy team. Although that's pretty inexcusable in it's own right.

Roy Hobbs had a heck of an arm. I wonder if he could play QB? Heck, I'd settle for a 70 year old Robert Redford, at least he could step up in the pocket.

Urbik was cut by Pittsburgh not Miami. The Dolphins actually put a claim in to sign him but the Bills were higher on the waiver list. Not that our line doesn't suck.

They're one of the better teams in the NFL at getting off the field on 3rd down... on offense.

Although I like our crew of returners and our kickers I'm not sure our special teams are better than Miami's. After all, the returners don't really factor in as much if the blocking isn't there. The one positive note that is consistently made in regards to the 2010 Buffalo Bills are the special teams, but that's clearly just lazy reporting based on reputation. Like so many have said, let's wait until the true 2010 Bills reveal themselves before we give a lick about what the media types report as fact. Quite frankly, I think they'll be doing some Chan ball washing by mid season.

Spiller: 1,300 rush yards, 600 receiving yards, 18 total TDs (including kick returns if he does in fact return kicks) Jackson: 600 rush yards, 450 receiving yards, 4 total TDs Lynch: 450 rush yards, 150 receiving yards, 8 total TDs Probably wishful thinking, but I'm going with my gut... my beer filled gut.

Guffalo, are you aware of any other cartooning or illustration work of your father's? I'm always interested to learn more about cartoonists from the Buffalo area, and of course it's much cooler to have a Bills connection.

I follow you--- I think, somewhat in haste, my initial reading of your post sounded antithetical to my point when in fact we are in agreement. I just really don't understand the poster that wants to declare the current front office a disaster based on initially being interested in a couple of late round picks who they then decided did not fit in with the team's plans after multiple rounds of assessments and the addition of several undrafted rookies. If coaching staffs and front office personnel around the league could 100% accurately scout and assess players pre-draft then every team would have not only their QBs of the future but of the present, as well. They wouldn't even need to play the games at that point. But, it's impossible to tell how the Bills have done with the 2010 draft class in the first week of September. That's why reasonably patient fans are cautiously optimistic about the new "regime", if you will.

It was 35-31 and I remember it very clearly because I kept the Buffalo News from Monday morning. The stats were picture perfect offensively, and I was more or less obsessed with memorizing stats at age 12: Thurman had 165 yards rushing, 103 yards on 8 catches, and 2 total TDs; Andre Reed caught 11 passes for 154 yards including a 54 yarder for a TD; Lofton had 77 yards receiving; Butch Rolle had his characteristic 1 catch for 1 TD; and Jimbo was 29-39 for 381 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT (by Louis F@#$ing Oliver!). Of course, on the flip side, the Dolphins offense kind of passed and ran roughshod all over our D as they took a 14-0 lead early. Every year the Dolphins had a running back that was supposed to finally give them the backfield threat they always seemed to lack to support Marino, and this particular season it was Mark Higgs, who rushed for 146 yards and 1 TD in the game before quietly retiring to the heap of neverwas-es hyped to be the Miami version of Thurman Thomas. This was almost the prototypical Bills-Dolphins game--- the Dolphins looked good for portions of it and started celebrating early, then fell apart when it counted. I still hate the Dolphins for their attitude if nothing else all throughout that era. They carried themselves as if they were the 4 time AFC Champions rather than the bridesmaids of the AFC East. The '89 opener was awesome, of course, made all the more memorable for the fact that it was Oliver that Kelly ran over (and subsequently knocked out) on the GW TD dive. But the opener in '08 against the Seahawks turned into a kind of sour memory simply because Seattle turned out to be a straw man opponent and that season crumbled so dismally following the 5-1 start. And much the same for the '03 opener against the Pats* (although I LOVED it at the time). That single win against NE in the '00s was probably due in large part to Milloy's scouting assistance, and regardless, the Pats* dismantled us in the last game of the season long after that team proved to be another fluke. FWIW, I think the 2010 opener will be memorable for all the right reasons and I'm honestly as optimistic as I've ever been. Then again, I've always looked forward to Bills' game days regardless of the circumstances. Well, there it is! Suddenly I'm 12 years old again.

I remember the '92 game (the actual score was 41-14 not 35-7 where the Bills racked up 315 rushing yards) and somehow inserted the Phillips play there--- aside from that leg breaking tackle I honestly don't think I recall the game in '95, although I do remember the other games against the then NFC West opponents from that year. But now hearing the name Anthony Phillips it does sound familiar.

Oh, of course. The entire draft is truly a crap shoot, but in response to the poster that is blowing a gasket over the Bills' inability to draft a valuable player in the 7th round: the late rounds (particularly the last round) teams are even less likely to find someone of worth, even for the practice squad. 7th round picks are essentially akin to signing UDFAs early.

That's true of course due to the addition of 4 new franchise since that time. But the "apples to apples" comparison are late round picks, I think, not only 7th rounders. In other words, if the above list of players would have been 6th rounders in the 2010 draft doesn't that further prove the point that late round picks are a crap shoot? 7th round picks are not more likely to produce in the NFL than 6th round picks, after. Levi Brown and Kyle Calloway would've been taken in the 8th round or later in 1986-1993.

I do remember Jordan---- wasn't he the safety that intercepted Kelly (1992, a game the Bills won 35-7 or thereabouts) and then Kelly tackled him along the sideline, breaking his leg in the process?

As an historical example of how difficult it is to find a player taken in the 7th that will contribute significantly to an NFL roster: The Bills' 7th round draft picks during Bill Polian's tenure as GM, 1986-1993 1986 7 168 Bob Williams -- Penn State 7 178 Mark Pike DE Georgia Tech 7 180 Butch Rolle TE Michigan State 1987 7 171 Kerry Porter RB Washington State 1988 7 177 Tim Borcky -- Memphis 7 184 Bo Wright -- Alabama 1989 7 173 Brian Jordan DB Richmond 7 193 Chris Hale DB USC 1990 7 166 Brent Griffith G Minnesota-Duluth 7 170 Brent Collins -- Carson-Newman 7 181 Fred DeRiggi NT Syracuse 1991 7 194 Amir Rasul -- Florida A&M 1992 7 195 Kurt Schulz DB Eastern Washington 1993 7 195 Willie Harris WR Mississippi State ------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Pike and Kurt Schulz are probably the only valuable players on this list, but to be fair, there are several examples of good players picked in even later rounds than the 7th (Mark Maddox in the 9th in 1991, Marvcus Patton in the 8th and Mike Lodish in the 10th in 1990, Jeff Wright in the 8th and Carlton Bailey in the 9th in 1988, Keith McKellar in the 8th and Howard Ballard in the 11th (!!!) in 1987, etc). But by and large, players picked in the 5th round or later never contribute significantly and it seems to be a leaguewide phenomenon. Does anyone remember Willie Harris? Or what position Amir Rasul played? Even NFL.com isn't sure. FWIW, at one point prior to the 2010 draft NFL.com's Gil Brandt had graded Kyle Calloway as a potential late 1st round pick, which is pretty crazy. For whatever reason he dropped off big time dating back to before Bulaga took over for him at LT in college, but Calloway (and Levi Brown for that matter) pretty much define the type of player to take in the 7th round.

Rutles reference?

Not that I really think Edwards is currently in any position to rated higher, exactly, but Clayton's grading system has the appearance of thoughtful analysis and intelligent consideration but it's clearly just a load of cobbled together nonsense. Mark Sanchez has a 55% chance of being elite (according to Clayton's carefully delineated standards for elite QBs)? This assessment must have come from the Sid Gillman Laboratory at the Fermi Institute. But yeah, Edwards needs to prove himself first before he gets any deserved accolades.

He says the situation is exactly the same for Edwards as in 2007, considering the fact that Lee Evans is still the only receiving option, but the offensive line is much worse. I know the receivers are mostly young and untested, and this is clearly one of the challenges for the coaching staff this season--- but the emergence of Fred Jackson the last 2 seasons and the addition of CJ Spiller really don't provide any additional receiving options for Edwards (or even providing a cushion for Edwards by vastly improving the run game threat)? Parrish being properly utilized for the first time in his career I can get being overlooked and dismissed as inconsequential--- but how exactly is the offensive line much worse than in 2007? I would only take the 2007 Jason Peters from that line. Levitre and Wood are obviously huge upgrades and I would certainly argue that Haungartner (while not great) is an upgrade from Fowler/Preston. ESPN doesn't really need to do their homework on lesser teams like the Bills, though, until they start off 5-1 beating creampuffs like in 2008, in which case they can just as inaccurately declare them contenders and hype them as up and comers. This kind of 3rd grade assessment calls into question the assessments of every team not in Foxboro or possibly New York (not that accurate assessments are necessarily provided for those teams either, just ad hoc PR).

I definitely hated Bryan Cox, but at a certain point it was like hating a slow little kid or something the way Thurman dragged him for the first down in the "Bird" game to win our last division title in '95. I could never truly hate Marino for that reason, due to the fact that he more or less always lost to Kelly when it counted. I recall Cox pouting like a b***h a year or two later when he went to Chicago after the Bears gave up a questionable TD: he just stood in the end zone with his helmet on his hip during the extra point in protest. But at the end of his career with the Jets and Patsies he seemed to turn into a different player altogether, mature and exhibiting an almost mentor type presence. After his playing career when he briefly worked for ESPN on NFL Live he actually turned into a bit of a Bills booster, in the mid '00s for awhile, which created somewhat of a temporary soft spot for me. But still, praise Saban that Carwell tried to f**k him up post game in '95. I still hate Louis Oliver, come to think of it.

Nevermind...

Oh, Snap(ple)!

Genius. It's pretty crazy that you joined the board 7 years ago and this is only your first post... But it was a good one, I think.

Isn't Hardy entering his 3rd year? Making him exempt from participation?

John Clayton reported it would take a 2nd rounder to get McNabb (in reference to the Vikes if Favre retires) on ESPN radio---- I can't find a link, though.

He's on his way back from Washington DC, according to his wife.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/giants/20...waiting-on.html