WhitewalkerInPhilly

It's really nice to hear. I know, we're supposed to be saying "show me the baby" but after the past few years of soporific coaching interviews you see some life. In one of the earlier roundups they talked about how Marrone steps onto the field to personally help with drills because he feels like he isn't doing anything otherwise and gets bored. Hackett and Pettine seem to have definite plans,and have an energy about it. Of course, come the season we won't care, but while Chan grounded us after freefall (which we needed) suddenly it seems like we have a spark again for the first time since those heady days of Fitz's 5-2 start...

It certainly would be a unique personnel grouping. The Bills were already gifted with two highly talented running backs, I would love to see this scenario. I think the operative word there is "as". Teams will be spending the entire offseason looking to beat it, and everybody is almost assured to try it. The only thing that will be different is on how you tailor it to the skills of your people. In the Bills case, they may have the advantage of being able to work with three dyamnic players. The read option can also be used as a quick play action fake, determined at the line. So while everyone is on run blocking, suddenly there is a mismatch for our WR's. Also, you can let Spiller and Freddy run, then do a quick screen to Spiller with Freddy out in front to block. There are a lot of ways it can be used, and as long as new wrinkles can be put in to force opponents to pick their poison between Spiller, Freddy and EJ, it could be deadly. Of course, this relies heavily on EJ being able to read a defense correctly.

It's kind of weird hearing that Hackett's offense is simpler than FSU's...and a touch worrisome. Unless Hackett is purposely putting in a simplified offense so that Manuel can learn and then slowly making it more complex (like they did with Wilson in Seattle), I'm suddenly going back to the "Pop Warner playbook" days that was Jauron's last season.

With some of the deep bombs we've seen from Manuel and Kolb, that seems a lot more likely this year. Of course, you need to get the timing down, but there's no solution for that other than to practice, practice, practice.

Well, if we have him maybe we can get a bit of production. If anything, he's depth we could use, but I'm not going to be singing the Hosannahs anytime soon.

Never would have seen that coming. *reaches for earpiece* Wait, I'm getting word now that every single member of this board, the local media and anyone who has paid the slightest bit of attention saw that coming. I just wonder what took so long.

I don't know about anyone else, but I liked seeing Marrone getting involved in the O-line drills. He flat out states that he loves doing it, and getting hands on, because otherwise he feel detached and goes all in. I feel like Gailey was necessary to rebuild our fundamentals, and now Marrone gets to do something special with the talent we've cultivated.

Excellent point. There's no denying that Stevie has the highest production, and will likely continue to do so. Might he be more effective in the middle of the field? Maybe, but he's doing a pretty good job right now. Really, I'm stoked about the talent that we've brought in this offseason: Woods seems ready to start, Goodwin might be that deep threat we need, and Kaufman and Rodgers are looking like possible UDFA gems. Between them, and with Stevie returning, and throwing Brad Smith, TJ Graham and Dorin Dickerson in the mix I think there's going to be a lot of scrapping for who is in the top six.

I'm kind of conflicted, because I think they have a point but I don't want to detract from SJ. An alternate view: Was Wes Welker a #1 receiver for the Patriots? By the obvious logic of how he plays, no, you don't want to line him up on the outside. He's a slot player. Of course, for the last few years the man has been putting up tremendous numbers and was the Patriot's best weapon. I see Stevie the same way. He might not fit the classic #1 mold, but his incredible shiftiness let him be the one guy who Revis couldn't automatically shut down. If two prototypical receivers were to be the #1 and 2 (say Woods and Rodgers for example) Stevie might be able to go crazy.

That does seem to be what they have him working on first. From the reports we've heard two days in, that seems to be the big problem. That this seems to be a known quantity is slightly reassuring, but it looks like Manuel is going to need a lot of polishing. Thanks for the link. It does seem like our WR corps is making a lot of strides.

Well, I'm trying to keep perspective, as this is the first rookie minicamp of the season, and I REALLY shouldn't be analyzing it in such depth, but so far it seems like we are getting what we expected. Manuel had some very nice throws, much showed some maddening inconsistency, and is spending time working on his footwork with Hackett. Woods apparently showed a lot of polish, amazing hands, good speed and looks to be ready as a day one starter.

Why don't we just put a blond stripper on stage and have her whirl around a bag of full of cats on acid. It can't sound worse. Yeah, I hate country music.

I would definitely like to see it. I'm personally in the camp of "sprinkle it in, rather than make your offense about it" but I would definitely like to see it, especially with out strength at RB. If you have to defend against the pass, CJ Spiller and an EJ Manuel simultaneously good things will happen for the Bills. My one concern is with what happened with RG3's injury at the end of last season.

I agree. If Smith turns out to be an amazing QB you are going to see people who complain about the pick. That said, if the Jets wound up picking a guy who turns out to be a less talented Prima Donna, we can all bask in the schadenfreude. Hehe, yeah, I saw that one. It's part of a bi-weekly comic that's usually pretty good, even if it's written by a Giant's fan. I have to say, I'm a fan of black humor, so I still have to laugh my ass off, bad taste or no.

I agree. I think I speak for everyone here in that we don't hate Ryan Nassib as a person and I can get how Marrone would feel bad passing over someone he likes as a person and has a connection with. It seemed that almost every sportswriter made the lazy pick of "The Bills take Nassib" or "the Bills take Warmack". They were calling for the Bills to take him at 41, and to take him at 8. In the end, he went where people said he would before the hype. Yeah, from what I've heard (all secondhand) people are pissed. In all fairness, Marrone left the program and stripped it of a lot of its coaches, just as they started to get some consistency. Am I happy the Bills have them? Yes. Can I see why people are upset...oh hell yes.

Mmmkay, let's break the sumbitch down... First, from OTA's we saw Mario at OLB. Not saying he'll be there all the time, but looking at Pettine's time with the Ravens they would use someone as a pure rusher, only not keeping his hand on the ground and there is no one we have more dominant at the role than MW. He is likely backed up by Anderson and Hughes. Two, Alonso seems likely to start at Mike unless they pick up Dansby Three, DL is likely to be K Williams, Dareus, Branch, in some order. Backed up by Troup and Carrington. Fourth, Sam LB is Lawson, but Buddy has said he thinks that Hughes could back him up there as well as his role as the Hybrid DE/OLB

Suddenly, finishing this off makes a lot of sense. Seriously, to swap Sheppard with Dansby, and get another depth pass rusher on the team we'd be looking at a DL of K Williams, Dareus and Branch, with Mario as a designated rusher and Bradham, Dansby and Lawson as pure linebackers....they would look scary.

I like Gilmore. I think he was a good pick, and I think he's a good #1 CB, but I agree that no one here would call him elite just yet. Then, there's the obvious depth issue: McKelvin, Brooks, Rodgers? Possible...but not confidence inspiring.

We're going to spend the money. In fact, the only way we don't spend the money at this point is if Byrd decides to hold out past midseason to sign his Franchise Tag, or make a deal. I do honestly believe that if Byrd doesn't sign his tender and agree to work out a deal, he makes l less money. We know who he is. A lot of analysts and coaches know who he is, but does he really have the bidding power of someone like Landry? I don't think so.

That would make sense, and I bet the market has closed for Moore as well, considering the massive run on O-line players that happened in the early rounds. I agree for the most part...only you're wrong about the DE's, DT, LBs, QB, all but one spot on the O-line, the Coaching Staff, FO and Ownership. In short, GTFO.

This seems like a likely sticking point. Dansby is good, and I would be happy to have him, but no one is going to overpay for a non-superstar, non-pass rusher QB who is past 30. As also pointed out, it could be gamesmanship, and taking a LB who could possibly start, I don't know of any other suitors who walked away from the draft desperate...maybe the Ravens, but they just had a ton of cash tied up with Flacco.

Probably because, out of everyone we took, his position is most secure and defined. He's almost certainly going to be a starter, unless Brad Smith, TJ Graham or (more likely) Rodgers really blows us away in camp but it's doubtful he will edge out Stevie this year. He was picked pretty much where everyone said he was going to be picked and while having good all around tools it appears that his route running is his most prized skill. All in all, he's the least controversial player we'll taken over the past few days.

Well, the team I'm looking at now is different than the one we saw at the end of last season. We completely changed out coaching staff, went from a 4-3 to a hybrid which appears to be based in the 3-4, gutted out WR corps, and let go of some popular veterans, cut Fitz because he wouldn't take a pay cut, and lost Levitre and Rinehart. Alternately, we brought in Kevin Kolb as a veteran who fits the system but has run into injury problems and took a high risk, high reward pick with EJ Manuel. While we lost Nelson and Jones, we drafted Woods, Goodwin and took Rodgers. While we lost Barnett, we picked up Lawon, Dowtin and Alonso. We cut Wilson, but moved A Rodgers to SS and took two more safeties as well. So far, I think we're a stronger team for it. We cut the players who were pretty dependable but had long reached their ceiling. I can think of 5 rookies who could all start together (Manuel, Woods, Alonso, Rodgers and Hopkins). But in the end, you can't fix all of your problems in one draft. Where do we think the Bills are still weakest? For me, it's at CB. The additional safeties will help, especially if Pettine is intend on using A Willams, and D Williams and nickel and dime guys, but they're really safeties. I see very little depth after Brooks, and Brooks and McKelvin at #2 and #3 doesn't sound all that promising. After that...as much as I have to say it, it's at Guard. I absolutely, positively did NOT want Cooper or Warmack in the first round but I can't deny that while the Bills have depth, we have yet to see a stud starter, even if Nix and Marrone look satisfied.

Thanks for the merge. I thought I had seen this thread before but I couldn't find it this morning.

Easy everybody, can we stop bickering over who we credit for a draft we like and just enjoy it? ... ... ... Right...I forgot where I was . Carry on