WhitewalkerInPhilly

Why the hell would we take yet another 4-3 DE when we have Anderson, M Williams and Moore? we have much bigger problems to fill. ANALYTICS Kiper! ANALYTICS! But seriously I would much rather be looking at Ogletree or Teo.

Not really. While Rex may be the master, Pettine was there when they cooked up the most innovative strategies. I also think that we have a more talented line that the Jets have this year, it was always more a matter of getting them to play up to expectations.

Heh, thanks for catching that. Ends, I meant ends. Both have been put as OLB's in the past, though admittedly Mario is a much better fit in a 4-3. I like how you think. Of course I would love Teo as an ILB but he may not be a good fit. I do think that Carrington finally showed that Buddy wasn't entirely wrong about him and I think he could be a good fit and I like the idea of bringing A. Williams in, since he lacks ball skills but has great size and speed (though I'm privately sure that Pettine will beg Buddy to do whatever it takes to keep Byrd) I do agree that we need someone across from Gilmore and I'm hoping that it's Rodgers or Brooks, especially since they would have to win a lot of 1 on 1 battles to prevent opponents from running the West Coast Offense all day on us.

Well, while we can certainly debate whether we're going to play 3-4 or 4-3, how about we take a look at the 46 scheme? It's a very agressive style designed for run stuffing and bringing heat and I think it's promising for our scheme. It can be a subpackage as a 3-4 defense since it uses a nose tackle but uses four down linemen and calls up the SS to act as linebacker. We already Scott as a tweener and Williams and Anderson are great speed tackles. Any thought about its use, or where we would like to see people placed?

Whoo! I love it! If we get Gilmore to be the next Revis and whip up a good system we can finally use our talent!

I'd change to the title that we are "looking at" Nassib for sure. in the first and second rounds. Both Marrone and Hackett are raving about the guy. However from what I've read and seen I can tell he's nowhere close to being an 8th overall pick. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as Russell Wilson proved a lot of people wrong. I'd like to have him, but as I said he's not worth the 8th overall pick, so I'd only feel comfortable if we traded back far into the first round or picked him up with our second round pick. These both carry a bit of risk that he won't be there but it's something we have to deal with.

ANALYTICS! By which, we mean, the hit to the pocketbook or lack thereof. I really hope to be impressed by the DC, because right now I'm not sold.

Eh, he'll get picked in top 10 any way you look at it. As to whether he's right for the Bills... Would I take him if he falls into our lap at #8? Quite possibly. Do I think we would make it that long? Hell no. My money is that the Chiefs will snap him up.

Well, it's promising. He has talent, but the man gave up a DC job with the Panthers to go to Green Bay. Maybe he wanted to work for a team he thought would be a champion. Carolina has been more of a contender than we have as of late, and the Packers are still in the playoffs.

Also, will the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys be racing to be the DC for the Bills? It seems like a hard sell.

From what I read, I would love it. As point of fact, this would bolster a lot of the concerns I have about Marrone. While I love Marrone's attitude and apparent skills at teambuilding the two (biggest) problems people have brought up that he isn't the playcaller and his defense schemes have left a lot to be desired. Pettine would fix the second half of that. A side effect of our shifting defensive schemes is that we have players who can fit in multiple positions (Anderson playing OLB/DE, Scott playing LB/S, Gilmore having the size of a S with the speed of a CB) and therefore can be adapted to multiple schemes instead of the predictable base 4-3 we kept trying last year. I think how aggressively we pursue this will be a litmus test of how effectively Marrone and Brandon can bring people in.

Well he certainly looked "special" last night with those mixed tackles. Just not special in the way that we were hoping. That said, people have bad games. It is lamentable that his game on the night of the championship and that the rest of Notre Dame didn't show up either. This might drop his stock enough that we don't have to worry about anyone swooping in to take him before the 8th pick.

Who would be up for trying to bring Bobby April back? Reid is now in KC, meaning his future is hardly secure.

I'm loving this! If they could somehow swing Lovie Smith (a long shot to be sure) we could get him as DC to pacify his fans while keeping an offensive minded team builder as HC.

Actually, this is pretty promising. I know it's only at the college level but he definitely pulled his team out of a period of being absolutely abyssmal, knew what to do with Drew Brees as the OC for the Saints, was an O-line guy and might be looking to snag a QB first round. I'm still skeptical as hell though...

... ... Damn, it's entirely too early to start drinking. Seriously? This isn't just because I wanted Lovie. I'm not a big fan of the idea of recruiting a college head coach but if we were going to do it, we could have tried getting someone with a slightly more productive program. Please, someone give me hope for how we're going to get a fix for our QB spot, creatively use our run game and bolster a talented yet underperforming defense.

I do think that we have to keep in mind what talent we have, and who is the best fit to maximize that. Would I love for the Bills to be an offensive powerhouse? Hell yes. Are we built for that right now? Hell no. Do we have a very solid front four, an elite safety and a developing CB corps? Yes, I think we do. You wouldn't guess it from our stats, but we haottve some very talented players. How about our run game? Spiller is lightning in a bolttle, but he needs to be used creatively in order to keep him from getting worn out. Jackson is still great at moving the pile. I kept saying during last offseason "we need to find a way to run both effectively" and we barely did it. Shockingly, when we did, we tended to win. With our quietly solid O-line, we should be able to do some great things. So, when you mention a coach with a winning record, a proven track record with getting the most out the defense, a propensity to run the ball and a DESIRE to come to Buffalpo I start drooling. By no means stop searching, but Lovie Smith definitely deserves a shot. I can't think of any fired coaches who would be a better fit, any assistants currently in the playoffs who we can count on to be lured away to a franchise with a 13 year playoff drought and any college coaches who wouldn't be a roll of the dice.

I think there are a lot of questions no one ever asked Chan. But now that Chan is gone, there is no reason to keep Thigpen and maybe Jackson has a chance to compete for the starting job. Assuming we don't draft or trade for someone we think we can start.

I am. For thirteen years (and counting) and proud of it.

Am I the only one coming to defend Nix here? Yes? Fine then. Ok, Nix hasn't done a phenomenal job. And if there is some legendary guru scout out there who is willing to come to Buffalo and do the job then we should look into it, but I don't see a large stock of those. Nix, while certainly with his flaws, did manage to get Mario Williams here (who had a 10+ sack season), got three very solid first round picks in Spiller (now a premiere back), Dareus (had a great rookie year before a sophomore slump) and Gilmore (who climbed to the top of the depth chart as a rookie, more than can be said of McKelvin). He quietly built a very solid O-line, proved that Carrington at the very least is a solid backup who can block field goals, and negotiated good deals with some of our veterans. He, rightfully, deserves some **** for Fitz and Chan, but overall we've done a lot worse.

It's a little sad, but it certainly is due. Chan dealt with a lot of dysfunction when he came in, and I think the culture change helped some things but the man is just a god-awful play caller. I wish the best of luck for his sucessor. And I wish an "allelujah, thank god and amen" to Ralph Wilson.

Man, that sounds like a longshot but that would be beautiful.

I am also mystified as to why this is pinned. One, I highly doubt that the Ravens are terribly hard at work replacing Flacco. Second, Flacco has done his best work behind a stout defense and running game, and has little reason to want to leave. Three, even if the Raven's don't want him back or Flacco wants to take the show on the road what motivation would he have to come here? Fourth, is the money it would take to bring him here worth it?

I have no hard feelings toward Kelsay, and he's been a very solid though not spectacular player. But I do believe that after seeing Merriman start contributing, seeing Anderson play while healthy and seeing the emergence of Moore, Kelsay is simply on the wrong side of 30. The D-line is starting to finally come together and he's just not on it right now.

The man never played a game this season. I'm not shedding a whole lot of tears since it's to keep our O-line numbers up. Though considering that we can't seem to count on Wood finishing a season, looking into a few quality backups doesn't sound like a bad idea now.