ROCCITYBBACKER

I’m curious to get everyone else’s take on this. Going into the season a lot of us were worried about the WR/TE talent on this team. Outside of Stevie, Nelson, and possibly Chandler, I’m not sure many of us knew what to expect from the group. With Nelson going down in week 1, I think most of us figured this group; collectively, would definitely be below average. While the stats may not suggest we have a fearsome passing attack, I do feel this group has surprised and is certainly a serviceable group. The biggest issue for them has been the inconsistent play of Fitz. How many times has our receivers beat coverage only to have a poorly thrown ball? I would say there have been 15-20 passes this year where Fitz has missed our wide open receiver. And some of those misses would have been for big gains; if not touchdowns. Stevie has proven once again to be a great route runner who gets open a lot. His stats show he’s having a down year, but I think we all know a lot of that has to do with Fitz. Chandler has shown to have some of the best hands we’ve seen on this team in awhile. Jones, Graham and Smith (yes –Brad Smith) have all made some difficult catches or beat coverage where the throw hasn’t been there. While I certainly don’t consider this group to be “elite” and while it would be a nice to get another top tier WR to match with Stevie next year, I’m thinking WR may be on the “nice to have” to-do list for the offseason instead of the “must-have” (QB/LB would be first here), especially with getting Nelson back in the fold. I know there is a lot of football left to be played, but I’m interested in getting others opinions on the WR group so far

While people want to pick apart this pick, they also seem to forget that when things went bad last year, our defense was horrid. Say what you want about the offense' struggles late in the year, the defense was much much worse. There was a 3-4 game stretch (Cowboys, Dolphins, Jets) there where opposing team's offenses walked up and down the field on us and put us in big hole to start the game. We all know Fitzy and company aren't built to come back from multiple TD holes and that is what happened late in the year. Once we got into these holes, we had no choice, but to throw the ball and get us out of our offensive gameplan. I honestly feel that if we have a more stout defense this year, then the offense will be just fine and be able to produce enough points and hopefully wins for us. Plus, as many have mentioned, this is a passing league and the way to address it is through a pass rush and solid corner play. I think we've addressed both on paper so far. Let's see the moves we have made actually pay dividends

Let’s give major props to the front office. I think we all understand the importance of the Mario Williams signing and what it does for this defence, this franchise, this city, and this fan base, but Buddy’s Nix body of work extends far beyond this signing. The ability of Nix to re-sign or restructure the contracts of their our own players over the past year is equally important in my book. By re-signing or restructuring the contracts of Stevie, Fitz, Chandler, Urbik, Reinhart, K.Williams, Morrison, T.McGee, Lindell, Peers, and Wilson over the past year gives us stablity going into this year. This is the first time in a long time that we have kept our own key players and added to the core through free agency. Also, Nix has done a great job of finding undrafted free agents (i.e – Nelson, D.Jones, etc.) as well as picking players up from waivers (i.e – Ubrik). For once we didn’t create more holes then we filled in an offseason. The holes on this team are getting less and less which is nice because now we can fill those final open holes through the draft as well as add to our depth through the draft, which is something this team sorely needs. If we can lock up Levitre and Byrd before free agency next year than that will further prove to the fan base that this franchise is serious. By no stretch am I saying we are Super Bowl contenders now, but the foundation is in place for success now as well as into the future. This is a young team that will continue to grow and mature. If we can continue to build through the draft (which Buddy has preached) we could make some noise over the next couple of years. The biggest wildcard for the Bills is if Fitz can be consistenly good. He doesn’t need to be a superstar, but he needs to stop being inconsistent. We have the pieces in place, now let’s see if we continue to build from this. Our chips are all in. Let’s go now. Hats off to Buddy Nix and the gang for a job well done with the Mario signing as well as all other recent moves! For once – Ralph is NOT cheap!

Let’s give major props to the front office. I think we all understand the importance of the Mario Williams signing and what it does for this defence, this franchise, this city, and this fan base, but Buddy’s Nix body of work extends far beyond this signing. The ability of Nix to re-sign or restructure the contracts of their our own players over the past year is equally important in my book. By re-signing or restructuring the contracts of Stevie, Fitz, Chandler, Urbik, Reinhart, K.Williams, Morrison, T.McGee, Lindell, Peers, and Wilson over the past year gives us stablity going into this year. This is the first time in a long time that we have kept our own key players and added to the core through free agency. Also, Nix has done a great job of finding undrafted free agents (i.e – Nelson, D.Jones, etc.) as well as picking players up from waivers (i.e – Ubrik). For once we didn’t create more holes then we filled in an offseason. The holes on this team are getting less and less which is nice because now we can fill those final open holes through the draft as well as add to our depth through the draft, which is something this team sorely needs. If we can lock up Levitre and Byrd before free agency next year than that will further prove to the fan base that this franchise is serious. By no stretch am I saying we are Super Bowl contenders now, but the foundation is in place for success now as well as into the future. This is a young team that will continue to grow and mature. If we can continue to build through the draft (which Buddy has preached) we could make some noise over the next couple of years. The biggest wildcard for the Bills is if Fitz can be consistenly good. He doesn’t need to be a superstar, but he needs to stop being inconsistent. We have the pieces in place, now let’s see if we continue to build from this. Our chips are all in. Let’s go now. Hats off to Buddy Nix and the gang for a job well done with the Mario signing as well as all other recent moves! For once – Ralph is NOT cheap!

1. Fitzpatrick is an amazing quarterback. He just continues to impress me. The guy is not physically gifted, but his intelligence is up there with the best in the league. He just seems to know where he wants to throw the ball on every play before the ball is snapped. While it helps to be athetically gifted at the QB position, it's even more important to be intelligent. Manning/Brady/Brees are who they are because of their intelligence. I know it's early, but I think we found our franchise QB. Some people may say let's hold off calling him that because of the downward spiral Trent Edwards went through after starting 5-1, but let's face it, Edwards didn't put up these types of stats and Fitzpatrick also showed us something last year as well. Edwards came out nowhere. Fitz didn't (well sort of). 2. Offensive line has been extremely impressive; however, once again I think Gailey/Fitz have a lot to do with how well they have looked. Did anyone else get the sense that the Bills were more willing to have Fitz take longer drops this week versus last week because they knew the Pats struggle at rushing the passer? It's almost as though Gailey knows their limitations and will develop a game plan around them. Regardless though, my hats go off to the offensive line. I don't think anyone would've predicted they would be as good as they are. And let's not forget how young they are too. Clabo who? 3. Gailey is a great coach. There is no way in hell, if Jauron was our coach would we have an offense as prolific as we do. I think Gailey does an excellent job at play calling. While at times, I wish we would run the ball more, this is a pass first league now. Regardless though with Freddy back there, the defense has to stay honest at all times. And not for nothing, are we that surprised the offense is as good as they are? There were definitely glimpses of this last year. Year 2 in a system should be better than year 1 right? Maybe we didn't give the Bills as much credit as we should of. Also, it's obvious the Gailey/Nix combo is working. They are true to themselves and don't let media pressures change them. They know what they need to be successful and have gone out and gotten that. I always thought it was funny when people on this board bashed the Bills for every little move they made this offseason and yet Gailey/Nix are the ones who are around these guys all the time and are the ones who are professionaly qualified to evalute talent unlike 99% of people who post on this board. While I wasn't expecting us to go 3-0 to start the season, I put trust in Gailey/Nix that they knew what they were doing and was looking forward to seeing some of the young guys play. 4. Speaking of Freddy, the guy is awesome. Forget what he does on the field. The guy is a great ambassador for the team and city. He is a leader and a great team guy. Does anyone in the NFL break as many tackles as he does? I'm not sure. Once again, should we be that surprised he is doing this? For as long as he has been on the Bills, he has made plays with the limited amount of touches he has received. 5. I'm not worried about the lack of plays from Brad Smith and CJ Spiller yesterday. Unfortunately, these aren't everydown players so there are going to be games where they disappear and that's ok. Teams need to gameplan for them regardless and when a team doesn't, Gailey will find a way to exploit it. Being down 21-0, doesn't really allow the Bills to get "cute" and I understand why both these players weren't more involved. I guarantee you, there will be games where they make huge plays to help us win. 6. We all knew what Nelson and Stevie could do, but how about Donald Jones. Great to see him step up and have the day that he had. Being at the stadium yesterday, it was clear to me that Fitz recognizes where the single coverage is pre-snap and will throw to the receiver who is single covered. Those deep balls to Jones were because he was left one on one. Great to see Fitz have the confidence for Jones to make those plays and it's great to see Jones make those plays. Steve, Nelson, Jones, Spiller, Jackson, Smith. That's a lot of weapons for a team to gameplan for. 7. Brady's 360+ yds don't bother me against our secondary. Brady is a machine back there and he can get those yds against any defense in the NFL. We all knew that the game would come down to TO's and it did. I could care less if our secondary gives up 300+ yds per game as long as we get 4 INT's. However, if Andy Dalton goes out and throws for 300+ on us next weekend then we should be concerned. Also, when did Byrd become such a good open field tackler? 8. Once again, lack of a pass rush yesterday doesn't concern me too much. This is NE we are talking about. Week in and week out they throw for 300+ yds and Brady has all day to throw. What we experienced yesterday, is nothing different than what they have done to other teams 95% of the time. Let's see if we can dial it up a notch against the Bengals and Eagles the next two weeks as these teams have suspect lines. 9. I feel confident that the Bills will continue to play well and not fall apart like a few years ago. I think this team has a lot of guys who are very humble and feel like they have something to prove given where they came from. Plus, I think this team has much better leadership than in years past. Fitzpatrick comes off as a good leader which is something Edwards never seemed to have. Plus, I like Gailey's old-school football mentality.

Here we go again with another worthless thread about a worthless player that no one has ever heard of yet the Bills should've signed because he plays a position of need. Next time someone starts a thread like this could you please provide your scounting report on the player and why he is an upgrade to our current roster. At least then you may validate your credibility. Odds are the person who started this thread has never heard of this player or has heard of him, and never really watched him play and only wants to start this because it's very "Bills" like to not pursue it.

A few thoughts from yesterday's game.... 1. Let's get the obvious out the way first.....Trent Edwards is awful. And please don't give me the offensive line excuse for why he is so bad. He has no pocket presence whatsoever. On a few of the sacks I thought the OL did a decent job of picking up the blitz and gave Edwards enough time to make a play. When a team is blitzing, Edwards has to realize he won't have more than 3-5 seconds in the pocket and must deliver a quick strike. Unfortunately, he holds onto to the ball too long which leads to the sack. Conversely, look at Rodgers TD pass to Driver. Chris Kelsey (I think?)comes in free and gets a nice hit on Rodgers, but Rodgers feels the pressue, slides slightly to his left, and delivers a strike to Driver in the endzone. From the snap to the actual pass, about 3 seconds elapsed. At times, I wish I had the camera angle from up top to see if WR's are getting open for him, but that last shot CBS gave us of Edwards scrambling on the Bills' last play of the game showed me enough to know there are plays to be had if we had a decent QB. Randy Cross tried to tell us that the WR's weren't getting open for Edwards, but I saw at least 3 instances where Edwards could've fit a pass in. His instints are just terrible. It's time to try Fitzpatrick at QB because, although his accuracy isn't the greatest, he did show the ability to take chances last year and is more mobile than Edwards. 2. Our OL is almost as awful as Edwards. I don't need to go into much detail on Cornell Green....he is by far the worst player on that line. Jamon Meridith, who I know doesn't start, but has played a decent amount these first two games, is a close second. However, Eric Wood is of more concern, given our expectations of him due to his high draft status. I thought he looked outclassed yesterday. Hopefully, it's because he's still trying to work his way back from his injury from a year ago. I know a lot of people on this board love the guy and think he is or is going to become a stud for years to come, but I thought he struggled pre-injury last year and has struggled this year. Lastly, I actually thought Demetrius Bell did decent out there. There were a few times when he made some mental mistakes and didn't pick up the blitz well, but physically, he held his own out there. I don't remember a play when Bell was one on one that he got beat and I watched him very closely out there because I was curious to see how he would do. I know I may take some heat for this, but I thought Bell played the best out of our OL yesterday. 3. Marshawn looked average. He dances too much and doesn't hit the hole hard. I think he missed some opportunities to make some larger gains due to his "happy feet." Based on the few opportunities he did get, Fred Jackson is clearly the best running back on that team right now. I think Marshawn may have done enough to increase his trade value and if he did, then we should trade him. 4. The biggest issue on D is our lack of a pass rush. We have done decent the first two weeks with our rush defense, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to generate any type of pressure on the QB and with a QB like Rodgers, it is way to easy for him to pick apart our D. Our CB's are solid, but can't cover the WR's forever if you give the QB time. Also, we have zero turnovers these first two games and we all know pressure leads to turnovers. This team will also struggle to guard the opponent TE's this year because we don't have anyone who can do it. Watching Kelsey/Davis/Whitner guard Finley was a joke and last week Poz showed us he couldn't guard anyone as well. It's depressing to see Matthews play for GB, knowing that he was picked after Maybust. 5. This team has so many holes it ridiculous. They need at least 2-3 OL, 2-3 LB's, QB, WR, and DE. Somehow, they need to fill some of these holes through free agency next year because if we expect to rebuild through the draft it will take at least 3 years before we may sniff the playoffs. I don't want anymore of these under the rader type FA's from the past few years (i.e - Green, Hangartner, Davis, etc.). I want legitimate, solid, proven NFL players. I would also be willing to trade draft picks for these types of players as well, because our track record for drafting is far from stellar. Unfortunately, I know it is difficult to attract talent to Buffalo, but somehow, someway we need to do it because if we don't it will be a long rebuilding process. 6. Also, I think without question, since we will likely be drafting in the top 5 next year based on our performance these first two weeks, we need to draft a QB with our first round pick because I can't deal with this ineptitude for much longer. Currently, my preference would be Ryan Mallet. I've watched this guy play and I'm really impressed with him; whereas, Jake Locker hasn't impressed me. Self admittandly, I haven't watched Andrew Luck play at all so I'm not sure how he compares to Mallet. Plus, it's possible he may not enter the draft. The only way to reinvigorate this franchise is to draft a QB. If for some reason all the top QB's are gone, then you go OL, but we need a franchise QB more than anything. I'm sick of the constant changing of the guard which has occured here since Jimbo retired. I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to football so I would interested to know what other people think about my comments...

Am I the only one who thought Marshawn looked average out there? I thought he was too indecisive at times and doesn't hit the hole hard. I thought Fred looked much better for those few opportunities he did get

What I would give to go back to these days.... My favorite part is Marv running onto the field to celebrate with the team before shaking Shula's hand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgmoX_FcT3Q...feature=related

As an avid follower of these posts, I find it funny how fickle Bills fans can be. We actively promote ourselves as some of the best fans in the NFL with an undying passion for our team; however, the minute something goes bad, like these past two weeks, everyone finds it open season to criticize and nit-pick this team to death and deny ourselves of any chance of making the playoffs. Yes - I understand the frustration of not being to the playoffs in what seems like an eternity. Yes - I understand this team has faults, like most other teams in the NFL do. Yes - I do share some of the same concerns most of you have posted about on the stadium wall. However, what we have here is something special, something we haven't had in a long long time - A FIRST place team after 8 games. I could sit here and criticize our IL, coaches, Edwards recent troubles with turnovers as well, but I won't. If someone told me in the beginning of the year the Bills would be 5-3 at this point in the season, I would've taken it in a heartbeat as I'm sure each and every realistic Bills fan would have. What today represents is a key divisional match up that if won by the Bills puts them right in the forefront of the division again and will bring a sense of calmness to One Bills Drive. However, if lost - this does not represent an end to our hopes of making the playoffs as we have a very favorable schedule coming up and by the time we play our divisional games for the second time around, we should hopefully have some of our key guys back from injury. So I encourage each one of us who bleeds red, white, and blue like I do to put away the negativity and stand behind this team. No matter what happens, we will continue to love and support this team because this is our passion - this is who we are as Buffalo Bills fans. So in conclusion - Will the real Buffalo Bills fan please stand up???? and reply to this post with some support for our team which shows we aren't some fair weathered fans who turn our back on our team during a time of adversity. Let's begin to act like we are the BEST fans in the NFL as we proclaim ourselves to be.