JESSEFEFFER

Negated by a defensive penalty.

Not right now anyhow. I want to see how the Ryan Fitzpatrick story ends. I don't think everyone fully appreciates how much fun it would be if Fitzpatrick could lead this team to success. He'd be OUR guy because he got the chance here that no one else was going to give him. Besides, his wife is hotter.

His earning power was hurt by the unusually long time it took to establish his NFL career. The Bills are under no obligation to redo his contract after only one year into a 4 year deal. They were under not obligation to extend Kelsay like they did either. But...... as a captain and team leader and to back up their "we pay for production" mantra, it would make sense to put some nice bonus incentives into the deal. He has become more important to the team now than he was early in 2010. He knows he will never see a big contract but they should reward his outstanding team play and leadership in a meaningful way.

While the coaches and players play them one at a time, we as fans don't have to think that way. At least not me. The Bills have a real chance in this game because: 1) The Patriots defense was nothing special last year. Somewhat protected by the strength of their offense and living off takeaways, they can be had as the Dolphins showed once again. 2) Crowd noise. The Ralph has never really rocked like Rich did. It's all because the defense has largely not been able to exploit it. The volume typically elevates on 3rd and long in an effort to create an extra advantage for the defense. When there is no pressure generated and the 3rd gets converted the crowd quickly learns that they can't affect the outcome. 3) The defensive front 7 has been revamped and it is now in a position to exploit the noise advantage. 4) Pressure up the middle is the most important. Make T.B. hold the ball and give him no space to step up. He can look very average when consistently pressured (see XLII.) Williams, Johnson, Dareus, whomever. Let him see the pressure and make him alter his throws because of it. 5) Dan Koppen, their starting center, broke his ankle against the Dolphins. The pressure up the middle approach becomes more viable. In their second meeting last year, there was nothing more frustrating than watching Brady stand in the pocket without any concern for the pressure. It was a constant 7 on 7 drill. Not that they threw it that much given the short fields and poor run defense. In their first meeting, they really had trouble with Kyle Williams but they made a project out of holding him w/o drawing a flag. Being 3 and 0 and having just beaten the Patriots would energize the Bills' fan base like nothing else has in the new millenium. The rest of the NFL world couldn't help but notice.

I prefer Jeff Sagarin's rankings. Last year's had the Bills at something like #24, having played the #1 toughest schedule, and ahead of every NFC West team. Intuitively, seems to get things right. Now, early in the season it somewhat distorted by the preseason rank and the results of a few early games, but it will be unbiased by human intervention fairly quickly. Jeff Sagarin

Most media types try to fill the role of the objective skeptic. It's how they view their job and it's a safe place to be. I think the Bills' and their locker room have been tough to cover over the last decade and many of the media have resented the way they have been treated. The problem is that giving too much credence to the historical precedents of the last decade encourages one to fail to give any effort to assess what new management has done. Analyze how Buddy is remaking the roster and how Chan and his staff are developing it. As someone that remembers the late 80's very well, it would be fun to see something like that happen again. As far as looking for evidence, or lack thereof, of professional competence, were people not paying attention when Chan said that he had to "do a better job of getting Lee involved in the offense" and called his route running substandard? Lee has not been a physical WR ever. I remember Chan stating a preference for big, physical WRs because I thought at the time it made Roosevelt's chances of sticking with the team less likely. But Chan seems to appreciate the way he uses what he has. Can you think of a definitive Lee Evans TD where he out fought a defender for the ball or broke multiple tackles? A time where he laid out a defender to spring a long run? Why did he not show up in Arizona to build a better rapport with Fitz? Anyone else find that strange? Lee did not fit the physical WR job description and, i suspect, he knew it. I was not surprised he got traded but only at the timing even though the lockout probably had a lot to do with this. None of this suggests a management team that is incompetent to me. I have been comparing the Bills 2010 season to the 1986 season. Thus, I have been optimistically calling for 2011 to be like 1987. Most reaction has been of the "Fitzpatrick is no Jim Kelly" order and, while true, the mental exercise need not stop there. But, while Fitz may fall short of Jim's arm and bravado, he has him beat in emotional maturity, ability to handle physical pressure, and gameplan execution. It seems to me he owns the locker room and that he knows how to act to keep it.

If you come down the 219 (maybe you take 90 to the Milestrip exit?) and take the Orchard Park exit, that it 20A. That is probably a better way to get there than your old Abbot Road route. What he said.

What does a multimillionaire nonagenarian need with a few more million dollars that he can't spend? The Ralph is cheap angle doesn't work here. Maybe there are other portions of his estate that are underperforming and Littman and Overdorf are looking out for that interest as well? For that matter have we even heard from Ralph lately? Did he get to training camp this year and I missed it? Did he give an interview about the new CBA? Release a statement? He certainly didn't go to the league meetings for the vote. I don't think I've heard a word from him since the draft day Dareus visit. Just wondering. I don't sense he is being active with this team at all. As for the other stuff--here are some plausible explanations. Buddy Nix was not interested in managing the nuts and bolts of running the team. He has Brandon to market the team and Overdorf/Littman to do the contracts and financials and he can rework the roster and scouting department. Buddy and Chan may have agreed to the concept of the trade but I doubt that Buddy wanted to work the phones to find a trading partner. I could also see the Bills being unwilling to trade Lee to certain teams based on their ownership as I suspect Ralph has compiled many hard feelings amongst his fellow owners over the last 50 years. Ralph seems like a scorekeeper to me and, if he was slighted/disrespected by a fellow owner, I could see his attitude being "stick your 3rd round pick, I am not helping out your team." That's the best expalanation I can come up with as to how he could fire the best G.M. he had in 50 years of ownership. Chan said that he had to do a better job of getting Lee more integrated into the passing game. Translation: there were holes in Lee's game that made him a lesser player in Chan's eyes. Can anyone come up with the definitive Lee Evans TD reception where he broke multiple tackles on his way to the endzone? An end-around play that lead to a long TD run? Lee is a speed receiver with above average hands and probably declining speed. He is not now, nor has he ever been, a physical threat to a defender and he is not comfortable working the middle of the field. He was traded for a 4th rounder, some payroll savings, and a roster spot. I don't think what he offered will be missed, as he really hadn't provided much of it the last two years, even though he was mostly healthy. As fans, we were hoping for his resurgence with Fitz but it was never likely to happen. Maybe that's why Lee avoided the Arizona camp.

I did too. He was not a 1 year wonder. I also liked his basketball background as I think it teaches a player to gain advantage in tight spaces through their body position relative to the ball and opposition. Think Gates, Gonzalez, Metzelaars, McKellar, etc. I think Naaman Roosevelt is a classic example of how to make this advantage work. As Gailey said "God didn't give him great speed or great size but he maximizes what he does have." I think what he has is a great ability to play the ball in flight, sheild the defender, and catch the ball. Think the Hail Mary catch against Temple for the best example of this. Strangely, Hardy was not very good at this at all.

I remember Bill Polian having to decide between extending Edgerrin James or Reggie Wayne. When he picked Wayne he said it was because it took three years to get a WR fully integrated into the NFL/offense thus making him tougher to replace. Since he was tougher to replace it made him the more valuable to keep. He could draft Addai and get good value as James' replacement. This might explain why WR trade value is so low as well.

Rework the list a little, maybe add Roosevelt, Davis and/or maybe Caulcrick and get rid of Woods and Levitre to get the number to 12 names. Then you have "The Dirty Dozen." If you know the premise of the movie, 12 condemned men offered a last chance to redeem themselves on a suicide mission, then it kind of fits their career status. This is the last and/or best chance for most of these guys to be relevant to the NFL.

A 4 and 12 season characterized by a new starting QB, a new head coach, with many losses in high scoring games where the offense failed in the clutch and had problems with TO's. Three of the games they did win were of the low scoring , Jauronesque type that we have come to know all too well. They averaged scoring just under 18 points/game and were dead last in the league in turnover differential. This was followed by a defensive heavy draft heading into an NFL season which was to be tainted by an interruption in league operations due to management/labor strife. Everything here describes both the 2010 and 1986 seasons. Many are inclined to deny the analogy and can't get beyond "Fitzpatrick is no Jim Kelly." It's as if it might casue them brain injury to consider the point. As I recall, he was baited by that punk Chris Collinsworth. I think Bruce got hit with a bogus face mask penalty on Esiason that was actually a grab of his collar which ended up extending a drive that resulted in points. Don't know where to go to confirm the latter.

Other predictions: 1) He will be the most popular training camp 7th round rookie ever. 2) The Bills will find special situations for him to justify a roster spot much like they did for Jason Peters. He is too big to hide on the practice squad. Anything he does well in a preseason game will stand out on film. 3) His small school, small town roots will endear him to Bills' fandom. 4) His underdog, out-of-nowhere story will play like Roy Hobb's and he may be an NFL version of a Greek myth. As Bill's fans we can only let the story write itself and hope he truly is a nose tackle "Natural."

I remember a video posted on the UBFan website from UB's Pro Day which was held at the fieldhouse. Jeff Quinn was talking to Chan about Davonte. "Four time 1st team, All Mac, only the 4th ever to do it, etc." Roosevelt was standing there and Chan said with a smile something to the effect of "if you have any more like him, I'd want them on my team." So, it could happen.

I liked him more at corner. He's not very tall and not really a middle of the field defender, IMO. I wonder how the Bills see it.

If they must spend cash to the cap, whether it's 99% or 90% or whatever, means that the money will get spent on someone. Who these players are is a matter of philosophy. I'd choose the Packers' and Steelers' over the Redskins'. The Ralph is cheap posts are clearly misguided. Time to learn a different tune.

I do not know about ESPN but I did hear him on the NFL Network. Maybe he was on both, I do not know. As for the NFL Network piece, the interviewer asked him three times in three different ways about what the sticking points were from the players perspective. He answered the question each time the same way. They hadn't seen the proposal yet. Had just been presented to the union like an hour prior to the interview. Said he did not know wwhy the media outlets were saying the players would be voting that day. It didn't come from them (maybe implying it came from the ownership side to put ther pressure of fan expectations on the players.) They had never worked with a timetable and did not have one now. He came off OK, in my book as I thought the interviewer was sub par.

He will be very popular at training camp. If he treats the fans there anything at like he did you, he will be even more popular. Part of it is his freakish size, part of it is his underdog story, part of it is his attitude. Mostly though, it's the thought that he could be a Roy Hobbs story. A guy from off the map, nowhere that may be a freakish athlete, naturally gifted to dominate.

A wait and see mindset is the right one or as I say "keep and open mind." The following numbers are Eli Mannings's first four years in the NFL. Year, starts and rating. He was neck and neck with JP Losman for much of this time. Being a #1, #1 pick probably bought him some extra time to get it. The light does come on for many QBs between their 30th and 50th starts. Let's hope that 2010 was the start of Fitzpatrick's emergence. It has happened where an NFL team got lucky and had a great QB come out of nowhere. The Bills are overdue for some luck. 2004.......... 7 ..... 55.4 2005.......... 16 ..... 75.9 2006.......... 16 ..... 77.0 2007.......... 16 ..... 73.9* * The Giants Super Bowl year.

Let's say for the sake of argument that a "pressure situation involves" an unblocked defender in the backfield that casues the QB to either move, hold the ball, run the ball, throw the ball early or take a sack. In this analysis by Khaled Elsayed I see the following: No attempt to quantify a successful QB run as a "good" response to pressure. No scale of how quick the pressure came. Was it early or late? Did it kill the play or did the QB have time to survey the field, let the patterns develop and identify the coverage breakdowns before the pressure came? Was the pressure from one defender or two? Or more? It is tough to escape from multiple, would be pass rushers. How much time and space did the QB have to recognize the protection breakdown. The center whiffs on a block and the QB has time to react to it. A running back misses a blitz pickup occurs within two steps away from him. All "pressure" is not created equal. Getting rid of the ball and not taking a sack is often a good play. Avoiding it and running for a first down is even better. This ranking is not comprehensive.

Would any here deny the following?: "All pressure is not created equal. Quick pressure @ 2.5 seconds (a whiffed block) is not the same as pressure that occurs @ 5 seconds. The first is a play killer where an incompletion or a scramble and run would be a good play. The second is an opportunity in that the play has developed, the QB has had time to survey the field, and the coverage has had a chance to breakdown." If you agree with that then would you also conclude that any attempt at assessing pressure that ignores when it occurred is flawed? Fitzpatrick was hit 80+ times. That's among the highest in the league. That's 80 attempts with a defender hitting him as he was throwing or with a defender one step away. That's over six times a game. A guy like Eli Manning was hit a little over 3 times a game. What would this tend to do to a QB's passer rating?

Taking a DB this high in the draft is much like opening that really pretty package at Christmas and having it filled with socks and underwear. You know that the other packages will be more fun and these items are truly needed so it would be really unwise to complain about it. On the other hand, when you are running late for work, it is really a nice feeling to pull your dresser drawer open and have some nice, never worn, perfectly clean undergarments to put on. In football reality, secondary guys get hurt all the time, especially when you're becoming road kill drying to defend the run. Many times teams have 5 or 6 DB's in the game and a good offense will find your weak link and exploit it. That's why taking a DB high in the draft is a good idea most every year.

It's semantics really. Judging the spectrum of worst to best based on one year is premature. Judging it based on "first year impact" of the class is more in line with what is being done here. In that case, I can't disagree that the Bill's 2010 draft was low impact in a situation where the opportunity was there to have a high impact.

Fitzpatrick's 2010 numbers are better than Jay Cutler's 2010 season and VERY similar to Eli Manning's average for the last 4 seasons. Are these two "franchise" caliber, in your opinion? They were drafted in the 1st round, they have big contracts, and Eli managed to lead his team to a Super Bowl win. Just wondering because some would say yes and others would not. If you look at Manning's game by game numbers you'll see them bounce around also. Part of that is the reality of playing outdoors in the northeast during November and December. With regard to Fitz, the late season decline you cite is heavily the result of the Minnesota and New England games. The other seven were not that bad. As a matter of fact, the Bills were the Lindell missed OT field goal and the SJ OT drop from winning six of the seven. Were the 2010 Bills capable of having a 6 and 3 stretch with substandard QB play? I say no.

My distaste for a QB at 3 is that the pick and the money associated with makes it necessary to play him before he is ready. It also means that a team woulfd have to invest 30+ starts to see if he's gonna "get it." Vince Young is talented, has won some in the NFL, will be much cheaper and may have learned something from his failure. He will be in a situation where he would have to be clearly better than Fitz to move him to the bench. If his head is in the right place, then I like this better than any QB this year at #3.