All_Pro_Bills

I usually attend one game a season and I was at both these games. And another last second loss to the Colts. Worst thing about the Denver game, other than Kevin Everett getting hurt. About a minute after Elam makes the FG a heavy rainstorm starts. Not only did we get soaked on the way out but if it happens a few minutes sooner that kick becomes a lot tougher to make. I looked up to the sky and said 'Not funny dude, give us a break will ya'!

For his own sake I hope the guy is smart enough, or has people around him that are, to handle the business, social, and financial situation that awaits him in the professional ranks. Whatever the reason, people with a low intellectual capacity with a lot of money have a tendency to end up dumb, broke, and in trouble.

The core message of your post also crossed my mind as I watched and reviewed the Bills draft. For too many years the front office people were swinging for the fences looking to unearth the 'diamond in the rough' or the overlooked player from a little known program that would turn into a star. 'Reaching' rather than doing a good job of evauating need, talent, and risk assessment in setting up their draft board and making their picks. Many times the 21st century Pre-Buddy era Bills front office would seek to demonstrate how much smarter they were than the consensus on certain players. Consistently they just looked plain stupid when it came to on the field production. And the team and the fans suffered as a result. This management team appears intent on building a team. I think we'll look back at this time in a few years and celebrate it as the time the Bills turned the corner back to relevance.

Somebody told me the Mayans did not account for leap year in their calendar calculations. I don't know if that's true or not but if so the world should have come to an end about 3 years ago. But something strange is happening for certain. I figure the Bills to be the second best team 'on paper' in the ACFE at the moment. My wife is always blasting me for being so negative but I seriously think they challenge for a wild card spot if things go well this season.

+1 It's all about opinion and prediction right now until these guys take the field as pro's. NE picks a safety with the 48th overall pick that nobody had on their charts and the pundits say they must 'know something'. If the Bills did that they'd be 'reaching'. My view is that with the pick-ups in free agency and the draft the Bills have closed the talent gap on NE but there's still a gap. The place I see NE having a significant advantage is at the QB and TE positions but that's about it. The talent gap is small enough now that the possibility the Bills 'could' beat NE each and every time they play is not some far-fetched Bills fan dream but rather a reality.

I believe the Bills overall plan for free agency/draft is to build a roster designed to beat NE. Something Buddy might characterize by saying 'you got to kick the big dog off the front porch if you want to walk through the front door'. I think the Brooks picks falls right into it. A fast, aggressive DB with cover skills and ball instincts that plays bigger than his size lining up against Wekler as the slot DB aided by an extreme upgrade in the pash rush. Work to take away the #1 option, pressure the QB, force the opposition into mistakes and dictate the flow of the game. The future nickel secondary might be Williams, Bryd, Searcy, Gilmore, Brooks. Like Buddy's choices so far.

RWS has a certain 'feel' to it that would be hard to replicate or approach with another faciltiy downtown. But it was built during a time when flight from the city to the suburbs was at its peak and really in Orchard Park its more or less in the middle of nowhere. A downtown stadium might be a good idea if it was a multiple use facilty, concerts, trade shows, maybe UB games, or a new college bowl game. But as a standalone facility for just 8 games a year (assuming the Toronto game moves back) it isn't going to cut it from a benefit standpoint. If it leads to further development downtown, businesses popping up around it, new hotels, permenant jobs in varous parts of the economy it might be a good step forward to revitalize the city center. But to be that it would have to be step one in a multiple step plan to invigorate the city. After years of doing more or less nothing just openly discussing the merits of the idea might be a step in the right direction for the city. The big unknown is obviously the cost and then lining up funding.

Looking at various mock drafts along with watching some of the 'Path to the Draft' features on the NFL network I've come to believe that if DeCastro is there at #10 then Nix is going to take him. IMO, he fits the BPA criteria better than any player that is expected to be there at #10. He looks to be a sure thing/low risk threat to be a Pro-Bowl player at his position for most of his career. IMO, this makes more sense than reaching for need by choosing an OT, although I do like the idea of adding WR Floyd if that's the selection.

The question in my mind, and what I can't wait to see, is how much better is he going to make everyone else? Who does the O-Line double-team? You can only pick one guy without resorting to using TE's and RB's to chip block and provide pass protection. How will not having to cover guys all over the field while the QB sits in the pocket unfazed and focused impact the performance of the secondary? How will the linebackers perform running down plays, filling holes, shooting gaps, and making tackles without the center and guards being able to get out on them? My expectation is the Bills are going to put a pretty good pressure defense on the field and its going to cause a lot of problems for the offenses they face this coming season.

I agree that looking solely at the dollars involved here the conclusion the Bills overpaid is valid (also +1 on your other points). However, IMO you've got to look at this in a strategic perspective. IMO, using the Giants as a blueprint, the Bills made a conscious decision that in order to beat NE (and a lot of other pass-centric teams) they've got to pressure the quarterback. Adding Anderson gives the Bills a significant sack threat from all 4 DL positions not to mention how lethal a well designed blitz package might perform. As a lifelong Bills fan I do not like the Giants but I admire what they've done. Beat NE twice in the championship game using basically the same plan. Belichek is labeled a genius but he couldn't come up with a winning game plan against a foe that came after him with the same approach twice? The message is you can't out-scheme superior talent and performance. So now we have what looks on paper to be a tremendous DL. What this should do is make guys like Brady uncomfortable and distressed in the pocket, sacks, pressures, knockdowns, batted balls, obstructed sight lines, out of sync timing, fear, etc. When these things happen consistently he'll look no better than an average quarterback and their advantage at the position will be neutralized. Maybe get one more guy on the inside, like Okoye, for the rotation and we'll be looking awesome. And a plus is this all makes the draft a more intriguing and exciting time for us.

Lets take a look at okoye as a possiblity for the DT rotation. http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/10454/amobi-okoye

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/9745/mark-anderson

+1 I've seen some reports that rate Mike Adams - Ohio St., ahead of Martin. LT would seem to be the weakest link now although getting another impact defensive player would be an inticing move. The low sack total allowed by the Bills O-line last season was a result of the offensive system rather than an indication of solid line play. In order to take the offense to the next level, one where it can dictate the play to the opposing defense, we've got to get the size and skill upfront. The interior 3 look to be pretty solid but setting the edge with a good LT will lead to a lot more points on the board.

Whether the Bills are getting 'played' or if Mario is really doing his due diligence on the team and the area only the people close to the situation know for sure. But this mornings got to be it. Either he signs after the 10 AM meeting or he leaves and its over.

Integrity is a leadership trait that many times is overlooked. Buddy and the Bills organization have demonstrated that well to the players and Bills fans in their negotiations with WR SJ. Perhaps we can look back at this day in the near future as the point where this team and organization turned the corner back to relevancy? March 5, 2012 - a good day for Bills fans everywhere.

Buying a share in the Packers is more of a donation than an investment. From an investor perspective being an 'owner' of an entity via shares of stock that provide no rights to resale or profit is useless. Although it might be extremely profitable for ownership, the NFL prohibits teams from converting to publicly traded companies. I suspect the primary reasons are control and transparency. Controlling and organizing a small group of owners with more or less common goals less complicated than dealing with 100's and 1000's of shareholders. Plus publicly traded companies are required to file financial disclosure and results documents with the SEC which would shed light on the true revenue and profit picture the NFL. These owners want to keep the municipal and state governments (and fans and taxpayers) they are fleecing in the dark with regards to team finances while they extract huge payoffs from the taxpayers to fund their business operations....

What I understand is a cap hit occurs if a player is released then any bonus amortized in the cap for future years becomes due in the current year. So if player has a 4 year deal and is released prior to year 3 then the bonus money spread to year 3 and 4 comes due in the current season (year 3). I think the way the Bills cash to cap approach works is they 'take' the hit for the entire signing bonus in year 1 of the contract. So let's say the re-sign S. Johnson for 5 years at 40 million with 10 million of that a signing bonus with yearly salaries of 2, 4, 6, 8 10. So under the NFL cap rules the hit per season would be 2 million per year for the bonus plus salary for each season: 4, 6, 8, 10 ,12. The Bills cash to cap would be the entire bonus in year 1 plus the salary for each season: 12, 4, 6, 8, 10. Because of this cash to cap accounting my guess is the sticking point in the Johnson negotiations is the upfront signing bonus figure. I'll wager that others here are more fluent in the cap and I stand ready to be corrected if required, but this cash to cap approach seems to put you at a severe disadvantage vs. following the cap management approach as defined by the rules of the NFL collective bargaining agreement. The Bills aren't doing anything illegal or a breach of contract but it seems counterproductive from a competitive standpoint.

The Giants allowed more points 394 vs 400 than they scored during the season. I believe the only Super Bowl winner (or contestant) to ever do that. If the Bills had an abundance of talent at the WR position resigning Johnson would not be so important. But given the lack of playmakers at the position, losing the only WR on the roster with decent numbers would be foolish. They might need to overpay but that's what you get for waiting too long to get serious about contract negotiations and then having to deal from a position of weakness with each day that brings them closer to the start of free agency. You don't get better by letting good players go and creating more 'needs' to fill. You get better by filling needs before they appear by grooming back ups with starter potential and not letting players walk until you have a backup plan in place. Close the gap in the contract numbers and get it done.

It's definitely a business and you've got to take care of yourself because you know ownership will do the same in each and every case. And coming off their rookie contracts is usually the only big chance for most players to hit that big payday so I don't fault Johnson one bit. Most players are out of the league or playing for close to the veteran minimum after 9 or 10 seasons (if they last that long). The Bills could have choosen to negotiate and discuss a contract well before this point but did not, something they seem to do all too often with players that have good open market value. I'm not real clear on where an 'outstanding nightlife' falls in the priorty of things though but I agree playing for a team with championship potential has to be a priority when you consider and weigh offers.

I think you sort of summed up the problem. And you can transfer this 'root cause' to almost any other business or industry. It's why some companies prosper and others fail in the same space. More times than not, its management, or lack of it, that is the key to successfully running an enterprise. While I have no firsthand insight into the workings of the Bills management, ownership, or front office my view of that operation is that its comparable to a mom and pop corner store with its 'folksy' approach competing against the Walmart's of the world. Bringing in Whaley was a good start with hopefully a fresh view and working style but for the most part you've got the same core group of aging managers doing the same jobs the same way for about 40 years or more in some cases. Time to upgrade to Management 2.0 the 2012 version here.

I agree about the long term foundation but maintain it rather than build it. That's what the great teams do, utilize the draft to maintain their dominance. We're going to find out real soon if ownership and the front office is interested in pushing for a playoff spot here. Because you know the rest of the division is not going to sit on their hands and approach the free agent period from the sidelines. They'll be looking to put whatever cap space they have available to work. The Bills might marginally improve through the draft for 2012 but IMO without picking up a couple key contributors to augment those picks a 3rd or 4th place finish is the division is pretty much a given.

Detriot's Cliff Avril might be another guy worth looking at if he hits the free agent market...

I suspect the Bills have no interest in Manning and Manning has no interest in the Bills. We went this route with Bledsoe a decade ago and that worked out well. For about 8 games. Let's not entertain repeating history.

I believe the Bills are headed in the right direction but I'm not clear on how long the journey is or when they'll 'arrive'. Competitvely, they've been at a disadvantage to the teams in their division for what seems like forever. I like to be optimistic but I want to be realistic too. The thing is that everybody goes into the offseason looking to improve. The Jets, Patriots, and Dolphins are working on offseason plans to improve their teams too. So for the Bills to move forward they need to incrementally improve at a faster rate just to catch up. Your first objective has got to be to beat the teams in your division. The Bills were 1-5 last year. Improvement to a 4-2 mark would probably lead to contending for a playoff spot. That means hitting on picks 1,2,3 in the draft, pursuing and signing a free agent or two, and not losing any key contributors on the roster and creating more 'needs' to be addressed.

I don't get the hate for Humphries other than playing for a pretty poor NBA team. Playing for the Nets should be punishment enough. My wife also checks into these 'reality' shows. Frankly I see no entertainment or social value in them whatsoever, which causes some heated discussion if I happen to express my opinion openly at home. Seems the longer you are married the quieter you learn to be. As for the Kardashians in particular, they don't appear to have any specific talent or skill other than self-promoting themselves. Which they do very well.