thurst44

I know what you mean, but to counteract that negative, remind yourself what school did last year's first pick overall come from...and what conference that school is in.

Or we could look at it positively, as the Bills are building a team that is very young and very D heavy, and this can throw some cold water on the idea that D is irrelevant in this league. (and yes, Wilson had a great game, but essentially he built upon the defense who set the game's tone) I love Wilson too, but all 32 teams passed on him.

It's not the matter of QBs being spared competition, but wasting a good pick on a stretch at a position where there has already been a run when you could get a better player at a position which will immediately move this team up a level. If 4-5 QBs are taken for the Bills, it would be insane to grab a QB just for the sake of getting one, when you could get Mack, Matthews, Robinson, Watkins, Ebron. That said, I like EJ, but would love them to look into someone like Boyd, Mettenberger, or a directional Illinois QB in the 3rd (and get a combo of TE, WR, OT, OG with 3 previous picks).

This is kind of fitting as when I saw the headline, it took me a few beats to remember what Jackson was on our team this year and is on Seattle now. Was he even traveling with the team last year?

Well, as long as nobody's panicking!

Lynch is not > Spiller AND Jackson ... the two combined for 1800 yards to Lynch's 1200...and the second highest total for a 'Hawks RB was Robert Turbin's 200-something. The Bills running attack is the sum of its parts.

Even if Donnie Henderson is elevated to DC?

Counterpoint to that: KC put 5 players in the Pro Bowl last year while 2-14, and this year made the playoffs. A disproportionate number of players for a losing team can often be a harbinger of good things to come.

Many people here have said RG is a need. Urbik deserves a bit more love...he's a young guy who's been more-than-solid on the line, and every grading I've seen of him has been positive. Glenn, Wood, and Urbik are solid IMO...but, yes, LG & RT could definitely use replacing. As unexciting as it may be, would love if Matthews or Robinson fell to Bills in 1st and Richardson in 2nd.

Not that close, really. But that's really more a testament to the phenomenal trainwreck that is the Browns.

The Onion's parody atlas used that as the theme for one of the African countries, with one caption reading: "the Buffalo Bills were a dynasty in this region"

This! I'm amazed at people who are utterly convinced that EJ will never be a good QB based on this year, and rail about the horrible season he had. He was certainly mediocre and had flaws and some awful games, but that's how a rookie QB's season generally goes. For perspective, fans need to look at the inaugural seasons of Brees, Peyton Manning, Aikman...really any superstar QB. Manuel's season would actually lie somewhere around the 60th percentile (if you could truly graph it thus). Yes, 14 years of blah, playoffless football is hard to stomach and makes patience hard, but this is the calculated rebuild many around here have asked for...it ain't pretty, but there are many signs of hope, and loads of young talent. As for Marrone, I haven't seen anything so damning (the Crossman hiring is indeed a bit suspect) as to not give him the benefit of seeing what he'll do in his second year with an open mind. Now, if he jettisons a ton of good players (i.e. Dareus) for not being his "type," he may lose a little of my good will (I'm sure he'll lose sleep). To the OP's question: I'm never happy to see a player go, just hope they get better on my favorite team. It's a far happier occasion when whipping boys like Aaron Williams and Leodis McKelvin find their groove and prove haters wrong. That being said, I'd be quite ok with TJ finding another home and Marquise getting his reps (although, should he stay and prove me wrong, all the better).

Compare his first 8 games to other star QBs' first 8 games...he's doing alright for a rookie QB (really, we're complaining about 9 TDs and 4 INTs in first eight games). And had Stevie held on to the ball, what would we be saying about poised 4th qtr comeback EJ. Also, fans complain that the Bills need to rebuild with a potential franchise QB (whatever we think that means)...we lose games in his first year (which is what generally happens in rebuilding) and we panic. Lastly, the difference is not exactly slight -- 8 TDs, 19 INTs vs. 9 TDs, 4 INTs

I get where you are coming from, but they are different animals completely. For the record, I've been saying we'll probably lose to the Saints (but we can and should dream), but have a solid chance to beat the Chiefs. The Saints game was in New Orleans, the Saints have been a top team off-and-on for years, and their only loss was by 3 in New England. The Chiefs game is in Buffalo, KC has benefited from an incredibly easy schedule, it is a classic trap game (as the Broncos are up next on the Chiefs schedule), and the Bills have a recent history of having KC's number. I'm not saying it's a sure win or even 50/50, but it's a very winnable game...and if the Bills can pull this off, then they should not face a game in which they are underdogs until the final game at New England.

So you're saying the Bills would be "tremendously lucky" to beat three teams who currently have fewer wins combined than the Bills (and one of those wins came when one of those teams played one of the other two)?

20 & 35 respectively is a bit old to be in diapers...if that's their level of maturity, we should be able to beat them handily.

Before you go too too far with this reasoning, consider that this was what was constantly being said about a then-33yo DT named Williams before he went to the Vikings and attended three consecutive Pro Bowls. Not saying that everyone's comparable, but just to be wary of assuming every player has the same expiration date. I'm still a bit peeved about the Bills letting him go.

Most experts I saw beat us to beat the Jets (then again, a lot of that was the mirror negative Jets experts in NYC)

I trust my eyes as well and have seen them stop the return man before the 20 more often than not too...special teams have been erratic, but not as bad as some people here would have it, and there's hope the bad moments can be corralled.

I can see a good argument for this. I doubt it's Spiller's lack of toughness...it's more that he got the exact worst type of injury for his direction-changing running style. I kind of like the way they're using him now...throwing him in for limited plays on the chance he still breaks one for a 50-yarder, but keeping him fresh so when he is fully healed, he won't be rusty in the system.

How about if I told you we lost EJ and were playing our practice squad QB, that we lost our top 3 cbs and top safety for much of the first 7 games, that CJ was hobbled and getting held to under 10 yards in multiple games? And then, what if I asked you to look at our relatively tough schedule? What would you think our record would be? 1-6? 0-7? How many games would you have guessed we were within a TD of winning in the 4th quarter? 2? 3-4 is not great and this team has had some dreadful moments, but they have also given reason to give hope, and done many things right...they clearly don't give up, and have managed to be in every game so far this year.

Also, one of the INTs was a decent pass (if too hard for the distance) to Stevie (and talk about a crazy game -- perhaps his worst all-around as a pro...and his hustle completely saved the game at the end)

Plus we almost beat a much better Ravens D with a non-worldbeater QB a couple years ago, well into an 0-8 start...