thurst44

Austin could be brilliant in this offense (and negate our need for an elite QB), and don't get what you don't see in Jordan...agree that Ansah and Patterson are incredibly risky. In spirit of OCinBuffalo's OP, drafts which would make me giddy: Austin at #8, trade back into first round for EJ Manuel (would rather a qb falls Jets trade up to #7, lose picks, draft Nassib (i live in nyc, and the excrementstorm would be obscenely delightful), Jordan/Fisher/Geno/Milliner drops to Bills (or we take Austin) Trade down with Rams/49ers/Vikings get some combo of Eifert or Ertz/Manuel or Barkley/T'eo or Jones/Hunter or Austin or Hopkins or Allen/Vaccaro/Warmack or Cooper with first 3 picks (a lot of these guys would have to be in freefall, but that's kinda the point). Trading down with one of these teams AND trading Byrd for picks would "ruin my weekend" in both interpretations (really would hate to see Byrd go for so many reasons, would be excited about the flurry of picks, and simply rapt like an infant in the thrall of jingling keys). Oh dear lord how I would love/hate this!

Can anyone explain to me what people see in Ryan Nassib? I had no opinion before watching scads of footage where I see a guy with awful motion, mediocre arm, and shaky accuracy...basically Fitz, but at the college level. Not saying I'm a scout...just that I don't remotely get what experts are seeing, and any enlightenment would be great. Barkley, I get...not inspired, but can see where he could be a good add, if not a #8 pick, but Nassib has me shaking my head.

It's funny...top-to-bottom, it feels like every player on the defense (save maybe Carrington and Byrd, and Gilmore was solid as a rook) declined from 2011 to 2012. Whether it's Aaron Williams and Dareus falling way back, Kyle Williams having his worst season (if still pro bowl), or George Wilson and Nick Barnett falling off a cliff, it seems to much of a thread to dismiss. And paired with the strategic signings and Pettine's abundance of top-ten defenses with a team whose talent was not significantly better, this non-coincidence gives me hope the Bills will surprise some people with a borderline-dominant defense.

Or a crafty move by a team that has no elite qb (and, depending on how you feel about this year's class and/or where they will fall, no manner of obtaining one this year), but would then have two players who could take it to the end zone on any short pass (to go along with one of the better route runners in the game and a talented backup rb). And a team who hopes the talent on D plays closer to its potential than they did last year.

While I get the frustration with Fitz, don't get the absolute disrespect for Wilson (he's a Senator fercrissake)! Granted he had an off-year, but it was in a defensive scheme near-everyone here readily admits was at the very least quite flawed, if not a total trainwreck. He is a leader who was considered by many to be playing at Pro Bowl levels before he was hurt in 2011 (saw him on at least two different legit midseason all-pro lists that year). At least ask him to restructure, which he probably would.

This! I don't think he's quite as unquestionably awful as most here seem to, but definitely hope that if this happens, part of his decision was in the knowledge that he would have to win the job (in the most pro-Fitz scenario).

What will happen, will happen. Living in NYC, I've decided to root for good play from our players (except Fitz who i am neutral about since he won't be here), and if we lose, we could get the #4 pick, and if we win, the Jets look even more dysfunctional, and I schadenfraudelly enjoy reading the hysterical Post and News headlines mocking Rex, the Jets, Sanchez, Tebow, and all of NYC football...and we still get a top ten pick! But that's just my personal situation.

No, we'd just be hating Smith, Dalton, or Flacco.

Did you play NFL Football for the Ravens, Colts, Steelers, or Browns? I don't get how this is so hard to grasp...Buffalo is not without its charm, particularly for an ex-football player, even more so for a longtime ex-Bill. Hell, I'm from NYC and a New Yorker through and through (family is from Lockport, I went to UB), but I always feel comfortable when I come to Buffalo and am probably popping through for a week in December.

Really?! Is my memory eluding me? I could have sworn Sapp was borderline giddy about us during our early run last year...and considering our favorite team beefed up the defensive line, I'd suspect he'll be pretty positive towards the Bills.

That doesn't mean we don't think they could be the next ringless team to win a Super Bowl, given their definite upward trajectory. But Debbie Downer-ing can be fun.

And you want people to paint your house with that attitude?

Hillis' one "monster" year was roughly 75 yds/game, and considering who it was for, do we really know when and how these yards came. SJ has had some key catches and key drops. To act like he's never come through in a big game is preposterous (off the top of my head, the same Bengals game that started all the celebration nonsense was on a clutch catch). I can understand not calling him an elite, but not even "good"?

By what metric has he never been a top 20 qb? Most assessments I saw of him last year had him consistently around 15th or 16th.

I guess sometimes it's how you meet the people. I literally crashed into him one day in the early 90s as a college kid at Network for some reason (not sure if it was in rock show or nightclub mods) and he had the most smug, outta-my-way-lower-form-of-life scowl on his face. A few years later, I worked at a local indie record store that had a deal with Alex Van Pelt's 97 Rock(?) show which consisted of Van Pelt, Fina, and Ted Washington having gift certificates there. Fina would come in and we'd talk about music for hours, trading recommendations. He was open to suggestion, erudite, and his tastes ran beyond pop radio. Overall, he was genuinely friendly. Too bad to hear about his drunken diss, but my experience with him was the impression he absolutely loved the city.

His wildcat got a first down almost every time on third and short (at least the first half of the season). Just because it wasn't flashy, doesn't mean that it wasn't effective.

Maybe it's where you look! Someone's filling up the six different Bills bars in the metro area that I know of (three in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn, one in Hoboken, one in Paterson). There was a display of Buffalo Bills gear (hundreds of shirts) at the Old Navy a block from where I work on 19th Street -- they were sold out within the day. I see Bills gear around the city all the time -- three times in the past two weeks...saw no Jets gear in that time, some Giants. Sure a lot of it is transplants like in any city, but there's a lot of Buffalo transplants in NYC since its the nearest mega-city. Fercrissake, we had the riot police called on us at the Bills bar when we beat the Pats -- and that was a regular season game. Sure, it's not a huge movement here, and obviously it's nothing like the Jets or Giants, but to act as if there's zero special following here seems unnecessarily negative, and to be missing something special. Also, there's so little hatred of the team, if they did well, it would be such a story, that I'd bet there would be more than the usual complement of new fans (but that's neither here nor there). While the Jersey thing is a stretch, I do hear non-Bills football fans point out that they are the only team playing in NY almost half the time I mention I'm a Bills fan. Also, it just kinda fits the Jets that they play in a stadium with another team's name. It's bizarre how they just sort of stopped looking for their own home.

Sorry, but I think you are reading this all wrong. It may be an unfortunate name, but from how I understand it, this started as a very noble thing -- the idea that too many people rag on Buffalo, its team, its players. Instead of absorbing the negativity and either letting it go (or worse, echoing it), these guys decided to defend the city and the players. Some team members picked up on the vibe, on the sense of camaraderie, and used it to bond, and to build a oneness with the community. I just can't see this as bad. To me, it feels like a beautiful thing -- one of the many aspects that makes Buffalo a special place, and the Bills a unique team to root for. It's not about "thug life" or anything, but about unity. But that's just how I see it.

They were not a "good" football team last year (at least in that manner), and it's fairly absurd to expect a young, rebuilding team to overcome the insane barrage of injuries they encountered last year. However, they may be ready to rise to that occasion this year -- oddly enough, aided by all the trials, since it allowed players like A. Williams, Sheppard, Searcy, and Hairston a chance to mature. We'll see. However, the busy off-season, paired with the abundance of promising young players, as well as chance dictating that the injury bug won't bite quite as maliciously this year (yes, yes, i know we're talking about the bills here), should have at least some pundits predicting better days for the Bills this year. However, as many have pointed out here, it doesn't matter. Hopefully, they simply prove they deserve a higher ranking (and frankly, after 08 and 11, i wouldn't blame rankings peeps to be wary of moving them up the charts).

Why would you be surprised we're that high? We signed one of the biggest free-agents of the off-season in our primary area of need and yet only moved up one spot.

Agreed. He is likely their best open-field tackler at this point.

You're right, because nothing unexpected has ever happened in football.

By that logic, you could say the DBs were even better than they seemed, since they had an awful lot of INTs for no one throwing on us.

To paraphrase Hank Hooper on 30 Rock: "Well I'll be Bob McAdoo'd if I don't know a Buffalo gal when I see one."(even though she's not from) Looks can be deceiving, but...

Hate to say it, but Meachem made the right decision (but did it in a dikish fashion). As the #1 receiver for SD, he will get a ton of garbage yards with Rivers throwing to him. I'm a bit baffled why he's considered a tier above Mario Manningham.