vincec

This sounds pretty accurate to me. I suspect that Johnson goes in with the edge over Edwards due to his experience in the 4-3. Carrington has shown more than Troup to date and seems a better fit for this defensive style so I give him the initial edge. I think McGee v McKelvin is a dead toss up although, as you point out, it's in McKelvin's hands- and he usually looks pretty good until the season starts. Plus a Buddy says, you always want the "arrow pointing up" and McGee is clearly on the downside of his career. Also, I don't see the WR2 as a battle so much as a hope that somebody can step up to be a decent starter. You would think that Hairson and Glenn would be a battle but it sounds to me like the coach's have already decided who is going to win that one unless Glenn stinks it up.

The Bills could've done that too. It's telling that Ryan found a way to get something out of Maybin while Jauron and Edwards could not. It tells you something about their relative coaching abilities.

Wow. Those are some crazy rulings. "Although the protective order did mandate an arrest, or an arrest warrant, in so many words, Justice Scalia said, "a well-established tradition of police discretion has long coexisted with apparently mandatory arrest statutes." Too bad that the guy went on to kill his three daughters while the police ate doughnuts at the station instead of enforcing a "mandatory" arrest warrant that his wife was desperately trying to get them to follow. The other ruling is just as crazy to me. A guy is convicted of a crime. New evidence comes to light that might affect his guilt (or certainly his sentencing) but the Supreme court shoots it down because it has already ruled on the subject and the appellate court can't reopen the case??? I guess whether justice is done is irrelevant as long as the chain of command is maintained.

I'd like to know a little more about this before I form an opinion. From the article it sounds like the police officers were off duty, working as bouncers. Were they in uniform? Did them identify themselves as police officers when they were in the process of clearing the bar at the end of the night?

With a rookie LT and Wood and Pears starting training camp limited, I suspect that the Bills OL will have its hands full keeping a clean pocket and opening throwing lanes for Fitz.

Who though the 4-3 was dead? Maybe it was dead in Buffalo but not around the league. The FB is really only useful in short yardage and goal line. If you factor in that the Bills are not going to go with power running personnel in many of these situations and are going to use the wildcat in others then it really doesn't leave many plays for the FB- maybe one or two a game. Finally, if you want to leave your QB in there with your big personnel in short yardage, then isn't it a better idea to play a guard back there as the extra blocker as the poster I responded to indicated? CMac never gets the ball anyway.

Exactly. The FB is a dying position in the NFL.

This. Defense. Running game. Solid QB play from not great but above average players.

Especially since Williams will see far more double teams than Anderson.

Nix gave some interesting perspective on the backup line positions a few weeks ago. You only keep 7 lineman active on gameday so you would like the two backup linemen to be able to play multiple positions on the line in order to be useful. Hence you would like a player that can play either center or guard and a player that can play either tackle. For tackle they're clearly trying to groom Hairston, which is why he's getting reps on both sides. For center/guard, it's up in the air. Rinehart can play guard but if the center goes out then Urbik would have to switch to center with Rinehart at guard disrupting two positions which is not ideal. I get the feeling that the staff would love to see Rinehart beat out Urbik so that he can be guy at RG with Urbik as the swing interior lineman. If Rinehart can't beat out Urbik and Brown can show that he can play guard then he has a very good chance to challenge for the gametime backup spot over Rinehart, IMO.

It's sooo overdone. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

zzzzz...

The last time I had a bad day due to a death in the family I went to work and kicked a co-worker in the head. It was totally justified though, she didn't have change for the vending machine.

I agree that the OL was pretty good last season. All I am saying is that I don't really see how it has been improved. Depth may be a little better but any downgrade at LT, the most important position on the line, more than compensates for that IMO. If they just perform as well as last season then I'd be happy but I'm not expecting any improvement.

What improvements on the O-line? It looks to me like the only change is that the Bills lost their starting LT and plan to replace him with a rookie. That doesn't sound like an improvement to me. At least not this season.

If you watched either of the two Super Bowl games, I don't see how you can say that Manning was a "low impact" QB. He made numerous clutch plays and ran the Giant offense brilliantly. His performance was a major key not just to their Super Bowl victories but their playoff runs in general. Just because he doesn't throw as much as Brady that doesn't mean that he is low impact. QB is never a "low impact" position in the NFL.

So let me get this straight, we have: Terry Bradshaw Tom Brady Ben Roethlisberger Bob Griese Eli Manning Joe Namath Ken Stabler Here, I have a few: Joe Montana- He was mediocre in his first SB season. Steve Young- Never could win the big one or get out of Montana's shadow except for one season. Troy Aikman- Only looked good because he had Emmitt Smith keeping defenses honest and that Cowboy OL keeping him clean. Shoot, if these guys can win a SB then Fitz definitely has a shot.

All of this is nice, but mediocre QBs don't win championships except in very rare circumstances. Fitz isn't elite and the Bills don't have any elite prospects, unless you believe it's Vince Young. Therefore, the Bills are no where near winning a championship. It's the one big hole in the Nix-Gailey rebuilding plan. They keep saying that they are trying to find a developmental QB but they haven't done it yet. I agree that they are close to making the playoffs however, which should make for an entertaining season.

If Lee can transform a veteran who over seven seasons has a career 76.5 QB rating and who has never led a winning team into a championship QB, then Lee belongs in the hall of fame.

After it was completed, the designers of the Large Hadron Collider realized that all they needed was Mario Williams to punch the opposing particle beams.

Bucs Saints Giants Jets The rest

It's amazing what one marquee free agent signing can do for a teams national profile. I wonder how much press the Bills would be getting if they did everything they did this offseason EXCEPT sign Mario Williams.

This is a homer thread. Fitz hasn't even led a team to the playoffs yet. Manning has won 2 superbowls with two MVPs. Manning is better in virtually every statistical category. This comparison doesn't seem close to me. I like Fitz but frankly, he's no rookie. He's been in this league for 7 years already. He's never led a winning season and has a career 76.5 rating. He's a journeyman level QB. It may be possible to squeeze a couple of playoff level seasons out of him but to think that he could transform into a championship QB at this stage of his career is overly optimistic. He is what he is, more or less.

Yes. Lindy Ruff.

I'm not sure why the Bills don't just use a RB at the QB position out of the wildcat since they NEVER pass out of it. It would make a lot more sense than Gilmore or even Smith. It might be ok in some very limited situations but the only QB who can really run this formation effectively more often than once every three games now plays for the Jets. If I were the Bills I'd show it every two or three games just to cut into opponents prep time but otherwise forget about it.