vincec

Per Buddy Nix: You always want the arrow pointing up. Is Moorman's arrow pointing down or up? Also, why would a legitimate punter prospect have agreed to come to Buffalo unless he thought that there was a good chance to beat out the incumbent? I would imagine that one reason to kick it high and short is to try and force a fair catch by the return man and thereby create the opportunity for a muff. How much would one fumble at the opp 10 yard line be worth compared to a few more kicks inside the 20? I think that if the game were close or if we were losing I'd be trying to create as many chances for turnovers as possible. If we were cruising and the defense was kicking butt then I'd just try to pin 'em deep with the coffin corner.

Who won?

Remember this one. I have a suspicion that it will be viewed in quite a different light as the season progresses.

Seems likely that the Bills will do better that 6 wins. I'd put a quarter on this.

It's interesting to see that Spencer Johnson is listed as a LDE. I wonder if there's any basis in fact for this or if the author is just pulling it out of his ...

I still don't see what Smith does in the wildcat that Fred Jackson couldn't do better. Neither one can throw the ball and he's no where near as good a runner as Jackson so what's the point?

In my experience, non-unionized workers do not make enough money to treat their work as a long term profession. This hurts the quality of the labor pool. Here in NC for example, the joke is that if you can swing a hammer you can be a construction worker and if you have a tool belt you are a foreman. By contrast, when I was working in NYC, the electricians were 3rd generation electricians, knew everything about electrical construction and did immaculate work. Also, consider that if a worker makes a little more money, then they can spend it on other people's products. If they barely make enough to scape by then they don't (or go into debt). The idea is to pay a fair living wage to workers not the minimum that you can. I'll take you word for this, but the total projected 2013 budget shortfall for NC is $2 billion dollars. Education is only a portion of that. In my county there was a reduction in school spending of $100 million dollars to address the shortfall. That's a lot of jobs at the county level. A couple of F-22s would solve a lot of problems.

George Wilson. He is going to make the pro-bowl this season and finally banish all the Whitner talk.

Do you really think that the US would be better off without unions? Where do you think the money that businesses and industries save would go? I'll give you a hint, it's not going to go into average americans pockets. Yes, there are abuses by unions just as there are by corporate owners and executives (who for example take 6 figure bonuses while losing their clients retirements), but that doesn't mean that the concept of organized labor is bad. You don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. This is true. It would be interesting to see a graphic showing the combined state and federal spending nationally, it that's possible. I suspect that it would still pale in comparison to other spending initiatives. One F-22 costs almost $500,000,000. ONE plane. That would alleviate a lot of overcrowding in NC schools and probably a few other states as well.

People who think we spend a lot of money on education should take a look at the federal budget to see where the money really goes. Although this wasn't the final budget for 2011 it wasn't too far off and I found this a useful link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html The graphic makes the distribution pretty clear.

This is a pleasant thread.

When did unions become the enemy in this country? It's very sad. Unions were designed to create the bargaining conditions so that the people that actually do the work can make enough money and benefits so that they can make a career out of being a teacher, police office, fireman, electrician, etc. instead of constantly looking to switch professions or get second jobs to be able to afford raising families. I think that it's a worthwhile mission. The arrangements between the owners and unions that lead to pensions are just free market negotiations and are as fair as you negotiating a higher salary, Fred Jackson negotiating a new contract the Bills negotiating with the city for stadium improvements.

Right. Because teachers are in it for the money. People in NY have no clue how good they have it. Here in NC, (non-unionized) teachers don't get paid bupkis and have poor benefits. The results are class sizes of 30+ and even 40+ students per class in high schools and mediocre national rankings for performance. Schools in NY are ranked 3rd in the country. Maybe to help the situation, the state could start by giving more than 50% of the "education lottery" to the school system and not give hundreds of millions public dollars to renovate football stadiums.

I am curious about the defense. There have been so many changes that it's hard to project how things will be. At the very least you'd have to assume that with the all the new players and a new system it will take time to really start playing well. Let's see what happens when the games start.

This is the optimistic point of view but multiple leg injuries to 300+ lb men are never a good thing. Neither is consistently missing playing time that would help build chemistry with the other linemen or constantly rehabbing. Hopefully I'm wrong about this but it's ominous.

Week 1 9/9: Buffalo Bills at New York L Week 2 9/16 Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills W Week 3 9/23: Buffalo Bills at Cleveland Browns W Week 4 9/30: New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills L Week 5 10/07: Buffalo Bills at San Francisco 49ers L Week 6 10/14: Buffalo Bills at Arizona Cardinals L Week 7 10/21: Tennessee Titans at Buffalo Bills W Week 8: BYE Week 9: 11/04 Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans L Week 10: 11/11 Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots L Week 11: 11/15 (Thurs) Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills W Week 12: 11/25 Buffalo Bills at Indianapolis Colts W Week 13: 12/02 Jacksonville Jaguars at Buffalo Bills W Week 14: 12/09 St. Louis Rams at Buffalo Bills W Week 15: 12/16 Seattle Seahawks at Buffalo Bills W Week 16: 12/23 Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins L Week 17: 12/30 New York Jets at Buffalo Bills L 8-8

I knew we'd be heading for the Music City Miracle in this thread.

Congrats!

I have as many qualifications to post my opinion on this board as trolls and ignoramuses like you. I think that Andy Reid and the Eagles staff forgot more about football than you will ever know and the 50 sports writers who vote for the All Pro team have watched more football that you will in your entire life time. So pardon me if I don't believe my own eyes, professional coaches and sports writers over an "expert" like you.

Please. When is this sour grapes non-sense about Peters going to end? He made a crazy salary demand. The Bills didn't yield to his wishes. Now he plays for Philadelphia. He is very good. The Bills don't have an incumbent LT. It is what it is. Let's not pretend that a few people on this website know the real story and the rest of the world is crazy.

Florence is better than Rogers and McKelvin for sure and we haven't seen Gilmore or Brooks play a down so this isn't about putting the best players on the field, IMO. Why not wait until you see what the new guys can do, at least in training camp, before you release a starter? Makes no sense to me.

If Kelsay could play RDE it would solve some problems, but I think that he will have trouble making the switch. I think Anderson will start at RDE and play most of the snaps. Bills may think about pulling Dareus or K Williams in obvious passing downs, dropping M Williams down to DT and lining Kelsay (or Merriman) up as the other DE. Other than that I see Kelsay's playing time as way down, which is too bad because he's the third best DE on the team right now.

Yes he does. VERY ripped.

That statement, in a nutshell, sums up many of the threads on TBD. Doesn't mean that they're not fun to.peruse

DEs: Williams, Kelsay, Anderson, Merriman, Edwards, Batten. I doubt that the Bills are gong to keep 6 DEs and Batten is the worst player in the group. Bills might want to think about shopping Moats and Batten around for a case of beer or something as opposed to having to cut them for *literally* nothing.