Red

Got 'ya. What I mean to say is that the poor talent on this team is a minor issue when we pull back and see the "Wizards" at work behind the curtain for the past decade. Does it make sense to be mad and frustrated because the room just went dark, or does it make more sense to change the lightbulb? IMO, Modrak, Littman, and Overdorf are the light bulbs that have not worked right in over a decade and are in desperate need of a change.

No it doesn't. Attacks happen all of the time on unsuspecting and innocent parties. The team has a structure, and Peters offset that structure for 2 years in a row- even though he was under contract. Jason Peters at this point, is Haynesworth-lite. Both have all-world talent, but seldom play up to said potential. And we don't entirely know what was going on behind closed doors at OBD. Knowing that Peters was lacking motivation, perhaps the plan was to send a message that he needed to work harder and be more of team player for his contract to be renegotiated. How did Peters respond? He balked, held out, and became a huge distraction to a team in desperate need of a stud LT. The funny thing is, at the time Buffalo was extending Parrish, Kelsay, and Schobel. Peters, I'm sure was next. But his blunt tactics wore thin. And when was the last time you saw a team like the Patriots cave to a players demands? Looking at the Pats history this decade, every time a player has scuffled w/management, that player has found themselves shipped out of town. The Team comes first. There is no single component on a team.

And we got Eric Wood out of the deal. We got, IMO, an equally as valuable offensive lineman, and lost the holding-the-team-hostage-2-years-in-a-row-even-though-I'm-under-contract negative influence/ distraction. I was listening to ESPN radio the other day, and some Lombardi guy at NFL Films was talking about how pedestrian Jason Peters has been since his arrival in Philly. He stated that he has all the talent in the world, but does not play up to his potential. Sounds eerily familiar to when he was in Bills land. And to consider that he was an undrafted free agent TE who we turned into a Pro Bowl LT...AND we traded him for a 1st rounder, that was one of the bright spots of the past decade for the front office.

I don't watch college football (something about kickers wearing #'s like 85, and still missing gimme field goals just tears me up- YOU'RE A KICKER!! THAT'S ALL YOU DO IN PRACTICE IS KICK FIELD GOALS!! YOU ARE ON A SCHOLARSHIP TO KICK FIELD GOALS!!!). QB and DE are huge needs on this team. I don't know either Mallett or Luck, but everything I seem to be hearing is that Luck's stock is rising but Mallett's is falling. And how cool would it be for a QB named Luck to be leading the Bills? Imagine the banter: "The Bills can now win it all since Luck is now on our side". Or not. But we also need a Bruce Smith clone. We have NO pass rush. Nobody on defense that can consistently mess up opposing offenses. Demand double teams, which would free up other players (Cue: Chris Kelsay to start earning his money) to make plays. Pressure opposing QB's into throwing ill-timed passes for our talented secondary to feed on. We don't have that player. I don't know if the top college pass rushers are any good, but if you ask me who should the Bills get first: Jim Kelly or Bruce Smith? Now, that's a tough one!

I will accept, and one-up you. Why is Tom Modrak still employed at OBD, since he is responsible for having scouted these disasters? Why are Jeffrey Littmann and Jim Overdorf still hampering the progress of this team?

First off, I'm not sure if you are somehow trying to justify Losman or not (who was another example of the inept front office and scouting by trading/ using 2 1st round picks w/in 3 years on the QB position- Bledsoe and Losman). Regardless, that's 1 season. And what kind of passes was Evans running? He was getting hit by Losman on long passes. Streaks, go's, etc. That's his pattern. That's what he excels at. Look at the Super Bowl Cowboys. Michael Irvin was the bread-and-butter, catch everything WR (and push off of DB's), but Alvin Harper was the #2, "go" pattern WR. Traditionally speaking, the #1 receiver does it all. The #2 is the long distance guy. Stretches the field. You might remember Reed and Lofton? Reed caught every pass pattern known to man, and Lofton was the sideline/ long distance guy. Reed was a true #1 receiver, and Lofton a true #2. Or perhaps Moulds and Price might jog your memory? Moulds caught everything; over the middle, deep, short, etc, and Price caught those long balls. All I am saying is that I don't hate Evans. I think he's a great player. But great as a true #2 receiver. When was the last time we saw Evans go over the middle into LB land? Evans, since his career began, has remained on the outside. A true #1 receiver does it all.

Guys, we just changed the front office. And I don't think that Ralph is lying to us when he wants to bring winning football back to Buffalo. But because of his age, I think the men he is trusting to run the Bills are running it into the ground. Namely: Tom Modrak, Jeffrey Littman, and Jim Overdorf. These 3 bozos have not changed in the past decade, and the results on the field have remained the same- no matter who the GM is, who the coaching staff is, or who was our QB. All of that turnover, and we still suck? I think the Bills are being hamstrung by Modrak and Co., and until these 3 are gone the Bills are going nowhere.

I'm really concerned about this one. Typically, in a normally healthy functioning franchise, I would say 5 years. Look at this year's Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs to get an idea of what I am talking about (and everybody bashes Al Davis). These 2 teams are making rather rapid turn-arounds considering where they had been as of late. But we have 3 big problems in the front office: 1.) Tom Modrak is still Director of Scouting, 2.) Littman is still employed, and 3.) Overdorf is still employed. This trifecta of impotence, IMO, is the real reason why the Bills have not been competitive since Butler left.

Well, I don't disagree with Nix completely, as you want to field the best possible product you can on the field, and atleast in the preseason the Bills looked much improved over last year. But you and I both know, that when the Bills brought on J. Bell, C. Simpson, and Anderson (who is now on the roster) it was to prepare a RB should Lynch not cooperate/ or be moved. I think what ultimately happened was that they held onto their Lynch card for too long, and overplayed their hand. I've repeatedly stated on here how shocked I was to see both C. Simpson and J. Bell be let go, after the amazing pre season these 2 guys had. Even Anderson looked good. I thought that Lynch would have been traded in April, then during the preseason after Simpson and Bell proved their mettle. Well, they did not do that, we lost the services of both Bell (Philly) and Simpson (Washington), only to finally relent and trade Lynch to Seattle. I also think we got boned in the deal, too. Lynch is still a young, tough, 1,000 yard Pro Bowl RB. He was drafted in the Top 15 in 2008. New England sends an elderly Richard Seymour to Oakland for a 1st round pick, then sends Moss to Minnesota after getting mucho production out of him and gets a 3rd when they got him from Oakland for a 4th!! We trade a Pro Bowler to Seattle who was a 1st round pick for a 4th and a 6th? We held on too long.

I don't know what kind of "big" changes are left for this team. What, Cordaro Howard becomes a permanent right or left tackle for us? We already know everyone in management loves Kelsay, so he won't be benched. I don't think we'd trade Evans. Fitzgerald has managed games exceptionally well since taking over, and given some life to our pathetic offense. I don't see why Brohm would be given the reins. I don't think that they'd cut Stroud. What else "big" can they do?

That is why I'd love an open door understanding of the "brain" trust at OBD. I think any criticism of Nix, Whaley, and Gailey are too premature. We've got to give these guys a good 3 years to see if signs of improvement have begun. 5 for success to start. If Modrak is a part-timer, then why is he employed? Nobody else in Bills land seems to give a flying bleep about Modrak, but I'm really ticked about this guy still being employed after his horrendous track record. It frustrates me that we have no discernible talent on this team, despite the Director of Scouting having been at it for 10 years now. I could see if he hits home runs more than he strikes out on players; but sadly, with the exception of the occasional undrafted free agent making it big, Modrak has proven impotent. And when people make the argument that Modrak is being overruled in the "war room", then why is he still employed if his opinion means nothing and the coaches will do their own thing? Why keep him? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We've had multiple GM changes, changes in Pro Personnel people, changes in the coaching staff, and player turnover. Yet the results are the same (and getting worse). Based on that, there is a constant within the organization, THAT HAS NOT CHANGED, that is continuing this masochistic regime. The knee-jerk reaction is to blame Ralph- and there is some validity to this as he IS the owner. However, the stories of the in-house battles between then-GM Bill Polian and money men Littman and Overdorf were never addressed by the organization. Now Polian, AJ Smith, and Butler are gone, but Littman and Overdorf remain. I think all 3 men: Littman, Overdorf, and Modrak need to either leave or lose any power in the say of the future of the Bills organization. And I hear you on J. Bell. We lost Chad Simpson to Washington, too. I thought the 2 of them were excellent, with Simpson looking like a nice Spiller-esque clone. I thought Lynch was expendable when those 2 guys were onboard.

I hear you. Kyle Williams is our lone stud in the front. I love the guy! Question: Wasn't Poz a pass rushing OLB at Penn State? If that was the case, perhaps we should move him back to that position, let Kelsay cheerlead from the sideline, and maybe Poz will stay healthy for a full season. I don't think Poz is that bad. And I do like Whitner. But Ngata would have helped our team so much more than Whitner has.

I don't see where he has proven himself a #1 receiver. He's an awesome #2. But if all he runs is "go" routes and slants, that's not a #1 receiver; that's a #2. Owens, Boldin, Fitzgerald, Johnson in Houston...those are true #1 receivers. Guys that run every pattern, catch everything thrown to them, and can change a game with their ability. We have not had a true #1 since Moulds left.

I'm happy hockey season started. Watching the Ottawa game, the Sabres look they may actually be able to reach deep into the playoffs this year. They have added alot more toughness, and have a real nice balance of skill, grit, and talent. If they can keep the injury bug at bay, this team reminds me of the Sabres teams of the late 90's that eventually went to the Stanley Cup.

I will say this again: As long as Modrak is running our drafts, we will strike out on 90% of our picks- with an alarming 100% strike out ratio with our picks 1-4. We will find 1-2 undrafted college free agents per year. It does not matter where we pick. We will pick the wrong player.

Oh, go take your Nanny State, save-the Whales mentality along with Michael Moore and move to China, Cuba, or socialist France already, will ya?

And this post is RIDICULOUS!!! Nix JUST FREAKIN' GOT HERE!!! Let's tar and feather Modrak, Littman, and Overdorf!! They've been at it for the past decade!

It's not a lousy argument. Cheating does not destroy families? What about children of cheaters? It doesn't affect them? Now, obviously cheating is not literally killing somebody- any boner with half a brain cell knows that. My point is demonstrating that a crime everyone can agree on is still a crime; whether it was done once or a thousand times. But your argument actually helps to further my earlier comments. There is no high road in all of this. No party is in the right. But why is it that Tiger Woods cheating is news at all? We live in this reality TV world where people keep subscribing to this intellectual drivel. Why as a society are we not disgusted? America is fast becoming a tabloid culture.

Foolish. There is no difference. Killing is killing. It's wrong. Cheating on your spouse is wrong. It does not make it any more right if he only did it once, or twenty times. All repeated occurrences prove is how much of a Grade A douche that person is.

These ratings are useless. There is no comparison between the Pro game and College game. Where are all the T-bow fan boys?

I don't subscribe to all of these Wilson-holding-the-team-back conspiracy theories. They just don't hold water. From a pure business sense, selling an inferior product decreases its value. When you are trying to sell something, you're trying to get as much value as you can for the product. Self-sabotaging your product because you want to sell it makes no sense. What would make sense is if Wilson suddenly started pulling Snyder-esque spending on free agents to stack the roster to appear like a star-studded cast. No. What makes more sense to me, is that Buffalo is a small market team, competing against big market cities like Dallas, Washington, and NY. Population has been leaving WNY in droves for decades. Industry is gone. Jobs are gone. No relief in sight. Toronto, as 1 of the top 5 largest cities in North America offers promise. But the current product is not enducing love that far north of the border right now, either. They may support the Maple Leafs, but Canadiens are not that stupid after all to follow a team like the current Bills. There have long been rumors of infighting between Polian and treasurer Littman and money man Overdorf. They were going to Super Bowls, so thankfully Polian had Wilson's ear. Now that Polian is gone, I think Wilson defaulted his trust to Littman and Overdorf. They no doubt have heavily influenced Wilson into building on the cheap. I mean, 10 years of Modrak and we have nothing to show for it. This guy was supposedly responsible for building Philly back in the day. Now he gets here, and he can't produce one proven player in 10 years? He can't build anything resembling a team or core of players? I think Modrak should have long since been relieved of his duties. But I also believe that Littman and Overdorf are getting to Wilson and convincing him that due to regional economics, we need to be doing it cheaply. IMO, if Littman and Overdorf don't see a team being sustainable in WNY, then I don't know why they just don't resign and go work somewhere else. Let somebody else take over. What good does imposing self-limiting beliefs have on an NFL franchise? Littman and Overdorf doing it on the cheap has produced a team that is just that- a second tier team of nobodies.

I don't hate Whitner. I only think our plight of poor drafting would have been slightly eased had we selected DT Haloti Ngata instead of Whitner. In terms of production and value to their teams, there is no contest.

I'm concerned that with Modrak doing the scouting, and Littman/ Overdorf whispering financial nothings into Wilson's ear, that Nix/ Whaley/ and Gailey may never be able to build this team right.

You don't get it. The entire NFL could forfeit their 1st rounders to us (all 31 other teams), and as long as we have Modrak in charge of scouting, we'll have 32 out of 32 1st round busts. I just don't know when Ralph will realize this and fire this bum. Exactly what I have been saying. We could have New Englands picks of 2 in each of the 1st 4 rounds, but Modrak would screw it up. I don't know why Modrak was retained with our recent regime change. So Modrak, Littman, and Overdorf have nothing to do with our supreme suckitude? Last time I checked, this is Nix's 1st year officially on the job. How can Nix be responsible for the horrid draft picks and free agent signings of the past 10 years?

I've been crying for the tar and feathering of Modrak for over 2 years now. He should have left with Donahoe, and CERTAINLY should have been forced out with Guy last year. One of the announcers said on the air today, that the Bills talent-wise are sub-par. Surely, the scouting department and the Head of such department (the aforementioned Modrak) have done such a terrible job of stockpiling this team with talent, that they should no longer be employed. But the role both Littman and Overdorf play should not be dismissed. There were stories of political infighting for Ralph's favor when Polian was here. Something tells me that Littman and Overdorf are atleast as responsible for this disaster as Mr. Modrak himself. It's almost as if they have been scouting for sub-par players so that they would not have to pay them down the line. Draft lesser impact players who will fit in our small market model. It sounds stupidly crazy, but drafting Whitner ahead of Haloti Ngata was pretty dumb. Spending 2 1st round draft picks within 3 years at the QB position (trade to NE for Bledsoe then drafting Losman), only to lose them both with little production was idiotic. Then trading back into the 1st round for McCargo. Oops. Missed on that one, too. Maybin instead of Oher or Orakpo. Who, in the history of the NFL, drafts a project player with their #1 pick? In my 20 years of being a Bills fan and NFL fan, I have never seen that before. I mean, if we had just come from dominating in the Super Bowl I might, MIGHT see drafting a project player like Maybin in the 1st as a smart thing since I was stocked everywhere else. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but in the case of the Bills I can't believe that we can be that bad, for that long, without someone in a position of influence directing the course of things. 10+ years of doing things on the cheap has taken its toll.