NewHampshireBillsFan

This isn't baseball or even the NHL. Teams that are struggling in the NFL don't start trading their best players to contenders for future prospects and draft choices. Whether it would be good or bad to do this, it is not how the NFL works. As a general observation there are more trade possibilities thrown out onto this board in a week than actually happen in a year for the whole NFL. In fact many teams in the NFL don't do a single trade in any given year (not counting moving up or down on draft day). So forget about trades.

The showcasing Lynch idea would make sense if the Bills were anxious to trade Lynch. But the media and some fans are the ones who are anxious to trade Lynch. Nix has decided its not a good deal to trade Lynch for a 4th round pick, and I agree with that. A 4th round pick is not going to get you generally some great player, and Lynch could be the dominant RB on many teams. A more likely explanation for Lynch playing so much against GB is that Gailey clearly said they needed to establish the running game, and with Lynch being the power runner of the 3, he would be the best shot to get some positive yards with a line that is not that strong. Also, everyone complained that Gailey used 3 RBs to much against Miami, not allowing any back to get some momentum. And he probably felt that way too. Anyway, it is no clear thing that Jackson is the best RB and we should play him. IF Lynch is playing well, and that is an IF, he may have more sheer talent than Jackson.

One thing that Sully is clearly factually wrong about is the open QB competition. Gailey said all along that the competition would continue until one of the QBs distinguished himself above the others. He also said that by the start of preseason he expected to have the decision made so that the starting QB could start to have most of the reps with the starters, etc. to prepare for the season. HE NEVER SAID THE QB COMPETITION WOULD CONTINUE DURING THE PRESEASON. Had he continued the QB competition during the preseason Gailey would have been crucified by the media for not deciding in time this important position to prepare for the season. But Gailey also said all along that every position would be subject to constant reevaluation and possible changes. So Gailey, with the QB position, did exactly what he promised to do and Sully is totally wrong that Gailey did not follow his announced plan on how he would decide on a QB.

Trades are frequently suggested on threads, but trades in the NFL rarely occur during the regular season. Its not like MLB or the NHL. A trade for TE is just not going to happen so don't even think about it.

+1 I wish I had your concise, yet incisive style.

If you are going to change QBs this is not the week to do it, going into NE* for a very tough game. Let TE get killed again for another week and then, if you want to make the change, go ahead. That at least gives the new QB a chance in his first week to be a spark for the team and not more of the same.

It won't be nearly that bad. No way we go 0-7. With defense and special teams alone we will stay in some games. Plus the RBs will start to break some longer runs. With a new coaching staff and the team still pulling everything together, this team should improve week to week for a while.

Sully can make sense sometimes; at other times he makes no sense. His emotions seem to get in the way. For some reason he just doesn't like Lynch. Personally, I don't care if a player is great with the media. I care what they do on the field. Don't forget Jackson was injured in the preseason and with the Bills history of injuries, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the 3 RBs were injured for a length of time this year. We might think Bell is good but he cleared waivers without a problem, so no other team wanted him. Also, Gailey wanted to try some two RB sets this year and that may still be a major item. The point is I could care less about Lynch's off the field problems. They were minor in my mind and are over with and he is not trying to be a disruption for lack of playing time, instead he is saying the right things to the media. What is the rush to get rid of him? I would take a second round pick, nothing less, and fortunately Nix seems to feel about the same way. At least Nix seems to understand Levy's concept that if you listen to the fans (and the media for that matter) you will eventually be sitting with the fans.

The thing I was saddest about in the off season was that we did not resign Incognito, especially after I saw him starting for Miami. I know Incognito had a bad rap but he seemed to be fine with the Bills last season and Miami hasn't had any trouble with him. It would have given us more options, especially with inevitable injuries.

I think Gailey's eyes were opened to 1.) how inept the OL is in terms of ability to run block and pass block and 2.) how TE looks when he gets hit early and then is a total wreck for the rest of the game. Practices and preseason games did not show Gailey this. I think Gailey thought he could just game plan to take what Miami gave us (pass game and some counter runs with everyone on D stacked to stop the run). What Gailey saw was what we all saw, the OL just couldn't stop penetration on almost every play and TE looked nervous and nearly totally lacking in poise. So I am curious to see what Gailey comes up with this week, now that he has seen the serious offensive deficiencies. I expect he WILL find some plan to make the offense generate something. I'm actually looking forward to seeing what he comes up with against a great GB team on the road.

I think it happens this year, at least one of the two games, that we win. It will certainly make life more enjoyable for me and other New England Bills fans. It would wipe the smirk off the face of some of the people here. There are no more annoying fans in the world than fans in New England. I even hate the Red Sox now although at one time I liked them. I just want maximum misery for NE fans and its great to see the Red Sox not make the playoffs with their super high payroll.

So true. The calls were horrendous when playing Miami in those days, worse even than playing NE* nowadays. Remember the time Ralph Wilson kicked down the officials door after a game to personally complain to the officials. But being on that field after the game was something none of us that were there will ever forget. I only have a piece of the net (that is used behind the goalposts for field goals) but I still treasure that. The interception and long TD return by LB Isaiah Robertson for the final TD was an amazing play.

Based on what I've seen of Shanahan so far in Washington, I'm not convinced he is the right coach for the Skins. Trading for McNabb was not smart. He is likely to be injured a lot. Fortunately, I'm not a Skins fan. Previous coaching record has very little to do with how a coach does with a new team. Each situation is different. But based on previous coaching record, Gailey looks good, his team making the playoffs most years when he was an NFL coach. Gailey will put the players on this team in a position to win. Jauron put his players in a position to lose. There is a major difference at One Bills Drive and the players know it and appreciate it. Listen to TE, for example.

14 out of 53 means that more than 1/4 of the team are new players. That is a lot, especially for a team that already had many first year players on the team last year who are here for only their second year.

Good thing it will take less than a week for the first idiotic prediction of these idiotic ESPN knuckleheads to be proven false. "Oh, and the Bills will go 0-6 in the AFC East." Last year with a totally disfunctional coaching situation and a team rife with injuries, including to the offensive line, the team went 2-4 in the AFC East. And only a totally boneheaded play stopped us from the win at NE* against Belicheat*. Do you get the impression that these writers not only do not have any clue about the Bills, but also don't have any clue about what it takes to win or lose in the NFL? To them if you don't have a proven LT or QB and you switch to a 3-4 you automatically will have to go something like 2-14. The point is we have viable strengths on our team and other teams also have viable weaknesses that can be exploited. Like I said, at least this Sunday when we dispatch the fish with a loss, these ESPN goofs will start to realize they don't really understand this team or really NFL football in general. By the way we (who have followed the Bills for a while) know what a 2-14 team looks like, or for that matter 1-13, 1-12-1, and so on. This team looks NOTHING like a 2-14 team.

Basically the list is really a list of NFL teams roughly in the order of their success over the last several years, and the coaches who coach those teams. Of course some coaches have switched teams recently such as Shanahan and are judged more by their success with previous teams. The point is if your team wins you are considered a great coach, if you lose you stink as a coach.

NFL.com has a list of all the cuts made by all the teams today, team by team.

It looks like we kept the most talented 53, kind of like drafting the best player available. We may be able to deal a DB and pick up another OL or at least a late draft pick. This way someone doesn't just get our DB for nothing when released. The other thing is that some of the players dropped right now might still be available a week or a few weeks down the road if injuries pop up. Someone like Kirk Chambers always seems to be around to add back to our roster when needed. I think Nix and Gailey were very shrewd about this thing. Of course the practice squad will also be there to re-sign several of these cut players, and at positions where we might need them.

The ridiculous thing is that Boston oriented sports commentators and even regular fans have no place for humor about Boston team personnel. You make a joke about Belicheat* and it is considered equivalent to insulting the Pope. By the way the standard line now is ALL coaches cheated in exactly the same way as Belicheat* with video recording but he was the only one that happened to get caught. How absurd is that! And if you make a joke about Brady being a crybaby (which he is) every time he gets hit in a game, they can't believe you would dare say anything negative about the NFL's all time best QB. So NE writers and fans can dish it out but they never, ever can take it. When you mention you are a Bills fan to people here they usually get a little smirk on their face. But it doesn't bother me. Things will eventually change with the Bills fortunes.

Coaches more than players. The two coaches I can say I have truly hated in my lifetime were Don Shula and Belicheat*. But we really made Shula's last years in the league no fun and that made up for some of it. Both Shula and Belicheat* basically owned the officials, esp. when they played the Bills.

I think the royal blue jerseys and the red helmet from the super bowl years was the best. But the new uniforms are fine. The dark blue looks kind of intense on defense when they smack some people (which they need to do more of).

I think you are right in that having good assistants is a credit to the coach. I just don't see Cowher as the type of coach who could replicate what he had in Pittsburgh somewhere else. But I might be wrong and perhaps we'll find out some day if he does come back to coach.

How many times does it have to be said that Cowher is Mike Dika II, a coach who won one SB with a superb assistant coach staff and overall top run organization. If Cowher is smart he'll stay retired and not make an idiot of himself like Ditka did in New Orleans. Perhaps some of you weren't around in the 80s to understand the amazing similarity of Ditka and Cowher.

Why excuse TG, he has spoken very negatively about the Bills chances this year. Of course, I expect he'll be changing his tune soon when they do better than he predicted. He'll probably say he saw their potential for a good year this year all along.

Funny thing is that Edwards either starts the season (barring injury) as the starter or possibly gets cut. Right now he is still entrenched as the #1 but if they went with Brohm in the end, then they would probably rather have Fitz backing him up and Brown as the 3rd string. If Edwards starts then Brohm could be #2 and Fitz gets cut.