afcfan1

You guys are all correct. I am wrong. The list of WRs excelling at the age of 35-36 is a long one. I'm sure he's going to be a stud and a perfect teammate. The problem with you folks is I have history and logic backing me up while you have pathetic wishful thinking. Every team has been happy to see the guy leave, and I know Buffalo will be no different. No worries though. The Bills have superstar Fred Jackson. When there is so much excitement on a team's message board about the resigning of a complaining backup RB, you know you're dealing with a thriving franchise.

The guy is a frickin backup for the least important position on an NFL team. Who cares??? The Bills are not going to win any additional games because Fred Jackson is on the team.

He is no longer an Elite player, and the numbers prove that. Despite seeing single coverage for most of the year, he was a non factor in half of the games. He is 35 and will turn 36 this season. Do you honestly believe he is going to be a better player this year, or is it logical to expect his skills to diminish a little bit more? There is a reason the Cowboys cut him, and his scum bag personality isn't the entire reason. Another year older, with less talent around him and playing in the northeast US in late Nov-Dec, I think we can expect to see some pretty avg numbers from good ol' TO.

Fred Jackson signs = who outside of Buffalo cares

I agree this should let Evans become a better player. However, my comment was about TO. A lot of people on this board are thinking the TO of 3-5 years ago is the TO you are getting. TO is 35, and will turn 36 this season. I am simply stating it's logical to assume he is going to be a worse player than he was last year simply because of age and less talent around him. Last year TO was not an elite WR. He had no impact in 1/2 the games the Cowboys played last season. Do you honestly think Jerry Jones released him simply because of his character flaws? When has he ever done that? No, it is because his skills are obviously diminishing, and TO seems to be the only person who doesn't see it. Combine that with his abrasive personality, and you have something to be concerned with. How do you think TO's going to respond when Trent doesn't have the time to get the ball deep, or when you can't throw it 40 times/game in late Nov and Dec because of weather? Do you think he's going to go to his press conf. after one of these losses and be professional, or do you think he's going to throw everybody and anybody he can under the bus. I know what history says.

TO is not even close to the same player he was when he was getting those numbers. He had less than 40 yds in half of the games last year, and he was surrounded by more talent. He is another year older and will turn 36 this year, so do you expect him to be better this year??? If he was a non-factor in half of the games last year and he's just another year older, it's reasonable to expect him to be even less effective this year. When this happens, TO and his dirtbag character will be in full effect. TO is becoming an average WR, and that is going to drive him crazy.

1. OL 2. DL 3. LB 4. QB Not looking good when the 2 weakest parts of your team are the offensive and defensive lines. But who really cares when you have a threat like Fred Jackson in the backfield. Superbowl it is!!!

My bad for the spelling, but the point remains the same. I read somewhere (I think in a Carucci chat), that Bills season ticket sales have gone up this year. My question would be why? I don't know if the local media just does an excellent job of selling optimism, or if Bills fans just don't care that their team goes into every season at a serious talent disadvantage. What reason does Ralph Wilson have to put more money into this team? I know Bills homers look at the team and think the is talent there, but in my opinion the talent just seems to be in the positions where it doesn't matter that much. You have a 1st round pick at RB, and you're seriously considering bending to the will of Fred Jackson???? Are you kidding me?? The guy is almost 30 yrs old, lucky to be in the league and should be sent packing if he doesn't take what the Bills are offering. Honestly, how many wins do you think the Bills will have because Fred fricking Jackson is on their team. Spend that $$ and the $$ spent on Skills Diminishing, Cancer Causing TO on the DL and OL. That is where quality teams are made. So the Bills are going into next season with a Raider castaway at LT and a bunch of unproven guys playing new positions on the OL. Combine that with only one guy on the DL that can play the run and a mediocre LB core, and you have the 2009 Bills. As for how you get a change in ownership, your guess is as good as mine.

In my opinion, CB is the 2nd least important position next to RB. If your pass rush is good, avg CBs become good, and if you have no pass rush (ala the Bills), you could have D. Sanders, D. Green and M. Haynes back there and it wouldn't matter. Look at the Steelers CBs last year. None of them are what you would consider "Lock Down" guys. Look at the Giants the year before, look at the Colts before that, etc, etc.

How about when he makes a play that matters. The guy hasn't proven to be any better than Mr. Losman.

Bills fans are so funny. When I cited an article Don Banks wrote about the videotaping of signals being the "Most Common" type of cheating that goes on in the NFL, people on this board said he was a Pats homer. Now that he states the Bills may make the playoffs, he's a great writer. Your hypocracy knows no bounds. Writers that write bad things about the Bills are accurate more often than those that write the good. Your franchise has become a laughing stock in the NFL, and you have your ownership to thank for that. Unless the ownership changes, your team is sentenced to sub-mediocrity.

I don't think the Pats will have any interest. He's smaller than what the Pats typically look for in a 3-4 MLB. Any time you get somebody the Pats want??? When was the last time this happened? If the Pats have any interest at all, the Bills can kiss him goodbye.

Actually, I was trying to edit and I deleted on accident. I just didn't want to type everything over.

Who are all of these speed guys of the Bills? Evans, Parish, Leodis and who else? I think Bills fans are the only people who consider the Bills a "speed" team. Hate to break this to you, but you have no more speed than the Pats.

Without a dominant D, you're offense goes as the QB goes. You guys have an avg-below avg QB, so you are going to have an avg-below avg offense. Sorry. To compare the 09 Bills to one of the best offenses of all time is beyond laughable. A better question would the how many games before TO snaps? I'll take 4.

Tackles for loss are more a result of quickness and pursuit, which is Maybin's strength. As for his ability to stand up offensive linemen and tight ends and flat out stuff the run, he has not shown that ability. I would argue the Bills 22nd ranking would have been worse if Schobel had played more. Kelsay and Denney are both better at playing the run than he is.

Based on the Bills performance, I would say Rod Woodson is in the sronger position than yourself. You are what you are.

He's also never been on a team so bad. Every team he has ever been on was successful before he got there. He's also going to be playing with the least talented QB of his career (that should go real well). Continuity????? How many guys on that OL will be playing the same position on the Bills line they did last year? Gotta love the wishful thinking that goes on with Bills fans every April-AUgust. But everybody knows when the reality of Sept-Dec rolls around, Bills fans will get the stiff kick in the groin they get every year. The Bills just do not possess very much talent on their roster, and that seems to be the case year in and year out.

It's not arguable. The OL sucks and Trent Edwards hasn't proven to be anything more than a below avg-avg QB. TO is at the end of his run, and his skills are obviously diminishing. He was not the explosive player last year that he has been in the past, despite being surrounded by a lot more offensive talent than what he will have with the Bills. Lynch is a quality back, Evans is a dynamic deep threat and TO, despite slowing down, is a quality WR. In all other areas the Bills are below avg.

I love Bills fans speaking from a position of superiority over the Lions. The majority of professional analysts were a lot more impressed with the Lion's pick of Pettigrew than with the Bill's pick of Maybin. With this pick, the Bills are going to have a DL consisting of an undersized rookie who couldn't play the run in college, Schobel (can't play the run) and Kyle Williams (classic overachiever who gets pushed around in the running game). Stroud is a beast but can't do it on his own. Combine that with an undersized LB core, and I will confidently pick the Bills to finish in the bottom 5 in th NFL in run D. How Bills fans can be happy with an offseason that sees their team trade away there best offensive lineman without replacing him via the draft or FA is beyond me. Trent Edwards is going to get fricking killed this year. Don't even talk about L Walker, because I know intelligent Bills fans can't type anything good about him with a straight face. Every year the Bills attempt to patch holes in their lineup while creating new ones somewhere else. The personnel decisions by this team are the reason Buffalo is one of the laughing stocks of the NFL, and currently tied (with the Lions) for longest playoff drought in the league.

Through our discussions I've thought you have made some good points, but solo vs. total tackles is not one of them. I really think it is absolutely pointless. I checked the 08 tackling stats of the universally accepted top 3 safeties in the NFL, Reed, Polamalu and Sanders. Using your logic Fabian Washington and Samari Rolle were more effective than Reed, Ike Taylor and Brant McFadden were more effective than Polamalu and Kevin Hayden and Marlin Jackson were more effective than Sanders. All of these corner tandems had higher solo tackle vs. total tackle percentages than their respective safety. Corners make a higher percentage of solo tackles than safeties do. It's a fact. Corners are "on an island" more frequently where they have to make one on one tackles. Safeties play in the thick of everyone, where gang tackles usually take place. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know this. When you are having to resort to these kinds of bogus stats to make the case for Byrd being a better player than Chung, you are obviously not in a very strong position.

Nothing I said suggests he was a better player??? Chung was All Conf. in 07 and 08, Byrd only 08. Chung was a 2 time captain, as voted by his peers, Byrd wasn't. Also, you gave some pretty misleading data when comparing the percentage of solo vs. total tackles earlier. I would assume this is because safeties are asked to support the run around the line of scrimmage a lot more frequently than corners. By doing that there are more people around the ball to make tackles. You say it shows "strength" on the part of Byrd to make these "Solo" tackles. One could also argue, it means he gave up a lot of completions, and got there too late to break up the ball, but in time to tackle. I would say a 4.68 40 time would help support this hypothesis. I am still waiting for all of these sites that had Byrd rated as the 2nd highest safety in this draft as I was told in a previous post. I'll also wait for a comment similar to Chung's coach stating they are going to have to wait awhile to get another player like him.

I don't know why Bills fans are so excited about Byrd. You can use all of the descriptions above to describe Byrd as well as Whitner. Watching a safety tandem of Top 10 Whitner and Cement-Footed Byrd should be fun to watch from a Bills opponent's perspective.

Chung did not play SS at all. He actually played the Rover position, which requires a unique set of skills, including the ability to run real well and hit like a truck. The Oregon coaches firmly believed he's a special talent. Here's a predraft quote from his position coach at Oregon, "He's got to be a blitzer. He's got to be a linebacker sometimes. He's got to be a deep-third corner. He's got to be a middle safety, a half safety, and he's got to be able to cover a wide receiver man to man," said Neal. "No position asks a guy to do more. When I get another guy who can do that, it will be awhile." Also, Chung was a 2 time 1st team All Pac 10 and 2 time team captain. Obviously, I am not in the minority in thinking Chung is the superior player. Also, this is not really part of our debate, but I found it interesting. Did you know Chung came to Oregon as a 16 year old freshman? That's the only reason he was redshirted. How many 21 year old 5 year college students do you see? Just thought it was interesting.

I can't tell if your being serious. Larry Fitzgerald was the best receiver in college football, so I don't know what you're getting at. Comparing him to Ed Reed? Are you being serious? I can tell you Pats fans all over the country are hoping the Buffalo Bills safeties consist of Jarius Byrd and Donte Whitner. According the majority of people that get paid to analyze these things, Byrd wasn't the best player in his own defensive backfield. The Pats ended up with thst guy. Byrd had some picks in college...good for him. He cannot run even at a moderately acceptable level. 4.68. I know the 40 isn't everything, but that is terrible. By the way, I'm not sure who led the NCAA in picks last year (2008), but in 2007 it was a BC kid by the name of Jamie Silva. I don't blame you if you haven't heard of him, but he was also considered a "ball hawk" who couldn't run a lick. Like I said, I don't think the 40 is the end all be all, but I do think you need to run at a minimum level to be a successful DB in the NFL. I don't believe 4.68 is it.