billsfan89

Troup wasn't projected to be a 4th round pick at all. The guy was slotted somewhere in the late 2nd early 3rd round. Also UCF is in the Big East which while not a top tier conference isn't one of the bottom feeders in college football at all. All in all I do agree Troup was a reach BUT not as bad as you are stating it to be. Also Terrance Cody the player that a lot of pundits thought we should have drafted instead of Troup (I also was of that opinion) got hurt last season and wasn't dominant when he was playing either. As I said in a previous post rookie DT's just don't come in and dominate in their 1st year. It takes 2-3 years of progression. Troup isn't some freaky exception like Suh or Gerald McCoy.

Just keep this in mind up until last season when Suh and to a lesser extent Gerald McCoy broke out, DT was one of the positions that had the least impact in their rookie years. A lot of DT's don't come in right away and be that 2-3 down run stuffer (Especially at DT in a 4-3 and NT in a 3-4). Troup's lack of impact in his rookie year isn't a sign that he will be a bad player and bust. If he works hard to add some weight and strength in his second season he could still turn out to be a solid player. A lot of good players (Especially on the D-line and even more so at the DT/NT position)have lackluster first season and turn it on in their 2nd or 3rd year in the league.

If you draft well you win more games. There isn't any good side to bad drafting.

Good attitude to have but I am not expecting too much from a 6th round pick from last years draft. Still good mentality from this team.

Dareus is setting up lofty expectations. Lets hope he can back it up.

The offense played much worse when he wasn't in there. Yeah thats how bad the team was BUT Fitz upped the teams game its just the team didn't have that much game.

ESPN looks like one hell of a fun place to work.

Never been a big fan of this guy. He was a pretty good player but I thought his analysis was very mediocre.

Aren't coaches contracts gauranteed? Would this be in violation of their contracts? I guess that there has to be some sort of language in their contracts that makes this possible.

Its not hard to see why outsiders would think Fitz isn't the right fit for the team. But when you watch him play and see exactly what he is working with you see what we see and why a lot of fans buy into him as the starter. Its this season we shall hopefully see Fitz take this team to the next level. The team really responds to Fitz's play and the team has a lot of short comings that hampers Fitz. Fitz also has a lot of that intangibles that you can't always measure on the field.

Hell Yes I would bring in Big Pat. The guy can function well in a 3-4 (He played in one during his early Bills days). The current D-line roster looks like DE's Edwards, Carrington, and Darues with McCargo and Spencer Johnson on the bubble DT's Kyle Williams and Troup and Jasper on the bubble. Now I would rather have Kyle Williams play both DE and DT in a 3-4. Put Big Pat as a 4-3 look DT and as a spot NT in the 3-4. Give me a D-line of DE's Edwards, Dareus, Carrington, and Spencer Johnson (Or some other free agent as depth) DT's Williams (Spot playing DE), Troup, Big Pat, and if he shows up well in camp Jasper Now I understand that Big Pat would likely be a nostalgia trip BUT I still think he can be a serviceable presence on the D-line and teach younger players like Jasper, Carrington, and Troup. I think that his first few years in Buffalo they ran a 3-4 up until 2001 they ran a 3-4 and Big Pat was in Buffalo from 1998-2004.

You can't blame the fans at all. They support the team even when there isn't much to support. I can't see this organization being minor league in that regard (As oppose to Jacksonville whose fans don't support a winning product). As far as on the field goes its hard to argue the point. This team hasn't made the playoffs in a decade+. They haven't been knocking on the door in a long time either. BUT for the Bills winning seems to be what will turn things around. If the Bills go 10-6 next season and make the playoffs than suddenly the jokes about the Bills are farther and farther between. Hell if the Bills over the next 4 seasons go 8-8, 10-6, 11-5, and 12-4 almost all the Bills are bush league jokes will stop. Winning cures everything.

I honestly think a guy like Alex Smith will get the call to back up Fitz. It won't be someone brought in as a competitor to Fitz's starting job. I think that Smith works out well due to the fact that he is somewhat mobile and very smart.

He was truly too hot to handle to cold to hold RIP a wrestling legend.

Looking forward to Dareus and Williams on the D-line that alone should help the run D.

Exactly its posturing PR for the players to be holding these workouts. They hated these workouts for so many years, now they are suddenly doing them on their own?

I think that Fitz is the starter you don't want to bring in a QB like Young that will assume the starting role or compete directly with that. Now that's not to say that Levi Brown or Brohm should be the backup. There are a ton of other decent QB's you can get that will know their role as a backup QB.

Youth Football is not where concussions start. When kids are younger (Ages 8-12) they don't run fast enough to generate enough force to make collisions that cause concussions. Its not until kids reach junior high school that concussions occur and even than at that age (7th to 8th grade) its very rare they occur. High School Football is the ground zero for the concussion problem. A lot of concussions go undiagnosed in high school and things like helmet safety aren't always taken care of due to cost considerations.

D.Bell's strength is his pass protection. He is agile and light on his feet. The guy is some giant monster road grader that projects better as a RT. Bell isn't a monster run blocker and is a good pass blocker I don't understand this obsession some have with making him a RT his skill set if far better suited to the blind side.

If you watch Whitner you see that that might be a misleading stat. He is pretty bad in coverage on top of that. Also I don't think the guy wants to be in Buffalo anyway. Some team will offer a 6-7 million dollar a year offer for 4 years. Teams will get desperate for competent SS play. But for Buffalo that's too much money and its not really worth it. We also have Wilson who is a better player in my opinion.

If Butler was our RG he would help out the line a lot. Now don't get me wrong we have some competent players at RG right now but I think Butler would be the best of the bunch.

10-14 games is likely the minimum season they can go with if the lockout ends later but still with enough time to start a season there could be some sort of shortened season that length.

A lot of lineman drafted in rounds 4-5 tend to mostly be productive backups. Yeah starters emerge from those rounds but that's more so the exception to the rule rather than what usually happens. I hate to think that even if Hariston is just a capable backup thats still good value for a late 4th rounder.

Nice depth pick up Really see him having an impact on special teams. Also I saw a lot of boards pre-draft having him as the 2nd or 3rd best SS in the whole draft. Nix got great value in an early 4th rounder.

Hopefully I really thought that the Bills should have spent a higher pick on a RT. If they got a stud in the early 4th AND Dareus, Williams, and Sheppard pan out on the defense this draft could be gang busters. But its hard to get a great impact guy in those mid rounds.