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I agree with this. We didn't get to see what Davis is capable of as a 3-4 ILB last year due to the injuries, he's solid. You just don't want him in there on 3rd & long.

Williams excels at slot coverage. You can count on him to be predominantly the nickel/slot DB.

Aaron Williams specializes in slot coverage. Now that Florence is back, he & McKelvin have the outside while Williams gets the slot guys. I'm optimistic, but have a hard time seeing him keep up with Welker...

I'm in Chicago too. It should be very easy to get cheap tickets to the preseason game. Bears season tix holders had to pay full price for the preseason games, and are not happy about it. If they can recoup 40-50% of that, they'll be happy. Plus nobody cares about preseason, so they're options to sell are limited. If you go the stubhub route, you'll be looking at near face value. Outside the stadium before the game, you should find somebody selling in the $25-30 range.

Dareus will have the most impact, but it won't be quantifiable as stats. The Bills' Run D should be much better, but Von Miller's 8 sacks will overshadow Dareus's superior season in the eyes of most media/fans.

I take it you are predicting injury to Merriman? Batten has never played an NFL down. I think we're getting WAY ahead of ourselves penciling him in as anything other than Special Teams at this point. I think he has good potential, but he's not even a lock to make the roster, yet.

West Coast Offense QBs are not a good fit for Gailey's offense. Tarvaris has been groomed in the WCO for the past 4 years, he would not be able to come to Buffalo and thrive in our offense. Same goes for McNabb & Hasselbeck, but at least they've shown they can play. If our #2 QB is not Thigpen, it'll be a smart gritty type like Gradkowski.

I've lived in the Chicago area my whole life. The Bills became my team in 1988 & I got hooked. 9 years later, I was lucky enough to meet a girl who grew up in Buffalo & married her. We're Bills fans for life. Most of my friends are Bears fans, they know I don't have any interest in their team & they don't care about mine, though I admittedly rooted for the Bears to lose the NFC championship game last year. I rarely see anybody else around here sporting Bills gear, but it does happen.

I'm pretty sure the OP meant 1500 yards from scrimmage when he said all-purpose yards. 1500 yards for Spiller without including returns would be a huge season. I'd love to see it, but I wouldn't call it likely.

I went to a Bungles/Ravens game there 2 years ago. We had 2nd level tickets, and swapped them plus some $$$ with a scalper for endzone seats that were about 20 rows up, not knowing everybody there stands up the entire game. It was pretty annoying, I was hung over as hell and just wanted to sit and watch the game. I'd have traded my seat for one in the nosebleeds where I could actually sit in a heartbeat. I recommend staying downtown. The downtown area clears out on weekends & hotels have tons of vacancy. I got 2 rooms on Priceline for $39/night each. I cant remember which hotel it was, but it was one of the big chains & very nice, 4 star. The stadium was only a 5-6 block walk.

Again, Matt Hasselbeck is strictly a West Coast Offense QB, he is not system-diverse. Anybody remember Jeff Garcia in Cleveland & Detroit? That's what happens when a WCO "system QB" leaves the system he is suited for. Hasselbeck would crash & burn in our offense, even if given the starting job by the Bills.

Hasselbeck is a protypical West Coast Offense QB, not a great fit for the Gailey's offense. Same reason Buddy/Chan passed on Dalton, IMO. Plus, probably less than a 1% chance that Hasselbeck would accept a backup role on a rebuilding team at this stage of his career.

Favre?

The rookie salary cap will make the #1 pick extremely valuable, and highly coveted by a lot of teams. I could easily see teams lining up to trade for the #1 pick in 2012 to get Luck, it would bring in a haul bigger than the Hershel Walker trade. The Bills would be stupid to pass on what would probably amount to two 1st rounders & two 2nd rounders in exchange for the pick, just to pick a QB in the top-3 in consecutive years.

No they didn't, but they did make the AFC Championship Game.

There is a big misconception about the bench test being indicative of functional strength. The 225lb bench press is not a test of strength for lineman, it's really a test of muscular endurance. 225lbs is just not a lot of weight for players over 270lbs. For lineman, lifting 315lbs would be better test for strength. I'd be willing to gamble the guy who had the most reps at the combine would not have the highest 1-rep max bench of all the attendees. Back before the NFL Combine was all the rage, I witnessed a bench press challenge between 2 of my college friends, to see who could bench 225lbs the most times. One guy was a monster powerlifter who was pretty pudgy & could bench press over 450lbs, the other guy was just a regular muscular dude in good all-around shape who could max 350ish. Everybody assumed the bigger & stronger guy would win and laughed at the challenge. The big strong powerlifter only got it about 20x, while the other guy was around 25x. Obviously the guy who can bench press 450lbs was stronger, but his lifting endurance was sub-par.

Agreed. Gholston's only chance at redemption is trying his hand at 4-3 DE. It worked for Jason Babin, seems like Gholston could become serviceable in a system that suits him, but that's not Buffalo.

Of course the Falcons didn't franchise Clabo. If they had, he'd be getting paid the average of the top-5 Left Tackles. The franchise player designation doesn't separate right or left tackles, it uses the highest paid OTs to determine the dollar figure. No team is stupid enough to pay a RT top-5 money, even for a year. Clabo is a top RT, and getting him in FA would be a HUGE signing for this team.

I think Boss, or Zach Miller (obviously) better fit the Bills' needs due to their blocking abilities, but Shockey would be easily a 300% improvement over TEs currently on the roster. Shockey seems cocky enough to grossly overvalue his skills, and if he's gonna take pedestrian money, it'll be for a contender, not a rebuilding team.

Some posters really have irrational expectations for Easley. As a 4th round pick who missed his entire rookie season, he's not even a lock to make the final roster. Plus, it takes 90% of WRs a few years to even get to the point where they can be counted on as a starter. The talk about dumping Evans because Easley will step right in completely dumbfounds me. I agree he has very nice potential, but anything Easley can give in 2011 should be considered gravy. 25 catches & 2-3 TDs would be a nice first season for him.

A mountain lion was caught near Wrigley Field in Chicago about a year ago.

Actually, Antowain Smith was a very large part of his team's success that year. 13 TDs & over 1300 total yds.

I live in Chicago. I have not heard 1 person mention Pisa or anything mentioned on tv/radio. The only news I've heard of the guy is on this board. Though being a Bills fan, I really don't pay much attention to Bears talk on tv...

I'm sure he'll start the season on the PUP list, that'll buy 6 weeks to see where he's at in his recovery. I highly doubt he's IR'd.

I have the navy blue Lynch jersey from jersey101. It does NOT look like the one in that photo, it looks much closer to the real thing. I've worn it in public 5+ times and never had anyone question the authenticity. But I don't live anywhere near NY, so most people here haven't seen a Bills jersey except on TV. Appearance-wise it's very good. It has real NFL logos & tags, which are flawless. The material is high grade & all the colors are the same as the real jersey. The only real difference I see is the stitching. Nothing visibly wrong, but I doubt it'd stand up to playing a game in it, like the real authentics are made for. I got it for $35 shipped, you really can't go wrong. It did take around 17 days for it to arrive though.