Utah John

Chandler has been the kind of good-effort, low-talent player that fans of bad teams love. He seems like a really nice guy from the interviews I've seen. He got downfield with speed measured by calendars, not stop watches, but he got open a lot, was a good target, and made several big plays over the course of a season. But he was not a threat to burn a defense, or someone who could take the heat off our WRs. There are much more athletic TEs out there, who can also get open and make big plays, but who can force a defense to adjust its coverage. No one adjusted to cover Chandler. Maybe that's why he got so open -- the other team lost interest.

Fitz is a big upgrade over Geno, and could either start if necessary or mentor a rookie. Good move by the Jets. Fitz had a good year with Gailey, and Gailey seemed able to find ways to put Fitz in a position to succeed. Good move for Fitz. Fitz is a great guy and I wish him the best, except when playing the Bills. I don't think the Jets will be very good this year but they have added several important pieces to some they already had. I think they'll pick up CJ Spiller but not Fred Jackson -- they already have Chris Ivory who in some ways is a younger version of Fred.

The Jets are adding a lot of parts but still need a QB. I've been worried they'd get Mariotta along with Chris Ivory, giving them a very good backfield. The amount of money tied up in Revis will (I hope) prevent them from patching everything else that's wrong.

The fact that the Bills gave up a really good young LB and a lot of cap space to trade for McCoy indicates they don't think Jackson is the future as far as actual playing goes. He's a great leader. So is Kyle Williams. So where was that leadership when the Bills went to Oakland with a chance to solidify their playoff position, and dropped an absolute stinker to the lousy Raiders? Where was the leadership when the Bills gave up winnable games against Houston and KC? Sometimes people get into a comfort zone with what they know, and it holds them back from their potential. I absolutely love Freddie's game and his attributes as a man. But the Bills traded OJ Simpson when his skills were on the way down. Simpson was a much better player, and even he went. The Bills cut Thurman Thomas when his skills were on the way down (also due to cap problems). Thomas was also much better than Jackson. These things happen. It's part of life, and definitely part of football.

The trade is a done deal. Both teams gave up a lot. The Bills had a great defense last year without Alonso and figured they could give up some defensive talent to get an upgrade on offense. The Bills get a great RB, and lose a very promising yet often-injured LB and also give up a lot of cap space. I personally would have preferred help at other offensive positions and not losing the cap space, but that's my only gripe about the trade. The Bills have worked out a new contract with McCoy. There is no way they're walking this one back.

Keeping, cutting, or trading Freddie should be made for the sake of the team's best interests, this year and the next few years. It was clear that he had lost a step last year, but he had lost none of his toughness, desire, or heart. What's in the team's best interest, to keep a declining-ability yet stalwart leader, or to look elsewhere? Clearly bringing in McCoy and letting Spiller go indicates the Bills see the need for a shift. It's the other guys I wonder about. The Bills traded for Brown -- if Jackson is better, do they man up and admit the Brown trade wasn't a good idea? But Jackson costs a lot more than Brown and Dixon, and with so many holes on the offense maybe that indicates Jackson should go. The interest in the Jets' RB is surprising, other than that Ryan likes him. I think Jackson is a much better player. Maybe Ryan isn't sure Jackson has Ryan's back, and a strong leader who doesn't follow the coach could be a problem. At some point, maybe this year, Jackson will have to retire. Everyone does.

What Levy said, more or less, was "If you listen to the fans, you'll end up sitting with them." I saw one set of comments that had Fred being traded to San Francisco as part of a deal to bring in Colin Kaepernick (I have no idea if I spelled that right). Like most of Buffalo I love Fred Jackson as a player and as a man. But I'll remind you of another pretty good RB we traded to San Francisco at the same point in his career. OJ Simpson. Granted, even while he was in Buffalo, Simpson wasn't half the man Jackson is, and since then he's turned out to be not just a tiny fraction but actually negative. But let's be honest, he was a far better player. And the Bills of that day parted ways with him and moved on. If Fred leaves, will it hurt the locker room? Sure. But the guys who are left will realize the Bills are serious enough about winning that they'll make a cold, hard decision to improve the team on the field. I just hope he gets traded to an NFC team so the Bills can face him in the Super Bowl.

FJ is one of my all-time favorite Bills. If he's on his way out, I'll miss him and regret he didn't get the chance to play for the Bills in the playoffs. I saw that the Steelers cut Brett Keisel who I think the Steelers regard the same way most of do Freddie. Keisel was a 7th round pick who lasted 13 seasons and was a strong contributor. You can consider them both as overachievers, or just really good players, with a great heart and a strong link to the community.

I'm glad for Moats. He played hard and did well for the Bills. But, he isn't as good as the guys we have now. How the world has changed when a Bills D castoff is a starter (part time) for the Steelers.

Gee, why all the snark? Smith did a good job as a blocker, which is why he was on the team. He wasn't a receiving threat, but his name was easier to spell than Remeersma or Metzelaars (both of which I had to guess at).

I recall reading that the best defense is a good offense. Last year's D played great, with an offense that struggled to move the ball. This year the O should be better, reducing the pressure on the D. Or so one hopes. If it works out and the O improves, the D will be fine even with the losses. If we get Revis, we win the AFCE.

Not really. Rex got whored by his own QBs. Given chance after chance to put the game away, Orton hardly did anything. Eventually Watkins took a quick slant, cut between two defenders, and showed everyone why the Bills traded for him. But Orton was pretty substandard.

I think Kemp is partly right and partly misses the point. The Thurman jersey itself isn't the point, it's that Ryan is reaching out to the local community and trying to tie the current Bills organization to that of 25 years ago. That's important. But can he coach, that's a good question. Sending Schwartz packing to install his own favorite defense -- could work out, could be a disaster, it's Ryan's call and it's Ryan's responsibility. It was so great to see the Bills playing really good defense the past two years, and I would hate to see the guys who made it work for Schwartz floundering in a new set. I still don't understand how you take Hughes-Williams-Dareus-Williams and play a 3-4. Even if Hughes leaves, how do you play a 3-4 with those guys? Kyle Williams is a great DT but isn't built to be a DE. Mario Williams is a great DE but doesn't have the speed beyond 10 yards to be a good LB. So many people are infatuated with Rex Ryan, but Kemp is right -- it's results that matter. And, not only can he coach, but can he lead? His time in NY was me unsure. He's doing leadership stuff but a leader also has to let people know what's expected and allowed. I hope this part works out too.

Hogan is a lacrosse player who learned to play football. He's gotten better every year, and is clearly a smart, excellent athlete. I don't think any of us know what his ceiling is. Welker suddenly became a great receiver when he had the two best QBs of this era throwing to him, and the craftiest coach in the game. Miiigghhht be a little bit of a coincidence there, or maybe he just needed to be exploited. I am not saying Hogan has Welker's talent, but I'm not saying he can't become really good if he keeps developing. Also, I think it was just stupid to cut Mike Williams loose. We gave up a pick for him and it would be great to see if he could do well in a new system.

Fitz was not a bad QB for the Bills. He was actually OK. It just seemed to most fans and to the team that he was never going to be the guy to take them to a championship. Unfortunately he got really hot for a month one year and got a huge contract. When it became clear he wasn't going to play to that high level consistently, it became impossible to keep him around and to bring in the guy who we hoped WOULD get us a championship. The biggest problem was that stupid huge contract. If he was getting the kind of salary a good backup deserves, he'd probably still be here, he'd be playing while EJ watched, we never would have visited Ortonville, and we'd have probably been in the playoffs this year. We certainly would have beaten Houston, which would have had...oh I don't know, maybe Kyle Orton...as their QB.

I always suspected the Sabres No-Goal game was awarded to the Stars because the refs just couldn't stand looking at the Smoking Goatheads for one more minute. And in honor of Dave Barry, "Smoking Goatheads" would be a great name for a rock band.

The best part of the Bills or the Jets signing Revis is, the Pats wouldn't be able to play the same kind of defense. I'd almost prefer the Jets get him and use up THEIR cap money, but if it's the Bills who get him I'll be OK with that too.

Usually stereotypes are based on some element of truth, and with New Jersey there are parts that aren't very nice. Port Elizabeth reminds me of what it smelled like driving to Niagara Falls from Buffalo in the 60s -- one chemical smell after another. So the jokes (the New Jersey state bird is the mosquito, the state gemstone is concrete, and the state tree is dead) make sense but only if you don't look around. Most of New Jersey is actually really nice. I read once it's the most densely forested state in the country. Lots of nice towns, close enough to NYC and Philly to get to big cities. Ocean beaches. Apparently not quite in NYS's league for corruption in politics. If anything I think it's overlooked because a lot of it's a bedroom for bigger cities elsewhere. That house looked really nice, IMHO. Property costs a lot there but that might be a realistic price, at least as a starting point for discussions.

To me this comes down to playing to your own strengths. When the game is on the line, you don't give up your own best weapon voluntarily. You make the other guy stop your best weapon.

Do you think Justin Brown is better than Mike Williams? I suspect Williams is so pissed at the Bills after what happened to him that he won't ever consider coming back, but with Marrone gone, maybe there's a chance. He's from Buffalo after all and might want to show everyone how Marrone screwed him over. I never understood why they released Williams instead of just keeping him around to compete next year.

If the Jets can't draft Mariota, I'll bet a nickel they trade for Manziel. They seem to like young QBs who were good in college but can't transition to the NFL. Julian Edelman made the switch from college QB to NFL WR, and he's pretty darn good. I always figured Tebow would make a good TE but he had the sin of pride and wouldn't lower himself to anything other than QB. I wonder if Manziel could play WR.

I think it's clear that Brady is just beginning to slip a little. He's still really good but is even more antsy when pressured than he used to be. The question is, will he degrade faster than the Bills' defense? Great team Ds don't stay great for more than a couple of years. Players get hurt, players get old, players leave as FAs, coaches leave, coaches don't adapt as the offensive game changes, etc. There's only a couple of years before the Bills' D goes from winning them more games than it loses, to vice versa. So can they keep playing at a high level longer than Brady can stay good?

I think it's 60-40. 60% of the benefit of signing Revis is the harm it does to NE, and 40% of the benefit is making the Bills already-great defense somewhat better. The cheapest and most cost effective outcome is if some NFC team signs him. Maybe Pegula can slip one of his fellow billionaires a few bucks to make that happen. The Pats defense was Revis, Jaime Collins (who's turning into a great player), Vincent Wilfork (who's slowing down), wily old Ninkovich, and a bunch of other guys. (It's OK if I don't know them, but you'd think Russell Wilson would have learned about them. Oh well.) The point is that Belichek and Patricia built a very good defense around just a few good players. Take one or two away, and their house of cards tumbles. It's a close call, but considering most of the benefit to the deal would be in hurting NE, and the lost opportunity to sign other players, I'd say no, if an NFC team were to sign him, and yes if he would return to NE otherwise.

The OP's premise is really wrong. The Bills were built to take the lead and then force the opponent to go to the air to catch up. That played into the teeth of the Bills' defense. The O and D WERE aligned.

I have never knowingly heard one of her songs. Not that I avoid them but I just don't listen to pop music, and if someone else has it on I usually don't know who the performer is. (Bruno Mars is good, I have to say.) The only thing I remember about Perry is she showed up to tape a Sesame Street episode in a top the producers thought was too revealing, and they sent her home. Can she sing? I guess I'll find out. She can't be any worse than the Who a couple of years ago, way past their prime guys who used to be great but now are Who the %^%^& was THAT?