Utah John

IMHO Marrone pitched DR to establish his own authority in the locker room. It's part of the culture change that's underway, and it might have been a high price to pay but it had to be paid. If DR came around as a rookie next year, now that Marrone is firmly in control, he might have kept him and worked on the molding clay business. As it is, we gave up DR plus Tashard Choice to the Colts for nothing, but they along with Kelvin Sheppard are still not as good as Jerry Hughes all by himself.

I remember that offensive holding used to be a 15 yard penalty. That was in the 60s. I don't know when it was changed to 10 yards but the reason given was that it killed too many drives, and the league wanted more offensive action and scoring.

Yes, the Bills let Wade go. They also let Bill Polian go. Also John Butler. I think Ralph went a little crazy in the early 90s and was bent on demonstrating his authority. Later on his flunky beancounter (Jeff Littman) took control, and the sinking ship was doomed.

I do agree that the rules about completed passes being ruled incomplete if the receiver doesn't "complete the process" whatever that means, need to be changed. If the receiver has possession (control of the ball) and takes a couple of steps, that should be a catch. The Calvin Johnson rule is just crazy.

I think it's more accurate to say that Dalton's team took him to the playoffs, not the other way around. Granted, with a QB of Dalton's capabilities, the Bills would have made the playoffs this year. So what, so we could be one and done like the Bengals? We should be thinking about the real goal, winning the SB. I think EJ has much more upside and has the potential to take the Bills a lot further than Dalton can take the Bengals. With that team around Dalton, there was no excuse for not winning today.

The Chiefs have been over-rated all year. The Bills pushed them all over the field until Tuel screwed up. I take the Colts at home One team playing in Philly has Drew Brees and the other doesn't. Saints. Bengals. The Chargers usually weren't hitting on more than 5 cylinders out of 8 all year, at best. Cinci at home, with their good defense and the cold weather playing mind games with the Chargers. Packers due to the weather in a close call. It's going to be a night game with temperatures at least 15 degrees below zero. Under less extreme conditions I would take the 49ers. This one could go the other way because passing will be so limited, so Kaepernick's mobility could turn into the decisive factor.

I think it's ironic that Powell's bad punts helped us lose to Cincinnati, which signed him and lost a game because of him. Like second marriages, it's the triumph of hope over experience, and looking too much at potential and not enough about what's real.

Here's a stat I would like to see. Compare the average yards rushing per game for each of the Bills opponents this year prior to playing the Bills, with the number of rushing yards they got against the Bills. Except for the second Miami game, when the Fish stupidly never really tried to establish the run, I think the Bills always gave up more rushing yards. Every team with a rushing disorder got healthy by playing Buffalo. Sacks and interceptions are really important in today's passing-mad NFL, but if you can't stop the run you can't win consistently.

Up to 2000 I was posting regularly as John in CA. Then I was John in VA. Then I stopped posting until recently, but I was lurking until I finally got reactivated. Anyway by far my favorite poster was Dean. Really good insights. I liked Lori too. I think there are a lot of good posters on now. I skip past the insults and ad hominem attacks, and I learn a lot about college players and other teams from the other posters.

I don't see what good it does for the Bills to have $20M+ spare room under the cap next year, freeing up space by not signing Byrd. They were far under the cap this year and didn't use the money. The whole thing is about bleeding the Bills to enrich Ralph's kids before he passes.

I think Byrd is a competitor who wants to win. I think he was out the door for sure at the end of the loss to the Falcons in Toronto. I think he looked around at this cheapskate organization that gives up a home game for a few million dollars, which it does NOT spend on better players, and figured his best chance to win is to leave. I'm really disappointed that it's headed this way, but I do not blame him. Maybe the Bills can use some of that Toronto cash to pay him what he's worth, but I think the money's going to Ralph's kids, not the team.

I completely agree, the problem is the LBs, not the defensive line. Time after time I see the LBs crashing the line and filling the wrong gap, leaving no one to stop a short gain from turning into 10 yards or so. Kiko does this a lot, but he has the talent to make plays and when he does guess right the results are great. Manny Lawson's value shows up when he's not there, and the Bills have no one with his skills. But that's the end of it. The rest of the LBs add nothing.

The primary advantage to signing Cutler or another good veteran is to avoid using another high pick on a QB. The team still has lots of needs in other positions, and while we did have injuries at some positions we avoided them in others so our lack of quality depth didn't hurt as much as it could have. The Bills need to get on track with solid drafts, hoping for another gold mine like this past year, fix their salary structure, and take their chances. I am not convinced about Manuel. Why the heck not take those shots? I think the coaches are holding him back, looking to expand his game next year. That's OK, could work out, but there's also Manuel's frequent injuries to think about. Thad Lewis is a valid 3rd stringer but there's no way he should have started so many games. Whether Manuel or the veteran they bring in will work out better probably depends on who can stand up on any given day. Not to make excuses for Cutler. He was doing well in Denver when Chicago traded for him. Gave up way too much. Made Denver a stronger team in the long run. Made Chicago a weaker team in the short and medium run. So Cutler gets dropped into a collapsing system in Chicago and still gets thinigs to work fairly well. He still has a cannon for an arm and several years experience with several years left in the tank.

Absolutely yes. Jackson won't make the Hall of Fame. He might have made it if he had gotten started in the NFL younger and hadn't been hurt during his most productive seasons, when he was leading the league in yards from scrimmage. But the WOF is exactly the right place to honor him. Do you think Booker Edgerson will make the HOF? Nope, never, but he was a great Bill during the first glory years and a great example of a professional, and clearly deserved his WOF. Fred Jackson is in that category. It's not his fault the organization screwed up so many draft picks, and went cheap on quality depth players, and made bad calls on key positions, or hired cheap hack coaching staffs prior to this one. He has ALWAYS played harder than anyone on the field and found ways to get key first downs when other backs would have taken losses. He's a very good pass blocker. He plays through injuries. He took Spiller under his wing and saw his own touches go down, and never complained. What else do you want from the guy? I also think Cookie and Lou Saban belong there, but they didn't kiss Wilson's ring or other body parts so that ain't happening.

The issue this year was never about Manuel being ready to be the guy. This was his year to prepare to be the guy. The Bills, with an average QB, would have made the playoffs this year. So what. Making the playoffs is not the goal. Winning the SB is the goal. Average QBs hardly ever win the SB. Trent Dilfer is the exception that proves the rule. For the Bills to made a deep playoff run next year, they'll need to do just as well with the next draft as they did this draft. They can't spare another 1st rounder on a QB, not when they need a killer LB and 3 offensive lineman. And I don't think the Bills are thinking QB in the first round. The Bills have convinced themselves that Manuel can be prepared and trained to be a SB-winning QB. OK, they're the pros, and their view is what matters. I would have a lot more confidence about this is they hadn't convinced themselves of the very same thing with Fitz not long ago. Granted the guys in charge now seem to have a clue whereas the guys a few years ago didn't. Still, I'm a skeptic. .

I'm with the "(1) Hope Carrington is on the team next year but (2) Eugene Parker" group on this one.

That high defensive ranking is hard to square with almost every opponent rushing for more than they had averaged prior to playing the Bills. Any opponent that committed to running against the Bills did so effectively. Miami's O-line is a disaster and maybe that's why they didn't try running, but the Bills actually have a good pass defense so it was pretty stupid not to attack where we've shown we're not good. Other than Alonso, and Jerry Hughes who is more of a defensive lineman, I don't think much of the Bills' LBs. That's probably the weakest area on the defense and the easiest to patch through free agency. I don't think the defensive line needs anyone else, considering Carrington is coming back and they have a bushel full of really good linemen already.

The Rochester D&C had an article listing 5 games the Bills lost while having an excellent chance to win. In fairness, two of the Bills' wins, against the Dolphins in Miami, and against the Panthers, had to break extremely right for the Bills to get wins. You can't consider one side without the other. But if from those 7 tight games, the Bills went 4-3 instead of 2-5, we would certainly be in the playoff picture. The Toronto game alone would not be sufficient. Assuming a win, we'd be 3-4 in the close games, not enough. Still what fool gives away any advantage in a close contest. The biggest reason the Bills are out of the playoffs is inability to stop the run. Time and again, opponents who couldn't run for an ice cream truck got healthy against the Bills. Why the Dolphins yesterday chose to ignore this weakness and challenge the Bills' strength goes more to stupidity on the part of the Dolphins than to great D for the Bills.

The Bills can draft another QB high, and have that guy flail and fail behind our crummy offensive line. Or they can fix the offensive line and see what Manuel can really do. I think the theory is that the only places on the O-line where talent matters is left tackle and center. I guess we found out that's not really true, after our two best guards left in free agency and our decent O-line last year turned into this year's disaster. Also of course we lost Hairston. But Pears and the two guards are not good enough to open holes for the excellent runners or to give any QB time to pass.

I'm 57 and can certainly remember worse losses. The 1966 championship loss preventing a trip to SB I. The Music City debacle. Wide right in our first SB. Losing after a halftime lead in our fourth SB. A playoff loss to Miami where Flutie played great and Moulds got caught from behind and fumbled, and eventually we lost. The playoff game against Pittsburgh when Bruce Smith couldn't play because he had the flu. Those were all important games. Today was a step toward a better draft choice. I was disappointed in the outcome, but the O-line has been getting progressively worse and it was no surprise that the offense couldn't do anything. The defense once again was the cure for whatever ailed the opposition's running game. The officials were beyond bad but it wouldn't have mattered if they called everything right.

We kept Graham over Rogers because the organization drafted Graham instead of drafting Russell Wilson. They're hoping in time the mistake won't look so bad. That may possibly be the worst decision since they drafted Torrell Troup instead of Gronkowski.

I apologize for a post about the Bills, but the most inept person in the organization is Jeff Littman. He's the bean counter telling Ralph what to do, and is the person responsible for all the cash-grabbing and cost-avoidance schemes the Bills do. Why play in Toronto? Get more money. Why be $20 million under this year's salary cap? Save money. This franchise will never succeed as long as Littman is in the picture, and he'll never be out of the picture while Ralph is the owner.

I wonder, which city loses its team first, Buffalo or Tampa (or Jacksonville)? And does the outcome of today's game have anything to do with that? It sounds like if the Bucs lose, they could fold up and leave town and the people there would shrug in disgust and help them pack. The Bills are a core part of Buffalo's DNA and no matter how bad they get people in WNY will not give up.

Choice got here because Gailey coached him at Ga Tech and Dallas. He's a professional and he never hurt the team. He just doesn't have any special talents. Just a grinder. With Gailey gone and us out of the playoffs, it makes sense to move on. This also sends a message to the team, not to get too comfortable with your roster spot. Which is good.

Brandon is now saying he's reviewing the Toronto plan, implying that it's possible it will be scaled back or terminated. I give Brandon a lot more credit than other posters here. He actually cares about winning, not like the bean counters like Jeff Littman who are after more and more money. I don't think Nix would have come out in public questioning a financial winner for the Bill. I give Brandon credit. Of course this could be mere PR to assuage the anger after the Falcons game. To me, the everlasting villain in the Bills organization is Littman. Bill Polian was forced out by Littman in 1993. Twenty years later the Bills have made money but have become persistent losers. Polian has been a success wherever he's gone.