transient

"The gloves are off, God." "God has taken my bird and my bush." "God is a mean kid with a magnifying glass." "Smite me, O mighty smiter!" Now, I'm not much for blaspheming, but that last one made me laugh. ... Morgan Freeman dammit!! I knew that film was gonna come back and take an even bigger bite out of Buffalo's ass!

He was as exquisite as a fine caviar...

Anyways, their oughtsta-could bee a law bout posters bashin oer's bad grammar irregardless of they're owen shortcomins.

Personally, I'd rather see BPA in 1st and take a chance that one of the QBs in a deep class will be there in 2nd or 3rd if a QB isn't BPA, especially if one doesn't separate himself from the pack. Regardless of Bama, those arguing for Mallet should take a look at the abysmal second half of the Georgia game minus the last drive. As for Bama, he gave them the points... those were some pretty ugly picks to throw when your team is up by 13. Unlike the broadcast team who thought he was trying to throw the ball out of bounds at the end, I think he was trying to hit his back. He's got the balls to throw and a good arm, but his accuracy needs work. For those saying we can't go through another season with Fitz, unless Brohm steps up I think we do just that (unless whoever we draft progresses really quickly). No sense throwing a rookie to the wolves before he's ready when you have a QB with second string talent but a good (albeit, crazily huge) head for the game to set the perfect bar for when to put your "future" into the game. Let him learn how to "think" NFL football behind Fitz for a while, and put him at the point that he gives you a better chance to win.

IIRC, much of the hatred stemmed from him making a poorly timed off-handed comment about the snow... go figure. I've always viewed the color man as either noticeable, which is generally a bad thing, or part of the background, which is how it should be since the game should be center stage (play-by-play is a different story). I've really never noticed Dierdorf.

The General Mills plant is right by downtown and early in the morning the city literally smells like Cheerios. I used to work at Roswell Park, and would park in the ramp on the top uncovered level, and in the summer when the weather was nice with just a mild breeze it was an absolutely unmistakable smell...

Just a little good natured ribbing on what without the inside information appears to be quite a mouthful of letters. As for the Road scholar thing, I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. I think people are just having some fun with it, especially given your initial assertion that you're not a Bills fan. You've been here since '08, so you probably realize this isn't even in the same league with some of the stupid things that get posted.

Now that you've straightened that out, maybe you could help him with his username.

Not to mention that if Brohm tanks and gets cut after this season, you've got your young project dime-a-dozen QB with some system experience to look at for next year and beyond to serve as your disaster QB this year.

IMO, the only player available who was clearly better than what was already on the roster and who could fill the position for the foreseeable future was McNabb, whom I still believe they made overtures about despite Nix's gamesmanship. The important part being CLEARLY better. If you bring in someone who MIGHT be better and he doesn't pan out, you've wasted the time evaluating them instead of the guy who's already here. Unfortunately, there's no quick and easy way to answer this, otherwise anyone who is good enough to be considered for NFL GM and coaching job should be able to figure it out. I think they considered how much they liked this year's available QB crop versus what might be available next draft/offseason compared to what was here, and decided to evaluate what was here. Think about some of the names that were trotted out on this board, and think about what the board's response would have been if Edwards had just been cut from a different team under the same circumstances. We'd be lighting the board up to bring him in. With regard to your previous post, I do believe they're trying to win games now while evaluating talent. If not for a few miscues and a defense that couldn't stop the run at all (unlike the previous two weeks) we would have won Sunday, which was a clear improvement. With Brohm, I think you give him second team reps until you feel he's near the level of Fitz in giving you a chance to win. If you don't get there before a certain predetermined point in the schedule you can approach it one of two ways, consider it likely that he will never get there, or put him in the game at that point and see what he does despite the fact it might not be your best chance to win. That point can come with ___ games left in the season, mathematical elimination from the playoffs, whatever arbitrary endpoint the coaches want, or with Brohm's improvement. Regardless, if done right it should answer the question of how early in the draft we need to address QB next year. Ultimately Fitz might serve as the player holding the position until the successor is ready to take over, so this process is an evaluation of him, as well. Just my opinion...

I think the reason people like it is because it is decidedly level-headed and mildly pro-Bills, much like your response is level-headed and mildly critical. This team has cetainly warranted criticism over the last decade, and unfortunately this new regime is going to reap its share of it garnered from the incompetency of their predecessors, fair or not. Criticizing their decisions before giving them due time to succeed or fail is what is getting trite and hard to read, and this article was definitely not that. I can see the point of those who say TE was on a downward trend and it should have been obvious, but I also happen to believe that the only way for the staff to prove to THEMSELVES (not to the fans that had made up their minds and wouldn't be swayed) that it wasn't terrible/absent coaching was to approach it this way. Nix is on record publicly stating that the circumstances surrounding last season offense were a recipe for failure. If Edwards had failed in preseason they would have pulled the plug then I would assume, but he looked good. You can make the argument that Fitz or Brohm only got to work with the second team, but you can also make the argument a first team talent playing against second team players should show signs of that talent regardless of his surrounding cast, which neither of them did. The quickest way to rebuild this team, IMO, is going to be by determining what is already on the roster and can wait a season or two to turnover, and what needs to be addressed right now. If they find players that fit what they're trying to do, replacing the players that don't should make the holdovers look even better and buy some time while making the team more competitive both now and in the long run. I don't think the positions in need of improvement are in dispute between the front office and the fans so much as the order, timeframe, and methods for addressing them are.

If you are measuring the season based on the Jets, Ravens, or Steelers game, or for any other game this season, then it is no surprise that you wouldn't agree with this article. The whole point was that the front office and coaching staff are evaluating players to see if they fit the long term plan, and if not planning accordingly. Don't kid yourself, figuring out who on this team can play will come at the expense of wins this season. Not picking up a LT and letting Bell prove he can play the position is part of this as well. Green appears to be a "swing and a miss", but Nix's comment about "watching the same game you guys did" after the Green Bay game would suggest that is also not a surprise to him, and bringing in Urbik may have in response to his play the week before in the 'phins game, suggesting he knew it before the fans did (imagine that). As for Edwards paying the price, Gailey is the offensive coordinator and is apparently very involved in coaching QBs. TE said all offseason that it was nice to have one voice to answer to. Gailey knows exactly what he has been coaching his QBs to do, and two games is enough time to try to correct the problems from game one and see them be made again in game two. If it looks just like the film from the last two seasons, then it's enough to draw conclusions from. Credit the front office and coaching staff for thinking for themselves and doing it quickly. IMO a staff with a plan that they are implementing already by game three is way ahead of the previous three regimes. Regarding the article, it's refreshing to see a journalist divorce himself from his fandom and think about a subject objectively before just angrily taking out his rancor on his keyboard because he's too short-sighted to consider there may actually be a plan in place. I wish Graham, Sullivan, and most of the national media could realize that recognizing there has been actual thought about these actions is not synonymous with personally agreeing with or expecting success from the plan. Recognizing that there is a plan in place says nothing of whether it will work. Nix himself has alluded to the fact that only time will tell. Kudos to Bob DiCesare for recognizing this and fighting the urge to mail it in and ride the wave of media furthered negativity surrounding this team.

He's ignored knee jerk pessimistic reactions by fans and committed to building a team the right way, despite the fact that you feel it should have happened the minute he walked through the door. And some are so pissed at the new guy's predecessors that they can't open their eyes to who they're mad at and give him a chance. Firing him after three games ensures that this misery will be never ending.

He can't help it, the centripetal force from his head unbalances his throwing motion, and it affects his accuracy. He can only compensate for it early in the games. By the fourth quarter his neck muscles are spent!!

I bet you get frustrated when your microwave popcorn doesn't pop fast enough. It's game three of a rebuild, get some perspective.

I think the transition to the 3-4 made sense, and that they thought they could sink draft picks into positions of definite need (Spiller pick aside) while evaluating what they had on the roster at QB and LT where there were no players available who they clearly thought would come in and start this season. LB is a definite concern, but it's not unreasonable to see who they could successfully convert from DE to OLB before deciding that they needed to be replaced NOW. I feel they are trying to prioritize their rebuild by determining what positions need to be upgraded first after they've fully gotten a handle on the current roster, which unfortunately can't be accomplished in the preseason due to the vanilla nature of it.

Just because Gailey was talking him up doesn't mean he thought he was the answer. As for picking him, he clearly had the best preseason of the three against the opposition's #1 defenses. I'm sure Gailey was trying to be as supportive as possible in an effort to get the best out of him. What would you have rather he did, complain publicly that he's the best of a bad lot... admit that he was on a short leash while they determine if he has a chance to translate his preseason to the regular season... undermine any little bit of confidence that he might have... admit to the fans that they don't have the long term solution at QB on the roster to save face despite the message it would send to the team? Just because Florio thinks they could have done it differently doesn't mean this wasn't part of the plan... the short time that it took to make the decision makes me think it could have been the plan all along. In what scenario would we need him, though? To fill in for a game or two so that we don't ruin our playoff chances? Sounds like they're planning on bringing back Levi Brown, the Cardinals LT. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/120316-terrible-espn-reporting-levi-brown/

I am far from a Maybin apologist... in fact he annoys the **** out of me... but he hardly saw the field last year, he's playing a new position, and he just turned 22, they're not going to cut him before the end of the season, nor should they, unless he proves to be absolutely uncoachable.

More snaps aren't going to make Fitz more athletic and he's smart enough to take in the gameplan, so no harm done. I think they were evaluating TE and giving him every chance to succeed, and they saw enough to know he couldn't. Why keep him on the roster in a season that is all about evaluation when the process is over for him?

This is a reactionary article with absolutely no thought put in to writing it. Who that was available in the offseason would have been better? Who would you have staked the next 3-4 years of a rebuilding process on? Campbell? Thigpen? Troy Smith? The Bills apparently had interest in McNabb, who didn't show similar interest. They took a chance that they could rehab Edwards, and they admitted it when they couldn't... and quickly, no less. If previous regimes had done this, we wouldn't still have had this problem this season, and we would have never had a 4 year Flutie-Johnson QB debate. Their plan was see if one of the current QBs fits the bill, and if not find one next year in a year that might have better QBs available. Bringing in someone who you don't know flat out is better than what's already here is a waste of time.

Yeah, I think this year is starting off as planned. I was thinking yesterday that, in retrospect, starting TE made complete sense early on. Fitz is a bright guy, and one who likely has played up to his abilities the last few seasons, and he's proven he can come off the bench and give you what he has without a ton of first team reps, that was never the issue. TE was given the chance to sink or swim, and he went down for the third time, so reclamation project over. IMO, Gailey said a lot of good things about Brohm in the preseason, so now I think the competition is on for real. If Brohm can supplant Fitz or Fitz stumbles, we see what Brohm can do, and if he shows limited or no promise then I see the next few years being Fitz or a player to be named as we develop a young guy who's not currently here... the thing is, in just an offseason and three games I believe this staff CAN develop a QB (based on the evaluation process that appears to currently be taking place), whereas I wouldn't have said that at any time of any staff in the last 10 years, despite wishing like hell that they could.

Borderline penalty in a league full of much more deliberate and self-aggrandizing celebrations that don't get flagged... close game... in Gillette Stadium... going for the Patriots* who have a longstanding history of calls going their way (to the point that RULES are made in the name of them, i.e. the Brady tuck rule)... It would seem to me the very definition of home cooking, but that's me. I don't think it made a difference in the outcome, but I don't think it should have even been called, and I'm hesitant to say it even would have in different circumstances.

Unfortunately the days of Thurman calmly flipping the ball to the ref are long, LONG gone.

If not for terrible prevent defense, the field goal has them ahead at the half... but I guess that would be for losers. Going for it in that situation is exactly what a team without anything to lose would do, and is an admission that they're already desperate, and while it's probably true, it's not a great message to send, either. This decision could be argued both ways. Personally, if I thought they had a shot this season, I'd say take the FG and play some D, but knowing that they probably don't I'd say "WTF, take the chance." Players can see that, too, I'd bet.

I'm not sure which was worse, watching him trail the play, or watching his clueless safety "help" stand around and watch.