transient

Nix best move as GM is not giving in to the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would have him trade every one and no one, bring in every free agent that becomes available just because, and run the organization like a fan. I love that it appears he can hear the message but ignore the personal slights that are thrown in with it, and I love that he appears to understand that this fan-base is thread bare on patience, and yet despite that is refusing to take short cuts in trying to build a winning organization. And it would appear that his coach has the same philosophy. IMO, the difference right now compared to the last 10 years is that we have a strong-minded personnel guy in charge (similar to the late 80s - early 90s!) with a vision for the team (which was thought to be the case with Donahoe, as well, but ultimately was NOT as evidenced by his constant defensive posturing and paranoid anti-fan persona). Unfortunately his team vision, while likely more suited to the climate and the division, is VERY different from what was here, and therefore there are A LOT of needs. Evaluating who is here RIGHT NOW that is serviceable in the role they're in will allow him to determine who needs to be replaced RIGHT NOW, and what he sees and what Chan sees is not likely the same as what the fans see. Some people will get on board with it, and realize it will take time, and some people will scream and shout and bang on the table because they're out of patience because of his predecessors' mistakes. Regardless, IMO the angry mob at the gate will not change the way he's going to do things, and it shouldn't. He seems like the guy who will tell you publicly that he's not the smartest guy in the room with a smirk because the dirty little secret that he'll never admit to is that deep down he KNOWS from a football standpoint he is the smartest guy in the room and he KNOWS he's the right guy for the job, and the ONLY thing that will convince people of that is the result, and ultimately he KNOWS he'll prove it. He answers the questions and plays the media game because it's part of the job (and he actually appears to enjoy it to a point), but he won't tell you what you want to hear because he doesn't care what you WANT to hear, but he will tell you the truth as he sees it and let you deal with it as you will. I also don't get the impression he's big on excuses, and would not be surprised to hear him admit it publicly when he's made a mistake. There is none of the defensiveness of Donahoe or the cluelessness of Levy (the GM) in what he exudes right now, IMO. Only TIME will tell if he's going to be successful, but expecting success RIGHT NOW AFTER 2 GAMES with the mess he inherited is unrealistic, and the only one's who don't seem to realize that are the mob at the gate.

I agree in principle, but I think there has to be a preparation process involved. Throwing them to the wolves when you know they're not ready does nothing but destroy their confidence. Hopefully the coaches are grooming the young to get them into the game in the next couple of weeks as they evaluate the other players at those positions. When they are on par, or appear to be a better option, then they should be put into the starting/active lineup. There are 14 more games left to do it, and just because we suck doesn't mean our rookies will develop quicker. Personally, I'm hoping this staff is better at getting players to their potential than previous staffs, and part of that is not crushing them early on IMO. So many people are livid about Modrak's job of talent evaluation without considering that truly talented players can be really ineffective with poor coaching and no development, thereby making his "choices" look worse when the coaching (or lack of) destroys these players.

Screw Flutie. He was a blip in this frachise's history and if it wasn't for his shameless self promotion and his schmarmy underdog story his mediocre play wouldn't have been talked about beyond his tenure here. In fact, I think the curse started when he hung Thurman out to dry with that terrible pass that resulted in a rib injury further deteriorating TT's skills, ultimately resulting in him finishing his career with the 'phins, thereby solidifying the curse. I say we sacrifice Flutie!!

You probably could have edited that a little better instead of leaving it that way for people to laugh at the wording and then feel bad about themselves afterward. As for the situation, it's rather Shakespearean... his grandparents must have had a truly astonishing bond.

I told you so mentality aside, it does add credibility to the FO's decision to (possibly) pursue McNabb, who would have been a clear upgrade despite Buddy's recent gamesmanship, and eschew players who were essentially exactly what they already had to work with, only with a different nameplate on the back of their jersey.

Unfortunately, sometimes you gotta put it under the microscope to prove it's cubic zirconia, though.

If he was on the Steelers, he could pass for Dark Helmet It's so big, it's preventing him from getting more than 2 inches of height in his celebratory jump in this picture.

I could actually see it being Fitz. He lacks athletic ability, but I think he has a pretty good head for the game, and it would be a natural progression to put a young guy in once he had surpassed Fitz's potential.

+1

Stanford may have a good academic reputation, but the Ivy League is made up of Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Brown. Stanford is not an Ivy League school.

Given the replay, I don't know that Parrish actually caught the ball... it looked like it bobbled between him and the DB, with it not hitting the ground and the DB coming up with it. It doesn't make your point any less valid, though, since he should have caught it.

Only by first overcoming his fear of the football through aversion therapy can Trent Edwards move forward and address his more glaring issue, his overwhelming fear of Lee Evans, in similar fashion.

Your QB, regardless of who it is, is not hindering the development of this team at this point. WRs can learn to run routes, OL can learn to block, LBs can learn to cover in the 3-4, and they can still figure out how to get a pass rush even without a QB in the game. This is an evaluation process this season, and this is not unexpected at this point. It's ugly and painful as a fan, but it is not unexpected. It's two games, and Green Bay is expected to challenge for the SB this year... did you really expect the Bills to look good yesterday? No one was going to come in here and turn this around overnight. 10 years of futility cannot be put at Nix and Gailey's doorstep with the expectation that they would sweep it up in two games. Putting bandaids on it will only slow the whole process down. In the words of Tyler Durden, "Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken." The Bills are going to have to hit bottom before they can start to climb back up, and that means deciding once and for all who to move on from and who has a future on this team.

Jason Peter's game left town with his humility, his work ethic, his diet, and Jim McNally.

IIRC, the first team didn't score a TD last season in preseason, so hardly great.

Nowhere in my post did I allude to Locker doing this to get his degree. My point was that he took his father's advice to heart and thought about whether or not he would regret not playing college ball for one more year, which is a sign of maturity. The article suggests that his decision was in part based on his relationship with his teammates and coaches. Beyond that, he says very little definitive about why he made this decision, and instead talks about his hometown and his view of football as a sport. The point I was making was that you said you were put off by what he didn't say despite the fact that the article uses very little in the way of direct quotes about this decision. I am basing this opinion on the fact that I am currently an English speaking individual who realizes that explaining your reasoning for a decision such as this probably takes more than 3-4 sentences, and that when the 3-4 sentences that are included aren't even left to the discretion of the person whom the article is being written about, then the likelihood that they are representative of what HE wanted to say is diminished. For all we know they conveniently left out the part about having something to prove, or wanting to go out on a winning season, or wanting to get the most out of this coaching staff. My point is judging people based on what they didn't say when you weren't directly a part of the conversation is an exercise in futility that will leave you making judgements on incomplete information.

Maybe Fitz is normally the one to pass him the blunt.

I don't have an opinion of Locker as a player. I've never seen him play. But, I think the fact that he actually went back to college because he would never be able to do it again and he might regret it later on if he didn't shows the ability to think long term and not just look at what is staring him in the face right now, and is more emotionally mature than most college students (who don't have the additional lure of millions of dollars) are capable of. You also ignore his reference to his teammates and coaching staff as a motivating factor for returning. Comparing him to Leinart, who was soaking up the LA celebrity limelight, is a bit off base IMO. As for people hanging on every word that comes out of an athlete's mouth as somehow indicative of a character flaw, this trend is getting really annoying. I defy anyone on this board to say they've never had words come out of their mouth that didn't convey exactly what they meant, let alone under pressure in their twenties with a reporter with a microphone or a notepad in their face and the fallout from the editorial process to deal with. I'm sure the 3-4 quoted sentences that made that article are but a fraction of what was actually said.

Didn't listen to the segment... and won't. What I'm guessing I'd hear was Sullivan acting as though it is inconceivable that someone would disagree with him because he is the most enlightened person in his universe. Then, once the disagreement occurred, I'm guessing that name calling and berating ensued instead of rational conversation with presentation of facts to back his argument. Let me know if I'm wrong. Regarding his writing BS about players, I think he's also the one who's said Lynch is somehow a cancer in the locker room, when by all accounts his teammates seem to love the guy. sul·ly [ súllee ] (past and past participle sul·lied, present participle sul·ly·ing, 3rd person present singular sul·lies) transitive verb Definition: 1. spoil: to spoil or detract from something, especially somebody's reputation, that has previously been pure and honorable, or become spoiled or tarnished a reputation sullied by scandal 2. make dirty: to make something dirty Hmm, seems about right.

You should've seen her face. It was the exact same look my father gave me when I told him I wanted to be a ventriloquist. ...I wish someone would give me $250,000 to write my name on a piece of paper with the understanding it was unlikely I would ever work for them. It's a Seinfeld quote... Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum (Before you look it up in the dictionary, it's in reference to his avatar).

If you put Fitz's head on Brohm's body he would fall over from being too top heavy... unless, of course, you also somehow transplanted Poz's neck onto FrankenQB.

Why are so many so black and white on this issue? It was TE... no it was the playcalling... this... that... no this... no that. TE looked similar to last year. That being said, I don't care how wide open receivers were down field, he's not Favre, and he's not going to get the ball downfield without setting up to throw. We know that... he probably does too. Regarding the run, I still don't understand why we started the game with Spiller. Miami was stacking the line... why not hammer ML into it for a bit to try to soften up the defense, then try to utilize CJ's speed as a change of pace... or throw FJ in there to sort his way through it for a few first downs, then throw CJ in there. I can only assume that part of it is that ML and FJ aren't back to 100%. As for setting up the run with the pass or vice-versa, one can exist without the other. In fact, at times it becomes a necessity. But you don't abandon one or the other. Abandoning the run makes a bad offense easier to defend. Gotta say, though, I agree with Gailey, this one's largely on him for putting together a bad gameplan. I expect that it was in part due to not knowing what this team was going to look like under fire. Hopefully he can adjust to his team's strengths and better disguise their weaknesses as the season moves along, or it's going to look a lot like last year. It's the first game of his tenure, and bad teams don't go to the playoffs the next season in the first game. Give him some time. Hey, at least the defense looked respectable... that in itself is a revelation worth talking about. How do you justify the pocket collapsing with only a 3 or 4 man rush? Normally QBs have all the time in the world in that situation to stare at all of their receivers covered downfield before heaving it to the one with the fewest guys hanging on him.

A fate worse than death.

Nix has stated repeatedly that he knows the line needed work, but that the only two tackles they had graded top ten that could help them this season were gone by the time they picked. Your assessment of blue chippers all over the board is yours and McShay's and Kiper's... they were your guys, not their guys. The fact of the matter is they had needs at NT and DE also, and if Troup and Carrington were better in their eyes than the available talent at OT they would have been defeating their purpose and slowing down the rebuilding process by taking players they didn't believe in when others they did believe in were available at other positions. Picking up an aging LT with neck problems (Brown) or with reported motivation issues(Gaither) isn't likely to speed the process. ALSO, if they really do believe that Bell and Meredith can potentially fill the tackle roles, they would be wasting draft picks and time by not finding that out before moving on. Determining that they are not the answer based on last year's debacle is premature, as is determining that after week 1. If they aren't improving by midseason, then it's clear they need to invest in the position next year. It's one game. Did you really expect that they'd look all world based on a few preseason victories? I fully expected that thier defense was going to get torched by Miami's running game. IMO, the disappointment surrounding the game yesterday was that they couldn't pull out a win in a close game that I didn't expect them to be in a position to win going in (and that they were painfully boring on offense again). If their defense continues to look respectable against the run and their linebackers figure out how to drop into coverage, this team is way ahead of where I thought it would be. If the line, WHICH IS 3/5 SECOND YEAR PLAYERS improves over the first half of the season, they just might be competitive by midseason. More than that this season is a bonus, IMO. With regard to Urbik, I wonder if he doesn't move to R guard with Wood moving to center and Meredith to RT once Bell is healed enough to play a whole game.

I envision that looking something like Robin Ventura charging Nolan Ryan.