Chas56

I'm 56; born in '56. Born and raised in Rochester. Still there. I grew up a Cleveland Browns fan . . . Jim Brown and the Syracuse connection, as the Buffalo Bills were still yet to be. It was a slow transition in our house, but by 1969, with OJ and the Electric Company, we were on our way. I got distracted by women and music for a bit, but Joe Ferguson and the Bills were always around. I watched every game of the 2-14 seasons. By the 90's, I was in a better place, and I bought Shout packs; the Bills would sell 1/2 season tickets: 1 preseason and 4 home games (they picked the games), and I was all in, the Super Bowl years. Since then, I rarely miss a game on TV, and I still go to one or two a year. although the crowd's drinking gets really old now that I'm getting old. Tucson John (boyhood friend from Rochester) comes in. We stay at the Hyatt, eat at the Chophouse, and live large for a weekend. Sports are great!

1280 AM in Rochester has John "Tools" DiTullio in the afternoons. He's got a solid show. There is an alternative. He gets Bills guys on. He'll talk baseball, hockey, whatever. I have heard him get off on non-sports related subjects like food or music, just like the guys on WGR, but John doesn't have the attitude issues.

It would be silly to say that the current Bills coaching staff and management should be replaced if they don't get to the playoffs this year. I fully expect they will make the playoffs, but if, for some reason, they don't, I would not want this group blown up just to start over. This team is close. Very close. I think it is playoffs this year, maybe AFC Champs or . . . wait for it . . . Super Bowl next year after another off season. They have made good moves. They have a solid team now with a fair degree of quality backup. Yes, there are still some weak areas, but as others have said, there will always be weak areas, even on really good teams. But starting all over with new coaches/management would mean a new strategy all over again. Hell, maybe we can play a 3-4!

Back in my Gamer days, we would call a character that had a lot of firepower and little defense a glass cannon. Pretty much fits Vick. I didn't like the dog torture at all, but he seems to be a changed man. Everyone deserves a second chance. But to answer the question: no. I think he is too fragile.

I just can't even think about how upset I would be if he were still our starting back. With the excitement about this season, how would that be?

Kelsay will be okay, just okay, in rotation, as others have said. My issues with Kelsay are the contract, playing OLB, an the big one: getting pushed around too much. There are simply too many plays where he gets ridden outside or pushed inside and never gets involved in the play. On passing downs, he is tied up with his block, not shedding it and getting after the QB, and on running plays, he gets pushed aside while the RB goes right by him. Now it isn't all the time, but it happens a lot more than it should for a guy with his contract. That is the problem.

Time for some popcorn

The past several years, Buffalo's defense has been reacting to what the opposing offense is doing. This year maybe the defense will be able to dictate what the opposing offense can do.

Good post. Thank you. It is smart to know just what we have in Wanny. I think he will be a quality DC. But as you allude to in your post, I would not want him to be our Head Coach should something happen to Chan.

I enjoy Chris Brown, too. But it is a bit like reading Pravda. He isn't going to stray from the company line, but he has inside sources. I'm sure that sometimes, like pre-draft, he is a part of the misdirection machine. He had the Bills taking Barron, which they might have done if he hadn't gone at seven. At other times, he is an apologist. But during the preseason and regular season, I think he has insightful takes on who is doing well, who coaches like, who is banged up, what coaches are thinking, etc.

The Bills were 6-10, not very good. But those were our guys last year. That was our team. We pulled for them. We were 100% behind them. Now we have some new guys that will push some of them. That's the game. Turnovers, churning of the the roster. But if they don't do it, the Bills go 6-10 again. Same guys; same results. I loved 'em, too.

This is a very important draft because if they get this one mostly right, Buffalo should contend. They need four players: after adding Williams and Anderson, the defense is a CB and an OLB away and on offense they need a LT and a WR. That is doable with a good, solid draft. They can't make a mistake though. IF Nix misses in rounds one or two, this team will take another year.

I am with the group that has morphed from a Miami hater to a New England hater. It probably has to do with getting beat all the time. After the 70's run, the Bills got better in the 80's. During the decade around The Super Bowl years, say '86 to '96, playing Miami was a lot of fun. The Bills won a lot, but Miami had Marino, Duper, Clayton, Shula, et al. And there was always Brian Cox. Beating Miami was just so satisfying. The last ten years with the Pats has been a lot like the 70's but with a different opponent. When the game starts turning, as I think it is now, beating the out of them is going to feel sweeter and sweeter, just like it did last year. I have to say though, I still don't like Miami either.

Break down the off-season into two parts: free agency and the draft. So far we are still in the free agency part; who even knows if Buddy is finished with this part. But I would have to give him a solid A grade. If he does even a B grade draft, the Bills will have a pretty solid off-season to build on. I am pretty sure now that the Bills will go OT in Round 1. I believe they will get a very good player at that spot regardless of the position. So I really think that this will be a very good off-season for the Bills, and we will have Buddy & Co. to thank for that.

If this isn't the draft order, I would be very shocked. I would only add that LB depth should be addressed in Round 4. Then overall depth.

What he said.

Nope. Bruce was the Man. "Bad things, Man, bad things." But Mario could be Mario for us, not Bruce but the new thing - "Bad things, Man, bad things."

This isn't what the OP did. The OP was pointing out that Donte says one thing yet does another. Donte says it isn't good to talk about what happens in a locker room, and as the quote shows, he, himself talks about what goes on in locker rooms. As to whether Donte is a quality SS. He made the Pro Bowl. He isn't a bad player, but he has a name because of his draft position and the trade coupled with SF's improvement, not because of stellar performance on the field. We all saw his play. He is undersized. In college he was a big hitter, but in the pro's he started chipping at runners because he was getting hurt taking them on full force. He is somewhat slow in coverage/pursuit. Again, he is a good SS, just not a great one. Personally, I'll take Wilson. He is a little bigger (two inches taller and a few pounds heavier). He covers better, and he hits as hard or harder. I think he is better at tackling as opposed to just hitting to make a tackle. Wilson is older, which is a minus. But Wilson seems to be a good guy. Whitner seems to have a lot of sour grapes, and as the OP shows, Whitner is a bit of a hypocrite.

This

Now that one really did make me laugh out loud. Thanks.

You guys make me smile. Jerry died on August 9, 1995. "All a friend can say is ain't it a shame."

Offense - Fitz is an average quarterback, and we knew that. He needs the rest of his team to be effective, They are down Wood and Bell, two starting O-linemen, two starting receivers with Jones and Parrish out and Johnson played hurt, and Freddie went down. That means they played with about half of their starting lineup. I'm not talking about missing a WR or OL here or there, but they have lost the LT, OC, WR2, WR3, played half of the game w/o RB and WR1 is banged up. Defense - They are missing the best player on this side of the ball; Kyle Williams is on IR. Merriman - IR. Torbor - IR. Wilson was out. Couple that with starting a rookie in place of Williams. There is a HUGE difference between Edwards - Williams - Darius and Edwards - Darius - Carrington. And the team also has no pass rush. None. Zero. Zilch. The LB crew is very weak with the exception of Barnett, who is playing his ass off. If they had one OLB that could raise a little hell, this would be a different group. That is going to have to wait until next year. This year, the Bills play it out as best as they can. In the off-season, fire Edwards and Wanny both. Get a stud pass rusher or two and a tall, deep threat WR, a cover corner that will/can play the ball, and OL depth. Lastly, they need to get a smash mouth attitude on defense to compliment the finesse offense.

During the early part of the season, the Bills were playing with fire in their guts. Whether that was because they were playing from behind or because they just were more intense, they played harder. The linemen and linebackers hit harder. The offensive line blocked better. The receivers cut harder. Every player was more intense. They seem to be much less intense now. They seem to have an attitude like they are good enough to just mail it in and win. The game planning and adjustments were better. I don't know why, but they are not the same team today. I think they can get it back, make a season of it, but they really need to have each player - and coach - be accountable.