PDaDdy

BUT BUT BUT!!! He requested a trade..ALLEGEDLY.

Better late than never. The former denial could have been a PR move to take attention away from the fact that we let things get so bad and got rid of a probowler. The problem has become so obvious now that no amount of PR is going to sway even the most delusional and optimistic of fans. Some will still believe that our line is just fine and it just needs time to develop but in my opinion we have given it plenty of time. Some of the supposed youth we have that we are waiting to develop is actually a 27 year old still trying to figure out the LT position.

LOL I don't think screwing with people that are supposedly doing well is a good motivational tool. I think it is Levitre that needs the motivating not serving as an example.

...because continuity and chemistry are incredibly important for an offensive line and especially so with no off season.

SERIOUSLY!!! It's a joke. People can't fathom the idea that perhaps their support and praise actually had no basis in fact. We'll see how this all plays out and I hope he gets his stuff together but the arrogance on this board is insane even comparing him to Maybin. Maybin was thought of as a bust from day 1 by most Bills fans. Many hoped he would develop and at the very least become a pass rush specialist. After a relatively short period of time even those who had hope lost that quickly. Levitre has been a starter for 2 years and has enjoyed a great deal of fan support. It's now a blow to the ego of those supporters that he might not be the best guard on the team that they gave him credit for being.

BUT BUT BUT BUT !!!! All these people say that Levitre is great!?!?!?! He is an awesome young player. Not dumping on the guy but I have been baffled by how many supporters he has had and how so many people say that he is a really good young guard. These supporters don't actually know anything other than he was a 2nd round pick and celebrated him as his and Eric Wood's acquisition were tied to Peters leaving for some reason. The hatred for the guy leaving gave Levitre and Wood instant love and blind support. Woods appears to be living up to that love but apparently Levitre is not. Maybe the rest of the board will realize we really do have a bigger problem on o-line than even they were willing to admit. Whatever message they are trying to send Andy I hope gets it!!!! We need players to get better not regress and get our backup level talent starters replaced by practice squad level talent backups. Either way I'm sure the coaches will put the best lineman on the field. I'm sure some that know better than the experts will start to question the coaching staff because their golden boy isn't starting. "It must be the coaching staffs inability to coach not the players lack of talent!" Same thing happened with Edwards. It wasn't the coaching. Edwards just sucked.

The old correlation vs causation argument. What some people don't seem to realize is that although there is not 100% causation that low spending ALWAYS yields a bad team the correlation that if you don't spend your money AND spend it wisely you will more than likely have a bad team is VERY VERY valid.

Orakpo or O-sackpo was as much of a sure thing as it comes. I argued against the anti Univeristy of Texas guys because the argument is ridiculous. You draft a player not their college. Buffalo screwed the pooch the worst they ever have on that one. I kid you not when I literally threw **** when I heard the name Maybin not Orakpo. I tried to give the guy a chance. I tried to believe in the organization having seen something in workouts or film that I hadn't. That belief was misplaced.

Never said he didn't. He never played for the Bills anywhere near that weight though.

Silvercrw I mentioned this in another thread as a side note. In hindisght it seems pretty obvious to me that the kid was a 3/4 year wonder, got on the stuff once he was being talked about as a high draft prospect, added 25 lbs of muscle in a couple months and made his big pay day. Once he got off the stuff he dropped right back down to his college weight and started sucking. It shows little integrity and character but the bum bilked the Bills out of millions where he should have likely ended up a later round pick.

One point which I'm not sure was addressed in this thread is EVEN IF Lee did request a trade, why keep it a secret? Do you think Lee wanted to hide it to protect his sterling image or that out of respect for the organization he didn't want to make it look like a rat fleeing a sinking ship? Many in the media would probably applaud him for the move to go to a contender as nationally we are thought to be a 3rd class team. Evans was nothing but a class act. He wasn't flashy and didn't draw attention to himself like SJ. (I don't have a problem with SJ being flashy by the way) Lee is a consummate professional. Flacco has a cannon and should be able to utilize Lee's speed. I wish Lee nothing but the best unless we meet the Ravens in the AFC play off game

The two Bills we need most to perform and step up are LT and RT. I don't know what their names are yet but if we want to be a .500 team we need better play out of these positions. That being said I think we may surprise some people and become a defense first team. We have some pieces on the defensive side of the ball that could be game changers and unlike the offense their appears to be pretty decent depth with guys coming back from injury and maturing in the system.

We should take up a collection for the plane tickets. Seriously! Why wouldn't you at least kick the tires on these guys? I can't believe that the front office truly thinks the fodder that we have now is magically going to develop into quality or at the very least average to above average starters in this league.

Fitz is throwing in less than 3 seconds and the RBs don't have any real holes. Yes it is stupid. We don't want to improve this team by any means necessary other than through the draft so we will ignore certain huge areas of weakness that could be filled by reasonably paid veterans.

When did we get 2 new free agents? I missed the article about the LT and the LG signings we must have made.

Not hard for me to comprehend. He played in college at 228. At the combine and during the draft he was 248. Entering his 3rd year he is playing at 228. Hrrrrmmmmm what could be the cause for that 20lb swing in weight? I hate to even say this as I have no proof what so ever but it sounds like someone got on the stuff to get their payday and then lost it all after getting off of it.

Thanks for pointing this out. People seem to be spinning up the PR machine for the offensive line when I think it is quite possible that the play calling and Fitz getting rid of the ball quickly are likely more responsible for the positives we saw. The starting line played a few series. Let's see how things hold up during the course of a few regular season games where the defenses are going all out and aren't playing it vanilla.

Not too likely. I'm really trying to temper an expectations about the defensive front. Our front can look great against our bad line and Chicago's potentially worse line. Brady and Sanchez have good offensive lines and great tackles. I honesty do have great hope for the defense this year but I don't think those guys will be the least bit nervous until the regular season starts and this type of play becomes week to week performance.

You guys are ridiculous. It's preseason and it has nothing to do with Gailey's arrogance trying to get what he can out of what he has.

Let's hope that Merriman's health holds up and he builds on this performance into the regular season. Great starts.

Sad to say but it pretty much sounds 100% on the money. Even the comments on Levitre. I think Wood is an up and coming player but I don't think Levitre is anything special at this point. I hope for better and credit Gailey and Fitz with minimizing the impact of such a bad line as a whole especially when you consider lack of depth. I'm optimistic that they will improve some but we have to be realistic and call it what it is. It's a 1st and 2nd rounder in their 3rd year and a bunch of late round draft picks, other teams cast offs, practice squad players and guys off the street.

Exactly. It needs to stop.

I'm with ya 100% but I guess I'm just taking the optimistic route. We'll have to wait until the regular season to see if the wheels fly off or if the Bills offense actually improves and keeps on rolling. We have guys that can run but I don't know that defenses will double them every play. Stevie will get a LOT more attention.

I wouldn't say he is screwed but it will be a challenge for a guy that hopefully had his break out season last year not just a statistical anomaly. It's how this game works. SJ might see a drop in the numbers and some other guy starts to benefit and we will talk about how SJ isn't a #1, trade him away for something and WR X is the real #1.

Good teams keep, replace or upgrade their talent. Bad teams let their talent go. Teams like the Patriots GET talent for 4th round picks they don't trade it away for 4th round picks. That is all.