earthtobrint

Playing for a coach that plays not to lose helped this team, which is bereft of talent, overachieve. Last year's passive defense, abnormally high interception rate, and dink and dunk offense, allowed one of the ugliest offensive seasonal performances we've ever seen to stay in games. They even won a few they had no business winning. With a completely new coaching staff and system, you'll see a decrease in wins before any actual improvement to this team. But this is necessary. You forgot RT and QB. We also could use upgrades at center and wide receiver.

I don't think they are conceding the 2010 season, but Nix and his staff know that they cannot possibly fix every roster deficiency on this team in one season. Also, yes, the Bills would be better off going 3-13 in 2010 and entering the Locker/Mallett lottery than overachieving to another 7-9 season.

Rather than continuing for three pages, this thread should've ended with one reply of "no". At least this comment was a bit redeeming and made me chuckle:

We don't get 53 draft picks per year. Re-read this post: I'll venture that Billsfan=pain might be one of those people that wanted Peters gone when we had no replacement for him.

He isn't even fast or elusive enough to be a "scrambing, wacky" QB in the NFL, unless you consider QB sneaks and straight ahead draws "scrambling".

None. In this uncapped year, there are no quality UFA under the age of 30 (besides Karlos Dansby). Most of those guys would be on the downslope or gone by the time this team has rebuilt enough to contend. I'd take Stephen Neal. Interior offensive linemen age differently. But New England was always going to re-sign him.

Signing relatively young backups/part-time starters with possible upside for cheap is prudent free agency activity. But Hangartner, unfortunately, proved to be only a minor upgrade over Fowler and Preston. I don't know enough about Wade Smith to have an opinion on the possible signing.

Because Chan Gailey knows him (Wade Smith). Here come the Chiefs castoffs to save the day.

Vince Wilfork, Aubrayo Franklin, and Ryan Picket have all been franchise tagged. Casey Hampton re-signed with the Steelers. Thus the attractive free agency options at NT have been eliminated. Richard Seymour has also been franchised. There are really no starting quality options at the Bills major need positions (OT, NT, QB) in UFA. Chad Clifton is starting material but he's 33 and would need to be overpaid. We're just going to accept that there won't be any major additions in that venue this offseason. I'm guessing we pick up some depth players on the cheap at OT, WR, and LB but not much more. It's all about the draft. Nix really needs to hit on the first four draft picks to even begin to fill our roster holes.

For sports fans from the Buffalo area, there is a lot to like about this team. On the roster are two of the most hardworking and determined leaders to play for the Sabres in Ryan Miller and Chris Drury. Then there are guys like Patrick Kane, Brooks Orpik, Dustin Brown, and Ryan Callahan - all hailing from modest towns in upstate New York.

The network plays up the back stories of the individual athletes. For the olympics, sports like figure skating and skiing will be more popular among casual fans because the audience connects with specific athletes like Apolo Anton Ohno or Lindsey Vonn that get heavily advertised. Exotic or unusual sports like luge or curling are also popular. Hockey is readily available for Americans to watch all winter every NHL season and most choose not to watch it even then. This is why hockey has gotten relegated to the less mainstream NBC channels even when team USA is playing (in preliminaries). With olympic hockey not getting the mainstream exposure and the wear on the players, Gary Bettman may decide that the 2014 olympics aren't worth shutting down the NHL for two weeks. I love hockey and would love a medal run by team USA this olympics. It would do a lot to bring the casual sports fans in America back to hockey and help the NHL regain popularity in the United States. Miller was facing a shooting gallery. This was one of USA hockey's biggest upsets on the anniversary of the miracle on ice. A lot of people missed out on a terrific game tonight due to it not being on NBC.

What, like the Patriots do every year? Consistent contenders like the Pats and Steelers are built and maintained through the draft. They aren't afraid to part ways with formerly productive players and know when to do it.

This is what I'd like to know, since we already know Bradford is the top rated QB in this draft. This link I found randomly on google is interesting. http://www.nfl.com/draft/story?id=09000d5d...mp;confirm=true Of note to Bills fans is where Brohm is rated, and the receivers like Manningham and Nelson that the Bills passed over in favor of Hardy. Jamaal Charles and Jermichael Finley are some lower round draft picks he graded favorably that have shined.

What's hogwash is a fan judging an offensive or defensive lineman's performance from the perspective television broadcasts give you, and saying that the only games in which he performs adequately are those that result in at least three sacks.

I wouldn't mind seeing Steve Johnson get more playtime, but what exactly has he done to make you think that? He's done practically nothing on the field. I know it's typical of fans of bad teams to fall in love with young bench players because of the possibility of what might be, but it doesn't seem justified in Steve Johnson's case. Yeah. I was pretty pissed about that, too. If there was one meaningless game I was rooting for us to lose, it was that one. KC was one loss ahead of us in draft position at the time. The sad thing is, that game possibly got them Okung instead of us.

They go under center to maintain the threat of the run. 100% shotgun means almost all pass. Runs from shotgun aren't as effective.

The franchise tag price on defensive tackles is startlingly low. Quality nose tackles are invaluable to 3-4 defenses. Top level NT set to become UFA aren't going to see the open market this offseason with the cost to franchise them so low.

If Seattle really wants to get a quarterback in this draft, I think they'll select Clausen/Bradford if available with their #6 pick (in which case it's unlikely one of them drops to our #9 selection). One of the top 5 offensive tackles will be available by the time the Seahawks draft again in round one at #14. I really wish Jake Locker declared for this years draft. If he did, we could get one of Locker/Clausen/Bradford at #9. But we'll still have plenty of offensive tackles to choose from.

February 24 – March 2, 2010

How has Kris Jenkins worked out? It depends on the player and depends on the trade price.

billsfan89 is right. The Patriots are too smart to let an asset like Wilfork walk away for nothing. I expect they'll eventually agree to an extension but if for some reason they don't, Vince will receive the franchise slap and be traded. They won't let him get a glimpse of the open market and they won't trade inside the division unless it's an absolute steal.

Chapter 23, verse 7 from the Holy Book of Leach. This psalm brought to you by his very own disciple, The Senator.

I think it's sink or swim time for Hardy, but a low to mid-level free agent like Chambers seems like the most realistic addition to the receiving core in case Hardy sinks. I agree. I think Evans has been underutilized due to incompetence and conservativeness among the former coaching staff, and the offensive line not allowing time for deep routes. Hopefully Gailey has ideas on how to get Evans the ball more often.

This