sweetjones

Happy valley, Hong Kong. HKSAR. Both my parents are Buffalo natives.

Ok, I won't deny it... there are so many of these "what we need' or "player X vs. player Y" threads going around that I feel everything that can be said up to this point in player evaluation has already been said, pre-combine at least. Going off film and the senior bowl, we have only a sample of knowledge about a player's measurables... all these talks about size and strength are useless until we see how they are applied in personal workouts. That being said, there is one thing that this team is obviously lacking: Fire. Heart. Attitude. Whoever we take, on defense, I feel we need them to come in and immedietly make noise. We have a lot of good character, high motor guys, KW seems nice enough off the field, Moats' interviews show that he's a tremendous human being and has become a fan-favorite. Poz plays like your kid brother, not exactly striking fear into opossing offenses. Having guys like this are great on a team... but... We need someone who sees red. We need someone who HATES the patriots, someone who wants to DESTROY the Jets... someone who takes the game personally. While it can be bad to have too many "bart scott" or "ray lewis" types on your team (loudmouth a-holes who everyone not lining up next to them seems to hate), these types of players make an impact. Managing people professionally I can tell you two things are contagious: Attitude and Fear. How humans respond to fear tells a lot how strong your team is... either on the football field, or in a kitchen, or anywhere else you have a group of people who need to work together to achieve goals. Attitudes, bad or good, are contagious. If there is a guy next to me who is performing well, and talking the talk, I'll have more confidence in my own work and want to do the same... either bringing me up directly by physically helping me, or else by motivation drivin by our inner competitive spirits. We need a beast... not a marshawn "beast mode" type player... but a real mean guy. A big, strong, mean and instinctful player who hits people and stands over their body a la clay mathews, or who would be willing to put "bounties" on guys like the steelers and ravens. Guys who have personal hatred, especially for our division players. It has been noted before that, particularly against the Jets, the opposing sidelines were laughing at us, and after the game the majority of the Bills were buddy-buddy with them smiling and laughing, etc... to me this isn't acceptable. We need a man who can come in and light a fire emotionally. I'll take whatever baggage comes with it, as long as it translates into on-field impact. I want a players that othe teams hate... I want a player that other teams' FANS hate. Someone who, if they saw a kid wearing a tom brady jersey in a mall, would talk smack to and bully that kid... well maybe not that extreme, but you get the picture. If we're going to draft dearus, fairley, bowers, or miller... they better be have a mean streak thats hard to turn off.

agreed! Thanks to incompetent leadership (those two certainly did us no favors) we've got a long climb up... and while I can understand the FO's reasoning for the Spiller pick this year, I certainly do not agree with it nor has the pick been justified. at first glance the state of the Bills does in fact seem to be: more of the same. and that sucks. but like you said, in the offseason hope sprigns eternal... and for some of us (like me) hope springs eternal in week 17 of a 4-12 season as well! (then again I'm admittedly delusional) cheers!

In retrospect, it does seem that my dad was abusive, doesn't it? to Bill in NYC: I'll admit that I was just trying to throw in a cheap dis to Chris Watson... no disrespect to Polomalu who is one of my favorite players not wearing a Bills helmet. And as far as credibility goes? well, I am assuming we all take anything anyone posts with a grain of salt as, for the most part, we are all faceless avatars rambling about our love/hate relationship with our favorite NFL team via the least credible medium available: the internet (which is in actuality nothing more than a series of tubes...) That being said, I still stand by the message I was trying to get across: the past is the past... don't dwell on it in any aspect of life. It is not healthy. In respect to our drafting woes, if you must look back, then don't count out Erik Flowers either... he was supposed to be our replacement for #78. he hasn't panned out because the football gods are mad we drafted an Arizona State Sun Devil, so they've sent Arizona Wildcats to punish us on a regular basis, most recently Nick Folk (dallas kicker who made the winning FG in the infamous MNF game, now is kicking in the playoffs for the jets), Teddy Bruschi and now Gronkowski on the pats* as a TE who will terrorize us for years to come... that one hurts the most considering he's a wny native. joking aside, look to the future: yes our first rounds have been terrible, but on the bright side, we've done a fantastic job of getting lucky with late rounders and UDFA's coming in and making a difference. has it won us games? no... but if we do happen to hit some of our next few early rounders out of the park, we might just be talking about the bills playing in late january in the not-too-distant future. And that is worth staying positive for, isn't it?

+1 Thank you, sir, and well said. While the Whitner/Ngata debacle is only the tip (albeit a big tip) of the iceberg that is Bills fans' anger, it is nonetheless mind numbingly repeated on these boards and elsewhere. Fact of the matter is, Bills fans, one draft pick does not a team make. Ngata is prolific on an already outstanding defense, he is sorrounded by great players and great coaches. Who knows: with the right supporting cast, Whitner might make Polamalu look like a Chris Watson (ok, he was a CB). But you get the point, no? anyway... You've gotta figure that eventually these people will drop this subject, sit back, and be excited for the future. We will eventually beat the Pats* and we will eventually get back to the playoffs. It doesn't do any good to think "wow, imagine what COULD have been." I'd like to think all of us Bills fans have better things to do with our time than sit in front of a computer and complain about this team which we all love so much for hours, months, days, watever. Just enjoy the masochistic pleasure that comes with cheering for this team. Oh, and for those of you thinking "who is this noob who is still so positive about the bills after all these years of heartbreak? he must be too young or stupid to understand the pain we feel" well, you want to know pain? I was at XXV, and from where I was sitting, I thought it was good... I was cheering and screaming my heart out for about 30 seconds before I realized that the giants fans sorrounding me were cheering too... wide right. I was 7. It is one of my most vivid memories from my youth and has shaped the person I am today. Sorry for the rant... got off topic. Drop the "we should have drafted player X" complaints. we're all tired of them. Enjoy the playoffs, hope brady and sanchize both break their hips this week, and look forward to the future.

nice will check it out. I'm off on mondays (by schedule, lol). I'm a chef and am allowed 1 day off a week (if I'm lucky) and this is my 2nd year in a row to happen to be off the day after a bills game. but yea... 2am kickoff, 5am finish. brutal. considering I'm up at 5 on sunday morning to work brunch/tea. espresso fuels my life.

so... wait... am I getting this? you're sayin you dig his show. In all honesty though, living and working in Hong Kong, I was surprised to get a call the other day from my dad in Phoenix talking about how stoked he was that Fitz was on the show... 2 bills in a matter of months, he couldn't believe it.

Just an FYI, location does not need to stop you from watching the game. You can do what I do: if you are friends with anyone in the US who uses DirectTV and has NFL sunday ticket, for a small fee you can use their directTV registered e-mail address and a seperate password and register their sunday ticket for online viewing and watch the game streaming live online. I think its $50USD per season for all the games and stats, etc. or you can hook up the same deal via slingbox and someone else's direct TV account. I live and work in Hong Kong but I haven't missed a game this season... its been tough considering the 2am kickoffs in HK of all the 1pm EST games... which is the only timeslot we play this year. I'm a chef out here and was up at 5am to get to work on prep for a large party this past sunday afternoon... went out and had a few drinks after work (my tailgating), came back at 1:30am to catch some of the pregame show... game ended at 5am. I work 6 days a week, off on mondays. all this to watch a 2 win team...3 wins now. Bills for life, baby.

Grizzly Fitzadams