hondo in seattle

I know lots of people are expecting CJ to have a great year this because Chan won't be under-utilizing him anymore. But I'm not convinced CJ was significantly underutilized by Chan. CJ had 1244 yards rushing last year and 459 receiving. With 1700 yards from the LOS, Spiller was highly productive in Chan's offense. And the Bills finished 6th in the league in rushing. None of these stats scream COACHING FAILURE. And it's not like Freddy is chopped liver. Obviously, Freddy was hurt last year and there were times when Tashard Choice was in for CJ and those moments were hard to understand. But if Marrone or Hackett pulls CJ out for a breather to let Freddy play, I won't cry. Freddy is a great back, too.

Good questions, one and all. Given the available options, signing Kolb and drafting EJ was about the best course I could imagine. Not to say it will work out, but I'm ever hopeful.

I know it's not popular to defend Kraft but I think he's being genuine here. From the article... "No one in our organization was aware of any of these kind of connections. If it's true, I'm just shocked. Our whole organization was duped." Calling Hernandez a "most likeable young man," Kraft painted the picture of a player who often said the right things but had trouble following through in the end. Hernandez impressed the Patriots after the 2010 NFL Draft by sending a letter asking for trust and agreeing to bi-weekly drug tests throughout his rookie season. Hernandez went on to convince Kraft that his goal was to be a role model in the Hispanic community. "I believed him," Kraft said. "... He knew how to push my buttons."

Really? How? I've watched many on the internet (primarily on JustinTV) but some Sundays I couldn't find a rebroadcast of the game.

Interesting chart showing both projected most common line up and quality of players. Based on this, our glaring weaknesses are WR, LG and CB. Anyone disagree?

#23 Buffalo Bills: (C.J. Spiller, Stevie Johnson, Fred Jackson, Robert Woods, Scott Chandler) Not to be a homer but I would rate us better than #23. The only weak link here is Robert Woods who is 'weak' only by virtue of being unproven at the NFL level. Chandler is an okay TE, CJ and Freddy are a great RB duo and Stevie is an elusive WR who finds ways to get open. If a 2nd WR proves himself (Woods, TJ or whoever), the Bills will be in good shape at non-QB offensive skill positions. The weaknesses in the roster are elsewhere.

A national sportswriter is a jack-of-all-clubs, master of none. But Kirwan is better than most.

Sorry, Doc, somehow I missed that. Pat fans are mesmerized by the AH case like we Bills fans were transfixed by OJ's fall from grace.

We've seen so little of many of these guys, I don't know how to form an informed opinion. I'm just hoping a few of our WRs are as good as we hope.

Actually, Pats fans are - not surprisingly - even more obsessed with Hernandez than we are. Try this link: http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/10/patsfans-com-patriots-fan-forum-page2.html There are several threads regarding Hernandez. The original is over 70 pages long, but there are many others too. The one about Bill Polian's comment about Hernandez being a draft risk runs 40 pages. There's a 14 page thread about Matt Light never embracing AH's beliefs. Mario William's AH comments runs 6 pages. Etc.

Travis Henry trivia: * Has more children (11) by more baby-mammas (10) than points on the Wonderlic (7). * 5th leading rusher in Bills history (just behind Fred Jackson and just ahead of Wray Carlton). * His place of birth wouldn't suggest a career as Buffalo Bill: Frostproof, Florida.

Maybe the mods can figure out once and for all who really designed the charging buffalo logo.

I agree about Brown. I never really understood all his Pro Bowls. And I voted Byrd for underrated even though he was not underrated in his time. But I think young fans don't realize how good he was. Even I barely remember but some of his stats speak for themselves.

http://www.nfl.com/n...errated-players NFL.com is running a survey asking who is the most underrated and overrated Bill of all time. Right now - early in the voting - Bledsoe is winning the poll as most overrated Bill ever. Aaron Schobel, to my surprise, is winning the most underrated Bill vote. Personally, I voted for Butch Byrd as most underrated though there were some other worthy names on the list.

Throws guys open: Drew Brees

With 139 votes tallied so far, the average fan is predicting about 7.5 wins (weighted average). Of course, the numbers are skewed by the CIBEBOs out there. Seven polled fans are projecting 13 or more wins! CIBEBO = Cognitively Impaired By Excessive Bills Optimism

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/oj-simpson-movie-american-mystery-star-charlotte-kirk-nicole-brown-simpson-exclusive-100 Sounds like they're taking the angle that the murder is an unsolved mystery and OJ might be innocent.

Exactly because we have a new coaching staff and QBs.

I watched my first NFL game about 44 years ago. It was Dallas versus Cleveland. When I turned on the set, the Browns were getting spanked so, like any other little kid in that situation, I started rooting for the underdog. The Browns came back to win and I was hooked. So at a young age, despite growing up in Cheektowaga, I was as much a Browns fan as a Bills fan. But when I went away to college in the late 1970s, I started identifying more with the Bills as my hometown team. And when the Brownies moved to Baltimore, my remaining connection to them was forever severed. I've been a die-hard monogamous Bills fan ever since.

I've only seen highlights of Jim Brown so I can't judge which is better. But nobody since Simpson comes close to his talent. Running was harder in those days because defenses were geared to stop it and the rules were different (hash marks, for example, were closer to the sideline squeezing plays to the other side). Only 5 backs in the NFL rushed for 1,000 yards in 1973. The most yards anyone - besides OJ - had was 1,144. OJ had 2,003. The Bills passing attack wasn't great in '73. Nor was their defense. Our opponents had a singular focus when playing us: STOP OJ. But no one could. He was just in a different league than anyone else. No other RB in history has dominated his peers like OJ. Anybody who compares AP - or whoever the RB of the moment is - to OJ just isn't well informed. Too bad all that amazing talent was given to a murderous schmuck. I hope the movie, though, shows some of his highlights to remind people how feared the Bills running attack once was.

I really don't believe Kolb/EJ will be worse this year than Fitz was last year. Maybe not better, but not worse either. Gailey wasn't a bad OC so I'm not looking for much improvement from the offense just yet. I do think the defense - with Pettine as OC instead of Wanny - will make a solid step forward this year. Altogether... 8-8. But there are so many changes and so many unknowns this season that I don't have a high sense of confidence in my prediction.

2 out of 14 arrests were recorded by Rodney Wright who, as I recall, never played a down for us, though he had a couple nice seasons for the San Jose SabreCats. Nice charts, Doc.

Under the circumstances, the article is a fair assessment. Typically when a team changes their HC, OC, DC and QB, there are growing pains. I hope the 2013 Bills are an exception but if I were a Ravens sportswriter, I wouldn't see a lot of reasons to predict that the Bills will be a strong opponent this year. To me, personally, change = hope.

Yeah the pad was nice. But I'm in my 50s and had back surgery last year. That hit - pad or no pad - would have put tears in my eyes.

I can't celebrate anyone's misfortune. One man is dead. One family is heartbroken. And things will be tough for the Hernandez family as well when and if Aaron goes to prison.