hondo in seattle

I'm too old for Madden but I agree with the assessment. I wonder if NFLE and indoor touches really count the same, anyway. I mean, I don't think defenders at that level hit as hard as NFL defenders who run like cheetahs and hit like freight trains.

Yeah, I agree. The Bills, the county executive and the governor all seem to be in the dark. And while Schumer might have plans about what he would like to do legislatively as a senator, he hasn't done anything yet. Schumer - unless he just purchased the Bills - is not someone who can unilaterally guarantee that the Bills will stay in Buffalo. Anything he proposes will need the support of others who don't seem to know what he's up to.

Top 5? Big claim - but he has an argument. Maybe he's not the best runner in the NFL but he's an awesome all-purpose back who can run inside, outside, block and catch. And he averaged over 5 ypc behind a less-than-dominant O Line. I'd probably rate him Top 5!

I don't remember if this was confirmed or just a rumor... but yeah, I remember something like this too. BTW, I think Doug Whaley in his position as Assistant GM is responsible for scouting pro players. Not to steal any of Nix's thunder, but Whaley deserves credit here too.

I agree. I had thought he might make a good backup. But the reports out of training camp are really worrisome. Some people like Fitz. Some don't. But we should all worry if he gets injured. Fitz is far from the best player on our offense. But he might be the most difficult to replace.

Thanks for the update. I'm ex-army myself but can still appreciate a salty old jar head. So... thank you for courageously and honorably serving our country!

I think the reason he mentioned the Bills specifically is what you suggested - we're the Week One opponent. After the first game, other teams will have a better idea of how the Jets plan to use Tebow. But the Bills are completely in the dark. We have no film to go on. Rex is certainly a blowhard. But I personally don't feel these remarks about the Bills are offensive or even especially newsworthy. He's just making a valid observation.

PTR... I like Ralph but not so sure he 'knows more about football then we give him credit for.' I don't remember the exact stat, but the Bills have an all time losing record. We've only won about 47% of our games since Ralph formed the team. That's not a good track record. That's not even an average track record. I agree with you that he's made some poor decisions regarding whom he trusts to run the organization. Exactly that shows a deficit in his football acumen.

Interesting POV and one I hadn't considered. Scratching my head right now wondering if you might be right.

I'm not sure why this offends people. Rex is merely saying that having a viable wildcat alternative forces defenses to game plan different. Don't we have Brad Smith for the very same reason? I'm not defending Rex. I just don't there's much there in this case.

Not to knock DeHaven but I miss Bobby April and would be more confident if he was still here.

Because our Offensive Line provided zero push. Nothing. Nada. We ran the ball best when we had defenses on their heels. We really struggled running the ball in 3rd and short situations.

Are defenses really getting smaller and faster? The Tampa 2 - which prefers faster defenders - has been around since the 1990s. Getting faster is not a new idea. And not everyone buys into it because of your point - when you line up speedsters on defense instead of big bodies, you will suffer against power running teams. This isn't a new observation. So not all defenses are built on speed at the expense of size. The best defenses have both speed and size. Chan proved at the beginning of last year (not to mention with other clubs) that what he wants to do works - when we have the right (or almost right) players and we're healthy. Why change to something unproven when Chan has a proven track record doing what he does? You say "the current trend is to go 4 WR and put up 5000 yards passing." If other teams are passing for 5,000 yards, then I want to get on that train! I want to follow the trend of what works, not go against the grain and do something that doesn't work. Brees, Brady and Stafford all threw for 5,000 yards last year and Eli was close. Apparently defenses aren't small and fast enough yet. Considering that defenses are struggling to defend the pass given some of the newer rules favoring QBs and WRs, Chan wants to throw the ball. That makes perfect sense to me.

Yep. And the short article next to the poll is about the Bills D-Line. Think maybe Bills fans are skewing the results?

Kelsay was a failure as an OLB - but far less of a failure in Year #2 of that experiment than Year #1. I'm happy to see him back as a 4-3 DE where he belongs. Personally, I think Williams, Anderson, Kelsay, and Merriman will be a really good group of rotational DEs this season. Especially with Dareus and Kyle pushing the middle. When you look at our group of DEs, I'm not sure Kelsay will start or deserves to start. Nonetheless, count me fan because I'm a fan of any Bill as long as he wears the Bills red, white and royal blue. I'm hoping Kelsay has a great season and quiets his critics.

What's wrong with what Donte said? "If you have the right type of guys in that (defensive) room, you don't have to set bounties or pay money for guys to play physical and play hard."

Kirwan is right, we need these two to step up and it's encouraging he thinks they will.

Thanks for the observations, John. I agree wholeheartedly with the bolded part. Seems like Gilmore might be the kind of DB who can get in a WR's head.

Actually, I agree with you that Kelly did not single-handedly transform the Bills. But he was always the face of that transformation - far more so than Andre, Thurman or Bruce. Obviously, a lot of good things needed to coalesce for the Bills to win the AFC four years in a row. But, fair or not, one guy got a lion's share of the credit. And there were reasons why. Maybe because I live out-of-state now, but I just don't sense that Fitz resonates with the fans like Kelly did. Fitz might be a better human being than Kelly, but the rise of the Super Bowl Bills and Jim Kelly are inextricably linked. And Kelly always seemed like one of us even despite (and maybe partly because of) his foibles. Fitz is more like the accidental QB who is maybe the right person in the right place at the right time. Is Fitz generating the kind of excitement Kelly did when he came to town? Do as many people wear Fitz jersey's as wore Kelly jerseys in the late 80s, early 90s? Not hardly. The OP's question is will Fitz move ahead of Kelly as a Buffalo icon if Fitz wins a SB. We can only speculate but my guess is still no.

Ya know, I might be one of the guys growing a beard if Fitz leads us to the Super Bowl. I do appreciate that he has removed the Ivy League sweater-vest and behaves like just one of the guys. I love the loyalty he shows to his teammates. And his corny sense of humor. And how he screams like a prepubescent girl when he gets excited. Well, maybe not that last one so much. But I love that he has fun on the field. As for SB probabilities, I feel the Bills have better odds this year (and in the near future) than at any other time since Kelly et al. retired. I like the way this team is coming together and do believe Fitz can win a SB with the right surrounding cast.

Nice article, JW. Early last season, I was excited about the Bills offense. This preseason, I'm excited about the defense. It's hard not to expect a huge jump up the rankings.

I'll not comment on the probability of the event and give the question the serious answer I think the OP was looking for... No, Fitz wouldn't move ahead of Kelly as a Buffalo icon even if the Bills won the SB this year. Kelly transformed a 2-14 team and league laughingstock into a Super Bowl contender. We won many games over that evolution on the strength of Kelly's arm. And many more on the strength of his leadership and sheer will. Kelly seemed to epitomize the Buffalo spirit. He was a kid that some universities didn't want - at least not as their QB. But he was blue-collar, gutsy, tough, hard-working and confident. In other words, he was just like us - or how we imagine ourselves to be. Kelly came to town when the team was abysmal and nothing seemed to be right in Buffalo and he gave us several years of glory - with some heart-rending disappointments along the way. Fitz is an Ivy League boy who would be working on Wall Street if not in the NFL. He just doesn't connect as well with our rust belt sensibilities. And if we did win the Super Bowl, the credit would be spread evenly around to Nix, Chan, and all the players. Less of our success would be attributed - rightly or wrongly - to the QB. And - if we won the SB - the transformation would not be quite the same rags to riches story. We weren't horrible when Fitz came here. Just profoundly and persistently mediocre. While his position wouldn't yet be as elevated as Kelly's in the pantheon of Buffalo sports, I think we could see a lot of Buffalonians growing out Fitzian beards if we won the SB.

I live 2600 miles away and appreciate all the information from the hometown fans. Without you guys, I wouldn't know what's going on. Thanks!

I don't think it's vindication to find an obscure sportswriter who agrees with your opinion. But it is a nice article and I agree with much of it. Vindication is when Kelsay has a good year this year.

Dean Cain - who was a Bill for a very short period of time - is on TV in a new show titled "Stars Earn Stripes" about celebrities going through military challenges. http://www.nbc.com/stars-earn-stripes/about/ Cain was an excellent athlete in high school and received numerous athletic scholarship offers. But he chose to go to Princeton instead. After graduating with a B.A. in History, Cain had a tryout with the Bills but ruined his knee in training camp - ended his dreams of playing in the NFL. So we went to Hollywood where he's worked as a screenwriter,producer and actor - and fathered a child with a Playboy Playmate. Even though he's only nominally a Bill, I like to see ex-Bills do well.