hondo in seattle

Yeah.... gotta to love the optimism but a lot of this goes too far for me. I also wouldn't classify Byrd-Wilson elite though it will be interesting to see what they do with a better pass rush. Glenn may be a superstar someday but right now he's unproven as a NFL LT, and as a rookie will make rookie mistakes. The remarks about our WR corps says we only have one legitimate starter but lots of good backups. That isn't ideal. Brad Smith and VY being in the same backfield a deadly combination? I doubt we'll see that very much. But overall I have to agree, the Bills improved on many fronts.

I like Jaws because he's a Lackawanna boy and besides (1) he obviously knows football, especially the QB position, and (2) he does more film study than most of analysts on TV. But, like anyone, he has flaws. Film study isn't the same as being with the guy in the huddle. Jaws used to like TE because he saw on film that Edwards had good mechanics and good accuracy. What he didn't see was that TE wasn't executing the game plan, wasn't throwing to the primary because he was afraid or whatever, and wasn't inspiring his fellow players. His rating of Fitz is fair based on what the tape will tell him. I doubt if he's factoring in Fitz's guts and leadership. And I wonder if he's considering the broken ribs. Painful ribs will play havoc with mechanics, though of course, Fitz's mechanics were flawed before then. All in all, I think #24 is fair based on past performance. My expectation for this year, though, is much higher. I'm really hoping, especially with Coach Lee here and lots of guys getting healthy, for Fitz to have a career year in 2012.

Power rankings never make me excited. Wins do. BUT... I do enjoy having my optimism affirmed by NFL experts.

There are a lot of reasons to be excited this season. Here's one more - in the words of Ryan Fitzpatrick: "C.J. is a completely changed man. It's been apparent from day one of this off-season. I think the biggest thing with what he did at the end of the year last year, was he got his confidence. You just see how comfortable he is in this system now. He's telling guys, receivers that they're lined up wrong and letting them know... there's just so many things. He's directing people on the field and out of the huddle. I think he's ready to make a big jump. I think mentally he's made a big jump in the last year. With his confidence level where it is right now, we expect big things out of him this year. He really showed last year what he can do."

The battle for the #2 WR spot should be interesting. There are several players who could potentially emerge. I'm kind of thinking it's between Hagan and Jones but Easley is a wildcard. And then there's TJ which hardly anyone is mentioning even though the brain trust apparently thinks highly of him. Doesn't anyone believe he could win the #2 spot - if not by opening day then by the end of the season?

Yeah, it makes me excited to hear the players get excited about each other! It's been a loooong time since I sensed this much enthusiasm from the players or the fans.

Stevie Johnson talks about Mario Williams on NFL.com: "A beast, man. He's huge," Johnson said, adding that "the dude's like freaking Hercules out there. He just leans on you and gets a sack. He's looking real strong out there. Our whole defense is looking dominant." http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d829d95ac/article/mario-williams-is-freaking-hercules-says-bills-wr Link includes the 32 in 32 video segment.

Keith Sims: "As a former offensive lineman, that would keep me awake at night having to face the Bills twice a year."

Kelly, of course, has said there are things going on behind the scenes that the public doesn't know about. Now Kilgore is saying the same thing and specifying that his source is not Kelly. Two independent sources - not that I distrusted Kelly - convince me that there's a lot we don't know. As I've opined elsewhere... If Ralph wants the team to stay in Buffalo, I would guess that his family feels the same way, or at least will respect his wishes to keep the Bills here. I don't think the Bills are traveling anywhere when Ralph heads to the Great Beyond.

There are a lot of ways to skin the cat. Estate taxes are not an insurmountable obstacle to keeping the Bills in the Wilson family - or in Buffalo. They say Ralph wants the Bills to remain in Buffalo. I'm guessing his family feels the same way. Or, at the least, will respect his wishes. My guess is that the Bills will remain in Buffalo upon his passing.

Not one of Chris Brown's finer moments.

My wife is from the Philippines. She's college educated and an expert with an iPhone, etc. But, supposedly, her tribal ancestors - and not that long ago - were cannibals. I jokingly tell her that some day she'll get mad at me and throw me in a pot. But I guess Rachel Ray's family doesn't need to look to her ancestors for evidence of cannibalism. I feel bad for that dog!

When Jaws says other teams are "very scared," he's overstating it a bit. I don't think many teams are "very scared" of other teams - especially before the season begins. It's just not the mentality of most players and coaches to be "very scared" of good competition. Jaws was just using a little hyberbole to make the point that other teams in the NFL respect what Buddy and Chan have been doing. They acknowledge the progress. Apparently, there's something of a consensus in NFL circles that we're on the right track. Most of us here on TBD are very optimistic about the Bills. We know there's been a lot of progress. It shouldn't surprise us that the people working in the NFL are also noticing the positive changes in Buffalo. While it shouldn't surprise us, it is reassuring and - personally - it only reinforces my good feelings about 2012.

I realize now how important it is to keep up with the Bills media. There are always new revelations coming out. For example, I didn't know until now that Donald Jones is likely to be our backup QB this season. Here's an excerpt from Chris Brown: "Bills head coach Chan Gailey said Monday that Donald Jones is the early leader in the battle for the number two quarterback role, but Jones has been shuttled around a lot thus far with respect to his alignments and assignments." http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/OTA-Report---Day-8/08128401-e45b-465b-b452-579fa9e739eb I've also learned that I've really been under appreciating Kirk Morrison's resume. I wondered last year why he didn't get more playing time. Now I'm really, really curious after learning that he averaged 1000 tackles per season with the Raiders. Here's the Buffalo News Headline: Morrison aims to show his true value Linebacker averaged 1000 tackles a season with Oakland

Rather amazing... McGee is approaching this offseason as if he has nothing left to lose. That was evident in February, when he agreed to restructure the final two years on his contract. In exchange for accepting a combined $5.1 million cut in guaranteed salary, McGee left open the opportunity to make much of that back by meeting incentives for playing time and production.

Puente did it. I mean, c'mon! Why else would he be looking at the QB entry in Wikipedia???

I don't think our OL "sucks" but I certainly believe it has room for improvement. Yards-Per-Carry is dictated by a number of things: * Ability of the OL * Ability of the backs * Play-calling/Offensive Scheme * Quality of the Defense I tend to believe that the gaudy YPC numbers of FredEx and CJ have more to do with their own ability and Chan's play-calling than the play of the Offensive Line. Our line isn't terrible but neither is it dominating. In obvious run situations, we didn't always see the holes we wanted. In 3rd or 4th and short situation, there wasn't always a lot of push. FredEx and CJ seemed to get their best results when Chan's play-calling had the defense on its heels.

Young didn't win any games over there. The defense won games. The coaches won games. ST won games. I don't recall him single-handedly winning any games. The team's W-L record was good. VY's own stats weren't stellar.

Will Coach Lee's coaching push Fitz's rating up 5 points this year? Did all the injuries to Fitz, FedEx, the O Line and the WR Corps cost Fitz 5 points last year? I think the comparison to Eli is a fair one.

There's a psychological phenomenon known as "the Pygmalion effect" which observes that people tend to perform the way their leaders/parents/teachers expect them to perform. People treated like winners tend to win. People treated like losers tend to lose. While Coach Lee may or may not know the term "Pygmalion effect" - I'm sure he knows the concept. Most good leaders and coaches do. So of course Lee's not going to say, "Fitz lacks the tools to succeed at this level." Bill Parcells notwithstanding, most good coaches will talk up the potential of their players to boost their self-confidence and self-esteem so the players work hard to live up to the perceived potential. I like Fitz and believe he can lead us to the playoffs. But I take the praise of coaches with a grain of salt.

If memory serves, the Marv Levy didn't win the time-of-possession battle very often with the K-Gun no-huddle offense. Yet we won a lot of games in those days. I'm not sure how much TOP means either. I'd go with turnover differential. Dominance of lines would be a good one, too, if more easily quantifiable.

In his pre-injury years, Merriman averaged about 13 sacks a year. Over the past three years, he's averaged about 1. So let's split the difference and say he gets 7 this year. I'm okay with that - especially because M. Williams ought to get 10+ and Anderson will push double-digits. Kelsay will get a few. Both K.Williams and M.Dareus are capable of 5+. And then the LBs and DBs may contribute a few more. If all these guys are healthy, what kind of blocking scheme can account for all of them? You can't double-team everybody. The Bleacher Report article, btw, was amateurishly written but I love the author's enthusiasm and the Dennis Hopper/Bruce Smith reference to close it out.

Hopeful's logic is irrefutable. A 'fully recovered' Merriman is a Pro Bowler. He's already proven in the NFL what he can do when he's 100%. The question is whether or not Merriman will ever fully recover what's he's lost. A fully-recovered Easley may be more productive than a mostly-recovered Merriman. My guess is that both Easley and Merriman are more productive this year than last (yeah, I know, ain't that a bold prediction!) but neither becomes a full time starter unless the starter gets injured. As Hopeful observes, Easley is still kind of a rookie. And Merriman has been on the sidelines for soooo long that it's hard to imagine him regaining his Pro Bowl form, at least not this year if ever.

This list worries me because there are some really good, important players here. If ALL these guys start the season 100% healthy, we'll be off to a great start! But if some of them heal behind schedule, or never fully recover, we could struggle again this year. Btw, I voted for FredEx. Despite CJ's good showing as his replacement, Fred was the catalyst of the offense last season when the offense was really rolling.