hondo in seattle

It was OJ who I was specifically thinking about. I think OJ is one of the most talented athletes to ever play the game of football. But I try to imagine how the families of his victims must feel about him being honored in Buffalo. We can't limit the Wall of Fame to choir boys. But there must be some boundary, some bridge too far. In my opinion, OJ is beyond that limit and should come down. Btw, I'm not thinking about an annual review to delete players. I imagine a one-time thing. The Ralph had its wall of fame; the new stadium has its own.

Maybe the Pegulas should form a committee that reviews the entire Wall of Fame for the new stadium. Give them the opportunity to delete some players and add others. Start fresh.

Yeah, I don't think we should eliminate Josh's role as a runner. He's too valuable. But he's not valuable if he gets hurt. So I think Dorsey should not call any designed QB runs in most regular season games. We should save Josh-the-runner for big games/playoffs.

"Must address" is strong terminology. I'm not sure they "must address" those positions. And, with our cap situation, I'm also not sure they will. I suspect, all of our 2023 starters are already on the team. If we get a couple more quality backups: great.

I don't get some of the drama here. At worst Ray is a cheap camp body. We need camp bodies. At best, he's a quality backup. There's no loss and a possibility of a modest gain.

I guess you can count me among the people who overrate Fred. With the likes of Trent Edwards, JP Losman, Kyle Orton, and EJ Manuel handing him the ball, Fred didn't see a lot of defenses selling out to stop the pass. Fred played for really bad teams often behind woefully bad OLs and still produced. Somebody can fact-check me, but I think one year Fred led the NFL in yards after contact. He got a lot done without a lot of help. Sometimes when I watched him play, I thought he could have been a HOFer if he had played with the Bills during the late 80s/early 90s instead of Thurm. *Guess who had a higher yards per carry average for their Bills career, Fred Jackson or Thurman Thomas?

I'm sorely disappointed my bid fell short. I was hoping to relocate the team to Cheektowaga.

Biscuit was the UPI Defensive Player of the Year twice. How many guys won twice and don't make the Hall? But I think the selectors have Bills fatigue. For a team that never won the Super Bowl, the 90s Bills already have a gaggle of busts.

Von did say he wants to be a GM someday. Getting involved in personnel already?

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics..." Stats are indeed facts, but they are not all the facts and never tell the whole story. Context matters. Harris played in a more-balanced offense. Motor played in an offense that was very much pass-first. Opposing DCs didn't spend a lot of time game-planning how to stop our running attack. That was never going to be a difference-maker in the outcome of the game. The entire defensive scheme was about stopping Josh. So when Motor did run, he was often running against nickel and dime defenses against players who were coached to play the pass first. Pretty much the only games I've seen Harris play were his Buffalo games. Maybe that's not a representative sample, but in those games he looked bigger, faster and stronger than Motor. But it's not just Motor versus Harris. Last year, Hines came on board during the season and, according to some sources, never mastered the offensive playbook. And Cook was just a rookie. Both ought to be more productive this season as outside runners and receivers out of the backfield. The addition of Harris and Murray gives us the ability to pound the rock up the middle which we lacked last season. And Harris has some outside ability as well. I, for one, think this is the best stable of running backs we've had since Shady was the headliner. I just hope Dorsey knows how to use them.

If nothing else, he seems pretty emotional about getting another shot at the NFL... “Words can’t describe the emotions I’m feeling right now. So many tears, sleepless nights, depression, everything that comes with losing the game. So many days of having nothing but hope while fighting a uphill battle. There where times that I thought maybe I should give up, but I wouldn’t be me if I folded.Even in my darkest moments I believed in myself. I believed in my preparation. I believed that I would have another opportunity even if the world didn’t believe. There are so many people that have been on this journey with me supporting me and I thank you all!!! When I needed someone to lean on you all wouldn’t let me fall. Most importantly thank you God!!! It’s official im a Buffalo Bill!!!I’m so grateful and excited for this opportunity this moment I’ve dreamt about for 4 years. I’m back!!!!!!!” This was an Instagram quote quoted in Ryan Talbot's NYup article: www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2023/05/buffalo-bills-sign-former-1st-round-pick-shane-ray-heres-what-edge-rusher-said-on-return-to-nfl.html

My questions... Will Dorsey do better in Year 2 than he did in the second half of Year 1? Dorsey follow up: Dorsey has a diverse RB room - will he figure out how to optimize their individual skill sets? Did Beane do enough to fix the OL? Will Kincaid make an impact as a rookie? Will Josh's UCL bother him again this season? Will Gabe step up? (Although, even if he doesn't, I think top-to-bottom we have a better receiving corps this year). We need affirmative answers on these for the Bills to have the best offense ever. But what does "best" even mean? In 1990, the Bills averaged 26.8 points a game - best in the NFL that year but wouldn't be this season. Rule changes tend to promote scoring so I'm not sure how to compare offenses from different eras.

OBJ and DHop were prohibitively expensive. Maybe Von came to Beane about Ray, and Beane thought - what the heck, we're not strong at DE, Ray is cheap, maybe he's worth a look. In the end, Beane's doing what's best for the team but given Ray's recent history, he might not have been on Beane's radar. Maybe Von put him there?

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Poor guy is not living the NFL dream he expected when he was drafted in the first round. 2015 to 2016. Career starts out okay. Plays in 30 games his first two seasons. Collects 68 tackles, 12 sacks and scores a TD (on the recovery of a Von-forced fumble). Wins Super Bowl. 2017 to 2018. A recurring wrist injury limits his playing time and effectiveness. Spends part of these years on IR. 2019. Signed by Baltimore in the offseason but fails to make the final cut. Doesn't play in 2019. 2020. Out of football. 2021 to 2022. Plays for the Argonauts. More injury problems but wins Grey Cup. The guy has seriously good juju. In his short career, he's won both the Grey Cup and Lombardi. I'm guessing Ray was brought in as a favor to Von. But we might want to keep him as a good luck charm!

This is an awesome comment by someone who knows their Buffalo football history. Thanks for posting! I get what you're saying about Hughitt not being the star. Somewhere I read Ockie Anderson - who rotated with Hughitt at QB and RB - was the better runner. But Hughitt was no slouch as a player. As I understand it, he was always on the field making meaningful contributions at one position or another. In 1920, Hughitt scored 52 points (8 TDs, 4 conversions) of Buffalo's league-leading 258 points. Hughitt, by himself, outscored our opponents who managed only 32 points against us that season. In 1922, George Halas & the Canton Daily News named Hughitt the starting QB of the NFL All-Pro team. The All-Americans had the best record over the first two years of the league and scored - by far - the most points. They also had the biggest point differential. When you consider his accomplishments both as a player and coach, Hughitt is worthy of the HOF, though I know his induction will never happen. In 1969, when Canton named its 1920s all-decade team, they didn't include Hughitt or any Buffalo players, despite our early dominance. Btw, it seems very Billsy that the Buffalo squad tied for the league lead in the first two seasons of the NFL but still didn't win a championship. P.S. As a football historian, you're probably aware of the good article on Hughitt posted by the Pro Football Researchers Association: www.profootballresearchers.org/biography/Hughitt_Tommy.pdf

Dorsey will make sure Diggs is a big part of the game plan. He'll finish with 10 receptions on 13 targets in a Bills win.

Yeah, how well guys will be recovered from last year's injuries worries me: Tre, Miller, Hyde, Poyer and let's not forget Josh. I hope - we all hope - his UCL doesn't trouble him this season.

Good topic for the offseason! Sterling Sharpe... When you watched him play, you thought: Here's a future Canton guy. Some guys actually in the Hall didn't impress me that way when they played. Cookie Gilchrist... 6x All-Pro in CFL; 4-time All-Pro in AFL; 1962 AFL MVP; led team to AFL Championship in 1964; set the professional single-game rushing record (243 yards); AFL All-Time starting FB. Larry Felser used to say Cookie was every bit as good as Jim Brown. Steve Tasker... We all know why. Tommy Hughitt... The best player on the old Buffalo All-Americans playing QB, WR, RB, punter, kicker, and defense while also serving as coach. In 1920, Hughitt and the All-Americans finished the season with the highest point total & point differential and tied for the best record in the NFL. With no playoffs back then, the championship was decided by a vote which we, of course, lost. In 1921, Hughitt led the Buffalo All-Americans to a 9-1-2 record. Again, they had the highest point total and point differential. Again, they tied for the league lead. However, the NFL counted a Buffalo exhibition game against them and awarded the title to Chicago in a scandal known as the "Staley Swindle." If not for corrupt NFL politics, Hughitt would have been able to claim championships in the first two years of the NFL, both as a star player and head coach. Hughitt currently sits 6th on the all-time NFL winning percentage (.694) as a coach - ahead of Belichick, Cowher, Dungy, Shula, Paul Brown, and many other current and future HOFers.

You're welcome! After I read it, (1) I began really rooting for the kid, and (2) started thinking and wondering if we signed someone more talented than his career stats may indicate. I'm glad the OP started this thread because Sherfield's been under the radar.

I won't disagree with the preseason ranking. But when Josh throws for over 5,000 yards this year, some folks may want to reevaluate where they ranked our receivers.

Agreed. When Gabe hurt his ankle, we needed outside depth and didn't have it. Sherfield and Harty are both more talented, accomplished wideouts than Kumerow. We also didn't have someone to work the middle of the field. Beane said that was supposed to be Crowder's role and we know what happened to Crowder. We also have greater TE depth this year. Last season, Knox was our only legit TE. And while he wasn't bad, I wonder if the death of his brother negatively impacted his play. He seemed to disappear some games. Kincaid's addition to the TE ranks is exciting. I hope Gabe steps up this year. But even if he doesn't, this is a better receiving corps top-to-bottom than last year.

Well said and I agree wholeheartedly! I'm a greedy fan. I hope Josh gets even better. I hope he elevates his game to the point that people start talking about him as the GOAT. But even if he never improves, I'm still happy. Josh is already good enough to win a Lombardi if the rest of the roster is there and chips fall our way. Being a Bills fan used to be a masochistic test of loyalty. With Josh, it's a joy.

We have to play them twice anyway. Might as well open with them - as others have wisely said - hopefully before Rodgers develops timing & rhythm with his pass-catchers. The Jets were good last year outside of the QB position. It should be a fun game, pitting the grizzled, old-generation signal caller versus the exciting young gun. Good storylines: Can the savvy, ring-wearing, maybe long-in-the-tooth veteran resuscitate a moribund Jets franchise and have them compete with the AFCE's new king of the hill? Will a Bills franchise beset by challenges in 2022 return this year better and stronger?

There are hundreds of people who professionally comment on the NFL with hundreds of different opinions. Last year, a bunch of these guys opined that the Bills would win the Super Bowl. That didn't work out. The preseason buzz is meaningless. I really don't care what Acho thinks. I don't even know (or care) who this guy is. I do know that the Bills are one of the teams with a realistic shot of winning it all. So let the talking heads talk and enjoy the ride when the season begins.