mike oxhurtz

People on here were saying that Kelly was NFL ready when he came to us from the USFL. So if that's the case, then why did the Bills go 4-12 in 86'? Because the Bills were rebuilding, just like the Chargers were. So the Chargers were suppose to go from the absolute worst team in the league to a playoff team in one year...really?! Just because the Dolphins did it, doesn't mean every 1-15 team can do it. It's obvious you're a Flutie hater and are making up every excuse in the world to discredit what he accomplished in Buffalo. I bet you're one of those fans that wanted Kelly to retire the last few years he played as a Bill...how did that work out for ya? Maybe if Kelly had a decent O-line the last few years he played, maybe he could have played for a few more years and played when the Bills had the great defenses in 98-99.

How was Drew Brees' record before SD drafted Phillip Rivers? Flutie was 8-14 and Brees was 10-17. Maybe the fact that the year before the Bills did their exodus to San Diego, that the Chargers were 1-15 and by far the worst team in the league...you think that might have anything at all to do with Flutie's & Brees' bad win/loss records from 2001-2003? The Chargers were rebuilding from being the worst team in the league in 2000, so it took sometime. Here's another example, before Jim Kelly came to the Bills, the Bills had consecutive 2-14 seasons from 84-85, once Kelly arrived, the Bills finished the 1986 season 4-12. In 1987, the Bills finished 7-9. So, just like the Bills, the Chargers were rebuilding. So comparing Flutie's stats with a rebuilding San Diego team, to Johnson's stats with the Bills when the Bills were a good team for 3 out of the 4 years during Johnson's time is ridiculous. The facts are, Flutie was 21-9 as the Bills starter, while Johnson was 7-11 while they were both on the Bills. That's a 0.7 winning percentage for Flutie and a 0.388 winning percentage for Johnson. In 2001, the offense was supposed to be tailored to Johnson's strengths. I remember hearing on the radio about the new west coast offense that was being installed and that the 2001 Bills were supposed to be better than the 2000 Bills. Johnson went 1-7 as the starter in 2001 and was knocked out again.

IMO, the during 1998-2000 seasons, with the bad O-lines the Bills had, the QB that would have worked best would have been Jeff Garcia. To bad he was with San Fran at that time.

I never said "he just wins", I just said he was better than Rob Johnson.

Speaking of the smurfs, they're coming out with a smurfs movie.

Because the Chargers were the worst team in the league when Flutie got there. They were 1-15 the year before Flutie & co arrived.

Yes, football is a team sport, but there's always 1 guy that touches the ball and leads plays on every play on the offense, and that's the quarterback. The 2000 ravens won with Trent Dilfer and they had an amazing defense. In 2001, that defense was still intact, but Dilfer was gone and Grbac was brought in (like Rob Johnson) to bring a spark to the offense, but Grbac failed and was sent packing after a year. Nobody is arguing that the main reason why the Bills were in the playoffs in 1998 & 1999 was due to the defense, but you keep bringing that up. While at the time Johnson had the potential and the physical tools, he did not have the experience Flutie did and did not know how to manage the game. How many times did Johnson take a sack? How many times did Johnson get knocked out of a game? People bash Trent Edwards up and down about his durability, but Johnson could not stay healthy. What was Johnson's win/loss record in Buffalo? In the 1990 Superbowl, the Giants were led by backup Jeff Hostettler and won the game by 1 point (as much as I hate to say that). Granted Hostettler did not play spectactular, but he did enough to manage the game for the Giants. The QB has the biggest responsibility out of any player on the team. You can have the best defense in the league, but if your QB is constantly getting sacked, fumbles the ball, throws interceptions then he's going to lose the game for you. The Bills could have went back to the playoffs in 2000 if they kept Flutie in as starter after Johnson went down again due to injury. Flutie went 3-1 during the span that Johnson was injured and had the best game of the season in the loss to the Vikings (the Vikings ended up going to the NFC Champiosnhip game that year). Flutie was 4-1 in 2000 while Johnson was 4-7. Nobody is saying that Flutie was a great QB, but he worked at the time behind a ****ty O-line. Another point, you act like the Bills had such great talent on the offense. Reed and Thomas were on the tail ends of their careers in Buffalo. Plus, the O-line sucked. Moulds was still developing as well. The Bills offense was not great. Remember in 1997, the Bills went 6-10 between Collins & Van Pelt.

The only stat that really matters is in the Win Loss column. Regardless of all the other circumstances, Flutie was 21-9 as a starter in Buffalo, Johnson was 8-18. People act like Flutie threw for under 3000 yards and had a higher INT to TD ratio. Flutie was a good serviceable QB. Just like Dilfer was in Baltimore in 2000. Dilfer was not spectacular or great, he did enough to win games. Look at what happened the following season to the Ravens, they got greedy and brought in a "better on paper" QB in Elvis Grbac (just like Johnson was brought in over Flutie), but Grbac failed and was shown the door in Baltimore after 1 season. The bottom line is, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Whether you win the game by 1 point or 50 points, the result is still the same.

Not necessarily. When Kelly played for the Gamblers, he was sacked about 100 times and had 2 WR's about the size of Parrish playing with him. Ted Marchibroda helped develop Kelly.

http://www.realfootball365.com/articles/bills/14906 It talks about some of the points already mentioned on TBD, but it's an interesting read.

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!! S-U-C-K SUCK SUCK SUCK!!! IMO, the Jets are built to be a short-term winner. I can see them having a 2-3 year window of possibly winning the superbowl, then lose some players to FA and go through some rebuilding.

I agree that it's piss poor journalism by Lombardi. A Majority of sports reporters are saying the Bills are going to be bad because our first 2 draft picks weren't QB & LT.

With the Bills going 7-9 three years in a row and 6-10 with Dick Jauron & Co, the Bills have nowhere to go but up. 1. One of the worst coaching staffs in Bills history is no longer in charge. Jauron didn't play to win, he played not to lose. We all remember his famous quote: "It's hard to win in the NFL". Everytime the Bills won the toss, he deferred to the 2nd quarter. How many times did we see Jauron challenge the wrong call and not challenge the call that could have been overturned? How many games every season over the last 4 years were lost due to bad coaching decisions...at least 10 (my count is 14). 2. The new 3-4 defense. Gone is the horrible, bend-don't-break Tampa 2 defense. Our DE's ranged from the 240's to the 260's last season, this year they range from 285 to 300. Plus, we have a 318 lbs NT in the middle (Troup) and Kyle Williams. Another change, no more tweener safeties as LB. Our LB's went from the 220's to 250 (Mitchell) to an average of 240-260's. What does bigger players on defense mean...more tackles. Last year, our run defense ranked #30 giving up 156.3 yards per game. The Bills let 4 teams rush for over 200 yards against them, including a 300 game vs the Jets. The run defense will be much improved to go along with the #2 ranked pass defense. 3. Injuries. Nix & Gailey hired 2 strength & conditioning coordinators, one for the linemen, the other for WR's & DB's. In the first OTA, Bills players came in and saw all 12 TV's were gone and the players were expected to come in and work. With the players being more physically prepared, there will be less injuries on the team. 4. Hiring an offensive minded coach (Gailey) that has experience. Now a lot of fans don't like the choice, because Gailey was canned before the start of the season in KC, but realisticly, look at the talent level on KC. The previous Bills OC's (Fairchild, Schonert & Van Pelt) didn't have much experience or any experience at all as an OC. Plus, Jauron wanted a dulled down, pop-warner type offense. Gailey plans to tailor his offense to the strengths of his players. Gailey also plans to put bigger WR's on the outside, to outleap and outmuscle DB's. Jauron & co had 5'10" Evans & 5'9" Parrish constantly lined up on the outside, which is part of the reason why both were WR's were ineffective. Both Parrish & Evans would work better in the slot or the inside. 5. C.J. Spiller. Spiller can be used in so many ways: Kick Return, Punt Return, RB, WR. If the O-line struggles again, Spiller can be a good relief valve to whoever the QB is by throwing a screen or dump off pass. The O-line is still a big question. But, having new strength & conditioning coordinators should help keep these guys healthy and hopefully they can build on some consistentcy & chemistry together. Plus, after having Jauron & co, one of the worst coaching staffs on Bills history running this team, anyone in this league would have been an underachiever on this offense. QB & WR's are another question. With the QB position (refer back to the last statement about Jauron), also look at superbowl winning QB Drew Brees. In Brees' career at SD, Brees had 31 games where he threw for under 200 yards, including 6 games where he threw for under 100 yards. Some guys are just late bloomers, maybe Edwards and/or Brohm are late bloomers as well. We'll all find out this season. Realisticly, the 2010 Bills will not win the Superbowl and their offense won't crack the top 20, but the 2010 Bills are headed in the right direction one step at a time.

Ira Albright...that's a name I haven't heard in years.

I'll never forget the battle between Miami & SD in the playoffs in the early 80's (that went into overtime). That was a hell of a game. RIP Air Coryell.

You are the only person I've ever heard of defending Littman and Wilson on this issue.

With this kind of statement: "I dont know. I cant stop thinking about Dakota Fanning", what do expect people to think?! I just watched watched Spiller's highlights again and was completely impressed (again). I'm so glad that Gailey is the Bills HC, instead of Skeletor, because Skeletor would have no clue how to use Spiller. It should be very interesting to see how Gailey will use all 3 RB's and what formations will be used.

I hope you're between 16 & 18, because Dakota Fanning is 16 years old.

Here's an article that discusses the competition at the WR position: http://www.realfootball365.com/articles/bills/14891

I agree. My favorite play from Fletcher and Spikes was the opening drive of the 2006 season vs the Pats, Brady goes back to pass and gets blasted by Spikes, the ball pops out and Fletcher takes it to the endzone for a TD.

And he also ran for 990 yards his last season as a Bill.

I agree. Donahoe was so pissed at Bledsoe for not choosing the side of the field that the coaches wanted him to take in the Pittsburgh game, that Donahoe gave the starting job to Losman and publicly bashed Bledsoe for his mistake.

That's nice

If that's really the case, then I have to give some credit to Vick for not reacting to getting cake smashed in his face.

I agree about Bledsoe. We should have kept him for another 2-3 years. Even though Bledsoe regressed, he was still better than any QB the Bills had this past decade.