jwhit34

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I would think there's an expectation to have an informed opinion and that people wouldn't just be flat out nasty. I think just about all of us would be very surprised if the team was a playoff contender. However, this group, including the coaches and front office, deserves a chance. Training camp and preseason was much better than in past years. There's still holes on the roster and they need more good players but it appears that they are starting to add some good players. They may have added some good players from the draft. The front office may have found some diamonds in the rough in David Nelson, Donald Jones and Antonio Coleman. Are they making the all rookie team? No, but at least they have some talent and let's face it, if they can find 1-2 UFAs per year that can contribute and eventually be starters, that's a winning formula (theproverbial "value picks"). The coaching staff seems to know what they are doing. They ran a rigorous camp, the team, while still lacking at some positions, looks like an NFL team and seems prepared. One of the things that I thought was most encouraging was howw they ran the 2 minute drill vs. the Colts. Admit it: how many times in the Jauron and Mularkey eras were you either yelling at the TV or in the stadium for them to hurry up to get to the line or judiciously use a timeout? I know it's only the preseason, but they were crisp, moved quickly and with purpose, and made good use of the clock. That's a great sign of discipline. I'm no pollyanna, I know the season is going to be rough, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Given that they kept 22 players on offense and 28 on defense the team is admitting that their talent on offense wasn't NFL caliber. I expect them to pick up at least 2 players off waivers and a LB and a DB will be cut. I would also expect them to only name 5 or 6 to the practice squad. If they do pick up a couple players and cut two I bet they cut 2 that are PS eligible, it will be easier to get them through after other teams have their roster set. That's being pretty smart. I have two kids, ages 8 and 6 and they're both Bills fans already. My 8 year old has gone to games with me the last two seasons and my 6 year old is going for the first time to the Miami game (thankfully, not too many crazies around my seats). We go to training camp every year (my daughter has gone for 5 years). The team has been bad their whole lives but it is so neat to see their innocent optimism. The morning after the Colts preseason game, my daughter woke up and the first thing she asked was "how did the Bills do?" When I told her they won, she said, "maybe they're going to be pretty good this year (she knows the Colts played in the Super Bowl last year)." Their innocent optimism has frankly helped me hang in there with the team and in some respects re-invigorated me in following the team. It has made me think about the years going to the games with my dad and watching some bad Bills teams but also the thrills watching OJ and the team getting better for a brief while. Opinionated is nice, well thought out and informed opinions are great and what we should be shooting for. It's a new season, everyone is 0-0 and let the games begin.

Here's my projected roster, practice squad and candidates to be dropped in favor of waiver wire pickups: 53 Man Roster QB - Edwards, Fitzpatrick, Brohm RB - Spiller, Jackson, Lynch, Bell FB - McIntyre OL - D. Bell, Levitre, Hangartner, Wood, Green, Meredith, Wang, Chambers, Howard TE - Stupar, Schouman, Foschi WR - Evans, Johnson, Parrish, Nelson, Jackson DL - Stroud, Williams, Edwards, Troup, Carrington, Johnson, LB - Poz, Davis, Ellis, Kelsay, Maybin, Torbor, Moats, Coleman, Mitchell CB - McGee, Florence, McKelvin, Corner, Youboty S - Whitner, Byrd, Scott, Wilson, C. Harris ST - Moorman, Lindell, Sanborn Practice Squad: Levi Brown, Rashaad Duncan, Dominique Harris, N. Roosevelt, D. Jones, K. Calloway, L. Harvey Guys to be replaced by free agent pickups: Chambers, Foschi Notable cuts: Keith Ellison, John McCargo, James Hardy, Chad Simpson We'll know in about 18 hours...

I do not think they will keep 6 WRs. With Wang hurt all preseason but pretty much assured to make the team they need 3 healthy backups on the line so they will have to keep 9. There were a lot of hints last night regarding who has made the team and who is fighting for a job. Nelson played with the first team for a second straight game so he's in (plus he came through again). Joique Bell didn't play RB and Parrish didn't play at all so they're on the team. Keeping 4 RBs means they probably don't have room for 6 WRs unless they go with only 2 TEs (unlikely, though with Nelson suspended they only have 1 healthy, viable TE on the roster). Every preseason fans obsess about the final 3-5 spots on the team. The reality is that those final 3-5 guys will be inactive every week. As for the receivers, Evans, Johnson and Parrish will play, Nelson gets on the field as a 4th receiver. I think Spiller gets split out wide in special packages. Chad Jackson makes the team and is a special teamer. So IF they kept Hardy, he doesn't suit up on Sunday so he (again) is relegated to a developmental guy. They have one on IR already: Marcus Easley. Between him and Nelson the are good (not to mention Donald Jones and/or N. Roosevelt probably land on the practice squad). Nobody should lose any sleep over releasing Hardy. One other thing on cuts/practice squad: rightly or wrongly, the Bills are picked to finish in the bottom 1/3 of the league. With the exception of DBs and maybe RBs, no team is going to spend much time scouring the Bills' cuts for possible pickups. That includes Levi Brown. The reality is that there are not a lot of developmental players that any team cuts that they try to get through to put on the practice squad. I wonder if it is almost an unwritten rule or a courtesy/understanding the teams have with each other. I'm not worried about them losing prize prospects by trying to get them through to put on the practice squad.

You are correct, there are a couple that are close (Howard Kindig 67-71 then played for Miami in 72, John Pitts, 67-72 and a couple of games in 73) and Paul Costa played from 65-72 and Paul Guidry 66-72.

Here is how the current starting NFL QBs were acquired: 1st round draft picks: 18 (E. Manning, P. Manning, Brees, Bradford, Cutler, Campbell, Flacco, Freeman, McNabb, Palmer, Roethlisberger, Rodgers, Sanchez, A. Smith, Stafford, Young, Rivers, Ryan) 2nd round picks: 3 (Favre-#33 overall, Kolb-#36 and Henne-#57) 3rd rounders: 2 (Edwards, Schaub) 4th round: 2 (Garrard, Orton) 6th round: 3 (Brady, Hasselbeck, D. Anderson) 7th round: 1 (Cassel) Undrafted: 3 (Delhomme, Romo, Moore) While there is a significant number of 1st round QBs that don't make it, over half are first rounders and Favre and Kolb went really early in the 2nd. Only 4 non-1st or 2nd rounders have had any sustained success (Brady, Romo, Delhomme an Hasselbeck). I find it interesting that there's more success finding QBs in the 6th and 7th round or undrafted FAs than getting one in the middle (3-5) rounds. What's the takeaway from all of this: a team's best chance at landing a franchise QB is finding the right one in the first round. Odds are the Bills will be looking to get one in the first round of the '11 draft.

The reason I think it will be 5 WRs and 9 OL is that they will most likely split Spiller out wide on occasion in which case he becomes the defacto 6th WR. They will want to keep Wang active so that will require them to keep 9 OL. Bell, Levitre, Hangartner, Wood, Green, Meredith and Wang make 7, then it's either Chambers or Calloway for #8 and probably Cordaro Howard or Andre Ramsey for the 9th spot. They may think they can sneak Calloway through to the practice squad and keep Chambers, which would be kind of amazing to think the guy continues to hang on. The argument for a 6th WR would be to play special teams but Chad Jackson and David Nelson will play ST and then they'll probably use George Wilson, Bryan Scott, Ashton Youboty and Reggie Corner on ST too. That gives them 6 fast, smallish guys. The rest of the ST spots will be dominated by LBs and TEs (when they get healthy). The other strike against a 6th WR would be that they would want a developmental guy who is going to be inactive on Sundays. They have that in Easley, who is on the IR and most likely Roosevelt and/or Donald Jones will be on the practice squad.

Arthur Moats/Keith Ellison Kirk Chambers/Kyle Calloway On defense, if they keep 10 DBS there's probably nine that are a lock (Whitner, Byrd, Scott, Wilson, McGee, Florence, McKelvin, Corner, Youboty). #10 is probably between Lankster and Cary Harris. Also, presuming that they keep 25 defensive players, they will carry either a 7th DL or a 9th LB. That spot may come down to Antonio Coleman, John McCargo or Rashaad Duncan. You could even throw in Lonnie Harvey. I don't give Hardy much of a chance. I don't think they chance sneaking Nelson through to the practice squad. The offensive breakdown is most likely 3 QBs, 4 RBs, 1 FB, 5 WRs, 3 TEs, 9 OL. The receivers look like Evans, Johnson, Parrish, Nelson and Chad Jackson, probably in that order. 25 offense, 25 defense, 3 special teams.

Two issues here: (1) Journalists: Some of the realities that writers are facing today are: (a) Print newspapers are moving closer and closer to extinction, thus threatening their jobs; (b) The reading public has a lot more opportunities to give feedback in a very public way; © To attract readers/bloggers, etc. they have to be more provocrative or controversial As a result, they tend to take more extreme views on things and can be more sensitive to criticism. Sullivan is a good writer but he now has created a rather cantankerous persona through his columns and radio spots on WGR, and I think he feels some obligation to live up to that reputation. Unfortunately, overshadows his writing, which generally is good, whether you agree with him or not. (2) Tanking the season for high draft picks: If this was the formula for success then the LA Clippers in the NBA would be a dynasty. The draft is a crapshoot, especially when it comes to QBs. In addition to that, players and coaches are always going to try to win. Now, the question here really is what do we do as fans. As a fan, I don't think you root for a team to lose. There is a lot to be said about creating a culture of winning. The Denny Green line "They are who we thought they are" (or something to that effect) is true. I think we root for the team and look for signs that the team is on the road to improvement. When it comes draft time you use the picks to get better. If you really like a QB and your pick is too low you go and make the deal. The reality is that a lot of the poor teams have their QBs for the future (Lions, Bucs, Raiders, Rams, maybe even Browns) so if the Bills win games and end up in that 8-13 range they may have natural trade partners ahead of them.