Van_phelaN1

Well if they are unveiled at fan appreciation day I assume two things, A) there will be tickets sold to said event and it will most likely be held at the ralph and B) they will probably wait for some nicer weather to arrive as we move into the spring. Just my thoughts.

you sir, are underestimating the power of a person's ability to be oblivious and ignorant.

Agreed. Not to mention including guys like Mark Sanchez (hardly a proven franchise QB) kind of screws the numbers up a bit. The reality here is that if there is a guy there at 3 who they think is worth taking there, they are going to take him. If they feel that the QBs available at the time aren't worth the pick, they wont take one. They will draft and take (hopefully) the best available player that fills a need. Just like you said, that doesn't mean we can pencil Fitz in for ten years. All it means is they didn't see anything there worth taking the risk on. I have faith they will make the smart choice...even if that faith is completely unfounded based on past draft history

I think it might be good to force this franchise into a situation like this though. Chan Gailey and Co. cannot afford a luxury pick (call Spiller what you will) knowing that he has no idea when he might have a shot at some FA's. If anything, hopefully this will make them approach the draft thinking about players who can make immediate impacts in positions of glaring need in the event that the FA period is utter chaos (which it appears it might turn in to depending on if/when a new CBA is hammered out.) Just food for thought...

You only have to look as far as Stevie Johnson to see how a better qb makes his receivers better. He was a virtual nobody when he saw time on the field with the likes of Trent Edwards. Your argument is valid and even though I am a supported of Fitzpatrick, I also am not too blind to see that he is nowhere close to being on par with Manning. I also won't say it is impossible either. After this offseason with full time as the starter in camp, we will see if he is capable of some improvement and have an answer for sure. For now, draft for the defense first and pick up a QB later to learn behind Fitz. You can't argue he isn't a good QB in terms of knowing the importance of protections and getting the ball out quickly. Besides you never know how the draft will pan out. You never know who might still be on the board after a round or two.

John, you have to understand as well that there are many people who post on these boards from all walks of life. Just like in any large group of people there are plenty of ignorant people who cannot separate personal feelings for their favorite team with debating facts about their team. As a fan it is hard to deal with a losing franchise as it is without people poking fun. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a sense of humor and have never been offended by anything I have read in your articles. If we can't laugh at ourselves who can we laugh at anyway right? I personally take a verbal beating from a family friend who is a Patriots fan (he is still in high school but his mother is a friend of the family's) who only started watching football when the Patriots started winning championships. What can I say though? When he says "The Bills suck," he isn't exactly wrong. I urge you (as I am sure others have) not to cast all Bills fans in the same boat as some of these people. That would be like throwing all Muslims in with the extremist terrorists of the world. Also, for the record, I think it is rather funny that we are all excited about the new uniforms. Good marketing move. If you are going to put a sub-par team on the field, why not sell some jerseys by getting rid of something that many fans have openly been disappointed with....and yes i am still talking about the uni's. Although I do have one question. If we are a laughing stock, why do some of these national media members even bother talking about how hard the Bills played last season? Might as well just kick em' while their down.

I am not sure if Fitz's intangables are "teachable." Sure he can do his best to teach Newton how to change protections or recognize defenses but on some level he would have to have the "it" factor on his own. Would Newton play with the same fire and chip on his shoulder? We will never know until the kid gets a shot. I would not be completely shocked if Nix and Co. drafted him but I am on the side of drafting a stud DE. In the end I just hope we have a good draft and find some guys who can make an impact right away. Lord knows this team needs it.

You sir, are a champion along with your Packers. Epic Marriage Win.

I agree with almost everything in your post but please try not too throw too many of the young guys in the same boat. I am 26 (a little older than you your probably referring to) but I consider myself to be a respectful and positive ambassador of Bills fan-hood. Let me also reach out and send congrats to Green Bay as well. I can't think of a fan base that deserved a championship more, although I wouldn't mind one of our own to celebrate. A lot of Steelers fans get a bad wrap because there are a lot of obnoxious ones out there. The same could be said of all fanbases though. Plus I think people just dislike the Terrible Towel and associate anyone waving it, with it lol.

HA!

I have always been a QB jersey guy but I am not ready to buy Fitz's jersey just yet. I jumped all over the hype in 2002 when Bledsoe came here and snagged up his jersey. We know how that story ends. I also sat on the fence with Trent Edwards until we went 5 and 1 so I bought the Jersey...we also know how that story ends. So with a brand spanking new jersey coming, and Fitz being a guy who could be here or gone depending on his play and the decisions the organization makes, I will have to change my approach. But if not the QB then which is the most logical choice?? I think Kyle Williams is a great choice. I am not a defense kind of guy but I can't think of another player besides him or Freddie who have shown enough effort and class to deserve being on the Jersey i spend 90 buck for. Side note, if any player wants to BUY my a jersey I will wear any of your names on the back

You called someone out in a post responding to someone else's post. Not to mention that Barbarian never said anything about him being the best NT in the league. I understand you are probably just trying to be funny but you still failed. Game set match.

If you were compiling a soundtrack to a double suicide...

Elite QBs win Superbowls and we do not have one. I am a fan of Fitzpatrick. I LOVED the effort the guy showed and his toughness. But I know that he is not elite. Can he be? Well I am not going to say no and have him prove me wrong (but by all means Ryan please do) but he isn't right now. In order to win CONSISTENTLY the Bills need to upgrade both of their lines. Also, there is always the exception to the rule every once in a while in the form of a Trent Dilfer.

If only someone had made a post like this before about whether or not we should post about hindsight. Nobody ever gets it right around here. Think of all the fans that other boards have that we could have had...

How do you know what the thoughts of a nut job smell like?

I don't know if a new stadium needs to be addressed directly at the selling of the team, but you are right. A domed stadium has to be in the plans of any ownership group that intends to keep the team in Buffalo and wants to maximize the usefulness/profit of said stadium. That doesn't sound like it would be too credible but if I owned an NHL franchise and I had a shot at being a part-owner of an NFL franchise, I wouldn't think twice about making the jump. I love hockey and all but smart business is smart business.

hindsight- –noun recognition of the realities, possibilities, or requirements of a situation, event, decision etc., after its occurrence. It would have been predictable error if you had pointed out the need for the exam before hand. As it is, you now know the result of him being stressed in practice was injury. Therefore you have the hindshight of knowing the outcome. If he was healthy, there would be no outcry from you for there to have been a more rigorous exam. As far as his position on discrimination goes, he is wrong, but he is correct in that he has the understanding that it is what it is and there is no changing it. I have already acknowledged that you're right and a cursory exam didn't exploit something that a more rigorous exam MIGHT have (and there is still no guarantee that it would have anyway, you are only ASSUMING it would because you have the HINDSIGHT of knowing about the injury later on) I think you can see where I am going with this. Either way I don't see why I am arguing with someone who I mostly agree with. I guess it is because you are trying to insult people and prove your intelligence while arguing about something that is ultimately hypothetical and...well...pretty much makes no difference in any way. Mr Negative why are you bashing your head now? Didn't you start all of this?

I will put it this way, I get nerve ridden during ANY close game against decent competition (although not as much this past year because I was so surprised to see the offense put up enough points to be competetive) so if something like this were to happen, I just flat out don't know what I would do besides find as many local Bills fans in Albany as I could gather in one place just in case there is cause for a giant celebration. If they were ever to win one it has already been reserved as my "man cry" moment. And there WILL be waterworks.

Yeah, you probably should let it stand for itself because he is right, even if he is having a hard time articulating the point he is trying to make. I don't understand why you are even bothering to argue your opinion. Are you trying to prove that the Organization has made bad decisions? Okay, thanks for pointing out what is already blatantly obvious to everyone. Or perhaps your point is, that the only reason Merriman is here is because Buddy Nix has a little puppy dog thing for him. So what?? Do you know how many people have jobs in this world because they knew someone who worked at a company or could pull some strings?? That's how the world works my friend. Is it fair? No. Still, that is the way it is. Was this all just to point out that they should have done a more stressing exam? Yeah sure they should have if you want to look at it that way. I probably should have never started smoking cigarettes. But that doesn't change the fact that my lung collapsed and have sense quit them. Hindsight is 20/20. It is easy to call out what should have been done when you already know the outcome. Life should be so easy. Or maybe your point was to just annoy people with your rambling?? In which case my good man, bravo. :worthy: You are victorious.

He could ALSO be the next Jeff George. Wouldn't that be special? If this is sarcasm it is delicious. If it is serious, you should have your head examined

You also forgot to mention that he is a type 1 Diabetic and because of that he cannot take the cortisone shots everyone else can stick in them to go out and play hurt. I believe the guy really was hurt. My problem is, if you are hurt, the 3rd string QB is in there, and then I see a shot of the sideline where this poor guy who has gotten no practice time is scrambling through pictures of the defenses he is seeing and meanwhile there is Jay Cutler sitting right next to him, with a sour puss look on his face doing nothing. How about, go over some of those with him and tell him what you saw that day before you got hurt... I understand you want to defend his toughness but I personally just think he is a unlikeable, egocentric person who only cares about himself and is in NO way a leader on the field.

Fictitious was a bad choice of word I guess. How about just plain "wrong" point of view. Is that better? Now I am not arguing with you that he was given a Cursory exam. Should the exam have been tougher? Maybe. The problem is he wasn't going to get anything different than any other player got. If he passed, he passed. I said "re-aggravate" because I thought that was what was said in a report that had been made about it around the time that this whole practice injury happened. I thought I read that they believed it was not a new injury but that his original injury never fully healed and it was not apparent until he went out and tried to practice on it. On this particular point I agree with you that had he been tested more vigorously this might have been more apparent to the team doctors. However, the problem is "why wouldn't you want to" because my opinion (or yours for that matter) are of no consequence what so ever. I don't know all the ins- and outs of the business but I am willing to bet that there is a guideline for how these physical's are meant to go and I am sure that the organization met those requirements. What you would have done doesn't really matter, even if it was the more intelligent way to do things. Arguments about what people should have done or would have done are non-constructive, self serving and futile. In the end the team is either out 2.5 mill or they get a return on their investment. You personally sound like you just want people to see things the way you do and you are wasting your time. It is what it is. Not to mention the fact that his contract is (IMHO) one of the least important things that this team has on it's plate going in to this off season. At 2.5 all he has to do is get on the field, help out some of the younger guys that we have drafted or will be drafting and be a stop gap for something better to go along.

Now you are arguing logic with someone while trying to argue a fictitious point of view? Here are the facts guy: He passed the team physical. He was signed. He re-aggravated an injury and was put on IR. Now he has re-signed with the team. You can play what if until you are blue in the face and it changes nothing. So guess what? He DIDN'T fail. Your entire argument is predicated on a hypothetical "tougher" physical that never occurred nor will occur in the future. between this "logic" argument of yours and the idea that doctor's are just telling Buddy what he wants to hear just sounds like a conspiracy theorist grasping at straws. If air was money we would all be rich. But it's not. Stop asking what if and get on with your life.

First of all, do you really think that in the age of sports agents and contract negotiations and covering your own ass, Merriman was going to allow himself to be subjected to a "most grueling physical evaluation imaginable?" The naivety of some fans is ridiculous. Merriman was always going to get the same standard physical that everyone else gets when being brought it. If the team or it's doctors had tried something different I am sure Merriman would have made a big stink about it and how he was being treated differently. To imply that the doctor's would ignore something that would have suggested he would have re-injured himself in practice just to make Buddy Nix happy is absurd. If he was so dead set on bringing him here then he would have just signed him no matter what information the physical produced anyway. Furthermore, at the cost of 2.5 million there is hardly any risk involved at all when you compare it to some of the contracts that players agree to. and to Mr. Negative: You obviously don't like the signing and subsequent resigning. Why don't you just state as much and move on with your life. Why waste your time asking others what they think and crusading around TSW for others to join with you? For what it is worth, I don't like the signing particularly either, but I have faith that even in his dumbest moments Buddy Nix has a far better grasp on evaluating talent than me or anybody else on here that decides they want to play virtual GM. BTW, all contracts have SOME guaranteed money. Otherwise nobody would sign them.