Haplo848

Didn't get to watch the game today, pretty sure I heard Carrington was going to get his first extended time this season. From the highlights and hearing about it, the game went pretty awefully, but any thoughts on how he did?

Hey, Everyone, this is just a random question about the draft. With the new CBA (if it ever gets done) and the apparent expansion of both the number of players on a team and the number of weeks in a season, has anyone heard of any changes that would occur with the draft? Will there be more rounds in the draft to fill the expanded rosters? Or will the draft just stay the same as it has been the past few years?

The coaching staff is likely going to stick with the 3-4 and draft for that. As such, too many DEs (especially with the veterans entrenched there now), not enough LBs

Does anyone have a link for McKelvin's return anywhere? I want another look at that.

If you go almost all the way to the bottom of the page on the right, that's where the poll is. Vote for the Bills, we have an 8% lead over the Pats/Colts game (39% vs 31%).

I have to disagree as well. TE should be in there as well. I don't think I've seen a decent tight end in Buffalo in almost two decades. It would be awesome to have one that would make our offense that much better. Other than that, I don't see much wrong with offense. It seems to be running smoothly, with Fitz managing the offense for a while longer. I'm kinda hoping that our first two picks in this years drafts turn out to be OLBs. We need a pass rush and good LBs to fill out this 3-4.

With Roscoe Parrish on IR (http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2010/11/08/parrish-out-for-season/?module=HP_headlines), Nelson seems to be a good young receiver, but both he and Stevie Johnson both are too big and not quick enough to fill the slot position. Instead of throwing Donald Jones into the slot instead, would putting Johnson and Nelson on the outside and Evans in the slot for 3-WR sets work, and Evans and Spiller for 4-WR sets work? Evans is fast enough to be a slot receiver. If I'm remembering correctly, he returned punts and/or kicks when he was younger, so he should be quick enough for it, too. What do you all think?

Apparently someone needs to tell NFL.com that, because earlier they were saying that the Bills had first crack at Moss, that he might go to Dallas except they're loaded at WR, so he'd probably fall to the Rams. That's not exactly last years final records...

I completely disagree with this list. The 3-4 is going to stay, whether people like it or not, and so we need pieces for a 3-4, not a 4-3. In a 3-4, the entire D line is run stuffing, trying to take up as many blockers as they can so that the LBs can make plays and provide the pass rush, so getting a pass rushing DE would be like taking Maybin all over again. Gailey and Nix have already drafted Troup in the 2nd round, so they aren't going to take another DT high in the draft again, at least not for a few more years. The biggest part of re-tooling our defense will be the LBs. We need 4 LBs in a 3-4, and we really don't have any right now. Poz and Davis are bordering on decent right now, but there is nothing on the outside. I would honestly like to see LBs taken early and often in the next few drafts, with a high-round LT and another DE or two mixed in as well. For next years draft, my ideal would be that the first 3 picks were spent on a franchise LT and two LBs, in no particular order.

Haha, I love it!

Oh, yes, cause once a guy starts becoming productive, that is the best time to trade him. Can't have any productivity from Bills players... Seriously, why trade him? He's playing really well, he and Spiller make a really good combo (with Lynch being the bruiser and Spiller being the change of pace back), and Jackson is 30. How long is he going to be around for? We trade Lynch, Jackson retires in a couple years, and all of a sudden we have to draft another RB. Why bother? Why not just keep Lynch?

I really enjoyed the game yesterday. It was the first time the Bills have shown a sign of life the entire season, and they were fun to watch. I'm much happier with their performance this past week then I have been all year, and I once again have hopes that they will be fairly decent by the end of the year. However, the one thing that frustrated me incredibly was the Bills defensive adjustments. When I say "defensive adjustments", what I really meant is that there weren't any. They started the game by only rushing four men, and dropping everyone else. When that didn't work, and Brady had all the time in the world to sit back and pick apart the defense, they decided to keep doing it. All game, only four men were rushed. I don't recall seeing any blitzes until they were forced to play run D at the end of the game in a desperate attempt to get the ball back. They did manage to get one random sack from Kyle Williams near the end of the game, but other than that, they played the most impotent defense they could and stuck with it. They didn't even TRY anything else, and so they had the score run up on them. The low-point of all this had to have been the play where Brady rushed for a first down. If you watch the highlight of that play, which is even part of the highlights in the Bills media center, at one point all four rushers are on the ground (http://www.buffalobills.com/media-center/videos/Bills-vs-Patriots-highlights/b18516a2-03f8-4529-b043-a18023694145#?id=b18516a2-03f8-4529-b043-a18023694145 around 1:35). Four men rushing wasn't getting the job done. Why keep doing it?

So a lot of people have written posts about some of the top college QB prospects for next year. This weekend, I decided to take a look at two of them, Ryan Mallett and Andrew Luck. Luck seems to be the consensus top QB (at least by people on this board), but while flipping channels this weekend between the Arkansas vs Alabama game and the Stanford vs Notre Dame game, I wasn't impressed by Luck at all. Granted, he made some good throws, but overall, his performance was underwhelming. I was impressed by Mallett, however. He seems to be able and willing to make all the throws, with the height to see everything and get throws over the line, good awareness of where blitzers are coming from and being able to avoid it/get the ball out in time, as well as very good footwork. To be perfectly honest, I really got an impression of a young Peyton Manning when I watched him. Any thoughts?

Here are the one I have that I haven't seen posted yet: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ben_reiter/08/31/afc.east.preview/index.html Ben Reiter, SI.com Predicted record: 3-13. The Bills are widely expected to be one of the NFL's worst teams, and that they play in a stacked division and face a brutal early schedule (they play five popular playoff picks -- the Dolphins, Packers, Patriots, Jets and Ravens -- in their first six games) won't help matters. A defense that ought to be improved, even though sacks leader Aaron Schobel retired, should keep them in games long enough for the offense -- and, particularly, the offensive line -- to lose them. They might emerge from their four games against fellow bottom-feeders in the Jaguars, Chiefs, Lions and Browns with a few wins, but an ultimate record better than 3-13 would constitute an accomplishment.

It's simple. They'll look to upgrade any position. If there aren't anyone who significantly upgrade any position, they'll sit tight and not do anything. However, not finding anyone over Foschi will be pretty incredible to do.

I'm pretty sure what he was referring to was the cornerback, not the safety. The corner hesitated, letting Evans get behind him and giving Evans the entire sideline to work with once he caught it

As much as I wish it otherwise, I'm agreeing with you. I think that the bills defense will do a lot better than predicted, especially with our secondary, which should allow our pass rushers more time to get to the quarterback. However, the offense still isn't where it needs to be. It will be good enough to keep us in games, but I don't think it's enough to put us into the playoffs this year. However, if some of the young guys on offense step up and play, proving they deserve to be starters or simply just get better from last year, we will definitely give some very good teams a run for their money. Don't forget, TE is still a young QB, and with a proper coach, he could still develop nicely (hopefully). I see the Bills being in the playoff hunt until the end of the year, but ultimately I think too much is based on hopes and prayers, and the schedule this year is much harder. I don't see the Bills doing worse than last year (6-10), but I don't think they have enough to get into the playoffs yet.

To me, it seems like Chan and Co. are drafting more for value then for need, trying to get as much talent on the team as quickly as possible, regardless of position. I think setting the priorities is a good idea, but don't expect the Bills to follow them come next year's draft

I keep hearing this summer about how the Bills screwed up and kept failing to bring in people for perceived needs because the players we already had at those positions (i.e. QB, OT, WR #2) were unproven, inexperienced, etc. IMO, the Bills did that on purpose. It seems to me that Gailey, Nix, etc. wanted to see which of the young guys they inherited could play before trying to replace them, especially with guys they might have questions about anyways. At OT, both Meredith and Bell were rookie starters last year, and neither had preparation to become a starter, especially with all the chaos, upheaval, and injuries going on. Now, with a chance to battle it out for the #1 LT spot, they'll at least be mentally prepared to be the starter, whichever winds up with it. None of the QBs last year really had that much of a chance with so many changes and injuries on the line, a first-time OC who was promoted right before the season started, and lets not forget Dick Juaron coaching. The WR #2 spot is still up for grabs between Hardy, Johnson, and possibly Jackson and Easley. If one or more of those guys step up and prove they can be a good WR in this league, then we are suddenly in business at WR with Evans on the other side and Parrish at the slot. We would suddenly have the potential to be a very dynamic offense. Now, I'm not saying that any or all of these players will suddenly become pro-bowlers just because Gailey's the coach or because we want them to be, but what if even one of these guys can prove that they are a starter in the NFL? Then imagine if the FO had followed the advice of all the so-called experts and drafted for need, especially in the early rounds. Suddenly you have a high draft pick that can't beat out one of the guys we already have on the team, yet again, and the Bills are left with yet another wasted pick. If we bring in some old retread or stopgap to make people feel better, we would them hamper some of these young guys' development. IMHO, it just seems like this offseason, Gailey and Co. just wanted figure out which guys we currently have actually belong on a football field, while at the same time laying the foundation for the 3-4 defense. I also might be completely wrong. Let me know what you think