st. pete gogolak

Spot on with your choices. Ted Washington was the key to that defense and never got enough credit.

The St. Petersburg Times ran an article today called "Top Ten Most Underappreciated Buccaneers". Pretty interesting stuff. Since it's a bye week, thought I'd run through my list of all-time underappreciated Bills (in no particular order). And no, you can't include Phil Hansen. If you're name is on the friggin' wall, you can't be friggin' underappreciated. 1. Jim Braxton. Did the dirty work for O.J. Powerful runner in his own right. 2. Bobby Chandler. One of the best possession receivers in Bills' history. Great blocker for O.J., especially for someone his size. Had a bunch of productive seasons after being traded to Oakland. 3. Mark Pike. Bad luck being a great special teams player on a team with the best special teams player of all time. 4. Frank Lewis. Jerry Butler had more flash but Lewis put together several strong seasons with the Bills. 5. Jim Ritcher. What was it? Something like sixteen years of solid left guard play? 6. Charles Rhomes. I remember him being a pretty good cornerback for us for a long time. 7. Pete Metzelaars. Strange career. Started for us for a bunch of years. Got benched for a few years in favor of Keith McKellar and then started again for a bunch of years after McKellar was gone. Strong blocker and dependable receiver. 8. Derrick Burroughs. He was really, really good. Better CB than Nate Odomes. Always thought we would have won Super Bowl XXV if he hadn't suffered career ended injury in 1989. 9. Daryl Talley. Underappreciated for first half of career. Pretty well appreciated after 1990. 10. Fred Jackson. He'll be off this list soon enough. Pay the man!

Six games in and here's my take on highlights and lowlights. On the plus side: 1. Chan Gailey. Not perfect but best coach since Wade Phillips (I guess that's not saying a lot). Best offensive mind since Marchibroda. 2. Offensive line. Wood an Levitre are playing at All-Pro levels. Bell, Urbik, Pears and Rinehart have all been solid. Hairston looks like next year's starting left or right tackle. 3. Fred Jackson. How many running backs did we waste a no.1 draft pick on while he was on the roster? 4. Fitzpatrick. Maybe not an elite QB but at worst a solid starter. Need to sign him to a contract. 5. The receivers. Without Evans, they have done well, thank you very much. If not for the injuries this would be a very strong group. Love David Nelson as a third down slot receiver. Need to sign Stevie to a contract. 6. Marcel Dareus. Already best front seven player. 7. Scott Chandler. Worried about the disappearing act over the last couple of weeks but solid. First capable TE in a long time. 8. Nick Barnett. Great pick-up. Huge upgrade over Poz. 9. Byrd and Wilson. Strong play from the safties. The negatives: 1. George Edwards. I'm sorry but the defense has absolutely sucked for 1 and 1/2 years. Second half of the season is on him and his players. 2. McKelvin and Florence. Lack of a pass rush has hurt but they have taken turns being downright brutal. 3. Lack of a pass rush. Troup and Carrington have been disappointing. Where has Kyle Williams been? I really thought we stole Merriman after seeing him in preseason but I'm coming around to the view that he is basically done. 4. The Front Office. The team is making progress and it really looks like we have turned a corner but it's worrisome that we have so many potential free agents (Fitz, Stevie, Bell, Pears, Chandler). If we get our guys signed we can go into the off-season targeting a couple of areas of need and be a real contender next season. If the FO sits on its hands and we lose a bunch of free agents we're back to treading water. Overall grade: B+. Great, exciting start to the season. There's a reason to hope for better things ahead!

Is there ever going to be year when the ****ing Patriots don't have two No.1's? How the hell did they wind up wih New Orleans pick?

I remember how sad it was when Kent Hull announced his retirement. I'm not 100% sure but I believe it was just before Jim Kelly announced his retirement. It was sad because you just knew that this incredible run of great Buffalo Bill football and great football players was coming to a close. RIP, Kent.

If they wanted a receiver, maybe they should have drafted Dez Bryant.

Merriman is 27. In two years, if my math is right, he'll be 29.

The rule is still on the books because if the league changed it, it would diminish New England's first SB Title and more importantly, tarnish the image of The Golden Boy. I can't think of any other reason such an assinine rule is still on the books.

Or someone like Brian Orakpo.

Right before the season started, I posted a topic entitled "What do you need to see to consider 2011 season a success?" I was very pessimistic and opined that concrete signs of improvement in the defense would be enough for me. Playoffs or even a winning record seemed too much to ask for. Of course, I'm deliriously happy with a 3-0 to the start of the season, but it is much more than that. It's the way that they are winning that can set this club up to be a genuine Super Bowl contender for the next several years. Look at the difference between three weeks ago and now. QB then: Fitz was ranked anywhere from a marginally serviceable starter (Clayton's ranking - 27 out of 32!) to a good back-up. Need then: had to use a #1 on a "franchise" QB. Fitz could mentor him for a year. QB now: Fitz looks like a franchise QB. Sign him long term. Need now: maybe a veteran upgrade back-up, maybe a #3 pick to groom (a la Mallett), maybe nothing. OL then: a disaster. Need then: had to use a #1 on a frachise LT; also needed a RT (although Hairston looked good in preseason) and maybe a RG. OL now: Bell looks good, Levitre and Wood look great, Urbik/Rhinehart and Pears look at least adequate or better. Needs now: maybe a couple of mid-round draft picks for depth. TE then: a bigger disaster than the OL. Need then: had to use a high draft pick or bring in a free agent. TE now: Chandler looks great. Excellent red zone threat, good hands, good blocker. Needs now: it's a TE league. I'd still spend a #2 or #3 to get another TE, especially one who can be a down field threat. Receivers (after Lee Evans trade) then: could Stevie Johnson operate effectively without Evans? Who would take Evans' place? Needs then: Not 100% sure but may have to use high draft pick to replace Evans. Receivers now: Johnson and Nelson look geat, Jones looks good, Roosevelt and Aiken show some promise. Needs now: if Easley recovers, maybe none. All of this (assuming the first three games have not been a total mirage) means that next season during the free agent signing period and the draft, the Bills don't have to worry about trying to plug eight or nine weaknesses. They can go out and shore up whatever weaknesses are apparent by the seasons' end - pass rushing OLB, some help in the secondary, etc. And yes, if they are a playoff contender and if they are willing to pay the money (always a big if), they will be able to attract big-time free agents here. It's never been about the city. It's always been about how crappy the club was. So the 3-0 start is great for the immediate future but it is also great news for the foreseeable future. GO BILLS!

I posted this before the start of the regular season. It was an honest belief that if, afer 10 years of miserable football, this team showed definite signs of improvement, which I thought would be on the defensive side of the ball, I'd be hapy with the season. Well, color me delirious. It's been astounding to watch this team play. Even more important, critical needs have apparently been filled before our very eyes. Before the season, conventional wisdom said our offensive needs going into the next draft were QB, LT and RT and TE. Now, Fitzpatrick looks like at worst a quality NFL starting QB, Bell looks like a legitimate NFL LT (you don't need an ALL-PRO at this position - Cowboys won three SB with Mark Tunei at LT), Pear looks good, Hairston looked good in pre-season, Chandler looks like the solution at TE. The line looks great. Amazing. Now, going into next season offensive needs may be minimal, upgrade back-up QB, add OL depth, add a decent second TE. Now, next season, we can concentrate on D-help, pass rusher, maybe another cornerback. We can also be in a position to lure a quality free agent or two. (It isn't and never was about the city. It is always about (1) the money and (2) playing for a winner.) Maybe I'm drinking the Kool Aid, but this team is actualy poised to be Super Bowl contender, if not this year, then next year or the year after that.

Super Bowl XXV is a great example. We fell for the bait and didn't adjust. We should have keep Jamie Mueller in the game and pounded away at the Giants. Thurman should have had 200 yards that game.

It's no secret that NE is enamored with the spread offense and that they have been for years. They run it ridiculously well and aren't afraid to use it anywhere on the field (witness the Welker catches from the NE one yard line in the Miami and SD games). Most of their runs come off some variation of a spread, at least when the game is in doubt. I know the "blueprint" for beating NE is to beat up on Brady and hit him every time he goes back to pass (NYG, Ravens, NYJ in their last three playoff losses). A LOT easier said than done. Except in rare instances, we haven't laid a finger on him in the last ten years! (I'd be curious to know how many sacks of Brady/Cassel we have in the last 15 games.) I simply cannot watch the Bills use a four man rush and play a soft zone and see Brady pick us apart. In the 2009 season opener, I was hoping defensive genius Dick Jauron would rush two and drop nine back when we had an 11 point lead with under five minutes to play. Who cares if they rip off 5 or 10 yard runs? Get them out of a comfort zone and make them use clock. We all know how that turned out. My question is - you hear of teams that try to make the other team beat them with the pass by putting eight men in the box. Is there an equivalent to trying to make the other team beat you with the run? Can we come out on Sunday with a two man line (Williams and Dareus) three LB's (Kelsey, Barnett and Merriman) and six DB's and dare them to run the ball? Occasionally throw the house at Brady with an all-out blitz? Maybe it takes them out of their comfort zone and makes them do something they aren't used to doing or don't like doing. It also has the benefit of slowing the game down and I like our chances better than if the game is a total shoot-out. Anything, ANYTHING other than rushing four and playing a soft zone. For once, let' challenge Belichek and Brady and make them work for it.

Serious queston. If Peyton Manning misses the entire season, do the Colts have a shot at fist overall pick and Andrew Luck? Probably not. I think that they are a five or six win team without Manning and someone's going to go 1 - 15 (either Carolina or Cincinnati). I would definitely start to believe in a curse if Polian somehow manages to get the "next" Peyton Manning just about when the original is running out of gas.

He was a huge presence in the Bay area. The expressway is named after him. He had a very successful restaurant chain as well. Very sad news.

Is it my imagination or was there more offense in the SF game than the last eight years combined? Also, more production from the tight end than in the last eight years combined. Finally, put Andre Reed in the HOF!

Maybe I'm just beat down by a decade of bad football but my criteria for a successful 2011 season doesn't include a playoff berth or even a winning season. What I'd like to see is the following: - All-Pro (or at least Pro-Bowl) potential shown by Dareus; - Byrd, Troup, Carrington, A. Williams and Sheppard show that they can be effective NFL starters; - productive and injury-free seasons from Merriman and Barnett. You add that to K. Williams, Florence and maybe McGee (I've given up on McKelvin - should have shipped him to the Giants for a draft choice) and you will have the nucleus of a young, dominant defense for years to come. That's enough for me. Anything from the offense (breakout years for Spiller and Easley, another great year from S. Johnson) is just gravy.

Just a reminder that this is the guy Donahue and Modrak passed on to pick Josh Reed because they had selected Mike Wiliams in the first round and that was going to solve all of our offensive line problems!

Ridiculous. Stupid. Absurd.

Certainly someone born in 1918 could have actual memories of talking with a Civil War veteran - in 1928, a Civil War veteran would have been in his 80's - or, for that matter, memories of talking to someone who had been a slave.

World War I was stll being fought, Woodrow Wilson was President, television hadn't been invented, "talking" motion pictures hadn't been invented, both the Ottoman and Hapsburg (Austro-Hungarian) Empires stil existed (none of this is particularly funny but incredibly it's true).

I'd be happy with 8-8 if - we're competitive in all or almost all of our games - we get major contributions from the rookie and second year classes and - (most important) one of the eight wins is against New England

The thread ranking Modrak's first round picks was fun but I was suprised how many defenders Modrak had. It always seemed to be someone else's fault - meddling owner, coach (Maybin was Jauron's pick!), GM (Losman was Donahue's brainchild!), etc. I thought it would be interesting to look at Modrak's second round picks. Presumably there would be less interference from owner, coach or GM. Also, if Modrak's job was to rank the best at a particular position while the GM made the call on a particular player, you could judge how well Modrak did his job. Finally, second and third round picks are the heart and soul of most championship teams so it should be telling to see how Modrak did with his second round picks. Here goes (read 'em & weep): 1) Levitre '09 G - dependable starter, promising start to career; traded up to get him; 2) Byrd '09 S - great rookie season, jury still out to large extent; 3) Kelsey - '03 DE - OK defensive end, nothing special; durable; passed over DE Osi Uminyora who was selected a few picks later; 4) Posluszny - '07 LB - OK MLB, nothing special; traded up to get him; passed over LB David Harris 5) J. Reed - '02 WR - OK third down receiver, nothing special, lasted a long time as a Bill; 6) Parrish - '05 WR/PR - great punt returner, mediocre receiver, lasted long time as a Bill, passed over Vincent Jackson; 7) Denney - '02 DE - serviceable backup; traded up to get him to screw the Steelers out of the pick; they selected Antwan Randle-El who won a Super Bowl for them; 8) Hardy - '08 WR - total bust; passed on Eddie Royal and Desean Jackson because we "needed" a big receiver. Bottom-line is kind of interesting - only one true bust (unlike the first round picks). A ton of serviceable guys who might have fit in better if overall team talent was better. On the other hand, if Modrak's job was to rank players, that's a lot of mistakes in just a few years. A "C" sounds fair.

First, it's an absolute shame and travesty that Lou Saban and Cookie Gilchrist weren't honored by being added to the Wall during their lifetime. It's a joke that Polian isn't on the Wall. Second, Phil Hansen was one of my all-time favorite Bills. Terrific player but I'm shocked that he's going on the Wall. Like they say about the baseball hall of fame, it's not called the Hall of the Very Good. The most intriguing part of this thread is the discussion of Cornelius Bennett. I always thought Bennett was a great player, borderline HOF but he seems to be totally forgotten as a player. You never hear a peep about him on HOF voting. I think the Bills played him out of position. Maybe they thought they had the next Lawrence Taylor. He wasn't (never had 10 sacks in a single season). He would have been, I'm convinced, one of the best, if not the best, all around 4-3 linebackers of his age. Bruce Smith playing DE and Daryl Talley and Bennett playing OLB in a 4-3 combined with a really good D coordinator = multiple Super Bowl wins and probably a HOF for Bennett.

Rather than focus on individual choices, I look at 2006 as the "Perfect Storm" of draft incompetence. It's the first time Levy, Jauron and Modrak are in the same draft room. If any of the three had bothered watching film of the 2005 season, it was apparent that a big, fat run-stuffing defensive tackle was THE need going into the draft. The 2005 run defense was almost as bad as last season's and it was bad up the middle. Miraculously, the premier player at the position of greatest need falls to us at #8. Inexplicably, we pass on him. OK, so for whatever reason you don't like Ngata or even Bunkley and you are totally in love with Whitner, YOU DO NOT take Whitner at #8! Denver is dying to move up to take Cutler. If you are in love with Whitner, you trade down to #15 and pick up a high second round draft choice in the bargain. If you think Whitner will be gone by #15, then you are too stupid for words. If Whitner is gone, how about picking someone like, I don't know, Nick Mangold, another position of tremendous need and the undisputed premier player at that position. Of course, they do realize that DT is a huge need for the team so they panic and blow a high third round draft pick (on a team that needs all the picks it can get) to move up and reach for McCargo (as one poster has pointed out, the third best DL on his college team). You still have high picks in rounds three and four and you still need all sorts of help on the offensive line. Where do you go in rounds three and four? Defensive back (Youbouty) and defensive back (Simpson). Horrible, just horrible. So instead of walking out of the draft with an anchor for the defensive line in Ngata or an anchor for the offensive line (Mangold) or a legit left tackle (Marcus McNeil), for their five picks in the first four rounds, they wind up with an OK safety, a total bust reach DT, and two bust DB's. So there you have it. Worst performance in a single draft goes to Modrak, Levy and Jauron. Buffalo Bills 2006.