RunOJRun

I sometimes wonder whether there's a certain wisdom in drafting players who grew up or played college ball in cold weather states. Not only are these players used to the cold on game day, they might be less likely to leave town when free agency arrives, than someone who played HS and college ball in Florida or Texas. I have no statistics to back up this theory, just thinking that of the various factors which play into the decision to sign with a team, comfort level with the climate might rank somewhere in the 4th - 6th position after factors like money, front office reputation/culture of winning, who's the HC, where your wife's family is from, etc.

IMHO, any of the three Flair-Steamboat PPV/Clash of the Champions matches from '89 take that prize.

Getting one of the better O-linemen in the draft, without or without a new QB, does enable the Bills to consolidate their strengths while Wannstedt/Edwards sort out whether to go 3-4, 4-3, or hybrid and then determine which players already on the roster fit the selected D scheme. It would be a huge mistake to draft a front seven player who may not fit into the system (especially if the labor issues this year shorten or eliminate training camp). If the Bills took A.J. Green with the third pick, moved up into the lower first to get Carimi, Soldier, or Castonzo (or got one of them in the second round), that might not be such a bad thing. (This is assuming they don't see either Gabbert or Newton as franchise material).

Here's my prediction... The Bills will drop jaws throughout the NFL when, at the direction of Ralph Wilson, they draft BYU sensation Jimmer Fredette with the #3 pick. Wilson will cite Fredette's ability to put points on the board, strong moral character, leadership qualities, and upstate New York roots as the reasons for the pick. Wilson, of course, has no idea that Fredette is actually a basketball player.

It's funny (actually, it's sad) how some people excuse rape and other types of sexual abuse because the victim may be a sexually active adult and, therefore, "asking for it." Crimes of sexual assault occur when particular acts prohibited by law take place, regardless of the victim's own consentual sexual behavior or any other illegal behavior on the part of the victim. For example, a prostitute wraps up an evening's work during which she had sex with a number of customers. She's walking a few blocks home to her condo from the hotel where she saw her last customer, when she's pulled into an alley and raped at knifepoint. Despite the fact that she provides sexual favors for money, most likely illegal in her state of residence, she's no less a victim of rape than a 79 year old grandmother raped during a home invasion. If someone doesn't consent to sexual activity and it's forced upon them in some manner, it's a crime.

The problem is that while the Bills may very well be the worst team in the NFL over the course of the last ten years, they're never the worst team during any individual season, so the "can't miss" QB prospects are gone by the time the Bills pick in the first round. (Yeah, yeah, we could have taken Brady, but so could every other NFL team. Nobody saw that coming.) The "can't miss" guys are always gone after the first couple of picks and there will always be questions about any QB outside of a very small handful of prospects (maybe a few per decade). Take Newton or don't, take Gabbert or don't, but expect that improvement to the defense will likely result in a return to the sort of 6-10 to 8-8 record which ensures that the Bills will never get an elite QB until the NFL adopts a draft lottery and/or weighs long-term team performance into draft order.

It's funny, it seems like a lot of mock drafts jumped on the Newton to Buffalo bandwagon this week.

If they go with one of the high profile front seven players with the #3 pick, they've got to temper the BPA approach and ensure that they take someone who'll fit into whichever scheme they go with for next season. Don't take someone who's only played 4-3 if you're going 3-4 or visa versa. If you plan on running a hybrid system, make sure you take someone who can play either scheme. Picking a defensive player in the first round who doesn't fit your defense is about a smart as picking a running back in the first round when you've already got Lynch and Jackson on the roster.

OK, maybe QBs should be immune from being grabbed during their rookie and second seasons. If their team isn't willing to make them the designated starter by their third season and another team is willing to start them, they should be fair pickings for another team. (Really, what's the point of drafting a QB who is likely to hit free agency before you have any plans to play him? If your "aging quarterback" is in his early 30's, he might have a good five or more years left. You're better off signing an even older quarterback on the downside of his career to spot start occasionally should your starter be injured.) If there are fewer than 32 quarterbacks genuinely talented enough to start in the NFL, it hurts the sport if a few of those genuinely talented players stand around holding a clipboard when they could replace lesser talents on other teams. It's unfair to the player who could be starting elsewhere and improving his bargaining position when he's up for free agency and it's unfair to every fan who watches games which aren't as entertaining as they could be because a few teams are hoarding two worthy starters while other teams have none. Get the best players on the field and it benefits the sport.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, I'll root for any of the 13 other teams which have never won a Super Bowl. Which probably explains why I spent most of the last Super Bowl netsurfing.

If other teams in need of a QB pick Newton, Gabbert, and Mallett in the first round, they might not be particularly inclined to take a first round QB in 2012. Which means that you might not need the worst record in the NFL next year to get...lucky.

Agreed, they seem to spend money on whomever will take it. It might not be such a bad thing if they reduced payroll and hung onto the money until players worth the big bucks express legitimate interest in playing for the Bills.

How many times does this need to be said? The Bills *do* spend money; they had the 12th highest payroll in the 2009 season and were making huge offers to big name head coaches before last season. It's more a matter of free agents wanting to play for winning teams or, at least, teams where players have faith in the decision-making ability of the front office.

The NFL is always talking about maintaining parity (since keeping teams competitive is good for stadium attendance, TV ratings, merch sales, etc.). It seems to me that one way to further this aim is to ensure that every team has a decent starting QB. With so many things up in the air due to the current owndership/labor dispute, it seems like an opportune time for the union and/or owners to put new league rules and policies in place. With this backdrop, I'd like to see the NFL institute a policy which you could call "the quarterback grab." Here's how it would work...each team designates one QB on their roster at the beginning of a season as their protected starting quarterback. Any other QB on their roster can be claimed by any other NFL team at any point during the season, and that selected QB becomes the protected starting quarterback of the claiming team (The former protected QB of the claiming team then becomes another unprotected QB on their roster). To keep this from becoming a complete clustermess, any team in the NFL can make a claim just once during a season and any QB who has been claimed once during a season cannot be claimed additional times. Any team which selects a QB through this process must make that QB their new protected starter. Except for this situation, no team may change it's protected starting QB during the season (You can start and play other quarterbacks, but you can't protect those QBs. If you protected the wrong guy at the beginning of the season, you're out of luck. Of course, you're then free to select someone else's unprotected back-up QB if you're unhappy with whomever you're now starting.) To compensate the team which lost a QB, they would receive a compensatory additional draft pick in the second round in the following year's draft. When their turn comes up, they get to select two second round picks. This policy would prevent some NFL teams from having two or more first-rate QBs on their roster while other teams have none. It's a shame that teams like the Bills and Panthers had to make due with QBs this past season who essentially should have been back-ups, while Kevin Kolb rides the pine. Sure, a team which has lost a QB through this process may find themselves without a first rate starting QB, should their designated QB get injured. But that's the point of promoting league parity...a path is cleared for the weaker teams to get better and the stronger teams to be less dominating. I'd think that the union would get behind this policy, because it enables current back-up quarterbacks to maximize their potential for on-field success and maximum earnings by getting them off the bench and into the huddle.

This mash-up of the Eminem Chrysler ad and shots of the Detroit Lions is rather inspirational. We could use a video like this (Unfortunately, neither Ani DiFranco nor the Goo Goo Dolls play the kind of "rally the fanbase" music which would work in a video like this. Maybe Rochesterian Lou Gramm's "Midnight Blue" would work). http://www.nesn.com/2011/02/eminems-chrysler-super-bowl-commercial-collides-with-detroit-lions-in-new-video.html

What's sad is that he's a Packers fan and missed the chance to see his team win it all. Apart from that, I don't understand the mindset of the "Never Miss A Super Bowl" Quartet featured in the TV commercial. The Super Bowl is special when the team that you've followed and loved for years is in the big game and has a chance to win it all, especially if your team has never won it all before. While my underdog sympathies enable me to get into a Super Bowl and root for a team which has never won it before -- I was happy when the Saints fans finally saw their dreams come true -- I barely paid attention to yesterday's game. There was no real hook for me.

Vern Schillinger for Farmers Insurance, of course.

My own two cents worth? Take the BPA (likely a defender or AJ Green) with the first pick and take the best QB available in the second round, whether Nix thinks it's Ponder, Dalton, Devlin, Gabbert, etc. Even if the mock draft conventional wisdom says taking that player would be a reach that early in the second round, it's never a reach if you lose the opportunity to draft an impact QB because you think he'll be available in the next round, but he's gone by then.

C'mon, I'm willing to bet that most everyone here would rather have Rex Ryan coaching the Bills than Chan Gailey. (I'm not saying that Gailey is a bad head coach, only that Ryan has moved into the top tier of current coaches). While I'm no Jets fan, obviously, he and that team have more personality and spirit than most NFL teams. They've been fun to watch in the midst of the playoff hoopla and they did vanquish the hated Pats. It would have been nice to see a fanbase which hasn't celebrated a Super Bowl win in 40 years get that opportunity, rather than see Steeler Nation celebrate another "same old, same old" championship...especially with Ben Rapistbeatstheraplisberger holding that trophy high in a couple of weeks.

Agreed. USA Today ran a chart right after last season listing 2009 player payroll for all of the NFL teams. The Bills placed 12th on the list, higher than two-thirds of that season's playoff teams (including the Pats). The Bills haven't always gotten the best coaches and free agents because of the perception that the front office doesn't always make the best business decisions. Whether you're a CFO for a Fortune 500 company, a dishwasher, or a pro football player, you want to work for the best organization possible. You want bosses who make decisions which result in success, whether you define success as turning a healthy profit or winning championships. For free agents, receiving top dollar isn't the only consideration. Most players want to get a ring and many are willing to take a bit less to play for a winner. LeBron James would have made more money had he signed with the Cavs, but wanted to join two other top players in a bid for championship gold. Put a salary cap in MLB and the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies will still be top choices for many players because those organizations have developed a culture of winning. From losing Bill Polian to putting Russ Brandon in charge of football operations to bringing in Marv Levy as GM to seemingly countless wrongheaded draft picks, the perception is that RW doesn't make business decisions which result in fielding a winning team. If we can figure this out, it's got to be much clearer to players throughout the league. Cheapness isn't Ralph Wilson's problem. His problem is that his hiring and employee retention practices run completely counter to the best practices used by most other NFL teams. He often values promoting from within over seeking the best available candidate for a job. He values loyalty over results. He seems to have developed a strong preference for hiring key personnel over the age of 60 (I get that, to a degree. I'm in my early 50's and most teens and twentysomethings I meet seem to be speaking a different language. Then again, I'm not trying to run a successful business.) I'm not saying that every front office or coaching hire has been a mistake, only that the Bills seem to cast a far smaller net when looking for job candidates than most other teams. I do believe that RW wants to see the team win and he'd probably relish a Bills Super Bowl victory more than anyone else. I also believe that he honestly believes that his business practices will work and honestly doesn't understand why they're not working. It's not the payroll, it's not the weather, it's not city itself...after all, similar teams/cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Green Bay don't have problems attracting top playing and coaching talent. It's the front office.

After taking the BPA with the third pick, the Bills could always go for someone like Pat Devlin or Christian Ponder in the second round and hope for the best.

But if you can draft an undeclared college player who's going back for his senior year for the purpose of having his rights when he does come out a year later, it's a great move for the Bills. Mike & Mike seemed to think that a team could do this (Granted, neither works for the NFL, so they could have been wrong).

I'm with you, man. I'm a native Rochesterian who's lived in the Boston area for 20 years, and I'm going to have fun this week wearing my Bills cap with pride and smirking at everyone in Pats gear. I'm no Jets fan, but they're the lesser of two evils, this time around. I love playing headgames with Pats fans by pointing out all of the parallels between the Patriots and the Yankees. (Pretty boy team leader who dates/marries models & actresses, allegations of cheating, both A-Rod and Rodney Harrison being considered the dirtiest players in the game, immense sense of entitlement despite winning plenty of championships.)

A week or two ago, ESPN's Mike & Mike suggested that a team with a high first round pick could draft Andrew Luck this year and then have his rights in 2012, much as the Boston Celtics drafted Larry Bird a year before he entered the NBA. I think this would be a great move for the Bills. The only thing lost is the onfield value that a 2011 first rounder would bring in 2011 (a year which isn't likely to be a playoff year for the Bills, anyway). There really aren't any other downsides, except for the possibility that Luck suffers a career-ending injury next season. In 2012, one of two things happens. 1) The Bills get their franchise QB and likely contend for the playoffs for the next 10-20 years, possibly making our dreams come true somewhere along the line by winning their first Super Bowl. 2) If Luck pulls a John Elway/Eli Manning, the Bills front office leverages the rights to Andrew Luck to improve their position for years to come. Given the commonly-held assumption that Luck is the best QB prospect since Peyton Manning, things could get messy if the Bills refuse to trade his rights. Knowing this, the Bills can demand a king's ransom from both the team they deal with...and the NFL itself. The Bills can demand a nice package of 1st & 2nd round picks and/or active players from any team they trade with. Really, why settle for only draft picks with this kind of bargaining position? Go to your trading partner and demand any two players of the Bills' choosing on their active roster. But there's a bigger concession to be had, and that's one which the NFL front office can give. Bill Belichick may be the greatest head coach in the history of the NFL. Taking the Pats to an 11-5 record with Matt Cassel was a remarkable accomplishment. Rex Ryan has turned the Jets around and they look to be a strong contender for years to come. Both are relatively young men and could likely cause headaches for the Bills for another 20 years. If Luck refuses to sign with the Bills, the Bills should demand a move to the AFC North as a condition of trading the rights to Andrew Luck. Around a month or two ago, an NFL front office rep said on ESPN (Mike & Mike again) that the league wants to add a few expansion teams in a few years. With some divisional realignment required with the addition of new teams, it would be easy to move the Bills to AFC North and either put a new team or existing east coast team in the AFC East to replace them. This would also make financial sense for the Bills, Steelers, and Browns. Empty seats at "home & home" games could easily be scooped up by fans of the road team willing to make the reasonable drive to see their team play. (Personally, I think that it also makes financial sense to move the Ravens to the AFC East, since Baltimore and Jersey are fairly close to each other and can get that same "home & home" ticket sales benefit, but the perception of Steelers/Ravens as a strong rivalry makes that move unlikely, despite the fact that the Bills and Ravens switching divisions makes perfect geographic and economic sense.) If the Bills draft Luck, either outcome brightens the Bills' future immensely.