2003Contenders

IMHO it was a very close call. There was definitely contact, which did begin within the 5-yard range, but I saw contact from both Crabtree and Smith. Smith did get ahold of some cloth, but he certainly did not mug Crabtree. As a somewhat unbiased viewer with no real rooting interest at stake in that game, I honestly am glad that the officials did NOT throw the flag there, as that would have been more of an instance of them interjecting themselves into the game's outcome than if they had left the flag in their pocket. Put me on the side of those who prefer when the refs are not (as Marv once famously said) "over-officious jerks". The crew was fairly consistent throughout the game in allowing the DBs to use their hands quite a bit. In fact, there was a MUCH more blatant hold on the part of the 49ers in the 1st quarter on a long pass that would have set the Ravens up inside the redzone. In fact, without the hold on that particular play, I believe Torey Smith (I believe) would have scored a long TD -- so it turned out to be a smart play on the defender's part.

Actually, I do not see how anyone could argue that this was NOT the greatest Super Bowl of all time. When watching highlights of some of the other games, it easy to fall into the trap of believing that some of the other games (like the Rams/Titans one, for example) may have been more exciting. However, I believe all of those games lacked the back-and-forth battle as well as the drama that Super Bowl XXV entailed. Certainly is his hard to forget the aura of Patriotism surrounding the game with the Persian Gulf War going on and the incredible rendition of the National Anthem by Whitney. As for the game itself, just some quick thoughts... 1. It was the classic match-up up of one of the greatest defenses in NFL history against one of the all time greatest offenses. A great match-up between two polar opposite teams. The Bills with their hurry-up offense; the Giants with their plodding, shorten-the-game offense. 2. The ebb and flow of the game was supreme. Just when it seemed like one team was about to take over the game, another would come up with a big play. There were just so many turning points. For example, as bad as the defense played at the end of the first half and the start of the second half, they stepped up and only allowed a FG after that. That FG was big because it forced the Giants to settle for 3 in a goal-to-go situation late in the game. The defense also forced that final punt with about 2:00 to go. I honestly thought the game belonged to Buffalo at that point, given Kelly's mastery of the 2:00 offense. 3. The game was clean from an officiating standpoint. Very few penalties and no obvious bad calls. 4. No turnovers. (How Hostetler managed to hold onto that football when Bruce had him by the wrist I will never understand.) 5. The coaching clinic put on by Parcells and Belichick; the amazing performance by Thurman. 6. Has any championship game in ANY sport ever come down to the final play: Make the kick and you win; miss it and you lose? I know it is still hard to take after all these years. However, that is one game where both teams played well enough to win. I was proud of our team that day. The other 3 Super Bowls? Not so much.

I think this is simply exhibit A as to why a team should NEVER draft a safety with such a high pick unless they are already stacked at virtually every other position. Even the greatest safeties can only make plays when the front seven is doing its part. The point is that the Bills were not a very good football team when he came here. The defensive line was a mess, and the linebacking corps was nothing special. Compare that to what the 49ers have. In many ways Donte did get a bit of a bum wrap during his time in Buffalo. He wasn't Ronnie Lott, but he certainly was a good safety. Yes, he struggled in coverage -- but that is why he was a safety and not a corner. (Funny that he is playing the Ravens this weekend; I remember one of his worst games EVER was the meltdown against the Ravens -- when Fitz passed for like 400 yards, while Whitner literally stood and watched more than one receiver make desperation catches.) The problem is that many of us rightly felt that it was foolish of the front office to have invested the #8 overall pick on him, when there were certainly better options available. That was not his fault.

A few things... 1. Remember that the the 2nd round of the draft commenced the day after the 1st round concluded, so teams had overnight to re-asses prior to making their pick. The Bills were picking #2 in the second round, so it is possible that as they were doing their last-minute reviews that night, perhaps they tipped their hand that they were interested in Aaron Williams, given that they were not in a position of hoping he fell several spots to them. 2. The wording about the Bills' and other teams' lack of interest is interesting. I suspect that King may have indeed put his own spin on that. He seems to like the wine-and-cheese crowd, which explains his infatuation with the Pats and 49ers. In many ways, his assessment is illogical. Just because the Bills may or may not have been interested in a certain player, that does not mean that another team wouldn't trade up into their spot if they liked a that player. 3. I heard recently that Harbaugh had a bit of an inside scoop on Kaepernick. Apparently Andrew Luck attended a QB school back in 2011 along with a number of other college prospects. Harbaugh asked Luck which of the QBs at the school really stood out, and Luck couldn't say enough great things about Kaepernick.

Hard to argue with much of what Polian said here. I agree that the best mode of attack is not to reach on a QB this year but to enhance other areas of the team for which suitable reinforcenst and/or replacements may be available. For as weak as the QB class is, this draft is VERY deep at a number of other positions this year. In fact, I would be all for moving down to acquire extra picks this year.

Bingo! For as much as we severely need an upgrade at the QB position, this is really not the year to get excited about the possibility of that happening. The top three choices in free agency appear to be Matt Moore, Alex Smith and Campbell. None of these three -- especially Campbell! -- are the long-term answer. Acquiring any of them would only serve to keep the seat warm until a rookie (or -- gasp! -- a player not-to-be-drafted until 2014) is deemed ready to play. If that is the net goal with the acquisition of one of these free agenst, the best bet is to simply stick with Fitz for another year or 2 as he would operate in the same capacity.

Excellent point. The Packers are a testimony to that. Even when they had an established QB, they were still drafting QBs almost every year. Favre, Brunell, Hasselbeck, Brooks, Nall, Rodgers, Brohm, Flynn... Some of these guys were even 1st/2nd round picks. Certainly, not all of them have worked out -- but by sheer volume, some guys are going to stick. Meanwhile, aside from the late 7th rounder they invested in Levi Brown, the Bills have not drafted a QB since Trent Edwards back in 2007. I believe that the Bills should do whatever they need to do to draft the guy they have ranked as their top QB in this draft. And then they need to take a flier on a mid round Sleeper as well.

Here is the way I see it: Chan and his goons so mismanaged the talent on this team, that I almost want to give some of the players a mulligan for the last 3 years ( and LAST year, in particular). One player who comes to mind is George Wilson, who I though had played well before Wanny got hold of him. Lindell falls into the same category. I think Chan was so paranoid about the "what ifs" when it came to the possibility of missing a 40+ yard field goal that he simply rarely ever let Lindell attempt them. Let's just hope that the new staff has strong enough player evaluation skills that they can take a close, hard look at ALL of the players on the team and make intelligent decisions about which ones to keep -- and which ones to let go.

This cancelling out thing among the WRs is silly. Assuming Manning and Brady are on the ballet at the same time, do you think they will "cancel each other out"? For some reason receivers just do not get their due. Look how long it took to get guys like Stallworth, Swann and Monk in the Hall. Carter and Reed both deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, period. When each of them retired, they ranked just behind Jerry Rice in many career stats. Andre also made his living the hard way, going across the middle and playing in often less than ideal weather conditions. Maybe the Carter contingent and the Reed contingent should get together to pool their votes to get BOTH of them in. The Hall allows a max of 7 players each year. I do not see 6 guys on that list more deserving than Reed and Carter. I think part of what hurts Andre is that the Super Bowl highlight reels get played just before the final voting takes place. Overall, Reed played reasonably well in those games -- but he had some untimely drops in the first one (right after the safety, when the Bills could have all but put that game with the plodding Giants' offense unlikely to be able to come back from a potentially 3-score deficit) and the infamous helmet slinging temper tantrum before the half against Washington. That is a shame, because Andre was a significant player in getting the Bills to 4 Super Bowls, and (as I said) played pretty well in them.

I actually do feel bad for him. He did get a bit of a bum rap in Buffalo. Remember his first year here, he had the Bills at 9-6 and on the precipice of the playoffs before losing the season finale to the Steelers. That game turned out to be one of the watershed moments in Buffalo football, as someone in the front office came to the conclusion that Bledsoe was done. However, rather than phase Drew out, they cut him and handed the keys to Losman. Little wonder the Bills went 5-11 that year, and TD and MM were both gone when the season ended.

A great deal will depend on who is actually running the War Room. My suspicion is that with so many new faces, that the decision will be a consensus one. That is, choose the player that everyone in the room can live with. I am not a big college football enthusiast myself, so I guess, the question is: which of these guys is the least likely to bust?

Shanahan has always been a douche.

Lombardi had been an assistant with the Giants for years before getting the HC gig in Green Bay.

I would be very pleased with this configuration of coaches. Maybe then bring Bobby April back to coach special teams too.

So much goes into the reasons why teams choose which candidates to interview. Much like the draft, some of that could boil down to team and player scouting. For example, we know that the Bills are interviewing Whisenhunt for the head coaching position. Having coached for the last several year in the NFC West, he would have an intimate knowledge of Alex Smith's strengths and weaknesses. Asking Whisenhunt about him would give the Bills a reasonable take on Smith whether they may be interested in acquiring BOTH Whisenhunt and Smith -- or not.

Now that Gailey is gone, yes. In fact, Fitz is an ideal backup. Smart, good teammate, and has starting experience if called upon. The point is he is not a starter.

Franchising Levitre is not a viable option. For whatever reason, under the existing CBA, the calculation for determining the tender averages the top salaries of offensive linemen in general rather than just guards, tackles or centers. As good as Levitre is, he is not worth the nearly $10 M it would cost to keep him here in 2013. No guard is. I hope the team can get him to sit down and work out a long term extension. Now, Byrd is another story. The franchise tag for him would be about $3 M less than it would be for Levitre in 2013. You can best believe that OBD is aware of these numbers too.

We would be very fortunate to acquire Lovie Smith as a our new coach, provided that he brings a solid offensive coordiantor with him. He would definitely get the most out of our under-achieving defense.

In the NFL coaching decisions rarely win games -- but they quite often lose games. Today was a great illustration of what the Bills COULD have done if CHand had just made common sense decisions like he did today. In fact, I truly believe that if Chan had coached all season as he did today, the Bills would have possibly won 3-4 more games. Essentially the difference in not making the playoffs WITH the talent currently on the team.

Honestly, I think the Bills' job would be VERY attractive. The team has more talent than any of the others on the list, and a competent coach would have to look at the situation and believe that they can rectify the losing -- with the roster on hand. Moreover, Byrd and Levitre are the only noteworthy free agents. The new coach will also be able to acquire his own QB as well, since the front office seems willing to finally part with Fitz.

The Vikings have a stud RB and are willing to give him the ball to help mask the less-than-stellar play of the QB. The Bills have a stud RB but would rather let their less-than-stellar QB drop back way too often.

I think this is BS. It was common knowledge that the Bills were trying to trade Lynch all through the preseason back in 2010. He had lost his starting job to FJax during the 2009 season, and the Bills promptly drafted Spiller in 2010. Recall that the Bills even tried to showcase Lynch in the first couple of games in 2010 in hopes of driving up his trade value. Lynch had already been in toruble with the league with the hit-and-run and the concealed weapon situations. There were rumors of other off-field "situations". Heck, he still has an unreseolved DUI charge hanging over his head. Depending upon how that works out, he could miss a significant part of next season.

Alas, it starts at the top and ripples down. Quite simply, Chan has lost this team.

It is pretty simple, really. Aside from a little over a year of quality play from Flutie and half a year from Bledsoe, we have not had a QB, since Jim Kelly retired.

Continuity is only good if the chief components are worth keeping. In fact, it would be good if the chief components had EVER shown that they were worth keeping. Sadly, that is not the case with Gailey and his staff.