mjt328

As the owner of Phillip Rivers in a dynasty league, I've watched quite a bit of Vincent Jackson. Although I think he could add a much needed downfield threat to the offense, I would be nervous to throw out the money he's going to demand. 1) Like Lee Evans, V-Jax is a one-dimensional player. He's a downfield threat and that's about it. 2) He's also a big "ME-FIRST" player. Once he gets that free-agent payday, I could see his effort go down the toilet.

No doubt that Randy Moss was one of the most talented wide receivers in NFL history. Possibly Hall of Fame worthy. BUT.... Every athlete hits the age wall at some point - no matter how good they were. Usually that comes in the mid-late 30's for football players. Moss seemed to hit that wall in 2009 at 33 years old. And he didn't even play last year, so his physical condition would be a major concern. Unlike Stevie Johnson (who simply lacks focus at times and is not really a problem player) Moss is a legitimate distraction to the team. That means on the field, off the field and in the locker room. That doesn't take into account that he has ALWAYS been the type to take off plays and give a half-hearted effort when his mind isn't into the game. And finally... a lot of people believe he purposely dropped that ball in 2009 against the Patriots (myself included) while a member of the Titans. Do you want him to purposely blow games for us twice a year against New England?

I always thought this was the case. Elway clearly never liked Tebow and never expected him to succeed.

Obviously we should trade Ryan Fitzpatrick for a franchise long snapper!!!! We can win the Super Bowl with ANYONE under center!!!! The Ravens did it with Trent Dilfer!!!! Only idiots think having a good quarterback is important!!!!

Not really. They fired their coach the day after the season ended. Then they aggressively went after the top coach they could find on the market - battling it out against the Dolphins. Two days after the Saints were eliminated, they snatched up Gregg Williams. Do you honestly see Wilson ever taking this kind of approach at upgrading the coaching staff?

Honestly, I couldn't care less what Ryan Fitzpatrick's final stats say - good or positive. His play on the field spoke for itself. When the season started, the Bills had developed a system perfectly suited to his strengths (reading a defense before the snap and then making a quick throw). As the season progressed (starting about Week 4 with the Bengals), teams began to catch on to the Bills attack. They started playing closer to the line of scrimmage and taking away the short stuff. They started to do more things to confuse him after the ball was snapped. Fitzpatrick's weaknesses were exposed. He has no accuracy on the deep ball. He makes very poor decisions when the defense takes away his initial reads. Blame his play on injuries all you want. Those with an eye for football realize that Fitzpatrick's play was steadily getting worse long before his teammates started dropping off.

In my opinion, this is a very valid thread topic. And very Bills related. Lots of Bills fans have suggested that Ralph Wilson is cheap when it comes to hiring coaches, and is unwilling to give up the power necessary to draw in a proven commodity. Many believe that is one of the main reasons this team has struggled for so long. St. Louis is taking a very aggressive approach this offseason. Quite the opposite of the Buffalo Bills. It will be interesting to see which team turns it around first.

When Tom Donahoe was the GM. During his tenure they were great in free agency. Unfortunately, they couldn't get the right coach and their drafting was mostly below average.

I'm also a believer that defensive teams have an edge in the postseason (for several different reasons). But I would hardly call San Francisco's win a great defensive effort. They allowed 32 points to their opponent, despite getting FIVE TURNOVERS.

You know what makes me mad? I live in St. Louis and get NFL Sunday Ticket. If the Rams game doesn't sell out, then it gets blacked out on Sunday Ticket too. Even though I paid to watch EVERY NFL game!!!!!!!! The only time I can imagine wanting to watch the Rams is when they are playing the Bills every 8 years, but still...

I'm not a supporter of Fitzpatrick as our starter, but I agree with this. Dalton has looked solid as a rookie, but I don't see anything that makes me believe he will be a great NFL quarterback. I didn't regret passing on him in the second round back in April, and after a full season, I still don't. In five years, I think Dalton will still be a middle of the road starter. Personally, I was a big fan of Ryan Mallet. It will be interesting to see what happens when he finally gets his shot.

What can we learn from this weekend's game? How about: No matter how bad an NFL quarterback is playing, you never want to spend an entire game with 9 MEN IN THE BOX!!! I understand that Tebow had been struggling pretty bad. And even Denver's coaches didn't seem to trust him under center. But Pittsburgh's gameplan was ridiculous - and they got burned for it. How little respect do you have for an opposing quarterback to play most of the game without at least one deep safety?

The Bills would be stupid not to consider options for trading up (for Griffin or Luck). Until we get a better quarterback, this team will always be mediocre.

It's not all his fault. But there is no doubt that Fitz is big contributor to our 10-22 record over the last two seasons. And considering how important the quarterback position is in the NFL, he might be the biggest problem. Everybody makes a bad throw once in awhile. But you will never see the top QBs in this league consistently miss open receivers like Fitzpatrick. You will never find a top QB go weeks at a time without hitting even one deep throw. If you don't believe me, just watch a game involving Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Ryan, Roethlisberger, Manning, Stafford, Rivers, etc. Fitzpatrick does make some beautiful throws occasionally. I like his fire and I like his competitiveness. But it's those 5-6 overthrows and misfires (I'm being generous here) each week that will keep him from being a consistent winner in the NFL.

It's not quite that simple. A few things to consider: >> VERY FEW teams in the NFL could lose their Future Hall of Fame starting quarterback before the season, and still have a good season. The position is simply too important, and it's not easy to find a good one. A lot of teams don't have ONE good quarterback, much less two. >> I remember hearing Jeff Saturday say earlier this season that the Colts run the most complicated offense in the league. That cannot be understated. Saturday said he didn't believe anyone in the NFL could just step on the field and run it successfully. And he said that with Kerry Collins (a 16-year NFL veteran) as the starter. Losing Manning's talent was one thing. But the Colts also lost the ability to simply RUN their regular offense. >> Also consider that in early September, the Colts still thought Manning was going to play in Week 1. Within a span of DAYS, there were questions that he was going on I.R. The Colts didn't have a lot of time to prepare anyone else to run the team. They suddenly had the choice to start Curtis Painter (a guy with no NFL starts in two seasons) or sign a guy off the street. >> People seem to have understand the Colts offense stinking without Manning, but they can't believe the Colts defense playing so bad. What they forget is that Indianapolis built the whole team around Manning and his unique talents. The defensive scheme (a Cover-2 variation with heavy pressure) is specifically designed to play with a lead. After all, Manning and the offense was a virtual lock for 25-30 points each week. Suddenly, the team is struggling to put up 10. The defense couldn't play their game either. >> The Colts have been a Super Bowl contender for the last 10+ years. They are a veteran team used to winning and playing long into January. When the season spiraled out of control, it's clear that those veterans quit on the season. Simply put, I don't think Polian can be blamed here. First of all, I don't believe the team is anywhere near as bad as they looked this season. They still have a lot of talent. Also consider that Polian hasn't had a top draft pick in well over a decade. That limits the ability to restock a team with impact players. His cap room is tied up in veteran stars (Manning, Wayne, Saturday, Clark, Freeney, Mathis), which limits his ability to grab talent in free agency.

This. Somebody will be willing to make the trade (especially with the rookie salary cap in place now). The only thing that keeps Luck from going #1 is a freak accident between now and April.

Here are a couple possible reasons: 1) More talented teams (like the Patriots) come into the game taking us lightly. We get up by a few points. By the time the 2nd-3rd quarter hit, they start taking us seriously and we just can't hang anymore. 2) Fitzpatrick is horribly inconsistent. He's good for a couple nice throws every week. He's also sure to throw quite a few bad ones. Games like yesterday, he jam-packed all his good-accurate throws into the first three drives. The rest of the game, he looked like crap. 3) Our coaches only have a few tricks up their sleeves. Other teams adjust to what we are doing, and we can't respond.

I don't think letting Donte Whitner go was a mistake. George Wilson was a better player and deserved to start. I don't think getting voted to the Pro Bowl changes that. But at the same time, I think it's interesting to see all these ex-Bills finding success elsewhere. Donte Whitner makes the Pro Bowl for San Francisco Aaron Maybin is racking up sacks for the Jets Marshawn Lynch has over 1,000 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns for Seattle Jason Peters is having an incredible year for Philadelphia Poz has continued to play well in Jacksonville A lot of people have said that coaching is a huge problem in Buffalo. Failing to maximize talent is a strong example of that.

In some ways, yes. In other ways, no. Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey have been a mixed bag. There are some things they have done right. There are a lot of mistakes they have made. The 2012 offseason will be key. Can they admit and correct their mistakes? Or will they make new ones? For example: >> Hiring George Edwards as defensive coordinator was a horrible mistake. Will he be fired, or will Nix/Gailey stick with him? If he is canned, who will be his replacement? >> Switching to the 3-4/Hybrid was stupid. The Bills best players (Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus) are best suited for the 4-3. Player talent should dictate the system - not the other way around. Do the Bills maximize their defensive talent, or do they keep trying to play people out of position? >> The 2010 draft looks like it will be a complete bust. There is a chance that we don't get a single long-term starter from that group. The 2011 draft was much better. Dareus should be a great one. Williams and Sheppherd should be good starters. Hairston and Searcy could start and should be good depth. Which one will 2012 look like? >> This team has a tendancy to create holes instead of filling them. Will they re-sign Steve Johnson? Or will he be the latest veteran groomed and dumped by the Bills front office.

I sadly agree. I'm one that REALLY wanted us to draft a quarterback. But without Matt Barkley (and there is still a chance that Robert Griffin III and Landry Jones decide to stay in school), the quality of prospects goes down significantly. We will probably have a shot at Landry Jones. He has lots of physical talent, but will be a real project for someone. Very high bust potential.

Exactly. What I gather from the thread originator's (corey g) argument, he is worried that we will "ruin" a potential franchise quarterback by bringing him to a bad team. I don't buy this and never have. If a quarterback is good enough, he will raise the level of the players around him. Not the other way around. David Carr is the most common example that people bring up when they argue against throwing a quarterback into the fire immediately. They say that he got sacked so much that he became shell-shocked and never recovered. Personally, I just don't think that Carr was very good - and I think he was going to be a disappointment no matter what situation he was brought into. He's never been more than a decent NFL backup. All the "experts" that touted him as great are just looking for excuses to why they were wrong.

Our first priority should be quarterback. But if the top 3-4 (Luck, Barkley, Griffin, Jones) are gone, I have no problem with going for the top offensive tackle.

Here's more proof to my point. Let's take some of the top guys at each position. I've bolded the players with Super Bowl titles. Top Quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning With exception of Rivers, every single one of these guys has won at least one Super Bowl. Most have their teams in the playoffs on an almost yearly basis. Top Running Backs Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, Arian Foster, Maurice Jones-Drew, Darren McFadden, Jamaal Charles, Frank Gore, Steven Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Fred Jackson Even when I look at more than TEN!!!! of the top running backs, I can't find even one Super Bowl title. Most of the guys on this list have never even PLAYED in a playoff game, much less sniffed a championship. What exactly has having Peterson done for Minnesota? Top Wide Receivers Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Hakeem Nicks, Wes Welker, Roddy White, Miles Austin, Greg Jennings, Vincent Jackson, Reggie Wayne I had to really stretch the list to find some guys with rings (Jennings, Wayne). Most of the top guys have never gotten close. The Texans are going to their first playoff game this year, and that was with Johnson sidelined most of the season. Calvin Johnson has never even been to the playoffs. Even the Patriots lost their only appearance since signing Welker. Top Offensive Linemen: Tackles: Jake Long, Joe Thomas, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Jordan Gross, Ryan Clady Guards/Centers: Logan Mankins, Nick Mangold, Jahri Evans, Carl Nicks, Ryan Kalil, Eric Wood, Kris Dielman, Chris Snee I'm as big a supporter of focusing on the line as anyone, but how many titles have Jake Long or Joe Thomas brought to Miami and Cleveland? How about playoff appearances? You can have a great blindside protector, but it means nothing if you don't have a good quarterback to protect. Even when you factor in the great lines of New England and New Orleans, this list is pretty bare of championships. Defensive Linemen Ends: Dwight Freeney, Julius Peppers, Jared Allen, Justin Tuck, Mario Williams, Trent Cole, John Abraham, Darnell Dockett, Osi Umenyura, Justin Smith Tackles: Jay Ratliff, Haloti Ngata, Casey Hampton, Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour, Kevin Williams, Ndamukong Suh, Kyle Williams They say that it all comes down to the big guys up front. But I listed almost 20 of the games top defensive linemen, and only five have managed Super Bowl wins. Linebackers Patrick Willis, James Harrison, Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis, Demarcus Ware, Clay Matthews, Brian Orakpo, Lamar Woodley, Jerod Mayo, Tamba Hali, Jon Beason, Terrell Suggs The best overall linebacker in football (Willis) will see his first playoff game this year. The best pass rusher (Ware) of the group has only been there a couple times. We've got a couple Steelers (Harrison, Woodley), Lewis and Matthews with titles, but that is it. Defensive Backs: Cornerbacks: Darrelle Revis, Nmandi Asomugha, Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, Asante Samuel, Deangelo Hall Safeties: Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed, Adrian Wilson, Eric Berry Asomugha, considered by many to be the best shutdown corner in football, has never been to the playoffs.

No team is going to win the championship completely on the back of one player. There is no doubt about that. And there is no doubt in my mind that even if the Bills draft a future Hall of Fame quarterback, they still need massive upgrades all over the team to become a legitimate contender. But history has proven time and time again, that championship teams demand greatness at the quarterback position. What does it tell you when 3 out of every 4 Super Bowl winning quarterbacks is in the NFL Hall of Fame (or will be someday)? It tells me that when it comes to quarterback - good usually isn't good enough. At a position that demands GREATNESS...the Bills settle for mediocrity. We can keep building the team everywhere else - adding linemen and receivers and defensive backs and linebackers - which is great... But until we get a GREAT player under center, the odds of us ever building a championship team are very very slim. Anyone that says otherwise is paying attention to the very few exceptions (Trent Dilfer, Mark Rypien) rather than the overwhleming majority of the time.

I don't think anyone believes that drafting a QB will immediately solve all of our problems. OF COURSE, there will have to be a very good team constructed around that person to become a legitimate playoff/Super Bowl contender. Even the best quarterbacks of all time needed help: Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, etc., etc. But here are the facts. YOU NEED A GOOD OR GREAT QUARTERBACK TO WIN CONSISTENTLY IN THE NFL. Take a look at the Super Bowl winning quarterbacks through history: Bart Starr (2), Joe Namath, Len Dawson, Johnny Unitas, Roger Staubach (2), Bob Griese (2), Terry Bradshaw (4), Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett (2), Joe Montana (4), Joe Thiesmann, Jim McMahon, Phil Simms, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Troy Aikman (3), Steve Young, Brett Favre, John Elway (2), Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Tom Brady (3), Brad Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger (2), Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers Through 45 Super Bowls, a whopping 23 of them (51 percent) have been won by a current Hall of Fame quarterback. When you throw in future Hall of Famers like Favre, Warner, Brady and Manning, that number jumps to 29 (64 percent). And when you consider that Roethlisberger, Brees and Rodgers are definite possibilities, that number goes up to 33 (73 percent). So how about the other 12 Super Bowls that were not won by Hall of Famers? For starters, Plunkett is the ONLY guy on the list that won it more than once. And people have been arguing for years that Plunkett and Stabler both belong in the Hall of Fame. Even if they don't deserve that great honor, both were very good quarterbacks for their era. So were Thiesmann and Simms (both were two time Pro Bowlers during their careers). And Eli Manning is one of today's top quarterbacks. In my estimation, that only leaves SIX quarterbacks in 45 years that have won a Super Bowl without being one of the league's best passers. Three of them (McMahon, Dilfer and B.Johnson) did not just have GOOD defenses supporting them. They had arguably the BEST DEFENSES OF ALL TIME carrying them (1984 Bears, 2000 Ravens, 2002 Bucs). Doug Williams and Rypien both played for Joe Gibbs-led Redskins, which were stacked at every position - especially offensive line and defense. Hostetler (as we all painfully remember) was actually the backup quarterback to Simms - so the Giants technically didn't ride him through their whole Super Bowl season.