R. Rich

And you prepared so hard for one, too. Such a shame.

I think Lutui has the far bigger upside as a pro. To me, he has yet to play his best football. That's what the Ravens got in Ray Lewis: a guy who was a very good college player, but became a much better pro. I think Lutiu's upside is tremendous and I believe he'll have a better pro career than Joseph. That said, either guy would be a really good pick for Buffalo in the 2nd.

I like being around fellow Bills fans. I do not like being in smoky bars hearing a whole bunch of idiots yelling whatever "thought" pops into their inebriated heads.

Thank goodness for DirecTV: all of the games, none of the smoke and noise.

Good thing for them. They'll need the extra week to prepare for the Bills.

Nah. I wouldn't wait that long to draft a tackle. You wait too long, you end up w/ some UDFA starting for you. Ugh!

Yes.

I hear this year they've extended the NFL draft beyond the first round.

Even though Scary Movie 4 seems ridiculous, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I thought the last one was funnier than the 2nd one, though not as funny as the original.

How's the weather out there, LA? Fair, I take it?

Payback would be nice. That's one of the 3 home games I plan to attend this season.

I hear ya, J. I lucked out and found a season ticket holder who sold me their seats @ cost last time. For the preseason game, I bought the tickets online, which was quite expensive.

It's tough to get Ravens tickets for any time of year, not just around holidays. There will be a tailgate before the game, just as there was for the last regular season game and the last preseason game in Baltimore.

Only 171 more days to go!!

W/ the new CBA, the June 1st cap cuts aren't going to be what they were, as teams now have more cap room than they thought. There will still be some values, I'm sure, but there won't be a surplus of them.

You'll be there.

To a degree, you are right, but I do believe things are changing, unless we no longer consider guys like Julius Peppers, Michael Strahan, Jevon Kearse (especially during his dominant days in Tennessee), Bryce Fisher, or Adewale Ogunleye "premier pass rushers". I think most teams realize that these guys have the size to hold up against the run yet have the speed to beat the bigger, slower (in most cases) RTs off the edge.

Nice. The OB is reportedly a really nice place. I've never been there, but I know people who have either lived there or visited there and they love it.

We know when the home opener is now?

Well said, Rock. The opening tailgate is usually the one place that we can actually get to hang out w/ many of the TBDers who don't post as much any more for a variety of reasons. It's always nice to see those folks.

You mean we're going to have our home opening tailgate the same weekend as the home opener?

It's not as tall an order as you'd think. For example, if we were to have a scenario like this: Round 1: Vernon Davis (TE) Round 2: Taitusi Latui (OG) Round 3a: Jonathan Scott (OT) Round 3b: Jesse Mahelona (DT) That would be a nice start. The Bills would have added a receiving option w/ the potential to create huge mismatches due to his incredible size/speed ratio(needed even more w/ the loss of Moulds), a stud guard who I feel has yet to play his best football (should be a much better pro than college player, and he's a pretty solid college player!), a left tackle prospect that is big yet not huge and has a nice wingspan plus can move laterally and ward off speed rushers, and a defensive tackle that while not a massive 2 gapper, may be more of a fit for the defensive scheme we intend to use due to his quickness and pass rushing ability (not my choice; I'd rather see Gabe Watson, but Mahelona is solid). I would be okay w/ a draft that begins like this, and you still have the day 2 picks to add depth.

Imagine that. Maybe this is the year both the offensive and defensive lines are addressed in the draft. I could live w/ a scenario that gets us a solid interior OL, a young OT to push the incumbents or replace them, and a run stuffing DT. Maybe even add in a pass rusher to play opposite Schobel (a glaring weakness lost in the DT frenzy) and I'd call that a wonderful start.

Why not? I see it done all the time on here w/ "The U"...

Stl, here's what I posted about McNeil earlier: I just don't want to see the Bills draft another huge offensive tackle that has trouble getting good leverage and doesn't hold up against speed rushers. Been there, done that. I agree. We can get a nice combination no matter what decision is made. We don't have to go in one particular area first, be it safety, OL, or DL. We need a big run stuffer, and that can be found anywhere in the first three rounds. As I've said before, Ted Washington was a free agent acquisition who some said was injury plagued and an underachiever when we got him and Pat Williams was undrafted. Obviously, you can find good players to stuff the run......if you have a quality staff that can evaluate.