R. Rich

To what?

Dammit, what was I thinking? I should've remembered we're the only option to any player in free agency. My bad.

Perhaps. Either would be an upgrade, though I'd really rather see Hutchinson here if we could only land one. I still don't think either will be here next year, but we can dream.

We'd be lucky to get anyone, w/ all the chaos surrounding this team now I just don't know how attractive we'd be to ANY prospective free agent. That said, I can hope for Steve Hutchinson to line up @ LG for the Bills, can't I? Even more so than Bentley (I'd be willing to make do w/ Preston @ center), I'd love to see us end up w/ perhaps the 2nd best LG in football after Alan Faneca.

You're helping support my statement. I don't fault Schobel, but I am sick of this team not having a pass rush good enouhg to take the offense off the field! Schobel doesn't have to go, but what should happen is that the Bills add to his abilities so that the can develop a pass rush. Imagine if you had Schobel on the left side w/ a stud pass rusher like Mario Williams or Mathias Kiwanuka on the right side? I sure would like that better than what we're using now.

How do you know it isn't proven scientific fact?

Schobel is pretty good, but the things I notice about the Bills (snicker) pass rush is: 1. Third downs are frightening. We can't count on the defense forcing the opposing offense off the field w/ any regularity. 2. Turnovers. Remember those? I vaguely do. 3. Time of possession. Ugh! It ain't pretty. A team w/ a strong pass rush can come out on the winning side of those 3 factors. The Bills cannot, which is why I hope (probably against hope) that we land a stud pass rusher like Kiwanuka or (even less likely) Mario Williams.

Shouldn't that be 'people who live in grass houses should get stoned'?

...and let's not forget the anal retentive board for the stone throwing crowd. Watch out for broken glass!

Um....is there something you want to tell me, Scott?

A little early for the annual "build 'em up to tear 'em down" part of the pre-draft hype, tater. We haven't even had the Senior Bowl yet. Be patient.

Gaining NOTHING is what we do best. Holcomb probably will start, while JP will continue to be a mystery. Must be a Tulane thing.....Patrick Ramsey is being jerked around in a similar fashion in Washington.

I do miss the stiffarms and the fearless way he hit the hole and kept going, like last year. He's obviously been taking dancing lessons from Nate Clements.

Well, w/ an NBA-type lottery, you can't just try to lose out to get the best pick.

I think that is just wrong, Tomas. Why can't people just come here to post? Why must you mess w/ people and be so sarcastic?

Well, @ least you admitted it.

Back before we beat Cincinnati, I was thinking that it was a good possibility that we could draft Williams. Now, I don't even see us being able to land Kiwanuka, let alone Williams. Damn. As much as we need a run stuffer in the middle, if we had a pick high enough to land Williams and we actually did draft him, I would be VERY happy. It doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Adding another skill player will fix the team's woes, eh? Tom Donahoe loves you!

What have you observed in the past 5 years that makes you optimistic about either #2 or #4 happening?

...and, in addition to playing sick/hurt, could you possibly play a lot better, too?

You both have valid points. I just don't believe there is one way set in stone to improve the talent level. It could be a mixture of getting good draft picks and of having a staff that can evaluate talent to the point where you can feel confident in the ability of the team to draft past round 2 or 3. Sorry fellas, but I don't believe there's any "I'm right and you're wrong" here.

This message is brought to you by the law firm of Coulda, Shoulda, and Woulda...

I'll try this, just for some kicks: PLAYOFF SCENARIO: AFC Wild Card Round Pittsburgh 27 - Cincinnati 17 New England 30 - Jacksonville 14 Divisional Round Indianapolis 24 - Pittsburgh 17 Denver 27 - New England 20 Championship Round Indianapolis 31 - Denver 23 NFC Wild Card Round Washington 34 - Tampa Bay 21 NY Giants 20 - Carolina 17 Divisional Round Seattle 30 - Washington 17 NY Giants 24 - Chicago 16 Championship Round Seattle 28 - NY Giants 13 Super Bowl Indianapolis 41 - Seattle 35

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday season. That was a nice gift we received yesterday.

Very good post, John. I've said it numerous times: if you're going to bring in a big group of guys w/ little mobility, have them drive block the guy in front of him out of the path of the RB. It seemed to have worked for the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s, right? Like you said: play to the strengths of the personnel you have as opposed to trying to fit the proverbial square pegs in the round holes.