Shoutbox

No. I'd rather my favorite sports team not resort to cheating. But Marc Miller is the kind of guy that values integrity. I'm weird like that, I know. Maybe it's a Western NY thing. The 2001-2012 Patriots will forever be known as a really good AFC team that dominated a pathetically weak division, padded their stats on the bad/mediocre teams, held their own with the other AFC giants, but couldn't win the big one without cheating.

Or at least no professionals from the state of Connecticut with the name of James or Alaska with the name of Jim.

I guess I don't share the same opinions on draft value as many others here at TBD. Shouldn't the top 10 - for the most part - be reserved for QB's, blind-side tackles, and pass-rushers? Exceptions can include likely Pro Bowlers at other positions who are so good that they can regularly impact the direction of a game for roughly 50% of the total plays. Examples at ILB/MLB would be Ray Lewis and Patrick Willis. In Buffalo Bills terms, that would be RB's like Adrian Peterson or CB's like Darrelle Revis. Now of course this isn't a rigid drafting "rule of thumb" of mine. A lot depends on the depth of the draft and the peculiar needs of a franchise at any given time. But for the most part, a team shouldn't make its fans suffer through such a miserable season for the privilege of drafting a guy that projects as a quality starter but one who otherwise can't significantly change the fortunes of the team. To get more specific, I like Ogletree and think he will make a fine 4-3 LB. But would he make as big of a difference in a game's outcome as one of the projected blue chip pass rushers in the 2013 draft? There are thought to be 5 of them in this one (Moore, Werner, Jones, Mingo, Jordan), with at least one of them who will fall to us when you factor in the QB's, Joeckel, Lotulelei, and even Milliner going top 7. The Bills can still get quality 4-3 LB's in rounds 2-6 if they do their scouting homework. But the chance to land a regular 10-15 sack guy to pair opposite Mario Williams and flanking Dareus and Kyle Williams? That would give Pettine's attacking defense a chance to be regularly top 5 in the NFL. Buffalo's top 8 at the moment should be the 5 aforementioned pass rushers plus Joeckel, Geno Smith, and Tyler Wilson.

Pretty good top 10 list for mid-January. Just replace Teo and Warmack with the 2 QB's, Smith and Wilson.

TBD, of all places, should not be making fun of a guy for an imaginary girfriend.

What exactly were you expecting from a forum that is about 95% conservative? Science, environmentalism, and long-term thinking are for loser pu&sies who don't prioritize Bronze Age fairy tales, making money, and keeping up with the Joneses. Get with the program, son.

It should be noted that Buffalo's future GM, Doug Whaley, is black. And the defensive coordinators from 1998-2011 have all been black (Cottrell, Gray, Fewell, Edwards).

According to various salary cap resources on the internet, cutting Kelsay actually saves $4.175 million on this year's cap while only leaving $0.800 million of dead cap money. I more or less completely agree with billsfan714 (the OP). About the only nice things I can manage to say about Buddy Nix as a GM: 1. He didn't completely screw up his 1st round draft picks. 2. He was able to convince an elite free agent like Mario Williams to come here. 3. He kept Stevie J from going to a more competent franchise. 4. He brought in some nice under-the-radar free agents on offense like David Nelson, Donald Jones, Craig Urbik, Erik Pears, Chad Rinehart, Colin Brown, Scott Chandler, and Lee Smith. But the bottom line is that after three years, Dick Jauron's gold standard of 7-9 was never met and has now been replaced with Chan Failey's 6-10 franchise metric. The poor coaching staff selections, sticking with Fitz, the inability to create an identity on defense, and the terrible drafting beyond the first round (a few exceptions: Glenn, Carrington, and Searcy) are what should have already done Nix in. But I will stay optimistic and assume Whaley takes over after the draft, Kelsay and Fitz will be cut, Byrd and Levitre will be re-signed, and a new glorious era in Buffalo Bills history already began a couple weeks ago. Hey, but that's just me: Marc Miller, eternal optimist.

I appreciate the kind words from Marv, but I still won't forgive him for those four straight Super Bowl losses.

For which team and in which league?

I understand your frustration. QB is still the biggest need for this franchise. No disagreement there. However, this particular draft is unusally strong at DL and LB while also unusually weak at QB (and TE). It just so happens that the front 7 for the Bills has been setting team records for futility in the past 3 seasons despite all the draft picks used on it. Reaching for a middling talent like Nassib or Glennon at #8 would be foolish when there will likely be blue chip pass rushers to be had.

The big problem with your argument here is that the Jets' front 7 for the past 4 years has still been considered above average in talent. Furthermore, I wouldn't say that Buffalo's front 7 has even the reached the level of average yet. I also can't really think of an elite NFL defensive unit that only had a mediocre pass rush; conversely, there have been many instances of elite NFL defenses with average secondaries. I still can't believe a fan of the Buffalo Bills - of all teams - would honestly think a player of Dee Milliner's talent will have a bigger impact on a defense's performance than someone like Damontre Moore or Bjoern Werner. Since 1985, Buffalo has only spent 3 1st rounders on a pass rusher (defined as a DE or a 3-4 OLB): Bruce Smith in 1985, Erik Flowers in 2000, and Aaron Maybin in 2009. Meanwhile, they've drafted 10 1st round secondary players (defined, of course, as a CB or FS or SS): Derrick Burroughs in 1985, James Williams in 1990, Henry Jones in 1991, Thomas Smith in 1993, Jeff Burris in 1994, Antoine Winfield in 1999, Nate Clements in 2001, Donte Whitner in 2006, Leodis McKelvin in 2008, and Stephon Gilmore in 2012. Now I'm not going to advocate that this draft strategy is THE reason for why the Bills failed to win a Super Bowl in the early 90's, declined in the late 90's, and then never made the playoffs for 13 straight years (I didn't even touch the issue of drafting 1st round RB's). But when something's not working for a long period of time, it's time to stop and at least reflect on how the team chooses to allocate their resources. P.S. Just realized that you're the guy who thinks the Buffalo Bills should change their name to the Niagara Rapids. That explains a lot...

I don't care if Jesus H. Christ and Muhammad are your corners and Buddha and Xenu are your safeties...give a non-Fitzpatrick QB in this league 5+ seconds in the pocket, and he will tear them to pieces. Mark Freaking Anderson is the second best pass rusher on this defense. The Bills haven't drafted a quality pass rusher (i.e., 4-3 DE or 3-4 OLB) since Aaron Schobel. There could be as many as SIX pass rushers in this draft alone who would be considered blue chippers in most other drafts. Dee Milliner will be a solid pro, but he's not a Revis or Peterson kind of talent. TIME TO DRAFT A PASS RUSHER IN APRIL. I'M TYPING IN CAPS SO THAT YOU WILL FEEL THE PASSION I HAVE ABOUT THIS SUBJECT.

The Bills need another pass rusher MUCH more than they need another !@#$ing 1st round corner. For any of you who bothered to watch the Bills games this season, you will have noticed that there was zero pass rush outside of Mario Williams on occasion. This draft is weak overall, but unusually strong with pass rushers. Here's 6 off the top of my head who may grade out as top 10 in a few months: Jarvis Jones, Georgia Barkevious Mingo, LSU Sam Montgomery, LSU Bjoern Werner, FSU Damontre Moore, Texas A&M Dion Jordan, Oregon It's way past time for this franchise to move away from 1st rounders on DB's we don't bother to re-sign and go get some quality pass rushers.

Another mistake I found is that Marcus Easley is counted twice, but with different contract numbers. I'm assuming the lesser contract number was meant for some street free agent WR instead.

Two things everyone should keep in mind when evaluating Reed's HOF candidacy: 1. The presence of Thurman on the team suppressed Reed's overall career numbers. We're talking about one of the best pass-catching RB's in NFL history on what was actually a run-first offense. 2. Reed just missed out on this pass-oriented era in NFL history that really took hold at the turn of the century, so his career numbers should also be interpreted based on the time in NFL history in which he played.

It's very possible that he was being fed some insider info about positive pro-Reed vibes or what not among some voters.

I've been wondering if Thurman's "it's on like a mofo" tweet was about this.

Wow! Cutting Kelsay, Barnett, and Wilson collectively frees up another $11 million with only a $2 million dead money hit. There is NO EXCUSE for not re-signing Byrd and Levitre.

Sure, why not? I see two effective ways to combat overpopulation without resorting to famine, war, genocide, etc... The first is aggressive worldwide education and promotion of contraception use, particularly in developing countries. The second is the elimination of government social welfare programs, i.e. don't have kids if you can't afford them. If these two methods don't take hold after a certain period of time, I would start looking into government taxation penalties for having children. But I'm generally not a fan of that level of government intrusion into people's private lives, so hopefully enough people wise up.

I hate it when ideas are (implicitly or explicitly) attacked by going after the personalities of the ideas' proponents. Al Gore is no doubt a giant egotistical hypocritical douchebag. So what? Then don't listen to him lecture you on global warming. Instead, listen to the overwhelming majority of credible scientists at research universities throughout the world. Global warming is definitely happening, and it's very likely due primarily to human activity. It's way past time to have an intelligent debate among grown-ups about how to address the related problems of coastal city flooding, deforestation, overpopulation, natural disaster preparation, public transportation, etc...

There's your problem...your understanding of science comes in part from a guy named Dr. Drew. Throughout the animal kingdom, sex is used for more than just reproduction. Especially within the primate species, it is used to forge strategic social alliances. And of course, animals have sex not for the intent of reproduction but because it releases feel-good chemicals in the brain. Homosexual behavior - while not "normal" in the sense that it is the most frequent form of sex - is perfectly natural and is routinely witnessed within many species other than homo sapien. My suggestion for you is to actually do your job as a parent and explain to your child how the world works whenever your child asks questions. Tell him/her that most people love people of the opposite gender, but some people happen to love people of the same gender. Is that so difficult? If gay PDA bothers you, then look away...same thing you'd do when you see two ugly/fat/old people making out.

But finding another veteran QB to replace Fitz on the roster will eat up that $3 million and then some. I believe cutting Fitz will already count $10 million on next season's cap number. The Bills may be better off just keeping him for one more season while drafting the future QB this April.

Close to 100% now. Not a problem with me as long as Nassib is the 41st pick and not the 8th.

A lot is now riding on the OC and DC chosen. Marrone needs to pick guys with proven NFL experience. How about Whisenhunt for OC and Lovie Smith for DC?