BisonMan

I agree that in some personnel packages, they should pass. However, they were committed to passing on third and short on multiple occasions. The defense has the last substitution so the Bills personnel packages are always going to be countered by the defense. The coaches just have no confidence that the running game can get 1-3 yards on third down. I found myself screaming at the TV, "just run the ball in this situation!!". With Jackson inactive, Smith is 3rd on the depth chart, I think.

Is everyone but Chan Gailey completely frustrated by the Bills' lack of commitment to running the ball? CJ carried just 12 time for 88 yards this week (7.3 YPA). Most frustrating is the lack of commitment to running the ball on 3rd and short. Fitz lines up alone in the backfield on 3rd and short and consistently either misfires on short passes or, if blitzed, tries to throw a deep sideline ball. BTW, he's 0 for 1,000 on those throws as far as I can tell. Run the freakin' ball with the two horses you have. Spiller can break an 80 yard run at any moment and Fred is no slouch. This week, the run/pass ratio was around 50%. That's way too low for a team with such limited talent at QB, especially when they are facing a team with even less offensive power than they have. Oh, safety tip: when you are ahead with less than 3:30 left in the game in the other team's end of the field, don't send your 3rd string QB out to throw a bomb with two receivers in the same area. :wallbash:

OK, it's waaaaay too early to talk about this but checking the standings, the Bills are currently the 6th seed due to tie-breakers over Cincy and Miami. Who'd a thunk it

As I wrote, I would have like the Dalton pick for the Bills and still would. He wouldn't have the playmakers or defense around him that he does in Cincy but I still like him better. BTW, my hindsight is 20/20! Truthful admissions: I like the Trent Edwards pick too at the time. I hated the Losman pick at the time. I hated the Bledsoe trade at the time. I liked sticking with Fitz this year given the draft prospects available. I prefered Rob Johnson to Flutie at the time. So, basically, my judgement is as valuable as flipping a coin on these things.

First, let me say that I like Dalton and liked that pick for Cincy. I think I would have like it for Buffalo as well but...I wrote that Dalton is an adequate starter to this point in his career. I have no idea what the future will bring for him. It is very easy to take a season for a young QB and extrapolate a "great" or "crappy" career. I think a single season is not a great gauge. Take this one: 56.7% completions, 1-to-1 TD/INT ratio. 6.5 YPA vs. 57.7% completions, 1-to-1 TD/INT Ratio and 6.7 YPA They look almost the same but those were the rookie years of Peyton Manning and Brian Griese. I don't think Dalton is likely to be either one of them in his career but focusing on a single year or 5 games this year doesn't mean anything. Through 5 games last year what was Fitz's Rating? Basically, when you look at the QBs drafted in the last bunch of years we either know they were bad picks (21 of them identified), were mediocre starters or haven't had a chance to prove themselves in the league yet. Only 1 that I can see, Flacco, is an emerging franchise starter that the Bills missed in the draft with their pick.

There actually aren't a lot of proven commodities in FA. Warner came off a terrible season in NY and was picked up as a backup by the Cards. Brees came off an injury that almost everyone thought was ending his career. New Orleans took a big gamble and it paid off. Cutler is a head case and no leader. I wouldn't trade 2 #1s for him. By all accounts, the Bills went after Vick but didn't get him for reasons other than $$$. Brett Favre only wanted to go playoff caliber teams. Cassel is no better than Fitz. Manning was just like Favre. Let's hone in on Schaub. He was Vick's backup in Atlanta and played a few games when Vick got hurt. Schaub was 18 of 27 in his last YEAR with the Falcons. Basically, he didn't even throw enough passes to qualify for an average NFL game, let alone a year. He did show promise and the Texans took a risk on him for some draft picks in the last year of his contract. Surround him with an awesome running game and one of the best receivers in the game and a great offensive line and Matt Schaub is a killer. The Bills definitely should have found a backup that played well in a few games and traded some draft picks for him and...Oh, crap. That's Rob Johnson!

This is the best response to the Bills woes you can have. I call it the "neighbor's wife" position. I'd be happier with my neighbor's wife than with my own...I think. I actually have no idea what it would be like. All of the names you list are completely unproven NFL commodities, with the exception for Dalton. In two years or so, we'll know for sure if missing Dalton was a mistake but today, there is no way of really knowing. As for the rest, all we can say for sure is that other teams with QB issues are trying them or that they are backups to teams with quality starters.

My bad. Yes, Dalton was one pick ahead of Williams. I personally liked Dalton's competitiveness in college but wasn't sure his skills translated to the NFL. I'm honestly still not sure. His current team is certainly better than the Bills overall and he has more weapons to work with than Fitz. Time will tell on that one whether it was a poor decision. You are right, I was looking at so many years at once that I got them mixed up. Cassel and Fitz were in 2005. Both in the round 7. Hard to believe everyone passed on them until then, huh? Be my guest.

Hear me out on this one. I just reviewed the list of every QB selected in the draft since 2005. The Bills drafted their QB of the future in 2004, J.P. Losman. That didn’t work out so well. Looking at the list of other QBs drafted since then is interesting: http://www.nfl.com/d...t?type=position None of the QBs drafted selected after a Bills’ pick in any draft is a starter in the league aside from Josh Freeman, Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco and Matt Cassel (who was cheered last week when he got hurt). 4 QBs in 7 years. 2005: Alex Smith: #1 overall. Generally considered a reach now and SF would not have traded that pick away anyway. They needed a QB. Aaron Rogers: #24 overall. The Bills didn’t have a 1st round pick and were in the first year of their first round QB pick the previous year. It is understandable the Bills didn’t trade away a bunch of picks for a QB most teams didn’t think was worth a high pick. 2006: Jay Cutler: #11 Overall. Certainly the Bills could have selected Cutler and that would have been a better pick than Whitner. However, as talented as Cutler is, he’s been a cancer on teams he played with and there is lots of criticism that he’ll never be a winner. 2007: No current starters drafted that year. Kevin Kolb is the only backup that is now starting. 6 QBs were drafted in the first 3 rounds (including Trent Edwards). Thigpen was drafted in the 7th round along with Fitz. 2008: Matt Ryan: #3 overall. Could the Bills have traded up to get him? Probably not. The Falcons really needed a QB and there were a lot of questions as to whether Ryan was worth that high a pick. Some saw him as another Doug Flutie, great competitiveness and smarts but physically limited. He’s proven them wrong. Joe Flacco: #18 overall. I think this is the first real miss for the Bills in these drafts. Many didn’t think Flacco could be an NFL QB. The Ravens got a lot of “that’s a reach” talk when they selected Flacco. He is certainly been better in the last 10 games he’s played than before that. So, 4 years into his career, he’s now being considered as being in the top half in the league. Only Matt Flynn (#209 overall) is still in the league. 2009: Matt Stafford: #1 overall. No way the Lions trade this pick to Buffalo. They needed a QB. Mark Sanchez: #5 overall. Seriously? Josh Freeman: #17 overall. I’m not thrilled with this guy and don’t think he’s going to pan out as a QB in the top half of the NFL. Not worth a first round pick. Of course, the Bills got Aaron Maybin so… 2010: Sam Bradford: #1 overall. No way the Rams trade that pick. Tim Tebow: #25 overall. The Bills don’t need a personal punt protector that badly. 2011: Cam Newton: #1 overall. I doubt the Panthers trade that pick. Jake Locker: #8 overall. Too early to tell on this one. He’s started so few games in his career. I prefer Darius at #3 over Locker. Blane Gabbert: #10 overall. Gabbert was horrid in 2011. I still think Fitz is better than Gabbert at this point. Perhaps Gabbert improves but it’s too soon to tell. Again, no way the Bills take him at #3. Christian Ponder: #12 overall. Again, too early to tell on this guy. He could be anything from a star to out of the league in 3 years. Andy Dalton: #35 overall. He’s an adequate starter at this point in his career. Cincy needed a QB badly with Palmer holding out. I’m not sure how much upside he has. Dalton’s passer rating in 2011 was almost the same as Fitz’s. It’s obviously better this year but they've only played 5 games. The Bills could have traded up to get him somewhere in the first round and lost a first round pick in a future draft. So, by my reading, only Flacco is a true miss by the Bills in the last 7 years. There were a lot more poor QB picks the Bills could have made that other teams did. Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, Mark Sanchez, Pat White, Brian Brohm, Chad Henne, Kevin O’Connell, Brady Quinn, John Beck, Drew Stanton, JaMarcus Russell, Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Kellen Clemmens, Tavaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, Brodie Croyle, Jason Campbell, Charlie Frye, Andrew Walter, and David Greene. All were selected in the first 3 rounds. That’s one hit (Flacco) and 21 misses. Picking QBs is a dicey prospect.

Not to pick but the question wasn't whether you think the Bills will win or lose (I personally think they'll lose) but how would your perceptions of the team change if they did win. I think this would be a bit of a statement win. It wouldn't reduce my misgivings about the team's performance against our division opponents though. I guess on a scale of 1 (total pessimist) to 10 (total optimist), I'd move from a 2 to a 4.

Suppose the Bills beat the Niners in a reasonably sound way, say 28-17. There is a lot of gnashing of teeth around here this week because they got trounced by the Pats. How much would your personal perception change if the Bills beat the Niners in SF this weekend? Forget whether you think it's likely to happen (it's not) but given the NFL, on any given Sunday... I realize that some games are "statement" games. Beating the Pats would have been one and losing to them badly likely makes a statement. Beating the Browns and Chiefs were not statements, IMHO. Beating the 49ers would be.

Moorman is dead last in the NFL in net punting yards. He's 21st in average and has zero kicks inside the 20 so far this year. If field position is something the team cares about, he should be on a short leash.

It's a bit apples and oranges. Cleveland metro is more than twice the size of Buffalo's metro (2.9M vs. 1.2M). The stadium is better and, most importantly, Cleveland supports a more lucrative business market which translates to luxury boxes. My SWAG is that the Bills would sell for 70-80% of the Browns price mostly due to TV revenue. My 2 cents.

Belicheck won without a great QB in Brady's first SB. They only put up 20 points against a weak Rams defense. BB's defensive scheme won that one all the way. Brady was along for the ride (mostly). Belicheck also won 11 games with Matt Cassel who is looking weaker and weaker the longer he plays.

I totally agree on Thigpen. He's already at his high side (or past it) and Young's high side is something coaches love. Coach 'em up and pay less him less than pigpen. The Bills don't know what they are going to get out of the D-Linemen listed. I'm guessing one or two will be standouts and the others will be role players and likely overpaid. Unfortunately, we don't know which ones yet. Does Kelsay's hustle help him shine with a better supporting case? Does Merriman come back to his old form? How do the others fit in a 4-3? Maybe they play better too. Who knows. Keep'em all because we are way under the cap at this point with only TJG left to sign. Having depth on the D-Line in a 4-3 is a must. I noted at the bottom of that listing that we are still carrying $3.7M for Florence and Evans. Ugh.

I never said "need" 4 Top 5 players. I was making a general observation for which there are likely many counter examples. The 2010 Colts are a great example of a team without a lot of Top5 players but a HOF QB can mask a lot of problems as we saw with the 2011 Colts. I would argue that the 2011 Pats may have had a number of Top5 players on the roster outside of Brady (Welker, Light, Warren (?), Wilfork, Arrignton, Gronk). I do think coaching is important but without the players it's really hard to win. Jeff Fisher is a great coach but the Titans weren't so hot in his last few years there because they didn't have the players, particularly at QB. Rather than coming up a a formula, I was trying to point out that the Bills are improving their talent, which will likely lead to success and that their previous rosters (drafts) were devoid of players that were elite players. Things are looking up! BTW, love the sushi dolphin graphic. Again, I don't think you "need" 4, but by pure luck you'd get 4. More talented teams might have more. SF has a number of elite players Alden Smith, P. Willis, Frank "Kill the Head" Gore, Vernon Davis, Donte Witner (just kidding)...

Sorry, I was counting 11 players on each side of the ball plus two kickers. That's 24 positions times 5 per position. That's 120 "Top-5" players across the league, or about 3.75 (~4) per team. I should have broken out that there are 2 each of OT, OG, DT, DE,etc.

I've seen and felt a lot of optimism regarding the Bills 2012 roster on this site over the past three months. It got me thinking that I generally equate top teams with the talent on their roster. On most top teams, I can point out a number of players on their roster that I would put in the top 5 in the league in their positions (especially QB). In looking at the Bills roster in recent years, I didn't see any Top-5 players at any position outside of punter (Moorman). Reviewing the roster today things look a bit different: Offense QB - not top 5 (or even 10?) RB - Freddie is definitely Top-5 TE - nope WR - I like Stevie but don't think he's T5 OT - nope OG - Levitre is looking good but I wouldn't classify him as T5 yet with zero Pro-Bowls or All-Pro years. C - Wood is good, not great (when healthy) K - sorry, need more power P - Moorman may be near the T5 still but likely not any more Defense DT - K. Williams could be T5 back in his old 4-3 position. Darius might be there in a year or two DE - Super Mario is T5 when healthy OLB - nope MLB - nope CB - I have high hopes but completely unproven S - Wilson is a great field general but not T5. Byrd might be close. So, going through our starters, I only see one sure fire T5 player on each side of the ball. Everything else rides on the dreaded "potential". By pure chance, a team should have 4 Top-5 players on their roster. Opinions?