Dan

I think that may be the definition of hell. You get to go to all the Bills games but can never see any of them.

Actually, I would disagree. I see that play as symbolizing a season in which we struggled, fought back and made a strong run that came up just short in the end. (perhaps the '04 season) I see last season as being more represented by Holcomb's 4th down pass to Moulds...ill-conceived and with little hope of having success so just give up and dump it off hoping someone else takes the blame for the mess.

I'd take one probowl caliber, starter over 2 (or even 3) "Cory Wire's" any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

You should consider a job writing for ESPN, SI, etc. and I mean that in a good way.

Well, I went as far as clicking on the link, then quickly scrolled down the diatribe. But, I can pretty much guarantee that I'll never read all that. We all know that facts is facts and figures is figures, but that don't change the reality that Culpepper is far from elite. Average to above average, perhaps. But elite? You could define elite as: The best or most skilled members of a group. Well, clearly he's not the best. And if you consider "most skilled members" to include 1 of the top 16 QBs in the league currently, I might give it to you. But most skilled "present and past" is such a stretch that I find it hard to imagine for consideration.

Most all veteran QBs have good completion percentages of short to mid range passes. As has been discussed extensively here, Holcomb has a great completion percentage in those situations, but would you consider him elite? I doubt it. So, having a great completion percentage, especially in short to mid-range passes, says little about a QBs greatness. I was pretty good at alot of things in college too. But, college is college and that was years ago. Who cares? So, if he's such a great QB, why was he struggling so mightly in all areas of the game early last season?

I said it prior to last season, without Moss Culpepper will suck. He is (or was) the king of "throw the ball up to an area and let Moss run to it and out jump and get the thing" passes. Make him survey the field, make him throw tight passes, make him put the ball on a spot; and he'll look very ordinary. Very ordinary, indeed, he looked. I know the fins have Chambers, but I'm not ready to annoint him the next Moss, nor am I ready to concede Culpepper can come back from that knee injury. So, until I see something on the field to convince me of an alternate reality, I say Culpepper in Miami was a great move.. for someone that wants to see the fins crash and burn.

Now I'll agree with you there. TD definitely knew how to work the FA market. He was also great with the contracts of the existing players. And I'm not sold on the team this year, just yet. But, I am glad we changed everything from the top down. I think we were more than a little from being a playoff team. I don't have false hopes that we may somehow make the playoffs this year. Borrowing miracles, you never see a change like the Bills have made and have them in the palyoffs within a year. However, I see it more as taking a step backward so that we can take 2 steps forward in the future. I saw the previous teams as becoming stagnant. If all things were clicking they could be good, but there was no fight or leadership anywhere to be found.

I think you can argue the quality of players seven ways to Sunday and both sides will never come to agreement. IMO, you have to look at the overall record. And no playoffs sums it up. We were up and down - from medicore to poor, but never good. The coaching hires were probably his worst moves by far, especially if you buy into the theory that our players aren't that much worse than any one else (overall). I can see why you're not excited about the Bills this year and were in the past. But those flashy moves TD made, where did they get us? This franchise was in desperate need for a change in direction. Marv is doing just that. It's not flashy, its not exciting; but it is changing the look and feel of the team. I suspect that this season, we're going to see a more focused team; a team working towards an identity; and a franchise beginning to change their direction. In 2 or 3 years we'll be able to truly grade Marv and Jauron. And in the end they may not pass, but we defintely needed to change. For 5 years, we waited for and anticipated the great team that would be on the field. They never showed up; it was continual spin. Why wait 1 more year, just to see if suddenly things fell into place?

I think that sums it all up. Period, end of story.

Absolutely. It's a team effort with a healthy dose of luck. Injuries, ref calls, ball bounces - you can't coach or plan for any of that.

What I don't get about Bledsoe is he's so easy to figure out. If you rush him up the middle and knock him down early, he gets flustered and he becomes average. However, if you put a big line in front of him and slow down that rush, he can pick apart any defense. So, are good offensive lines that hard to build; or are the Pats, Bills, and Cowboys (perhaps - jury's still out on this one for me) just not smart enough to see this?

Makes sense to me. And that's why I'd be surprised if he makes the team this year. Despite what many seem to think, Marv has brought in a lot of guys at every position and I'm sure they'll find a few gems in the midst.

I agree with you. And I'll go a step further and suggest that's why Marv hired Jauron. He wanted a head coach that he saw eye to eye with. In that way, they're on the same page and providing the much needed direction to the franchise.

That's what I was going to suggest. Perhaps the Special Teams play of the other receivers, notably Aiken, was what really put them above Wilson; making him the #7. However, if he was really better than these guys or the coaches saw some flash of brillance, why wasn't he given more chances? I do kinda like the "he was the best of the worst arguement". And when I see idiots spouting nonsense, I usually just ignore them and don't respond, unless I'm really bored.

I agree completely. I was surprised that we retained 7 wr's as well. Especially, given that I thought we were "supposed" to be a ball control, run-oriented offense. So, I tend to agree, it seems fair to assume Wilson must have something we haven't seen. Otherwise, my previously flippant comment may not be completely off the mark. Either way, though, I completely agree with KH's post - we keep 6 WR's this year on the active roster and Wilson doesn't quite make the cut. At the risk of being called a parrot (although I've been called a parrot head before and was quite proud of it), I'll admit that I am biased, of course, against Wilson; because I can't say that I've seen him play much.

Or is says alot about the inadequecies of our previous coaching staff.

I, for one, am becoming more optimistic about our team this season. Now I'm not saying we'll be 11-5 and in the playoffs, I'm just becoming optimistic that we'll return to respectablility and be 8-8. And that would be a great seson, all things being considered. This is definitely a rebuilding year. We've replaced or added personnel every level. A new GM and coaching staff are reason to celebrate in and of themselves. Then, we added players at every position on the team and cut several of the biggest problems we had. You can argue that we haven't added any sure starters to replace or compete with existing players. However, no one knows how guys will turn out. We've all seen high draft round players bust; we've also seen big name, high priced free agents bust; just as we've seen no name low budget guys bust. The bottoml ine is.. no one knows how these players will turn out until well into the season. A few specific comments: The LBs may be a future problem, but I find it hard to believe they'll be our weakest unit this season. So why not wait till next year before we fret over them. JP may or may not be a good quarterback, but any one claiming to have any insight into this after watching him play last year is speaking in conjecture. He was a rookie on a piss poor team, of course he had a problem reading defenses. Regarding JP and many of the players... why not wait until training camp or even a few games into the season before we start judging their bust factor. So, I say lets give the new guys, new coaches and new management a little time to see if we truely are doomed. Who knows, maybe Marv knows a little something about football and he's actaully taken steps to make us a decent team. I welcome the change and hpe for the best, but expect the average.

The thing that some seem to be overlooking is that pretty much for 6 months each year, NFL players are consumed by their job 7 days a week. On week ends when we're relaxing, they're working. And during the week when we're working, they're still working. So if you took a 40 hour week as a measure, then I'd being willing to bet they easily put in enough time during the season to earn plenty of comp time and have several months off. That's why these camps are voluntary. They do need time off, time away, time to recharge. Some need the work and show up, others don't. In my job, I work balls to the wall during my season and you better believe I'd fight long and hard if my off season evaporated because someone thought I should work 80+ hours/week during the season and still put in 40hrs a week during the off season. It's called burn out and you can get it whether you're paid $10/hour or $10 million/year.

I like the winner of the Survivor. Definitely a good idea.

If you go to Detroit. You have to go to the Ole Sheleighlie (sp?) Irish Pub (it has a green banner) about a block west of the Greektown Casino. I was in Detroit this past winter for a week and we closed the place dowb everynight. It's a great bar! I didn't find the crime so bad. We walked back to the hotel every night (about 5 or 6 blocks) at about 3 or 4 am with no problems. However, somone was shot in the hotel the first night we were there.

Exactly. Most fans (here at least) were so terribly displeased with Bledsoe, while simultaneously gushing over our win streak to end the '04 season. We were all sold on JP as being the greatest thing going, being coached by Wyche, etc. How could we be worse? It was so clear that we went 9-7 despite Bledsoe, that if we inserted even a mildly adequate QB, we'd win at least 1 or 2 more games and be in the playoffs. So all was set, we had it all... a new QB that had all the training and talent, a defense that would be the best in the league's history, special teams that really were special. Then, of course, the wheels fell off the wagon and all hell broke loose in '05. From ineptitude caoching, to one the worst defenses in the league, to a lackluster offense. And, what should naturally follow? Blame it all on the QB. Despite the fact that he played like almost every other first year starter (give or take a few stats), he somehow completely sucks, will always suck, and has transferred his suckiness to the entire rest of the team thereby making everyone suck. And most of that suckiness is because of his hair length. Apparently, buzz cuts equate to better QB play. But I digress. I forget where I was going with this. But, I guess it's just to point out that almost everyone wanted JP to start over Bledsoe, then when they got what they wanted, they saw a different reality. So, perhaps now that everyone hates the draft and players we have now and think we're doomed, perhaps we'll see a better reality this fall.

I seem to recall talk about Parcells not being considered for the HOF prior to his taking the Dallas job, because most people thought he wouldn't stay retired. Therefore, you wait until you know he's retired and not coming back before voting him in. I'm certain that he'll be voted in..all in good time.

Sarcasm it was. Well, not the first statement, so much. I did want O-linemen picked in the first. But, I have since come to terms with the picks and have faith that Marv and co. know more about the team than I do.

After some considerable contemplation of our draft, here's my take on the first round "reaches": Sure we all wanted O-linemen. The O line has sucked and continues to suck and will forever suck until we get high draft picks starting at most positions. However, the D-line also sucked - sucked badly. And you can't draft all players for all positions, so you have to prioritize. Furthermore although the O-line FA pickups may not be pro bowlers, they are at least an improvement and may even be "adequate". However, the D-line was still competely lacking. Hence, you take someone on the defensive side over an offensive guy. What about that reach at #8 - well, all I have to say is Coy Wire. The fact that he's been able to win a starting roster spot for years is testament to the suckiness of our DBs. Given our division rivals passing games and the new defensive scheme being installed, upgrades to the secondary were perhaps the most imperative needs on the team. Wire in the cover 2 is an unimaginable recipe for failure. Consequently, we went with a DB and a D-lineman in the first round because they were the biggest needs on our team; not the only needs, but the biggest and, perhaps, most pressing needs to any success for this team.