Brandon

The game will be on ESPN.

Amen. I don't think any of us that are defending him are saying that he's a 'can't miss' prospect. He certainly is not. He's not a first round prospect and maybe not a second, either. He has a number of flaws and he's going to be a project, but there's more natural talent there than his detractors want to admit and there's no doubt in my mind that he can make it in the NFL as a QB if he gets in the right situation with good coaching and he himself is willing to put in the effort to address his weaknesses.

The can interview him, but they'll be interviewing others as well, and presumably some of them they'll be able to hire almost immediately. If you take Nix at face value, that he wants to hire fairly quickly, that probably puts Rivera at somewhat of a disadvantage.

Its just a guess, but I suspect that on the day when the Bills do name their next head coach, Rivera and the Chargers will still be preparing for their next playoff game. At the absolute earliest, they can't hire him before the 18th, and possibly as late as February 8th. I think Nix wants to get this over with, and while I don't expect a hire this upcoming week, I do think it'll be sooner rather than later.

There's absolutely no comparison. If anything, he reminds me of Wayne Chrebet...without the hands and with even less speed.

As long as he doesn't bring Doug Flutie's attitude, I'd be happy with it as well. The truth is, I'm pretty sure that I like Tebow better than any other senior QB in this draft. Is he perfect? No. Would I draft him at 8 or whatever? Certainly not. On the other hand, the SOB can play football. Its a little ugly sometimes, but he gets the job done and although there are some serious flaws in his game and he's going to be a project, he's not without talent and one thing I do know is that if he fails, it won't be for lack of effort. I'll certainly take that over the million dollar arm, ten cent brain types that they usually bring in and speaking for myself, I wouldn't have any issue whatsoever taking a chance on the guy in round 3 and perhaps even in R2.

Right now on Fox.

I think Florida has a big advantage defensively in this game. My guess: Florida wins 31-13.

Agreed. Nothing beats the 5th down game. That was by far the worst case of officiating ever.

There was a one-on-one interview with Chris Brown yesterday where he seemed very clear that he prefered that type of team given the climate and the fact that the team plays outdoors.

That's an easy one. Look at who else has been in the draft 'war room': Ralph Wilson, Dick Jauron, Russ Brandon, and for a time, Marv Levy, among others. Those guys don't spend all year evaluating college players as Modrak's staff does, and for that reason, they're going to be far less familiar with the late round guys than the top prospects. As a result, they rely on Modrak more heavily for the later round guys than the early picks. Consider also that Modrak never had the final say on any draft pick and that all of those mentioned earlier had more influence than he did, and you can see a potential problem. Its entirely possible that some of Modrak's early round picks were being overruled. I have no proof of that, but I suspect its the case...and that its probably why he keeps his job year after year in spite of the high round misses.

I agree. I'm reluctant to blame Modrak, simply because I'm almost certain that he does not have the final say on draft picks, particularly first day picks. Its quite possible that he and the scouting staff are doing a good job, but they can only suggest players to draft. It doesn't mean that Ralph Wilson, Russ Brandon, Marv Levy and Dick Jauron actually listened to them. Considering how much influence that Dick Jauron, in particular, had on personnel matters as the senior 'football man' on the staff over the last two years, I highly suspect that he was a major part of the problem, anyway. The pro player department is another story. While you can point to some pretty good 2nd day drafting as evidence that Modrak and the scouts are doing their jobs well, the pro player acquisitions have left an awful lot to be desired for several years now. That group almost certainly needs a major housecleaning.

I can't imagine that he'd want to leave, anyway. As long as he keeps winning at Stanford, the guy has it made.

It depends on the price tag. I probably wouldn't give up more than a 4th or a 5th for him, which is almost certainly less than the Eagles would want. He hasn't played well enough for long enough to warrant any more though, at least IMO. He's had a pretty good year this year, but he played like crap in '08.

That's true, but like any GM, Nix is almost certain to hire a head coach who shares his philosophy towards building a team. If he wants to move away from the cover 2, and it sounds as if he does, then its unlikely that he'll hire a head coach who uses that system.

I noticed that, too. It sounds as though the Tampa 2 is history in Buffalo. Thankfully.

The problem is that it was probably never Modrak's call to begin with. His job isn't to actually draft players, but merely to scout them. I doubt he has ever had any more authority than to suggest a certain pick to Ralph Wilson, Marv Levy/Russ Brandon and Dick Jauron, and if they choose not to follow his advice, there's not much he can do about it.

I wouldn't be surprised by that one bit, given that he was probably the highest ranking 'football guy' in the organization after Marv Levy retired again.

Yeah, I'm not sure if people realize it, but the coaching staff also scouts players in the offseason and Jauron himself had a major influence on their draft day decisions.

Carbon Hill, Alabama.

You're right, most execs peak about twenty years earlier, but its still a case of applying a generality to a specific person. Every person is different. If Buddy Nix is still a top talent evaluator at this stage of life, and I've yet to see an argument otherwise, I have no issue at all with his age or his promotion to GM.

As am I. People wanted a 'football man' as their next GM. Well, folks, you got one. A lifelong scout and one of the better ones in the business. I don't really see what all of the bitching is about, except that he's not some yet-to-be-named candidate from outside the organization.

Yep. He is.

Maybe, maybe not. If the Bills think that Buddy Nix is that good at what he does, I don't really blame them for not looking outside the organization. If he's the guy that they really wanted to hire, they should just hire him and get it over with.

It seems that some just want to fire everyone just for the sake of firing everyone. Myself, I think its a good move, perhaps even a very good one. He has an excellent track record of player evaluation and while it would have been nice to find someone younger, I'd much rather they hire someone who knows what they're doing and I'm pretty sure that Nix does. The only complaint I have is that they interviewed John Guy. I understand that it was likely due to the Rooney rule, but good grief, their pro talent evaluation has been awful this decade. He should be the first one out the door.