AKC

You've got far too many sinkers on this line.

It's easy to make the argument that he was the best fit for running behind our new OLine of the FA options available to us, and that Anthony Thomas would be a fit as the changeup back to him.

If we allow teams to run all over us like they did last year, this team will not be using the word "playoffs" after the 8th game.

28th against the run last year and a recycling of the JAGs in our Defensive interior is a point of optimism? Not for me- The scheme we play needs rotational guys like we have signed up right now, but it thrives if there is a monster among them. Since there are few of these premium 1 gappers in the league and likely only 1 in the draft, our prospects don't appear all that rosy to me. Nate's departure may not matter if we can't address the quality of our DT rotation in that first round- because who would bother passing against us? We'll get a whole lot of football next season watching an improving offense being put in impossible situations by a defense who can't stop any ground attack. McCargo looks like a very good athlete. Prior to his injury he was also playing too high to contribute against the run. It makes him too easy to block and too easy to knock off the ball, and his injury simply ended the development time he'll now have to put in this season to overcome those weaknesses. I'll go so far as to say that in '07 Lunchpail Kyle will once again outshine his draftmate. And that is not a good thing for the Buffalo Bills.

I'm all ears?

It's safe to assume no one at OBD will make the mistake of thinking Dillon is going to play a feature role for anything but a game or two. That leaves Dillon hanging as far as the Bills are concerned until we show our hand as to the feature back type we really want. If we're thinking a big pounding back behind a big line, Dillon would not be the answer as a change-up. I kind of think Chris Brown's style might be the best for this team. He runs "skinny" and he definitely has a breakaway burst. He doesn't wait but hits holes in stride. With defenses collapsing some to counter the big blockers we'll have on the field, a runner who can make teams pay big for getting too tight on the LOS might be ideal. Dillon would probably fit the counter to that but he wouldn't sign behind a Brown contract.

I didn't watch his college career, but while Patrick Willis had a fine stat day in the Senior Bowl by virtue of playing the whole game, I still saw him being being pushed all over the field by guys who won't even qualify to play in the NFL this season. Getting stout against the run isn't normally a phrase included in sentences regarding 230 pound Linebackers. At least on that one day when Willis was suposed to be highlighting his skills, he instead looked to me like a guy who will be engulfed by the size/strength/speed ratio in the NFL.

I wouldn't say Nate's new contract is "way too much" for one of the best corners in the league today for the right defense. Even if Marv and Co. fail, they do appear to be completely focused on setting their roster based exactly upon the personell priorities as they've been defined by our schemes on both sides of the ball. If that's true, and the evidence seems to be stacking up, it'll be hard to imagine them watching NClements walk without drafting Okoye with our first pick if he's there. The only way you make up for two "regular joe" corners in the league today is to have a consistent push from the middle of your defensive line. Even with our full rotation of DTs last year, including McCargo, we were not consistent in providing middle pressure. I agree Nate is a salary casualty of our new defense, while London was a skill casualty. I'm not so sure that the team is thinking of Crowell as the long-term answer to take the Mike spot, but one good about this D is it doesn't require a Brian Urlacher to play in the middle and there are a number of ways to fill that hole.

That seems like a perfectly fair assessment of our situation today. The question becomes whether we can dramatically alter that before the second day of the draft.

Some truth is commonly woven into a liar's tale, yet the fact remains that Rosenhaus couldn't care less whether McGahee ends up on a team with 5 Pop Warner recruits playing OLine. His only interest is in getting the largest agent commision he can from getting a new contract for McGahee as soon as possible.

As you well know, there's no one on the Raiders line who should be responsible for playing in the most poorly conceived O scheme in many years across the league. The bad Raider O was 100% on the coaching staff. 100%. At the very least the apparent "thrifty" signing of LW will push Pennington to work out longer and harder leading up to our 2007 camp than he might ever have done without the pressure Walker puts on that starting spot. Instant depth and no matter which one gets the nod, our roster is made batter with Walker. Washington's run offense was virtually carried by their production over Dockery's back. He was far and away their premier run blocker. It's hard to imagine Everett fitting into our developing Offensive model. The Cieslak story is nice but so far he's really more of a rotational guy. I can't imagine him making the leap forward this off-season to step up and become the #2 monster blocker at TE that will make this offense dangerous to the balance of the AFC East. Willis is welcome to lick the cheese off unspecified parts of my anatomy after having suffered through the Rosenhaus interview yesterday- just being represented by that D-Bag is enough, but to have DR pitch the poor quality of our run blockers as the need for Willis to look elsewhere is all too perfect today. I'd be waiting for a Rosenhaus retraction after today's signings at OBD, but since we all know he was simply lying through his teeth about motives we don't have to worry about anyone suffering a heart attack due to their surprise at that press conference ever coming to be. We're building a line that 60% of the backs on rosters league-wide will be able to run behind effectively, and having an ungracious prima-donna around to soil an otherwise positive locker room is making less and less sense every minute. I just shudder that Donahoe low-balled Lorenzo Neal when he visitied us on his way to San Diego a few years back- the finishing touch to this O will be the reliable effective blocking FB that DShelton could never be.

My understanding is that the title "Possession" receiver comes from the quaility of his hands. Moulds made a career on the other end of the receiver scale, being a physical and athletic guy. IMO his incredibly inconsistent hands and poor concentration disqualify him as being a viable candidate to play in the NFL as an effective Possession Receiver.

He was an odd pick for us because he has such a great natural strength of playing low, yet we've insisted he learn to play a game above the waistline. I think he'd have really excelled as a guy in a 3-4 rotation playing the point on passing downs. IMO he only gets better and becomes an important part of a 4 man rotation in our middle, but the scheme we're playing still begs for a premium one-gapper to make it all work ideally. Kyle is a little short in the arms and just doesn't appear to provide the chance of the major upgrade we really need to move the rest of the D up a notch.

There are other scenarios, for instance Marv and Nate may have talked and from NCs side the suggestion of a holdout may have been floated if the tag were applied. In that case conceding the tag would give us a better chance to match an offer versus losing most of the leverage during a protracted holdout. I won't say that early in his Buff coaching days Marv didn't show some moments of naivety, but at this point it's hard to imagine he isn't proceeding along the best path in his opinion to have a shot at Nate for the long term.

I don't buy it. Marv's cerebral, and by now with his history in the league and new experience negotiating player deals he has to realize that a good negotiatior is at his core a good gambler. He may just be gambling that the best way to get Nate under a long term contract in Buff is to live up to whatever was said last year when the tagged Nate. Marv might feel that applying the tag again this year might actually guarantee the '07 season would be Nate's last in our uni. Every scenario is a gamble. Wilson's GMs have had the go ahead to spend the same money as others for a long time now. I'd prefer to assume Marv has a plan in place here and conceding the Tag for Nate is part of it versus unfairly claiming we've penney pinched our way out of competitiveness in the NFL.

Can you recommend an online service who does a live updated draft page on their site? I want to hold our draft party this year at a bar with a lot of screen access, and I'd like to offer at least one fsource uploaded from a service not available on a TV feed that offers an alternative opinion to the NFL Network (?) who I believe will carry it this year. Place makes decent wings if you've got some travel in you ;-)

Foster has remained the same 1-dimensional north/south back with a great burst that he was in college. It's hard to imagine him ever being anything more than a contributor as a change-up back.

Two coaches whose lives were completely devoted to the moment- yet neither went the low road by seeking an advantage in the "officiating apprehension" that has become a highly debatable element of the modern Super Bowl. Good, solid, physical hits by some of the best in the game, without any playing "through" the whistle as too many coaches promote within their ranks today. No pre-game talk about head-hunting someone on the other side. No fringe-of-the-rule-book cut or chop blocking in the interior by either offensive line. No clear defensive strategy to grab wideouts jerseys or otherwise illegally impede their play outside the view of the zebras. Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy just provided us an indelible reminder of what the game of football can be when two guys with integrity show up on Sunday with their teams embracing that same virtue. They both had the desire necessary to win it all, yet the poor sportsmanship of other succesful coaches this past season was nowhere to be found. In fact, one Sunday appeared as dissapointed for the other as the other was proud of his winning opponent. None of the low sportsmanship, bitter and hate-based personalities that we've seen at the close of games in the recent past. It should remind us all that it's been too long since we had this type of integrity in the big game. I applaud both coaches and the players who followed them into the game with these ideals on the very top of their priority lists. Hopefully we'll be rewarded with more matchups of teams of integrity as we watch the current changing of the guard in the NFL.

You can follow the coaches to predict this- what coach from the Tampa 2/Cover 2 family has been signed at a new destination this off-season with a team having serious enough defensive issues to overhaul their D completely?

Sounds like revisionism to me. John Butler may have cited Flowers Senior Bowl week as one reason he drafted Flowers, but the pick was considered a wild stretch by every single reputable scouting source in the country. Okoye is a consensus first rounder by all the same folks. The majority of NFL teams are looking for a 320 pound guy with Okoye's feet and legs, not a 287 pounder. It's not unlikely that only Tampa in front of us will really look hard at making him their first pick.

When you throw in to the mix that Parrish is far too small to return kicks, it's hard to imagine the team even dabbling in a mistake like this. Instead, replacing Price with a real #2, or perhaps adding a traditional #1 with Evans moving to the #2 WR would give Roscoe plenty of opportunies to show off his speed on Sundays. Wouldn't do anything positive to Josh Reed's career unless our TE depth chart stays as thin as it has been for too long.

The defense we're trying to play would benefit hugely by adding a premier one-gap defensive lineman to the role players we already have under contract. And can that be a 295 pounder? Absolutely. Could Okoye be the guy? His play on Mobile suggests he has a shot at being the next great Cover 2 interior lineman. You won't find me disappointed come draft day if his name is called for us. We play in a division where we will be rewarded greatly if we can get the interior push the defense offers to it's best executors. We saw flashes of if during our 2006 campaign, in games where we had some of the best QBs in the league making uncharacteristic mistakes. If we can get consistent in running it we can have an advantage in the AFC East, and when you're building a winner the best strategy is to focus on your division first. If our fans can begin to accept some of the realities of the D scheme- it will give up big running plays, it's simply an inevitable consequence- but it also can be a deadly defense against good running teams because of the negative yardage plays that come with shooting gaps. When you can get a power running team to 2nd and 14 or 3rd and 9, you've taken them off their game. So you have to bite the bullet a few plays a game where a runner gets into your third level, but as Indy has shown this postseason if you get very good play from your safeties you can more than make up for the big runs with situations your opponent isn't used to. And having a premier interior pass rusher puts anyone trying to beat you with a spread offense at a disadvantage. In 2007 I hope we are able to better execute our scheme and gain the advantage the Cover 2 offers against the offenses in NY and NE, and simply allow the awful quarterbacking in Miami to continue to cost our 3rd divisional rival games. Win the East- everything else will fall into place. Best way to win the East- make this Cover 2 work with a premier interior lineman being worked into our rotation. John McCargo is not that guy- certainly not at this point. Waiting to find our whether he ever can be is not a good strategy.

You'll have to take the line of thinking up with the GMs around the league. Most teams are looking for 310-330 pound interior DLinemen. It's very unlikely teams playing in gap control defenses would take a guy who showed up at the Senior Bowl weighing 287 pounds as their first round pick. There are a few teams like us playing in one-gap schemes who will not necessarily be turned off by that weight since the job of our DLinemen is so much different than playing in the Raven's scheme, for instance. I don't know where you get from my post anything suggesting he won't be a good player- what I actually suggested is that he appears to be a most ideal fit in the type of defense we run and hence he is most likely to have a first round pick used on him by a Tampa/Cover 2 team. That limits our competition for his services, and that's to our advantage.

He showed great range, no doubt. But he was pushed around and let runners slip his tackles- I thought he probably hurt himself overall on Saturday. The North dominated possession and ran 70 plays during the game. 5 of the tackles Willis made were only after the North had gotten first down yardage. Another was on Special Teams.

It's tough to project him at his sub 290 weight. It seems there should only be about 4 or 5 teams in the league who might covet a DT his size enough to spend a #1 on him.