maryland-bills-fan

Its just envy that he doesn't have a home town NLF team to write about.

I think they were giving Mermaid a chance to get back to being an all pro player. Didn't happen. Move on.

Shanny wanted to go somewhere where he would win right away, was part of the word in the Washington area. Opps!!

Here is what I think we need. We need a development QB, but I don't expect this before the 3rd round, if then. You can only evaluate one QB canidate a year because there are only so many preseason game snaps a year. So its a good idea to spend a cheap low draft pick and hope to strike gold. If the brain trust things that Pigpen or Smith are better canidates that what is out ther late, then we won't do anything but pick up somebody to throw practice passes during training camp. We have done quite well the last couple of years in finding good (not hall of fame but good) wide receivers from strange places. Not only the present crop, but even in Nix's first year. The game has changed here. There are a number of very good shutdown corners, who can take out your high draft pick star WR. We are thriving right now by putting out a bunch of good receivers, who run good schemes precisely from Gailey and who get the ball distributed well by uber-smart Fitzpatrick. They are up against the other team's backup defensive backs and get free and catch passes. The game is getting simple and this is the new wave, until teams figure out how to deal with it or the league changes the rules again. I don't see us spending anything higher than a 4th on a WR and Roscoe and maybe Easley will be back next year. Offensive line is not going to be a 1st or 2nd round pick. Believe it or not, we have adequate or good players on the line, two valid okay canidates for LOT and Pears is okay as well. Teams don't carry very many backups, so unless there is a good guy in the 4th round or later, I don't see anybody being drafted. We already have our draft pick on the o-line, the big guy named Jasper, who is getting his professional training and conditioning this year on the practice squad. Defensive backs: We have all of our veterans healthy now and Arron Williams coming back later in the year. Maybe we pick up somebody in the 3rd to 5th round area. With the changes in the game (see NE and Buffalo offenses) you need a lot of quality DB's. I think Jaroun had his head up his kister in drafting DB's so much. Now, I think there is a valid reason because you need 4 cornerback type guys out there 75% of the time. Where we need help is at linebacker. A big rush linebacker who can stand up on the edge as well as a solid guy in the middle to take over for the aging Barnett. Here are guys who we might take in the lower part of the first round: Courtney Upshaw, DE/OLB, Alabama 6-2 265 Brandon Jenkins, 6-3, 260, Florida State (DE) Vinny Curry, DE/OLB, Marshall Height: 6-5. Weight: 252. Dont'a Hightower, 6-3, 260, Alabama (XKa) I don't like drafting an Okie linebacker. That is a good college team, they run rotations and when I see two guys on one team playing next to each other and both rated high, I get suspecious. Two very good college players next to each other really falsely magnify how good the individual is. Remember us moving up to draft a defensive tackle from NC State- when the real stud was the defensive end? Remember us drafting both Coaustinu and Rudd in the first two round from Nebraska? I might look okay playing defensive tackle next to Bruce Smith. The second round pick will be the best player available and they will take two, smaller school, fast defensive tackles in the bottom half of the draft.

One value of keeping him is that other teams really know less about his condition than we do. On the chance that he is the tiger he once was, they have to game plan around him. Its sunk money, let us see what he brings to the table next year.

We don't have anybody on defense that really stands out. Also, there are no broken links to pick on. Also, a lot of the players have upside. Also, we seem to be able to outscheme and get picks. I wonder, if with the QB and WR protection rules in place, if any defense can shut down a crediable offense.

Good. Fix more holes in the draft, get a QB prospect in the draft each year, play it smart.

OJ leaving the scene of the crime.

I don't have a problem with guys waiting to get healthy. If its a veteran, well then let the young guy get some reps. If its a rookie, then his long term health is the most important thing. We are getting to be a decent team and while I don't want to give up a shot at the superbowl, I expect we will be drafting somewhere at the top of the bottom third of the league (~ just making or not making the playoffs) and there the better we do, then it means our team is that much better. (Is that too simple a thing to realize?) Unless you are in the Luck lottery or targeting a top 5-7 pick special player, your draft position doesn't mean squat. Becoming a better team by 7 places is an indication that you have a couple of better players than the teams you beat and are that much closer to being a champion. I'm waiting to the half-way point in the season before I start posting "who do we have to beat, and who else has to beat whom,, to get us into the playoffs". I've been wishing for being able to do this for 1- to 15 years!!!

I just hope he is okay with playing a thankless, but vital role. The knowledgeable people know what he is contributing but he doesn't get stats or highlight plays.

Get him to 100%, rather than injure him for the rest of his career. Let the younger guys show what they have. Heard looks better than Troup or not too much different. We are not going with a traditional big big big NT approach. Forget about Jasper. They schemed with him, hide him as a NT and now have him stashed on the practice squad as a development project for offensive tackle.

I think this was a good trade for Oakland. Lets assume that the trade was for one first next year and a conditional 1st to third the following year. Okay, then if it comes out to two successive 1st round picks, then it means that Oakland got into the playoffs. Also, remember that picks in the year after the upcoming draft are discounted in value and therefore go up one round. (example: a 2011 2nd round pick is about the same value as a 2012 1st round pick). What do the Raiders give up? If the make the playoffs, they give up a pick that is somewhere 21st to 32nd in the upcoming draft and something that might be worth a 56 to 64th player this year. They might get two nice players out of that. Instead they get a real nice QB. One nice player for sure, and not 2 probable nice players. One nice player for sure at the hardest position to fill, rather they maybe two busts. They also give Campbell a few years to get up to speed in the NFL, rather than being thrown into the fire and burning up. This alone might be worth a 2nd round pick. Right now, the Raiders are on the cusp of making the playoffs. Palmer is an upgrade at QB, so they have improved their chance of making the playoffs even more. They have a strong running game, which makes the transition to a new QB easier. They have the hapless Chiefs next, then a bye and then the hapless Broncos. That gives Palmer 4 weeks to get ready for the Chargers. Oh, by the way, Hue Jackson was WR coach with the Bengals 205-2006 so he is familiar with Palmer. So, if they don't make the trade, they are out of the playoffs. If they make the trade and make the AFC championship game, they lose two picks somewhere in the 28-32 range, but have a successful season and a veteran, proven NFL QB. Remember that if you are a middle-of-the-pack team, you have to take advantage of any opportunity to get into the playoffs and the superbowl. Or would you rather a perpetual "nice try" team? Its a no-brainer.

"......in late breaking news, we are predicting that the sun will come up tomorrow."

Guys, we are four and two. That is an important stat and trumps quoting yardage numbers. Last year, we couldn't win because everybody ran the ball down our throat. This year, we are stopping the run pretty well and getting a grip on sealing the edge. You can't fix everything at once. Some posters are like someone complaining about a row boat that is leaking a bit in the bow. They seem to have forgotten that yesterday, it was pouring in from a hole in the stern, that you fixed. Most 3-4 defenses use the front 3 to soak up blocks and QB pressure and sacks come from sending one of the outside linebackers, unexpectedly to the QB. We don't have real good players there right now, so we are concentrating on containment, stopping the consistent running game and putting hands up in the short passing lanes. Its not the best thing, but it is making good use of what we have. We have two aging guys starting at outside linebacker (Kelsay [9 years]and Merriman[7 years and injury prone]), who are backed up by two 6th round picks (Moats and Batten). We have two aging interior linebackers in Barnett [9] and Davis [10], who are backed up by Sheppard and White [rookies]. I'm going to connect some dots and predict that we will take two linebackers in the first 4 round in the next draft. Rome wasn't built in a day either.

Geesh!!! I am joking!!!! The "P" after the ranking means that the exact order depends upon how the team does in the playoffs. I'm sorta making fun of the negative nancies that would find something bad to say about going deep into the playoffs or even making the playoffs. Once you are out of what would be the "lottery zone" in the NBA, there is not too much difference from the draft. The only "negative" I could see from the improvement, is if a team gets stuck in the 8-8 zone forever. Not good enough for the playoffs but not in the position to have a shot at the top stud players. I like that Gailey/Nix have to a certain extent banked more on living with young players, who will improve down the road, rather than trying to creep better (and likely stall) with a lot of expensive, getting-over-the-hill veterans. They did bring in some good veterans (Barnett, Morrison. Davis, Merriman)for experience and winning attitude but you can see the amount of playing time changing as the young'ens start to take over. There is a plan.

http://www.gbnreport.com/weeklydraftorder.html Team W-L Opp W-L % 1 Indianapolis 0-6 .516 2 Miami 0-5 .567 3 St. Louis 0-5 .580 4 Jacksonville 1-5 .495 5 Carolina 1-5 .516 6 Minnesota 1-5 .604 7 Arizona 1-4 .466 8 Denver 1-4 .607 9 Philadelphia 2-4 .500 10 Cleveland 2-3 .483 11 Seattle 2-3 .489 12 Dallas 2-3 .522 13 Kansas City 2-3 .538 14 Houston 3-3 .418 15 Cleveland (from Atlanta) 3-3 .468 16 NY Jets 3-3 .511 17 Chicago 3-3 .554 18 Washington 3-2 .422 19 Pittsburgh 4-2 .483 20 Oakalnd 4-2 .523 21P Tennessee 3-2 .419 22P Cincinnati 4-2 .460 23P New England (from New Orleans) 4-2 .447 24P Tampa Bay 4-2 .479 25P NY Giants 4-2 .500 26P Buffalo 4-2 .511 27P Baltimore 4-1 .472 28P San Diego 4-1 .511 29P San Francisco 5-1 .465 30P Detroit 5-1 .543 31P New England 5-1 .449 32P Green Bay 6-0 .489 There we are picking in the 26th hole!!!!! What are they thinking?

WTF? Win only 4 more games?

Fritz does not have the arm strength of the franchise QB who has a gun for an arm. Those guys can throw off their back foot, whip the ball out with a smooth action and are spot on. The Giants have better than usual pass rushing defensive tackles and he was thinking about them in addition to everything else. He forgot about setting his feet to make the pass and his pass was short. He got a bit overloaded in his head and made a mistake. A smart, strong, accurate franchise QB could have missed remembering this detail and still gotten away with it. And Christ can walk on water, and I can't unless its frozen. We are seeing a gutsy guy performing near the top of his ability and ocassionly he is going to come up short. He is still better than about half the QB's in the league and a good match for the clever, sly, and smart coach we have. We don' have to win every game to make the playoffs. We don't have to win every game except the post season to win the SB.

At the start of the season I was talking 9-7 with 8-8 being okay and a sign of being on the right path. I'm hoping for more now.

Uh, the TV doesn't allow you to follow specific players because they focus on action shots of the WR and QB too much. I find it hard to even see who is playing and scramble to see the numbers/names at the end of the plays. There is something to be said for the 1960's 1970's type of TV broadcasting. One camera somewhere up in the stands at midfield. At least you could see all the players all of the time. (I have it on the authority of my grandfather that the style was used_).

Ask me on Monday what we should've done. I'm always right.

Now the negative nancies are unhappy with the W/L record so its all about winning with the proper "style points".

I think its silly. Any player that we could get in trade would not be worth the upgrade over what we have now. People don't trade top notch stuff. No need to give up a 1,2,3,4, round pick for a modest, temporary improvement by a piece of damaged goods.

It is true. The Stealers are getting long in the tooth. The Steelers and the Ravens are living on borrowed time. Within the next couple of years or even this year you will see them fail.

Gailey has given us an edge by pulling strange things out for the offense. We run 5 receiver wide formations. We do a lot of screens as a substitue for running plays. We bring Brad Smith in for a couple of plays every game. We run plays to set up other plays. (They faked a lot of double reverses yesterday- some week they will do the double reverse, and it will come as a surprise). The other teams will study the film and make counter measures. (Remember Trent Edwards look like a real winner for 5 games until other teams realized that he would not throw the long ball and he was easy to scare into check-down passes). What I saw in the giants game is that they were stacking the box to protect against Fitz's short&medium passing game and Freddie's running. Gailey countered by taking some deep shots late against single coverage (it hurt not to have Jones and Roscoe) and spreading the field horizontally with 5 wideouts. Expect the chess game to continue in the next game. I think Gailey is planning ahead and has anticipated counters against the next team's likely scheme. Also, some plays this week are there to set up surprises in the future.