Last Guy on the Bench

You need to post more. Post of the year.

Good one. A great movie. I'd add Angel Heart and Sleuth (only saw the original, not the new one) to the list. Fun, not-great movies with good twist endings.

Great, great post. Super Bowl obsession is simple-minded. ("You either win everything or you are a loser.") Honestly, I'd love for the Bills to win the big one, but it's way down on my list of Bills' goals. I like watching football. I love watching football when the Bills are interesting and competitive week in and week out. Sure the Super Bowl losses stung. But my life doesn't change based in one game. It does change, however, based on the overall experience of watching the team every week. When I think about the 90s Bills, I think about how MANY amazing, fun games there were. Every season there were tons of great moments: gritty victories, comebacks, upsets, playoff wins - all mixed in with the occasional crusher that kept life interesting. This has been a generally boring effing team for the last decade. Tell me the Bills will be interesting and exciting and win more than their share of games, and I say you can stuff your Super Bowl.

http://www.justin.tv/broadway_ruuby password: beastmode

I agree. I've seen enough good things out of Trent (and TO for that matter) to remain marginally hopeful. But then again, I'm an idiot.

I gotta agree with Murra on this. I still hold out some hope for Trent, and I hate to judge anyone on preseason, but that hope is weakening a little. I thought our DL looked pretty good tonight. They actually got quite a bit of pressure on Ben, but watching him slip that pressure, or get rid of the ball just in time, rifling it into a covered receiver time after time, reminded me what a real. winning QB looks like. I don't expect Trent to be Big Ben (who I think is just a fantastic QB - criminally underrated, because he doesn't sling the 300 yard games like Manning/Brady/Rivers/Brees). But the good QBs can work well with and even take advantage of moderate pressure. (No QB looks good in a jail break, but that's not what we mostly saw tonight.) I'm not saying our OL was great, but they were adequate given the defense they were facing, and I thought Trent had enough time to do much more than he did. Even throwing the ball away with authority if he felt the pressure too much would have been an improvement over those desperate, tentative, tardy passes.

Fair enough.

Exactly. He got stuffed on his first move. But disengaged really well and then juked the OT. That let him fill the gap that Big Ben was trying to escape through. That was a well deserved sack. And why would anyone begrudge the guy a little dancing on his first sack in the NFL?

Simon, what's your take on Nic Harris? Just curious, as you often don't see things the way the crowd sees them. I'm with the crowd on this one. Seems to me like he has really good awareness, is decisive, and hits. I could live with with a few big rookie mistakes along the way if it's in the service of acclimating a guy who seems to know how to make things happen. Would you start him?

I think Omon got hurt a little, and then Hall took a whack right before he came out. I doubt they want to go back to one of their top three.

Bills QBs are 23/26.

I think it is just that past champions don't automatically qualify after 60. You can qualify at any age if you meet different criteria (e.g., 10 ten in British Open the previous year, major winner in previous 5 years, certain world rankings or money list rankings, etc.).

Where do these persecution complexes come from? There isn't one issue on this board that doesn't have a substantial number of people on both sides of it. That some people disagree with you (maybe even vociferously) doesn't mean the debate has been quashed. In this thread alone, five people posted before you agreeing with the original poster's worry about DT. Do a poll and I'll bet you find lots of people would like to shore up that spot. How have these concerns been halted? Who is this imaginary mob that is defining the "program"?

Well, you should give it "top story" billing, because it is the most revealing piece on the Bills to come out in a while. Thanks for writing it.

Lori, I enjoyed your booster club piece. Tons of interesting info and well written, of course, as usual. (BTW, am I blind or is it not linked on the TBD front page? I actually stumbled onto it from a link on BZone.) I was amazed at how forthcoming and coherent Brandon was. He usually drives me crazy with his deadpan, say-nothing, man-in-the-gray-flannel-suit speak. Secrecy is a WAY overrated commodity in the NFL. Over the long run, I think you build a stronger organizational culture - and that culture includes fans and media, of course - by being relatively transparent, honest, and human. Don't need to give the gory details, but understanding and feeling like part of the team's process is important for coaches, players, reporters, and fans alike, each in their own ways. Anyway, Brandon shocked me with his willingness to describe some the Bills' off-season high-jinks in detail. It was great. Was he drinking? Was his demeanor different than normal? What did you make of it? I'll be happy not to have a Robo-GM (sorry, Robo-COO). [Edit: Whoops, just saw the long thread about Lori's article. Don't know how I missed it. Mods, feel free to merge this into that or close it or delete it or whatever.]

I just took my own advice and emailed Simmons the following: Bill, Best burgeoning nickname for a 2009 NFL draft pick? Easy. The Bills' new guard/center Eric Wood: http://media.scout.com/media/image/57/578379.jpg Soon to be known as, 'Bad Santa': http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads...ld_actors_3.jpg The only gift you'll get from him is a stack of pancakes and an ass whoopin'. (Slogan courtesy of PromoTheRobot at twobillsdrive.com.)

Nice. That's an even better description. Print it.

Agreed. 'Bad Santa' is a fantastic nickname. The visual comparison to the kid is phenomenal, so you have the good inside joke reference going. Plus, it works on its own for a mean old offensive lineman - he's the opposite of jolly and instead of giving you stuff, he takes all your favorite sh*t away and leaves you weeping like a poor little Who from Whoville (I'm talking to you Kris Jenkins and Vince Wilfork). Best nickname ever. Someone should send it with pics to Bill Simmons, and we can make it stick nationally (Now let's hope he doesn't suck.)

Clearly he'll start on defense (safety), offense (qb and rb), and special teams (punter). We can probably go with a roster of only 20 or 30 guys this year as long as one of them is Byrd. Should save some money. Maybe the Bills will lower ticket prices. The Byrd effect. What are you worried about?

I know everyone in the NFL was good in High School, so it doesn't mean much, but this made me laugh: "At Clayton High School, to merely hint that the Missouri 4A Offensive Player of the Year played a large role in leading the Greyhounds to the 2004 state championship would be a gross understatement. He willed the school to a 13-1 ledger as a quarterback, safety, wide receiver and on special teams to aid the march to the Suburban East Conference title. "Byrd ranked fourth in the state in scoring (158 points), as he rushed for 1,480 yards (seventh in the state) while averaging 8.76 yards per carry and scoring 26 touchdowns his senior season. In addition, he passed for another 1,038 yards (65-128) and 13 scores. "On defense, Byrd was afforded first-team All-State accolades as his team's second-leading tackler, posting 71 stops (60 solos) along with seven interceptions (fifth in the state), three sacks and two fumble recoveries. He completed his "total package" with six catches for 125 yards (20.8 avg), 10 kickoff returns (30.1 avg), 15 returned punts (13.3 avg), in addition to punting the football 18 times for a 37.6-yard clip." nfl.com profile The punting is my favorite part. He can join Dick Jauron in the All-World High School Hall of Fame.

I think that was absolutely my favorite Bills sight of the last ten years. He was an outrageously consistent tackler, and yet it still sort of caught me by surprise every single time he came up and knocked one of those big suckers down with such nonchalant authority.

I'm staring right now at the PFW draft mag, and Jairus Byrd is rated 2nd. They may have changed their rankings later online, but in the mag, Darius Butler is rated 8th.

Pro Football Weekly has him rated 2nd at CB behind Jenkins: "Could bring great value as a short-area, press-zone corner, but is tough, smart and athletic enough to project to safety and could eventually develop into a ballhawk on the back end. Intriguing versatility and pedigree add to his value. He should develop into a solid No. 2 corner or potential free safety and could bring additional value as a returner." He's only a Junior and he has 17 freaking picks.

OK, I'll give you QB is harder to predict. But I think you either take a REALLY safe solid guy (e.g., Pettigrew) with the 11th pick, or you take someone who has an all-pro upside but a few question marks. I don't see that upside with Orakpo, and I think he's pretty risky too. But what the hell do I know? Maybe he'll be a hall of famer.

Love it. He's the only one with the athleticism to have a chance at being a special player. Rak is strong, but lumbering, and I think NFL tackles will eat him up. Maybin may take some time to develop, but he's a good roll of the dice. And he's not a one-year wonder. A guy that did nothing during his career and then had a great senior year is a one-year wonder. A guy who puts up the numbers Maybin did (in the way he did) early in his college career is a POTENTIAL a-list player. DE is the worst position to try to figure out in the first round, but I like this.