yungmack

I want to redo the 2009 draft and make amends for the worst pick in Bills history, Aaron Maybin. And not just because he's useless but because of who the Bills could have had: Clay Matthews.

I pretty much agree with your take. My one hope is that, no matter which position they draft for, that they get "beasts." "Good, reliable, steady" are NOT adjectives I want to hear. The Bills have enough of those "good player, not a game-changer." I want opponents to stay up late at night working out game plans that have to account for key players on both offense and defense. And one more thing: no more RBs in the first three rounds!!!

Your analysis is right on the money. The kid was hot with the media at that time and had he made that catch to beat the mighty Stillers in OT, I think he'd be one hot commodity right now. Once he dropped that (and made those ill-advised tweets), he instead became a laughing stock.

Excellent post. That game left me depressed. I didn't necessarily expect the Bills to win it, but I surely didn't expect to see that sort of regression in Fitz. That was very worrisome to me at least. And I didn't particularly like Gailey's play calling, in particular giving up on the running game.

Jeez, I guess unless the Bills pick in the top 3 they're doomed to mediocrity or worse forever and ever. I mean, look how drafting in the bottom of each round for the past decade has doomed the Pats to that horrible condition. (The logic of drafting in the top 3 or 4 or 5 falls to pieces when you consider what's implied: that the team will go on to great success if it picks in that range. Do you not see the illogic here? By becoming successful, the team will wind up drafting further down in the draft...which means that each step on the path to improvement contains its own "guarantee" of failure. Thus, by the logic of those who want the Bills to draft 1-5, they are actually doing themselves great harm. It simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Refer to the Pats example for further study).

The Bills need a genuine "difference maker" in the secondary, another among the LBs and a third on the Dline. Do you see any of those already on the roster, either among the vets or the rookies? If not, then I think you can take it to the bank that those are three of the top targets for Nixley. As to McKelvin, the guy strikes me as being dumb as a bag of chicken lips. And, with the sophistication of today's pro defenses, that won't get it. McGee seems to be perpetually injured. This has to be a concern to the front office looking at next year. Remember that not all of these slots have to be filled through the draft. It could be an interesting off-season at The One.

I agree with you. If any of the secondary have to leave, I nominate Youboty and McKelvin.

Moats knocks Brady out on the first play, the D hangs a shutout on the Pats while scoring thrice on turnovers. Spiller takes two to the house, the O scores three more times, one of them being by Brohm who's in for the 4th quarter mopping up. Hey, it's Christmas time. A guy can dream about more than sugar plums, can't he?

This is maybe the most bi-polar post of the week. Without a doubt, McCargo's done. I think he's only been active for one game all season, while rookies, free agents and patchwork plug-ins have played. No brainer. Maybin to practice squad??? He's definitely a candidate for the Pink-Slip. Don't even think he qualifies for the practice squad. What in the world do you see in the guy that you'd keep him around? George Wilson??? Do you actually watch the games? Brian Brohm? Why in the world would you pink slip a guy who's been in the Gailey system for a full season as the back-up? That's just nuts. Did you see Flynn's start for GB? Well, I was told this from the highest source on the decision to make him back-up and move Brohm to the practice squad came down to, basically, a coin toss. The Packers didn't see much difference between the two. The key reason was: Flynn's bigger than Brohm. I'm not saying Brohm would have done as good as Flynn or even that he's as good as Flynn. But the Packers thought he was and still do.

I thought that was an urban myth. Do you have a link to the story? Thanks.

:lol:

:thumbsup:

Um, actually football was once the sport of the elite (as was boxing). The original great football teams were the Ivy League. It was the SEC of its day, with Yale and Harvard being the Florida and Alabama of its time. One of the reasons so many colleges began adding football was the perception that this gave them the cachet of being a Great University just like Harvard.

Love your post.

As your main point seems to be that the Bills must do whatever it takes to get an "elite" QB, and that Luck is The One in this year's draft class, I find it odd that you then use Kurt Warner as your example of such a QB. You do know he was pretty much an afterthought for years, playing Arena Football and bagging groceries, and that he was the backup for the Rams (and projected to probably always be the backup) when fate intervened? Had Green not suffered that injury, I suspect most people would never have heard of Kurt Warner. Your own example shows the crapshoot that is the quarterback position in this league. As for your assertion that you must have an elite QB to win the SB, I would remind you that the Bills had HOF QB JIm Kelly and yet were defeated in their first two appearances by backup QBs? Look back on all the Super Bowls and see how many elite QBs lost and how many not-so-elite QBs won. I think you'll find that the majority of winners were "system QBs" who were seldom the best that year in any statistical category...except wins. Bart Starr "beat" Len Dawson and Daryle LaMonica in the first two; since 2000, here are the starting QBs: Kurt Warner/Steve McNair Trent Dilfer/Kerry Collins Tom Brady/Kurt Warner Brad Johnson/Rich Gannon Tom Brady/Jake Delhomme (!) Tom Brady/Donovan McNabb Ben Roethlisberger/Matt Hasselbeck Peyton Manning/Rex Grossman Eli Manning/Tom Brady Ben Roethlisberger/Kurt Warner Drew Brees/Peyton Manning Some other notable SB starters at QB over the years: Tony Eason, Craig Morton, Joe Kapp, Billy Kilmer, Vince Ferragamo, David Woodley, Stan Humphries, Neil O'Donnell, Chris Chandler. Here are some of the winning QBs with the most SB appearances: Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Tom Brady. In my opinion, they are all system QBs and none of them were the flashy type of "gunslinger" QB that garners the highlight footage because "they make things happen/they take the game into their own hands." Bret Favre is probably the best example of that type right now, with Michael Vick coming up fast and Doug Flutie being the most recent example with the Bills. These sorts of QBs seem like sandlot players, making plays up on the fly, likely to take off running at any time, making insane passes, always pulling something out of their butt. They are the most exciting QBs to watch, especially compared to the duller "system QBs." The thing is, though, the system QBs more consistently win the Super Bowl, and in general do it more frequently than the "gunslingers." But the gunslingers do make it to the SB and even win it sometimes. Here are a few of the most famous ones: First and foremost, Joe Namath; Daryle LaMonica, Ken Stabler, Dan Marino, Jim McMahon, John Elway, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, and Brett Favre. No gunslinger has won a Super Bowl since Favre (Warner, the Manning brothers, Brees, Roethlisberger, et al are "system QBs," not ad lib guys). Too much is made about the necessity of having a "stud" QB, that without one you cannot win. I believe the actual record contradicts that belief. What defines the dynasty teams is a great front office and great coaching more than anything else. And I believe the Bills are on the right track in that area.

I'm not sure the Bills are as desperate for free agent saviors as they were last off season, especially on offense. In any case, the Bills have already signed a ton of "free agents" all season long. And I'm pretty sure a few of them are going to be on the roster next season, particularly Wrotto and Urbik. As to the TE position, I believe the lack of stats there has more to do with the offensive scheme than with any particular lack of talent (they're being used more as linemen than receivers...If Bell keeps improving and the right tackle position gets settled, look for the TEs we already have...and we have a lot of them...to become more involved as receivers). The real need as I see it is on defense. The best defenses in the league have good players at all positions, but always seem to have at least two spectacular guys who elevate the overall defense to that "Best" level. Pittsburgh is a good example, with Harrison and especially Polamalu. With them in the lineup, the Steelers are dominating; without them, the D is much more average. So while the Bills have decent-to-very-good players, they are lacking those couple of "beasts" that seem to make the difference. Right now, Kyle Williams is a game-changer, and Arthur Moats just might be one in the making. Jairus Bird seems to be coming out of his sophomore slump as he actually learns the nuances of the position. Danny Batten is intriguing. Carrington shows promise. OF course, if the Bills can pick up an upper tier FA to fill a glaring need, then do it. But before taking the usual Bills fan default position ("Our guys suck, and the other teams castoffs are always an improvement"), take a close look at the Bills roster, the IR and the Practice Squad.

NE is certainly one of the very best teams in the league, no question. But it isn't unbeatable. The Packers were very competitive last week with Matt Flynn making his first NFL start. Also, the mot-so-good Bills of the first half of the season quite nearly beat the Pats. Now with what surely seems like a much better team than it was in the first half, and playing at home, with a lot of pride on the line and the Pats maybe having a little less to play for having already clinched, I think the Bills have a very good chance of winning this one.

I THINK this is going to be one fun game to watch. And I THINK the Bills are going to win it.

Last time I looked, Tom Brady only played on the offense. So why anyone would think getting a "stud" QB is the way to defeat him escapes me. The most obvious way of defeating him is to have a "stud" defense combined with a steady offense that can score 20-30 points, which the Bills with Fitz appear to be heading towards. And the way to do that is to have good to very good players at all positions on defense with at least two game-changer "beasts" (Polamalu/Harrison; Lewis/Reed).

Great post. The knuckleheads who hate Gailey and think Nix should be sent out to pasture for having the nerve to age past 40 should note how active and how good the FO has been throughout the season with these pick-ups. Aside from the Green signing in the off season, their additions have been consistently successful with the possible exception of Merriman (though if he'd stayed healthy enough to play, I've got to think he too would have contributed). Not one of these guys when added to the game day roster has been a bum. In fact, they've all done well. That's a tremendous compliment to the FO. This success also indicates to me that the pro scout department has been vastly improved which is another solid addition to the changes under Nix. Buddy also said last winter that the Bills were going to significantly shore up their college scouting department. If he's done that since then -- and I have to believe he has -- that bodes very well for the draft.

Repeat after me: "This is not the same front office as before, this is not the same front office as before, this is...." Solid point. Joe Thomas was picked in the top of the draft and is regarded as one of the better LTs in the league. And Arthur Moats beat him for a crucial play. Guess Cleveland had better draft a LT to replace Thomas.

All good points. And I'd add that since the mistake he made with Green, Nix has been excellent at picking up guys as replacements during the season. Serviceable guys who've been able to step in and quickly do the job. I don't think he's missed on one of them yet.

What's to admit? Lots of us around here were fans of the hire. Except for more wins, this is what we expected. BTW, how's that genius Shanahan doing these days?

While I'm far from a fan of Delhomme, doncha thinks it's just possible that the "more...terrible than normal" day he had yesterday could be the result of the Bills defensive play? Let's give credit where credit is due.

It's not that Spiller isn't talented or can't play, just that it's turned out to be a wasted pick. The fault is not his, it's on Nix. BTW, Clay Matthews' brother Casey will be available in the upcoming draft.