Dawgg

For real.

He did try and extend him. He offered contracts to Pat Williams, Schobel, and Jennings and made it clear we had the cap space to sign just one. Schobel bit and signed so the rest played the year out.

Is Willis your new Rob Johnson? I don't necessarily think that implying Willis wants out of Buffalo qualifies as "bashing" him. People have their likes and their dislikes and are eccentric in their own way -- and that includes Willis. If you're Willis and some team closer to your hometown offered you a lot of money, why NOT take it? I think you need to stop being sensitive about the Willis topics. I went to camp and he is far and away the Bills' most popular player and the great majority of fans love him (he was a great sport in camp btw)... so there's plenty of love for Willis

I actually like Rosenhaus. While he talks a big game, he really gets it -- he knows that players suffer more by holding out than not -- so he's agressive at the outset and fights hard for his clients. He has had a very good relationship with the Bills up until this point, so I have no doubt that if Willis leaves, it is certainly not because of Rosenhaus. But let's face it -- Willis is a warm weather guy, a Miami guy. I'm sure he has nothing against Buffalo, but I bet there are plenty of places he'd rather play. Guys like Nate Clements, London Fletcher, Dontae Whitner -- they're from the Ohio area and it makes sense for them to play in Buffalo. Guys from far away like Losman embrace the local community and force themselves to become apart of it. Willis? Not so sure... and that's not saying anything bad about him. Fact of the matter is we all have a choice of where we want to live and work and have our obvious preferences, like and dislikes. I am hopeful the Bills can lock him up, but even if they don't, they are in no way doomed. Solid running backs are plentiful from a supply standpoint and can be found easily in the draft as well.

Agreed. Defensive line and offensive line strength is overrated. Way overrated.

People have said this every single year. As long as #12 is out there and in his prime, the Pats will be a very very difficult team to beat.

Thanks for injecting facts into this argument.

I never said WM was a better back -- I simply said let's say for the sake of ARGUMENT that he is a better back. Even if he was, taking an injured player in the first round, signing him to a big contract and waiting 2 years before you can realize his potential sounds like a stupid move to me, especially when there was a perfectly healthy, capable running back available that was an undisputed first round talent. You are looking through rose-colored glasses, which as fans, we all do from time to time.

Completely agree, don't get me wrong! But that's exactly my point Ramius... the question I have is this: Let's say for argument sake McGahee and LJ are similar in skill, maybe give the edge to McGahee slightly. Is that difference worthy enough for the Bills to pass over LJ (who was perfectly healthy) in favor of Willis, who really needed 1.5 years before he can play like his normal self?

McGahee was also taken ahead of a perfectly healthy Larry Johnson. How is that pick looking? Even if McGahee is slightly better than LJ (the jury is still out on that one), LJ was 100% healthy and would have been serviceable immediately upon drafting him. Instead, the team played that year as though they had no first round pick.

Because he's perfectly fine with Losman starting.

You can cross Spikes off that list.

did I post something?

1st round picks....4 QB Losman: Gave up the next year's first rounder for Losman. Has not yet shown he can start on a week to week basis. Perhaps this is the year. RB McGahee: Passed on a healthy Larry Johnson to take Willis McGahee. WR Evans: Very good receiver, we will see if he can handle the role of a #1. CB Clements: Good player who had one good year but has regressed of late. 2nd round picks....2 DE Schoebel: Agreed. Just under pro bowl level. DE Kelsay: Nothing to write home aboutl 3rd round picks....2 DT Anderson: Nothing to write home about. OLB Crowell: Agreed. Very solid player. 4th-7th round picks....1 CB/KR McGee: Donahoe's best draft pick, considering it was a 4th rounder. Free Agents....8 FB Shelton: See AKC's post on blocking (or lack thereof) in the backfield RG Villarrial: Old, on the downside of his career and cannot stay healthy. LT Gandy: Average at best. ILB Fletcher: Just under pro bowl level. Great signing. OLB Spikes: Great signing, any idiot would sign him, not indicative of TD's genius. FS Vincent: Dumped by Philly in favor of younger, more athletic players. Should have been bypassed by the Bills if they were smart. K Lindell: Good kicker. LS Schneck: Yay! A long snapper. UDFA....2 RT Peters: Up & coming star? Time will tell. P Moorman: Excellent pickup.

Personally Shaud Williams showed that he can play last year as the 3rd down back. I think the acquisition of Anthony Thomas was simply not necessary, as he and Gates were fairly similar in style and Gates is younger. I sure hope A-Train made the team because he earned it and NOT because of the bias associated with his history with Jauron.

Lionel Gates? Wow.

This team has a plethora of deep threats -- Evans, Price, Parrish. Aiken provides a physical element at the position that nobody else possesses. I would still like to see him get some more shots in the offense. Watching him kick ass on special teams makes me wonder if he could be even more valuable than Josh Reed as down-field blocker.

Keep in mind the guy who was last year's primary decision maker for offensive linemen on this squad, Jim McNally, is still very much here.

Oh totally agree with that. But most people on this board trash Flutie while he WAS the qb here, which is completely retarded, given how well the offense did under his stewardship. I never advocated that they build around him... hell, go ahead and cut him and start over. But to have revisionist history and say that Flutie sucked is just plain asinine.

To answer your previous question on why Flutie didn't get a starting job elsewhere, after his stint in Buffalo -- the dude was nearing 40 years of age! At that age, QBs RARELY get starting jobs, no matter how good they are. Contending teams have established QBs and rebuilding teams have lots of $ invested in young QBs. Take a look at Warren Moon towards the end of his career. He was better than some starters out there (Cade McNown, Rob Johnson, Ryan Leaf to name a few) but no team wants to invest in an old QB. That doesn't take away from his time in Buffalo where he was solid and played a major role in winning games for us.

Love how you choose 4 out of the 5 Bills' losses and point to those as reasons why Flutie was an inadequate QB. You then proceed to take the single, solitary example of a stellar Rob Johnson performance to justify his talent. Pretty weak argument. What you (conveniently) leave out is that with Flutie at QB, the Bills consistently held the time of possession advantage. While you claim that the objective was to get the ball out of Flutie's hands and into the hands of our defense, the opposite was actually happening. Flutie led an offense that actually CONVERTED on 3rd down -- what a novel concept. In doing so, the defense stayed fresh and when on the field, was able to make plays. Flutie was no Peyton Manning but he executed the winning formula to perfection -- get positive yards, avoid sacks, and keep the time of posession advantage in your favor. In those 10 wins, the offense held the ball for ON AVERAGE 10 minutes longer than the opposing team. That is a huge disparity. Was Flutie solely reponsible for this? Of course not, this is a team game. But it does say something about the QB when you complete 3rd downs more often than not.

Reed may not have gotten along with Flutie very well, but that was simply because he could no longer get open and Flutie had something special going with Moulds... similar to the way in which Moulds preferred Holcomb this past season.

... similarly, to this day, I do not understand the hate some people on this board have for Flutie, who contributed to 2 playoff seasons.

The offense carried the load last year.

... and at the end of it all, they'll be just fine. Chad Jackson, once healthy has a ton of upside. Maroney will beef up the run game and Ben Watson will have a breakout year as a receiving threat. As long as #12 is out there, they'll be fine.