Bob in STL

So after two days you have come back with no new information? You have provided marginal excuses as to why you do not need twenty years of data. Ok then, so what data do you have to measure the character of college atheletes? I am now ready to draft new players. How do I take your theory and apply it? Do I look for criminals? Do I look for the players with the worst police records? I am a NFL GM, what exactly are you talking about? What am i looking for? I do not disagree with your assertion on what marriage and child rearing does to testosterone levels in men. I have seen that data before. Tell me how to measure "character". That was the premise for your initial post. Your initial thought was to not concentrate on character when drafting players, instead find guys with the highest agression levels and therefore the highest testosterone levels. I still call that bunk! A simple test will tell you what a persons testosterone level is (I don't recall if it is blood or urine test). When did agression equate to successfully making big plays on the field? Can this even be correlated? Where we disagree is that I think you still need to strongly consider the actual atheletic ability and skills of the player along with the character of the person. Will this person listen to his coaches? Will he be a team player? Is he intelligent? Is he reliable? Can we as an organization, trust this person? Never, ever, ever sell trust short. NEVER hire someone you do not trust. Will you trust a man of known low character because his testosterone score is high? That answer is NO.

SJBF, Please quit while you are not to far behind. Don't you know that Chan sucks, the Bills suck, Fitz sucks, smokers suck, drunks suck, and Ralph is cheap and sucks. I thought you knew all this?

Lets all remember that Rayner made a few long tough kicks for us. He is a waiver wire pick up and not the next Adam Vinitari. Before the Miami game he was doing fine. His biggest gaff until that game was the squib kick that he did not execute (Jets game), and I blame Chan for not just kicking it away and putting him in that situation. He missed the critical short kick against Miami and then two more shorties against Denver. Given what has now come to light, Rayner should have been IR'ed three weeks ago. Also --- you cannot cut an injured player, you have to IR him and pay him or reach some settlement. Only the Bills would try to finish the season with an injured kicker. They basicially saved having to pay one more minimum wage salary for two weeks. I don't blame Rayner at all. This is another Front Office bungle.

The backup center eventually did settle down after a while. The worst was actually Levitre playing center against Miami on the road. That was very bad and Levitre never got comfortable. Truth is the Bills did not have a legitimate backup C/G on the roster to start the season. Urbik proved he can handle center so, assumning we have the same starters as last year, if Wood goes down again we move Urbik to center and Rhinhardt to RG. The old double switch.

Kelsey is a good football player. He is a DE that should line up with his hand on the ground. He should not be an 3-4 OLB playing in coverage or in space because he is not fast enough. Kelsey is a great team player and a true competitor. He gets a lot of bad press here on TSW, but I think real NFL football people would consistently tell you he is a good player that plays hard on every down.

It is obvious you dislike everything but look at the talent differential between the teams. Chan has two years in the job, that would be 8 possible games against these teams. After Sunday he will be either 2 -6 or 1- 7. He will not be 1-8. Maybe you should slow down on the postings and improve your quality? You could become a more cerebral poster? Just a thought.

Wood is on contact. If he comes back healthy we should extend him. He has Pro Bowl potential. Bell should be retained if possible. With his injuries he may be easier to retain. They should not give the job to Hairston, they should keep Bell and let them compete for it.

Of course I will be watching.

Yes. They need to make it a priority. Excellent young talent.

Excellent point on the need for stability but remember there was no free agency for part of that era. Players stayed with their teams and took the pay that was offered. O-line especially. Don't forget John Fina replacing Wilford. Mitch Ferrotte was a backup G/T. Joe Devlin (retirement) and Tim Vogler (injury) were gone before the first super bowl.

I agree. They have the cap room to keep their own. They should do that as advertised.

Fred Jackson and George Wilson appear to be strong leaders.

I agree that the drunks are worse than smokers. My biggest issue with the drunks is having to listen to their foul language. Every other word is F'in this and F'in that. I really never have a problem with them fighting or harassing me or my friends. For a joke, I timed a trip into the bathroom at the start of the 2nd half (upper deck by the exit ramp). I counted 47 F-bombs in two minutes. Almost once in every three seconds an F-bomb was dropped. Somtimes there were rapid fire F-bombs, 6 to 8 per sentence. Every one spewed by a drunken kid in his twenties. I had a good laugh but I would not have been happy with it back in the days when my kids were young and with me.

Beat the Pats* twice to reach the lofty Dick Jauron status of 7-9.

Ok hot shot. For the record and without the benefit of hindsight. Give us your picks in the upcoming draft. We are waiting?

I am not seeing it just yet. This kid was on the roster when Wood went down and they moved Levitre to center. That did not work out and they moved Urbik to center. They had two opportunites to play this kid and they did not. What I saw was a decent effort so I give him that. Lets remember the Denver defense was missing key players. We still did nothing in the red zone and nothing on short yardage situations. Yes, he is big and he has tats. . If he plays well against Wilfork then we might have something here.

Half dozen QBs since when? Come on, nobody is going to play with Brady healthy. All I know is that the drafted Cassel, developed him, won 11 games with him, and traded him for a second rounder. The Pats* made out great on the Cassel deal. Never said I would trade for any Pats QB?

I figured 8 games maximum. If we end with 6 wins (which is likely)then they underperformed to my prediction. 7 wins is about right but can they beat NE twice in one year? I never counted on the great start or the 7 game losing streak. I thought we could beat the Jets and the Phins. The worst part of this season was losing to each of them twice. We have a long road ahead and we need to get a lot bigger and tougher to win in this division. My biggest concern was Chan and Edwards' predictabilty as the season went on. Seems like other team knew what we were doing most of the time. Biggest positive was the OL. I was not impressed after camp and I was on them all season about the lack of depth. Looks like we actually found a few decent players. Next year a lot depends on if Wood is back and healthy. Biggest negative was the defense. I really hope that Buddy Nix gets off his azz and finds a few LBs for this team. He cannot go to camp with the same crew that we ended the season with. We need 4 new faces, two rookies and two veterans to stimulate some competition. What a moribund group as a whole.

We started the season with an excellent red zone record. Take away Jackson, Chandler, a legit #2 WR and you now have a problem. I think we need to find a way to use a fullback and Brad Smith more in these situations. I do not like empty backfields when inside the 5 or 10 yard line. I think it gives the defense a big advantage.

Amazing comment - but based on what? They developed Brady, then Cassels. Not many others have had a chance to play since Brady rarely gets hurts. No reason to think that Mallet will not be put into a very favorable position to succeed if and when the time comes.

If we can add a talented edge rusher (along the lines of a Von Miller) to go with Dareus and Kyle Williams we will be on our way. We actually need two OLBs so that Kelsey and Spencer Johnson never line up there again. Moats and Batten do not look like the answer. Moats could be a decent back up and ST player. Batten has been invisable lately.

Hello Bill, 1) Spencer Johnson - decent backup DE/ DT that can contribute on a rotation basis. 2) Bell - plays well when healthy. Cannot stay healthy. I see the Bills letting him walk. 3) McKelvin - fast, yes. Still question that marble inbetween his ears though. 4) Fitz - been injured in the ribs since the big hit in week 6. Story will be out after the season. 5) SJ and Nelson were getting open today. - Disagree. We have no speed at WR. None. After OLB, the WR position is the most critical to improve. 6) Another probowl level game by Levitre. - True. He is a keeper. 7) Dwan Edwards - uhh, Denver's OL made our defense look good. Edwards is a rotational DE at best. 8) CJ, - sees the field better with experience. Is learning to be patient. Has great speed, looked fantastic again. Needs more touches. 9) (break for Grateful Dead tribute) 10) Kelsay - one of our better DE's. Still not a OLB. 11) Raymer - about what you would expect from a waiver pick up. Marginal talent for the NFL. Strong leg but not consistent. 12) The entire secondary played well today. Amazing what a pass rush will do for these guys, no? - Your best comments so far. 13) Merry Christmas to all on TBD and you loved ones!!! It was nice to get an early gift from the Bills. - Merry Christmas!

Maybin was waived. We get no compensation for that. We should be able to get more than a 7th for Whitner. I am betting a fourth for Whitner and a 6th for Puz. We signed Barnett, a former #1, so that may cancel something.

Yes. I think Kush got hurt the same game as Nixon but maybe it was the following week? I was at RIT back then but still went to most of the games. I think a healthy Fergy could have given the Bills and Chuck Knox a well deserved Super Bowl. That was a fantastic Bills team with a great group of veterans and lots of young talent. I loved watching those teams and the old warriors from what I still consider a superior era of football. Maybe those teams would not beat todays teams but the game just seemed to be better back then. Cheers!

I think Von miller has been sensational this season. He gets to the QB and that is what he was hired to do. I am not sure what his game is like beyond that but he makes big impact plays getting to the QB. Dareus played a monster game and was more dominant than Miller today. Dareus and can play any postion on the line. I think he can be a force like a Deacon Jones, a Joe Greene, or a Bruce Smith (a few old names for some of you but he looks like a throwback DL to me). Dareus does everything plus he is a leader. With the right support he could lead a defense to greatness. I really think so. I am happy that he fell to us. No regrets about not getting Miller and settling for Dareus. None at all. Merry Christmas