Bob in STL

Last year Wood played some center and he did ok. Gailey kind of called him out a bit but after the season he did give him some props. Wood is definitely a gamer, he plays injured, and he could be a star in the future. For some reason the "experts" on this site do not like Hangartner but I think he has been mostly pretty solid, and until Wood beats him out in a competiton then Hang is the center. Urbik is a guy that TSW experts are ready to anoint as the next Billy Shaw. I say if he was that good no way does Pittsburgh let him go. I guess he has potential but lets see it on the field. Bottom line for me is that if Wood moves to center then I worry about both RG and RT instead of only RT. Most of the players on our OL are either unproven (Urbik, Pears) or journeymen (Hangartner, Wrotto, Rhinehart), or projects (Bell, Wang, Hairston). Other than Levitre and Wood that is what we have. When I see this line open holes, protect the QB, and dominate in short yardage situations then I will believe it. Right now I still have to question the talent here.

Let us know when all of Buffalo's "local Billionaires" start lining up.

Good enough for 5-11. Urbik and Pears on the right side? Oh my. I prefer: Bell - Levitre - Hangartner - Wood - Clabo (if they are serious about him)

Fletcher was a fantastic football player and a great leader. The "tackles beyond the line of scrimmage" is a bad rap because the guy played behind some crappy DL's. Fletcher made plays from sideline to sideline and he has great respect from the players and coaches everywhere he has been. If Poz develops into another Fletcher that will be great. To the original question on Poz. Yes, we should make a great effot to sign him to the right contract, not an inflated contract. We have nothing else. Poz will get better when the support around him gets better. Bob

Flozell Adams and Terrell Owens ... oh, no wait ...

We drafted tons of help on defense so cut he two weakest links in the defense last year: 1. Stroud - already gone, enter Dareus. 2. The "other ILB" next to Poz - Davis/Adeloye/ or whoever. Enter Sheppard. That does not even adequately address last years most woeful Bills linebackering corps ever, including Maybin. We need Merriman to make a comeback and then move Kelsey to backup DE where he belongs. Clear out the junk at TE and RT. We need a backup QB too. Lots of room for improvement on this roster.

Does Wilson concern himself? No. He owns an NFL team and is happy with that. Let's face it, he does not have the energy to do what Pegula is doing and he most likely does not have the right people around him to do it for him. Does he follow suit with Pegula? No. Ralph has had more money than he can ever spend but "spend to win" does not motivate him. Wilson wants the league to run like it did in the old days. That is winning to him. Wilson has nothing to lose by "going all in" but the there is no gaurantee that spending big will get you a championship. Ask Danny Synder. You have to build a winning infrastructure and you have to create an environment that breeds success. That is a stable environment run by the best people you can find. Pegula knows that and he is working all aspects of the Sabres (fixing their image, improving the facilites, improving the front office people, the scouting, the training, and the developmental aspects, etc). Pegula is laying a foundation, he is not just randomly throwing big money at players. Wilson may be running out of time.

Blame the Bills. BTW -- Brandon is copying Pegula on the uniform change, making similar comments about listening to the fans. If I were in town I would go to the Sabres event. No doubt it will be better coordinated. I thought it was strange that the Bills will be showing the movie "The Blind Side" at the event. Another quality player missed and we drafted who that year? This organization has been blind for a decade so maybe it is appropriate.

Yet another “if we only had better uniforms” post. I thought you were joking about replacing all ties with players from the current uniform era. Then I read your post and I must say it is filled with some ridiculous comments, confirming my belief to skip all uniform threads forever. I sure hope you are kidding on Moorman.

Wow. Batten has not played a single game yet but he equals Bryce Paup, a Pro Bowler and a sack leader. Can we wait and see if he makes the team first?

We had the worst run defense in the league. We have no TE and our OL is still suspect. Fitz is a gamer but his numbers look like an average QB. We need to improve the talent in these areas: QB, TE, OT, DL, and LB. We addressed DL in the draft but LB is still a major question mark as is OT, TE and QB. Ever wonder what happens if Fitz gets hurt? I don't see "Plax" being a piece to that puzzle. He might not even make the team.

Can't believe that I am getting sucked into this one. What a crazy rating. Here is my shot at it: Buffalo Bills: 33 Owner: 6 - Hall of Fame owner has kept the team in one place for 50 years. Consistently votes to maintain a competitive league for the small market teams and for the fans benefit. He has made several key front office errors, and his leadership has slipped in the last decade. Quarterback: 4 - Fitz provides great leadership but his numbers indicate a middle of the road QB. No franchise backup in the wings. Coach: 6 - Gailey is a proven excellent offensive mind but the jury is still out as a HC. Front office: 3 - Has been very poor for the past decade but recent improvments have been made with the addition of Nix and Whaley. Still too early to judge the current FO. Coaching staff: 7 - Adding Wannstadt is a key plus. Intangibles: 7 - Great fans, excellent marketing, college atmosphere at the homegames. The stadium could use some upgrades. The Toronto experiment makes money but is failing.

Understand the perception because there were a few times when we needed him to boom one and he did not. I recall he was frustrated by this as well. Punting in Buffalo is difficult, as is punting in the AFCE. There were only 6 other punters with more attempts. Both of these factors will adversely effect a punting average from scrimmage. If you look ONLY at punting average then yes, Moorman was near the bottom of the league. Then look at inside the 20, inside the 10, return yards, touchbacks, and fair cathces and he is ranked in the upper 25% in all categories. He still had great hang time, and there were no long returns or blocks on him. Just about every veteran on our defense (except Kyle Williams and Drayton Florence) has a worse year than Moorman. Look at Spiller and Evans on offense and you can talk about underwhelming performances. Throw in Trent Edwards, Marshawn Lynch, Cornell Green, and the entire cast of TE's.

Positives that I see for 2011-12: 1. Second year with the same coaching staff. This will help emensely, last year everythuing was new change from Jauron to Gailey and Co. 2. Last years rookies - I think Spiller and Troupe should really start to blossom. If we get improvement from David Nelson, Carrington and Moats that would be huge. 3. The defense should be better with the transition to 3-4 behind us. Wannestadt will help. Dareus will help. What needs to happen: 1. Development of last years rookies and a contribution from this years rookies. Easley and Batten could be a pleasant surprise too. 2. Fitz improving and learning to win the close ones. 3. The emergence of real leadership, not just talk, but leadership on the field and in practice. With very few exceptions I would like to rid the roster of the Jauron era players. Concern areas: 1. The OL should be better with Bell and Wood healthy. Nix and Gailey seem to like players such as Pears, Urbik and Wrotto. We need one of them to become a solid starter. I still see weakness and inexperience at OT. 2. Once again nothing at TE. 3. LB is still a concern especially if Merriman does not return to form.

Please. Moorman had an off year for him but to put him in the same ranking as Edwards, Green, Stroud and Maybin is not fair. Moorman is not going to get cut, these guys already have or soon will be (Maybin).

You will never have to deal with the stress of explaining it to her, don't worry.

The think the following five Bills had very good seasons: 1 - Kyle Williams 2 - Andy Levitre 3 - Stevie Johnson 4- Ryan Fitzpatrick 5 - Roscoe Parish - (cut short by injury)

Some good points but I do not see veterans at key positions. Look at the vets by position: QB - Fitz is a vet and the undisputed starter now. I think he had a good season last year and can get better but still not convinced he is the man to win the close games that you called "quality games". We have no reliable backup should Fitz go down. WR - Parrish is the only vet, he had his best season last year but is not a big difference maker. OL - Hangartner is a vet and he may not even start next season. The rest of the line has little experience but Wood and Levitre look like a great foundation to build on. Both tackle positions remain marginal. RB - good veteran experience with Freddy. Spiller needs to conbtribute something. TE - we have nothing here to speak of. DL - Stroud cut, other vets such as Edwards and johnson are not impact players at all. Kelsey is average at DE and poor at LB. Kyle Williams is the the only true veteran star on the team. LB - very weak unit last year. They added some interesting talent in the draft but more questions remain with Merriman and Poz and their string of injuries. DB - veterans Florence and Whitner could both be gone. Veteran McKelvin is not impressing anyone. Veteran McGee looks to be slowing down. Veterans Wilson and Scott are good as back ups. No wonder we drafted 3 DBs? I am not seeing any reason to increase the rankings based on an overall poor cast of veteran talent on this team. I think the biggest area you will see improvement from is the stability in the coaching staff and the improved game planning from Chan and hopefully from Wannestadt. Still, until they win the "quality games" they are not going to move up in the rankings. BTW - I don't put any stock into these rankings. As Buddy and Chan say, you are what your record says you are.

They drafted 3rd base on their past record. Why does 28 and 31 sound wrong? Speculating on our draft is not proof of anything. What have they done to show otherwise?

Yuo are too lenient. Try this: A: Probowl player B: Contributor Solid Starter C: Contributor D: Played for a few years and bottomed out D: Had potential, but something happened F: Never accomplished anything

Ranked in order: 1) Levitre '09 G - B+ good player that will get better. 2) Byrd '09 S - C+ great rookie season, last season was dissappointing, seemed to play very deep and was not a factor. Jury still out. 3) Posluszny - '07 LB - C+, OK MLB, injury riddled. 4) Parrish - '05 WR/PR - C+ good punt returner, decent receiver, potential to be better if they use him like they did last year. 5) Kelsey - '03 DE - C OK defensive end, average player when not at LB. 6) J. Reed - '02 WR - C OK third receiver, good blocker but had trouble with drops for awhile, expected more production. 7) Denney - '02 DE - C serviceable backup and rotation player. 8) Hardy - '08 WR - F we were looking for a big receiver and we found a a bad football player instead. Average score = C- , only 4 legitimate starters (Levitre, Byrd, Poz, and maybe Kelsey). Overall - many below average players as a whole from the #2 spot when i would hope for an average score of B; fewer busts than the #1 picks. Another reason this team has been losing. rouns 1, 2 and 3 have been mostly horrible for along time. As noted, lots of better players passed over, even at the same position we were drafting from. This is were I have a problem with Modrak since his job was to grade them.

I doubt he could make the team after a year off. He is simply not into playing and putting in the work that it takes.

Great post and you hit on something that I have been harping on for years with this team. You cannot have a surplus of leadership because real leadership is not about rank or control. Real leaders inspire by the way they conduct themselves and go about their business. In sports, leaders are the few that refuse to lose and cannot make peace with not being the best they can be. True leaders make others better. They make the sum greater than the parts. Leaders step up and make plays at crucial times. They want the ball. They set high expectations and those expectations become the way the organization conducts itself. It becomes a belief. We will win on Sunday. Because we expect to win on Sunday we will prepare to win on Sunday. Looks like we are starting to draft players that fit that description. I hope so. Do not confuse leadership with talking and fancy speeches. Leaders do not have to talk a big story, or tweet, or make videos. Leaders make the big plays that count. They work harder than the others and this forces everyone around them to work harder and step up. In the Polian/Levy/Butler years we had lots of players like this.

Brandon runs the business side which includes marketing, league committees, and administrative. The CEO title implies he is responsible for the books and for meeting costs and earnings projections. This is a business and it is run like a business. Nix runs the football side which includes player personnel and coaches. Nix has full reign here. He is responsible for putting a quality product on the field and winning games. The only part in question is who sets the budget ... as in the dollar amount paid to players, coaches, facilities and other staff? I still think Ralph still has final say in this capacity. Someone has to decide what the payroll looks like. Given this is true, Ralph has control of both Brandon and Nix and thus ultimate control of the team. This should not surprise anyone.

I would have put #42 Butch Byrd ahead of #24 Booker Edgerson. I put them both ahead of Robert James who only played a few season of football. All were great players no doubt.