Bob in STL

We are 745 miles from Green Bay by car, much less if we fly. To beat them in football we will need better blockers and tacklers. That is what we should be drafting.

Good post. If Nix is really happy with our current cast of OLBs then I am very concerned. To hear him talk about Urbik, Pears and Rhinehart he acts like he found the next Electric Company. Nix has a lot to prove as a GM, starting right now.

Consider it, but don't dwell in it.

Not sure I am an "Old Timer" but it is reasonable to say you need 3 years to fully evaluate a draft class and see who the solid starters are. Sure, Green Bay got production out of many of their rookies and that is needed today with free agency causing roster turnover every season. It seems easier for talented teams (New England, Pittsburg, Green Bay, Baltimore, etc) to plug in a rookie into a known and stable system. Buffalo has had chaos for a decade with revolving door of coaches, GMs, and schemes. The talent level on this team may be improving but is still very poor. Proof of this: 1. Listen to how high Nix is on Urbik, Pears and Rhinehart --- guys who could not get on the field on their previous teams. 2. Three of Buffalo's more productive rookies this year were not even drafted - Cordero Brown, David Nelson and Donald Jones all contributed. Yet is could be down the road that none of them will be solid starters for a playoff caliber team. The fact that Buffalo cannot consistenly find solid starters in the first three rounds of the draft is the number 1 reason why the talent on this team is so poor and unless this is corrected we will remain bottom feeders.

No you are not being old fashion to voice your opinion. I don't even care if it sounds patriotic I just think the correct words would be nice. That was a horrible performance that literally drove me out of the room. Lots of people at work today talked about it and not one person liked it.

Do we have to continually review all the bad trades and drafts from the past decade? This subject on the Losman trade has been discussed 100X. Donahoe traded up to get Losman because he thought Green Bay and other teams would have taken him. It turned out bad, like so many other draft day decisions for Buffalo. There was no opportunity to trade up to get Big Ben. Lets all agree to move forward.

I think the future will be better, just a matter of getting better players. cheers!

Mixing positives with negatives.

I always wonder about the reach word. Would Revis be a reach at 3?

I have another idea ... lets start drafting some great football players that make the coaches we have look good.

I picked LB for our least talented position. The numbers our defense put up explain why. I really think that last years LBs were the worst collection of LBs ever in the history of the Buffalo Bills. Not one keeper in the bunch, maybe Moats will pan out, maybe. Second choice was close between DL and OT but I picked OT as second worst. The DL at least had one Pro Bowler (Williams) and two good prospects (Troup and Carrington). At OT we have Bell who I consider average at best. I really do not like him as a run blocker, he did ok most of the time as a pass blocker. He is not a top tier LT. At RT we have nothing. Howard is a guard. Wrotto is a backup at best. Pears? who knows? Wang is a developmental player. Who to draft? I will leave that to the experts. They need to draft these three positions (LB, OT, DL) as a priority. Nix also needs to bring in a few good veterans via free agency or this rebuild will take a loooong time. Final note: Our TE talent is crap too. TE is in need of an upgrade.

Thanks for the great video. Seen it before but I can always watch it again. That was one tough team in 1964. Best Bills defense ever was in 64 and 65. EVER.

I think Marv did more than ok to get this team up after three SB loses and to play in a fourth. Give him a break.

Hey if you liked Charlie Barton then so be it. You are correct, Dick Johnston covered hockey before Kelley. I used to go to many Bison games as a kid and I actually got to meet Fred Hunt, Frank Cristie, Dennis Hextall, Guy Trotier, Bob Blackburn and some others. I was a kid and did not know what to say other than hello but it was fun. The News and The Courier really did have some good writers. But that was another era and there seemed to be a respect for the players privacy by the media. Today nothing is off limits and with twitter and such the players seems to create their own controversy at times. I remember "The Quarterback Club" and I met Ernie a few times when I was a kid. He recall he sold hamburgers. I even remember that poor Jack Spikes swallowed his tongue one time in a game. Thankfully he turn out ok.

Are you forgeting Jim Kelley? Jim Kelley was the best hockey writer in Buffalo, in the USA, and maybe in all of North America. In 2004, Kelley earned one of hockey's highest honors, receiving the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, and induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

I agree that 7 instead of 3 would have been a big difference, especially mentally. The team we fielded that day may have been the worst of the four teams that we sent to the super bowl. I still thought they could win the game though. The thing that bothers me most about the Super Bowl losses is that during those years our regular season record against the NFC was so strong.

Fantastic pictures and, as mentioned, the scoreboard ads show the changes over time. The morning Courier was fantastic. My grandparents got the morning Courier and my parents got the Evening News. I lived in a two family house on the west side, above my grandparents. I made a picture scrap book of the Bills from the black and white photos from both papers. The Courier always had tons of great photos. No cable, no ESPN, etc. I had my AFL football cards in there too. I remember having all the Bills in the "tall card series" and also in the TV frame cards. Awesome.

I have a serious question. Recall the three OT losses. In each game we had chances to win in regulation and in OT. In each game our offense stalled numerous times on or about the opponents 40 yard line. It looked to me like we were running a spread. I recall being frustrated when we had no RB in the backfield and all those recievers spread out on the line, basically telling the defense what we were doing. It looked to me that the Bills are already running the spread, or a form of it, this year with Fitz? Not all of the time but sometimes. In fact, it looks like most teams do this from time to time. It also looks like Fitz runs well enough. He was second on the team in rushing (which is s sad stat considering we started the season with Lynch, Jackson and Spiller).

Last I checked "runing QBs" can get hurt too.

Can someone tell Manning and Brady this news.

I chuckled a little bit. Really, I got a laugh out of it. No worries.

I hope your not Buddy Nix incognito. Parish should not get cut. You did not draft enough at LB and DL which is our weakest positions. Merriman can not be counted on to play. The site of Kelsey on any depth chart at OLB is scary. I hope Wannstedt agrees. The right side of your OL is totally unproven and will get Fitz killed.

I have an idea! Let’s spend free agency money on positions of need. OG is one of the few areas were we have talent. Lets sign a decent, starting caliber OT, TE, DE, and LB. I would be happy if we signed just one high quality player to fill any one of these positions. Not journeymen, not retreads, and not the dreaded "serviceable" guys.

Did Bill Polian tell you this? Why did he not make a trade anyway? Why did they let Smerlas go if they were conerned about stacking the DL?

Nice example. Painful, but a well done simple illustration that I believe it is the core reason why we lose. Not only do the Steelers draft 2X more starters in rounds 1-3 but they also find Pro Bowl impact players. Explains why Nix and Whaley have to scour other teams Practice Squads to improve the talent base on our team. I cannot recall another period in Bills history were we drafted so poorly than the past decade.