Bob in STL

The Pats* need veteran help.

He will get scooped by someone and he play a long and sucessful career for someone (see Antoine Winfield). Winfield is young ans talented. they sould work hard to sign him. Not saying breaqk the bank for him. If he walks it will be another hole and another draft pick to fill it. Wilson is decent. Scott is decent in the box, against the run. Overall Whitner is better than either of them.

If Fitz even got to 28 or 29 Sully should do it anyway but he is too much of a puss to acknowledge that Fitz had a great season.

He seems to be physically limted to play DE or LB in the NFL. This is not college. He is very poor against the run and has made no impact as a pass rusher either. He just does not look stout enought to play in the NFL. Some players make up for that with brains and heart. Have not seen that from him yet. Maybe he will get bigger and work harder? The huge contract he recieved is doing nothing to motivate him.

I think they are still a few years away. They need: Two tackles A quality TE Two DE's 3 LBs Another DT continued devleopment of their young WRs another good year from Fitz

Factor in the cast he is playing with, the youth on the team, the inexperienced OL, the new coaching staff and then look at some other factors such as: running, sack avoidance, reading defenses, 3rd down play, red zone play, and leadership. When you do that he looks pretty good. Finally, compare his performance to Trent Edwards and you realize he is pretty good.

Shaped NFL history? What shaping will it do? Farve's streak ended and Bills fans will have that hit in their history but really, is it that important? Does anyone remember the hit on Johnny Unitas that sent him to the bench in favor of Earl Morrall? Even with todays grossly overblown media coverage I do not see this as shaping NFL history. Signicant yes but in a limited way. Sorry.

Good summary Bill. I loved the running game on the last drive. Long overdue. Royal was awesome.

!964 - The Stratton hit kick-started our team to win the Championship game. The Chargers literally died when Lincoln was scraped off the field. The Moats hit was not nearly as good and we got clobbered by a back up. These hits should never be mentioned in the same breath.

Two Cornell Green's and a Wrotto maybe.

I agree and I was most happy to see he stuck to the run in the fourth quarter. The last drive of the game was awesomne. 9 runs. We picked up first downs and ran out the clock. That was a STATEMENT drive. Teams that know how to win make drives like that. Simple power football to close out a game. In the past we would have went 3 and out, punted, and then started the nail biting.

Yeah. They sure fleeced the Giants ... oh and the Giants went on to beat the 18-0 Pats* in the Super Bowl.

It should not be very hard to draft a better OT than Howard.

Ok, I give him some props for working it. Now, when real free agency starts lets hope he stays awake long enough to get us some help at TE, OT, DE, Dt, ILB, and OLB. I am talking about adding instant starters and leaders that wil help us win games.

Another O-line post. I don't see that Wood has had a very good season at all. I am sure someone will follow up with some offensive lineman stats from a website, or an obscure quote from some guru, but I a have seen every game this season and he is still recovering. It will be interesting to see how he does on Sunday and many on TSW are ready to annoint him as the next center without ever making a snap. Hangartner and Levitre have been our most consistent linemen. Lots of Hangartner haters on TSW but none are named Chan Gailey. Bell has been serviceable. His pass blocking has been good, the stat people with claim only 2 sacks all season. He is a weak run blocker and for that I would like to see us upgrade the LT spot. RT is below NFL caliber. We need two tackles and more depth in the middle of the line.

Troup is still learning the game. We do not know if he will take the next step as a NFL player. Heard is straight off the practice Oakland PS. How good can he be right now? Kyle Williams is a DT not a DE. Carrington is learning and having a very tought time against the run. Who rushes the passer? How is this a monster line?

I agree with that. Now lets play the game and see.

I have not seen enough game to tell you . From watching 12 Bills games so far I would say that the best defensive players, in terms of their performance against us, are: Matthews (Green Bay), Polamalu (Pitts) and Lewis (Balt). Honorable mentions to Allen (Minnesota) and Revis (Jets). There was a linebacker on KC that did a number on us too?

If you draft a top OT out of college and he beats out Bell then you move Bell to RT. Not saying that happens his rookie season but I think to improve th overall talent on the line, and on the team, we need to draft a legitimate LT coming out of college ... not another project that could develop in 3 years. That said, if Bell were beaten out by another LT he could certainly move to RT. This myth that you must be a "big mauler type" (whatever that really is?) is a stereotype for big tackles that are not athletic enough to play LT. It does not preclude Bell from moving to RT should be acquire a LT that is better. I think Bell is improving (and adequate) but if am going to spend a premium draft choice on a OT I and not going to pick a RT only option. (See Mike Williams).

Can't argue with you. Parcells is a football guru who would have it no other way than complete control. Nix is a scout that is taking a shot at GM.

Interesting video. 5 man front, we were looking pass and they executed a run perfectly. 1. Kelsey the OLB was the 5th pass rusher. He blew containment, took a soft wide outside rush and got blown out. Peterson read that block and went wide instead of between the tackles, probably thoight he could easily run over the CB. 2. McKelvin did not read the play at all (his football sense is lacking) and he followed the WR, taking himself out of the play. 3. Poz was playing pass, made the read from ILB, then took a very bad angle to Peterson who is just too fast for that mistake. 4. Whitner and Byrd were way too deep as usual so there was no safety help. Minnesota executed perfectly and had the talent in Peterson to turn a 6 yard play into a TD.

Bell is the ONLY player on the roster that is even close to what an NFL LT should be and that is a BIG PROBLEM. I would draft a tackle early in the draft, hopefully one talented enough to push him or replace him. Either way, the rookie or Bell could improve us just by moving to RT, which is in even worse shape (Wrotto, Howard, Wang - yuck). Our first pick should address LB or pass rushing DE (goodbye Maybin). Second or third should be an OT that projects as a starter in the NFL. We should also shore up these areas with free agents. That is a huge myth. RT's are definitely less athletic than LT's but that does not mean that an LT cannot succeed at RT. There is nothing required in most offenses that says RT must be bigger and slower and stronger. When they happen to be too slow to move well enough to be an LT they simply default to RT. There are plenty of big, strong LTs in the league, they just happen to be able to move quickly. Bell is big enough to play either position.

When the Patriots went from 2-14 losers to winners it took a few years but they did it this way: 1. Bring in Parcells and improve the front office, the scouting, and the coaching. 2. Draft better players - concentrate on with the trenches 3. Change attitude from losing to winning 4. Parcells leaves - Bring in Bellichek - they actually traded a #1 draft pick to the Jets for him 5. continue smart drafting - luck out with Brady in round 6. 6. The year the cheated the Rams out of a Super Bowl they brought in lots of low priced, experienced, veteran free agents, many of which had gas in the tank to fill holes. 7. Continue to rely on the draft and stockpile picks - trade or release players that don't fit in, or they are unwilling to pay big dollars for

The only TE we have that can block well is Martin and he is not a threat to get open and catch. Both tackles needed help from a TE or a back last week. Bell had his hands full with Allen, and Wrotto is just a below average fill in so you can expect some problems on RT. The spread offense eliminates the TE and relies on the QB and speedy WRs to outnumber the defense, make the right reads, and hit the open man for a quick gain. Fitz can do it. On many plays there are "unblocked defenders" and it is up to Fitz to know who that is and counter with a quick pass. Also requires the "hot" reciever to be ready for the quick pass. This is something that Edwards could not do and Fitz is actually good at it. Still, I prefer to see some TE formations on our team. Right now the TE is practically eliminated from Chan's offense. What we don't know is does Chan not use the TE very much by philosophy or are they not used because we don't have the right talent?

Me too. I think Nelson couild be the next star WR for the Bills.