FLFan

Your memory fails you. In his rookie season, he hardly played for he first half and was worked in later in the year due to injuries. He actually looked good in his limited opportunities creating much optimism. He obviously struggled last year, but let's not overdo the hyperbole. Most draft observers had him slotted at safety coming out of college. If you can point to some specific failure in that role during the Pre- season speak up.

I suspect Rogers is someone they viewed with potential but would take a long time to mature, if ever. As for Kaufman, Streeter is the same height, a little bit bulkier build, and much faster. Ran a 4.4. Speed is what Marrone and Hacket are all about.

Good point on Wood. Also have to think the risk to wait would be weighed heavily by him. None the less, it does take two to make a deal which is my primary point. The player needs to be motivated to want to get a deal done. I do not believe in the take it or leave school of negotiating. Bad for business in the long term.

Great example of how it should be done. Both sides negotiating over time to get the deal done. This plainly points up the difference between this and both the Levitre and Byrd situations where the players intended to hit FA no matter what.

Seriously? If Kaufman and Dickerson are your only scoring threats you are in trouble anyway. Thankfully, that is not the case.

I had not seen this - apologize if posted elsewhere. The Bills/Lions game will be shown on NFLN at 7:00 AM Saturday for those interested.

Hey, they might get to that question after they are done badgering anyone who will listen about Jairus Byrd's impending trade and enormous dissatisfaction with the Bills, along with his plan to mail in the season so as not to get injured..

Thats how I remember it. There were some people who went overboard in making it personal, but most agreed at the time he was acting like a petulant child. Good riddance. I do not think much of his reporting since then. Opinions without facts, axe grinding, and egocentric.

That is not what Marrone said today. He said when EJ is ready, he will be the QB, and they are still hoping that will be NE. They will not really know until they see where he is next week. Exactly what he said.

While you state that 20/20 hindsight is not needed, that is all you offer. Who were the "plenty of CBs available" that were better. Where was your post on that? Where was your post on the supposedly short sighted QB situation? We should have had our best safety in camp? No kidding. What was your master negotiation strategy here - pay him whatever he wants? To what eventual end? Do not criticize other people for offer no facts when you offer none of your own, just hindsight opinions. Life offers no guarantees - you make judgements based on available facts and limitations and always hope for the best. That does not mean there was not strategy involved, even you do not, in hindsight, agree with it.

The hindsight heroes are out in force today. Everybody knows what should have been done while looking in the rear view.

It could also show a watered down, conservative approach in an effort to protect the only healthy QB suited up. The second half offensive performance is not of concern to me. The first half defensive performance is. Hopefully there is an answer for that, although without Gilmore I fear they will be forced into more conservative schemes.

Spiller

Marrone is managing his playing and practice time, as he is with other veterans and sure starters, like SJ. There is no point in getting him hurt in pre-season for crying out loud.

Probably inevitable with the drafting of Hopkins, and probably the best move for the future, but Bills fans should expect some growing pains with the rookie. We may be missing Lindell before too long this year.

I would suspect that despite your doubts, Coach Marrone knows what he sees day to day and is in a somewhat better position than you to decide. The idea that Tuel is a starter is beyond far fetched.

Just speculating, but perhaps that is because outside of Minneapolis and Buffalo, no one cares to watch that game, combined with the fact that Buffalo is one of the smallest TV markets and Minneapolis is not far ahead. Just a guess.

This is really the key to focus on for me. This team is clearly better coached - prepared, fired up, wanting to win. Been a while since we have seen that.

I think it is highly unlikely Kolb gets cut and it would be a big mistake. I am not even sure Marone has written him off for the starting role. Tuel looked great against the junior varsity, and although promising, it does not make him a potential starter. Best case for him is they keep him a the third QB rather than risk losing him before they can sign him to the PS. Kolb would be a great backup and insurance policy for a couple of years.

Thanks for posting Bill. It is definitely a different experience watching a team that is seemingly very well coached. I love the aggressiveness of of the secondary. They were coming up and laying some really good hits, forced a fumble (Ron Brooks) and caused some balls to be dropped. Very aggressive coverage as well. The Bills have a plethora of receivers that can play. The cuts are going to be hard there. I thought the left side of the starting line was awful. Glen does not look anywhere near as good as he did last year. This is beginning to be a big concern to me as depth is poor on the left as well. All in all, a fun game to watch and a great start. I loved that whether the starters or the back ups were in there, they looked confident, aggressive, excited to be playing. Different team.

The Buffalo News is truly a useless publication when it comes to sports. Their reporters do not do heir job simply trying to manufacture controversy when they can. The whole lot of them suck, including Timmy. The Buffalo News is truly a useless publication when it comes to sports. Their reporters do not do heir job simply trying to manufacture controversy when they can. The whole lot of them suck, including Timmy.

Exactly. I read the transcripts from the press conference today and was truly embarassed for the local media. They should publish the names of the people asking the questions so that I might avoid them and their stupidity if at all possible. How many times can you ask the same question? Do you really expect the answer to change? Simply horrible.

Or maybe it had to do with him really not wanting to be here and being intent on free agency.

In the case of both Byrd and Levitre the Bills through Nix did say publicly they had initiated a conversation. Also in both cases the players stated publicly they would like to test the free agent market. You make broad assumptions that if only the Bills had been more agressive they could have locked these players up and that is simply not true. You can not negotiate with yourself and it makes no sense to simply set the negotiating floor for the open market when it comes. That is business negotiation 101. As for your last point, what makes you think they did not have a plan? You may not like their plan but they clearly had one. Perhaps they just do not see the same value you do in Levitre - neither do I - and they franchised Byrd to make sure they keep him and drafted two safeties and covereted a CB in case he decides to sit out.

Neither player was interested in negotiating a long term extension last year. Per their own public comments, they intended to test free agency and let the market set their value. Throwing numbers at players if they are intent on testing free agency is simply negotiating against yourself. We do not know what Spiller and Wood are thinking or their agents are saying. As for Spiller, I am sure the Bills are interested. As for Wood, they probably want him to prove he can stay healthy for an entire season before bestowing big bucks on him. Still do not think Levitre was worth keeping at that price and the Byrd situation has not yet run its course. I hope the Bills hold the line and force his hand.