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Dielman would be a great addition, but I think he will be really expensive, particularly since the other highly rated guard to be a free agent (Manuwai), was re-signed by the Jags.

He will go to the highest bidder and will not give the Bills a discount on his services. I believe that as a part of the one-year tender that Clements signed for 2006, language was included providing that the Bills would not franchise Clements in 2007 (i.e., it is memorialized in an agreement).

That sucks. I was hoping to watch the game at home on Sunday.

Clearly, the Bills have enough cap space to re-sign Clements. The question is whether RW/Bills have enough cash to pay the signing bonus. The Bills need to re-sign Clements. He is a very good player, relatively young and there is no player on the roster that is ready to start at cb.

1. TD's departure (and MM's resignation and the retention of a new head coach and staff) lowered expectations for this year and allowed the Bills to play their rookies and young players, giving them the opportunity to develop. JP and our rookie class of draft picks are the primary beneficiaries. 2. The 2006 draft produced a number of quality players (at least after their first year). Whitner started well, but he has not made many plays over the last half of this season. We will see if Whitner can play to the level expected of a #8 overall pick in the draft in the next number of years. 3. I have a feeling that Ellison will end up being the best pick from the 2006 draft. 4. I wonder if RW will be very restrained in free agency in light of his efforts to get appropriate revenue sharing for small market teams. 5. I think Jauron and his coaches have done a very good job. New schemes (offense and defense), many rookie starters and contributors, some injuries, and yet the team was in most every game and had a shot at the playoffs. Even some players that seemed like busts (JP, Denney, Reed, Parrish) performed better this year. 6. Very disappointing that Clements is a free agent and likely will not re-sign with the Bills. Losing Winfield, Williams and probably Clements really hurts. If we lose Fletcher and Kelsay as well, I can see the Bills drafting heavy on defense again this year, with a CB as the number one pick.

I recently read an article that stated that there were six teams (including the Bills) who would have more than $30 million in cap space going into next offseason. The article also noted that there were about 14 teams with more than $20 million in cap space. Other articles have suggeste that this years crop of free agents is very weak. Clements will be a hot commodity and sign a huge contract.

Although the Bills defense does not have great statistics, they generally have been able to keep the team in most games. That may not be the case this week. McCargo and Crowell are out for the year. Whitner and McGee are at best questionnable. Ellison does not seem to be at full speed and Wire may start at LB. Simpson and Williams are still rookies. The Jets scored a lot of points against the Packers. Our offense needs to step it up this week and score points. It is time for them to lead the team.

I would be really happy with J. Long. The Bills have no running game. I am not sure whether that is the guards or the RT, but Long will be an upgrade at either position.

1. I see many negative posts about the coaching, but the Bills played hard and were in the game until the end against a very strong team. Adjustments were made at half-time, and the overall performance of the Bills significantly improved in the second half. Yes, two timeouts are inexcusable, but I think the coaching is has been solid throughout the season. 2. Although the pass protection has improved dramatically, run blocking by the o-line is still poor. I expect much more when the Bills are playing at home. The Bills still need to upgrade the o-line in the offseason. 3. I am wondering if Whitner and Simpson have hit the wall in their first season as somethimes happens with rookies. They are not making plays. Clements looks great. As others have noted, he needs to be re-signed, even if very expensive. 4. Not to be controversial or disagree with my sense of what the majority seems to think, I thought JP had a bad game. Yes, he made some first downs with some nice scrambles, but many of his throws were poor and San Diego dropped at least three easy interceptions. 5. The Bills need a starting DT who can stuff the run. McCargo may become a good DT, but he is not this type of a player.

I really liked Marlon. I thought he was going to be a very solid cb for the Bills for many years. I remember that he hurt one or both knees covering a punt or kick-off. This may have been after he tore the acl in one of his knees the year before. A real shame.

I agree. I was shocked that he called a pass play. If the Texans had run the ball and not made the first down, it still would have forced the Bills to use their last timeout. A terrible call by Kubiak.

Yes, free agent acquisitions generally have not worked out well. I still don't understand why the Bills paid Price such a large signing bonus (or why they signed him). I like our draft choices and many are getting valuable playing time. I also think that Levy and Jauron have been a breath of fresh air compared to the TD regime. I do think that Marv needs to take a hard look at the Bills' free agent talent evaluators. I believe they are the same people that TD hired, and they have made poor recommendations over a number of years. It is time to get some new people.

Does not look like a good list to me. Stienbach should be targeted, although there will be a lot of competition to sign him.

What about Mike Pucillo? I think he was a TD draft choice.

Yes, he inherited a mess. But he still left a mess.

He left a mess.

He will have the entire year to show improvement, but he should not be immune from legitimate criticism, as is the case with the oline, receivers and the coaching staff.

What is the "hot pocket crowd"?

I think the gloom results from the following: 1. The team is bad, and there is no confidence that they are getting better or that they will be better next year. 2. The team has been bad for a long time. I think the playoff drought will be seven years after this year. 3. If JP is not the guy, finding the guy could mean more rebuilding and patience. 4. We will lose Clements, and possibly Fletcher, Kelsay and others this offseason. The team will be worse after losing these players and there are too many holes to fill. 5. The offense is not entertaining in any way, shape or form. 6. While the Bills won yesterday, they were outplayed (except on special teams). A win is a win, but it was really ugly. Overall, we are tired of losing and being patient.

Good article. Drafting and free agent acquisitions have been poor overall. I don't think McNally is the problem, but maybe our talent evaluators, for the draft and free agent acquisitions, are the problem. I think Marv needs to take a hard look at this because I believe that all of TD's hires are still the ones evaluating the talent.

Losing Clements will be a problem, particularly with McGee's recent struggles. Any replacement cb of the caliber of Clements will require spending big money in free agency or using a first round pick on a cb. Losing Clements without receiving anything in return really hurts. He will not be franchised next year and I don't see the Bills re-signing him at this point.

I agree, and on a more basic level, our talent evaluators are below average at identifiying free agent acquisitions. Bennie Anderson, Vincent, Posey and Gandy have not worked out well, and there are questions about Fowler, Reyes, Triplett, and P. Price. The bottom line is that the Bills have done a poor job of replacing talented player swho have departed (i.e., Pat Williams).

He may be a rookie in terms of the number of games played, but he has been through three training camps, a number of preaseason games, numerous practices over the last three years and a couple of offseasons.

I think it is an important game for JP. The game is at home, and if the team loses and he plays poorly, the amount of pressure on JP will increase significantly, both in terms of the fans and the locker room.

1. Clements will not be back. The Bills agreed to not franchise him this offseason (why? I have no idea). We will not be able to franchise him and then trade him. 2. He should have been re-signed. The Bills did not use all of their cap space this year and will have a lot next year. Signing Nate would have had almost no impact on the Bills' ability to sign other available free agents, even top free agents. 3. Nate will be one of the top free agents in the offseason. Any decent replacement via free agency will be very expensive. Fletcher should be popular as well. We will receive no compensation for either player, other than possibly some low round compensatory picks, assuming we do not sign equivalent free agents. 4. It is doubtful that the Bills will be able to sign a top free agent LT, DT or CB. I think there will be few available and I don't think the Bills will be a particularly attractive destination. 5. We will need to find a top LT in the draft. The problem is that we may be looking at filling needs at QB, DT, LB and CB as well. We will have more holes going into this offseason than last season. 6. I think it will be hard to find improvements over Clements and Fletcher. They should have been re-signed, assuming they were interested in doing so.