Mark Long Beach

I agree also Dork. I feel for the first time that it's not as big an influence as it appears to have been in the past. Eball, I think that by upside you mean longer term upside, not just the potential for one year upside. I think that the chance that a veteran may last an extra year over another, for example doesn't mean as much as play NOW. But similar performance by a youngster with upside and longer term play will carry more value over the expensive guy.

Crikey, what's with all the venom Boogs? Troup has been injured. Injured bad enough that he can't play at the NFL level. He may never be able to. You complain about missing out on Gronk (also a second round pick), but Gronk was off many teams draft boards because he was considered a huge injury risk (we/I don't know if he was off the Bills board). Troup has been injured while Gronk hasn't and has outplayed expectations in a perfect system for him. Maybe Troup could also outplay expectations, but we may never know if his back doesn't heal.

I think that everyone acknowledges that VY has an opportunity to win the backup job. Thigpen showed poorly in what little chances he was given and the coaching staff showed little confidence in him by not putting him in over an injured and struggling Fitz. As for the OP question is he a wacko? Short answer is yes. He's physically dominant and IMO very determined/motivated. One of the main problems is that he's a little on the slow side for learning new things and for processing difficult coverages. So I think it'll be a tall order for him to be a top-flight QB. He also appears to have some mental/personality problems. What we care about is if he can be a good backup or not. IMO he can be with the right support. He didn't get it with Fisher who didn't want him. Couldn't get it as a backup in an ill-fitting offense in Philly. He might be able to get it here. We run a spread, which opens up the field for him to run or gives him lots of targets when the play breaks down and he extends the play via physical abilities. We also have Gailey who can work with limited QB's and make them reasonably successful. For a short period, teams won't have any film on VY and can't gameplan him much which helps him as he does have physical skills that give him a boost over his mental ones. I think that Young COULD be an excellent backup and win us a couple games if need be. In the LONG run, If he successfully learns the offense I think he could replace Brad Smith as a Wildcat QB. But that's two years out IMO.

Wow. The last two years he's led our team in both forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. Plus one of his three years he led the team in Ints and another came in second. His tackling has gone from 15th to 4th to 3rd, for a free safety(!). Of course that's a bit of an indictment of our front seven, but still, he's there making 'em. That's good. That's DEFINITELY getting his hands on some balls. [joke continued]

While we're wishing for good health. Sean Merriman was a dominant pro-bowl player too. Meaning we could have Darius be our only non-probowler on the line! If he's our "weak link"... Man, when does the season start?

Nice! Thanks for the report!

Seriously. All day long. He's neck and neck as my favorite GM of all time, and if he wins the superbowl he'll beat the Lakers former GM Jerry West in my eyes.

Wait... What? Our starters are: Pears 4 years Urbik 3 years Wood 3 years Levitre 3 years Glenn/Hairston 1 yr/rookie. That sure looks like FOUR out of FIVE positions are rebuilt as of 3-4 years ago, and coming into their prime.

Nice. 1. I agree with the Specialty kicker. But if the guy really shines... But to be fair, I think he's got a better shot of making the 53 than most 3rd-to-last-pick-taken-in-the-7th-round. 2. We also have Jasper who may still be able to be polished. His lack of versatility hurts him though. Maybe another year on PS. 3. yep 4. The kid has a real chance. 5. Only if he's worth it. I've been hoping we only keep 2 TE to let us keep a better player elsewhere. 6. Hagen played well at the end. Ruvell tries hard but can't catch a cold. Not sure ST will keep him. 7. Both have potential. Mck has the edge in what you said, but he's also got an injury history that probably cancels it out. The bottom line is as you said: Injuries will likely determine some of the final spots.

If I owned any Bills jersey of late, it would be Moorman's. But it's close if not the time to move on. But not just 'if they can' but if it's worth it to.

Great story! I lived in Cleveland for a few years. Those seats were legendary! And yes, I'm SURE the ticket clerk was laughing! Glad that you had a good attitude and a good time! I liked Cleveland. Sure it has some flaws but it's got a lot of nice things too. It (like Buffalo) gets a bad rap.

Thanks PTR!

TOP is over-rated IMO. It's just a reflection of how long your holding the ball. Not necessarily doing anything good with it. As others have mentioned. A really good offense scores, not just holds onto the ball. Turnovers are a biggie, but one of the toughest to maintain year to year. IMO the only way to reliably generate turnovers is relentless pressure. Something we haven't seen around here much. Hopefully that'll change this year. I agree with SDS, baring turnovers (an erratic stat), Passing differential is the key stat in the NFL today.

You can for a year. Not likely more than that. We're still in transition for our defense. We may keep extra to find out who excels in the new system, or to cover our behinds for a year if some can't.

I would only qualify this statement by saying that Buddy won't spend a HIGH draft pick on one of those guys. But a 4th for Easley? Still plausible. We spent a 3rd on TJ and his body of work is still shows more potential than actual production.

There's a LOT of things that go into QB work. I'm sure that all of the QB coaches work on fundamentals & mechanics to some degree, but that may not be that coaches strength. This is the first QB coach who is a master of throwing mechanics (and is a good enough communicator to get the QB to understand). Hopefully it'll lead to a better performing Fitz. For me, understanding the 'why' of things helps me actually do them. That's not true for everyone, but I think (hope) that it's true for Fitz.

Yes coaches like safe guys. That's why Pierson Prioleau was dragged around everywhere Gregg Williams went. He was a safe player. But there's lots of room for Safeties, but room for only one punter. So it's a binary decision. Most punters aren't good enough to unseat a solid & safe guy (only 32 punters in the NFL). The stats for Moorman the last couple years show that he's somewhere around an above average punter. This is significantly worse than when he was a top 2 punter for much of his career. If Powell shows promise, and in fact if he's equal to what Moorman is now, we'd be foolish to keep Moorman. Powell will be given that chance since Moorman is clearly on the decline. Why give up a potentially above average punter at the beginning of his career to keep one who may only have a little left? Remember, an above average punter isn't easy to find. The reason Mohr, Gardocki & Feagles played so long is because they were good! But they got replaced eventually. Moorman will be too at some point. If Powell shows well, that point may be this year.

A successful run is when a 9-7 season is a disappointment, not something to aspire to.

I generally agree with you, but not so much here. If he shows about equal talent, I think we keep him over Moorman. Moorman is still a decent punter, but he's lost his elite skills, and at age 36 is definitely on the downslope of his career. His stats match my eyeballs have seen, a downward slope. Maybe M levels out for a while and is just a decent punter. I've no problem with that. But what if he drops off a cliff? He's old by athletic standards, but not wildly old by punter standards. Punter ages from last year: 27, 31, 30, 25, 30, 29, 35, 33, 26 28, 28, 26, 29, 30, (36), 37, 33, 29 24, 38, 23, 33, 26, 24, 32, 25 (that's most of them. I got bored) In that mostly complete list there are 3 older than Moorman. One is Lechler. Jacksonville drafted a guy in the 3rd round to replace a 33yo. So out of about 30 punters 5 are 35+, as of LAST year. So being over 35 isn't a death sentance but there clearly aren't many. If Powell is good, we'll keep him, so that we'll have the position locked up for 15 years, rather than 1-2? Sometimes you keep a young player that has a likely upside rather than a vet on the slide.

We have better OLinemen. But yes, we may do the same since they aren't as useful on ST.

...wait. We drafted a kicker to boot it out of the endzone on kickoffs (Potter out of W MI). But we ALSO signed a UDFA punter (Powell out of FL St). Potter isnt likely a threat to supplant Lindell since he's not noted for his FG. But he may still stick to the roster just for his kickoffs. Powell IS a threat to Moorman, because he's good and Moorman has been getting worse. And I REALLY like Moorman, He's been one of our very best players over the last decade. He was our number one jersey seller for many years! Which is sad in its own way.

There are a few swaps I'd make. This would be one of them. QB: Jets over Fins TE: fins over Bills CB: Fins over Pats K: Mia over Pats (if Lindell is healthy, I'd put him 2nd over Pats) All within the realms of argument, Nice Job!

Not only can they create drama for the show, there's ALREADY drama. Playing professional football is not only these guys dreams, it's their livelyhood. They care deeply, and there's always some young kid trying to take the spot of an older guy. That's drama, and it's interesting (to me & many other sports fans).

We also play some games with our OL. For example we pull Levitre on some passing plays, this looks to the DL & LB as if its a running play, but in fact we're passing. It sounds vulnerable, but we seem to be able to get away with it because Levitre is so mobile and our other linemen are pretty good too.

I think you may be overrating what a guy with a ONE year contract in COMPETITION to try and get a BACKUP job after being discarded by TWO other teams will do to the Bills. Tebow was a starting QB with a massive fan following, who is in no way of losing his job. He's also backing up a QB that has been earning more and more criticism for his poor play in a highly critical and media unfriendly place.