Enemarty

Was just discussing Leinart with my work colleague, a long time Cards supporter. His comment - "Leinart will drop back, survey the field and refuse to make the challenging pass, instead looking for the easy dump-off for a three yard gain." I had a two word response to this information, and it appears you would have had the same two word response.

Agreed. As I'm sure you are aware, one of his constants is his antipathy toward blitzing. However, I don't recall seeing him singing Wanstandstill's praises for the complete excuse of a defense we had last year. Of course, the first time we give up a big play on a blitz this year, he'll be jumping all over us.

I assume the folks in B-town watched local announcer coverage; those of us out of town were stuck with the Indy homey coverage on NFL channel. However, I had to laugh when the Colts play-by-play guy, while thinking that the rule was if the hand/ball started going forward it was a fumble, says that the hand/ball was definitely going forward,only to be reminded by the color commentator that if that was the case, it would be an incomplete pass. Then he quickly changes his tune in accordance with what was good for the Colts.

Have to disagree on no. 6. As you should know Bill, in her day, Raquel Welch at LT would have stopped any and all D-linemen in their tracks! That said, yeah, he didn't impress. I was also pleased by the fact that pretty much every catchable pass was caught.

If I still lived in B-town, I would agree that at least there is the tailgating. But being limited to DTV (where I can pause the game and mow the lawn if need be), I'm looking forward to the season for the first time in years (ok, I was a little excited after signing Mario, but that was tempered by my concern for the offense). Win, lose or draw, this year appears to offer something different (yeah, I know, familiar refrain). The defense has a few blue chip players and perhaps an aggressive play-caller will get us out of our seats more than in the recent past. On offense, we have a coach who wants to use our best weapon, an improved (at least on paper) cast of characters surrounding Stevie, and a potential franchise QB who will play based upon ability and not because we have no one else on the roster. Sure there will be stumbles and fumbles, and Andy was a real loss, but the hope and possibility are there. In fact, had we retained Andy and signed Jarius, I would be pumped for the season. As it stands, as least thus far we have avoided the double loss of O-lineman - defensive stud that occurred with the departure of Jennings and big Pat. Maybe we are turning a corner. ... or maybe I was born in Buffalo, doomed to a lifetime of anticipation followed by disappointment. Hey, at least there is always next "off-season."

I rarely post, but this thread deserves a comment.

In addition to all of the other solid reasons to say no on this, mention should be made of his son, as some Indy commentators saw Bill's dismissal as part of a larger move to make sure Bill's son, the heir apparent, did not in fact become the future of the Colts braintrust. The same concerns would accompany Bill here.

Just picked up my wife and daughter from the Taylor Swift show in DC tonight. They both reported Taylor to be in great form, but neither heard a peep from Da'Rick! That's me officially worried....

Then you were in the minority on here. The longest post I ever made on this board was in support of letting Jennings walk and keeping Pat and his buddy Sam together.

As I recall, the issue wasn't Pat's play, which everyone was behind, but who deserved the big free agent contract, Pat or Jonas Jennings. Most on this board thought LT was more important. Of course, Jennings rejected our offer and bolted to the 49ers. When we turned to Pat, he had had enough of the front office and went to the Vikes.

Although I can offer nothing to resolve this issue of who came first, I can push PH's memory-based mid-80s date back to 1982, as my friend brought her 1982 Howard U yearbook into work today and the football team sported white helmets with the blue charging buffalo and blue stripe with "Bisons" written in white cursive on the end of the stripe.

They would have won the game if Reed hadn't heard footsteps. If I recall correctly, consecutive 2nd quarter drive-ending drops when we had a 12-3 lead. Score, and NYG would have had to think about throwing, rather than pounding out a ten-minute half ending drive. Now you've gone and made me sad...

Actually it was Tom Cousineau, picked no. 1 overall in 1979 who, after blowing us off, was eventually traded to Cleveland and with that pick, we got Jim Kelly. Walt ended up being Joe Devlin after we traded him to St. Louis in 1976 for their second round pick in 1977. Of course, Joe proved to be a wonderful member of the organization for years. But if you want to get really goofy, you could make an argument that Walt led to Bruce. Walt, who wasn't a bad player for the Bills during his four years, getting a handful of sacks each year he was here, certainly better production than Maybin and Flowers combined, went to St. Louis and the Bills, in an apparent attempt to restock the d-line, traded their no. 1 in 1977 to the Bengals to get Sherman White, who, ironically, was drafted by the Bengals no. 2 overall behind Walt in the 1972 draft. Although not a dominating force, Sherman had a productive career with the Bills through the 1983 season. Now, like most years it seems, the Bills were crap in 1976 and the pick they sent to the Bengals for Sherman ended up being the third overall, which the Bengals used to get Eddie Edwards. Edwards went on to have a stellar career with the Bengals, ending up their all time sack leader. His best years were, arguably, 1983 and 1984. So, had the Bills kept that pick and drafted Edwards, they would have had a dominate pass rusher still in his prime when it came time for the 1985 draft as opposed to a d-line in which White had retired after the 1983 season and the sack leaders for the 1984 Bills squad came from the LB corps. So, assuming with Edwards we still had the overall pick in 1985, and he was as productive in Buffalo as he had been in Cincy, would we have drafted Bruce no. 1 overall in 1985? In any event, say what you want about the fact that a number-one overall didn't produce like we would have hoped, Walt contributed a lot more to the team than Maybin or Flowers and, arguably, Mike Williams. And unlike those three, at least the trade of Walt ended up getting us Joe Devlin, where the picks for Maybin, Flowers and Williams were entirely wasted. And finally, in case you were wondering, the very first player autograph I ever got was ... Walt Patulski.

This, this a thousand times this. I too thought the Redskins paid too much, but part of that results from my living here in DC and being embarrassed that our team didn't consider making such a crazy deal. What's more, I thought drafting Kirk Cousins was absolutely bonkers. Well, not anymore. There was a time when Buffalo might have pulled something like this off. Ah, the memories ... we were hosting a halloween party when I was attending UB. I went out to get a few more supplies an hour or so before the party when I flicked on the car radio and was floored by the news. I rushed home to tell my housemates - "blockbuster trade, C. Bennett coming to Buff." Boy did we have one heck of a party that night. Going into the 87 draft, I wanted Bennett more than anything, but was happy with Shane given Bennett being off the board. You can imagine how I felt the night of the trade. Kind of like Redskin fans with RG and KC.

took the words right out of my mouth. unbelievable. of course the smart defensive play would have been punching the ball out of bounds, but in all the excitement going for the pick is natural.

he was driving me crazy. He made a couple of really nice throws, especially the one down the sideline to Chandler. But too many drive killer throws to the dirt for an NFL starter.

who does he think he is ... Bruce Smith??

Something about Germans and Pearl Harbour.....

Most threads barely scratch the surface when it comes to analysis, but the posters on this thread have stepped up to the plate, pulled back the extraneous fatty matter and attacked the bloody sole of the question. Sanborn v. Batten indeed.

that's a trick question, as everyone leaving Buff turns onto 238 from 20 in order to avoid Alexander.... or at least I usually did on my way back to Perry...

This is an intelligent analysis. So often, windbags like Kiper go on about a team that had two first round picks or drafted in the top five and couldn't help but get quality and suggest that they had an A draft, while a team like the Bills that didn't make any foolish moves and took great talent when it came their turn and filled the needs they set out to fill gets a C. For example, last year we drafted MD with the third pick, a BPA and need position, but which was essentially a no-brainer decision and many gurus gave us a good grade as a result. However, I consider the job Nix did this year, with the 10th overall selection, to be far superior from the GM perspective. He managed to select what many, if not most consider the BPA, after several (or all) of the the pre-draft favorites were off the board, and still got his choice of O-lineman, indeed the same guy many had us using our first round pick on. Although the third round was curious, he could well fit a major need and the talent from the 4th and 5th rounds was nothing short of highway robbery. In Nix we trust indeed!

This. Loved Antoine when he was here and would watch the Vikes just to see him play. I wish Kuechly would have fallen, but if Gilmore plays anything like Antoine, I'll be very pleased with this pick.

yes, yes, yes. Do not give up our 2nd even if Kalil falls. If he falls to 10, great, otherwise get the bodies in Buddy.

I say we take him with our first pick....

This is so true. I moved to DC for work in 89, but retained my season tickets and would make the crazy 8-hour road trip for home games. So, for XXV, after not winning the SB lottery, I decided the best thing I could do to ensure a Bills victory was drive back to Buffalo to watch the game with the guys I had my season-tickets with. That didn't work out. So for XXVI, I watched at an all-Bills supporters party here in DC with a bunch of new friends I had met from Buffalo while watching away games at a supporters' bar down here, thinking we're playing the Redskins, won't the after-party be awesome if we win seeing all those smug Redskin fans crying in their beer. Nevermind. For XXVII I actually won the lottery and decided I'd better fork over some money and go to the game while I had the chance. At least I went to Disneyland the next day. By the time XXVIII rolled around, I watched the match quietly at home with my new bride and, through the first half, thought that I had finally figured it out. After that four-year period, I realized that whatever I did had no effect upon the prosperity of the Bills. Of course, I didn't watch any of the four at my childhood home with my dad, the guy who inflicted this curse on me, so you can blame me for those four disappointments... goodness knows, I blame myself every February.