Fan in Chicago

This is not really a great 'deal' per se. "Now you can stream live, out-of-market NFL games on your favorite device without a DIRECTV satellite TV subscription if you live in an apartment building where DIRECTV service is not available, attend one of these universities, or live in the following metro areas: New York City, Philadelphia, or San Francisco." As most of us are finding, we are ineligible to receive this package as we do not meet the criteria spelled out on the front page. It is DirecTV expanding its customer base by allowing more means to access the ticket. A vast majority of us will have to go the traditional route through satellite DirecTV.

Oh, so the 'it is okay because everyone else does it too' argument. My daughters have been trying that on me for years. First of all, there is no way to tell if every coach cheated in some way. Secondly, every perpetrator is judged against the evidence available against him. There is no tangential argument that can wish it away

I have heard that way too often. That is the difference between a classy team/coach and a barnyard bully.

I normally agree with your posts but this is not one of them. Of the sequence you quoted, - we arguably did not have Byrd playing at full strength last year so the loss is important but not much compared to what we got out of him last season - EJ: this is one point everyone agrees on. If he tanks, we are scr**ed - Dareus: Stupidity yes but not sure he will be suspended. Again, last season he was inconsistent so nothing says that he will be any worse. - Kiko: a huge loss for sure but compared to last season, we have more overall talent on the LB'ing side - Pettine: Again a loss but addition of Schwartz significantly reduces that. You may disagree with his schemes but he has been overall successful as a DC in the past, and hence is experienced and we don't know if it is the wide-9 he will use with the Bills All in all, it seems like Kiko's loss pushed you over the edge, but if you compare our overall talent level on D with what we had last year, we are still better off.

Good story. And welcome to the board.

I saw that link. It seems to me that EJ was rushed and the defender was close to getting in his face. EJ gets the ball out to an open SJ, who proceeds to make it look difficult and drops it. There is no rewriting history, at least on this one play. A #1 WR (which he was last year), needs to make that uncontested catch. There really is no way to give SJ the benefit of doubt on this one.

RIP

Speaking of Houstons, Lions cut Chris Houston http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/lions--chiefs-cut-cornerbacks-chris-houston-and-brandon-flowers-193940569.html

This is a reasonable viewpoint. Not only has he shown signs of immaturity off the field, but he has been late for meetings and occasionally does not appear to bring his A game with regularity. He has tons of talent and needs to live up to it consistently. I personally do NOT want him cut. If the team follows the Lynch philosophy and decides to cut bait now, Dareus will have very good trade value. IMHO, he gets another year to get his act together. But he must be on a short leash right now, especially if he does something to get suspended. FInally, those using words like 'tard', 'moron' etc regarding arguments against Dareus may want to tone it down a bit. You can choose to disagree with the notion of cutting him, but there is no place for such words in a discussion (even one that originated with a Sully article)

And this constant excuses for Spiller is what frustrates me. First it was Gailey's fault for saying he is winded and can't play in more downs. Now it is Hackett's for not utilizing him properly. IMHO, the trouble is (and I think thats what you have been saying in your posts) that Spiller's skill set is rather limited. He cannot be relied on to carry a game's worth of load. Much as people hate that term, he is a gadget player and suitable to play when many conditions, OL, OC line up perfectly. Much as he can make the highlight reel for a big gain, he leaves us wanting on most other downs. I would still like to have CJ on the team but with the understanding of his limited role in the offense. Unfortunately, some other team will pay him more than he is worth and he will be gone anyway.

Wow. I too did not know American football is played over in India. This is prety cool. My guess is that the investment may be quite modest thus the downside may not be too bad. From their website: http://www.efli.com/all-about-the-efli "Prominent investors include former Green Bay Packers linebacker Brandon Chillar, Super Bowl-winning head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin and former NFL quarterbacks Ron Jaworski and Kurt Warner. Both Ditka and Irvin are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Chillar is of Indian descent. Investors outside of the sports community include American actor and entertainment producer Mark Wahlberg." And BB - technically Bollywood is in Mumbai.

I was debating between Rodgers and Luck with the main difference being that Luck is younger. But from the games I have seen, there hasn't been enough to prove that he will be a consistent winner especially in the playoffs. At this point in time, I have to choose Rodgers. With that arm, accuracy, clutchy-ness and improvisational skills, he will take the talent that exists on the Bills very very deep into the playoffs.

This is big news in the competitive landscape. I have U verse but have to keep DirecTV dormant in the offseason just to get the Sunday Ticket during the season. It will be utterly great if the Ticket starts getting brodcast on Uverse.

In the post that I responded to, you made a case that teams with true #1 WRs dont make the playoffs. You pointed to several teams that have dynamic WRs and yet failed to win in the playoffs. That is picking one position on the entire team and correlating it to the team's lack of success. I can make a similar point with pretty much every position other than QB. That does not mean every team without a premier QB should only draft QBs in the first round. And I asked you a question regarding who or which position would you have picked in this year's draft ? You are slamming the Bills for choosing a WR. Would you have rather the Bills choose a QB ? When the second QB to be chosen was all the way down at # 22 ? Did you want them to select a QB ? You claim to have laid out an argument and I am saying it is specious at best.

So, who do you propose the Bills should have drafted this year ? How about last year ? And, Crabtree, Boldin are not #1 receivers ? What are you realy complaining about and what do you think the Bills should have done differently the past two years ?

First of all no apologies necessary. My question was in response to your post where I thought you were implying there was a no-miss prospect in this years who we could have obtained at #9 and who would help us get to the playoffs. I now see that it was not your implication. Long before the draft, I wanted the Bills to draft a LB, WR/TE and OL with our first three picks (in any order). I am very very happy that it is indeed how it turned out. I am also happy that we did not give up picks this year to move up for Watkins. I am on board with your concern regarding potentially needing the #1 next year to use for a QB. The way I see it, we will need a QB if EJ sucks this year. In which case, we will be again drafting in the top 10. with no #1 pick, we will be in the 33-42 range of picks. Say we move up into the first round at 20-25 pick, we will need our 2nd rounder or a player. That range has produced some decent QBs in the past (not named JP LOsman). So while this is just a mind exercise, the situation is not as lost as most believe it to be.

Honest question - In your opinion, which single 1st round pick would make the Bills more likely to make the playoffs than Watkins?

Hey what's wrong with engineers?

Long thread so I may have missed it, but just saw a Forbes article on the draft that Watkins' agent is the esteemed Eugene Parker. Thought that was worth mentioning.

Heck when they traded up in the third round they got TJ Graham

Nice find and read. Pretty much encapsulated in these lines: "The truth is that teams are imperfect talent evaluators, so having two later picks is better than a single early one. Risk diversification at work." I was unfortunate enough to never get into a Thaler class but starting with irrational markets, his ideas have a lot of merit. I too think the Bills should not trade up.

How many threads do we need on this trading up rumor ???

I am now going a bit off-topic here, but I am not sure how a 3rd or 4th round rookie can help fill the backup QB role. I would think that Thad Lewis is comparatively better suited for that role. If the FO is thinking of replacing the backup, they need to bring in an experienced hand (after the June or post-draft cuts). If they draft a 3rd or 4th rounder (I wouldn't mind it frankly), it means two out of Lewis, Dixon and Tuel are gone.

If EJ turns out to be a good one, it was Whaley's. If he turns to be a bust, it was Nix's. Seriously though, Nix never showed a penchant for trading and I think it was Whaley's influence that caused us to trade down. If we extend that logic, EJ should go down as Whaley's. Reality I am sure is somewhere in between - Nix helped in the scouting, Whaley weighed in and then Whaley looked for the best deal in the draft.

And not a moment too soon. good riddance.