Fan in Chicago

Lost his confidence ? When, in his 1.5 years here has he shown any ? Save for that one pre-season TD run last year ? I, for one, cannot get my hopes up as I can't see what is different this week except for him likely to get more touches. Purely because of his draft position, I would keep him for next season and improve our blocking. If he still under-performs, can him mid-season. If he plays well this Sunday and the rest of this season, it will be a most pleasant surprise. As of now, it looks like the FO has blown their first pick.

I happen to agree with this part of your post. And now may be a very good time to sign him if at that price point.

Are they going to bill this game as the Comedy Hour? 'Back to back, four quarters of the best comedy that reality TV has to offer'

Are you saying that we should not draft a stud WR in the early rounds just because these three did not turn out to be the game breakers we were hoping them to be? I strongly disagree. We have several needs on this team and we should continue the strategy to draft BPA. As I stated above, if we hit on a great WR, it will also help Stevie and Nelson. I think in the early rounds, we should draft best out of QB, WR, OL, pass rusher.

I see that the Bills @ Jets won. Enjoy (I think).

Voted. Thanx for your service. Atleast the game will be worth a few laughs

Nelson has continually impressed me also. If we get a speedy WR next year, the combination of Barn Burner - StevieJ - DNelson will be virtually unstoppable. It will also be time to say bye to Parrish and relegate Jones to PS.

Of the list that you provide, I can argue that both JP and Trent Edwards' careers were destroyed by lack of player development. Both did not have stability in terms of a good OL, consistent OCs and stable receiving corps. Bledsoe was let go one season too soon which could have helped JP develop. And mind you, I am NOT looking for a Brady, Rodgers or Manning type of QB. A half way decent one such as Rivers or Flacco would have been more than adequate for the Bills success. Coming back to Fitz, he is also by no means an elite QB and I don't think he ever will be. But he is a very good stop gap and a bridge to whenever we draft our own Roethlisberger. UNtil such a time, Fitz needs atleast a decent OL and some stud WRs which will get us to the playoffs. Hence, instead of running Fitz out of town in the coming offseason or one week into the 2012 season, we are better off drafting/acquiring a rookie QB, OL, WR (I am talking about offense only right now) and allowing this rook to develop under Fitz. So that is the point of my post. Probably most of the top half of our draft and then some. Not a trade that Nix is likely to make. Most likely we sit and trade up a couple of spots if a premier QB is available. The good news is that of the teams likely to pick before us(as it looks now), only the Redskins and Cardinals are likely to pick a QB. Which will leave us with the third best QB in the draft which wont be too bad I suppose.

And yet again, we prepare to sacrifice a QB at the altar of inadequate blocking and second tier receiving corps.

By the same token, we should have traded away Roscoe Parrish, McGee, Merriman and Bell. Correct ? Do you even see the flaw of your logic ? Using Evans injury after two games with the Ravens as proof that it was a good move for the Bills is stupid.

Ofcourse I agree with you. But my point is that proactively getting rid of players without knowing that their replacements are better, is stupid. At the time they traded Evans, cut Hang etc , what evidence was there that their replacements were better (even for Hang at the backup center/guard position). As an example - I could see the logic of trading Lynch - he was a time bomb with his off-field transgessions and FJax was doing well. Trent failed terribly and there was enough evidence on Fitz to say that he would be the better choice going forward.

Yes. We cannot players go in the hope that draft picks or some other teams castoffs will fill in with no drop off in production. Even if Whitner, Poz and Evans were deemed to not be superstars, they should have been kept (okay, maybe not Poz due to the cost) till it was clear that Searcy, Sheppard and Easley/Jones/Nelson were better. Its inexcusable that these and Hang (with no alternate center) were let go at that time.

Okay, I will if you try to be a bit more descriptive yourself. My point is that for a guy who supposedly came in with a lot of football knowledge, he sure looks to have made moves which seem to be anything but. Getting rid of players before we have proven replacements ? Bombing on a coaching pick ?

You are better than such a response, DrD. Even though I listed 'only' four, Such mistakes are crucial. Especially the decision to hire GEdwards may have been the worst of them as he has shown to be incapable of putting players in a position to succeed. Spencer Johnson, Carrington as LBs ? Leaving middle wide open ? Exactly. The decision was wrong at the time it was made, not in retrospect.

These last two weeks have made it obvious that all these 'trust me, we know football' decisions since the beginning have caught up with the team. Here are decisions which were justified for one reason or the other at the time and are now looking to be a series of miscues: - Hiring George Edwards: At the time of the hire, there was no indication of why he would have been good - Picking Spiller with the #9 pick: Was supposed to be a playmaker. ANd yet in 1.5 seasons has done no more than we expect out of a 5th or 6th rounder. BPA he was not - Letting Poz, Whitner go: Not saying these were great but created holes where we did not have to. I can excuse Poz as we replaced with a better LB in Barnett. However, we seem to just create holes and patch up instead of re-building - Trading Evans: I reconciled at the time saying he wasnt getting open and we wouldnt be able to use him as we dont have the OL to sustain blocks. However, seeing Stevies' underwhelming numbers this year, it is becoming obvious that Evans' presence was helping Stevie (and the Bills) a lot. The fact that he is injured now does not excuse the decision to let him go as it was not known he would get injured at that time - Letting Hang go: Sure he looked 'weak' but he would be a good swing backup as G and C. Nix has blown smoke for a while now. 'Build through the draft and keep your own' ? Really ?

It has http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/138614-von-miller/page__st__40

I am saying that he did very well against us. 70+% completion if I remember correctly. He may suck but we suck so much on D that we even made him look like a very good QB. Sure the Jets beat us as a team but my point is that we Bills fans laugh at his incompetence when the Bills did little to slow him down.

Nice post and from someone knowledgeable about the game. I agree with you on most points. Despite said lack of talent on the OLB/DE position, I think the current unit is underperforming. In fact, I had even forgotten we still have Andra Davis on the roster till you and Simon reminded me. With the personnel we have, a competent coach with the right schemes could get a lot done. We need a Chan Gailey type on the D side of the ball. I have high hopes for our picks from last year and hope AWilliams does well at CB so we dont have to draft another one high.

And yet, the dude continues to kick our rears with great regularity.

I am here and I was worried about his size. Yet the Bills FO would have drafted him if Newton and Dareus were gone. The Bills had to make the safe pick this year after blowing so many #1s recently. Given that, I would have rooted for Dareus even if we were picking #2 cos all scouting things being equal: (1) Our run D was a top priority this year (2) We needed more size in the front -7. (3) Dareus is versatile - can play nose or DT. So, yes Von Miller has looked but I have no regrets with our pick. Also, note that having Dumervil on the other side helps Von Miller immensely as opposing Offenses have to pick their poison. Denver's overall D is very good and we are going to have trouble when we play them.

Thru 9 games, he has 44 catches for 531 yards about half of what he did last season when Evans was around. He only has 4 TDs so far. He is a productive WR for us and fits in the Bills' system. However, we need a deep threat who can get open and has good hands. (Evans had the speed but could not consistently get open and was not versatile). We absolutely have to draft/acquire one who fits this description. I think Stevie will shine even more in that situation. Having said that, I don't think he is a top flight #1 WR. I want him on the Bills for a long time, but not to be paid top 5 money due to his limitations. Maybe top 10 money.

Limitless petered out after a promising beginning. Source Code on the other and, was terrific and a great followup to Moon by Duncan Jones. We need more such creativity in the SciFi/Action genre

"When after all It was you and me..."