Bill from NYC

This would lower his ypc stats.

If he was of any substantial use they would have kept Kiko. Why give up a running back who compares to Sanders and Sayers? Spiller is an incomplete player who shows flashes once in a while but makes crucial mistakes and doesn't take over games. Remember when he would stop the clock inside the deuce when they were trying to kill it? These idiotic mistakes and numerous missed blocks are tough to blame on Marrone, unless one really wants to.

That belongs in the positive thread.

Oh, he will make big strides all right. This much is certain. The direction of his strides? Not so sure. No warning points for me, right?

Spiller seems like a very nice guy. However, he was a stupid draft selection and a so-so player, talent notwithstanding. I am glad to see him leave the team and replaced with a far superior player.

A bit extreme, no bt? After 15 years of horrible football, the list of accomplishments is far shorter than the list of dismal failures. I want them to win as much as you. Do I have faith in EJ? Absolutely not but this doesn't make me profound or "right." I just watch the games and root for the Bills.

Very good post. It IS strange to be a Bills Fan. It is 100% reasonable to think that they will make the playoffs this season but if they do not, how many of us will be truly shocked? That said, I could never be a fan of any other NFL team. It isn't possible. But being a Bills fanatic often comes with a price tag, many of us have issues. I used to literally throw things on draft day. The worst was when they drafted Whitner. When we drafted Spiller, I got a phone call seconds after the pick. The person said, "Do you like Spiller?" My answer was, "Yes. I also like colon cancer." I was talking to my daughter. I won't name names, but I have received phone calls after first round defensive backs were drafted from people on this board. They put me on speaker so others could hear my string of obscenities. I have since calmed down but not completely. You think I am alone? Promo lets out his frustration by blasting other fans. CB97 and others are portraying EJ as John Elway. GG and metz lives spend hours trying to convince them that Elway was a little better. These are smart people too. I have no idea how they view me, but I wouldn't trade these guys for a non-defensive back first round pick! Bills fans have to cope in our own ways. PS: My father was born in Alabama and came to NYC when he was very young. I am a life long Crimson Tide Fan, not a bandwagon guy. The Tide is ALWAYS good. Best coaches too. I have actually felt guilty for being a fan of an entity that is just so great. Yeah, Bills Fans have issues. GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bingo! Many posters point to EJ's stats and compare them to those of accomplished qbs early in their careers, and I get this. That said, many of his completions were not very well thrown (behind receivers) and others just didn't lead them. I think that if EJ, with all of his talent, was accurate, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And it remains to be seen if this can change. I for one hope that he can correct these huge flaws but it wont be easy. And, this team is too chock full of talent to waste a season due to the growing pains of EJ Manuel. I want to make the playoffs. Enough is enough. Jmo.

I for one am not. Many forget how good he was early in the season. This is a kid with huge talent who made mistakes along the way which cost him millions of dollars. I am sure he knows this. As the season progressed he seemed to run out of gas which isn't unusual for rookies, let alone rookies as big as him. It is unknown if injuries factored in, which wouldn't surprise me. My hope is that he continues to work hard and of course stay healthy because if he does, we will have a truly good football player on our team. I focused on him all season and fwiw, I am saying that the kid is a badass who can be as good as he wants to be.

Nice work!!! Yep. Allow me to toss in Coery Louchiey, Bill Conaty and Corbin Lacina for good measure. Remember the OC Fowler? He would get shoved to the ground by small linebackers. Looks like we made our cases, no?

This response is ONLY about the above bolded sentence. Last seasons OL was pretty bad, but not even close to being the worst in 30 years. Remember Greg Jerman (THE worst OT I ever saw)? Joe Panos (who could barely stand up)? Jerry Ostroski sucked but even he wasn't the worst. I wish I had time to post the names of the rest of these disasters. Remember the free agent guard we signed from Carolina? Who was the 6th round pick from Houston? Players would hit out qbs late sometimes drawing blood, and this horror show wouldn't even help the qb up. Someone please help me here with some more names. Compared to what we have seen since the mid nineties, this OL was better than average. Sad but true.

I would love this but I doubt it. As a Tide Fan, I watched almost every game Kujo has played. Fluker was the RT on that championship team and he was 10x stronger and 10x the mauler than was Kujo. Kujo's strength was his agility, and btw it didn't hurt lining up next to Chance Warmack. Kujo is a great kid. He truly is. Nobody on this board would be happier than me if he turns out to be a great, or even a good OT. That said, I'm not counting on it. Cam Robinson as a freshman was better than Kujo ever will be. My pick for biggest surprise? I have a hunch that Preston Brown is going to crush people. I can even see him getting a few sacks. Jmo.

This is the way I view it. In an act of stupidity, Levy/Jauron drafted Whitner at #8. Levy said that he turned down multiple trade offers and again, it was a very solid draft class. Whitner held out then arrived in town and had a "minor" domestic incident. He went on to collect approx. 36 million real dollars from the Bills. 36 MILLION DOLLARS!!! Did he win us games? I seem to remember 1, this in a 5 year span. There is no way for me to look at this selection as anything but an awful pick, and I saw it coming the very second he was drafted. I suppose it's all a matter of semantics. Was Whitner a bust? Did Levy/Jauron bust out on this (and most) selections? Either way, the fact that he didn't completely suck did not win games for the Buffalo Bills.

I will go with the under. Big time.

I agree 100% The thing is, was Percy Harvin signed to be a stronger Goodwin? If so, there is a need for another possession receiver, especially given the departure of the much maligned Chandler. Btw, when I saw Goodwin run back a TD on a kickoff, it almost knocked me out of my chair. I never saw a player get through the crowd that fast after receiving the kick, and I was around for Mel Gray. That said, I have no idea of how healthy he is and I think that when the smoke clears, this will be the deciding factor between keeping Goodwin or Hogan. Jmo.

Agreed. My only concern with him is that he is a lousy football player who takes up a roster spot and cap space. Other than that it's all cool.

Please explain as this relates to Goodwin.

The above is of course true. The thing is, there would be absolutely no talk of EJ being cut, etc. if the people who cover this sport for a living thought that he was any good. There are exceptions. Jim Miller seems to like EJ. And that is great. Many of the folks around here are Jet fans. I must tell you that none of them are the least bit worried about EJ and the truth is that there is little to no reason why they should be.

Yes, and I said this from day 1. You had players without a clue about what to do hurrying up to do it at a faster pace. That said, EJ has a lot to prove to even start, let alone excel. Jmo.

Oh absolutely! I was with him at Lot 1 one year in October and asked him if he knew of any 3rd or 4th round guard for the following season. He had 3 or 4 names in a matter of seconds. Now THAT is a funny story! I was never more angry as a Bills fan than I was when they made that pick. My behavior was childish whereas I tossed a clip board accross my living room and was screaming obscenities. Nobody was home but still, inexcusable behavior. Then as I recall, I let loose on this board. If you noticed, I didn't freak at yet another DB being taken with our first selection. I feel it was quite the dumb move mind you but maybe it will turn out well. However, I don't know as much as Whaley.

Year after year, many posters have made better draft decisions (in terms of their posts of course) than the Buffalo Bills. This my friend is the ugly truth. Being an NFL Executive does not (as you well know) automatically make one a good decision maker on draft day. None of us know more about football than Marv Levy, but a huge majority would have drafted a better player than Donte Whitner with the #8 pick in the stacked 2006 draft so yes, there are posters here who do understand football.

Injuries CB, injuries. In Buffalo he was extremely durable. Seriously, how many games did he miss? I credit him with helping Glenn develop, and Glenn's play did fall off after Levitre's departure. I would take him back in an instant IF I knew he was healthy. CB, the Bills DO make a mistake every now and then, ya know?

Losing Levitre truly did hurt the team. As I recall a couple of posters predicted this would happen.