Bill from NYC

He is going to the Jets. Bank on it.

Is this the reason for your screen name?

A very odd, disturbing story. Her father sounds very strange. It doesn't make me happy. Sadly many of these players (including Donte as soon as he hit town) get inviolved with this. It would be up to an NFL football team to thoroughly investigate this before making a big investment in any player. They can afford it, ya know?

Great post as usual, but I would like to add something. LaMarr Woodley was a mid second round pick. If one looks at his stats, they would surely be happy if he was drafted at #10. I do fully understand that all of those other teams passed him up as well, but it turned out that they were mistaken to do so. We need someone to recognize this type of talent. Upshaw has almost identical stats in terms of height, weight and speed. He is a monster against the run and has great pass rushing moves. We need him, or someone like him, desperately, as well as another ILB. And as you know lol, I would never say no to a solid LT. It is weird, but I must admit that we literally stumbled onto some decent blockers. Hairston and Pears will both be good RTs imo. I like Urbik, and Levitre is a top quality LG. Wood is good but usually hurt, same with Bell. The LB situation is like the Bills OL used to be. I guess where we differ a bit is need/bpa. I am just so burned out by the parade of DBs and RBs that I cringe at the thought of another one at #10. It has not resulted in wins. As for a wideout, imo they should re-sign SJ (hate to say it) and get a speedster later on. But a wr will sell tickets, at least in the short term, and you heard Mr. Wilson.

Kadlecik is off the charts great. I have seen Furthur twice (MSG and Jones Beach). They are doing a spring tour in the northeast, and they sold out 8 nights in NYC at the Beacon, 3 in Boston and 1 in Wallingford, Ct. I am going to Ct. and making a weekend out of it. Can't wait!

I can only offer a respectful opinion..... Sometimes it doesn't matter if a draft pick is "good" in terms of a football team winning games. Spiller is good. Whitner might even be good. These players didn't help us win football games because we have no foundation. We have an average qb protected by a LT who is usually playing hurt or out. We have absolutely NO OLBs. Our pass rush is really sad. And looking at the games we did win, there was pressure and even sacks. Imo, if a kid such as Upshaw could bring us 7 or 8 sacks and provide steady pass pressure, it would translate to more wins.

LOL!!! I love it when old Dead fans come out of the closet. What I DO know is that when you go to their concerts (now they are Furthur as I'm sure you know ), it's not all nuts. There are doctors, lawyers and CEOs in the crowd. Seriously.

Point taken. But I've been watching him for years and something seems to be missing. Remember, he was playing us. We made Sanchez and Romo look like superstars.

Interesting. We have screwed up the 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th. We never had the 10th to bust out on, but here come the speedy, ticket selling WR imo.

1) In the first qtr. with approx. 9 minutes to play, Dareus put a hit on Brady that I will always cherish. In the 2nd Qtr., he banged out Welker. He also set up the sack by Moats. Dareus is the real deal. 2) Yeah, I will say it again.....Moorman is shot. I thank him for his long term service but he is done. 3 It hurts to watch the Bills with NO credible starting OLBs. Kelsay looks good on paper, but he sucks. He is a horrible OLB and a sub-standard DE. 4) SJ? What pisses me off is that if Gailey cannot control him, FITZ should be able to. They were second teamers together. 5) Pears and Hairston are pretty good run blockers. Hairston did not look like a good LT vs. the pass rush from where I sat today. 6) Spiller? He was a good situational player today. But he is a mere fraction of FJ in terms of being a football player. 7) "Some come to laugh their past away Some come to make it just one more day Whichever way your pleasure tends If you plant ice you're gonna harvest the wind." 8) Fitz sucked, but I can't help thinking that he is hurt. His arm CAN'T be that bad!!! 9) If anyone cares, I think that Brady is on his way down. 10) Chan was pass happy today, no doubt. 11) I for one enjoy the off-season on TBD more than I do during the season. We will be privy to the views of people who truly follow the draft, and know what they are talking about. Speaking of which, please keep us posted as to our draft slot, hence this ugly loss. 12) Happy New Year to all of you and your loved ones. And thanks again for caring enough about my rants to read them. 13) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This won't go over well, but I don't see a place for Kyle Williams in a 3/4 defense. He simply does not have the body type to play DE. The man is a DT, and a pretty good one at that. Also, in a 3/4, they will have to make a decision wrt Dareus. Do you want to keep him at nose? I'm not so sure.

No doubt Bob, but the Bills LB corps is as bad as the OL used to be. Mind you they are not great as we speak, but players such as Pears, Urbik, Levitre, Bell, and Woods at least can play at a professional level. At this point (imo), Barnett is the only NFL caliber LB on the entire team. This is obviously beyond unacceptable. The good news is that LBs are not that tough to draft, especially this season. There are 3 at Alabama that I think will be solid, if not stars. I hope that Gailey/Nix go right to Bama and load up the truck.

You bring up some good points, and mention the 2006 draft. As I have said before, this was the worst fiasco I have ever seen. This draft was an extremely good one, and we had an extra, early pick in round 3. The draft was SO deep at OT that Trueblood slipped to #27 in round 2, and Eric Winston lasted until the 2nd pick of round 3. Whitworth went late in the second round as well. http://www.drafthistory.com/index.php/years/2006 Marv had offers to trade down. He said that one contained a second and a fourth. The world was his. He might have been able to trade down and draft Ngata. He then could have filled both OT slots and had premium picks to spare. Instead, with 4 picks in the first 3 rounds, we came away with Whitner, McCargo and Youboty. This on a team with huge problems on both lines and a young quarterback. It's tough to recover from this. Other teams took these players and are reaping the rewards. But ultimately you are correct. The Bills are notorious for creating holes and then chasing after players in the draft to fill the void. I sure hope they sign SJ and break this pattern.

And somehow, this team was left with not 1 credible OLB on their roster, and perhaps only 1 credible ILB. This would seem impossible. And once again, it's great to draft dbs and rbs after a team has a foundation in place. If you try to build a team from those positions you might miss the playoffs for 12 years. It could happen.

You left out the part about selling tickets. Was this an oversight, or do you think that selling tickets (more money for RW) had nothing to do with Spiller being selected at #9 as a situational running back?

Sorry Dan, I respectfully disagree. Nix/Gailey rushed to the podium to draft Spiller at #9. In 2011, they took A. Williams with the 2nd pick in round 2, and Nix openly stated that he had "numerous trade down offers in every round." We will never know, but he might have been able to draft Williams AND acquire a first round pick in 2012. The 2nd pick of round 2 comes with a price. At some point, a team has to build a foundation. And I don't know of a great or even very good team that was built upon running backs and dbs. At this point, we have little to no pass rush. But Mr. Wilson is already talking about receivers. If we let SJ walk and draft a 1st round receiver, nothing will change in all probability. Why would it? But, a flashy wr will sell tickets. And if after 2 years he has a very good game, people will call him the "bpa" and a "good pick." Mr. Wilson is a genius.

Mallett is said to be a top 5 talent with a 10 cent head. There were substance rumors, etc. Without this, he could have been a top 5 pick. He makes throws that only a couple of people on earth can make. If he gets traded, it will be because he is acting out, and Bellichick is not going to put up with bad behavior. He doesn't have to. I was all about drafting him last season but unfortunately, that ship has sailed.

Sometimes it works out well to let an injury prone player walk. Jonas Jennings is an example of this. That said, I am OK with the Bills keeping Bell. He is, as you said, "pretty good" when he is on the field. It would allow the team more room to fill the void at LB. I want them to pay SJ as well. But none of us should be surprised if Bell continues to get injured.

One of the wins came against the Redskins, and their OL was decimated. And the Bengals game was disturbing. Their rookie qb is a good one, but we gave him all day and made him look great. There are other examples too. And truthfully, a team like ours should never throw out the possibility of trading down. I would love to see them stockpile first and second round picks instead of trading them away for players such as McCargo, Losman and Poz. All we have is hope, ya know?

I fully agree with all of this. But may I ask.....do you think that he is hurting? I for one do. Again, I really do know that he lacks the desirable amount of arm strength in virtually all categories. But, I have never seen him with this little zip. He was struggling yesterday to make really simple throws, or so it seemed to me. What I do like about Fitz is his mental and physical coordination. He doesn't look like an athlete, but he is one imo. But in Buffalo, one needs a bit of a gun, which he does clearly lack. Imagine him with the arm of RJ or JP! This leads us to the draft, which sadly, I think is a done deal. It looks as if Ralph wants a wr. However, do you see any "franchise qbs" that will be available when we pick? You follow this more than I do. If there are none out there, I am about LBs in 2012. Upshaw reminds me of a perhaps even better Woodley. I think Hightower will go in round 1, and I like Nico Johnson more every time I watch him. Sheppard scares me. Imo Barnett is the only legit LB on this team. Not good, ya know? I hope your Christmas was great! Please send my best wishes to your wife and the crew. I will be sending you a PM soon.

Pass rush is a must. We are fielding a 3/4 defense that has not one credible OLB. It's amazing that we won 6 games.

Obviously I am not doing a good job of making myself clear. Of course we need good players, but a foundation needs to be built. How many games can a team win with great RBs and DBs, but no pass rush, and problems at OT and QB?

Thank you. Drafts are about building a winning team. They are not about whether or not a particular player is "good."

Fitz does need to step into many throws. This is a fact and when he does, he has a nice short to medium range fastball. Yesterday he did not. He threw one out pattern on the left side at the feet of SJ, who appeared to be open. I think the poster who states that the truth will come out about his condition is correct.