Bill from NYC

1) Congrats to Spencer Johnson on the big play. He is a high effort guy who is playing out of position. He looked really happy and I felt good for him. 2) I was ready to say nice things about Bell, but then I saw him walking off the field once again. Wow. 3) McKelvin is probably one of the fastest players in the NFL. 4) Call me an apologist, I don't care, but I cannot believe Fitz was throwing at full strength. His arm isn't THAT weak. 5) SJ and Nelson were getting open today. Sorry Mr. Wilson, receivers are not our biggest problem. Not even close. 6) Another probowl level game by Levitre. They need to rip up his contract and give him a new one. 7) Dwan Edwards is a player. He was personally responsible for one of the picks. 8) Hey CJ, nice game!!! He made people miss, and this is obviously important for smaller backs. Yes, he made some nice moves, and did so both on running and pass plays. 9) "I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream. I can tell by the mark he left you were in his dream. Ah child of countless trees, ah child of boundless seas." 10) Kelsay? He played his heart out today and compiled some good numbers. 11) I got a text during the game from a huge Packer fan. He said that Raymer cost them a playoff spot years ago. I believe him. 12) The entire secondary played well today. Amazing what a pass rush will do for these guys, no? 13) Merry Christmas to all on TBD and you loved ones!!! It was nice to get an early gift from the Bills. 14) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are a bit slow, but they get open. They aren't THAT bad. Look at our OLBs. That IS a very, unspeakably bad unit. Our pass rush makes rookies and scrubs look like Joe Montana. Every single year I can be counted upon to ask for blockers in the draft. I still want them, but our biggest need is OLB. We have none.

>>>>>We've got to get receivers. If he hasn't gotten anybody to throw to, he's not going to win many games,"<<<<< This is a very depressing statement by Mr. Wilson. It reminds one of Spiller "adding excitement." It also makes me want to not waste time thinking about the draft this season. Mr. Wilson is a genius. He knows JUST how to play to the crowd. There will be a horde of posters who would be thrilled with a first round receiver. And if it after 2 years he has a 2 touchdown game it will be the fans, not Mr. Wilson calling for "patience." And they will justify the idiotic selection. We will have a question mark at QB, no pass rush, and a dime store LT, but a shiny little new toy to sell tickets ala Spiller. This sucks.

I think that Marv got more room from Mr. Wilson than anyone in the history of the franchise. He trusted Marv; this is evident. And he gave him a lot of room to help screw up the team. What do you think?

Yes. When Polian/Butler drafted these guys the pieces were in place. They had drafted a great QB, an OL, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, and a pass rush that included Bruce Smith. And btw Butler/Wade signed Bryce and Big Ted. Levy, ever the idiot, was drafting players such as Jeff Burress instead of guys to fill the void as these great players aged. Additionally, he was outcoached in superbowls. This is beyond dispute imo. When he came back and brought in Jauron, the 2006 draft speaks for itself, wouldn't you say? And it never got better. Every draft that Levy/Jauron were involved in was not good. The free agent signings were even worse. But, the above is merely an opinion. If you want to talk about how great Levy was for this franchise, I am willing to listen. It's all good on this end.

Yes, but the Bills only do this with defensive backs and running backs. It is absolutely impossible to build a winning team this way. I mean 0% chance. And by the way the 2 culprits are not Gailey/Nix. It's obvioulsly Levy and Ralph. When Polian left and Bruce/Andre/Thurman/Kelly were starting to age, Levy went full scale after defensive backs. He did the same thing in 2006 with his idiotic conterpart Jauron. Some day people will see just how much Levy damaged this franchise. Ralph likes "excitement adding" ticket selling running backs. It's obvious, no?

http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=84728&draftyear=2012&genpos=OLB http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=10128&draftyear=2007&genpos=de Who reminds you of Woodley?

Again, I don't hate Spiller. I hate that the Bills used a #9 to draft a small, situational running back to play behind a weak OL, in order to "create excitement." In other words sell tickets. I am not one to try and form a consensus. In fact, I like dialogue. I make the contention that Spiller was a dumb selection for this team. Not as bad as Whitner, but very bad. One other thing....it IS exciting to watch a running back with speed to get through a hole and score a td. On his first touchdown, Spiller had a hole that a truck could have driven through. Levitre and believe it or not Rhinehart paved him a highway on that particular play. Fans can point to runs like this and justify neglecting the foundation of a football team. But a lot less people noticed who threw these key blocks. Those guys win games, but they don't really sell tickets. Hopefully, the Bills will draft better and solve their problems.

It is possible that you are correct. But what I saw today from Bell was a soft, weak, small little ineffective football player.

It is a place that seats 5,000 people. We have a bunch of people going, and it would be great to hook up. We will talk, ok? Pears looked good on a couple of runs. Bell looked very bad. VERY bad.

1) How freaking smart is Simon? Seriously. He told us that Dwan Edwards could play. He did. Look at my thoughts from last week. Thank you SDS for providing us a site on which internet posters know more than the people who actually run this football team. And yes, D. Edwards played a very good game. 2) Bell sucked today. He flat out sucked. Please, disagree with me if you will. Let's discuss it. I make the contention that he was a bag of s&^t. 3) It was sad watching Fitz today. 4) The Grateful Dead is back due to John Kadlecik. Got my tickets for April 7, 2012 in Wallingford, Ct. if anyone cares. 5) One more shout-out to Marcel Dareus. He's a great kid. 6) Spiller had a great statistical game. If anyone wants to blast me for calling this a stupid pick, you really should do so. It's all cool. 7) I am proud to be a Bills Fan, and always will be. You will never read a post from me about giving up, etc. It's too late for this. I watched the game today with some great people. Diehard Bills fans and great friends. It's all cool. 8) They need to re-sign Urbik. Seriously, he is good. he belongs on our roster. 9) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's hope. But I will be looking at clutch, game saving/winning plays more than stats. And btw I might be alone in this, but I am hoping for some wildcat from Brad Smith. Enjoy the game.

I can't see any other choices. Whether it involves reaching a bit or trading down, the Bills abslutely have no pass rush whatsoever from the outside. A legit pass rushing OLB would take blockers away from Dareus, which could potentially make him a literal star. Even if they do fall in love with a qb, they will lose if they do not dramatically increase the pass rush. As for LT, it depends on how much they think Bell is worth, and how many more years they are willing to wait for him. Hairston looks like a RT from where I sit, but who really knows? Pears was a good signing. It's nice to have another body who can play but imo the LT position is far from solidified.

Spiller will have a good statistical game today.

And the year before the Colts got Manning, they drafted LT Tarik Glenn and RT Adam Meadows in rounds 1 and 2. Still, if you think a QB will be great, it's rough to pass him up because they are just so rare. That said, the Bills need pass rush and a LT. They don't have credible OLB on the entire roster, and this is unimagineable imo.

Again, I agree. But do you think that Mr. Wilson will shell out the big bucks to Fitz AND draft a first round qb? I am NOT asking what he should do. I am asking what you think he will do. Imo, a healthy Upshaw and some more help at OLB would win us at least 1 more game. More if he turns out to be a stud. The fact that we lack a professional level OLB absolutely HAS to be addressed.

Yes, but my gut tells me that there is no way they will draft a first round QB. If SJ walks, they will draft a wr imo (NOT what I would want). If he stays, one would think they would go after an OLB, considering they have none on the roster.

So true. Imagine the effect that a young Schobel and his 10 or so qb sacks would have on this team? And he did this with Jauron actually sending him back on coverage at times. Dareus makes plays on his own. He would look twice as good with an Aaron Schobel that blockers would absolutely have to account for. Something else I believe that many fans miss is wrt the secondary. It is very hard imo to tell how good or bad they are because the Bills have zero pass rush. They would HAVE to be better if qbs were hurried, sacked, etc. And yes, if they let Stevie walk, I fully expect another Ralph Wilson "add excitement" pick, which would simply be a continuation of our losing ways. And, if they plan to keep Fitz (which my gut tells me they do after the big contract), SJ is his favorite target. They have a long history together dating back to when they were second stringers. SJ might not be a true #1. I don't dispute this, but they need to pay him and focus on pressing needs that exist, instead of creating yet another.

There is nothing in your post to dispute. And I am all about the Bills drafting a qb who they think will be great. But looking at the roster, the hole at OLB is stunning, frightening and embarrassing. Spencer Johnson? Kelsay? One is a marginal backup DT. The other is a worse than average DE. These are our starting OLBs. As for LT, management will either want to keep Bell for big bucks or not. They have liked him for years, but he is small and almost always out or playing injured. Pass rushers and OLTs are the hardest players to draft after qbs. This is a problem for the Bills. The bottom line (for me) is that I hope they devote their earliest picks to these 3 positions. If they focus on dbs and rbs, nothing will change. In fact, they will probably get worse.

Probably so, but neither of us will ever know.

It's a history of long term neglect wrt the OL. The Levy/Jauron era crippled this team by chasing after rbs and dbs, which was absolutely stupid. As for Nix/Gailey, if you take away the moronic selection of Spiller, they at least tried to make the team stronger in important areas. This leaves us with a team that is very shaky at OT, and has not 1 legit OLB on the entire football team. If there is no qb left who they think will be great when we select, it would be inexcuseable not to go after these positions. The above is what stud linemen do.

I can. The year Jauron wasted a 1st on McKelvin. Note the very next selection. http://www.drafthistory.com/index.php/years/2008

It's normal to feel this way. We all probably have one idiotic draft choice that haunts us worse than the other ones.

Nobody can prove there is any kind of manipulation, but I think that enough evidence exists to at least warrant an investigation. And, power has shifted hands. The Italian "Mafia" is no longer strong. In fact, the biggiest bookies are state governments. The networks would seem to be where the money is. They have a lot riding on seeing fan favorites win, right? Again, none of us have concrete proof of corruption. But yesterday, a Bils receiver was impeded and struck in the head. A flag was tossed and picked up. This imo merits mention and investigation. Jmo.

I too must admit that I was tempted to leave the place in which I watched the game in the first quarter, but I couldn't.