Albany,n.y.

You have it backwards. Sam Wyche was recognized as one of the best coaches of young QBs until coach killer JP Losman became his student. Mike Mularkey has had success with QBs before & after coach killer JP Losman was his QB. The only place JP isn't a coach killer is in the minor leagues.

Considering that we don't have any NFL starting caliber OTs, Bills scouts are very interested in 2 things that are typically not included in combine workouts: When sacked does the QB avoid fumbling & when sacked does the QB get up or will he be injury prone. After JP & Trent this is a top Bills priority. The Bills wanted Aaron Maybin to go workout the QBs & sack them, but withdrew their invitation after being unable to find any film at 1 Bills Drive that indicates Maybin would know how to sack a QB.

Lindsay Lohan is from Long Island-she wants to be known as being from Downstate.

I used to get into the draft a lot more than I do now, including writing a mini report that I would send to friends & post here. I lost my will to get that into the draft & I no longer spend April reading reports & watching tapes like I used to. I had a lot of misses, including comparing Tom Brady to Todd Collins, saying Syracuse QB McNabb could never go from running the freeze option to running an NFL offense, but my biggest gems & my biggest warning came at QB. In 1998 I said: Leaf offers tremendous potential but is more of a risk (than Manning) due to his lack of maturity and tendency to put on weight when left unsupervised. In addition Leaf is a junior who really had only 1 great year. There have been more underclassmen 1st round busts at QB than there have been success stories. Later on I said "he reminds me a lot of Scott Mitchell". A paragraph down, in the same year I wrote "Matt Hasselbeck could be a late round to free agent find. He's big, smart and tough. Players like him can last a long time in the NFL provided they are brought along slowly and not pressured to be starters early on in their careers. My final report was written in 2005. While I was off base on a lot of the QBs, I went back to a basketball analogy when Swen Nater was a top pick and had a decent career in the ABA and NBA after never starting a game in college. I wrote: Matt Cassel has been buried on the depth chart at USC and may be better than a lot of college team's starters. I used to draft the same time the Bills were on the clock. My best late round draft pick was TE Bo Scaife.

I've lived in 3 different parts of the state: NYC-LI, WNY, Capital Region. Each area likes to define themselves as unique. In NYC they define themselves by their borough. Don't tell someone from Brooklyn that they live in NYC, they're from Brooklyn, not "The City" which is Manhattan. There are a ton of people in the NYC metro area that have no clue about the state's geography. That's why it's easy to refer to everything as "Upstate". People in WNY don't like to be grouped with the rest of the state as "Upstate" they prefer "Western New York". Downstate, many don't realize the state is big enough to go that far west, the same people wouldn't know the distance from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. I currently live in the suburbs of Albany and work in the City of Albany. Although the natives prefer Capital Region or Capital District, here there is not a problem with the term "Upstate" like there is in WNY. That might be because we're basically due north of NYC. Here's another take. I work at a State agency that has to use economics to determine different cost/price levels of real estate. When we divide the state economically in order to get the right costs on certain properties, including various utilities that use a cost approach to valuation, before getting area specific, we break it down into 2 groupings: Downstate, which consists of the NYC metro area & LI and "Rest of State". Many people call what we refer to economically as Rest of State, "Upstate NY".

There's only one position that if you screw it up, it wastes years for your franchise-QB. From 1998-2001 it was Rob Johnson, even though Flutie was an option 3 of those 4 years, Johnson's presence prevented the Bills from bringing in any serious threat to be the QB of the future. JP Losman cost the Bills the 2005-2008 seasons because even when he wasn't playing, they passed on several better alternatives like Rodgers. He wasn't a factor in 2004 when Bledsoe was still here. Trent Edwards has been wasting our time since 2007, since he was determined to be the future early in his rookie year. Until the Bills get it right, QB futility will continue to destroy any chance of winning. Every time they latch on to a QB of the future & don't get a hit, it sets the franchise back about 3 years.

There were a few reasons we didn't do that (split it 50/50 with my sister). We didn't know it was a tax deferred IRA until we received the checks. We didn't know much more about the accounts other than the account numbers, amounts and the place we had to send the paperwork to close them. I think my sister called them & they sent us paperwork to fill out to close the accounts. We were doing the same thing on bank accounts & CDs that were not taxable & it just seemed to be another account. When the checks arrived we found out when they stated how much was taxable. Now I know I could have done some rollover even at that point, but I figured screw it, I'll just pay the taxes & get it over with. Also, when I got the check I called the IRS to make sure it was taxable. In the process, they told me I'd have to find out what kind of account it was. When I called the company, I found out they were a subsidiary of AIG, who was in serious trouble back then, so I really wouldn't have wanted to do anything that kept the money in their hands.

Getting $ back from feds, paid the state 1/10th what the feds are sending me. Reason I'm getting a good amount from the feds is combination of paying a ton to the state last year (inherited a taxable IRA) & writing it off on this year's taxes & the make work pay credit that just about everyone who isn't making a ton get. My refund is double what it will be next year. People should only get refunds if they are not living paycheck to paycheck. When I was, I made sure I never got a refund & took the extra $ in my paycheck.

Who'd have thought that the line of Peters, Dockery, Preston, Butler & Walker would look like blocks of granite compared to our current blocks of talc line.

Bill Polian & Ozzie Newsome seem to have a much better read on things than the clowns who have been drafting players the last decade at 1 Bills Drive. It's a lot less of a crap shoot when one know what he's doing.

I just paid for my season ticket online at the Bills website. The price of the season tickets are down $21 from last year, here's why. Last year we had 2 exhibition games & 7 regular season games, total 9 games @$45 a game=$405 + $4 Service fee=$409. This year we only have 1 exhibition game & 7 regular season games, total 8 games @$48 a game =$384 + $4 Service fee = $388. I give the tickets to preseason games away for free & always figure my actual costs based on the regular season games. Last year my true cost was $58.43/game. This year it's $55.43 a game.

If the Bills scouts, including Buddy, have a franchise QB rating on either Bradford or Clausen, including their opinion he can play in Buffalo's weather, my answer is they must trade up.

Wood's pick came from the Peters trade. We traded up in the 2nd round for Levitre.

...and Clausen never had a teammate break his leg in practice to teach him a lesson.

Here's proof McShay is an idiot: He thinks Clausen is the biggest risk & he puts him #2 on his board behind Bradford. Why would anyone put a guy who he has such little respect for as his 2nd best QB in the draft? He makes no sense with his words vs what he put on his board.

We now have seen two posters call Trent out over saying he's not a fan in spite of the fact that they have no friggin clue what he said. If you had heard the words, you would know that Trent said them in the context that he's a player, not a fan. It's that simple. No different than if you said "I'm not a Bills' player, I'm a Bills' fan." Or the time Marv said when you start listening to the fans you end up in the stands with them. If you want to knock Trent for his on field play, that's fine. You don't need to twist the meaning of his words around just to fit your agenda. You either didn't hear what he said or have major comprehension problems when you hear people speak. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't hear them & you're just parroting something that some idiot on WGR said.

If Reed & Owens go, Evans is the only proven NFL receiver on the roster. The reality is the dream team of Hardy & S. Johnson might not be on the roster next season, unless we do trade Evans. Just like a lot of other positions, the Bills don't have anything but a bunch of unproven never beens at WR, with the exception of Lee Evans.

The reason that AJ Smith drafted Manning & then traded him for Rivers is because SD knew the Giants were willing to give them a ton more than they could get by not drafting Manning. If they didn't have the trade close before they picked, they would have just taken Rivers. They were going Rivers all along (not sure if it was Nix or Smith who made the Rivers call, but SD liked Rivers) but AJ as GM was able to get their man & get picks from the NYG. Since they weren't sold on Brees, they went QB because they knew that if you don't think you have a franchise QB & you think one is out there when you're drafting, you better draft him. All the winning organizations know this. They also know that if you don't succeed in prior attempts, you don't give up. SD was burned by Leaf, but didn't stop trying to get the franchise QB.

If Trent is the QB next year it's likely to end up like 2001 when Rob Johnson was the starter, got injured in November & never played another down in a Bills uniform. That's what happens when you pick a guy & ignore his history of being injury prone. There is one scenario where they won't have much of choice other than the 4 guys currently on the roster: Say Bradford & Clausen are off the board at #9, or the Bills don't like either one and don't feel that the other QBs in this year's draft can be a future starter. Then, other than a trade for a veteran, the team is stuck with the players they currently have. So, like 2001 it could be Edwards in the Johnson spot, Fitzpatrick in the Van Pelt spot, finishing up the season again and Brohm in the Travis Brown spot, getting into the final game after Fitzpatrick goes down. The not adding a QB might be the best answer, although fans may not like it. For years the Bills have been overdrafting players to fill perceived areas of need without regard to better players who would be long term answers at other positions. Then they don't get the right guy they could have got if they waited a year & didn't reach the prior year. In 2004 they traded up for Losman instead of not getting the QB of the future after Roethlisberger went off the board. The following year Aaron Rodgers was available where the Bills would have picked if the pick wasn't in Dallas. The Bills took Lynch after trading McGahee, once again reaching (because the character issue was out there) instead of taking the best player. So they pass on Revis in 2007 then have to pick McKelvin to fill their CB needs in 2008, when the RB group was much stronger. Well next year's QB crop may be much better than this year & there's no reason to draft a QB just to draft one unless their scouts are in agreement he can be a franchise guy. If we're just drafting another potential backup in the 3rd or 4th, we might as well just go with one of the 4 backups currently on the roster.

Because he belongs in the 7th rd.

They drafted 2 QBs for the same reason the Bills drafted 6 or 7 QBs in 5 years from 1979-1983*. When the stockpiling attempt was made in the 2008 draft, the Packers weren't bringing Favre back & needed some backups to groom in case of an injury to Rodgers and/or grooming a QB to get value in a future trade, like teams with an established starter have done in the past. The Packers have historically been a team that stockpiles QBs. During the Wolf years they drafted & traded Mark Brunell, Aaron Brooks, and Matt Hasselbeck who all went on to start immediately after the Packers traded them. *The Bills had a mentality during the Chuck Knox years (and the year after he left when they really needed a QB of the future) to keep drafting QB in early rounds until they found the right mix of starter and backups. While stockpiling drafted QBs, Knox also brought in veterans like Bill Munson & Matt Robinson as his primary backups. 1979: 5th round Dan Manucci (116), 10th QB/K Dave Marler (253) 1980: 2nd Gene Bradley (37), 8th Todd Krueger (202) 1982: 2nd Matt Kofler (48), 8th Luc Tousignant (218) 1983: 1st Jim Kelly (14)

See Buddy Nix's comments about not drafting 1 year wonders. Nix won't be drafting a QB who started only 1 year. You may be right about him, but forget about him becoming a Bill.

Until the Bills have a proven franchise QB, people are going to tout just about every player ever to pick up a football & throw it as the answer to our QB woes. That's what happens when you have no QB. We have the supporters of Fitzpatrick, Edwards, Brohm & Hamden each claiming their guy will win the starting job next August. Next up are the ones wanting to trade for NFL QBs. Some prefer the proven starters like McNabb, others tout guys like Whitehurst because Nix was with SD when he was drafted, or Thigpen because Gailey had him in KC. Then you have the different people who will end up naming every QB in the draft if you wade through enough posts. Lefevour just gets more play because he comes from a conference that has produced NFL QBs, had good stats there, and was the best QB at the Senior Bowl. Right now throw every one up in the air because until we 1)choose our long term starter and 2) he proves the Bills right, we're going to keep going through this. It's been 13 years since Kelly retired in February 1997 and except for the short time that Flutie & Bledsoe were playing at a high level, we've had this QB debate going on.

You made some good points in the post you made prior to the one I'm quoting, but this one is a little less convincing than that other really good one. The problem with your 1st sentence is that it doesn't match what goes on in the real NFL. Players who have started one game or fewer are labled busts & cut all the time. They are judged, cut & many never play another down. When that happens to a high pick and the team is putting him on waivers, that team has labeled him a bust. When nobody claims him, 31 teams are agreeing with them. If you follow the same path as your statement, then Gibran Hamden has a ton of upside, after all he was NFLE's MVP in 2006 & doesn't have enough game experience to be labled a washout. Brady is a bad example of nobody wanting him. I'm not talking draft choices & where they were picked, I'm talking about a waived player. Yes Brady was picked in the 6th, but in the 1st year NE saw enough of him & was too afraid others might claim him so instead of waiving him and trying to put him on a practice squad, they kept him on the 53 man roster. NE, recognizing they had something more than your average 6th round pick, kept 4 QBs on the roster his rookie year. Brady was never waived once NE drafted him-unlike Brohm. At the same point in his career as Brohm is at, Brady led his team to a Super Bowl championship. It's irrelevant what people thought of these players out of college. The bad ones, no matter where drafted get waived. In the modern NFL QBs who get picked in the 1st 3 rounds and are quickly cut are busts. Their getting waived is based on NFL data, not their college career. I can't accept the premise that nobody could make any room for Brohm. 1st off, any team that would be putting a claim in on him would be viewing him as a 3rd stringer, he wouldn't need to be ready for action in 2010 for a long time anyway. Much like the bunch of QB 6th rounders in the 2009 draft that were kept as 3rd stringers on the opening day rosters. A lot of the teams had some really weak guys as their 3rd stringers, yet nobody tried to steal Brohm & end up being a smarter guy than the rest. Clearly the preseason tapes on Brohm, which all 31 other teams had, didn't have GMs jumping up & down. Here are some of the 3rd stringers that teams kept over putting a claim in for Brohm: Atl-Wilson, Cin- J. Palmer, Ariz-St Pierre, Stl-Null, Sea-Teel, SF-Davis, Indy-Painter, Balt-Beck (another 2nd round bust), Den-Brandstater, and the Bills, who kept Trent's buddy Gibran Hamdan until Trent was benched. Surely, if Brohm was viewed in the same light by NFL decision makers as his supporters here, there would have been multiple waiver claims to put Brohm on the roster over at least some of the guys I've mentioned in this paragraph. Most of those guys weren't any more ready to take an NFL snap than Brohm, and considering Brohm had a full season of experience on an NFL team & 2 camps, he was probably a lot more ready than most of the rookies listed. Since I've never worked out Brohm with a juggs gun, I'll pass on debating his arm strength over others. As far as my question posed, you're right why would they-the only reason to keep him would be to groom him & trade him, and the NFL teams had already indicated that they weren't going to give up anything for him, as evidenced by his lack of any waiver claim. Just to put it in perspective, when NE waived 2008 3rd round QB Kevin O'Connell, the 1st team able, Detroit, picked him up on waivers and after he spent a couple of preseason games in Detroit, they shipped him to the Jets for a 7th rounder. The Jets though enough of O'Connell to make the room that you claim teams didn't have and put him on the 53 man roster as a 4th stringer. Clearly if just one team was as high on Brohm as the Jets were on O'Connell, he would have been claimed, or someone would have offered GB at low round pick, which didn't happen like the Lions & Jets did with O'Connell. Now the Jets might have just wanted O'Connell to pick his brain on NE, but if that was the case he wouldn't have lasted the year on the roster like he did.

It was a conditional pick that turned out to be a 3rd. Favre was 5 years older than McNabb is. A second rounder or swap of 1sts & a later round pick is what will be needed to get McNabb. A Bills contract extension will also have to be part of the deal before the trade is finalized.