Albany,n.y.

With the exception of the 2002 disaster, TD has done a good job drafting decent players. This is especially true at CB & RB. Unfortunately, you have a limited number of picks and to be successful you have to choose the right combination of draft choices and NFL free agents. The main problem is, he has totally screwed up the lines-where the games are really won. With the exception of Sam Adams, he has chosen to use the draft for the DL and been mediocre in his DL selections. He has not properly addressed the DL in free agency, losing Pat Williams (a choice I agree with because of age/size of contract) and not finding a younger free agent to replace him. For example, he was nowhere when Indy signed Corey Simon-probably concerned it would cause him to have to write off Nate Clements-a player who will probably leave anyway. The OL is totally on TD. He tried to use the draft and free agency to fix it, but has failed miserably. Realistically, it's his free agent decisions that have caused the line to be so bad. The one giant draft mistake was Mike Williams, a player who was too much of a weight risk, if nothing else, to be the 4th player in the draft. No matter what you think of his career in Minnesota, the leaner Bryant McKinnie was the obvious choice over fat Mike. Or they could have picked Roy Williams and spent the Miloy $ elsewhere. He keeps trying to get guard finds in the middle rounds and hasn't come up with anyone yet, although we've got a Geisinger fan on this board. We could live with the Williams failure if TD hadn't bombed on free agents who occupy 80% of the OL. Villarial may be ok, but Teague has never been anything better than adequate, Anderson shouldn't be in the NFL, and Gandy would be best suited to the Mike Price role instead of starting at LT. Look at the good teams and you don't find a street free agent starting at LT. He's adequate at best, just like Teague. The answer has to be start shelling out the big $ for both OL & DL. I don't care if it's for NFL free agents or draft choices, but if it's Unrestricted FAs, don't keep signing other teams late rounders like Teague (7th), or former/current street FAs like Gandy /Anderson and hoping they'll outplay their pedigree. Stop trying to put an OL together on the cheap. The one exception, Williams, being a bust. If they can't get a top DL prospect in the draft, spend some $ on the UFAs. While this year's UFAs may be a limited group, they better have a good DL by 2007 (ouch).

Mularkey asked the question before today's game and half the team answered "on the other side of the field" The offensive linemen answered "nowhere else Mike, if it weren't for the Buffalo Bills, we'd all have to get real world jobs"

Wilson was active for at least a couple of games earlier in the year & played on special teams in those games.

When the D lets the other team score at will, your RB doesn't get many carries, especially when you blink & it's 21-3.

Taken from the book You Might Be An Alcoholic If...

The bottom line is that when you draft a guy over 350 pounds, you're begging for trouble. While the 350+ pounders sometimes become decent NFL players, the majority are always fighting to control their weight and usually fall into the underacheiver category. To have spent a top 5 pick on Williams was a very poor decision and if we ever have a #1 the same size as Williams, I'd say the same thing. Never spend a top pick on a guy with weight problems. That "he's just a really big guy" that TD & company sold us on draft day 2002 is bs.

Last year's 4th & 1 fake was as stupid a call as this year's. The only difference was it worked last year. Has anyone noticed that 2 coaches who have Super Bowl rings gave it to their RBs when they went to win the game (they would have lost if the play didn't work, so both times it was do or die) the last 2 weeks? There should only be 2 options with 4th and a foot or so-give it to your top RB or have the QB sneak it over. Anything else is lunacy. Edit: PS: The goal is to impose your will on the other team. Nothing demoralizes the other team faster than you succeeding on a "predictable" play. If Willis can't get a yard on fourth & inches, we either need a new RB or a new OL-I think we'd all know the answer to that one.

We just signed Rohan Davey and he's been announced as the starter for Sunday. Mularkey said he knows that Wade Phillips hasn't been preparing for Davey, but he wasn't sure about Matthews because he's already on the roster, so starting Davey was the trickiest thing he could come up with. He hinted that they might bring someone from the CFL next week to outfox Fox.

Obviously JP is starting. How can he start the guy who has missed practice. This playing it cagy is as stupid as when Polian/Levy acted like they were in the CIA on every personnel decision. Remember when the Bills & Raiders were the only 2 teams not to announce their cuts. Thankfully, the NFL has stopped that kind of nonsense.

In his day, Felser did it all. He had national columns in The Sporting News, had his columns in the Buffalo News (and I think he was in the Courier Express before the BN) and did a radio show on WBEN. When I moved away from WNY (I was there from 1971-1982 missing parts of 1976, 77, 78 & all of 1979) I couldn't wait to read him in the Sporting News and I endured many a Monday night listening to a very static filled broadcast as I tried to get WBEN on. I'd have to say if you can remember his time at The Sporting News & his Monday Night Quarterback show on WBEN, then you have seen him in his prime. I can't put exact dates to his prime.

I haven't seen anything mentioned (in the media) about why on a day when it was windy enough to mess up both kickers, Green got picked off as much in 1 game as all season and Kelly Holcomb outright sucked, JP threw 2 good long TD passes to Evans. Holcomb doesn't have the arm strength to play on an extended basis in Buffalo weather, JP does. I must admit, I was grumbling and complaining the entire game while Holcomb was in there. When I saw JP warming up after Holcomb's fumble & concussion I got really psyched. My biggest concern at the time was KC would hold onto the ball long enough for Holcomb to feel better & get back into the game. The 1st td was right near my seat (219 1 13).

It started raining as I was headed to the stadium, so I decided to drive around a bit, eat lunch at McDonalds etc. I didn't park until after 12:15. John stiffed again & I was alone.

In Montreal, my guess is if you have a decent AM radio and you have time between 6-8 PM, try tuning in 1180 WHAM Rochester. At 6-8 there's the Bob Matthews show. Every night at 7 he has an hour of football. The schedule is Monday-Steve Tasker, Tuesday-Bills gang featuring reporters including my favorite-who some the younger people on the board have no appreciation for because they weren't around for his prime-Larry Felser. Wednesday & Friday (I don't like his shows and rarely listen) Fred Smerlas Thursday-Thursday night huddle with reporters.

I was so certain that they'd just kneel down 3 times that I left at the 2 minute warning. I'm in the parking lot & I'm listening to the radio & KC has the ball. I'm thinking WTF.

Rackers recently signed a long term deal with Arizona

One rule of gambling is never take somrthing at 100/110 odds with a 50-50 shot of being right.

There's a way around this. He can be cut & re-signed. Once he is cut, his contract is voided and he can be signed for the minimum or anything above minimum. Since he'll have 4 years in, he is not subject to waivers-he's a free agent who can sign with any team-including the Bills. Years ago the Bills cut Tasker for a game with a side deal he'd re-sign on Monday. If MW is willing to take a pay cut, he can stay with the Bills. Here's the definition of waivers. It was taken from a site that referenced 1999, although it quotes it comes from 2005: The following explanation was found in the 2005 NFL Record & Fact Book. "The waiver system is a procedure by which player contracts or NFL rights to players are made available by a club to other clubs in the league. During the procedure, the 30 other clubs either file claims to obtain the players or waive the opportunity to do so - thus the term "waiver." Claiming clubs are assigned players on a priority based on the inverse of won-and-lost standing. The claiming period is three business days from the beginning of the League Year through April 30, 10 days from May 1 through the last business day before July 4, and 24 hours after July 4 through the conclusion of the regular season. If a player passes through waivers unclaimed, he becomes a free agent. All waivers are no recall and no withdrawal. Under the CBA, from the beginning of the waiver system each year through the trading dealine (October 19 1999), any veteran who has acquired four years of pension credit is not subject to the waiver system if the club desires to release him. After the trading deadline, such players are subject to the waiver system."

The best solution might be to follow the Patriots philosophy no matter what you think of your starting QB. That is draft a late rounder virtually every year & hope you find a gem. The Patriots have drafted 5 QBs on day 2 in the last 7 years. So far only Brady has worked out, which considering the rounds picked, that isn't bad. Since the odds of getting a decent player in the 6th or 7th are less than 10% (source Casserly when he took Henson to trade his rights & said a 6th rounder is 10% ) why not try for a QB just about every year & see what happens. Most of the time the 6th & 7th round guys only last a year or 2 anyway.

The hidden danger is that if you're counting on a bust, but don't realize he's a bust, you don't draft his replacement. If JP busts & we don't draft a mid round QB or 2 this year, I'm going to join the angry mob calling for TD's firing.

Let's go back to 1998. Rob Johnson gets hurt, doesn't play much after Flutie takes over. 1999, Flutie starts the regular season & Johnson starts the last regular season game & the playoff game at Tennessee. So at the end of the 1999 season, the team feels pretty comfortable at QB, because they think Rob is going to be a good starter & Flutie a darn good backup. Add Van Pelt to the mix & they're all smiles at QB, looking for another QB is the furthest thing from their minds. Now let's change the scenario: Say Wade believes in his "Wade Phillips/Rob Johnson era" He starts Rob as soon as he's ready in 1998 and starts him in 1999. Eric Moulds gets pissed. In 1999 Price joins him as a disgruntled WR. At some point something becomes obvious to Wade-Rob is a bust and Flutie is the immediate future at QB, with a need for a developmental QB of the future. Fast forward to the 2000 draft. The Bills feel Flutie can get the job done, and AVP can be his backup. So say in about the 5th or 6th round they take a shot at a QB who, with proper coaching, could develop into Flutie's replacement. So, in the 5th round there are 2 "maybe" QBs on the board. Marc Bulger & Tom Brady. Butler, decides to take a flyer on 1 of them, let's say Brady. Now fast forward to 2005. We haven't spent 1st rounders on Bledsoe & Losman & who knows how good we are with an OL & DL taken with those 1st rounders. Reality again-we're in 2005, not playing JP Losman. Say we continue to hang in the division race, because the division is so bad-not because we're any good, we don't know what we've got at QB. Say JP is a bust, but gets lucky by playing lights out the last game of the season against a run for the bus Jets team. Suddenly, JP is 1999 Rob, and we're set at QB with JP & Holcomb. We don't draft any QBs. Meanwhile, around round 5, there are 2 NFL future starting QBs, maybe even a future HOFer. We're fat & happy at QB and instead, choose a player like Sammy Morris in the 5th or a Leif Larsen clone in the 6th. It's now 2011 and the Bills still suck. That's the hidden danger in not knowing if your young QB is good or a bust-due to lack of playing time. Obviously the danger is real if he is a bust, because not only do you delay finding out by seeing him in a game or two-where he actually might play well, but you miss out on the gem that could actually solve the QB situation. For the long term good of the team, JP must play at least 6 more games, so we can devise a plan for the QB spot, one way or another.

Wow, things are so bad that college teams can acquire our top free agent. It hasn't been this bad since we lost Cousineau to the CFL. What is Nate thinking?

It's painful to say this, but I expect Miami to have a better record than the Bills at the end of the season, so it may not matter if NE ties us, because if they do, the Dolphins will win the division. If JP plays well in the 2nd half, we know we've got a QB. If JP plays like he did in games 2-4, we know we have to have a plan in case JP is a bust. If Holcomb starts most of the remaining games, we know nothing about what to do with the QB position.

So far Holcomb hasn't done any better than JP in the W-L column. We've played 3 games at home we would have had a tough time losing & won all 3. JP started the 1st & Holcomb started the other 2. Big deal that Holcomb keeps the road games closer. This reminds me of the days when the Bills' head coach said "We keep beating ourselves, but we're getting better at it"

DeMulling was so bad Detroit benched him earlier this year. I don't know if he's back in their lineup or not, but the stats posted above show him only playing in 5 games. We were in a lose-lose situation with Tucker's replacement.

I'd draft a LT, not a DT. Look at available free agents. DTs are available every year if you're willing to pay the going rate for upper echelon DTs. LTs are franchised and almost never hit the free agent market. We need a top LT, and it looks like the only way to get one is grow your own-through the draft. That's also usually true at QB, although a QB can be obtained in trade more often than a LT can. Be very wary of giving up an early rounder for another team's backup who has played well in limited action. Over the years teams have given up high picks for the likes of original mid-late round draftees like Matt Robinson (Denver from Jets), Rob Johnson , and last year Miami gave what turned out to be a very high 2nd for A.J. Feeley, who has already been jettisoned. When you have as many holes as the Bills do, you can rebuild quickly if you're willing to put a plan together that recognizes which positions can be filled by free agents and which position must be filled in the draft. LT is one position that must be filled in the draft. Therefore, with a rich LT draft, the Bills must go LT in the 1st round. If a decent DT is left in the 2nd draft him, but first, look to the free agent market to upgrade the D line. I also think we have to get JP at least 4-6 more games this year, because if he doesn't show more than his 1st 4 games, the team better be willing to get a new QB of the future ASAP.