ax4782

You were right about Leon Joe. My bad. So you found one guy on the list that didn't start and said that I made it up. The fact is all of the players on that list, with the exception of Joe had significant minutes over the course of the season because of injuries. When Kelsay and Denney were both hurt, Corey Mace and Ryan Neill got significant minutes over that four week period. That was due to the fact that both Al Wallace and Anthony Hargrove were out of the lineup and could not play. See you just want to say that the team didn't really have it that bad last year so you can be critical of Jauron because you didn't like him to begin with. The fact is George Wilson was a PS player who started a significant number of games at the end of the season. Wendling saw significant time backing up Wilson, and filling in for Whitner during a two game absence with an ankle or knee injury, I forget which. Jon Corto also filled in time in those positions. Those were third and fourth string guys. Jerametrius Butler played significant minutes at corner as well, and Youboty started the final two games of the season. Those guys are both third or fourth stringers. Kyle Williams could also be considered a third stringer, and he started for most of the season. I think John DiGiorgio might count as well, he got a ton of time as a rookie backing up injured Paul Posluzny, also a rookie. So, to suggest that I "made sh-t up" is a bit disingenuous, particularly considering the turnover defense the Bills run where substitutions play a key role. The fact is the D was riddled with injuries and at one point we had seventeen players who had started a game on injured reserve. If you want to live in a fantasy world where injuries don't matter, that's your choice. The rest of us will choose to look at reality and say that the team played pretty damn well for having that many guys out on injured reserve. I don't care if you don't like Jauron. I personally think he is on thin ice if the Bills don't have a winning season this year. But to suggest that he is the one who is primarily responsible for the teams failures last year is just ridiculous.

First, let me say thank you for actually posting facts that you rely on for making your argument. That makes it helpful for those who may disagree with you to get a basis for your thought process. Let me address your points in much the same fashion you did mine, although I will begin with your final paragraph's accusations first. First, if you want to accuse me of being a perenial optimist, you are on the wrong boat. I did not like the hiring of Fairchild, because I didn't think that this team was competent at that time of putting forward an offensive explosion like that of the 00' Rams. That was a bad call. That bad call was further proven by the fact that he was perhaps the worst playcaller in BB history. Second, he clearly hadn't learned anything from Martz because instead of opening up the playbook and throwing the ball more, he threw it less. But more on that fact later in the reply to your redzone ineptitude comments. I haven't seen Youboty play at all so I have no opinion as to whether he will or will not pan out. Judging by the evidence I have right now, I am neutral and don't care whether he stays or goes. For a third round pick, I'd say right now he is a bad value, but we'll just have to wait and see what the FO does. I could really care less. The secondary is not a major concern for me at this point. As for McCargo, if you are lumping him in with the "failure" category, I think most people here, based on his performance would disagree with you. I certainly would. He was by far the best DT on the field last year in that rotation. Most of the "experts" agree that he is going to have a break out year this season. I had the pleasure of watching McCargo play college ball our alma mater of North Carolina State, and I can honestly say that he made that line go. Without him in the middle Lawson and Williams would still have been very good, but not as good as billed. McCargo is a very solid DT who only has upside, and "Bully" for me on this one at the end of the season. McGahee was a crap pick, something I stated at the time and Preston has sucked, a fact which I have consistently stated, where relevant, on this board. So please, don't just lump me in with a bunch of people who don't know WTF is going. As for the final statement you make in your last paragraph, I think it's great that the Bills beat the crap out of the teams that we are supposed. Those victories make me happy. It shows that we are not in the same league as teams languishing at the bottom. That shows progress. Teams like the Pats and Colts don't make the playoffs only beating teams they are supposed to. They start by winning the games they should. Buffalo didn't used to do that in the early part of the decade. They are beginning to do that and will have to continue doing that. I'm sorry that I'm happy we're winning games we're supposed to and seeing progress in that. As to the second to last paragraph, I'm not defending anyone "who comes into the organization with little or no experience" and giving them a pass. I don't think that Jauron qualifies as a person who has no experience, so I'll leave him out of this. Perry Fewell doesn't qualify under that comment either. Thus, I have to assume that you are referring to Schonert. Well, if he ends up only leading an offense that scores a league low in TDs and the team fails to improve, I think he'll be gone. I'm not making excuses. The team must do better than .500 or I think that the coaching staff will be gone, but what I think will happen and what I think is the best thing for the team do not necessarily co-incide. I think that if the team goes 5-11 Jauron will be fired and should be. He has had three years to build the team he wants for the system he wants. It's the people that think he should be fired before this season even starts that I wish would sit down and be quiet. The coaching carousel, something you did not address, has been a serious hinderance on the team's ability to move forward and progress and start winning games. It needs to stop, and hopefully that will happen this year. If not, Buffalo needs to pick someone they can stick with after Jauron or we're in for five more years of losing. As for TE, he played well enough for a rookie. I didn't expect him to play lights out last year. No rookie QB, with the exception of Big Ben, plays well their rookie season. Eli Manning was terrible, as was his brother in Indy. If you were expecting miracles out of a rookie, that was your fault. I had no expectations for Edwards when he entered the starting role last season. Overall, I think he played OK. However, in your eagerness to point out that it was 4 TDs against Miami, and not 3 as I thought, (my bad), you left out the most important point that I made, which is you seem to suggest that TE will not and has not improved at all since last season. That simply is not true. You also fail to acknowledge that TE did show a lot of positive qualities as a starter last year that JP lacked. Most importantly, he got rid of the ball rather than taking sacks, which will help him avoid that sacks you talked about, but we'll get there in a minute. Further, he made good decisions with the football. While he did not throw a lot of TDs, I think that had to do more with offensive philosophy than with his personal performance, but what I do think is important is the low number of TDs. I'm sure that you will say that is a bad predictor because we threw the ball so little last year, but the fact is, I think that shows good decision making skills on his part. Feel free to disagree, but I think Trent will be better this year. The fact that he is making a concerted effort to put on size, to go down to Florida and work with Evans outside of camp demonstrates leadership and smarts that will show up on the football field. Again, I'm sure you will say that those things are irrelevant, but from where I'm sitting, I don't think they are. Now addressing the rest of your arguments. First, I never said that Tight End play was going to be better, I said that TE would be better. That being Trent Edwards. Sorry if the pnuemonic was confusing. However, you made a point about Schouman and his relevance. Royal is a blocking tight end. I'm sorry, he has hands of stone and should not be thrown the ball unless the situation is very dire. That being said, Schouman is not a bad pass catcher. In fact he has very decent hands and pretty good speed for a TE. No he's not Antonio Gates, but he is a better pass catching option than RR. I don't think that the Tight End play is going to improve much this year. I think that they did an adequate job blocking last season, though not great, and I expect more of the same. As for the O-Line. Again, there is a competing stat line. You say they sucked because they were 13th in attempt/sack ration. I have a stat that says they had a franchise low in sacks given up. Who's right? Well, I look at the performance of the lineman last year as compared to the rest of their careers and see that most of them had better years, on average, than ever before. The fact is, the line is above average, with Fowler as the weak link. And the fact is, I don't know where people get this more seven step drop thing from. Schonert has explicitly stated that he will be using a five step drop maximum this year, intending to get the ball out faster and using the middle of the field more frequently. And, I don't know if you've ever played QB in any organized fashion, but I have. Let me tell you, if the line was as bad as you think they were, the difference between the time it takes to do a 5 and a 7 step drop would be irrelevant. In a 5 step drop the QB is expected to make a read and deliver the ball in about 3.4 seconds. With a seven step drop it goes up to a whopping 3.8 seconds. The only thing that is true in your retort is that likely with more pass attempts will come more chances for pressure. However, I could argue just as you did that the Bills gave up a plethora of sacks to the Giants in that one game, and thus their actual total should have been something lower, because the Giants had the unstoppable pass rushing juggernaut that stopped Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. Much like TE played poorly because he had 4 TDs in the Dolphins game. That argument can cut both ways. The fact is that Peters is a Top-3 tackle in the NFL, and that he and Dockery were probably a Top-5 LT-LG combination last year. Walker played very well with the RG and C spots being the issue. So, please, stop saying how bad the O-Line was last year. They are at worst a slightly above average unit that will only be better after playing for a full year as a unit without having a sea change across the board. Again, that's one of those factors that you fail to take into account. O-Lines generally get better over time and with consistency. Based on that alone, and barring any contract issues with Peters, the line should only improve. As for your comments on Schonert, all I can do is think he will do well because he hasn't been an OC for us yet. I'm sorry that I don't have a time machine and can't go forward and say, WOW he really was good. All I can do is make a guess based on what he has said, a point I made clear. The fact is, the offense he wants to implement is a much better fit for this team than the one Fairchild used. I don't know if you saw the Bengals in the mid to late eighties when Wyche was the HC for them. That offense was efficient and nasty for defenses to counter. He used a lot of motion, a lot of audibles and relied mostly on short (3-8 yds) and medium (9-19 yds) passes to move the offense. That was mostly due to Esiason being a smart QB with a solid arm and release, but who had trouble with 50+ yd attempts. It worked pretty well for them considering. Schonert has stated that he has made his playbook based on that system, which he played in as a QB, and has gotten advice from Wyche on how to implement that system in a way to be effective. I can't say for sure whether it will work or not, but it is a better fit for the team than what Fairchild wanted to run. It is also far less predictable than the offense under Fairchild. The fact is, at this point all one can actually do is speculate as to how TS will work out as an OC, but I think he is saying and doing things differently and in a better way than SF was. Lastly, I never said that Hardy was going to be great. In fact, I expressly said I did NOT expect him to be great. What I do expect is that he will have something like 40-45 receptions and will take some of the pressure off of Lee. You kept saying that we had fewer redzone attempts than any other team (true) and that we scored fewer touchdowns in those attempts than any other team (also true). Yet, you failed to attribute that to anything other than the offense sucking and Trent sucking. I think it is a bit more complicated than that. More specifically, the lack of a legitimate threat in terms of throwing the ball in the redzone. Lee Evans was double teamed every time down there. See the Dallas game if you think that argument is flawed, particularly the Terrence Newman interception and return. Second, the TEs were terrible in the redzone and dropped a number of passes that should have been for TDs, with RR being the biggest case of butterfingers. Third, there was no one who could win the height battle on fade routes. Fourth, we rarely passed the ball in the redzone. Teams KNEW we were going to run if we got down there, and that is exactly what we did. We ran too many times and we got dominated. When a team knows what you are going to do, you can have as many blockers as you want, that D is going to snuff out the play. That's why we had so little success in the Redzone. We had a bad script drawn up by what turned out to be a bad OC from day one. Sorry, but I don't think that Trent had much to do with the fact that the team didn't throw much in the redzone or that we had an offense built on RUN-RUN-THEN WHEN YOU'RE DESPERATE ON 3rd and 9 THROW. You may not agree, but that's the way I'm calling it. I don't expect Hardy to be great, just average with enough catches and enough of a threat in the endzone to make teams cheat off of Lee. And by the way, I don't know what you are saying about Hardy not being able to stretch Ds or run routes. Perhaps you should look at some of his game film from Indiana and from the OTAs here. He runs with 4.48 speed and runs very good routes over the middle. He's also one of the best leapers on fade routes I have seen, including Randy Moss. That's why I think he will help the team. And with the FB situation, I don't know that Viti will be any good, but from what I saw of his college game film, he is a beast, and will be a strong addition to the run game. I don't know why but I do think that the Bills will be better this year. You may not, but hey, it's all speculation at this point. You choose to think there is no reason for hope. I tend to think there is. Only Decemeber and January will bring the answer. If you're right, then we're all in for a long season and another shi--y outcome. If I'm right, we might be in the playoffs. Let me ask you a question, which result would you rather have?

George Wilson Jason Jefferson Jon Corto Ryan Neill Jerametrius Butler Leon Joe E.J. Underwood Ashton Youboty Corey Mace John Wendling There were more, but I thought this would answer the question. The real issue is that some people think that the coach is always to blame. You actually said it yourself that Buffalo had a paper thin offense and an offense that was anemic thanks to horrendous play calling by SF. See that has more to do with the problems than anything the coach could have done. He gets his players to show up and delegates playcalling duties to his coordinators, you know, the guys getting paid money to make those calls. Yeah, those guys. I'm really sorry that they didn't hire Mike Sherman or Mike Martz or whoever it was that you wanted them to hire two and a half years ago. However, the point of the posts here has been that Jauron has never had a solid QB, even on teams where his players were halfway decent. The point is, the players make the plays, the coach doesn't. You need decent players to have a good season. Now, Jauron finally has a pretty decent roster that has fewer depth issues than last season. Let's give him a chance to win with the tteam he and this FO have put together before running him out of town. Because, we've been having a lot of success with the FO and Coaching Carousel over the last four years. The last thing we need right now is yet another change to jumble up the works and force us to start over from scratch. A whole new scheme, a whole new set of players to fit that scheme. Right back into the toilet. Your call for a new coach really makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

I call Shinanigans on that prediction. They had the Jests finishing ahead of us, and we didn't have much better of a record than the Phins. BS. We're at least an 8-8 team this year.

I completely agree with you. If the majority of the Jauron-Haters on this board had been Patriots fans, Bill Belicheat would have never had a job in NE. People need to get over the fact that the coach they wanted didn't get picked and move on. Same thing goes for people whose QB choice isn't the starter.

Criminally, he'll get probation, with a fine and possible community service. As far as the league, I believe there will be no punishment. Based on first time DUIs and other similar first time incidents, the league has not handed out any suspensions for similar occurences. If Lynch gets any suspension, I believe that would be a clear move by the league showing that some players are treated more equally than others. IIRC, Lance Briggs had a similar incident where he left the scene of an accident, though he did not hit a pedestrian, and he got not even a batted eye-lash from the league. Only time will tell, but I think Lynch gets his free pass here. If something happens again, then there will be a suspension, probably of the four game variety.

No, we don't know whether or not he WILL IN FACT be a good OC. However, having actually read the articles where Schonert has talked about the scheme he is trying to implement, it sounds to me like he is going to be much better than SF. See, SF, if you recall, ran the Run-Run-Pass offense that was unbelievably predictable. We also only threw the ball 39% of the time IIRC. That tends to be a recipe for mediocrity. I think the odds of Schonert succeeding are very good. Schonert was the back up QB in Cincinnati during the Wyche years when their offense was a juggernaut in the mid and late 80's. He was a master of the system and has been in contact with Wyche concerning how to better implement the system. He was a former QB and understands the game far better than SF. The changes he has suggested and has begun to implement DIRECTLY address the problems this team had on offense last year. No there will not be a new head coach at the end of the season, and I personally am sick and tired of trying to explain why most of the fans who want a new coach are asking for disaster. The coaching carousel we have had in this town is responsible for more of our problems than people realize. Instability in the FO and with the coach are serious problems. To address some of your other facially neutral and inherently pessimistic "questions," yes I do think that the O will be better, for a couple of reasons. First, your doom and gloom "statistics" are completely wrong, and it is not up to the person challenging your statments to find proof that you are wrong. It's up to you to show why you are right. Basic discussion 101. However, I'll make your day. Buffalo had the fifth highest rated Running Back in the NFL with ML having an 1100+ yard season. Fred Jackson didn't do to badly either for a backup. This is one of the better areas on the team and I do expect that it will improve this year. Also, we DO NOT have the same fullback as last year. Schonert EXPLICITLY stated that he WILL NOT USE THE H-Back this year. Buffalo will likely use either Darian Barnes, who is primarily a run blocker, or rookie Mike Viti at the FB position, who is a very good run blocker (some scouts had him rated higher than even Owen Schmidt) and also has decent hands out of the back field. Further, the O-Line about which you have been so quick to criticize, gave up the fewest sacks in franchise history last year, and was in the top seven in the league in that category. Further, with the addition of two tall and athletic wide receivers and a commitment to using a higher yield pass offense along with a faster tempo, should help the O get going next year. I do think that the O will score more points. With LE being the focus of the passing game last year, it was easy for teams to shut us down. We had no legitimate passing targets in the redzone and it was easy for teams to then expect for us to run. I think that Hardy, who is very quick for a guy who is 6'6" tall, will cause serious mismatches on D. He doesn't have to catch 70 passes next year to be effective. He needs to catch 45 or 50. His asset to the team is in the red zone. With he and Steve Johnson, who is apparently very good and may get some time this year based on his camp performance, provide much needed height in the red zone. This allows Evans and Reed to more effectively run routes and shed CBs. I think TE will be better this year after having a year to learn the system and get familiar with the offense. If nothing had ACTUALLY changed in the offseason, I would tend to agree that we would be in trouble, but things did change. We got a new OC who actually sounds like he might know what he is doing. Jauron has said that he will not allow such a conservative offense and that they have to open it up more. I believe they will do that. Also, the D is much improved and will keep us close in every game. We have a much more favorable schedule. We had the most difficult schedule last year in the NFL. This year we are in the middle tier. That should look favorably in the W column. I do think that Buffalo could win 9, 10, possibly 11 games this year. If the D is as good as I think they will be, and the O can score seven more points a game, that will be enough to win ten games. Lastly, your TD argument about TE is BS. Trent had seven TD passes in ten games. I know that three of them were in one games, however, that is really a bad argument for two reasons. First, that assumes that NOTHING changes in the way he does things as a signal caller, that he makes NO improvement at all as a QB and that the offense is exactly the same as it was last year. All of those things are clearly not going to happen. Sorry that Loss-man isn't the QB anymore, but you need to get over it. Thus, while you "questions" were not necessarily negative, it was the way you presented them that suggested you are one of those Negative Nancy kind of fans who loves nothing more than to complain in their sarcastic way and just generally makes the rest of the hopeful people feel like sh-t. Your questions are appreciated, your underlying pessimism and disdain could be done without.

Perfectly stated.

This is just incorrect on so many levels. First of all, on those shorter routes, Edwards is clearly the better passer. He is more accurate and has a faster release. I don't even recall how many times I saw JP make one of those five yard out passes hit the turf on a Sunny windless day when the guy was wide open. More often than not, that ball was at the guy's feet. The seven step drop thing is a good prima facie argument, but it is fatally flawed. I looked some of the game tapes I had recorded from last year because I wanted to see if I was just more impressed with Edwards b/c he WASN'T Loss-man, or if there was actually a noticeable difference. Before JP got hurt in week three, he was holding onto the ball WAY too long. Typically, even on a seven step drop the ball should be out of the QB's hands in no more than 3.5 seconds after the drop. JP held onto the ball much longer than that in many scenarios. And more significantly, he took a lot of sacks he didn't have to because he refused to get rid of the football and just throw it away. That shows, IMO a lack of mental awareness. Our O-Line did NOT suck at pass blocking. We only allowed 26 total sacks last season which was good for a top-7 finish. To suggest that our O-Line is the problem is really trying to stretch the blame and make JP look less culpable for his own failings than he actually was. As for your suggestion that Walker, Fowler, Butler and Dockery were terrible pass blockers, I suggest you go back and look at the total number of sacks the four of them gave up COMBINED last year. I think you'll see that you are COMPLETELY WRONG. Walker had one of the best years of his career last season in terms of pass blocking and Dockery-Peters were one of the best left side tandems in football. Fowler did get pushed around and is admittedly the weak link in the O-Line, but even he was decent in pass protection. Butler was not a starter last season, and I did not look up his personal numbers, but the fact is, even he played well enough when he was in there. I can't repeat this enough. OUR O-LINE IS NOT THE PROBLEM!!!! Having targets who can make plays is. And Schonert has EXPLICITLY stated that he WILL NOT use a seven step drop this season with TE, because he believes in a faster style passing game. Further, he will mix in a lot more no huddle and muddle-huddle system to throw of D's which also requires a shorter drop and quicker release, something that Losman hasn't proven he can handle in the NFL. He just couldn't hack it as a starter. I don't mind the guy being on the bench in case TE gets hurt, but he just can't hack it in the NFL. I'm sorry that the QB you had so much faith in isn't starting for the Bills. Really, I am. I wanted him to work out too. I don't like using First Round Draft Choices on guys who end up not panning out. That being said, Losman has had more than adequate time to grow as a QB and show that he can win games. He put the ultimatum on himself last year with the JAX game. He said it was do or die for him. We lost. And while we were in it until the Fourth Quarter, I recall the play that ended our chances as being a JP underthrown ball that was picked off. Sorry, but TE is the right guy for the job. I'm tired of QB Carousel. Time to stick with a guy and let him prove himself. JP had his chance. He failed the test. Time to move on.

Well said. I haven't seen enough of him on the field to say that a third rounder would be a good deal. After all, what if he goes to Cleveland and lights it up. Then a third rounder looks like a steal and we get the shaft. I want to see him play for a full season and get good time before making up my mind on whether the experiment was worth it. Let's see what happens after this year making up decisions concerning whether or not to part ways with a guy who was one of the more highly touted corners in that draft class.

The property taxes are even higher here in Detroit. Be glad that Buffalo has a competent city council (by comparison) which realizes that paying for good education and roads are two of the most important investments for the here and now and for the future. And our housing market may be even worse. You can buy a house here for 50,000 and I don't mean a tiny one bedroom either. As for Rockpile's comment, people are so worried about the next generation and how they are going to succeed, and in the same breath whine about have to pay some money for it. Talk about Janusesque. I'm always amazed to see people who can talk so eloquently from both sides of their mouth.

I agree that letting Pat Williams walk was a mistake. The team should have signed him to a long term deal. I do, however, disagree with a couple of your other points. I don't think that they paid Schobel too early. For a guy who had performed as well as he had the two seasons prior to his restructuring, he was grossly underpaid, and while he didn't do much last season, that was more a product of nearly three quarters of the D being backups and PS players. He got the contract he desereved and I have a strong feeling that he is goingt to show that here. As to Kelsay, he is an average DE, but I think putting the people we have around him, he can do an adequate job. His salary really isn't that high for a #2 or 3 DE on an NFL team. Buffalo doesn't have much behind him right now, though Denney is serviceable and I think that Chris Ellis has the potential to be a very good DE. He is fast, strong and extremely athletic. Still, I would love to add Haynesworth if we could, although I don't know that he would be worth two first round draft picks. Triplett was not nearly as good as advertised and we found out that Dwight Freeney really was the one who made Triplett better, not the other way around. Sometimes we make mistakes on players, but I think that Buffalo has made some good moves. I also think that Stroud has more than three years in him. After all Pat Williams is still playing and he is, I think, in his mid thirties. Stroud is only thirty. He has five, maybe six good seasons left if he can avoid any serious injury. Only time will tell, but i thinik that the D is going to be much better this year.

If Haynesworth and his agent can't reach a deal with the Titans, he will be a RFA or will be demanding a trade. I think he is an RFA, though I can't say for sure. If they don't get a deal in place, I think the Bills should tender him an offer and get that other piece of the D-Line. After all, he is better than anyone that Buffalo could find in the Draft next season and a combination of Stroud and Haynesworth in the middle of the D would be punishing. Plus, that would get all the people on the board who have been whining that we "haven't spent any money on the lines" to quit their complaining.

LMFAO. You know, they'll call in a bunch of cheaters from the MLB to testify about steroids and how awful steroid use is in the game because it's cheating. Now, when it is the NFL and the almighty Patriots, Congress decides that cheating in Pro Sports isn't worth their time. Figures.

As to your edited comment, I completely agree. Buffalo does deserve to have a great building like that. Further, checking into the problem, the ground is set to be broken either in late 2008 or early 2009. Not to mention, the Federal Courthouse that they are building looks pretty cool as does the new Seneca Casino. Buffalo is starting to crawl back to its feet and everyone should be proud that at least some efforts are being made. However, things would be a lot better if groups who are blocking the progression would get out of the way and let Buffalo move forward. Buffalo is a great city and I think and hope it will only get better in the future.

At least accoring the to Buffalo City Tower Website, the building is approved and they are going to break ground on the building very soon. It looks like a spectacular building. Also, don't forget about the Statler Hotel Renevation project.

There are two other projects going on that you didn't mention including a proposed 40 story tower that will be the highest building in Buffalo ( see this website http://www.buffalo-city-tower.com). There is also another proposal for 33 Gates Circle for a 22 story condominium and residential tower that I believe has been approved. To find more information about the project type in 33 Gates Circle Buffalo to Google and click the link. As to the water front comments that were made, the City is trying to make some progress. I don't live in Buffalo, but I make a concerted effort to check in on the city. Buffalo is going to get rid of the skyway, for any number of good reasons, and build a new road. There are plans in place to work on the border crossings, but wherever you get the idea that Buffalo is not a center for Canada-US traffic, that source is completely wrong. Taking all three bridges that go into the Niagara Falls/Buffalo area, that is the busiest border crossing with Canada. Taking all of the crossings between canada and the Detroit area (where I live currently) that makes up 42 percent of the trade that crosses into the United States, which makes that the single busiest crossing. However, that is five crossings in a seventy mile span. Buffalo/Niagara has only three crossings in about 20 miles of each other. Buffalo is still a major entry way into the United States from Canada. Any shipments going from Toronto to an east coast destination go through Buffalo, not Windsor. Check your facts before you start spouting off. There are plans in effect to make some changes to the waterfront, but it takes time to go from a completely industrial waterfront to one that is commercially and residentially based. It isn't "anything will do" thinking that is the problem with Buffalo. To get a city back from the depths of an economic hell, you have to get investment, in whatever form it will come. If that means bringing a WATERFRONT casino, and federal dollars and international investments in the form of Buffalo City Tower (see above) then I say go for it. All of these things help to change the look of Buffalo and get investment to the area. Perhaps you should take a look at exactly what is happening in Buffalo before you criticize. You are exactly the type of person that EndZone was talking about.

Now that OTAs are over, it seems that the team is starting to get things together. From the reports I read, it seemed like the D was playing up to their potential, but more than that, the offense seemed to be doing better during the last week. After reading John Clayton's article on ESPN yesterday, I found some faith in Schonert. I sounds like he is really instituting the types of changes that we are looking for, with a lot of motion, passing down the field, using ML in the passing game and getting Parrish more touches. Schonert explained that he was implementing a "thinking man's offense" that would keep players in motion, allow for changes at the line and most importantly, would average about 8 yrds per pass play, something in total that looks like what the Bengals ran under Sam Wyche in the late 80s when the team went to the playoffs several straight years and made it to the Super Bowl. That offense was confusing to opposing Ds and had a good balanced attack. Buffalo could really improve if this scheme works, and not only that, they would be fun to watch. Here's to hoping the OTAs are sign of things to come.

I would start by saying that I personally have lived away from the city for sixteen years, and have known many transplants both in NC where I lived for fifteen years and here in Detroit where I have lived for three years. In that time I haven't personally heard any one of those persons talk badly about Buffalo. They may say that the economy is bad or that the region is suffering, but most of them, if given the choice, would move back to the city rather than stay where they are. If I had the opportunity, I would move back in a heartbeat, provided that a job opened up. That being said, regardless of what people think of the city, I agree. If you happen to think the Buffalo is a terrible place to live, believe me, it could be a lot worse. The crime rate is low and people in the suburbs in Buffalo actually care about the city and want to see it come back. That has resulted in a lot of investment that has begun to move Buffalo forward. The same cannot be said of Detroit where I live now. Trust me, people from Buffalo have nothing to be ashamed of and there should be no one who disparages the city. On a final note, today was not the same without Tim Russert on Meet the Press. He was a great man from a great city, who was proud of where he came from. All Buffalonians should have been proud to have such a representative from their city. I know I was.

I said she was hot, I didn't say she was a supermodel. No she isn't a supermodel, but she isn't cold pourage either.

Gee, let me think? I'm straight and she's hot. I think you can figure it out.

I think that would be a bad move. The guy is really injury prone and he has a horrible attitude, which is not something we need on this team right now, considering all of the other issues. The fact is, Buffalo would be better off not trading away draft picks for a guy that is close to being washed up, and taking a chance on a guy like Bently and improving at the C position. That would, IMO, get the O-Line up to being a top-5 unit. Shockey wouldn't do that much for the offense, and worst of all, IIRC, the guy isn't much of a blocker either. What's the upside again?

She looks pretty hot either way.

Corner is likely to be a dime back or a situational guy and a STer. The lineup at Corner looks to be as follows: McGee McKelvin Greer James Corner/Youboty I think Buffalo holds onto all six guys, particularly due to the number of injuries we suffered in the secondary last year. We are going to be pretty stacked on D. If only the Offense can put of another 7 points a game this year.

I think Johnson will be good for the team this year, but he will not be as good as Hardy in the long run. Both players will likely be solid contributors for the Bills both this year and in the future, but Hardy has special talent. As for the reports that they were dropping too many passes, that was part of the reason that Schonert blew a gasket about two weeks ago. However, since that time, based on what I have seen, the WRs have been doing fairly well, particularly in Red Zone and No Huddle situations. Note also that Josh Reed was NOT mentioned on the list of people who were dropping too many passes. JR has had a VERY good offseason and seems to be building on the very good season that he had last year. This would bode well for the Bills, as we would finally have a solid receiver in the slot with Evans and Hardy. That would also free Roscoe to do more damage. He also has reportedly had a pretty good camp.