Dr. Trooth

Anyone want to guess that RB is very high on Marv's shopping list this off season?

What a retard you are. Look up the word 'same' in the dictionary... if you know what one is. You talk out both ends of your a$$. How the hell can you say the lineup is the same and then, ackowledge Adam's absense...which would, and did, make it different. Adams forte is against the run...stupid. Regardless, Willis ripped off an irrelevent 60+ yard run in a PRESEASON game against the 2nd worst defense in the NFL. That must make you feel real good. Well, at the end of the day, Willis is still a 3.8 avg. per carry running back and a huge disappointment. Oh... I'll give you a clue... it ain't that tough to click on NFL.com and get this info in a few nanoseconds, unless you're still on dialup

No!!! That is not correct. Here were the starters for that game LDE 98 B.Robinson LDT 66 S.Smith RDT 97 J.Thornton RDE 90 Ju.Smith SLB 93 R.Jeanty MLB 56 B.Simmons WLB 59 L.Johnson LCB 24 D.O'Neal RCB 20 T.James SS 28 D.Jackson FS 40 M.Williams Here were Cincy's starters Thurs. against Baltimore LDE 98 B.Robinson LDT 95 S.Adams RDT 94 D.Peko RDE 90 J.Smith SLB 93 R.Jeanty MLB 58 C.Miller WLB 59 L.Johnson LCB 22 J.Joseph RCB 20 T.James SS 28 D.Jackson FS 40 M.Williams And... here was their opening day Lineup LE 98 B.Robinson LT 95 S.Adams RT 97 J.Thornton RE 90 J.Smith LOLB 93 R.Jeanty MLB 56 B.Simmons ROLB 59 L.Johnson LCB 22 J.Joseph RCB 20 T.James SS 28 D.Jackson FS 40 M.Williams Besides, the Cincy defense sucks... it's ranked 31st in the league... imagine how bad their run defense was back in August without Sam Adams.

Figures... Willis beatin up on a bunch of fodder in peseason. The big question is can he do it 'primetime', or when it counts? Can he, will he, put this team on his shoulders like a Thermal, Emmit, Ladanian, Barry? He was a first round draft pick. I suggest he play up to that level... 3.8/carry just doesn't cut it.

There are several things the dude is out of touch with. The first thing is that downtown's have given way to suberbia. Nobody wants to go downtown if they can avoid it. The second is... if you're going to build a stadium, you certainly want to build it in a place where it's economically feasable. WNY does not fit that criteria... economic impotence, declining population, just general high cost of doing business. The third thing is, the Bills are a regional franchise. There's a huge fan base in the Rochester area and it's been that way for a while. Fan bases have increased in Syracuse, Binghamton, Utica, and Albany. So, if you're going to build a new stadium, it makes sense to drop it somewhere with easy in/out access, like along the Thruway maybe near Lancaster/Depew area. Can you imagine the downtown clusterf*ck of traffic for a Bills game if there were a downtown stadium. Folks in these parts hate having to dump their car someplace and get bussed or railed in too. And, the whole tailgating thing would be history if the stadium were downtown... open fires burning in the city? They won't let that happen. The 4th thing is, if the project, let's say, costs $800M. If it's a public project, it will grow to 2.5 billion becuase of all of the polical wrangling and corruption, not to mention the wicks law that states you must use 3 separate contracors for heating, plumbing and electrical work. Just the bid process alone would take a couple of years. New stadium? Not in Ralph's lifetime, I'd suspect. Unless the NFL wants to pony up. And, if they did, wouldn't it be wonderful if the naming rights were sold to Time-Warner? Time-Warner Stadium?

Unless you can read the future, that never happened... If it did... bring evidence. Willis' longest run ever, from scrimmage, is 41 (and it wasn't a TD).

OK, allow me to give you a clue. There's a saying "offense sells tickets, defense wins championships". For this excercise, let's forget the bit about the defense. Let's concentrate on the offense... or lack thereof. When a team ranks 29th in offense, they are generally boring and not much fun to watch. By the time you pay $100 for a couple tix, $15 to park, $25 for a couple hot dogs, gas tolls and a souveneir or two, just watch the Bills score 10 or 12 points... with Christmas just 3 weeks away, you say to yourself, WTF... I just blew almost $200 that I coulda used to stuff down some poledancer's g-string.

Schottenheimer was an LB with the Bills for a couple of seasons after their AFL Champ Days

As Paul McCartney once sang... "There's a fine line between recklessness and courage"... Somewhere in there there's a message to ponder.

Please... let's stop this silliness. Why does one need the media in order to validate one's existence? There's a big difference between reality and fantasy. The Bills rank 21st in defense and 29th in offense. If you want to really feel silly... go bet your house on the Bills. Not that it takes a brain surgeon to figure this one out, but, the Bills are not going to the playoffs this year. Not pissing in your corn flakes... just the doc being the doc.... 'tellin it like it is and keepin it real'.

Dude... putteth down the koolaid and sip no more. You've had way too much already. You are forgetting this is still a 4-6 team. There is no such thing as an easy win for a 4-6 team. This team doesn't lose by much, but it doesn't win by much either. Every game is an adventure... and we don't know which team will show up.

Just remember what the doc mentioned a while back... SB QBs over the past ten years (except for Trent Dilfer) had a rating of 85 or above. So... whatever team you root for, if your QB achieves that 85 mark, your team has a shot... and, a great defense always help too. JP has taken a lot of flack... and much of it deserved. But, he seems to be catching on little by little... and having been through this, his mates will have bit more respect for him. This win seems to have energized the team... now all we can hope is that they don't have a hangover from this win.

I did not realize Haynesworth will be a FA. I do know he has been in and out of Fisher's dog house from day one. Also, he hasn't played a full season since his rookie year. He can definitely be a force when he's in there, and the Bills alleged interest in swapping Clements for McFarland near the trade deadline would lend credibility that they could very well be seeking out an upgrade at DT. Bills won't get into a bidding war for Haynesworth and Ralph doesn't like to take risks on players like Haynesworth. I see Atlanta or Tampa as potetial suitors.

I'm quite aware of that... I checked the roster numbers. Nate will go to the highest bidder... Bills ain't gonna make him the top paid CB in the NFL... Remember... they're in rebuild mode and paying Clements a ton of cashreduces their flexibility to beef up the roster. Besides, they drafted Youboty for his spot. Fowler... he's a journeyman and was signed becuase their was no one else out there that could get plugged in immeditely. The Bills have a desire to get bigger at that position and would like Merz to eventually become their main man at center. Fowler may last one more year as a starter, but beyond that, if this team is to get to the next level, they need an upgrade at center.

The Bills are in rebuild mode this season. Not much we can do but bear the pain for the rest of the season. I would venture a guess that next season, although the rebuild ain't finished, I think we should expect a much better team than we've seen this year. Just for shittz n giggles... here is a quick snapshot of the Bills starters on offense and defense... and this is current, as of today. Offensive starters... Avg. age 26.2 yrs. old & 4 yrs. experience/player. (if McGahee were in this number instead of ATrain, they'd be even younger) Before Villarrial's injury it was... Avg. age 26.9 yrs. old & 4.5 yrs experience/player. (with Atrain facored in at RB not McGahee) Next year, if Villarial and Shelton are gone (plugging in younger players) and plugging in a younger wr, even though the leftover starters are a year older, the offensive starters could potentially drop to around 25.5 years avg. age depending on what new starters are plugged in. Defensive starters... Avg. age 26.0 yrs. old & 4.5 yrs experience/player. With the departure of Clements likely, if a rookie or 2nd year player were plugged in next year, these numbers would be about the same. If the Bills allow Fletcher walk and TKO covers the MLB spot and Ellison gets plugged in, the Bills get slightly younger. More food for thought on this... TKO and Schobel will each be 30 next year, and, I believe TKO may be in the last year of his contract next season. So, the Bills will have to look at either extending TKO... or perhaps drafting a MLB. This is a very young team... and it could be event younger nest season. If the Bills replace Gandy, Shelton, Villarial, Fowler, Price, Fletcher, Clements... with younger players, they might even be younger than this year We've pretty much have to suffer through this rebuild... but like said, they better be a whole lot better next year or the fans are going to want a few pounds of flesh.

They are. Why would you even consider making that comparison right now? Would it not be more fair to make the comparison at the end of the season when all of the ballots are in? And... what if the Bills score less points and allow more points than last year and end up winning 7 games? or The Bills end up scoring more points and allowing less than last year's team, but winning 5 games? What exactly is your criteria for "BETTER"? Do you mean Better right away? Better in a couple of years? And, If this regime coached last year's team, how would they stack up? Defensively, this team sent 3 starters with an average age of 34 to the curb, and replaced them with three starters with an average age of 22.5 yrs.... and right up the middle of the defense... and statistically, they're slightly better than last year's team. Offensively, they are about the same as last year... almost dead last. So, slightly better on D and about the same as last year on O = slightly better overall. And, after an 8 for 8 draft and 6 of them having started games, that seems to me to be an outstanding job. Last year's draft was probably the best in Bills history.

Goodness gracious. This topic sure has been beaten to death. So what if folks have faith in JP or don't? The fact is, JP is the Bills QB this season, period, end of story. This regime knows they've drawn a 'mulligan' this season, simply because they've inherited a bad team and are charged with fixing it. They are going to use this year to allow JP to make it or break it. And, he ain't the only one. They know they've got to repair some parts and replace some parts. Personally, I think JPs performance stinks. Sure, I'd like it to be better... everyone would. But, he just doesn't have the supporting cast to do it. What QB could do a hell of a lot better under the current conditions? Peyton Manning? He'd get killed... who would he pass to besides Evans (who doesn't remind too many of us of Marvin Harrison)? Carson Palmer? Ditto. Ron Mexico? He'd be the same as he is now... just running around and having a couple of great games and a couple of bad ones. This team needs a lot more than just a QB right now. And for those of you that think that JP's the problem and that if he's benched immediately that things will be better are damn dilusional. Who do the Bills bring in at QB that will perform better than JP with the current supporting cast? Brady Quinn? Stanton? McNair? Favre? Hasselbeck? Just who? Any of those guys would be on IR in just a few weeks. It's a credit to JP that he's still on the active roster and still able to start... and maintain a QB rating of above 80. And, each year he's played, his rating has gotten significantly better than the previous season. That's fact, and that shows some statisical evidence of progress. So, as I mentioned in a previous post... if this regime is as successful in the upcoming draft as it was a year ago and with a major FA aquisition or two, providing JP with a better supporting cast, then we can pass judgement. The kid has had to adjust to a new coaching staff and learn a whole new offense. He deserves to be cut some slack after starting only 16 or 17 NFL games with the lack of talent he has around him. He is making progress.

Cieslak moves into the picture then. Based on reports in the offseason and preseason, Cieslak is very physical. From what I've seen Neufeld is more of the pass catching type. And, I've not seen him jack anyone up... Losing Nuefeld doesn't seem to me to have much of an effect on anything. Villarial... well he's on the wrong side of 30. I think he's most effective when the guys around him are at least his calibre or better. But... he also seems to not be too durable.

I would not say so at all. Besides... as I prefaced the pos... "I've been Thinking". Most of what I said then is true... lack of talent, mostly offense. The offensive line is bad and needs c, g if the two tackles are in place now. WR needs a #1 and we desparately need a RB. The defense needs help too, but the 8 for 8 draft the tam had last year is encouraging and hopefully it can be repeated. FA will also be a factor... and I still stand by my "say no to Brady Quinn" implication. DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER... address this specific post

Well, we've got a pretty bad team. Very reminscent of when GW came on as coach. You have an entirely new regime. How can we expect an instant winner after another roster purge reminiscent of the dawn of the TD reign? Aren't many of us expecting way too much out of this team this year? JP, although not a rookie, has just now reached the equivalent of one full season as a starter with a team that is in serious flux. So, why should the kid get whacked mercilessly by the fans, when his offense has had a total overhaul, an Oline that is still subpar, and at the skill positions, except for Evans, with subpar performers (I especially include McGahee in that group). Let's examine this a little closer. Adams, Milloy, Anderson, Moulds, Vincent, Posey, Baker, Campbell, Teague, Edwards all either starters or saw significant playing time last season are gone. But the defense is considerably better from a year ago. Offense has definitely taken a step backwards from a year ago... then again, the offense takes more time to bring up to speed than a defense. However, this team is headed in the right direction. This team is either the youngest or second youngest in the league... and it will get even younger next year. I don't recall ever hitting the mother load in a draft like the Bills pulled of last year. All 8 draft picks made the team. Six of the 8 draft picks have started at one point this year. McCargo and Youboty, the only two that have not started, could potentially end up starting next year. This is pretty amazing in itself. This bodes well for next year. You have to be excited about the upcoming draft and free agency. If we accept that Peters and Pennington are the answer at tackles, then what the Bills lack is perhaps a guard, center, top flight RB, and top flight WR on offense. On defense, the Bills could use a Big DT a pass rusher... in the form of a DE or OLB. I see the Bills passing on Fletcher this year and continuing their youth movement and TKO moving to MLB... they get more size and don't lose any speed. Obviously, Nate will be history. I see Kiwaukee Thomas taking over and eventially Youboty claiming that spot. But, I still think they will ned to aquire some depth at safety and CB. The Biggest single position that they need to upgrade is RB. Willis is a pseudo pounder... no speed, no elusiveness, no big play ability. He'll also be in a contract year and he thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. No way Ralph will give him a hefty pay raise... he's simply done nothing to deserve it. I don't think there is a franchise runner in this draft, but if there is, the Bills will take him with a 5 or 6 pick unless there's someone better on the board. But, either way, I'll tell you... the more I see this Michael Turner in SD the more I like him. He goes 5'10" 235 has power and speed... along with a 6.0 yard per carry average over 3 years. He's had two or three runs of over 70 yards, so we know he can take it to the house.... he may be a vialble option in FA. The Bills still need a home run at WR... they won't find a Colston like N.O. did. They'll have to draft high ar find a worthy FA. All of this taken into consideration, I think the Bills are headed in the right direction. They've got a lot of $$$ under the salary cap...so maybe they lock up some of the younger guys for some time, bring in a couple of high end FAs, and have another 'over the top draft'. I gotta say things may look bad this season... but the "Big Picture" looks bright.

I believe that is the Raiders approach... Grove Gallery, etc. It has worked well for them as we can see. Few years ago it worked well with the Cardinals as well. Len Davis, Anthony Clement, Pete Kendall, etc. There's a delicate balance that needs to be reached for a team to play well. You can't emphasize or over emphasize any one area of the team... lest the others regress. Donahoe dug such a hole for this team, it will take Jauron at least two more years just to get to a position where it can be in serious playoff contention.

Folks need to stop harping on JP. Ain't saying he's the greatest thing since sliced bread or whether or not he'll cut it in the end. But, let's get real here... Offensive line... Bills have one, possibly two players that could be considered average or slightlty above average (Villarial, Peters) and one of them is on the wrong side of 30. Running back... average at best... no one close to a home run threat. Period! end of story (as big a problem as the Oline) wide receiver... Lee Evans, great number two (at least until he proves otherwise). Every other plyar at this position is either a re-tread that no other team would want (except perhaps as a #4) or , in the case of Roscoe P., unfulfilled potential (he can't even break a punt return). Tight end... be serious. Robert Royal may be a quality #2, but he ain't going to make anyone forget about Metzalaars, McKeller, or even Reimersma. More like a poor man's Lonnie Johnson. Everett/Nuefeld? Oh my God... who are these stiffs? If the Bills want blocking from their TE... put in a tackle. If they want receiving ability get bonafide receiver in there. FB... If Shelton disappeared tomorrow, would anyone notice? Would anyone miss him? Just another re-tread that nobody wanted... If he weren't with the Bills, he'd be out of football altogether. So, folks, we have a pathetic offensive team put together. How JP can maintain a QB rating of 80 or better is an accomplishment altogether. Folks expecting him to perform like Kelly or Carson Palmer just don't understand football... you are better off following badmitton. The only magic bullet (by that I mean a single player) that you could plug in and make this offense instantly better is a home run threat at RB. There's none that I'm aware of coming out of the draft this year. So, Ralph has his work cut out... he's got no marquis player and he'll have a top 5 pick... with no one of star appeal. And please, Brady Quinn... if you ask me, he's Rick Mirer with size. There's only one way this offense can get better.... one or two players at a time... unless there are some marquis players in free agency that Ralph's willing to pay. The last thing on JP... If there's a better QB out there right now (someone you could sure fire plug in from day one and be a significant upgrade over JP), who the hell is he... or she? Bottom line... I know of no QB that could function at a high level in this offense, given the talent they are currently surrounded by.

Let's squash this bullshitt right here and right now. Money talks... and they follow the money. Loyalty, allegiance mean zero. If Ralph shows them the money... they will come... mark that down in your book.

Dude... have you been on Mars? We're pretty pathetic at 3-6. This team's got nothing. If Houston can take out Jax, Fins take out the Bears, they can do the same to the Bills...and the Titans can certainly ruin Christmas.