Rockinon

Nice Astrobot. I didn't think of injuries. It's something that is typically not talked about and is written off quickly when it is because "Every team has to deal with injuries". But good addition. Anyone else?

This is an exercise to list things these ridiculous pundits don't know about our team. What have you got to add?

I have been watching people post links to articles about our beloved Buffalo Bills and one of them got me thinking. It was an article by Jamie Dukes of the NFL Network, a nationally televised station that is dedicated solely to NFL news and media. According to Jamie Dukes the Bills are stupid for picking Dareus because he doesn't fit as a Nose Tackle. Excuse me, Mr. Dukes, but you are a moron. So I thought I'd start a little exercise listing things the pundits don't know about our Buffalo Bills. Feel free to jump in with your own thoughts with follow ups. Marcel Dareus is a DE/DT Kyle Williams is a Pro Bowl NT all ready on our roster. Kyle can also line up at DT or DE. Torrel Troupe is also a NT. He can also line up as a DT. Micheal Jasper is a project that is also considered a NT.(How Mr. Dukes, could you possibly think the Bills were looking to use a fourth NT on this team with Dareus?) The Bills do believe Fitz can get the job done. "In weeks 3-16 with Fitz as the starter, the offense averaged 335 YPG, 116 rushing YPG, 219.6 passing YPG and 19.9 points per game. In the three games that Fitz did not play in last season, the offense averaged 171 YPG, 70 rushing YPG, 101 passing YPG and 8 points per game. Also, Fitz had two games in which he passed for over 300 yards (382 & 308), something that wasn’t done in a Bills uniform in years." We actually do have explosive playmakers that can turn games around.Kyle Williams Steve Johnson Fred Jackson Jairus Byrd Ryan Fitpatrick Lee Evans Roscoe Parish CJ Spiller

Agreed. I felt the same way. Our defense all year long could not close a game out. It seemed the offense was always having to put a bunch of points up to win or busy trying to catch up. Being in that position put a lot of pressure on Fitz and the receivers. If the defense was doing it's job, we could simply mix in more running plays and have a more diverse offensive attack. Having a defense that can actually stop the opposition can really change the way the offense calls plays. There is no doubt in my mind that the offense will improve as the defense improves. Things are looking up.

I live way up in Northern New York(Potsdam) and have been thinking about bringing the RV. Never did it before, so thanks for the info guys. The nice thing about this is having all of the eats with a kitchen on wheels. Thinking about bringing the smoker/cooker along. Good food, good beer and top it off with a football game. Doesn't get much better than that.

I like this reporting. Watching the Bills beat the snot out of his favorite team this year will be all the more enjoyable.

I am not holding out much hope of that, but Merriman? Moats? Batten? Someone out of this group will rise to the challenge.

True. Rookies make boneheaded mistakes, but the defense has been building for some time and not just this year. I believe Darius will contribute right away too. Alex Carrington looked pretty good toward the end of the year. Troupe has been beefing up. Moats looked good and will get more opportunities this year. Kyle Williams is still a force. Dwan Edwards is still a big DE. All our rookies really have to do is minimize mistakes and have a positive impact on the game. Some huge differences this year is that we now have depth where we didn't have depth, and we now have talent where we didn't have talent. It should be interesting to see what the offense can do with a big increase in time of possession thanks to an improved defense.

The Bills were among the worst in Time of Possession last year. This should change pretty dramatically this year. A positive ToP certainly does not guarantee a win, but it certainly will help. Very worthy topic, OP. A strong defense is going to be the headliner this year.

Interesting read about leadership and striving to be great. We've all ready been down the mediocrity road, though. Good thing a hammer can also be used to build.

Yep. Watch out Carolina and Denver.

As a ticket buying fan then, go ahead and spend your money on a team you are hoping will lose. Knock yourself out, loser.

I believe Chan Gailey used those same bolded words shortly after taking the HC job. He hit the nail on the head. That was not only an accurate statement at the time. It still holds true now. This hoping to be in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes is simply the wrong approach. It's my opinion and you are certainly entitled to your own. I'm going to continue to look at this Andrew Luck hoping as a loser approach, however. The way to winning is in the hands of the guys actually on the field. Andrew Luck isn't even in the NFL yet.

Losing so you can get a better player next year is what is truly short sighted. Winning is not about having the best QB next year. If you want to win you do it by building a consensus winning attitude from all players on the team. Even the ones that are not superstars can perform better with hard work and the mental determination to achieve a higher goal. This losing in hopes of maybe getting your guy in next year's draft is wrong and short sighted. What message are you sending to your existing team members if it is OK to lose now. Wrong message. No matter how you try to spin it. It's not right and it's a low character, underhanded, fowl way to run a team. Build your team the right way by playing to win every Sunday. Every single team in the NFL starts out the season with zero wins. Every single team has a chance to make the playoffs and go to the Superbowl. If you don't believe that, I'm sorry. You're a loser.

They(Nix, Gailey etc.) have high expectations for Merriman. They have reasonably high expectations for Moats and Batton(who will move back to OLB) They also have a very high draft pick in Maybin that they figure at least has a snowballs chance in hell of finally producing. It's not all bad, and maybe they know a thing or two that we don't. We'll see soon enough.

It could be that the FA outlook on TEs was better than the Draft outlook on TEs. I am thinking we will pick one up.

I recently read on another Bill's message board that Buddy Nix was on Sirius Radio and talked about the Dareus interview before the draft. Dareus told Gailey I cannot confirm this, but that is awesome if true.

Can you imagine how quickly things turn around if our defense goes from worst to first this year? Yea, we had 2 early round draft picks on defense last year too, 7 out of 9 defensive picks this year, Moats looking good, Merriman back from injury and Dave Wannstedt to help out. Hey, it could happen. Getting Dareus was the icing on the cake.

Fight the good fight. You are not alone.

I'm having trouble maintaining a rational train of thought? Look at yourself. You are the one accepting the status-quo. Oh, but that's right, your a realist.

You still don't get it. I love these so called realists. Reality is what you make it. Every team starts out 0-0. The reality is that any team can go to the playoffs next season or the Superbowl for that matter. That's the reality. Who gives a damn about predictions? This has nothing to do with predictions. The idea here is that passion for your team is OK. You self-proclaimed realists are not realists at all. You are losers who have laid down and excepted mediocrity. So sorry if I have offended your sensibilities, loser.

At least he won't need sandbags for weight/traction.

I think that is just what did. I said that is nice and all.

I'm not knocking you. I just want to see some attitudes change. When losing becomes acceptable, it's time to change the culture that breeds more of the same. The sport would not exist without the fan and the fan would not exist without the sport. It's a two way street. We as fans we expect performance from our sports team. But it doesn't end there. We we have a responsibility to them as well. Why should they play their hearts for us if we don't support them? No one should sacrifice family for sports, but that doesn't mean we can't be passionate supporters for a team. If we want to change the culture of losing it takes more than a handful of people. We need our fix of sports the same way that the players on that team need the fan for their fix. It's time for people to realize that winning comes at a price.

In today's world of social media, the players see how passionate we are. When we go to the games they see how passionate we are. If you have ever been an athlete you would understand that the players feed off of that. No bearing whatsoever? I wouldn't say that.