Swift Sylvan

+1, that team looked like it had turned the corner. At 4-0/5-1, I was stoked and thought we were going to the playoffs. We look great, why don't we be happy that we're 3-0 and WAIT to see if we can continue it before declaring what we're capable of. That being said, the Senator has been the most accurate so far.

Differences: Different Coach Different QB, RB, WR's, TE, OL, DL, LB, CB, S Different Opponents Pretty much everything is different. Now, just because the 2011 team is completely different than the 2008 team doesn't mean a whole lot. This team could go 8-8 this year and it would still be different. Does this team look better compared to the 2008 team? Yes. Did the 2008 team look impressive after it beat playoff teams from the prior season, yes. We all can speculate whatever we want, in the NFL no game is a guarantee and these Bills are going to prove they are different WHEN they win those games. Last time I checked 3-0 wasn't a sure bid to the playoffs though it is quite encouraging.

I read a article with quotes from BB and I have to say that it seems that in the last 2 years he has been complimentary of our team. In the years prior to that he would make statements such as that Jason Peters wouldn't be able to crack their roster. What do you think has changed? Please give an answer with the realism that BB is a human being with good and bad qualities.

Unlike Jauron and maybe Murlarkey, it seems that Chan is effectively building a game plan around our offense. Saying is Fitzpatrick the perfect QB for Chan seems to be saying Chan already has a philosophy that people have to fill. The best coaches would build game plans around what they have NOT the other way around. An example would be when Miami had Brown and Williams they started running the wildcat more.

The thing about Lee Evans is that it seems difficult to gauge how valuable Lee is/was. A year ago we would talk about how our D were round pegs filling square holes as we transitioned to the 3-4. I think Lee Evans was possibly our most un-utilized player this last decade. Lee's skill set required a good offensive line and another receiver to allow Lee to see the coverage that he excelled best against. To be fair JP Losman only played for 16 games for one season. That same season was the one where Lee put up #1 receiver numbers. NOW let's look at that season. Off the top of my head I believe that Lee had about 80 catches, 1100 yards and 7 touchdowns. Mathematically it is impossible that Lee accumulated all of his yards as a 1 trick pony. Even if Lee only scored on deep routes, we still would need to account for about 70 catches and 600 yards of other production. Lee Evans might have wanted JP Losman to be his quarterback, EMO wanted Holcomb, TO wanted Fitz, etc...I fail to see how that contradicts the fact that Lee played 109 games for the Bills, was a professional who showed up and worked every day AND (this should be a good point) never was called out as egotistical, dramatic, or an avid user of twitter. Whatever it is that Lee could have done or will do doesn't change the fact that he is a great athlete who, had he been on a team that tried to work around players talents (We do this now, as oppose to the Jauron era) Lee would have been a much more known and productive player. Lee was good here and if you asked anyone on the team they would tell you that he was quite valuable. I trust their opinions more than our fan base. The fact is that when you have a quarterback who excels at short throws requiring awareness and an offensive line that is trained to protect for 4 step drops you do not need a player of Lee's skill set for the price that he was making. Irregardless, Lee deserves to be known as a good football player and as a man who never was a headcase. All he did was show up and work. When asked his opinion he would tell you, but unlike EMO who stopped trying in a game JP couldn't throw to him, Lee continued to work hard. I guess it comes down to who we are comparing Lee to. Lee next to Chris Kelsay and George Wilson will look different than if we compare him to Donte Whittner and Maybin.

I like that they say all the actual points in about 15 seconds; quite efficient.

To be fair, Kelsay usually gets 1-2 of his 4-5 sacks in a year in patriot games from what I recall. He and Schobel always seemed to step it up sort of like how McGahee always played well against the Jets.

The Good: Jackson and Chris Kelsay The Bad: Mckelvin (who apparently was great in week 1) http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/09/21/re-focused-raiders-bills/

Maybe I am too lenient: 1) Levitre B+: So far he seems like a solid starter in the NFL and has been a reliable, durable source for the Bills 2) Kelsay B: Kelsay has played for the Bills as a starter for 8 years. While he might not have been dominant like Schobel he is solid as a DE and has done what has been asked of him 3) Byrd B: Some injuries, but other than that a starter who has been playing relatively well, especially as a rookie 4) Pos B: Seems to always get injured. If he was more durable he would be an A. He has been a solid starter who contributes. 5) Reed B: Josh Reed usually gave the team 400 yards a year and a couple receptions a game. He wasn't a stud, but he was good enough to help our team every year for 8 years. 6) Parrish B-: Roscoe hurts only because we drafted him the same year the team tanked and went from almost playoffs to almost first round. That being said he has beena useful player every year and has contributed. 7) Denney B-: The stormin mormon was quality depth on special teams and as a DE. He played on the Bills for years. 8) Hardy F: He was a bust Frankly, to have a player play for you for 6+ years and to be at least solid should be a B- or better in my book. I feel like you all are looking at homerun picks and comparing these guys to them. This is my criteria: A: Probowl player B: Contributor C: Played for a few years and bottomed out D: Had potential, but something happened F: Never accomplished anything Chad Jackson for the Patriots was a D, Ko Simpson for the Bills was a C, our second round picks played for us for years and these guys weren't the reason we were so inept. They are all solid players who aren't good enough to dominate, but with other great players will look better by comparisson. Just like how players like Leonhard suddenly looks good on a team with playmakers. All of these guys are/were the same way except for Hardy.

First I disagree with Kelsey's grade. I know we wish he could do better, but there is no way he is a D as a second round pick. It is pretty interesting (or insert whatever word you want here) that we are so much better at drafting a player who will play for us for years in the second round than we are in the first round.

In terms of their production: 1. Maybin 2. McCargo 3. 2004 draft minus Lee Evans 4. Hardy 5. Mike Williams

I think Kelsay is going to have a good year this year and here is my reasoning: It seems that players can help compliment each other and as one player plays better others will look better too. See Kyle Williams and Chris Kelsay. Chris Kelsay is good at getting around the pocket and getting to the back side of the quarterback. This has cause qb hits, sacks, and an interception. If the quarterback steps up Chris Kelsay is not very effective. However, we have Kyle Williams who is effective at pushing the pocket, when he pushes the pocket the quarterback cannot step up. This was why we were able to get so much pressure during the Steelers game against their poor offensive line as both Kelsay and Williams were doing their roles well. Now, we did just draft a 3-4 DE/4-3 DT who should be able to push the pocket. With him and Kyle Williams I would think that Kelsay will have more success because the other two players will put him in a position to succeed. I predict 6 sacks from Kelsay, but a lot more pressures and QB hits to disrupt plays.

If we had Haloti Ngata we wouldn't have been drafting 3rd.

Even better

I mean for whatever Fitz can do, he certainly has been the best QB we have had in a while. Especially with the stat line of 3000 yards in 14 games.

I hardly think that Fitz is the 32nd best starter in the league, I'd put him at 20-25th best. I do think our defense last year was the 30th-32nd best. If we only have the choice of fixing one (and if this draft did fix our D) then I am all for the draft that we had.

I give our team an A, more so because they are drafting players who barring injury have proven that they will continually try hard and have been productive every year. That is how you build winning teams and I feel like that we are going to have the talent of the 2004-2009 Chargers sooner than later.

I guess this means the Bills brass thinks our o is better than we do...

JP > Trent http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2006111905/2006/REG11/bills@texans/analyze/box-score http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2006112602/2006/REG12/jaguars@bills/analyze/box-score The first was a 300+ yrd game that JP won on an amazing throw to Peerless Price (Dauta Robinson complained about this and at the time people were offended he said JP sucked) The second was JP making clutch plays in back to back weeks.

Well I'm sure he made the team better. Just not good enough because of all the pieces missing elsewhere.

I'm surprise McGee didn't make your list. Or is he hurt too much?

The point of this post was to give people the idea that we can criticize everyone else, but some people we're going to have to keep with us for next year. (Such as, is it a good idea to resign Pos if he's our 3rd best defensive player and we can realistically upgrade 6 spots.) That being said, I completely agree with you.

Would you say Kelsay is 3rd then?

Does that mean it's a good thing we gave him an extension?

With all these let's draft him or cut and replace him threads I am curious to see who is considered our best defensive players. Obviously Kyle Williams is #1, but if you had to give #2 to someone on D who would it be? Florence, Poz, McGee? So would you guys be so kind to rank these players from best to worst? I really would be interested to see everyone's opinions: Williams, Stroud, Johnson, Troup, Kelsay, Moats, POZ, Ayodele, McGee, Florence, McKelvin, Donte, Byrd? AND if you want to include IR'd players: Davis, Edwards, Merriman, Torbor