The Big Cat

Got it, thanks.

Finley sucks, Pettigrew fine, Clay may be, Pitta may be, Daniels fine, Bennet no, Reed no. But even if we were to take every player we've both listed, that makes Chanlder the 20th best TE in the league, and of the 19 teams with better ones, we've beaten three, gone to overtime with two and have better records than four others. That leaves 10.

People love to call for a tight end, but I maintain it's a luxury position, that Chandler is good enough. Folks, he's the best we've had in years. Off the top of my head, looking at all the teams in the league, here are the only ones I'd identify as having a significantly better TE than us, and as you see, not all of these teams are significantly better... Cleveland Indy Cincy New England Denver Dallas Minnesota New Orleans Carolina Atlanta San Fran

for someone who's heard plenty about mack, but never seen him play, two questions: Does he play standing up? Will he be there in the 10-12 range? If the answer to either of these questions is no...

Forgot about punter, yes, good call. And I could be on board with your 4 over mine, but I look at this as what to improve on in 2014, and we won't having a rookie starting at QB next year.

SS?? LG RT OLB WR1

This assuming EJ makes zero progress in the offseason. Fine, take the "show me the baby" approach. It's the "realistic" one, I get it. But it's a pretty bold assumption that EJ won't improve a lick from now until September.

Last year's offense with this year's defense. Think about it, Bills fans. Now think about how quick we are to bash EJ. Notice a pattern?

If you think the Bills are going to and/or should use their first pick on a QB, you're both insane/going to be sorely disappointed. Actually an excellent point. Shame Tank was such a rampant racist/homophobe.

FWIW this made the front page on imgur http://imgur.com/gallery/ywdkulO

i must have missed something--which reports are we talking about?

I might be wrong, but I think a lot of Bills fans will be dissapointed to see TJ still on the team come Sept '14.

i didn't mean to imply it was a 'recruitment' thing. in Marrone's presser yesterday he talked about Jim Leonhard, and what it means to be a pro. i think they'll take a look at the roster not only from a standpoint of what happens on sundays, but who prepares week in and week out like the coaches expect them to. i think that's what they're referring to when they talk about accountability, and i can't foresee them keeping guys around who aren't putting in those hours. and i think it's those hours that they (rightly) believe ultimately separate the winners from the losers.

I didn't mean to imply you're full of it. The numbers don't lie, and he's doing it on a team that loves to run the ball.

Ha...So you're telling me, EJ, having already broken the Bills rookie TD record, is well on his way to a top-20--may be even top-10--all-time NFL QB performance? According to 20 years' list, if the season ended today, EJ (without adding in other rookies this year) would be: QB Rating--10th Comp. Pct--9th YPA--18th YPG--13th AYA--6th TD/INT--T8th (ish)

Oops. You right. I thought he had come out by then.

Wasn't Aaron Williams

nice post. i think we'll take a big step forward this off season by having the coaches purge the players that aren't their guys. look at the Pats* how many times have we heard everyone in the offseason gush about their big ticket FA's, only to watch them fizzle and die. yes, talent is important, but if you don't conform to Bellicheat's standards, you won't succeed on his team. i think Marrone will apply similar kinds of standards that'll separate the Bills from the non-Bills before April.

Yeah, try telling the Panthers how much that game didn't matter. It's not like a win there would put them at the top of their division with a first round bye heading into week 16...

Could be. But we never ran right under Gailey, and again, Fitz got that thing out in a hurry. You never saw him linger like EJ has a tendency to do.

I just posted this in another thread, but it's wildly relevant here. You all think the coach made the difference on this offensive line when in the three years prior to this we all agreed that Fitz's fast, decisive reads made them look a lot better than they were...or how we threw to set up the run, which is the opposite of what we do now? Bills fans are so fast to blame the coaches. Our RT has been in the league for 8 years now, you think he suddenly forgot how to play because the OLine coach wasn't teaching him right?

I don't understand how this isn't more readily apparent to most people, especially considering how it was universally accepted that Fitz made the offensive line a lot better with his quick, decisive reads, and how we passed to set up the run game under Gailey, which is the opposite of what we do now. Heading into the offseason, I wasn't alone in worrying that we'd have a major regression on the offense, and I certainly wasn't alone in being concerned with the offensive line.

I remember when they decided not to count the Giants' second Super Bowl because they only got there after a Forty Niner muffed a punt. I also remember how everyone gave us the win in the Chiefs game because, let's face it, Tuel should have found SJ in the endzone for the score.

You mention two things speaking in absolutes that are far from it.

I think you're kind of splitting hairs to make your point, and it's not really worth arguing whether or not the roster has been blown up.