coachhillenbrand

You obviously have alot of time on your hands. Maybe you can take it a step further and do your analysis on all 7 rounds instead of 1, as well as 10 years of work instead of 1, then I'll be impressed if your numbers still match up. By the way, how much of a slouch are you to make up your own point system for rating mock drafts, get a life bro.........or at least a part-time job to keep yourself busy. Kiper making his mock drafts strictly on conversations, thats a good one too but hey, anything to keep yourself amused! By the way, nobody said Kiper was a genius. Just thought his NFL Football guide that comes out every year is extremely helpful, especially with the mid to late round picks that many people have not heard of. Thats a personal opinion, so get off your high horse and get a grip with the reality that not everyone agrees with your ridiculous comments and incredibally funny and time consuming mock draft rookie ratings system. You are pretty full of yourself son.

Everyone is entitled to their opionion. If you can find a better resource book with more information then his, please forward me the info. Thanks

Sorry to disagree with you but Mel Kiper, whether you want to admit it or not, does a pretty darn good job when it comes to evaluating college players. I think you fail to realize he gets paid big bucks to do one thing, scout and evaluate college players across the nation. If he wasn't good at it, don't you think he would be repalced by now? He has an in-depth blue draft book (probably the best I've ever seen) with detailed evaluations on every potential draftee, now thats alot of homework. He also has access to an incredible amount of video footage of all college football prospects, not to mention he's been doing this for sooooooo many years that he must be doing something right. As far as scouts feeding Mel Kiper wrong information? I think YOU were fed wrong information because Kiper has his own opinions and doesn't get influenced from what other people say or think. Thats obvious with how brutal and upfront he can be when he disagrees with other people/teams evaluations. Maybe if you had access to some of the material Kiper puts out there for draftnicks to follow, you would have a greater appreciation for the work he does and how accurate many of his assessments really are. If this is all the guy does for a living and has done so and done it well for all these years (including having access to the same information as scouting staff departments), how can he be generalized as being program driven and not deep enough to enlighten t.v. watchers. I have news for you bro, I would take someone like Mel Kipers assessment, then a head coach or GM who have so many other duties throughout the football year, they can't possibly put in the time and energy it takes to do a better job. I think Mel Kiper is an arrogant little punk at times but I respect his work and his draft book is one awesome piece of an NFL Draft resource to prepare for draft day, especially for the middle to late round picks of all teams.

Hey Brain, no one is saying Whitner was a bad pick. Your comment, (At least one analyst had Whitner going to the Bills with their first pick), thats a good one!!!!! You mean "ONE" and only "ONE" person or mock draft board had him going to the Bills and as you said, that was only a day or two before the draft, hence some possible inside information. Show me one single message posted on the Bills message board last year before the pick was announced that predicted Whitner. I thought so!! The point here, as with the original post yesterday, is that Whitner was a SURPRISE pick when everyone else was guessing 4-6 other players. EVEN CHRIS BERMAN GOT THE PICK WRONG AND WAS SURPRISED! How many times have you seen Berman get information from the taxi cab driver wrong during draft time? Now getting back to the reason for this post from yesterday. Its to see if the same thing will happen this year where many of us are throwing around the same 4-6 names in the Bills slot and then they go ahead and pull a "Whitner" and take someone we're not really expecting. Stop trying to make something out of nothing by reading into everything, over analyzing, and then twisting things around to make some ridiculous post that makes absolutely no sense in relation to what the intention of this original post was all about. I would think you might have better things to do with your time but I could be wrong.

Have you heard of people or even mock drafts thinking Patrick Willis, Hall, Peterson, Lynch, Branch, Okoye, or yes even the sliding Ted Ginn with the Bills 12th pick - YES Did you ever hear Bills fans or mock drafts from 2006 taking Donte Whitner with the Bills first round pick -NO What is your point? The more you try and justify your original reply to this post, the more ridiculous you sound. Whitner wasn't even on the radar screen as a possible Bills pick last year and you know it, regardless of where you had him ranked. The players mentioned to start this post are all definite candidates at #12, even if that means they "dropped" to #12 or are picked "early" at #12. Are you okay???? And why would a Lynch or Willis be picked at #12 when they might fall to 16 or lower? Because Marv and crew (as with Whitner), don't like to take chances with a player they really like or want and will take that player earlier then most people predict if they think their is a chance they could lose them to some other team. Why else are the people listed on the beginning of this posts possible picks at #12? Because they all fit a strong need at their respective positions on our team, especially LB, DT, CB, and RB. I only threw Ted Ginn's name in there because up until recently, many mock boards had him going in the top 10 with possibly Minnesota as his destination and although I highly doubt we would go WR in the first round, especially with how deep that position is in this years draft, I do think they would take a look at him to complement Evans if he was available. Peerless Price is not the answer on the other side.

I couldn't agree with you more DAJUICE

Basically you're saying Whitner was the presumed pick by you all along and it was not a surprise. All the power to you genie! You probably also predicted the trade up back into the first round to grab McCargo! You go man!! I was thinking N'Gata, Bunkley, Justice, or for sure I thought they might go to Ernie Sims. At the time, nobody would have complained about any of those players but alot of people if I remember correctly, were pretty shell shocked at the Whitner selection at the time. Bills Fans AND numerous NFL Draft analysts across the nation were stunned. Heck, I would have even preferred Leinart at the time over Whitner based on what Losman had done (or not done) the previous season. Yes, I'm glad I was wrong about the Bills 1st round pick last year and I'm quite content with Whitner at our safety position for years to come. I'm also really happy with Losman's development at the QB position. It doesn't change the fact that we once again are throwing around the same 5-6 names that we think are going to be on the board when its our turn at 12 and will the Bills surprise all of us yet again with someone nobody is really mentioning that much (aka Whitner). Oh yes, that is a very realistic situation and good comparison since Marv and crew always have something smart up their sleeve.

Cheer up, life is too short! Its just an opionion. If you don't like it, don't respond to the post. If an "opinion" or "comment" that YOU don't agree with ruffles your feathers this much, maybe open message boards aren't for you! By the way, I happen to like the work Kiper does on his collegiate player analysis and like many other people who try and predict NFL Drafts, there are hits and misses on everyone by everyone. I agree that its too early to tell if Whitner and Simpson and K. Williams, etc... will only be "okay" players. Maybe they will turn out to be All-Pro's, then again maybe they won't. Calling them "okay" picks for now is appropriate for the time being until proven otherwise. Yes, I think the Bills draft class of 2006 turned out to be pretty darn good but its too early to tell either way HOW good it really will be.

Now Whitner was a real shocker for all of us on draft day as my heart stopped beating momentarily that day when I heard the pick. Although the pick turned out to be "okay", I don't want to go through that again this year with another surprise pick. There will already be enough stress waiting to see which direction they will go, please just pick Willis, Okoye, Branch, Peterson or Lynch with #12. Since they have traded to get back into the first round twice in the last three years, I would love to see them draft Okoye if he's there at 12, then trade up to get Willis if he falls to around 20. Man, that would be two awesome young acquistions for our up and coming D.

The best Bill I ever met in person was Marcellus Wiley. I actually waited on his table at a restaurant in Chevy Chase Maryland (Cheesecake Factory) and he forgot his credit card in the check presenter. I haven't had the opportunity to meet many Bills players in my life other then him and Russ Tucker so there isn't much to choose from, although as a kid I was in Jerry Butler's fan club. As far as famous people from other sports teams, I waited on Michael Jordan in a private boardroom at Mortons of Chicago Steakhouse in D.C. along with Wes Unseld and Abe Polian. I've also been lucky enough to meet the following other people in person working at Morton's. I waited on all of these people individually except Mario, I actually just went up to him by the host stand and shook his hand and said hi.......................he is one big dude. Hockey - Mario Lemieux, Chris Simon, Olie Kolzig, Serge Gonchar Basketball - Antonio Daniels, Antonio McDyess, Coach Rick Pittino Football - Jim Plunkett, Darrell Green, Art Monk, Harold Carmichael, Mike Quick, Mark Mosley, Baseball - Jose Guillen, Brooks Robinson, Comedian - Chris Tucker Actress - Cheryl Ladd, Linda Carter Actor - Bruce Willis, Jack Lemon Radio Man - Wolfman Jack (about 13 years ago at Planet Hollywood) I'm sure there are others I've missed mentioning over the 8 years I've worked there but Jordan was definitely the best and one I will never forget. He is a super funny guy in person and was the life of the party cracking on everyone at the table.

To compare Petersen with Johnson IS ridiculous. Players like Johnson don't come around very often and Petersen (as much as I like him) will always carry around the "injury prone tag" until he proves otherwise. I don't think Petersen will last to #12 either but its definitely "possible" he could slip to them. No way Johnson lasts past the Tampa pick, THAT YOU CAN BANK ON!

You probably said the same thing last year about Leinart and then he falls to #10. No one could have ever predicted that. Peterson could be seen as "injury prone" in some GM's eyes. There are always surprise early picks (aka Donte Whitner) and surprise falling draft picks (aka Thurman Thomas, Leinart, etc... Anything is possible. By the way, Calvin Johnson doesn't have ANY question marks and their is a strong need for his services by many teams who draft before Buffalo. Calvin Johnson is arguably the best player in the draft, Peterson is not.............ridiculous comparison on your part.

I really like Marshawn Lynch but Peterson also intrigues me. Cleveland has J. Lewis in for a visit this week which, if he signed there......................could possibly help Peterson fall to Buffalo's spot, especially since Houston just took Ahman Green. What do you think???

I gotta believe the Colts are gonna win this game going away in the 4th quarter. I just don't see the inconsistent Grossman being able to put up the points he needs to keep up with Manning. The Bears defense and special teams have a better chance of scoring more points then what Grossman will probably do. My guess, Colts 30 Bears 20

Dear Ralphy Boy, Remember when we had that Super Bowl run those 4 years. Remember how successful we were by KEEPING our top players in their prime and not letting other teams strengthen themselves with OUR drafted talent. Heck, it was actually longer then 4 years because we were good right before that 4 year run and right afterwards as well. Anyway, I know we haven't sold out a couple of games and all lately and thats really no excuse, but please start investing heavily in the OL and DL like you used to and for heavens sake, don't let our one and only true shutdown corner walk with plans of unproven Ashton Youboty taking over. You know what that means Ralphie, don't you?? It means OPEN UP THE DAMN POCKETBOOK! Yes, I know there was a time we had salary cap problems and all but that was spending stupidly on middle of the road players or guys past their prime. I much rather flirt with salary cap hell then be sitting home watching the playoffs year after year after year. We are finally on the right course now. Its not a time to take any steps BACKWARDS! Even though you majorly screwed up for letting Bill Polian go. Even though you made another blunder by picking Tom "Bonehead" Donahue to run the team so he could pick the likes of Mike (I want my mommy) Williams and Willis (what down is it) McGahee with a 24 year old Travis Henry on our team. I still "might" be able to forgive you if only you could field us, once again, a Super Bowl caliber team. We all know it starts up front and adding a Steinbach to our team for the OL sure would help. Trading up this year to get an extra first round pick might not be bad if you could "HIT" on a bad ass DT to help sew up our run defense. I will miss the awesome play of Fletcher but its time to go with youth at that position and Patrick Willis would be a nice fit. If you don't go with Patrick Willis, at least get us a top notch WR to complement Lee Evans and also give us some much needed red zone size like a Dwayne Jarrett. Adding that big red zone target could only help Losman's development. Daniel Graham would be a much needed TE upgrade after you blew it by overpaying a below average TE Robert Royal last year. Signing Daniel Graham should not be outrageous money and I can't remember the last time we had a solid TE. Oh yeah, Pete Metz during our Super Bowl run. Nate Clements, gotta resign him. It is so hard to find a lockdown corner in his prime capable of taking the other team's #1 receiver out of the game but essentially thats what he did this past year. Those kind of players are so hard to replace. I know, I know, your probably saying................how are we gonna afford all this? Well, if the SORRY ASS Redskins can be in salary cap hell EVERY YEAR and still go out and sign big free agents, we have to be able to find a way to do some serious "but smart" spending as well with all our cap room. The only difference being the Skins spend foolishly on their overrated free agents, we need to spend, but spend wisely on some "proven" talent without mortgaging our future because we all know how important it will be to keep the likes of Losman and Evans when they are free agents in a couple of years. Ok, so I will wait and see if you're going to step up to the plate and keep this team heading on the right track, or are you going to continue to be ultra conservative and let our top players walk away in their prime and then spend all our extra money on the Robert Royals of the world. If you go the wrong way on us Ralphie Boy, I can't guarantee the fans will show up and sell out the stadium each week like you and I both want. The fans need something to cheer for and you are in the strongest position to make that possible. Jauron and Levy were a good start with turing around the mess you created, NOW FINISH FIXING THE MESS BY BRINGING US HOME A SUPER BOWL WINNER!!!! SHOW ME THE MONEY RALPH!!!!!!!

Our present uniforms are bad enough but the black cleats just look plain stupid to me, not to mention matches nothing of our team colors. Alot of teams are going to the black look and other then the Ravens, Bears, Jags and possibly Bengals, I think the black cleats look terrible. It was mentioned that London Fletcher persuaded the players to don the black cleat look. I'm wandering if he exits the team, which is highly likely, if they go back to the white shoes? This would at least makes the uniform look slightly better, yes, even the road unis. Some people think the black cleats make players look "mean and tougher". Heck, you could put "red" cleats on Jason Peters and he would look like one big mean nasty dude! I just think our players look alot sharper and faster in the white cleat look, just an opinion. Now I know we would all gladly trade "any" look for "WINS" but just curious what all of you think. Go back to the white cleats and keep our present uniforms? Keep our black cleats and keep our present uniforms? Keep our black cleats and use our throwback uniform FULL TIME IF POSSIBLE? Go back to white cleats and use our throwback uniforms FULL TIME IF POSSIBLE? Go back to white cleats and early 80's look with blue pants, white shirt, and white helmet with blue and red stripe down helmet? Go back to white cleats and 90's look with white pants, blue jersey, and red helmet? I know we have more important issues at hand this offseason then uniforms but does anyone have contact with the Bills front office that knows if they ever plan on doing something different with these league laughingstock uniforms we presently have sooner rather then later? The homes ones are "okay" but the road ones are a complete joke to EVERYONE!

Frank Gore - 3rd round Marion Barber - 4th round Brandon Jacobs - 4th round Micheal Turner - 5th round Barber, Jacobs and Turner can match McGahee's less then impressive numbers if they are a full time starter........or at least Turner and Barber for sure. Gore is just a BEAST! We should have never drafted McGahee when we had Travis Henry, NEVER!

If thats correct then I apologize, I thought I read something the other day from a story on TWOBILLSDRIVE that said all 3 were upcoming free agents. Regardless, I still think we should extend them now because their value is only going to increase to the point we won't be able to afford them. What do you think? Thanks for the correction too if what you say is true.

Although I would be sad to see Flether and Kelsey go, I really think resigning Nate Clements is critically important to the continued development of our defense and losing him and his proven ability would leave a huge hole in our secondary. Now on the other hand, next year is going to be even more difficult. We have Losman, Evans, and McGahee all possible free agents and its imperative we sign Losman and Evans to an extension before the start of next season if we want to get the most bang for our buck. McGahee is a tough hard nosed player but he is definitely replaceable and we might even find a better back through free agency or the draft. I was looking through the 2006 draft yesterday and their were numerous RB's taken in the later rounds, Maurice Drew - 2nd round Jerious Norwood - 3rd round Leon Washington - 4th round RB's are much easier to find then a top flight CB. Although I like McGahee, he's not a top 10 back but then again, we have never given him a proven OL to run behind so who really knows. I just hope we don't lose Nate Clements, Lee Evans, and J.P. Losman as all three are entering their prime because it would be a definite setback to our team's progress and losing those players could come back to haunt us. Just an opinion. P.S. Please let us land Patrick Willis or Dwayne Jarrett in the first round next year. Willis would be the one player I can see replacing Fletcher and Jarrett could definitely take some heat off of Evans. Peerless Price is not the answer as a #2 WR.

McGahee should have a big game vs the Tenn. Run Defense and that should open up our passing game as well. If he doesn't get his yardage this week, he probably won't be able to do much against the Ravens vaunted run defense the following week. I'm guessing this is his last chance for a 1000 yard season although I think we all prefer a victory above everything else. I really believe the Bills are gonna get in the playoffs. I really see us doing a good job of shutting down the Titans offense but Vince Young and his scrambling ability make me a little nervous.

I heard the Eagles play by play guy on Sirius today saying how Bunkley has done absolutely nothing and the few times he has been in, the other teams offense has had some big runs. Now I know its not all Bunkley's fault but this same announcer was reaping praises on Bunkley all pre-season and since the season started, he has done nothing. Its still early but you never want to miss on a 1st round draft pick selected that high. He might only be a rookie but he should still be making progress and not going backwards. I know alot of Draft Junkies had the Bills selecting Bunkley, (me included) and I'm just glad he's not our problem. Although Whitner got burned over and over by Gates Sunday, I'm glad we picked him and I only see him getting better.

Didn't Spikes have calf issues leading up to his Achilles tear? I hope this isn't a sign of anything and truly just a strained calf. We can not afford to lose Crowell.

Several of these things caught my eye and it really bothered me throughout the game and was just wandering if anyone else noticed some of these little problems too. At least 4-5 different times I saw several seconds run off the clock after a play was whistled over and their was a stoppage of play. Now I know we are suppose to have home field advantage but between the refs and clock control, I'm starting to wander. Some really poor spotting of the ball after the play at least 4 times that favored the Bolts each and every time. The refs did not have their sh-- together all game, and the worst call was on Peerless Price sideline play. You can totally see on replay how one of the SD defenders helped push him out of bounds. The one DB had his arms extended and it was so obvious he was pushed out. Now I know that part of the call is not replayable but the call should have been a complete pass regardless, due to being pushed out of bounds. Whether his heel touched the white line or not (which it did), with it being that close and obviously being pushed out in front of the Bills sideline and everyone seeing it, I would have gone nuts if I was Jauron. But, as usual, he just "chats" with the referee to no avail instead of getting in their face like all the good coaches do (Bellichek, Parcels, Billick, etc...) I think somehow this helps later in the game because it seems as if the refs (after getting an earful) realize they screwed up and then they "owe" you one call back. Its a shame that with our slim playoff hopes on the line, we are battling not only the Chargers, but the refs as well to try and win this awesome game. I know you can't blame it all on the zebras, but they sure didn't help. On a side note, I wish they would have put someone other then Whitner on Gates or at least rolled some extra coverage to his side. Whitner was TOAST all day. Spikes actually seemed to have a really good day but the loss of Crowell definitely hurt, not to mention losing McGee in coverage AND special teams returns.

We were so close to getting him. I would have loved to see them up the dollars so that we had him teaming with Triplett (who is finally healthy) in the middle. I think our run defense would be much better then it is now, thats for sure.

Do you feel better now!