Koufax

Will we realize that if CJ is never in to block that whenever the opposition sees 28 on the field they will all crash the box and not give him space? We need him running a few more routes out of the backfield at least if he can't be in for blitz pickup. However I am loving this game so far.

Does Andrew Luck fall to #32?

Cool season through two plays.

In other news Deion Sanders predicted the team getting the best play from the cornerbacks would come out on top, and Steve Young indicated the team with the better quarterback would win, and Jerome Bettis announced that whoever stopped the run would win. Michael Irvin added that if Stevie Johnson has more yards than Bowe the Bills will win. I do like Sapp being a fan of Kyle and Dareus, but most of the ex-player talking heads over focus on their old position, and Sapp appears to be doing that about our improved D-Line. I agree with his conclusion and think we win this game, but I don't know that I consider his analysis to be very comprehensive.

Remember when Brady went down in week 1 and it looked like the season was over? Manning is more valuable and the rest of the Colts less talented, but Kerry Collins also was the QB of a 13-3 team three seasons ago. I think they will play out the season even if Manning can't make it, and they will not get a chance to draft Luck.

Please remember that most of the paid NFL guys like Peter King don't follow the NFL 32 times more closely than hardcore Bills fans do, but probably somewhere around 10 times more closely. With 32 teams for them to follow and about 20 of them way more important than the Bills (read: any of the teams who might get an NBC game Peter King writes about or a decent playoff shot), the math clears with him spending a lot less time following the Bills than we do. While I like whenever we get respect like his 8-8 prediction rather than Clayton thinking we will be in line for Luck, neither of those guys really brings much to the table in terms of Bills analysis. I think we are realistically a 7-9 team this year. It is very easy for a 7-9 team to finish 5-11 if things go wrong or 9-7 if things go well. It takes a whole lot of good for a 7-9 team to go 10-6, and it takes a whole lot of bad for a 7-9 team to finish 4-12. So I think we are a 7-9 team that I am rooting for to overachieve by a few wins.

A couple quick observations: 1) It was fun when we weren't a football afterthought. 2) Man, those were big shoulder pads back then. 3) Keith McKeller's jersey spacing makes him seem like MC Hammer's long lost brother MC Keller. 4) In that game Kelly threw so many times flat footed and just flipping the ball to the open guy, but very accurate the whole time.

I agree, I think his OLB time is really just being a DE in a 3.5-3.5 when we aren't quite in 4-3 mode but pretty much are. Fun to see the flexibility, and I am glad that Moats got some ILB time since he is a backup, but I think despite height, etc., his best position is clearly OLB and when he is on the field, I hope it is more often in that position.

Oh wait! I know I know I know! Maybe he should play sports he is good at playing and not base it n his physique! Football does not appear to be one he is good at. If he can find a 4-3 team that isn't very good and be a situational speed rusher, maybe he could get better over time, but finding good football players instead of good combine pieces is probably a better strategy.

QB: I think Fitz being the man for the first time ever helps. That is offset a little by the lockout and lack of OTAs, but not going into a season waiting for Trent to fail seems like a big stride forward if he can stay healthy. OL: This is where I disagree with most around here. I think this unit will be improved this year, and I judge based on last year's 4-4 finish more than the pre season shuffle. #1) I think Wood being healthy and at center is a huge improvement for this team. Remember where he was this time last year, just coming off the huge injury and not practicing regularly. #2) Same with Bell. He had a rough day in Denver, but he is a year older, and instead of coming off a huge injury, he is coming off a 16 game season where he continued to improve. #3) Cornell Green is not playing for our team. I would love to see Hairston unseat Pears, but either way our RT performance will be better. I think this unit exceeds expectations. It will still take adding some new talent before this unit is good, but I very strongly think we will be better than last year. TE: One new body, a very low bar to raise, I see this being a little better. RB: Fred is still a low mileage old guy, and Spiller will contribute a lot more. Marshawn is gone, but so is the three back confusion. If Fred is as good, and Spiller is better, this unit would be better right? WR: A great unknown, but considering we only got half a year out of Roscoe last year, if he stays healthy that is easy to be improved. Stevie is young and getting better and developing chemistry with Fred, so I would expect him to be better. Easley is not the receiver Lee was, decoy or otherwise, so that is likely to be a step back, but not as major as some think. I think the unit is somewhere around no change, but possibly a little worse. Add Spiller to the mix and you have a big wildcard since I think he will be on the field together with Freddie more than we expect. So I expect a little more out of the offense, that played pretty well last year. Not an 11-5 offense, but I think they will do their part to us being an 8-8 team. I will leave defense alone mostly, but I am excited about Dareus, Merriman, Carrington, A. Williams, and Barnett contributing more at their respective spots, and don't see any spots where I think we are weaker.

"But apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order ... what HAVE the Romans done for us?" I get your point, but name dropping Bruce and Vick superstar #1 overall picks right away on the top of your list struck me as funny.

Thigpen is better than Brown right now, and is a no brainer to be our #2 with Levi to the PS. We are talking about someone who knows Chan's offense and put up 18TD-12INT with 2600Yds in his one opportunity to be the starter. In the event Fitz gets hurt I would rather have that than hoping Levi can make a few plays in his first ever action. Jasper is also a PS guy and his too far away from being a contributor even if he gets there. I would be shocked if someone makes him a 53 man roster guy considering he isn't ready to play, and doesn't have a lot of special teams value.

Awesome sarcasm or , I am not quite sure which. If the former, I applaud you. If the latter, I fear for your long term wellbeing. But since we all know that all teams have their deadline at the exact same second today, with no advantages one team from another, we can digress about time zones. I'm always amazed how Newfoundland and India among others have half hour offsets from others, which is funny especially for India, considering that level of precision, yet there is only one time zone for the whole country. And it is amazing that eastern Poland to the furthest western beaches of Spain is in the same time zone. Really big difference in what a 7am commute to work is like, and definitely a factor in why the Spanish eat dinner so late (because it really isn't late solar time, it is just late on the clock). Also interesting that China has only one time zone. Fortunately most of our junk is made in the east, otherwise think of the poor guys in the west who would have to check in for their 6am to midnight slave labor shift three or four hours before the sun rises. Okay, back to the Bills, I don't think we get any shocking cuts today, and I think Levi goes to the PS while Thigpen remains the #2.

Since everyone has been big on the 2010 small sample size, I will point out the 1 rush each success of this game and take Spiller.

+1 I don't think Walsh's assessment was necessarily off, and I don't hold much against Trent. He was developing quite well until he got his marbles rattled, and he was never the same after that.

As long as in week 6 we don't travel to Arizona and have our QB suffer a career changing concussion, I am okay with this I'm excited about getting to 1-0, because then other things can happen. I don't think things end up as you draw them up ever. What we need to do is play good football and try to win one game at a time. There will be teams on the schedule much better than we expect and much worse. It happens every year so it is hard to plan ahead for what is going to occur. Plus teams suffer major injuries that derail plans and expectations. And I continue to say, while we should not be favored against the Pats for a long time, it is pretty likely that we will beat them as an upset long before we are the smart pick and favorite. I'm hoping that is in week three this year, and don't think it is as impossible as many seem to. But I won't bet the rent money on it.

I think he would be best off getting the starting RT position as a rookie, and then potentially be moved for his second year if he is up to it, allowing a full off season of OTAs and camp. I hope we do not see him at all at LT this year, because I think that could be too big a jump, and I actually like Bell more than Pears right now.

Compared to the Ralph, pay attention to the fact that there are a lot more corner and end zone seats that are different (I don't care for that angle when you are up high). I don't have my seats for the game yet, but have been to the stadium many times. On the plus side, Chargers fans are a lot less violent than some of the other California fans recently in the news, so I will feel safe wearing Bills gear.

Correction: we aren't beating the Patriots we will rightly be underdogs for both games against the Patriots You probably would have bet against them in the opener a couple years ago, when we were one McKelvin fumble away from the upset. We are a much inferior team, and I think even our dream 10-6 season would likely have 2 losses to the Pats this year. BUT, when we finally beat them again, it is very likely to be a lucky well played day well ahead of when we are the better team, so to act like it is impossible is really misunderstanding how the NFL works. Cleveland beat them badly last year, and these things happen. So I will be fully expecting them to pull off the upset each time we play them this year, but I will not turn in my Bills Fan membership card if we lose each one.

Yeah, who would ever want to stay in that cloudy sinkhole of San Diego which will never turn it around and keep drafting in the top 5 for years to come. Poor Philip Rivers has never had a chance to play a meaningful game or have any talent around him, and Eli sure pulled a fast one and avoided that nightmare. I agree that Luck will be better than Ryan Leaf and Jamarcus Russell and others. I would probably even root against the Bills in week 17 if it made the difference, but we will likely not be close, and will have to trade up to get him. Also remember that Quinn and Clausen and Locker were supposed to be top picks a year ahead of their draft, so things can change, but Luck seems pretty clear to be a star. But rooting for the #1 pick as strategy before the season starts is pretty silly. I definitely want this team to be 1-0, then we can worry about game 2. Our O-Line is the same guys from last year and not the train wreck people think. Our defense is better, Fitz is getting a chance to settle in, CJ is going to take a step forward. I really have a tough time understanding the rationale for thinking this team is worse than the one that finished 4-4 after figuring out who their QB was, after Wood and Bell got closer to full speed off their injuries, and after settling in to the new schemes and coaching staff. Why does that same group adding Merriman and Dareus add up to being weaker? Because of a few series of starting players after no offseason workouts? I think this is a 7-9 team that I am hoping finds a way to over achieve and win 8 or 9 games and stay in this to the end. This is a better team and better coaching than Jauron's 7-9 teams had, yet the gloom and doom of Norwood Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has everybody thinking we will somehow be a disaster. I would love to have Andrew Luck, but I think he will not fall to the mid teens, and it will take a lot of picks to move up from there to the top slot, especially now that there isn't a $60-80 million contract involved with the top pick in the new CBA. Go Bills!

Spiller is no LT, but even though he got 339 carries as a rookie for a 5-11 team, he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry, fumbled once per 67 carries, and had one 20+ every 48 carries, while Spiller Averaged 3.8, fumbled once per 37 carries, and had one 20+ for every 74 carries. LT with a huge 10 to 0 TD spread, but was the go to guy in all goal line carries. And receiving LT averaged 6.2 yards per catch with no TDs and a long of 27 and three fumbles while Spiller averaged 6.5 with a long of 41 and 1 TD and no fumbles. Again, clearly Spiller is no LT, but nobody is. But if you look at the averages when they touched the ball, Spiller isn't so far off. Buffalo has a worse O-Line and has Freddie Jackson, plus CJ hasn't learned to block. But when touching the ball as a rookie CJ wasn't that different from LT, and I am optimistic he will touch the ball more and do better this year. Having moved to San DIego just in time for the 2002 Chargers season and followed the team since, I see a lot of parallels. Unfortunately remember that after an 8-8 2002 the Chargers finished 4-12 in 2003 and the #1 pick before starting their run. I think we have more talent on our roster than people think, and I am taking the over compared to the general mood around here. This year should be an up year compared to last year and I see a more consistent improvement than the Chargers up and down 2001-2002-2003.

I know we are all upset over the offensive line (same guys as last year, minus Cornell Green and with two of them not coming off major injuries that limit practice). But remember, this is a team that finished 4-4 last year before fixing the Run D with Dareus, adding Merriman. We lose Evans and Whitner, but I still don't see how you can think we are worse than the team we had on the field last year in terms of talent. We have to play the games, but I don't think we finish the year at the bottom. I just don't see us being weaker than last year, and see a lot of reasons why we will be stronger.

Yeah, just a worthless 4th round pick. Not something valuable like say a #1 receiver and clubhouse leader former first round pick. Nobody would ever confuse a 4th round pick's value with a #1 receiver playmaker.

Rarely do I support lotto junkies (natural selection keeping the stupid people poor?), and I am one of the eternal optimists around here, but $50 is actual money, not just $1, and I think I would need a lot better than 100-to-1 to take the Bills to win it all. I'm rooting for it to happen, but don't bet the rent money unless you have another place to stay. I'm in Vegas right now, but have so far resisted to put any financial stake behind my general Bills optimism.

Who? Never heard of the guy. Is he any good? Joking aside, I am pretty optimistic about Bell. Limited football experience with great physical tools, another year under his belt, and this year not coming off a major surgery that prevented him from even practicing fully last year. I am unsure at RT having seen very little of Pears, and I am concerned about our depth if an injury happens, but I think Bell and our o-line overall should be fine this year.