BobChalmers

Lee Evans is the Bills' overrated speed receiver who consistently fails to fight for a ball in coverage and has caused two interceptions already with his unwillingness to go to a thrown football if he might get hit. Sorry - I used to like Lee - but he's been doing this to Edwards since TE took over for Lee's buddy JP. Edwards' first two picks this preseason were both preventable by Evans, IMO. Hopefully, he's just dogging it for preseason and he'll actually play for real during the real season.

EXACTLY Everyone here. All the talking heads on TV. Everybody thought Ngata was our guy. I screamed my freaking head off for half an hour when they didn't take him. This was the ONLY time I was even remotely this angry in all my years of watching the Bills draft. (Fan since '73). So, NO, we don't necessarily have to give this one up. It was our strongest indication of many, that however much we may love Marv as a coach and a man, he was a disaster as a talent selector. Not just Whitner over Ngata, but a host of dubious FA moves - $2m/year for Peerless Price, anyone??

In terms of personnel on the field - how shocking is this, really? The only fullback on the roster right now, is Corey McIntyre, who was probably the worst player to take the field for the Bills' offense last season. Why would there be anything controversial or surprising about the idea of letting Josh Reed stay on the field more and McIntyre less? Other than that - all we're really saying here is they like Nelson at TE as having more upside as a receiver that Schouman, Fine, Royal, etc. Duh. As far as the no-huddle. The only reason that worked in the 90's was because our hall-of-fame-bound skill personnel were creating mismatches and playing w/o opportunities for substitutions wore the defenses out more than our offense. If the offense still goes 3-and-out too often, the only defense you wear out by running no-huddle is your own.

Leinhart? I was hoping - and most analysts were projecting - that the Bills would take Ngata. I was livid then. I tried to like Whitner, but there's no question now that OBD got that pick wrong.

Is this in dispute? I'm with you 100% there. Our interior O-Line play wasn't nearly good enough, which is why Fowler was benched mid-season for a guy who isn't really good enough either. When, on top of that, they lost Butler at RG for a few weeks, they went winless, as I recall. Lack of "faith in" ALL THE OFFENSIVE PLAYERS has been a consistent issue for Jauron in his on-field dscision making since he's been in Buffalo. Except his benched QB - Losman - who he weirdly had too much faith in one fateful day in New Jersey. Now you've lost me. They tried to mix it up. There were times later in the season when they needed to run more than they did. Most of the time the balance was actually pretty good. Shotgun is one thing you have to do when you can't pass block with your interior line and you have 3rd and more than 5 to go. It gives the QB a chance to not get killed. I do hate when teams in 3rd and less than 5 run an empty backfield shotgun and tell the other team not to fear the run at all. Honestly, though, I felt I saw Schonert do a lot less of that then our previous several OC's from Fairchild to Mularkey as HC, to Gilbride. Sure - a lot of Edwards' check-downs are because the deep guys (typically Evans) were all well-covered. This actually makes your article below from PFW a lot less credible. That guy's jumping on the "Edwards has a weak arm" bandwagon out of ignorance - not seeing himself how often he has to check-down to find someone open. Edwards set a Bills record for completion % and did it in just his first season as the Bills' starter. When he had someone to throw it to deep, he had no trouble getting the ball there. Edwards is fine. What exactly is the defintion of "lion's share" this season? 0/16 ??? I think the coaching portion of the problem was more than zero - but the bigger problem was lack of talent at C, which was aggravated up to a disaster by the injury to Butler - right when they were in the midst of their AFC East run through 3 different 3-4 defenses with nose tackles they couldn't block. Please don't be too impressed by the occasional sports writer. You'd be amazed how uninformed most of these guys are. Copying someone else's gimmick from the previous season, especially one that was more and more "solved" as the year went on (both the Ravens and even the Bills defenses destroyed the Wildcat) has got to be one of the dumbest ideas possible - I now know to dismiss anything written by Matt Sohn. If the Bills significantly upgrade at Center and get more depth at Guard, they will have the most feared running game in the league next year. Since I believe they will do both of those thnigs this season, I am optimistic about 2009, despite a tough schedule and a so-so coaching staff.

Rookie Centers - hands down. The league is full of late-first/early-second round centers who came in and succeeded right away. Heck - we need look no further than the Jets - but he's not unique. Rookie TE's aren't just late bloomers - they've also been frequent busts. Hope for Fine to work out and/or get a FA TE. Round 1: Brown or another top 3 DE trade back up into the bottom of round 1 and get the best Center in the draft - whoever that is this year, after combine. Draft Guard depth after that. Then take late round fliers on a SS, LB, and DT. Re-sign Crowell, and return a healthy DiGi and we're fine at LB Bring in decent (not likely stars) FA's at TE and DE (for depth). Cut Kelsay or at least make him take a pay cut to avoid it, to pay for Crowell and Peters' extentions. How hard is that? Championship!

C makes no sense unless they trade down or trade up for a 2nd #1. DE seems a no-brainer - I agree with the rest (most) of you. There are a few good ones that would make sense at #11. If there are multiples at #11 they could even slide down a few picks to improve their chances for the top Center. I do think C is at least as much of a need - I hope they find a way to get the best available - trading a lot to move back up from their 2nd round pick if necessary. LB seems like a position to be answered in FA - which might include Crowell. Don't forget LB will look more solid with DiGi back as well, hopefully. They'll still probably be a bit mediocre at WR/TE but I like Johnson a lot and I think Fine may be, well, "fine". Good enough to see how they both improve next year rather than panic about the position. Reed's showing steady improvement as well (when he isn't hurt).

Again - the Bills finished with a losing record despite the defense ranking #14 in points and yards - not because of it. They lost 10-3 to the 49'ers and 13-0 to the Pats. Not the defense's fault. Buffalo had the Jets beat until DJ and JP combined to hand their D the ball for an instant touchdown. Favre didn't do that against our Tampa-2, his defensive teammates did it against our Choker-2. Cleveland jumped out to a big lead because young (concussed?) Edwards (who I firmly believe in) had a horrific start with multiple turnovers. Not the defense's fault. Add to that the Bills defense managed this without any pass rush from the DE position, and it's really hard to understand why a big change in defensive scheme is called for. A team with only pretty-good defensive talent just won the Super Bowl 2 years ago with this scheme. Yeah, Indy is mostly about offense - but remember, Peyton was stinking up the field through most of the playoffs. They have the oft-injured Bob Sanders, and the inconsistent Dwight Freeney and some other good guys. It worked well enough. The Bills need a new Center. They need better DE play. If they're going to use the frikkin' FB so much, they need to go get a good one, not plug in a street free agent weeks into the season. They need a better TE and they need a third good WR, who may already be on the roster (Hardy OR Steve Johnson OR Roscoe - though I'm giving up on him as a WR). Then they need the head coach to believe in his players and start calling plays to win instead of to avoid losing. They really aren't that far away and they don't need to blow up a proven scheme just because it looks a little wimpy at times. Guys - I don't prefer this scheme either - I have to be exposed to the Ravens every week down here and watching Ngata kick butt and seeing an aggressive big-body 4-3 succeed so well is annoying. But they have unusual talent making that work - including two shoe-in hall-of-famers in Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. But it's not our defensive scheme that's costing us games. If what we want is wins, there's more efficient things to do other than blowing it up.

Not necessarily ahead of the curve. It's arguably almost better to be where the Bills are right now - sort of behind the curve. OK - I know that sounds ridiculous (and I'm modifying what I said before), but think about it: As more teams shift from 4-3's to 3-4's and away from T2 in particular, they'll be leaving good players behind on the draft board right away. In other words - the one thing better than being the first team on a new trend (where everyone else will soon be jumping on) is to be the one (or one of a few anyway) team that doesn't jump off the old scheme. If other teams start to bail on the T2, the Bills will be way way ahead of the next curve because they'll start to see a draft and FA advantage immediately while other teams will take years to come back around.

It got us 14th in points and yards despite shaky help from the offense and a non-existant pass rush from the DE position. Honestly - that's pretty darned good. In yards, The Pats were 10th, Fish 15th, Jets 16th. All three teams had better offenses keeping them off the field. The Pats are the only AFC East team able to get truly great talent at NT (Wilfolk) - the Bills only made Jason Ferguson and Kris Jenkins look like all-Pros with our lousy play at Center (and RG when Butler was out).

Right - saying the T2 needs shut-down corners is essentially saying you don't know what the T2 is. Sorry. As multiple others have stated - it definitely demands pass rush from the DL with less blitzing, so obviously the Bills had issues. ALL SCHEMES NEED SPECIAL PLAYERS Here's the most important thing with evaluating any scheme: How many of the players your scheme wants are coming out of college, and how many teams are you competing with to get those players. Whoever adopts a different scheme first has a big advantage in the NFL. Jumping on a current bandwagon is the worst thing you can do. You want to have your pick of guys that other teams don't have the scheme to use. If the T2 is falling from favor - but not because of a rule change or something that makes it specifically flawed - then you want to jump on it - you'll be competing with fewer teams come draft day to get your guys. The 3-4 is in vogue right now - great - let the rest of the AFC East compete with each other and the rest of the league for large dominant NT's and full-sized DE's. Having said all that, the McKelvin pick - and I love how he played - is pretty non-sensical. It's like they're still drafting for Greg Williams' 46 defense (which absolutely required dominant cover corners as they were constantly left alone in single man coverage).

Maybe he just knew he didn't have the arm to get it the 15 yards downfield to the open receiver?

While I agree Flutie is the right answer - this "he took us to the playoffs twice" stuff is nonsense. If I remember correctly, did we not have the #1 then #3 overall defenses in the league those two years?? Squeaking into the playoffs isn't much of an accomplishment with that support. Joe Flacco can claim the same success as a rookie. Big deal. Flutie was clearly limited - his arm wore down over the course of a season, and he could no longer throw deep. He made things happen with his brain and his feet, and had the winner's "it" more than maybe any football player ever. But his offenses didn't generate many points - so it's awfully hard for me to accept that he's such a slam-dunk, except maybe by the lack of competition. Flutie may have been the greatest QB in CFL history, on the other hand! I predict Edwards will top the list in 5 years. Not sure why anyone is high on Collins - he was awful here - couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. He ultimately did well going on with a long career as a backup in KC then DC.

Trading Peters makes no sense unless it's for TWO #1's. That's what a top LT is worth. Yeah - he didn't play that well this year - missing all the off-season hurt. Get him signed to an extentsion, he'll be fine, and the Bills will be a much better team for having a player at a talent level at a position of critical need most fans only dream of. Trading Lynch has to be a joke. Not worth further comment. Best bet with Schobel is to hope he gets better. If he doesn't we need 2 DE's instead of the one we need now. I suppose for the right offer there's an argument that he's the oldest player of potential value on what's a very young team, so let him go. I imagine they could get a second-round pick if he seems healthy (same thing an older Jason Taylor pulled?). OK - I've just convinced myself - trade Schobel for a #2 and use that to make sure they solve C as well as one DE in the early draft. Take his salary and get a FA DE to fill in. Parrish could well be trade-bait. He's just not that useful as a WR, and as a PR/KR he's a luxury when we also have Fred Jackson, Leodis McKelvin, and Terrance McGee. The Bills can't justify luxuries right now.

45 - Bills fan since around '75. I'm optimistic in the sense that I still see this team improving. This year was frustrating, both that I thought the easy schedule would give them a shot at a winning record and probably a wild-card; and also that I thought they wasted a couple of draft picks on Ellis and Corner when they could have been getting a better TE or a legitimate FB. I was certain they were one and done in the playoffs even if they got there - even when they were 4-0 and 5-1. You can't win with center-play as bad as they have. You can't win with no pass rush and their DE play was awful. Since these are both easily fixed in the draft this year, yes, I'm optimistic they're going to get better. I believe in Edwards. Edwards just seems to have that "it" that (for his young age) has him making really good decisions REALLY QUICKLY. He's plenty big, plenty strong, and generally extremely accurate. Former QB's all over the league rave about him when they see him. We shouldn't be so cynical as fans not to see what the rest of the league sees in him. QB's like that are hard to come by. I say we got a steal, and a really good start on a strong team to build on. Lynch and Jackson are talented and warriors. What's not to like about watching them play. AND yeah, I agree Jauron's game-time work has been bad. Guess what - so does Ralph Wilson. I believe after they upgrade Center, DE, and TE, this team will be VERY TALENTED. If Jauron doesn't get it done next season, he's gone, and RW will have a chance to upgrade at coach too. Complain all you want about Ralph being too cheap to get a Cowher, etc. The Ravens and Falcons didn't bring in big names for big money. How did that work our? Dan Snyder (Redskins owner) has paid big $$ for coaches - how's that working out for him? The Redskins look about like the Bills, with many of the same issues, except all their good players are OLD. Ours, except for Schobel and the kickers, are YOUNG. Who'd you rather root for, than this team, right now?!!

Wow! I cannot disagree strongly enough. What are these "many" needs? More corners? Safties? LB because you won't be happy with Poz/Mitchell/Crowell/DiGi?? Another DT I suppose? Who's that going to be in round 2 - the next McCargo? OT's because we're somehow going to upgrade over Peters/Walker with a low draft pick? Guard depth - sure. Is that more important than getting a pass rusher when they have noone but an injured Schobel right now? A WR who is going to be effective as a rookie? Not very common. I'll put my chips on Johnson and Hardy already on the roster along with Reed and Evans. A TE? Sure - but there are FA vets who are safer bets. TE is a high-bust-frequency position early draft. Rookie OL's aren't usually good right away EXCEPT for top Centers who frequently are ready to play right away. Or didn't anyone see New Jersey upgrade instantly with Mangold? The top Centers by the nature of the position are highly focused team leaders who are typically mature beyond their years. We want the best available to keep those stinking AFC East NT's out of our backfield, agreed? Rookie DE's are often good - particularly if you grab a top one. Most current boards (and yes - much will change after the combine) show three DE's standing out significantly above the rest. Everette Brown is the third on most lists, I was assuming the first two would be gone. Anyway - this team doesn't need a pile of mediocre players - they need 2-3 studs. You get studs by trading UP NOT DOWN. They get a stud DE, C, and TE this season they are instantly competitive. At #11 the studs are DE (and RB, DB which hopefully we agree they don't need). They don't have to give up much to get the clear consensus #1 Center (Mack). Why on earth shouldn't they get clear top players at two positions of need when it's easy to do?

Draft values for pick 11: round 1: 11 1250 round 2: 43 470 round 3: 75 215 For pick 28 let's say to get Mack... round 1: 28 660 470+215 = 685 > 660 so the idea of our 2nd and 3rd for someone's 1st at #28 is perfectly reasonable. Mack should still be there.

Me neither - and it's overkill. They stay right where they are at #11 and get Everette Brown DE (no he's not a LB - even in the NFL) Then they trade whatever it takes to get into the late 1st round and grab C Alex Mack. I'd say their #2 and #3 and/or Roscoe Parrish. I love little Roscoe, but he's just not a good WR and with McGee and McKelvin, Parrish is a luxury they don't need. Round #2 pick 11 and a third is fair value for say #28 overall I believe - though we can look that up on the chart. Re-sign Crowell and with a healthy DiGi backing up what exactly is wrong with their LB's??? Get a TE in FA to replace Royal and mix in Fine. Get a journeyman veteran QB - Harrington or Batch...? Then we watch them improve monumentally and immediately. Big question is Schobel's health.

Exactly - Bills are an NFL-caliber Center away from being a very strong offense - assuming they get Peters in camp and they all stay fairly healthy. Preston needs to get back to being a backup. Fowler needs to stick to chess. The Bills collapse started when Butler went down. Then they had a gaping hole in the middle of their line that's dammed tough to play around. The same thing happened to Jacksonville at the biginning of the season - they lost both guards and their center and they went from a physically imposing running team on the rise in 2007 to a struggling loser in 2008. You think Jack Del Rio coaches his team "soft"?? The Bills never had a decent center, and w/o Butler they were really hurting. Why should they have been able to beat a decent team like that? Remember when Whittle was playing?? Was that a nightmare or what? They need a center AND some more OL depth. Bell, Chambers, and maybe Preston are a start but they are still very young.

That simply wasn't true from what I saw. The second Jets game, it was the Bills who were shoving the Jets around. I don't really recall the Dolphins dominating in the trenches. Didn't we outgain them in the first game in Miami? JP "padding my resume" (with chicken-poo) Losman didn't help much in two of the games - he was bad even when he had time. One key will be getting Peters in camp - hopefully they do quickly.

Just remember - the rest of the division has the same tough schedule or a little harder. We don't have to play the Steelers/Ravens or Chargers/Broncos - Miami/New England do. Our schedule was easy this year - but so were NE, MIA, and NJ's schedules. The AFC East isn't as good as the records looked for any of them. 9-7 could win the division next year. The real issue is can Buffalo get enough divisional wins (4?) to be that 9-7 team with the tie-breakers. I say if they get a (major) upgrade at center to keep those AFC East NT's off of Lynch and Edwards they can - even with DJ at the helm.

I happen to believe both Ralph and those who blame Jauron on this board: The Bills have a lot of talent in spots - but not remotely enough in a few critical spots. Notably - I say this team - even with Jauron's failings - can immediately contend with the AFC East merely by getting an NFL-caliber Center. You can't beat a 3-4 with a decent NT when your centers suck so bad they are getting blown back most of the time. All three divisional foes have NTs that are better than just decent. Fowler and Preston look like DIII starters - not NFL starters. I say if they draft a top center they can quickly become the #1 running game in the division and Lynch among the most feared RB's in the NFL. The question is how high will they have to go to get Alex Mack and can they still get a top DE if they do. Add a DE in the first round - Everette Brown (FSU) is listed next to Buffalo in most mocks right now - and their primary defensive problem (with hopefully a return by Schobel) is solved. A better TE would be nice - FA's? I'm OK with Steve Johnson and Reed and Evans. Trade Parrish to somebody to move up in the draft and get that Center in late round 1 or earlier round 2. This doesn't mean Jauron didn't suck - a lot - on game day. Of course he did. I just think there's a lot more talent on this roster than the gloom and doom crowd think and that they are getting close to reaching a tipping point where they will overcome Jauron's flaws.

So does everyone else in the AFC East next year. The Pats, Fins, and Jets weren't nearly as good as their records showed - sadly, that might also be true of the Bills - the AFC East played the NFC and AFC West this year - the two worst divisions in football. Our AFC East rivals were also padding their records with wins against the Chiefs, Seahawks, Rams, Raiders, etc. - and in fact, they even lost some of those games. Are you really that intimidated by a Jets team that lost a must-win game to Seattle??? No - the Bills were done in by going 0-4 against the Jets and Fish - if they had gone 4-0 like they did last year, the Bills would have finished 11-5. But Miami and New Jersey improved enough and the Bills made enough mental mistakes to lose games this season that they didn't last year. Buffalo had 2nd-half leads in all three games Edwards played, if I recall properly - although the first Jets game (where I believe Edwards took another blow to the head and reinjured his concussed brain - my theory) may have gotten away earlier. Losman was just putrid this year - so much for his "resume". My main point is that 9-7 could well win the AFC East next year. The question is will the Bills win enough of the division games (4-2) to be that 9-7 team. I believe the Bills lost at least 4!!! games this season due to incompetent play at the Center position. I believe if they get a top young Center early in the second round they will instantly be MUCH better. They will immediately be able to be that power running team we've heard about for so long, and Lynch will be THE most feared RB in the Division, if not the conference. If that happens, how comfy do you think Edwards is going to start looking throwing PA passes to Evans? What was the frustration all season on offense - "why can't we beat a 3-4?" - answer - because our Centers get blown into the backfield by all three NT's in the AFC East. Not sure why anyone thinks Edwards should look good with a NT in his face 1 second into a pass play. That they didn't fix this problem this year is shameful. I'll be utterly stunned if they let it go a second year. They need a DE more than a TE, and they can get a top C early in round 2. Top DE's go about where the Bills will pick. DE is the obvious choice. There are a few easy picks there - my personal favorite is Everette Brown (FSU) but there are others. I actually think Fine could be a solid TE, but they can also pursue a trade/FA there. If they keep Crowell along with Poz and Mitchell I'm pretty good with the LBs - especially with DiGi back as a backup instead of the undersized Ellison. I'm not that concerned with WR because I think Steve Johnson is the real deal - he was very productive in college - my bet is we got a steal there. Hardy is going to take time. I think they still need another DT. Their run defense goes to hell every time Stroud isn't on the field.

Cowher loves Edwards and McGahee. He's been saying all season how talented he thinks the Bills are. Now if Cowher really wanted to prove what a genius he is and lock up a spot in Canton - he should come to Buffalo and win with a 4-3 - even if not the Tampa 2 we're trying to run now. How many coaches have succeeded with different systems? I realize we're sick of losing to 3-4 defenses in the AFC East, but it's not like noone has won with a 4-3 base defense recently. Baltimore, Indy, Giants, Titans, Jax (OL injuries killed them this year), Tampa, Chicago, Minnesota, Dallas, Philly, Carolina, ...

Journalist is a major upgrade for Lombardi over working for the dumbest, most meddling owner in the NFL: Al Davis. And he's only been out a year or two. I'd love to see him in Buffalo.