Cash

+1. Every team has injuries, they're a part of the game. Once in a blue moon you'll get lucky and stay pretty healthy in a given year, but those injuries will be back next year. Ask the 2010 Packers about injuries (including our new friend Nick Barnett). Besides, if anyone can B word about injuries this year, it's not us. It's Chicago, then Indy, then Houston, then Oakland, then KC.

I've never seen any iron sharpeners. Usually it's a stone of some sort.

So who are all these winners that are getting fired from their HC or DC jobs? Del Rio has had success as a DC in the NFL, and ran the D pretty well as HC for Jacksonville. I'd take anyone with a history of successfully running an NFL defense at this point. Please no more "teachers," which is just code for inexperienced and cheap. I'd prefer the next DC to have several years of running a top 10 NFL defense under his belt.

Warren Sapp is a poor comparison - all his success was as an "under" 3-technique DT in a Tampa 2 scheme. Fundamentally different position from what Dareus plays: http://subscribers.footballguys.com/2009/09bramel_idpguide.php Scroll to "How the "Under" Front Made Warren Sapp a Star" - also remember how big a flop he was in Oakland, who played a 3-4. Sapp was very very good, but interior D-lineman will only put up those kind of sack or tackle for loss numbers in a scheme that makes them hard to double-team. Note that Ndamakong Suh also plays in a similar role, and Nick Fairley did in college as well.

Absolutely. After 11 years of no playoffs, no losing season can be considered a success. "Yay, we went 7-9!" That's pathetic. Jauron was (rightly) run out of town for going 7-9 year after year, now we're supposed to celebrate it? Give me a break. That's like hoping you "win the lottery" by hitting 2 numbers and getting a $2 payout. Root for success, not mediocrity!

What kind of D combines a four man rush with no deep safeties? That's crazy.

No. Also, "tiebreakers", by definition, are used to break ties. So we definitely are tied. If the tiebreaker was applied, that would break the tie, but until that happens, it's a tie.

In everyone's defense, we signed a clean-shaven Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2009. Pretty underwhelming. If he'd had such a masculine and sexy beard back then, the reaction would've been much more positive.

Yeah, he was a force. Was definitely noted at the bar yesterday. Corey Mac is on the Pro Bowl ballot for special teams player, so vote vote vote!

I'ma guess Sergio Kindle.

Buh? Didn't watch much of the G-men last year, huh? http://www.nfl.com/player/jasonpierre-paul/496843/profile Pierre-Paul played all 16 games and had 4.5 sacks. Very promising rookie season. Of course, if this was baseball, maybe he'd still count as a rookie this year, since he didn't play enough downs last year.

Probably more than usual this year, but I wouldn't say a lot. The majority of the time we rushed 4, and got a very good push up the middle. Most of the sacks resulted from Beck panicking once the line was pushed back in his face, then one of the ends or DTs would bring him down as he tried to scramble. Definitely some pressure was from the blitz, though. Jairus Byrd had a nice sack on what looked like a 7-man blitz - Byrd was untouched and took down Beck with a Flying Mare. Just going from memory, I'd say maybe 3-4 of the 9 sacks were on blitzes?

Bummer. But at least we know not to hold out hope for a miracle solution to our pass rush problems this year. It's kind of harsh, but I hope the team cuts ties with him this offseason and moves forward without him. Young guys need play time and practice time to develop. Let's see what Moats can do the rest of the way, and target a pass-rushing OLB as one of the top priorities in the offseason.

Remember that you can only use a tee in high school. In the NFL, tees are only allowed on the kickoff. Free kicks (including kicks following safeties) can use a holder, or the player can punt or drop kick it.

Yeah, sometimes guys have a bad game. It happens. Unfortunately, our team isn't quite good enough to overcome a bad Fitz game against a good opponent.

http://twitter.com/#!/AdamSchefter/status/125987308506853376 Either a 6th or 5th rounder.

Smith seems a lot more likely to score a TD, since Chan likes to use the Wildcat as a short-yardage package. Then again, he also seems to like mixing it up from week to week, and we used Smith on the goal line last week, so maybe not. I'd still go with Smith.

Agreed. Road wins against quality opponents don't happen that often unless you're an elite team. I don't think these Bills are an elite team. (but I'd be happy to be proven wrong!) Giants are probably PO-ed at not getting respect in their house, furious after blowing the Seattle game last week, and fired up to win one for their D-coordinator. I have a bad feeling about this. If we win, it won't be easy.

Who said anything about trading up? I was talking about moving Newton up on a draft board, not moving up to get him.

Got me!

Good for you! Have the courage of your convictions - you might be right! I have no desire to change your opinion about Luck. (I myself am reserving final judgment for much later in the process.) But comparing pre-draft expectations of Andrew Luck and Reggie Bush is wildly off base. You can disagree with a consensus opinion without making up strawman arguments. The fact of the matter is, Andrew Luck is on pace to be the highest-rated draft prospect since John Elway. There's still plenty of time before the draft for him to lower his stock, but if he keeps playing the way he is now, he'll probably get the highest grade since Elway. That doesn't guarantee that he'll be an elite NFL quarterback, or even a decent one. But if he keeps up his current pace, the only pre-draft hype comparable to Luck's will be Elway's. Even Peyton Manning had a large number of pre-draft dissenters who believed that Ryan Leaf was the better prospect, and that Manning was overhyped because of his dad. And I'm genuinely curious about these repeated statements from Luck that he's staying in school until 2013. What's the deal with that?

The Reggie Bush comment is ridiculous, but I'll respond to it anyway. No one was talking about tanking for Reggie Bush. No one was talking about Bush being the best RB prospect in decades. And even if they were, so what? A superstar RB hasn't single-handedly turned around a team since the 70s. This is a quarterback's league. QB is by far the most important position in today's NFL. You can't win without a decent one, and if you have an elite one, you're a playoff contender every year. As for Luck, when has he ever mentioned 2013? Pardon me if I've missed these "repeated statements", but this is all I've ever seen: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/sports/college/football&id=7884228 'Luck pretty much confirmed that in a statement which reads: "I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter in 2012."' I have yet to see anything from Andrew Luck claiming that he wants to get a graduate degree, nor have I seen anything claiming that he's taking a partial course load this year. He is a senior by normal college reckoning, even though he has an additional year of NCAA eligibility beyond this one. Now, the Stanford spring quarter does run from March to June, so it's possible that Luck could be so committed to school that he skips the combine and workouts to focus on his last few classes, and maybe he even thinks that being draft-eligible will be too big a distraction in the first place, so he doesn't put his name in. But do you seriously think that after he graduates on June 17th, 2012 that he'll go back to Stanford for another year? That's preposterous, and I wish I knew someone who felt that way so I could bet against it. The realistic counter-scenario is that Luck does not declare for the 2012 draft, but does declare for the 2012 supplemental draft following his graduation. And as Bills fans, that's what we should be hoping for, because the supplemental draft order is randomly determined. We're out of the #1 pick sweepstakes, but we're still in the #1 supplemental pick sweepstakes, baby!

Interesting. I can't remember the last time I saw a KO return reverse (or fake reverse) work, though. At least not in the NFL. I wouldn't get too excited.

I'm guessing you meant prodigious, but I really like the idea of a guy with prodigal talents. "If you want to blow through some money, Megatron's your guy!" Come to think of it, Antoine Walker and MC Hammer had some prodigal talents. I would've been more or less fine with AJ Green because I viewed him as a blue-chip stud, and on a team that (I thought) was devoid of talent, you can always use a stud at any position. Plus, even with Lee Evans in the fold, I thought we could've used another outside receiver. So Green would've been a fine pick. BUT! Dareus was such a much better pick. A WR can be a crucial piece of success, but he's not a conditional piece - meaning he can't help the team without the O-line & QB. (Look at Steve Smith last year vs. this year.) DE/DTs like Dareus are foundational pieces. I believe that you start with the foundation, then add the skill pieces on top of it (which is why I didn't like the Spiller pick or Brad Smith signing). And on top of that, Dareus perfectly fit our biggest need - run defense - and somewhat fit another strong need in interior pass rushing. Dareus all the way, no hesitation. Only player I would have to maybe move ahead of him on my retroactive board would be Cam Newton.

Pretty simple for me. Bills win = I am happy. Bills lose = I am unhappy. If we ever get back to perennial contender status, I'm sure I'll get spoiled enough to be able to to upset by an ugly win, but we're nowhere near that right now. Go Bills!