Cash

I think the fact that they've run so little 3-4 is an indictment of it. The coaches clearly don't trust their base personnel except in obvious run situations. We spent most of the Patriots game in what was officially considered a nickel, but was really a dime with Bryan Scott (the 6th DB) playing LB. If we had linebackers with any speed whatsoever, the 3-4 should be very effective against the pass against base personnel.

I'm having trouble reconciling the Kelsay-specific quotes with these quotes: “If a guy is not producing we’re not going to keep doing the same thing and keep losing with the same people doing the same thing,” Nix said. “...To be honest with you, nobody is safe, you’ve got to produce." We keep losing with Kelsay as one of the "core" players, one of the "leaders" in the locker room, and a starter on the field. He's not producing. So... keep on rolling? I very much believe the stories that have come out about the pettiness/vindictiveness of the Bills' front office. Guys like Peters get an FU from the Bills, and things go really sour. But guys like Kelsay, who always spout the company line, always play the good soldier, and never express negativity towards the team, those guys get rewarded whether they produce or not. I believe the Bills are hoping that other players will see the examples made of guys like Kelsay and Peters, take the hint, and fall in line. The problem with that logic is that the Bills don't pay any better than anyone else, don't play in any appealing city to live in, and have stunk for some time. Most players that are any good would rather just go to another team than become loyal company men. Back to Kelsay for a bit, I love Chris Brown's feeble attempt to put a positive spin on the extension. (As an aside, I really sympathize with Chris Brown. The Bills are his employer. It's his job to spin everything in as positive a light as possible. That's an extremely difficult task right now, and I feel bad for him. In many ways, his job is a Bills fan's dream job, but there is definitely a downside.) He says: "A forgotten part of what it’s going to take to turn around the Bills franchise is eliminating the culture of losing that exists in the locker room. In no way does any player in Buffalo’s locker room want to lose, but when a team loses games as much as Buffalo has it can become a self-fulfilling type thing. Even Nix said though players may not realize it, it can become an accepted thing." He implies that Kelsay is one of those key guys who can turn around that culture of losing. But Kelsay is as big a part of the culture of losing as anyone. He's never made the playoffs. He's only played on one winning (9-7) team. He's been one of the most complacent players on the Bills after a loss. I've heard beat reporters talk about how under Jauron, the attitude in the locker room on Monday was the same after a loss as it was after a win. And Chris Kelsay was a captain on that team. If that's the sort of attitude that his leadership fosters, then count me out.

Since Trent never audibled, would he even know those calls? Plus, I could see his debriefing sessions with Del Rio going something like this: Edwards: "Okay, this next play is Steve Johnson running a 6-yard hitch on the right, with the tailback leaking out to the left flat." Del Rio: "What does Lee Evans do on the play?" Edwards: "Who the hell is Lee Evans?"

Hard to say without actually calling up other GMs, which most fans aren't able to do. But! Jammal Brown was certainly available this past offseason, because he actually got traded for a conditional pick (either 3rd or 4th round). He would've been a nice guy to go after. Was New Orleans' starting LT before he got hurt, is now starting at RT for Washington. He'd be an upgrade at either spot for us. He was available in part because New Orleans drafted Charles Brown at the bottom of the 2nd round. Not sure if the Bills pursued Brown or not, but that's a guy they could've and should've gone after. But I guess they felt pretty set with Bell, Green, Wang, and Meredith.

And they keep saying the same things now. As though anything's changed. The Nix/Gailey hirings were a national joke. "But wait, you'll see, they'll prove everyone wrong. If Jauron could win 6-7 games with this crew, how could Gailey not win 8?" Oops, that's since turned into, "Don't worry, this is a rebuilding year. The cupboard was bare," which has further degraded into, "No one could win with these bums! Don't worry, this is an evaluation year. Next year they'll start building a contender. Right now they're just seeing who can play and who can't." We were ridiculed for the Spiller pick when we already had 2 good backs on the team. "Just wait, you'll see how much of a gamebreaker he is. Plus, Gailey is going to run the ball 35-40 times a game, so we need all 3 backs. There were no QBs or OTs worth the pick. They had to get a guy who could come in and make an impact right away." Oops, that one got revised, too.

Fully agree. The Pats basically punted the rest of the year. Doesn't mean I like the Lynch trade any more, but this was a bad move for the Patriots, if you ask me. And they caused their own problems by making it clear to Moss that he wouldn't be around next year. Sure, they're loaded in next year's draft, but they had a shot at the Super Bowl *this* year. They should be trading those picks they've stockpiled for players who can help them now, not the other way around.

Yeah, it's a bad sign when all of your defenders say after the game that the other team did exactly what the expected, with no surprises whatsoever, and you still got destroyed both on the ground and through the air.

What if the best player available next year is Mark Ingram? Take him and trade Fred Jackson for a 5th?

Then you're an idiot for stockpiling sports cars in a buyer's market. Especially since the newest one was very expensive. Maybe you should've spent that downpayment on fixing the plumbing instead.

Some key differences make Lynch's value higher. First, Lynch is younger than Maroney and has less mileage on him. Second, Lynch is signed through 2011, whereas Maroney is a free agent at the end of the year. Third, Lynch is a good player, whereas Maroney sucks. Their fan base would've been happy if he had been cut outright.

Chris Kelsay says hello.

It's 2010 right now. If the 2012 season is voided, that still leaves 2011, which is next year.

Shameful.

Tim Graham gives it both barrels: http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/19507/after-lynch-are-bills-on-verge-of-unloading I think he got a little heavy-handed towards the end, but the crux of it is right on the money. Bottom line is that if the Bills couldn't have gotten more, they should've just kept Marshawn.

If the Vikings got desperate and offered a 2nd-rounder, that might be worth doing. Otherwise, don't bother. I know that people feel like it's better to get something than nothing, but they fail to consider that every time you sell cheaply, you influence future negotiations. That's why scalpers frequently won't lower their prices, even when they wind up eating the cost of hundreds of tickets. Once that price goes down, it's really hard to bring it back up. That's why the Lynch deal stinks. If we're not going to get good value for him, we're not going to start getting good value for anyone else anytime soon.

Kelsay's extension won't pay itself.

Exactly 1 round better than I expected. I'd rather have a 3 in 2011 than a 4 in 2011 plus a 5 in 2012, though. Also, looks like Ted Thompson's old employee took advantage of Thompson's unwillingness to pull the trigger: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/104358214.html I say this was a steal for Seattle. And I'm sort of glad Lynch went there, because he was already owned in every fantasy league I'm in, and would've blown up in Green Bay. Doubt he'll be great in Seattle, though. How is their non-RB offense any better than ours?

I don't know for a fact, that's true. But I'm making an educated guess based on past NFL trades, and past reports of NFL trades. I'm about 80% confident that the pick is a 7 that could upgrade to a 6 based on playing time. But there's still that 20%. If it turns out that the 2012 pick is any good (maybe a 4 or better), or at least can be upgraded to something good (Pro Bowl makes it a 3rd?), then that'll change my opinion. But it might take weeks for the details of that conditional pick to come out. Until then, I'm basing my opinion off the percentage play. Oh, no worries, I didn't take anything personally, and I definitely didn't think you were calling me out specifically. If anything, I should've said what I said in a more general post instead of replying to yours. It's just that there's been a ton of this "wait before you criticize" stuff this year. We've seen "it's only been X weeks, you can't judge the season yet" posts after each of the first 3 weeks. Plus, you can't judge Nix or Gailey yet, because they've only had 1 draft/offseason. And you can't judge the Spiller pick because he hasn't gotten enough PT. And (my personal favorite) you can't judge Trent Edwards, because even Manning or Brady would look terrible behind that O-line. Personally, I have a longstanding rule: Any time my team goes 10 years without making the playoffs, I get Complaint Carte Blanche. I don't have to give the Bills the benefit of the doubt on any decisions, and I can complain about any facet of the organization any time I want, without apology. Once they make the playoffs, I have to be justified or shut up. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon. And I'm sick of being right. You're welcome!

Suspended players do not count against a team's active roster. So yes, when Nelson gets activated, there will need to be an open roster space. But I think the Bills will add an RB first, then cut a TE to make room for Nelson. Keep in mind that Nelson's coming off surgery and may not be able to play for a couple weeks anyway. If he's unable to play, the Bills can request a roster exemption to let him practice with the team while he heals, and only activate him once he's ready to play. Such exemptions only last 1-2 weeks, and are usually granted.

I dunno about that. Even when Fred wasn't in the NFL, he was still playing professional tackle football. I agree that mileage is what counts, but saying Freddie has low mileage is like not counting miles driven on dirt roads.

FWIW, Packers fans on at least one message board are generally furious that Green Bay didn't outbid Seattle for Lynch.

Because we've seen conditional picks thrown into trades before, and it's almost always a 7th-rounder that could upgrade to a 6th-rounder. Especially when the value of the 4th-rounder is being reported. If it was "2 conditional picks," maybe one of them could be pretty high. When it's "a 4th-rounder and a conditional pick," typically the conditional pick is somewhat of a throw-in. I've definitely never seen a report of "an X-rounder and a conditional pick" where the conditional pick was able to even match the X pick. And I'm sick of being told to wait before criticizing the Bills. I waited for 10 full years, thank you very much. Now I'm allowed to B word when I want about what I want, and those privileges don't get revoked until they make the playoffs.

Supposedly they like UB's own James Starks(? going from memory), who is eligible to come off the PUP list in a couple weeks. But that reminds me of one of Michael Lombardi's favorite quotes: "Hope is not a plan." You can be hopeful about a rookie coming off a major injury, but you can't plan your Super Bowl run around him. To keep things a little more on topic, Adam Schefter is tweeting that the Seahawks thought they had a Lynch deal in place last week, but the Bills pulled out at the last minute. I'm guessing that that's where the conditional pick came from.

My first 2 thoughts: 1.) I had been encouraged that the Bills were holding out for value. Assuming that conditional pick is low (which is usually the case), I'm very discouraged. We got 2 third-rounders and a 7th-rounder for McGahee. A four (even a high four) and maybe a seven next year is not very good. I thought it would take a second-rounder to get Lynch, especially since there are multiple confirmed suitors (Seahawks, Packers, Eagles), and 2 of them are fairly desperate. Sometimes a contender will overpay for an in-season trade, because their focus is on winning it all *this* year, and next year's draft can't help that. See San Diego giving the Dolphins a 2nd-rounder for Chris Chambers a few years ago. 2.) If I'm a Packers fan, I'm furious right now. How dumb is their management that they wouldn't pony up a third-rounder to get Lynch? Has Ted Thompson watched any games since Ryan Grant got hurt? Brandon Jackson and John Kuhn are taking them nowhere. Lynch could've been the difference between winning the Super Bowl and losing in the first round of the playoffs. I'm sure whatever RB they draft next year will be really solid, but you'd think they'd have a little more urgency to take advantage of the opportunity they have right now. Obviously, if the conditional pick turns out to be something of significant value, that will completely change my thinking.

I thought Kelsay was a really solid OLB?