MDH

Hah, I'm in baseball mode, that's why. My bad.

He might miss some of Spring Training but he'll be in camp before it breaks in an attempt to miss little to no playing time. My main point is there is no way in hell he's sitting out until week 10. I seriously doubt he'll miss a single game.

He can sit out until week 10 and then get paid but I seriously doubt he'd see the field in the last 6 weeks as anything other than a reserve seeing as he'd be lost in the new system. It would ultimately amount to sitting out the entire year and players who sit out the entire year don't hit FA pay dirt the following season. Byrd pretty much has no choice but to show up once spring training rolls around because he needs to get in games and prove to the rest of the league (or the Bills for that matter) that he's worth big cash. The Bills don't need to trade Byrd unless they feel they got the right deal or it's just becoming too much of a distraction and they'd rather it be over with. All that being said I doubt it comes to this. Byrd will be signed at some point before the season starts.

It's funny how you left off the end of that conclusion: "In a better situation and the right scheme, Johnson could easily be competing at the top of the league with the best receivers outside of guys like Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald."

What's worse, minding your business with a prostitute or endangering everybody's life on the road by videotaping out of the car while you're driving? And I'm no lawyer, but is it legal open up a person's car in a parking lot?

How are we defining "underrated" and "overrated?" By popularity? By how they are regarded by people who are really into music? Take a band like Dream Theater. They're revered - much like Rush - as a band of almost infinite talent by those who've listened to them extensively. Of course, they're relatively unknown by the masses. I could see a case for making them "underrated" because of their lack of popularity given their musical talents and influence on other musicians ...or I could see someone who just doesn't care for them label them as "overrated" or "indulgent" because many consider them one of the best bands around and one of the most influential ones to other musicians. Underrated Dream Theater - I fall in the former category. Some of the best music (obviously Imo) in the past 20 years has been put out by DT. To see them live is to fully understand how great they are. There is no drop off from their studio albums. Faith No More - Known mostly for "Epic" which is really one of their weaker efforts. Not an all time great band but one that had pretty big influence on other musicians yet gets little credit. At the Drive in/Mars Volta - Two different bands but with the same creative force. Fantastic stuff. Pixies - They get lots of credit as a major influence to other bands but I don't feel they get enough from the public. Nirvana, Radiohead, White Stripes, hell, even David Bowie all cite them as a major influence on their music as do loads of other musicians. Granted, the Pixies were influenced by the Stooges so maybe they should be on this list instead of the Pixies but I think Iggy Pop gets enough credit though. Clutch - Not the most talented band but damn if they don't have a knack for creating catchy riffs that are enjoyable as hell to listen to. Overrated GNR Nine Inch Nails The Clash - yeah, I'm going to get hammered for this one but I could just never get into them. They were always kind of "meh" for me. I don't hate 'em but from my perspective their stuff isn't deserving of the love-fest they get. And really, the OP is listing Jethro Tull as "overrated" simply because they used a flute? What an extremely limited palet you must have. There is nothing "overrated" about Jethro Tull.

Then give us another reason for calling him a "thug." What's he done?

The ring is still his even in the above situation. The guy being a criminal doesn't mean you get to steal from him to make up for it. However, the police should get involved and charges filed and a civil suit should also come into play where the woman would likely get more than the ring was valued at anyway. At least that's the way I see it.

Luck's easily the best of them in mine. Guy QB'd the team with the worst record in the NFL the previous season to an 11 win season. This with a D that didn't help much (ranked 26th in yds, 21st in points.)

' I'd agree with this for everybody but the GM. The buck stops there as he's hired/selected all the coaches, players and scouts that comprise the organization.

True, but the same thing goes the other way. If a fan is critical at all they are "spewing venom" or "a hater." Personally, I just try to be as objective as possible which is sometimes positive and sometimes negative. The people who I tend not to listen to are the ones who are always positive or always negative - it all just becomes spin.

Not that it's not high up- and I'd be holding on for dear life if I was up there - but all these vids are shot with extremely wide angle lenses which greatly exaggerates the distances and makes everything on the ground look much smaller than it really would if you were up there yourself.

If that's how you define it you need to come up with a better title for it because a "#1 WR" is simply a guy who is the best WR on his team - that's it. A "legit #1 WR" would therefore be one of the top 32 guys in the league. I think what you mean to say is "elite." And no, Stevie is not elite. That's not quite the same thing and you know it. All quality WRs get on the field as there are 3-4 on each team who see significant action. The same can't be said of QBs when only one starts. That being said, yeah, I'd say Fitz is a legit starter as I don't think there are 32 better QBs in the league than him. He's not a quality starter though.

I was literally typing this in the box when I looked up and saw your post. He was unbelievably good in that game.

To be a legit #1 WR all he has to be is one of the top 32 WRs in the league. Is there really anybody who doesn't think he is? Nobody is saying he's Calvin Johnson but he's a legit #1, even if he isn't in the upper echelon of those #1s.

That's not what it comes down to. As Buddy himself pointed out, "show me the baby." Winning is the bottom line in this league, otherwise it's just someone's perspective/opinion on how good/bad they think the roster is. Winning, period. From a record perspective - the only objective perspective there is - these teams were worse than the teams before who went 7-9, 7-9, 6-10. Now, if the current coaching staff and the players drafted this year prove to be the thing that turns the Bills into a contender then Nix gets much of the credit for it. So until we know what we have in this bunch Nix gets an "incomplete."

Habit

What's that say about his route running, burst and/or his ability to find soft spots if he can't get separation at that level? I like the hands and his height but unless he can get open he's not going to have much success in the NFL. You can't expect him to make catch after catch with guys draped all over him at this level.

And this without the benefit of a quality QB to throw him the ball. I always felt badly for him that he never got to realize his full potential with the jokes at QB the Bills fielded. If Moulds played with a HoF type QB I'm convinced he'd be on his way to the HoF.

Not that I'm disagreeing with your general sentiment but I do disagree with the Brad Johnson statement. I don't think Flaco is considered one of the best QBs in the game. He plays like one in the playoffs (which is a big part of why they won it) but overall I'm not even sure I'd consider him a top 10 QB. That being said, I agree with your point - you need a top flight QB to have a legitimate, year in year out, chance at the SB.

Height is a huge factor though (and so is speed.) In a league where the WRs are 6'3", 220lbs and run like a wind having a CB who is 5'8", 168 and slow like a safety isn't going to cut it. I'm not very big on guys needing top flight "measurables" in-so-long as they can play football but there is a minimum needed to play in such a fast, violent sport. If you're going to be on the small side you'd better make up for it with top flight speed, rubber hips and the ability to breakdown plays quickly and be in the right spot. I've seen this kid play a handful of times and while he looks pretty good on a college football field I just don't see that transitioning to the NFL - which is why he went undrafted. It's funny to me how people like to dismiss draft "experts" opinions when they trash the Bills draft but when one of them says something good about their UDFA or how one of these guys had a "4th round grade" suddenly it's a steal! Why do we listen to those grades like they mean something but dismiss the grades on other guys? Cherry picking at it's finest.

He hasn't even suited up for the Bills yet and I already love him. Either he's the worlds best actor or the most genuinely likable guy this side of Peyton Manning. I hope he actually performs on Sundays - rooting for the Bills would actually be fun again.

You forgot Andre Johnson who is big but not a speedster. And looking purely at production (and not putting opinion into it) Wayne, White and Welker were all top 10 in the league last year. My point being that there's more than one road to success and even without out-of-this-world measurables guys can be super productive. Top 10 productive. Now, I'm not predicting that for Woods but I will say our days of wishing the Bills had someone to take pressure off Stevie are over.

Yeah, but it's a new scheme and, at least on the surface, seems like it will be pretty complicated. I'm guessing Pettine will shore up the D in time but I also expect them to struggle a lot in the first half of the season. The same goes for the offense. All things considered they'll end up with a record comparable to last year's but we'll have a lot more hope for 2014 because once this team starts to gell they'll be a lot better than the product we saw last year.

If he didn't come with all the distraction and hoopla I'm guessing he'd get a chance somewhere. But with everything that comes with him I'm not sure he will. No coaching staff/front office wants that big of a distraction from a back up QB.