LABills08

Bad throw by Fitz. Had Fred open on a screen too.

He's out. And might be out next week as well. He's having a good year, so even for the Kelsay haters (I have historically been one of them) this is a loss. That being said, Batten is taking his place and he is much better suited for contain against someone like Vick. He's probably undersized as a OLB in a 3-4, but I don't think you'll see many 3 man fronts against Vick. Batten is much quicker than Kelsay and is better equipped to change speed/direction. Plus, he is a great tackler (at least he has been so far). Not a huge loss, but our linebacker depth is questionable for sure.

I think Fitz's problems are a combination of having WR that are good, but don't have the talent to really 'help' a QB out. Stevie might be an exception bc of his ability to get open, but Donald Jones and David Nelson aren't going to beat a 2 man coverage deep (not fast enough) and they aren't going to jump up and grab the ball out of the air like AJ Green, Julio Jones and some of the other really good young receivers. In essence, Fitz has to make near perfect throws in order to excel. That being said, accuracy has ALWAYS been a huge issue. He's made up for it with his intelligence. He is a student of the game, understands coverages, reads blitzes, and makes all of these decisions really quickly. As Chan said I think, if you make a decision faster and get the ball out quicker, it gets there at the same time as it does for a guy with an absolute gun of an arm. That being said, anyone who watches football knows that if you have the arm strength/accuracy of Rodgers, Brady, Rivers......its a huge asset. You can throw those 20 yard bullets down the seam for completions. A 20 yard throw down the seam from someone with a cannon can be a completion. For a guy like Fitz, its an interception or the ball is knocked down. So I think its a combination of those things. But again, that doesn't mean he can't be successful. Just look at guys like Kurt Warner. Kurt had a good arm, but it wasn't like he was throwing Brett Favre fastballs.

Yea, this is kind of crazy. I've been admittedly wrong about how good Fred is in the past. This year I've finally jumped on the bandwagon. He deserves the majority of the carries. That being said, I still want to see what Spiller can do as a featured back. He's averaging close to 8 yards a carry in limited action (so for everyone calling him a bust.....). I think he is great insurance if Fred ever goes down, but he also provides (along with Brad Smith) a lot of flexibility for Gailey in terms of play calling. They like to operate out of a spread offense, so you don't see this type of thing often, but I'd love to see a few wild card formations with a backfield of Brad Smith, Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller. I'd also like to see a few backfields with Jackson, Fitz, and Spiller, with Spiller being motioned out wide and getting a matchup against a linebacker. Point being, he is a big part of the offense even if the stats don't back it up right now.

I think prognosticators will be much more likely to give the Bills a top 5 ranking once they prove they can win a game by dominating (or coming lost to dominating) a very solid opponent (ie, not the Chiefs). While the wins against the Pats and Raiders have been impressive and this isn't taking anything away from those victories, one couldn't say that the Bills dominated either game. Coming back from 18 down is very impressive, but I think anyone will admit that its not a recipe for success in the playoffs.

That's a good point. I think McKelvin has performed far below expectations considering he was the number one CB drafted that year. But, I also think that everything needs to be put in context. CB is one of the harder positions to judge in terms of performance, bc as was pointed out earlier, top CBs do not always have the stats to correspond with their performance. Both Asomogha AND Revis have very low INTs and probably tackles too, bc teams keep the ball away from them. I agree that teams might have begun to target Leodis but I think its tough to judge him against the Raiders. Moore made a few ridiculous plays. Lets see how he does against the Pats. Don't forget that Gailey had high praise for his preseason.

I don't think the Bills have much to worry about in this regard. First off, its early in the season. 2008 taught me to be wary of early success. I want to see how we do against the Jets, Patriots, Steelers, Chargers, etc. before I start getting to hyperbolic. I think its fair to say that we have not yet witnessed the Bills look so explosive on offense in years. And that has a lot to do with Fitzpatrick and his relationship with Gailey. Simply, he's Gailey's type of guy. They compliment each other very well. I don't know if he would be the same QB playing in another scheme, for another coach. Fitz is very underrated, but he does, at times, make terrible throws. He caught 2-3 big breaks today. That TD pass to Chandler could have easily been intercepted, as could the deep out to Jones (the play when Jones saved the game by knocking the ball out of the CB's hands). If those two balls were INTs, the Bills would have lost and Fitz would have had 3 picks. The conversation would have been very different. I know sports is always a game of woulda, coulda shouldas and I love Fitzpatrick. But, lets see how the whole season plays out before we anoint him as the QB of the future..

This is the Bills team I remember! Talent is still not there, but that was a bad call by Chan not to go for it.

Starting defense looks solid. Will keep us in games so long as Merriman stays healthy. But that's a big "if". He made a couple important plays during the 1st quarter. Protection was good against a great Lions D-Line. Spiller had a good run. Those talking negatively about how he failed to pick up yards on the screen plays (Sal "how does he actually have a job" Maiorana being one) are idiots. Both plays were blown up before he even got the ball in his hands. The biggest problem for me, is that the passing game is going to be weak. Maybe Parrish will change things when he gets in the lineup, but mark my words, people will be missing the impact Lee Evans had on this offense.

We didn't. That's what I'm saying. And Nix should be pressed about this.

Nice seeing Easley gaining some confidence. That was a picture perfect drive and the O-line pulled through. Jags aren't throwing many wrinkles, but its still nice to see.

O Line still looks bad. Terrible run blocking. Just Terrible.

Has Sheppard played at all?

I think whoever ends up starting at RT will fit the bill. Definitely our starting TE too, since it won't be Shawn Nelson since the guy hasn't been healthy in 3 years. Here's to hoping it works out. Hahaha. Thank you. Everyone goes after Evans' numbers and its like...uhh...these young guys who you claim are primed to fill Evans' shoes no problem... Ummm..yea...they haven't actually played in a game yet...

4th rounders '04-'10: Tim Euhus, Duke Preston, Ko Simpson, Dwayne Wright, Reggie Corner, Derek Fine, Shawn Nelson, Marcus Easley.

I haven't read through this thread yet, but I imagine this has been covered. Listen, I'm been defending Nix most of this off season for staying true to his vision and not signing any dead weight just for the sake of "doing something" (we all saw how that played out with Walker, Green and Dockery). At the same time, this O-line is in desperate need of depth. It's inexcusable for the Bills to go into the season with the current tackles, especially given how injury prone Bell has been.

Agree with Doc. I'd take Burnett. But I'd pretty much take either of them. I'd just like to point out that the Bills have a lot of money to spend. Much of which, they HAVE to spend. Poz off the books. Stroud released. Rookie cap. Whitner gone. They have cash to spend.

Big money but there is no doubt he was our top CB last year. Solid re-signing for sure.

Listen. Poz at 7 million for 6 years (I think this was the deal, correct me if I'm wrong) is a lot of money. According to my googling, that would have placed him as the highest, or one of the highest paid Bills. Is he worth that much? Maybe to some teams, but on a team that is working to build a 3-4 defense? It just didn't make sense to give him that kind of cash and play him in a 3-4. Also, to be honest, I don't want Poz on my roster for 6 years! He isn't durable, he's tiny (for a ILB) and he has taken a lot of shots over the past couple seasons having to take down many untouched RB bolting at him full speed. Now, if come Fri or next week the Bills haven't added a LB, I will be right back on the Ralph Wilson sucks train. In fact, I never got off that train. But this seems to be a smart decision.

Ahhhhh nothing to overshadow the excitement over football being back better than a reminder of how cheap Ralph is. I haven't followed the labor negotiations and generally haven't cared nor posted much in past couple of months, so I apologize for not being up to date on the new CBA. But, are teams really required to use 99% of their cap space? If so, that's great news. Though I'm sure there is some sort of loop hole I'm missing. And in regards to who the Bills sign, I'd much prefer the Bills add quality depth instead of making a big name splash. The team still isn't close to being a serious playoff contender and until they are, I'd prefer depth over big names/big salary.

BB likes him a lot. That's always been the rumor at least. Maybe not, but I think it could happen.

He'll be a Patriot.

I figured they would go CB early. Just was hoping it wasn't in the first round. Don't know much about this guy, but I know he was one of the few corners with 1st round grades on him. He's got a lot of upside and a HUGE wingspan, which is great for a corner. He's 6'1 and 200 pounds. Tweener? Huh? He's a hybrid guy as well, can play all 5 DB positions. Clearly, the Bills are drafting to give themselves flexibility, which IMO, is 100% the right approach given the state of the personnel when Nix and Gailey got there. Link

He's not a tweener.

Boring pick, but it was definitely a need. For everyone that wants a QB, the Bills are doing exactly what every fan wants them to no. Which is, to stick to their board and NOT reach. None of these guys, aside from maybe Gabbert, have been picked in a slot that relates to their value. Almost all of the QB picks have been reaches. I would have preferred an ILB, but I think the Bills see themselves in a good position to pick up a developmental pass rusher (Moats) or a solid ILB later on in the draft. How much you want to be the Bills don't pull the trigger on a QB at all?