Jerry Jabber

Even though these past 17 years have been miserable, there have been some bright spots. What are some of your favorite moments/plays from a game and favorite games from these past 17 years? Here are some of mine: Beating the Patriots 31-0 in the 2003 season opener. Beating the Patriots 34-31 in 2011. Schoebel's one-handed INT against Brady in which he returned it for a TD. Kelsay INT in the endzone against Romo. Mario's strip/sack of Aaron Rodgers in the endzone to win the game.

I was listening to WGR550 this morning and they were playing clips from Round 2 of the 2007 NHL playoffs. Chris Drury scored with seconds left to send the Sabres/Rangers game to OT, which the Sabres won the series and went on to the Eastern Conference finals for a second year in a row. Hard to believe it's been ten years since a Buffalo sports team was any good. Man that's depressing!

Just saw on JW's twitter account that today is John's birthday. Happy Birthday John! Thanks for all that you do on covering the Bills and Sabres.

The "tank" will all be for nothing! Thanks Terry & Russ!

The blame should be shared between Brandon telling Pegula on how to hire a coach (don't have any preconceived notions, you'll just know when you have the right one) and the Pegula's for hiring Rex instead of letting the GM [Whaley] be the one that hired the coach. Constantly switching coaching schemes and not having the right personnel to run those schemes doomed this team.

Too early to tell. Let's see what happens during the season.

Whoops 😬

Don't get me wrong, RT needed to be addressed and I think Dawkins has the potential to be a great Tackle in the league, I just hope we don't see a similar situation here as we did with Kouandjio.

After what the Bills went through trying to address the RT position over the past few years between Kouandjio, Henderson and Mills, I'd hate to see another player that is best suited to be a LT fail at trying to play RT.

I hope he's not and does a great job atRT. I'd hate to have to go through the season with Mills as our RT.

Kouandjio was drafted to play Right Tackle, but couldn't handle the position. Once Glenn went down last year and Kouandjio filled in at LT, he did a great job. Our new Tackle, Dawson, was a LT in college and is being brought in to compete for the RT spot. What if Dawkins is similar to Kouandjio as he struggles at the RT spot, but is better suited for LT?

Oh, you got me there... No, I just see the Bills making the same dumb decisions while we see numerous teams go from missing the playoffs, rebuild the right way, then make the playoffs. Guess you're used to the misery after 17 years.

Building a solid O-line, holy schitt, we finally have someone who knows what they're doing!!

I remember at the time hoping Kuechly would have been available, but since he wasn't, I would have tried to move down, gained more picks and drafted Riley Reiff.

It's just clear that the Bills have been trying to build their team the wrong way for years. The Raiders have been bad since their Super Bowl appearance, but they finally figured out how to build their team right, a great O-line in front of their QB. They built their foundation first. By hey, it's just a revisionist history anyways, right?! Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it...sounds exactly like the Bills over these past 17 years.

Geno's. Ask for Whiz, otherwise the steak has no flavor (same with Pat's). +1 That place is awesome! The Roast Pork at John's is very tender and flavorful, but the cooks there are pricks! Apparently, there's a house rule where you're supposed to order food on the grill first before ready made food.

Awesome! It's fills a huge need.

I think Cash said it best. "I only sort of agree with this. Gilmore was a good, not great pick - solid starter who seemed like he could be elite but never really was. And I definitely think letting him walk for the money involved was the right move. But if we step back and look at it as a whole, we spent the #10 pick in the draft and got 5 years of good-not-great CB play, and now have nothing to show for it - not even a comp pick. Is that good team building? For a team with a franchise QB tying up lots of cap $, maybe. For a team in the 6-10 to 9-7 range, I personally don't think so."

It was a mistake to use a first round pick on Gilmore to begin with.

Over this 17 year drought, it seems two important things are missing: Building a good solid foundation on both sides of the ball (Offense- A solid O-line and a good QB; Defense: a good front seven); and building the team to win the division. Do the Bills currently have a solid foundation on offense? No. So far, Taylor has proven to be an above average backup, but below average starter. The O-line does a great job at run blocking, but the right side of the line is weak at pass protection. On defense, do they have a solid foundation in place? No. While KW, Dareus and Hughes are three very good players, Lawson and Ragland are unknown. Alexander was good in Rex's scheme, but how will he do in a 4/3? Alexander and Humber are both special teams players, which is a plus, but overall, the LB corps could use an upgrade. Are the current Bills built to win the division? No. We've seen over the years playing against Brady, it doesn't matter how good our secondary is, if the Bills are unable to get constant pressure on Brady and he has time in the pocket, eventually someone gets open for Brady to make a play, especially in a zone defense. The Broncos showed in the AFC Championship game two years ago the blueprint on how to beat Brady and that's constant pressure on him. Brady has always had a good O-line in front of him and that is something the Bills need, along with an elite caliber QB. So back to the topic, it would make more sense for the Bills to use high round draft picks foundational type players first, until they have those key players in place.

Great post and I agree 100%

"Come on man...Winfield and Clements were 15 and 12 years ago. It has literally nothing to do with this team. Not same owners, not same FO, not same philosophy, not same coaches, not same roster. I mean it has ZERO to do with anything we just did." If you're referring to trading back in the draft to gain more picks, I applaud the move and it's a move I felt the team should have made even before the draft. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/193251-should-the-bills-move-back-in-the-draft-to-stockpile-picks/ But I'm referring to using a first rounder on DB's and apparently nothing has changed over the years. "I mean Nate Clements became the highest paid defensive player in NFL history at that time when he left here, and he wasn't worth it. In fact, he never came close to living up to that value of that contract. That is why we didn't pay him, not because he is a DB, but because he was grossly over paid and not worth the contract. Same with Gilmore...he got a contract that out weighed his performance." That's part of my argument, DB's command big money after their rookie deals, so that's another reason why it's not a smart move to use a high pick on one. DB's and RB's should be taken in the lower rounds as those guys command more money after their rookie deals and have a shorter playing career. I thought using a first rounder on Gilmore was potentially a waste as he most likely would leave for big money, which in fact he did. You can get good DB's in the lower rounds (3-7), why waste a first on a guy that's most likely going to be around for a short time? Guys like Wood and Dareus have been around for a while now and they were first round picks. I'd rather see first round picks used on positions such as QB, DE, OT, LB, WR (just as long as he's not a small speed guy like Parrish, Price etc...). DB's are overvalued in the NFL. "Like when Byrd got over paid and was an awful signing by the Saints." Byrd was replaced by a fourth rounder [searcy], so it didn't require a first or second rounder to replace him. First round picks should not be as expendable as the Bills have made them out to be. You can't build a solid foundation when you're constantly going through your top draft picks every four to five years, it's a waste and it's gotten the Bills nowhere except an average of 6-10 over the past 17 years.

I thought using a first rounder on Gilmore was potentially a waste as he most likely would leave for big money, which in fact he did. You can get good DB's in the lower rounds (3-7), why waste a first on a guy that's most likely going to be around for a short time? Guys like Wood and Dareus have been around for a while now and they were first round picks. I'd rather see first round picks used on positions such as QB, DE, OT, LB, WR (just as long as he's not a small speed guy like Parrish, Price etc...). DB's are overvalued in the NFL.

That is a good point. We all know not every pick is going to pan out, but teams have to be able to build around players. When you're constantly replacing first round draft picks every four to five years because you're either drafting DB's and RB's, you're creating more holes on your team instead of making your team better.

It's possible the Bills go 1-5 or 0-6 in the division. The Jets beat the Bills twice last season. As long as Brady remains healthy, they'll beat the Bills twice. Miami got better last season, so they're no push over either.