A Question

[Mr_Blizzard]

So again, without doing a poll, how many of you think that the Spiller selection was motivated more by Ralph's profit motive than Nix wanting him to improve the football team?

They're talking about using Spiller to return kicks as well as using him at RB. The guy was the best RB in this draft. Considering we have a big "?" at running back (AKA Lynch), I'm good with having Freddy and Spiller on my roster.

[PS 56]

First, let me say that I have indeed calmed down after being traumatized by the Spiller pick. I still am angry at the pick mind you, but am thrilled at the rest of the selections, despite the fact that I admittedly know next to nothing about them.

My thing is if we are going to miss on a pick, please let's miss on a big, tough player instead of Ashton Youboty. Nix is a football man who took a look at the weak sisters brought in here by Levy/Jauron and saw that the Bills needed to get bigger and stronger. If any 3 of these big guys turn out good, the team will instantly improve and gain respect. I applaud and seriously appreciate this philosophy.

 

The above leads me to the following question:

 

After Ralph's quote about the team needing "excitement," etc., I am wondering how many of you believe that the selection of Spiller did NOT involve the sale of tickets and profit? To be clear, I make the case that taking a RB at #9, let alone a small one who might be more of a 3rd down back, was a poor decision. BUT, Spiller will sell tickets and Ralph will profit. This is a given.

 

So again, without doing a poll, how many of you think that the Spiller selection was motivated more by Ralph's profit motive than Nix wanting him to improve the football team?

 

Profit is not a 4 letter word. Want to keep the team in Buffalo? Hope and pray that the Bills make obscene profits for their owner. Will Spiller sell more tickets and shirts, etc? I hope the hell he does. Heck, I'll even buy a couple at inflated NFL prices. Go Bills!

[yungmack]

I continue to be puzzled by the thought that ANY of the QB's available in this draft would be able to come in and help this team. I just don't believe that Clausen or McCoy have exponentially more talent than Edwards. I had real concerns about Clausen's ability to step into a huddle and take command and I believe he'll fold under pressure. For whatever reasons, I just don't have a lot of faith in McCoy. Apparently a lot of NFL front offices felt the same way.

 

As for Bradford, he may be all world on paper but 2 injuries in his last 2 games does not make me want to hand him $50 million.

 

I'm willing to give Gailey a chance to make Edwards work.

Very insightful post.

[notwoz]

After Ralph's quote about the team needing "excitement," etc., I am wondering how many of you believe that the selection of Spiller did NOT involve the sale of tickets and profit? To be clear, I make the case that taking a RB at #9, let alone a small one who might be more of a 3rd down back, was a poor decision. BUT, Spiller will sell tickets and Ralph will profit. This is a given.

 

So again, without doing a poll, how many of you think that the Spiller selection was motivated more by Ralph's profit motive than Nix wanting him to improve the football team?

Your question would hold a lot more water if the Bills took Tebow or one of those other "sexy" QBs. just my opinion

[ax4782]

Nix was getting the best player available who can make a huge difference on offense for this team. Spiller is Nix's LT here in Buffalo. Look at his picks in SD when he started there. His first choice was an RB. Bill, generally I think your opinions are well thought out and though I don't always agree, I respect them because you seem to have at least done some cursory research.

 

However, here that seems to be lacking. Spiller was a between the tackles runner at Clemson. Go look at his stats. As for small and not an every down back, he's 5-10 199 lbs. Guess who else has those exact same measurables when he was drafted. THURMAN THOMAS. Watch the film on Spiller and you'll be surprised at how similar they are. Most importantly, Spiller is one heck of a receiver, especially down the field. I'm seeing a revisiting of the old days when Thurman used to split out wide and catch a thirty yard strike down the field. That's something Spiller did regularly at Clemson, if you watch the tape.

[BillsVet]

Reading through this thread, it's a study in analyzing everything in absolutes. As in, either one says you take an OT (given the need) or you're wrong. It's not that simple, and there's so much more to it.

 

Each team has varying needs, strengths, and is developing or continuing their team's plan. The Bills just so happen to be rebuilding again, and had few building blocks on either side of the ball, outside of their secondary, an ILB, a WR, and their running backs.

 

Looking at teams that rebuild, OT's are taken frequently in the early stages of the team reshaping. BAL, ATL, MIA, and TEN chose to acquire their OL first, then focus on skill players. I'd say it's worked well for all of them. Meanwhile, BUF insists on skill players and trusts their developmental OT's to allow them to continue taking skill players and 34 DL.

 

It used to be RB's were the marquee picks, because they could run by everyone. Now, defenses are much faster, and I don't care how fast they run, without an OL even the RB with the best vision will be challenged.

[Big Turk]

The above leads me to the following question:

 

After Ralph's quote about the team needing "excitement," etc., I am wondering how many of you believe that the selection of Spiller did NOT involve the sale of tickets and profit? To be clear, I make the case that taking a RB at #9, let alone a small one who might be more of a 3rd down back, was a poor decision. BUT, Spiller will sell tickets and Ralph will profit. This is a given.

 

So again, without doing a poll, how many of you think that the Spiller selection was motivated more by Ralph's profit motive than Nix wanting him to improve the football team?

 

Spiller is the same build as Chris Johnson of Tennessee, with the same or slightly faster speed. He is a track star with great football instincts. This guy is a legitimate offensive rookie of the year candidate...not to mention he adds to what might be the greatest kick/punt return talent ever assembled on one team(McGee, McKelvin, Parrish, Spiller), as Spiller set the NCAA record with 7 Kick return touchdowns, in addition to several more punt return TDs...

[BillsRUs]

a. Our beat up, decimated O- line still managed to help Freddie to a 1000 yard season. I believe our injury free O-line this year will hold up. We're rebuilding and I'm sure we'll shore up the line soon enough.

 

b. We knew exactly want we wanted from the start. Some of the mocks had us taking spiller at 9. Nevergiveup told us that if the top two tackles weren't available, we were going to draft Spiller. Now Buddy has said that he's not a fan of moving around in the draft and that the number one pick has to be able to come in and perform straight away. So outside the top two OT's, I don't believe we saw anyone that could come in and start straight away.

 

c. You can't blame a guy for trying. Here, despite what Buddy said later, I do believe we tried to go after Tebow. Nevergiveup said that we will be drafting a QB in round two. I believe we realized that Denver was making an aggressive push to get Tebow in the first and we tried to trade back into round 1. Didn't happen. The one top round QB (outside of Bradford) we thought coachable with tons of upside was gone. So we sat back, waited for our picks and picked the guys we rated highest on our draft board at the time. We knew who we wanted at those picks. We got them. Only time will tell if we made the right decisions. But you can't really fault a guy for going in with a clear game plan and executing it.

 

Except for secondary, we had needs at almost every other position. There is no way 9 picks will solve all our woes. We will build strong and we will build right.

[notwoz]

a. Our beat up, decimated O- line still managed to help Freddie to a 1000 yard season.

Good point.

[Buckeye Eric]

I continue to be puzzled by the thought that ANY of the QB's available in this draft would be able to come in and help this team. I just don't believe that Clausen or McCoy have exponentially more talent than Edwards. I had real concerns about Clausen's ability to step into a huddle and take command and I believe he'll fold under pressure. For whatever reasons, I just don't have a lot of faith in McCoy. Apparently a lot of NFL front offices felt the same way.

 

As for Bradford, he may be all world on paper but 2 injuries in his last 2 games does not make me want to hand him $50 million.

 

I'm willing to give Gailey a chance to make Edwards work.

 

I second this perspective.

[John from Riverside]

Reading through this thread, it's a study in analyzing everything in absolutes. As in, either one says you take an OT (given the need) or you're wrong. It's not that simple, and there's so much more to it.

 

Each team has varying needs, strengths, and is developing or continuing their team's plan. The Bills just so happen to be rebuilding again, and had few building blocks on either side of the ball, outside of their secondary, an ILB, a WR, and their running backs.

 

Looking at teams that rebuild, OT's are taken frequently in the early stages of the team reshaping. BAL, ATL, MIA, and TEN chose to acquire their OL first, then focus on skill players. I'd say it's worked well for all of them. Meanwhile, BUF insists on skill players and trusts their developmental OT's to allow them to continue taking skill players and 34 DL.

 

It used to be RB's were the marquee picks, because they could run by everyone. Now, defenses are much faster, and I don't care how fast they run, without an OL even the RB with the best vision will be challenged.

 

Vet Im sorry I just dont see it that way

 

Last year top picks.......Maybin, Wood, Levitre.....say what you will about Maybin but he was drafted at that time to be a pass rushing defensive end......was he too small yes (Nix wouldn't have drafted him) but it WAS a line pick.

 

This year they brought in a free agent RT.....in a pretty crappy OL market....say what you will about his talent...they DID address it. They did attempt to jump back into this first round but it fell through. Then they went HEAVY on defense and DL picks.....a true NT......a legit sized DE.....they didn't trade up or down but they did make picks in those areas. And the OL they took in later rounds were supposed to be quality guys in Wang and Calloway. THey didn't feel there was a LT prospect left on the board in the first.

 

You dont think they addressed the lines....I think they actually did. The PROBLEM is they didn't spend a lot of money on free agents in those area so it looks like we did not address. Now if you want to complain about not doing enough in free agency then Im with you because to get better fast you have to do both. The free agent guys we brought were were well thought of outside of Cornel Green

[gobillsinytown]

I second this perspective.

 

Definitely. I thought last year was one of the wierdest years for confusion and discord between managment and the coaching staff. Edwards had to be wondering what the heck was going on. the OC gets fired a few days before the start of the regular season, two vetran O-Lineman are let go, and they scrap a significant portion of the offense that they had spent the entire offseason installing. I thought it was a sign that Jauron just couldn't keep things together. I was warned about that from a long time Bears fan, where Jauron had his last head coaching job. Same problems there, like he couldn't make decisions because the didn't want to tick anybody off.

[ganesh]

a. Our beat up, decimated O- line still managed to help Freddie to a 1000 yard season. I believe our injury free O-line this year will hold up. We're rebuilding and I'm sure we'll shore up the line soon enough.

 

And the same OL failed to provide the push to convert 3rd and shorts and move the chains.

[notwoz]

And the same OL failed to provide the push to convert 3rd and shorts and move the chains.

Well, maybe an injury-free OL will do better.

[Doc]

c. You can't blame a guy for trying. Here, despite what Buddy said later, I do believe we tried to go after Tebow.

Ralph chortling about Denver panicking and reaching for Tebow makes me think otherwise.

[ChasBB]

So again, without doing a poll, how many of you think that the Spiller selection was motivated more by Ralph's profit motive than Nix wanting him to improve the football team?

Not me. I loved the selection. He's the type of player who can make things happen -- EVEN WITHOUT a great OL. You just can't pass on that kind of talent. Besides, I don't think our OL is as bad as everyone seems to think. All those injuries resulted in lots of guys getting playing experience which will translate to better depth this season. Given our new coaching staff and our new approach to strength and conditioning, I think our OL will be fine this year.

[BillsRUs]

Ralph chortling about Denver panicking and reaching for Tebow makes me think otherwise.

 

Hahaha. There was no way we would have given up all those picks like Denver. That's probably why we lost out.

[LynchMob23]

I don't think I can prove or disprove Ralph's intention on selling tickets via Spiller, but I can hopefully give some added points for discussion for Buddy's rationale.

 

Great Buffalo Rumblings Article on Buddy

 

In that article, the author does a great job of continuing an older piece on how Buddy style has been honed under Polian, Butler and Smith.

 

If fact, watching ESPN or the NFL Network during the draft and hearing them discuss how there are two schools of thought in the draft and both are right - the Polian model of letting the pick fall to you (in general) and the Belicheck/Reid model of trading here, there, everywhere and playing the board as much as you can.

 

Nix knows that it’s going to take a couple drafts, and this was a very good start. If Troup and Carrington develop, then Buffalo becomes a very tough defense to run against. Combined with Edwards and Davis, this is a good start to the rebuild.

 

I expect Nix to draft similarly to what we saw from San Diego: lots of late-round offensive linemen, more 5-technique defensive ends, more outside linebackers, more later round inside linebackers, and more tall downfield receiving threats.

[Fan in Chicago]

First, let me say that I have indeed calmed down after being traumatized by the Spiller pick. I still am angry at the pick mind you, but am thrilled at the rest of the selections, despite the fact that I admittedly know next to nothing about them.

My thing is if we are going to miss on a pick, please let's miss on a big, tough player instead of Ashton Youboty. Nix is a football man who took a look at the weak sisters brought in here by Levy/Jauron and saw that the Bills needed to get bigger and stronger. If any 3 of these big guys turn out good, the team will instantly improve and gain respect. I applaud and seriously appreciate this philosophy.

 

The above leads me to the following question:

 

After Ralph's quote about the team needing "excitement," etc., I am wondering how many of you believe that the selection of Spiller did NOT involve the sale of tickets and profit? To be clear, I make the case that taking a RB at #9, let alone a small one who might be more of a 3rd down back, was a poor decision. BUT, Spiller will sell tickets and Ralph will profit. This is a given.

 

So again, without doing a poll, how many of you think that the Spiller selection was motivated more by Ralph's profit motive than Nix wanting him to improve the football team?

 

I agree with the first part of your post. However, I have still not reconciled the Spiller pick in my heart and mind. No matter how good his talent may be, I feel the O may have been better helped overall by a line pick. If a highly graded player was not available at our spot, we should have traded down. This is the 3rd first round pick we have spent in the last few years on a RB - a position which can be more than adequate with a lower round pick given better blocking. I remember when mcGahee was picked, the spin was that he was such an incredible talent that him rehabing in the first year would be a price worth paying for the returns we will get once he starts playing. Well, we all know how that turned out. I hate it when people point to the Mike Williams pick and say the crap shoot. Sure it is - but I would rather bust out on a line player than a skill player when our lines are weak. Spiller is a luxury pick in a year of needs. A player of his talents helps a team on the cusp of greatness which we certainly aren't yet.

I do disagree with the second part of your post. I do not think this was a marketing move. I sincerely believe Nix and company are obstinate about sticking to the board and picking BPA.

[Big Turk]

I agree with the first part of your post. However, I have still not reconciled the Spiller pick in my heart and mind. No matter how good his talent may be, I feel the O may have been better helped overall by a line pick. If a highly graded player was not available at our spot, we should have traded down. This is the 3rd first round pick we have spent in the last few years on a RB - a position which can be more than adequate with a lower round pick given better blocking. I remember when mcGahee was picked, the spin was that he was such an incredible talent that him rehabing in the first year would be a price worth paying for the returns we will get once he starts playing. Well, we all know how that turned out. I hate it when people point to the Mike Williams pick and say the crap shoot. Sure it is - but I would rather bust out on a line player than a skill player when our lines are weak. Spiller is a luxury pick in a year of needs. A player of his talents helps a team on the cusp of greatness which we certainly aren't yet.

I do disagree with the second part of your post. I do not think this was a marketing move. I sincerely believe Nix and company are obstinate about sticking to the board and picking BPA.

 

You don't pass up franchise players for good ones...