Orakpo.

[rpcolosi]

Can we please have a moratorium on threads about Brian Orakpo/Haloti Ngata/Michael Oher/et al.?

 

It happened, we missed on the draft picks, we have a new national scout, a new GM and a new assistant GM, we landed a promising NT (Troupe) who should be an anchor of our defense for years to come, a promising DE (Carrington), an OLB (Moats) who will help this defense for years, and a WR (Easley) who showed some amazing flashes before getting hurt, not to mention a franchise RB.

 

We had a good draft, much better than everyone wants to admit, because we aren't in the playoffs yet. It wasn't an amazing draft, but it was solid, and everyone needs to stop harping on the previous drafts, its a different GM/AGM/National Scout/Coach.

 

 

Don't get me wrong - I really like this years draft class. I actually think Troupe is much better then anyone is giving him credit for. he WAS a force in this past game, tipping the pass that A Davis picked off and more then holding his own on a few tackels for no gain. I'm not saying our run defense will be better with him in there (we need LBs, badly, shawn merriman anyone?), but Troupe has the makings of a good player. I'm also praying Danny Batten pans out. That kid was a freaking stud in D I - AA, along with moats and coleman. So ya - I like the drafts Nix and Modrak and Co. put together last 2 years (minus the maybin pick, who it seems was not what they wanted as Nix has all but said he hates 1 year wonders, minus Easley as a 5th, who still was working out). So there is hope... I just wish we had freaking orakpo... ugh!

[The Senator]

Maybin might be really good at bowling.

I dunno, Jay - bowling isn't as easy as it looks. Jason Peters thought he could be a Pro Bowler, and look at him now.

 

(In fact, one of the reasons Orapko looks so great may be that he goes up against Fat Boy twice a season!)

 

Can we please have a moratorium on threads about Brian Orakpo/Haloti Ngata/Michael Oher/et al.?

 

It happened, we missed on the draft picks, we have a new national scout, a new GM and a new assistant GM, we landed a promising NT (Troupe) who should be an anchor of our defense for years to come, a promising DE (Carrington), an OLB (Moats) who will help this defense for years, and a WR (Easley) who showed some amazing flashes before getting hurt, not to mention a franchise RB.

 

We had a good draft, much better than everyone wants to admit, because we aren't in the playoffs yet. It wasn't an amazing draft, but it was solid, and everyone needs to stop harping on the previous drafts, its a different GM/AGM/National Scout/Coach.

Gotta agree with you there, Refuse Reaper. What's done is done. As they say, "You can't 'un-ring' a bell." But the front office of old is gone, or going, as Nix methodically rebuilds this thing.

 

Maybin was Jauron's choice - the rest of the 2009 draft may not be so bad either (Wood, Byrd, Levitre, Nelson) and we can probably credit Nix for that, since he rejoined the Bills as Nat'l Scout in January before the 2009 draft.

 

So enough with all the Celine Dion fans out there...

 

Edited October 20, 2010 by The Senator

[starrymessenger]

not that it needs to be stated, but being at that 2008 NFL Draft live and in person, I just get sick to my stomach every single time this guy makes a big play. A huge sack on peyton today giving him 15 in the past 2 years. I can't even explain how huge it would be to have this guy on our squad instead of maybin. My anger and frustration that day just intensifies every single time Orakpo shows up. I still place this blame squarely on RW and Jauron... I don't think it's what modrak wanted and rumors were that he wanted cushing I believe (correct me if I'm wrong)...

 

anyways I'm working on a huge spread sheet with a scoring system breaking down just how horrible our drafts have been in the 00's.... and it's shockingly horrible.

Everybody has their Bills draft day story. Mine is that in early April of 2006 I was at a conference in Boston. The guy sitting next to me at dinner was a doctor from Eugene and a huge U of O fan and a very knowledgeable college football fan. Many mocks had the Bills picking Ngata so I asked him what he thought. He was aware that Ngata was believed to be coming to Buffalo and he said "You know, you Bills fans are about to draft the best college player available in this year's draft." I didn't know then what we all know now about Ngata so I asked him why the guy was said to take plays off occasionally. He said "I know its been reported, but he never ever takes plays off. What happens is he routinely gets double and even triple teamed". I left the table feeling really good about the guy we were about to draft.

Now, what you need to understand is that the people responsible for pickin em at recent Bills drafts are not negligent, or incompetent or even willfully blind. They are in fact collosal perverts who,I believe, are doing it on purpose just to drive us crazy. And that spreadsheet your thinking of putting together, don't do it, it will drive you crazy.

[oak tree 12]

not that it needs to be stated, but being at that 2008 NFL Draft live and in person, I just get sick to my stomach every single time this guy makes a big play. A huge sack on peyton today giving him 15 in the past 2 years. I can't even explain how huge it would be to have this guy on our squad instead of maybin. My anger and frustration that day just intensifies every single time Orakpo shows up. I still place this blame squarely on RW and Jauron... I don't think it's what modrak wanted and rumors were that he wanted cushing I believe (correct me if I'm wrong)...

 

anyways I'm working on a huge spread sheet with a scoring system breaking down just how horrible our drafts have been in the 00's.... and it's shockingly horrible.

 

you are totally correct everybody thinks modrak made all the picks the last 5 years or more . the truth of the matter is he was head of scouting.

 

even thurman thomas said last week on his show that modrak is a great talent evaluator and he said that came from the mouth of bill polian himself.

 

you are also correct in that Modrak wanted Cushing and recommended that he be our pick but was overruled by DJ.

 

look you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink it.

 

to blame modrak for these bad picks is idiotic.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Can we please have a moratorium on threads about Brian Orakpo/Haloti Ngata/Michael Oher/et al.?

 

It happened, we missed on the draft picks, we have a new national scout, a new GM and a new assistant GM, we landed a promising NT (Troupe) who should be an anchor of our defense for years to come, a promising DE (Carrington), an OLB (Moats) who will help this defense for years, and a WR (Easley) who showed some amazing flashes before getting hurt, not to mention a franchise RB.

 

We had a good draft, much better than everyone wants to admit, because we aren't in the playoffs yet. It wasn't an amazing draft, but it was solid, and everyone needs to stop harping on the previous drafts, its a different GM/AGM/National Scout/Coach.

 

Oh it won't stop. There will be a slew of new additions to the list. If Colt McCoy strings together a few games the guys who "knew" he was the best QB after Bradford will come out of the woodwork. Then could come the Best over Spiller crowd who "knew" CJ was not the best back in the draft.

 

Not sure why Clay Mathews isn't mentioned among the Maybin vs. Orakpo crowd or why the McKelvin haters don't often mention Rodgers-Cromartie or even Ryan Clady who are obviously better picks… in retrospect.

 

It needs to be accepted that the drafts have been bad, the talent misjudged and the team poorly designed. We have another year or two to evaluate if the new crowd is any better at putting talent on the field. At least when they picked Spiller it was one of the guys ESPN said they should pick.

Edited October 20, 2010 by over 20 years of fanhood

[Billshank Redemption]

well atleast we can agree on the fact that are picks sucked and its over and nothing we can do about it

[thewildrabbit]

you are totally correct everybody thinks modrak made all the picks the last 5 years or more . the truth of the matter is he was head of scouting.

 

even thurman thomas said last week on his show that modrak is a great talent evaluator and he said that came from the mouth of bill polian himself.

 

you are also correct in that Modrak wanted Cushing and recommended that he be our pick but was overruled by DJ.

 

look you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink it.

 

to blame modrak for these bad picks is idiotic.

 

Yea well, until I hear or read it from Polian's mouth then I'll believe it, I have a tough time thinking that over Modrak's 8 year career with the Bills its always the head coach or someone else making the wrong decisions on all those draft, on all those players. Name me one decent O linemen that has been drafted by these tools in the last 8 years, besides the obvious #1 & #2 picks in Wood / Levite. Eight freaking years of drafts and not one 1/2 decent linemen that stayed with the team more then a year or two.

 

The Bills went into that draft needing a LT to replace Jason Peters who they traded away,also that year Aaron Schobel was out injured most of the year so they also wanted a pass rushing DE. All I remember is the fans clamoring for a DE in post after post on this board, just after the draft most were happy with the Maybin pick stating "you can't teach speed"

 

By the same token if the guy was worth a crap as head scout and knows his rep is on the line how does he allow the team to make so many stupid moves on pure speculation? At what point do you put your foot down and say NO, This guy is a bad choice! Everyone knew Maybin was a huge gamble and could easily be a huge bust ,all the guy had was a great first step...that was it! One year in College and he could run the arc and had no moves at all, the book on him was once a O linemen got his hands on him it was over. Huge reach for that for that high a pick, that type of reach and speculation should be kept to the 6th & 7th rounders and free agents.

 

 

My take its just a sheer case of collective stupidity, the scouts stink, the head coach stinks, the president of the team stinks, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit to hear that Ralph Wilson is in the draft room approving these picks, so all accountability goes out the window If the owner is ok with the choices.

[Sisyphean Bills]

Modrak has been coasting off the coattails of his peers in Pittsburgh and the fumes of ONE freaking pick, Donovan McNabb, since.

[Gabe Northern]

It's disappointing b/c there are guys that we missed who are good that we easily could have had and most of us thought we'd take. Oher. Ngata. But Orakpo was so obviously a good player, maybe not obviously the game changing stud he actually is now...but obviously good....and Maybin was obviously a coin flip on a bust...I almost root for the guys I wanted us to get...it's like my personal bills team...it's a lot better than what the brains at OBD put together.

 

The sad part is that Orakpo fell to us. No one expected him to be there at 11. And we still passed. It was almost like the radar locked on Maybin and couldn't change to the circumstances. I will never forgive Tom Modrak for this, as he wanted Cushing but felt Maybin was the best pure passrusher on the board.

 

Here is the link with Modrak's comments. Note that Chris Brown reported a number of times how Orakpo "took plays off". This is classic Modrak - reduce significance of speed and athleticism in favor of how hard a player works. Screw Tom Modrak and all of the souless losers on this board who defend him.

 

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/bills-take-pass-rusher-maybin/14658d98-47ca-4db6-9944-c260ae5e98e9

 

Oh it won't stop. There will be a slew of new additions to the list. If Colt McCoy strings together a few games the guys who "knew" he was the best QB after Bradford will come out of the woodwork. Then could come the Best over Spiller crowd who "knew" CJ was not the best back in the draft.

 

Not sure why Clay Mathews isn't mentioned among the Maybin vs. Orakpo crowd or why the McKelvin haters don't often mention Rodgers-Cromartie or even Ryan Clady who are obviously better picks… in retrospect.

 

Clay Matthews is the best of the bunch, but you can't fault them for that. That's like complaining about missing on Tom Brady in the 6th round. The thing with Modrak is the clear cut choices - Kelsay over Umeniyora (next De), trading up for McCargo rather than Mangold, taking McKelvin so early when DRC or Talib were every bit as talented, taking Hardy over DeSean Jackson because he was taller, trading up for Poz when we could have kept the pick and taken pro bowler David Harris. And on and on and on.

 

Screw Tom Modrak and the soulless losers who'd rather defend the front office than demand the changes necessary to bring about a winning team. Modrak is still VP of college scouting for those who argue everything's changed.

It needs to be accepted that the drafts have been bad, the talent misjudged and the team poorly designed. We have another year or two to evaluate if the new crowd is any better at putting talent on the field. At least when they picked Spiller it was one of the guys ESPN said they should pick.