RAISE YOUR HAND!

[Oneonta Buffalo Fan]

Bruce Smith was, um, really good. WM is, um, average.

Not really good, but GREAT.

 

Great > good

[GG]

Also, the Ravens approached the Bills about the trade, at the airport at the combine. Newsome saw Marv there and went up to him and asked him about the availability of Willis.

 

I think George Seifert drove the cab as the deal was consummated.

[The Dean]

I think George Seifert drove the cab as the deal was consummated.

 

 

 

 

Hey, the guy's gotta work. He knows getting spotted at airports is a good way to keep his name in the rumor mill.

[RuntheDamnBall]

If you actually watch the interview, which I saw on NFL Network. Willis was talking about the Ravens, not the Bills. He wasn't saying the Bills receivers suck, the QB sucks, the line sucks, he was saying that the Ravens have all these pieces in place and thinks that's a winning combination. People here are just implying that he was badmouthing his old teammates but again, I don't think he's that smart or that vindictive. Just like the Toronto comment. He just says what pops into his pea-sized brain, "Hey! Toronto's a great place! They move the team here!" All this Willis is trashing Buffalo is pretty much inferiority complexes rearing their ugly heads again IMO.

 

He did say he didn't get much help in Buffalo and he didn't. He did say there wasn't a winning attitude in Buffalo in his time here and there wasn't.

Then if you're supposedly the best, you should be helping to bring that winning attitude, not waiting for it to happen. And saying he didn't get much help and was lucky to get the 990 yards, bull sh-- -- that's placing the blame on your teammates, not accepting any for yourself. The blocking was not great. Sorry, the Willis excuse train has left town.

[RuntheDamnBall]

Again, I really believe he was talking about the Ravens. The sentence was, "If you get to a better team with receivers, a quarterback, a line helping out, it's going to be hard to stop everybody." The better team is the Ravens. That's just a fact. When he says "it's going to be hard to stop everybody" he's talking about the Ravens. Yeah, he wasn't happy here and yeah he's glad he's gone and yeah, he's a moron, but in this particular case, I really don't think he was trashing Evans and Losman.

 

Granted, there is the perception is reality equation. But Willis is so removed from reality 90% of the time, I don't think you can blame him for it.

The better team is the Ravens, a team that couldn't score any offensive touchdowns against Indy? The better team, maybe. The better offense? I'd say ours is on the rise, while their best players are aging on an offense that's never done much but run the ball effectively.

[Kelly the Dog]

Then if you're supposedly the best, you should be helping to bring that winning attitude, not waiting for it to happen. And saying he didn't get much help and was lucky to get the 990 yards, bull sh-- -- that's placing the blame on your teammates, not accepting any for yourself. The blocking was not great. Sorry, the Willis excuse train has left town.

I agree, and think not only is McGahee an idiot but clearly he doesn't accept partial responsibility. My beef and argument is that people are saying he is always trashing Buffalo and throwing his teammates under the bus and it's simply not true. Again, the reporter said, "you're coming to the better team". Plus, the Ravens do have a veteran QB, better line, very good TE, decent receivers. Our offense should be significantly better but we have to prove it on the field.

[Lurker]

better line

If Ogden retires, I'd have to wonder if that's the case. They's lost two starters and a blocking FB already.

[BuffOrange]

Kelly,

I agree. I think it'd be funny to go back and read all the stuff many of the same people said about him in 2004 (he's the savior). Apparantly as recently as then he was regarded as a 4.0 student & model teammate.

Admittadly I was one who questioned his heart down the stretch of '05, but I don't know what last yr's accusations are based on. I guess nobody noticed him destroy 2 free blitzers in Miami on the same play, or stone a Jags defender twice his size on a blitz pickup when he was hurt, but "zomg he must a block vs. the Jets and I happened to see the replay; he must not care!"

[Kelly the Dog]

If Ogden retires, I'd have to wonder if that's the case. They's lost two starters and a blocking FB already.

True. They are likely pretty screwed if he does. Usually, but not always, guys in that position decide to come back. He had a really tough time emotionally last year and it clearly took a strain on him. In that press conference, either Ozzie Newsome is one of the greatest guys in the world or he isn't too concerned that Ogden is not coming back. I'm thinkin' it's the latter.

[The Dean]

Nice article about the Wills move in the Buff Snooze today:

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/213/story/30238.html

[dave mcbride]

I agree, and think not only is McGahee an idiot but clearly he doesn't accept partial responsibility. My beef and argument is that people are saying he is always trashing Buffalo and throwing his teammates under the bus and it's simply not true. Again, the reporter said, "you're coming to the better team". Plus, the Ravens do have a veteran QB, better line, very good TE, decent receivers. Our offense should be significantly better but we have to prove it on the field.

They have a great TE, but I think their receivers are pretty mediocre all in all. Also, I'm not sure that McNair will be a better QB than Losman this upcoming year. I think (hope?) that the light has turned on for him, and he's certainly more talented physically than McNair at this point of his career.

[sweetbaboo]

Bruce Smith was a damn good player prior to the broncos signing him to the offer sheet. As I recall that was one of the longest weeks of my life waiting for Ralph to pony up and match the deal. He was a bit chubby and slack initially but the guy was clearly a stud by his third year. He had 51 sacks in four years leading up to the Broncos signing him. It would have cost them two number ones if the Bills failed to match. Clearly in todays market no team is willing to risk that on our former RB "star."

when the hell did the broncos show any interest in Bruce Smith?

[In space no one can hear]

when the hell did the broncos show any interest in Bruce Smith?

 

Here you go.

 

 

link

[sweetbaboo]

Here you go.

link

ah, i was but a wee lad back in 1989

[The Dean]

Here you go.

link

 

 

WOAH! Trippy avatar there, Spaceman.

[Buftex]

Bruce Smith.

 

 

KTFBDog, I guess we are in the minority in preferring that Willis was still a Bill. However, you may have just "jumped" the proverbial shark.

 

Smith and Willis may have had their PR gaffes from time to time, but, the (big) difference is, Bruce earned our repect with what he did on the field. McGahee hasn't been nearly as productive at his position. Also, as contentious as Smith might have ever been with team management, I can't recall any incident where he publicly criticized his teammates. I think people here (as they tend to do with McGahee) are blowing WM's comments abou his now former team out of proportion, but he still should have been smarter than to make them. His "parting shots" are more akin to the things Rob Johnson said, after being released by the Bills.

 

Also, right or wrong, there is a perception that the Bills did McGahee a huge favor by risking a first round draft pick on him (we know he likely would have been picked by someone else in the first, later). Bruce was the #1 pick in the draft, on maybe even a worse team than the one Willis came to. By almost all football measurement, Bruce Smith may be the best first round pick in franchise history, if not Kelly. It took Bruce a season to get off the schneid...even OJ was teetering on the edge of being a "bust", before Lou Saban came along.

 

Personally, I have never met either Bruce Smith or Willis McGahee, so I have no reason to like

or dislike either of their personalities, other than from what I saw on the field, while watching games on Sundays and Monday nights. I don't really remember ever think Smith wasn't playing his hardest on Sundays. Willis, I had my doubts from time to time.

 

BTW, in his press conference announcing WM's trade, Dick Jaouron says almost exactly what WM said about the talent around the running back, possibly, hampering his productivity. I am still of the opinion that this trade was made solely on the basis that the Bills thought they would not be able to re-sign McGahee next year, rather than any "attitude problem", or displeasure over his play.