San Jose Bills Fan

Thanks BB. I think the credibility that comes with professional accomplishment certainly helps increase the belief among players. That's definitely a component of it. True however football is the ultimate team game, the sport where more than any other, teamwork and unity are vital to success. Football also has the largest rosters so I think if you have 52 guys buying in and 1 or 2 guys dissenting, the battle is still won. If the vast majority of the team is onboard, the malcontents will marginalize themselves by putting themselves before the team. JMO. Bado's point captured a large part of what I was trying to express. But IMO there's more. A) George Seifert, Jimmy Johnson, and Mike Martz are examples of championship coaches who went on to fail so previous success only goes so far I think. B) Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh on the other hand are guys who built up championship credentials based on modest resumes. So unheralded candidates can obviously command a football team. I think in the case of group A and group B above, a roster of alpha males (a football team) will in fairly short order be able to discern whether their leader has what it takes to succeed. I believe any NFL team regardless of what they say publicly is keenly aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their head coach. I believe that they can tell if he's (still) a competent, confident, leader or if he's a has-been or a never-was or whether he's just coming into his power and rising in strength. They can tell if he still has fire in the belly or not. You can't fake being a competent, confident NFL Head Coach because the players will see you for who you are. This is why I give Marrone a chance to succeed. His pedigree with regards to coaching and playing in the NFL, his personality and his manner (working class but with lots of natural intelligence) are things which I believe would give him a lot of substance and legitimacy in an NFL locker room. JMO.

Tough call Bill. The Bills have invested very heavily in defense during the Nix drafts and yet I think that's where all the best values are at #8. But to go defense yet again after having already spent high picks on Troup, Carrington, Dareus, Aaron Williams, Kelvin Sheppard, D'Norris Searcy and Gilmore would be for Nix, an admission of poor drafting. Still when you look at the offensive side, none of the skill position players rate that spot IMO and I don't believe the Bills will draft an O-lineman at #8. You didn't give me the leeway for a trade scenario and I do think the Bills will try to entertain offers for their pick. In answer to your question if the Bills stay put, they will take the best defensive player who happens to slide to them among Milliner, Jordan, or even possibly Jarvis Jones or Ansah. If none of those players are available I think they'll pull the trigger on a QB. Maybe it's because Manuel is my personal favorite QB that I project that the Bills also like him. People will disagree strongly but I can definitely see the Bills taking Manuel at #8 if the defensive options dry up and no trade materializes.

You guys are a couple of Dowtin' Thomases.

Ralph Wilson is amazing. What percentage of people that were born the same year as he are even still around? Here's to hoping he can savor a Bills win on opening day.

IMO the greatest motivation a coach provides is the complete confidence and trust of his players that he will put them in a position to win. You can say players play for money or love of sport or pride or fear of failure or whatever but no player likes to lose and players will work harder if they know that greater effort will lead to victory. They will play harder if they know their coach is competent and gives them the blueprint for success. A player's greatest motivation is confidence and belief in the coaches, teammates and the system. If you watched the Bills last year (especially on defense), you saw what happens to players who have zero faith in the coaching staff. Even players of the highest character will fail to give maximum effort.

Yeah for informed Bills fans, nothing of great shakes in the blurb. But like I said, for those trying to predict what other teams will do (and how that might affect who's available when the Bills pick), it's a pretty cool series.

Funny, I was thinking I could use $70 right now. Need enough for greens fees, a cart, and a pitcher or two afterwards.

Once again you mischaracterize what happened. I didn't say I was right all along. I re-posted every comment I made in the thread including the one admitting that I thought he "might still be in the 24% (the figure I originally posted) but had no idear." However I never came down from (recanted) that he might be in the 24%. After you posted stating that he had a loaded gun, I clearly had a moment of pause. It's right there in writing which I re-posted. However I never believed like you did that Bowers would have the book thrown at him. In fact most of my posts on this topic challenged others who said that for all intents and purposes, this was equivalent to the Plaxico Burress case.

I stated the $16 million cap space figure not as a good thing and not as a bad thing. It was given as information for an objective discussion of the offseason so far.

Keep in mind however that Tampa Bay would have to pay Revis a contract with an average of about $15 million per year as opposed to the 8th pick in the draft who would receive a contract for closer to $3 million per season. Yep. And the fact that the team is playing things relatively close to the vest adds some intrigue. Less than two weeks to go.

I was thinking the same thing. I like how he kicks with a natural draw. It was cool watching him bend those corner kicks through the uprights. Quite the "leg talent." The one at the end where he punted the ball up in the air and then "shot it down" with a placekick was pretty cool too.

I agree quite a bit with JBoyst. I would say that the disparity in the level of the head coaching and quarterbacking have made a huge difference in the fortune of the two teams. A great QB and a great HC (especially when compared to their mediocre counterparts) make all the difference in the world. IMO the difference in player talent between the Cheatriots*** and Bills is a lot smaller than most people think. Brady and Wilfork are their only great players. A distant third place might go to Jerod Mayo who's made 2 Pro Bowls in 5 seasons.

Okay. Here's the info we needed to answer this hypothetical: Minnesota picks are #23 and #25. According to the OP, they would send us these picks in exchange for our #8 and our #105. Tampa's Picks are #13 and #43 which they would send in exchange for our #8. Thanks Dibs! FWIW, according to the Trade Value Chart, our #8 is worth 1400 and our #105 is worth 84 points. Minnesota's #23 is worth 760 points and their #25 is worth 720 points. Total is 1480. Tampa's #13 is worth 1150 points and their #43 is worth 470 points. Total is 1620. So yeah, Tampa's offer.

add on: I can't find the link I'd originally read… it might have been about Herzlich or maybe Vontaze Burfict. I thought it was a linebacker. But here's a piece on how the Cowboys paid an UDFA 5th round money: That's where Leary's agent, Adisa Bakari of Dow Lohnes Sports & Entertainment, and the Cowboys' assessment of the player come in. Because Leary would have been a mid-round prospect had he been healthy, and because the Cowboys feel he's a player who can make an immediate impact, $205,000 of Leary's $390,000 base salary for the 2012 season is fully guaranteed (skill, injury and cap). The total guarantee of $214,000 is in line with what Leary would have received as a signing bonus if he were the first or second player selected in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. http://www.macsfootb...leary-paid.html I don't think it's common but it does happen. Kinda funny that both our links involved the Dallas Cowboys. Wish I could find that article I saw last year.

I'm tempted to say Tampa but you never said what picks Minnesota holds.

Perhaps I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure what I wrote is pretty clear: I've read that sometimes a highly-pursued UDFA can get more than a 7th rounder. I seem to remember Mark Herzlich getting more money than some 7th rounders even though he went undrafted. I'll see if I can find the link.

To the first paragraph, you can theoretically lock up a player with a 7th round pick for cheaper than having to compete for him on the open market. It's not a big deal but still you're saving a bit of money as well as time and energy in phone calls, courtship, etc. To the second paragraph, 7th rounders still can come into play as trade bait, just not in the top rounds usually. It was a 7th rounder which enabled us to move up a few spots and pick TJ Graham. A bad/inconsequential trade no doubt but had we drafted Russell Wilson, that 7th rounder would have been viewed as being very significant.

I agree with you guys but I would re-state what others have been saying: In Pettine's scheme (assuming the same schemes as he and Ryan ran with the Jets), safeties play an important role. Apparently some of his alignments feature 3 safeties.

My brainstorm take as I'm getting ready to run out the door: I think the point of mentioning that the Bills have "only 6 picks" is that it's less than ideal. Teams would prefer to have the full complement. Why exactly? Undrafted free agents sometimes get better contracts than 7th rounders so teams like having that 7th round pick because it enables them to "lock up" a player at a lower price as opposed to having to bid for that player on the open market. Regardless, it's a given that the Bills will be very aggressive in the undrafted free agent market and I think their caution in veteran free agency is a sign that they are preserving as much cap space as possible.

I don't think it's strictly a matter of playing ability that Spikes is unemployed. Based purely on playing ability I think he'd still be an asset to some teams. But the veteran minimum for a 16-year veteran is about $1 million per year. His signing would only make sense for a team that: 1) Needs help at ILB 2) Is not rebuilding (why would you rebuild with a 16-year vet?) 3) Has ample cap space Essentially the market for Spikes are possible Super Bowl contenders with ample cap space and a need for an ILB. That's a very small market when you consider the alternatives. For instance, the Ravens just signed Rolando McClain to a non-guaranteed one-year, $700,000 contract. Playing ability aside, Spikes is simply not a fit for the vast majority of NFL clubs. But it's not just because he's "washed up" as a player.

I've found ProFootballTalk does a real nice, thorough job on their "Team Needs:" series. I'm less impressed with their Bills writeup probably because I'm much more familiar with the Bills so what they write doesn't shed any new light on what we as hard core Bills fans already know. However if you are trying to figure out what other teams might do in the draft, I highly recommend catching up on their "Team Needs:" series. The Bills: Swapping Fitzpatrick for Kevin Kolb may actually be the textbook definition of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but it was important for them to admit defeat after giving Fitz a big contract so they could make finding a new signal caller the priority it should have always been. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/11/team-needs-buffalo-bills-3/

Looks like some of the players might be coming to their senses a bit. Perhaps their irrational hatred for rules that protect them is the result of too many blows to the head? And so he doesn’t like it. But he also realizes (reluctantly) that it’s a good thing. “Sooner or later we’re going to be playing touch football.” Peterson told KFAN, before changing his tune. “That’s just the passion in me that said that and then the maturity in me said, you know what, it’s an OK rule because it protects players.” http://profootballta...ew-helmet-rule/ And another great player, Patrick Peterson: “The game has definitely changed, but I believe the commissioner is changing the game for the good,” Peterson said, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “These guys want to make the game as safe as possible, so us football players can have longevity after our football careers. I think Roger Goodell is doing a great job trying to implement these rules and just make the game as safe as possible. We don’t want to go out there spearing guys and running backs dropping their helmets into our chests. I actually love the new rule change.” http://profootballta...for-the-better/

The Gulf Coast Offense run by New Orleans is a much more vertical offense than a typical West Coast Offense. The K-Gun as run by the Bills in the glory years was also more vertical than a typical West Coast Offense. That's what I mean by different.

The thing is, a GM should not take the Head Coach's word for it that "we're all set at QB with Fitz." I agree that they should work together and be on the same page but to be talked out of a QB by the (now deposed) Head Coach is just Nix abdicating his responsibility. As Gailey's boss, it's his job to say, "No, we're not set at QB with Fitz. We need to strengthen the position." So I reject this particular defense of Nix.

If we were to sign an aging linebacker who was not retained by the Chargers, it should be Shaun Phillips who led the Chargers with 9.5 sacks last year. He's be a great fit in Pettine's defense. He'll turn 32 next month.