Never NEVER Give-up

Thanks! Great read. Insightful.

Thank you to the Bleacher Report for this brief compilation. Summary: Pete Prisco, CBS = C+ I was hard on the Bills for the Manuel pick, but I think they rallied to do some good things, getting Goodwin, Robert Woods, linebacker Kiko Alonso and safety Duke Williams. But they will be defined by the Manuel pick. Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News = C The Bills were all about going back to the drawing board with their passing game. The centerpiece is Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel, but coach Doug Marrone and his staff have their work cut out to turn him into a polished, athletic passer. They also will try to get Manuel on the same page with the receivers they took for him, USC possession-typeRobert Woods and Texas speedster Marquise Goodwin. Their best pick for the present was on defense, Oregon inside linebacker Kiko Alonso. Offensively, there's a lot of potential but more shaky unknown. Mel Kiper, espn = C- The Bills got a lot of value back when they moved down from No. 8 to No. 16 overall. That's the good. The bad is I just think the No. 16 pick was way too high for EJ Manuel. For me, there's simply too much projection here. He needs to prove that he's capable of getting through progressions quicker and getting the ball out....I'm surprised they didn't get a better guard prospect, given the departure of Andy Levitre. The Bills hit needs, I just think they made a major reach with the biggest need of all. But a year behind Kevin Kolb could be a huge help to Manuel. Evan Silva, Rotoworld/NBC Sports = C+ A high-risk, potentially high-reward draft. Top Bills personnel men Buddy Nix and Doug Whaley deserve kudos for pre-draft misdirection that convinced everyone Ryan Nassib or even perhaps Matt Barkley would be the No. 8 pick. Instead, they traded down to acquire more valuable choices and still came away with real franchise quarterback target Manuel. I'm admittedly skeptical of Manuel's NFL future, but Buffalo's execution was impressive. Woods, Alonso, Williams, and Gragg were solid value selections. The former two can help right away. The jury is out on whether Goodwin upgrades on in-house speedster T.J. Graham. Meeks and Hopkins were suspect picks. Alex Marvez, Fox Sports = A- This grade stems from the first-round selection of E.J. Manuel, who was my favorite quarterback prospect entering the draft. Both second-round picks (Southern Cal wide receiver Robert Woods and Oregon linebacker Kiko Alonso) could be Week 1 starters. Chris Burke, Sports Illustrated = B- The best move of Buffalo’s entire weekend might turn out to be signing undrafted WR Da’Rick Rogers. That’s a low-risk gamble, one that pairs well with the selections of WR Robert Woods, LB Kiko Alonso and S Duke Williams. It’s also the opposite of using pick 16 on QB EJ Manuel. The Bills’ 2013 draft hinges on Manuel being able to shine.

. . . promote that man to Major Foresight!!

. . . and if we had drafted someone else at 8, we wouldn't have had enough picks to move ahead of the other QB-interested-teams in Round Two. We would have had too few picks this year and maybe the same problem next year.

Buddy said months ago - if you see a QB you like, you better go get him a round before you'd actually like to draft him. 8th was too early and by trading with the Rams we get a 2nd 2nd-rounder and a 7th too. Three players for one including a potential starter, a potential Franchise QB and added depth. Nice job Buddy. Look, there's no guarantees here, that's why I'm a proponent for drafting a QB with your 1st pick every year until you get it right - because without a bona-fide QB (in the NFL), you got nothin'.

LOL - you're right - I stand corrected!!!

And don't forget - if they look like a moron too often, they could find themselves out of that job. Their mockery is all about self-preservation. Soooo tired of the cry babies! Nix has said what his plan was from the get go. As far as personnel, he's stuck to the plan - that's smart management. Yeah, I know, Gailey didn't work out - because he hitched his wagon to Fitz and if you want to fire Nix for that, I guarantee you the Bills will continue to lose. Slow and steady wins the race, Nix is building something and will walk into the sunset soon (much to your delight I am sure). Then Whaley takes over - an organized transition - smart management!

I agree with most of you. CBS' Prisco gave us an F for the first round, McShay said it was a wasted pick. Still others said we certainly did our homework, travelling around the country visiting the QB's and also bringing them into Buffalo too. It's really amusing. I have always felt that if a team departs too far from what the mocksters project, you get their ire. I'm really intrigued by Manuel. 66% completion rate! Over 70% when he leaves the pocket! That's much better than Fitz who failed to get it there half the time. Some say they question his accuracy (vs 66-70%?). Some say he fails to go through all his progressions - goes from 1 to 2 to dump-off underneath. I think that it may be a question of protection and even if true, if you hit on 66-70% of your passes, you ARE MOVING DOWN THE FIELD. He'll definitely need more coaching, but isn't that why they brought in Kolb and kept Jackson? Bills are getting far too little credit here. I actually like how they've solidified the QB position when there wasn't much available this year. Don't forget, they also picked up the 46th pick (and a 7th rounder). So from the 8th overall pick, we get the 16th, 46th and 222nd picks - nice job by Nix & Co. Heck, even Jerry Sullivan gave them credit for this.

5 prime time appearances is the maximum - per NFL Network

Wk 1 Sept 8 - 1PM - Pats Element of surprise? Wk 2 Sept 15 - 1PM - Panthers Play Seahawks the wk before. Wk 3 Sept 22 - 4:25PM - @ Jets 10 days rest, play Pats on TNF wk 2 Wk 4 Sept 29 - 1PM - Ravens Play Texans the wk before Wk 5 Oct 3 - 8:25PM - @ Browns (TNF) On the road in Prime time Wk 6 Oct 13 - 1PM - Bengals Play the Pats the wk before Wk 7 Oct 20 - 1PM - @ Dolphins Fish rested, coming off their bye! Wk 8 Oct 27 - 1PM - @ Saints Saints rested, coming off their bye!! Wk 9 Nov 3 - 1PM - Chiefs Played Browns the wk before Wk 10 Nov 10 - 1PM - @ Steelers Played Pats the wk before Wk 11 Nov 17 - 1PM - Jets Jets rested, coming off their bye!!! Wk 12 Nov 24 - bye week zzzzzzzz Wk 13 Dec 1 - 4:05PM - Falcons (Toronto) 10 days rest, played Saints on TNF wk 12 Wk 14 Dec 8 - 1PM - @ Bucs Played Panthers the wk before Wk 15 Dec 15 - 1PM - @ Jags 10 days rest, played Texans on TNF wk 14 Wk 16 Dec 22 - 1PM - Dolphins Played Pats the wk before Wk 17 Dec 29 - 1PM -@ Pats Played Ravens the wk before on SNF Observations - We play the Fish, Saints & Jets coming off their Byes. We play the Jets, Falcons and Jags after they play TNF (10 days rest.) Too bad we miss out again on quality opponent (Falcons) to Toronto (Seahawks last year) After our Bye, we catch the Falcons who get 3 extra days rest after playing TNF 37.5% of our opponents (6)will have extra rest the week before they play us. I always feel like the schedule makers screw us - but it only matters if we suck! If we're good, it won't matter how the schedule falls!

Remember June 1st is the date each year that many veterans are released - a second bite at FA's if you will. That's how we got Barnett (I remember knashing my teeth after Poz left and we had no one at MLB). I don't get as worried anymore and as several posters mentioned the new coaches and younger FO want to make a splash, not a thud, so I am cautiously optimistic there is a lot more good news to come!

Y'know . . . it's been 13 looooong years since we've seen the post-season. It's time to change tack. We need to stop picking the best player available (BPA) and pick the best QB available in Rd 1 - every year until we get our next 'Jim Kelly'. Sound crazy - I don't think so. Going into the last 13 years HOPING the guy we have at QB can do the job has been crazy. Hoping that if we surround him with the best 52 other guys we can find and hoping that he'll be good enough to lead us to wins is crazy. It hasn't worked. The craziness must end! Drafting the BPA is the rule of thumb WHEN you have your 'Jim Kelly' in place. But until then, I say grab a QB at #1 of Rd 1 every year. I bet if we do this we'll have our next QB within 3 years. THEN we can build around him to win in January!

Answer this: After Fitz's fast start 2 years ago, were you one of the majority saying the Bills should sign him to an extention during the year so as to keep his salary down, rather than risking he hit free agency at the end of that season and invariably see his salary demands increase? If yes, you cannot call the Bills front office inept - you saw what they saw. He played extremely well. Everyone was shocked when he failed to maintain that level of performance. The money added pressure he couldn't handle. He stopped being a gunslinger and tried to play it safe and lost that edge that made him successful early in the year. If you answered no, maybe you should go to OBD and tell 'em how it should be done!

You do have to wonder what they're thinking at OBD. We not only have holes - they're deep holes. We don't need a WR, we need, like, 3 of them. Guard? Two would be nice. LB? For a 3-4? Two or three maybe. (OK, we signed Lawson.) So you really gotta wonder what they're thinking. 6-7 draft picks won't fill the holes. FA's will be needed. If we don't pick any more up now, we need to pray that more will become available on/after June 1. After that, we'll have made our bed for the '13 season.

I think the Cards take Geno if the Jag's don't. I think Kolb is worth a shot. Remember he had no OL in Arizona and did pretty well in Philly until their OL went south. I'd rather we bring him into camp and be wrong than for the Jets to bring him into camp and be right!!!

GO BACK TO SLEEP!!

We love Williams! We love Dareus! So why can't this defense stop the run? Overated Tackles? It's not just the LB's! The Tackles are supposed to make the ILB's look good. Our ILB's suck, therefore our DT's . . . . .

Pittsburgh's OL sucks and so does Colon: Pass

Leg-pressing 700 lbs 30 times!! Impressive! Yeah, then he bends over to pick up his water bottle and his back goes "BOING!!!" Back to IR!

I read on the espn site a day or two ago that Andy graded out at 15.7 for pass blocking and a -.07 in run blocking (yes a negative #). Because it was a few days ago, I have no link, nor do I know what the number scale is - sorry for that!

Levitre stated in a Santa Cruz newspaper report that negotiations with the Bills never took off because his agent had him slotted around one dollar amount and the Bills were at another. So it never got off the ground. I have a hard time finding fault with Buddy here. Yes it creates another hole, exacrbated by Rinehart going to the Chargers for 1 year, but $7.8mm for a Guard? And the guy who played next to him at Center (who most think is better) is a FA after the 2013 season, will want even more than that, especially if Andy had been retained. It is generally thought the cap will rise next year as well, further 'juicing' salary rates for the next FA period. I hope they extend Eric during 2013 to avoid the deadline angst.

You can't pay interior linemen Tackle-money. The Bills are already strained this year because of Fitz. Signing Levitre for $8mm would hamstring us further and what would it get us? Yes, he's a great guy, but as the ink dries we would see the same OL that we had last year and no real improvement by the team - and we'd have tied-up an additional $8mm. We can't do that. Take that $8mm, pay up to $4-5mm for a Guard / SS / WR and that leaves room to to add another player.

THIS!

Don't be surprised if the Chiefs still draft a QB in round 1 or 2 (probably 2). I thought Cousins would be available to the Bills last year but after drafting RG III, the 'skins drafted Cousins too.

Had he scored it would have been an all-time highlight we'd be seeing all the time. But because he was just short of the goal line we'll never see that play again. He must have run 150-175 yards on that play!