thewildrabbit

Good ole Sal, telling us like it is... http://www.democrata...106/9270322/tbd ""Cornell Green can't play. He can't pass protect, he had a holding penalty and a false start that really hurt. But who else can the Bills play at RT? Jamon Meredith? He's so bad, he was inactive."" The Bills are paying this guy 3 million a year, Trent Edwards made 460.000 in 09 ""How is it possible that the Bills can't find a tight end for a decade, yet the Patriots find two rookies in the same year, and they both torched the Bills? Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski are already better than Jonathan Stupar ever will be. And probably Shawn Nelson, too."" Another sore spot for the so called pro scouts employed by the Buffalo Bills, the Bills have been equally bad at finding tackles in the draft. How do these guys justify their paychecks over the last 10 years?

What gets me is everyone knew this guy was horribly inaccurate from last season, but willing to make the throws Edwards wasn't. Those two interceptions are what you get with Fitz and will continue to get all season. The Patriots have the 27th ranked defense, along with almost no pass rush, Buffalo's defense is better...and that says a bunch about how bad that Pats defense really is. Fitz had much more time to throw against the Pats then Edwards did against either Miami or GB. Green Bay has the 4th ranked after 2 games and Miami has the 5th ranked after 3 games, now the Jets are currently sitting at 11th after 3 games. Lets see how Fitz and the O line plays next week against a much better Jets pass rush and defense. BOBO will probably start Edwards....

Lotta games left to play, lets see what happens against the Jets who have a top defense...

The move I was thinking of was not one to the restroom where he might find Modrak reading the latest Mel Kiper or Todd McShay draft guides It was firing Chan Gailey after he takes the team to 2-14 and gets all three current QB's placed on IR, he then hires Marty S who then takes the team to 14-2 in 2011

The guy bought a football team for 20k and its worth nearly a billion dollars... not to mention he has kept that team in the smallest market in the NFL, and the same city. 2 AFL championships and 4 super bowl appearances is better then most of the NFL teams, so he must have done some things right over the lifespan of the team

The ONLY way the Bills win at NE is... on the first offensive snap Tom Brady has his foot stepped on by the center pulling back to quickly and Brady twists his ankle while falling down, thus forcing him to the sideline and unable to continue to play. Then the only back up QB Brian Hoyer comes in and the exact same thing happens to him... the Pats have no viable QB.

Maybin had tremendous potential when drafted as DE in the likes of Bruce Smith, he could run the arc better then anyone. Remember boys and girls, you can't teach speed!! His faults were he had no moves, so if a defender got his hand on him it was over. Plus he can't stop the run and certainly didn't have a clue how to play OLB in the NFL. The Bills used to have unheralded Darryl Tally behind Bruce Smith to cover all his mistakes in the run game, it took the better part of 5 years before Smith was a good run stopper besides being a great pass rusher When he first got to Buffalo his head coach good ole Hank was constantly yelling at him because he played with no discipline, was fat overweight and out of shape. If you guys recall Bruce Smith had a drug problem, Bill Polian had him followed and constantly watched because of his "problem"...one more failed drug test and he would have been suspended for an entire season!! For whatever reason Smith got in unbelievable shape, learned how to stop the run, gave up his cocaine addiction and became the greatest DE to ever play the game The Bills KNEW that Maybin was going to be a 2-3 year project that he may NEVER develop what it takes to become an NFL OLB or DE...I'd say give the guy time to learn and develop! P.S. I found it very peculiar that Jauron drafted a guy that he knew was going to take a few years to develop because he needed a pass rusher asap, not 3 years down the road. If you look at what he did his last year with the Bills it was like he was "imploding" and doing everything in his power to extirpate his team. Its as if he knew or wanted to be fired and was leaving a ''scorched earth" policy behind him. If I'm Ralph Wilson I wouldn't pay that guy an effing penny on the remainder of his contract as he was detrimental to the team in his last year.

The thing is not many fans really focus on watching the O line, all they see is the QB and don't really care or understand why he can't make plays happen. Edwards has had about 2-3 seconds on most plays to get rid of the ball, so that is limiting him to 3 step drops and the ball better be gone. I watched him get sacked in the Miami game in 2 seconds from the blindside and hit after he completed a pass in 2 seconds. That is simply not enough time for any QB to do their job. What does it tell you about the O line when the RB is getting hit as soon as he gets the hand off, how many times in the last two games has Spiller / Lynch / Jackson been hit as soon as they touch the ball? I'm not certain how the Bills delegate the responsibilities to the tackles, depending on whether a TE or RB is helping on that side. If you grade Bell solely on blocking the DE on his side then he has done well, if his responsibilities are protecting that entire left side if no RB-TE is helping...well then he stinks. An example would be that he lines up opposite the DE and if an OLB is to his left he is supposed to slide over to pick up the LB if he blitzes and the guard slides to cover the DE, they usually shout audibles / dog / red, etc so the guard knows he is supposed to slide. The Bills protections overall have been horrid from what I've seen. "purple haze" is correct in stating Edwards isn't able to step up in the pocket to avoid the DE's rush because the entire pocket has been collapsing... The QB's benching is more of the result of the bad play of the O line and receivers then it is his play IMO, but hey, it made the fans happy

Given Ralph's age, I can't see him waiting two years to make another move... Even for man in his 90's I'll wager he is still very football savvy and has to be wondering what he got himself into with Nix and Gailey. This offensive guru was supposed to be an upgrade to a failing offense, instead it looks worse then it did last season with Jauron firing the OC and cutting linemen two weeks before the season starts. They didn't replace TO after letting him go, they didn't upgrade LT or RT and they didn't upgrade the tight end position, instead they draft another RB when they already had 2 really good RB's on the roster. Should this team continue to experience more blowout games like they had against Green Bay, the offense continue to flounder and fail, the team not win games, I would think Grampy Wilson will make a move sometime this year.

You guys gotta understand that the O line is exactly like a chain, and that a chain is only as good as its weakest link! The Biggest problems are at BOTH tackle positions and center, the two guards are both young and inexperienced and still growing and learning. Cornell Green has to be THE worst tackle in the NFL and Bell isn't much better, when the Bills need them the most on 3rd and long they both fold like wet cardboard, serious issues with both those two!! Hangartner played with a bad back last season and it still might be bothering him, he is a career backup and shouldn't be starting and either should Green IMHO. The best thing the Bills could do at this point is to trade some draft picks to SD for Marcus McNeil and start the guy at LT, move Bell to RT because I don't trust the guy to protect the QB's blindside as I've seen to many hits on the QB this year from that side. I'd move Wood to Center, Kraig Urbik to RG, Levitre to stay at LG and Green and Hangarter to backup. So the starting line should be McNeil LT-Levitre LG-Wood C-Urbik RG Bell RT and leave them there and let them gain continuity. The Bills are also lacking a dominate blocking tight end. If I'm Chan Gailey I'd take the most athletic back up linemen and let him play tight end for blocking purposes, then maybe even throw at him now and again because nobody would ever expect him to be a receiver

I've heard that excuse over and over by Bills fans in denial that they all want to blame Herman Edwards for that horrid 2-14 KC season, granted he was the HC and the buck stops with him. It also tells me that Chan Gailey has to take some responsibility for not finding a way for that offense to win more then 2 games. Herman Edwards was 54-74 and that 3 year stint in KC really killed his career, don't forget he had his teams in the playoffs 4 times in 9 years, Jauron had his team in the playoffs ONCE in 9 1/2 years

Go back and re watch the games, most every play Edwards has 3 seconds max to get the ball out or he is hit. . In the Miami game the first series, 3rd play, Edwards got hit and sacked from the blindside after 2 seconds, this happened again in the second series on 3rd down Edwards completed the pass but he was hit from behind and leveled after 2 seconds. Captain checkdown at times has no time to even checkdown, protections have been so bad. Gaileys plan was to use quick timing routes and slants to alleviate the pressure from the pass rush, clearly this hasn't worked because the QB is still getting hit a lot, 7 sacks in two games speaks for itself. I think the fact that starting 2nd WR Steve Johnson has been demoted to 3rd string is also a telling fact, the coaches don't think the WR's are getting the job done. Parrish is now the 2nd starting WR on the team and moves back into the slot when the team moves to more then 2 WR's on the field

To the OP question, Marcus McNeil is still holding out and I suspect the Chargers want 2 arms and 2 legs for the guy. The Bills could try and make a trade for him but I'll bet they would want the Bills 1st pick next year, and that pick might just be the franchise QB. If I had Marcus McNeil on the line he would start at LT and Bell at RT Everyone is stating they are so happy that Fitz is starting...I just don't see him having much success playing behind that line, then again the Pats D is nowhere near as good as Miami's or Green Bays

At this point in the season no team with serviceable backups would want to trade away their players because injuries could threaten their entire year. . Look around the league at practice squads, no tackles at all So many teams are struggling with sub par lines, Dallas is the first that comes to mind, they have issues on that line now that they cut Adams and didn't get a quality replacement in the draft. The bears, the Colts, this year the Colts will not do as well as past years if they play a team with a strong pass rush. Same thing could be said about the Patriots, Brady under duress is not the same player if he has all day to make his throws Year in and year out the teams that allow the least amount of sacks are usually in the playoffs.... Read this: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-olinerankings061810 ""The Bills finished dead last in the league last season in pass blocking, which should explain a lot of the struggles for anybody who went under center last season. At least they were above average in run blocking and the addition of offensive-minded head coach Chan Gailey will keep the Bills from doing stupid things that accentuate their lack of talent up front. Still, there’s only so much you can do."" At some point in time someone at OBD will realize that games are won and lost in the trenches and replace Cornell Green at RT or move Bell to RT and draft a top quality LT.

Where do you guys get this stuff... one route? The guy had 55 receptions an was the Bills leading receiver in his first year with the team. Then considering that moronic Jauron cut Langston walker because he couldn't keep up with the "no huddle offense", you know, the one that they would scrap a few weeks later. That the Bills cut Derrick Dockery who went back to the Redskins and has been their starting guard. If Dockery had stayed in Buffalo he would have been the best O linemen on the team last year by far. Jauron fired the OC and promoted the QB coach to OC two weeks before the season started. With all the crap Jauron pulled Is it any wonder why the offense had problems last season, Besides Fred Jackson Owens was about the only offensive bright spot for the team last year. THE LEADING RECEIVER! If Owens had stayed with Buffalo this year he would have been much more acclimated to the QB's and offense and in my opinion would have help this years offense quite a bit. Dude, get a grip. Josh Reed was Buffalo's possession receiver who was somewhat decent in 3rd down packages, Last season Reed had 27 receptions for 291 yards, Fred Jackson had more. In 08 Reeds best season he had 56 receptions for 597 yards and ONE TD. Kinda crappy for someone who had been with the team for 7 years. Reed had never caught more the 2 TD a year during his entire career with the Bills Reeds biggest problem was that he never seemed to be in tune with the QB in terms of blitz awareness, in which he was supposed to break off his route should the QB need to get rid of the ball quicker. There is a reason the guy is currently out of football The thing that Owens brought to Buffalo was that not only was he a big target at 6'3'' 224, he could also get off the line easier as it was harder for DB's to jam him at the line. Roscoe Parrish is a smurf in comparison at 5'9'' 178 and with Lee Evans at 5'10 197 it means the Bills have two smallish receivers that can easily be jammed at the Lo. So yea, he is missed

I think the new GM and HC are sincerely doing what they think is best to win game, my take is that there are under lying problems. If you recall the Bills did try and go after Donovan McNabb so they realize that the QB position needs an upgrade, no telling who would have been cut if they had signed him. I suspect it would have been Fitz simply because they graded Edwards higher to begin with, plus he is making much more then Edwards or Brohm Someone somewhere is behind some of the moves as there were simply so many offensive positions that needed an upgrade, perhaps its as simple as the new GM and HC needed to see if the current players on the roster could be coached up before drafting more expensive versions.The Bills really wanted Trent Edwards to succeed because he is in a contract year and they needed to find out if he was worth keeping as he comes cheap. Most of the posters already knew the team needed better quality players at the starting WR-QB-RT-LT positions, these same posters were baffled when the Bills didn't pursue Jammal Brown a pro bowl RT from the Saints, who the Redskins obtained for a 3rd rd draft pick. When they let TO go they let go the leading receiver on the team last season, along with 6 million a year Most fans were also baffled as to why the Bills didn't draft Jimmy Clausen or go after a LT in the draft. Clearly someone at OBD graded the current players and made some evaluations and then presented them to the GM / HC, I really hope they fire that guy because he scrood the pooch with his lack of vision in player ability... Cornell Green

Will I remain skeptical about Gailey and his staff in of ever producing a playoff caliber team, and agree that Gailey was just fired as an OC because his offense went 2-14 you can't compare the guy to Turk Schonert. as Schonert was never anything more then a career back up QB and then QB coach before becoming the Bills OC.. Nix made his bed by hiring Gailey, plus he made his bed by not drafting a top RT-LT-WR-QB with the first 3 picks in this years draft. Then he boldly states he is going to get some sleep as free agency begins, when he does finally wake up he signs Cornell Green. Perhaps there was a reason he was never a GM previous to this job. Both Nix and Gailey have a lot to prove this season and so far things are not looking good to anybody but the fans comfortable with the thought that this is a rebuilding year...the Bills have been in a rebuilding mode for the last 10 years I look at the Redskins who were in almost the exact same situation as Buffalo, new HC,new staff and changing from a 4-3 to a 3-4 . Bruce Allen GM and Mike Shanahan HC of the Redskins made the right moves to improve their team asap. I simply don't get why Nix / Gailey ignored so many positions on the worst area of the team last season, makes no sense Let me add one last thing to the OP question: Most of the Trent haters on this board call the guy captain checkdown, which is true he does check down a lot. Funny thing is that Captain checkdown has been sacked 7 times in two games and he has been getting rid of the ball usually withing 2-3 seconds. What does that tell you about the play of the offensive line. This year with no injury excuse everyone can see how bad that line actually is...or perhaps the Bills just played against two really great 3-4 defenses, time will tell.

Good points... I think everyone looked at Miami as an easy win, when in fact that Mike Nolan defense is currently one of the best in the NFL. The Dolphins beat the Vikings at Minnesota and intercepted Favre 3 times, which is more he threw all last season at home. The Packers are a serious playoff contender, perhaps even a SB team. Clay Matthews looks to be early defensive MVP with 6 sacks in 2 games. Tampa Bay and Kansas City are both 2-0, how much will that mean at the end of the season?

scuse me for not phrasing it perfectly to suit you, you are correct he wasn't CUT, they just didn't re sign him so he is no longer with the team. If you want to get technical TO had 55 receptions for 829 yards, he had 69 the year before with Dallas. Those 55 receptions were more then Lee Evans who had 44-612 yards The point was the Bills didn't RE SIGN their leading receiver from last season The guy who took TO's place has been demoted to 3rd string and only takes the field when the Bills move to more then 2 receivers on the field So In regards to your last statement, I disagree. I think it has had serious impact on the offensive performance this year

I agree, this guy is not the Messiah Finally, someone else who thinks this head coach is a dud. Why does this guy get a free pass... how could he watch film of last season and determine he could get Edwards to play better and then give up after two weeks, especially when he didn't upgrade the O line, cuts TO and doesn't have a viable NFL tight end! He cut 70 catches off the team and a viable option opposite Lee Evans when he cut TO! The entire world was telling him he needed to rebuild the O line and he drafts a RB and boldly states...""a great RB will make the line block better"" that clearly hasn't happened! The entire world was telling him he needed to upgrade the QB position and he passed on Jimmy Clausen 2x... can we officially crucify Gailey and Nix if Clausen turns out to be a great QB?

Cutler was getting hammered by Ware and Spencer in the first few series of the Cowboy game, then Martz made some adjustments to shorten the drop backs- get him out of the shotgun and under center, had him step up in the pocket and then called a "spread" offense ...deep pass and BOOM big play. suddenly the Cowboys were dropping back into coverage because they didn't want to get beaten deep again, this opened up the offense Lets not forget that the bears have 2 very speedy WR's in Hester and Knox, not to mention a very good and quick tight end in Greg Olsen who caught that slant for a TD The Bills opened up the offense on that last drive against the Dolphins with 8 min to go, 5 WR sets and spread formation, Edwards took them right down the field for a TD. Then they went conservative at GB by trying to run and throw out of 2 RB 2 WR sets.

Not for nothing but that so called "cherry-picking" drive showed me that given decent protection and an open receiver Trent can get the job done. Go back and watch that drive, there was a big sack and a false start by Green on the O line that Edwards overcame and still got the ball down field. That last pass was a 31 yard TD strike to Parish on 4th and 11 after moving the team from the Bills 20 yard line. Yea the Dolphins could have gone into a prevent defense at first, but I think it was more of the aggressive nature of the formations and play calls that opened up the offense. They went to a 5 WR set, something they hadn't done previously all game. The Dolphins still rushed 4, the Bills kept 5 back and blocked well enough to let Edwards find the open receiver, the ball was out and gone in two seconds. Think about it a min, with a 5 WR set the opposing defense must make player substitutions and go to a nickle or dime package, they can still blitz but if they fail to cover they can easily get burned for a big play. Something that has been lacking in Gaileys offense. I think Gailey screwed himself and the team by being overly conservative these first two game, especially in that Packer game by trying to run the ball in 2 RB 2 WR sets that created long yardage situations for the QB to try and throw out of while under heavy blitz pressure. I think the Bills should have beaten the Dolphins and might have even kept up with the Packers,who knows.

The curse came to Buffalo long before Flutie played in Buffalo. There was the entire decade of the 70's in which the Bills didn't beat the Dolphins once in that ten year period, the "don" owned Buffalo There was a winning head coach that completely turned around the franchise all by himself, (even hampered by the biggest jerk of a GM in the NFL- the team drafted a player with the 1st overall pick and then wouldn't even meet him for dinner in Buffalo when he set it up-only 20k difference between the team and player and didn't sign him)- the team was so bad they couldn't play preseason games in Buffalo because nobody would attend. 5-11 his first year 11-5 in 2 years and the playoffs- the fans were buying tickets so the owner doesn't resign this coach and the team went south again. There was "wide right" There was the firing of the best ever GM in not only Buffalo history, but perhaps in NFL history There was the firing of the best evers understudy because he wouldn't resign with Buffalo, he wanted to wait and see what other teams might offer. There was letting the understudy leave Buffalo with his head scout, who is now the GM of the Chargers The decade of 2000-2010 of losing because the owner refuses to hire a top coach. Its a love-hate relationship and the thin line between the two.... 1970 3-10-2 1971 1-13 1972 4-9-1 1973 8-5 1974 9-5 playoff WC 1975 8-6 1976 2-12 1977 3-11 1978 5-11 1979 7-9 1980 11-5 won division 1981 10-6 WC win 1982 players strike 4-5 1983 8-8 1984 2-12 1985 2-14 1986 4-12 Bill Polian hired- Marv Levy hired mid season 1987 7-8 1988 12-4 won division lost in AFC Championship 1989 9-7 won division 1990 13-3 won division AFC championship 1991 13-3 won division AFC championship 1992 11-5 WC AFC championship 1993 12-4 won division AFC championship 1994 7-9 1995 10-6 won division WC 1996 10-6 WC 1997 6-10 1998 10-6 WC 1999 11-5 WC 2000 8-8 2001 3-13 2002 8-8 2003 6-10 2004 9-7 2005 5-11 2006 7-9 2007 7-9 2008 7-9 2009 6-10 Cursed with an owner you love because he kept the team in Buffalo, and yet you hate because he fired Polian... refused to pay Knox & Butler ...refuses to hire a big name coach for the last 10 years As cursed as Buffalo may seem, I think the Cleveland Brown are more cursed. The owner moved the team to Baltimore (sorta) where they win a SB and become a perennial playoff team with an awesome defense. Can there ever be an owner more hated the Art Modell?

Your wasting your time talking to the homers, no way is the line bad and Trent sucks Its always all the QB's fault, I can hear it now... within this week or next we will hear Fitz sucks, put in Brohm

If he is under contract you can bet that will never happen I just wonder what the mood at this site will be when he selects another RB #1 next year.