thurst44

Wow, my opinion of Troy Aikman just went waaaay up.

Perspectives are funny: most years, Dolphins make additions that many pundits (and here) ooh and aah at and at which I just shrug (Kenny Stills anyone?) I see a one-year-older Mario paired with a DT who's more flakey than Dareus, and what if Mario actually was trying last year, but just doesn't have it anymore. The loss of Olivier Vernon kinda offsets all but a Mario back at his peak. Cameron Wake is 35 and frequently injured. Who knows what the hell Kiko is. Their secondary is made for Watkins to pick apart. Jarvis Landry is insanely overrated, Arian Foster could be a great pick-up, but he's been up-and-down and Miami is hard on every RB, Tannehill is inconsistent and so far hasn't shown much more than Chad Henne. That offensive line is about as boom-or-bust as they could come, Pouncey's great, and if Bushrod and Albert summon up the past and Tunsil and James have a future, they could admittedly be a Cowboys-level line. Like the Bills, they are a team with a lot of talent, but they would need even more to go right than the Bills would to have a great season, which checks out considering the Bills beat them rather easily in both games last year.

102 yard kick return by Reggie Bush

I heard his comments a little differently. He said he doesn't fit the "NFL standard" but he has the "chance to play" (i.e. there is not "nothing to develop"); however, with veterans ahead of him, he never had a chance to make the team. That sounds like the definition of a PS player. That being said, I'd be more surprised if he winds up on the Bills PS than if he doesn't.

They've been in the backfield multiple times already...admittedly on run plays

It was my summer before high school, and the only one where I went to camp. We were on day two of a five day hike to the Delaware Water Gap, and while I love hiking now, at that point I was barely 5 feet tall and well over 150 lbs, so on the first day I was struggling (to the point of wanting to go home. However, the next day I settled into it and while one group went way ahead and the other lagged behind, I enjoyed my solitude listening on my Walkman to what my memory recalls as the FAN, but since the station didn't adopt that format until the next year, it must have just some sort of sports radio out of NYC. They were announcing upcoming guest Nuu Faaola when they broke in with the news of Kelly's contract and I did my pudgy 13-year-old version of a touchdown dance in the middle of a New Jersey forest. This was my first day with any sort of outside signal in weeks, so I had no idea it was even close, and it made me long even more for the end of camp when I could finally elate in this potential new era with the fellow Bills fans in my family (they are from Buffalo, but I was born and grew up in NYC).

Well, first off, even questioning the fact that the Browns are more messed up shows how Bills-myopic you're being here. One of their only star players is coming back from having tested positive about 3x what Dareus did (and they are standing by him - as they should), they recently cut ties with a first round QB who is non-stop partying and will be lucky to make it to 2017, they lost most of their offensive line, and their closest thing to star players are the aforementioned WR who's barely played the last 3 years, a top-flight tackle, and a 30-year-old tight end with one great year. Then there's the Cowboys whose suspensions beat us in both quantity and quality (how many of the people calling for Hardy are also criticizing the bills for being a mess - the guy assaulted a woman on a bed of guns, fercryingoutloud) and are banking on an aging QB and injury-prone WR to pull them out of it. Did you see the 49ers mess last year? And now they're bringing in Chip Kelly. That'll calm the waters. They are favored in exactly zero games last time I checked. And then there's that team Kelly left in Philly, where their right tackle's ten-game suspension is just the start of their troubles. I'm sure if you look close enough at the Ravens, Texans, Titans, Jags, etc., you'll find issues you're not thinking of... We're freaking out about two players smoking weed. It was stupid b/c they know the rules and with the penalties and other things, and Rex being Rex, I'm not going to say there's not at least some mess. However, they're also signing their players, and just signed a QB to one of the most smartly architected deals I've ever seen, had the best running game last year and even without K. Williams that should stay the same, Watkins is likely to show why he's one of the best receivers in the league, defense may have lost some elements, but the Williamses should be back, they have a case for the best CB tandem in the league, Hughes is no slouch, and Preston Brown could still build on the promise of his rookie year. The last week has been deflating and is concerning, but this "biggest s&*(show in league" "0-6" (when playing the 49ers even), "there goes the season" mentality is overblown and silly.

You really can't possibly see any scenario where the Bills beat that unstoppable juggernaut: the San Francisco 49ers - a team that Vegas has favored in zero games this year - a team whose coach makes Rexy look like Bill Belichick? And in a game that isn't even relevant to the main reasons everyone's freaking out today as Dareus will be back by then. The Jets at home is very winnable (we've beat them five games in a row); trust me, I'm in NYC and people don't have much more hope for that team than we do (and they were 10-6). The Rams anywhere are very beatable. The Ravens aren't exactly worldbeaters, even if they are healthier than last year, and the Pats have, believe it or not, pretty well mirrored what we are going through, with injuries and a 4-game suspension to their best player. The Cardinals ... well, any given Sunday is about all I've got there. Look, it's been a bad few days, but if you take a breath and a step back, you'll realize the team hasn't been savaged quite to the degree it seems. We tend to put ourselves in a bubble, where we only see our own train riding on one rail, not noticing other fans freaking out about their own trainwrecks. If we go by recent history, it's more likely we're talking about a 3-3 team (and considering our tendencies, one that somehow beat the Cardinals then lost an absolutely atrocious game to the 49ers).

It didn't start out that way; it was launched as a home for upscale arts, a fact which inspired one of the best (at least, one of my favorite) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt lines: [With all this drama] I feel like I'm on Bravo. They still show operas, right? Ok, it's better in context.

Agreed. It's not without its moments of overwhelming cliche, but The Rock and Rob Corddry have a fun chemistry, and the guys cast as the players, including Washington, are compelling enough (although i would not want Jarrett on my team either - he seems a Percy Harvin/DeSean Jackson type at the end of his career).

Ricky Jarrett is clearly going through some sort of mid-life crisis and is not going to be satisfied with anything. He asked about New Orleans: "where is the love?" so I wouldn't take it personally. I suspect some writer on the show likes the Bills (but i have yet to see last night's episode).

Look, I'm not an active EJ defender at this point, and not sure that I trust him overall, but why does he get zero credit for gaining composure after his complete mental/skills breakdown, and getting it together and coming back from a 28-3 deficit to win the game (if it weren't for one of the worst phantom PI calls I've ever witnessed).

So, we'll go 11-5 and possibly have a playoff run (i have no doubt flutie would have beat tennessee - they were very beatable that day if our qb hadn't spent the first half getting sacked)?

If I had voted in this before, it would have been Ragland, so in his absence, I'll go with Striker and Zach Brown (or Brandon Spikes) will have the most positive impact by making up for his loss {shrug}.

Refreshing. I'm still excited too. I'm also sad that we will not see Reggie Ragland. I wanted him with the first pick and he will be great. However, there's still a lot of reasons to be excited - Tyrod's second year, running game particularly if Shady stays healthy Watkins could explode, love the speed guys if they can stay healthy, the secondary particularly if A. Williams stays healthy, K. Williams was still at the top of his game when he went down, Hughes may be poised for a breakout season, Preston Brown may return to form and build on 2014 rookie season, and haven't even mentioned Marcell Dareus. Ok, I surely jinxed all these players now. I'll go!

Again, pretty much the same bunch were doing just that in 2014, so I don't really see why they can't stop RBs & TEs to the level of "lost cause."

How were Spikes and Brown exposed in 2014? I went game by game, and no tight end topped 100 yards, and only two running backs got more than 30 yds through the air (Forte destroyed them in the opener and Foster got 55 - i may have missed someone who got between 30-50). Overall the pass defense was 3rd in yardage and 1st in TDs allowed. I also think Manny Lawson had a lot to do with those numbers as he had a rep for being able to cover the tight end. Although, I will cop to the fact it's embarrassing Jim Dray got 44 yards against them .

Wow, this is a low, even for Sully. Just stupidly tweeted back at him that i wish he covered a different team, which is probably exactly what he wanted anyway.

This thread got me looking to see which players use Twitter well, and Preston Brown just gained a world of new respect from me for his response to Karlos: https://twitter.com/Karlos_29_SR/status/763194591524757504

Is insanity a team making a 5th year guy with 22 catches, and a Browns castoff 5th year guy who had roughly 60-700 the year before but before that also just 20-something catches, starters? That team was clearly not serious about making the playoffs, right? That team actually painfully sent our favorite team home in 1997, as the Jaguars went on a run to the AFC Championship game, and both Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell wound up with over 10000 yards in their career. Is it likely Goodwin and, say, Greg Little will do the same next year and in their careers (and besides we have Watkins who will hopefully be sucking up a gigantic share of Tyrod's passing yards), but blithely dismissing it as impossible is closer to insanity than letting coaches evaluate young players at a position that is notorious for late bloomers (remember how many people were ready to toss Eric Moulds in the Niagara after his first couple seasons, and how many catches did SJ13 have before notching three consecutive 1k turns). When healthy, Goodwin has shown flashes of brilliance. 1:10 on the below Tyrod pre-season highlight reminds of the potential he brings. There's also a shot of him making a solid grab for a first down against the Browns while taking a ferocious hit (might be the one that sidelined him for the season as he went out in that quarter) around 2:48. That being said, I suspect it's quite likely that he won't remain upright to the opening day bell. However, as a fan, I sure hope he does.

Great story and was really hoping we'd sign him back when he first came in

They should try to lure D'Brickashaw and Michael Huff out of retirement and sign AJ Hawk - perhaps see what the Skins will take for Vernon Davis.

I'm so tired of this absolute stupidity (at best laziness, at worst fabrication for clicks) that the Bills aren't giving Tyrod a big contract this off-season b/c they don't want him or value him. This season they have limited salary cap space, but they have the room next year. They don't have to pay him this year (a major difference from the mediocre QBs getting ridiculous contracts this off-season), so it would make zero sense to throw money at him now, risk having to cut a player or two (although they do have some room now), and hampering any other late moves.

I disagree and think it will be Lawson or Brown

Ha, at least you admit you're stirring the pot . One piece of delicious irony (in the vaguest, alanis-iest sense of irony) in your reasoning, the very reason Dan Carpenter is currently our kicker is because the last kicker we drafted, Dustin Hopkins, was hurt in training camp and scheduled to miss some of the season.