Sisyphean Bills

As opposed to a 1st rounder, 11th overall? How is that a good thing? Are you saying that colleges should play players in such ways as to manage NFL teams' expectations so they can do a better job of scouting? How is this not a propped up excuse like the poster that says that Maybin is already a great success story because he is making a lot of money? Say, JaMarcus Russell is a huge success too.

Brohm has had some success post high school...

I see your point. I was taking the term "bust" more literally, I guess. If the guy can't play at all, paying him a huge chunk of your cap and screwing around with trying him at a variety of positions only achieves to stall a team from getting better and prolong the agony of defeat. See Mike Williams: if he was what they thought he was, he should be a top 16 LT, a team leader, and anchoring our OL as I type this (albeit on the downside of a solid career where he reached All-Pro accolades, etc.). Contrastingly, I won't say Whitner is a bust, but I also don't think he was the right pick to be the cornerstone to build the Jauron era Bills upon.

Thanks to Sanchez throwing a ridiculous number of interceptions. Since their ground game was going through the Bills defense like a freight train, we should have given Schottenheimer a game ball. I wonder if that will be the Bills game plan this year against the Jets. Get Jairus as open as possible so Sanchez can keep throwing him the ball.

Kids born in the middle of the Buffalo Bills glory years are entering college as freshman this year. It was that long ago. And, yes, they don't remember it. For all they know, the Bills have always sucked.

That's true regardless of position, is it not? A team doesn't get better by using a bad season to draft a bust. It just makes the down cycle longer as seasons tick by and busts wash out to be replaced by someone else.

Use him as a meat shield.

Balmer was drafted in 2008. The players in the OP were drafted in 2009.

Kelsay was projected by some scouts as a hybrid DE/OLB in his draft class. Despite the **** he takes here, Ellison can be a decent role player for a team with a serious lack of talent. He's clearly not a world beater, but it's not like the Bills are loaded with world beaters at any LB position. He can contribute on special teams and should be allowed to compete for a depth spot on the roster. If nothing else, the competition will make the group of LBs the Bills end up keeping on their roster better.

If you want to believe that Gailey is bringing the Greatest Show on Turf to Buffalo, I'm not going to stop you.

Gailey is not a big razzle dazzle coach to begin with. He's conservative. As far as the 8.1 ypc single data point, if one actually watched the game then it was pretty clear that the Redskins players were also in a new defense and making a lot of mistakes. They were miles and miles away from being in mid-season form and clicking. There was obvious confusion in the run defense from the very beginning and several big runs by the Bills really inflated the average.

This is not a good memory, but in the Jauron Era the Bills actually had to play 3rd and even 4th stringers at certain positions for extended lengths of time.

I hadn't heard that. Thus, I asked a question. Is that not allowed now, or are you just in need of a douche?

Why? Is he a stud in coverage?

Yep. Nobody has to "gameplan" physical domination.

Well, Whitner did put a lick on a guy after a 20+ yard gain down into the redzone, which was eventually converted into a touchdown. Whitner got up and started yelling in the guy's earhole and waving his arms back and forth mimicking the motion an official would make if the pass had been incomplete. Though it wasn't incomplete, just a big gain, and a 1st down.

to tell the fading memories from the long gone glory years.

Is Hardy still nursing an injury? I'm pretty sure I saw him dressed on the sideline, but he never got in the game. Redskins TV did mention his name in a comment about how the Bills needed someone to fill the #2 spot and "James Hardy hasn't shown anything yet."

Perhaps the very early success was lethal to his development. I recall Adam Schein asking Trent as a rookie how he was able to "just come in and get it so fast", etc. I also recall Trent and Gibran talking about how they had had such a swell time playing golf all summer. Trent was the anti-JP. JP was spastic in the pocket, held on the ball, launched bombs down the field ... Trent came in and was the total opposite. Ultra-quick, short throws to get the ball out of his hand as near instantly as possible. Defenses didn't have tape on Edwards and were caught with their shorts down, I believe. Once they figured out Trent had essentially no long game, the average or better defenses just slammed the door in his face. And, the Bills dismantled their OL in some comical, blundering epiphany of idiocy -- like tossing gasoline on a fire to put it out...

Yeah, it was Anthony Gray. Guy could run with the ball but he couldn't do anything else.

I'm not as heartened that he made a few moves against backups and scrubs in the second half as some. Maybin is very weak. Williams pushed him to the ground repeatedly and almost effortlessly. Maybin's hand work is atrocious. He has no ability to disengage. As soon as Williams put a mit on him, he was cooked. Maybin looks quick, but he doesn't seem to have the freakish balance of an elite DE to turn the corner running all out. He's runs like a sprinter - in a straight line. I did like that he kept playing, kept hustling, and tried and had luck with a spin move where he fell into Beck (who had Helen Keller like pocket awareness). Overall, moving him to OLB hasn't really changed the formula entirely.

Albert chipped in the "Georgia Tech University" nugget. What a pair of cheeks...

Maybe it was just Joe's way of politely saying the Bills looked slow, small, weak, and not very talented.

Nah. It's 100% Trent. I mean, you'd never see Steve Smith break up a bad throw from a weak armed QB (oh, like say, a guy coming back after Tommy John surgery) on an out pattern for crying out loud.

Your long-standing detest of Trent Edwards is duly noted. Carry on. Run the campaign.