Utah John

The criteria sports writers use to evaluate a player's career are silly. A great player might never play on a great team. That's not his fault. His accomplishments should be be given MORE weight if his team doesn't make the playoffs consistently, because it indicates he's not riding on someone else's abilities to get things done.

At this point, a good draft is one that makes sense. The Bills selected players to fill needs. They failed to find a stud WR, someone who can beat the coverage and catch an Allen pass 65 yards downfield. Other than that, the draft made sense. Contrast this year's picks with, oh, how about drafting CJ Spiller when we already had Fred Jackson. Or, of course, giving up so much to draft Sammy Watkins when we didn't have a QB to throw it to him. I'm not saying the results are judged on the performance of the players, because all teams pick guys that don't work out for whatever reason. I'm saying those picks simply didn't make sense from a structural, strategic perspective. This year's picks do make sense.

This isn't a bad thing for the Bills. Let it be.

And the Seahawks should have given the ball to Lynch and won their second SB in a row. So they actually won, I guess, and the Pats didn't win whatever number that was. The Cavs pulled out the championship on one of their previous four tries. I don't think they were the better team but they won. Good for them. As some coach once said, you are what your record says you are. Your ACTUAL record, not the couldawouldashoulda record in your head.

Finally a post that shows some respect for him. He has always been someone who's struggled fitting into society, but from all accounts during his time with the Bills he was a great teammate and was certainly an excellent player. I didn't understand why the Bills cut his pay after yet another excellent season. Maybe it was to force him out, and maybe they saw a trend in his behavior that told them he was not going to stay on the right path this year. Who knows whether the Bills tried to get him help while he was still with the team. The bottom line for me is that he's a human being who deserves respect, who played great for the Bills, and who apparently needs some help before he hurts himself or others. There's no sin in that. It's just a different form of illness that needs to be addressed.

More: Not paying Antoine Winfield. Not keeping Pat Williams. Of course, not paying Jason Peters largely because his agent was such a rotten guy to deal with. Not keeping Ted Washington.

Letting some new coach (Mularkey, I think) come in and fire Rusty Jones. The Bills won a lot of games because Jones had them better conditioned than the other teams.

Here's another: Letting Jim Kelly take a call from the USFL in the Bills office, when he was ready to sign as a rookie. He ended up spending a couple of years in the USFL instead of with the Bills.

Here are more: Firing Bill Polian because he wouldn't be pushed around by Ralph's daughter. Firing John Butler for no apparent reason. Bad drafts are too easy a target, but some were so stupid they stand out. Drafting Al Cowlings in the first round so OJ would have his buddy to hang out with. Aaron Maybin -- seriously, what were they thinking? Trading two firsts and a fourth for Sammy Watkins, when we didn't have a QB to throw to him. Treating Lou Saban like crap, twice. There was only one week between the playoffs and the SB against the Giants. Maybe if there had been two weeks like there had been before, the Bills would have gotten the partying out of their system and buckled down.

Giving up a home game to Toronto. Trading Lamonica for Flores. Lamonica obviously had years of great play ahead of him, and Flores was washed up. (If you don't know who these guys are, you missed some great Bills teams.) Trading Cookie Gilchrist to the Broncos. Trading Ron McDole to the Redskins. Hiring John Rauch. Hiring Wrecks and letting him destroy Schwartz's great defense. Hiring Marv Levy as GM. Most important, letting Littman call too many shots. The cheapskate Bills would not compete for talent with the deep-pocket teams.

The Bills first SB was just a few years after the 85 Bears, and the Bills thought they could party like the Bears did and still win easily. They had just destroyed the Raiders in the AFC championship game and felt unbeatable. Which they were. So they beat themselves, spending the most important week of the season drunk and hungover, and unable to tackle anyone. It's true the Giants played a great game and had a great game plan, but also Marv Levy knew his team's weakness up the middle of the defense and did not game plan to compensate for it. So the Giants pounded away and the Bills didn't have the strength to stop them.

He hit the receiver in stride, 65 yards down field, without good mechanics and while falling backward. Geez Louise. And you're worried about style points? I'm not sure he's going to be a good draft pick but it will be fun to watch.

The thing is, they were both flawed. We wanted desperately to have one of them be The Guy but neither had what it takes. Flutie might have been a jerk. OK, that's bad, but how well could he play? He was OK. He played like a smart QB with a limited arm and good athletic ability should play. He focused on moving the chains and staying in good down and distance. With a strong defense, which the Bills had, he could help the team win. But he wasn't the guy to take them to a SB win. Sorry, but when you get into the playoffs the softies are gone and the QB really has to make plays with his arm, and Flutie was not the guy for that. Johnson had no pocket awareness. He had an above-average arm and a good concept of the game plan. Even with all that, he wasn't the guy to take them to a SB win either. The bottom line is we're all arguing about something pointless. Neither was good enough. At certain things one guy was better than the other, but neither was good enough.

Above all do NOT give up next year's first rounder. That's likely to be a very high pick, and it could be the one where the Bills finally get their QB, adding that guy to the strong foundation from the 2017 and 2018 drafts. Playoffs in 2019 with the rookie taking over mid-year, and SB in 2020.

Yes, certainly. Only the fourth best Bills RB (after OJ, Cookie, Thurman -- can't rate Shady yet) but still the most heart and drive of any Bill during that era.

Yes, I miss them. You can still watch a game and enjoy it without them, but the cheerleaders add to the overall experience.

I'm hearing here about a lot of scenarios where we give up three firsts and more in order to take the fourth best QB. Seriously, that is a desperation move, and unless lightning strikes and the guy turns out great, a killer for the franchise for years to come. If one of the guys the Bills truly want is available even for a very high price, they should make the deal. If they'd be settling for someone, use the picks to build the team.

Drafting QBs is almost always a crap shoot. For every Cam Newton there's a Jamarcus Russell. Some of the difference comes down to talent, athleticism, personality, brains, memory, drive, and leadership ability. A lot also comes down to coaching, O line play, and the skill of the RBs and WRs. There are a lot of very good QB candidates available this year. The top few guys might not do any better with the Bills than someone listed a few slots further down. I would rather see the Bills take the best QB available at 12 and keep their other picks. There are lots of holes on this team needing talent upgrades, both for starters and for depth. And, rookies are much cheaper so they help with the salary cap, and then when the rookie contracts are up you keep the best and do what you can with the rest.

So did I. I was ecstatic. I thought Mack deserved to go #1 overall in the draft.

Simpson (best player in Bills history) Smith Bledsoe Williams Patulski

He was our #2 due to injuries and lack of talent, but in truth he's JAG. That's a lot for JAG. There are talented WRs who will become available as FAs and in the draft. Relax.

Charlotte has grown due to all the Buffalo people moving there. Now that Buffalo is becoming desirable (thanks, Canalside) Charlotte will level off.

Oh, I see. Instead of just signing him as a FA when we could have, but didn't do because his salary was too high, we give up a player or a pick to get him just so we can pay the salary we wouldn't pay in the first place.

He was the greatest football player I ever saw. The first year Rich Stadium opened, I was a freshman at UB and I got a job as a vendor at the stadium. That was 1973, the year he broke 2000 yards in 14 games. There were times when he was just unstoppable. I think he did kill his wife and her boyfriend. How to reconcile those is a puzzle. I no longer have the sense of honor that I had for him, as a trailblazing black man who transcended sports. I respect him as an athlete and that's all. So maybe my answer is not to reconcile those facts at all. I just acknowledge they're two aspects of a single person,.

OK, if AJ is as good as all that, and is ready to start and win -- move up in the draft by trading picks and Shady, and draft Barkley. Or do that if you aren't sure any of the rookies are really going to be better than AJ.