Packerland Bills Fan

I expect the Bills to beat the Jets this week. These meaningless, head for the bus games are the ones they most likely seem to win.

I wasn't at the game, but I was able to see all of it. I was going to graduate school at RIT at the time and was home visiting my parents in North East, PA. The game was blacked out, but the cable company carried the Cleveland station and I saw the whole thing. I almost left at halftime, but I decided to stay because I wanted to avoid the game traffic. I headed back to Rochester after the game was over and still ran into the game traffic. I got a glimpse of some of the excitement as people were honking their horns at the Buffalo toll booths like people do coming from a wedding. What an unbelievable game! I just wish I had recorded it. It was the first playoff game I didn't tape.

Maybe Jackson should be given a start, just to add a little drama on our side.

It's sad because I want the team to win, not rebuild. There was so much promise going into the season.

It's sad to say, but I believe this game will bring about the end of Chan Gailey's career in Buffalo. I can't see him staying now. The foremost question is that will the team be able to truly get an improvement? Gailey was hired after a long, drawn-out process that saw rejections by several candidates. Will it be any different this time? Here's one list I found that had a number of intriguing individuals. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000084807/article/chip-kelly-perry-fewell-among-top-nfl-head-coach-candidates The nightmare is that it gets even harder to get a head coach and the Bills end up settling for one once again.

What else would one expect him to say? Something like this:"We would like to do better than Fitzpatrick. We would have liked to have drafted Andrew Luck or one of the other quarterbacks that went 1st or 2nd, but we didn't have those picks. At least he's better than some of the stiffs we've had playing the position in the last few years. We've done worse." If there aren't any QB's outside of Geno Smith worthy of taking in the 1st, then they should take one in the 2nd and let him compete with Fritz and see what happens. 2nd round QB's rarely turn out to be stars like Drew Brees. Fritz may beat the guy out, who knows. At least there's a chance for improvement. The 1st round pick could be used on a badly needed playmaker for the defense. If they thought they'd pass on drafting any QB's once again next year I don't think Nix would have said anything about upgrading the position.

Polian is better than Nix, no doubt, and the results have shown it. I started this thread to show that Polian wasn't perfect. I would take Nix over any of the others in between the two, though. What Polian had that Nix doesn't is Jim Kelly at QB. Many people say Nix should have taken Kaepernick or Dalton, but if they had looked like sure things at the time they wouldn't have gone in Round 2. They were passed over by a lot of people. Nix has to find an upgrade at QB and he's said that's what they plan to do. I would rather see him be given a chance to find one as opposed to showing him the door and starting completely over yet again.

I've heard so many complaints about all the failed top draft picks Buddy Nix has made I was wondering how he compared to Bill Polian? I looked up the picks he took through round 3, figuring that players drafted there are the ones expected to start. Here's what I got: 1986 1. Ronnie Harmon 1. Will Wolford 2. Leonard Burton 1987 1. Shane Conlan 2. Nate Odomes 2. Roland Mitchell 3. David Brandon 3. Jamie Mueller 1988 2. Thurman Thomas 3. Bernard Ford 1989 3. Don Beebe 1990 1. J. D. Williams 2. Carwell Gardner 3. Glenn Parker 1991 1. Henry Jones 2. Phil Hansen 3. Darryl Wren 1992 1. John Fina 2. James Patton 3. Keith Goganious I highlighted the ones that never panned out or never met expectations. With the exception of 1989, where there was only one pick, every draft had at least one miss. Bill Polian set the standard for every following Bills GM, but he wasn't perfect. Buddy has been hurt by the 2011 class, which had looked terrific going into this year, but has regressed. I think it's too soon to call it a failure yet.

I live in the Chicago area and have seen a lot of Orton. There's a reason that the Bears gave up so much to get Cutler. This would be a lateral move at best.

No, taking a QB that probaly won't end up being as good as Fitz and then playing that QB due to where he was drafted or what the cost was it took to get him would be the worst thing. I just have a nightmare of another Rob Johnson / JP Losman situation. I watched some of last night's game just to see Bray. I'm really hoping they'll be someone out there worthy of a mid to late first round pick.

Because AJ Green makes Dalton a much better QB. I don't think that Dalton, if he were on the Bills, would turn out to be any better than Fitz.

Put AJ Green in Buffalo then Fitz would be better than Dalton.

Who really knows is there's a true franchise QB available in the draft yet?

Nix's mistake was going away from drafting DB's and RB's in the 1st round. It worked so well before. Don't mess with success.

Don't be passive and trade up in the draft if the opportunity is there to upgrade the QB position. I'm satisfied with the way Nix has handled the drafts he's been in charge of in repect to QB. He even told Fritz they might take one, so I have to believe they would if the right one was available. It's just that no one worth taking was there. Bradford, Newton, Luck and Griffin were the only ones that fit the description of a true upgrade. Some people think they should have taken Dalton, but I believe it's AJ Green that's been the main factor in his early sucess. Would he be pushing Fritz if he were here? Hopefully Nix will act if there is a highly rated QB and a willing trade partner available.

My first thought after this game was "Is there anything in the house that needs breaking right now? I'm a bit calmer now, but not by much. Mario Williams has gotten off to a slow start. No doubt. But saying he's going to be a bust is ridiculous. The line of thinking that "He signed here, so something must be wrong with him" is totally off-base. He isn't some rookie that the scouting departement misgraded. He's been in the NFL for a number of years now. My feeling is that the coaching staff is to blame for his slow start. A typical staff put a lot of emphasis on developing rookies in camp and at times the veteran players don't get enough attention. Especially with Mario I think the tendency is to think that it's a given that he'll be great and they don't have to spend as much time with him. He's new to this team and while it's a 4-3 like he played in before 2011 it's not exactly the same. I think Mario knows he's got to step it up. There's a certain pride factor here. He wants to be recognized as the best. It's up to the coaching to show him how to get there.

I can't wait to see what Mario does in game 1.

I wonder if the total wins for every team equals the number of losses in their prediction. It doesn't compute.

I thought last year's draft was better, because Dareus is a much better player than Gilmore (or anyone else they could have taken at 10). However, they followed it up with a very solid one. Glenn was a gift in the 2nd. The 4th and 5th round picks were all excellent pickups.

Years ago I got so pissed when the Bills picked John Fina in the first round and stormed out of the house because Mel Kiper and a few others had rated him as a 3rd rounder. Fina was never an All-Pro, but he played a solid LT for a long time. He was worth the late 1st round selection he was taken at. Disappointed in these picks, fine, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but absolutely no one can know exactly how any of these players' careers are going to turn out.

Nobody can definitively say that he can't be a left tackle. Mayock is just one source.

I wasn't jumping up and down over the Gilmore pick, but look at how the draft unfolded. So many teams needing OT's, yet only Reiff was taken after Kalil. If Buddy Nix is an idiot, then I guess he's got a lot of company in the league. Interesting that Reiff was considered to be another Bulaga and he ends up being taken at 23 just like Bulaga did. When was the last time 2 or less OT's were taken in the first round? There was supposed to be a lot of depth at WR in this draft and a number of them like Randle and Hill are still available. Again, Nix is thinking a lot like the other GM's in the league. Gilmore scares me a bit with his inconsistency, but he seems to be the best combination of value and need.

I guess Buddy Nix isn't "telegraphing" the picks anymore. What does the cab driver say?

The only pick I've seen on a mock that I've truly hated is Mike Adams and he didn't make the list. Adams has bust written all over him. The Bills' evaluation of Reiff is the key to the pick because it looks like he will be there at 10. My guess that the Bills will view him like Bulaga two years ago, see him as a RT only, and pass. The Packers have kept Bulaga on the right side, so the analysis seems pretty accurate. I won't get upset if they do take Reiff, though, because Nix seems to favor value over need and I can't see him selecting someone they don't feel is at least one of the top 15 picks in the draft.

That's just what I was thinking. I really like what I've read about him.