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Would an entirely different strategy work? I've been talking about 9 players who today would be considered Franchise QBs R1 - Vick(x), Rivers(x), Rodgers(x), Roethlisberger(x), Flacco(x), PManning(x), Ryan(x) R2 - Brees(x) R6 - Brady(x) What would it take to target one of the younger ones, that still have 8+ years left... Rivers, Rodgers, Roethlisberger, Flacco or Ryan Could any of them be had in a trade? Fitzpatrick plus 2 first rounders, this year's will be a top 7 most likely. We need a TE and maybe RT, but otherwise our offense is greatly improved. We obviously need defenders, which would be day 1 picks plus target 1-2 FA Is that a good strategy? Would you make a trade like that? Would anyone trade with us?

More stats on round 1... Vick(x), PManning(x), EManning, Smith, Bradford, Palmer There's only a 33% hit rate on being able to pick #1 overall. All 6 of these guys were chosen first. Perhaps Sam Bradford ups the % to 50% in a couple years, but that still is an indictment of the QB selection process. There's not a person on the planet who can stand up and say that they could guarantee a success rate for drafting NFL QBs... therein lies the massive problem that teams have. How to get that one guy that you can build the rest of the team around. Adding more uncertainty to the process. Of the 9 guys that I '(x)'ed as "Franchise" QBs, three of them were not selected aggressively. - Rodgers dropped way down to 24th in the first round was projected in Mocks as a top 5 pick - Brees dropped to the 2nd round when he was projected as a possible top 10 pick - Brady lasted 6 rounds and I'll repeat was the luckiest draft pick of all time So even among the measly 9 Franchise QBs, a significant portion of the league dismissed as they were being selected. ... tough business indeed!

Also, Kurt Warner was un-drafted. I think its hard to expect enough from a later round pick. Its a big leap to think that one can be developed and be a franchise star. Here is the top 31 QBs currently on ESPN stats for 2010 in order of stats. 16 of the 31 came in Round 1. R1 - 16, Vick(x), Rivers(x), Rodgers(x), Roethlisberger(x), Flacco(x), PManning(x), Ryan(x), EManning, Cutler, Freeman, Campbell, Smith, Bradford, Palmer, McNabb, Sanchez R2 - 4, Brees(x), Henne, Favre, Clausen R3 - 0 R4 - 3, Garrard, Schaub, Orton R5 - 0 R6 - 3, Brady(x), Hasselbeck, Anderson R7 - 2, Cassel, Fitzpatrick UD - 3, Romo, Kitna, Hill I 'X'ed all QBs who could be considered Franchise QBs right now. Lets make this the test... would you trade our first round pick for this guy straight up? Favre, Mcnabb too old, EManning, Cutler haven't proven it consistently and Freeman, Bradford, Sanchez haven't done enough yet. So that leaves 9 Franchise QBs, with 7 of them drafted in the first round. Brees was projected first round and was the first pick of the 2nd round when he dropped. Brady is the luckiest pick of all time.

Great story,... love you how connected it to the Bills!!

I think the trade down problem is probably due to draft position. When you're in the top 10, difficult to trade down as nobody wants to pay the price and salary. When you're drafting in the 20's, its much easier. There's always some coveted player that fell out of the teens that somebody is willing to jump up for to get. So I think the Pats "weaker" draft position is actually a "strength" in maneuvering.

Exactly!! What a concept,... you mean a player is not an automatic eternal bust with no capacity to improve, requiring immediate replacement with a high priced free agent or #1 pick because had some struggles in his first year starting in a highly dis-advantageous situation??

I like the reasoning... I've been saying in a few threads that we're way to fast on this board to declare people as "not good enough". We have to take into account the capacity to learn, grow and adjust! Perhaps Fitzpatrick is an example of that. As a Harvard guy, we should put some great hope into that capability for him... if we believe that, then we might just have our QB after all these years... I hope, I hope, I hope!!

21) Must show the ability to learn, improve and adjust during course of the game and season I think he's hit that too, as most of our noise has been in the 2nd half where adjustments to the game plan were made. I'd have to say we need to ride this and see if he has the staying power, but I've really come around to him!! If you consider the 3 OT losses and the Bears, he did everything to win in each of those, it was lost by others. If those plays were made by others, he would be 6-0 as starter, a sure-fire Pro-bowler and would be in most MVP conversations... thats not too bad given what we had leading up to him taking over and the last few years.

Fitz,... I have no idea how you can conclude what you're saying. One of the things that drives me nuts on this board is how dismissive people are of a player's ability to grow, learn, adjust and improve. I don't have a clue where Fitz's limits are and neither does anyone else on this board. However, he's clearly a very smart guy with a an excellent offensive coach with some growing, learning and improving OL, RB and WRs around him. He has fast release, quick decision making and is fearless, all critical traits to an upper level QB. Let's keep moving forward with what we see rather than make definitive conclusions bases on sporadic play in previous years'. Chan,... Not a fair comparison at this time. Marv had plenty of issues. Lets see where we are in 2 year's time. Marv came into Buffalo as a failed HC, with zero excitement around his being hired, just like Gailey. Way too soon to say on this. Nix,... I kind of agree on this one. Don't like Cornell Green sign/waive. Don't like Kelsay extension. They're doing better mainly with players from the previous regime, who are reaching their potential. We have to see him make some good moves to tell.

I missed the game unfortunately as I was traveling all day Sunday... so a bunch of questions not about Stevie Johnson -- Anyone know the extent of Dwan Edwards injury and who would start in his place? -- Noticed Alex Carrington played and recorded a sack,... any other info on his overall play? -- Plus looking at the highlights it appears Maybin was on the field... unfortunately the play I saw had Barry Sanders (I mean Ben Rothlisberger) shucking and jiving for 10+yds and a first down, with nobody on defense being able to catch him Anyone with any updates on any of these three would be appreciated!!

Haha,... got my morning to a laughing start!!

AMEN!!

Who would have thought that after 10 weeks... Bills fans would be a more optimistic bunch than fans of the Cowboys, Vikings and 49ers, all forecast as playoff teams... WOW!

Yeah,... I suppose we could part ways with TM for a first or second rounder. I'm sure nobody on the board would be upset about that!

The year before last I (and others) were advocating that we should let McGee become a free agent and the contract should have been given to Jabari Greer instead. It would probably have been a smaller contract, to a younger guy, who is just as good, if not better. Another bad move by FO, another mis-allocation of resources. TM will be long gone by the time we get respectable in the next 1-2 seasons (I hope)

Stevie Johnson's gotten lots of love... who is Shawn Anderson???

These are not good compares... not only were Losman and Edwards nowhere near what Merriman's been, but the "love" for them was always split. Both had lots of detractors and both had lots of people that wanted to get behind them and hoped they succeeded (God, we need a QB),... but that's not "love" Comparison to Chris Speilman would be better...

Great 6 word summary!

Ditto,... its unfortunate he hasn't been successful, but not a bad guy.

OK,... someone has to say it Moss opposite Lee Evans would light up the league. With Roscoe Parrish in the slot they'd be unstoppable. Add in David Nelson and there would 2 tall guys to throw to on 3rd down. Stevie Johnson to the inactive list... sorry. Couldn't keep a straight face typing that....

More details for those of us that are video impaired.....

We traded Peters for a #1 and something else?? What players has he turned into. The #1 was Eric Wood, I believe (or is it Levitre)?

Its just confounding... even if he doesn't have good football sense, he should be at least a Special Teams wrecking machine. A young fast linebacker fits that profile to a tee. Obviously that's not why you draft someone at #11, but it utterly amazes me that he can't at least do that for the team.

Can anyone explain without all the vitriol toward Maybin exactly why he's so bad? On paper this switch to a 3-4 defense should have suited him perfectly. I haven't watched many Bills games this year and don't live in the area to attend camp/preseason/practices -- At 250lb (or even a bit lighter) I get that he's not a good DE, but he should be the right size for LB -- He's fast,... he's got to be faster than Chris Kelsay, who's starting -- He went to Penn State, he's got to be able to tackle -- As stated above, he seems to have an attitude where he wants to excel -- If he's too weak, thats a fixable condition given that we've hired 2 hardcore Strength Coaches in the offseason ... so what specifically is the disconnect with this guy??

I'll agree with that!!! I'm getting queasy already...