tennesseeboy

geez...high school english class or bills board?

the operative phrase is "they're inconsistent and up and down." Mostly down given the offensive line, but it seems to me that if they don't cure the inconsistent thing pretty soon it will be lights out for the Bills next season. I happen to think that we are not being fair to either of the two qb's we had last year as the pass protection sucked, change of offensive co-ordinators, firing of Jauron impacted their play. On the other hand I haven't seen anything of any special value in either of them yet either. Let's see what Nix and Gailey do with them, and keep our fingers crossed. They may be justified in giving these guys a real chance to play as opposed to the clusterhump that was last season.

nine wins. how they get them is up to them. I'm hoping the present crowd has the brains to do it, but if they don't I'd get me some new talent. Instead of getting some quality personnel to shore up a pathetic offensive line they used their first round pick on a third running back. Instead of finding defensive linemen to make their existing 4-3 defense more effective, they scrapped the defense to go to a 3-4 withouth adequate personnel. This may work and I hope it does. But the nine win rule should be the basis for whether they get a second year.

Our O-line will get better when we sign, draft or trade for a better offensive line.

Wang does have size and athleticism and didn't play LT all that long, so he may be a real "sleeper" in the draft. If he comes out of the box ready to play LT I'll be about ready to jump on the Gailey/Nix bus. If Levi Brown turns out to be the starting qb I'll offer to friggin drive it. If we make the playoffs, I'll be willing to make a few payments on it! That being said, saving your team in the final rounds of the draft doesn't seem to be the ideal way to shore up a moribund offense.

i did Kansas City last year. Quite nice. I have spent a lot of time in Baltimore and always find it to be a great place, and I'll be willing to bet R. Rich is a great host...

Okay, but will trent edwards or our offensive line or our one wide receiver (Evans) going to be successful in a spread? I don't think so. We needed two tackles and to keep Incognito. We needed to trade for McNabb or another good qb. We needed to pick up Kellye Washington in free agency. You take a pile of crap and put it in a square shape, its still crap. Make it into a pyramid, its still crap. You gotta get a few personnel into areas of weakness and we'll be fine. If we were going to the spread we actually should have drafted a top rated spread qb (don't EVEN give me Levi Brown) from the college ranks.

just too many changes and unproven players (and unproven players at new positions) to tell how it will work out. Secondary is fine. I have my fingers crossed.

IMPROVEMENT? I don't see any improvement. We got rid of one gaurd (Incognito), have a guard recuperating from a pretty serious injury (Wood) have fewer quality receivers, no faith in existing quarterbacks, and NO starting tackle (whoops...mr penalty guy who even Oakland (OAKLAND) was happy to get rid of. You gotta be kidding me. As to Gailey Idon't understand the 3-4 change, the drafting into the one position where we were pretty good, and the failure to address the tackle needs. Nope...we are much worse than last year by any objective standard.

Our offense isn't working because we don't have the personnel. The same personnel in a different offense isn't going to give them more talent. I just don't see us having enough quality receivers, an effective offensive line (in any formation) or a quarterback who is going to make much of a difference. Better the devil we have and go and get qualified offensive linemen, and possibly even a quarterback. Spread offense, wildcat or wishbone isn't going to change the fact that we got no talent there.

I think a D grade would be generous. The crying need was offensive line and there were very very good linemen available in the first and second round. The decision to go 3-4 which resulted in a commitment to so many defensive linemen being drafted wasn't necessary or appropriate given the condition of the team and the quality of personnel. The existing defense needed some personnel changes to get better agains the run, not a completely new front 7. Spiller is a quality pick, maybe on the of best in the draft, but he wasn't a very big need for a team with two quality rushers. Maybe I'm wrong and when Wang goes to the probowl next year I'll be eating crow. Long as I'm eating crow in the playoffs I'll be a happy camper.

with the mess we call an offensive line? Doesn't matter if you have Drew Brees, John Elway or Otto Friggin Graham...they would all look like Edwards.

He's either very very stupid or throwing in the towel. If he is going to mail in this season it must be in anticipation of something happening next year. What the hell is he going to do with an offensive line with two rehabbing starters, nothing on the bench, and a qb who is at best shaky?

not to enter into a sticky wicket here, but prostitutes may have died when the twin towers collapsed. Hell...even investment bankers died..I don't think dying in the twin towers washes away one's sins.

I believe nine wins is what we should get. Anything less than that get a new coach and gm.

He is averaging 4.0 per carry. I'd think twice before trading that. Character issues? If I hired him to date my sister that would be relevant. I want a guy to run the frigging football.

I wonder if they are really serious about improving the offense. You need an offensive line, which means not only a starting lineup but extremely capable reserves. Demetrius Bell was a less than capable reserve who was a starter on the only team in the NFL where he would be a starter. God knows what the "reserves" are like. We let incognito go, and aren't sure about Wood, and folks are saying we should not have made a play for Faneca because we are "set" at gaurd. Uh....noooo. There is no reason we can't be a middle of the pack, or high middle of the pack team this coming season if this crew starts to make the obvious necessary personnel decisions.

I don't know. The move to a 3-4is confusing and no gaurantee that our run stopping or overall defense will improve. We are going to a 3-4 without the personnel to manage it and "retooling" players not meant to be in those positions. Sounds dopey to me. OT has been a major issue for years. We didn't really address either. Green has been no great shakes at Oakland (OAKLAND???!!) and Wang didn't hang around to the fift round of the draft because he was so good. Trade up for Okung or go with Davis would have made alot of sense. Spread offense? Again trying to take existing personnel to do something they just haven't been able to do. This seems dopey..but hey..as long as they get nine wins I'll be happy. Incidentally I wasn't dopey..I was grumpy!

The truth is we just don'tknow. We have a lot of guys being "trained" to play the 3-4 who weren't drafted to play the 3-4 and might or might not be effective. How we think this is going to "stop the run" is beyond me. I always thought the big advantage of the 3-4 was that the linebackers were in a position for pass coverage. I think we'd have been better off bringing back the players who had been hurt, drafting a couple of very good defensive linemen and going with an improved 4-3. We had most of the personnel to be effective in that defense and could have addressed the problems in the draft.

The other poem I know has something to do with Nantuckett, but I didn't think it fit.

i love the bills..but the front office has been doing some moronic things. Sorry bout that. Like not fixing the o-line or finding a qb and changing a defensive strategy when we don't have the personnel to do what they want done....doesn't mean I don't love the bills. If you've got a dopey kid, you still love him don't you?

Linemen in the spread are often smaller and more agile so they can block effectively on screens, zones, options, and protect against aggressively blitzing defenses such as the 3-3-5 stack. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offensive_phi...all)#The_Spread yeah...that's gonna happen with our offensive line. NOT.

I'll love the bills if they only win one game. However I'm a firmer believer in setting aspirational goals. Even in transition I would expect a new gm and coach to improve on the record of the team (so that would be a minimum of 7 wins) but in a three year plan I'd want a winning season off the bat. Last year was a mess...to put it mildly. Too many injuries, transition in the coaching ranks from beginning to end, and the firing of the coach. I expect this group to provide stability, get the new personnel into shape and get nine wins. The poet Browning said..."a man's reach should exceed his grasp..or what's a heaven for?"

i agree on all three points. Run first smash mouth has a lot going for it, and we have three backs who can get yards. The offensive line wasn't all that bad at run blocking (at least in comparison to their pass blocking.) Keeps the other offense of the field and takes pressure off the qb. The second point is that we don't have a clue whether Edwards is good or not, and probably won't have much until we build an offensive line that can protect him. That doesn't seem to be happening this year. I wouldn't expect much from any of the qb's until that gets fixed. The third is the 304 scheme which screwed up pretty much our entire personnel package on defense. That was addressed in the draft so I'm optimistic about our defense this year. We should improve our win loss record this year and set nine wins as the minimum to establish upward momentum in a three yeat push to serious superbowl contention.

who are the number one "franchise" qb's of recent memory? Favre and Brady weren't even a first ROUND pick. Brees wasn't a first ROUND pick. Rothlisberger was selected eleventh overall. Sure there are the Mannings nd the Rivers, but then again there are also the Ryan Leafs, jamarcus Russells and all. Even Sanchez and Ryan weren't the number one overall picks. I think getting a franchise qb has nothing to do with going 0-16 and getting the number one pick. It has to do with recognizing talent and getting your guy. There was a show on NFL station the other day where Bill Walsh pointed out that he targeted Joe Montana and picked him in like the fourth round (I'm not sure of the round). When we get a coach and gm that know talent, they'll get the qb we need. Hopefully the crew in there now know what they are doing. Time will tell.