BillsPhan

..."I think it's going to be a great competition," coach Chan Gailey said Sunday of Florence versus McKelvin. "The good thing is, we're not picking from two bad players. We're picking from two pretty good players. That's a big difference. You're not taking the best of what's available, you're getting to choose from two guys that can play."... Link: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/article88073.ece In my humble opinion, that is a very "telling" honest statement by a head coach that I am becoming more and more impressed with every day. Gailey seems "relieved" to talk about this particular battle in his first training camp with the Bills, because it is just about the only position battle that has two "guys that can play", and that every fan would agree with. Even the battle between two veterans, Mitchell and Davis for the ILB spot next to Poz, is not universally considered an equal match-up where both guys "can play." On this board, quite a few Bills fans think that Mitchell will get cut, much less battle Davis for the starting nod. Chan Gailey may just be our next Marv Levy. Nobody in Buffalo thought much of Polian bringing in Marv half way through the '86 season. And nobody thought much of Chan coming in this year. But like Marv, Gailey oozes confidence, is extremely well organized, knows exactly what he wants from every assistant coach and player, and really seems to love being at that podium answering questions every day.

If C.J. Spiller is as good as most people say he is, then a hold out - even as long as Maybins' last year, won't make any difference as far as him being a "factor" this season. Maybin was an undersized pass rusher coming off one good season and he needed every rep he missed - not to mention 30 more pounds on his frame he didn't have. (The new strength and conditioning coaches have helped him beef up better for this season, and he still can't beat out a journeyman OLB recently cut by the Dolphins for the first team. Maybin will be a project again this year, but he is still young, so there is no reason to give up on him yet!) Spiller, on the other hand, is a lightning fast running back who can catch passes out of the back field. He is not being counted on as the every down starting RB to begin with, so all he has to do is keep himself in top condition, study his play book, and be ready to go once he gets to camp. And unlike Crabtree, he also does not need to learn how to run precise pass patterns and find seperation as a full time WR. He pretty much knows how to catch punts and kick offs and run in the direction the play calls for. For once, a first round pick can go ahead and hold out for a while, with no serious consequences for him or the team, in my humble opinion.

Yeah, so "it" begins. T.O. catching balls from Carson Palmer playing behind a good OL that won the AFC North without him last year. Other then having a hard time finding a place to rent when he first got here last year, T.O. never said or did anything to upset anyone in Buffalo. He also managed to catch 55 passes from the worst QB-OL combo in the NFL, and score some TD's. "It" will be Owens catching more like 70 to 80 passes, scoring more like 10 TD's, and teaming up with Ocho and Palmer to lead the Bengals to another division crown, and most likely a playoff win or two this season. We should be so "burdened" to have to deal with "that", instead or our nice calm normal players like Evans and ??? catching passes from ??? behind our still too young OL, right??

The Bills see him as an OLB in the 3-4 base defense, period. Stroud and Edwards each weigh about 50 more pounds then A.S. and they are the starting DE's. Now an interesting point can me made about the job Phil Hansen did playing opposite Bruce all those years in their 3-4 defense. Hansen was not that much bigger then Schoebel is today, although he may have carried about 10 or 15 more pounds. Certainly Schoebel could gain 10 or 15 more pounds and be used exactly the way Hansen was if the Bills coaching staff thought he could do as good a job as Hansen did back in the day. Obviously, that option was not even discussed, and A.S will come back as a stand up LB - if he decides to come back at all.

Great point. Chris Brown does get a "pass" on this board from most of us regarding his articles. However in his defense, he does more "reporting" then "opinionating" then those other outlets you mentioned.

"Plagiarized"? It appears he just copied and pasted the whole thing as is as his post, instead of posting the oh-so-easy-to-click-link. Since we are not in English 101 class, I think it's just fine he did it that way.

Why do so many people out here think that Kawika Mitchell may be a "surprise" cut?? Has Andra Davis won a SB ring as a starting LB in his career as Mitchell did filling in extremely well almost the entire season the Giants won it all due to injuries in their LB corps in '07?....of course not! Andra may be a better ILB then Mitchell, fine. But with so little depth at ILB on this roster, how could Gailey decide to cut Mitchell instead of one of the younger guys, even if Kawika does not win the starting ILB job instead of Davis????? If Mitchell does get cut as so many are predicting, nobody will be more surprised then me, and he won't last 1 hour on the waiver wire!

Stroud and Mitchell won't be getting cut this season. In this first year switching to the 3-4, both veterans will be needed to help the younger guys make the adjustments, and of course Stroud is being counted on as one of the starting DE's, across from Edwards, with Williams or Troup in the middle. Plus, George Edwards and Gailey have both stated that there will still be some 4-3 looks which will make Stroud even more valuable.

Mitchell won't be getting cut, as some on this board seem to think. However, Kelsay and Schobel won't be getting cut either, and they have to switch to OLB's. (I hope Schobel does come back and at least tries to play this new position). Your idea will most likely be more realistic if Schobel does decide to call it a career, but if he does return, he will get first shot at starting at one of the OLB spots, and Kelsay will get first shot at starting at the other one, in a heated battle with Maybin. Let's not forget that Poz gets injured every season, at least for a few games, and the Bills will need a player like Mitchell to back up the ILB position even if he doesn't start over Davis.

Why waste your time watching stadium plans going on in Hamilton? Right now Ralph Wilson is still alive and well enough to remain the active owner of his Buffalo Bills. While he is still alive, the Bills won't be sold to anyone. When he dies, the team will get sold to the highest bidder that gets NFL approval. The NFL still has not agreed to put a team in Canada, much less Wilson's heirs, who I'm sure will have multiple offers to mull over besides Rogers' NFL group. Sure at his age Wilson can die in the next minute, I'm not naive' enough to think he will live for 5 or 10 more years keeping my fingers crossed. But on the same token, I'm not interested in reading about stadium plans in cities vying for NFL teams either. That sad situation will play out when the time comes. Right now, I'm more interested in when Terrel Troup and his idiot agent will decide to sign a contract and get his important rookie nose tackle butt into training camp! The draft picks taken at 38, 39, and 42 have signed. The only one left to sign around him is the number 40 pick. You would think that coming from a small school, Troup would reach out to the Bills and get into camp on time without needing to see how much the guy chosen just before him gets paid. I really hope the NFL and Players Union hammer out a new rookie pay scale system in the next collective bargaining agreement. This current "system" is an absolute joke.

Well said! #2 in the entire NFL is still #2 in the entire NFL. Check the stats of '05, when Marv Levy hand picked DJ to take over when Mularkey turned down the offer to stay on. They went from their second consecutive #2 ranking in '04 all the way down to the mid 20's in '05.

Actually, the autopilot in Airplane smiled more then DJ, and was more "pumped up" in his job.

Great post! 2003 and 2004 those Bills' defenses ranked #2 each season. How on earth did Gregg Williams and then Mike Mularkey not ride those great defenses into the playoffs with at least decent offenses???

Preseason Power Rankings are nothing more then guesses based almost exclusively on the previous seasons' results. I found a preseason Power Rankings printed in August of 2009, and of the top 12 teams listed, every one of them had made the playoffs in '08 except New England, who finished out of the playoffs amazingly with an 11-5-0 record. The poll thought very highly of the Pats despite that bad luck, and had them ranked number 2 heading into the 2009 preseason. Actual '09 results: Only 5 of the top 12 teams were able to finish higher then their "Power Rankings" had them rated in the '09 preseason, and another 5 of the top 12 teams did not even make the playoffs altogether. Take a closer look at ESPN's preseason Power Rankings in the link of this thread. This year, 10 of the top 12 ranked teams made the playoffs last season, in '09. Atlanta and San Francisco are the two teams ESPN thinks will finish in the tournament this season after missing last year, while Arizona and Philly are predicted to miss out. Odds are, up to 5 or more teams ranked in the top 12 won't make the playoffs again, with more then just 2 surprises making it back into the playoffs. And of course we all "hope" the biggest surprise will be their #31 ranked team sneaking in!

I agree that Eric Wood is the key to this offensive line, but for a different reason: I think he should replace Hangartner at center from day one of training camp later this week, and he should remain the Bills center for the next decade or so. Anybody remember Kent Hull out here?? Wood is a natural center, and has the toughness and smarts to excell as the leader of his line. Hangartner is a little better then a journeyman, and I don't believe is strong enough to "hold his own" against the likes of Wilfork and Jenkins! Let's not forget that Chan wants a great running game to set up his attacking passing game.

When Wilson brought Buffalo into the AFL in 1960, I was 1 year old, and my Dad was 27 and loved sports of all kinds. He immediately became a Bills fan, since he never cared about the Giants or Steelers or Browns just because they were the popular NFL teams to root for, he and all of my uncles and aunts pretty much became die hard Bills fans from day one. By the time I was old enough to understand what I was watching on TV or listening to on the radio, Dad brought me into Bills-mania, of which there has never been any turning back. Here we are over 50 years later, Dad's 77 and he is still hoping the Bills can win just one damn SB in his lifetime!!

That's why people (including me) were hoping for Cowher to accept the Bills' challange as GM, coach or even both. He won a SB recently with the Steelers (2005), and I don't remember very many seasons of those 15 or so you bring up he was HC with the Steelers, where they did not finish at least 9-7-0, and they usually made the playoffs. Come on now, I'm not saying I was "kneeling down and praying" that Cowher would come to Buffalo, but you cannot expect me to believe that you would not be more excited about the Buffalo Bills a week before training camp, if he was our HC or GM or both right now, as opposed to Buddy Nix - GM, and Chan Gailey - HC instead.

I agree that (Nix-Gailey) seems better then (Donahoe-Williams), (Donahoe-Mularkey), (Levy-Jauron), (Brandon-Jauron) and (Brandon-Fewell). But to say, "Give the boys time, they'll get it right" is way too presumptuous and kind. "The boys" as you call them, have done exactly nothing together for the Bills yet. Their record is 0-0. While I know most of us tend to predict negative results this season, and that may be unfair based on the success of these two men in other organizations, I also don't see any proof that they will "get it right" after enough time either. And oh by the way, my definition of any Bills' GM-Coach combo getting it right, is to lead the Buffalo Bills to a Super Bowl Championship. Not even (Polian-Levy) were able to accomplish that, with 4 straight chances. That's why we tend to be so negative about (Nix-Gailey), as opposed to Wilson hiring perhaps (Cowher-Cowher), where we would all be predicting much more positive results!

You're only about 17 years late for this thread. Back in '93, Ralph Wilson made his demands known that his Bills would need either a brand new stadium or at the very least, a completely new re-furbished stadium inside the shell of Rich. The original 25 year lease was coming up 5 years later in '98, and Wilson was ready to enlist our millions of letters to our congressmen then, as he lobbied for his new stadium. As we all know, he got the re-furbished stadium inside the shell of Rich Stadium, for the extremely reasonable price of around 160 Million dollars, and they had it ready for the 1998 season. Today, 160 Million would build you about half of a modern football stadium, complete with today's amenities and technology. So not only will we never get the 300 million+ dollars to build a good modern stadium from congress, but the current owner, Ralph Wilson, could not care less about a new stadium any more. Our only hope as Buffalo Bills fans, is for that mystery Jim Kelly-led ownership group to purchase the team from Wilsons' heirs when he dies, and to then start new negotiations with the local, county, state and federal officials to build the new stadium, complete with their own investment they would be willing to cover in order to get the funding needed.

I have no argument that our government pisses away billions every year. But as far as the federal funding for Art Walk, here's their website you and your relatives can browse complete with maps and events and other pertinent info: http://www.rochesterartwalk.org/about_artwalk.html Maybe it's not worth 3.4 Mil, but the Art Walk project seems pretty good for Rochester, in my humble opinion. And I'm not even a liberal.

Born in Buffalo '59. Moved to Rochester '90 I've never lived outside WNY.

Now that's an interesting point to bring up! When you think back to that post season, the Titans used the "Music City Miraculous Forward Lateral" to propel themselves all the way to the SB, and......came within 1 or 2 yards of tying the game in regulation and forcing OT against the Rams in one of the best SB games ever. The Buffalo Bills had that game won on the road in Nashville with Rob Johnson leading the team to a go ahead field goal drive. I'll never forget the terrific play Johnson made running out of the pocket, losing one of his shoes, and still throwing a strike down the field for a first down during that last drive. And then, we all know what happened after that..... Great point though. Anybody makes a tackle out of field goal range and the Bills would have gone on the following week to Jacksonville filled with confidence, and Rob Johnson himself may have gained the confidence to actually become a good NFL starting QB for the rest of the playoffs. Yes, with that defense and running game, that Buffalo Bills 1999-200 team could very well have upset the Rams and won the SB, in my opinion.

Is anyone surprised? This is the broken system the players union and owners allowed to take shape, and every year it's the same crap. It's not about how good you are believed to be by the team that drafted you. It's all about how much last year's player made who was drafted in your slot. And it's all about how much the player before and after you get paid. It is the dumbest system of paying rookies in the major sports leagues, while the NFL remains the most popular sport.

Of course you do. It's not the Jets fault both the Colts and Bengals laid down the last two weeks of the season, is it? Plus, we in Buffalo learned the hard way that those back up players come to play, anybody remember the Steelers game to end the 2004 season? Bledsoe and his hot Bills came home on a 6 game winning streak and the Steelers rested plenty of starters and yet the Bills got their butts kicked. The Jets still had to play those games and they won them both. When everything mattered, and all the starters played, the Jets won two road playoff games to make it to Indy for the AFC Championship game. Sure they could have a let-down season, have less luck and suffer worse injuries then last year, and end up falling back this sesason. But don't try to minimize the fact that they got hot with some help when it counted to make the playoffs, and they took advantage of it almost all the way to the SB. Remember the Colts SB season in '06? They had the worst running defense in the NFL, and then got hot the last 5 or 6 weeks of the season when they finally got Bob Sanders back healthy. When the playoffs started, they kicked ass right through to their Lombardi Trophy over the Bears. How many experts thought that would happen weeks earlier when Jacksonville ran through them for like 300 yards rushing on a Monday or Sunday Night TV game???

Wow, really? The Jets beat the Bengals in Cinti, the Chargers in SD, and played a good game at Indy in the AFC Championship game behind a rookie QB in Sanchez last season. During this past off season, they have even managed to add more talent then they lost. They drafted players just like the Bills did in April. And you think that team and that coach needs to mature?? The QB you have your money on in the meantime, to have a better year then Sanchez, is coming off an injury riddled season in which he had so little time and pocket awareness (not every sack and knock down were the worst OL in the NFL's fault last year) , he "earned" the kick name of "Captain Check Down." No one knows if he is even going to be the starting QB against the Dolphins on Sept. 12th, and no one will be thrilled if he manages to hold onto the starting job anyway. And your money is on the Bills to have a better season then the Jets. Well, I sure hope you're right, but I'll keep my "money" in my wallet, thank you very much.