BillsPhan

You see all that beginning today? In the "Neutral Dome" playing in front of more fans who mock the Bills then cheer them? Playing against a decent 4-3-0 Bears team with more talent then the Bills in just about every important position, desperate for a good win, very much in the hunt for the division and at least the a wild card spot? You still "see" Fitzy as the Bills franchise QB? You "see" this defense becoming halfway decent? I've been wearing glasses since I was 9 years old, and without them the big E is nothing but a blur. So could you please send me your ROSE COLORED glasses ASAP?? I would love to see all these wonderful things happening for the Bills starting today. But without your glasses, I see an easy win for the Bears, where Cutler may set a Bears franchise record for fewest pass attempts while his running game grinds out the usual 200 plus yards against this horrible defense and controls the ball for around 42 minutes or so. Sorry, and of course I know Merriman's not playing today anyway. But I think you can give DC George Edwards Julius Peppers, Troy Palamalu, Ed Reed and Shawne Marriman and he would figure out schemes for his new defense to still suck. This defense that you "see" coming together won't improve until either Gailey or Nix bring in a qualified DC to coach it! Well if that's your plan, you're absolutely right about Fitzy. He's doing "what you need a QB to do" in order to lose 16 games and finish with the number one pick in the draft. Of course, this plan of your's makes no sense. Are you saying you want Fitz to "lead" the Bills to an 0-32-0 record over this next year and a half, so just in case Luck decideds to stay in school, which of course nobody has any idea whethter he will or not, the Bills can "go get him next year"???

It's just another lateral move of the never ending Bills saga called "What 3rd String Caliber Stiff Do We Start at RT This Week"?? But I agree 1000%, this organization needs to draft a stud RT in the first 2 rounds next April, if they don't sign a stud RT during UFA period first next March!

Yeah, there may never be another Payton Manning drafted number 1. But how do you explain Tom Brady getting drafted number 199 or there abouts??? And how do you explain the 1983 draft, that produced John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, all three in the Hall of Fame today, in the same first round?? And how do you exlain the 2004 draft, that produced Eli Manning, certainly not the QB his brother is.....yet, but still a SB winner and SB MVP already in his young career, and Ben Roethlisberger, 2 TIME SB winner and one time SB MVP already in his young career, and Phillip Rivers, already one of the best gun-slingers in the NFL in his young career. The truth is you can never say never about any player, or any draft year. That is because almost every draft year has one or two "sure-thing" high draft pick QB busts, and "after-thought" low draft pick successes. Lest we forget, the QB most people consider the very best in NFL history, Joe Montana, was taken in the 3rd round by the 49ers in the '79 draft!! So you may think Andrew Luck is your only choice, but the truth of the matter is, the "Aaron Rogers" QB of this group, you know, the one that falls out of the top 10 for whatever reason and keeps falling all the way to the bottom of the first round?, maybe Locker, maybe Mallet, maybe Ponder, that guy might end up being the best of them all!!

Nice job with the name-puns! I voted Luck, but I would have no problems with any of those other choices.

I consider a winning season to be 9-7-0 or better. A ".500" season is 8-8-0. A losing season is 7-9-0 or worse. I know this one of your first posts, but I certainly hope your questions become a little more challenging in the future. And in the "for what it's worth department"...as a Bills fan of over 40 years now, my "hopes" if you will, of the Buffalo Bills each year from UFA signing day March 1st and forward, is for them to WIN THE SUPER BOWL. After that, anything less I really don't "consider" at all. I just enjoy watching the Bills win as many games as they can, whether it be 15 or 16 during their SB appearance years, or as few as 2 in the mid-80's or possibly less then that this season. After watching this team for so many years, I could care less about categorizing non-SB winning seasons as anything either good or bad.

GREAT comback for two reasons: 1) Hilarious sarcastic remark pointing out how stupid it is to believe "reports" using just 10 words. 2) Scarlett Johansson is extrmely hot!

My take has never changed on this endless subject. Today's athletes are not boy scouts. If Shawn Merriman had been convicted of a felony when he allegedly attacked Tia Taquila, and been sent to prison for it, I would not want to see him playing for the Bills or any other NFL team. Vick is a convicted felon, that is the one stance I've been hoping Goodell and the NFL would finally take....that they don't allow convicted felons who serve any time at all in prison for their crimes, back in to play - ever. But Merrimans' charges were dropped, and I am fine with him trying to spend the rest of this season with Buffalo - it is a win-win for him and the Bills. If he can play "lights out" again, he will help this pathetic defense play better this season, and open up the vault for himself in free agency next season. And who knows, maybe he will end up signing a conract with the Bills based on his relationship with Nix.

No way. They are desperate for a win, and after watching extensive film of the bills "defense", they may just settle for grinding out over 300 yards rushing, keep the ball for around 42 minutes and win 10-3. Cutler may throw 5 passes the enire game, and the Bills' "defenders" cannot catch the ball this season even if it thrown right into their open arms.

I've had a pattern of Bills fan-dom I developed way back in 1973, the first winning season the Bills ever had that I was old enough to be aware of. Through all these years, it has never changed: (1) I "want" them to win enough games to earn a wild card. (2) I "want" them to win enough games to win the division. (3) I "want" them to win enough games to clinch home field till the SB. (4) I "want" them to win the two or three playoff games. (5) I "want" them to win the SB game. (Sadly we all know I'm 0-4 in that regard!! ) So as pathetic as this is (you asked)I still "want" them to win 9 games and somehow earn a wildcard berth. Now mail me my Christmas card.

Sorry, you're not being overly concerned for nothing. The coaches are as arrogant as last year's coaches were. Spiller and Carrington don't seem to be "understanding their schemes and techniques" that these "great" coaches are "teaching" them, so they are not even getting on the field. Now, if this was the Saints, Pats or Colts, I could understand that. But these are the Buffalo Bills these "great teaching coaches" are in charge of, and if Spiller can break any run for the house, and Carrington is good against the run, how on earth can the Bills not afford to play them as much as possible, despite their rookie mistakes every now and then??? Jauron and Fewell did the same thing with Maybin last year, not allowing him to sniff the field because he was so lacking in the "proper stances and reads and schemes and which foot to lead with and etc etc etc." So of course he never played much. And now we have Maybin suffering the same fate under these god-like coaches. Someone help me out here. Am I to believe that Chris Kelsay deserves that huge pay increase because he practices all the right moves from Monday thru Saturday, yet sucks every Sunday??? How can Aaron Maybin possibly make less plays if he was allowed to play one lousy entire game then Kelsay does?? Come on Edwards, just let the kid play one full game at DE or OLB, and let's see how he does. I can guarantee you he will have make more plays come games end then Kelsay makes, because Kelsay doesn't make any plays...at all. Spiller should play more. Carrington should start and play every game. The Bills have so little talent, they should have no choice but to let them play. Troup seems to be doing OK when he's in there, considering he has the worst linebackers in the NFL backing him up. And Maybin? I say start and play him every down the DE or OLB's play, and let the chips fall where they may. If he's too weak, and gets his skinny butt kicked the next 9 games, maybe that's what he will need to have happen so he bulks up for next year.

Taken off the current depth chart at BuffaloBills.com, if the Bills start off in their 3-4 look this week against Chicago, here would be your starting front 7 if the second string completely replaced the first string, except for Kyle Williams of course: LDE Alex Carrington NT Kyle Williams RDE Spencer Johnson SLB Arthur Moats MLB Akin Ayodele WLB Keith Ellison JLB Aaron Maybin Now, considering the Bills are last in most defensive categories after almost half the season, not replacing at least some of the starters is a slap in the face of their back ups who practice hard all week and I'm sure would love the opportunity to do better! Looking at that entire second string, I can't imagine the results being much worse if Edwards grew some cahones' and replaced the entire band of 6 stiffs playing with Kyle Williams this week!! It seems to me that even bad football players can get motivated to play a little "less badly" if they are benched when they suck as much as these guys have sucked so far in 2010. Chan sits there and tells us he believes in "tough players" and "discipline and hard work." B.S Chan! Bench some of these slackers and then we might believe that hyperbole and "tough talk."

I like it. By the way, is Moats healthy, or still injured...I really want to see that kid play DE or OLB the rest of this lost season. Plus I agree 100% that Maybin should play every single down the rest of the year too. As bad as this defense is with 7 losses already racked up, how on earth is Gailey justifying not playing his young vets and rookies on defense?? I understand that his offense is improving, so it makes more sense to keep playing Fitz instead of giving Brohm snaps of experience. I get that. But as we watch millionaire "defensive end" Chris Kelsay line up all over he field and continue to make zero plays, while the rest of his defense sucks almost as badly as he does, what difference could playing the young kids instead possibly make??

And I can see that you can't read very well. I was specifically talking about this one Steelers 4th round OLB draft pick possibly being a great wiaver wire pick up for the Bills. And then I said that is why they won't pick the kid up. I have no idea if he will turn into a great OLB for the 49ers or even just a good special teams player, or if he will even make their team at all. But even the Pittsburgh newspaper thought the Bills would be a logical landing place for him, with Doug Whaley running Buffalo's Pro player personnel dept. (And naturally, the Bills did not sign him, unles they did not even get the chance before SF grabbed him.) Sure the Bills pick up practice squad players from other teams, and Buddy Nix did not sign Icognito last year, which is a huge reason, in my opinion, he was cut from the Bills this year. But as you say, who cares about that? To me, if the Bills had a chance to sign this OLB and passed on it, they were passing on an extra 4th round pick from last year's draft, and that is stupid due to how horrible they are at OLB right now!

Gee, what a shock!

The Steelers' 4th round pick, and an athletic OLB to boot? With the amazing eye for LB talent the Steelers scouts have had for the past 10 or more years? This could end up being a no-brainer move possibly comparable to Polian stealing Steve Tasker off the Oilers' scrap heap back in 1986!! So naturally I don't expect Nix to make a claim for him. It would make too much common sense, espcially with Whaley working for him as his Pro Player Personnel Manager. And over the past 11 years, Bills' GM's don't do much of anything that makes any sense at all, much less common sense! Example: Modrak will probably talk Nix out of signing this kid by guaranteeing him he will find an OLB out of NorthEast SouthWest Alaska State Tech College that plays intramural football every other season, and will be much cheaper to sign to a contract, next April!

No way. Evans stays. Kelsay gets cut. After those two, how much money am I spending on players anyway?? If I'm Buddy: #1A, Modrak and his scouts are fired....TODAY. I then hire good veteran scouts to replace them...scouts that don't care about always trying to ego out by finding the "diamonds in the freakin' rough." (Maybin, Troup, Covington...the list goes on ad nauseum) #1B, George Edwards is gone. And I'm replacing him with a proven successful ex-defensive oriented head coach or current or ex-NFL DC ONLY. And I could not care less if Chan has coached with him in the past or not! #2, I hit UFA hard next year signing the best OT, and/or best DT, and/or best LB available, if I can get them to come to Buffalo. #2, In next April's draft, of course I sign the best QB on my board, be it Luck, Locker, Mallett or whomever, with my first pick. #3, The rest of next year's draft, I'm looking at hard hitting strong athletic DE's, DT's, Strong Safeties, and Linebackers, or OT's, depending on how I do in UFA signings the month before. #4, I sit back and see if we will even play football in 2011.

Yes, it was a hard fought game on the road, and I agree some of this team is starting to grow and show. But did you really include the line; "Defense even looked OK" in your thread title? Listen, this defense is quite possibly the very worst in the history of the Buffalo Bills, and they were on pace to become the worst defense in the history of the NFL until they finally allowed less then 34 points against yesterday. Oh that's why you think it looked "OK", because they only gave up 13 points. The front 7 is, in my humble opinion, the worst front 7 in Bills history, hands down. No contest. Week after week, back after back (and in some cases two backs on the same team) roll past 100 yards rushing like they are practicing in shorts against hand dummies. I have never seen anything like this. All 7 guys will get faked out of their shorts on a simple counter play. All four DE's and OLB's will get blown off the ball on outside running plays, to either side, outside run after outside run. Do you watch the same games I do? This defense is pathetic against the run, and not a single one can cover a tight end to save their lives. Sure they only gave up 13 points, but that is as much a case of Charlie Weiss calling a stupid game plan as much as the Bills holding on a few 3rd downs during the game. No way should Cassel have thrown more then maybe 5 passes the entire game. Plus Cassel had a bad game when he did throw the ball. Very stupid of him, he didn't start throwing to his wide open tight ends until the last drive that set up his winning field goal. Of course, as usual, those long completions to rookie tight end "Joe Nobody" was enough to win the game for them anyway.

You're nuts. Fitz played well enough to win today, and he's played well enough to win every week since he's started. Imagine if you will, the Bills defensive front 7 actually holding down Charles and Jones to under rushing 125 total yards between them. Bills win this game in regulation. Despite Fitz taking the entire first half to get going. Despite the ball slipping out of his hands and landing right in Berry's gut. The Bills would have won 10-0 or perhaps 10-3, 10-7 tops. With this defense, Peyton Manning would have to be perfect to eek out wins.

Yes, as youy already know, I noticed Kelsay out there backing up 12 yards to try and cover Charles. Simply astounding. If that is the mandated coverage why on earth doesn't Gailey and Edwards use Maybin instead?? As you point out, Kelsay, with his extra 50 pounds of "muscle", can't get off a block to make a freakin' tackle on the edge or anywhere else on the field for that matter. At least take advantage of Maybin's natural speed and quickness to make a play every now and then.

I would settle for any new D.C. with the common sense to let Maybin play every single defensive down the rest of this lost season while Kelsay collects his 8 Million dollars from the bench.

We confused loyal Bills fans were truly watching from "the other side of the looking glass" when Chris Kelsay lined up about 12 yards off the line of scrimmage, deeper then Whitner in fact, in some kind of strange zone pass coverage with a running back across from him just licking his chops waiting for Cassell to toss him a quick pass. Then, during the same drive, Kelsay was back that far again, running around in zone pass coverage like he was Ronnie freakin' Lott or something. Haven't we seen enough of this stupidity after 7 straight losses? I'm not talking about "demanding" the Bills to be 4-3-0 or anything unrealistic like that. It's not like Buddy Nix forced Chan to hire Charlie Weiss as his OC and Romeo Cromell as his DC this past off season or anything as INGENIUS as that, as Scott Pioli did for these very KC Chiefs that are now off to a 5-2-0 start this season. I'm just talking about demanding to see an NFL caliber D.C. calling playes and schemes that allow his players to "make plays", at least 40-50% of the damn time. This same defense was bad against the run but #2 against the pass last season. This season almost half way through, they are around #32 against the run and let's see...around #32 against the pass, too. George Edwards amazingly has made them worse then last season, and that does not make any sense to me anymore. Chan has his offense coming around nicely. All I would like to see is the same type of improvement out of Edwards' defense. Even if Nix drafts 6 out of 7 picks on defense next April, who amoung us thinks George Edwards will be able to coach all those rookies, if there is a 2011 season in the NFL, anyway??

I agree 100%. But if Chan does not do something with his D.C. and defensive front 7 real soon, they may very well play nine more "leave it on the field" football games showing potential, and finish the damn season 0-16-0. The offense is coming along great. WTF is wrong with this defense? They were bad against the run last season but not this bad. They were number 2 in the entire NFL last year against the pass and now suck against the pass this season. Anyone else notice the rookie tight end making all those downfield catches the last drive of the game?!? Does George Edwards even practice against schemes with tight ends going out for passes during the week, because all I've seen this year are the biggest slowest tight ends being wide open 20 yards down field as much as the fastest Pro Bowl type ones have been. And really, any D.C. that has Chris Kelsay lining up 12 yards beyond the line of scrimmage deeper then his strong safety across from a running back, should be fired on the spot!

No, every NFL coach and player "know how to win." The Buffalo Bills defensive front 7 simply don't "know how" to freakin' tackle running backs!

Because I think Albert is better...on the most improved team in the NFL this season - Kansas City.

I am only looking at the Bills Number One Picks in the drafts from 2000 through 2009. Ten first round draft picks, and in 2005, when the Bills had no first round pick, I looked at the players available after their 2nd round pick that year. The lack of overall talent in these 10 players is astounding. I have gone past 9 of these 10 picks, (Lee Evans is a solid number one pick for any team in any year) and chosen (in 20-20 hindsight of course) players the Bills could have drafted instead. For your reading enjoyment, I submit to you the Buffalo Bills that "could have been": Offense That Might Have Been QB – Drew Brees (Drafted 11 picks after Nate Clements in 2001) TE – Dallas Clark (Drafted 2 picks after Willis McGahee in 2003) WR – Vincent Jackson (Drafted 6 picks after Roscoe Parrish in 2005) LT – Brandon Albert – (Drafted 4 picks after Leodis McKelvin in 2008) Defense That Might Have Been MLB or ILB – Keith Bullock (Drafted 4 picks after Erick Flowers in 2000) DE – Dwight Freeney (Drafted 7 picks after Mike Williams in 2002) DT or NT – Haloti Ngata (Drafted 4 picks after Donte Whitner in 2006) CB – Darrelle Revis (Drafted 2 picks after Marshawn Lynch in 2007) DE – Brian Orakpo (Drafted 2 picks after Aaron Maybin in 2009) Of course any fan of any NFL team could do this same thing over any 10 year period. But leaving out those fantasy players above, take one more look at the 10 players drafted number one from 2000 -2009 by our beloved Bills, and it's no wonder they suck so much today!: 2000: Erick Flowers, - flopped after 2 years. 2001: Nate Clements, - left via FA after 4 good years. 2002: Mike Williams, - flopped after 3 years. 2003: Willis McGahee, - traded after 2 decent years of playing. 2004: Lee Evans - GOOD PICK. 2005: Roscoe Parrish - OK PICK. 2nd round pick - just now coming into his own as a receiver, but has always been a great punt returner. 2006: Donte Whitner - still starting but nobody knows why. 2007: Marshawn Lynch - traded after 2 good seasons on the field, but 3 ignorant stupid seasons off of it. 2008: Leodis McKelvin - who knows?? 2009: Aaron Maybin - climbing the all-time draft bust list weekly.