hondo in seattle

And what would have happened if we had drafted Butkus in 1965?

I think ST will be the poorest performing unit on the Bills and Crossman will be fired at the end of the season. So, yeah, I'm worried.

Conan is paraphrasing Genghis Khan who said: “The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters.”

H&A, good find - that was better than the average football article. Favorite quotes from the article include: "The Titans are defined by multitalented players who are effective in different styles. The Titans used eight-man fronts to stop Jacksonville’s running game in the season opener, then played a cover-2 defense to thwart Cincinnati’s passing the next week." Pettine is sometimes described as a mad scientist who's always trying something new & unexpected while Schwartz is supposedly a conventional 4-3 guy. In fact, Schwartz may be more creative than some people give him crediit for. This is encouraging too: "Belichick regards Schwartz as one of the smartest coaches he has been around." There is one finding from statistics that worries me: "the best predictor of future success is past success." Schwartz's track record as a DC is hardly unblemished. I agree with NoSaint, it's going to be interesting to watch what Schwartz does with the talent he's been given.

Yes, Hackett was in over his head. It was essentially his first year in the NFL. Marrone, a former OC himself, should have spent more time with Hackett (Doug later admitted this himself). Sometimes the team didn't seem prepared on Sundays. Sometimes Hackett's play calling was suspect. I'm not sure why he rarely called screens and it was frustrating to watch his inability to create space for CJ. While Spiller was dinged a bit, I think most of the reason CJ's YPC dropped from 6.0 (2012) to 4.6 (2013) was Hackett's flawed schemes and play-calling. As a first time OC, Hackett should not have been trying to be OC and QB Coach at the same time. Especially when our roster had only rookie and inexperienced QBs on it. Just being a OC in the NFL is demanding enough. And our young QBs deserved a full time QB coach. Having said all that, let's give the man a chance. Let's see how much Hackett's learned in the past year. Hiring a QB coach is a good sign and Marrone says he'll spend more time with Hackett and the offense this year. A more stable QB situation could help Hackett too. Few people are big successes in their first year on the job. I'm hoping Hackett has a much better sophomore season and eventually blooms into a great OC.

Marcel's talent is very hard to replace. And his infractions, not to make excuses, are relatively minor. He was caught with imitation marijuana (which, depending on the composition, might actually be legal in some states). And he was caught racing. When I was an officer in the army, I was also caught racing. While I got my ass chewed on three separate occasions by three different higher ranking officers, I wasn't thrown out of the army. Driving too fast doesn't make you a bad person or a bad teammate. And what NFL team ever cut a player for one fake marijuana arrest? Marcel is immature to be sure. Hopefully Marrone can help him grow up. I think a suspension might be in order to wake him up and send a message to the team. Cutting him would be perceived by his teammates as an over reaction and, in effect, punishing them by making wins harder to come by.

Wow, I love your optimism! But not one of these guys is a proven NFL star. With Woods only bringing in 40 receptions last year, you could argue that Williams in the only proven NFL starter. There does seem to be a lot of potential in our WR corps, though, and it will be interesting to see who develops their potential and who doesn't. And I do think/fear we'll witness both those possibilities.

I never watched the game. I was in Desert Storm at the time, deep in the Arabian Desert. I had one of my soldiers who was on "radio watch" scanning a short wave radio looking for news of the game. He woke me around 3am and told me he heard on the BBC "Voice of Freedom" that the Bills had won in the final seconds. I was bouncing off my tent walls but quickly glued myself to the radio to hear for myself. When the truth became known, I wanted to puke and have shunned the game like it was a case of ebola.

Jim Kelly ($5) – Clearly the best QB on the list and maybe the best leader (Jack was good too). Freddy and CJ ($2) – this is great value. With the Electric Company blocking for them and a real passing attack to complement them, Freddy and CJ would be an awesome duo! (Assuming a good OC). WRs – Eric Moulds ($4) and Lee Evans ($1). With Kelly as the QB, Moulds – at his peak – would be as productive as Andre. Lee’s speed will stretch defenses and give defenses matchup problems – do they put their best DB on Moulds and let Evan fly by their next-best DB? TE – Scott Chandler ($1). I need to save some money here but Kelly would use him well. For a mere $13, I think this would be a great offense. DEs – Aaron Schobel ($3) and Ron McDole ($2). Youngsters don’t remember how good McDole was but maybe it’s enough to point out that he was named to the second-team of All-Time AFL Team. At $2, he’s a bargain. Schobel had a solid career but never reached his full potential because he wasn’t surrounded by tons of talent. DTs - Kyle Williams ($3) and Pat Williams ($2). Both players are great value. Apparently this game is set up to run a 4-3 and we need 2 DTs. LBs - Jim Haslett, Shane Nelson, Isiah Robertson ($1). Good value and gets me two members the famed “Bermuda Triangle” (Haslett and Nelson – the third, Smerlas, was too expensive at $5). Corners. Nate Clements ($2) and Mario Clark ($1). I think both offer good value for their price. Safeties. Jairus Byrd ($3) and Leonard Smith ($1). Both offer good value. Oh, crap! That’s $31. I’ll need to convince Russ to open the purse strings a little wider this year.

But this comes from a very small sample. How many 37 year old NFL QBs did they actually analyze? It's easier to be an outlier of a small sample set than a large one.

We need a new stadium mostly because the NFL says we do. Otherwise, I don't think the stadium is vital to the financial viability of a NFL franchise in Buffalo. TV revenue is shared equally among the 32 NFL clubs. So are NFL licensed products. Together, I believe, they account for something like 70% of a team's revenue. Even gate receipts are shared with, as I recall, 60% of ticket sales going to the home team and 40% to the visiting team. What the Bills make at the Ralph is only a small portion of their overall income. The sale of luxury suites is a big thing for teams because I believe the home team gets all the revenue from luxury suites. In Dallas, for example, that can be a very big deal. Nonetheless, thanks mostly to revenue sharing, the Bills pulled in revenues of about $256 million last year (despite not fielding a winning team since woolly mammoths walked the earth) which is average-ish and more than viable teams like the 49ers, the Vikes, Chargers, Chiefs, Falcons, Raiders, etc. Our new owners can make more money somewhere like L.A. where they could fill more luxury suites. But they'll make money in Buffalo too, regardless of what happens with the stadium debate.

Polian's opinion is interesting because obviously he knows both the NFL and Buffalo. I believe if Poloncarz keeps his mouth shut, he's not doing his job as an elected official. He should advocate for Erie County because the future of the stadium - and the fate of the Bills - are hugely important to his constituency. I just hope his counsel is wise and that his work effectively helps the process.

We gave up a lot of rushing yards simply because we faced a lot of rushing attempts. Bills opponents ran against the Bills 507 times last year - most in the league. This was partly because we ran a up-tempo offense that didn't stay on the field long and partly because our opponents were often comfortable to sit on their lead given our offense rarely did much. Bills opponents averaged 4.4 yards per rush which is a little worse than then NFL average. But now we have Brandon Spikes. And if Hackett can find a way to build an offense that moves the chains and actually score once in a while, our D won't face so many rushing attempts this season.

When it comes to on-the-field behavior, I'd rather have Williams mentor Watkins than Stevie. Hopefully Williams will prove a good tutor to all our young wideouts.

Exactly, it was a nice analysis but didn't come up with any real conclusions. Without comparative data, you can't.

I don't know how anyone - Bills coaches included - could have an accurate read on EJ's future just yet. He's had streaks when he played well. He had streaks when he played poorly. Fortunately, his attitude and work ethic are both good which gives me hope. I remember a scout once explained why NFL teams - despite the big scouting departments and enormous resources - miss so often when drafting college QBs. He said that you have to make predictions because no college QB has the skills yet to excel at the NFL level. So scouts make educated guesses on which QBs will develop those skills and which won't. You never really know. Will EJ develop his missing skills? Only time will tell. But if he - and young WRs around him - live up to their potential it could be a fun few years.

Although I also worry about the high price paid for Sammy, I disagree with this. It might be unreasonable to expect a rookie to be a team's dominant WR right away. I think we need to wait a few years to rate this - or any - draft.

I actually think the OP's question is an interesting one. We have a lot of guys who supposedly have "potential." Williams is the only guy who has a decent number of NFL receptions but those are all with another team. I think it will be interesting to see who lives up to his potential and who develops some chemistry with EJ. EJ is young. The WR corps is young. If this all comes together, the Bills could have a potent passing attack for years to come.

I think this is it exactly. I don't think OBD was happy with our guard play last year. And I don't think at this moment Whaley knows who will start at guard, or who will be cut. He does know that more competition at the position is likely to make the team better.

If Rod Stewart bought the Bills, I'd worry he'd relocate the franchise to a warmer place: "Oh the snow fell without a break Buffalo died in the frozen fields you know Through the coldest winter in almost fourteen years..."

Billy Sheehan of Talas for his Buffalo roots. Or Jimmy Page for the off chance he'd reunite Zeppelin for a halftime show.

After being disappointed by the OL play last season, I'm really hoping this draft produces 2 starters. All three of the OL draftees seem to have starter potential if they discipline themselves and learn what they need to learn.

I get that there's a lot of tradition behind the Redskins name and it was never meant to be pejorative in the first place. However, the National Council of American Indians, the Oneida Nation, the Navajo Nation, the Heart of America Indian Center, and other Indian organizations have condemned the name as offensive. Even Merriam-Webster defines "redskin" as a "usually offensive" word for an American Indian. If you were talking with a group of full-blooded American Indians would you say, "I think American Indians should..." or, "I think Redskins should..." Personally, I wouldn't refer to Indians as "Redskins" for fear of offending them. It's time for the name to be changed.

Even if the allegations were true, why would the court issue a restraining order? This makes no sense.

Thanks for the info about Jeffrey Miller's book. I'll have to check it out. There's something fascinating about the early, cowboy days of pro football.