hondo in seattle

Canks has been doing tantra yoga at the Osho Ashram in Pune, India, since 1973 and didn't realize the NFL season changed from 14 games to 16 games since he's been gone.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that talent is roughly equal in the NFL. But I do agree that coaching and leadership tend to be undervalued by modern fans and modern owners. I find it odd that the best players on a team will make more than their coach. A coach has to be a leader of men, but he also needs to be good tactically with X's and O's. He also needs to know this business well enough that he makes all the right decisions when putting together his staff, his off-season plans, his preparations in the week leading up to game day, etc. There's a huge disparity between the great coaches and the bad ones and it shows up in wins and losses. The Pats dynasty is as much about Belichick as it is about Brady. That's what makes this Bills season so intriguing. We have all new coaches and we don't really know how good they are. Pettine ran a good defense with the Jets - or did Rex run it? Marrone ran a good O for the Saints - or did Peyton run it? Can these new coaches transform our formerly mediocre players into high-performers? I don't know, but I'll watch every game until I find out.

Sorry if this was posted before. It's a good vid of EJ's strengths and weaknesses.

Evans was a class act and great at go routes. Moulds was more physical and could do almost anything. I think Moulds would have had a shot at the HOF if he had played for the duration of the Kelly years. He would have put up some big numbers.

New HC, new OC, new DC, new offensive scheme which we know little about, new defensive scheme, something like 33 new faces on the roster... how can anyone accurately add it all up? I'm solidly in the "wait-and-see" camp and happy to be there rather than last year's "here-we-go-again-same-old-thing" camp.

People were asking why we traded for someone else's draft bust when we have enough of our own. But Polian sees something in this guy. Considering how little Shep accomplished when he was on the field, the trade seems like a good gamble. Thanks for the links. True enough... but Polian isn't necessarily wrong.

Yeah, but this isn't yesterday's team. New coaches. New offensive and defensive schemes. New QBs. Lots of other new players. I'm not sure how it all adds up but it will interesting to find out.

I appreciate the humility and, yeah, sometimes OBD actually knows their business better than we fans.

Yep. As of last year, we had one proven, productive WR. There seems to be some potential this year but we need to see how it all shakes out before we trade someone. If any of them besides Stevie have trade value. When you run an up-tempo offense, it's good to WR depth in case guys get winded.

Good find. Interesting read. All these QBs have flaws but EJ's seem the least extreme. One scout said the difficulty in predicting the NFL success of college QBs is that none of them are NFL-ready. They all have things to learn so you have to guess who's going to learn them. But it seems EJ has the physical tools and a good attitude that will allow him to learn what he needs.

HBD JW! Always appreciate your insightful contributions and balanced reporting.

I agree with you that leadership, character and football IQ count. But I'm not sure anyone's stock went up or down. I think it's more the case that Kiper and McShay were wrong. Kiper and McShay don't evaluate players the same way professionals do. They don't study the game tape of every game played. They don't typically interview the players or coaches. They don't have the resources to analyze potential draft picks that NFL clubs have. I doubt if NFL scouts ever rated Tyler Bray as high as some of the draftniks.

It's hard to evaluate Nix because even good GMs have good years and bad years. No GM is 100% perfect on all their coaching, FA, and drafting decisions. Nix screwed up with the Gailey hire. Gailey screwed up with his DC hires. That's all true... but all things of the past. Nix may have redeemed himself with the Marrone hire. In other words, I agree Nix has shot himself in the foot with some of his decisions. I'm just not sure yet that the wounds are fatal. We might be heading up now.

At first I thought maybe a team scout was feeding Nawrocki bad information so he his stock would drop, thus allowing the team to draft him. Now I'm starting to feel, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." Enough different people have similar evaluations and observations that the Jets should be concerned. I was surprised by the EJ pick, but in hindsight I'm happy.

Everyone says we reached for EJ because many of the bigger name draft gurus rated him lower. However, we don't know where the rest of the NFL rated EJ. I suspect he was higher on most franchise's boards than he was on Kiper's. I doubt if Chip Kelly and the Eagles, for instance, thought we reached. NFL teams watch far more game tape and do far more due diligence than Kiper or any other hobbyist. What I read before the draft was the EJ was a good kid, very athletic, but inaccurate. That scared me off because you can't coach accuracy. But there's a lot of data out there painting a different picture of his accuracy. Now I'm excited about the pick.

I'm afraid the first half of the sentence is true, and hope the second half is also true.

Freddy and Cookie were both awesome backs. Though they weren't classic UDFAs because they both proved themselves after college in another league before coming to the Bills. George Wilson started his career as an UDFA WR with the Lions as I recall before we picked him up and converted him into a fair safety. But I guess Jason Peters might be our best ever 100% genuine UDFA. If Rogers plays to that level (i.e. Pro Bowl) but displays a better attitude and more loyalty, we all be thrilled.

It's good to see Walker actually add something of value in his blog. The take of the unnamed scout was interesting.

Wow! 13 pages and counting! Incredible interest in an UDFA. It's got me wondering... Who's the best UDFA in Bills history? Btw, let's not forgot Rogers went undrafted for a reason. Apparently scouts aren't entirely convinced his problems are behind him. The chances of Rogers being cut for off-the-field behavior might be greater as the chances of him being a productive wideout. Obviously, I don't know the guy and would hate to prognosticate the worst for anyone. But we need to be realistic. (Then again, at this time of the year, maybe we don't!)

I would take Kolb/TJax/EJ over Fitz any day. Kolb's started so few games in the NFL that it's hard to gauge his potential but he seems to have a wider range of skills than Fitz. In limited action on a bad team with a bad O Line last year his QB rating was higher than Fitz's. TJax, despite injuries, played better in Seattle than he did in Minnesota so he might still be learning. As it is, his career QB efficiency rating is nominally better than Fitz's. And we're all hoping that EJ has a higher ceiling than any of these guys. We'll find out. I just don't understand why anyone would think our QB situation is worse this year than last. At least we finally have reason for hope. With Fitz, we knew his limitations - and so did opposing defenses.

I disagree. I think Bobby April (ST) and Perry Fewell (DC) were good coordinators. I think Dick Jauron was one coordinator away from having a good staff and retaining his job.

I notice that Buffalo was 7th in the NFL in broken tackles. Apparently, we have/had some dynamic playmakers. We just needed someone to hand them or throw them the ball.

Joique Bell had more broken tackles per touch than either CJ or Marshawn.

8-8 There are so many personnel and coaching changes that it's hard to evaluate 2013. You have to, for example, project whether or not Kolb or EJ will be better running Marrone's offense than Fitz was running Gailey's? Will Manny Lawson and Alonso be more effective linebackers in Pettine's system than last year's LBs were in Wanny's? With a bunch of new WRs running plays we haven't seen before, will our QB - whoever it may be - have legitimate targets? I have a ton more faith in Pettine than Wanny. And I think Marrone/Hackett will be an upgrade over Gailey. I expect Kolb to start on opening day and I think he'll do better than Fitz played last year. Overall, I think the changes are more positive than negative so I predict a slightly improved record.

I'll be honest. Usually when I grade a Bills draft, I'm wrong. As an optimist, I usually grade us an "A" - which I did this year as well. It's been a long while since the Bills actually deserved an "A." So now that I've destroyed my credibility, let me explain my grade. We needed to roll the dice on a QB and EJ seemed like a good choice. Yep he has flaws. But I read one scout explaining that pretty much no college QBs have all the skills necessary to excel in the NFL. So you have to guess which will develop those skills and which won't. Let's hope EJ does. And even the later picks at least have the measurables. I hate when we pick 220 lb linebackers or a 4.7 WR who we know will never be starters. This year's later picks (and at least one UDFA) at least have the measurables to start in the NFL, if not all the skills. By the way, even Kiper, McShay et al. are often wrong in their grades, too. I'm in good company.