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I would put Trent on this list not because he was a bad player (he was just the QB who managed O play at the time for what the Ravens needed) but because of the relative difference between what made this team special between the offense and the defense. Like the 1985 Bears, the 2000 Ravens was one of the few teams a seasoned viewer felt they had a better chance to score when the D was on the field than when the O was out there. This is not how the game is sposed to work. It was simply the case because the D prospered by being so aggressive while the O did what needed to be done while being opportunistic in short yardage fields delivered to it by the turnover generating D and Dilfer doing a good job managing the fame and bit taking a lot of chances which may well produce more or at least dramatic scores but also ran the risk prodcing more turnovers. Was Dilfer QB of a team which had had pretty limited offensive repertoire under his management? Yep! Was this exactly what was needed in order for this Ravens squad to be one of the best teams ever? Yep to that as well! The irony to this football watcher is that both the 2000 Ravens and the 1985 Bears would likely have been poorer performing or worse TEAMs if they had a QB who was more of a consistent go to player at QB.

Should the (actually when in my view) will the NFLPA move to represent college athletes who play football and more important how should they do this? In other major league sports, the CBAs include strict rules about how and when teams are allowed to sign athletes to their teams (generally 16) and the team owners sign individuals to rich speculative contracts and spend millions on their training to go to the show eventually in agreements with generally separately owned minor league teams. While basketball shares some of the business elements with the NFL, the remains singular among the major league sports in that they have basically dished all the costs of training onto the colleges and only had to devote cash to a combine they control which allows players to compete to picked in a draft and individual rights are simply pushed aside by thei assignment to one team (again their are variations inherent in all leagues and interesting overlays with the viability of players entering the process from Europe or elsewhere). My sense is that there is an interesting dance going on here where the football story is to a great degree defined by the fact that the NFL somehow has developed into a structure where the rights of adults from 18 to their birth year graduates that adults physically capable of playing this game are simply barred from signing with teams. Attempts to uphold individual rights in courts and let the free market simply sort out who plays and who does not have pretty roundly been repudiated by the courts. It really amazes me how socialism really rules the day in the economic operations of professional football and reality has developed where part of being one of the teams is that they totally share gross revenues and that they repudiate individual rights to play and live where an individual wants based on a draft where the poor performing teams are rewarded with the best draft picks. How non-free market, I am surprised that Fidel Castro is such a baseball fan and not a football fan as the NFL system is more like Cuba than America in regard to the fact that it simply tells you where to live your life. I think it is going to pretty quickly become impossible to deny adult college players a slice of the billions of new dollars to be generated by the college playoffs. It seems quite natural to me that the NFLPA will move to organize and protect the fiscal voice and rights of adults in college who as of today receive no salary in exchange for putting their well-being on the line in college ball and entertaining all who are interested. The founding of college football playoffs are going to have some amazing impliacations for the NFLPA as collegiams likely demand and achieve their American adult rights to let the free market (to some extent as the NFL itself is a lot more a socialist than free market We see that all the time in the NFL since the advent of the modern CBA where not only has a partnership been created between the players and owners but when Gene Upshaw publicly declared that the new CBA would be based on total receipts rather than a designated gross and dictated that the split needed to start with a 6, the players are actually the majority owners. I am most interested in seeing folks views about the fiscal implications for the NFL of the college football playoffs rather than the simple raw sports enjoyment of watching man-boys slap each other upside the head.

Back in the day (perhaps 30 or so years ago in the distant past) when education was the priority, the football season was important but it had to fit around the class schedule of the kids. Bowl games were an extension of the season which were to some extent fought against by the academic schedule but generally the bowl games which previously were all played by January 1st did manage to expand out a bit since afterall what it first cost players was some family time during vacation. However, this expansion was caused by a delivery of more and more $ to the participating schools and the academic schedule was forced to accomodate first 11 and then in some cases 12 games in the regular season and the bowl schedule expanded with sponsorship by the traditional 4 New Years Day (Orange, Rose, Cotton, and something else bowls) to an expanded schedule of Tostitos etc bowls. The bowls themselves with the advent of huge TV moneys allowed for enormous bribes to the participating schools and slowly but inevitably has moved to a playoff system where the colleges actually imitate the pros at finding one pretend winner per season (as I think Duane Thomas said when someone asked him if he upcoming SB was the most important day of his life he replied if it so important then why do they play it every year). The establishmrnt of a playoff and likely inevitable expansion to something like a 64 team playoff of the huge moneymaker the NCAA basketball championship is actually a blip on our way to something like year around football. There is simply no way I can see to accomodate the needed regular season where you play for seeding and then the playoffs to advance in the tournament of this "game" which cannot be played 3 nights a week as in college but the needed healing mandates weekly games. Spring practice used to be the ritual as players built their athletic time around the academic time of mid-terms and finals but when we go year around the tail of athletics will wag the dog of education. The NFL side of this equation is quite interesting as it has unlike its competing major sports like baseball, basketball, and hockey has found a way to dump virtually all the training costs on college and not been forced into signing 16 year olds to contracts or paying for an enormous minor league system. However, though the NFL teams avoid this cost, the price they pay is that their athletes become adults before the teams buy their loyalty. Led by a talented tenth such as player Gene Upshaw these men have now forced the owners to not only split the pie but in fact guarantee them a majority of the gross receipts. My sense is one of the next steps is going to be players looking at the $6 billion payout I have seen estimated as the cost of broadcasting the playoff games and we will see the student/athletes effectively organizing to demand their cut. The illusion of the student/athlete will receed further into the distance of reality and who knows what will come of it. At least the Ivys will still emphasize academics over athletics with no playoff system and a focus on education as the rational for teams working to play well together, but who knows where the balance between education and athletics will fall. The two are not necessarily opposed to each other but there is a balance which must be found between the two. The advent of the football playoff simply means that the balance is now going to go way over to the side of athletic entertainment.

I love the pros because its great entertainment and these pros deserve to be paid well for the great work they do and the risks they take. However, I generally have given up on college balls (except paying some attention as it relates to whom the Bills might draft) as because quite frankly I would prefer for college to be about education. The money ball around the contradictory phrase student/athlete just got even sillier.

I guess we have a different tolerance for jerky behavior in terms of how we judge things. Certainly I view someone like Marshawn Lynch as a big time jerk for drinking, hitting a pedestrian (fortunately a light tap rather than a Corasanti) and driving away. Still, even though I make a distinction between a criminal jerk (Corasanti), a stupid party jerk like Lynch and a self-centered attention seeking jerk willing to defy his HC and cost his teammates field position, they are all being jerks in my book even though they deserve different punishments. The irony to me is that all three strike me as having gotten off lightly for for their jerkitude. I am one that hopes SJ will learn a valuable lesson from the discipline exacted upon him because he was (at least IMHO) a juvenile jerk. (In fact, I have more problems merely labeling Corasanti a jerk because that seems way off base for his crime while labeling Stevie a jerk for his transgression against his HC and teammates seems pretty apropriate to me. I guess you demand a criminal charge though to merit this label for someone.

Then why was he benched in the game? Does this strike you as normal football behavior? Do you want to see his teammates also taking penalties for doing TO type things at times of the individual's choosing? SJ is certainly no lost cause and with careful management (which I think Gailey is doing) he can be changed to be more of a teamer than a Mike Williams who always needed special care.I think you are way off base in terms of thinking I am way off base on this one. If your HC warns everyone that anyone who draws attention to themselves by getting a penalty for excessive celebration (a penalty which is inconsistently applied by refs in the No Fun League)he will be punished for costing his teammates 15 yards. Yes the league was stupid for penalizing SJ for what ever demonstation he made in the last game. However, SJ was at least being immature and really a jerk to force his HC to punish him and penalize his team by acting out. Gailey has been quite charitable by bit punishing SJ as harshly as he deserves in my view but I guess a light touch works better in today's selfish world.

While I agree with the stick and carrot approach Gailey is using to reform him and I am quite hopeful he will become the performer the last two years have hinted at, i would submit Stebie Johnson as a nominee from this Bills fan as the biggest jerk on our team. Just as the author of this stupid list noted in his description of one his jerks that the player got benched in a game due to his bad behavior so too did Stevie get benched when he showboated after a TD and drew a penalty. Thus was a totally immature move and an insult to his teammates as he let them down. I think he can be reformed and Gailey is handling him well with the stick of benching him lasr year and the carrot of the Bills promoting him as a team spokesman early this off-season. However, until he begins to act like he has been there before after a couple of TDs he remains on mt jerk list.

My sense is the biggest factors which will influence Fitzy performance are: 1. A far better DL, a potentially rejuvenated Merriman, a prettt deeo secondary and the hope that a bunch of acquired ST talented LBs will develop into solid back-up LBs at least gives Fitzy reasonable hope he will get the ball with good field position and/or this rejuvenated D wo;; bail out the Bills when we turn it over. I think by far this should have the greatest impact on his performance. 2. It is pretty clear the Bills drafted with ST firmly in mind as the picked up a number of players in the draft whose primary contributions to their college teams was on ST. Many of the mutant projects they drafted were generally not position players who might develop but ST animals. One of the biggest flyers they took was spending a last day draft pick on a strong legged player who if he sticks will be solely as a kickoff guy aspiring for 75%+ tounchbacks. If DeHaven makes this stuff work look for Fitzy to be given the benefit of winning the field position battle every game and though I think that this ST effort is likely to produce until late in the season I think this is the second most likely thing to improve his performance. 3. WR is pretty much a wildcard right now as our #1 is very good but needs to mature, and oue #2 is up in the air. Whether Fitzy improves his mechanics is far less likely to determing his performance than whether we have consistent threats and performance from the WRs. Fitzy is what he is right now, an incredibly smart and more athletically gifted QB than one would think for a Harvard boy. However, anyone who thinks that after spending a high school, college, and early pro career throwing a certain esy (and in particular using this style to incredible success that he is going simply because of good tutalege change to a new style or new mechanics you have not been paying attention when you watch the game. Fitay likely is a smart enough player to actually absorb change in his mechanics, but change will last until the first head slap to his noggin and he will go back to the default which got him this far. These D ans ST items are by far the most likely things to improve his performance and as far as his O teammates, Jackson and Spiller being successful runners who draw defenders attention away from his pass threat and the OL remaining consistent and most of all his WRs standing up are the most likely things to determine his performance and fate as a starter.

One of the more interesting things about the QB at the helm of the Pats team which won their first SB is that actually for a lot of that season the QB listed as first on the depth chart but temporarily unable to play was that SB impactful QB non other than Drew Bledsoe. 1. It was actually a point of some controversy that Brady was still the QB after Bledsoe recovered enough from the freak accident of a collapsed lung but Bellicheat correctly stuck with the hot and effective hand of Brady as the QB starter. Those who lived by the alleged NFL doctrine that a starter should not lose his job to injury fortunately for the Pats disagreed with Bledsoe whose likely included in his major contributions and impact on this SB winner is that he was a true TEAMer in that he not only supported his personal competitor Brady with vet wisdom and advice when he was sidelines, but he graciously declared there was no controversy and the winning Brady was the starter even when he recovered. Given the egotiam of most athleres, an injured player like Bledsoe might well have publicly insisted on getting at least a shot at defending his starting role on the filed. If Bledsoe had not been injured, ironically I think it would have been doubtful the Pats even made the playoffs that year and it would not have been shocking if after his unsuccessful coaching stint at Cleveland Bellichest might even have lost his job. 2. Of even greater real world import, I (and I am sure most other logical watchers) would agree that without Bledsoe stepping in after Brady was injured in a must-win playoff game the Pats would not have won an SB that year. Bledsoe fully deserved the SB ring he got that season even though Brady was clearly the started due to injury for that team because in addition to putting the TEAM first when he graciously lost his starting QB role, his play was absolutely critical to the team winning a must-win game in the playoffs when Brady went down. Bledsoe entered the AFC chanpionship game with the Pats actually down. He had an essential impact for the SB win in that he led the team to the winning TD pass in that game. Like Bledsoe or not, I think it is clear that like Earl Morrall the mediocre (but long lived QB who had an essential impact on the Colts winning the SB that year) was essential for that TEAM to win an SB. The bottomline is simply that in response to the lead question in this thread yes there are lots of examples of medicore QBs being at the helm of SB winning teams. When one adds to that the fact that definition of whether a QB had a mediocre career is really subjective since it is not unreasonable to declare any SB winning QB as having far more than a mediocred QB record, Garo Yepremian actually threw and INT (was it a fumble) in his QB stint at the helm of what most agree was the best NFL team ever. 3. In addition for Bills purposes in the real world this thread asks the wrong question. As a Bills fan I do not want this team to worry aboutwhether the QB is an SB winning quality QB but instead is the player merely a playoff appearance ready QB. It would simply be insane if the Bills were happy to mortgage the future of "merely" having a playoff qualifying level QB because we insist on having a proven SB winning QB. Should we have done anything necessary to get FA Peyton Manning because he has won an SB even if it would have taken blowing the team's salary cap for '12 and also likely force us to give an ownership share to get Manning to sign since he was the only proven SB winning QB out there? It seems clear to me that the Bills would have been foolish to do whatever it took to get an definite SB winning QB on this team. One has to walk before trying to run and actually our goal is to learn to crawl before we try to even walk,

Some would say that hiring a guy who died in 83 to play Nix is fairly accurate type casting.

But I'm rubber and you're glue

but then you didn't get to the part where I talked about your momma.

For me the answer is none really as I will not be impressed until I see the players myself when pre-season practice starts and until I see a few exhibition games or until reports of the first real fights between teammates competing in camp come out (and strong leadership and a recognition thar there is no I in TEAM forces these warriors to make up). However, like many I am quite impressed by how this team which has to actually show folks the money in the CBA finally seems to be doing so in real life and how they are making some pretty dynamic moves which show confidence in Gailey's proven ability to run a productive O even with a flawed QB. However, there are a few what I consider notable reports of individuals which I find impressive at this early stage where I am quite easy to impress. 1. The OL performed pretty well last year despite my initial sense that this group was in way over their heads in terms of talent and the amount of time that would be needed to develop chemistry to compensate was not likely to happen. However, thanks to some impressive play calling and preparation by the team they were able to mount a few impressive comebacks early in last season. Fitzy showed a lot in good quick decision-making and the player quality was good enough to withstand some very bad breaks with injuries lasr year that did impress this watcher but still I entered this season with grave OL doubts. However, the scuttlebutt from the OTAs and what may turn out to be a fortunate injury to Pears which has given Glenn a ton of reps at LT and Hairston retaining starter reps at RT indicates to me there will be good competition with the winner likely being at least satisfactory at LT being a good sign for the OL. A bunch of moving parts will still need to perform and mesh in order for the OL not to be a constant deficit, but so far so good. 2. WR remains a serious unanswered question for this team which simply does not have a reliable or proven #2 WR. Of the possibilities, no one from Jones to Easley has stepped up yet so much remains to be seen. However, the selection of Graham with a far higher pick than many had him going was a real headscratcher when not only did the Bills pick him early but traded value to step up and pick him. The question of how Gailey is going to use the WR resources in his hands remains (and may well not be solved until regular season as much as what we should see in pre-season will be vanilla schemes) but often one gets a sense pretty early of whether a surprise pick was merely a miscalculation of talent and football ability (alot of talk about how a player is a project or work in progress with a particular scary element (speed would be the thing in Graham's case)but also questions get raised early about some problem such as bad hands or the player being stupid. While it remains to be seen how Gailey plans to utilize Graham's talents, the early signs seem to indicate that he is likely to be a useful player right from the start. He and Fitzy seem to be clicking and Graham himself is not overmatched as a true 7rh round talent who somehow lucked into a 3rd round pick might already be starting to show. Much left to be shown before I am truly impressed but I am breathing a sigh of relief that this might be a useful pick in a still to be shown scheme and unit. 3. Its not yet to a point of overt expression of the competition for jobs appearing yet (we will see on field fights between teammates over a few too many head slaps in the trenches once pre-season camp starts and this is a pretty natural and to some degree needed process- winning teams are found not in that they never beat each other up in practice but instead how quickly and well they come together and get over these hard fought competitions that shows a team is becoming a TEAM). Its still too early to get all high and mighty about a DL that on the face of it should force opponents immediately into a max protect mode which takes not only the TE out of the pass pattern as the 4 DL players demand double teams which not only calls for 6 players on the OL but one of your RBs first job is not to get into the pattern but to be ready to do blitz pick-up when Mario or Kyle simply beats the dt with his first step. Yet, there are some initial signs of swagger such as Mario calling Anderson the little guy that bodes well for the great expectations we have for the DL. When one adds in the early reports of Merriman potentially showing some of his old signs from the finally done surgery and his still young age, one has to be impressed even though we have not seen the real deal yet. It is early in the season but I am impressed that this team can even consider the possibility of allocating a roster spot to a strong legged kick-off specialist. I doubt they can do this but if the ST laden draft gives us the freedom to do this, it may well prove to be a combination of a lot of touchbacks AND also saving Lindell's leg for PK duties which might be phenomenal to see. I still do not think this is reality yet but pre- preseason is a time for dreams.

Fitzy is gonna be important if the Bills run an O that depends upon him playing well as a standard QB. I doubt he would be able to do it. In fact, I like Fitzy as a QB. He is a smaart guy and a smart player. He is a bit more athleticlly gifted than what I would expect from a Harvard boy. However, even with better upsides than I would have expected, he needs to show this observer a lot more before I would count on him as my starter. Yet, there is a lot more and his name is Chan Gailey who is operating as OC as well as HC. The very good news for the Bills is that Gailey has demonstrated at ;east time and again (and I think again) that he can run an effective O with a very flawed QB like a Fiedler or his revival of Kordell. The VY signing is so great not because VY is such a great (or even good at times) player it is because he is an athletically gifted player with a set of different flaws that Gailey can work with. Again the good news for the Bills is that while there unfortunately no proof or even incidence (yet) of Chan being able to even make (much less win) an SB, if the Bills even make the playoffs (with a flawed QB or not) this will be a serious step forward for this team. Is Fitzy Peyton Manning (or even Eli)? Nope (don't make me laugh I am trying to disarm a bomb). Heck Fitzy is not even near Brad Johnson or wharhisname the recovering alcoholic who won an SB wuth Ray Lewis and the Bal defense carrying his butt). The goal is simply to make the playoffs this year and I am pretty confident that a smart streaky guy like Fitzy (backed up by a mentally challenged but athletically gifted streaky guy like Vince can QB a solid D into the playoffs.

The answer of course is who knows beyond the supreme being of your choice. However, I think the relevant answer (unknowable chance which is the biggest factor aside since this is merely the web) the two factors relevant to our thought are: 1. is the medical work good? My guess is yes, as though the leadership of Nix vs. the leadership of TD is different, the medical expertise available to Mr. Ralph and the Bills in Buffalo is probably the same folks as those that made the correct medical call Magahee (the mental call on this Mr. Dad sperm donor was not very good though)and also did some impressive medical calls and work on whatever that TEs name was who got paralyzed in a game a couple of years ago. The medical crew with the Bills seems to have convinced Merrimen to finally undergo a surgeries he had tried to avoid and apparently the work was done and he has healed as well as could be expected from this still quite young player. I do not anticipate any big medical problems and actually look forward to the old Merrimen coming back medically from whar I hear. 2. How will Merrimen be used- I feel pretty good about this also as it seeme the Bills will get a huge contribution from what Merrimen might do in addition to what he does. I thought it was quite impressive whar he did in his firsr initial work in pre-season last year. He showed signs of being a clear monster that opposing OCs would have to plan for every play (whether he us in or not the opponent needs to practice every play the week before as if he was in). I think when gametime occurs we will see Gaikey/Wannstedt use Merrimen judiciously. They will tell him let it all fly when you are in the game because we only plan initially to use you in brief play. If Merrimen performs like he did initially until the injury issue emerged then he will set fear in the plans of opposing OCs. I think this will be great for us. If he produces even a mere 6 or so sacks personally he will actually be respomsible for another 20-30 merelt by lining up on the opposite side from Mario or whomever and the O drifts toward Merrimen just in case he is coming. Used judiciously wer and tear on him will be minimal but the impact might be huge.

Thanks to all and any for the sympathy! It was as good as these thin gruel of funerals get actually with a lot of nice testimonials from a lot of young folk who had drawn inspiration from interacting with my Dad. Somewhat ironic since we never had much of a leave it to beaver relationship when I was a kid, but as I ended up feeling pretty satisfied with the result (and stupidly lucky as my father-in-law turned out to be the Dad my natureal father never was) the testimonials simply felt good I have more brothers and sisters than I ever imagined.

These predictions are probably worth less than the photons they are printed on as injuries starting in week one will likely change the outlook. However, at this point in the season the Bills are simply undefested so optimism seems appropriate @ NY Jets 1:00 - Normally I would log this one as a likely loss since we are on the road. However, the story of this game is likely to be how Sanchez/Tebow get a long and how the Jets braintrust deals with it and the team ends up feeling about. It may work but I do not think it bodes well. The Bills will simply need to pressure the Jets O as quickly and as much as the can. If Sanches makes a mistake under duress from Mario and his brothers it is only gonna take .5 milliseconds for palpable pressure to bring in Tebow begins and the ride starts. I really like the Bills stealing one here! Sept. 16 Kansas City 1:00 - The one factor which I think often plays a significant role in each game is who is at home. Ironically, by setting up an immediate irritant of a road trip against the Jets in the first game it may well be the case the first jets home game is a bigger problem for them as the media figures out how it is going to tell the Tebow/Sanchez story. The Bills however get a real home game advantage against KC and this should be quite winnable for the Bills to end up 2-0 as the season begins Sept. 23 @ Cleveland 1:00 - Will be a tough game as it will be a road trip for the Bills, but it is a short one with the team practicing at the Ralph until the last minute and actually only going on the road on Saturday after practice if they want and simply sleeping in Cleveland the night before. The Brown also are rebuilding so this game is certainly winnable though we will see. Call us 1-2 even though I am optimistic one should be realistic gettin a W in merely one of the first two roadgames would be a big get! Sept. 30 New England 1:00 - In many ways the course of the season will be set in this game. The Bills have already beaten a heavily favored NE team at home last year and my guess is that the Bills will be seen as a much more even threat for the Pats and may even be favored at home this year. If we win and are 3-1 we will end up holding our destiny in our own hands, if we lose next year will be a struggle all season. I see us at 3-1 at this point. Oct. 7 @ San Francisco 4:15 - Difficult game against a team which was good last year and the first cross county trip for this team. It should be competitive but I fear a loss giving us 3-2 at this point. Oct. 14 @ Arizona 4:05 - another long trip but this is now something the Bills have experienced and I hope for a win here that will reinforce a positive tone for the season. 4-2. Oct. 21 Tennessee 1:00 Back home and with a chance to really establish something and enjoy the bye week leading to a W and 5-2 Oct. 28 Bye Nov. 4 @ Houston 1:00 a real test on the road but Gailey has a chance to prepare and install giving this team a chance to either make the rest of the season positive or a struggle. I think ironically Houston also may be have a bye to prepare and Gailey needs to be really up to his game or the season merely will be a life death struggle. The optimist looks for us to really steal one we should not. 6-2 Nov. 11 @ New England 1:00 Nice but I do not see it 6-3 Nov. 15 Miami 8:20 Squish the fish in this "home" game. Nov. 25 @ Indianapolis 1:00 I hope they are as bad this season as they were last. The odds say they will be. Even if Luck is even better than hoped Peyton Manning himself raised Indy from the 3-13 record that got him picked to a record of 3-13 which allowed them to pick Edggerin James. I make a rediculous prediction of us being 8-3 at this point. Dec. 2 Jacksonville 1:00 Back home against a marginal team makes us likey to end the playoff drought even if we stumble in as we should be 9-3 Dec. 9 St. Louis 1:00 Home win gives us double figures for the first time in a long time Dec. 16 Seattle* 4:05 - Long road trip brings a stumble 10-4 Dec. 23 @ Miami 1:00 - Even though road squish the fish and spit on the corpse 11-4 Dec. 30 NY Jets 1:00 - Finish at home beating Sanchez to death with Walking Dead Tebow for an amazing 12-4. season and substantial home field advantage in playoffs Even figuring that my wishful think is wrong I still see us making the playoffs at 11-5 or 10-6 at worse. The best thing I like about us is the depth of the rotation on DL, at RB and also at QB (I thibk both Fitzy and VY are pretty flawed but Gailey specializes at winning with flawed QBs so probably Fitzy being streaky or VY doing a kordell imitation are both fine with me.

Actually, my apologies for any mispellings, it was a tough night though I only wish my ramblings stemmed from the temporary fun that a hangover implies. I was a bit tired when I scribbled as I had just returned to the lovely homestead in Buffalo on the last flight of the day from Midway airport where I had been attending my Dad's funeral. I guess it is fairly thin gruel but his death was in many ways a blessing as it ended roughly two months when he in an a rehab (allegedly) center under care for a heart stoppage. His heart was restarted due to quick CPR from a 24/7 home healthcare aide who lived in his home, but given the denial of oxygen his brain suffered for at least a couple of minutes, the "quick" action probably only bought a couple of months of suffering in the emergency room and then the extended care center where he spent his last two months on the planet. I was a bit tired when I hit the TSW (hence the miscues) but it was nice to see at least one reply which got the point that: 1. Gailey has a pretty proven record of success with substndard QBs to the level of producing consistent winners with the uber-talented but fatally flawed as a QB Kordell and even made the playoffs led by the lackluster and ultimately failed as a QB Fiedler (I do not know the exact history of substandard QBs on other team's but didn't Gailey also play a signifcant role in squeezing better performance than his talent level out of Bulger at QB? 2. The Bills approach this year seems interesting and to make some sense. Demand of Gailey that he produce similar offense results that he already has demonstrated in the past, but also really load up in the front 4 (and maybe front 7 if Merriman produces like even a shade of his former production as one of the best young defenders in the NFL). The Bills should be able to rotate in a DL with 4 players as least three of whom demand a double-team. By forcing opposing OCs to essentially max protect the QB from the start (5 OL players who first job is blocking and also the TE gets a first call blocking assignment and comes out of the pass pattern, and now in addition, one of the RBs first call is now blitz pick-up if anybody on the OL gets beaten) this essentially leaves the QB 3 receiving options who are covered by 4-6 Bills depending upon their blitz calls. It simply get unpleasant pretty quick for the opposing offense. 3. What dies this have to do with the O? A. Field position B. Turnovers. The two folks who should be happiest about the Bills off-season acquisitions are Jarius Byrd who has already demonstrated great opportunistic felony skills which got him a deserved Pro Bowl berth as a rookie. He has got to be salivating in that a key role for him is going to be as a centerfielder trying to diagnose which of three passing options the QB is going to chose (or even worse for the QB if he is going to hold the ball and try to hit one his blitz pick-up guys who releases from his initial blocking assignment and tries to get out into a pass route. Byrd should have tons of opportunities as a FS to diagnose plays and swoop in for a pick-off. The other happy sole should be Fitzy though as he should get the both the benefit of a short field after turnovers and also he is free to take risks because if he does and throws his own INTs or goes three and out, the Bills rotating DL comes in and harrases the opponent. Gailey winning once with a flawed QB is simply an incident. His winning twice may well simply be a coincidence. However him showing good offensive chops with a substandard QB three times can reasonably be thought of as a trend. I like the approach we are taking and though one should always be concerned whether your QB should be better (without regard to whether your QB is Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf) I think worry about Fitzy is probablt misplaced as Gailey has shown he can win consistenly with a substandard QB. Again my apologies for the rambling and misspelling. Between my Dad'sdeath and also the case of MS I have causing late night fatigue hurts the spelling.

Gailey has shown the ability to win and even make the play offs with marginal QB talent before with marginal talent at QB. He might have do this again Fitz blows up again but he could under Lee/Gailey lead a winner and crawl to the playoffs.

While I doubt Lee can make mere changes in mechanics which transform an impressive sportsman who has registered so-so results (at best)intp a consistent winner, I do think that real world results have shown us that Gailey has the ability to construct an offense which has a so-so player at QB into a consistent winner. I do not know the exact #s but my sense is that if one compared the QB ratings (not a perfect measure of a QB but the best we got)of QBs like Kordell and Bulger before Hailey got to them and after they were chosen and learned to implement the Gailey O style one would see some pretty amazing transformation in the statistical rating of the QB. Can Lee turn iron into goal or a sow's ear into a silk purse? Nope pretty doubtful. However, can running an O designed for the limited talents of an O with some good mentl upsides as well result in notasbly better W/L performance? The real world results say YES. The actual results give me good confidence in Gailey as an HC with some great offensive chops. However, the real world says clearly this is not sufficient to make a team SB worthy. The interesting thing for us is that we are not simply relying on Gailey's proven ability to get us to the promised land but we are also augmenting this with: 1. A vastly improved D which at this point appears to have at least 3 DL players who demand a double-team (super Mario, Pro Bowl worthy Williams and higly rated and good freshman year Dareus) and also MIGHT have a surgically recovered and still young player at DE/OLB. This D shows reasonable potential to both deliver the ball with good field position to the O but also save the Os butt when it makes a mistake. 2. A renewed focus on ST which has the supplement of not only proven in the past leadership, but also is clearly drafting players with college demonstrated ST results and with an eye toward some plan (likely beyond the ken of us mere mortals who are not lucky enough to be paid hundreds of thousands annually to run an ST. 3. Some fairly demonstrated skill ST players in former Pro Bowler Moorman and all time successful Bills kicker Lindell. 4. The unfortunate fact a goal of vast improvement is not making the SB but simply making the playoffs. I think it really misses the point to merely calculate whether Lee can QB coach us to vast statiscal improvement, the question is whether the interlocking pieces of what is the best team game in professional sports can achieve not too lofty improvements in its WL to also cause some fairly massive improvement in the statistical accomplishments of the QB. I think there is little doubt this is possible and merely through the law of averages says this result is probably evem likely unless Mr. Ralph does something stupid like rely upon a beancounter like Littman to buid this team rather than turn the keys over to trained football on field professionals. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day and in this case folks are quite reasonably excited as mr. Ralph may well after over a decade have stimbled on to a playoff worthy team.

Meaning that when he scores a TD (and we hope he scores alot) he chooses to ACT like he has been there before and does not throw in the antics which earned him and his teamates a couple of penalties last year1

Many thanks. I think the other issue which is going to factor heavily into this which is pretty impossible to predict is going to be WHO AND IF Fitzy devekios a chemistry with. This factor can have a huge impact on real world performance as if the QB and WR tend to make the same reads and adjustments they can end up doing things that are either high risk or simply do not happen based on their previous stats and performance. My sense last year was that Nelson and Fitzy often seemed to be on the same page and unique things happened. Historically we saw a situation like Kelly/Reed where part of the reason that both performed at a level which got one in the HOF and the other knocking on the door was not only that they were great players but that they simply saw and did the same things together. My aenae is that Graham may be speedier and that Johnson is a better route runner, but I will not be surprised to see Nelson/Fitz being the go to option. Another factor will be playcalling. The guy who wins the #2 job is going to be the one Gailey has no problem calling their #. This will happen not simply because of the demographics of size or speed but because this particular player simply refuses to lose or give up on the ball. This is why when prodded for a prediction that may well be wrong, my aense is Nelson may end up commanding the #2 job.

Agreed. At WR its all about plan B. Stevie Jounson is clearly plan A (a reasonable one given two straight productive seasons and some specific play such as his undressing of a best in the NFL CB Revis in a couple of games). However he simply has shown a couple of cases of utter immaturity which makes him a bet to be a deserved #1 simply a bet we hope we win rather than a sure thing. The Bills have publicly bet a lot on Johnson as seen by him getting the prominent role in Bills commercials, but as we seen with the all too prominent quandary of injury which wiped out the season of last year's promo poster boy Fred Jackson that this is just a high stakes bet. Fortunately in the Jax case we had a plan B of Spiller whose resume made him a not unreasonable choice to step into the #1 RB slot. He even pproduced at the end of the season like he is the real deal and the Nills have to be feeling good about the uncertainties which simply come with the NFL these days at all positions at RB. However, at WR, we not only have the reasonable uncertainties with the #1, but the #2 role is up in the air. The situation MIGHT work out to be fine. However, it really is going to take at least two players stepping up to occupy roles they never have produced at as NFL players for this to work smoothly. With the ASSUMPTION that Stevie J. has a not unreasonable (but in no way gauranteed maturity transplant and makes sure he does not let down his teammates with mental antics which get him benched (his benching last year after a T-Shirt demo was more than reasonable as he called out both the HC and refs with its innocuous taunt. He really let down his teammates with the selfish antics. Maybe he can reasonably show boat when he (earn a Pro Bowl level berth or even better lead a winning team, but for now he has something to prove. He has the talent to be a legit #1, and he has also shown he is a gamer playing well through injury but the juvenalia has to stop. I think he can do it and apparently the Bills have shown him the money and promoted him prominently as a team leader that they believe in him too. If Johnson fails through injury its a tough break but if he fails through immaturity its on him. Donald Jones- on depth chart as #2, but this is likely in name only as if he performed at the level of a good #4 40+ catches this would be a reasonble step up for him in performance. Has shown none of the mutant production of a traditional #3 like toughness and production in the slot(Parrish actually showed some potential for this mentally but his body could not cash checks his mind wrote)or dynamic speed (another Parrish virtue but again he just got too damaged to be relied upon). Jones to me is a reasonable but in no way gauranteed plan C and as our plan B while stranger things have happened it is nothing at all to depend on. Nelson- I actually like him as the potential big surprise at a plan B level. The problem is that this would be a surprising and enormous step up for him. He had some nice highlights last year and a couple of his grabs showed some bigtime potential. However, the distance betweem doing this in nice episodes and doing thie consistently is huge. Here is another player who would be nicely advancing his career and play if he turned out to be a solid #3 at the end of the season, but we are looking for a #2. Marcus Easley- potential simply means you have not done anything yet. Nice demographics in terms of sixe, speed, and college resume, but how someone can count on him to be the @2 seems little more than wishful hoping. TJ Graham- An interesting pick and it really is impossible to accuratelu predict what will happen until we see not only whether the raw talent which both saw the Bills trade up to get him but many pundit idiots had him as a probable 6th round pick. One cannot teach speed (without regard to what Don Beebe makes nickels doing and Graham's collegiate record gives some credibility that IF the scouts saw something he MIGHT be a credible pick by the Bills. However, even this is a big MAYBE and again counting on any rook to be the #2 WR is a huge longshot at best. A cast of others- There are a number of guys who might contribute on ST or career reliable back-ups who are late season fill-ins when injury bites like a Namaan Roosevelt but I see nothing here that excites me as potential A, B. Cs, or even plan D players. I think this might work if a couple of guys really step up. I just doubt that it will work bacl in reality.

There is nothing hear of any import to blame anyone for in my humble opinion. One of the interesting paradoxes here is that in the real world pro football and the NFL really are not all that important. Certainly whether a team wins or loses has little real impact and no long-term impact at all for the world as a whole and even for folks in the town of the team which wins it all (perhaps one can make a case that winning the first SB makes a palpable difference in Title Town Green Bay but in terms of the world writ large or even in our little haunt called America the question of who wins the SB in any given year is little more than a little noticed blip. Sports is of a great interest to me because it is entertaining. In a let them eat cake kind of way I simply enjoy sharing the fate of the Bills with my family and the region. My best experience as a Bills fan and one which I value more than all others was actually prompted by the LOSS of the first SB. The virtually impromptu gathering of 20,000 folks in Niagara Square to welcome back our vanquished (metaphorically speaking that is) warriors was a palpable moment of togetherness in our rough and tumble quite rich but quite separated society. The moment when Scotty Norwood begged forgiveness and the crowd as a one gave it still gives me goose pimples (this was a flash mobe before Ipads and Blackberries even existed). As a person born in Chicago and longtime Cub fan (though the recent roundly repudiated effort by the Cub owner to try to buy the federal election result with a $10 million factually inaccurate but defendable campaign has endangered even my lifetime Cub loyalty) I know first hand that while W/Ls are the only stat which really matters in sports, that actually a team can make it their stock in trade to wrack up Ls in a particular way to make the sport fan experience the best thing going. Would I trade 4 Bills SB losses for 1 Bills SB win? No way! The four losses in a row were such a great ride for such a long time that I think it would be a far worse deal to get the more brief exultation of winning once. It is a question of whether I would rather be a Buffaloanian willing to buy a Bills of good around their marketing of TO because the 4 year ride cemented me as a Bills lover or instead be a Colts fan who has had the joy of winning it all once but now they are living through the disaster or having to trade Peyton Manning in part due to the marketplace and salary commitments which came with their win. I would easily take 4 years of losses and the feelings it bred to help me still believe after a decade+ of failure than to instead have the win once and devolvement of Indy (some folks do seem to win a lot more than 1 but if the cost of this is you end up being Bill Bellicheat then I would rather even be Indy). In the end, I see no problem with folks getting sucked in and fooled by the marketing scheme which brought TO here as it did provide a brief but real false hope of a return to glory. Certainly I have rooted for teams both that have historically loss (the Cubs and Bills) and have rooted for teams that have mounted great victories in single years ('85 Bears) and over longer periods (MJ lead Bulls) given a simple choice between winning and losing I prefer winning. However, in this life we do not get to simply choose our fate in many areas. Again the simple fact is that though I prefer rooting for a winner, this experience comes no where near the entertainment and actually the transcendental value of still loving my decade plus losing Bills and a lifetime plus of failure to win it all from the Cubs.

Naw, why wait. Looking at the facts one thing that is certain now is that Wanny is undefeated in the role of being DC. Why wait until this claim is no longer true.