Hplarrm

Like HCs, I think QBs get too much credit for wins and too much blame for losses. Its actually a little more reasonable for QBs since they do handle the ball on virtually all offensive plays, but they simply can be very important but rarely are all important to a games outcome. This being said, I can see why a real watcher with some knowledge saw something special in TEs play such that he publicly and personally put his rep on the line talking TE up. Yes the early part of the 2008 season were among the worst in the league, but having seen the worst in the league beat the best in the league every pro game is a pro game and every win is a win. With the team on a roll and actually the weak competition covering up the poor offensive scheming which has always been part of the Jauron MO, my subjective view of the young Edward was that he was a very good athlete, with a good head on his shoulders who showed an understanding of the game in terms of throwing tight passes and making good quick decisions. Even better, Edwards showed more mobility and running ability than I was led to believe in his early write-ups. However, before we get too creamy about this, I do not think that Edwards is the franchise QB the Bills want to and will hitch their wagon to. This is not because I think Edwards is a bad player (I think he is good and still young). The problem is that in his fairly brief time he meets my objective criteria for being labeled injury prone. I lay this label on a player who misses PT three separate times in 2 seasons of play for three different injuries (An injury prone player to me is not a player with a recurring nagging injury such as Jimbo who always had bursa sac issues with this recurring injury. Rob Johnson was the classic injury prone player who every time he got his something else would get strained or fractured. In his first two seasons TE missed significant PT with: 1. Out during his first season with a wrist injury 2. Missed significant practice time which was a critical need of his with an unspecified injury (which Jauron pointedly said was not his wrist) in his second season/ 3. Got literally knocked out with a serious concussion I like Edwards skills when he plays. I think many on this board were too harsh on him for the most part due to fans and the local media feeding the whiny voices among fans demanding that their QB replicate their memory of the achievements of HOF Jim Kelly. This fantasy memory is further stoked by 10 years without a playoff. Ironically, Edwards himself also stoked this expectation by playing so well upon his emergence into the NFL. If Edwards had started more slowly (like being on the PS his first year, been the disaster QB his second year, and then earned the back-up role his third year to finally win the starter slot he now occupies folks might have reasonably wanted it to be quicker but would argue it was fine. Instead, when it turned out to be the case that in his second season he needed some work to become a more complete player (well duh). I think after 3 seasons the conventional wisdom actually can kick in now and folks might only now reasonably conclude whether he is a bust, franchise, or a work in progress. In terms of quality of work I think it is clear he is a work in progress. I am happy to skip him to go with a better candidate. However, neither Fitzy or Brohm has shown anything in real games that demands that they play and in the absence of clear alternative Edwards is correctly the man (for now). The nice thing about this is that it seems to be a good way to go about developing the initially highly touted Brohm who got passed over big time in GB. A lack of confidence seems to be a central issue for him, and the good news is that Gailey is not going to let the team (driven by Ralph who started the stupid QN judgment when he blew an assessment of how much Jimbo had left to the extent he made a handshake deal with Kelly to reward him in his next contract (I have always wondered whether part of the outrageous delay in putting Mr. Ralph in the HOF was because he publicly cheated his team owner partners by flagrantly ignoring the salary cap with the handshake agreement- At any rate Gailey is breaking the Mr. Ralph led habit of simply giving the QB job to a player who has not earned in on the field). If Brohm is actually going to be a franchise QB he will take the job from Edwards in this fair competition. If he does not take it with his performance he does not deserve it anyway. The final irony in this for me is that though I like his play I doubt that Edwards will get or deserves the starter job because he is injury prone. Yet, he is a youngster and the proof will be in the reality of whether he is actually injury prone or not.

Sorry that the stridency comment was directly linked as a reply to your note as it was actually probably the stridency of the post you were replying to that struck me as over the top. That post declared there would never be another professional football team in Buffalo (as though anyone can see the future with absolute certainty). This totally ignores the asset which Buffalo has that it has enjoyed having an NFL team for several decades. I think that we will likely retain the Bills because the marketplace is not individual municipalities but the marketplace is the TV viewing audience. Our 40 years of history is part of the storytelling which makes the product more real to the marketplace and to throw away an important part of what your selling is bad business. Add to that the business ramifications of endangering the partial anti-trust exemption. Even if the NFL were to choose to throw away this asset, the idea that there is no way we get a franchise back when for anyone who chooses to follow the path which Mr. Ralph, the Donald, the MacMahon followed of starting a competing league would have to be very tempted to try to start their league with a Buffalo franchise in order to harvest the 40 years of WNY market development would make sense. Its not hard at all to understand the argument that if 2010 conditions existed in 1959 the different choices would have been made in founding the AFL and Buffalo would not have gotten a team. I totally agree. However, I think one would also understand that if lets say the NFL abandoned Buffalo (though I doubt this would suit NFL profit maximization to do this though it might suit Ralph's estates interests to do this- but it seems clear that Ralph's estate would be bound by the contractual pledges Ralph made and one of those is that the team would only be sold to someone judged qualified by 75% of the other owners- if someone wants to argue that Ralph's estate could sell to Osana bin Laden or Rush Limbaugh if they are the high bidder then they should feel free to argue that) that this abandonment would not occur in 1959 but 2010 or later. If the Bills left there is no way a team would come here given 2010 demographics in the 1959 situation. However, I am arguing that the truth is not only 2010 demographics but the 2010 situation. meaning any new team here would reap the benefits of a lot of marketing to this area that has built up a habit of slavish devotion to our areas football team. If a new league came along, a Buffalo franchise would get not only its share of the joint TV money (and with its connection to the old NFL history Buffalo's presence in a new league would give it an added degree of credibility and good storytelling), but if it merely garnered half the season ticket sales, sales of local commercials to local businesses that currently do commercials around Bills games, and harvesting merely half of what the Bills benefit from now, would make a Buffalo franchise in any new pro football league a valuable commodity. Would a new league be possible? Sure, new pro football leagues have popped up with the XFL, Arena League, USFL and AFL with some frequency. My sense is that the NFL abandoning WNY (though I doubt this would make profit maximization sense for the NFL to do) would make this general idea even more possible.

Again its about profit maximization. The real money (and thus the market) is in the TV audience and not from the stadium proceeds. Stadiums and individual markets are an important additional revenue stream, but its all about profit maximization so follow the money. It really is amazing that folks are so strident about comparing individual municipalities and then want to claim its all about the profits.

More than trick plays I look for trick schemes. This to me would be a sign of Gailey operating at a different level than the norm. What this means to me is that Gailey is able to put out a certain group of players or show a particular look and then through motion or or play call he then fools the other team by running a different play than they expect. For example, I hope we see the Bills actually come out with Jackson, Lynch, and Spiller all in the game. Then through efforts like Spiller going in motion (which gets him out into space where he is most dangerous anyway)or even lining ups Lynch or Spiller our wide the opponent sends out a package with a lot of run stoppers, but because Gailey has us go into a spread we end up with mismatches on passing routes. Likewise if the DC instead sends out his nickel or even a dime package we use the numerous running threats we now have in the game to shred the DBs out to cover our receivers.

Its good news that Jackson is producing as a wideout. I think one of the biggest holes on the Bills is the loss of the teams leading receiver in terms of catches and yards. Say what you want to about TO but the Bills simply will need to have another target besides Evans or other teams will simply just dt Evans and force us to run. I am really frightened that rather than demanding that the ball be thrown his way through production, Jackson actually saw his stats go backwards last year. We not only need adequacy but we need a threat opposite Evans or our O is cooked.

You are exactly right that what the NFL would be interested in is profit maximization. Profit maximization comes from exploiting the marketplace. In your grandmother's NFL where decision-making was made or driven by individual team owners prior to the first and second CBAs the marketplace was individual municipalities. Under the new NFL where players became partners in the first CBA and arguably the majority partners under the current CBA where they commanded 60.5% of the total gross revenues the market is the eyeballs commanded by the ultimate cash cow the networks. This plays to WNY's advantage as though flat out Buffalo can not compete with other Sunbelt cities in terms of cash delivery too the individual owner, the actual marketplace is the eyeballs of the entire world.Teams can be anywhere because the real money comes from the broadcast of the story. The worth of the Bills come from its connection to the 40 years of history as part of the story and what new eyeballs in Mexico City, Tokyo, or Europe would be joining. If you asked the NFL whether they would want to exploit the Portland, LA, Buffalo markets, the obvious answer for profit maximization is all of them.

Congrats Rich on your real estate dealings. i hope it works out for you and yours. I think the Bills/Cleveland comparison is an interesting thing not so much due to the demographics but because consideration of this case actually shows how demographics and certainly not local electoral leadership were not the key factors in what happened. As best as I can tell, if there was one key to point at it would have been the partial anti-trust exemption enjoyed by the NFL and the potential impacts of this move on how 2 senators and a bunch of house members would have played with that. I suspect if the only team playing games in NYS were to abandon the city, the risks would emerge as to the anti-trust exemption and the NFL would do what it deemed necessary to protect that. Whether that outcome would be to Buffalo fans benefit remains to be seen, but the simple case is that no Senator wants it on their resume which they tote to election day that they get labeled in WNY as not fighting for WNY interests. The other factor which I think will come into play is that the NFL reaction to dealing with a potential Bills move is gonna be what generates the most cash for the NFL. I think most brains are actually locked into an old mode which falsely looks at the driver as what is in the interest of the individual team owner like an Art Modell or Bob Irsay. However, I think it became clear with the last CBA that this is old thinking. The NFL long ran kicking and screaming from the individual model when the NFLPA threatened to dissolve itself. Rather than competing in a free market, the NFL saw that there was more money to be made for the individual team owner in a more socialistic system of the CBA. This was underscored in the last CBA negotiation where Gene Upshaw dictated that the final deal would not only have to give a share of all assets (not simply designated assets to the players) but that share needed to start with a 6 (60.5%) was the final deal). I think it is a false conclusion that the Bills will have to be sold to the highest bidder without regard to who that bidder might be. In act it will have to be sold to the highest "qualified" bidder which will be determined by 75% of the current owners agreeing (Osana Bin Laden and Rush Limbaugh need not apply for example no matter how much money they could muster. It really all depends on what is happening when Mr. Ralph kicks the bucket. my guess is if this were to happen at a time when a lot of players were free to play in the free market due to a lockout that one would see the NFLPA move to create more competition for players contracts to increase their take. If the WNY market were open because the NFL walked away then they would be foolish not to exploit the market.

The answer is of course it both helps and hurts. It is most helpful for the individual player to practice against the best competition he can get. For the individual player it actually hurts them to perfect their techniques against lesser competition than they will face in the regular season. On the other hand, it hurts the team in its execution to be unable to run through and perform the plays as their designed because they are so outclassed by the defenders. It actually may be a confidence booster for the D to outclass the O, but again in the long run as the O begins to look more and more befuddled and less NFL like the benefit of the D outclassing them diminishes. The best thing by far is escalating quality play by the O and the D so all in all a gross difference is not what one wants.

I would be great to have him signed before the first game. The handwriting was on the wall that the two sides had no choice but to make a deal. There was never even any posturing by the Spiller side that they never sign a bad deal or by the Bills that they would let Spiller twist in the wind if necessary. This is important in that even if he was not signed yet, communication between Gailey and unsigned players started right away as soon as a player was drafted and Spiller got the playbook and assignments as to how to prepare himself to the extent he could without taking the field. He has lost reps which can never come back, but if everyone was smart as long as he is signed prior to the first game a lot can be reclaimed.

The experiences of the last few decades have demonstrated in the real world there are a number of things which are quite useful and in fact essential to starting a competing football league to the NFL, Mostly the efforts are failures in an of themselves (the USFL or the XFL) and in one case this effort (the AFL) was a granf success in that it forced the NFL to open its doors to competing owners like Mr. Ralph and the huge at the time but now in Mr. Ralph's lifetime incredibly small investment of 10s of thousands turned into what is approaching a billion dollar property. Any new effort would have to weave together an incredible mosaic of assets in order to survive. An empty fanbase of approaching 50,000 folks who are ready and willing to buy NFL season tickets, a stadium owned by the County and now sitting empty, a the real cash cow for the NFL, the TV networks having a seeming insatiable need to televise even a carwreck like the XFL all sitting out there. An abandoned Buffalo would be an incredible asset for someone trying to weave together the mosaic. Would this effort fail to create a surviving league? Almost certainly. However, what the real world has shown us is several things. 1. Even when these efforts are failures in terms of creating a sustainable economic entity, the failures are not only survivable for the cash behind the new effort (the Donald was a big driver behind the USFL) but in fact the driver can make out like a bandit from the failed effort (the MacMahon where the the wife of this team is riding the Tea Party impetus to where she appears about to beat the GOP standard bearer for the GOP nomination and then she will run against the badly wounded Dem for the Senate seat. 2. The efforts whether abject failures like the USFL or successes like the AFL have the effect of spurring the old American standby called competition and one effect either way is a huge increase in salaries and power for the players (remember Namath's contract and Jimbo's contract which even though the opposing league was either subsumed or vanquished, the players laughed all the way to the bank. 3. There is new capital in town and in the end cash rules. In the old days source of capital like George Halas ran the ship of state and for decades through nickels around like they were manhole covers (as Ditka once said about Halas). However, in the new world sources of pretty large pools of capital capable of not simply owning a team but even starting a league are around. A lot would depend on timing. However, if the NFL were to abandon Buffalo leaving 40,000+ pissed off folks willing to buy season tickets, an empty stadium owned by Erie County, and a sad but compelling story of the car wreck of almost a million folks left crying by the NFL, Buffalo would be place #1 for the new USFL, new XFL, and yes new AFL to set up a franchise for this new entity. Would it be just as good as the old NFL? No way whatsoever. However, would it be as much of flaming carwreck at the XFL to attract network money to get eyeballs looking at the new league? Not a problem likely. In fact, by involving a Buffalo franchise and working as hard as the MacMahon's worked to create a spectacle (they did actually attract athletes who with names like Me So Horny stuck on their jerseys actually got jobs in the NFL) they would build a model which claimed to return to the days when the NFL was a real football league, it would be interesting. What Buffalo has and no one can take away is its 40 year history as an NFL town and a rabid fan base which even if the NFL is choosing between new money in some sunbelt city or maintaining the bird in the hand of the profitable take that is the Buffalo Bills franchise. This equation might not even be a close call between the entry fee which will be paid by the new franchise and what the Buffalo Bills deliver to the NFL (actually I think that as a whole what the Bills deliver is a bird in the hand which would outpace a new entry). However, were the NFL to simply abandon the Buffalo market, it would simply leave a developed market for any new attempt at a league to suck up and scrape up the money that the NFL just walked away from. Yes, by definition the amount of cash from a WNY franchise is less than the amount of cash in whatever the new franchise is. However, the amount of cash walked away from by the NFL is not insubstantial and really offers a nice piece for a new competitive effort to make a start. From making an effort to attract the unused money to the new product by linking to the old tradition (hence the rhyme of the Buffalo Thrills), occupying the former Rich stadium (heck if Ralph is dead keep the name to link to the NFL tradition), and of likely great importance form an alliance with the NFLPA (yes it will compete with the NFL product but if one thing that successful efforts like the AFL showed us and failed efforts like the USFL showed us the winner in both these efforts were the players as competition drove up the salaries of the players. In fact, if the timing of Mr. Ralph's death were to coincide with a pitch renegotiation battle over the CBA, one might have a situation where a ton of player talent is left either as free agents without a contract or the NFL stops paying and a bunch of well capitalized and organized players are free to set up a competing league which will drive up player salaries. In fact, I think the question arises that if the NFL owners lock the players out how long will it take for Troy Vincent, Takeo Spikes and other rich players who went and got Ivy League business education to threaten or try to start their own league seeking TV networks as a cash cow and driving up the cost of players as a side effect. If such a move were to coincide with Buffalo being on the market, the NFL would be in far greater danger for the new competition to be able to steal from the tradition created (and then abandoned) by the NFL. The thing folks in WNY have to realize (and may not figure this out until the NFL leaves) is that the last 40 years of tradition and the 100s of millions of dollars of bird in the hand wealth of a Buffalo franchise is an asset which the NFL would need to think twice (or 3 or more times) about before it abandoned this asset for someone else to sweeo in and try to use it. My sense is that particularly with the likely NFL expansion targets to be eyeballs in Mexico City, Japan, Europe and elsewhere, having a tie to an Americana asset like the Buffalo Bills is not insubstantial. Even worse for the NFL, to create pictures and films of a crying town abandoned by the NFL is not the story the league wants when it works to sell new franchises in Mexico City. I really doubt it will make market sense for the NFL to abandon WNY and if it does, the opportunity created by this abandonment will create a risky situation but it is risk that is an essential part of reward. WNY;s elected leaders actually are loathe to take risks with the identity of the region, but if the NFL were to leave it would force this risk taking on WNY's leaders whether they like it or not.

If there is a glut of talented players who are free a lot depends on how big the glut is. If enough players are free to do whatever the free market allows, then you need two other ingredients to start a competing league. They are capital and organization. Now that the players have gained so much of the $ through the last CBA the addition of capital and organization sounds like the NFLPA to me. Why would the players want to foster a new league? The good old American way of competition. Just like the impact of the AFL delivered huge contracts to players like Namath and the advent of the ill fated USFL delivered huge $ to Jim Kelly, so too would the development of a competing league deliver more money to the players. Ironically, this is one reason why the NFL might be reluctant to abandon Buffalo, If a new league forming were to coincide with the NFL walking away from Buffalo, an even semi-credible league would immediately have a franchise in Buffalo where there would be a pissed off fan base of 50,000 people with cash they would have spent on the Bills floating around out there with an empty stadium owned by Erie County. The game would be IF the new product is credible enough to draw money from some networks the real cash cow would be accessed.

I also think Bill Walsh was right about TE and the quality of his play. I think the Bills fans who turned on him gave him a raw deal and actually I think he demonstrated that he is much better QB than the indictments some fans rain on him. There were a good chunk of substandard results in his short career, but a lot of these failings I blame on the Bills under Jauron but much of the blame here I think goes to the Bills for never having a working offensive strategy and poor okay calling by the OC. IMHO before the Bills lack of a coherent O plan sidetracked him, Edwards showed his extraordinary ability to read the D, accurate short passing and surprising running ability. However, despite my belief in his skills, I actually to not think he is the answer to finding a starter. Based on my objective standard for measuring a player I think he is that he suffered 4 injuries to different parts of his body his first stint with the Bills which I label as injury prone. Unless he has bulked up to make his body better I think he will not last.

Defensive unit by unit draft assessment CBs Overall, I feel good about both where the DBs are in terms of current personnel and also future prospects. MGee has shaped into a quality CB whom I am comfortable having primary responsibility against the many great WRs in the game today. I am not under the illusion that his is a shutdown corner against everyone like a Revis appears to be. He needs help with dts against the best and a solid pass rush makes his life a lot easier but he has a combination of the great athleticism which makes him a good PK guy and a lot of experience (some of it came from getting burned a few times when we switched to the Cover 2 but he learned from getting benched and came back to be a reliable CB for us. Florence- A nice pickup by the FO as someone who was seen as a good depth pick-up has blossomed into a reliable cover guy against the opponents #2. Again, do not make the mistake that he is a shut down corner on his lonesome, but his years of experience make him a very reliable player to be a solid part of a defensive backfield. McKelvin- Has shown the potential both as a cover guy and also a playmaker as a kick returner to blossom into a true shutdown CB who might be a replacement for McGee or Florence as soon as he decided to assert himself and stays lucky with his health. I have no problem with him as my nickel and hope he competes against our top 2 CBs. Corner can be a liability if injuries force him into a starting role but he is fine in a dime. Youbouty has never performed at the level he was vaunted to be when he was thought to be a first rounder if he stayed in school another year but the Bills got him in the 3rd when he left a year early. He has shown flashes of brilliance but injuries have made him not useful as a Bill during his career. Lankster showed promise as a rookie as a depth player. Safties Byrd is the word and if he can avoid the sophomore slump and continue building on a special rookie year he MIGHT be one of the best. Wilson has clearly been successful in the unusual jump from O to D. I feel great with either at free safety. Whitner has been OK as a Pro but a disappointment for a top 10 choice. He needs to improve back to the level when he flirted with the Pro Bowl or more likely he needs a change of scenery as he will get grief here for merely being adequate (though even that is tough to do in the NFL). He is backed up by Scott who was underweight but hard hitting as an LB and now is above the classic safety but still a hard hitter. I like him against teams have good runners but there is less of a need for pass D focus. DL- The switch from the 4-3 to the 3-4 provides benefits of reducing the number of DL players needed but assignment problems for the Bills arise. For example, Stroud is a very good player, but the change in gap responsibilities and positional styles has forced him out of his DT role in our 4-3 cover 2 (which was actually more like a Tampa 2) to him trying to play DE in a 3-4 (we will see how this goes but I think he is a player and can make the change). At any rate: Terrell Troop has a lot of responsibility in this change and we will see how he does. Kyle Williams is actually first on the depth chart at nose tackle and he is an athletic guy with good lateral movement who showed when he first won the starting job as a 5th round picked rookie that he is a quick study and a gamer. There also are a lot of ways to play the 3-4 effectively and light weight Jeff Wright anchored the position well though no one would mistake him for a massive man who commands the middle with his size. Yet, Williams does not bring with him the rep of mountain in the middle who cannot easily be run on and Troop does. In fact, the Bills braintrust was so impressed with him they likely reached up on most draft boards to get Troop. We'll see. We have seen a lighter mobile guy like Jeff Wright handle the duty but he had Bruce Smith by his side and no one mistakes any Bills DEs fpr BBBrrruuucccee. The DE spots will be interesting. Can Stroud make the shift (I think he can and he has a small chance of reminding us from time o time of Bruce as the penetrating style while being smart and athletic enough to play the run at DT mat suit him well to try to pull off the sackmaster but tough against the run that Bruce pulled off in our 3-4. He WILL not be Bruce but I think he can be good). The Bills braintrust quickly recognized that the style our previous DEs Schobel and Kelsay were good for what they were good for, but did not fit the quick first move and even quicker adjustment and second aggressive move required of the 3-4 DE. Schobel, Kelsay and Ellis were given OLB duty and Stroud shifted outside, Edwards was picked up and Carrington drafted. This work in progress might work quickly (the players listed above must adapt and perform immediately) but this work in progress looks to be a year away to me at least. LBs- This is where it really gets interested for us fan pretend football wonks like me (do not be fooled by any 25 cent football words I or most of my TSW brothers and sisterns may use as the guys actually in charge have forgotten more than I have learned in 25+ years of listening to the NFL. We are throwing a lot against the wall here and we will see what sticks but no one will no what/who works until it does when the real games start. There are multiple variables all over the place such as (will our new DL generate enough pressure to make the pass game easy or hard to work and how will it hold up as the first line against the run) which make predicting how an individual player will fare in the new role (for example, anyone who says he knows how Pos will be in the 3-4 is simply blowing smoke. His experience as a pro is not only relatively scant but was all in a 4-3, add to this though the variable of him not only have middle duty on one side of the field rather than ranging sideline to sideline, a big difference for him not having the deep middle pass duty of our Tampa 2 esque D, him actually only having limited MLB duty in college - if his past OLB stuff was in a 4-3 how this applies will be odd, but then add the variable that his play will be influenced a lot by how well Williams or Troop plays in front of him, and then add another variable of him being somewhat hobbled by groin surgery, and this all is a guessing game). At any rate, I do like the ILB personnel (Pos and Davis should start but Kawika Mitchell is an experienced past SB winner who is old but may keep the starters working hard) At OLB its a little dicier but there will be tons of players to chose from. I would have to say that this group is over a full season away from adequacy.

Thank you as well. Interesting perspectives and I will think about it as I plow through my sense of the D and also ST.

First, thanks for the football oriented feedback, its a pleasure to read versus some of the soap opera personality assessments often found on the board. My reactions to your reactions are: Jackson- I agree that this is an area of failing for him. However, it is so unlikely that we have seen a pretty massive level of actual pro production from this Coe College guy that I am willing to overlook this failing, If he cannot improve this aspect of his game I suspect the Bills plan is to try to get more goaline TD production from Lynch going beatmode and augment that with more breakaway TDs from Spiller so we score before we even need a punch in. Meredith- Perhaps few positions exemplify Gailey's words that being #1 on the depth chart does not give you a spot than the LT situation. Meredith in my mind could easily be the best choice for the job. My problem though is I think this is true more because of Bells injuries and roughness as a youngster than any sense of Meredith being great or even very good. Maybe Meredith will be great, I hope so, unfortunately the chances of this being true just seem so unlikely that it is hard for me to see the hope that we found a Pro Bowl earning LT as a UDFA and in short order we were able to find another solid LT by plucking a young 5th round choice off of the GB PS. Tt could happen but I need to see it to believe it. For now I will stick with the fevered wishes of the team and figure on Bell. Evans- The other thing I think has not helped him is that the internals of the Bills O have been particularly lame in two aspects of the game that impact this particular issue. First, we simply have never had an O plan under OCs dating back to Kragthorpe which showed any use of slant patterns, use of pick plays as close to illegality as we can get, and use of technique to get more quick separation. One of my hopes under alleged O genius Gailey working with Modkins we will simply see better routes called and teaching of techniques to all the WRs which produce better separation. Second, I think our past schemes have not utilized a raw speed advantage that the Bills have using both Evans and Parrish. It is beyond me why these two were not used with TO last year to present a constant threat opponents much react to but our scheme proved passive even with some amazing threats. TOs rep (and the leading Bill WR in catches and yards last year is gone), but one of the reasons I am so enthused about Spiller going out wide is that my sense is if the choice for the DC is to cover either Evans, or Parrish or Spiller one on one it likely forces them to use weaker CBs in the dt on Evans. I think we actually might be close to having a dominating passing game, but if this happens we need to have a quality #2 WR who demands a second thought from a DC. TE- I can see reasonably how someone can demand I or someone show how we are gonna make a TE-less or lower oriented system work. I am just a fan and not that good. However, the problem I see is that one of the problems in this league is that having good or great TE play is a rarity anyway. I like Nelson, and think he MIGHT be great one day, but that day is not today. Even worse our backups behind Nelson are just pedestrian so I do not see us employing anywhere near effective TE usage. In the absence of good enough players I look for us to do something different if we want to be productive. QB- Its certainly a QB oriented league but even with this reality I think we give too much credit and thus too much blame to the position. A great one can turn nothing into something, but our strategy seems to be to allow the rest of the O to be nothing and search fruitlessly for some savior to turn it into something. I do like the Spiller pick as it finally seems like we want to give our QB even if he is merely human some tools to work with. We are creating a situation where with a merely human QB we can begin to produce. In this situation maybe this mere human might grow into being a very good or great QB. Even though this happening is rare (B. Johmson is an example of a two time loser at QB leading TB to an SB victory, Trent Dilfer is another failed QB who under the right circumstances proved to be good enough) actually finding a Peyton Manning is even rarer and we have devoted a lot of time and energy to finding the next Jimbo when unfortunately such HOF quality players are a rarity. This team needs a very good QB, but we need to emphasize also having an O that does not demand we have a great QB.

Its impossible to judge until we actually see what the heck the plan is. However it is looking clearer an clearer that there is at least a 2 year plan (if not a 3 year plan) that this team is on to rebuild and reload in order to make the playoffs. This is particularly frustrating for those of us who have a the future is now attitude, but reality is reality. RB- (Might as well start with the good news) 1 year away The player talent is here for this group to actually be good out of the box. However, each of the three talents has a significant downside and all of these downsides need to be configured and a scheme which uses them to their maximum potential needs to be found. Unless Gailey is more than the O genius he is supposed to be there are enough huge holes and questions in the other units central to O success it is hard for me to see less than a year of experimenting until the unit is adequate. Jackson- Very good player with diverse skills but too old to count on him as the future answer. Spiller- Looks like a great get but one who is not likely to be the zillion plays a game workhorse Gailey has used before cause he lacked a #2 Lynch- very talented idiot. Potential workhorse if he plays but no way to count on him playing. We will have to run an offense this year where the FB is an occasional notion. WR- 2 years away Only somewhat proven asset is Evans at #1, but even given his undeniable speed, nice proven work tracking and catching the bomb and willingness to work in traffic he has shown he can be neutralized if the #2 does not attract attention. We have no #2 who has shown production in the NFL and even rhetorically the best candidate, Jackson regressed statistically last year. My wild idea was Spiller at #2 but even this craziness is being set aside by the Bills FO and Spiller to come to terms. We need a player to be acquired (or develop which we have several candidates who MIGHT become a legit starter after a year of work). It looks tough. OL- 1- 1/2 -2 years away There are no stars to lead this crew and the few starters are prospects (good but learning) or older vets (good to have the experience but no studs) This unit needs to develop at least two players AND also chemistry. It looks like a tough trek. Hamgartner- good place holder but I will feel good if Wood steps up and replaces him Wood- Amazing recovery and I simply hopes he recovers well enough to play guard as well as last year LeVitre- A good rookie season but needs to keep advancing to reach level we want/need Bell- Good luck and I hope this longshot works Green- hope this retread is another Hamgartner this year but we need another real tackle. TE- 1 year away Personally I would phase this position out in favor of 3 WRs or full house backfield with more use of H-Backs when short yardage is needed Nelson is good prospect for traditional TE role and I give him 2 years max to prove he is our T. Gonzales in waiting or we should go three wide as our base O. QB- 1 year away if we go FA and 2-3 years away if we go draft to find a savior. Edwards- great to start mostly cause he is injury prone but would provide a target for Brohm to take the job from if Brohm is good enough, Slight chance he has bulked up enough to be a survivor but dubbing him #1 as it provides a sacrificial lamb for the job to be taken from. Brohm- has skills but lacks confidence, Edwards is a good foil for him to take the job from Fitzt- not a starter but my candidate for #2 QB either way the starter goes I will do the D tomorrow or another day.

Nope. We cut him and there is no compensation. Compensation is only granted when you lose a player to FA.

The case you make of specific big mistakes seems poorly aimed. My sense from looking at what the Bills were saying and doing did seem to take into account that Schobel might not be around this year and certainly that he was no long term answer. You seem mistaken in your conclusion that the Bills were all fired sure he would be back and a contributor. They had him penciled in on the depth chart at OLB and simply this switch at his age means you are not counting on him. The second big difference between what you say is a given and what the Bills did with the draft is that you seem dedicated to the idea that the way the draft should be done is by need and the highest need is DE. Actually, there is a legit argument that particularly with a top 10 pick there is a strong case to be made to take the best player available and taking the first RB who is generally regarded as the best gamebreaker on the board is a legit view. n the second round they did take a DL player and many would argue that a run stuffing DT is a bigger need for our 3-4 than a pass rusher and then even after that there are assessment differences between the best DE available and Troop which are easily reasonable disagreements. On the second day you are talking a bout depth and not about starters at all positions and the biggest mistake would be planning on filling holes immediately with players taken on the second day. Your general point seems counter to reality even if you disagree with specifics of what the Bills did.

The Bills FO is actually in a difficult position. In the end, they are a business and one of the old saws that has some truth in it if one wants to remain a viable business is the customer is always right. Since perception is often reality, the Bills as a sound business needs to treat the perceptions written on this board as right (even if they might be incorrect). This is one of the reasons why we fans depend on the media to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism about what the business of the FO says because in order to remain a viable business they too often will need to treat perception as reality even when perception is incorrect. By maintaining a healthy skepticism toward what ever line the FO is selling this week we can find our way toward truth if the media does a good job of helping folks understand the truth. I fully understand why one would not want to take the time to correct the record of the timeline on specific points. Even if one is getting compensated it can be tacks in the eye work. It actually does not make a ton of difference in this case actually anyway as it seems pretty clear that the perception of most Bills fans is now that Schobel is a jerk the way he has gone back and forth on retirement and being a Bill. e is in an entertainment business and the perception from most fans is that he is a jerk and pretty much there fore he is. As far as the FO goes, the perception is built on an 0 for the decade record of making the playoffs and the perception is correct also that they are jerks. So say most customers IMHO and until they start winning the customer is right on this one.

I am happy to bow to your more correct research and memory as I think (or at least do this for pay rather than amusement as I do and have more time) as my memory grows less reliable as the years pass. However my foggy memory is that the order of activities here were: 1. Peters gets signed UDFA and cut and PS'ed. However, interest from other teams willing to sign him and add him to their active roster as is required for PS pick-ups forces the Bills to activate him or risk losing him. 2. The Bills activate Peters and attempt to use him as a 3rd TE but he proves to be either so excited or braindead he gets a penalty for playing TE with an OL # and not informing the refs. This is important as the # he has indicates that Mouse MacNally already has him tabbed as an OL player but he needs convincing that this is his best route to stardom and big bucks. Peters proves unblockable on ST (even blocking a punt and recovering for a TD and in conjunction with play in a real game and his career begins to take shape. 3. Peters relatively quickly picks up the RT position and forces his way on to the field with his superior play. Schobel meanwhile has already signed a rich extension to make him a Bill for a while at a pretty good pay level as he showed great determination as a rookie and likely was gonna be a double digit sack producer each year. He was fairly weak at the point of attack as a rookie (I remember him getting pancaked on one endzone run and the other side scored, but he improved his technique and improved how he used his strength so that he was better against the run while at the same time losing weight so he could do the DE job in the LeBeau/Gray's run blitz. 4. Kelsay signs an extension well after Schobel re-uped and the Kelsay extension was undeserved by his play in the eyes of most (except the FO and only their opinion counts). Schobel lets it be known (though there is no public hissy fit I remember that he is clearly the best DL on this team and should be compensated as such. It was then that he fails to appear at voluntary OTAS but the Bills FO rolls over quite quickly and he gets another rich extension though he is under contract. 5. Peters meanwhile signs a richer deal than most ever imagined as he is clearly the starting RT. 6. The Mike Williams reign of error begins to come to an official end as they try him at guard after he was an up and down performer at LT with a ton of psych work by JMac having to be done to get what they got out of him. Peters moves into the LT role and not only does the job but in fact wins the Pro Bowl popularity contest. 7. It is then I remember (perhaps falsely and I am happy for it to be demonstrated I am wrong if anyone wants to take the time) Peters and his agent Parker pursuing the Schoble model in the hopes that the Bills FO will roll over and extend a player under contract when conditions change. In my mind both Schobel and Peters were big boys when they signed their original deals and a case could be made they should have player for the huge sums they earned and not have required even huger sums to play a boys game. Ironically, I think Peters actually has the better case if my recollection is not to Alzheimery as he signed an RT contract and actually became to the surprise of most the starting LT and was good enough even to win the Pro Bowl popularity contest (it by no means is a definitive measure of great play but also achieving it should not be totally ignored as though it is not a perfect or even great measure it is a good measure of good play). At any rate, the Bills FO did draw a line not to pay Peters what the market was paying Pro Bowl LTs because Peters was fool enough to agree to an RT contract. However, the FO really screwed up badly when just as they overpaid Kelsay when Schobel was demonstrably better they overpaid the afterwards cut Dockery and Walker. I can easily see why Peters was cheesed about being the third best paid OL player when he is the only OL player to even sniff the Pro Bowl. Even more ridiculous is that the Bills FO drew a line and decided not to pay Peters, but then rolled over and gave him exactly what he wanted by shipping him to Philly with him getting the LT deal he wanted. Meanwhile the Bills are left with the sorting between Bell, Meredith, and the now injured Wang for an LT. Like, I said, I am happy to bow to your superior research skills (though I am quite impressed that my speeling was good since I often do TSW stuff while listening for my part in conference calls to come up with folks on different timezones than I). Did Schobel in fact get an extension and raise after Kelsay got signed? Did Schobel miss any voluntary workouts just prior to his extension? If not, my apologies and I stand corrected. One of the advantages of not doing this for pay is that even when wrong no harm no foul.

Actually I think it was Schobel who set a precedent for Peters. Schobel was correctly not pleased when the Bills overpaid Chris Kelsay and let the team know through back channels he was displeased and then he refused to participate in any of the voluntary off-season workouts. The Bills FO caved and even though Schobel was under contract and had just been given a significant raise, the Bills gave him a new deal. Peters saw how the Bills caved to this Pro Bowler and then when he not only was promoted to starting LT (his new contract was for starting RT money) Peters then tried the same OTA maneuvers. The FO did not repeat their rolling over that they did for Schobel. However, I think a rational person needs to give Peters and his agent Parker credit because they stuck to their guns, Peters won another Pro Bowl nod and then the Bills FO caved to his demands by trading him so he got everything he asked for in a contract. My sense is the Clements situation was not a precedent since MC was not under contract when the FO rolled over for him and promised not to franchise him. As far as Peters who set the precedent was the other way around.

I agree with you that this retirement talk by Schobel was not about money. Schobel already turned the screws on the Bills by siting out a bunch of voluntary practices when the Bills overpaid Kelsay. The FO caved in the face of this Schobel hissy fit which is part of the reason he is due $8 million this year when most feel he is not worth it. My sense is that this back and forth is about Schobel wanting to experience some playoff success as part of his career and that money has little to do with this situation.

One if ny favorite Love Canal stories is how back in the day after the Feds settled with Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal homeowners for participating in the pollution of their homes and lying about it, they attempted to set up new housing projects on the "reclaimed" land. They dubbed the new town Sunshine City as they attempted once again to lie to people and get them to part with their nickels to buy cheap homes because they were on land that might kill them and their families if EPA had not gotten the clean-up right as they hired the low-bidder to do the work by law. This choosing of names without regard to reality is typical of the way that government sends the tax dollars of the middle class to big bucks to big business to do stuff. The argument which some seem to have as to whether big government or big business is the problem seems to ignore the fact that these two operations are the same thing. The free market and big government are not two warring approaches they actually are parts of the same thing with the middle and lower classes being the victims. In Buffalo to see this one need only go to the City's Waterfront school. This public school is nestled downtown near City Hall. I discovered the interesting thing to me about it when I was late for a meeting there one evening and had to walk around the entire building looking for an entrance. It was then I discovered that unless there had been a rainstorm which left puddles the night before, one could not see a drop of water from Buffalo's Watefront School. If one was more interested in accuracy rather than advertising (which the folks who tried to sell Love Canal as Sunshine City clearly were not then they should have named this the Highway Front school. It actually is nestled in the midst of the I-190, the Rt. 5 Skyway (a wonderful way to get to the now closed steel mills), and other byways and highways which mar the downtown area. I am told (and have heard no examples to refute this) that Buffalo is the largest city in America on an Ocean or a Great Lake which does not have a public beach for swimming. This is an economic and community development travesty and I think provides a stark example of why the area has such economic problems. The founding fathers (and yes they were all fathers back in the day) made a series of choices which used the natural resources of the area to promote individual private businesses rather than to promote public spaces and the broader public benefit. It as best as I can judge was this slavish devotion to the individual and the allegedly free market (ain't nuthin free in this world) which is the basis for the economic wasteland in WNY today. Businesses and the free market are something which the body politic should support if only because in a society based on checks and balances, it is competition which kills off bad ideas and rewards good one. This is good. However, though business and the free market must be supported, it is fatal to depend on them as the primary or sole force for creating a good world as without the checks and balances provided by a governmental system the winners in a free market can exercise that freedom to destroy the market and take the wealth created and head for greener pastures. The fatal flaw of the free market is that it can make the jump quickly from the golden rule being do unto others as you would have them do unto you as it simply being he who has the gold rules. Being human this concentrated power (which apparently was known at the 18 in Buffalo's critical decision making days, were the 18 older white guys one had to suck up to in order to get something done. As best as I can tell it was these 18 old whit guys who ran things and made a series of decisions which promoted their own individual benefit such as using public dollars to build the UB campus in Amherst and power down the Buffalo based UB HQ, to capture a big chunk of public dollars to build the light rail system (and then to block completion of that system to the suburbs and Niagara Falls rendering the initial investment pretty meaningless). To make matters worse, the powers that be decided to build the light rail system in a manner which totally destroyed the ability to do commerce in downtown Buffalo by ripping up and closing off streets which accelerated the rush of businesses out to the government subsidized building of roads, sewers, and other desired public benefits in Amherst and the suburbs. It really is quite impressive what the powers that be wrought. Amusingly, the wealthy powers that be now lay the blame for mistakes that it choose and profited from on labor unions, the poor, and a government that the wealthy did and still do control (if someone wants to argue that instead it was the poor who controlled the government and made a series of bad decisions please feel free). I know some folks want to claim its location that did Buffalo lo, but even if one wants to subscribe to this theory, it also needs to acknowledge that the location even with its problems of the St. Lawrence Seaway eliminating a lot of the early 20th century economic benefit, that the area has also suffered from a series of decisions (which I am sorry it is hard to blame on the poor or public institutions, or unions because they were not in control of the decision-making apparatus. The problem is that even given some bad location breaks, that the wealthy folks who for the most part ran things simply made a series of judgments which allowed them as individuals to take their money and run rather than stay and be a part of the community. Trying to blame the unions, people of color, or poor folks that moved in to try to run things after the wealthy made a bunch of bad decisions and then headed off for nicer weather leaving the wreckage they created and profited from is actually both funny and oathetic

Does the status of Maybin's progress (if any) determine in and of itself what to do about the Schobel situation in and of itself? NO. That would be stupid to choose to eat crow or not and roll over or not in reaction to the Schobel antics based only on how Maybin is doing. However, it would also be stupid to pretend that who you are going to have play OLB for this team where Schobel is a not unreasonable candidate for this job in terms of his skillset and the Bills needs has NOTHING to do with Bills decision making on the key issue which is how do build a TEAM capable of getting Ws and to the playoffs. From my perspective, a big part of the Bills problems over the last 10 years has been an inability to both walk and chew gum at the same time. There is a view of the world which many fans seem to have that only has he ability to only focus on one factor at a time. In today's world and with something we have made overly complex like we have with the NFL the winners are those who can do two or more things at the very same time. The Bills do need to deal with the Schobel situation in and of itself in terms of exercising and demanding appropriate discipline from a player and require him to do what is useful for the team and his teammates to win. In exchange for doing what is useful for the team the athlete is being compensated well beyond reasonable levels (the 6-8 million bucks to Schobel for playing a boys game. Yeah, I know that his family might be happier next year in Texas or that catching on as fifth wheel might help a more competitive team win an SB which would put a nice cap on a long Schpbel career. However, he is being compensated at a level in one year where he and his family (who should already be set for life will be set for life again. However, as much of a jerk as Schobel is being in the humble opinions of many and it is more than reasonable for the Bills to do whatever they want to do that serves their interests even if it means simply listing Schobel as did not report rather than setting him free to have his cake and eat it to. The Bills are in the end doing what it takes to build a team to win and not about screwing Schoebel even if he deserves it. If the Bills are smart, they are making sure that they will have what they need to BOTH provide the most competitive product they can produce this year AND to build this product for the long term. If they are to achieve BOTH these goals then I hope that they have been able to make a calculation that they can both simply keep Schobel on the did not report list AND also find a top level performance from an OLB. There is a possibility (far from a certainty but a better chance IMHO opinion than either torbor being an adequate OLB or Chris Kelsay both recovering from injury and making the transition from DE to OLB to see either Schobel make this transition or more perfectly for us have 1st round pick Maybin turn out to develop by the end of next year into the OLB we need. IMHO it is because the Bills seem to consistently make the stupid mistake of being driven by only one of several key factors (in this case what Schobel deserves) rather than being good enough to multi-task and do something which both deals with Schobel like he deserves and also meets the team's needs. In this case, there are good reports and a little film as well which indicate that Maybin merits the same judgment which has proved to be correct over the years that one should wait until you see three years of play before one reasonably declares a draft pick a bust. Did Maybin suck last year. Yep! Were there other players the Bills should have drafted instead of Maybin at DE last year? Yep! Is Maybin a definite bust and a loss cause? Maybe, but not yet. it would be stupid for a fan to make that declaration. If one used this logic one would have cut Eric Moulds not only after his first non-productive season but easily after his second non-season. The deal here is that MAYBE Maybin is a bust, but he is incredibly young and incredibly gast, and it is more than logical to point to his belated signing and him missing a lot of camp, his youth, and him being visualized as switching positions to LB right from the start as important explanations why he was so disappointing last year. Perhaps these are just excuses, but then again it will be great for the Bills if instead the Maybin implosion last year actually happened in significant part due to the reasons listed above. The facts are that reports we are seeing from folks who actually have been to camp this year are that Maybin is actually looking very good in terms of speed and feistiness. The reports of some are that when he lines up wide he forces the opposing O to adjust to the potential wide rush by him and loosens up the middle in terms of effective blocking by the opponent. I for one hope that the Bills can walk and chew gum at the same time because Maybin is stepping up to turn out to be the player we need by the end of next year (and preferably but we would be fools to expect it by this year). If so we can let Schobel dangle as he seems to deserve but most important field an adequately competitive team. If it turns out that Maybin, Kelsay, Ellis and Torbor all suck then I have no problem with the Bills admitting to reality and though they need to stand up for the teammates by demanding Schobel stand up for the team, if they had to bend to his wishes to end up with adequate OLB play then I have no problem with them doing something which both builds the team and treats Schobel with as much of a kick in the pants as we can get away with.

I for one hope that the issue of whether the Bills have a player of sufficient quality to replace a player they decide to let go is an integral part of that decision. If instead the Bills make decisions about individual player based solely on bottomline finance perhaps that explains the teams decade long failure to make the playoffs.