zonabb

Statistically that's meaningless. A one year's sample has no merit as it relates to yearly expected outcomes. I have a lot of questions before I'd even give this any consideration. Of the remaining teams no in the playoffs or without winning records, how many first rounders are starting or did start? What percent of all QBs are first round picks? The position has such a premier that QBs often get picked in the first round not because they're deserve it, but because teams feel like they have to grab one and gamble and its worth the risk. Cherry picking statistics and then making an argument without any statistical tests to prove anything only shows a bias in your argument toward the pick you want. Take stats 101 and come back with something significant.

I agree with a lot of it but its hard to accept blanket statements as fact and reality when they're based on assumptions you fail to mention or comparisons you refuse to make. So I'll pick a bone with two of these.... #3. Johnson had 5 catches today as the number 1, from Brian Brohm. That should be anough right there. He had 5 last week as the number 1. He had 6 the week before that as the number 1. He had 5 the week before that, which was the week Evans was injured in the second quarter and had no catches himself. So in what amounts to 3.5 games, he's has 21 catches. Over the entire season, that's be 84. That's #1 receiver numbers as the number 1. Evans, in his last 4 full games.... EIGHT, 8, OCHO catches as the number one with a legit number 2 taking some heat off him. Johnson had 20 catches on those 4 games. #5. Look at the sample size you're dealing with. Fitz has about 32 starts to his career, the equivelant of 2 seasons. The only fair comparison you can make with him is not against guys with 5 or more years experience who had the ability to overcome poor early careers stats because they got more starts and weren't dumped. Take a loot at Drew Brees first 27 starts (over two sasons) and his QB rating (which is the stat you chose to slam) was about the same at Fitz's now. The argument against Fitz is that he was a backup and that he was a latre pick or FA or whatever he was. That makes him easy to cast aside. Look at Warner, another guy you mention. His lifetime QB rating is 92, not much better than the 85 Fitz has this season he was a on way better teams with way better talent and was an undrafted FA and noted shelf stocker before someone with some brains was willing overlook the archaic measurement metrics of the NFL and give him a shot. I think Fitz doesn't get enough credit for improving and doing well with what continues to be a porous OL and no TEs. Saying he won't lead the Bills to the promise land is a real tough one to make huh? Jim Kelly never did. So does that make Fitz worthy of the scrap heap? Nothing worse than a lengthy and verbose post based on antiquated beliefs and not on reality.

As someone very close to completing a doctorate, I will agree with the "anti-intellectual" comment regarding the current state of mind of this country. We've lost out ability to be rational and intelligent and instead have become more ideological and irrationally emotional. We can't reason about issues or have a legit discussion on something because everyone wants to stand on some moral, normative or ideological platform and not listen to anything that doesn't fit neatly into a narrow ideology. Look at the comment above about Olbermann. Someone doens't agree with Olbermann and his ideology and instead of using some rational argument with facts about why Olbermann might be wrong, he calls his degree from Cornell "fake Ivy League." That's exactly what I mean. Cornell is an Ivy League school, so again, let's not be rational about the facts, let's try to marginalize or redefine it to suit our ideological argument. Idiot. But the point Brown is making is that the degree from Harvard is irrelevant to his current occupation and Fitz is smart enough to know that. Sure it garners respect from his peers as an intellectual achievement. Fitz does not however, nor should he, stand on it and use it as the ultimate proof he's a leader, good football player, good person, good teammate, whatever. He can't use it to demand respect. He has to earned it and a great leader gets respect for who he is and what he accomplishes in the context of his job. Power-playing a Harvard degree to get people to follow you is a guaranteed way to turn people off and Fitz knows it and doesn't care about the degree. The issue is the same as a first round draft pick. If you come in and act like your entitled and people must follow you because of where you were drafted, no one cares. You have to earn it. Same with a Harvard degree.

My original prediction was 4-5 wins prior to the season but at one point during the first half of the season was certain they woulnd't win a single game. Glad I was wrong.

My argument against Newton is based on risk management and sample size, primarily, but also character secondarily. I tend to subscribe to the analysis put forth by Bill Parcells when it comes to QBs, in that he suggests drafting QBs that meet these four criteria… 1.He must be a senior, because you need time and maturity to develop into a good professional quarterback. 2.He must be a graduate, because you want someone who takes his responsibilities seriously. 3.He must be a three-year starter, because you need to make sure his success wasnt ephemeral and that he has lived as the guy for some period of time. 4.He must have at least 23 wins, because the big passing numbers must come in the context of winning games. I have my own 5th, which is Wonderlic score, that is one above a 22. If you do the research on available QB Wonderlic scores, Super Bowl winning QBs, which if I recall correctly the exception being Bradshaw, all have a Wonderlic of 22 or higher. Think about the QBs and your perception of their intelligence, particularly the greats of the past 20 years Elway, Montana, Young, Aikman. All smart and cerebral. Even the ones you generally might not consider intelligent or high thinkers whove won in the last 20 years scored 22 or more. Im not saying a dummie cant get you to the playoffs (its happened) or that all-brains, no athleticism brainy QB will. Im saying that if a Super Bowl win is your goal, picking a JP Losman again surely wont get you there. Not sure where Newton will be on the score, but he doesnt measure up to all four Parcells variables. He wasnt a three year starter. He has 24 wins, but 11 were at a juco in Texas and hardly worthy of consideration in Parcells variables. I dont think Parcells was talking about juco stats. Listen, he got 11 wins at Blinn, but thats not even the same level of competition as UB has in the MAC. Its about not picking the best athlete per se, its about having the most information and then making an educated decision on who the best QB is. When you factor everything into the equation, you then have to consider the personality issues. Caught cheating at Florida makes me question his commitment to hard work. So youre looking to invest money in a leader, lots of money. The face of your franchise. Can you risk the one year starting stats of Cam Newton? I wouldnt. Id much rather take the same risk with a cheaper QB in later rounds and grab a better impact player first. The difference between bad drafting teams and good ones, I think, is the inability to have a detached, unemotional attachment to player and physical attributes and numbers without putting them into context.

I was there, I would have guessed somewhere just south of 40,000. However, the 50,861 figure mentioned and used on the box scores as "attendance" is the actual gate, not paid attendance from what I understand. Seems heavy but if you look at stadium capacity versus the attendance shown in box scores, the box score number is typically less than capacity, even for teams with major sellout steaks. Take Washington for example... the capacity for that place is 91,704 and the team claimed, even with their 2010 Ticket Press release to have been sold out since 1966 (some claim that to be somewhat fabricated). In any case, yesterday's attendance at the Skins game... 66,124. So obviously the number shown in box scores is the gate. So my point is, I guess the number of 50,861 was actual gate attendance. No way that's paid, with the proximity to Clevaland the number of season tickets sold (somewhere on the mod 40,000s), makes that impossible.

Add CB to the team's needs list, if it's npot there already. McGee is 30 and his end is near. McKelvin sucks, quite honestly. Youboty, Florence and Corner are nickel backs at best. This board cringes every year abotu 5 seconds before that first pick out of fear of a CB, but if they manage to fall outside the top 10, expect to be considering one. This guy, who I had to sit next to on a flight this summer and listen to him juggle multiple cell phones, is a mental midget. I'll continue to say it on this board over and over. Give me intelligent players with a desire and capability to learn over athletic guys with the IQ of a mouse anyday. Guys have to be able to learn, not expect to use their physical abilities to do better next time. That works on high school and college but as we've seen with a parade or highly skilled but passionless and dumb players come through here in the last 10 years, it doesn't at the NFL level. Erik Flowers, Mike Williams,. JP Losman, McKelvin and Maybin are great examples of skilled but, frankly, stupid players.

More mods won't solve the problem, it'll take them away from contributing as much as they do. Find the top 100 or 150 posters, by whatever variables that is, and start a separate invite-only board with those people and let it grow into the place this place can never be. Have one board where those who aren't going to flame, be snippy, act like idiots and generally be a menace, can go and have legit discussions. Any discursive attitudes you get cut out. There is a Red Sox board just like it for just the same reason. The attitudes here have spoiled my own attitude and how I respond!

What a pathetic way to minimize this guy's skills and what he's able to do right now. By that stupid argument, Trent Edwards and JP Losman would flourish in that system. I highly doubt it. The QB is not inconsequential, the QB is significant. His ability to run keeps defense in a position of being dictated to, taken out of their comfort zone. His improved decision-making and passing make the downfield threat soften the defense a little more. Everything the opposing defense has to do is predicated on Vick so to say he's inconsequential really shows your complete lack of understanding of football and how a QB impacts the game outside of the stat sheet. So explain this to me then, how inconsequential were the 74 yards rushing he had, at a 7.4 yard per rush clip and one rushing TD. Or the fact he had no INTs and no lost fumbles and one passing TD. Or that he had a higher yard per completion (12.8 to 9.5) and yards per attempt (7.1 to 5.3) than the infalliable, beyond reproach Peyton Manning? Bottomline, you're clueless and the QB does matter and yesterday he played mistake free football, made plays and WON. That's how a QB is judged.

First off, the ' goes in place of the letters taken out of the word, so it would be " 'splain this to me. " In any case, if you can't figure it out, maybe you don't know as much as you think you do. 1. New offense 2. New defense 3. New coaching staff That should give you enough to start considering.

In the last 3 weeks, this team has been completely unable to make the critical plays at critical times that determine the difference between winning and losing. And really, this league comes down to making those plays. It's talent and brains. They lack both. Make bad mental mistakes and lack the skill. And they have a knack for doing exactly the opposite of what the trends say... no Bears points in the third all season... until today. Lindell never misses a PAT... until today. He makes that, at worst this is an overtime game. And for some reason, the play calling on offense is atrocious just inside the opponents 50. They can't seem to make a few plays to at least get into field goal range. I thikn the play calling lost them the game today, both sides of the ball.

So we can't disagree? We're to take one man's opinion and just accept it as gospel? Sorry but if its half or nothing, I'll take nothing. I've supported this team as a season ticket holder and as a taxpayer. I have confidence in myself and won't feel bad about myself if they leave. I also am not willing to have Erie County subsize the the stadium at the same rate for half the games, that's a diminishing return on the investment and doesn't help the vendors, businesses and other people who rely on the 7/8 home games a year. Pack you team and leave. He's laying the groundwork anyway. Anyone who can't see it is a dreamy-eyed fool.

Obviously, I mean their offensive coordinator totally outcoached us. Let me see....... they ran for over 200 yards against a porous defense and barely won. Yep, the new guy they got is WAY better. Their play called at times was horrible. They should have been the Bills by 21. You're a loser.

Stupid idea and I like the no-timeout call. I think on FGs, a timeout should be illegal unless called before the holder kneels. When was the last time you saw a TD pass called back by a timeout? When was the last time a coach tried to ice another play? It's stupid and irrelvant, along with a lot of NFL rules, that make watching these games tough. When you can't refer to rules and they're not called consistently, it makes the game less credible.

I said it in a post earlier this week. If we're going to be sold on the "build through the draft model" this team is a long, long way from being good. They have so many needs, both starting and depth. Think about this.... they have some really bad players, what does that say about the backups? So in reality, there just are too many holes to file via the draft. They have got to fill some holes with some FA talent, and particularly at positions that take time to develop, they need to find some players to step in and play. I'll argue the safeties on this team suck. They need 2-3 linebackers. They lack speed and skills there. They need some DL help big time. Someone on the radio, I think during the week but it was a former player, said it's not the DL that's all that bad, it's the LBs who aren't coming up and making tackles when RBs get past the DL. Poz is the only guy who makes players and he can't cover for his fellow LBs all the time. Guys I would cut because they simply can't be effective, regardless of their contract situation, include Whitner (enough already, he sucks); Maybin (that's a given); Green (I'd like to see this FO admt mistakes, instead of trying to hold onto them to try to prove a point); Ellison; and McCargo. If any of these guys are FA, even better, they can walk.

So that's his fault? Man, people will complain about anything. I agree, total yards can be misleading but if he's 10th on average yards per return as stated above, that's not bad for a rookie. And listen, the kid doesn't get a chance to be showcased as a RB not because he sucks, but because they have FJ, who is a very good back. So calling him a bust after 6 games (man, this board is laoded with draft experts, soon-to-be general managers, and up and coming head coaches) is moronic. he's got some learning to do, I'll say that but right now, his speed is a detriment to him because he has to learn he can't outrun everything and at times, to gain yards, has to cut it up field. That'll come with time. However, I will fault the coaching staff for not finding more ways to put the ball in his hands in space. He's lightning in a bottle and they need to get him the ball more.

Whitner chasing down another TD. Seriously, he sucks but the fact the coaches keep trotting him out there makes it more frustrating. Pull him and put anyone in his place.

As I said to some people watching the game with me, if a team can find a away to choke away a game, it's this one. Anyone want to predict the final in this assured Ravens win? 41-27 Ravens.

Whitner is flat out horrible. How many TDs has this team given up to TEs this year, seriously. It's so obvious everytime a team is in the red zone. This secondary gets unfair accolades as being good but the safeties are below average at best.

Unfortunately, when they do leave, part of the issue with be financing a new owner is able to persuade a new city to cough up. So my question is, is it OK to cough up money to support GEICO, HSBC, Verizon, and Yahoo, all highly profitable and non-government business? Or how about the small businesses that get handouts in the form or low or no-interst loans and tax incentives? They supposedly our "lifestyles" as well because the companies supposedly hire employees and pay taxes that support schools and cultural organizations. I'm against tax incentives and handouts in any instance. However, no community or region can compete in a global economy wihtuot them, which is why they so prevelent from professional sports teams to small plumbing companies. Why? It's an economic concept and related to game theory, the idea is called a prisoner's dilemma (you can Wiki it). In simplest terms,the most equitable and efficient market doesn't offer incentives or tax breaks and therefore the market operates efficiently. However, some places choose to tilt the playing field in their favor by offer tax breaks and incentives in an effort to draw businesses to their area and gain a competitive advantage. So the "prisoner's dilemma" is faced by the community not doing the same. They can either stand on ideological grounds and lose the battle for businesses and residents, or they can chose to play along, which is not the optimum solution for everyone but is for an individual community. So its too simple to take a ideological stance on funding a new stadium because it fails to recognize the realities of the marketplace. I would argue this: The NFL is a global brand and there are 32 teams. Buffalo has one and would be foolish to stand on ideological grounds and let someone take the team by offering a stadium or some sort of incentive package. At it's basic, you letting 50+ millioanires leaves you community and the economic impact they alone have, even if they're parttime residents. Then you have all the employees and business that rely on the team. Plus, and maybe more importantly, it lends credibility and visibility to Buffalo and keeps the area on the map in the global economy. I think what these places like Niagara County and others who hand out breaks to big companies like the Verizon, Geico and Yahoo should do is make it a condition of the agreement that they buy boces at Bills and Sabres games. It's a tax right off anyway and its a roundabout way to get the team some much needed help.

If he scores a 22 or more on the Wonderlic, maybe he's worth considering. Otherwise forget it. I've posted on numerous occasions the overlooked impact Wonderlic scores have when it relates to SB-winning QBs. I lost the file where I compiled the info during a computer switch last year, but in simplest terms, because I know the Ryan Fitzpatrick argument is on the tip of your tongue, is that a high Wondleric for a QB certainly does not guarantee a SB. However, and statistically significant and more importantly, a low Wonderlic does ensure you don't win one, with only one exception in the scores that can be had... I believe Bradshaw was somewhere around a 15. If I recall, someone wrote an article that stated a 20 is about "average" intelligence so we cna assume that 22 is slightly above average and critical to a position where mental capacity is a critical skill. So if I'm a FO guy, in addition to Parcells starts and wins in college (and maybe he has intelligence in there too, although I seem to recall the third variable was they graduated college, would could be considered a similar variable as the Wonderlic), I want a guy with a brain. I'll argue further that smart players with average skills are better to have than excellent physical freaks with pea brains. I watch football and all I see are stupid, undisciplined penalties on all teams, not just the Bills. Cutting down on mistakes and penalties puts the ball in the end zone on first and goal Mr. Bell.

Hey, look a TE. Imagine what that could do for a team, if you had one and used it. De ja vu all over again! Great halftime adjustments.

Hey, look a TE. Imagine what that could do for a team, if you had one and used it.

The saddest thing in the story was the team went basically an entire season without a TD from their TEs, from the opener last year to last week. That is a joke when you consider that anyone with even the tiniest understanding of football recognizes the value of the TE, except I guess the former QB and coach.

Do you buy a car and sell it a few years later for the same as you paid for despite the higher mileage and assorted other issues? Than why is a football player any different?