Mickey

Umm....we just stopped their offense.

Reading the posts here, you'd think we were down by 40 points. On the road against a good team with a third string QB, hobbled RB's and a hobbled secondary and we are down one point. Yeah, we suck, the coaches suck, all is lost.

I was very sorry to hear of his passing, Bum Phillips was one of the great characters of pro football, he and others like him made it a game worth watching.

You do know that the guy who came up with "Give Peace A Chance" was shot and killed, right? I hope you have better luck.

I can't argue with the rock-solid theory that a single game's worth of footage is definitive. I don't know why people insist on having more evidence of a player's ability than a single game. It's crazy thinking like that which caused Rob Johnson's talent to be so long overlooked.

Kiko is that which nothing greater can be conceived of. ------- St. Anselm

In the woods of Oregon, a group of Big Foots sit in a cave watching grainy video of Kiko and argue about whether or not he exists.

I think you have to focus on scoring more points than the other team. And, since there is no single winning formula, it doesn't really matter how you do that one thing, score more points than the other guy.

Geez, this is like a high school cheerleading troop, whining and crying about how the captain of the squad is such a b***h. Byrd is a football player, and a good one. We are a team in short supply of good players hence our long absence from the play offs. All these posts eviscerating Byrd are all from people who on a personal level just really despise the guy. But we are building a football team and the only thing that matters is performance, not personalities. Some of the best players in the game are total a$$holes. Brady, Wilfork, Von Miller etc, etc. So even if everything everyone says about Byrd that thinks he's a jerk, a greedy bastard, a liar, a loafer, etc, etc. is true, the bottom line is that he is a good football player and the Bills will not improve by losing good players. If Byrd was a mediocre player on the field, we wouldn't have all these threads and endless posts complaining about him. You folks only care enough about him to denounce him because he is a very, very good player. I don't care if Byrd is the biggest pr**k in the league as long as he performs on the field. At this point, plenty of folks on the board would be elated if we lost Byrd for a 4th round pick because they can't stand the guy. I am sure it will be a cathartic thrill for them to see Byrd go, but it won't make us a better football team. It will however get us one step closer to the record for missing the play offs.

For those of you who missed it, the full broadcast is available at front line's web site. I just finished watching it and I have to say I lost quite a bit of respect for the league.

With only a scant 11 games left to play and several months of off season personnel high jinx to get through, it is way too late to address this issue. We should have had this discussion after the opening day loss to the Patriots. Surely our personnel needs for next year, our draft position and worth of this year's crop of talent was as clear as could be by then. Our draft strategy should have already been laid out long before now. This conversation is, sadly, being had a day late and a dollar short.

Our strategy over the last five years or so of getting rid of good players for mid round picks has worked so perfectly I don't see why we wouldn't jump at the chance to do it again. A smart team would never pass up a chance to trade a milk cow for a handful of magic beans.

I totally agree because, hello-o, all the Bills were looking for from him was a gesture. Gestures are of far more value to an NFL franchise (and their fans) than top performance on the field. Players need to learn that a properly worded thank you card, a thoughtful gift or a bouquet of flowers is the surest way to a big contract and the respect of the fans. Their obsession with their own interests and being good football players while ignoring the simple niceties of good manners is mind boggling. Wouldn't we all have loved him so much more if he came to camp without a long term deal and suffered a career ending injury, ruining any hope he ever had of financial security for his family? Their is just no understanding this level of selfishness.

I am having trouble understanding how he is worth two first round picks but not worth the contract he was asking for? If he is that valuable, why not just pay him?

Exactly! The worst thing that could possibly happen to a team is to have a top notch safety. You should draft for mediocrity at the safety position and pray the guy plays poorly enough so you never have to worry about overpaying him. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we keep giving up huge plays deep so that Williams never asks for a raise.

And who exactly was available? What "veteran" was out there so bad he couldn't make a roster yet would be such a huge improvement over Tuel or Lewis?I have heard a lot of criticism about not signing a "veteran" after Kolb was injured but I haven't heard anyone come up with the name of an actual veteran they think the Bills screwed up by not signing. Who is this mythical "Veteran QB"? Leinert? Jimmy Clausen? Losman? Trent? Carr? Leftwich? The inconvenient truth here is that any QB worth a roster spot in the NFL already has one. A pro bowler in his prime for a 4th round pick? Masterful. Brilliant. Pure genius.

The inescapable fact is that there is no veteran talent out there that is going to come in and win a bunch of games for us. That's a desperate fantasy. Lewis makes sense to me, he is on the PS for a reason, presumably because the Bills think he is worth hanging on to as opposed to just taking up space. If he was worth having on the PS, he is worth going on the 53 with the Manuel injury. I would prefer giving Tuel a chance to show what he can do with a week of prep getting all the reps and I have to wonder what he is doing on the 53 if the coaches think that Lewis gives us a better chance to win but all that aside, I like this way better than nabbing a proven non-talent who has been sitting on his couch since the end of August.

We did, his name was Kolb. What veteran worth a damn was out there that you find it staggering that we didn't pick him up? I am stunned that anyone would think that trading a pro bowl safety in his prime for a QB like Nassib who will be selling insurance in another year is a good idea, all because he "knows" this offense. I watched every game Syracuse played under Marrone and with Nassib. First, this offense is not SU's offense dressed up for the NFL. It is an offense Hackett and Marrone came up with to fit our personnel, including a QB who is 6-5 and can run, a RB with 4.3 speed and one of the craftiest route runners in the league. Nassib doesn't "know" this offense, you folks are just assuming that the offenses are similar. Second, Nassib throws a pop fly whenever he has to heave it more than 20 yards, and that was in the Carrier Dome where the weather conditions were perfect all year round.

Did anyone actually see Nassib play in college? In preseason? I'd rather dig up Losman for another try.

By all means, let's trade a pro bowler in his prime for a mid round pick or a mediocre player to fill a temporary hole in the roster. This is the kind of move that championship franchises are made of.

If Pat or Dennis could play, they would be on a roster. Start Tuel, take your lumps, let him get some experience and pick up a young guy with potential who is hanging out on a practice squad there for the taking. Seth Doege, Matt Scott and several others are out there. There simply is no one out there that is going to rescue us from this situation. It is what it is.

The guy had only two full practices behind him by game time and until then, has been playing on the scout team. We have a very new defense this year and I think Marrone simply decided that Byrd just doesn't have enough reps to play on such short notice. Besides, the real shortage is at CB, not S. Two practices are not enough to clear the rust out.

I have no interest in bringing in a "veteran" who is only available because he has proven that he doesn't belong on a roster in this league. I would rather poach a young guy off the practice squad of another team and have him sit behind Tuel while we see what Jeff can do. Developing a young QB that has the potential to be a quality starter in this league is better than signing a veteran who we know is not and never will be worth a roster spot. Matt Scott maybe or Seth Doege for example are practice squad guys we could get for nothing. The notion that someone like Freeman is going to come in and play well enough for us to win enough games to stay in the hunt is a fantasy.

Absolutely! Because there is nothing in between ditching a first round pick after 5 games and staying with a guy for years. Its one or the other.

I think they should give Hope Solo, the goal keeper from the US Women's National Soccer team. She punts the ball about 70 yards pretty regularly.