Mickey

The truth is that we don't have any idea why Spiller hasn't signed yet. None. That being the case, I don't see how anyone can rake either the team or the player over the coals. He is a good player and the Bills have a business to run.

I don't know why anyone would give up anything for him. The guy isn't the player he was and so at most you are going to get a year or two of medicority out of him. If he was on another team, would you want the Bills to trade a 2nd round pick for him? I gotta beleive he hasn't just gone ahead and announced his retirement because he is hoping he can get outta Buffalo for a last hurrah or two.

utterly meaningless the 4th quarter counts just as much as any other a loss is a loss

If your son played little league soccer and you knew that soccer wasn't his game and that his team was going to get beat every game, would stop rooting for him? Loving a team to death doesn't mean you are blind willfully or otherwise to their shortcomings. Realistically, I think this team is a huge question mark mostly. This is a league of QB's and we don't have one who has proven himself to be a quality starter. As Buddy said, "...those that have one is winnin and those that don't aren't..." We are radically changing our defense and it seems silly to me to think that you can make that kind of transition personnel wise all in one year. Could it happen? Sure, but the odds aren't good. We don't have a single solitary pass rusher on the team with any proven ability to get to the QB. The one decent threat we had there was Schobel and he is all but retired. There have been no drastic improvements to what was a pretty sorry OL last year. And you have guys on the line coming off major surgeries in Wood and Bell. For rookies, Levitre and Wood did all right last year but that was grading on the rookie curve. They need to take big steps forward this year. I do think that Spiller will add some options and that Chan is everything Jauron wasn't when it comes to understanding how to score points in this league. Against this background, we are playing in a division full of solid teams who all appear to have made some good offseason moves to improve themselves. Overall, my prediction is that they are going to have a rough year, maybe even epically rough. But I also think they are going in the right direction. They will need more than one year to get where they want to go.

That Lamonica kid did all right out in Oakland.

I don't really get why so many think Brohm is the most likely starter, his career has been a bust so far, all we have are a handful of OTA's upon which to judge the guy. At this point I won't argue with anyone over it because its just waaaaay to early to have any idea who our starter should be.

All that could be false and Brohm could still be the starter simply because he won the job. Not everything is aresut of a secret master plan. His becoming the starter wouldn't validate your logic here.

The line was so bad, it wasn't unusual for them to keep the TE and the backs in to block. With only 2 WR's in the pattern and 4 DB's to cover thme, no one was open.

Spread offense. Spiller is ideal for the spread, so is Freddy. Beasley thrived in a spread at Uconn. The last offense Gailey coached in the NFL was a spread offense. Levi Brown ran a spread at Troy. A spread is a good choice for a team with a weak but smart line and for a QB who is smart but has a medicore arm. Gailey was brought in to make the team exciting again by scoring some points. I am pretty sure they aren't going to game plan to eek out 13-10 wins a-la Jauron. I expect to see the ball in the air.

Very few offenses are good enough to be predictable in this league and still be successful. Given our offensive line, that isn't going to happen. An off tackle counter and a swing pass out of the backfield are not all that different. You have to make the defense defend the whole field, not just the first 10 yards off the line. If we can't do that, I don't care how many running backs we have, how different their styles or how cool their nicknames, it won't make a difference. So, if we run, run and run some more, we will do a whole crap load of punting.

I don't really follow your logic here at all. It simply does not follow that because it takes a new, rookie QB 2-3 years of seasoning before he hits his stride that the Bills won't draft a QB. How would that be any different from starting a guy who, despite being a veteran, can't get the job done? You can spend 2-3 years not making the playoffs but getting a QB ready who can eventually take you to the promised land, or you can spend it not making the playoffs and with no hope to end to the misery. If one of the guys we have plays well enough this year to be a starter, then they aren't going to take a QB. If none of them do, which is the most likley scenario, they will take a QB next year. If we don't have a decent QB on the roster right now, then we are going to spend the next 2-3 years in purgatory anyway.

Lets see... a guy who wants to retire and a guy one screw up away from a full year suspension. Sure, probalby get 3 no. 1's for them.

Same here. I am very curious, long term, about Levi Brown so I am anxious to see how he plays in preseason. I think Brohm is a real long shot to be any better than Trent. I like Fitz's attitude but he just doesn't have the arm or accuracy to be an NFL starter. That leaves Trent who really has been saddled with a terrible offense in general and the line in particular. I can't say that I've given up all hope on him, not yet but soon if he goes back to the check downs.

I agree that there just is no comparison to last year given the massive changes in store for the defense this year. Still, I am a lot more optimistic, long range, where the defense is concerned than the offense. I don't care what the stats say, I think we have a solid secondary with more depth than it needs. I think we have decent LB's, nothing great but decent enough that, when healthy, I think they will do just fine. I also think they have done a good job building a new defensive line for the new 3-4. I am almost positive that they are going to struggle this year as they all learn this new system and because we still have to make some personnel changes to complete the 4-3 to 3-4 move. But that will have to wait until next year. I am getting a little bleary with all the posts obsessing on stats to show that despite the results in the W-L record, we were a very good or nearly very good team. It just aint so. We were just about exactly as good as our record. Perhaps a little worse due to the Indy "win".

I wouldn't put too much stock in that pass defense rank. That is based on total yards in the air. Teams didn't need to throw as much because they had so much success on the ground.

James Harris

I don't know him or his posts, I only saw the one and it was pretty reasonable. Even if it weren't, responding back in kind just reinforces the apparent consensus that being rude, insulting and obnoxious to one another is acceptable. I know its hard to refrain from puching back and frankly, I am not very good at turning the other cheek myself.

To the extent the line was pathetic, nothing has changed. Bell, Levitre and Wood have more experience but two of those guys are recovering from serious injuries and besides, I can't imagine that a year in that offense under Jauron is worth all that much experience-wise. The head coach and the offense have changed and we have a new threat in CJ. We will have to hang our offensive hats on that for now. The line will take time to overhaul. Butler's retirement was a real blow there.

I am just as uncomfortable as you but rather than waste money on yet another guy who can't play, I prefer that we do the best with what we have until we can find a guy worht the investment. Whether that is by trade, free agency or the draft, I don't know. Buddy has made the point several times and it makes a lot of sense: Adding a guy who can't play doesn't solve the problem, it makes it worse because you spend time and money hoping that the guy will improve and he never does. At the same time, though Gaither may not be all that good, he is better than what we have so I see the argument in support of signing him or someone similarly situated. Glad I don't have to make these decsions is all I can say. After the Dockery/Walker disaster, I am ready to give Buddy's way a shot.

I agree, that reply to your post was uncalled for but unfortunately, too typical hereabouts. Its infuriating but I guess you just have to muck your way past that kind of stuff and just concentrate on the actual, civil, discussions taking place. There are some. Its why I am still around.

Oh goody, another fan at TBD attacking a fellow fan. We don't have enough of that so thanks for adding your bile to the poison pot. One can be a fan and love this team dearly and yet be realistic as to what the next year or two holds in store for the team. At the same time, other fans are optimistic, even more so than objective reality woud support. And both groups are fans. Both groups have just as much right to express their thoughts here as anyone else without being told that they aren't real fans or that they are naive cheerleaders. Rather than attack this fan as a troll, an interesting tack by the way for someone with 16 posts, you could have set out to convince him that he is wrong and that we are in fact going to have a great season. Who knows? Maybe you would have convinced him instead of alienating him. Wouldn't that have been better than initiating yet another round of middle school locker room towel snapping?

Not to be a gloomy gus or anything but a high ankle sprain can take any where from 3 weeks to 6 months to heal if it is a bad one. Wasn't that what Sam Cowart had years ago?

Too bad. Good points all. If only you could have done that with out being rude and insulting.

How about the "We haven't done anything to deserve a cool nickname yet gang"

The swan song of the truly desperate.