maryland-bills-fan

Ahah!!! He didn't play last year and that explaines why we didn't go deep into the playoffs!!!! and now we dropped Him.!!!! Ralph is cheap!!!!!

Who the f is Colt Lyerla? Is he a dog groomer from Batavia?

Why did they every get rid of "Tiny Tim" Levitre?

You have to consider that "Buffalo" is not just this city but also west NY over to 'Cuse and Canada out to beyond Toronto. There are not too many other metro areas in the US that are not already saturated or considered part of an existing team's turf. How about a team in Conn.? (would the Giants be happy?), or San Antonio(?) (Cowboys and Texas?).. The only ripe area is LA and that is college football land. Remember that two NFL teams (Rams and Raiders) moved OUT of that area, primarily because the region did not have the unity to build or upgrade an acceptable stadium. We are more likely to see Flordia (Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa) lose a team to go to LA than for Buffalo to move. As to attendance, I wonder why our whiners don't look up the data. ( see http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance ). Buffalo is #19 out of 32 in attendance, while Jacksonville and Tampa are #28 and #29. Not to worry.

Prior weaknesses in the team QB::::::::::::::: EJ has his rookie season completed #1 WR::::::::::: traded and got the top WR in the draft and traded a sixth rounder for a Williams guy who was 2nd place as rookie of the year and is a #1 type guy LEFT OT::::::: drafted a monster in the second round. Did not overspend resources for a ROT, who would be unhappy and underpaid o-line::::::::::::: Also drafted two additional big, skilled guys. One may be a starter at OG by the end of the year. The running game should be happy defense::::::::: drafted good depth guys at MLB (2 canidates) and CB. They are renting two experienced LB. TE and DE? can't do everything

You forgot to mention that we picked up two veteran linebackers to help out the biggest weakness of the defense last year, which was run defense. I like what I see. Marrone looked at the weaknesses of the team (o-line, no #1 WR, poor LB run defense) and he went out to fix them. And I mean really fix them- not just picking up one player in the draft for the fix but taking multiple shots be be sure there is an improvement. PROBLEM: o-line weakness................sign a starting FA, snatch Ugna off of a PS, draft 3 big linemen PROBLEM LB weaknesses..................sign 2 starting FA, draft 2 linebackers PROBLEM no #1 receiver....................trade a low pick for a #1, trade up to draft the 4th player in the draft Looks like a plan.

You forgot that we might have two new guards by the end of the year. Cyril Richardson and Unga may replace Williams and Urbik.

just like Lamonica?

No way that Lewan in a no-doubt hall-of-famer. It is true that we would be a paying LEFT offensive price for a RIGHT offensive tackle. You don't maximize your team by overpaying for players. You lose by not using the high pick on a skill position and you lose by having the guy be pissed off at not reaching his potential in skills, reputation and money and by his leaving the first chance he can. (Ever hear of Jason Peters?). There are a lot of very good LEFT offensive tackles in line ahead of Lewan for the HoF. Cyril may be a HoF at right offensive tackle for all we know.

Maybe they thought that he wanted more money then he was worth and they could pick up a stopgap veteran to do the same job or get cheap rookie who would have upside. Remember that he never really did break into the starting position and they tried him at both tackle and end. I think they may have decided that he was already at his ceiling without be anything special. Better to try out an unknown with maybe a higher ceiling?

Big Uglies!!! YES YES YES

I agree that there appears to be a hole without a good extra ~275 pound defensive end opposite Mario. I'm also wondering what the plan is. They didn't even sniff at a DE in the draft and only brought Scott Crichton in for a pre-draft visit. Some are saying that the DE position was weak this year, and maybe that is the reason for this lack of draft attention from the Bills. Maybe the thought is that we can pick up a cheap, but known value veteran DE from the roster cut-downs, who will be as good or better than any rookie available. Use him for a year an look next year for a long term solution.

How could that be? Where does Byrd figure in this?

All 3 of our MLB are old-school rock-em guys rather than speedy small guys who can run with a WR. Is there a metric for tackling in his analysis? Is the same metric used regardless of the system used? Didn't thing so.

Sorry, but you have the semantics screwed up. The proper English is that we spend this years first and gave up next year's first round pick. When you "give up" pick(s), the universal understanding is that you gave the pick(s) to some other team in order to improve your situation. So you "give up" your seventh round pick to move up and swap picks with another team. IF you want to say that the language is that we "gave up" our third round pick to the league to draft Preston Brown, well go ahead. You might be the only person saying it that way. But we did draft a top and solid RIGHT offensive tackle in the third round. In the first round, we didn't draft a LEFT offensive tackle to play RIGHT offensive tackle because that would be a waste of resources and would lead to problems down the line when that LOT demanded to be paid like a top LOT, and would probably be gone as a FA.

You know, sometimes the "experts" are guessing in an information vacumn just like us. If you have one piece of data (hurt knee), then play it up and look smart if it works out. Everyone will forget it if the knee never bothers him. But if you say that the knee will be just fine and it isn't, when then people will always attack you with that error and your career as an expert is over. CYA.

AND no long snapper as well!!! (with 7 rounds you can't have one of each!)

...and the horse he rode in on.

There is some depth of players there and some quality may emerge. What I don't understand is how many people get excited about pass catching tight ends who almost never line up next to a tackle, but are split out. Aren't they just a big wide receiver 90% of the time? Why should they set the standard as to how many passes a true TE should catch?

Well they do run Jackson in the short yardage situations instead of Spiller. It also makes a lot of sense when you put a Wingo or Dixon (230 pounds) in rather than beating up a 216 pound Jackson or a 200(?) Spiller, when you only need to push the ball ahead 1 yard for a 1st down or TD. The big guy is not going to have any need a breaking it for 50, after a 1 yard TD and he has a good chance of bulling a linebacker out of the way. If it is a passing play, he can pass block or burst out for a 5 yard turn around as well as a scatback can and is bigger for shielding off a defender.

I think it will be Watikins and Wood on the outside and Williams coming from the slot. (the "WWW" formation). Mix in the two burner guys ocassionally or as a 4 WR set. Note that the tight end may be changed to a blocking back for pass blocking, which would allow CJ or Freddie to combine with Dixon Brown and slip out for short safety value passes al la Thurman. We have to find a tight end whose name starts with a "W", Maybe we could get Moeaki to spell his name with the first letter upside down and adding an "s". Woeaski would work. I bet Marrone and Whaley are already looking into it.

I will rate it a B+. GRADE A for They piled depth upon depth on the offensive line. Drafted a starting RIGHT offensive tackle like I hoped they would do (as opposed to overpaying for a LOT and wasting the draft resource). They they piled on two more big galoots for the offensive line, who are talented players and might even be the starting guards in a year or two. We are going to be able to run the ball. Grade B+ and cudoes for cahones Getting rid of Stevie for something and getting the best WR was a good move. We now have a classic #1 receiver, who will lock up the attention of the defence. That will also help the running game. Was it worth two #1 picks? Time will tell. Grade B+ We drafted one corner who has size, smarts, speed and will make the roster. Gotta keep bringing these guys in every year. Grade B+ We didn't reach for an okay safety and will develop our own internally, or play more with one safety. Realize with 4 and 5 WR sets, the safety has to be able to handle a WR one-on-one and has to be able to run with the fast "tight ends" who set up split out. The game is changing and we are moving correctly with the times. Grade B We drafted two middle linebackers to back up our rental guys and take over sooner or later. Good Move. We got two shots at finding a guy who can be a good NFL starter. I would like to have seen a fast, sideline to sideline coverage outside linebacker. Grade D We didn't draft a defensive end to bookend Mario. I know that the story is that we can somehow have our (face it this is what they are) 3-4 pass rush 230 pound outside linebackers somehow set the edge against pulling 300 pound linemen. I don't believe it. I do think that this was not a year for a lot of superior defensive ends, so maybe its okay and I should blame fate. Maybe I should give them a mulligan on this if the DE's available were really reaches.

He is 31 years old. Sooner or later, the legs slow down and the offenses can beat him just with speed that he can not counteract with smarts. He has bounced around numerous teams as a savy backup, emergency starter, who can help out younger, inexperienced players. Notice that nobody has locked him up yet. Almost time to ride into the sunset.

Maybe you're right. I still think we are migrating towards bigger running backs who will be cheaper. Fewer eggs in one basket with the money as well. And maybe a running back who is more than a token pass blocker when EJ is throwing downfield to Watkins.