flomoe

One really could put up a good argument about the Big 4 on that 80's team to the Big 4 on the 90's team. Ferguson - Cribbs - Butler - Lewis Kelly - Thomas - Reed - Lofton Both of those teams were far superior to their fate at the end of each of the respective seasons. That 80's team was one deep slant away from probably advancing to the Super Bowl though another game was still left to be played. We will never know but that really could have been the year and Bills history would have been so much different. Why was Simpson locked up on a WR? UGH!

If he plays well and actually helps Edwards figure out how to play QB in this league, I hope the Bills re-sign him for 2 more years. IMO, as much as it appears that the Bills are trying to free up Evans and open up the passing game by signing TO, I trully believe that the Bills braintrust are also using this move to shake up and wake up Edwards. This is pretty much a do or die year for Edwards. He looked pretty decent for a few games last year but also looked absolutely abysmal for a number of games too. What better way to test the stones of a young QB than throw a veteran receiver into the mix. Obviously, Owens is well known to push his QB's to the limit, maximizing their potential, and this is something that Edwards does need to show that he can make it in the NFL. If the two fo them can click, the re-signing of Owens would be a no brainer for the organization, regardless of the cost.

Thanks for the video and the memories. I was in the tunnel endzone for that game, 8 rows up. Incredible how the Bills owned the Raiders that day. I think the week before, Bo Jackson had his career ending hip injury against the Bengals but everyone was saying that the Raiders were still going to give the Bills fits. HA!! We owned them that day. That video should or the entire game video should be played at the first meeting on the first day of training camp for the entire Bills organization from Brandon on down to the cheerleaders. That is how things were done right and how the organization should take every day........with heart and a tenacity to never quit no matter what. That Bills team was one of the best of all time regardless of what transpired in the Super Bowl.

I hate to say this word because I believe it is TABOO to say anywhere near anything remotely associated with the Buffalo Bills......but are you suggesting that Turk actually might use something as "Tricky" as ............... dare I say it ................... PLAY-ACTION????? Oh God the Humanity. I would probably fall off my chair, out of my seat or off the bar stool if Turk and Co. tried to pull off something as diabolical as Play-Action.

It's been that way for a number of years at the QB position. Actually, it pretty much goes back to the Todd Collins era with the possible exception of Bledsoe, but there was always that question with him each and every year he was a Bill. If there is one position the Bills really need to sit down and address seriously, it's the QB position. Edwards hopefully was a diamond in the rough but the Bills might need to go high 1st round next year if TE stumbles as he did last year. Even if he plays average, the Bills will need to look because this team can not wait any longer and us fans can not keep hoping that one of these Quarterbacks pans out.

1.) OLB 2.) QB 3.) OT 4.) DT

I would be thrilled with 9-7 but the fact of the matter is that Dick Jauron is still the coach and the probability of this team looking lackluster at best is almost a sure thing. 4 and 12 is probably the best this coach is going to muster with his hohum boring conservative playcalling on both sides of the ball. IF DJ lets the players play and TS gameplans with a little more life, they have a chance to be a playoff team but I just don't see it with this coach. His track record is proven and the fact of the schedule being one of the toughest in years doesn't bode well.

I still believe that Alvin Bowen will have a say in that OLB spot this year. Yes, he is basically a rookie but he was quite the hit at camp last year until the injury. Plus he is the "Compliance Linebacker". I also don't believe that the Bills are done looking at LB's, even though they said so. They know it's probably the one spot they still need to upgrade and didn't through the draft.

Isn't there a way that this tax could at least be lowered so companies can be passed from family members to family members? I know it's such a slippery slope but the penalties crush the will to succeed and pass it on to your own family. On another note, when I originally replied, I didn't know that Ralph's daughter had passed. Prayers for the families.

I would think that the Inheritance Tax would basically decimate the passing of the team on down to either of his daughters. They would end up being on the hook for roughly $450 mil give or take a few bucks. With the election of Hussein Obama, the chance of the Bush tax cuts, which included the elimination of the "death tax", is virtually dead in the water. Couple that with NYS taxes on top of the federal and it's damn near impossible to will or sell the team in New York without the state pulling down a cool hundred million or so. If Ralph were to heir the team to his wife, they could bypass the inheritance tax but he has stated many many times that, that isn't an option.

Aint that the truth. With all the build up and hype surrounding Jimbo, all he did in his first game as a Bill was deliver on all the hype. Everyone who was at that game or saw it on TV knew he was going to be something special for a long time to come. Don't get me wrong by comparing JK to TE. There is no comparison considering JK did have a couple years to learn in the USFL besides playing in an NFL offense at UM. TE, though playing in a pro-style offense at Stanford, didn't really have the luxury of learning the way JK did. Though, after the first two years, this would pretty much be the make or break point.

A L V I N B O W E N If he's fully recovered from knee surgery. IIRC, he was looking quite impressive in camp and could have possibly been pushing Ellison out the door until is injury and the Crowell incident. Hence, Ellison was a starting OLB last year. It's possible that the Staff took into account Bowen's rehab progress in not addressing a possible need at OLB in the draft.

Yes. I honestly hope he does because we don't have another QB on the roster that can step in and honestly take this team to another level. The stats are there to argue my point about Edwards but it's the intangibles in his game that really make me question him. I think he has all the physical tools to be an above average QB in the league. It's the mental part that I worry about. The sulking on the sideline, the inability to figure out a 3-4 defense....ever, the inability to adjust to the climatic changes that happen in Buffalo or his propensity to dump off long before allowing the play to develop or just sticking it in there when there is a hole to stick it in. That's all mental and hopefully with him being a 3rd year QB, some of that mental block has worn off. I'm just not sure it has or will. As a Bills fan, I hope it will.

I'm going out on a limb but my guess would be that this upcoming offense will have a lot more misdirection plays in the playbook this year. More pulling of the G/C's with the occaisional Off-Tackle pull on a delay with a weakside TE (Fine-Schouman) blocking down on an end. The passing game "should" be vastly improved with the new middle getting just downright nastier with the huge upgrade at all 3 positions......no offense to Butler.

Great write up. IMO, this might be one of the better "need/quality" drafts for the Bills in a long time. Until you reach round 7, you can't disagree with the Bills addressing both need and quality with any of their picks. In reference to Lankster, the need for more depth at corner and special teams still qualifies as a need pick with quality, so in that sense, the Bills were 8 for 8. On a side note, doesn't Maybin have a lot of similarities to Jason Taylor of 4-7 years ago, if not longer? I don't like Taylor only because of him being a Dolphish but he was a damn fine pain in the a$$ for the Bills for a number of years and Maybin appears to have the same first lethal step, the long arms and the not-overly bulky frame to keep him one half step ahead of the would be RT's he is probably going to face. I wasn't sold on Maybin at all but the more I look at him, the more I see nothing but trouble for opposing offenses in passing situations this upcoming season and beyond.

In answer to the original question...........NO I would settle for him being a consistantly 200 yard guy about now, but that isn't even realistic yet. Obviously, Trent has a couple more weapons this year that he didn't last but possibly the biggest glaring weakness of Trent is that, besides the fragilty, his mental state to be an every down quarterback in this league is suspect. Overlooking his ability to garner a 4th quarter comeback in the Jax game, the games in which he downright sucked for large portions of them trumps all the decent things he did. Yes, there are 10 other players on the field at any given time but there still has to be that huge question mark about his overall mental state for 60 minutes. Flame away but the record is there. Flashes of a decent QB.....yes, flashes of a great QB........maybe, signs of just a decent QB in todays NFL......REALISTIC. I like the guy, I just hope he blossoms before he wilts.

Starting from scratch can't be a bad thing, I just hope the coaching staff went with them.

Wouldn't Alvin Bowen be possibly penciled in for Ellison, now that he's back from the knee injury?

It's Nelson

I was referring to at least one DE and possibly another DT to pair with Stroud, plus a playmaking LB considering that Bowen's injury might keep him relegated to a backup. I'm not saying get all of them in the first couple rounds or even in the draft but the point was that this team is dying for a playmaker on defense. A player that other offenses have to account for on every play.

They should have it at Noon again and add the 3rd round back onto Saturday. It was great when the NFL basically owned the weekend instead of cowtowing(sp) to the networks. The 4pm start is just ridiculous. It was nice when you could get crap done around the house and crack a beer around noon and kick back and enjoy a full day of speculation and hope.

I actually have to agree with Skooby on this one. The reason Parrish is on the block is that they have no use for him other than maybe 3-6 plays a game returning a punt. Lets say the Bills can average forcing 4 punts a game, thats 64 plays a year, less the 3-5 games he misses due to the yearly hangnail injury, now he is down to 48 plays for the season. If my NYS education is correct, that works out to roughly $62,500/play. I am pretty sure the Bills already have someone on their roster (FJ, LM, TM, JJ) that can return punts and actually contribute in other areas too. Parrish would be the #6 receiver at best on this team right now and is a commodity (as strictly a punt returner) that the Bills can't afford the roster spot for.

D-Line This team is lacking game changing playmakers on both sides of the ball but you would be pretty hard pressed to find a game changer on the O-Line. Sure, the defense "kept us" in games last year but they did very little to stop anyone when they needed to. For that matter, they did very little to change the course of a game. The DB's were on their heels all year long because of ZERO pass rush and were picked apart by just about every team. This team needs a playmaker or two on the D-Line and definitely another LB.

The Bills need playmakers, especially on Defense now that Owens is a Bill. Sure a pass catching TE might be nice in the first few rounds but there is only (1) ball on Offense. I say load up the front seven, or grab a top of the line Strong Safety, if there is one.

Allen Wilson is only writing for the News because of EOE, nothing else. It's pretty easy to see that based on reading any of his articles. Very little research, concept or overall knowledge of what he writes about. The Snews is best used for lining the bottom of the bird cage.