BillnutinHouston

I agree. Some other thoughts on how the new regime's philosophy impacts overall payroll: 1) Building through the draft by definition means that payroll will not jump up quickly. And when your efforts to land an occasional big-time free agent (Clabo) fail, that keeps payroll down as well (not by choice of course). As a side note, I believe that Buddy's "building through the draft" philosophy is more of a practical acknowledgement of the relative nonattractiveness of Buffalo as a free agent destination than it is a true philosophy of winning (as evidenced by his efforts at Clabo). 2) When you inherit a talent-poor roster and you have a philosophy of spending $ to retain/extend GOOD incumbents on the roster, it stands to reason that payroll will go down initially while the FEW good players get extended. When "better drafting" takes over, then you have a roster that can grow together.

Looks to me like they are looking for some special teams toughness. Not sure what else they could get from him this year.

If that happened it was more than likely an assistant speaking out of turn with no authority. Gailey's response seemed to support this possibility - he said HE hadn't made that assurance to Jeff.

I struck up a conversation with her, her Mom and sis on the flight up to last year's home opener. If I remember right, David and she met while at Florida. They're a very nice, down to earth family and had nothing but glowing things to say about Nelson.

I thought the exact same thing. Didn't sound like the diction of someone who himself is capable of building anything but a Madden roster.

Not sure I read anyone pronouncing him a Pro Bowler. Some of us (with opinions) see reason for encouragement. Shame on us?

Was glad to see a thread on this - I was also thinking he looked very good, especially for his first game. He definitely has the body of an NFL tackle.

I give em a big thumbs up. Very sharp with the blue jerseys.

Um, no - I like Spiller. But it is safe to say Freddie has consistently been more efficient per attempt than has Spiller.

Disagree. Even Spiller got yards on that drive. On a separate note, it's clear that Spiller will be split out a lot more this year - kind of Reggie Bush-like.

Agree - very sharp.

Are you a long time season ticket holder or do you think there's another reason why you got that email? Just asking because I've told the Bills I was considering adding some lower level seats to my club seats, but did not receive a similar email.

I disagree. If we can't expect a pro sports event to be family-friendly, then the country is sliding further and faster than I thought.

Some possibilities: 1) new weight room facilities 2) a second strength/conditioning coach 3) Wannstedt hire 4) expanded practice field construct 5) Hall of Fame facilities ($2.5 mil) 6) new uniform redesign/consultant 7) investing it (hopefully in precious metals and not stocks) for use in 2013 when the NFL salary floor kicks in

Just finished making my annual call. Played it very nicely and got the following: Ticket for $159 ($176 off retail) Free HD for 24 months ($10 off bill for 24 months = $240) Free HD DVR (worth $199) Free Showtime for 6 months (who knows what this costs but it's not worth much to me) Granted the HD and DVR offers basically draw you further into DTV's offerings, but I'd be sticking with them anyway due to the Ticket so it feels like a good deal overall. Good luck to everyone else!

Yes, we'll have to agree to disagree. There are plenty of sentences in the article that one can "read into" and see a management split, but I still maintain that the article offers nothing conclusive. Even the quote you cite above is a rorschach (inkblot) test at best - it merely allows you to see what you want to see. Remind me again - what were JW's comments outside of the article? I remember reading a few along the way, but all I recall were cagy one-liner responses - kind of the thread equivalent of a grunt. I read those and asked myself, what's JW's point in doing that? Either say what you know, tell us you can't elaborate, or stay away from the "Add Reply" button altogether.

Please cite the specific language in the article that hints at ANY sort of disagreement. Since we're parsing language...re: the trade, the article has Nix "leaving that job with Jim Overdorf". "Leaving" doesn't imply in any way that Nix was excluded or overruled. To the contrary, it connotes Nix having the power to handle it, but willfully delegating the task to Overdorf.

Pardon my ignorance, but I keep reading this thread trying to find what I must be missing. I still can't find it. Here's the part of the article that people are apparently reading as proof that Nix isn't making the football decisions: "Nix has provided varying explanations on the Evans trade. Initially, he described the move as one that will allow Buffalo's younger receivers to develop. A few days later, Nix attempted to put the trade behind him by telling The Associated Press that there were a lot of things that went into the deal that he couldn't elaborate on publicly. Nix didn't handle trade talks, leaving that job with Jim Overdorf, the team's salary cap specialist and senior vice president of football administration. What's unmistakable is how Evans' departure shed light on much of what's gone wrong." Here are my questions: 1) Can someone point out for me the language stating that Nix didn't make the Evans trade decision? (And, I'm differentiating here between MAKING THE DECISION and HANDLING TRADE TALKS.) 2) Is it possible that Nix made the primary decision to get rid of Evans, then left the details to Overdorf? 3) If the answer to #2 is yes, is that "less bad" than Nix having no authority? I'm not necessarily saying Nix has full power. My point is simply, the article as written was NOT conclusive on the issue of Nix's level of responsibility.

Actually, no. JW is wise to be circumspect about further comment, regardless of whether or not it might reveal Overdorf as the puppetmaster.

I get that this board is not big on nuance, but hear me out. There's a difference between Overdorf "handling trade talks", and Overdorf actually MAKING THE DECISION to grant Evans a trade. It could well be that Nix made the football decision to trade Evans, then delegated the particulars (where to send him to, and for what compensation) to Overdorf. Not sure everyone needs to jump off the bridge in complete despair just yet. How does the Bills' hot pursuit of Clabo fit your theory?

Very impressed with this observation. Clearly you're an insider since from TV land you couldn't possibly know a) what Wood called on each play b) that his call was executed properly by the line but it put them in the wrong positions and c) that making calls is hindering his ability to play.

When was the last time you saw McKelvin deflect a pass? Reggie Corner seems to do it regularly. Have you listed to McKelvin speak? Not much brainpower there.

This ^

You're correct. Here's the list of inactives from the team website: WR Roscoe Parrish CB Justin Rogers LB Kelvin Sheppard LB Shawne Merriman OL Chris Hairston WR Craig Davis TE Shawn Nelson LB Chris White

Would like to see Chris Hairston at RT.