Bob in STL

Let me jump in ... 1. I heard of him so he must be good. 2. Git'er done Buddy. 3. Ralph is cheap. Thanks,

Great points. I fear Buddy waited too long to fortify the OL this year and any pickups that we are likely to get are going to be Cornell Green-like players. Back to he initial question: Is Levitre-Wood-Urbik > Levitre-Hang-Wood? We need to give Urbik more time and hopefully he comes arround. I fully understand Buddy's "building through the draft" philosophy but in the meantime we are being subject to a painful 3-4 year rebuild that will probably take more like 5 years and that assumes we start hitting on our draft picks. So far Buddy has brought in Wang (draft 5th round), Howard (UDFA), Green (FA), Wrotto (waivers), Urbik (practice squad raid), Pears (waivers), Rhinehart (waivers), Hairston (draft 5th round) and a few other UDFAs. His reluctance to improve the OL via drafting a top prospect, signing a legitimate NFL starter via free agency, or by trade is baffling.

That is pretty much the concensus. Bell and Pears are OK ... not great, ok. No depth behind them. Urbik is unproven and looking lost. He could easily lose his job to Howard/Hangertner/Rhinehart. We need to find a solid veteran backup before the seaosn starts.

Not a bad cut at it. Kelsey will stay. Easley will make the team. Japser and Dotson to the PS. One of the stiffs on the OL will be gone (Wang or Wrotto) too. Not sure that Corner stays either. Coleman on the bubble too. Roosevelt and Jones in a dog fight.

Not Moorman. We have a rookie punter on the roster that did what last night? You want to cut Moorman after one preseason game? Please. To all the Moorman haters please remember he is our holder too. You want to mess up Lindell? Then cut Moorman. Great idea.

And great QBs make everyone else seem great. See both Super Bowl teams last year.

We need to see what he does by the end of the preseason, not the beginning. Hold Wang for a little while longer.

Trenches yes ... and don't forget that elite and rare "franchise" QB.

Agree except for one thing. Bellicek is going back to a 4-3 for one reason and one reason only. Personell. He does not have enough good linebackers to play the 3-4. Had he been the Bills coach last year he would have played 4-3 simnplty based on the people he add to work with.

Careful ... Lots of Urbik fans out there. Because Whaley picked him up and he was a Steeler he must be good. Right? My opinion is to give him more than one partial game before we judge. The OL takes longer to jell and he has very little playing time. The guy could not get on the field at Pittsburgh. I am hopeful that he develops but he did not get off to a great start yesterday. If Urbik fails then what is behind him? Hangartner? Cordero Howard? Chad Rhinehart? Or do we go back to Hang at center and Wood at RG. Come on Urbik. Step up!!

I thought Jasper was the next Pro Bowler? Are you suggesting we should actually let them play and see what they can do first?

If you have to ask than either you are not watching or you don't know what you are watching. I did not see him make any mistakes last night. Every coach he has ever had says he is solid and plays the defense he is instructed to play. He does not look good as a LB, especially in coverage but he did not ask to play there either. As a DE on the line of scrimmage he is decent. He lined up on the line with Dareus inside on those key passing downs and he did his job. Football is a team sport. Calm down and assume that Nix, Gailey, Edwards and Wannestadt know a little bit more about football than you do?

I really want to give Nix a chance and I understand his philosphy to build from the draft. I just think that he is ignoring other opportunities to improve the product on the field while we all wait for "his draft picks" to save the day. This year all the new rookies get a pass, even Dareus. I do expect to see why he drafted Spiller at #1 and Troupe at #2. My money is on Troupe to be a bigger contributor than Spiller. I would love it if they both step up. This year I expect to see the great improvement in the OL by the addition of waiver wire stalwarts such as Urbik and Pears. Nix likes these guys soooo much that he did not draft OL until round 5 and no FA pick ups so far. I have been following this team since 1963. I am waiting and I expect I will still be waiting long after Nix is gone.

1. To many holes, this thing will take time, but we will turn it around. 2. Not gonna make a splash in free agency, gonna build through the draft and keep our own players. 3. The fans are great and deserve better ... I know we have to show you the baby. yada yada yada

Agree. Sounds about right but they missed a few points. 1. Bell - good backup LT indeed. Now that he is healthy maybe he gets better? If not expect a long season. 2. Levitre - he is not a power blocker but he is a very good player. 3. Wood - unproven at center but looks like a keeper. 4. Urbik - Urbik lovers amaze me as he has never really played. Huge question mark in my mind. 5. Wrotto or Pears? Either way it is not much but I hope and pray that Pears is a player because we already know that Wrotto is not. Depth - Hangartner (C/G), Rheinhart (G), Howard (G/T), Wang and Hairston (T) --- scary, especially at OT. Buddy Nix amazes me to essentially sit pat with last years line. Let the games begin.

Problem is some of the second and third stringers on our team could end up starters or play significant amnounts of time. Especially on defense were we will rotate the front 7 a lot. I would hate to see top prospects get hurt (See Easley last year).

I think our starters will struggle on O because it is the first game, we are young, and we had no mini camps. It is harder to get the O going than it is the D. Starters will hardly play. The first preseason game --- time to play at game speed against another team with full contact. This game gets the blodd flowing but both teamns will play a simple gameplan and Chan will look at last years backups and the new kids for a long time.

I understand the plan and all that. 3-4 years of "building through the draft" means we have to draft good players. We shall see.

Far below average. Hairston will only play if we have injuries. He is a project with good upside but that is all he is right now. Bell is average when healthy and below average at run blocking. Pears might be better than the past few starters at RT but not saying much there. Injuries will kill us. Wrotto, Hairston and Wang are the backups and that is not good at all. If our two starters miss a lot of time we are in big trouble. Not much blocking help from TE and RB either. Scott Chandler and Fred Jackson can block. Nelson and Spiller cannot. Would love to see us pick up a veteran OT for better depth.

The second round picks are no better. Well .... maybe McKelvin, Wood, Spliller, and Dareus will develop into star players? 2001-Richard Seymour - Pro Bowler 2002-Daniel Graham - Decent player 2003-Ty Warren - Very Good Player 2004-Vincent Wilfork - Pro Bowler 2004-Benjamin Watson - Decent player 2005-Logan Mankins - Pro Bowler 2006-Laurence Maroney - Good Player 2007-Brandon Meriweather - ? 2008-Jerod Mayo - Looks like a stud 2009-no pick 2010-Devin McCourty -- TBD 2011-Nate Solder --- TBD I would say they win in a landslide. Notice that 5 lineman are picked out of 10 players and they are their best picks too (along with Mayo at LB)

Wow. I commend the optimism but some reality please. This team has been rebuilding for how long? A fourth round pick is not much for one of our better players. I think a likely scenario is that Evans has a great season for Baltimore and our 4th round pick becomes more like a 5th. Then we find out our WR talent is less than we thought so we draft a WR in the first two rounds as we continue to fill the same holes over and over again. Meanwhile, we will pick up more "future starting tackles" from other teams practice squads. Some people think this is dumping a salary but we are so far under the cap why bother? I truly think the Bills want to see what the young kids can do at WR. So now Easly needs to play and Johnson and Nelson need to continue to improve. Buster whats-his-face is another wild card in the mix. I would have loved to acquire a player for Lee Evans, especially a quality OT that can swing from right to left. Now that would have been a good move. Teams that draft well and develop OT's apparently don't like to give them up. Hear that Buddy?

When my kids were young I prefered that they did not watch South Park and tried to keep it off. Not easy to control what the kids take in these days.

Great report Fitzbeardy. Much appreciated.

We should improve for the reasons you state. We need to start winning games in our division. It will be hard to place any higher than 3rd in our division unless the Jets have a melt down.

Well he won't "bolster" anything with another Cornell Green type signing. I am not sure there is anything out there thats better than the players we have. At least we can say Wang and Hairston are developmental. I hope your right.