Bob in STL

I think Marv did more than ok to get this team up after three SB loses and to play in a fourth. Give him a break.

Hey if you liked Charlie Barton then so be it. You are correct, Dick Johnston covered hockey before Kelley. I used to go to many Bison games as a kid and I actually got to meet Fred Hunt, Frank Cristie, Dennis Hextall, Guy Trotier, Bob Blackburn and some others. I was a kid and did not know what to say other than hello but it was fun. The News and The Courier really did have some good writers. But that was another era and there seemed to be a respect for the players privacy by the media. Today nothing is off limits and with twitter and such the players seems to create their own controversy at times. I remember "The Quarterback Club" and I met Ernie a few times when I was a kid. He recall he sold hamburgers. I even remember that poor Jack Spikes swallowed his tongue one time in a game. Thankfully he turn out ok.

Are you forgeting Jim Kelley? Jim Kelley was the best hockey writer in Buffalo, in the USA, and maybe in all of North America. In 2004, Kelley earned one of hockey's highest honors, receiving the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, and induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

I agree that 7 instead of 3 would have been a big difference, especially mentally. The team we fielded that day may have been the worst of the four teams that we sent to the super bowl. I still thought they could win the game though. The thing that bothers me most about the Super Bowl losses is that during those years our regular season record against the NFC was so strong.

Fantastic pictures and, as mentioned, the scoreboard ads show the changes over time. The morning Courier was fantastic. My grandparents got the morning Courier and my parents got the Evening News. I lived in a two family house on the west side, above my grandparents. I made a picture scrap book of the Bills from the black and white photos from both papers. The Courier always had tons of great photos. No cable, no ESPN, etc. I had my AFL football cards in there too. I remember having all the Bills in the "tall card series" and also in the TV frame cards. Awesome.

I have a serious question. Recall the three OT losses. In each game we had chances to win in regulation and in OT. In each game our offense stalled numerous times on or about the opponents 40 yard line. It looked to me like we were running a spread. I recall being frustrated when we had no RB in the backfield and all those recievers spread out on the line, basically telling the defense what we were doing. It looked to me that the Bills are already running the spread, or a form of it, this year with Fitz? Not all of the time but sometimes. In fact, it looks like most teams do this from time to time. It also looks like Fitz runs well enough. He was second on the team in rushing (which is s sad stat considering we started the season with Lynch, Jackson and Spiller).

Last I checked "runing QBs" can get hurt too.

Can someone tell Manning and Brady this news.

I chuckled a little bit. Really, I got a laugh out of it. No worries.

I hope your not Buddy Nix incognito. Parish should not get cut. You did not draft enough at LB and DL which is our weakest positions. Merriman can not be counted on to play. The site of Kelsey on any depth chart at OLB is scary. I hope Wannstedt agrees. The right side of your OL is totally unproven and will get Fitz killed.

I have an idea! Let’s spend free agency money on positions of need. OG is one of the few areas were we have talent. Lets sign a decent, starting caliber OT, TE, DE, and LB. I would be happy if we signed just one high quality player to fill any one of these positions. Not journeymen, not retreads, and not the dreaded "serviceable" guys.

Did Bill Polian tell you this? Why did he not make a trade anyway? Why did they let Smerlas go if they were conerned about stacking the DL?

Nice example. Painful, but a well done simple illustration that I believe it is the core reason why we lose. Not only do the Steelers draft 2X more starters in rounds 1-3 but they also find Pro Bowl impact players. Explains why Nix and Whaley have to scour other teams Practice Squads to improve the talent base on our team. I cannot recall another period in Bills history were we drafted so poorly than the past decade.

I know that I could not do the job. I do want to clarify that I appreciate Ralph Wilson for bringing the Bills to Buffalo and for keeping him there. I appreciate his loyalty and his committment. I think he tries to do the right things and is a throwback to better days in business. I refrain from the sour jokes about him and his age. However, he is the owner and he once again has the title of President. He is responsible for the disfunction of the past decade and he admits that. The organization has been meandering without clear direction for a very long time. Ralph did not have the energy to do a thorough job search for a new GM. During the GM search he not have top notch football people advising him on today's talent, He has Brandon and Overdorf. That opened the door for Buddy Nix, someone he knows and trusts. Buddy brought in Whaley, a young gun that may be the answer for us down the road. We shall see.

Buroughs was really coming on as a solid corner when he got injured but I don't recall our CBs hurting us in Super Bowl XXV? I would have like to have Don Bebee in the game. I think the Bills we just way too slow to adjust. For most of the game we ran the offense that they schemed for. We played it like they expected. All we had to do was hand the ball to Therman and that would have forced them to go back to their standard 3-4. Then we could throw. We could have racked up big points had we played the second quarter like we played the 4th. Once we established a two TD lead their 3 yards and a cloud of dust slow ball offense becomes a liability to them.

My response to the bold print above is that, according to Ralph, Modrak never had the power to make the draft selections in the first place. He is apparently not accountable for the drafts. What a great gig! Thank you Ralph. You have a VP of Scouting that over a ten year period is not held accountable for the players we draft. How about that? I find that incredible. I want to work for Ralph Wilson. WOW!!!

Whitner, Ngata, Sims and Cutler we all pretty much even according to the scores you provided. Why the Bills thought Whitner filled a bigger need than Ngata and Cutler is the issue? Our 2005 roster on DL featured DTs Sam Adams, Tim Anderson, Jason Jefferson, Ron Edwards, and Justin Bannan. Our DE's were Denney, Kelsey and Schobel. Our QB was JP Losman with 1 year experience. I can see why we did not take another QB at that time (Losman was a first rounder), even though Cutler was a better prospect. Our Safeties were - Milloy, Wire, Rashad Baker, and Jim Leonard. Milloy and Adams were on their way out when we drafted in 2006, this was their final year. If you have Whitner and Ngata rated as even in your scouting report, and for some reason Ngata does not fit your system, and you think Whitner is the best safety in the draft you could rationalize why they took Whitner. Also recalled that they addressed DL in free agency when they signed Larry Tripplett from Indy as their big free agent DT to play Jauron's new scheme. They also drafted Ko "the millionaire" Simpson and Kyle Williams in that same year. Sure is easy to look back five years and "get it right".

I cannot believe that people think of things like this. Who should we have drafted in 1965 that would have helped us win the championship in 1966 -- that way we could have beat the Packers in SB I and all of our fortunes would have changed after that.

Draft to fit our philosophy? What is our Philosophy? What philosophy did Ralph Wilson develop and pass on to his troops. What attributes do his top leaders have in common and pass on to others? I would like to know that. At my company we have a clear mission statement and leadership attributes that are taught and passed down to all employees. We have a spirit and a culture and everyone (including our suppliers and customers and competitors) knows what we do and what we stand for. It is in our culture. This is a hard thing to do. It takes years and dedication and hard work and requires continuous improvement at the top. It has to start at the top and flow down to all. The leaders have to live the philosophy otherwise all you are doing is making up slogans. Employees will see that and ignore it. So starting with the owner - If you decide to hire someone (Donahoe) to run your team and your business then you may be deferring to his philosophy. That might be fine, however, if you decide that it isnt working and make a change after 4-5 years then you personally need to step in and lead and fill that void until things are back on track. Instead Ralph turned the ball over to an old friend from the past (Levy) and expected him to turn back the clock. When the old friend had enough, Ralph turned to "people that he knows". That would be Brandon, Jauron, and now Nix. It is high time for someone in the Font Office to do the heavy lifting (hard work). What is the Buffalo Bills philosophy? I don't know. I think that Nix is a great scout who brought in some other top scouts. Not sure if he has it to be a GM. I think that added some good coaches (Chan and Wannstedt). I think they added a future GM (Whaley). I do know that when you change GMs and Head Coaches 3 or 4 times in a decade then you probably do not have philosophy at all.

Too funny. Ralph even called him a "hard worker". Modrak could be home all day reading the same College Football Magazines that we can get at the local drug store.

Still need to fix the defense. - Your front 3 lacks depth and size and a consistent pass rusher. - Moats still has a lot to prove as an every down player - Poz and a rookie in the middle ? - Merriman even playing again is a leap of faith. The OL is still marginal with a rookie RT that could take a few years. Urbik is an unknown as a starter. Wood should be a good center, we shall see Bell does not run block very well no TE as usual.

I would love to see. it. It would be funny if Modrak got all his picks from reading TSW. We would have Ngata, Mangold, Bulaga and many other favorites.

We are ok at the skill positions for now. We really need better tackles if we want to run the ball consistently. For as long I have been wathcing football there has been one constant. Good teams run the ball, even when the other team knows they are going to.

So can Spiller. Well ... that is what they thought when they drafted him.

From what we have seen so far the answer is YES to all of the above. He does have speed .... but without size, strength, moves, heart, brains, and football instinct he has a big hill to climb. He has played for two different coaching staffs in two years and neither one felt comfortable putting him on the field. That says a lot. Given his age and lack of college experience he will be given another summer to improve.