silvermike

2013 is our next scheduled RB draft pick, so there's a little window here for Spiller to grow beloved by the staff. Well, at least we're not letting players go for nothing.

He moved past a 38 year old QB who hasn't thrown a pass since 2005? I'm not yet convinced that the Jaguars got their money's worth.

Lynch for Brady and a 4th. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Look, we had three options: a.) trade him for peanuts b.) let him go as a free agent c.) sign him to a extension. Lynch wasn't getting a second contract in Buffalo, that deal was sealed the moment we drafted Spiller, if not the moment we benched him for FJax. So it was a trade or let go situation. Why do you think we'd get more?

Tom Donahoe was the last Bills GM to actually take steps to make the team better. They often failed but they were specific actions with a clear vision of what the team was going to look like. It just didn't work, because he didn't have the eye for talent to pull it off.

I think Christian Ponder is going to rise quickly this season. Hopefully, we'll do a little better, and we can get him in our usual 8-12 spot.

I think Byrd is 'overrated' in the sense that he probably doesn't deserve to be considered the best Bills defender in a decade. But he's a good starter who shows a penchant for making big plays. I'm happy we have him, and I don't htink he's worse than George Wilson.

So, psychic powers, good luck, or undisclosed inside sources?

Cornell Green is awful, but the other four look like pro players at the moment. It's amazing what a QB change can do sometimes. A guy who can sell a play action and release a moment sooner suddenly slows down the rush. I'd say if we're picking top 5, we've gotta aim at a star tackle or quarterback. If we drop past that, I'd consider looking at LBs.

Yeah. Fitz isn't a good QB. But he's an average QB who's trying to win. He missed on a pass to Roscoe that would have been a TD if he had hit it. That's not something to be ashamed of, that's just not being good enough to make a big play.

I had a dream last night that the Lions won the Super Bowl (over Miami, no less), putting up more than 50 points, and in the dream, I actually remember coming on here and using the game as proof that we needed top spend our #1 pick on a QB, no matter what... So, um, yeah, good story silvermike.

It's a bad decision if you lose. But plenty of guys win, and win big. Although I'm guessing players will think twice before holding out on AJ Smith again.

There's a win for every loss.

I'm really not interested in wasting any effort on a quarterback who might take us from 3-13 to 4-12. Even ignoring the damage to our draft position, it really doesn't do anything for anyone this year. And Garcia needs to be in at least a decent position to succeed. Remember him in Cleveland?

We traded McCargo to the Colts two years ago, but then they sent him back when he failed a physical. But there's usually one or two a season.

1000 was average when Manning took the SATs, right? So he's still a 'smart' guy, just not that far above average - or really, it's only the median of people who take the SATs, which is probably a smarter group that the set that don't take the test (ACTers, who are equal, plus dropouts, etc.).

Everything about that pick remains a mystery. I'd say they were trying to keep him fresh, but for what, our charge from 0-6 to 10-6 and the playoffs?

The Bills are unlucky, but they're painful because they're bad. Take away the bad luck, and you might earn 4-5 more wins over the decade, and we'd be having the same conversations.

Sadly, the Bills best acquisitions of the past 15 years have been by Tom Donahoe. Bledsoe blows the Ryan Fitzpatricks of the world out of the water, our recent defensive stars are still Takeo Spikes, London Fletcher, and Sam Adams, and our top skill players have remained Lee Evans and Travis Henry (life of crime notwithstanding). By the numbers: Top post-Polian QB: Bledsoe (in yards, completions, attempts, touchdowns) RB: Henry and Willis are both unlikely to be caught by Lynch or Jackson. WR: Moulds deserves some credit, but Lee Evans is the only decent WR to be acquired since then. And second best is probably Josh Reed. Defense: Sacks is all-Schobel, but the Bills have yet to find someone to replace Denney or Kelsay's marginal production. Kyle Williams leads all Bills defenders acquired since 2005 in sacks, with eight. Donte Whitner is the post-Donahoe tackle leader. At least the DBs have Jarius Byrd; for all of Jauron's love of CBs, he never produced one with more than two career INTs. The Bills front office has become so bad, Tom Donahoe is starting to look like the good old days, and he was an awful GM.

We should have kept Bell and Simpson, and promoted Andre Anderson, while cutting Evans, Parrish, and Stevie Johnson. Lord knows we're not going to pass the ball this year, so we might as well run the double-wishbone.

I'd say that the logical owner response then, would be cheaper, shorter player contracts, but that doesn't seem to be the trend in the NHL, where you get teams offering bizarre, 10-12 year contracts, guarantee or no. The NHL does, however, ban any renegotiations before the last 6 months of the contract, and punishes holdouts with full-year bans. So with that tradeoff, it might be worth it, since it would help Buffalo retain any players who are overperforming their contracts, and it would dull the advantage of big-market teams paying out huge bonuses, then cutting the players two years later.

I don't think Trent wants to play pro football. Maybe part-time with the UFL or something, but I'm guessing he retires after attending a training camp with some miscellaneous team and getting cut.

He's interviewing for their 5th string QB job, after Roethlisberger, Dixon, Leftwich, and Batch.

He was a restricted free agent. Unless he wanted to hold out all season, he would have had to play at least one more year in Buffalo.

Looking over the draft history and our chances of getting a QB, I'm trying to figure out where it'd be worth drafting a QB as good as some of our previous ups and downs. How good a QB do you need to take a #1 overall? Top 5? Top 10? So I can't extend this list back behind Kelly, but let me know what you think of the Ferguson/Kemp era. I'm imagining this in the context of last year's draft, just to give a sense of scale. And of course, these players would all be 23 year old rookies, not their elderly selves. Jim Kelly: #1 overall. Is there any question? Are there any hall of fame QBs who wouldn't be worth picking #1 overall? Frank Reich: 2nd round pick. This one is tough to gauge, given the fact that he played well as a backup on a great team and average on some mediocrities. Still, I'm willing to bet high. Todd Collins: 4th round pick. A well-respected career backup, I think a 4th rounder would be worth it, even if he never started a game. Alex Van Pelt: Undrafted. Just like real life. Rob Johnson: Undrafted. Yeah. Doug Flutie: 3rd round. He ran out of tricks in Buffalo before he got too old, but he'd be an interesting roster choice, and hard to pass up once we're out of day two. Drew Bledsoe: Top 5. Unlike Flutie, I think his decline was based on age in Buffalo, and 2002-2004 Bledsoe was still the best post-Kelly QB we've had. 1993-2004 Bledsoe is a guy who won two AFC championship games and ran up gaudy stats with few receivers better than Troy Brown. Give Drew Bledsoe, in his prime, the Moss/Welker combination and he'd be a legend. JP Losman: Undrafted. Sadly, terrible. Kelly Holcomb: 6th round pick. Backup's backup who might be able to come in and not botch a game for you. Trent Edwards: 7th round pick/UDFA. I'm right on the line here. Ryan Fitzpatrick: 7th round pick. He's a backup, and it's worth having those sometimes.