jahbonas

We see the way the Sabres have virtually "bought" WGR as their own sports station and propoganda machine and how well it has worked. Buffalo now follows NHL like a religion compared to the rest of the country. The Bills should do similar with an AM radio station and claim it as The Bills station and just as the sabres do make sure their players and scouts and GM's are available for interviews and shows etccc. WGR would quickly see that their bull sh-- claim that this is an NHL town rather than Bills/NFL town is not true. The Sabres get both the payments from WGR for broadcast rights and the propoganda machine. The Bills from 97 Rock only get the broadcast rights - all the other hours thru the week are just music etccc...

Yes I'm sure Ralph's grandplan of being the only owner to ever lose top pick to the CFL was that he would wait 7 years later to get Jim kelly....ofcourse it was a 7 year wait because Ralph couldnt sign Kelly either in 1983 1976 - loses All pro Ahmad Rashad to Vikings for 15k 1979 loses #1 pick overall to CFL 1983 loses 4 time All pro Joe Cribbs to USFL 1983 loses 1st ballot HOF QB Jim Kelly to USFL Why did Chuck Knox leave again ?? 1984 - 2-14 record 1985 -2-14 record Any connection? Then he stumbles on hiring a scout to be a GM because he came as cheap as possible and that scout blossoms into the top GM in football...Polians reward? Wilson fires him in 1992.....its just incredible All done prior to any type of salary cap.....its incredible eneptness

Thats funny I somehow thought it was the medias JOB to figure a way to get the proper information by establishing contacts anyway they can...its done in many cities by very good reporters. The problem here in Buffalo is that rarely happens....so instead of getting the opinion of a Bills scout or Bills GM we get the PERSONAL opinions of a Paul hamilton or howard Simon who dont know a damn thing about football and see no film. So the info we get is never well informed...its about as deep as having a buddy watch 1 practice and say what he thinks....

Knox came here in 1978 as high a profile coach as there was in 1978. He immediately traded OJ to San Fran for 5 picks where the key pick turned out to be Knox greatest wish the #1 overall pick. However that pick never played for Knox because the owner was outbid by a CFL team - that simply was the beginning of the end for Knox for working under Wilson. He left after 1982 and brought much success and division titles to Seattlele in the mid 1980;s....Wilsons team again went back to back 2-14 seasons. Sound familiar? allowing top talent to leave elsewhere to bring success??? Knox did it in Seattle...Polian did it in Carolina & Indy and Butler brought it to San Diego

JW I'll assume your Indy /Sandiego comments were tongue in cheek.... Polian left in 1992 - he ended up delivering a Superbowl and may be the best GM of our time When Butler 'left' he was lready the 2nd lowest paid GM in football at the time despite the team making it to the playoffs 10 of prior 11 years......did you in the media ever ask why Butler was so eager to leave??? Or was that too much work? Again....I dont see the Rooneys losing their talent via firings or wanting to leave They recognize and appreciate top talent when they get it. Why was Polian fired? he called Ralphs daughter a bad name? And remind me why Ralphs daughter was arguing player talent with the most talented GM in football??

What did Levy ever do before Buffalo? Before he was allowed to coach the great talent provided by Polian & Butler. The success of the 1990s was not the coaching staff - it was clearly the scouts and GM's. Time has shown this to be more true as we saw no success before/after of the coaches and have seen great success of the GM's and scouts. Levy rode secretariat and came in 2nd !!! He was great at 1 thing...brown nosing to Mr Wilson and always be sure to get along with him Saban & knox were far better coaches . Knox brought division championships to the Rams before the Bills and did so to Seattle afterwards

Great moves made by Ralph: Fires Head Coach Saban who brought him 1st success 1966 Fires /Saban leaves after bringing success a 2nd time in OJ era 1976 Allows allpro Ahmad Rashad to leave for Vikings over 15k 1976 Allows #1 pick Tom Cousineau to go to CFL 1979 Cousineau leaving paved the road for Knox leaving to Seattle where he won division champs 1982 Allows 4 time All pro Joe Cribbs to leave for USFL 1983 Fires Bill Polian where he brought Superbowl to Indy 1992 Fires John Butler where he built San Diego Chargers 1999 It can be argued only the following guys brought Wislon success in his 50 years Lou Saban (twice) Chuck Knox Bill Polian John Butler - continued blueprint created by Polian He fired or forced those guys to look elsewhere... Inbetween these guys his organizations were worst in football After Saban 1 NFL worst team in 1969 NFL worst in 1972 After Knox departs NFL worst in 1984 NFL worst in 1985 After Polian/Butler gone 2001-present 10 years of no playoffs...and where is Indy & SanDiego? Compare this non-appreciation for men who bring you success to what is done in Pittsburgh!!! The ONLY justification for his HOF induction is if he guarantees the existence of a NFL team in a small market like Buffalo However even now at 90yrs old he cannot publicly give us that assurance How great would his HOF speach have been if he used that platform to announce to all that he had somehow put a plan in place that will keep the team in Buffalo long after he is gone? t

Its called constructive criticism - even a brief article can have good insidght and meaning - otherwise why even write it? Weight and strength is very big question - what seperates NFL players from non-NFL is speed/quickness....however most as rookies dont have the weight and strength to go along with it....sometimes its incredibly key for a player to move from backup to quality starter. Bruce Smith 's career was not impacted on his improved strength/workouts? Wislons article stated he is now 306....the reader is to guess/assume that he has always been 306? or is he still306 but a stronger 306? Look at Levitre this year...he likely will struggle some due to him not quite havig NFL strength/conditioning yet....its a huge aspect to the game for lineman on both sides of the ball.....Maybin's weight strength is not relevant?

Reading Allen Wilson's article today on Kyle Williams...so incredibly basic and rah rah...the News must do better if it wishes to compete with the Internet: Allen Wilson how do you not provide the following in Kyle Williams article? What did Kyle weigh when he was a rookie....how much did he lift? Now 4 years later...what is his actual weight and now how much more does he lift? How much does improved strength and conditioning contribute to what he can do now that he couldnt as a rookie? Wilson has access to Williams...these are easy/basic and informative questions to ask..... Same questions should be asked of other young players like a Gregg Ellis...who often must gain strength to compete in the NFL....often takes few years of building up....

Yes I want opinion - INFORMED opinion - one of the very best sports writers of all time Will Mcdonough was never arrogant enough to think that readers bought the paper to get HIS personal opinion....he understood readers wanted informed insider opinion from either scouts or gms or personnel men ettcccc.....The News writers never gather such opinion....they either state an obvios fact...or they give their own personal opinion......get off your asses and do what it takes to get quality informed opinions of men in position to know...if you cannot do that....find other work !! One classic example - the week Fluite was benched in favor of RJ in the Buff news we got jerry sullivans personal opinion and we got Captain Obvious stating the change in starting QB.....in a Boston paper writing about a Buffalo team Mcdonough wrote a great article by stating that the decision was controversial and that he gathered the opinions of defensive coaches who played against the Bills that year = he published their quotes and opinion about the move and how they felt it made a difference in defending the Bills offense at that time.

Bills make their biggest trade in a long time on Friday and on Saturday we get an article from the Buffnews that simply states the terms of the deal.....today we get 1 column by captain obvious Allen Wilson who states trading peters leaves a hole in the Off Line. Can anyone at the News get any type of access to the brain trust of the Bills ??? This is what writers need to do...its not their writing styles - its their access to information that the average fan does not have .....without such info the news will go under....

If Modrak was indeed in charge of the drafts I agree with yiou....but he has not....he was however ELEVATED this year to a more descion making spot - it was Modrak who really loved jay Cutler for example.... John Guy on the other hand....should have been shown the door a long time ago.... Lets hope Buddy Nix rejoining the organization will result in someone moving on out.....nothing killed this organization more than when Butler left and took the entire scouting staff with him....replaced by TD;s buffoons.....scouting is the lifeline of any organization And dont go cheap on scouts ralph...one good scout could have saved you the millions you wasted on trash like Dockery and Royal

Sounds like the same "FANTASY FOOTBALL" wish crap that has kept us away from the playoffs for 9 years.... This team needs lineman who can block,,,,and guys who can get to the passer....spending any big $$ on players that do anything other than those 2 things is fools gold

With the cap rising so high we are now back to simpler terms and really no longer care about "impact on the cap' and having to know about accounting rules for pro rated bonuses becasue we (and many teams) are nowhere near the cap and thus dont need (or care) about accounting to stay under the cap. We now simply cut players who are not producing to their salaries with little care about bonuses accelerating to the cap amount. It makes the decision to release Dockery & Royal easy...and likely means a Kelsay could see the door in due time as well

A typical Donaho blunder....signing a productive 3-4 OLB and put him into our 4-3 OLB position where he was asked to cover backs out of the backfield rather than do what he did best - rush the passer. No feel at all that its player and the scheme he plays in

In fairness to Whitner & Mckelvin they are playing behind a froint 7 thats get NOOOO pass rush...put either on the Ravens and they will be probowlers - look how well Bills cut Jim Jeonhard is playing safety for the Ravens. Ofcourse this is the Bills whole problem...they have put the 'cart before the horse' in drafting - you must first draft to build up your lines (see patriots) and then when lines are established then go for skill position away from the ball.....misunderstabning this is the #1 reason why Tom Donaho is out of work

In fairness to Whitner & Mckelvin they are playing behind a froint 7 thats get NOOOO pass rush...put either on the Ravens and they will be probowlers - look how well Bills cut Jim Jeonhard is playing safety for the Ravens. Ofcourse this is the Bills whole problem...they have put the 'cart before the horse' in drafting - you must first draft to build up your lines (see patriots) and then when lines are established then go for skill position away from the ball.....misunderstabning this is the #1 reason why Tom Donaho is out of work

There is a MAJOR difference between scouting and suggesting who should be taken.....and having the final say who should be taken....its pretty obvious Modrak was given less authority then people previously assumed....he now will have that authority it appears

Nobody is living in the past...I am giving an example of why measuring defense by points alone is not accurate.......opposing offenses will go into conservative mode if they get a 2 score lead on a team with a lousy offense.....so they virtually dont try to make mistakes or score points....so they win a low scoring game..... That has been the Bills of recent years....Bills points allowed look ok because we never get into shootouts where we have opposing teams trying to light it up all 60 mins....

Thats not true at all...and main reason why I posted this. Go back to the days of our high powered no huddle offense.....if my defense allowed an opposing team to drive the ball 80 yards and eat up 12 minutes of clock......the opposing offense did their job (and my defense did not) because they controlled the ball and kept my high powered offense off the field.

The stats I indicated above happen to reflect exactly what this writer writes in PFW regarding bills offense/defense... Buffalo Dec. 25, 2008 By Matt Sohn Profootball Weekly Bills offense in better shape than defense entering offseason In football, only so much can be gleaned from numbers. Case in point, the Bills. Buffalo ranks 25th in the NFL in offense, averaging 307.1 yards per game, and its defense ranks 20th giving up 331.7 yards a contest. Yet the obvious need to upgrade player personnel this offseason won't be zoned in on the offensive side. With the exception of tight end, the Bills are mostly pleased with the performers on that side of the ball, and remain confident that their current group has the ability to take the offense to the next level. The defense, the statistically superior unit, can expect to see a good amount of changes. Much of the front seven has produced subpar play in a season that fell apart at the seams following a 5-1 start, with only MLB Paul Posluszny and DT Marcus Stroud earning high marks for their work

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In an attempt to clarify the needs of this team (offense or defense) here are some key indicators to point to: A typical winning formula as shown by NY Giants is sacks and Rushing yards Defense as measured by Sacks Interceptions Forced fumbles & Rush yrds allowed Sacks - rank 28th Interceptions - rank 28th Forced Fumbles - rank 19th Rush yrds allowed - rank 19th No mistake last year that the only defense to stop Patriots was the one with the most sacks NY Giants On Offense: interesting silver lining since they replaced 290lb Fowler with 315lb Duke Preston. I have not been a huge fan of preston and felt all along Off center as crying need - however do we have to stop a bit on that when looking at these last 6 games: Last 6 games 186 yards 4.9 avg 171 yards 4.5 avg 156 yards 6.2 avg 84 yards 4.7 avg 187 yards 5.8 avg 87 yards 3.3 avg Typically offenses that can generate those running yards with avergaes above 4.5 are very healthy. Any type of improved QB play will take advantage over that ability to run. Edwards being still young and learning should make that natural improvement providing this team with an offense that at least would be sufficient to compete. The defense however - is borderline disgusting....the front 7 28th in sacks and 28th in forcing interceptions says it all. Our top offseason priority should be defensive front 7. We also should consider a new defensive philosophy to either a 3-4 or stay at a 4-3 but scrap this philosophy of trying to play with smaller/quicker defensive linemen. Biggest attraction to a 3-4? It offers the best chance to generate a pass rush at low budget prices. People complain about Kelsays contract...but frankly others would have paid him that $$$....thats the price of 4-3 defensive ends with promise. In contrast look at Joey Porter....outside LB passrushers in a 3-4 are often 'tweeners' who can only demand so much on an open market. Passrushers required by a 3-4 are athletic tweeners who are 6'3 250lb range....those type athletes are a 'dime a dozen' compared to the athlete who can generate a pass rush and stop the run in a standard 4-3 DE alignment...those guys are 6'5 290lb types which are far more rare and far more expensive. When was the last time we made the playoffs using a 4-3 defense ? 1974.....get rid of it....which ofcourse was a year when the defense sucked and we rode the coat tails of OJ's ground game....

Its amazing to me to hear the WGR crew actually brag about not knoing a thing about the draft....when anyone can see it really would take minimal effort to at least come up to speed....and last I checked...its their f&*&^ job to know about it ! Their entire coverage and slant is so dictated by the fact the Sabres pay their bills and the Bills use 97Rock FM...incredibly unprofessional