Ramius

The funniest part is how there's a weekly thread on how bad WGR sucks and only program garbage, but then these same people slam stevie for no-showing WGR.

They refused to pony up for Pat Williams, Jabari Greer, etc. They were (and this is well documented)behind the Evans trade and the Hangartner cutting. They were behind the cutting of Langston Walker even though he would have been a serviceable backup. All of these moves happened for monetary reasons, not football ones. Then you toss in the yearly "we're not going to be active in free agency" that we're subjected to and their refusal to consider almost all top free agents, its fairly easy to connect the dots. And before you bring up Barnett, remember the Packers released him later on in free agency. Its not as if he was a big name out there on day 1 of free agency. We only "outbid" the jets on smith because they were holding money back in hopes of signing Asomugha. The bean counters have been running the show for a while now. If you can't notice this then i'm sorry for you.

Agreed. I liked the Whaley hiring and woudl be glad if he got promoted to GM. The problem comes in when he identifies the players he wants/wants to keep and overdorf and littman say NO to paying for the players. Whaley can want to re-sign Stevie all he wants, but if Overdouche/Littman says "no, it'll hurt the bottom line," then Stevie is gone.

And the players that were getting their asses kicked were mangino's recruits. College is an entirely different ball game from the pros. Expecting any college coach to turn around a program in 2 years is completely ridiculous. You've got to give them enough time to bring in their own guys and implement their own system. Especially at a school where big time recruits aren't knocking the door to come play at. I don't care that Kansas won 12 games in 2008, they are still irrelevant on the football field. And that irrelevancy means that you can't expect a lot right out of the gate from a new coach. Gill got a raw deal.

Polian/Butler drafted 4 1st round DBs in 5 years in the early to mid 90s. That's now Levy's fault?

The Bills sink has many drains. And instead of buying more plugs to stop up all the holes, they pull a plug from one hole, move it to another, and then wonder why the sink never fills.

No. You plan by having young guys ready to step into starting roles, which allows you to let certain players to walk. The steelers don't lets "stars" go unless they have a replacement already on the roster ready to step in. The Bills do it ass backwards by cutting someone and then scrambling to find a replacement.

Merriman hindering a youngsters development is akin to this season's "lets get rid of lee evans so we don't risk losing Naaman Roosevelt."

Don't worry. OBD won't go into next season with those WRs. They'll let Stevie walk, and then we'll end up taking a WR with our 1st round pick. This way OBD has a shiny new toy to placate the masses and sell some jerseys. You are correct in that next season we'll be given the hard sell on how Marcus Easley is this great undiscovered WR and he's going to do great things for the team. Why spend some $ on actually improving the team (by keeping stevie and looking for another complementary WR) when you can save a few bucks and probably sell some more tickets and jerseys by doing what i just said?

Marques Colston is not categorically better than Stevie Johnson. They are very similar receivers. Both of them are in the 2nd tier of good WRs behind the elite guys. Don't forget, in buffalo, Colston won't have Brees throwing to him and won't have pressure taken off by the likes of Jimmy Graham, Lance Moore, Devery Henderson, etc. You claim the market is out there, but lots of these guys will be kept by their own teams. Not to mention that it takes time for a WR and a QB to get on the same page. How often do big FA WR acquisitions work out? Not much. This is a case where the devil you know is better than the one you don't. You build around stevie by getting him a complementwry WR so you have multiple weapons. You don't create another hole on the team and remove talented players because you don't like that the guy tweets.

I wouldn't be shocked to find out at season's end that Gailey largely lost the team. That happens when the coach shows an inability to adapt to anything thrown at him and change his strategy accordingly. More damningly, it happens when the players start to wonder WTF the coach is doing when he refuses to continue doing what works (in this case running Spiller).

If #2 WRs put up 80-1000, i'd love to see your definition of a #1 WR. Stevie is a tier 2 WR, which is a step below the unstoppables like fitzgerald, megatron, andre johnson, roddy white (note: this is different than a #2 WR), in a group that includes guys like colston, wallace, boldin, bowe, harvin, jackson, jennings, maclin, etc. All WRs drop passes. Stevie doesn't drop nearly as many as some of the "elite" WRs in the NFL like Roddy White, Brandon Marshall, etc. Hell, Marshall dropped 2 TD passes yesterday where miami had to settle for FGs. The only reason you guys notice Stevie's drops more than others is because he plays for the hometown team. But the grass is always greener, right? Stevie will get his money, because good WRs like him that can beat coverage and find open spots don't come along all the time. Hopefully it will be from the Bills, but it appears many of you would much rather us let him go so you can feel good about yourselves as opposed to keeping him and making the team better.

Wrong. Cam Newton brought a championship to Auburn. Any coach could have ridden his coattails in 2010. Gill got a raw deal at KU because that team is an irrelevant football program and they expected him to turn it around in 2 years. KU had one fluke season in 2008 when they went to the orange bowl, but aside from that, what else have they done in the last 50 years? Nothing. Their last conference title was in 1968 and they expected Gill to bring them back to that level in 2 years? Gill got the last laugh, because he's still getting paid by KU and Jabba the hutt part II isn't going to do any better at Kansas.

What "top guys" in the Fitzgerald/Megatron/Andre Johnson will be available? None. The potentially available FAs out there are at roughly the same tier Stevie is. We're much better served keeping Stevie (even if we have to overpay a bit) and then finding another complementary WR. That will improve the team much faster than letting Stevie go and trying to replace him. Unless you're excited about another year With Donald "garbage" Jones as #2.

Yeah, i'm sure Whitner is crushed that he's starting on a 10-3 team that is headed to the playoffs. the Bills sure got the best of him in that deal. You can't get a great #1 WR for $9 million per season. The top guys are making 8 figures per season. That puts Stevie in the second tier of top WRs, at 8-9 million per season, which is about his talent level.

Got it. So we should have drafted Losman with the #13 pick in 2004 and then he would have been a franchhise QB. And kelly probably would have won all 4 super bowls if he was drafted with our first pick in 1983.

Solomon insisted that the INT was Stevie's fault because he didn't come back and knock the ball away from Vernon Davis. He just kept bashing stevie relentlessly for it. He should have been blaming Fitz for making that God-awful throw.

Tough to assign an appropriate grade given that he's completely hamstrung by the bean counters and the higher ups of the organization. That being said, i give him a C based on his 2 drafts.

Amen. That INT is 100% Fitz's fault. Solomon Weelcots is an idiot.

Stevie is easily one of the top 20-25 WRs in the league. You don't let guys like him walk. You keep them around, even if you have to overpay a bit. What you do is go sign a deep threat to complement Stevie. According to most fan standards, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, and Andre Johnson are the only "#1" WRs in the NFL.

I don't know where you guys are getting your info, but $3 mil per season is definitely NOT starter money in the NFL.

You mean none of you guys are looking forward to Derek Hagan and Donald Jones as our #1/2 WRs next season? If the Bills let Stevie walk, its going to be hard to take anything they do seriously. There's simply no way they can spin it.

We'll see if Harrison shares this sentiment in 8-10 years when he can't remember where he is and pisses himself on a daily basis.

I think you're on to something. They signed white guys Eric Moulds, Takeo Spikes, and Lee Evans to huge deals, and they let black guys like Paul Pozluszny walk.

Football is a very serious game. There's no room for laughing or TD celebrations. Football was meant to be played by smashing a RB into the backs of a bunch of fat guys. None of this fancy-schmancy passing game WR bullcrap.