Mark Long Beach

I think it's a reflection of better players and better understanding of the 3-4. It's also easier to blow by Wang who's a developmental guy. Darius is a big upgrade over Stroud (4-3 guy) and Merriman is a BIG upgrade over everyone as long as he's healthy. The rest of our line has Davis healthy, Carrington & Troup are no longer wide-eyed rookies, and of course Kyle is Kyle. We could be quite a bit better on defense, which could have a significant impact on our record.

Amen.

We've seen some pretty nice BLOCKS by Fitz, but no catches. Thigpen really sold it well and timed his break to the reverse perfectly.

A closet Bills fan from KC posted a video of a play from Gailey from his KC days. He likes our signings of Thigpen & Smith. Given how many flexible & wildcat guys we have (don't forget Fred Jackson), I expect a couple plays throughout the year like this. This play is pretty sweet and it's easy to see how it really hooked the defense. I really enjoyed it and watched a couple times. http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/wk-9-can-miss-play-wildcat-copycats/_V06vT__g9iwAVf3OFerSg

He's definitely not secure. We have a big number crunch with a couple solid veterans and a LOT of good looking young receivers. We don't know who of the young ones can continue to step up. But Namaan has the coaches attention. That's hard to do.

Oh wow. I forgot what that feeling was. That had so many good moments in it. Takeo, Spikes, Sam Adams running back that int... Ah! I want to see Tom Brady look like that every time we face him.

Another option is NFL rewind. It's NOT live stream, it's recorded and you watch later. I'm on the West Coast so the games are released late Sunday EST so it's perfect time for me to watch when the kids & wife are off to bed. I just have to avoid the TV so as to not get any scores before I watch. It's basically the same time I'd watch the games when I had NFL ticket. I'd just tivo them and watch them in the evening anyways. price is reasonable at $30-$40 or so. IIRC.

NICE work Fitzbeardy! Much appreciated!

LOL! You're right, good starting point.

eek. I cut and pasted out of their article and didn't catch the name SNAFU. I think we both agree that if he's on IR he can't go to the PS. Wouldn't the PS be better for him? Is he really headed to IR or is it another screw-up in this blog post? Ah. Typed faster than I read. Thank you that makes more sense.

I'm rooting for the guy and was sad when he got hurt. I saw this blogpost on BillDaily: Is this correct? I've mostly just seen short sentences that he was waived? If he's IR does that mean he couldn't go to practice squad? Since he's eligible for the practice squad and is only out for 4-6 weeks it makes more sense to me that he's waived completely to allow him to be signed to the PS later... Anybody got any more info?

well hopefully our improved DL & LB corp means he wont have to make a tackle!

snicker

Dear God that was horrible. Thank you SDS!

I even somewhat believe him. But I always think of the Bill Cosby routine retelling where he had to walk to school... in the snow, uphill, both ways.

yup. We're a young team in a lot of positions. As someone has already mentioned we added an AHC/ILB coach who may end up replacing the DC. I'm very pleased with Wanny as part of our coaching staff. Very experienced and quite good. I hope that the staff can find a good overall working system. Coaching staff friction can be worse than player friction. But at the very least we need the most defensive help at ILB and that's where Wanny is so I'm happy.

Interesting... I've read just the opposite in that he's showing some surprising push and is difficult to move. It's too early to tell until we get to some full pad workouts. Then we'll see if he's got the gumption to go along with his size.

The whole problem with your premise is that it's only useful in hind-site. Evaluating what the players have become long after the draft. There are too many other factors that come into play (luck, quality of team, internal drive, injuries, etc) to compare the past vs the future. Maybin was a one hit wonder, who had most of his sacks against weak competition, has a small physical frame, etc. This is a much harder pick to justify than Donte's. Your rational for saying Whitner was a worse pick because there were higher quality alternatives is like beraiting Michael Jordan's high-school coach for cutting him for some other schlub. This guy picked some loser over the single greatest basketball player ever. I say we set him on fire. It just makes no sense.

He's only been inside early in training camp (or was it OTA's) his rookie year. He'd struggle anywhere right off the back. I think it's Wannstadt's call honestly. I betcha Wanny thinks that he's got a chance to be a good ILB.

Not our competition indeed. Frankly, better he's on the Eagles than the Fins. Even if he's only got a year left in him.

I think that it's clear the rest of the league doesn't put him in the elite category that he puts himself. He's starting to recognize that he's not viewed the same way. He's still going to get a decent contract and not a "bargain-bin" one. He's a solid NFL starter, there really aren't all that many of them.

Hey, it couldn't happen to a better team. Well maybe the Raiders. I loathe them.

I don't mind him returning at all, but not at 5m per. 3 year 9mil just fine. We'd have a solid top 3 rotation plus an okay run support guy in Scott and a rookie with promise. Sounds reasonable to me.

I think it's more UNEXPECTED potential. I think that Darius has more potential, and has shown it over time.

I agree that what Merriman or Kelsey goes down, we'll need some luck. I disagree that Lawson makes us better. We only get to keep a handful of linebackers. Keep the young guys to see if they turn out to be something special. We know that Lawson isn't, so if we keep him we lose out on potential improvement. Why settle for lots of known junk? I'll take the unwrapped package please.