Mark Long Beach

While I'd debate the not matter part, as I think that Kelsay is a fundamental weakpoint on our team, since we've got lots of them I'm willing to let a good locker room influence stay. We've been a losing team for a long time and it'll be difficult to shed that stink. He can still be cut in the future should we manage get three players that are better than him (two OLB + swing OLB). Right now, I think we have no OLB that are better than him which was why he was extended. Also IMO the fact that there's no better OLB than him is a significant contributing reason as to why we're 0-4.

Two comments, is your signature line your draft? If so it doesn't quite line up to your post. Secondly, IMO it's SO hard to do mock drafts early since in the draft you're really picking people and your belief in their talents. Of which we have so precious little information on. So the best many of us can do is to look at positions. Looking at it from that eye, We're so desperately in need of tackles (RT for certain and quite possibly LT, not to mention swing tackle) that I think we have to take a stab at one or two later in the draft at a minimum. Also, we have maybe two competent LB on our team. Possibly one or two of our 6th round small school guys will pan out but it's uncertain as both are injured. I don't rate TE position very high to draft and we've thrown a few of draft picks at the position in recent years, and we've got little to show for it. So I'd rather pick up an outside LB than a TE, and hope that Nelson is worth a hoot.

Yep it was. I'm not a huge fan of Sully, but he was right. Good for BB and Nix to immediately address the issue. Others seem to have different opinions (often negative regardless of how right the move was), but it seems to me that this new group addresses problems pretty quickly and decisively. Trent proved he couldn't play despite his obvious talent so they released him. Sully rightfully points out that Nix hasn't been heard from and later that day, he speaks. Sounds good to me. My fingers remain crossed that they can right the ship.

That's an interesting thought. I'm a little confused though. My understanding of the world is that digital broadcasts use the same broadcasting equipment (towers and power), it's just that the signal itself is encoded differently. So instead of the manipulations of the signal being decoded in an analog method, they are interpreted digitally. But the EM waves are still the same... So therefore it should still have the same range...? Is there more to the story?

Considering our weak crew of LBs, having our best run defender hurt sure doesn't help us.

I think that many of Peters critics complain about him not living up to his enormous capabilities. I personally believe he could have developed into one of the top 5 LTs in the game. But he seems to coast off of his talent rather than pushing it to the maximum and he SURE seems to care about money a lot more than performance. His attitude is not what a losing team needs to shake free from being a losing team. Not only did we not have a good Plan B, we killed off our only other competent tackle by releasing Langston Walker. While Walker wasn't a LT and especially not a no-huddle LT, he was a pretty decent RT. Our line still hasn't recovered from this.

Dang man, almost got me in trouble at work! (not that I wouldn't have deserved it, but that's a different point of view that's not my favorite) I certainly don't think that everything Sully says is worthless, but it sure is close. I DID like the line about showing up and proving he wasn't the smartest guy in the room. I'd be shocked if Nix wasn't PO'd about how poorly we've looked, just like the rest of us.

Heck our entire offense doesn't seem to hit 20 plays much less one person. As our offense gets more successful, he'll get more touches. As I recall from some previously posted stats, he was on the field more than the other two runningbacks. But we're using him now more as a receiver. But he's a liability on 3rd down because like most rookie RBs he can't pick up the blitz well. Spot on.

Setting up a trust to manage the ownership of the team after death is Standard Operating Procedure. Any additional language in the trust as to how the team gets sold (it's been widely reported that his family is not interested in running the team) is pure speculation. The most common suspicion is that the team will go to the highest bidder. This is the way ALL items typically get sold. Wouldn't you want to sell something to the guy who gives you the most money?? But, a sports team which also represents a geographical area isn't a typical asset. There is lots of emotion from lots of people also tied into it. But if Ralph wants to get the most for his family, to the highest bidder it goes, and I can't argue much. As for what happens to the team depends on who buys it, and how much they have to borrow to do so. The more that they have to borrow the more likely they will move the team. This is because they will need to pay a LOT of interest and the Buffalo area probably can't support a massive increase in ticket costs and other revenue sources. The man built this organization and helped build the NFL to what it is today. It's been a part of his life for what 40-50 years? It's his and he enjoys it and wants to own it for the rest of his life. Sounds reasonable to me, I would do the same. Okay, this is lunacy. the difference in your example is $200 MILLION dollars! What do you mean it doesn't f'ing matter?? Of course it matters.

Seattle didn't have a 3rd rounder in the 2010 draft (traded to Philadelphia) NOR does it have a 3rd rounder in the 2011 draft (traded to San Diego). Seattle NEVER offered us a 3rd rounder. They didn't have one to offer. This is why (essentially) the best we could get from them was a 4th + another pick(4-6 rounder).

I don't think I'd take a 3rd for Marshawn. Maybe, just maybe a top of 3rd, but that's pushing it. I think it'd take a 2nd rounder for me to move him. He's a good player even if flawed with a good contract. Keep him if nobody will give us the asking price. No reason to give him away.

Spectacular post. Very well said. I also fear for the new guard, although the old guard had it's share of bad apples who were out only for themselves. *cough* Al Davis *cough*! Hopefully we can survive the next batch. Although the level of greed that seems to permeate the NFL these days is pretty staggering.

Can't forget Moorman. Solid punting in the rain. So our two best players were two special teamers and QB who really can't play QB.

No we didn't shore up our biggest weakness of QB. Our other biggest weakness of LT, we have a young lineman who's showing signs of growth. He may be a good one in the future(fingers crossed). He's raw and still makes a bunch of mistakes, but if he continues to get better it looks like he can be quite good. Two regimes think he can be. Again, fingers crossed. Yeah our QBs suck. I along with many others hoped that an experienced offensive coach could turn the talented but flawed Trent around. Clearly he couldn't and the Bills have already gotten rid of him. This was a good move IMO. There wasn't that many choices for a new QB last year. The free agency had one good QB out there who we tried to get (McNabb) and the rest of the lot was not just bad but REALLY bad. If they didn't like our choices for QB in the draft (Clausen) then what were our options last year? I disagree completely that that's shooting from the hip. I think that it's just the opposite. To me, they are saying that we have too many holes for us to fix at once. We have only so many draft picks, and only a couple of those are highly likely to pan out, so we'll pick the best player available, period. Meanwhile, we get a chance to evaluate everybody else on the roster first-hand to see what we have. Remember this is almost an entirely new front office and a new coaching staff. Film study only tells you so much. Nothing about attitude, talent ceiling, how coachable a player is, etc. I think you feel that the risk-reward gambles that they are taking (and must take) are shooting from the hip, and I very much feel that they are not.

I think there's a chance we could be better with Donahoe than where we've been lately without him. But he did a lot of very bad things too. In Ralph's eyes and mine as well, the good that he was bringing did not outweigh the bad that he was conjuring up. It'll be interesting years from now to compare him with what we now have in Nix/Whaley. As many have pointed out, he did such a bad job here that he's not gotten a new job anywhere else. He did have a pretty good reputation, but it's definitely taken more than one hit by his reign of terror here. IMO he's not the only one at fault. There was definitely a style clash between him and Ralph, and he did a pretty amazing job of antagonizing fans from the GMs chair. This is pretty hard to do. Yes he had a season with a winning record, but just barely at 9-7 which can be accidental as much as anything. Remember that season we ended by getting creamed by Pittsburg's 2nd and 3rd stringers to prevent us from being a playoff team, which we CLEARLY did not deserve. I do think that he as a GM was slightly better than what's happened since. But I think that's more damning with faint praise. Marv was a great coach and a good motivator, but he's not a good front office guy. He's got good company as many, many good coaches haven't done well as a front office guy. We have no hind-sight for the Nix/Whaley (& Chan) era, but I like a lot of what I see so far. Football people are again in charge and hopefully they can work well with the owner and other management folks. Everyone in the boat has to row the same direction if we're to get anywhere.

Yep. I suspect that this is the main reason, but certainly to get some looks at other players is a reasonable assumption. IIRC Nix also said that Bell played more snaps than he was originally scheduled to and was doing well.

I ditto your ditto.

Blah blah blah. Hardy wasn't a mid round pick, he was a 2nd round bust. Nothing to do with the success of a late round pick. But fyi, our last 5th round OL was Butler who was a good one and has hurt our line significantly with his sudden retirement. I hope Wang is as good or better than Butler.

No, he's just wildly optimistic. With the notable exception of Green, it's a young line that's got some talent. If they all REALLY grow up fast and do so well; Bell, Levitre & Wood could form the underpinnings of a great line. But we don't know WHAT any of their ceiling is, IF they'll reach it and certanly not HOW FAST they'll reach it. If they are one of our better units by year end I sure hope its because they stepped up in a major way and not because everyone else has dropped off the deep end!

Agreed. I like Carrington and have some high hopes for him, but he's still a rookie out of a small school and he's caught in a major numbers crunch. We have NINE DEs on the roster. We can only play 2 DEs at once, since we play a mix of 3-4 and 4-3 and he's NOT a 4-3 DE it's tough hill to climb. I suspect that he'll play more and more throughout the year and definitely more as we more completely transition into a 3-4.

I think that this whole thread has been one of the better ones that I've read in a long time here. Good job Bill for starting this. My opinion follows along this same line of reasoning. I don't think that any of these failed QBs was going to turn into Peyton, Kelly or Elway. They all had a significant flaw. But the Bills as an organization failed too. They could have been serviceable QBs. They could have brought us to the playoffs (RJ did) and if all the stars lined up they could have been serviceable enough to win us a superbowl ala Dilfer and the Ravens. They were never developed properly. Their skills were never brought to the forefront and their weaknesses never really sufficiently protected. Our coaching staff's have been weak (inexperienced or poor quality) coupled with poor GM's have lead to bad drafts and not allowed us to win with a talent alone edge. But IMO more could have been wrung out of JP (a little) and a lot more out of TE had they been better guided and better protected. I think that TE had the highest ceiling of our recent QBs. But he was thrown to the wolves too early and lost what little confidence and courage that he had. He can make all the necessary throws, but has become too fearful to actually do them during the games. I truly believe that with a lot more patience, letting him sit behind someone for a couple years to really learn the speed of the NFL and giving him good protection (which obviously helps ALL QBs) he could have done quite well. But after running for his life in college and getting pounded into the ground behind our poor line with no a no chance offensive system he's ruined for life (which is the short playing career window of an NFL player).

The practice squad doesn't mean he's any more protected from other teams signing him than if he was a free agent. So there's no "protection benefit" for him being on the squad. Practice squad players are good for one of two things: As the name suggests, helping the team practice with extra bodies to help run things. Secondly a place to keep working with people you think are raw skillwise and hope they can graduate up to the main roster to compete for a job. Levi Brown couldn't help with the first job. Three QB's in practice is plenty. Chan said so himself that a 4th QB wouldn't get any reps at all. (usually 1st & 2nd QBs get reps with Offense and 3rd QB runs the scout team for the defense to practice against) The Second job as a stashed player... why he wasn't kept is not as clearcut, although IIRC CG basically said that he couldn't devote any more time than to the 3 QBs that would be kept on the roster. Basically, Brohm beat out Levi for the developmental QB role. The release of Trent allows for us to take on a new QB that has a chance to improve us in the future. No matter how small a chance, it's a larger chance than TE has, which is zero.

Lately, we've been precious short on star players, especially at the QB position. Some poor GM's and some poor coaches have contributed to our decade of suck. We've got a new GM, a new Assistant GM, new head coach, and almost complete new cast of assistant coaches. Why do you insist on blaming this crew what for what others have done? They didn't like last years crop of QB's and thought that they could reclaim good performance out of what we had. Trent proved to them and all who watched him that he cannot be a good NFL QB. So he got released. Sounds like exactly what should be done. Maybe not the most artful way possible, but the bottom line is he couldn't cut it, so the team moved on. Amen. As for well run? The Saints just won the Superbowl. The Saints. S.A.I.N.T.S. They of massive, historical suckitudeness for essentially all of my lifetime. Tampa-freaking-Bay won a superbowl. Do you remember those awful white and orange uniforms? I'm sad we haven't done better so far this year. None the less, I like our GM and I have high hopes for his successor Whaley (asst GM). The coaching staff shows promise and a willingness to adapt. This is in strong contrast to Jauron who repeatedly banged his head (and ours) into a wall and wouldn't change. Repeating my earlier comment: releasing a player who proved he cannot play the position does not make us inept. not immediately replacing an optional 3rd QB one day after a game does not make us inept. Both of those are in fact the right moves.

Bingo. Sounds like they're doing their job. I like it.

We have TWO backup plans. Fitzpatrick and Brohm. Some teams go with JUST two QB's from the get-go. ...not how a professional org is run? ridiculous. Well run equals winning. If you aren't winning, the players all suck and the organization is making mistakes. Just listen to the fans and media in any NFL city: Dallas, Pittsburgh last year (but this year they're geniuses), heck even in winning cities such as Philadelphia, the coaching staff etc are always morons. So not having a development QB to take an optional 3rd QB role on Monday, the day after a game makes us inept?? lunacy. Look, I hope that we do spend some time to look around and pick the best development QB out there. I don't care if we cycle through them at one every other week. Just find a good one. Besides, IIRC Fred Jackson has been our emergency QB in the past he can be it in the future.