ElMarko

per Bills text alerts.

If Incognito ever has a son he needs to name him Guy. Guy Incognito. Best. Name. Ever. BTW, initial poster - did you start this thread after 3 plays? Two holding penalties in the first half would get one of our guards run out of town on this board.

By that reasoning, God made Bill Cowher throw the overtime game against the Ravens several years back... allowing the Steelers to finish below the Bills and draft Roethlisberger. And Cowher did throw that game, by the way...

I've seen every home Bills game for the past 20 years, seeing the whole field from the upper deck - trust me - Whitner is just good enough to be an AWFUL NFL starter. Good luck to him in Cincinnati. We are losing absolutely nothing with his absence except injury protection - but my guess is that there's always a veteran safety out there if that happens. Donte wanted 5+ plus per season, hit free agency and found out what everyone knew from watching film. He wasn't even worth half that. I never dog on Bills players either. The situation has to be truly awful and real for me to say anything. In this case - it is. Luckily the coaches agree.

I don't care if we was an undrafted free-agent or the first pick in the draft - watch him play IN PERSON, not on TV where you only see 30% of the field - to judge his play. I couldn't care less about his draft position. On half the plays he's LOST out there. How many times do we need to see this guy come in 2 seconds late on long touchdown passes? Slow to re-act, slow to turn and run, slow to the line... The coaches saw things with the team as the year went on. i/e., Trent to the street, Wood to center, Jackson in for Lynch... ESPN has been showing many clips of Randy Moss, Braylon Edwards and other free agent receivers as of late - and there's ONE common denominator with all of them... many are against the Bills and if they are, they show WHITNER COMING IN LATE every frickin' time. Just say NO.

Yes - but they also started Edwards over Fitzpatrick as well. They watched and they learned. It took a little more time with Whitner - and because he is such a vocal guy in the lockerroom. Honestly, if Wilson didn't have that same leadership ability, I'd think twice too. They call him the "Senator" - he's a more mature team leader. All this being said, I would love to see this position get better talent over Wilson. He's not the be-all-end-all safety. He's just better than the player demanding to get paid in the top 5 at his position, when in truth, he's in the bottom 5. Free agency shined on light on that beast for certain.

George Wilson's EVERYTHING is better than Whitner's. Better instincts, better hands, better height, better tackling, better playmaker, better leadership... better player, period.

Sit in the upper deck and watch Whitner play - then tell me you want this guy back. Agonizingly slow to recognize the play - his hip turn is awful - he can't jump to defend high passes and he's a pile jumper on running plays. Luckily, we now have a coaching staff that can recognize play like this. Veteran minimum is the best offer this guy is gonna get ANYWHERE.

Sit in the upper deck at the Ralph and watch Whitner play - like I have - and you'll see a safety consistently out of place and reacting LATE to just about every play. Moreover, he consistently gets beat one-on-one by backs in the hole. He's just not good enough to start - and he's not good enough to start on a 4-12 team. Lastly, there is no drop off AT ALL when George Wilson steps in for him - and at least Wilson will make a play every once in awhile! I resisted, but as Bills fans, we must acknowledge the 1st round bust and let this guy walk.

Bob & John's LaHacienda on Hertel. Everything else is a distant second.

Aren't comp picks awarded for the loss of rights-held free agents? His 1-year contract ran out and the team announced it was choosing not to resign... a comp pick is still awarded for this? If so - that rule has to be changed.

Actually - look back to the last Steelers game of the previous season. Cowher essentially threw that game - handing a regulation ending FG to the Ravens and sending the game to overtime - thus allowing the Steelers to draft several spots higher than they would have - including the jump over the Bills to a lower spot... all for the reason of taking a QB ahead of the Bills. I'm 100% convinced of this. Near the 2 minute warning, Cowher decided to go for it on 4th and 1 on HIS OWN 40 YARD LINE. Essentially handing the tying FG to the the Ravens if they didn't make it. What coach would make this decision - knowing that the missed 4th down conversion would essentially hand the tying points to the other team? And overtime of that game was a joke - every play looked like the Steelers were being asked to stand down. I remember watching this knowing that it was going to cost the Bills in the draft order.

Excellent post. I noticed the great push up the middle immediately. From up top (upper deck), it was plain as day that the middle of our line was getting great leverage and push from the get-go... frankly, something I haven't seen in YEARS. Having Wood at center HAD to me the biggest factor. Heck, we had a practice squad addition playing guard next to him! You can tag it on their DT's, but Wood looked like he was at his correct position - and the results were immediate - even with their beef in there. Spiller was able to get yards off-guard, as well. Not sure Hangartner's contract status, but Wood is HAPPY and productive at center. Leave him there for the next 10 year and build around him.

They picked Steve Tasker off the "garbage pile"

...and then Miller takes a dump against an aggressive offensive team. Lets an easy one in under his arm - then a bad puck play behind the net - dumping it right to Crosby for the killer goal. He was the difference in the game - because he got outplayed. Better make up for it against Ottawa Wednesday.

The same things being said about Wilson (and the team) today were all said in closely the same manner back in the horrible 80's... Doom. Gloom. "Forget it - I'm switching to another team." The only thing different is the number printed for Ralph's age. But then we got a quarterback and a decent head coach. All-Pro's. Playoffs. Superbowls. Everyone jumped back on the bus. The 80's were forgotten about and the Bills were a franchise that everyone respected. For cryin' out loud - have some perspective people.

Exactly! The internet nonsense out there that gets reported on by "real" news agencies now is simply appalling. But because it's only sports - no one really cares. Kudos to one news agency for getting it right.

Damn straight it's the players. Of course the coach matters - but Bill Cowher lost FOUR AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES AT HOME until he had Ben Roethlisberger under center. Who's the head coach in Indy again?

Factoring the juicy tidbit that Jim Kelly and Jim Harbaugh had a very dubious relationship - should have been mentioned. If Kelly has ANYTHING to do with the Bill's head coaching process, there's seems a ZERO chance they offered him the job. At the end of career as a player, Kelly questioned his toughness while working for ESPN. Harbaugh confronted and slugged him, hurting his hand and losing multiple games of playing time. Kelly questioned this even happening, however... http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67853231.html

Four losses in AFC Championship games - AT HOME. Only coach in all of football history to have that distinction.

You're trying to equate supporting the home team and ONE aspect of civic pride with green hair? And you missed the basic point of it NEVER happening with high-school or college sports. Way off the subject?!? Heck, you're not even in the same classroom anymore! What the heck does teaching your children these OTHER good things have to do with this conversation? Why try to take an individual's ONE example of something and make it seem like a universal that needs comparison?

This is the best post I've read on this site the entire year. I can't believe how many parents out there just laugh when asked about their kid wearing a Dolphins jersey in WNY. Sure - you can route for whatever team you want in this free nation of ours, but it goes deeper than that. Why route for your high-school team when they haven't won a game in 4 years (like my high school football team when I attended)? Go with the winner, right! Even if it is the cross town rival. When that kid grows up and attends Niagara University - will they wear a Canisius jersey to class just to be a punk? What lessons do people teach when civic pride and backing your hometown (or alma mater) are lost? Which begs the question - why do they make Dolphins' winter parkas anyway?

Before the SuperBowl win - there were entire websites devoted to Cowher's "System of Failure" in Pittsburgh. I think it's so funny how things change over time. Granted, they finally did win a SuperBowl - and that is a HUGE thing - but Cowher was being regulated to "loser in the big game" status as a headcoach before 2005. Wonder how people would react to a Bills' head coach losing four AFC Championship games AT HOME. After the fourth loss, the walk out of the Ralph sure would be interesting...

What NFL Head Coach LOST FOUR AFC Championship games AT HOME? Hint: He lost his first playoff appearance to the Buffalo Bills. And the answer is: Bill Cowher

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