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Well said

I want to know what your opinions will be if come late March Stevie Johnson is smiling and meeting the media to talk about his new contract in a city other than Buffalo? Keep in mind if this does happen the Bills will tell you "we made every effort to keep him, but we don't think he felt the same way." But looking past the excuses, what will your gut feeling be if Steve is gone a month from now? I'll start it off by saying I'll be utterly dissapointed in this franchise and their inability to retain "their home grown" talent. I, like most fans, don't know for sure if Ralph limits spending, but deep down I believe through extensions like Scott Berchtold the Bills compete in the NFL with one hand tied behind their back. When Buddy was hired and went on record as saying Ralph doesn't limit what he can and can't do I really wanted to believe him, and it's possible he's telling the truth. If the Bills let Stevie walk, though, I think it'll be proved once again that the football guys aren't the ones that have 100% authority over this roster, and if that is the case it disgusts me. This year we head into free agency with 2 of our own 7th round picks, D. Bell and Stevie Johnson, about to test the market. Buddy has been on record as saying that the Bills MO will be to reward their own, so if both of these guys walk then whats the conclusion. They can't really think they can take the gamble and let Stevie walk thinking they can sign Vincent Jackson or Dwayne Bowe to replace him do they? While it is possible, it seems like an extremely risky strategy and one the team shouldn't take. It's difficult enough for Buffalo to attract sought after free agents from other teams, so if any team needs to put a higher emphasis on retainging their own qulaity free agaents it's certainly the Bills Throw in the fact we just threw some serious money to a QB who will need all the offensive help he can get, and letting Stevie walk looks even sillier. This team has to find a better balance of extending young guys with promise earlier in their contracts. I know sometimes you can get burned doing so, but the risk is worth the reward, IMO. I hope my fears aren't realized, but with every passing day I'm a little more convinced the Buffalo Bills, under the direction of Ralphie are about making money first and foremost, and if they can win some along the way than all the better. With that type of motive in the highly competetive NFL, the playoffs seem just as close as they have been for the past 12 seasons: no where to be found. Anyone disagree with my thinking here?

If we resign Stevie, and no other FA WR's are brought in then yes, definitely I'd draft him. If we resign Stevie, and go after another big name and land them then no. That situation is highly unlikely though as I don't think the Bills will lay out cash for Stevie and say a V Jack or Bowe. I think it's key that the Bills resign Stevie. It keeps our options open in the draft. If we were to let him walk.....we'd be forced to draft another WR early and I hate being in that scenario. Stevie is also young, talented, and won't command the $10+ mill a year V Jack and Bowe will get. My ideal scenario: Resign Stevie Johnson Land Vincent Jackson The two of these things will never happen though. It's just not a realisitc scenario. It's one or the other. My realisitc best case scenario: Resign Stevie Johnson Draft Rueben Randle Like most fans I'm getting a little nervous that Johnson still isn't locked up. When taking over this team Nix said this team wouldn't hesitate to reward their own talented players, so I hope he keeps his promise. I think a 4 year $32 million w/ maybe $14-$18 of it guaranteed is a fair deal for both sides

I've seen him go as high as #19 to the Chicago Bears in the PFW.com mock draft here: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2012/01/24/mock-draft-10-2 This mock (walterfootball.com) has him going #51 in the second round to the Philadelphia Eagles: http://walterfootball.com/draft2012_2.php So in the range of 19-51 seems to be the projections, although I'd expect him to be a lot closer to #19 than #51 when it's all said and done. I'd love for him to be on the board with the Bills 2nd round pick, but I don't see it happening. You don't find a lot of prospects with the height and speed combination of Rueben Randle. To answer another posters question....he didn't really show up in either of the games vs. Alabama. I didn't catch their first meeting, but in the Nationl Championship game it's tough to blame him for his poor stat line. Alabama's defense completely stifled LSU's offense and the quarterback from LSU was useless. I just remember Buddy Nix stressing that a guy like Calvin Johnson is open even when he's covered because he's such a big target. I also know size is a very important aspect with Buddy, so I'm sure Rueben Randle will get a real good look from tghe Bills during the evaluation period.

Rueben Randle, from my eye, looks to be a perfect fit for what Buddy Nix looks for in a WR. I was just made aware of him a few days ago and after watching some highlight reels and doing some reading on him, I'm real impressed. He's big, 6'4", looks pretty fast, is good at picking up yards after the catch, and can make tough catches in traffic. Looks like he'd be a perfect pick for us in Round 2, but I don't think he'll last that long. My go to source for NFL Draft Prospect info Nolan Nawrocki of PFW.com currently has him rated as the #3 receiver in the draft, behind Justin Blackmon, and Kendall Wright. He is rated above the likes of Michael Floyd, Alshon Jeffery, Mohamed Sanu and Marvin McNutt. He is estimated to run the 40 yard dash faster than all of the above prospects with the exception of Kendall Wright whose approximately 6 inches shorter than Randle. Randle was one of the most sought after WR prospects coming out of highschool, where he played both WR and QB. I'd expect this guy to really solidify himself as a 1st round pick at the Combine. Take a look at his highlights, and let me know if you're as impressed as me. He definitely passes the eyeball test.....1-fast, 2-tall, 3-good run after the catch, 4-goes across the middle/makes tough catches in traffic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qTJkl-4s2k Also his 2011 stats: http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/480208/rueben-randle

If I'm the GM my priorities are: Resign Stevie Johnson Resign Demetrius Bell Resign Rian Lindell Resign Scott Chandler Resign Bryan Scott I've listed them from most important to least, IMO. Obviously Stevie is the most important to get resigned, and I'd lose a lot of respect if the bills let this guy walk. Bell, is IMO, a very close second to Stevie in terms of importance. I have the feeling he'll test the market and get more money elsewhere, which will be a shame and the wrong move. It's not often you hit on a 7th rounder (both Stevie and Bell), and in order to continue to build the talent and nucleus of a team you have to be able to resign your young talent, and these two are both very talented pros. Moving onto free agency and the draft I'm prioritizing 4-5 positions: OLB/DE (depeding on our base defense) WR CB OT in that order. The Bills have seemed to have a lot of success picking up OL late in the draft or off of waivers (Urbik, Pears, Rhinehart, and Bell), so I'd expect more of the same......either a late round pick or a cheap FA that they like. Drafting a CB is an almost certainty, if not 2. Nix has been quoted saying you better draft one or two CB's every year, so I fully expect to see just that....1-2 CB's drafted. If the Bills can land one prized FA I'd expect it to be either a WR or pass rusher (OLB/DE). It's not likely, but if it were to occur I'd expect it to be at one of those 2 positions. Otherwise I'm expecting them to be addressed very early in the draft. Do not expect a G or C to be drafted. I believe Nix stated it's a lot easier to draft T's and if they don't work out you kick them inside. He stated it's very difficult to do the opposite so he sees the drafting of tackles as a much more viable and safe bet than drafting G's and or C's, which actually makes a lot of sense. I'm not sold on Fitzpatrick long term, but I think this front office believes they can win now with Fitz, and so I think they'll address other needs and wait another year or two to get their guy. An ideal scenario, would be 1- Resign Stevie, 2- Resign Bell, 3- Land a big time FA receiver (Vincent Jackson) ....and then follow that up with another defensive heavy draft (CB's, OLB's, DE's). I'd love that scenario. The Bills must get back to having a nasty defense if they ever want to compete when the weather turns nasty in Nov./Dec.

I think giants vs. Pats makes for the best match up, which I think the giants would win. I happen to think the Super Bowl ends up being San Fran Vs. New England and the Pats win by 7-10 pts.

Just took a look at your mock draft, that Stephon Gilmore looks pretty good, especially in run support. First I've heard of him, how is he against the pass? I did see that he's projected to run a little bit of a slower 40 (4.5 range)

I watched a few 2010 Alabama games in their entirety. Every time I watched the defense, 2 guys popped out, Marcel Dareus and Courtney Upshaw. I absolutely loved Dareus (he was my favorite player in last years draft.) Right after we selected Dareus the thought of pairing him with Upshaw in next years draft popped in my head (at the time I figured Upshaw would be a 10-20 1st round pick, and figured the Bills would be drafting somewhere in that range). I'm still a fan of Upshaw's, and agree with others that he would seem to be a pretty safe pick. With that said he does look a little bit slow and doesn't seem to play with that 100% effort and pure tenacity every single play. I've seen a lot of plays that he seems to give less than his 100% on, but I think at the NFL level a lot of that can be corrected. I do recall Nix stating that the pass rushers you ideally want are 6'4" - 260ish, so he doesn't fit the perfect mold, but Buddy won't hold that against Upshaw IMO. In the end , I'll trust Nix' and Whaley's instincts. Don't forget Whaley was particulary known for his great eye when it comes to scouting defensive prospects. Judging by Whaley and Nix' first draft together I'd say they found a few solid defensive players, and remain optimisitic they can do the same in 2012. Upshaw will certainly be in the mix, but I just have that gut feeling they're going offense with the first pick this year.

After listening to Nix' presser, I'm confident the Bills and Fred will work something out. With that said, I don't think a deal gets done with Fred until after the draft, Buddy almost admitted as much, saying something to the effect of "we have Freddy locked up until March of 2013, so we want to get something done, but there's more pressing needs right now". So if they do work something out I'd expect it to be around training camp, when everyones back and you have the time to negotiate. It'll be an interesting negotation too, because as valuable as he is, the Bills do not want to overpay for a 30+ back with a younger option already on the roster. I sincerely hope the Bills reward the guy for all the hard work, but I'm not entirely opposed to waiting another year to get it done either. Some players seem to play with that extra chip and effort in contract years, and the Bills could use that type of fire next season.

Good highlight video of Freddy J, I found on youtube. Pretty well done, and I appreciate the CL Smooth - Pete Rock tune (true hip hop). BTW, I just want to point out.....I think Freddy J's change of direction is what makes him so potent. He can stop on a dime and reverse course with the best of them. His run at the 1:28 mark in the video is a great example of his running: Hit the hole, follow your blocks, and then make the safety miss to pick up the extra yardage. Enjoy! P.S. - Love the F Bomb by Brady at the 1:50 mark.

I don't think its commonplace to sign a brand new practice squad within a week of the seasons end. Could be coincidence....or could go along with the rumor that this will be whaleys team to run. I also noticed whaleys name has seemed to disappear from the colts list of gm candidates. Perhaps he turned them down. What say you........have the bills ever flipped over the entire practice in just a few days?

Just texted you back. I need your email address to send the tickets and you need my paypal info to send money. Just text me back.

Can't make the game tomorrow, and I'd rathe rhave Bills fans in my seats than nobody at all. I can send you the tickets via e-tickets right to your email address. You simply print them out and head over to the game. Set of 4 tickets together in section 136 (Lower Level Sidelines on Bills side, 15 yard line). $20/ticket. You can send to my paypal account. Text me at 518-229-9248, or respond to this post. One more time that's 4 tickets, $20 a pop. Thanks and happy holidays!

I don't think so. The Bills made it pretty clear that they only viewed 1 Qb worthy of the #3ones overall pick (Cam). In fact I think its pretty safe to assume the Bills had Ponder as their second rated QB. Any talent evaluator who is surprised by Gabberts struggles isn't a very good evaluator imo. The first thing I noticed about Gabberts game was once the rush was coming he couldn't keep his eyes downfield. It's not surprising one team was fooled by his mobility and stronger arm.....but his lack of courage to hang in the pocket and inaccuracy were quite evident all along. Any betters should keep a careful eye on the Jags lines the rest of this season. It's not often you get to bet against a Qb as weak as Gabbert. Last weeks game vs. The Chargers who were only -160 may have been the bet of the year.

After this season ends there will be no team in worse shap than the Bill. Why, you ask? The Texans (expansion team), Bills and Lions currently have the longest playoff droughts. After this season it looks like the Bills maybe the only team left with 0 playoff appearances in the last 12 seasons. Let me put that into perspective: 6/16 teams make the playoffs each season, a 37.5% chance of post season play. The Bills have found a way, in a league that boasts parity, to successfully elude that 37.5% chance 12 straight seasons. Any math majors out there that can calculate the mathematics of successfully avoiding a 37.5% chance at something 12 straight times? I'm serious, I'd be very curious to see the probability, just to laugh away the misery. In fact, does anyone know how many other teams have missed the playoffs 12 straight seasons? I bet you there aren't many teams capable of that achievment.

Bravo Costas. Couldn't have said it any better. Stevie was an utter embarrassment to team sports today.

Made Wayne Hunter (the Right Tackle) look like Aaron Maybin. Just bulldozed a guy whose probably 60 lbs heavier than him.

I stand absolutely corrected on Von Miller. Like many others I questioned his size, his ability to play the run, his physicality and everything else. He's nothing short of a fantastic player. His presence off the edge had Sanchez rushing his throws the entire night. The Bills need to find a guy with an edge presence to make weak QB's (like Sanchez) vulnerable in the pass game. Hopefully this offseason we get someone who can have half the effect Miller has had (Courtney Upshaw, maybe). By the way huge win by the Broncos tonight, for the Bills sake. I hope we can play a good one in Miami this Sunday.

The lack of production we're getting at the WR postion in general is a big reason we're on a 2-4 slide. All of the WR's as a group are not playing consistently enough for us to compete. Stevie and Donald Jones both have serious lapses where they simply can't catch the football. Jones dropped at 2-3 passes today and Steve dropped another 2 I believe. When Stevie is on the left side of the formation and runs his slant, he's catching (mmore like dropping) the ball with his right hand above his left. Fundamentally, he should be catching that ball with his left hand on top of his right hand. I don't know why he can't get it corrected because it's costing the offense. Too many dropped passes on those slant patterns that should be gimmies When it comes to Donald Jones, he's just not focusing on the ball and he also seems to mistime a lot of jumps. The interception that went off his hands was an absolute joke. Fitz dropped a dime over the top right into his hands and his brick hands just popped it into the open arms of the Dallas CB. He also may have cost Eric Wood his season, because it was during that interception return that Wood injured his knee. Catch the football and Eric wood at least stays healthy. Those 2 "starting" WR's better get their heads out of their arses, otherwise this offense is going nowhere.

Not that I'm overly optimistic that this team can make the playoffs, but before today the Bills needed to take 2 of the next 3 in order to be in a spot to make a playoff push. Now, that they dropped this one, they must win the next two, no questions asked. If they can get their heads out of their arses and show up in Miami they could be 6-4 heading into a must win in New York. The biggest concern moving forward is our defense. They're a wreck. No pressure on the QB, and CB's who simply can't cover. Even our solid play at safety can't cover up how miserable Florence and McKelvin can be. Our offense is regressing, but they had their chances today but just couldn't execute. Spiller was wide open on a bomb, tripped over his own feet. Donald Jones was wide open deep down field and Fitz totally missed him. We had some chances and just couldn't connect on anything deep. We need to do a better job of sticking to the run and connecting our deep shots down the field. Donald Jones beeter start showing he deserves to be on an NFL team quick too. If he lays another egg or two I'd get the guy off the field. Suspect hands and ill timed jumps from Donald Jones is kiling this team. He's single covered all game and he needs to make a play sooner or later. The Phins will be a tough out next week, if we can find a way to regroup we could be back in the thick of it heading into the Meadowlands. If Eric Wood's injury is serious (I haven't heard anything, it didn't look good though) then we're probably done, and that's just being realistic. He's a big part of our rushing success and w/out him manning the middle I think our success moving forward will be sparse. Anyone hear what his status is?

After the Patriots win this team turned me into believers. They're still not good enough to expect to win when they lay a dud (Jets game), but when this team executes they can beat anyone. In fact, there hasn't been one game this season where I've thought "we don't have a shot". That's a big change from last year. The culture is slowly changing in Buffalo. I EXPECT a strong performance in Big D.

As it stands record wise now you have the AFC West which will get 1 team in (the division winner). Same goes for the AFC South, the Titans are certainly still alive, but my feeling is the Texans will be the only team in the playoffs representing that division. That leaves 4 playoff spots open for the AFC North and AFC East (2 division winners, 2 wildcards). In order to keep pace witht he likes of the Pats, Jets, Bengals, Ravens and Steelers the Bills need to go 2-1 in the next 3 games. If, and if they are to dop one of the next three games it'd be favorable for that loss to come vs. the Cowboys, rather than the Phins or Jets as they are conference and more importantly divisional games. This would put the Bills at 7-4. At 7-4 you're right in the think of it with 5 games to go (a few of which look like favorable matchups too). So with that said, do you think the Bills will win 2 of the next 3? I think they have a good shot. Dallas is going to be tough (remember if we were to drop 1 of the next 3, this would preferrably be the one). Miami will give us a fight, but that one is a must win. If we can't go down there and get the W, all of the playoff aspirations I'm hoping for will evaporate. The Jets game will be another mini Superbowl game for the Bills ala the Patriots and Jets games already this year. I expect the Bills to be a "healthy" 6 point underdog that game, and I expect they will win outright. I think the game last week was just about as bad as this team can play and it was still a game in the 4th quarter. Everyone is cooling off on the Bills, and I certainly understand the concerns. Losing Kyle Williams is a huge blow, but let's face it we've been playing w/out him or an ineffective version of him since week 1. The biggest thing for this team is their confidence and belief that they can go toe to toe with any of their opponents. Prior to last week I had no concerns about the mojo of this team, but after lasts week setback it's a bit of a concern. The Bills have to get back on track with what they've done best this year. Scoring points on offense, and creating turnovers on defense. Either way it's at least exciting to be in the thick of it at the midway point, as opposed to thinking about your draft positioning for next year. For the record: I see a split the next two games (that Phins game will be tougher than people expect), which would set the 6-4 Bills up with a crucial must win vs. the 7-3 Jets (I'm prediciting the Jets beat both New England and Denver the week after that). Bills will find a way to escape the Meadowlands with a victory, with the help of Sanchez, and be atop the AFC East at 7-4 with 5 weeks to go. Should be a lot of fun!

NFL.com just released their midseason All-Pro team. They only chose 1 RB, rather than 2 like PFW did. No Freddy, No Wood, another Bill does make the All-Pro squad: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d823ef799/article/midseason-allpro-team-rodgers-leads-highly-productive-group?module=HP11_cp

Good call on David Nelson, he should've been included in the list. I considered Bell, as well, as I think he's a pretty good LT. I just don't know if the Bills will resign him after this year, though. The rumor was the Bills were looking to extend RT Erik Pears. I believe Pears has priority over Bell for a new contract, because the Bills perhaps think Hairston is going to be the guy that takes over the LT spot. I think how Bell responds to his current injury and how well he plays when he comes back will go a long way in if the Bills give him a serious offer. I'd certainly like to see him back with the Bills. Looking at our list of prominent players, I think it pretty obvious where the weaknesses are: CB LB (OLB and ILB) WR (not a pressing need, but w/ Parrish always hurt and Easley's condition we need help in case Jones doesn't develop)