Estro

Of the college football I've watched this season the only QB that impresses me is ND's QB Clausen. Laat year I was actually unimpressed with him, but this year he's caught my eye. Watched him make a lot of plays vs. Michigan and vs. USC. Keeps his eyes downfield, strong arm, decent accuracy, good pocket presence and runs what the experts call a pro style offense. Meaning he actually takes a good number of snaps from under center unlike Bradford. Even though Clausen is yet another Cali kid he seems pretty durable too. Not sure if he will declare in this years' draft, but if he does I think he's the #1 QB given Bradford's inability to stay healthy. For the Bills to have a shot at Clausen they'd realistically need to finish with 3 wins or less and at this point I see the Bills being in the 5 to 6 win range, so we probably won't have a shot at him. On a side note, other than Clausen, there is no QB I'd want the Bills to touch in the first 2 rounds (outside of Bradford, who Iim not that high on.) Weak QB class this year, IMO. I'm all for an OL or DT if we can't get Clausen, preferrably a DT. We really need to get stronger up front. Brandon Spikes (Florida) would also be a nice LB for the Bills. One things for sure, I would not draft for our secondary. Our secondary is deep and decent especailly when everyone is healthy. No to Cb's and S's in the 1st and 2nd round!

That is where the problem lies. If you were a GM how could you jusitfy giving up anything for Roscoe Parrish. He's shown nothing as a receiver and appears to be shot as a return man. Maybe a new atmosphere is exactly what Roscoe needs to revitalize his career. I for one though, would be shocked if anybody would trade us anything for him at this point. After all even 7th rounders can become Marques Colston's in this league.

Go rewatch the Packers Vikings Monday Night game from a couple weeks back. You'll see a QB who with no run game, an above average amount of penalties going against him, and a terrible offensive line (sacked 8 times that game) continue to keep his eyes downfield and make plays. In fact as poorly as his team played that day he had his team in the game late in the game and that was against a Vikings team that night that played lights out. Like the other poster suggested, a good QB makes plays despite the limitations surrounding him. Theres no argument that the rest of our offense has struggled, but Edwards IMO is the biggest problem of all.

Don't forget too the offense may haven taken 60-70 snaps, but Trent had 31 pass attempts. So it's not like 3/31 is by any means a tiny percentage. and liek I said there mere multiple other times when Edwards missed guys who were open downfield. I'd say it was probably closer to 6-8 plays where he blatantly missed open guys.

I was at the game and saw the same thing they showed on film multiple times every single quarter. The 3 plays they featured on the show were not the only 3 plays Edwards missed guys downfield, believe me, I saw it with my own eyes. For arguments sake though, even if it was only though 3 plays (all 3rd down plays) that's reason enough for complaint. If he converts 2 of those 3 to wide open receivers downfield that extends 2 of our offensive drives. Right there alone your looking at a 5 minute swing of possession at a minimum betwwen the bills and Browns.

What happens? What happens is I wake up and realize it was a dream. Then I turn on the t.v. and see the Bills are down 20-6 to the Jets at the start of the 4th quarter. First play of the 4th quarter Bills jump offsides, the camera scans to the Bills sideline, Dick Juaron can be seen with an emotionless face just clapping.

For those of you who have NFLN, I wanted to see if anyone else watched AFC playbook this week? Not that it came as any surprise to me, since I was at the game last week, but Trent Edwards is 95% of the problem with this offense, no question. I know a lot of people around here blame the penalties, the coaching, the offensive line.......rightfully so to a degree, but Edwards has totally lost his confidence to throw the ball downfield. Of the three plays they dissected of Edwards vs. the Browns he had wide open men downfield for first downs and never once did he even look at the receivers. In each of the 3 plays the pocket was also clean with a slight push coming from the middle (Shaun Rogers). This is Edwards biggest problem....the inability to slide and move within the pocket. Watch any of the upper-tier QB's and the first thing you'll notice is they all have pocket presence, the ability to step up or slide in the pocket. It helps to have a great offensive line, which the Bills don't, but I've seen plenty of plays where our line has given Trent enough time yet he still lets the pressure get to him due to his inability to slide in the pocket. Early in his career Trent surprisingly handled the blitz well, think back to the Ravens game of 2007 and the Chargers game of 2008. The difference then was teams did not have film on Edwards and were blitzing heavily from the edges so Edwards was able to keep his eyes downfield and deliver the ball. Once teams began blitzing up the middle they realized Trent wasn't nearly as effective. (No surprise our coaches still haven't come up with a conclusion on how to beat this, but that's another story entirely.) As soon as Trent feels the heat up the middle he immediately takes his eyes off the downfield receivers and looks to dump it off. What's worse is he doesn't possess the ability to step up or slide away from pressure, but instead runs toward the sideline like a chicken with his head cut off. This move eliminates one half of the field and because Trent is very inaccurate on the run, it usually eliminates any ability to complete a pass. If it were last year I could at least hold out hope and believe he will improve or be taught how to effectively stand in the pocket and deliver the football downfield, unfortunately after 2 seasons it's getting worse. For anyone who didn't see the show, try and watch the segment. It's so discouraging to see slow- mo film of wide open receivers and tight ends downfield only to watch Edwards throw lateral 2 yard outs to our outlet receivers. Now I know why Alex Van Pelt is still chiming in with "we'll have to simplify the offense further". It's because Trent is holding this offense way way way back and apparently the coaches think the only way to help him is to dumby down an already dumbed down offense. What does that tell you about our QB. Pretty frightening. Lastly, for anyone who thinks Hamdan or Fitzgerald wouldn't give us a better shot at winning you're nuts. I would've thought I was nuts for making that statement a month ago too, but sadly it's true. After watching Edwards, in person, 3 games this season I've seen enough to know he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near a starting QB job in this league. Hammy or Fitzy may not have as good of arm strength or accuracy, but what good is that when you refuse to throw beyond 8 yards unless you're throwing the sideline bomb (which you complete at about a 12% rate). If Hamdan or Fitz played last week, we win the game. Hoping to be at least entertained tomorrow, but I'm expecting more of the same out of Edwards. The past is the best predictor of the future and our future with Edwards at the helm is well.........SCARY.

Not as bad as I would've expected actually. A lot better than the XFL that's for sure. This league has potential as a develpoment league for the NFL IMO. I think the outlook is to get about 8-12 teams which I think would work fine. They just need to work on getting people in the stands because it'll never last at this rate.

Definitely some talent we missed on, but if you look at that first round as a whole it's pretty bad. Tons of busts and players who made very little impact in the league on that list.

Another note to add: Has anyone seen Trent's playaction? If not, it's absolutely abysmal. It's so bad that you actually know that he's going to pass as he's trying to sell the fake. I've noticed our team the past 2-3 years has done a horrible job selling the playaction so I pin that one on the coaching staff just as much as I do on Trent. Boy does this team just need to be blown up.

Good point. Last year when we sent Reed in motion we always ran to the side he was motioning too. Maybe the Bills realized this so they decided maybe it's just better to not motion at all.

"Dude you need to eat more"

Spot on and 100% accurate. Trent's decision is made up pre snap. There is 0 risk taking or ability to throw to the deeper route. If 2 receivers are open and one is 6 yards downfield and the other is 16 yards downfield, Trent is going with the safer 6 yard throw. NOW is that his own tendency or has he been coached to play this way (by the ultra conservative Juaron), we will certainly never know the answer, but I'm sure it's probably a combination of the two. I've watched live from the stands during the first 2 home games Trent choose the wide open 5 yard route over the 20 yard down the field pass that is also wide open. Last week I saw T.O. open on more than several occasions most the time past 10-15 yards and every time Trent not only didn't throw to him, but didn't even look at that vicinity of the field. Guy has no ability to pressure a defense. That's why many times I'm actually pissed off after a 7 yard complete pass to a TE or RB or Josh Reed across the middle, and it's because I see T.O. or Lee Evans wide open an additional 10-20 yards down the field. Trent's passes between 10-30 yards have been nearly non-existent this year which is a frightening fact for a NFL starting QB.

This is why drafting Leodis with the #11 overall pick and letting Jabari walk the very next season was very foolish. Leodis signed a 5 year $19.4 million with $12.6 million guarenteed, while Jabari got 4 years $23 million with roughly $10 million guarenteed. Similar contracts espcially when you consider Jabari's guarenteed money. I don't understand the Bills thinking in not locking Greer up and using the #11 pick on another area of weakness. Some fans will say, "yeah but we didn't know if greer was good when we drafted Leodis", but that is simply not true. The guy had obvious playmaking ability and starter potential and that was obvious. So who would you rather have Greer and the #11 pick to use on someone else or Leodis McKelvin?

Your right the offense looked terrible, most of which was Trent's inabiltity to throw the ball downfield, but who cares. You need two scores in 7 minutes, any sane fan would rather see their team go for it on 4th and 1 down 10 then punt. Dick is playing to keep games close in order to save his job, the guy has been and always will be an absolute joke as a head coach. Nice and respectful guy, terrible coach. And to answer the question, yes I would've been happier. At least then I know our coach has his head on his shoulders and understands you play to win.

Why is so one negative? Do you really need an answer to that question. Take a look at the previous 9 seasons plus the 1st 3 games of this season and you'll have a pretty good reason why most fans are disgusted with what's going on

Which after the Browns game I probably will do. Still want to see the Browns game as the weather will be tolerable, but after that who knows. It's tough to travel 8 hours one way and drop in the vicinity of $300-500 for a weekend to watch what I witnessed this past Sunday. Week 3 in the books and I'm already thinking our games by week 8 will be pretty meaningless, this franchise at this point is a downright embarrasment. Thanks for punting on 4th and 1 too Dick, that made my 8 hour drive home all the better.

The guy who sits 3 rows behind me who constantly yells "hey sit down, down in front, sit down a**hole". Guy would rather whine all game about everybody standing up than just standing up and watching/supporting the team. And believe me, I'm not going to sit down because everybody in front of me is standing, and I don't travel all the way to B-Lo to watch someones back. Aggravating as hell, much like the Bills/trent Edwars play lately. Also a little off topic but did anybody else feel like they were watching Trent Edwards playing for the Panthers tonight?

My guess is McGee has the same thing going on that he did last week. He will probably start, but I'm starting to get worried that this injury will only get worse as the season progresses. McGee is one guy the Bills D can not afford to lose, really hope he gets healthy.

I pay very close attention to the draft and he too was someone I was hoping to see drafted by Buffalo. I'm actually pretty happy with this signing. Sounds like an athletic dude, which is exactly what we need.

My guess of -7 or -7.5 took into account the whole 3 point swing home factor. I really think the line will keep moving in the Saints direction. Probably -6 by game day. Any average Joe Schmo's will be betting the Saints so the line will have to continue to steepen in order to get some action on the Bills. And then I will take the Bills! And watch them win! Wouldn't that be nice?

My best guess after the Bucs game was that the line would open up at Saints -7 or -7.5. Much to my surprise the line opened up at ONLY -4. Does this actually mean anything or have any effect on how well the Bills play this weekend? NO. Does it have me a little excited that Vegas thinks the Bills play the Saints within one score? YES. Note the line has since shifted to -5 meaning most hammered the Saints, but that also means absolutely nothing. The Saints offense is very formidable and this contest will be a very tough one for the Bills to pull off, but I do have some hope. The Bills offense is going to need to play an extremely efficient and turnover free game for us to pull this one out. If Trent throws that pick in the redzone or misses a wide open Shouman in the endzone vs. the Saints like he did vs. the Bucs we will NOT win this game. The offense needs to turn the majority of our red zone appearances into 7 points (if not all) to keep pace with the Saints. What gives me hope that this can happen is the fact that the Saints defense isn't very good, average at best. Their secondary (Greer, Jenkins Sharper and company) are all ball hawks which scares me (given Trent's tendency to stare down his targets), but other than that I think we can really get the run game going and SHOULD have some success through the air. The Bills D is going to let up some points, that's for sure, but if they can keep them in check, to the tune of under 30 points we have a chance. The Saints are going to get 5 scores minimum it's just a matter of how many of them will be touchdowns. Hopefully, the Bills D can hold them to 3 TD's and 2 FG's.......27 points (very best case scenario IMHO). If we can do this the offense has more than a fighting chance to beat the Saints. This will be a tough game no doubt, but if the Bills can give the fans something to cheer about early and the crowd gets into it, that could make the difference. You can't underestimate the home field advantage in this game, I think it will be big. Prediction: 28-27 Bills. The Bills turn every redzone possession into 7 points. Very surprising and very neccessary if we are to win this game.

Just went to NFL.com to watch some of the highlights from the previous game. I don't listen to John Murphy's radio calls that much, but enough to realize he is terrible at calling games. Yes, it's just my opinion, but man it's painful to listen to and must be even worse live. The main problem is he is so slow to relay what is happening on the field. He doesn't even mention Whitner is in the clear on the pick 6 until Whitner is at about the 20-25 yard line. IMO he leaves way too much to the imagination and does very little to help you envision what it going on, which is the main job of a play by play announcer. Also last I checked are starting strong safety goes by the name Bryan Scott and not Byron Scott. I know I'm being overly critical here, and I also realize he isn't a household name in the league, but you'd think our own play by play guy would know the names of the starters. If you don't believe me just listen to his call on NFL.com (second video down under the WATCH tab.) Anyone else share my same opinion or am I just being a baby?

Very accurate observation. This week vs. Tampa Bay Roscoe let at least 2 punts (that I remember) bounce instead of getting underneath them for the fair catch. In both instances the balls took a Bucs bounce and probably cost us a total of 30-40 yards of field position between the both of them. In close games that 30-40 yards can be crucial. As much excitement as he's brought to this team the past seasons and as much as I was against trading him this offseason I now think it would be a wise move. He doesn't seem to have a place on this team anymore and his punt returning hasn't been great lately either.

I know I'm not going out on a limb by saying this, but the Bills need to have success in the passing game in order to win this game. If Trent has a bad outing we will lose a close one. If we come out and have success throwing the ball downfield to the receivers it could be a lopsided win for Buffalo. Really hoping for the second one.