Fake-Fat Sunny

I called us middlin because in addition to good stats for sacks there was also the stat I mentioned that no player made double digits. I think this is signifcant for several reasons: 1. No one on our DL draws much of a double-team except when that player is at the point of attack and the offense decides to take him out. What BS did for the Bills is that he always mandated a double-team (and sometimes a triple team when an offensive player had chip block duty on him or the run blitz was shifted toward him because he was likely to get through) BS made not only the rushers around him better because they were guaranteed single coverage even when they manned the point of attack, but he made the secondary better as the QB was watching the line rather than concentrating only on the secondary. While he Bills will almost certainly never have a BS again, if one of out rushers demanded a double team it would make the pass rush far more effective and give the secondary opportunities rather than them having to make them for themselves. 2. Its hard to judge based on the stats because timing is not recorded, but there are two factors I'd note for a higher sack count: A. High motor- Schobel and Kelsay are none as high motor guys because quite framly their sacks often do not come from their beating the opposing OL player, but because the QB holds onto the ball so long but the coverage is so good that eventually they run the QB down. My thinking is that the high number of coverage sacks speaks as much or more to quality of the secondary as to the nice motor of our DEs. I just wish that in addition to persistence they had great first moves, B. The run-blitz. We produced a top 3 sack number while no one had double digits because Fletcher had some, Spikes had some, Adams great first step got him some and we even aggressively employed the corner blitz. Again i would put this down as a tribute to the secondary because they managed to cover receivers in this pass happy league while often giving up one of their own as a blitzer rather than having him cover. At any rate analysis of these numbers say a lot of good things about our secondary.

Since it is doubtful that we would get much a difference maker with a draft pick in the 20s for this year I doubt I would be more optimistic. In fact, knowing that we would still be looking for a QB of the future and outside of the 1st few picks this draft does not provide one i would be less optimistic Any heightened optimism I would have would come from our 2nd round pick having been a diffenrece maker for the team in 2004 so that they made the playoffs this year and I'm not sure any one player drafted in the 2nd last year would have overcome the power outage of the ST, the D against long runs by 4th stringers or all allowed the O to carry the team into the playoffs by helping us beat Pittsburgh. I also do not see any draftee having defended the pass during Jac unlikely run to victory in the first game. have made real calls as the refs did not do against Oakland or held onto a lead against the Jets among our early season disasters which cost us a game. I'd probably be less optomistic without JP.

I think this comment speaks to the crucial role which the rush plays in pass defense. The fact that the Bills were second in the league in INTs, but were middlin at best in pass rush (no player in double figures) I think is an indication that alot of these INTs were made by the secondary rather than forced by the pass rush. Granted there are many factors and the many blowout wins for the Bills during the streak forced opponents to pass and we knew the pass was coming, but perhaps the better question for you is when did our DEFENSE sop a single 3rd and long rather than asking when the secindary did that.

Since in his rooke season Manning was the only AFC QB to start every single game (I know Farve did in the NFC but there may be no one else) I knew he was something special even though he racked up only a 3-13 record. Since then he has only confirmed that he is one of )if not the) greatest QBs to ever play the game. However, I think he is far from being one of the greatest players ever and I would not pick him to build my team around under the current NFL rules because his impact on the salary cap has been one of the issues which has killed Tndy season after season during his career as they struggle to manage it and to build a D that is good enough to win after they have poured so many resources (salary cap and draftees) into Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Mike Vanderjagt, et al. and the other offensive weapons that are essential to him being such a productive QB. It is no coincidence that finally last season Peyton finally moved ahead of Ryan Leaf in terms of delivering playoff wins to the team which drafted him in no small part because the cap is such an equalizing factor. I say hats off to Indy because with the acquisition of Bill Polian who has been able to work his GM magic to negotiate tough contracts and acquire the best marginal players at a price they could afford he has made the ST as good as it can be. Incredibly, the also got one of the best D oriented HCs in the NFL in Tony Dungy to squeeze water out of the rock of their D which has insufficient investment because they focus so heavily on the O. This may be the year that Peyton finally achieves the goal which all NFL players shoot for. However, they were not good enough with their cut-rate D to earn homefield advantage and that has added an extra game to their load while Belicheck prepares and will force them again outside of the pass-fiendly confines of the dome for the game tomorrow and next week if they make it. If this isn't the year for Peyton he may end up like Marino ending up not with arguments about whether he was the best player ever, but instead arguments whether he is the best player never to win the SB.

I think the attitude issue is over-blown. Some folks have even used the C word and claimed that Henry is a cancer. Believe me, a cancer is a player who repetitively says the wrong thing in their vein attempts to attract attention, or who slim around behind the scenes launching whispering campaigns or trying to undermine the starter. Henry has mouthed off occaisionally during the season and I think he is pretty done as a Bill. However, he has generally said the right things or actually clammed up while the Bills were busy doing other things. He has left folks who wanted to recreate RJ/Flutie part deux ripping how he looked on the sidelines and trying to diving lack of interest from his posture rather than having soundbites to point to. If you want to see and hear cancerous activity the look to Shaun Alexander claiming he was stabbed in the back in a stunning act of "what about me-ism" when he finished 1 yard short of the rushing title or Randy Moss walking off the field while the game was still going on. Henry has done nothing approaching these acts and still has a load of respect from many for playing and producing through injury last year. Rather than attributing an attitude problem to him, he has done little more than say I want to start. If you are going to attack him then you should join those like WH or Sapp who say he should remain a Bill and fight for his job rather than say he should not remain a Bill due to some alleged attitude problem. I voted for other in this poll because as a future is now kind of guy a draft choice represents little to me other than a player who has potential because he hasn't done anything yet. I like the folks who say they want a player and actually, since I see Shaud Williams as a potentially good 3rdd down back I'd like to see him traded for a back who may have lesser talent but who can step in for a game or two as a starter if WM gets nicked.

Its nice to see folks now having a far more rational debate about what Henry would bring in a deal for him. The ideas spouted on TSW that this former starter who has gotten round 1300 yards in two seasons, and that he stinks as a pass catcher when he did have good receiving totals in the year our offense used him as a receiver, and also that he has unusual problems picking up the run-blitz (he's not great at it but his problems do not strike me as unusual for younger RB) were simply blown out of proportion by folks who seem to dislike him in my view. However, the current debate still leaves me rather cold as the recent success of the Pats seems rooted in some great FA pick-ups more than it seems rooted in the draft. The draft is still immensely important for a team and is an important building block for a winner. However, the lower round choices like the 6th round Brady seem more important to me than the first rounders who get most of the attention in the NFL. Further, the value of managing your salary cap so that you can get difference makers like Rodney Harrison to lead your team and the huge number of cap casualties the Pats acquired relatively late in their 2001 SB run season strike me as the key to their building a winner. Thus, while it will certainly better to get a 2nd or a 1st for Henry )which doesseem possible) instead of a 3rd or 4th which seems more likely, both options strike me as not really addressing the key needs for my Bills team (and your's as well though you draftniks may not like it much). Don't get me wrpmg. I'm pleased as pnch with what Evans has produced as a rookie and I think he and Moulds both make each other more effective. However, I think these performers are clearly the exception rather than the rule among players. I'd rather see the Bills get a role player RB in exchange for Henry who can help us win by not being the speculative star we hope will be the next WM in 3 years but by doing a less than outstanding role but bring experience to this team. The LaMont Jordans and the Tatum Bells interest me more in terms of our needs now than the future Curtis Martins and Reuben Droghans. So I hope TD gets a good back-up role player back for Henry rather than a future prospect because I believe the future is now.

Definitrly the odds look very good that finally after a absence since the 1999 season a 1st round drafted QB may lead the team which drafted him to the SB and amazingly for the first time since Dallas chose Aikman in 1989 a 1st round drafted QB may in fact win the SB. I thought this drought would end last year when Manning and McNabb defied the usual odds which have 1st rounders only deliver even a playoff berth for their team 25% of the time and both made the conferece finals. However the conventional happening (though it is not the conventional wisdom since the marketing of the QB has sold many into thinking picking a franchise QB in the 1st round is essential) won out again and both of their teams went down. This year should finally see some success for a1st round drafted QB, but I must admit I was hoping that it would JP who finally broke the jinx. I guess we'll have to see how fate plays out this time even though it looks very good this year that a 1st round QB pick will finally pay off. We'll have to see next year wether this occurence if it happens is merely the exception that proves the rule that drafting a QB in the first is a waste of time and money if you want to suceed. It certainly looked to be a wasted idea for those who advocated spending the ranch and the dog on Joey Harrington. If Indy does not do the job this year, I fear that the greatest QB ever Peyton Manning will actually join Dan Marino in the list of great QBs whose huge hit on the team's ability to buy a true TEAM actually played a big role in them never winning the SB.

I think we cross that bridge if and when we get to it. From our standpoint, we clearly need a quality back who has at least the potential to start to give WM a blow when he needs the rest and potentially to step in if worst comes to worst at a given point and WM gets hurt or rehurts the injury. Henry in terms of onfield stuff seems to be just the man for this job (he usually needs a few carries to get on track which is not the pedigree of instant offense which we want from a reserve, but he has the production in two previous seasons to be a good fill-in starter if necessary). However, his off-filed talk that he wants to be a starter somewhere and that his time as a Bill is done makes this problematic. Trading him for a clear back-up RB and/or a draft choice is actually our preferred option. If there are no takers at a reasonable price I think that it probably needs to be left to Henry to change the tone for the relationship. He would have every reason to want to do so because the Bills have him under contract for next season and if he were to actually hold out he would not qualify toward FA status for time sat out and we would have the rights to him yet again next season. In theory, he can throw a hissy fit and report to the Bills but simply not play hard or try and accrue time toward FA. However, to do so would be a dangerous game to play as he would compound the performance questions raised by his play last season, would also give credance to the injury fears and add acting as a cancer to his resume, None of these things would serve his interests in getting him the big FA contract he wants. Add to that he would be signing up for a year in hell as his teammates would know he is letting them down through his lack of effort and he would be hanging with them all year. My guess is that if we can't move Henry, his agent will see first hand what opposing teams are offering for him. It will clearly be in his interests to change his tune and announce that he and TD have sat down and cleared the air and his plan in 2005 is to be the most valuable Bill he can be. If he is forced to take this stance then what he will likely do is hope under his breath for an injury to WM so he can then show his stuff and be next year\s Drew Brees having proved his stuff and in the driver's seat as an FA.

Both contracts are up at the end of the year. I'd hold off signing if I were either of them as both may see demand in the market. This is particularly true of Krumrie who actually got an illegal feeler from Snyder and the big bucks in DC when GW left, but the Bills refused to give permission for even talks with him being under contract.

Overall, I was very impressed. In general I am in the camo that it really makes absolute difference who the HC is. It makes a big relative difference so picking the right HC for your team is one of the most important jobs an GM has. You have to pick the right coach for your team's needs. However, from what I have seen 80% of HCs will win with good teams and lose with bad teams. There are the 20% of HCs who will win anywhere they go or lose anywhere they go and most of these are Rich Kotites who lose everywhere rather than Bill Parcells who wins everywhere. Yet, I was very impressed with MM because he: 1. Took a team which underperformed under an HC and with basically the same personnel got then to post a winning record. 2. Hired a great group of co-ordinators and brought one with him, chose to inherit one from the old regime and collected one of the reject pile of another team and this final choice was a great one in terms of performance. 3. Maintained his trademark of running an effective O but ran the whole team as many former players do of emphasizing putting players in the best positions for them to make plays. 4. Really kept calm and stuck to what he was doing amidst initials bad results because he knew he was right. Specifically I liked: A. Bobby April- The ST performance under April/MM was simply wonderful. They excelled at all facets of the game. The work here demonstrated how bad we had it under GW though despite debacles like the ST virtually single-handed costing us a gamer against the Jets, this unit got a free pass from criticism under GW because the D was so bad until LeBeau got here and the O was a constant problem under GW. April and the ST deserve special kudos for their kick coverage work. This facet of the game generally goes unsung because it is the part of ST which does not put points on the board. Yet from all I've seen this group did productive work not giving up any TDs on returns and generally not even giving up long returns. Moorman was simply fantastic and was robbed in the Pro Bowl vote. Lindell deserves all the grief he gets for missing a crucial chip shot field goal in the final game but one should note that kickoffs are a critical part of the return game and he showed the ability to kick it where he was supposed to each time as seen by our great coverage and also kicking it high or squibbing it when he was asked to. If Lindell sticks it will be the great kickoff work by him and the ST which will be part of that story though most fans will only pay attention to the measurable stat of points and him missing a high-profile and eminently maleable kick. Moorman's work at the other kicking position was nearly flawless and also had many moments of exceptional play with critical boomer kicks and also him downing it within the 10. ST really helped the O and the D with field position. The return game speaks for itself with MGee earning a Pro Bowl nod and Clements being an effective return guy that speaks to a major difference between MM and GW that the former makes good strategic use of position players like McGee and Fletcher. Even better, with Fast Freddy Smith the return game may actually be ablse to spare Clements. The quality at so many facets of the game almot certainly means this will be a consistent force to be reckoned with and is not a flash in the pan. The way asome folks treat this as not a real part of the team or the Bills results seems more motivated by desires like the one to get Bledsoe rather than truly understanding this team. B. Jerry Gray- He did a job which impressed me last year in that he did the signal calling within games. I wondered wether he had this task in the LeBeau designed D as a face-saving measure for GW who was brought here as a D genius and he and he and Gray's units simply were the weakest of the three units GWs first two years. One can blame the players, but GW made two huge errors in switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 at exavctly the time we were losing almost all our DL talent and he rescued his former players Robinson and Jenkins and they were ready for retirement rather than play. However, not only did the new scheme demonstrate that GW's genius did not extend to HC work, but it demonstrated that it was probably being under GW that was holding Gray back. He quickly the LeBeau scheme such that he was making the right calls during games. This year he answered fears that he was only a tactician and that we would suffer losing the strategic mind that developed the scheme. Gray showed great strategic ability designing and employing the scheme in each game in a way that created problems for most opponents almost from the word go. In addition, he showed great strategic understanding in being able to diagnose the first half results and implement the proper change that closed down things opponents were doing well in the first half such as the adjustments he made which shut down Sammy Morris after a big first half. Statiscal indicators like the Bills D ranking, the huge increase in turnovers created, and the low number of points the team tended to give up in the 3rd quarter showed Gray was the real deal. C. Tom Clements- This where my views will probably depart most from those who were disatisfied with an offensive performace which did not come near to matching that of the ST for dominance of the league and the D for its great statiscal showing. Hpwever, I was most impressed with this team with its far better O performance this year compared to its non-performance last year. The D improved a litle bit from being statiscally good to being statistically very good. The ST improved significantly from being adequate at best to being a true weapon for this team. However, I think it was the O which showed the most improvement in 2005 from its positively horrendous performance in 2003. It is true that overall the O was still inadequate in 2003, but one only needs to honestly remember how bad this unit was in 2003 to see that it can be true that it had massive improvement but stil was inadequate. 2003 saw this team get off to a roaring start with a shut out of the Patriots, but the fact a big part of this shut out came from scoring points off of a Sam Adams INT and a tremendous number of Tom Brady turnovers in what was his worst game to that point to understand that our offensive power outage was somewhat masked. The Bills actually came close to beating Miami down south, but it was actually the D again that provided the points on an INT by Clements and the O was fumbling away and INTing away great field position on goalline INTs on option passes and Bledsoe going into his pat and locking on Moulds leading to a Brock Marion INT. The O hit its biggest drought at the most crtical point of the season when our record still could be salvaged and the O went something like 10 quarters straight without scoring. This year, the O certainly did not lead the way, but not only did we not see a reoccurence of debacles where the O went multiple consecutive quaters without scoring but it certainly chipped in to the win in virtually every victory. Further, it should be noted that it is simply a fact that in many of the critical losses the O in fact delivered a lead which the D did not hold in some frustrating drives by the opponent. This is not the O we want in that it is not yet capable of consistently winning the game for us, however, it is simply a marked improvement over the year before where our O consistently failed to do anything. There were clear O problems such as the difficulty early in the red zone or to get rushing TDs. However, the upsurge of WM and some nifty redzone switches where folks like Bannan and Adams added to the O improved red zone performance. Most fun for me to watch was the creatvity and great use of Bledsoe's strengths and avoidance of his limitations we saw during the streak when Clements used the flea flicker effectively and even got some good runs out of Bledsoe. This rosy overview raises some clear questions though. If this team was so improved or even good then why did they miss the playoffs? Several reasons: 1. They weren't that good merely much improved- Don't mistake me saying they were much improved for me claiming they were great. This team had clear shortcomings and can improve in several areas particularly in offense. However, the fact they are moving in the right direction bodes well for the future even though they aren't there yet. 2. You could see some mistakes which rookie HCs are prone too- They were not 0-4 to open and then 6-1 to close by accident. It took a little while for MM to lay his mark on this team and get them all headed in the same direction doing thins his way. MM and the gang actually deserve applause for staying the course in the face of a bad start because he and they had confidence in themselves and doing it their way. They got some bad breaks to start out like incredible lucky plays by Jax to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory and some admitted by the NFL baf calls against a bad Oakland team. However, these are no excuse because bad breaks will happen and good teams overcome them. 3. They panicked a bit in the last game- After winning 6 must win games, I think they panicked a bit in the last game and rather than performing like they had during the streak with near flawless D and ST the team lost discipline and took a lot of bad penalties. They finally fell back on needing the O to carry this team but that is not going to happen and it is more important to winning that the O simply take its opportunities rather than try to force them or we lose. Overall though I am quite impressed and hopeful for the future.

Another occurence of the case that if you want a talent capable of being drafted in the 1st round of the NFL, rather than pay him a huge salary just wait and pick him up after he develops and is given up on by some other city. For every RoboQB that can win as a freshman there are several Youngs, Farves, and Dilfers who can win you the big one for a manageable investment. For every Harrington that looks like he is failing the team which picked and paid him through the nose, there is a Manning, Culpepper or McNabb who sticks with your team but they all have won (and even appeared in to this date) the same number of SBs.

Since he left there has been some degree of up and down certainly as far as record and even post season appearances. He left at a peak with the Bills and SB team and actually they maintained this level for a couple of years thanks to long-term payoff of players taken under Polian's guidance but also in the last SB with significant contributions from some post-Polian acquisitions that I can't remember the particulars of but definitely left me with a sense that the last SB was clearly a Butler creation as much as a Polian creation. The team then went on a downward spiral as the Polian crew got older and Jimbo concussed and wheeled off the field was in many ways the end of the Polian era. The 8-10 season which ended up being the demise of the Levy era was clearly a passage. Yet, the team did rebound from these depths and reappear briefly in the playoffs which I think is a pretty firm indication that it has not been a steady downhill slide into Arizonaness since Polian left. I still think there is the effect on the good old days with Polian since much of our history since the early 90s has been the continual search to find the new Jimbo. This addiction, even in the days of reappearing in the playoffs has caused a lot of our problems since I think it: 1. Butler waited a year too long to draft a new QB and both he and Ralph foolishly believed Jimbo would last longer than he did and we paid the price on the field in his final season. 2. Butler overreached to draft Collins having waited a year too long and then rushed him into the starting line-up before they had trained his happy-feet tendency out of him. 3. Seeing that TC was not going to do the job we again overreached for Billy Joe Hobert and actually trusted in this idiot who deserved to be cut when he didn't do his job. 4. AJ Smith did a great scouting job in identifying that Flutie could win in this league, but then our QB insecurity reared its ugly head and we traded for RJ. This was fine, but then Butler made the stupid move of signing him to a guranteed deal and handed him the starting job which broke faith with Flutie since they had promised him a shot at the starting job. Even more foolishly by giving RJ guaranteed money they set up a situation where if RJ got hurt and Flutie performed like AJ predicted he would we would be forced to negotiate a long-term deal with Flutie to lower the cap hit which came from rolling his achieved incentives into his base pay. 5. We correctly went for it while we had the players in my view, but cap hell was going to come at some point and it did with the end or the Butler era. Again a low-point was hit at 3-13 but once again the team has a winning record and even came with a game of making the playoffs. I agree Polian was very good here, but the history of W/L and playoff appearances certainly does not reach the glory of SB appaearances since Polian left and Butler steered the team there, but it simply isn't a steady une=relenting downward spiral without Polian.

I think that you are rightto be concerned and unfortunately concern outweighs even a legitimate belief in Campbell or Euhus as players. I'm not saying that these two aren't the real deal as athletes, but one need only think about the conventional wisdom that it can take over a year for a player to truly recover to his old levels from an ACL tear and see that this was the case for athletes likes Edggerin James and WM and concern about whether we will have a hole to fill at TE is warranted. How bad were the injuries to Campbell and Euhus. Amidst the playoff hubub once it was clear they were not going to play this year I didn't pay close attention to the severity of their injuries. I know there was some question as to how severe Euhus' injury was and I hope that adds up to his ACL injury being less severe and that he will take less than a year or more to heal. Campbell I believe was clearly done when he was hurt so who knows. Though out friend ICE was pretty much wrong abou everything else involving the Bills he will be correct that TE is going to be a priority for this team (of course he made this proclamation prior to these injuries so his ending up correct was probably a coincidence but even a broken clock is right twice a day).

I think the last SB appearance of the Bills was more Butler's doing than Polian's doing. In addition. the Polian SB's occured in some part because Polian was smart enough to recognize Butler's talents as an evaluator. We do miss the things Polian did for Buffalo, but I think it would be incorrect to describe the squad as a failure since he left or to give him all the credit for the good things which occured on his watch.

The point the question raised for me was how it certainly is true that good talent creates good luck. I think this is true because virtually all success stories have key elements in them where things broke the right way when they could easily have broken the wrong way. What often makes a difference is that being talented allows you to maximize good luck and minimize the bad effects of nbad breaks. I think a judgement of Polian is one where you recognze he has been very lucky but he clearly has had the skills to use that luck well.

Whether one terms it "outstanding", "notable", or whatever strikes me as a matter of semantics so whatever word you want to use is fine by me. What I was trying to communicate was that fans generally felt fine about us letting Price walk away because they were pretty confident that Reed was going to fit right in at #2 WR to replace him, I think that such confidence was actually reasonable in this case not simply because of Reed's resume where his winning the Biletnikoff award his senior year as the best colleger WR made it pretty reasonable to expect great things from him as a pro, but he had actually hauled in 37 or so catches as a rookie and put up 500+ yards. While these numbers are actually less than Evans put up this year (one can argue the semantics of whether these numbers were "outstanding" or not - yes for a rookie in my view no for an NFL WR in my view) I think they made expectations of a great sophomore campaign pretty reasonable. I actually tried to put a damper on the hopes or predictions of many fans who seemed sure that Reed would equal Peerless' 2002 numbers by pointing out that even if Reed doubled his rookie numbers for catches, yards and TDs I would consider it a great year for a #2 WR. As it was, I think Reed is pretty notable in how his 2nd year #s disappointed after the "outstanding", "notable", whatever rookie start.

I'd have to say none of the above. I don't remember any of these players having an outstanding 1st year like Reed's before his play went completely south. Some of these players had high hopes amjong fans as they started and never realized them. Others had slow starts and then paid off (definitely Moulds). I think there was justifiable excitement about Reed with the first year numbers he put up with Moulds and Price allowing him to pick on LBs and 4th or 5th DBs, but the outage in play when he was asked to step up to the #2 slot is very different.

Many posters are taking a lot of time to express their dismay or worship of Bledsoe at QB. This is fine with me as these are the types of disputes that being a football fan is about. However, I think there is a more important question for Bills fans that goes beyond what you feel personally about Bledsoe and raises the issue of how you feel about MM and the football braintrust and TD as the man entrusted overall with our football fate. Do you or do you not have faith in MM and the football braintrust to make the best choice for the Bills regarding who they will pick as our starter? Folks can feel however they feel about whether Bledsoe will stink up the joint or triumph. Folks can feel however they want about whether or when JP will be the man. However, this is a different issue from whether you as a Bills fan (or an invader or welcome guest to this board) have a belief in MM/Clements/Wyche under TDs guidance are good enough at assessing and training QBs that they will do the right thing. I am convinced after seeing how MM/Clements revived the careers of failed QBs Stewart and Maddox and built and integrated them into an effective offense in Puittsburgh that they know what they are doing when it comes to offensive production. Further, I think that ASam Wyche demonstrated over his career that he is an effective planner and teacher on the offensive side of the ball and I think we are incredibly fortunate to have an HC level talent (though he was a good and not the best HC) as our QB coach. Further. I was an advocate of letting Bledsoe go after the debacle of last season but if only because they had to work from such a low baseline that Bledsoe didn't even need to be good to be better than his horrendous performance last year, I can confidently say they got a lot more out of Bledsoe in 2004 than I expected. Bledsoe's play and production in 2004 were not adequate in my book for a starting QB, but they also were a significant improvement over numerous consecutive quarters of not leading the offense to any TDs whatsoever that described his work in 2003. I was very impressed with what MM/Clements/Wyche got out Bledsoe last year even though his work was not good enough to carry the team on his back against Pitt as our ST and D failed to carry the team as they did during the streak. In my mind, there is no QB problem for me as a fan (though the football braintrust has their work cut out for them in 2005) because TD has made this very simple with his pronouncement that Bledsoe is like any other player and must win his job. If JP is a good enough player he should be able to show enough in the mini-camps and in pre-season to win the job from Bledsoe if Bledsoe plays the way he has through his entire career. I did not believe that MM/Clements/Wyche would get as much out of Bledsoe as they did in 2004 after the 2003 disaster, and though it was not enough to make the team into a playoff team I was impressed. Heck they even had him running draw plays for games, throwing rollout TDs and pulled off some great flea-flickers. There is a slight chance that they will fool me again and continue Bledsoe's advancement. I doubt it, but hey i was wrong last year and if they were to revive Bledsoe even further I would be pleased to be wrong again. Hpwever, the main thing I think this shows is that these guys know offense and the QB position. I like their chances of getting winning production from JP in 2005 and if they don't there is the fallback for me of squeezing as much as possible out of Drew to make this team a winner because of the ST and D clicking under this management. So fuggabout how you feel about Bledsoe as the primary item. Do you have faith in MM and the gang?

I think the issue (problem) in this discussion is that some folks seem to be motivated by being sick of Bledsoe rather than being motivated by what;s good for the Bills. These two motivations may both end up being solved by the same thing, namely JP proves to be the man. However, these are two different things and if JP proves for some reason not to be the man or even not to be the man right now, then the two motivations are at loggerheads. My view as a Bills fan is that I view JP as the man. When he is ready to play I think he should be play and I desperately hope that the future is soon and that he is ready to play soon. However, I am well aware that the football gods don't always listen to me. Believe it or not as much as I think JP looks pretty talented from the resume I have seen, and looks pretty talented from the brief game appearances I have seen, based on the assessment of a Bills braintrust I have grown to have more and more faith in he was not ready to play this past year. I trust the Bills' braintrust to play JP when he is ready to play and if not to play the QB who gives us the best chance of getting to the promised land. Whether you or I like it or not if JP ain't ready that is Drew Bledsoe. I really doubt its Shane Matthews. Last I checked Peyton Manning was not available to us. I think that if you root for the Bills it would be pretty reasonable to be locked in a mode now where you want JP to go as soon as he is ready to go and if not you want Bledsoe to play and do well. As fans we are all certainly entitled to our opinions as to whether JP is ready to play yet or not. However, from my perspective I have faith in MM and the gang making the correct judgment which was this past season to play Bledsoe and right now Bledsoe is the starter, but like all NFL players he will need to win this job in mini-camp and pre-season. That is fine with me. The real question now for Bills fans is whether you have faith in MM and co. to make the right judgment on QB. I do.

I'll take a look at the stats to confirm or deny this but off hand I would guess you are prettty wrong in your assertions. 1. Yes Vanderjagt home stadium is a dome, but the Colts also play road games and I get no sense that Vandy is someone who is considered a liability on the road. In fact making basically every kick you are asked to make means you can kick outside and inside unless the stats show some bizarre discrepancy. 2, The Colts didn't get homefied advantage this year or last because they lost a few games. This team does put a ton of points on the board but the rap on them is that they also give up a ton of points. This means that even if they score 30 they are not up by 20 all the time as you suggest.

I thibnk the interesting thing about this ranking is that it seems to be fairly consistent i placing Moulds at a low ranking when Moulds performance has varied somewat widely over the 4 years. When he was hurt and hobbled while playing last year his ranking would seem to me have slipped to a low level consistent with his impact on the game. The year before when he took in 100 catches and was clearly the go to guy on our team and also made PP and Reed more ffective players it would seem he would get his highest ranking and it should be demonstrably better than any ranking of last year, The bookend years of the last four should fit somewhere within these two extremes but still vary a lot from the. Yet the rankings outside of the outrider of his 79 ranking are pretty consistent, This measure does not seem to fit reality.

I certainly don't see the Bills improvement from 6-10 to 9-7 as a slight improvrment. It clearly was less than we hoped for but I think it was pretty darned good and both the dreck of the league (Miami, AZ. SF) the tier B teams on the upswing (Cin) and even some of the playoff teams (St. L and Seattle) would agree that this Bills team is still inadequate but is much improved. As far as Bledsoe goes, I think that his improved performance over leading a unit which failed to score for something like 2 and half games straight at one point was much much improved this year. Again this is testimony to how bad Bledsoe's production was in 2003 that even an OK performace in many games this year was a huge improvement. It does amuse me that some folks seem to be so locked into an indictment of Bledsoe that they cannot even acknowledge the fact it seems to me that 2003 was so bad that even the fairky average performace by him in 2004 represented a marked improvement of his work. I think this attitude is really reflected in that you somehow seem tio discount the Bills ST performance as somehow separate from team's improvement which you cite as being ever so slight. The Bills ST performance improved significantly which is one of the reasons the Bills improved significantly regardless of your assessment of the team.

How do you explain the first game last season if the Bills can't beat the Pats? I think it is true they do not even come close to NE on the road, but they were very competitive with them at home this year even driving for ascore in the 4th until the stupid fumble by the Bills Seymour returned for a score. The Pats are certainly better than the Bills and virtually every other team in the league but given that they played them close once this season and beat the Pats like a drum last year they are actually a bit ahead of most other teams regarding taking on the SB champ. We gotta get better but I don't see this matchup as futile for the Bills at all.

I also had thoughts of various conspiracy theories determining the season and ultimately the SB until the mother of my god-daughter raised a question that put all these conspiracy theories to rest for me. If its fixed why aren't the outcomes and the games more interesting? I realized at that point that she was right. If this was pre-determined in some pro-wrestling kind of way, people wouldn't even suggest that the playoff match-ups be seeded in some BCS kind of way to get better games. If this was all fixed the NFL could do a lot better than this.

I think many folks jump to the conclusion that a plauer excelling as a bacl-up means he is an excellent player who will also excell as a starter. It would be easier if this were the case but it is not. For some reason this seems to particular true on the DL where apparently there is just a big difference between the intensity and the force of will which can allow a player to perform well and some players can bring it all the time but others really only be able to do this a few times a game. Sean Price, a Bill DE of a few years ago was a case in point, He seemed to be pretty much unblockable in a reserve role. He had a handful of sacks but only appeared in a handfull of plays. When the Bills thrust him in as a starter when GW foolishly moved us to a 4-3 from a 3-4 at the same time we were losing Wiley to FA, Big Ted as a cap casualty, Hansen retired the next year and we had lost Bruce the year before. Price was simply unable to rush with the same reckless abandon as a starter he used as a reserve since he had to last the whole game and mind his gap responsiilities and other aspects of full time DL play that are different than when you come in a pass rush specialist on a 3rd down when the opposing QB will almost certainly pass. I think Edwards stunk his first year, marginally improved his second year and I was pleased when we no longer had to use him as a starter because he didn't produce. I was pleasantly surprised by his good performance in a reserve role this year, but he is not one I think we should count on at all as a starter until he proves it some more.