Fan in Chicago

Worst part is that this wasnt even under pressure or tight coverage. It was a simple catch. there were two receivers in the vicinity

Why is TJ inactive? On a WR depeleted squad, this is not good.

First of all - good find. Thanx for posting, Second, his is a very inspirational story and am glad he will attend the Bills @ Texans game. Good luck to him and hope he continues to do well. Lastly, when the Bills are fighting for a playoff spot in December (as I expect them to be), I hope the Bills fly him to the game and serve to motivate the current team to bigger and better things.

No matter the reason behind his getting first team reps, it is always a good thing when a mid-round rookie is trusted by the coaches enough to be in that position. It probably implies that the coaches feel he will learn well on the job and not be a total embarassment/ give up a game killing play. With the woeful lack of depth at the LB position, I will be ecstatic if he starts contributing early in his career.

I am uncomfortable with the WR corps right now. Compared to the second half of last year, we have a healthier Fitz, Jones back from injury, added TJ Graham and lost Roosevelt, Hagan and Aiken. I hope TJ pans out but it is too much to expect him to contribute right away. So, unless Jones becomes a legitimate threat (as opposed to being the #2 by default), we are in no better place than the end of last year. We had Spiller and Smith last year as WR options but that still did not make our passing game half way decent. The expectations from the current WRs is assuming no injuries. As thin we are at LB, we are equally so at WR. All the arguments about why we are 'okay' with this WR group is just trying to reconcile with a poor situation. This is similar to how we kind of convinced ourselves over the past 2 seasons that the OL and DL will be 'okay'. Well they were not. And unless we add one or two proven WR threats, we have to expect the offense to be limited over the course of the season. I looked at the roster and the tough thing is going to be deciding who to cut if we indeed sign a WR from yesterday's cuts. I cannot think of only Sam Young as being partly 'expendable'. Or we wait till after the Jets games, see if Tarvaris has caught up with the playbook and add a WR in place of Thigpen. Bottom line - we cannot honestly go into the season feeling good about our WR group.

I just can't see the Bills going into the season with five WRs when two of them are Smith and Jones. I know Jones impresses many here but until he consistently produces in the regular season, color me unimpressed. We already had a sad sack WR corps and now we have made them razor thin. Not saying that the cuts were wrong but I think we have an eye on a couple of cuts from other teams. Gaffney, Branch ?

I hear what you say but Fairley is not a backup for them. Not sure about others on their D

Dude, we put in all backups at the same time. Do you seriously not see the difference between that and 1-2 substitutions ?

First one hurts the most. Stay here, its therapy

I agree with your hypothesis. However, I have some color commentary (read: not supported by data) to go with this thread. The teams in your analysis above are largely successful franchises which have been providing above average seasons consistently. Much of their success is by good drafting over the years. The Bills have done neither. SO, in the pre-season, I bet these teams are more interested in discovering emerging players and backups. The Bills, on the other hand, have been fighting to find starters for key positions year in and year out (QB, tackles, DE, CB etc). Perhaps as a consequence, the Bills have followed up poor preseason performances with equally underwhelming regular seasons. This is the key difference between the Bills Superbowl teams and the ones that you quoted above. While I have hopes for this coming season, it is not related to the preseason performance but rather to the increase in the overall talent level.

Ofcourse I was joking but not in a snarky way. I have no idea it would draw such a strong reaction from you. If you frequent this board, you will see such silly responses to many threads. In any case, there was no reason to hit back at me with the 'mama' comment.

Oh, come on man. There was no need for that.

You are going to have a field day around these parts.

Try a different porn site first

Very good work. Not only did you bring stats to the table but you also tracked meaningful stats. Do keep this board honest with your data analysis. Much appreciated.

So you are saying that there is no point in upgrading the WR corps because Fitz cannot get them the ball ? Despite what you think of Fitz, your logic is quite flabbergasting. You may disagree with that statement, but it is hardly assinine. Gaffney has 60+ catches for ~ 900 yards in each of the past two seasons. He is a proven vet with maybe one injury concern. What has Hagan proven so far to show he is a better option for the Bills ?

I am disappointed that Rafa is not playing. INjuries will keep him from any aspirations to get close to Fed's tally of Grand Slam titles. Its always fun when the big-3 duke it out in a Slam.

Very interesting. IGood size at 6'2" and 200 lb. have not seen him play much but looked up his stats from the last couple of years. He has ~ 65 receptions for average of ~ 900 yards. Not a touchdown machine (2 and 5) but if he can help keep the chains moving and filling that #2 spot (till TJ is ready to challenge), this season suddenly will look a whole lot better. I am in favor of bringing him in and 'stick it to Belichick' has nothing to do with it.

Thanx. Now if only if an experienced WR or LB were to become available, we will be golden. I would say even ones in the twilight of their career but capable of giving a good go for 1-2 years will be fine.

Are the grinners and bearers now party to trading for TJ or was that also forced by the big man ? EDIT: I should read more and post less: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/149200-nix-has-had-eye-on-jackson-for-a-while/

Including McK? Not saying the Colts will go for a.trade for someone with one year left on his contract. But if they are willing to play, I want to know if they have a LB or TE they dont mind parting with. Problem with this situation is that the cupboard is pretty bare in Indy right now. But if we had to talk to them, McK is one player I dont mind dangling in front of them

Thanx. This information means that he wasn't released to save money. As surprising as this news is, as some have pointed out, either he wasnt progressing as well as the staff expected him to after healing. Or the performance of some youngsters was better than expected and a trajectory that would.cross Merriman's soon. Or there is something else going on that w dont know about such as health or substance issues. We may know soon enough.

Fully agree. Sherlock and Luther are two series that are terrific.

Just to set you straight, look at this play again. See how Evans had the ball in his hands. The defender then attempts to knock the ball loose and it comes out. You focus on the word 'drop'. Fine, even if we not call that a drop, that was clearly a ball which should have been secured quickly. Evans was facing the defender, he knew he was coming and yet did not do enough to hold on to it. This is the difference between physical receivers who will out-duel the defender for the ball and those that are over the hill and can make the cream puff catches only. Lee Evans had good hands once but never superlative. He was not one to consistently win the battle with a defender. I was a big Evans fan. Here I will admit disagreeing with the Bills front office for trading him without a viable replacement. And yet, here we are with Evans unable to find a roster to hang on to. His legacy forever tainted by the one non-catch which could have made him almost immortal in Ravens-land. And the Bills walked away with a fairly high pick for his declined skills.

Hey, just a shoutout to say thanks for the recommendation. I really liked the movie especially because it ......