Fan in Chicago

:-)

Sure they haven't won any superbowls but no matter how much you hate Brady, the fact remains that he is one of the elite QBs and one of the best to ever play this game. With a less than stellar defense, he led the Pats* to the Superbowl. Credit Brady or BB, but that combo has consistently won and have had the Bills' number for the better part of the last decade. For many years now, members on this board have predicted the decline of that team only to see them go to the playoffs consistently. Hate if you must, but there is plenty of evidence to say that Brady is one of the all-time greats. Flame away.

I am a very big Bond fan. Prior to Craig, my favorite Bond was Connery with just the right balance between suave-ness and manli-ness. But I have to admit, Craig is more in line with my current expectations of what a fictional superspy should be like. If you are going to try these latest two movies, I suggest watching Casino Royale first - one of my all time favorite movies even if you take my Bond bias out of the equation. I was less than impressed with QOS. Craig also admitted it was a weak effort and explained that it was written during the writer's strike and they wanted to push the movie through quickly which resulted in a hodge-podge script. Skyfall is supposed to return to the raw and edginess of CR so is worth looking forward to.

I agree that we have a lot of question marks on WR. TJ and Easley are both unproven and we will be well served by adding another vet (read: proven) presence at that position. If there are some surprise cuts in June, Buddy should pounce on one of them.

Ironic considering you posted in this thread to tell us that.

Now you are just being ridiculous. Assuming what you say is possible (it isn;t because Polian didn't 'set the Colts up'), here is what you are saying - If Polian comes in tomorrow, he should set up the Bills for failure so they can have a shot at Barkley. Then he would hope Barkley turns out to be the next PManning. Doing this will make you happy with his job as a GM ? He certainly turned around that franchise as he did the Bills. But he could have ruled the NFL with PManning as QB and a better defense. 4 trips - but one victory only with arguably the best QB to ever play his position. Whereas a marginally lesser talent, Brady, has three rings. BenR has two. Because their overall roster was superior to the Colts's roster. Brady went down and the Pats* still had a winning record with Cassel.

I was and still am a big fan of the X-Files (TV Series, not the movies) and agree that Home takes the cake for disturbing episodes. The brilliance was not the outrageous premise and story but the fact that there was actually a twisted logic to the entire plot. Takes the meaning of family bonding to a whole new level And speaking of creepiness, not scary-creepy but gross-creepy: a scene in this movie called Towelhead where Aaron Eckhart is with that teen girl. That was disturbing and what my daughter's would call 'totally creepy'

DrD - thanks for correctly interpreting my question. My goal was not to tarnish Polian's legacy with the Bills. Arguably he made the then sad sack franchise relevant again. But since his departure from the Bills, his record has been spotty overall save for one blockbuster pick. Perhaps he never changed his strategy as the league around him changed with FA and what not. Maybe he just got lazy. No way to know what happened, but his recent record has been less than stellar which is why my vote goes to Nix and Whaley

Do you see the discrepancy of your own logic ? You correctly state that this team depended more on one player than probably any other team in the league. Putting all your eggs in one basket is not a strategy that teams or businesses do these days. The responsibility of team building was on Polian so he has to take the fall for it. I do not entirely absolve the Colts ownership either because they would have been too dumb to not see this roster deficiencies.

The premise of the article is strange to be sure considering the euphoria going around with this off-season. However, I thought it would be useful to get everyone's opinion as Polian is quite revered around some circles here.

It is heartening to see the overwhelming support in this thread for the current FO over Polian(s). As for those that mention Chris P, I doubt he is anywhere as skilled as his father. It is too early to tell if we will pick up a QB in next year's draft. We should enjoy this upcoming season as it promises to be the best in recent memory. Hopefully, D&C will stop their lame attempt to create a 'GM controversy' (as someone put it).

I was somewhat surprised to see this article by Roth asking if Polian is the next Bills GM: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120516/SPORTS0103/305160020/twobillsdrive?nclick_check=1 I thought a bit about this point. Polian arguably built a very good Bills team (there is a different thread about his player moves) and drafted Peyton Manning. In effect built two successful franchises. I have gone on record before and said that he underperformed in Indy where he put too many eggs in the Peyton basket and neglected building a team. COntrast that with how Nix has gone about stocking the roster here and I see a good foundation which can lead to long term success. The big caveat ofcourse is that Polian has results to show and Nix has yet to show us the baby (I am not counting Nix's earlier tenures as he was not fully in charge). Balancing both the above points, I am leaning towards keeping Nix and have Whaley as his successor. I think their attitude, player choices and resolve in sticking with the plan is commendable and will lead to successful seasons for a long time. What do you guys think ?

He even directed 'Avatar' in his spare time. So dude is multi-skilled.

My confusion is regarding your earlier sentence that "...If the Bills are practicing their spread offense only, there is a very decent chance that Thigpen looks better than Young in practice and pre-season and just beats him out, even if he is the lesser QB." If Gailey is going to evaluate the QBs based on his measures, they need to be fair and open. Just because he feels that Thigpen may win out the battle in practice does not mean you pre-emptively CUT him. Either VY is a better QB or not. Each needs to be given a full chance to compete for the #2 spot.

I don't understand your point. Why would Nix get rid of the guy who is better suited to Gailey's style of offense. It makes little sense to keep VY if his skill set is vastly different than what Gailey is trying to do on the O. Because the offense is more than the QB, albeit the most important piece. I would rather be dispassionate about the #2 situation and keep whoever is most likely to step in and quickly continue to lead the team without too much offense modification.

I hear what you and others are saying but let us see what happens if (when ?) Fitz has two bad games in a row.Despite the coaches insisting they will stick with Fitz, there will be opinion pieces, articles etc advocating 'giving VY a shot'. I hope it doesn't happen but hiring him is the first real distraction potential on this squad.

I too would like to extend an atta boy to him. I wanted him to prove himself and at least on this occasion, he did.

I am not sure about who but I see another RB being added. Not to challenge FJax and Spiller but as insurance/relief.

IMHO, the cheap and short deal that he accepted pretty much tells me he was getting little to no interest from the rest of the league even for the #2 QB position. Even in Buffalo, he is stated by Nix as challenging for the #2 spot ergo he was hired as a #3QB. This is quite the fall from grace for a once Pro Bowl QB. The coaches and FO may really mean that they intend for him to firmly be in the #2 spot at best but will the fans believe it ? Will the media, always looking for some controversy, let the situation be as is if Fitz has a couple of poor games ? The risk to me is not in his ability, it is the likely drama that may happen in the media and among fans

Can you imagine the probability of all these occuring - a Yugo owner + still running or kept a pile of metal with them + Bills Fan + member of TBD + reading your post + admitting to it

The Bears should pick him up and complete their trifecta - Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffrey and BEdwards

If the world is going to end, why bother getting to the playoffs ? j/k Better this way than the other way around

Just to be clear - if we give you the benefit of doubt, you are saying that the VY to Buffalo deal will be announced by Friday morning May 11th. Right?

My comment wasn't meant to take away the fact that it is a very good film (not that you implied I did). I just thought that while I would give it an enthusiatic 4 out of 5, a more innovate plot and development would have pushed it over into great territory. Again, IMHO the slight watering down was intentional.