Fan in Chicago

And just to add to your stats, here is how our run defense looks 2010 - 169.6 yards/game 2011 (to date) - 124 yards/game Fairly sizeable difference. I am not attributing this all to Dareus but if he was not playing pretty well, we would be only a tad lower than the 2010 number due to the loss of Kyle Williams and addition of Barnett.

- As someone else pointed out, Dareus was sick - We are currently 21st against the run compared to 32nd last year. The main changes are addition of Dareus, injury to Kyle Williams and exchanging Poz for Barnett. If you cannot see how Dareus is part of the improvement on run D, you are either being blind or just want to hate - interior linemen do not typically make highlight reels like a WR, pass rusher, QB make. - Guy may be a leader on the field - something we sorely lack right now. Heard spells Dareus but Dareus was a great pick.

Exactly my point - defense requires a good DC as well as good to great players. The point is the same now as it was before.

Pretty sure I read on this board why Perry Fewell is so great. His Defense not looking so great right now.

I have to ask. Have you mistaken this board to be twitter ? You start 3-4 threads with single line comments which would be better contained in existing threads. This is a discussion board on opinions - not a shout box or twitter where every thought in your head becomes a new thread.

Actually, I want Stevie to keep his twitter account. That way we have insight into the mind of the man who refuses to accept that he was the goat yesterday. Read his tweets and tell me he wasn't better off keeping those thoughts to himself. I would have been halfway blissful thinking he is having a tough night thinking about his errors. But NO ! He had to open his virtual mouth and proclaim to the world how stupid he is

I thought these tweets were a joke so I went and checked it out for myself. Now I am besides myself with anger at this idiot. First he commits two major mistakes in a game when the entire team was fighting after several down weeks. Then he goes on twitter and posts this 'I am innocent and just trying to have fun' nonsense ? You lost your team a game this season and one last season. You should be ashamed at yourself. ANd then saying 'this was QB&WR not on the same page' ? Throwing your QB under the bus when he delivered one of the finest throws of the game in a clutch situation ? Stevie, I was proud to have your autograph from the 2009 training camp before you became a star. I have it hung on my office wall for all to see. Tomorrow I take it down. I wouldn't mind if Gailey disciplines him in some way for his immaturity.

Curious also to see how White performs as RB vis-a-vis Spiller. It will be quite telling

Ryan Lindell N Roosevelt G Wilson D Bell D Hagan (DE) K Moore T Troup Roosevelt and Troup are a surprise to me. Is Troup injured or a healthy scratch ?

I dont know which part of that play is sadder - the fact that one of our former first rounder just caught one short pass or that he did due to a failed tackle by another former first rounder.

Evans got the first down cos Whitner whiffed on the tackle.

Lost his confidence ? When, in his 1.5 years here has he shown any ? Save for that one pre-season TD run last year ? I, for one, cannot get my hopes up as I can't see what is different this week except for him likely to get more touches. Purely because of his draft position, I would keep him for next season and improve our blocking. If he still under-performs, can him mid-season. If he plays well this Sunday and the rest of this season, it will be a most pleasant surprise. As of now, it looks like the FO has blown their first pick.

I happen to agree with this part of your post. And now may be a very good time to sign him if at that price point.

Are they going to bill this game as the Comedy Hour? 'Back to back, four quarters of the best comedy that reality TV has to offer'

Are you saying that we should not draft a stud WR in the early rounds just because these three did not turn out to be the game breakers we were hoping them to be? I strongly disagree. We have several needs on this team and we should continue the strategy to draft BPA. As I stated above, if we hit on a great WR, it will also help Stevie and Nelson. I think in the early rounds, we should draft best out of QB, WR, OL, pass rusher.

I see that the Bills @ Jets won. Enjoy (I think).

Voted. Thanx for your service. Atleast the game will be worth a few laughs

Nelson has continually impressed me also. If we get a speedy WR next year, the combination of Barn Burner - StevieJ - DNelson will be virtually unstoppable. It will also be time to say bye to Parrish and relegate Jones to PS.

Of the list that you provide, I can argue that both JP and Trent Edwards' careers were destroyed by lack of player development. Both did not have stability in terms of a good OL, consistent OCs and stable receiving corps. Bledsoe was let go one season too soon which could have helped JP develop. And mind you, I am NOT looking for a Brady, Rodgers or Manning type of QB. A half way decent one such as Rivers or Flacco would have been more than adequate for the Bills success. Coming back to Fitz, he is also by no means an elite QB and I don't think he ever will be. But he is a very good stop gap and a bridge to whenever we draft our own Roethlisberger. UNtil such a time, Fitz needs atleast a decent OL and some stud WRs which will get us to the playoffs. Hence, instead of running Fitz out of town in the coming offseason or one week into the 2012 season, we are better off drafting/acquiring a rookie QB, OL, WR (I am talking about offense only right now) and allowing this rook to develop under Fitz. So that is the point of my post. Probably most of the top half of our draft and then some. Not a trade that Nix is likely to make. Most likely we sit and trade up a couple of spots if a premier QB is available. The good news is that of the teams likely to pick before us(as it looks now), only the Redskins and Cardinals are likely to pick a QB. Which will leave us with the third best QB in the draft which wont be too bad I suppose.

And yet again, we prepare to sacrifice a QB at the altar of inadequate blocking and second tier receiving corps.

By the same token, we should have traded away Roscoe Parrish, McGee, Merriman and Bell. Correct ? Do you even see the flaw of your logic ? Using Evans injury after two games with the Ravens as proof that it was a good move for the Bills is stupid.

Ofcourse I agree with you. But my point is that proactively getting rid of players without knowing that their replacements are better, is stupid. At the time they traded Evans, cut Hang etc , what evidence was there that their replacements were better (even for Hang at the backup center/guard position). As an example - I could see the logic of trading Lynch - he was a time bomb with his off-field transgessions and FJax was doing well. Trent failed terribly and there was enough evidence on Fitz to say that he would be the better choice going forward.

Yes. We cannot players go in the hope that draft picks or some other teams castoffs will fill in with no drop off in production. Even if Whitner, Poz and Evans were deemed to not be superstars, they should have been kept (okay, maybe not Poz due to the cost) till it was clear that Searcy, Sheppard and Easley/Jones/Nelson were better. Its inexcusable that these and Hang (with no alternate center) were let go at that time.

Okay, I will if you try to be a bit more descriptive yourself. My point is that for a guy who supposedly came in with a lot of football knowledge, he sure looks to have made moves which seem to be anything but. Getting rid of players before we have proven replacements ? Bombing on a coaching pick ?

You are better than such a response, DrD. Even though I listed 'only' four, Such mistakes are crucial. Especially the decision to hire GEdwards may have been the worst of them as he has shown to be incapable of putting players in a position to succeed. Spencer Johnson, Carrington as LBs ? Leaving middle wide open ? Exactly. The decision was wrong at the time it was made, not in retrospect.