Bill from NYC

Some (not all) of the Alabama players do go a little wild when they leave school. Coach Saban is more important to the program than any one player. He is not afraid to toss a kid off the team if he screws up. When they get to the NFL there is no more Saban, and they have a few million dollars in their pockets. Again, this certainly doesn't apply to all Bama grads but admittedly, this is something I thought about when Dareus got that new contract.

As Bills Fans, we have been losing for a long time. Kids were born and now getting their drivers licenses since we have made the playoffs. This leads us (imo) to rally around some Bills players/staff (in this case Whaley) who don't completely suck. People still think Whitner wasn't a bust because he was "good." Spiller still has people here who think he can play. EJ MANUEL has fans here who wish he was the starter!!! Our perception IS more jaded than those outside of here, this is true but I will say this.....around these parts, football fans really do know that Ryan is a mess who will take this team down the toilet and like I said, he didn't hire himself.

Here, I am sure we can agree to disagree.

Marrone was a bad hire. He was a Brandon crony from Syracuse. They served on some sort of committee together. St. Doug came to town as unqualified, and his "coaching tree" consisted of rank amateurs. This was obvious from day 1. The Marrone hire was pure cronyism, but folks on this board have denied this for a long time. Few posters seem to be critical of Brandon to this day. Whaley is the latest sacred cow. He seemingly can do no wrong. In fact, the Ryan Brothers seem to have hired themselves.

He sure is!!!!!!! :) https://www.seccountry.com/alabama/alabama-te-o-j-howard-joins-teammates-on-roadto17

KW is listed at 6'1". He is rather squat and getting on in years. I really don't think he would be a good defensive end.

Sorry, I do not agree with this my friend. Not at all. In my quite humble opinion, the only thing on defense (at NFL level) that is more important than actual sacks is pass pressure. Does a team consistently apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks to force mistakes and early throws? If sack numbers are down, so is pressure. All NFL receivers can eventually get open if their qb has all day to throw. This is the reason why the DL is more important than the secondary. Rex promised a "bully." Remember that? What he brought to town is a system in which big, strong freaks of nature such as Dareus and Mario are either running backwards, standing virtually still, or jumping around and dancing, as if a song from the old disco days is playing in the background. Perhaps this should be the happy, friendly theme song of the Ryan Brothers:

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/1893142/ryan-kelly

That would make more sense than paying him untold millions to be a ballerina. I have watched Dareus play since his first college game. He is an aggressive, penetrating 340 pound lineman. My strategy is to let him do what it was that earned him the big bucks: Stop the run. Disrupt passing plays with sacks and pressure. The way Marcel was used this year was a 100 million dollar failure, and someone should be held accountable. Count me as one who would be a lot happier if they got rid of Rex, Whaley and of course PT Brandon, who ultimately runs this circus.

This is the absolute truth. It disturbs me how little accountability seems to be placed on Whaley as well. Look at just how much money was given to Hughes and Dareus. One is playing undisciplined, the other is being used as a 340 pound dancing bear. The Bills have little cap room because of this, McCoy's new contract, and Clay. Do these seem like wise moves in retrospect? So, what did the Bills do? They gave Whaley an extension and signed another Ryan, a known loser. All we can do is hope that we don't waste our early picks on defensive backs. It really is a sad situation.

The defense was neutralized by Rex, and that word would be a compliment. Quick passing games are not brand new. Rex started the destruction of this defense. His brother will probably help complete the mission. Going from 52 to what was it, 21 sacks is not idling in neutral. It's going in reverse or perhaps falling off a cliff.

The Bills would be wise to curtail dumb habits that kept them out of the playoffs, wouldn't you say?

Were the persons you asked psych patients?

So, should we give EJ a few more chances? This is entirely jmo, but I think that with Tyrod, you are pretty much watching the future of the game. I am as much of a football purist as anybody here, but there are simply not enough good passers out there. Given how many games having Rex (and of course EJ) lost us, I think that Tyrod did very well to win us enough games to finish at .500. TT picked up key first downs on the ground. This was HUGE in that it kept our pathetic defense off the field. I could easily be wrong, but I think the future will bring us running QBs and big RBs. Again, jmo. PS: Yeah, ya should have included Wilson. Not doing so took away credibility of a topic which is a great one to discuss.

Seriously, is Polian on drugs? Why would he say something that stupid?

I agree that that A'Shawn projects to NT as a pro. I think he will be a good one too, but what I don't know is if this position is a deep one in the draft. Number 19 seems early to draft a Nose. And yes, Ragland, Reed and Allen would all be great additions to the Bills. Reed is as big as Robinson and he is WAY faster. Don't get me wrong, he Ryan Brothers will probably just send him out on pass coverage and waste his talent, but there sure is a lot of talent to waste!

CB, think for a moment of the stars that Howard had to share reps with: Henry Ridley Drake Yeldon Lacey Cooper The list goes on. They had too many stars to make Howard the feature offensive player. And as we know, Saban likes to run. He dropped a few passes during the season as well. He is a hard player to predict even for me, whereas I have seen all of his games. He might be a terrific TE. My guess is that it will take a little time. Jmo.

He sure did. As I recall he dragged his girlfriend down a few flights of stairs while he was in college. He had all the talent in the world but the son of a B word was crazy, and a complete criminal.

So do I, approx. 99% of the time. And, a lot can happen in terms of injuries and off the field issues before he is drafted. Short of anything like this, I think he could wind up being another Adrian Peterson or Eric Dickerson. He might even be stronger than these two, it's possible.

>>>>>I don't really care much about college ball, Bill - it's all about the draft for me. College football is too corrupt an institution for me to really support<<<<< This is a quote from you in post #128. Dave, you sure do sound like a person who knows a bit about college football. :) You mention LSU.....when the Tide beat them is when I thought we had a chance. They absolutely crushed Fournette. I am going to go WAY out on a limb here (and I wish Badol would chime in), but I think that a healthy Fournette is already one of the top 10 backs in college OR THE NFL. He is big, lightening fast, and has unreal moves. My contention is that no other defense could shut him down like the Tide did. Btw, Ole Miss may have the best recruiting class this year. And, doesn't it seem as if most of the top programs have coaches that coached under Saban? Kirby Smart is a great coach and a great recruiter. He is going to boost up UGA, or so I strongly think. So of course, having Saban as coach is HUGE, but he IS a part of the team. I really don't think that Clemson is as good as the Crimson Tide. At least not this year. GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Florida does have a bad offense, but their defense is one of the best. You get beat up playing a team like that.

But Dave, why should this force me to agree that Clemson was as good as this Bama team? And btw they have a qb who didn't play one down this year, but I saw him on you tube throw a football 70 yards through the uprights in a perfect spiral. I am NOT claiming that the Tide will win the title in 2017. I AM suggesting that you don't count them out either.

It is great that you think this and seem so pleased to say it, but this doesn't make it true.

Saban said that he knew what to expect from Clemson's kicking team, and had someone in the booth to tell him if they were doing something different. That is just one small example of just how much of a great coach he is.

Now this is a post with which I fully agree. Clemson was/is much better than I expected them to be. Fwiw, I watch every single Tide game. As great as this team was they were not the best Alabama team. The team which destroyed Notre Dame had a much better offense than these kids, and the best OL I ever saw. They were more balanced, and imo one of he greatest teams ever. This squad had the best front 7 I ever saw, but the team had to work harder to be where they are. Now, how about a title for the Bills!!! Why, because you say so? How about if we agree to disagree?