Bill from NYC

DE is a bigger need than DT imo. Kelsay is old and not very good. And DEs are harder to get than DTs. Also, I am not at all thrilled with our LBs, TEs, or WRs. Our best LB isn't young, and Sheppard is a question mark at best.

Well e-man, he does have more to prove. The comments, while encouraging, do indicate that there were problems. And this is his third year. That said, it would be wonderful for this team if Spiller could step up and win us a game.

Yes, but this could make it tougher to sign him now and lock him in to a long term deal. I hope that AL is the type to opt for security, because he is clearly one of our best players, and would be extremely hard to replace. Our LT situation isn't etched in stone, and playing next to AL, a talented, experienced, veteran, will make life a lot easier for Hairston and/or Glenn. Jmo, but AL is a player that the Bills simply cannot afford to lose.

My displeasure with the selection seems to have led you to interpret my comment above as an attack. It wasn't. But to compare Spiller to Faulk is WAY out there imo. How many backs in the history of football would Faulk have sat on the bench for? And as good as he is, Fred Jackson isn't one of them.

Marshall Faulk is a top 10 all time back. Spiller doesn't start. Case closed. Carrington? Beast? I have high hopes for him but he consistently fails to make plays.

The truth is that Levy was hired as a GM, and no other team in the league would have hired him. Levy then hired a head coach that no team in the league would have hired in this capacity because he is not competent to the head coach of an NFL football team. I am NOT one to worship Gailey/Nix and all of their moves, but they are true football people. And let's just say that while I think that Marv was/is a good man, motivator, and one who could soothe egos, I am less than enamored with him as a football man. The above is simply my opinion.

FTB, no offense, but you seem to be hung up on the word, "bust." And I'm not sure why. Is it some sort of defense of Levy and or Jauron? Although football is the consumate team game, individual players do need to step up and win games for the team. Can you think of a time where Donte Whitner did this for the Bills? Dareus did. He took over the Redskin game last year and kicked everybodys ass. EA really is right. The Bills first round picks have not produced enough to make an impact/win football games for this team. Do you really not see this? You simply cannot plug in defensive backs and rbs behind poor lines and expect to win, let alone neglect the importance of the qb position. Things look better now, and this directly coincides with the departure of Levy and Jauron.

Taking it a step further, there might (in hindsight of course) be 20 players selected after Whitner in the first 2 rounds that would have been better for the Bills. That draft was a great one.

John, I readily acknowledge that Gailey/Nix are clearly superior to Jauron/Levy. It isn't close. And in another post, I did give them more room in terms of drafting Gilmore, because they did shore up the foundation. I give them even more room because the Dallas trade threw a monkey wrench into this draft. I am still amazed that they moved down that far for so little, and this made trading down seem WAY less likely. But in all, you are almost correct. I hated the Spiller selection. But Gilmore was semi-excuseable because of the solid UFA additions. And, they did shore up the foundation to a degree. The future has question marks, but it IS less cloudy imo. A player to watch is Hairston. I love the fact that he saw action last season. He looks very strong, and if he develops balance/footing, Glenn will have to play well to start. What happens with those 2 (and of course Fitz) will dictate our future needs imo. Then again, McKelvin might be leaving after the season. We might have to jump on another first round corner under any conditions.

The above is true, but also worth a look imro. The jets and eagles were 2 recent teams who spent a boatload of money on the secondary. As we know, this didn't work. Revis will take up at least 10% of the jets salary cap, and he wants another raise! Now, is Revis the best corner in the game? I think he is. But they had to play with Sanchez's contract (and give him a raise/extension) just to stay under the cap, and imo Sanchez really isn't so good. Additionally, with the rule changes, teams are lining up 5 wide sets. In this scenario, your "shutdown" corner is covering 1 of 5 receivers, unlike the "old days." Not only that, in a zone many times corners will be giving up their receivers at a designated place. In that sense, it might now actually make sense to let a star studded corner walk in these new times. I liked the Brooks selection, and will be interested to see how Menzie plays on the Chiefs. We now employ a #10, #11, and the 2nd pick of round 2 in our secondary. I fail to see why we must devote so much to the secondary, but this of course doesn't make me correct.

What difference does it make if the team is losing? If you don't want to call Whitner a "bust" at #8, that's fine. But drafting him didn't help the Bills win football games. They used him as their first building block to rebuild an ailing franchise. And they passed on players such as Ngata, Mangold, and others who there is no debate about wrt their skills. I think the message EA is sending is that if a team devotes 50% of their best resources to RBs and DBs, said team will consistently lose. Is there really any doubt about this?

I don't "hate" Levy. I simply will not pour undeserved accolades upon him. If you choose to, be my guest. There is certainly more blame to go around wrt the failure of this franchise, starting with the owner. But do forgive me if I don't worship at the Levy altar.

You guys can blast away at EA, but please, tell us why the Bills have a long term, established history of losing football games. Look, we all love this franchise. But while teams were drafting impact players, we were drafting Donte Whitner. Whitner, on the Bills, gave up touchdown passes to TE after TE, and was flattened by who? Sammy Morris. Does this ring a bell? A. Smth was a so-so running back on the Bills because we had no foundation. After Polian left, Levy gained power, and the Bills drafted a sick number of DBs. They played out their contracts and left. When he came back as GM, he tanked the 06 draft, which was stacked. Then he signed free agents who sucked. And let's not forget the hiring of Jauron, a proven incompetent loser. Levy is heralded by many, but imo he was a not so great coach who inherited lots of talent from Polian. As a GM, he was 100x worse. I can barely stomach the Gilmore selection. It was a stupid pick imo, but at least we firmed up the defensive foundation via free agency. EA, imo, is making tons of sense. There is little reason to believe, looking at Bills history, that picks such as Spiller and Gilmore were anything but stupid. It may work THIS time, but it never has. Once again we can hope, but this is what we do. GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, thanks. This makes the draft of 06 10x worse. Peters was excellent. Gandy was a backup OT, not a guard. Fowler was awful. He was weak against the pass and got zero push on running plays. Villarial was good for the first half of the first season upon his arrival. After this his body broke down and he was absolutely terrible. Pennington was unspeakably bad, and btw he was a 7th round rookie. And who was this mess protecting? An inexperienced, not so smart qb who needed all the help he could get. Levy/Jauron drafted the mess cited above in the first 3 rounds, and followed this up with none other than Ko Simpson. And as for Schobel (who you highlighted), the Jauron defense had him lined up SO wide that he was almost out of bounds. Sometimes they dropped him back into coverage as well. AS takes a bit of heat here at times but he was a legit pass rusher, one who was wasted with these buffoons. Levy and Jauron focused primarily on the secondary and special teams. It sounds crazy, but this is where they devoted their resources. They were not capable of ever building a winning team, and this is not even getting into the dumb, on field coaching decisions. Gailey/Nix might not be a heralded hall of fame combo, but they are a breath of fresh air after Levy/Jauron.

Levy/Jauron destroyed this team as soon as they got here. They signed Dockery and Walker to contracts adding up to 73 million dollars. Both were awful players. Let's examine this a bit more closely. Rinehart and Urbik are both clearly superior to Dockery, and his 48 million dollar contract, and one of them will not start. Walker? Pears is a much better player, and I would even take Hairston as a rookie over Walker. Sadly, these were not their biggest blunders of 06. Not even close. In the 06 draft, they had the #8, a 2nd, and 2 early 3rd round picks. 4 prime selections! They came away with Whitner, McCargo and Youboty. A so-so safety at #8, and 2 players who sucked. And this particular draft was literally stacked with good players, let alone at positions of great need for the Bills. These sophmoric, amateuristic moves hamstrung the Buffalo Bills football team for many years. The drafts continued to be awful, and Jauron proved once again to be a horrible coach. Nix/Gailey do not have Ivy League degrees, but they are both real football men, and imo, Gailey is something of an intellectual in his own right. He doesn't have the great resume, but he puts Jauron to shame, and it isn't close.

Yeah, Bell received lots of accolades on this board, but the truth is that he was an adequate LT, this when healthy. And, it took him some time to not suck. Fitz and Chan helped him big time because he lacked strength. They designed an offense that was built upon quick release. Even Hairston, a 4th round LT, didn't look as bad as other horror shows we have historically lined up at this key position. But one thing Bell DID have was agility. Glenn is the total opposite imo. His strength is beyond question. If Glenn was as agile as Bell he would have been a top 5 selection. I view him as a boom or bust type of player. We will know soon too imo. I am not totally convinced that he will start the season at LT. Are you? Glenn can really help Spiller imo. If he can be a road grader type, this will be great because Spiller needs a bigger hole than FJ, who is great at seeing openings ala Thurman (the best ever imo in spotting openings). Personally, I would have preferred Martin, who I viewed as a bigger, stronger Bell, and a good fit for our system. But I am obviously not the guy being paid the big bucks to decide these things. And again, Glenn has a much higher ceiling imo. I truly hope he develops into a monster LT. If he does, this team can go a long way.

Well hello stranger!!!!! I hope all is well Deb!

I fully disagree wrt Glenn. Actually, I am surprised that you don't see this John. Huge college blockers can often overpower, and even engulf defenders. Mike Williams was a perfect example. He weighed more than 350 and could bench press the world. In college, this works. In the NFL, these players face genetic mutants who are not the least bit afraid of them. If a player as big and strong as Glenn was known for agility, he would have been a top 5 draft selection. That said, I am OK with the Glenn selection in the second round. He has a huge upside, and in selecting Glenn, it isn't as if we threw away an early pick chasing a transient corner, ala Aaron Williams/Gilmore/McKelvin. Nix obviously liked the kid. If he gives it his all and listens to his coaches, he has a chance to be a star player. I thought Martin was a safer pick but again, I have no issues at all wrt Glenn in round 2.

I agree, and do not see a controversy. Fitz is (imo) going to be a better player this season. Why shouldn't he be? It was obvious to me (and I said so in my "thoughts") that he was injured last year. Plus, he now has a full season under his belt as a full time starter. This is not to say that he is an elite qb, but he can get us to the playoffs imo. It's possible. Imo, this was a great move. We now have an experienced backup qb who has won a bunch of games. If he screws up, they can simply cut him. And, they will probably be drafting a qb soon under any conditions. In short, it's all good.

Was it against the Saints? I remember a pass like that but it might have been more of a post pattern. He also had a fantastic game once against the Rams, and lost in the last second. I really thought RJ was going to be great. If he had a head like Fitz he would be in the hall of fame. He had all the talent in the world butr just couldn't play. It made it easy for me to recognize the same in JP. We Bills fans are hard to fool now.

And it was close wrt Dalton and Flacco. Not so sure how Flacco would do on the Bills.

I tend to agree. Schuab has a ton of talent, but is constantly hurt. I don't know how old you are, but he reminds me of a modern day Chris Chandler. And when Chandler played, qbs were not as protected as they are today by the rules.

I feel as if I posted this lol!