Bill from NYC

Yes, this is a cause for alarm. I give Chan/Nix some room because as soon Levy/Jauron rolled into town, they started screwing up the team. Jauron had a huge say in the draft, and after Levy left, he might well have had final say (other than perhaps Ralph). They left the Bills a complete mess, and Jauron got a job as a defensive backs coach. Somehow, Cleveland was stupid enough to hire him as DC. Watch what happens. Jauron was unthinkably bad in every phase of his job.

5) CJ Spiller. Is he really averaging 1.2 yards per carry, and now a fumble? Why don't they take FJ out? Why risk injury? Unless they are afraid that Spiller can't block and they don't want Fitz to get killed. In any event, it would seem fair to say that Spiller needs more reps. Or, is he now a 3rd string back?

It cannot be. Jauron is bad in every single phase of being a head coach. He isn't even good as a defensive coordibator. Watch what happens to Cleveland this season. He uses the worst formations I have ever seen. His players run away from the line of scrimage, and he believes in building from the secondary. He used to send Schobel out on pass coverage. Offensively, he was probably worse. He had not one clue in terms of clock management. He made utterly bizzare calls in terms of when to kick field goals, and didn't bring an offensive formula into games. Gailey might not be one of the all time great coaches, but he is not to be denied in terms of offensive game plans. He is an intellectual, and it works well with a healthy Fitz. I think that the real difference between Gailey and Jauron is that wrt Gailey, given enough talen,t he could actually win. I hope to see this soon. Jauron couldn't win under any conditions. He employs a "play not to lose" philosophy that never has worked, nor will it ever.

Why settle for so little. I'm pretty sure we could get a 4th for him.

So what? In 2008, Jackass Jauron drafted Leodis McKelvin. right before Clady, Brandon Albert, and Joe Flacco were selected. Assuming McKelvin too was highly ranked (and I'm guessing that he was), would this justify such stupidity? The team needed blockers and a quarterback, and chose Leodis McKelvin. In 2010, the Bills needed everything except a running back, and chose Spiller. Sorry, pre-draft rankings do not justify this imo. As I am 100% sure you recall, after the Spiller selection, Mr. Wilson, who was a little more active at the time, was quoted as saying that the team needed, "excitement." This was a very, very questionable selection at the time, and remains such today. And, I will always suspect that Mr. Wilson had some input in terms of ticket sales. The good news is that Nix has made some very good UFA signings, and I'm not simply referring to Mario. Other good news? The season is creeping up upon us.

I am not seeing where he says or implies that Spiller was a good pick.

I agree. We should keep him. He has produced a ton for the Bills. He is healthy, and headed straight for the pro bowl.

EA, please do not believe that Pace weighed 325. Do trust me on this, he weighed more than this as a college sophmore, and I don't care what he was ever listed at. Pat Williams was also listed at 325 at times, and he was WAY closer to 400 than 325. Pace came into the NFL at an easy 350. EASY! I have been watching football for more than 40 years. Pace (when healthy) is in my top 5 players of all time. Seriously. As a rookie, he was one of the strongest players in the league, if not THE strongest. Pace was the perfect LT. He was the best at power run blocking, pass protection, and he fired out on screens like nobody I have ever seen. Walter Jones was great. Was he strong like Pace? Hell no. He doubled as a tight end in junior college. He was as agile as any LT I ever watched, but he probably played in his prime at approx. 300 lbs., despite what he was "listed" at. Anyway, this thread was about Glenn. Imo, the highest hope for him would be for him to equal Jumbo Elliot, a man who I met, and spoke about football with for a half hour or so. Btw, Elliot actually coached Jason Peters. We talked a lot about him, but I digress. Elliot was as strong as an ox. He told me that he had NO fear of Bruce Smith as a human being. BUT, he said that if he made a mistake for 1/2 of a second, his QB was finished. PM me if you want more details of our conversation. It was good. But wrt Glenn, he will never have the agility of the GREAT LTs. The good news is that he might not need it. He DOES have the strength, and if he can play at the level of Elliot, Tarik Glenn, or another of my favorites, Brad Hopkins, he will be just what the doctor ordered for the Buffalo Bills football team. Can he? I don't know. I'm just a little uncomfortable with the fact that he played OG at Georgia for a while. But, this doesn't have to matter. I am rooting hard for CG to be a great player. Bills fans really do deserve a prominent LT. We shall see. Btw, great to see you posting!

Great post as usual BV!!! You know, wrt OGs, I think that Levitre IS the new prototype. I hope that they re-sign him, and soon. Please post more!!!

I agree with the above. Now, sorry to split hairs, but wrt the above mentioned LTs, Walter Jones was not a "brute strength" LT either. His biggest attribute was phenominal agility.

This is 100% true. Absolutely. But certainly it does raise other questions, no?

Fans will be prone to high expectations for early round picks. Despite being the 5th corner selected, he was the second pick of round 2. Quarterbacks were selected by the two teams that immediately followed the Bills. A pick like this is extremely valueable. Often teams can obtain an extra 1st round pick in the following season in a trade down as part of their compensation for such a deal. Despite the above, Nix seemed to have been hell-bent on drafting A. Williams, or maybe just a corner. This would indicate that he had very high hopes for Williams, so why wouldn't Bills fans? Last season, we had zero pass rush. I would give something of a pass to any corner, let alone a rookie. This year, the Bills need, and have a right to expect major production from A. Williams. Jmo.

Although I agree with Alpha wrt Mallett, your post is a thread ender if I ever saw one.

Shep is the reason that I wanted the Bills to trade down and draft Hightower. This is not to say there would have been an adequate offer mind you, but Sheppard was not a good player last season, and we are clearly weak at the LB position. I suppose the good news is that so were the Giants last season. In other words, we truly need the DL to step up, but we already knew this.

Because of your screen name?

I didn't see the game. Was Spiller called upon to block at all? Also, how was Glenn? Thanks.

I can understand this. A thing to do would be to look at previous drafts in which the Bills used their best picks on running backs and/or defensive backs, and look at the players that they passed up in key, hard to fill positions. This will explain the 12 year playoff drought. 2006 stands out as the worst offseason that a GM could possibly have. And remember, Levy was on Sirius talking of how he too spurned numerous offers to trade down. He completely blew the first 4 rounds, and gave away an early 3rd in the process. And let's not forget the dumb ufa signings, but I digress. I am one of the few that didn't like the Gilmore selection. BUT, I didn't get as angry this time around because it does have a chance at being a good pick due to the major improvements up front. I make the case that even an exceptional Gilmore would not win us games with Kelsay, Troup, and Carrington as starting linemen. His skills would be wasted imo. And, btw, you left out Dareus while listing the def. linemen that the Bills drafted. He took over the Redskin game as a rookie (I know, they had injured blockers), and won it for us. And Glenn might be a steal, who knows? In any event, things do seem to be looking up. Jauron was as bad a head coach as one could imagine. Imo he could not win much under any conditions. I believe that Gailey is a very good, modern offensive mind, I hope that this Bills team is strong enough, and well suited to play in the elements. At least this season, it appears to be possible.

What I'm saying is that the Bills got some good production from defensive backs who weren't necessarily first round picks, or in the case of AW, the second pick of round 2. Remember, after the 2011 draft, it was Nix who said that they had, "multiple trade down offers in every round." Last season, the Giants drafted a corner in round 1. He was injured for the bulk of the season. They won the superbowl anyway, primarily due to their great defensive line. It is a wonderful thing that the Bills finally devoted major resources to their DL. As for drafting dbs every year, this isn't necessarily something that I am against. But before doing so with early selections, a team should be stocked with linemen on both sides, and a solid QB. Jmo.

He might. He could also nose out A. Williams. It isn't impossiible. History has taught Bills fans that wasting prime resources on defensive backs doesn't mean that they will be all that good, or actually result in wins. In fact, the contrary stands out.

Evans was, imo, a one trick pony. He was a speedster. I remember him lobbying for Losman at qb, who was also a one trick pony. He threw an occasional deep ball. The two of them helped each other statistically, but they didn't win football games. Evans had blinding speed, and good (not exceptional) hands. So, what stood in his way of being s superstar? QB? A case could be made for this, but again, Losman could find him deep sometimes. I think what held him back was his inability to consistently get open, and I noticed this after he left. Players such as SJ, Nelson, and others do not have the pure speed of Evans, but they get open a lot more, or so it seems. KTD is right. I don't know as much about the Bills as does Fred Jackson. But I make the case that even before Evans lost a step, it was hard for him to shake coverage on pass routes, other than the occasional long bomb.

Who knows? They very well might have. LTs are still worth their weight in gold, yet no other team made a better offer to Bell. As I recall, he didn't even get this small (by LT standards) contract until Jason Peters got hurt. But perhaps Bell and his agent truly believed that he would cash in and get paid even the average salary for a starting LT. The truth is, Bills fans are great. If a player shows hints of ability, we will support him. Bell was very agile. But he is small, weak by LT standards, and constantly injured.He showed flashes of good play, and for this we had to wait several years. And for the most part, Bills fans supported him. I am not the biggest Nix fan on the board in terms of his drafts. Imo, the only "can't miss" player in the first 2 Nix drafts would appear to be Dareus. I have high hopes for a few others, one of who believe it or not is DB Justin Rogers.Yep, imo Nix continues the tradition of devoting too many resources to the secondary, and of course running backs. That said, he has brought in NUMEROUS free agents that have improved the football team. If he turns out to be correct wrt his assessment of Bell, Nix deserves yet another tip of the cap.

Sure. The police shouldn't be wasting their time on 20 year old drinkers. These resources should be put to good use, such as arresting cigarette smokers.

Then if he sell 100,000 steaks in a real hurry, he will be just fine.

Yes you were. As you might recall, I was more skeptical of Glenn because of the limited time he spent at LT in college. That said, he must have played quite well in camp for him to start over a more experienced Hairston. Many expect Hairston to be moved to starting RT. I would be surprised if this happens. The Bills seem to like Pears. They gave him a new contract, and Dareus said that Pears belonged in the probowl. Glenn, at his size, will have an easier time with running plays than on passing downs early on. That said, I sure hope that FJ stays healthy.

This IS a major concern.