gobillsinytown

As in, not ever? I take it you weren't a fan of the team from 1988 to 1999?

Because the team is 0-8. When you're 0-8, you'll try things like that. I can't blame them for signing him, they took a chance with relatively no risk. If it works out, they'll look good. If not, I doubt it's something anyone is going to remember down the line anyway. By NFL standards, they signed him for very little. I also don't buy that his career is necessarily over. Players have come back from injuries like this before, no matter what the "inside sources" have to say.

I'm not sure about outstanding, but definitely bizarre. I was wondering how all 22 players for both defenses could suddenly get amnesia on how to play defense. Fun game though......

You're right about talent, although I think you could modify it a bit to say that they need experienced players at linebacker. Transitioning from the cover 2 or 43 to the 34 is almost impossible to do in one year, especially when you're converting defensive linemen to linebacker. Kelsay is average at best even in his natural position. And while he's an intelligent guy, it takes a lot more than just intelligence to transition to a position he's never played before at the NFL level. The Bills won't have time to develop him, even if he has the potential. I would look for the 2011 draft (if there's a season) to be heavy at linebacker, especially 34 linebackers in the lower rounds.

This is the only place I know of where you can find acutal game film. This describes perfectly why the Bills can't stop the run, and why they're trying the 4-3 http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-playbook/09000d5d81bdc2df/Playbook-How-Bills-can-get-first-win

One of my co-workers went on a steroid cycle when he was in high school track. His performance in the shot put got a lot better, but so did the hair trigger on his temper. Described the classic "roid rage". He would become furious and not know why. Punched a hole in his bedroom wall during one of these rages. Went into one around his girlfriend and had to leave because he was afraid he was going to kill her. Stopped taking them after that. I know they're common in almost all professional sports, but they can do serious damage. Wouldn't be worth it to me.

I don't see a downside, since I think one of the reasons they brought him in was to act as a teacher for the 3-4. Merriman has a lot of experience as a rush linebacker in the 3-4. He also has a friendship with Nix from their San Diego days. If they can get some pass rush production out of him, fine. If not, he can teach the finer points of 3-4 play to the linebackers that are here. And who knows? Maybe he can teach something to Maybin.

If the guy can still play all three downs, it's a bonus. The key will be if he can still rush the passer. At this point in the season, I think that's what he'll be used for.

The key to success in the draft isn't in the first round, it's in round 2 to 6. That's where the bulk of successful players are found. Polian and his staff here in Buffalo always had a knack for finding quality starters in the lower rounds, especially at linebacker. He seems to have continuted that trend with the Colts. To me that was the real blow to the Bills when he left, since we lost that ability to consistently find quality starters in the lower rounds. This year might be different though, because I think the Colts have lost way too many players to injury to seriously compete in the playoffs.

Getting Moss really doesn't make much sense at this point. He might put a few butts in the seats, but at this point he would be limited to running fly patterns and playing jump ball. He didn't show much interest in learning the Vikings' playbook and would be even more unmotivated here. If the Patriots felt they could do without him (and Belechick will do almost anything to win), then I wonder whether he's really got anything left. WR's can decline pretty quickly, especially head cases like this one.

What converstation? ESPN? Why should that matter? If Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett are considered "quality personell", they've got a long way to go. I'm not defending Wilson, because with the team's track record for the last 10 years, it can't be defended. But neither can anyone defend Jones' record. which has been less than stellar. And to make things even more interesting, Jerry now has a huge bank note to pay off. The cost of building their new stadium was over 1 billion, with a significant amount of that financed. So the days of unlimited budgets for the Cowboys organization are over.

Unfortunately, when a team is 0-7, rational thinking goes out the window with some fans.

Nobody plays a 3-4 or 4-3 all the time. It depends on down and distance. In the case of the Bills, I think they wanted to make their base defense the 3-4 this year, but don't really have the guys to do it, so they've had a hybrid version for a while. Since they've been getting gouged so badly against the run, they're using more 4 man fronts.

The key here will be how the O-line adjusts to defensive scheme changes as the year goes on. Other teams on the schedule are going to be studying the Ravens game film closely, first to see why the line played so well, next to look for any weaknesses. So if the line can adjust to the changes they'll see, then we should have the first real bona fide O-line in years. Something to build on.

When a team is 0-5, they're going to try whatever offensive line combination(s) they have to. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. But they're not just going to leave things as they are.

Unfortunately, it's a lot more complicated than that. What makes it so hard is the fact that all first round draft picks, regardless of position, have a success rate of about 50-50. What makes this such a problem is the amount of money and time invested in a first round pick. A franchise QB can turn a team around in a hurry, but he doesn't play by himself. He depends on the O line in front of him to give him time to adjust to the speed of the pro game. So if you draft a QB and he's getting killed behind a bad O line, it hampers his development at best. At worst, it can ruin him altogether. So should you always draft a QB in the first round? Is that a sure fire way to turn a team around? Hard to say. It's worked with some teams (Colts) and not with others (Raiders). I think you need to time the development of the offense (especially the line), with the development of the QB.

Maybin might be good at that, but the problem here is that he's on a team where no one seems to be able to rush the passer. Loops and stunts require a lot of timing and coordination. Right now it doesn't seem like any of the Bills' linemen are capable of doing that, so Aaron's speed is negated. So the question is....how long do you keep a guy around who is a specialist, when they have so many other needs? I think that in the right defense, he could give offenses fits. But at least with this team he can't do that.

Most teams want to trade their first round pick because of the money involved. But remember if a deal gets done between the owners and the players for 2011, there will almost certainly be a rookie wage scale in place. So by next year it may make more sense to use our #1.

If this were five or six years ago, the team could take the time to see if he would develop. But the idea of the "project" player is all but dead. There's just too much pressure on teams to have their draft picks contribute immediately, at least on some level. Aaron hasn't shown that he can consistently contribute to any area of the team. I think you're right. No matter how much of a good kid he is or how hard he works, the evidence seems to show that he can't make the transition to this level. I think the only reason he's still with the team is because of his contract.

Good reasoning here, but you're forgetting one thing: This will be roughly an 800 million dollar transaction. With that amount of money involved, all the parties you mentioned are going to keep things secret. That being said, the only statement that Ralph has made about this issue is that: 1. The team will stay in Buffalo while he is alive. 2. The team will be sold upon his death, as he doesn not want to leave the team to his wife or his children. These statements were made by Ralph to reporters about 2 years ago. A lot can change in 2 years, but as of now Ralph has made no other mention of what his plans are. I know us Bills fans feel that we have a right to know what's going on, but the Buffalo Bills are a private enterprise, owned by a man who is known for wanting to keep his privacy. Right or wrong, that's his priveledge. And honestly if I were in Ralph's position I'm not sure I would be making the details of my business or finances public either. With the amount of money that's going to be involved, public statements can ruin a transaction in a hurry, especially in our litigious society.

....beat me to it. He can probably pull and trap just as well too.

I'm sure Elway's got the money to lose, but even so....getting screwed out of any amount of money sucks. I think it would be similar to one of us getting screwed out of 50 or 100 dollars. Sure, it's not the end of the world, but it's not something you're going to forget. Not feeling sorry for him though...

I think Wade is a great coordinator, but just doesn't have what it takes to be a superbowl winning head coach. And in the long run, that's all Jerry is going to look at. Wade would turn the D around here in a hurry. Unfortunately, he's going to keep trying to be a head coach.

If you get the chance, read Freddy Smerlas's book, if it's not out of print by now. Freddy and Haslett were geniuses at pranks. According to the book, THEY were playing pranks on the vetrans as rookies!

Excellent discussion going on in this thread. As we can see, drafting a QB in the first round has roughly a 50-50 chance of success. However one thing that also has to happen to enhance the chance of success is hitting on the right OL combination as you're bringing in the "franchise". I think at least part of the reason so many first round QB's bust out is because they're put behind O-Lines that can't protect them. Since most of the game at the NFL level is decision making (since everybody is physically good), trying to play behind a bad line can go a long way toward ruining a young QB. No matter how tough a guy is, eventually he's going to be affected if he's getting plastered every time he drops back to pass. IMO that's what ruined any potential JP had, starting in his college days. In college, he played behind an awful line and it was the reason other teams shied away from him. Same for Edwards. I think at least part of Edwards' regression from an initially promising career was playing behind the five turnstiles he had in front of him. So to turn a first round QB into the "franchise", it takes timing. I think the QB has to be developed as the O-line is being improved.