Pyrite Gal

There are just simply too many variables and moving parts to the final draft decision (when they send a card to the podium) for anyone to make a stone cold certain prediction (which is why this is fun). Every single selection in the draft simply change the variables for all future selections. Not only is a particular move absolutely the right thing to do given how the previous picks lay out, but then this same choice can suddenly become the wrong thing to do when the surprise that always occurs (the Bills take a safety at #8, Brady Quinn drops to the end of the round, the Bills pick Mcgahee, Ditka trades his entire draft for Wicky Williams) occurs. The broad overlay is what do we want to do. The two general streams are a draft driven by filling needs or the approach of taking the best player available. Usually it is not choosing one path or the other (despite our internet ramblings trying to say we must choose one way or the other) but instead choosing a balance between the two. The last two years have seen us go with need the first two picks and then use our #3 to go for the best player available. This year we definitely need a WR, but actually the slot we need is a #2 WR so a pick at 11 of a WR is not unreasonable for a starter, but then again this draft in terms of player quality seems like the best WRs are worth a 20+ pick at most but this player should be good enough to fill the #2 role. Hence the thought of trading down meeting our needs rather well.

I think there is still some residual upset for some folks who had decided we were DDOOOMMED when Nate walked as an FA with no compensation (a false big concern since FAs leaving without any compensation is the norm when one thinks about what compensation besides cash we gave up to get a Pro Bowl type like TKO or a non-Pro Bowl contributor like Fletch- compensation can happen when the situation breaks right and you play it right like trading PP for a 1st but this is not the norm at all). As it turned out, though our defense proved to be substandard (both without and with NC) the problem was not CB as it turned out we actually were able to get surprisingly good play from Plan D Greer at the #2 CB slot. Folks for whatever reason seem to have their panties all up in a wad and want to send Youbouty packing even though to do so anytime this year makes little football sense. The future holds what the future holds and we will see but it easily may not even make football sense to show Youbouty the door next year even if his play is as disappointing and episodic in 08 as it was in 07. It really depends an we will see (how James and a likely 3rd round or second day CB we draft develop). However, it seems really premature to me to show Youbouty the door and I hope we do not waste our 1st round pick in 08 by taking a CB as this rookie will do little to improve our downfield pass coverage this year and will do little but harm if we rely on a rookie CB to cover vets like Moss or Welker. We may pick a CB with the #1 as the Bills clearly have an interest in simply taking the best player available even though a first round CB picks offers little in the short-term to improve this team, but if we do it will be a sad draft IMHO as this means we will have missed out on a chance to really improve our team and pass pro in 08 by trading down and getting players at the right spots in the draft to immediately improve this team.

I am glad we seem to agree about an assessment of the situation. What I believe is thinking which goes off the deep end is to draw a conclusion form the obvious assessment that we need more from him is that it would likely make any sense at all for the Bills to jump ship on Youbouty at any point this season and likely next as well. Perhaps he did not show some signs of potential which he has as a gunner, a starter in a winning D effort last year and even an INT late this season. Again it is obvious that these episodes do not a starter make but are the Bills in a position to turn their back on these real world episodes of production. The answer is no given our depth. The answer is no given our salary commitment to him even if we cut him. The answer is no given that there were some real world issues while not acceptable excuses are real world reasons to explain any problems he has had. Do we show him the door? Incredibly little chance of this happening anytime this season and likely he is a Bill next year as well.

There likely is no way we show Youbouty the door this year unless the Bills braintrust gets their panties all in a wad and panics. Specifically the calculus is: 1. Though we are not DDOOMMEEDD at CB as folks who wanted to declare life was over when Clements left (as it really turned out while the Bills D struggled statistically. it was actually the brainstrust slowing the game down with our significant talent and injury issues which saw the D actually play the most significant role indelivering us most of the 7 victories last season (Edwards was very impressive for a rookie but the offense never really showed consistent ability to produce points for the most part last year) we actually are not deep at all at CB. Greer was really our plan D for finding a starter at the spot across from McGee (Webster went on IR, Thomas also went on IR and Youbouty fought injuries as well and never played well enough to claim the spot). With Webster and Thomas now gone and James being a likelihood at nickel at best, this team cannot afford to not give Youbouty every chance to stand-up and take at least a nickel role if he can. 2. Even under normal circumstances one does not really draw reasonable conclusions about a player until after he has played three years. Certainly one reasonably cuts UDFAs all the time if you do not see anything there that makes you feel like they can make it as a pro. However, Youbouty has gotten the bonus of a first day draft choice slot and demonstrated the play in college to merit this slot. It would simply be stupid to cut him during his third year. 3. There actually is a lot about this particular situation that is not normal that actually probably will earn Youbouty not only this year but next as well A. The death of him Mom really derailed a lot of his rookie year and learning. B. Even despite this stilted start, he did show some ability in practice and on the field as he earned a start against NYJ and played well in this winning effort. C. Even when he came out, the general feeling was Youbouty needed a year of work. He did not get a smooth year of learning as a rookie and there is a reasonable case to see that last year was the troubled first year many thought he would have. D. He did not show the consistency folks hoped for last year, but in his work as a gunner on ST and with an INT late last year he showed somethings only a fool would simply ignore even though he has disappointed. All in all has Youbouty shown enough to indicate he probably will be a starter one day? Nope not yet. However, has he disappointed so much that he clearly should not let the door hit him on the way out? No to this uninformed view as well. The Bills are too shallow in depth at CB to throw anyone off the bus. Further, what the hard-hearted or vacuous among us might dismiss simply as excuses, rather than excuses there are legit reasons for his play which while they do not forgive him, one would be silly to ignore them. Further, though he has not won a position at all with his play, he has shown some good things in episodes that also make it premature for us to panic and dismiss him.

Actually, the way the Bills seem to talk about how they are managing their budget in the cash to cap mode would actually under cut Evans demand for salary if they drafted a WR at #1. The Bills appear to be budgeting with a gross amount devoted to each position. If a newly drafted WR takes money out of the pool we are going to spend on WR, this means we will have less money to spend on Evans as we will not exceed laying out money in a particular year above the amount of the salary cap. Any new WE we draft (particularly if he is a 1st rounder) immediately enters the competition with Evans and the WRs to prove themselves with receptions and TDs to develop a chemistry with the QB to become the go-to guy. if the Bills draft 2 WRs as has been proposed by some (I would like it because I want to see us develop a more wide open offense) it actually probably sends a sign that the Bills will be controlling expenses by letting Evans walk and not resign him to a big deal at all. In fact, given that the Bills are clearly cleaning house of TD acquired players, that they are likely done with JP (who Evans vocally supported) the likelihood would seem to be they might go two WRs in this draft as they seek to build the Edwards offense and Evans rather than having his signing price driven up by drafting a WR might in fact have his time as a Bill essentially ended by drafting two WRs high in the draft.

I like this draft as well. Getting 2 WRs makes us far more likely to produce in this pass-happy world of the NFL and getting a solid TE will do far more to increase the productivity of our pass D than wasting an early pick on a CB. We do need to increase our CB depth but a second day pick does this quite well. Picking a CB would be useful for us with our D scheme because the CB plays the useful role of containing outside rushes and doing press coverage in the short zone. However, the thought that some seem to have that we need to get a 1st round CB capable of covering WRs all over the field really demonstrates difficulty in understanding how our D works. Further the idea that because of Moss/Welker et al. forces us to get a rookie CB who actually would be burned badly by these vets for a couple of years really shows a misguided sense of football.

I do not think anyone is arguing Youbouty is great (if they were they are simply wrong). I think what folks are arguing is: 1. that he was a player who when drafted had a lot of real good elements shown in college in his play, 2. that in terms of his size and speed he had shown and a mean competitive streak many outside observers have noticed, 3. who in his play for the Bills has shown several good episodes of play (starting in the NYJ game, some nice tackles as a gunner on punt coverage, and the INT against McNabb). but unfortunately he has also had: 1. injuries which have limited his play which are way too early to label him injury prone but they are a real thing and a negatives 2. the same need to learn that saw many observers feel he should have stayed in school another year is still there and he needed a year of play to finish his game 3. he had a bad break when his single parent Mom died and as the oldest child he was forced to step up to other responsibilities in addition to learning football. and this all means: While excuses are worth next to nothing in this world, there are reasonable reasons which while they do not excuse sporadic performance (at best), they do explain why it would be a bad football move to throw him under the bus. I am glad they signed James and competition is good. I hope Youbouty steps up and wins the competition and it is not unreasonable to HOPE he does just unreasonable to EXPECT he will.

Ah yes, but do you think they stupidly revealed their real draft board or do they just smartly want you to think that they stupidly revealed their real draft board? It's a riddle stuck in a plot wrapped in an enigma. Personally, I think it validates the single gun theory.

Its not that anyone thinks the Dems are good (or even adequate) it's that they know for pretty sure based on their performance that the GOP is neither good or adequate. So too with the Bills. The Marv led drafts and the moderate FA moves so far look brilliant compared to what Donahoe achieved.

Exactly in terms of McCargo as time playing seems to be the missing element for his productivity thus far rather than some sense he does not have the talent to become a good player. McCargo's story apparently is that he really saw limited PT in college and really gained his lofty draft position with a few outstanding performance and the fact it was a thin year at DT (there was no DT even taken in the 2nd round in that draft I believe). He got a slow start as he had some bad technique issues that allowed him to be easily defeated by vet OL players with far less talent or even strength because he could not get leverage to apply his greater strength when he was locked up. In college he was quicker than many opponents and never got locked up, but it is a different story in the NFL where even the back-ups have equal talent and speed to the college players who started against him. He actually was already beginning to show early signs of progress as a rookie when he got injured and forced on to IR. He began to show more progress last year, but still relies a bit too much on wanting to make a speed move and blow by the opposing blocker rather than emphasizing learning and applying good technique, but he should learn both how to actually blow past opponents as he watches more film or exercise good technique and at least fill running lanes when he is locked up by an OL player. Youbouty is a bit of a cipher in that his career in his two brief years has been an unusual one. First, he came out a year earlier than many thought he should have. His competitive spirit, physical play, and good size earned him the thought that he would go in the 1st round if he spent another year at CB university, Ohio St. However, he came out a year early into a fairly competitive WR draft. He was a perfect pick for the Bills as he dropped to rd 3 because of his likely needing a year and because there were other CBs of likely lesser talent but who were ready to play in the NFL on day 1. It got even weirder for him as just after the draft his single-parent Mom died and left him as the oldest child and clear breadwinner amongst the kids (perhaps he left college early because he could feel the role he would be thrust into). His first pre-season was lost, but he actually showed good talent in that he went from a late arrival to actually starting for the Bills in a win against the Jets where Youbouty logged significant time in a D which confused the weak-armed by cagey Chad Pennington. Youbouty played a role in that game of filling in as a starter due to the thinness of the Bills at LB, and the 5 DB set composed of solid tacklers like Youbouty fooled Pennington all day. Youbouty proved to be valuable to the Bills when used in this tricky way, but did not have the depth of experience to be relied upon as a fulltime starter his rookie year. Nevertheless he showed some good pop as a gunner on ST and he went into last season with hopes (though it was still to early for reasonable expectation) that he would take the starter role at CB across from McGee. Unfortunately this was not to be as he looked more like a rookie out there (which in many ways he was as he actually came out a year early and his first year was quite distracted if not lost in many ways). Youbouty again showed flashes of aggressive quality play on ST, but never really showed enough to beat out a series of vets (Webster, Thomas) who beat him out but went down to injury and eventually vet Jabari Greer who surprised most by showing in regular season good play he had only shown in pre-season earlier. Can Youbouty make a name for himself this year? Sure, easily. This D was built for someone of his size and competitiveness with an emphasis on short zone press coverage by the CB. In college he was said to be very strong facing the QB but a needed some work running downfield with his back to the QB. In our Cover 2, he basically has short zone responsibility on pass plays and if we have a potent rush he should be able to engage the WR quickly. Even the tendency he showed in college to look first into the backfield for the run rather than begin cheating backward for the pass is a tendency which should hold him in good stead with the run play containment duty which is one the primary obligations of the CB in our D. With his life more settled, good competition for the #2 or nickel back role from Greer and new addition James, and plenty of important responsibilities against folks like Moss and Welker, this will be a test for Youbouty but will be one he might step up and command a key role for the Bills.

Competition is good. Thus, though he is no definite all world candidate this Bills fan is pleased about this signing. From what I here about him when healthy he has the same skill and positives that Youbouty was thought to bring in that he is known as a good press cover guy and good hand-fighter in tight coverage. He sounds like just the type of player that stands a better chance of meeting our immediate CB needs rather than taking a flyer and wasting resources on a 1st round CB pick.

Its legitimate to try to utilize the rules (some would say accurately gimmick them) to do something outside of the box to get an advantage. This particularly true when the gimmick is not easily replicable as it involves a physically gifted act beyond the norm which is not easily done by everyone. However, it also is legit in my view to simply change the rules as quickly as the game allows to eliminate this gimmick. I think a real world example of this was when Steve Tasker adjusted to opposing teams assigning to players to block him when he played gunner on punt returns. Tasker and the Bills responded to this move by having him run out of bounds down the sideline because he was quick enough and his timing an anticipation were good enough he could get back onto the field of play after his unencumbered sprint to make the tackle. This tactic was eliminated by a simple rule change which made going OB and reentering the field illegal on punt returns. I think if this tactic were utilized it would last all of one season before a rule was altered to nullify its effectiveness, if it proved to be effective, In fact, ironically, the more effective it proved to be and the more difficult it was to replicate the greater the likelihood it would be eliminated by rule. If one were to go this direction, I think you actually would not trot it out immediately when the season began (or practice it in pre-season as the rest of the league would go out and recruit their Yao Ming (but instead would attempt to keep it under wraps by adding this mutant to your PS, have him practice this at some high school field, and then activate him and use him against some kicker you think will almost certainly make a difference but is a weird dude (like Vander Jagt a few years ago with Indy. I think one of the prime benefits is that when he took the field he might cause the opposing kicker to alter his kicking routine and plans and this caused him to miss.

I do not pick a CB with the #11 because I put to high a priority on improving our pass defense and being able to deal with challenge of Moss/Welker to waste a 1st round pick to get the best CB in the draft. Say what? Folks need to understand I think the way we use the CB in our Cover 2 (which is more like a Tampa 2) base D scheme. Even if you ascribe to the technical definition of our coaches that we only run the traditional cover 2 25% of the time, when you take into account that the 75% includes use of a non-traditional Cover 2 like our Tampa 2 esque model, plays in the redzone where there is not enough space to run the traditional cover 2, short yardage or hail Mary down and distance where the Cover 2 is inappropriate, the facts remain that our D does not use CBs in the traditional shutdown corner method. If your goal is to improve our pass protection, the first thing we need to do is develop more penetration and pressure from our DL (the Stroud pick-up and the Johnson pick-up to give us a more effective rotation than the Triplett model). The second thing we need to do is get better pressure and tackling from our LBs (we hope Pos made use of his bench time to learn more from seeing how an NFL offense is called and defensed and Mitchell will increase the pressure), the third thing we need to do to improve our pass coverage is get our safeties to play a better game as they have the primary downfield coverage duty on WRs (we hope Whitner will break out in his third year, Simpson will recover from the injury which landed him on IR and that Wilson will improve a lot after playing as a starting safety for the first time. Drafting a good CB actually weighs in well behind these other three items in improving our pass D as the CB has short zone coverage but only covers a WR all over the field when we switch our D call to a standard scheme which we do rarely but sometimes. Even in this case the difficult thing for a CB to do is to make the same read and adjustments as the MLB and the rest of the D (McGee had big problems making the same read as the rest pf the crew year before last and got benched to adjust his play). However, if the CB makes the correct read, even a pedestrian CB like a Greer and certainly a guy with speed like McGee can cover a WR on a fly pattern. In fact, since we have the ability when we switch to the CB downfield coverage model to give him some help over the top if necessary, this switch need is not a big issue for us. In fact, it is easily arguable that getting a top flight CB will do less for our pass protection production than actually drafting a player to improve the offense so that we have fewer three and outs and folks like Moss/Welker are just on the field less because our offense is improved. I would not draft a CB in the first because my sense is this does a lot less to improve our pass defense than other selections.

Unfortunately for the next year or two if we are gonna count on a rookie CB to somehow stop Moss or Owens we are likely gonna lose. Any CB that we get at #11 is not likely to prove to be an elite player (which I think of as a player good enough to command a top 10 choice) who we should have any expectation will be ready on day 1 to cover the best vets in the league. Again this is not to mention the fact that typically our CBs will not be covering a Moss or Owens all over the field unless we choose to alter our whole D scheme for these players. The simple likelihood is that if we want to hold Moss's production down the best investments for us to make are 1: penetrating DL players who are going to pressure Brady on every throw. 2. A hard rushing good tackling LB who like Kawika Mitchell in the SB cannot only put Brady on his butt, but also is stout enough against the run to make 3rd down a must pass for the Pats rather than giving them a run/pass option to play with, 3. good safeties as they are gonna have the primary downfield pass D responsibility because in the Cover 2, the CB is playing the short zone. Even after these 3 D choices which are better at holding down Moss production than a shut down corner, the Bills are likely better off blunting Moss by keeping him off the field by picking a WR or a TE who will help them avoid 3 and outs. Picking a stud CB is simply low on our priority list for combating the threats posed by Moss or other stud WRs.

The way we are handling the TE situation is one reason why I think we may be better off trying to create a model of St. Louis Rams east. The Rams used the TE a bit differently this past season after they acquired a stud like McMichael, but even he logged a below average number of catches compared to some of his previous production in a Rams offense that has historically not used the TE as a receiver despite the fact they were throwing the ball all over the place. Part of my sense that we might go for 2 WRs in this seemingly WR deep draft is that it will allow us to use more 3 WR scheme and empty backfield sets using Parrish as a wideout with the 3 WR draftees.

Looking at our depth chart and our moves so far this off-season it appears to me that all indications point to the most reasonable team building action on our part to be to trade down. This is tough though as one must have a partner to trade and its tough to go into a draft relying on somebody else to do something like trade to make it work. The basic problem I see is that for our areas of greatest need (a credible passing threat from the offense and the ability to stop the run and the pass for our D) are likely not going to be greatly improved by anyone we can get at #11 in a greater degree than it might improved by someone we would acquire later. Specifically: 1. DL- Even with acquisition of Stroud (due to his recent history of injuries) and the tradeoff of the failed Triplett going and the depth acquisition of Johnson, the rotation we are running means we could use an elite player on the DL. However, elite players from the draft are generally top 10 picks and it is doubtful a Dorsey or Gholston drops to us at #11. 2. CB- Many folks are still whining about us letting Clements walk away and us getting no compensation for him. Actually, us getting compensation for someone like Peerless leaving was the exception rather than the rule actually and by rule and by practice loss of FAs without compensation is the norm actually. Looking for a shutdown CB makes even less sense for us given the D scheme we use where the CB actually is used primarily as a short cover and run contain guy in the Cover 2 and it makes little football sense for us to expend our limited team resources drafting a shutdown corner in the 1st round who will not be used that way primarily in our D. The Bills have made a habit of taking players based on quality rather than need late on the first day (Neither Youbouty or Edwards were need picks at the time) but it really would seem like an incredible waste of resources for us to take a CB in the 1st (or even the 2nd) round. If your interest is better downfield coverage acquiring a better safety is a better place for us to improve this facet of the game than wasting money on a shutdown CB, unless you want to change our whole D style of play which I do not think Jauron/Fewell are likely to do at all. 3. WR- Particularly with the cut of PP, there is a glaring need for a #2 WR. In fact, we held out the promise of becoming a pass happy team and now with Evans as a definite #1, Parrish as a #3 at best and Reed as a insufficient #2 we could actually stand to need two WRs this off-season. The good news is that this draft is generally seen as deep in WR talent. There does not appear to be a player worth taking with the #11 choice. However, if we can trade down and get a player who merits a low 20s pick (Kelly for example) and also get another WR with a second pick I think we would meet a lot of our needs. All in all I hope we can trade down as I doubt any of the DL players worth taking will drop to #11, there is no CB worth the expenditure for us in the first two rounds, and that there is no WR worth taking until about pick 20.

My apologies as I thought the topic of this thread was how much to trust the front office to try to do (and to succeed in trying) the right football thing. If in fact that is the topic, then summaries which are generally accurate help to do that. A summary that the Bills did nothing, or that the Bills were perfect in every way may be attractive to some as these extreme views (which the internet often attracts) are easily and simply stated. Some of us prefer however, accuracy. This is difficult because nuance can often mean length (and it gets really difficult because length does not assure accuracy either). However, in this case the facts seem fairly obvious. The Bills clearly did a lot more than nothing regarding FA the last two years (Do you agree?). Further, it is quite arguable that the nothing they did more than was arguably smart to do (extending their own FAs cheaply like Peters or McGee) or at least has made things better though not perfect (Dockery and Walker for example). The actual topic as to whether they can be trusted for FAs is answered well by a recognition that the partial successes in FA put them within spitting distance of trust and some excellent draft results the last two years (a plethora of starters drafted on teams that produced demonstrably better records than the pre-Marv Bills) put the Bills front office in the "trust but verify" zone as far as FA goes in my book.

While clearly this team can be cited for not spending big bucks on bringing in prominent FAs, i think it actually defies reality to claim they did nothing on FA the past couple of off-seasons. Specifically: 1. The biggest thing the Bills did on FA was to extend the contracts of their own so that this team has zero big money players commanding big contracts in FA. This no small thing and in fact involves some degree of risk as to whether the youngsters we extended well before we were forced to may not be worth a big contract. In general so far so good with the extension of Peters being the big win for the Bills. 2.There are reasonable arguments that they spent more on these players than they were worth, but as the market is changing with the new CBA big contracts for folks like Dockery may actually not be so far out of line with the market. The actual facts seem to be that after significant expenditures on the OL for folks like Dockery and Walker, while the OL is not a proven unstoppable force it is certainly much improved over previous models. 3. Not spending big on FA acquisition may not be an unreasonable strategy if we were simply not good enough in other places for a big deal acquisition to make the difference. A call for buying a player(s) to make the difference for us making the playoffs is reasonable but as this team was more than a player or two away the last couple of years blowing the wad to simply satisfy fan disappointment might be good business but probably not good football. 4. Perhaps the most impressive FA move by the Bills the last couple of years was their willingness to let Triplett go because they realized they made a mistake. I think that a big way FA can kill a team is that when the leadership is more interested in how they appear rather than winning. The FA work is far from perfect buy is a lot more than doing nothing the last couple of years.

As I just said, this article is another example that the Pats are going to guilty until proven innocent on this one and now that Specter and Congress control the flow on press events on this one it does not bode well for them. For conspiracy theorists out there, were the Pats set up by the NFL hierarchy on this one as the sacrificial lamb? It was the NFL which destroyed the evidence in this case. The NFL has actually already declared BB and the Pats guilty with their significant fine of the team and BB personally for taping. When push comes to Specter and there is no evidence to prove the negative for BB, Kraft may be told the NFL is going to let the Pats twist in the wind. It will be up to Kraft to decide whether he is going to twist with them or whether to simply blame the whole thing on BB. We'll see.

Not necessarily. I think that the Bills had visions of creating an East Coast version of the high-flying St. Louis Rams offende and this was part of the reason why Fairchild was attractive. As it turned out Fairchild was not the guy to direct an East Coast undomed version of the offense he trained in. However, though Fairchild is gone (thankfully) it would not surprise me if the Bills have not given up on this vision. Having 2 1st rounders to share time in a 3 WR offense with Evans and Lynch playing the run/pass catching Faulk role would not be bad at all.

The problem here are that unless you have some objective reason to make this conclusion (or is it merely driven by wishful thinking and opinion on your part) is that the NFL hierarchy is going to have to choose between two extremes on this one. I think anyone who is "pro-Pats" on this one better really hope Walsh has some real evidence that actually proves BB and the gang's innocence/ The issue basically is divided between those who love the Pats and those who hate the Pats. A lack of evidence either way essentially leaves the status quo the same. There will need to be evidence that points clearly to the Pats guilt OR there needs to be evidence that proves their innocence. In the absence of being compelled either way, the debate will continue. The problem here is that while in the absence of any proof against the Pats there is nothing that will stand up against them in a court of law. However, how many nickels the NFL makes is not going to be determined in a court of law it is going to be determined by the court of public opinion. Things were OK for the NFL as long as things were in their own court and they decided who was guilty or not and who got fined or not. What Specter's involvement does is take this thing out of the NFLs hands and sticks this into the court of public opinion with Arlen Specter controlling the tap in terms of initiatives and press opportunities. My guess is that in the absence of clear cut evidence, Specter will get to play with PA and Eagle voters as his audience. Goodell is going to be forced to either stand with the Pats and potentially face ongoing grilling efforts and bad publicity from Specter, or alternately he can choose to hang the Pats out to dry and try to regain control of the agenda by taking off after the Pats. It does not look good for Kraft and BB because my guess is that if forced to take a stance, the NFL will not choose to simply stand with the Pats since they will stand accused of destroying evidence. My guess is that the NFL will realize that they are in for a rocky press ride no matter what they do and they will opt to stick with 31 teams turning on the Pats and hanging them out to dry if there is no firm evidence in this case. The Pats will be left in difficult position of proving a negative if they did not do anything. I do not envy their position now that the NFL has destroyed the evidence.

Agreed that no team plays the Cover 2 all the time. Fewell himself says he only plays it 20% of the time and the highest outside observation I have heard says that the Bills play it more than half but less than 60% of the time. From my observations, Fewell is probably technically correct that they only play the Cover 2 as most formally defined 20% of the time. However, when one adds into this total less traditional versions of the Cover 2 which still have the CBs covering the short zone, but still are heavily based on a Cover 2 but are not it technically the C2 like the version called the Tampa 2 (where the MLB has the deep middle zone) this is where the the 50-60% number comes from. Of the remaining cases where the safeties do not have the deep outside zone coverage and the CBs may have deep duty, even in some of these cases they do not require the CB to do much deep coverage as they are defenses for down and distances such as short yardage situations where there is little chance the opponent in going to go deep rather than slam the ball into the line on a run play. When one subtracts out of the remaining plays ones where the opposing offense is in a 3 TE set or when they are in our redzone so there is no deep route it really is a relatively small number of plays which call for our CB to simply cover the fly pattern, Even in those case where the CB has to play that coverage, it is possible for us to still have someone in a deep zone who gives the CB a backstop if we think he is likely to be beaten or the CB simply can play loose and make sure he is not beaten deep in situations where A TD will cause us trouble but a medium zone reception simply burns clock. Would we love to have a shutdown CB? You bet! Is it worth paying a mint in FA money or spending a 1st round draft pick to get one. I doubt it. It really would be a waste of resources which are better spent solving our O problems (if we move the ball and get some 1sts then the D has better results because it ain't on the field) or improving our pass rush which would do a lot more than getting a shutdown corner to improve our pass protection.

Like many deals that would be great for us this one seems like one that will never happen. Lito is under contract for several years at a very affordable rate. I also have heard Philly would like to move him, and I assumed this is because the huge contract they agreed to with Samuel simply throws the relative payments to these two CBs who are different in skill level but not at the difference in the two salaries. Rather than allow a situation to be created where they either lay a great case for Lito to ask for more or potentially create discord the plan is to move him somewhere where he can get a new contract, The Bills would be silly to pay shutdown CB money to a player who will not be used to anywhere near the best of his ability as a CB in our Cover 2. I do wonder if Philly is willing to move him even though he is under contract for a while because they anticipate him being a cancer if he is not adequately paid. IF this is the case there likely would be few things to throw him into a hissy fit like being a CB who gets marooned in Jauron's Cover 2, In fact CB Dre Bly said publicly that he was leaving Detroit when he hit FA because it was horrible being a CB in their Jauron designed Cover 2.

I actually agree in that I am very hopeful about Edwards, I do not think he has actually proven on the field that he is a consistent NFL starter. I believe with good luck regarding injuries and uncontrollable things he can a very good QB (and maybe even a great one we hope) but at this point he actually has shown better potential than JP at this point in their careers, but the irony is that actually to this point in their careers JP actually had shown more on field ability than Edward even though Edwards potential as a QB looks better than JP at a similar point. Neither has shown enough on the field to be given the starting job when they were awarded it, but this is reality in the NFL and I simply hope Edwards does more with the job he does not deserve (yet) than JP did. Again bowing to reality, the Bills certainly would be intelligent to have a back-up QB capable of being a consistent starter for virtually a full season if that is what is required. However, I do not think the media or a vocal minority of the fan base allows the Bills to have a back-up good enough or with the potential to supplant Edwards. I wish we did but we do not and the Bills an an entertainment business are simply forced to deal with the reality that having a back-up QB who can be a vet sounding board for Edwards and fill in for him if necessary for about 3 games max is about all this fanbase can handle without digressing into a QB controversy.

Definitely Edwards is not back in college. Where he is actually is playing for a pro franchise where the media and a loud enough portion of the fan base does not have the football maturity to walk and chew gum at the same time and deal with us having a back-up QB who provides any kind of a real threat to be the fulltime starting QB. One of the oddities of what will work in this town for a back-up QB is that quite frankly he has to suck bad enough that no one take seriously the thought of him as our starter or the QB of the future (for example AVP filled this role well as the back-up for Bledsoe) because as soon as the starter shows any difficulties, the long knives come out as some fans are most entertained in this game if they get to whine about some overpaid player (and they all are overpaid) and the media here loves a QB controversy because they can sell ad space around their blather. The perfect back-up for the Bills is someone who fits the Frank Reich/AVP model where he is a player capable of coming off the bench and performing well in a sub role as the opponents go into a bit of a shell having wiped out our starter or even better like Reich of even winning three games or so in a pinch. My question about Dilfer is whether he has gained the maturity to be a good pair of sideline eyes for the starter (a skill Bledsoe actually showed quite well in NE for Brady) and to gracefully step back after the young starter gets well (again a skill Bledsoe showed after he threw the winning TD in a must win game for NE but sat back while Brady took the reins for the SB), We are far better off as a team with a back-up who quite frankly sucks who can play the second set of eyes and relief job but in no way is good enough or young enough to entertain starting for this team consistently.