LevysEraII

Thomas Smith

I don't know how much stock we can put into the guy. He can't even SPELL Whitner, much less assess the guy's skill and talent.

Do I HAVE to keep one?

The camera angle will be different. You are the featured player, therefore you get the attention of the camera angle.

The new Madden 07 has a cool new feature that allows you to create a player at any position. You go through the NFL draft and start out just like a rookie. Earning playing time and respect as you go. You can only control your guy, no one else. You can't even call the plays. QB, RB, WR, DE, S and LB all look fun to me. I'll probably select DE, first.

I got shotgun!!! 2006-07 Bills A Year Full of Questions By LevysEraII The Buffalo Bills start off the 2006-07 season with a ton of question marks. Who will be the Quarterback? How will the newly revamped offensive line perform? Will Dick Jauron become the head coach everyone believes he can be and lead the Bills to the playoffs? Can the "golden boys" (owner Ralph Wilson and GM Marv Levy) return to the Super Bowl once more before they ride off into the sunset? The truth is no one really knows the answer. Quarterbacks In a three way battle the Bills' JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb and Craig Nall will have to win the job outright and earn the trust and respect from his peers. JP Losman, the fan favorite and most talented of the three quarterbacks, appears to have the edge this off-season as reports out of Buffalo regarding Losman's progress are very encouraging. You know what you're getting out of Kelly Holcomb, the most experienced of the trio, Kelly is the type of guy that will move the chains with short to intermediate passes but has trouble with the deep ball, due to his weak arm strength. That can be trouble for Holcomb because the Bills will be throwing the ball down the field more this season than in years' past. The Bills made Fairchild (the former offensive coordinator for St. Louis), their offensive coordinator. The wild card of the group is Craig Nall. The front office liked what they saw out of Nall and signed him with the promise for a fair chance for the starting job. Rating 6 Running Backs There's Willis McGahee and then the rest with this group. McGahee, once again, missed most of the OTA's during the offseason. He chose to work out in South Florida with some of his former teammates from The University of Miami. To his credit, he does appear more fit this season, even showing off a chiseled six pack, McGahee needs to be in better condition because he will be coming off the field a lot less this season under Dick Jauron. He should expect more carries and more receptions this year as well. Anthony Thomas, Lionel Gates and Shaud Williams will compete for the back-up job. Buffalo would like to see Gates win the job because he is the youngest out of the group. His running style is also similar to that of Willis. If McGahee goes down the Bills will be in trouble. Sheldon returns as the FB. He is a good run blocker that is aging a bit. The Bills will need a replacement for him in the near future. Rating 8 Wide Receivers Can you say speed?. Lee Evans will be the number one guy out of this group. The Bills hope he will continue to blossom in his third season. Evans also has the added pressure of replacing long time Buffalo Bill wide receiver, Eric Moulds, who forced a trade to Houston in the offseason. Eric will be missed. The Number two job is up for grabs. Price, who returns to Buffalo, hopes to return to his pre-Atlanta form, has the best chance to be number two. Andre Davis, Roscoe Parrish, Josh Reed, Martin Nance, Freddie Smith, Sam Aiken and Geoge Wilson will battle it out for the other 3 wide receiver spots. Look for Roscoe Parrish, due to his explosiveness, Martin Nance, due to his combination of size and hands, and Josh Reed, the only real possesion receiver on the roster, to win those three spots. The Bills signed TE Robert Royal as a free agent away from Washington this offseason. the Bills love his run blocking and believe he can be a very good receiving TE as well. Kevin Everett, who missed his rookie year because of injury, will be back this year. Everett has the potential to be an Antonio Gates type TE. Rating 8 Offensive Line This group was overhauled in the offseason. The right side returns intact. RT Jason Peters, who the Bills love for his freakish athleticism, just signed with the Bills to a long term contract and RG Chris Villarial returns as well. The Bills will have a new center this year. C Melvin fowler was signed in the offseason away from Minnesota. Fowler performed well at center for Minnesota last year replacing an injured Matt Birk. Mike Gandy, a suitable LT, returns as the starter at that same position. The LG spot will most likely go to free agent addition Tuten Reyes. Reyes played well on a very good Carolina line last year. RG/C Duke Preston will fight for a starting job in training camp. Rating 6 Defensive Line RE Aaron Schobel is the most talented out of this cast. His pass rushing skills has gotten better every year he has been in the league. Schobel has also defended the run well. DT Larry Tripplet was signed as a free agent from Indianapolis. Tripplett has the speed the Bills like for their new "Tampa Cover Two" defense. The nose tackle will be Tim Anderson. Buffalo also drafted DT John McCargo in the first round of the 2006 draft. He will be used primarily as a back-up to Larry Tripplett and as a pass rush specialist. At LE will be Chris Kelsay. Kelsay has dissappointed some with his play to this point in his career but the Bills hope he plays up to his potential in their new defensive scheme, which requires speed. The back-up DE is Ryan Denney, known more for his run "d" than his pass rush. Rating 7 Linebackers Overall the most talented position on the Bills. Takeo Spikes, London Fletcher and Jeff Posey return as starters. OLB Spikes is returning from an achiles injury and promises to be the Spikes of old. Time will tell. MLB Fletcher is probably the most underrated linebacker in the game, all he does is make plays. Jeff Posey will be pushed by promising OLB Angelo Crowell, who performed well in Spikes' absence. The only question is if he can man the strong side, which he should be able to do in the Cover Two defense, which requires speedy linebackers. This position is deep as well with players like Stamer, Haggan and newly acquired MLB Watson coming in off the bench. Rating 9 Secondary This unit is talented and deep as well. Playmakers are in abundance here. CB's Nate Clements and Terrance McGee are game changing corners who can run with the best of them. At safety Troy Vincent will be returning for one last year as starter because he is being pushed by 4th round pick Ko Simpson. Eighth overall pick SS Donte Whitner will have every oppotunity to win the starting job. His combination of hitting ability, covering ability and speed make him a great prospect. The nickel spot is up for grabs. Battling it out for that position will be third rounder Ashton Youboty, Thomas, King and Greer. Matt Bowen, Rashad Baker will be the back-ups. Rating 8 Special Teams This is the best special teams the NFL has to offer. Thanks in large part to special teams coach Bobby April, this unit has finished #1 two years in a row. Expect a third this year. KR Terrence McGee is the master of his kraft. With his speed, his ability to change direction and his vision, he is a threat to take it to the house on any given return. At PR there is the equally talented and speedy Roscoe Parrish. K Rian Lindell, believe it or not, is the Bills' all time leader in field goal percentage. P Brian Moorman has a rocket for a leg and makes mince meat out of the tricky Buffalo wind. The cover teams are also talented. Rating 10 Front Office While GM Marv Levy is a rookie at 80, he does know football. What he brings to the table more than anything else is the ability to unite the front office with the coaching staff and he knows how to let the coach be the coach without overstepping any boundaries. He also brings a winner's mentality back to Buffalo, which Buffalo so desperately needs right now. The Head Coach is Dick Jauron, while not the fan favorite, he is recognized and respected around the league as a knowledgable coach whom players love to play for. This time around he will be doing things his way. It remains to be seen how effective this Ivy League duo will be. One things for sure, debates between Head Coach and GM should be as articulate as a Presidential Debate. Rating 5 Draft Buffalo used their 8th overall pick on S Donte Whitner out of Ohio State University. Whitner runs a 4.3-forty and has the ability to cover because of his experience at CB. Whitner was also the captain of the defense at OSU that featured highly regarded players such as LB AJ Hawk and OLB Bobby Carpenter. Buffalo traded into the first round a scooped DT John McCargo out of NC State. McCargo is a athletic DT that creates havoc behind the line of scrimmage. The next two guys were nationally recognized around the league as first round talent. CB Ashton Youboty out of OSU and S Ko Simpson out of SC State. Look for those two ballhawks to get some playing time at the nickel and dime packages early on in the season. Buffalo also addressed some needs by acquiring DT Kyle Williams, OT Brad Butler and LB Keith Ellison. Rating 7

Here's my take. Game by game. Week 1. @ New England. The Bills will make a game of it but lose a close one. 0-1 2. @Miami. Buffalo stuns a Joey Harrington led Dolphins. 1-1 3. vs. NYJ. Bills win this one. 2-1 4. vs. Minnesota. Bills are on a roll. They win their third straight game. 3-1 5. @ Chicago. Loss 3-2 6. @ Detroit. Bills lose in a heartbreaker. Wheels start to fall off. 3-3 7. vs. NE. Yet another loss. 3-4 8. Bye Week 9. vs GB. Bills finally win one. 4-4 10. @ Indy. Buffalo gets blown out 4-5 11. @Hou. Texans win this one. 4-6 12. vs Jax. Loss 4-7 13. vs SD. Bills pull this one out. 5-7 14. @ NYJ. Buffalo always loses one to NY. 5-8 15. vs. Mia. Bills lose this one 5-9 16. vs Tenn. Bills win 6-9 17. @Balt. Bills end season on a downer. 6-10

Not gonna happen. He'll sign by week 4 at the latest.

Did you see big #71 running down the field on that return? That's impressive speed for such a large man!!!!

Who says they aren't great? I don't care how dominating your offensive line is, sometimes it's the things you DON'T DO that make you great. Like costing your team the game by throwing a ton of interceptions.

Taking my "coaching family tree" one step further. Add Cowher, Levy, Reeves and Gibbs to the mix of Parcells, Walsh and Johnson and these 7 coaches' family trees are responsible for a whopping 34 out of 38 Super Bowl appearances. BTW. Please tell me Dick Jauron coached under one of these "Super 7" coaches.

Great post. Here's my two cents on the subject. How 'bout this for an eye opener? ALL of these QB's came from, in one way or another, the coaching family tree of Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh and/or Jimmy Johnson. All exept Warner.

I thought LA did a pretty good job hosting the ESPY's. His opening monolgue was funny as hell. I especially liked when he asked Jake Hylenhaal "what you doing sitting up front? I thought you liked it in the rear".

http://www.buffalobills.com/multimedia/ind...n1.rm&proto=rts

JP Losman said he is being "coached hard" this year and that that wasn't the case last season. JPL also went on to explain how he responds well to being "coached hard" because it helped him earlier in his career in HS and College. Coddling athletes is the last thing you should do. The more I hear about this year's coaching staff the more I'm happy that MM and Co. are long gone. DJ having previous head coaching experience will help this team tremendously. Overall I found the interview to be very encouraging and enjoyful to watch. Check it out when you get a chance.

I struggled with the RB position a bit. I knew KD would be brought up. I just think KD had the advantage of a great offensive line, supporting cast and he also came in off the bench fresh after Thurman was done terrorizing defenses. As far as the Flutie vs Bledsoe battle goes. I'd take DF over DB anyday of the week. Just like BuffOrange said, both had great defenses' but only one of them got us to the post season. Not once but twice. Playoff edge goes to Flutie. I gotta admit. Schulz is better than Vincent at FS. I can't believe I forgot about him.

nm

I decided to put together the top 52 Bills players of the last 15 years. Depth chart and all. Top head coach and coordinators as well. The order from best to worst. I only took each players' performance while with the Bills in consideration. Not what they did before or since. Here it goes. QB: Kelly, Flutie, Reich RB: Thomas, McGahee, Henry WR: Reed, Moulds, Lofton, Price, Evans FB: Gash TE: McKellar, Metzalaars, Riemersma T: Wolford, Ballard, Jennings G: Brown, Ritcher, Davis, C: Hull DE: Smith, Hansen, Schobel, Jeffcoat DT: Washington, Williams, Adams, Wright OLB: Bennett, Talley, Paup, Spikes MLB: Cowart, Conlan, Fletcher, Spielman CB: Winfield, Clements, Odomes, McGee, Smith FS: Kelso, Vincent SS: Jones, Milloy, Smith K: Christie P: Moorman ST: Tasker, Pike HC: Levy OC: Marchibroda DC: Phillips ST: April Anyone disagree? I gotta admit. I'm surprised! I actually came up with 10 current Bills. I hope more will arise.

How 'bout YOU tell ME what to write. Will that make you happy?

Laying on the sarcasm pretty thick, huh. I know that this topic has been brought up ad nauseum. We even discussed who would be the most likely owner if RW were to sell. The operative word being "sell". I would like to hear from whomever is inheriting the team in the event that RW passes on. This isn't just some mythical, hypothetical, most likely person. This is someone that already exists. I'm sure they put some thought into the matter. What are their feelings? Do they love Buffalo? Are they out to make a quick buck? Why do I need to know now? I'd like to pick up a new hobby on Sundays just in case.

I apologized and changed the title. I just wanted to get people's attention to the thread because I would really like to know what the plans are for the Bills if such a horrible thing were to happen to ol' Ralphy boy. I think we, as Bills fans, deserve to know what the intentions are of the owners that will someday own the team if RW dies before he has a chance to sell the team. I'd rather find out the answer now while RW is still around. RW is in Buffalo's corner. He's got our back. I'd like to get the same assurance from the people RW is leaving the team to. I don't want to find out when it's too late. As one poster just replied. The inheritance tax the new ownership will have to pay will be far too expensive for them to afford. If that's the case, let's start having fund raisers, bake sales, car washes and whatever else it takes to help keep the team in Buffalo.

My original title was "Ralph Wilson is dead." I added "Hypothetical but yet inevitable" as well so I won't give anybody the wrong idea. So I am to blame for all the name calling and what not. I changed the title when I realized what I did was wrong. I didn't mean anything by it. Thanks for coming to my aid though.

Zillow.com is a great web site I just found out about. Just type in your address and walaa. Your house appears along with all of you neighbor's homes. It also shows the amount that homes were sold for in your area. Check it out.

Sorry if I did anything wrong. I genuinely thought I was bringing up a topic that really needs to be addressed. I can understand why some of you are pissed though.

Now that's some real class.