Dibs

I imagine if Byrd & Gilmore played today we would have won. Imagination is a wonderful thing.

Your initial post said "It was readily apparent after the 1st quarter. Hacket and Marrone unable to adapt their scheme. Too fosued on Spiller." I would say that changing Freddy's carries from 36% in the first half to 53% in the second half showed that they actually did adapt their scheme to the situation at hand.

It sort of was....at least to my eyes. Seemed to me that the Pats were keying on Spiller.

1st half: Freddy = 5 carries, Spiller = 9 carries 2nd half: Fredy = 9 carries, Spiller = 8 carries What game were you watching?

Where's the hold call??

One

I agree

Wouldn't the logic be though that if you had $50mil already guaranteed you could take some games off to heal......you've already got your money. If you only had $6.9mil.....wouldn't you be playing through the pain to help ensure your $50mil guaranteed contract. You certainly wont get one sitting on the bench.

Sorry, hadn't kept up to date with all the details there. Sounds to me that the tagging of Byrd would suggest that the rumour that the Bills suspected Byrd was damaged goods might not be accurate. If they knew, the only reason I can think of is that they wanted to use him to make a trade and get something for him rather than simply letting him walk.....but the timelines don't really match on that. Furthermore.....if Byrd knew about the severity of the injury at that point, surely he would have jumped at the guaranteed deal the Bills offered as any trade(or FA signing) would involve a physical that would then potentially lower his value.

I prefer to wait until we lose some games before I start thinking that we are not going to be a winning team(yet again).

I'd agree it's about money.....but it's also about talent & position. Byrd is generally considered in the top 5 at his position, Levitre not so much. Also, considering the importance that the new DC places on the Safety position.....and rightly or wrongly the perceived lesser importance placed upon the Guard position.....Byrd was the obvious tag choice regardless of actual dollars or even cap dollars spent.

Isn't the "Prior" redundant?

He started 13 games(played 16) for the #2 Ravens defense in 2008. He started 16 games for the #1 Jets defense in 2009. He started 11 games(played 11) for the #3 Jets defense in 2010. He started 13 games(played 13) for the #5 Jets defense in 2011. He started 1 games(played 16) for the #2 Broncos defense in 2012. Unless he's hit the wall early I'd say this would be a good move.

Surprisingly we were 18th in Sacks last season.....13th in Sack Percentage.

Huh? My point was that I agree that we need better DBs(outside of Byrd/Gilmore)......but it is not feasible to strive for top tier players, just players that as you said, can cover in this league. Therefore spending 1st round (top 15) picks to obtain that calibre of player is perhaps not very good value and that they can be obtained via later picks or via FA. (Not that you ever said that we should spend top 15 picks on obtaining them.....but I assumed that was your inference.)

I feel that you are doing what most people do....and what is natural to do, and that is to overestimate the quality of players on other teams around the league and assume that we are in a horrible state compared to them. Are there any teams with 3 top tier DBs on their roster? If there is there would only be a handful at best. Most teams would be struggling to have a top Safety and a top CB. Assuming Gilmore progresses in ability (as most assume he will) and that Byrd stays (and is healthy), we will have 2 premium DBs on the team. Obtaining another 2-3 decent (but not "good") DBs would then see us being in the upper tier of secondaries. This should be achievable with low 1st round or 2nd/3rd round drafting.....or via FA as teams like the 49ers have done. High 1st round drafting (top 15 pick) of a DB would not be of value when considering the 2 quality DBs we already have and the long term aspects of capanomics.....unless we plan on letting Gilmore move on after his rookie contract.....or we intend to spend an unusually high percent of the cap on the secondary (compared to the rest of the league). We certainly need better DBs, but striving for star talent in our #3,4,5 DBs is not a wise long term strategy all things considered IMO.

But we have drafted DBs. High and often.

Roasted? Game 9 at NWE 23-38-237-2-0 (QBR: 96.1) Game 10 v MIA 14-28-141-1-2 (QBR: 46.9) Game 11 at IND 20-37-240-1-1 (QBR: 71.9) Game 12 v JAX 19-42-202-1-1 (QBR: 57.8) Game 13 v STL 19-39-209-1-1 (QBR: 62.9) Game 14 v SEA 14-23-205-1-0 (QBR: 104.4) Game 15 at MIA 13-25-130-2-0 (QBR: 93.8) Game 16 v NYJ 17-35-205-0-1 (QBR: 55.1) Last 8 games: 139-267-1569-9-6 (QBR: 71.8)

My crystal ball says "2013 Bills".

Both are legitimate plurals for index. (I only responded because I have always wanted to use the plural of the word plural in a conversation .)

He's listed as below average. What were you looking at?

The last time I looked one needed 3(or more) decent(or better) WRs to be able to be on the field at the same time.....but only one QB.