mboconnor

The one thing I like about all this is that finally someone thought to draft guys who had played a few games in cold weather. The biggest problem I saw with JP last year was that he looked like had never seen snow before and played accordingly. Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas, and Bruce Smith were so great in Buffalo because they thrived on the home field advantage. Levy and Modrak (the person who is most responsible for all this and the talent evals during the TD era) seem to have looked at Kiper and the gang's record for talent evaluation and came away unimpressed. They have been telling anyone who was willing to listen that they want "football players" and smart ones at that. If one looks at what the Patriots have been doing the last few years, one might see a parallel. All that said, I think that trading down the 8th pick would have been safer than Levy and Modrak thought. I'm giving Marv a pass on the first year as far as tactics go. I think he'll improve. In the end, what did it cost the Bills? They lost a 3rd round pick (too bad, but recoverable) and a lot of Ralph's money by making two guys into higher picks than they would have been. Tell you what, let's see what new regime can do with the parts they have. It's a tough schedule next year, so I don't see them in the playoffs anyway. I'll be happy with a 1988 type season where they are entertaining and show a lot of progress toward the eventual goal (4 more trips!).