Albany,n.y.

Marv Levy knew the difference between a meaningless win and a worthwhile win. When he was coach he would rest his players the final game after everything was clinched and didn't care if the team won or lost the final game. That's because he understood there was something greater at stake (not exposing his key players to injury before the playoffs) than a meaningless win. So, you must think Marv was a loser, since he, unlike you, could distinguish the difference between a meaningless win and the bigger picture.

While most of the you don't lose posts make sense, winning one more game making your grand total 4 wins and losing out on a player who can win you an average of 12 games a season for the next decade is ridiculous. The inability to EVER delay gratification as exhibited by the fact you'd rather win 1 more meaningless game to get to 4 wins shows that you really don't grasp the difference a franchise QB means. I've posted this thought before but I'll repeat it: When a player tries to win that 4th game, it's the right thing to do, when a fan doesn't want the team to not win that 4th game if it's better for the franchise, that fan has reached a delusional status where he has blurred the line between a player and a fan. You're not playing, you're not winning and losing the games-the players are. At 3-12, it's the players duty to try to win the game, fans with a broader view do not have to root for that meaningless win. Some of us want to see the Lombardi trophy in Buffalo-if it means 1 less win gets us there. The shortsighted fans who are satisfied with mediocrity or worse as evidenced by your 4 win acceptance rather than a more desireable 3 win season, just don't get it. Nobody should want the team to lose in September, or even October, but when the team has 3 wins in December, it makes perfect sense for fans who understand the importance of a once in a generation player being available to their team to root for the team to lose rather than feel good the Monday following that 4th win & then have to suffer through years of mediocrity. No you're not a loser, you just don't understand the difference between a meaningful win and a meaningless win.

Favre was traded for a 1st round pick from a team that took him in the 2nd round & had an established veteran QB. That's not letting a guy go for nothing as a bust and the Falcons 1 year certainly didn't ruin him. Highly drafted is 1st 2 rounds.

I think it's the other way around. Bad young QBs can ruin a franchise. I'm in the camp that you can't ruin a QB with talent. If he's good, he'll eventually get his chance & prove it. If he's bad, no matter where he was picked in the draft, he'll prove that too. The only way to ruin a QB is to put him into a spot that he gets a career ruining injury, Outside of injury, it's the QB who is lacking, not the coaching. This is my evidence: No highly drafted QB, let go during or at the completion of his 1st contract, with the exception of Kerry Collins, who had an alcohol problem at the time, has ever done anything with any subsequent team. The 1st team didn't ruin the busts, their lack of talent or dedication ruined them. Now the ones in the ruined QB camp will say that the 1st team did irreparable damage. I totally disagree. If the guy was poorly coached & then coached up, his talent would come out. Look at the JP lovers-they really believed that with coaching, JP would thrive-but time has shown he's nothing more than a 3rd stringer & never will be a (decent) starter in the NFL. They thought the Bills ruined JP & Fassel could fix him. Yet, they totally ignored the fact that his 1st QB coach in Buffalo, Sam Wyche, was one of the most respected QB coaches around. They confused his being yanked out of the starting job with a head coach ruining a guy rather than accept the fact the guy's lack of talent forced his coaches hands.

That both he and McNabb shouldn't be starting in the NFL. Henne because he's not good enough & McNabb because he's so washed up he never has to bathe again.

Kentucky Derby 137 Introduction: Before the post position draw, I was as confident in Archarcharch as any horse since Barbaro in 2006. However, when he drew the #1 post position, I had to rethink my position on him. I still have him #1 in my picks, but I will be including my top 6 in Oaks Derby Doubles with Zazu in the Oaks. 1) #1 Archarcharch (10/1): If he can stay out of early trouble, he will be able to tuck in behind the 1st tier of speed horses and save a lot of ground. On the other hand, he could get squeezed early and end up out of it, like Lookin’ at Lucky’s nightmare trip in 2010. Because Lucky’s trip was last year, many people will back off AAA, but after looking at the last 20 full or nearly full Derby fields, the odds of getting taken out by being in the #1 post position are about 20%. That means there’s an 80% chance that the #1 post will not be a detriment. With an 80% chance of him running his race, I like my chances, just not as much as I did before he drew post 1. 2) #15 Midnight Interlude (10/1): Conventional wisdom says you can’t win the Kentucky Derby if your horse hasn’t run as a 2yo. Fortunately, the Derby is a horse race & not a convention. If the rail does anything to compromise AAA, the beneficiary should be Midnight Interlude. Sure, if we had the 2yo Uncle Mo or a faster group, you could dismiss Midnight Interlude’s chances, but we have this group & Midnight Interlude is a major player. He only beat Comma to the Top by a head in his last, but CTTT came out into his path and might have been disqualified even if Midnight Interlude didn’t get by. The main thing Victor Espinoza will have to show is patience. This horse has enough early speed to get sucked into the upfront pace if Espinoza isn’t careful rating him correctly. Having Bob Baffert as your trainer in the Derby never hurts. 3) #17 Soldat (12/1): If we could get the Soldat who won an allowance in the slop at Gulfstream, getting the only negative Thorograph number in the field, then followed it up with a smashing wire to wire win in the Fountain of Youth, we could all go to the windows on Saturday with confidence. Unfortunately, we don’t know who we’re getting. Can’t upgrade him to the top, can’t downgrade him beyond 3rd. 4) #8 Dialed In (4/1): The ML favorite is the most likely horse to finish in the top 4, but he will be so far back early, I can’t see him winning. He’s the favorite, and he’s odds on to be sitting dead last or pretty close to it down the backstretch. He’ll have to make up a lot of ground and my top 2 picks have much better tactical speed than Dialed In. 5) # 19 Nehro (6/1): He has been improving all year and almost ran down AAA in Arkansas. If he was training better this week, I would rank him higher, but his training has been tepid this week. However, keep in mind this is his 3rd race since 3/26 and he raced 3 weeks ago, so maybe the best thing to do is to lighten up on him in the morning. 6) #14 Shakleford (12/1): Nobody has looked better in the morning than the locally based Shakleford. He’s impressed every clocker and was only a head behind the favorite in his last race. Anyone considering superfectas better not toss him. 7) #13 Mucho Macho Man (12/1): He’s definitely a contender if you look at his sheet numbers, but his breeding says no way to 1 ¼. With this bad a field, he could squeeze into the superfecta, but only if nothing else fires behind him & runs him down late, and Dialed In is almost certain to pass him somewhere in the stretch. 8) #7 Pants On Fire (20/1): His last looks good, but the big question is, does he have any ability to be truly rated? There are a lot of 1s in his pps and only 2 of them are at the finish. I just can’t see a horse that faded twice at a mile and 70 yards on Aqueduct’s inner dirt track winning the Kentucky Derby. 9) #4 Stay Thirsty (20/1): He ran a nice Gotham mile in his 1st race this year, beating Wood winner Toby’s Corner, then regressed badly in Florida. Like his stablemate Uncle Mo, if he could find his 2yo form, he’d have a big shot in here. I’m betting against that. 10)#5 Decisive Moment (30/1): On paper he doesn’t look that bad. The problem is he’s going to get caught up in the early pace and he’ll be cooked by the stretch. 11) #11 Master of Hounds (30/1): The mystery horse coming here after training in Europe after his 1 race this year on Tapeta in Dubai. He’s never been on dirt. Positive: he’s bred to run all day; Negative: his breeding is much more slanted to turf or synthetics. 12) #10 Twinspired (30/1): A nice play for the hunch players if they choose to ignore the fact that he looks like he’s strictly a synthetic runner. Still he has enough ability to avoid the extreme back of the pack at the finish. 13) #16 Animal Kingdom (30/1): Another horse who has never raced on dirt and is a big question mark. Looked good winning the Spiral in March at Turfway. 14) #2 Brilliant Speed (30/1) : The good news, he has one of the best young jockeys in the nation on his back. Joel Rosario will win a Derby pretty soon, but not this year. The bad news. His only two dirt races were horrendous. Sure they were sprints early in his career, but until he runs a good race on dirt, I have to dismiss him. 15) #3 Twice the Appeal (20/1): Calvin Borel is on the winner of the Sunland Park Derby, but this horse broke his maiden in a $30,000 maiden claimer lasr December. Not this time Calvin. 16) #9 Derby Kitten(30/1): The last horse to get in this race is another turf/synthetic horse whose 1 dirt race was poor-pass. 17)#12 Santiva (30/1): This horse’s year is difficult to understand. He runs a great race in his 3yo debut in February, then disappears until April, 3 weeks before the Derby, gets pinned on the rail and runs a total non effort. Now 3 weeks later, he’s in the Derby. If he duplicates his February race, he can actually win this. I’m voting against that happening. 18) #6 Comma to the Top (30/1): The likely pace setter almost hung on in the Santa Anita Derby (although I suspect he would have been DQ’d if he had finished 1st) Just getting nipped by Midnight Interlude. However this horse will be tired after setting the pace and is more likely to finish last than finish 1st. 19)#20 Watch Me Go (50/1) The last horse in the gate will also be the last horse to finish. Ran the race of his life to win the Tampa Bay Derby at 43-1, but keep in mind, the 2nd place finisher in that race was coming out of a $16k claimer. Uncle Mo is scratched.

Seacrest told Scotty last night he's never been in the bottom 2. I don't know what that means about last week, but on the dial idol predictions based on busy signal monitoring Scotty has been way ahead the last few weeks.

The last Jets' Coach who showed up on TV was Mangini, who was in an episode of the Sopranos & then got whacked by the Jets. Ryan should GET to the Super Bowl before he makes any guarantees of winning it.

I went to their site. I guess either Walt Cherepinsky or Matt McGuire wrote the draft grades. My guess is it's Matt. After reviewing Matt's mock, it's pretty easy to see he doesn't know anything. He's about the only guy who had a mock where Darius fell to number 10 and medical risk Bowers was ahead of him at #4. Of course, he had us picking Newton at 3. He also had Gabbert at 5 & Locker at 7, so he would have loved for us to pick one of those 3 QBs that he rated higher than his #10 pick-a guy nobody else had out of the top 5, and many had at #1. http://www.walterfootball.com/draft2011matt.php

I find it weird that in his introductory press conference, Nix went out of his way to point out he's not enamored by 1 year wonders, then we find out he was enamored by a 1 year wonder QB-the most dangerous player to pick among 1 year wonders. The only thing I can get out of what he said earlier, was that he was trying to say he wasn't responsible for the Maybin pick, and he really doesn't have a standard against 1 year wonders. The fact that Nix has contradicted himself about a basic draft philosophy is worrisome.

I didn't like any of the QBs, so I didn't mind not reaching for one this year. The lack of any proven OTs or TEs worries me & makes me realize that Nix & Gailey are working on a 3 year plan towards respectibility and this is only year 2.

They're letting him come to camp because although they have him slated for waterboy, they hope he turns into Bobby Boucher.

Whitner & Florence seemed resigned to their fates.

This is a really stupid post, no nice way to say it. So, if the Bills had used their 1st pick on a QB during Jim Kelly's prime, Joe Ferguson's prime, or Jack Kemp's prime, you would have been happier than getting a player who could contribute? So, if in 5 years Darius is a pro bowler and none of the 3 1st round QBs available has amounted to anything, would it have been better that the Bills picked one of them instead of Darius, so that you'd be happier in April 2011?

Third rounders don't usually come from guys who fall out of the 1st, but 2nd rounders who were projected as 1sters do. And the best 3rd rounder Joe Montana who wasn't projected as a 1st. Also in 1973 both Dan Fouts & Joe Ferguson were 3rd rounders. Mallett will not be joining them on walls or halls of fame. Here are projected 1st rounders who fell to the 2nd & were franchise QBs. Not many, but there were some. Drew Brees (top of 2nd, but still 2nd) Brett Favre Boomer Esiason

I didn't watch it much because of the draft, but I read somewhere that this week there was no bottom 3 and the safe people were selected at random. So if this is true there's a good chance Scotty was not in the bottom 3 and the only one we know who was is Casey.

I agree & disagree. Yes, I believe that you can't chase picks and overreach for a franchise QB. I didn't see any worth it this year. I totally disagree with the good QB theory. I could care less if the Bills win 10 games a year for the next 10 years and never sniff the Super Bowl-that's what your good QB gets you. I want the team to win the Super Bowl. 8 of the last 10 Super Bowl winners were QB'd by a franchise QB, 9 if you count Eli Manning. Even the majority of Super Bowl losers the past decade were QB'd by a franchise QB. You don't reach, but you also don't stay satisfied with Fitzpatrick for the next decade either. We will need a franchise QB sooner or later if we want to get in & win a Super Bowl. Good QBs make the playoffs & exit early. Great QBs win championships.

Mallett 2011 = Clausen 2010 Get over it Mallett heads, odds are Belichick didn't outsmart everyone in the league this time.

We'll probably sign that FA from the Giants-Jamon Meredith

Right again

Well, you're halfway to the ledge right now. The mentality that you have to keep drafting DBs continues. Next up another DB or another RB.

More like Carolina got the crap sandwich in the 2nd round last year & realizes it.

If Steve Serby is right in his analysis, we should be glad Blane Gabbert wasn't our pick. Here's Serby's take: 10. JAGUARS Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri: Apparently Mike Shanahan wasn’t intoxicated by watching a 6-foot-5 QB running a spread offense as Captain Checkdown. http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/first_round_analysis_c8XE4ma9puvCgzAilmFXWN

What if they believe nobody available is better than Fitz & there is no franchise guy out there to develop? The best thing to do is go with what you have, bring in a backup QB for this season without the idea of grooming him into your future starter, and get the franchise QB when one with a lot more potential than the bums out there in 2011 becomes available. It might take years, because drafting a guy wishing he's a franchise QB doesn't make him one. We all heard the cries for Clausen last year at #9 because we didn't have a franchise QB & so far passing on him looks like the right decision. You can only acquire guys who are available and there are years when nobody is available better that what you've already got. Getting one of the Smiths or Clausen is no better than the Brohm folly was. That's especially true of A.Smith & Clausen. No QB in the modern era who was drafted high & jettisoned, with the exception of Kerry Collins who was let go due to a drinking problem at the time of his release, has ever amounted to anything much with any subsequent team he landed with. All those 1st & 2nd round busts never became the guy with a change in scenery.

That can change quickly if we draft a corner and safety with our 2 picks tonight.