Albany,n.y.

Here's my take on the Merriman claim: The Bills HAD TO claim Merriman for the good of the team and to keep their credibilty with the fanbase. Every Bills fan knows the D is bad & linebacking is the weakest link. If the Bills didn't claim Merriman & at least find out what he's got, the fans would take it as a sign they don't care at all about this season, or the future if Merriman performs well & likes it in Buffalo and would be willing to re-sign. With a D this bad and even the slimmest of possibilities that we can fill a hole before next offseason, any degree of proper management makes the claim mandatory, not an option. It was a move they had to make for both themselves & their fans.

Green joins a long list of Bills OL signed as veteran free gents who #### the bed.

You can't evaluate a player based on one game. Beck just needs to start more games to see what he's got.

They also worked out Jamarcus Russell. Both were not invited back to the Raiders. If Shanny keeps working out ex-Raiders, how long before he calls up the Snake?

If Luck is available, I hope Ralph won't do whatever it takes to get Mallett.

I had about 20. At one point I was giving out 2-3 treats per kid because hardly anyone was coming, then a whole bunch came around 8:30 & I was afraid I'd run out of candy. I gave them the normal sized candy bars instead of those tiny ones that you can get in the store for about $3 for a full bag. It was about $14 per 24 bars but I'd rather not cheap out on the kids.

Paladino has an ad running where he claims he got tolls removed from the Thruway in Buffalo. For the people in Buffalo: What did Paladino have to do with toll removals and is his claim factually accurate?

Maybin is still alive he's not up there with Phil Dokes. Dokes was a true tragedy, busted & then died way too young.

Cleveland didn't do ant better with higher picks, especially early in the decade,but it doesn't help us: 2000 Courtney Brown 2001 Gerard Warren 2002 William Green 2003 Jeff Faine 2004 Kellen Winslow 2005 Braylon Edwards 2006 Kameron Wimbley 2007 Joe Thomas, Brady Quinn 2008 Beau Bell(4th) 2009 Alex Mack

Please stop the Levi as QB of the future. The guy couldn't even get on any practice squad after the Bills cut him. The only reason he has a job in the NFL is because Gailey didn't want Trent moping on the sidelines like JP did for a year & 1/2 after he lost his starting job. Levi Brown won't be in the league 2 years from now. He probably won't be in the league next year. If there was anyone out there who knew Gailey's system, Brown would have never been re-signed in the 1st place.

After his CFL contract expired, we were able to match the Houston offer & trade him & get Jim Kelly, so Cousineau wasn't such a bad pick. Worse picks were in the old AFL days when the top pick would sign with NFL teams & the Bills never got anything in return. The worst 1st rounder signed who never played a down was Jim Davidson. Maybin has to rank pretty high if not #1, because of the limited amount of playing time he's received and the million of $ he's been paid. Most of our other 1st round busts got a lot more playing time & actually started games. Now there will be some who will tell you that you can't properly evaluate a player without giving him significant playing time. They'll say he just needs more time. We've seen it before, we'll see it again. But they're wrong,a bust is a bust. Players get cut every day without ever starting a single game. I'm sure if it wasn't so politically incorrect, coaches would be cutting 1st rounders in camp every year. When a player switches from college to the pros & his game doesn't translate, it's evident pretty soon. The only reason Maybin even is on the roster is it's too hard to cut a highly picked bust this early in his career, but we all know he's a goner sooner or later. I still can't believe the other M guy is still around, trying to break Victor Allotey's inactive streak record.

I always use debit cards, have for years & never had anything happen. I don't use it in stores, because I pay cash,except if it's something expensive. My last computer purchase I put on a debit card. I know what's in my checking account at all times, so I'm not worried about anything bouncing from fraud that couldn't be straightened out just as easily as with a credit card. There's nothing that would bounce that I couldn't straighten out in a day or 2.

Does anyone know? The story on the front page said Bell missed practice, but didn't say who took his place.

If Andrew Luck plays like a #1 pick & comes out of Stanford they have to take him. Unless you're a total screw up you should only get the #1 pick once in a generation. If a franchise QB is available you have to take him because at #1 you have to be thinking of drafting a player who will be the face of the franchise for the next decade, not just looking to solve a temporary problem. Next year, odds are the team is still drafting in the top 10, so you can get your impact D player then. Ex-Bill Martin Mayhew did it right. He went QB when he had the #1 pick & picked up Suh the next year. Rebuilding is not a 1 year project to attain mediocrity. Fitzpatrick is ok at QB-a great team needs great at QB, not ok. You have to go for it all if the right QB is there. On the other hand, if Luck stays in & no other QB is worthy of the top pick, then you can try to get the next Bruce Smith at #1. The key is you can't draft by position without knowing what players are out there & only after all the scrutiny which hasn't taken place yet. If the franchise QB is there, like P. Manning or Aikman, you have to take him. But, you don't elevate Locker or Mallet to #1 just because you need a QB & you're picking #1, unless one plays like a special player in his final season. So far neither one has done so & would be a risky pick at #1.

You can always make a case for a 2 win team to have won about half their games. I tried to show that after the NE game using the back to back 2-14 seasons of 1984 & 1985 but most who responded didn't get it. We're a bad team-bad teams are competitive in at least half their games but only win a couple of those games out of 16.

It probably has something to do with the proximity to New York City. I can go to professional sports pretty easily from here. Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Nets (before the Newark move), Jets, Giants, and 3 hockey teams. (I can even go to Boston for more if NYC isn't enough) The closer you get to NYC, the more professional sports trumps college sports. I grew up in the NY metro area & I don't think I ever watched a college game in high school. I had too many pro teams around to care about college sports. There is no major college football team around NYC. Rutgers & Hofstra are about the only ones I can even think of, hardly big time programs. The Ivy league schools don't draw a lot of attention from a casual fan.

What a message to Maybin. He has his friends & family at the game & Gailey lets him know he's not good enough to even put his uniform on in front of them. Why even carry him on the roster any longer?

I don't have a clue about Syracuse's following. I know one guy who is a big Syracuse fan, but that's it. The next 2 weeks, CBS has the doubleheader today & NE will be the 4:15 game, next week NE is on Fox at 4:15. For whatever reason, probably because the state via SUNY & state employers has transplanted more people from WNY, the Bills are a lot more popular here than the Patriots. Ch 6 slants their programming more to the Albany area than Western Mass. The Bills, Jets, & of course, Giants are on the radio here. It's been about 20 years since the Patriot games have been on the radio here. If there were enough Patriot fans, the Patriots would be on. There aren't & they're not. The last time the Bills played NE, the Giants were on CBS & Albany didn't have the game. So far this season, I haven't had to go to a bar yet because I went to the NE game & all other road games have been on home TV through the KC game next week.

No. Especially considering the Jets fans will be watching the Jets on Fox the same time the Bills are playing. The Jets have top priority & the Bills 2nd priority in this market. When there isn't a conflict with the Jets, we usually get the Bills. I already looked at the extended listings on WRGB's website so I know what they're showing through next week's games.

The Raiders tried to do both in 2007, drafting a 300 pound QB. It doesn't work.

I picked us to go 3-13 at the beginning of the season & even that looks unattainable.

Why do some people assume we have better coaching? There's no evidence that Gailey & his staff are better than what we had. Think about this-If Fewell had stayed instead of Gailey replacing him do you really think Trent Edwards would have had any chance of starting the 1st 2 games? Fewell was a big Fitzpatrick guy. When all is said & done, Fewell & his staff will be looking pretty darn good. Also, Jauron wasn't nearly as bad as some of you think. Gailey has done nothing since his arrival to make me believe he can get more victories out of the same players as either Jauron or Fewell. With the exception of OC, last year's staff was better.

It looks like Albany has the next 2 Bills games. After that it will be tougher to get Bills games in Albany. Here's how the November & beyond schedule looks for Albany tv: Nov 7th-No way, Jets are at Detroit the same time. Nov 14th-Decent chance. Game would be on Fox & they have the doubleheader. The only game they could put on instead is Minnesota @ Chicago. Nov 21st-No way, Houston is @ Jets. Nov 28th-No way, Jacksonville is @ Giants. Dec 5th-Decent chance, unless the Bills are so bad Ch 6 wants to show the 4:05 Oak @ SD game to avoid direct competition with the Giants. Have to hope the favre hype puts us over the top. Dec 12th-? NE is @ Chicago the same time & the Bills/Cleveland game may only be showed in Cleveland. Dec 19th-Looks good, all competition is from other geographic area. Still have to overcome the network's urge to show Peyton Manning instead of the Bills @ Miami. Dec 26th-No way, Jets @ Chicago same time-only hope is if the game gets flexed (The Jets, not the Bills silly) Jan 2nd-Definite, @ Jets.

Maybin is going to be doing that. I expect to see a play where Heap catches a ball around the 5 yard line drags Maybin into the end zone & right after they cross the goal line, Maybin tackles him, then does a celebration dance & becomes the 1st defensive player ever to get called for excessive celebration in the endzone when the offense just scored a TD.

Trent Edwards was a 3rd rounder. Now we know why they are so happy to have him in Jacksonville. One man's trash is another man's treasure, until you find out why he was the other guy's trash. We're collecting a roster of other teams' trash.