Gordio

Thanks for the assessment. Appreciate it. I have never seen him play live(of course I have never seen any of these guys play live except for Nassib). To be honest I am really not blown away from any of these guys. Last year I was blown away by RG III & Luck & to a lesser extent Wilson & the year before I was really high on Newton & I also really liked Kapernick(My uncle lives in Reno so he always kept me updated on him. Not to turn this into a Nix bashing again but if memory serves me he made a snide comment that Washington paid to much in a trade up for RG. Not hind sight, I would of done anything in my power if I was Nix to get RG & even told my friend that if I had the choice I would of took him over Luck Hopefully he returns healthy next year. Whe the Bills traded up in the 3rd round I couldn't believe our good fortune that Wilson was still around(I had him pegged as a first round talent). As usual the Bills f*cked that up too.

Taking my annual trip to Vegas for the Super Bowl. Did not go last year, first time I missed it in six years. Really missed it. Going with 4 of my friends. My one friend got a 3 bedroom suite at the Flamingo. Never stayed there so not sure how nice it is there but hey the price was right, which is to say it was free so I can't complain. Cashed in my frequent flyer miles so my ticket was also free so this trip has cost me nothing that is to say until I hit the crap/blackjack tables Friday afternoon. For the Super Bowl we got tickets to the Flamingos super bowl party. Not sure what that is all about. It is on one of their top floors I believe & my friend that got the tickets said it is open bar & they have a ton of food so I guess we are going to do that. All day Saturday we will hang out at the sports book in the Mirage & when I say all day I mean all day. We will get there probably 8:30 am & not leave until the Gonzaga/San Diego game is done which will probably be around 10:30 pm or so. I will probably bet about $1,500 worth of college basketball games that Saturday. Should be a nice little weekend. Looking forward to it.

I don't know, I have watched alot of his games & I think he looks pretty good. I mean what more did you want him to do? 4 year starter, threw for 12k yards in his career, 139 td passes against only 46 ints had completion % his last 3 years well over 60%. Was a leader & a true team player. They did not have as good of season as everyone expected this year but that was because their defense stunk. I have watched numerous games of his & he passes the eye test too. To say he will not be a franchise QB & just "has some skills" is being closed minded. I will put his stats & his college career against any QB in this draft & they certainly compare favorably by a huge margin over a guy like Nassib that everybody seems to be drooling over. Does not have a cannon, but his arm is above average & his accuracy & pocket presence is very good. Yes he had top flight talent at the skill positions, but you still need a trigger man to get the ball there & Barkley throughout his career did this for the most part with proficiency. The only thing I have questions about taking Barkley is if he could handle the weather & the culture shock from being @ USC to coming to B-low. He did play really well up in Eugene in 2011 against a top 5 Oregon team & I recall the weather was lousy(40's & a stiff rain). They won that game & to be honest at the end of the 2011 season I thought USC was the one team that could possibly knock off Alabama but they were banned from post season play.

If I am the Bills brass I am keeping this pretty simple. If Barkley or Geno Smith are there @ 8 I grab one of them. If both are gone then I go a different direction @ 8 & hope that Jones/Wilson/Nassib are there in the 2nd round. I personally think no matter what anybody says about him on this board that Barkley is the first QB taken in this draft. If that happens maybe Smith falls to us.

Well I don't know if he is a good father or not. It is admirable that he wants to spend time down @ the U watching his son play football, but that hardly makes him father of the year. The majority of fathers on this board would give their left nut to have their son play major D-1 football & would do anything in their power to go watch every game their son plays in college. Lastly, it may had been part of the reason he is retiring, but my better guess is he is retiring because his body is broken down & he can't play to the level he is accustomed to. Have you watched him lately, the guy stinks & he is a liability on that defense.

Arians is going to learn soon enough that life in the NFL is a bit harder when you don't have a guy like Luck/Big ben to lead the ship. My guess is he is fired after 2 seasons, horrible hire by Arizona.

I could see Manning falling off. That pass he made at the end of the game reminded me of Favre & his last game. I hope Brady hits his downside soon. I don't know how much more I could take of him.

I agree with everything you have said. System/no system, spygate/no spygate, another super bowl win/not another super bowl win brady & even Manning are going to go down as 2 of the best QBS ever to play the game if the best, right up there with Marino/Montana/Tarkenten etc... My question is & I am really interested to hear some responses, when is Brady & Manning going to slow down. When guys like Marino/Kelly/Fouts/Bradshaw/Aikmen/Young were 35/36 they were pretty much shot. Brady in particular is as good as he has ever been. It makes no sense. He is going to be 36 this year, noway this guy should be playing as well as he is & there looks like there is no end in sight. I remember Kelly his last few years, it was noticeable that he lost his fastball, could not hit the 20 yard sideline route anymore, could not move around in the pocket & no sense where the rush was or where it was coming from. I just do not get how Brady & Manning could still be this good after all these years.

I would not mind taking Dysert in the 2nd round. The kid is a player. With that being said, why is everybody on this board down on Barkley? I mean what more did you want this kid to do in college? 4 year starter, thrown for over 12K yards in his career, his stats got better every year, can win on the road as his win in one of the toughest venues in all of college football Autzen Stadium against a top 5 Oregon team proved in his junior year, had a QBR of 148 for his career, threw for 148 TDS & had a 64% career completion %. Same with Murray. I know he is not coming out until next year but he has done it for as a 3 year starter. If Barkley is there @ 8 I would not be disappointed at all to see his name called. & before anybody says that USC was not very good this year record wise, their defense stunk & cost them in most of their losses.

I don't think so. Alex Smith is something like 20-4 in his last 24 starts. The last game he played for the 49ers before he got hurt/benched he was something like 19-20 for 200 + yards & 2 tds. Doesn't sound much like Rob Johnson to me.

I would not hold that record of being .500 against him. I am not saying this is going to work out for the Bills but when Marone took over SU he took over an absolute mess & I mean Syracuse was one of the four or five worst teams in all of D1A college football. Robinson made a mess of the program. In fact, going 25-25 after the mess he took over should be commended.

I would have to say that time of year, where the weather could be on the chilly side a swamp tour probably not be woth it as I would doubt you see any gators & such. I will add though I have never been to New Orleans but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

Very true but it would be nice to have a QB on the roster that could actually complete a pass once in awhile over 10 yards.

I could live with Whisenhunt, it is all about the QB. When they had Warner he was successful. When they had garbage playing that spot they weren't. Pretty simple. Find a QB you love in the draft, or go trade for A QB on the trading block that you believe in & go get him. I don't care if you have to give their whole draft up, go get the QB. I know some people are not very high on MUrray but I have said this from the start of the season, I love everything about the kid. He will be there at 8 & could possibly be had later in the first round by trading back in. I would have no problem picking him at 8 though.

That is comical. Steeler fans don't know anything about what bad coaching looks like.

You know you put it like that & it is not rocket science. Guys like Brees/Brady/Manning have it figured out where the rest of the league struggles with the concept. That is why even though they might loose a little bit off their fastball over the years they will still be effective into their 40s. For christ sakes that is what you did when you little kids playing football in the fields across the street. You survey the field, look for the bad matchup & exploit it until the defense does something different. Not too complicated if you ask me.

I was pretty high on this kid last spring. I watched him @ NC State quite a bit but what even impressed me more was he went to Wisconsin on a junior/senior laden ready to win now team & was voted captain. This kid's intangibles are off the chart. Like Derek Jeter off the chart. He is a winner. So what he is 2 inches shorter then what you would like your qb to be. I could not believe the Bills good fortune when he was there in round 3(I would of not thought twice about drafting him in round 2) & when the Bills traded up I was sure they were going to grab him. When they said TJ Graham I could not believe it. Actually being the Bills I could believe it. It is disgusting how these guys miss on draft pick after draft pick.

You did not watch him much then. This kid is extremely accurate & he could throw on the run. There were a few games early in the season where he had more tds then incompletions(the Baylor game comes to mind). I also like Barkley, hessistant to take a kid that probably never has played in a football game where the temperature was below 50 degrees though. No he is not. Barkley, Smith are both better then Cousins imo.

I don't know if the game is fixed but I have long suspected that Kraft has had the ref's in his pocket for years. That pass interference call at the end zone when the pats were going to tie the game was a horrible call. It is funny watching games in foxboro, whenever Brady incompletes a pass the fans immediately think it is pass interference because they are so used to getting that call. When Brady spiked the ball in disgust after the 49ers called timeout at the last 2nd & started yelling at Hocculi right in his face, that does not deserve a personal foul for delay of game or unsportsmanlike conduct? Also, when they sacked Brady to force a punt with about 3 minutes left the game clock stopped. It did not continue until the punt was made. It probably saved the pats about 20 seconds or so. Harbaugh was going nuts on the sidelines & idiot Collinsworth & Michaels did not even mention it. Not a big deal but still just another small example of the cheatriots way.

Just got done walking my dog around the block, perfect day for a game. Partly sunny, temps around 50, light breeze. It is a shame that the game will be played in that sh*thole to the north today.

I dropped my season tickets last year & for the 2nd season just bought tickets for the first 3 games last year & the KC/Pats/Miami game this year. I just got sick of sitting thru meaningless December games & being stuck with tickets I could not even give away. Best decision I ever made. If the Bills ever make a serious playoff run I will buy tickets on a game by game basis in December. If I have to pay more then face I would be willing to do that for meaningful December games.

These threads come up every so often & without you always get the usual posters sh*tting on them finding the need to tell everybody how great their life is & how much better it is wherever they moved to. Here is the thing. Buffalo/WNY is not for everybody but most people that live here actually like living here. There is not a ton of great jobs here but there are certain fields that are growing such as the medical field & I am in banking & that is growing also. I like that I only have a 15-20 minute commute each to work. i like that I am usually home by 5-5:30. I like the school districts & the job they are doing (at least where I live). I like having a nice back yard where me & my son could play wiffle balle 9 months a year. I like that my family is close around me & that my kids grow up knowing their grandparents. I like most of the guys I went to high school with that I hung out with are still in the area & get to go out with them. Even though they make me bitter, I like that the Bills are here. The stuff that Buffalo does not have that I often here people brag about in other cities(world sophisticated night clubs, world class art Museums, broadway shows, international world class restaurants, the ocean or what have you) I don't need that stuff & to be honest if I did have this stuff in Buffalo I would not take advantage of it anyways because that is not what interests me. I don't make a ton of money but I do alright. I just do not think I would be able to live the kind of lifestyle I live with the type of job I have in some of the other bigger cities. As far as the weather, I don't know. The winters just don't seem as bad as they used to. Last year I got out golfing twice in December, once in Febuary & 5 times in March. Yesterday it was 68 degrees here. I know there are nicer places that have nicer weather & lower taxes but I guess like with every place you take the good with the bad.

The only thing I will say if I was a betting man(what am I talking about I am a betting man) Gailey will be here next year. He has a built in excuse that no coach can win with Fitz(of course shouldn't he be held accountable for hitching his wagon to Fitz?) & they also have an obvious scapegoat in the Stache who will be axed shortly after the New year. In addition, I don't think the Bills want to risk the humiliation of going through another coaching search & having all these promising coordinators turn down their interview request because you know head coaching opportunities in the NFL are so easy to come by. With that being said though, it is going to be a tough sell on the fan base & season tickets to bring back Gailey. That may force Wilson's hand.

You hit the nail on the head with this post.

Couple things here, first this game came down to Fitz. This guy is incapable of putting a team on his shoulders & winning a game. What is worst is it seems he is incapable of making even some of the routine plays. How he missed Spiller on the offsides is mind boggling. It was not even a long throw & he over threw him by 5 yards. Honestly, a high school QB could make that throw 8 out of 10 times. Punting on 4th & 8 @ the 50 yard line with your season on the line & your 4-6 with 3 minutes left is such a chicken sh*t move. Way to go Gailey. With that being said, if the Bills defense could get off the field on 3rd downs the strategy would of worked. They did not get off the field on 3rd downs all day, what made Gailey think they could do it at the end of the game? This is why I really do not care for the NFL anymore. Call me a conspiracy theorist or paranoid, the NFL is all about story lines & the refs going into every game have an agenda. I firmly believe this. They are all about story lines. Don't be fooled for one minute. They know Luck is going to be the cover boy for the NFL for the next decade & the suits in NY want the golden boy to get in the playoffs in his first year. Like Bill said, the colts were holding all game. First play of the game KW nearly got his shoulder pads ripped off with a hold. The last PI, it was questionable. If Indy is playing NE or Green Bay, or the Giants or Pittsburgh or Manning & the Broncos that interference penalty does not get called. If they are playing the Bills or Jacksonville or Oakland or Kansas City they call that every time. Sorry for the rant but that is the way I feel. Lastly, Nix/Gailey's demise is going to be they hitched their wagon to this noodle arm loser. I am sure Fitz is a nice guy but he is just not a NFL QB. Alot of people were very high on Kapernick. Watching college football you could tell this guy had all the tools. This is not hindsight. I liked him & so did alot of other people on this board, people that actually watch college football. He was there for us in round 2. If regular posters know this shouldn't Nix. I guess that is too much to expect. This schedule & the way the AFC was down this year was tailored made for the Bills to make the playoffs if they were even average. A guest on GR(forget his name) said it best last Tuesday. He said the Colts team is a bad team that has had the advantage of playing a soft schedule. They will beat the Bills in a close ugly game because they are even a worse team. The defense is fixable with a new DC with new schemes & getting some LBs that can play. There is a couple good ones coming out this year. If we don't go QB in the first round, it needs to be Linebacker. Period. As far as the QBs, I like Smith, I also kind of like Barkley but I don't know. The one kid that intrigues me is Murray. Not sure if he is coming out but he has been a 3 year starter & has thrown for 3,000 yards in the toughest conference in the country for 3 straight years. It will be interesting to see what he does this Saturday. Can not wait for that game & I hope Georgia shocks the world. Hang in there Bills fans. It will get better someday.