JohnC

You and I have had this discussion before so I apologize for the redundancy. As I said previously there is a significant discrepancy with your assessment of Allen and how the draft and how the draft actually unfolded. For the teams that were making it a priority to get a qb he was ranked very highly. Without question those qb needy teams (at least 5) had him rated in the top 10 to 15 in the first round. In contrast, you had him as a third round prospect. It's just too off kilter with what actually transpired in the draft for your evaluation to seem reasonable to me. In this qb class I liked Rosen a lot. On the other hand I would have been more than elated with any of the top qbs. I'm not assuming you are wrong but I am very perplexed how you arrived at your conclusion while being so far from the mainstream point of view. Being an outlier is being an outlier. And there is nothing wrong with that. However, with respect to your assessment on Allen you have me very befuddled.

My sense of this team as it is in the midst of being reconstituted is that it will be at best a fringe playoff contender. I'm not scoffing at that assessment because that in itself would be a quantum leap forward from last year. With Dahlin, Risto, Gughle, McCabe and some other additions we have the makings of a competent unit. Far from elite but moving up the ranks to being adequate is a leap forward from last year. It may be unlikely but if Bogo can get healthy and stay healthy he would be a big bonus addition. He needs to change his game from a hitting and muscular game to being more of a skating and puck moving defenseman. Again, he would be a big bonus addition. As you noted what this team needs the most (even more than upgrading the defense) is having players who can score. There are only a few finishers on this roster. This team has not been able to add players to Jack's line that can keep up with him and mesh with him. Because Jack up to now hasn't had compatible line mates his elite passing skill is not being maximized. One player I will be watching is Kyle Okposo. Because of his injuries he was not able to train the way needed to to be ready for last season. If he can be a scorer for us on the second line that would be a tremendous boost for this offense that has an inability to score 5 on 5. This organization has some very good prospects in the pipeline. Players like Nylander and Mittlstadt might not be ready right away but they should be ready in the not too distant future. We really need Nylander to become a player commensurate with his draft position. I have not, and will not, give up on him. He is going to be a player that teams who we will be talking trades with is a player who will be coveted. Botterill knows what he is doing. This team is two to three years away from being a very good team.

When the draft process began in this draft year he picked Allen to be the first qb taken and go to Cleveland with his mock draft. He was skewered and ridiculed. At the end of the draft process it became apparent that Josh Allen was going to be a highly rated prospect and be an early selection. Mel gets a lot of things wrong, as do all the media pickers, but with Allen he was steadfast and ultimately was proven to be right. I'm not predicting that Allen is going to turn out to be a terrific pro because I just don't know. But to Mel's credit he saw something early that most didn't see and he stayed with his conviction. In this particular case he went against the mocking herd and ended up being on the right side. Kudos to him.

What was evident from the article was that this regime was committed to coming out of this draft with a qb. Getting their guy was their priority right from the start. It seems to me that even if a higher rated player was on the board, such as Barkley or Chubb, they were focusing on determining which qb was the best fit for them. Prior regimes under Marv, Nix and Whaley dithered on the issue and didn't come close to the level of evaluation that this regime put in on the position. That is one of the reasons why I'm so encouraged about them. They had a plan and they exquisitely executed it. No fumbling and bumbling in the process. If Sky Diver leaves a package at your door and it is ticking my suggestion is to run in the opposite direction.

My philosophy is when you are working with a deficit just embrace it. It won't kill you to carry that luggage that you can't escape from.

I have no doubt that EJ would have been a better qb coached by Kelly. Even with an upgrade in coaching he still would not have developed into a starting qb in this league. EJ has been in the league for half a decade. At best he is an adequate backup. He is what he is. Cam Newton was the first pick in his draft year. I don't know of an organization that would have had Gabbert rated higher than Newton. If there were a team that had Gabbert rated higher than Newton would have been a bigger evaluation mistake than the drafting of EJ in the first round.

Who is the longer pisser? https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mike+myers+austin+powers+pee+scene&view=detail&mid=6F9C22561114353708B96F9C22561114353708B9&FORM=VIRE https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=austin+powers+pee+scene&view=detail&mid=F1311A145DA05FCFCACDF1311A145DA05FCFCACD&FORM=VIRE

Big deal if we passed on EJ and he was selected by Kelly from the Eagles. He would then have been their bad pick instead of ours. Whether the Bills moved up or down to select him it is still a bad pick! The notion that EJ was top shelf prospect is belied by the fact that while he has been in the league for half a decade he is still floundering as a backup player with little chance to be a starter in this league. I don't know for sure if Josh Allen is going to be a franchise qb in this league. But what I do know for sure is that a number of teams had him highly rated in this draft. Taking a chance on a talent such as Allen is worth the risk; drafting EJ in the first round was a laughable absurdity,

Bill, The Bills shouldn't have drafted a qb in any of the first three rounds in that EJ draft year. It was that bad a class. Nix had an opportunity to select either Russell Wilson or Cousins with either a third or fourth round pick in a prior draft but didn't take the opportunity. Rumor had it that Buddy was eyeing one of them (I believe Cousins) but was late in pulling the trigger. In my view, too much attention was placed on how this bedraggled franchise didn't get the qb issue right. The failure on addressing that issue was a reflection/representation of a bigger problem: that mediocre people were running this nondescript franchise. When your front office is less than average and you are competing against a number of well run organizations the outcome is going to be predictable. I, like you, endorse the Allen selection. But what was even more impressive is how this new brain trust put itself in position to draft a high end qb prospect. Getting to that point was not easy. There were multiple steps that had to be made in sequence before that qb acquisition could be made. The strategy and execution to get Allen was quite impressive .

That qb class was just awful. There was no qb in that draft who merited a first or second round grade. Buddy Nix knew he was leaving the scene in the near future. He didn't want to leave without securing a qb for the franchise. It was a big mistake that lingered and held the franchise back for some time. Both McDermott and Beane had a smart plan. Both knew that the next draft class was going to have maybe three or four highly rated qb prospects in that draft. So they accumulated picks as currency to position themselves to get one of them in the next class. They were masterful in how they positioned themselves to come out of this draft with a legitimate franchise qb prospect. In comparison to the checker playing Buddy the McBeane tandem demonstrated that they were good at chess. I'm not trying to dump on Nix who was put in a position that was beyond his capabilities. But in no way could he ever had acted in such a strategic and forward-thinking way as the McBeane duo did in this draft in which resulted in acquiring a high end qb prospect.

He was a fourth round prospect drafted in the first round. His selection represented the mediocrity and failure of the organization under the aegis of Buddy Nix. Marrone didn't see him as a starting qb in this league. He was right. EJ is a good person with a good work ethic. He can carve out a long and lucrative career as as backup. I'm confident that this more competent regime will handle the rookie qb much differently than it was handled with EJ. Josh Allen shouldn't be thrown out onto the field until he has a chance to succeed at the position.

In grammar school my voice was so horrible and I was so tone deaf that the music teacher told me not to sing but to fake singing at the graduation ceremony. I was the class president so the honest but brutal critique was somewhat mitigated. Looking back, the harsh judgment by the teacher wasn't the right thing to do. Big freaking deal that someone would be singing out of tune at a grammar school event! However, I got over it. That sour experience prepared me for the some of the harsh comments I receive when I post.

If you rented a car and it was stolen, with no proof that you were involved with the theft, the insurance company would have no claim against you. You can be as sarcastic as you want to be but there is no basis for a claim against McCoy unless there is proof that he was somehow involved.

Let's bring it on! https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=road+rage+car+fights&view=detail&mid=3D7433D62AAE5075D32D3D7433D62AAE5075D32D&FORM=VIRE

What is evident is that regardless how the shuffling of players plays out our OL is very mediocre. Injuries are inevitable. And when they occur when the line is already to begin with less than stellar then further lackluster play should not be a surprise. I understand why Cordy Glenn and Incognito were dispatched. But without question removing these two competent players from the unit is going to leave it in a more diminished state when compared to last year's unit, a unit that was less than average. Right now, I am troubled by the caliber of that unit.

What's the basis of going after McCoy if it isn't proven that he was involved in the theft? If it were proven by the criminal justice system that he was involved in the theft then certainly the insurance company would have a claim against McCoy. But otherwise I don't see where he would be liable.

If you want to make some extra cash you can lease the boat to McCoy for a party and love boat. You need to stock the boat with plenty of safety vests because he has a tendency to throw women off his love vehicles for not producing what he wants to be produced.

I'm going beyond the issue of Rosen and Allen and how Buffalo evaluated and ranked these specific qbs. There are prospects who may be tremendous prospects but are not suited for intense markets such as New York, Philly and Chicago. There are prospects who can thrive with certain types of HCs and not with other types of HCs. Not all players are going to thrive working under a Belichick or even a Marrone. Certain players may thrive under a Tony Dungy type HC while others may not play up to their potential under him. There are players who thrive under a bombastic Rex type of coach and there are players who recoil at the thought of working for a coach like him. My general point is that often it is the circumstances and environment that have to be factored in when evaluating whether a particular prospect is going to succeed at the location he is going to. Part of the evaluation process for each team is determining whether the prospect under consideration is a fit for their organization and even city.

The historical qbs you referred to were from an era of the past. The present is a different era where medical considerations for all types of injuries are now more scrutinized than compared to when those qbs played. That is simply a fact. I don't know why the Bills passed on Rosen. The brain trust might simply believe (as you noted) that in the long run Josh Allen is a better pro prospect. But it is wrong to believe that physical and personality considerations were not part of the evaluation process. With respect to the physical considerations I'm sure that the medical staff was involved in the evaluation process.

Health considerations have always been a consideration when making decisions on personnel. But now it is even more prominent because of cap a and financial considerations. If a prospect has a history of knee problems, or maybe worse, back problems, that certainly is going to become a factor in selecting a player, or at a minimum when you select that player. As you noted from both the player and organization perspectives the issue of long-term health factors will become more prominent issues not only due to the health implications post career but also because the money is so great for many players (not all) that players will have the option to leave this brutal and punishing game earlier and healthier. If a player has a history of concussions in college (not just talking about Rosen) that certainly will be an issue for teams to consider when evaluating players. I was a Rosen fan but make no mistake about it his personality was certainly intensely scrutinized by teams considering drafting him. It wouldn't be surprising to me if other highly rated prospects were moved higher on their boards because of it.

Sometimes things are going on behind the scenes that people are not aware of. This is a report based on speculation because the parties involved wouldn't respond to the nature of the issue. http://wnywatercooler.blogspot.com/2007/09/brad-riter-fired.html

I followed the case fairly closely. Probably not to the extent as your mother did. In my view I'm confident that OJ did the dastardly act. My strongly held belief is that the legal verdict was wrong. However, from a police procedural malfeasance standpoint a case can be made that it wasn't handled properly and the verdict was rendered on that basis My belief is that case was an example of jury nullification with race being the underpinning. .

Your line of reasoning is very circuitous and odd. That's okay. We drive in different lanes. I'm fine with that.

The onus is on the prosecutors to prove that a crime was committed. The victim can make a complaint but then the police and the prosecutors make a determination as to whether the case has merit or is provable. Even if the authorities know who did what if they don't have the evidence then the case shouldn't be brought up. When there is a charge based on probable cause that doesn't automatically mean the the prosecution will bring the case up if they don't believe that they can prove their case. There are a lot of judgments that go into a case at various stages.