DanInUticaTampa

chargers haven't really impressed this preseason, but I consider them a dark horse for the superbowl this year. They looked good last year, and now they got jackson back.

pretty much.

Kinda like the list with the exception of Switzer. I only saw two preseason games, and I am not sure if I recall him.

gotta hope easley delivers. roos has some potential. And gotta hope jones and nelson continue to develop but hangartner was a surprise to me. the guy at the very least seemed like a good depth option, considering the depth we currently have.

from this thread, it looks like NGU misunderstood an article by JW that he didn't read, but gathered the info from other posters? I mean, I remember that article. I don't remember it saying that Overdorf was behind the trade. I remember it saying he "handled" the trade, but that is completly different. Why are people arguing semantics? And NGU, I like you and all, but I when halftime wrote this: then you said: There really is no "if" about it. The article never calls overdorf the triggerman, or the guy that made the call on the trade. And people on the boards reacted like it was part of the "ralph is cheap" conspiracy. I like you a lot, and appreciate all the inside info. But if you misunderstood "overdorf handled the lee evans trade" to be "overdorf made the call to trade lee evans," then I think you made a mistake with misunderstanding something or not reading the full article. Kelly has nagged you to be more specific about how the trade was handled. Really because, if overdorf did handle the trade, but didn't pull the trigger, then JW's article is correct and not untrue like you suggest. He doesn't even go on to call it "inside information" either. That overdorf comment was a very small part in a long article that talked about numerous things. It wasn't headline news he was putting up. imo, this was a misunderstanding on your part that just lead to more misunderstandings on everyones part. It seems people are not even sure what they are arguing about, including you. And I might be misunderstanding the arument as well, since I just quickly read through it in the past 15 minutes.

Naw, they would trade him away for like a 5th or something.

I agree with some of the opinion, but the facts are so wrong. Merriman is old? No he is not. CJ spillar hasn't been good 2 years running? No, that was just one year. nothing behind kelsey and merriman? Moats (yes, i know he is ILB for now) can very well be our poor man's verision of merriman as a pass rusher and carrington has been marvelous at the position. At the very least, those two are decent backups. Then there are some good developmental players behind them like coleman and battan, that I wouldn't start, but they have potential. Really, the only thing I agree with is the offensive line. Which is sad, but true.

agreed

I wouldn't say the lions have an "elite" defensive scheme, and they rattled brady pretty well. They just have some really strong players up front, which we have as well. The williams and dareus combo should be really great. On another note, I am pretty worried about this week. If the lions defense was able to tear apart the pats*, I really hope they don't make lunch meat out of our offense and we leave with an injury or two. I know we played well against the jags, and I know our oline stood up to suh pretty well in regular season last year, but after that pats* game, I am a little worried. We have come close to beating them a couple times as a worse team, so I wouldn't say it is imposible. I would just say we aren't favored to win either game.

it was posted somewhere. But on a side note, the best part is he has the phins going 3-13. Just as long as they don't get luck, that does look purdy. I don't think we are going to be 9-7, but if we finish third in the division, that would definently be a step in the right direction.

I really hope this season is worth it. I am postive we will be better than last year, but if we are able to at least finish 8-8, I would be so pleased. I still find it hard to believe 8-8 or better will happen, but I don't think it is out of the realm of being possible. we will have a better idea how bad/good this team is after some regular season games.

so what was the really wierd think in this more than obvious top 5 list? Is there more in the rest of the article we can't see that is the "wierd" part?

If we re-sign stevie, and some more rookies/young players start to pan out, I might actually feel better about this team. If we start keeping the few good players we have, then something good might happen eventually. it is just annoying we have to keep starting from scratch. A lot of people bash the bills for looking too much at "character," but to me, this team needs strong character in its players to make it work. Players like peters and lynch really could have helped build this team. But lynch just had too many run ins with the law and didn't want to be here. And peters wanted WAY more than he was worth and didn't want to be here. They were talented, but unreasonable and unloyal. If they had better character with some loyalty (like williams) then they really could have helped us, instead of just leaving another hole for us to fill. If the bills were a major team like the jets and pats* then maybe they could keep the talented, but poor character players around. But when you are the bills, the poor character players always want to be in a bigger city with the spotlight. Stevie seems to be like williams, and I hope I am right about that. So far he has said he isn't going to demand a big contract right now and knows he has to prove himself again this year if we wants a payday. And he seems to want to stay in buffalo. I hope we are able to grab more players like williams and stevie. Talented, and strong character.

Brad smith has the weakest arm of the QBs. He is not going to be a starter unless both QBs get injured. You can't run the wildcat on every play. that is just silly. Even miami didn't run it every play all season, and they at least had the element of surprise. There won't be a QB carousel this season unless there is an injury. The o-line however, that looks like it is going to get jumbled up A LOT. If that unit didn't look so bad, I wouldn't really be fearing the upcoming season that much.

Vick will either do very well or get a nasty injury. I think both have the same chance of happening. Him playing healthy and sucking doesn't seem very likely.

As a whole, the team continues to look like it isn't going anywhere. But looking at it position by position, the only real unit that looks worse is the oline. Which unfortunatly, is a pretty important thing in football. Most of the other positions look about the same as last year. Dareus and Merriman seem to be the only things that really are an upgrade over what we had last year, which is really sad because there is no way that will be enough. one of our rookies or someone has to be a breakout player. It is sad that this team is so far from getting anywhere. If they are able to extend williams, and down the road extend stevie, that would look a little better that they are keeping the better players to have something to build around. But from the way it looks right now, nix and gailey are finally frustrated about the oline, and I would bet good money 2 of the first 3 picks in next years draft will be olinemen. It will still be sad, because rookie linement typically don't do well their first season. so it looks like the oline just isn't going to be fixed very quickly, unless they are finally able to grab a veteran starter who can solidfy things.

Levitre actually didn't do a bad job at LT his rookie season in those few games. Not saying he is the answer, or even a good stop gap player for LT. But he did look significantly better that the others we were juggleing at lt that year. That is not saying much, because that was the worst ever we have had. People rag on bell for not being a legit starting LT. but we really saw what was probably the worst oline ever after we traded peters. The LTs we had then.... man, that was brutal. way worse that we see now. Bell is definently and upgrade over what we had then, but it should be much better. It is still very sad that the unit is still so weak. 5 years ago, you would expect it to have been at least stable right now. But it continues to be our weakest spot on offense. more than qb, wr, rb, and even te.

it is rare with a few exceptions. For every hargrove and pat williams there is a trent edwards, losman, mccargo, kirk chambers, dockery, ko simpson, and just a ton of players that dropped out of the league after leaving the bills.

and that is just for the oline. you can almost guarentee that this next draft, 2 of the first 3 picks are going to be oline. Not even the bills front office can ignore this when even gaily is bitching about it now. Even though he seems more upset about the depth than the starters. But really hard to tell them apart in this game. hopefully they develop something going into the regular season.

yeah, that really isn't much trimming. just going to be some simple camp fodder that gets cut there.

Well, the few plays troup played last year, he certianly isn't the best for the position. as a 2nd rounder, he is almost disappointing, but he certianly still has plenty of upside. The front 3 linemen are fine. it is the linebackers that look iffy. kesely isn't a olb, batten and merriman are injury prone, and davis has a history of recent injuries as well. Shepard, a interesting rookie, hasn't been able to hit the field in preseason yet and is unproven. then after that, there really isnt much depth. If only one of them gets a major injury this year, it would be a miricle. A lot of people are saying the defense is set, but those linebackers are very iffy. Almost as iffy as the oline.

I haven't written troup off yet, but at this point, no way should he be starting at NT. If anything, just rotate him as the 2nd DT when they play the 4-3. Nosetackle is too important of a position to let him start in. He hasn't prove much of anything yet. Much better to have a defensive line with edwards-williams-dareus than williams-troup-dareus. Troup is still developing and has a lot to prove. Carrington looks like a much better prospect for the dline, but mostly as a pass rusher.

that is some pretty crazy stuff. At the time, I didn't want vick anyway. But just knowing they forced talent not to sign with us is terrible. Almost makes you wonder if this isn't the first time. Probably not the same reason, but there are a million other reasons why the league wouldn't want certain players on certain teams.

ah, the memories of only 2 years ago.

Well, there was a lot more than that. He basically lost the locker room as a whole, which is a way bigger deal. then there is other stuff. SI reported the haynesworth/Ocho stuff as well. I wouldn't be surprised if niether of them panned out. They just are not pats* types, no matter how the media spins in with the randy moss and corey dillin type of comparisons. These guys aren't the type that will change, at all. Ocho is way too loud, much more than randy moss, and will just get killed by BB. And haynesworth wouldn't play for shanny, I doubt BB can make him do anything more.