DanInUticaTampa

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.

I'm not gonna lie, this bothers me about spiller: Hopefully these types of mistakes get worked out soon.

Risking going to IR in preseason is not THAT bad of a thing. I mean, if he goes on IR, there is always next year, right?

Did you miss when most of the starting front 7 left the game? the only starters on D that stayed more than 2 series' were the dbacks. Merriman was only in there for 9-10 snaps all together I think. The bears offense did have two decent plays against the 1st string defense. But that was about it.

Exactly. tight end is obviously ugly for us, but oline depth and offensive tackle in general are way more pressing needs than tight end.

a lot of people want to rag on spiller becuase, well, he did next to nothing last year. But I would add him to that list. He looked good today. And wood looks like he will be a great center. And of course, I would add dareus and kyle williams to the list as well. they are going to be a force.

from the game, there are some nice surprises in there. But there is a lot more that scares me. Hopefully more things come together before the season starts. and hopefully there are no major injuries. And our d would look pretty badass if we can keep merriman healthy and get upgrade some of the other LB positions. And chandler looks like a nice surprise. at least for me. maybin, wang, and davis need to go. This might not be a good team, but it isnt bad enough to have players like that on it. worst part for me is that easely didn't do anything to make me feel better. and I really hope fitz doesn't get injured, because thigpen starting for us would be yucky. Overall, I think they will look a lot better than last year, and their record will show it. They just have to stay healthy and tighten the screws. And hopefully, next offseason, they actually address OT and LB.

and then throw it deep on 4th and inches.

god help us if we lose our starters. Our depth is a joke.

He looks good against the 2nd stringers. if he does that to brady, then give the man the key to the city.

Agreed on all counts. Especially with bell. Bell isn't much more than a good back up right now. I didn't rag on him much last year because he showed improvement at quite a few times. But if he plays the same as he did last year, they really need to replace him. If he improves more over last year, I might just shrug it off. Now right tackle...... now there is the obvious glaring issue that is going to have us banging our heads all season.

Clements shouldn't be on that list. And I would only have spikes on there, because with our LBs, he would be an upgrade.

haha