BobChalmers

I don't take it for granted that Brad Smith makes the team. He was a pretty big disappointment running the wildcat and returning kicks - if Vince Young does well enough adn can run the W/C, I could see Smith gone. Jones is my #1 guy I don't get on the roster. Coaches love him - I can't see a thing in games he does that makes him anything more than backup material. I'd rather have Roosevelt or Aiken with their size and hands.

You had a chance of making sense until you managed to turn the Dareus pick into a disappointment - sliding yourself all the way to silly. Are you confusing Potter with Powell, who DOES have a good chance of bumping Moorman off the roster? Carrington has been screwed over by bad coaching and the stupid switch to a 3-4. Why the heck would anyone want him playing DT? He was a DE/OLB coming out of college.

I'm just enough of a geezer - or just young enough - that those are the uni's I mostly grew up with. I'm a little torn about whether I prefer the blue road pants. They look pretty slick in the all-white too. Oh - and the first person tempted to chime in on this thread about how you miss the red helmets - stop yourself - just stop. For those of us old enough to rememember the utterly pathetic reason they went to the red helmets, no amount of AFC Championship nostalgia is ever going to undo how ugly and stupid they looked. They have arguably the nicest uniforms in the league right now, and the bright white/blue/red contrast on the helmet is probably the slickest part - leave it alone.

Bell was excellent when healthy. He wasn't often healthy, and unlike Wood's two catastrophic injuries, Bell's are the sort of basic "wear and tear" breakdowns you have every reason to think will continue. He wasn't signed quickly because of his injuries, period. His healthy play drew praise from all over. The Bills did the right thing moving on. He may be a huge success in Philly, but he's more likely to be broken down and out of the league in a couple more years.

So in that case, how can Troupe possibly make the team - healthy or not? He's purely a NT from what we've seen of him so far.

Haha - OK - it's June - I'll smoke the pipe with you. No - I think it's pretty clear WR, QB and maybe LB are still spots the team has room to improve on. Having said that - I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy, I think what they already have addressed is awesome and may well be enough to win them the division this year. Every team has weaknesses. Heck, the Giants won the Super Bowl but they were 9-7 for a reason. So yeah, when I look at the Bills roster I think they have more than enough to be real competitors in January. That doesn't mean they don't have issues though.

IMHO Rice is the overrated player on this list. He's a totally mediocre back playing behind a good run-blocking line and in a very run-friendly offense.

I'm with you on every point except this one. The Bills are much improved at WR because of what exactly?

Fitz has real accuracy issues. It's most definitely at least a little broke. I don't hold the lack of mechanics training specifically against Fitz or the Bills - I'm sure it's pretty typical. I am a bit surprised that at the NFL level it's not addressed more aggressively. My son is a D3 lacrosse goalie. All through his school and club ball growing up, the level of mechanics work he got from 95% of his coaching staffs - even some of the really hgood club teams - was limited at best. He does also have a private coach/tutor who is a real guru of goalie technique. Every time he gets a chance to work with him, my son ends up showing significant improvement in his next action. Just this spring, his college coaches didn't know he'd gotten private lessons the week before, but two of them remarked at his next sessions how sharp he looked in practice. They didn't know WHY he was better - they could just see the effectiveness. Point being, it's amazing how little good technique coaching there is at a lot of positions in a lot of sports.

Thank you. Why the heck are some (including the OP) looking for an answer any more complicated than this??? Maybe it depends what we mean by "measuring stick". The OP is correct - they have many flaws - their HOF-bound coach and QB have covered up a lot of weaknesses - particularly in the defense which is a shadow of what it was when they were winning the forst three Super Bowls instead of losing the last two. In that sense, in a detailed, position by position, "blueprint for success" way, they are not that sort of measuring stick. As another posted - the Giants have a nice formula that is a much better model for other teams (not to mention has won two Super Bowls in the last few years), and I think it's fair to say with the Bills' offseason moves this year, they've been doing what they can to match the NYG blueprint.

Right - the point the OP ended up arguing for is far smaller than the one he was trying for. Wanny as D/C - very good. Wanny as H/C, just so-so. Since he's our D/C, NOT our H/C, and not likely to be the H/C any time soon - (How much younger is he than Gailey?? - answer, not at all, they were both born in '52) - his record as a head coach is not really our concern at all.

It will start out boring, however... It will pick up mid-way when the Dolphins' 4th round pick turns into a "bath-salts-zombie" and eats Cameron Wake's right eyeball, ear, and nut. Because it's HBO we'll get to watch the whole thing!

Edwards never played in a base 4-3. Bills brought him in from the Ravens to help them transition to the 3-4, since Edwards was an established veteran 3-4 DE in the Ravens' successful 3-4 defense. Johnson, on the other hand, was an established successful veteran backup 4-3 DT in Minnesota who was the first substitute behind a very good pair of Viking 4-3 DT's in Pat Williams and Kevin Williams. I have absolutely no idea what got the current coaching staff thinking of him as an outside guy, but they really did Johnson a disservice putting him out there at OLB.

Making a list of the Bills offensive players by position, calling them out by where they were drafted BUT LEAVING WOOD AND LEVITRE OFF THE LIST - equals TROLL. Sorry - there's harsh, and then there's just keeping it remotely real. As I said the first time - leaving Wood and Levitre off the starting lineup was an easy tip-off to troll post rather than straightforward one.

Since SD didn't make the playoffs last year, that's not worth a heck of a lot. Agreed, particularly because their schedules have gotten harder. The question is which team the Bills will replace. There are only 4 possible correct answers: Patriots Steelers Ravens Bengals IE, we either win the division, or take one of the two wildcard spots the North had both of last year. Any other answer isn't a proper answer to the question. Since the OP specified "IF" Buffalo makes the playoffs - the fifth logical possibility - that they replace none of the above, also doesn't apply. I say the Bills beat out the Pats for the division, but they still make it as a wild card. I can't decide which North team will fail though, so I'm not really answering the question either! OK - I'll go with the Ravens - losing Suggs hurts and they are starting to lose faith in Flacco.

Dating myself - Joe Ferguson will always be #12 for me!

But probably really cheap though, and traffic should be a breeze.

You've said that before - it's generally true, but as I've responded before - two national sources (TSN was one, can't remember the other) rated the Bills' injury situation as the worst in the league last year. That's not a "good teams" issue - it's a really bad luck (or fragile players) issue. Either way, it has to be an aberration or the Bills need to do something to change it. There is no team that looks good with their 3rd string OLT. None. The Bills lost Bell and Hairston in the same game if I recall correctly. They then lost Wood right before the first Jets game and their losing streak began. They were also missing their only returning pro-bowler among numerous others on defense. Again, this was injuries way beyond the norm. Comparable maybe with KC's problems, and the Bills had a much harder schedule. The Bills depth to survive losing FredEx is remarkable - not many teams could handle losing the league leading rusher. At least they had CJ to step up.

The difference between winning and losing and even winning an losing big is not that much in the NFL. The Bills had a two-part season last year. Before and after the rash of injuries. Unfortunately, five of their six division games were after the injuries hit. The Bills one division win was the one division game they played before they lost half their team. Wood went down right before the first Jets game and it really showed. There is no comparison between the Pats* and the Jets or Fish. The Bills are easily better than the latter two - and the Jets look like they've actually gone backwards.

I'd agree except that it was pretty clearly the right call on replay, so more accurate to say we got lucky they tackled Freddy at the 1. That the ref's made the right call in the end is less luck - although I admit they get plenty of them wrong.

So you are predicting the Bills reverse themselves and move Merriman to LB? Right now they have stated that his position in this defense is DE. Troup/Johnson/Heard will be a battle to watch. Yes, you are crazy. Edwards is a 3-4 DE. Who are you benching to play him on non-"passing downs" as if there was such a thing in today's NFL? Mario or Anderson?? If anything, he's a DT in the new offense, and he might be OK at that, but he's competing with a real 4-3 DT (Johnson) and Buddy's first 2nd round pick (Troupe) plus Heard to be a backup.

Byrd was famous in college for his ball skills. He's brought that to the Bills every time he's had a chance (with some pass rush to create chances). Agree with you about Carrington - he has a chance this year to finally play his position.

Morrison starts at the other LB slot. Justin Rodgers is your missing CB - he was great last season. Searcy's spelled with a 'c'. Other than that it's pretty straightforward and you've got it right I think.

this This is a last chance to remember the bad-old-days that this new organization and roster is about to bury in the past. There - I've said it - again - May 11th and I'm saying they're finally going to turn it around this year. Damn you Bills - you've roped me again!!

Agreed - and I'm still scratching my head a bit about the Pears $$ extension last year - anyone know how easy it is for the Bills to get out of that contract?