BillsVet

RW set him up to fail. This league is so complex that there's no way an untrained eye can possibly do any personnel management job, and yet the owner didn't know anyone, so he turned to his most trusted deputy not named Littman. Everyone knows the story, but no one can argue the 4 seasons of Levy/Brandon seriously hurt the franchise. So much so that they're again rebuilding for the 2nd time in 5 years.

In a competitive league, you've got to have savvy executives who understand when to take calculated risks and when to stand fast. Nix has all but said he isolates on one player and is so risk-averse he won't consider trades. The Dareus pick was a no-brainer, and I'm glad they didn't trade out from the 3rd pick. But if ATL offfered a group of picks for Buffalo to move down in a strong DL draft, you've got to consider it. The fact that BN outright denies trades should alarm those who think this team will be rebuilt in 3 years. I would think Buffalo received plenty of calls for their second rounder, 34th overall, but chose to use that pick. Compare that with a team like Cleveland who decided, in a DL heavy draft, to move down and add picks. Sure, there's risk, but that's present in everything anyone does. The Bills haven't traded down in the draft since 2001. In any round.

The owner said they needed a QB during the season and after. It didn't happen. The owner defended Tom Modrak and his record of failure. Modrak was fired. The irony abounds. This is precisely the right time to fire the man, namely because scouting for the 2012 draft has begun already and axing him in July would affect that process. Too bad it should have happened when TD was fired. At the same time, how many College Scouting/VP's survive through 3 separate GM eras (TD, Levy/Brandon, and Nix)? I get the sense this move was made to placate fans who now know just how bad the drafting has been and wonder why he wasn't fired with Guy at the beginning of 2010? What did he do in the last year he hadn't previously done to warrant his firing now? Same old Bills. No plan and knee jerk reactions. Ah well, Pasquarelli will be reporting from a pro-Modrak stance shortly.

I am proud because we kept the fight up on the enemy and didn't quit when things got tough. The War on Terror isn't over, but this is major victory on destroying the al Qaeda terrorists. I am proud of the US Military and those in other organizations that were more relentless than most thought they were.

Bin Laden said the U.S.A. was a paper tiger after the battle in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was wrong. As a War on Terror veteran, I am extremely satisfied at this development. U.S. counter-terrorist and military capabilities remain second to none.

Look on the bright side, Donahoe pulled starters from the 7th round. That clearly makes up for the busting on Hardy, Ellis, and underwhelming production from McKelvin. I think it's worth noting that Russ Smithers-Brandon was the GM during this draft. An individual thrown into a role by the owner who was completely untrained to lead a NFL franchise in acquiring personnel to rebuild this club. Not all Smithers' fault, but clearly another bad decision by the owner not to find a football man to lead football operations.

Scott Chandler has exactly 1 reception in 4 NFL seasons on 4 different teams. They like him for his in-line blocking ability, but I'd be willing to say he's never going to threaten an opponent vertically. And I don't see Gailey or Nix as really caring about TE's who block and can receive. They shouldn't be destroyed for not taking a TE in the draft, but it will hurt their offense when teams throw Cover 2 and 3 looks at them. It's nice to have good receivers, and their group is young. But in the NFL of 2011, most teams have a viable receiving threat at TE who provide that extra dimension to attack defenses. Buffalo doesn't have that, unless of course they go for a Kevin Boss or Zach Miller in UFA. We'll see, but I doubt they throw serious money at an all-around TE.

TD's been gone now for 5 regular seasons and hasn't made personnel moves for the franchise in 6 years. His time here was bad, but I agree that the Marv/DJ/Brandon years are why we're re-building a second time in 6 off-seasons. If the the reason Marv et al. did what they did was to correct the TD era, then Buddy Nix and company are trying to correct the Levy/Brandon era. Sense a trend here? No one, not TD, Marv, or Brandon could put it all together. As bad as TD was, Marv and Brandon were worse. From 2006-2008 (the year before Nix arrived) the Bills had 8 picks in rounds 1-3. Should Whitner leave (and I suspect he's gone) that leaves just Posluszny and McKelvin on the roster provided Poz is re-signed. That's not how you build a franchise. I think the thing with Marv is, he was the HC during the glory years and people tend to look kindly on his time as reluctant GM. He was pretty brutal, especially when you factor in the free agents signed during his time: Tripplett, Royal, Reyes, Dockery, and Walker to name a few.

Seriously, when RW rose to meet Dareus in the video on the team website, the 3rd overall pick moved to help him. Just amazing to think there's a 92 year old man next to a 22 year old and how much one will be relying/paying the other.

Great post. The NFL can have a salary cap and award the highest picks to the worst teams as a way to level the playing field. But until an organization has the right people in management making good decisions, it doesn't matter. When the Bills went looking for a HC in January 2010, they found few individuals willing to interview. For a job in which only 32 openings exist, that tells me a lot about how NFL people see the Bills. And if a team doesn't have a savvy GM and good HC, they'll find themselves picking high more often than not no matter what.

That was a great moment in that video. RW was right-on when he said they got lucky to get him. Liked Gailey's comment about not playing with that sort of thing. All in all, I think they finally got an outstanding guy who they can build around on that defense.

Guy doesn't have to be able to play LT. He needs to be able to run block and maybe CJ will feel comfortable running behind him.

Where will they find a QB? Next year first overall with Andrew Luck.

If there was any doubt about Whitner, the door just slammed shut. Guess that's the good news from this pick.

Especially with a marginal former 7th rounder starting at LT and the leading RT (Pears) on his 4th team in 3 years protecting their lone viable starting QB. Sure there'll be UFA, but not drafting an OT in the first three rounds for 9 years defies logic.

Pat Williams was a UDFA. Ergo, you can find All Pro caliber DT's without spending draft picks on them. It goes for every position.

Bowers will probably need microfracture surgery, so I'm not crying because he wasn't the pick. The major issue I have with Nix, et al is their team-building philosophy remains off. They don't draft OT's high. They see the TE position as a blocker, despite most franchises looking for receivers who can block, and finally they use too many resources on skill guys. We'll agree to disagree.

Do you really want your DB's making a lot of tackles? Strong tackler or not, you don't take CB's in the 2nd round to play in run defense.

There will be a UFA period, and I realize there's a drop off at CB in this draft. But I'm not concerned about pass defense when teams eat up the clock and stuff it down the heart of the defense. Furthermore, there's a reason the CB's get beat up in Buffalo, and it's because they're playing run support more often than not and getting nicked up doing so. Yeah, McGee's regularly hurt, McKelvin isn't living up to his draft selection, Corner is a nickel/dime guy, and Florence is probably gone. Still, it's a matter of what killed me, and it wasn't other teams passing on that defense. I'm not killing the player, but the point is he doesn't help the run defense.

Moses' brother was named Aaron.

When teams don't throw on you because they can pick up 200 yards rushing with Joe McKnight.

You might be able to stomach a CB if they are active in free agency and acquire a TE, ILB, OLB, and OT. If they duck UFA, it's going to be another luxury pick, despite the need being there.

Who, one year (so far) wonder Jairus Byrd?

They had to improve their front 7, particularly the LB's and they go CB. Guess that means Asomugha is out of the mix in UFA, right?