BillsVet

No matter what anyone says, season ticket sales are not going to be at the level they were in 08-09 in 2010. The story isn't written there, especially with sales only beginning within the past month. Spiller fits for multiple reasons. He sells tickets, can be sold to the fan base as the already pointed out anti-Lynch, he's a flashy skill player who can sell merchandise, and isn't a boring OT. First round picks are organizational decisions, especially in Buffalo. All parties were involved, and they're not limited to merely the football people. Saying Nix makes the pick is naive.

Hey dude, it's 10 years without a team in the postseason. And you're always there backing this team up as if they're multiple SB winners. Riddle me this: What gives you hope after all these failures of the past decade? A RB with 4.3 speed? And when you've answered that, tell me why Bills fans can't be pessimistic? The stadium lease runs out after 2012, the team can't attract name NFL people, and the owner is 91 years old. Do you really think this team has enough time to rebuild? What's not to love Mr. Optimism?

Finding OG's is not difficult, especially when you use picks on the first two guards of the draft like they did in 2009. Despite what the homer fans realize here, some positions are easier to (EDIT: find) than others. Others, like QB, OT, and DE/Rush LB aren't. And that's exactly the positions Buffalo needs to find. The Bills find their safeties, guards, running backs with ease, but the tough to find positions they can't.

Britton and Loadholt are RT's, which Buddy already supposedly acquired in Cornell Green. And besides, how can you judge players with 1 and 2 years respectively in the NFL? I thought draft picks weren't allowed to be evaluated until they've been in the league 3 full seasons?

This is about as backward as those school teachers in Springfield, IL protesting for higher taxes because they might lose their jobs.

What's the point? Prioritizing RB in the NFL of 2010 is a backward mentality. RB's aren't winning games for any team in the entire league. Heck, Chris Johnson runs for 2k yards and the team started off 0-8 last season. Peterson puts up huge numbers, but his team's couldn't get past the first round of the playoffs until Favre showed up and made Sidney Rice a player. Who else? Pittsburgh won a SB with a below-average running game in 2008. Indianapolis and New Orleans went to the SB with below average to average running games. Supporting the Spiller pick is like saying Gailey can re-invent offenses in direct contrast with the nearly the rest of the NFL. And he doesn't have an OL either.

Jackson totaled 75 yards or fewer in 12 out of 16 games, so stats can indicate anything you want them to. Heck 1/5th of Jackson's yards came in the final meaningless game. Spiller will operate on a field that remains the same width but with much faster defenses. His speed can be contained a lot easier than you think.

Jackson runs between the tackles, and usually finds contact quickly. He has to earn his yards. Spiller has to bounce it outside, only this isn't the ACC and he doesn't have the OT's to move out there for him. THis isn't the ACC anymore.

Picking a RB minus an OL is the same as taking DB's without a front 7. They make plays based on the people in front of them. Obviously Spiller can do some things, but he'll be wasted behind perhaps the worst OL in the NFL.

And completely ignored gaping needs at OT and NT. This is a passing league, as the cliche goes, and RB's aren't winning leagues. QB's are, or a strong defense paired with an efficient diversified offense. Buffalo has neither, and it'll be funny watching Spiller caught in the backfield for a loss because they have no NFL caliber OT's on the roster. Spiller sells tickets.

No one RW has hired at GM has had any savvy when it counts more on draft day since...Polian/Butler. These guys can't think laterally, and you end up with a team without a vision.

Thurman had an OL and diversified offense to work within. Buffalo has none of that.

Hit the nail on the head. Haven't we learned by now in Bills nation that drafting skill players has produced nothing? Chris Johnson is only good because he's got a real OL blocking for him. TEN's OL is far and away better than Buffalo's. Nix-Gailey are starting out like Levy-Jauron did. We know how the latter story ended.

Dick Jauron still drafting with Marv Levy? Skill players won't make this team a winner. Dick Levy taught us that, but Chan Nix thinks it will. Mindless.

Absolutely stupid

Zoltan Mesko will be in demand. Rumor has it Al Davis likes his leg-a lot. It's why no less than 5 OT's will go in the 1st. The starting caliber rookies aren't found in the 2nd and beyond.

Buffalo's franchise reputation is a few eyelashes above Oakland's. The reason for this and why they won't get Roethlisberger are the same: he's too costly. Assuming his big contract goes against the Bills plan of maximizing revenue and not committing to any more than they have to salary wise. Roethlisberger needs to grow up, but his talent is unmistakable on a team with a middling OL. Pittsburgh is overreacting and panicking right now, but I still wouldn't offer any more than a 2nd and perhaps a 5th.

And there it is. The dollar amount would have been far too much given his current contract. I wouldn't surrender anything more than a 2nd, but I can say it wasn't Doug Whaley that said no. Because of the money involved, this was a decision made by RW, Overdorf, and Littman.

Textbook response to a person calling a spade a spade. You hit all of the talking points from the Bills optimists: 1. Say Nix/Gailey are better qualified than us to make decisions. We have to trust them, like we did Levy, Jauron and Smithers. 2. Tell poster they're miserable, and shouldn't be. Besides, optimism is better because reality bites, man. 3. Talk about the future, draft, great free agency despite no "names." This being the second rebuild since 2006, why not? 4. Demonstrate addition by subtraction (DJ) People said the same thing about TD four years ago. The point is, the people picking the actual football GM and HC are still the same. Wilson, Smithers, Overdorf, et al still control who the face of the franchise is at GM and HC. Except this time when it dawned on them to hire an actual GM (of football I might add) they realized they had irreparably harmed their reputation. It's going to be a long road back, assuming the team remains beyond the lease running out after the 2012 season. Plenty of time to rebuild, even with a likely lockout.

More than ever, it's the event and less what the Bills for me now. It's pretty much a guarantee that the Bills will do something outlandish, perhaps trade up, only to take someone not loved. I mean, after all, only the Raiders or Raiders East would hire Chan freaking Gailey.

McClain is an ILB strictly, and Buffalo has three guys there in Posluszny, Mitchell, and Andra Davis. Taking another ILB at 9 is not decent draft value, even considering the player himself. If they can't find their OT, option 2 is trade down. Should that not work, I'd go with a pass-rushing OLB. The pass rush in Buffalo has been talked about, but rarely shows up. Taking a RB, WR, or QB is not going to work behind that OL and they may as well beef up their defense with some OLB's.

What's really amazing is that NBC sees fit to plop his rear end down in front of our sets every Sunday night. As far as I'm concerned, his credibility has his negative numbers.

Mankins is a LG and a Pro Bowl one at that. Staley is a solid LOT with San Francisco, who the 49ers picked up at the end of the first in 2008. Each OT does indeed have flaws, but that's why talent evaluators get paid. It's the college scouting folks decision to find the right guy for their team. Draft value being what it is, history shows you can find decent NT's later in the draft, but instant starters at OT aren't normally found out of the first.

In the fall of 2007, I saw Vernon Gholston beat up on Jake Long in the OSU-Michigan game. Two years later, Gholston is perhaps the biggest bust of the past 5 years and Long is closing in on being a top notch LOT. Heck, Bryant McKinnie was outstanding in college, but he's never been a Walter Jones or Orlando Pace type LOT. The point is, college production is nice, but this team needs to determine who'll succeed in the pros.