Paup 1995MVP

I didn't say he wasn't a warrior and a tough guy. I think he was decent to good at best. Would not put him at very good overall IMHO. He was popular with the media and the fans because he seemed to be a good guy. But I think a lot of fans tend to gravitate towards players who are supposedly "good guys". I don't put that into the equation when assessing football players. I think a certain edginess is needed when playing football at a high level. (The Jerry Hughes persona, so to speak)

Those guys were absolutely horrible. Jones, Benjamin, Thompson McKenzie and Foster. Ridiculously bad. Did anyone on our team make one contested catch that entire season? How did Zay Jones and Kelvin Benjamin turn out so badly? One was a stud at FSU and caught the winning TD pass in the Nat Championship game against Auburn, and the other had the most catches in a D1 career. They come to Buffalo and can not catch anything, Who was our receiving coach in 2018? Was he let go after the season?

It sure never helped his play. Eric Wood was a decent player, but never dominant. As a first round pick I thought he would be better. Nick Mangold was certainly better. And Wood never came close to playing at Kent Hull's level. (who was an amazing player)

Our secondary has been amazing since McDermott and his coaches took over. I would like to see a little more aggressiveness as far as blitzing is concerned. Dropping 7 guys to the first down marker on third or fourth and long burned us against the Texans in OT. Who ever started that defense anyways? It used to be on a 3rd and long everyone was bringing the house and then some. Our D line is going to be real tough this year. Better against the run. Oliver will have more experience. Harry Phillips is coming back. And Jordan Phillips was lousy against the run. Epenesa will be very solid. And I look for Vernon Butler and Quinton Jefferson to be very stout in the middle as well. Bringing in AJ Klein will help also. And better D line play against the run should allow Edmunds and Millano to make more plays. Our defense will continue to do well. Whether we are top 5 or top 10 won't matter. We will be very solid. The season will hinge on our offense finding its way. Defense is important, but not nearly as important in today's game as a dominating offense.

Duke Williams is just a guy. He has mediocre athletic ability at best to play WR in the NFL. That is not hating on him. That is fact. He is not quick, fast or explosive. And he has mediocre hands. He has good size and is tough. He seemed to show good work ethic and effort last year. Why would anyone want the guy to fail? He plays for our favorite team for god's sake!! If you have watch and know NFL Football, Duke Williams just doesn't stand out. Maybe he raises his game several notches this summer. (We all would want that) But again he comes off as just a guy. So not sure where your overwhelming love for the guy is coming from. Rooting for the underdog is great. But his story doesn't stand out as anything over the top special.

That 4th qtr comeback was tremendous. I was 25 living in Atlanta. Just graduated law school. My roommate and I used to go to a sports bar called Dirty Al's to watch the Bills on the old satelite dishes. The place was rocking every weekend w all the College and Pro games on. But that game was on local TV in Atlanta that Sunday. I remember we were going nuts watching in our apartment. Criqui was a great play by play guy. And NBC's production of an NFL broadcast was great also. And I loved the old artificial turf we used to have. Looked great on TV. The next Sunday we beat the Raiders on the blocked punt on the old Sunday nite NFL games on TNT. And we were off to the races. If we had Christie that year, we would have been Super Bowl Champions. Norwood was garbage. (Look how he missed the extra point after the interception return) I was at the Super Bowl in Tampa. What a great time until the last play!! Pretty heartbreaking. We are now 30 years later. The world is so different. But the NFL and football in general still rocks!! But dam life flies by!!

Thanks for posting that. Interesting. A Williams seems to be the forgotten man. Maybe this kid has a lot of game. As for Karlos. If he shows he can still play AND he has grown up some, I would give him a shot. Guys are young when they come in the league. A lot of them were not taught how to act like young adults or had good role models. I don't think he did anything horrible. He seemed like a fun guy to be around. Carefree personality. If he can still run, he should and will get a shot with someone. Talent is talent.

Is that line that you mention good enuf is the big question. I think the middle of our line is fine. I think all three will improve some. And I like our Guards more then most. Not sure about our tackles. A lot of you like Dawkins, and want to extend, extend, extend. I think he has been average at best. And would wait to see how he performs this year. If he plays lights out, give him a big extension before next March when he will be an UFA. If he doesn't want to sign, either tag him or let him walk. I like Ford's toughness. But his feet need to get quicker. If not, Williams or Nseke have a chance to start at RT. Between all the guys we have competing on O Line, other then Morse, everything should be wide open. And the best 4 should surround him. Those 5 should then be an above avg O line. Johnson is a good coach.

Thanks Gugny. I was a big Paup fan back in the day. He was the NFL Defensive player of the year in 1995. I believe he had at least 15 sacks. And he had another great year in 1996. He was just dominant rushing off the edge in our 3-4 defense. Just loved the way he played the game. Hurt his groin real bad in 1997 and left after that season for Jacksonville's money. I still wear his Jersey occasionally for big games. Had that since the start of the 96 season. Fun to reminisce. We all have our favorite Bills. I was always a big Terrence McGhee fan. I liked Willis McGhahee a lot also. Had two of his jerseys. One home and one away. Had a solid career. If only he had not had that horrible knee injury against the Buckeyes in the Nat Championship game. He could have been one of the best RB's ever. But that's football.

And if Josh Allen had not been knocked out of the first Pats game with a questionable head shot, we likely would have been 4-0 after week 4.

Who makes the decision on all challenges? Does it go to Al Riveron in NYC, or does the ref of each particular game go under the hood and rule in conjunction with someone in NYC? Sometimes it drags on and on. Most fans who watch enuf football can see from the first replay if not from the play in live time what the correct call should be. The mistake that I find most annoying is when the ref mispots the ball at the end of the play. This happens way too much. There are what 6 or 7 zebras all over the place, and they come running in and miss the spot by close to a yard sometimes. You sit there and scream at the TV, "that's clearly a first down", or he was short by a mile". Mind boggling when they blow the spot. Or when the receiver clearly comes down out of bounds with at least one foot and they call it a catch with the ref right near the receiver. Ugh!! Lets get the call correct the first time. And if not streamline the process. The PI review was a joke. They overturned NOTHING!! Saints got screwed in the playoff game against Minnesota. Kyle Rudolph clearly pushed off when catching the winning TD. That's like in the NHL in an OT playoff game. Guy is on a breakaway and clearly gets pulled down and no call. On another topic just for fun, why is there almost no fighting in NHL Hockey any longer? Anyone have an intelligent answer for me?

Why so many questions? Use some common sense. Don't worry so much. Why do you care about the media? They don't care about you. Tony Romo and Jim Nantz will drive to whatever game they are assigned if they have to. And so will Gus Johnson and Chris Spielman and Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. (Would love to be in a car with all 6) I am sure Roger Goodell and his arsenal of lieutenants will make sure everything goes off without a hitch. Worry about your family being safe, making a living and getting laid. That's what I think about whether there is a Corona Virus or not. Life is only as hard as you make brother. And what's with your user name? Are you Adam Gase in disguise? Or the ghost of Walt Michaels. Remember him?

Good points Machine Gun. How many yards does Gore need to catch Sweetness? Payton played from 1975-1987. 13 seasons. He did not hang around for a few extra years. Ironically in my first year after college I was in Chicago Christmas break 1987 hanging w friends and watched Payton's last game on TV there. Also met Ben Davidson (old NFLer from the Raiders) doing a promotion for Miller Lite (he was in some of their earlier ads) at a bar on Rush Street that vacation. That was a fun few days. Dam it was cold out. Emmett did have some great O lines to block for him. And the hype machine that was the Cowboys was tops back in that era. Gore is an alltime great. But going to a marginal Jets team with a marginal O line (signing George Fant doesn't move the meter in my estimation) when he looked washed up the second half of last year does nothing for his legacy. But he has always been a class act. And outlasted a lot of Miami RB's who seemed to have more talent. (McGhahee and Portis come to mind) Remember how great and colorful the Miami teams of the 80' 90's and early 2000's were? Talk about a program that fell into the abyss. I love talking football. Nothing better. Only other thing that comes close is Heavy Metal music!! And I know my hockey history prior to the past 7-8 years pretty well also. LOL

Frank Gore will certainly be enshrined in Canton one day. But first ballot? Isn't that a bit generous? He has been a very good player (and a good guy) throughout his career. But he certainly did not transcend the game of football. I don't think he was ever the dominant RB of his era. A very good player. But not at the level of Emmit Smith Barry Sanders or Walter Payton. The amount of yards he has gotten mean something. But a lot of that is because he has played for a long time. Where would you put him on the all time great list of RB's? Better and more talented then Thurman? What about AP? What about Terrell Davis-4 great years and he is in the Hall? Chris Johnson? Jamal Lewis? Curtis Martin? Just saying. Where does Frank stand?

THOSE were the hookers?? Wow come on Bob. Seriously.....Not good!!

Exactly. It embarrassing for Frank Gore that he just can't walk away. And its embarrassing for the Jets that they have signed him. This locker room culture stuff is so overblown. The only leaders that matter are the ones that produce on the field. Winning breads a good culture. These guys are getting paid well to play a game. If you can not motivate yourself to be the best you can be, you won't be for very long. Its that simple.

Thanks man. Not down on the hookers. Just down on Kraft. Don't like the man. But the hookers may have been hot. I didn't see them.

The anger towards Bill Belichick Brady and the Patriots in general is over the top on this board. They have been far better then us for the past two decades. Simple as that. They have been better then everyone for that matter. We have basically been ***** until McDermott came on board. And even he has not been good enuf....yet to beat the Pats. I think that is about to change. You have to respect greatness in anything. You get your ass kicked, you tip your hat and go back to the drawing board. Belichick has been great, Brady has been great. The guy who annoys me the most is Robert Kraft. Talk about a smug old SOB. Can't stand him. But he is a winner at running a football franchise. So he gets his props, even if he can't be more discrete about the hookers he associates with. LOL Its the same with Michigan v Ohio State. I can't stand the Buckeyes. But they have kicked our ass for the past two decades. While I hate them, I have the utmost respect for Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. Both great coaches. In fact, I wish Tressel was coaching the Wolverines right now. Again, you can not disrespect greatness. As for the coaching list, I am a big George Allen and George Seifert fan. Both great coaches that are underrated. Allen should be much higher then 25th. The guy was innovative and an incredible motivator. The old Redskin teams were awesome. Kind of guy I would have loved to play for. Seifert took over for Walsh and led the 49ers to two Super Bowls. He wasn't a look at me guy. But did an excellent job keeping the 49ers from missing a beat. The guys record in SF was 98-30. Unbelievable. I would put him on the list and take off Tomlin. Why is he there instead of John Harbaugh? I was also a Big Bum Phillips fan as a kid. Just a completely different kind of coach. Was a riot with his sayings and his Texan hokieness. But dam the guy could coach too. Tom Flores was another great coach. Won two Super Bowls with the Raiders. (Funny how Gruden thinks he knows how to coach. That ended when he left Tampa. He should take some lessons from Madden and Flores. Gruden is a brand. Not a coach. LOL)

Agree with everything you said EXCEPT getting to 12 wins if Josh plays modestly better. 12 wins is a great season in today's NFL. I think Josh Allen will have to improve considerably against what looks to be a much more difficult schedule for us to be a 12 win team. He can do it. But he will have to improve his deep ball dramatically and process things a whole lot quicker. He is a gunslinger. He needs to get back to that mentality. And he should run when he can. He is a great running QB. Basically don't be afraid to make mistakes. Let it rip. We did not draft him to be a game manager. If he stays cautious, that's on the coaches.

I will disagree as far as significantly better. He played on a lot of bad teams and I probably have forgotten a lot of Aaron Schobel hilites. I would at least put them in the same discussion though.

McKelvin had one big fumble in 2009 on a kickoff return opening nite against New England. I get that. He also was the best punt returner we have had in the last two decades. (McGhee returned kickoffs primarily) If you can direct me to a better one, please do. Roberts was not that last year.

Insiteful take on Duke DO. I hope you are right. If he can become a professional NFL receiver, that would be awesome for our passing game. Agree about the other 3, except McKenzie brings a little juice with his game. But Taiwan Jones can do what he does, and play special teams.

Hodgins has great hands AND is tall. He has ability. He put up huge numbers last season in the PAC 12, I think he and Davis bring a new dynamic to the passing game. I don't have data on the rest of the kick returners in the NFL because I can't watch every game. I was underwhelmed by his returns last year. He did not give the impression that he could break one every time he touched the ball. Terrence McGhee and Leodis McKelvin gave that vibe Just saying that his explosiveness and elusiveness looks done to me. I hope he proves me wrong if he is on the team.

Thanks for the response w the good news on Talley Seasons 1992. He was a tremendous player and leader for the Bills. And a great player at West Virginia as well.

Stidham doesn't suck. Kid is smart. And not a statue. You don't start at Auburn for Gus Malzahn for very long if you suck. Remains to be seen what he can do in the pros. Hoyer isn't starting. He is terrible. Should not be on an NFL roster. Bills offense has been lousy against the Pats for so long. Probably since Fitzie's big day in 2011 when we won on the last second FG. Brady didn't play offense. Josh and the gameplan has to be better when we play the Pats regardless of who they have at QB.