ESPN ranks the venues

[dwight in philly]

the ralph did not make the top 10. it rec'd one vote in the "also ran" category essentially. how times have changed! i used to love hearing how tough it was for visiting teams to cope with the noise and elements of the ralph. when your team has been a punch line for a decade, this is what you get, a legacy tarnished.

Edited June 7, 2011 by dwight in philly

[Bill from NYC]

the ralph did not make the top 10. it rec'd one vote in the "also ran" category essentially. how times have changed! i used to love hearing how tough it was for visiting teams to cope with the noise and elements of the ralph. when your team has been a punch line for a decade, this is what you get, a legacy tarnished.

 

Levy/Jauron built this team as if they play in a dome. They would have still been a bad team in a dome mind you, but they neglected the lines and drafted small, so-so players.

RWS is a rough place to play. It's often hard to pass because of the wind, rain and snow. The Bills need to run and stop the run. The Levy/Jauron answer to this was players such as Whitner and McKelvin.

 

A "finesse" team will not have long term success in WNY. It's impossible, and because of the Levy/Jauron damage we don't really even have a home field advantage, despite have loud, solid, enthusiastic fans.

 

Maybe now we will have a solid defensive line. This would be a good start, but there's a lot more work to be done. They need to go after players such as Jeremy Trueblood and Kevin Boss, if of course there is a football season.

[dwight in philly]

Levy/Jauron built this team as if they play in a dome. They would have still been a bad team in a dome mind you, but they neglected the lines and drafted small, so-so players.

RWS is a rough place to play. It's often hard to pass because of the wind, rain and snow. The Bills need to run and stop the run. The Levy/Jauron answer to this was players such as Whitner and McKelvin.

 

A "finesse" team will not have long term success in WNY. It's impossible, and because of the Levy/Jauron damage we don't really even have a home field advantage, despite have loud, solid, enthusiastic fans.

 

Maybe now we will have a solid defensive line. This would be a good start, but there's a lot more work to be done. They need to go after players such as Jeremy Trueblood and Kevin Boss, if of course there is a football season.

that does make sense.just makes you madder, even though you knew at the time, they were drafting stiffs and we kept scratching our heads. who DID make the john mccargo call anyway!

Edited June 7, 2011 by dwight in philly

[Bill from NYC]

that does make sense.just makes you madder, even though you knew at the time, they were drafting stiffs and we kept scratching our heads. who DID make the john mccargo call anyway!

 

The Whitner pick was far worse. Levy said on Sirius that he had numerous offers to trade down. And, look at the players at need positions he passed on. Cutler, Mangold and Davin Joseph stick out. It was a great draft.

To put the 2006 draft in perspective, we came into day 1 with the #8, a 2nd, and two early 3rds (4 picks). We came away with Whitner, McCargo and Youboty.

On day 2, their early 4th round pick was Ko Simpson. Some of us here knew how much this draft would hurt this franchise. Other still defend Levy and Whitner.

 

As for the present, much depends on Troup, Carrington and Dareus. I like that they went DL, but they need production from these kids. It's a healthy start. I left out Spiller because he has virtually no blocking, and was by any stretch a dumb selection. If they get production from the young def. linemen, and shore up the OL from free agency and with early 2012 picks, the Bills can be a playoff team. If not, they will continue to stink up the field.

 

It's pretty simple imo.

[dwight in philly]

The Whitner pick was far worse. Levy said on Sirius that he had numerous offers to trade down. And, look at the players at need positions he passed on. Cutler, Mangold and Davin Joseph stick out. It was a great draft.

To put the 2006 draft in perspective, we came into day 1 with the #8, a 2nd, and two early 3rds (4 picks). We came away with Whitner, McCargo and Youboty.

On day 2, their early 4th round pick was Ko Simpson. Some of us here knew how much this draft would hurt this franchise. Other still defend Levy and Whitner.

 

As for the present, much depends on Troup, Carrington and Dareus. I like that they went DL, but they need production from these kids. It's a healthy start. I left out Spiller because he has virtually no blocking, and was by any stretch a dumb selection. If they get production from the young def. linemen, and shore up the OL from free agency and with early 2012 picks, the Bills can be a playoff team. If not, they will continue to stink up the field.

 

It's pretty simple imo.

i did like this year's draft , it seemed like nix was not trying to outsmart anyone, just went ahead and focused on making the team better. as for those crappy drafts during the levy GM period, it almost seemed like they were trying to be too cute, "avant-garde" , because all those picks you mentioned that they did make or that they passed on, did not make sense to any rational bills fan.

[Munch]

Dan Graziano actually put Buffalo #1, when no one else even had them on their list at all.

 

He explains why here: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/27407/power-rankings-toughest-venues

 

Hes an NFC East blogger for ESPN for anyone who doesnt know. And hey at least we got 1 vote, and it was for #1 overall. Our old friend Tim Graham couldnt even throw us a bone with a 10th!

[C.Biscuit97]

The Whitner pick was far worse. Levy said on Sirius that he had numerous offers to trade down. And, look at the players at need positions he passed on. Cutler, Mangold and Davin Joseph stick out. It was a great draft.

To put the 2006 draft in perspective, we came into day 1 with the #8, a 2nd, and two early 3rds (4 picks). We came away with Whitner, McCargo and Youboty.

On day 2, their early 4th round pick was Ko Simpson. Some of us here knew how much this draft would hurt this franchise. Other still defend Levy and Whitner.

 

As for the present, much depends on Troup, Carrington and Dareus. I like that they went DL, but they need production from these kids. It's a healthy start. I left out Spiller because he has virtually no blocking, and was by any stretch a dumb selection. If they get production from the young def. linemen, and shore up the OL from free agency and with early 2012 picks, the Bills can be a playoff team. If not, they will continue to stink up the field.

 

It's pretty simple imo.

 

You love to kill Levy & Jauron. But they had teams that fiinished 7-9 in arguably the best division in the NFL. And their starting qbs were JP Losman & Trent Edwards, both of who will never start in the NFL again. The talent couldn't be that bad if they could overcome that huge of a weakness at the most important position.

 

TD, an "experienced football exec", did way more damage to this franchise that anything Levy and Jauron. Of course, you still believe that Whitner is the sole reason the Bills keep missing the playoffs.

[ganesh]

You love to kill Levy & Jauron. But they had teams that fiinished 7-9 in arguably the best division in the NFL. And their starting qbs were JP Losman & Trent Edwards, both of who will never start in the NFL again. The talent couldn't be that bad if they could overcome that huge of a weakness at the most important position.

 

TD, an "experienced football exec", did way more damage to this franchise that anything Levy and Jauron. Of course, you still believe that Whitner is the sole reason the Bills keep missing the playoffs.

 

Fair points. TD was the biggest problem, especially when he decided not sign Pat Williams (Again fault was with Greg Williams who wanted to run a 4-3 and felt Williams was a lazy fat boy) and never addressed the OL in the draft. He did get Bledsoe, but failed to convince Dick LeBeau to stay and sign as DC.

 

However, the Jauron-Levy combination really blew this team away. One of the 7-9 record was due to facing the weak AFC West in one of those years...They overpaid for Dockery and Walker and picked Whitner ahead of Ngata, Picked McCargo instead of Mangold and continued to invested 1st and 2nd round picks in McKelvin, Byrd, wasted a 3rd pick for Craig Nall, who was then not even given a chance to compete. Inability to re-sign Peters. Ten years of Futility with everyone equally responsible.

 

I hope Nix and Wahle can resurrect this once proud franchise...though I have doubts with the current regime...

 

1. Picking Spiller when we had so many other needs and then giving away Lynch for a 4th rounder.

2. A horrible Defensive Coordinator and we continue to mess up. I wish Gailey would have learned and put Wannestedt in charge. This team needs some experienced folks running the offense and defense.

3. The inability to have the 2010 draft picks get on the field inspite of a horrible team that finished 4-12.

4. Inability to find a TE who can be involved in this offense.