thewildrabbit Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Whats sad is that everyone seems so optimistic about this season...yet last years draft class seems like another failure along the same lines as the last 10 years.Did Tom Modrak have lots of input into that draft, and is that why he was finally canned? So a year wasted to determine who is good at their jobs. This years draft class already appears so much better then anything when Modrak was here. The one thing I just don't get is...the Bills can only draft 7 players a year and if outta those they find 3 starters out of 22, and every 4-5 years players can become free agents I just don't see how a team can be built with just draft picks like Nix wants.
Jauronimo Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Do you think he is tired of pumping out the same tired story yet, or is he laughing as he cashes the check for writing the same article week in week out for the past 15 years? You'd think he would change it up here and there, offer a new perspective if only to break the monotony and engage readers. My guess is Jerry is one of those guys who still drops OJ, Lewinsky, Lady Di, and Jacko jokes every chance he gets, as if everyone hasn't heard them 8 billion times already. Some things never get old, for Jerry.
The Big Cat Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 I am one of those people who think Jerry Sullivan doesn't know what he is talking about or at the very least is premature in his assessment of a team that is yet to play a regular season game. Maybe I am naive but I think trading Lee Evan wasn't a cost-cutting move. I think Chan expects his receivers to block and run crossing patterns. Buddy Nix has commented that Lee did not excel at either, which is why he was a bad fit for our offense. His numbers from the last two years were not elite. I think Chan Gailey has designed an offense with specific roles for each player and Lee was not a fit in his system. They knew and so did Lee, instead of forcing a squared peg in a round hole they let him go to a team that he fit schematically. Maybe you are right but lets see what happens the first game before we make judgments on how poorly this team is constructed. Jerry Sullivan goes through the motions and should just retire and play stratomatic baseball. Pretty soon he will post his yearly column on how he meets his old friend at the bar who is a long-suffering Bills fan and still believes. Mike Schopp and Jerry should just morph into one negative entity. Unless the Evans trade was a conspiracy one FULL year in the making, to assume anything else is strictly conjecture. Gailey spent the better part of a year saying...PUBLICLY...SEVERAL times...that he wasn't satisfied with this element of Evans game (or lack there of). "I want a water bug" --- we draft Spiller "We need to get bigger" --- we draft Dareus "Maybin needs to improve" --- he gets cut "Evans can't come over the middle"--- he gets traded WHY DO WE TREAT EVERYTHING LIKE IT'S A DAMN MYSTERY!?
DrDawkinstein Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Well DUH. He's only a little late on this. It's not crumbling, it's already crumbled and is on its way to being built. This! As far as the rest of his article... yawn.
Nanker Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Well, Sully can thank his lucky stars that he's been able to ride the back of The Bills for such a long time. His 401k would look like a third grader's piggy bank if it weren't for The Bills.
Heitz Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Whats sad is that everyone seems so optimistic about this season...yet last years draft class seems like another failure along the same lines as the last 10 years.Did Tom Modrak have lots of input into that draft, and is that why he was finally canned? So a year wasted to determine who is good at their jobs. Seriously - can't we give guys more than one year before we call them failures or label them busts? I just don't get it I guess...
PromoTheRobot Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Now I am waiting for the people to come on this post and say he doesn't know what he is talking about. Trading Lee Evans was just the lastest in the completely idiotic moves this franchise continues to make, over and over. Oh yeah. That's the stuff. Mainline it, baby. Haters hate until it's too late. Nix is in the middle of a rebuild. Like it was said earlier in this post, write this article two years ago or two years from now when the team silll hasn't made the playoffs Don't crap on a team that has yet to play a game. PTR
DrDawkinstein Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Oh yeah. That's the stuff. Mainline it, baby. Haters hate until it's too late. Nix is in the middle of a rebuild. Like it was said earlier in this post, write this article two years ago or two years from now when the team silll hasn't made the playoffs Don't crap on a team that has yet to play a game. PTR Same ol BS from the same ol BS posters with their sad little lives. Im sure Harvey got his morning wood off when he saw this thread.
RyanC883 Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 People still read articles in newspapers? How 1990's. Speaking of crumbling, Sully should look at his paper and his pitiful career! LOL That's right. Sully is an idiot. Everything has been going well the past decade. They have made all the right draft picks, acquired the right FA's, and spent to the cap in an attempt to put forth a winning team that has gone to multiple Super Bowls and won two. Oh wait, sorry, I was talking about the Steelers and what a winning team does. I guess Sully might be rigth after all. How anyone with a sane mind can defend what the Bills do is laughable. Did the Steelers trade Heinz Ward because he was "holding back the development" of Sanders and Brown. No, they kept him around because he still has value, is relatively inexpensive, and can help the young guys out. The trade of Evans was a money-saving joke, just as cutting Handgardner was.
nucci Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 The team has SUCKED for the better part of a decade. Why is it a surprise that Sully has been writing similar columns over that same time period? What exactly do you want him to write? How about the fact that they have attempted to fix the defense by bringing in better players and the D have showed in the preseason that it should be improved? If you can't be optimistic right before opening day, what the hell else do you have? Some of you here are so miserable it is really sad.
RyanC883 Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Oh yeah. That's the stuff. Mainline it, baby. Haters hate until it's too late. Nix is in the middle of a rebuild. Like it was said earlier in this post, write this article two years ago or two years from now when the team silll hasn't made the playoffs Don't crap on a team that has yet to play a game. PTR You don't "rebuild" by trading a top WR for a 4th round draft pick, and by cutting an average OL when you lack depth at that position, particularly when you have no viable backup. Explain to me how Nix is "building." This is more of the same old Cheap Ralph, and I bet you were saying "give it more time" when jauron was coaching.
1billsfan Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 I think this first game will give everyone, the pessimists and the optimists, a pretty good indication as to what kind of season the Bills will have. You can not lose to KC and expect a good season. However, if they do win that game this team just might get on a roll. I do have a good feeling about this bunch of guys we have this year. Not sure why, I just do.
RyanC883 Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 How about the fact that they have attempted to fix the defense by bringing in better players and the D have showed in the preseason that it should be improved? If you can't be optimistic right before opening day, what the hell else do you have? Some of you here are so miserable it is really sad. Some people here are realistic, not miserable. I'm ready to see some improvement on the defensive side of the ball. But to say the Bills are a competitent organization and that Sully is wrong for holding their feet to the fire is a mistake.
LabattBlue Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 How about the fact that they have attempted to fix the defense by bringing in better players and the D have showed in the preseason that it should be improved? If you can't be optimistic right before opening day, what the hell else do you have? Some of you here are so miserable it is really sad. A decade of terrible football is supposed to be washed away by a couple of quarters of preseason football, and a guy who hasn't been the same since he got off the juice? Excuse me if I wait a game or two before becoming optimistic that this team is heading in the right direction.
Jauronimo Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Seriously - can't we give guys more than one year before we call them failures or label them busts? I just don't get it I guess... Loser mentality. We get what we accept. If we're ok with a 3-5 year rebuild, thats exactly what we will get. If instead we say, "One year. Super Bowl or you're fired, Pro Bowl or you're cut," then thats what we will get. Of course it might not happen this year, or maybe not next year, or even the year after that, or it might even take 10 years or longer, but it takes time and eventually we will win the Super Bowl! To hell with patience!
Mr. WEO Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Unless the Evans trade was a conspiracy one FULL year in the making, to assume anything else is strictly conjecture. Gailey spent the better part of a year saying...PUBLICLY...SEVERAL times...that he wasn't satisfied with this element of Evans game (or lack there of). Links?
RuntheDamnBall Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 You gotta realize that if the Bills turn out to be any good, Jerry isn't going to have anything to talk about. So, it's understandable that he's banking on their failure. It's certainly allowed him to maintain a career, to locate easy copy, and to attract attention to himself, whether he holds any insight or not. OTOH, I thought Mark Gaughan's roster article was, as usual, very good. Here's a guy who actually gives you some football information, some things that can help the casual fan understand the game better. Complain all you want about how bad the drafts were the past decade. We all have. If they had just been in full-on "admitting mistakes" mode and cutting every draft pick that didn't fit here, without any upgrades, that would be a problem. But I see them losing a high pick like Poz and bringing in a better fit in Barnett at half the price. I see them taking good risks with playmakers like Merriman. I see them being entirely dissatisfied with the dismal run D and shoring it up with four new players in the front 7 to complement a Pro Bowler in Williams and a few other steady hands. The Bills are making the kind of FA moves that a team like Pittsburgh or the Patriots made over the past decade. Can they attract the top shelf FA talent like Clabo (and like the Patriots are now able to)? Obviously not, yet. But are they getting a lot of above-average talent to buy into a team mentality? It sure seems that way. They obviously have a lot of work to do with the offensive line - even if this group turns out to exceed expectations, the lack of experience at the depth positions is very frightening. But I have faith that regardless of how tied his hands may be, Nix (and Whaley) are doing everything they can to make this team better and to fit into a future of sustained success with this team. Even the Evans move (one I didn't agree with) seems to fit into that, as they see who among the current crop of WRs has the chops to be a long-term starter. Let Jerry hate. It's a whole lot easier than writing the kind of article Gaughan has shared with us. Mind you, Gaughan's article is not any sort of Pollyanna forecast. He still sees 6-10. But his evaluations are measured, and not of the knee-jerk variety.
Heitz Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Loser mentality. We get what we accept. If we're ok with a 3-5 year rebuild, thats exactly what we will get. If instead we say, "One year. Super Bowl or you're fired, Pro Bowl or you're cut," then thats what we will get. Of course it might not happen this year, or maybe not next year, or even the year after that, or it might even take 10 years or longer, but it takes time and eventually we will win the Super Bowl! To hell with patience! Are you familiar with the Buffalo Bills career of Eric Moulds? At the end of two years he would have been run out-of-town, but I guess there was no Internet back then...
hondo in seattle Posted September 8, 2011 Posted September 8, 2011 Well DUH. He's only a little late on this. It's not crumbling, it's already crumbled and is on its way to being built. +1
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