What do we need to address in the draft?

[Frez]

Honestly it may not be a bad a idea for this time to take an O lineman with every pick

815189[/snapback]

 

 

Our D line needs a big run stopper in the middle.

[JStranger76]

Good list GuessWho'sBack21. Add CB to that list too. Even if we don't lose Clements we could use one more.

[Steven in MD]

Even if Thomas was gone by the time we are on the clock...I love the depth at oline this year. Jake Long, Sam Baker, Justin Blalock(althought im skeptical of taking another longhorn OL so early :\ )

814733[/snapback]

Aaron Sears from Tenn looks like he has that nasty streak and leadership we need on the OL

[tennesseeboy]

Probably consider trading down and getting three linemen in the first two rounds. Between that and free agency we should be able to address the trenches. Depending on the season the only position other than line I would address might possibly be quarterback.

[Gordio]

Yes. Calvin Johnson/Joe Thomas. I'd select either of those. If by some chance they are both gone, I'd go with Quinn or Troy Smith.

I'd prefer Johnson/Thomas.

 

Now, if we select Thomas, I'm all for picking Brian Leonard from Rutgers with our 2nd pick. This dude is a monster (picture Mike Alstott plus the elusiveness shiftiness of Tiki Barber). He might project as a FB because of his size, but trust me, this dude can run, catch, and BLOCK. He may even go in the first round.

814732[/snapback]

 

 

I agree with you on Leonard. The guy is a monster. I bet alot of college football, & I have made so much money on rutgers this year. I probably have watched 5 of their games this year. It is crazy, but the way their schedule plays out, if they could get by Lousville in 3 weeks(I think they are at home) they maybe 11-0 going into the finally dec 2 against west virginia who could also be 11-0 if they get by louisville. How crazy would that be?

[ganesh]

I have been so sick of the offensive incapability of this team for years. They have struggled to put on 20 points on the board game-in game-out........What I want is to pick 4 OL who can start right off the bat, so that at least we can score 30 points in games and get entertained even if the defense ends up being porus....

 

At least seeing the offense run up and down the field rather than punting on after every single 3rd and long will give me some joy and hope to build for the future.

 

I would rather see us losing 36-32 rather than 28-6........I enjoyed the steelers loss last week at Atlanta when the two teams combined for close to 900 yards of offense......for almost 10 years we have not seen that kind of performance

on the field here in buffalo. Bledsoe gave us a ray of hope only to falter......

[silvermike]

I can't believe people are still dazzled by a skill-position player like Calvin Johnson - yes he might be great, but it don't matter if you can't protect the quarterback! Randy Moss is a great wide receiver. Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin are great wide receivers. Terrell Owens is a great wide receiver. Roy Williams is a great wide receiver. Andre Johnson is a great wide receiver. They can tear up secondaries and do everything else that we can reasonably expect from Calvin Johnson.

 

They're 8-24 together on the year. None of them have an offensive line that matters. When you have a great offensive line, a border-line talent like Randle-El or Deion Branch can look like a superstar. If you have an offensive line, you can pile on Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and be a team of superstars. Draft for the lines.

[Bflojohn]

Disclaimer: I'm NOT a Wolverines fan, however, I'd take a good look at Jake Long, OLT in the first round along with Leon Hart, CB. I'd also look at Alan Branch, DT very closely too! Then pray that LaMarr Woodley, DE is around in round two (highly unlikely though!). They have a wealth of talent on that team and David Harris is a stud at ILB. There are other schools and players, but Michigan has a loaded roster of fine football talent available, IMO. I would trade myself into at least two of these players myself... winning program and a history of producing good Pros.

[IBTG81]

I agree with you on Leonard.  The guy is a monster.  I bet alot of college football, & I have made so much money on rutgers this year.  I probably have watched 5 of their games this year.  It is crazy, but the way their schedule plays out, if they could get by Lousville in 3 weeks(I think they are at home) they maybe 11-0 going into the finally dec 2 against west virginia who could also be 11-0 if they get by louisville.  How crazy would that be?

815273[/snapback]

 

I think it's going to happen.

Who would have ever thought just 4 years ago that's someone could even have a conversation about this?

I saw tickets being scalped for as much as a thousand bucks a pop for the Louisville game!

[toomany37]

I think it's going to happen.

Who would have ever thought just 4 years ago that's someone could even have a conversation about this?

I saw tickets being scalped for as much as a thousand bucks a pop for the Louisville game! 

816361[/snapback]

would really like to c buffalo go for an OL in the first round but if they decide on a QB they might want to take a close look at brady quinn from notre dame he will be the best QB in the draft just my opinion in the first round

[Orton's Arm]

would really like to c buffalo go for an OL in the first round but if they decide on a QB they might want to take a close look at brady quinn from notre dame he will be the best QB in the draft just my opinion in the first round

817511[/snapback]

Welcome to the boards. Some people around here seem to feel that if the offensive line is a need--and it clearly is--QB can't possibly be a need too. Expect to hear a little criticism from such people, even despite what you said about wanting OL.

 

As for myself, I'd welcome the Bills taking a QB in the first round, at least if I thought he'd be a quality starter for the next ten years.

[Dibs]

Welcome to the boards. Some people around here seem to feel that if the offensive line is a need--and it clearly is--QB can't possibly be a need too. Expect to hear a little criticism from such people, even despite what you said about wanting OL.

 

As for myself, I'd welcome the Bills taking a QB in the first round, at least if I thought he'd be a quality starter for the next ten years.

817520[/snapback]

That sounds a little bit like sour grapes HA. The arguments for seeing if JP pans out are logical & sound. If he proves beyond much doubt by end of season that he just won't make it.....or if he has a major injury, obviously we will be looking at QB(again) in the draft.....until either of those occur, to say we need a new QB right now is emotional, reactionary & simply premature.

[Dibs]

......at least if I thought he'd be a quality starter for the next ten years.

817520[/snapback]

But there's the rub......

20 years of top ten flops....or a look at highly rated QB mediocrity

#1 Vinny Testaverde

#6 Kelly Stouffer

#1 Jeff George

#7 Andre Ware

#6 David Klingler

#2 Rick Mirer

#3 Heath Shuler

#6 Trent Dilfer

#2 Ryan Leaf

#1 Tim Couch

#3 Akili Smith

#1 David Carr(???)

#3 Joey Harrington

#7 Byron Leftwich(???)

 

WOW thats a list of 14 busts(including the ???)

 

In the same 20 years there has only been 8 QBs taken in the top 10 of the draft that have produced.....(Interestingly only Aikman & Dilfer have won the SB out of all the top 10 QBs selected in the last 20 years)

#1 Troy Aikman

#1 Drew Bledsoe

#3 Steve McNair

#5 Kerry Collins

#1 Peyton Manning

#2 Donovan McNabb

#1 Michael Vick

#1 Carson Palmer

E.Manning, Rivers, A.Smith, Young & Leinart are all too early to tell(notice 2 are in the same year as JP)

 

Please.....anybody.....somebody.....explain to me why we should give up on JP now & assuming we get a top 10 pick.....why should we invest it into a QB???

[Orton's Arm]

That sounds a little bit like sour grapes HA.  The arguments for seeing if JP pans out are logical & sound.  If he proves beyond much doubt by end of season that he just won't make it.....or if he has a major injury, obviously we will be looking at QB(again) in the draft.....until either of those occur, to say we need a new QB right now is emotional, reactionary & simply premature.

817522[/snapback]

My post did, in fact, say that we need to look at whatever Losman's done by the end of this season in deciding whether to take a QB in the draft. Mostly, I was addressing the tactic of some Losman supporters to say things like "You're a moron. Can't you see how bad the offensive line is? Why on earth do you think the quarterback is the problem with this offense when the line can't run block or pass protect?"

 

My response to this is to say, yes, I see the Bills have a bad line. We've had a bad line for about the last ten years. We've also had bad QBs for years: Todd Collins, Billy Joe Hobart, Rob Johnson, Alex Van Pelt, Drew Bledsoe, and now Losman. Will Losman become more than a bad QB by the end of the season? I guess we'll see.

[MDH]

Mostly, I was addressing the tactic of some Losman supporters to say things like "You're a moron. Can't you see how bad the offensive line is? Why on earth do you think the quarterback is the problem with this offense when the line can't run block or pass protect?"

818046[/snapback]

 

I've seen plenty of people say it's tough to grade a QB when the line is horrible but I have yet to see anything comparable to what you say "Losman supporters" are saying. Are you simply taking one person's paraphrase and attributing it to all "Losman supporters" (whatever-the-f that means)? You seem to have a tendency to take the most reactionary posters on the board and instead of just attributing it to those posters trying to make it sound like everybody who wants to give Losman a chance is being this ridiculous.

[Dante]

Probably consider trading down and getting three linemen in the first two rounds.  Between that and free agency we should be able to address the trenches. 

815226[/snapback]

Gee thats the way I think as well. I thought I was the only one and would'nt really have the nerve to post it here. I always thought that if we had a top 5 pick I would gladly trade it for a couple lower #1s or a #1 and a 2nd pick or something.

[/dev/null]

Can we draft a new Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator?

[Dibs]

.....We've had a bad line for about the last ten years.......

818046[/snapback]

Just nit picking here but the 2004 OL wasn't too bad at all. I don't think it could be considered 'good'....but it certainly wasn't considered bad that year. I'd say last year was perhaps the worst. Going back ten years though, I'm sure most of those years we've had at least an average OL......Fina & Brown IMO were under appreciated while at Buffalo. That seems to me to be a bit of a trend here....we look at our decent players & say...."well they're not as good as.....", & we want to replace them. WM is a good example of this.

[Orton's Arm]

I've seen plenty of people say it's tough to grade a QB when the line is horrible but I have yet to see anything comparable to what you say "Losman supporters" are saying.  Are you simply taking one person's paraphrase and attributing it to all "Losman supporters" (whatever-the-f that means)?  You seem to have a tendency to take the most reactionary posters on the board and instead of just attributing it to those posters trying to make it sound like everybody who wants to give Losman a chance is being this ridiculous.

818052[/snapback]

I wasn't trying to say that most Losman supporters are like this. And I suppose it's easy to overestimate the number of unreasonable Losman supporters, because they're often the ones who post the most.

[Orton's Arm]

Just nit picking here but the 2004 OL wasn't too bad at all.  I don't think it could be considered 'good'....but it certainly wasn't considered bad that year.  I'd say last year was perhaps the worst.  Going back ten years though, I'm sure most of those years we've had at least an average OL......Fina & Brown IMO were under appreciated while at Buffalo.  That seems to me to be a bit of a trend here....we look at our decent players & say...."well they're not as good as.....", & we want to replace them.  WM is a good example of this.

818126[/snapback]

I'll give you that the offensive line played pretty well for the second half of 2004. In the first half it was . . . well, let's just call it a work in progress.

 

I do take issue with your statement that "most of those years we've had at least an average OL." Take Fina for example. I remember hearing about how the Bills used a rating service for its own players. Fina's rating was mentioned, which I think was like 20th or 24th best LT in the league. Somewhere in there. Maybe he was average or better in his prime, but that was a long time ago.

 

You mention Brown, and that's fair enough. But he was only one guy. If you look at the Bills' line from center on over, you had players like Ostrosky, Lacina, Nails, Louchiey. You had them starting.

 

So the Bills' line generally had a below average LT, a good RG, and lots of backup-quality players and turnover at the other three positions. Not exactly a recipe for success.