This season has brought on more emotions about this team than I care to admit.  There have been pleasant surprises, some unfortunate demises and a lot of questions being answered so far this year. Through 9 games it is pretty evident what works and what doesn't. However, moreso than any other season in the past 10 years, I have felt that this team is heading in an upward direction.

 I can't remember a year where I can narrow down the primary needs to two things. Usually everyone is clamoring for 4 or 5 different primary needs. While it certainly will take at least two more offseasons to sure up the team as a whole and create the depth needed to make a deep playoff run, this team is only a couple of players and moves away. A couple upgrades and a couple moves will take this team from "feel good surprise team" to "team on the rise and looks to be for a while"

By no means am I an in depth analyzer like some of our exceptional staff on the site, so I claim to not be an authority on all things schematic or personell. However, this year, some things need to be said about this team. And I shall categorize them via one of my favorite westerns.

The Good

These are obvious and I won't spend time elaborating:

Fred Jackson, Marcell Dareus, Nick Barnett, Overall team attitude

Surprisingly pleasant:

Is it me or is Jairus Byrd exceptionally good? For someone that people questioned his ability to tackle, all I see is excellent run support and ability to tackle. Not to mention his ability in coverage and a threat to QBs. I hope he continues to grow and stays a Bill a very long time.

David Nelson - I thought last year showed promise. This year he has proved to be a solid player and a red zone threat. Tall young player that hopefully can continue to grow to become a force on offense.

Chan Gailey has shown that you can take a bunch of mid level players and turn them into a good group with the right scheme. Now if only he had a group of guys who are highly athletic as well as skilled....

The Bad

This team's pass rush is so incredibly bad that drastic measures should be taken. I know this will come under heavy fire, but if the 3-4 is to remain the base defense then trading Kyle Williams for a pass rusher should be considered. KW is out of place in a 3-4 and a player that comes in and picks up 10-12 sacks a year will negate the loss of our beloved Meatball. I would consider Mathias Kiwanuka from the Giants. Super athletic, young, smart and versatile. Would be an every down player and Fewell knows what he gets with KW. Win-Win in my eyes

A #2 receiver is of importance for this team in order to let the rest of the offense shine. A guy with deep speed will do wonders for this team. I mentioned in a previous post, but Robert Meachem is a FA at the end of the year and would be a fine addition to this offense. Deep speed with good hands will allow Chan to play around more with the scheme and open everyone up to play to max production.

The Ugly

Drayton Florence is has more ups and downs than a Shawne Merriman achilles tendon. I suppose you have to take the good (Pats game) with the bad (Giants game), but it sure is ugly.

Lack of consistency: This team needs to come into every game just as amped as they were for the Patriots game. The Jets game felt flat and unmotivated. And the first drive absolutely killed the mood in last week's game. The Ravens and Steelers always, always, always come into every game with an energy and confidence that that day is theirs. The Bills need to maintain the confidence from the beginning of the year and plow forward if they want to be recognized as a worthy opponent

My face if the Dolphins land Andrew Luck.

I thought this might have been a tad long for the comment section. And I also did not read the comments as I do not have time to read 500 of them

Brian, I understand your concern about not entirely addressing major needs in this draft. But what I think needs to be brought up is not only what your title suggests, "team-building" philosophy, but more importantly what the "football philosophy" will be for this team next year and more likely the next 2 to 3 years. 

In the past 2 years we are 2-10 in the AFC East. The Pats obviously have our number in all facets of the game (note that their #1 receiver is out for the year though), but consider that the Jets have the #1 rushing team in the league  and the Dolphins have a formidable two headed rushing attack (and a green QB). If the Bills want to be "respectable" they HAVE to stop the run in 2010. And to be a better offensive team, you need to establish the run. Obviously, these two things were addressed heavily in the draft. Also to be considered is that this blueprint is the easiest to put into effect with a team that is as bad as the Bills. And Nix and Gailey have done a damn good job of that so far. 

The groundwork has been laid to build on this draft class. If successful in 3 of these picks or more we will have addressed at least 1 and more likely 2 of our major needs. 

While I agree that not having a franchise QB and a LT will cause this team to spin it wheels, I also believe that we will have upgraded in a number of other spots and successfully transitioned our defense to a 3-4 in a year. Yes we need to address the pass rush, but perhaps Dick Jauron did that for us in last years draft with Maybin. I am pretty much considering Maybin a rookie this year as well. 

Unfortunately, I think the Bills' record will dip in 2010, but that doesn't mean that they are not progressing necessarily. This team is going in a different direction from years past and it is going to take a few years to reap the rewards. Nix is on the ball and I think next year, QB will be priority 1, 2 and 3. Get the guy that is going to be here for years to come no matter the price. 

I have read a lot of articles and fanposts on this site regarding what everyone thinks should be the process of making this team better. I never had plans to create a plan for myself seeing as how it in no way shape or form will come to fruition exactly the same way. But, work is light and I am bored.

My process is to take all the info that I've read here and ideas that people have thrown out there and combine them with mine. There are a ton of great ideas floating around this website (and an equal amount of not so good ones).

Nix wants to build this team through the draft and the best way to do that is accumulate more picks in order to facilitate a fast recovery from this playoff drought. And kaisertown's excellent article this morning gives me hope that Nix can draft for another big hole later in the draft. (O-line)

We are in a very good position to trade down a little bit and pick up a glaring need. Trading down to 15 with the Giants (who now have a huge hole at LB) will put us in good poisition to draft Dan Williams and net us a pick later in the draft. Say a 3rd round pick. I think we can package Schobel and Kyle Williams to a team like NO for there third (maybe second?) round pick. From here the Bills have 5 picks in the first 3 rounds. Getting your franchise NT fixes a very large gap in what our D will look like this year. Then with the second round pick on through picking the best available player on the O-line and D front seven would really bolster our lines.

We are a LT (draft pick), a good development (Bell at RT), and a rehabilitation (Wood) away from having a good line. Not great but definitely good.

I am not a huge fan of drafting a QB late in the draft unless the value exceeds the potential of drafting anyone else at that pick. I think we can go one year with the guys we have and draft our guy in 2011. With that said, the Bills HAVE to select their guy next year doing whatever it takes.

As far as FA, i think this is the place to go out and bolster our depth and maybe get a LB that can fit in our system. Either rotational or starter.

That's just some of my thoughts and I wanted to get them down in writing. Enjoy, rip, whatever, thanks.

Now that the Bills have cleaned house with coaches and staff (and hopefully modrak and guy), it is time to focus on what players will not make it through the regime change.

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I have a couple of questions and maybe a few intriguing things to ponder. With the off-season rapidly approaching I have a few questions about the Bills financial situation.

a) How much money do the Bills have in regards to the salary cap? 

b) Are the Bills still spending under the "cash to the cap" philosophy?

c) What contracts are coming off the books next year?

d) When are our big contracts going to be up?

e) Are these types of questions going to be unanswered because the Bills franchise doesn't let anyone know of these things?

I ask these questions because I am interested in why the Front Office doesn't pay the good players that the Bills develop, and let go. Was it unreasonable (financially) to resign players like Pat Williams and Antoine Winfield to extensions? I know Clements was asking for the moon and the Bills couldn't afford it. But guys like Jabari Greer, London Fletcher and others asking for too much? 

I am just throwing this out there, but if we had re-signed Jabari Greer, would it be significantly more than paying Florence and Corner combined and keeping Yobouty as the 4th CB? 

I am not from the area and I don't read the Buffalo news, I am just trying to get a read on the financial situation with the Bills. I want to know if Wilson is being frugal or if there is a legitimate concern regarding funds with this franchise. Help a brother out. Thanks for the feedback in advance!

I was wondering what everyone's general feeling is towards ESPN AFC East blogger Tim Graham were. Before I started reading this blog religiously I was mostly on buffalobills.com and his blog. And since bb.com doesn't give a lot of interesting articles just mainly frivolous news, I would go to Graham. It seems to me that he generally doesn't like the Bills or Buffalo  that much. On occasion he will write a really nice piece on a player. Thats when he isn't trying to be Bill Simmons with terrible jokes and references, or making fun of how bad our offensive line is and how many penalties we've committed.  Your thoughts on him please!

Amid the heartbreaks and idiocy that we Bills fan have endured the past 10 plus years, there is one aspect that remains hidden from debates.  One thing that has been overlooked among all the calls for new management and firings.  It is something we look at each week and acknowledge, however it is just a passing glance. All the while chalking it up to bad luck.

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