So I had a quick thought and I wanted to share. I really feel the defensive front seven is now scary, Nix did a good job of building this up. So, my thought is why would he move to building the offense when the D isnt finished. You have a solid group of CB's, but none that really stand out. Awill has the most potential, although Rogers can play, but neither are that shut down CB that gives you that added edge, even with a better pass rush. The safety group is talented but thin, Scott and Wilson are at the end of their prime, and Searcy is unproven, while Byrd is a top tier safety. My thought is that if ODB feels they can get that shutdown corner in the first, with either Gilmore or Dre, then they will do it and finish buildiing the D. More depth at LB and DL is needed, and can be had later int the draft (along with grabbing an OT, QB,and WR) and they could possibly move Mckelvin or Mcgee to a safety position for more depth there. Having Gilmore/Dre, Awill and Rogers as your starting group, with Mckelvin and Dflo as backup and Mcgee being moved to safety. That group added with the front 7 would give us playmakers at every defensive positon, which I think is Nix ultimate goal for re-building this defense. Add depth along the draft, and this defense might be completed after this draft.

I am reading this book by Sal Paolentonio How Football exlplains America. It is a great read and isnt as much of a politocal book as an awesome histroy of the game. Some of the knowledge is interesting, l like how the first superstar of the league was a RB not a QB, or the evolution of the huddle, I pasted a link below to the book on Amazon. I know there are alot of true football fans on this board, and I really think some people might enjoy it. If you do read it please comment as a discussion would be interesting.

If we get a good turnout maybe i'll start a weekly (or monthly depending how busy I am) book discussion.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Football-Explains-America-Paolantonio/dp/1600780466

I did this last year, and my predictions were pretty good. So I figured I will give a 2012 version a try.

Here is the link to my last years predictions, new ones after the jump.

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2011/2/20/2004146/a-few-pre-combine-predictions

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So I was looking at this link, http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/mock , first thing I saw was Rob Rang's pick for the Bills...A solid ILB prospect? It makes no sense. He is a pretty smart buy in grading prospects, but his mocks are off because he doesnt understand the NFL teams needs. With that said, I started to think what if it fell this way and Kuechly was the best pick, would everyone be happy with the pick? At that point I would rather trade down to get Coby Fleener, TE from Stanford who is predicted to go end of the first. Then the other mock draft on the link has Blackmon falling to #8...if that was the case, does anyone think buddy would break his rule and trade up to get this guy? He is a beast of a reciever, and would be the perfect compliment to Steve (although Stevie would prob be the #2 by next year if that was the case). Do you think Buddy is eyeing a WR prospect and maybe is the reason they havent/might not sign Stevie (yes i know they agreed to wait until the end of the year, but i like speculating). Which brings me to the most important question, what is our biggest area of need that has the most talented blue chip player available? Well Areas of great need are OLB/DE(especially someone who can play down in a 4-3 and up in a 3-4, then they could stay on the field at all times), WR, QB, CB, TE. Of those five positions, I think the most talented player that will be available is Dre Kirkpatrick, who played with Kelvin Sheppard and would be a great fit next to Aaron williams and Justin Rogers. Other strong possiblites are QB Ryan Tannenhill and WR Michael Floyd.

I still dont understand how that third down wasnt a catch.  That was a huge play which would of kept our O on the field, the Bills lost what little momentum they had built up after that.  Even after the review, to come back and say that wasnt a catch when it isnt an objective call is simply crazy.  Everyone saw it was, i just hope that ref is docked or the NFL reviews his work.  That was one of the worst calls i have ever seen, right next to the Calvin Johnson TD last year when they said he didnt make a football move.  Those are catches, we all saw it; call it that way.

First off as everyone probably knows, the PS3 is letting you stream Sunday Ticket through your PS3, if you are willing to cough up $330 ( which i am, as a NE resident who never gets to see the BIlls).  

But I was wondering how many of you fellow Rumblers have a PS3, and how many if any are going to get Madden 12?  I think it would be fun to have a Rumblings Bills Tournament, to see who the best Madden Rumbler is.

Is anyone game?  Anyone know the best way to get a list of User names to add?  Would it be okay to just post them here?  Let me know if so, and ill post my name and we can get a Rumbling group going, and a madden tourney to see who the best madden Rumbler is!

NBA Gaurd who used to play CB for UW and was Mr. Football in Washington is apparently asking teams to give him a tryout this year; i heard that and being a Celtics fan and loving this guys attitude i would love to see the Bills give him a shot.  I was wondering what everyone else thought?   our CB group will need help if Florence isnt signed, and i think Nate would make a great Nickel Corner.  he is 5'8 but so most corners do not break six feet, but this guy can jump.  Any Thoughts Rumblers?

ESPN aired the Brady 6 last night, it was an in depth look at the six qb's drafted before him, what they did to get drafted and where they are now.  It was very intersting stuff, for instance Brady ran the worst 40 yard dash any QB ever has.  I doubt most of you watched it, i did as i live with two NE fans.  I would recommend checking it out.  With so many people expressing the need for a QB, and so many of us having our sites set on one guy; this tv special offers really good perspectives on what is needed when drafting a QB, what the teams look for, what they dont.   Steve Marriuci spoke of their selection in the third, Giovanni Carmazzi, and mentioned how his first preseason game was against the Ravens (which that D went on to win the superbowl) and he got his so many times he never recovered mentally, kind of reminded me of Trent.  Dont care what anybody says, but it is very obvious now that the hit against AZ was one of the leading factors in creating trenative checkwards.  It really looked at the mistakes teams make and why, what isnt covered and what should be.  So what I took out of this was that Brady is cocky, and you need to be overly cocky, not concided, to succeed at Quarterback in the NFL.  I guess looking at it now, from that perspective, i see Cam Newton succeding.  I see why Aaron Maybin failed, and will never succeed.  The player needs to have drive, to have fire, the person needs to want it.  Possibly I think in the 2015  draft we are going to see qb's getting cat scanned instead of running a 40.....

I figure that the Bills will go QB or D with the first round, I recently read someone questioning why go DL since they drafted so high last year?  So I thought I would break down the defense to see what would be the logical pick in terms of need meets BPA on the defensive side of the ball.

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I think the CBA will be singed before the draft

I think Newton is the pick at 3.  the time is just right for a franchise caller, and he is the best of the current crop.

i think Lee will get traded.  If Stevie or Roscoe can show they can hold down 1 and 2, with Jones, Nelson, Easley, and Roosevelt, thats a total of 7 viable WR's.   They all cannot make the 53 man; and Lee is the highest paid guy out of them all.  Once the CBA is announced, i can see him being peddled for a pick in turn to possibly sure up the RT, maybe Harris from Den?

I think Kelvin Sheppard will be a Bill.

I think Maybin will get his first sack this year.

I think a team consisting of Cam Newton, CJ Spiller, Steve Johnson, David Nelson, and Marcus Easley will be very very scary in three years.

I think the new jersyes will not be as good as the throwbacks.  there i said it.

So as we near the end of the season, the team needs i saw at the beginning of the season are different than now.  For example, WR dropped of my list of immediate needs, thanks to decent play from the undrafted rookies, and good play by Stevie.  So I thought i would list what i think is the most important needs list in order, and see what people think?  So here we go....

1. DE/OLB pass rush specialist

2. TE

3.SS

4.CB

5.QB

6.OT

7.C

 I think OLB and TE are obvious, as those are the most glaring holes on the team.That said, i dont think the draft should go in this particular order.  To explain a few of my other choices, i dont think we will resign Donte and i would love a SS that can cover a TE, especially with Gronk and Hernandez looking like future studs.  With Mcgee getting old, Mckelvin never coming to fruition, and florence being Jekly and hyde, CB is a must, at least a young corner to start grooming. 

Does anyone know who the top TE is coming out of the draft?  is it the dude from ND, Randolph i think his name is?  Lastly, what do my fellow Rumblers think we need to upgrade to be succesful next season?

The trade reminded me of the Mcgahee trade, except that we have already drafted his replacement.  I remember being a little down, although i knew it was going to happen, as bills rb's always seem to become favorites of mine.  After hearing about the Randy Moss Trade, i do think we got good value for Lynch.  However, the problem with player for picks is that the fans want to know what they get, or at least i do.  Its like finding your christmas present wrapped up in your moms closet in mid november....just dying with anticipation to see whats inside.  With that said, I looked back in time to see who we got with those three picks we recieved for Mcgahee.  Wouldnt you know it....strait out of the Wikipedia....

2007 draft

2008 draft...we apparently gave it back to baltimore, so i cant trace what we actually got...so i copied the next pick which was our 3rd....take it as relevent as you want.

So essentially, we got Trent for Mcgahee.  then picked Marshawn to fill the void.  Hate on the Nix/Gailey duo as much as you want, buy I see things like this as just taking out the trash.  I love Beastmode, and dont think he was trash; but I can see how they are just clearing house and setting a foundation with who they like.  Resigning Kelsey is still a weird move to me, but maybe they need his leadership inhouse for the young players, and this being an uncapped year, they can take most of the hit to his contract this year and not cripple themselves in the future, and keep around a guy who is good for the lockerroom.  i can live with it.  Do youre thing Buddy, do youre thing.  Go Bills!

I was watching ESPN and schefter reported the TE benching, he questioned why they did it so early in the week, giving NE time to prep for him.  It would seem to make more sense to practice with Fitzy all week and name him starter the last minute to throw off NE's gameplan.  Does anyone know if ther are rules to when you have to name your starter?  Just wondering if Gailey and co would have waited before announcing the demotion. 

So It seems the Bills have quite a few options at running back.  Does anyone know a timetable on Marshawn or Freddy?  i havent seen an update on here lately.   I am also curious as to see peoples thoughts on the RB situation.  We have four solid backs, two inbetween tackle bruisers in Lynch and Bell, and two "waterbug" backs in Jackson and Spiller.  Now Spiller and Jackson are different, Spiller will get negative yardage and might hurt a drive; but can sniff out the endzone amazingly.  Jackson on the other hand is the running back comparison to Wes Welker, he can move the chains with the best of them, but just cant seem to break the plane.  The other knock on Jackson is that he was the worst pass blocking RB last year giving up a league worst 7 sacks. 

I see the year panning out with Marshawn getting the majority of the reps, with spiller taking an extended 3rd down back role.  If that happens, what do we do with Freddy?  I almost see the time is right to possibly trade him for pics next year and have Lynch, Bell and spiller; as none of them are older than 24.   Any thoughts?

Rumors that the Bengals are going to cut him, per the CIncy Jungle blog.  WIth our WR core being a little thin, do the bills make a move to pick him up if he is cut?  Gailey and nix said they love big recievers...he fits the bill if healthy.  If they grab him...who doesnt make the roster?  Any change the Dolphins do after trading Camarillo (who was TE's wr in college by the way)?

http://www.cincyjungle.com/2010/8/26/1652280/bob-glauber-bengals-are-ready-to

So to give the free agency/QB talk a rest for a bit...i decided to look up some numbers, to compare the Bills lines from the Mularkey and Jauron Regime, the the winning bills of 90-95.  I took the two most important stats to compare lineman, average yards per rush and total sacks given up.  Granted i did not take into account the amount of penalties, which is a major drawback but a young line will learn with experience.

Year           YPC           Sacks

90                4.3             27

91                4.7             35

92                4.2            29

93                3.5             31

94                3.8             41

95                3.8             32

04               3.9               38

05               3.8               43

06               3.7               47

07               4.0               26

08               4.2               38

09               4.4               46

So The young 09 line (with 91 starts compared to the TN TItans who led the league in rushes per carry had 507 starts) was fifth in the league with 4.4 yards per carry, and only gave up 9 more sacks than our highly priced 08 line; and there were plenty of injuries along the way, losing most of the starters.  The numbers say the BIlls are a good rushing team, but need help in the pass blocking dept, the QB got hit 103 times last year, which was 2nd worse only to the jags.  I know i was trying to get away from Free Agency talk, but que Cornell Green to help out with Butlers loss; Green is a very good pass blocking tackle ( i know the penalties look high, 10 in 8 games, but he had 3 in the first and last games of the season, so you take that out its 4 penalties in six games...not so bad huh), so this could be a good move for some veteran pass blocking tips/ leadership.  If the young guys like bell, wood, and levitre could pick it up, along with a young left tackle in the draft (assuming bell will slide into the right tackle slot in the next few years), the 9 million they spent to sure up this part of the line is well done, for just the experience and tips alone.  I like the move and after some thought into it, i think it is a good step in the right direction.  This is a young, very talented line that could anchor for years to come, with good coaching and smart moves by OBD.  Any thoughts anyone??

Hi Fellow Rumblers...this is my first post here.  I was wondering what people thought the chances are of us landing Troy Smith as he is tendered with a 5th round and the ravens lost their 3rd and  4th picking up Bolding, it seems they are in the market for some pics.  Does anyone think this is plausible, and if so do you think a fifth rounder to bring Smith into compete with TE, Fitzy, and Brohm is worth it?  Gailey likes the moblie QB's and i think smith fits well and has a cannon for an arm.  If i remember right the he was going to win the starting gig in Balt. but got hurt in preseason and Flacco played so good he won the job.  so he has NFL caliber talent, and i read he wants to be traded.  Any thoughts?