My wife and I live in St Louis, but we've made it down to KC for this matchup that last few years, and it would be cool to meet up with a fellow rumbler or two, if only for a brief Bills-centric meet & greet.  I have attached a poll below to get an official head count.  I'm only on here periodically, so if anyone's interested please leave a comment indicating said interest so we can exchange contact info and what not. 

I'm so glad this happened finally.  This has renewed my faith in the CHIX regime.  It was time to give him the axe.  You know Evans was discreetly doing an Irish jig when this occured.  My whole thing is, Edwards had completely lost the confidence of his teammates well before this season began.  I think his teammates probably saw this coming based on his all-too established precedent of folding under pressure.  The first 5 games of 2008 were just an aberration.  I've wanted so long for him to prove to me that that stretch of solid games was truly indicative of his future performance, but it wasn't and it isn't.  He's a schlub on the football field, plain and simple. 

The man's got all the talent in the world, but no leadership whatsoever.  The sad thing is, he legitimately earned the job throughout the whole offseason, only to revert right back to his prior tendencies.  I hope he's starting for Jacksonville when we play them, because he has absolutely no chip on his shoulder, so that oughta be a guaranteed victory. 
Brohm may or may not be the future, but at least he's an unknown quantity.  Also, in the admittedly very few snaps I've seen of him, he seems to have considerably more pocket presence, which is certainly what Edwards was sorely lacking. 

Edwards just seemed to epitomize the futility of Bills football in the 2000s.  He's got all the talent in the world, but he's just a losing player.  After having seen him over these past few years, I'm convinced that he is definitely not an NFL caliber starting quarterback.  I don't think a change of scenery will make much difference because he just is what he is.

Please feel free to take your parting shots or give your love to the dearly departed in the comments, and if you like what I've got to say, please REC this.

I'm going to start this mind-dump of sorts by saying that I absolutely loved our draft.  I was not sold on any other quarterback in this draft class other than Bradford or Tebow being a reasonable option for a true face of the franchise.  To me, Claussen's skills were pretty redundant considering what we'll be taking to the offseason programs with Brohm, Edwards, and to a much lesser extent Fitz.  I respect the shotgun approach in regards to a QB competition, but to me a second round pick was too high for a guy I didn't view Jimmy Claussen as making sense at that spot in the draft.  I certainly see McCoy as nothing more than a future decent backup.  Levi Brown is a very good value where we got him.  Everyone was talking up LeFeavour, but I watched a great deal of that bowl game between WMU and Troy and Brown outplayed LeFeavour for the bulk of that game and has shredded some pretty good SEC and Big Ten defenses. 

Brohm has/had arguably better overall tools and intangibles coming out of college than Claussen.  There were no questions of his leadership and he operated Bobby Petrino's pro-style offense to perfection at Louisville.  I have faith that OBD will get this one right, and if he turns out to be as advertised coming out, that will be an amazing story for the Bills.  We've been bereft of such good fortune for over a decade, and I'd say we're long overdue for some good juju. 

Like it or not, this rebuilding will be a stepwise process.  Therefore, it behooves CHIX to stick to their draft board and take the BPA.  They got solid to spectacular value with arguably all of their draft picks.  That's more than a lot of teams can say (JAX, I'm looking at you).  Also, we only had one draft pick per round in the "impact" rounds, so there wasn't a lot of room to maneuver.  We were in need of quantity and quality and seemed to have some pretty solid value and requisite upside.  Obviously, CHIX felt good with what we had at certain positions of clear need.  Demetrius Bell was thrown into the fire a year early with as much turmoil as possible about a week before the season began, and performed accordingly.  The tools are there and hopefully Meredith can provide some solid competition at left tackle.  Remember, we only saw our season starting OL play for about 6 quarters last year with that no-huddle offense, but it looked pretty functional in the Pats game.

My overall theory is, Gailey can likely get league average QB play out of what we have.  We can probably stow Brown on the practice squad, or perhaps he could edge out Edwards as the 3rd QB if Brohm wins the job and Fitz is the backup.  If Brohm isn't the answer at the end of the year, we'll obviously have a top 10 draft pick to select from a much better crop of QB's anyway with Luck, Locker, and Mallett coming out. 

Make no mistake about it, our team got much better over this past weekend.  We've got some keystones for that 3-4 front to add to what we had already.  We're returning a very deep and talented secondary.  I'm actually rather bullish on this team if they can stay relatively healthy at some key areas, we can win 6-8 games and show legitimate progress.  That's all I can really ask for at this stage in the rebuilding process.  I'm not going to put a poll on here, but I'm hoping this makes sense to anyone else but me.  Let the discussion begin.

I was going to post this on the Claussen highlight video thread, but I really think it needed to be a fanpost to be heard properly.  I do want to state that I do not mean this as an anti-Claussen rant.  It is really more of my feeling why taking him at #9 might not be the best way to rebuild the team. 

As a quick sidebar.  I didn't see anywhere in that video that he scrambled to his left and threw.  That might not seem significant, but if that's really an indicative tendency of his, defenses are going to key in and make it very hard on him.  For a highlight reel, I didn't come away incredibly impressed.  He made some nice throws, but he seemed too quick to get out of a reasonably clean pocket.  There again, that's a potentially hazardous tendency that'll have to be corrected.  From what Sportscenter highlights I saw, he seemed to have some late game heroics in his favor, so I commend him on that.  I can buy the argument that he's as close to a franchise QB as you're going to find, sans Bradford, in this draft.  I just intend to argue in favor of a guy currently on our roster who possesses every physical tool that Claussen can boast and (in college) virtually every intangible for which Claussen is currently being questioned.

  Had Brian Brohm come out after his junior year there would be no knock on his intangibles and leadership.  The whole program had a down year his senior year, which affected his draft stock, as often seems to be the case with players finishing out school.  It's always an injury or adverse circumstances that make it play out that way.  The thing is, there's nothing not to like from pretty much any tangible standpoint with Brohm in my eyes.  You really can't get a sense of intangible traits until he gets on the football field in actual non-exhibition games.  I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that the 2 years in GB were an aberration.  There have been plenty of young QBs that have lit it up throughout the preseason and never amounted to anything and the exact opposite with someone being ho-hum during the preseason and lighting it up when the games actually count.  I really think we're selling ourselves potentially very short by taking a QB this early.

I can understand a talented late rounder such as Snead, Brown, Lefeavour, Pike, etc, as the eventual replacement for Trent Edwards.  I'm totally on board with that because it could pay dividends down the road in the form of draft picks or contract leverage.  However, I think it's more prudent for CHIX to see what is under the hood of Brian Brohm in OTAs and address the trenches in the early rounds.  If we have a LT and NT that we can count on, that will make it that much easier on the QB next year.  Who's to say how productive that offense would've been had our original configuration along the OL stayed in tact for the most part.

What do we currently know about Brian Brohm? He's got one NFL start behind a stellar OL that featured Andre Ramsey and Kirk Chambers as its bookends.  He had a few weeks to learn the offense and 3 days to gain a rapport with his receivers and gameplan.  Guess what.  Even with all of those adverse circumstances working against him, he played pretty darn well.  Couple that with the fact that TO was phoning it in at that point (he really should've caught that intercepted ball for a TD), and I'd say he acquitted himself admirably.  We need to find out clearly what we have and fix what we know is certainly in need of fixing (OL, front seven).  If Brohm isn't the answer, then there's a much better crop of potential franchise QBs next year that we'll likely have a shot at as a result.

Sorry had to get that off my chest, and yes, I am blogging this on the toilet in case you wanted to know. 

Everyone seems to be so dead set on getting Bulaga at # 9, but I'm going to be a little more creative putting on my GM hat, so please indulge me.  Our needs are various at key spots on the football field, and it's obvious we need as large an influx of talent as possible.  The first thing I intend to do leading up to draft day is get a deal in place to bring Jarrod Gaither to Buffalo.  I believe he'd be available for less than his first round tender, so I would first offer our 2nd rounder to see if they bite.  If that's not going to seal the deal I would throw in a 2011 conditional 4th rounder depending on the amount of starts he makes in 2010 for us.  He's more a proven commodity than any OT that's going to be available to us at # 9 and still has upside to spare. 

Having addressed our most glaring need prior to the draft without giving up our first rounder, I am going to trade down to 15 with the Giants picking up extra 3rd and 4th rounders in the process.  It would also be feasible to stay at 9 to take Dan Williams to fill our NT need, which I wouldn't have a problem with.  I just think we could still get a stud pass rusher at 15 and use those extra picks to trade back into the 2nd to get our NT (Thomas, Cody).  This scenario is also based on both QBs being gone at 9. 

To sum this up, we got our LT, NT, and a stud pass rusher while still adding picks to fill out the rest of the depth on our football team via the extra picks acquired.  It may be a pie in the sky dream on my part, but I don't think it's too Madden-esque in terms of the way it played out.  I'm going to put a poll on here to get everyone's opinion, but it's hard for me to see anyone being vehemently against what I've layed out here.  We could also theoretically trade back up in the 2nd to get Tebow, but if both 1st round QBs are gone, then it seems like this is the ideal scenario (titular line).

Whadaya think?

Let me preface this post with the fact that I'm a huge IL fan, so I have the frustrating pleasure of watching the up and down thrill ride that was the development of Juice.  He is however a monster of an athlete and will be available late in the draft.  If there was ever anyone more prototypical for the wildcat formation, I have yet to see them.  He's a 230+ monster with RB speed and serious power as a runner.   He's actually got good size 6'2'' 230+ lbs.  I would be ecstatic if we got him as a 6th or 7th round pick.  He's got a gun for an arm so you would have to respect the pass aspect of the wildcat.  He could even potentially be a short yardage/goal line back.  Basically, he'd potentially be a very useful football player that is not getting a whole lot of pub so is likely to slip quite a bit.  I figure for a team with no QB that absolutely has to stay on the field at all times, we could make judicious use of the wildcat formation.  He's a much better fit for it all around than Pat White will ever be.  Let me know what you think.
 

First of all, in regards to the Incognito fanpost earlier, I couldn't disagree on the majority assessment more.  While I agree a minimum tender might be worth it, he's quite possibly the most overrated player in the NFL.  I am born and raised in St. Louis and he has been nothing but a headache since he was drafted.  That supposed "meanstreak" he plays with is nothing more than sheer recklessness.  He costs his team victories based on his irrational behavior on the field.  So what if Parcells gets him for nothing, he's not going to make a positive difference to their football team, that I assure you.  He's a schmuck, a patsy, a clod, and pretty much an all-round D-bag.  However, I digress.

I would like to get into the meat and potatoes of my fanpost today.  I am of the opinion that we should sign Jarrod Gaither to an offer sheet.  It would only take our first round pick to get him, and he's only 23 years old with preposterous size (6'-9'' 340 lbs) and already playing close to his peak potential.  It's a forgone conclusion (at least it better be) that we're going to take an OT with our first round pick.  The OT's likely to be available when we pick all have serious, legitimate questions attached to their standings as prospects.  Gaither has a couple years of NFL experience and is on the cusp of being a perennial prowbowler.  This sounds like a good recipe for quickly solving our woes at LT.  Ideally of course, we could wait until draft day and trade down before signing him picking up extra picks in the process, but that's probably more of a high wire act than CHIX would prefer to get involved in. 

I would also like to say that maybe  Chris Gocong might be a viable option for OLB.  He's got a 3rd round tender on him and has long been regarded as being an ideal fit for a 3-4 OLB (6'2'' 263 lbs).  I'm not saying it's a must, but he might be worth it relative to what's going to be available in the 3rd round this year at that position.  Discuss.

I'll start my post of by saying I'll be satisfied with any of the following candidates (in no particular order): 

Marty Schottenheimer (obviously)-  He seems like the perfect marriage for the situation we're in and the strengths he exhibits as a head coach.  He brings instant credibility to our franchise based on his track record that without a doubt is HOF worthy.  He's older, but he's not going to commit to something without putting his full effort into it. 

Brian Billuck-  He has the ring.  He's sure to bring a solid coaching staff with him.  I would be satisfied with this choice.  Coaches are often ruined by the wrong choice of a "franchise" QB.  If Buddy Nix is such a good talent evaluator and ultimately calling the shots on draft day, then we just have to Billieve he'll make the right choice.

Bill Cowher-  Duh!

Russ Grimm-  He comes with a winning pedigree.  I think he'd work wonders with our OL.

Ron Rivera-   I'm still on the fence about him, but he'd probably be an upgrade in defensive philosophy. 

Jim Fassel -  He's had success as a head coach in the toughest media market out there.  He's high on my list based on his QB coaching abilities.  He's also been to a superbowl, which is also a plus.  I'd like to see what he could do with a mix of Jason Campbell, Brian Brohm, and Trent Edwards.  I'd have to figure he could find a competent NFL starter out of that mix.

As I stated before.  I'm fine with any of these coaches.  They all seem to fit the Bill (pun intended) based on what Nix seems to be a proponent of in terms of organizational philosophy.  Let me know what you think of my thought process.  All of these coaches have won far more than any coach we've had in the last 10+ years, so maybe my standards are unusually low at this point.

Regardless of who comes in to run our team next year HC/GM, I would like to see us do a couple things.  If we can trade a lower round draft pick or sign Jason Campbell for a reasonable sum, we could have a competition between him, Brohm, Edwards and eliminate the need to spend our first round pick on a QB.  We could then draft the best available LT and shift Bell over to RT, which I would personally feel fine with him over there.  (These moves are contingent of having all hands on deck come training camp health wise)

This would allow us to shift Butler back into RG, and  Wood could move to center.  That would give us:

Drafted LT --- -Levitre/ LG ----- Wood/ C------ Butler/ RG ------- Bell/ RT 

Depth:  T:  Scott, Meredith, Chambers

Depth G/C:  Hang, Incognito, Simmons

With that mix in training camp, I feel we could field a good core of quality OL depth.  This is the most pressing need on our team.  I'm not saying we couldn't still spend a 2nd rounder on a Tony Pike or someone if the right value is there.  If we got the second LT on the board as well as an impact LB type in the 2nd round (Sean Weatherspoon is who I'd like), you'd have to like our chances.  I don't think any QB is going to be there in the first round where we're likely to be picking that would really improve our team enough now to warrant taking him.  I also don't think that we as a fanbase are ready for another 2-3 year project that it might take with a supposed frachise QB in the first round.  I just think with the improved OL you could find a quality NFL QB out of Campbell, Edwards, and Brohm.  I've always thought Campbell has gotten a bad reputation playing with all the turnover at OC.  He's had five or six in the short time he's been in the league.  Let me know what you guys think.

Am I crazy for thinking that if Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to play well down the stretch that he might be a Chad Pennington-esque veteran stopgap while we develop whatever rookie QB is brought in?  He's a cerebral QB in much the same fashion and is still relatively young with a considerably better arm than Pennington ever had.  His bouts with inaccuracy can be cleaned up through proper QB coaching and improved technique.  In no way am I implying that he be considered a franchise QB.  I do think he brings the right mentality and pocket presence to thrive with our current skill position players.  If we can solidify the OL in front of him, there's little reason to believe he couldn't succeed in that role.  This hypothetical is obviously contingent on him playing well and finishing strong the remainder of the season.

 This was originally mean to be an open forum for people to state their opinions on some potential FA's that haven't gotten a lot of consideration from what I've seen. 

What's the aversion to Jermaine Dye being a short-term, incentive-laden option should the primary options (Holliday, Bay) not pan out?  Wasn't he generally pretty productive this year in a similar manner to Ludwick?  I don't think he'd be any worse as our LF than Derosa from a production standpoint. 

Also, let me know what you guys think about these players as potential fits for this team?

Josh Willingham- seems to me like an ideal fit with decent plate discipline and good power.  I think of a higher end projection of what Allen Craig might one day be with Willingham. 

Xavier Nady-  Always seemed to do a number on the Cards.  Plenty of pop when healthy.

Jermaine Dye- maybe on an incentive-laden deal could be useful on the lower end of the spectrum

Austin Kearns- would probably rather see Craig than Kearns.

Mike Cameron- don't think we'll be able to get him to play LF, but you never know.

Jose Contreras- he was throwing gas when the Cards saw him last year.  He's kind of a head case, but to me he's a better option for a potential starter/setup guy than Smoltz

Kiko Calero- his numbers from last year were very encouraging.  I had lost tabs on him out of spite for the Muldie trade.  He's an intriguing option for a dependable strikeout setup guy.

What do you guys think??

This is my first fanpost so excuse me if I somehow miss something schematically here.  I will just preface this by saying that I'm not from Buffalo, have never been to Buffalo, and have no family or close friends from there.  I've just been a fan since the Superbowl days.  I've loved this team ever since then, mostly to my own chagrin. 

In Jauron's tenure here it seemed like we made pretty steady progress over the first two years considering the mess he inherited and the bum of a "franchise" QB.  It seemed last year was when that progress was brought to a screeching halt, and the front office's answer for our offensive woes was to keep the same OC in place.  Now we've since fired him and we seem to be flying by the seat of our pants week to week. 

Almost every week I call into Sirius NFL radio (Pete in MO) and all I hear is how Jauron is such a great human being, but they never seem to have much to expound upon in regards to the quality, or lack thereof, of his coaching.  They always say how hard his players play for him, but after seeing this week's paltry effort, they look very listless and play without a sense of urgency (except a choice few). 

Being a die-hard Bills fan is starting to feel a lot more like it must feel to be a diehard Cubs fan.  It's reaching that level of futility it would seem.  How many more rebuilding years does Ralph have left in him??  Oh boy, I can't wait until some other coach comes in here and cleans house and brings in our 20th OC in the last 10 years it would seem.  I don't look forward to that seemingly inevitable day when we're spoon-fed a bunch more false hope with some Jauron-esque cheap-O head coach.

I'm tired of hearing from my gf, whom I've converted into another diehard, "Why did you do this to me??"  I honestly don't have an answer to that question.  I felt today as if I'd infected her with the ebola virus or something.  I have this sinking feeling that we're going to be 1-4 after next week, which would make me no longer make it out to Ozzie's Bar and Grill for the local Billsbackers get-togethers the rest of the year.  Sorry for the rambling nature of my rant, but I had to get that off my chest.