The Bills could have made you billieve if...

[HHURRICANE]

The Bills had a chance to make a run this year but it came down to money.

The Bills had to do very little to really make us belive they were on the right track.

What should have happened:

1) You keep Dockery and Peters and focus on center where the problem existed. We could not get any push up the middle. Peters with a camp and pre-season will play fine in 2009. Dockery is what he is but he is still better than what we are getting. We only really needed to focus on getting a better Center in FA, and than draft behind these guys.

2) Draft or trade for your TE. The Bills know it and they have made it obvious that the TE is not on their roster. It's either trade for a Scheffler or get Cook.

3) Resgin Crowell with a two year deal and again draaft behind him.

4) TO was a good move with the above.

The above would have made our draft meaningful.

All we need to do in the off-season was upgrade Center,and resign Crowell.

Our FO is cheap and stupid and none of your arguments make sense unless the Bills have targeted players that are better at the LG, LT and LB position that had been held by the players above.

And don't tell me any rookie is going to come in and play better.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

I knew i forgot something!!

5) Trade Parrish. The Bills actually are figuring out that you don't make the playoffs with emphasis on special teams only.

[kernowboy]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

1) We did focus on Center. We have brought in one of the brightest players who was on another team as depth and had contributed well. We were intelligent not to waste huge amounts on a fading veteran or someone like Brown who'd only played one season at Center but demanded gizzillions.

We also moved on two players that allowed almost 20 sacks last season. You do not reward petulance or poor performance. You do not give in to excessive demands from someone who has only had one very good season, and who metiphorically spat in the face of his team mates and the fans with his greed.

2) We've not had the chance to draft our TE first. Give the front office a chance.

3) Why spend money on an injured player, who's had a history of injuries?

4) Good.

5) You can only trade a player to someone who wants to trade for him. Without Parrish we may have to use starters like McKelvin and McGee and if they get injured on special teams we have a major problem.

[Nighthawk]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

HH...you really need to stop starting these threads...it's making you look ignorant. Wait until after the draft and then if they blow it, you have every reason to rip them. Doing so before you even know how the draft turns out is, well, is ignorant.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

1) We did focus on Center. We have brought in one of the brightest players who was on another team as depth and had contributed well. We were intelligent not to waste huge amounts on a fading veteran or someone like Brown who'd only played one season at Center but demanded gizzillions.

We also moved on two players that allowed almost 20 sacks last season. You do not reward petulance or poor performance. You do not give in to excessive demands from someone who has only had one very good season, and who metiphorically spat in the face of his team mates and the fans with his greed.

2) We've not had the chance to draft our TE first. Give the front office a chance.

3) Why spend money on an injured player, who's had a history of injuries?

4) Good.

5) You can only trade a player to someone who wants to trade for him. Without Parrish we may have to use starters like McKelvin and McGee and if they get injured on special teams we have a major problem.

Hangartner had 5 years to be a starter in Carolina and only got those chances when people got injured. I will say that I've heard good things so let's wait and see.

Dockery is certainly up for much debate and if the Bills we are getting rid of him to bring in or promote _________ than I would feell okay with this move.

Subtracting your best player from the roster never is a good thing so try and clump Peters with Dockery. The guy came in without a camp and played next to a guy that is obvioulsy only as good as the players around him.

Crowell was the best FA at LB out there and he was a Bill. His injury was not that bad and it's a very easy fix. There is no reason to believe that he didn't recover and he's been a healthy player his whole career.

Parrish is luxury on special teams that could not play on offense no matter how hard we tried. End of story.

[kernowboy]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

The best LB out there in Free Agency were Michael Boley and Bart Scott. If Crowell was so good, why did he only get a one year deal?

Whose fault was it that Peters who was under contract held out in camp and preseason? Whose fault was it that Peters couldn't even bother to keep in shape?

[HHURRICANE]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

HH...you really need to stop starting these threads...it's making you look ignorant. Wait until after the draft and then if they blow it, you have every reason to rip them. Doing so before you even know how the draft turns out is, well, ignorant.

The Bills had to do very little to improve greatly. That's the point of the thread. they went in a completely different direction. Instead they ripped the whole thing open, I believe, just to save some money.

You are right that in a week we will know alot better what we have. here's the problem:

I'll have to read all of the insane posts when we draft Oher on how Peters wasn't that good and this guy is taking us to the promised land blah, blah, blah.

Nobody has yet to post one intelligent counter on why Peters and the other move translate to wins. It doesn't. Winning is all that it's about unless you are related to our owner.

I hate losing, I hate losers, and unfortunately I fight both of those tendencies to be a fan of this team. Nine years is long enough.

[FlyingDutchman]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

dude i thought you were done with this team and going away...wtf...

[Nighthawk]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

The Bills had to do very little to improve greatly. That's the point of the thread. they went in a completely different direction. Instead they ripped the whole thing open, I believe, just to save some money.

You are right that in a week we will know alot better what we have. here's the problem:

I'll have to read all of the insane posts when we draft Oher on how Peters wasn't that good and this guy is taking us to the promised land blah, blah, blah.

Nobody has yet to post one intelligent counter on why Peters and the other move translate to wins. It doesn't. Winning is all that it's about unless you are related to our owner.

I hate losing, I hate losers, and unfortunately I fight both of those tendencies to be a fan of this team. Nine years is long enough.

Well, I don't think you have to worry about hearing about Oher because I don't believe they'll pick a LT at the #11 pick. I think they'll address the defense in round 1 and then grab a OL in the 2nd round. The difference between Oher and the rest of the tackles you can get later in the round or 2nd is not that much. You do realize that good OL have been picked in other rounds then the 1st, don't you? You need to chill out and see what happens. If they f**k it up, trust me, I'll be the first to rip them apart, but right now, I'm excited to see how this thing plays out.

[Dr. Who]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

Let's wait till after Football Christmas to see if there's only coal in the stocking.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

None of these moves to dump our o-linemen make sense unless they are going to use the draft to build a new one.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

Well, I don't think you have to worry about hearing about Oher because I don't believe they'll pick a LT at the #11 pick. I think they'll address the defense in round 1 and then grab a OL in the 2nd round. The difference between Oher and the rest of the tackles you can get later in the round or 2nd is not that much. You do realize that good OL have been picked in other rounds then the 1st, don't you? You need to chill out and see what happens. If they f**k it up, trust me, I'll be the first to rip them apart, but right now, I'm excited to see how this thing plays out.

I hope not. I want 2 of the first 3 picks to be O-line. Buffalo has spent too many middle round picks on O-linemen in recent years to have one of them still on the roster. Since they will not go after the premier FA's at the position, earlier in the draft is where they must go.

[realdealryan]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

...if they were "FOR REAL" after beating San Diego last year.

By the way, that game is on NFL Replay today. I'll have some Labatt's and go into fantasy world for a little while.

[feldspar]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

I hope not. I want 2 of the first 3 picks to be O-line. Buffalo has spent too many middle round picks on O-linemen in recent years to have one of them still on the roster. Since they will not go after the premier FA's at the position, earlier in the draft is where they must go.

I basically agree with this. Our lines are our biggest needs, but that includes the defensive line, too. We had no pass rush last year, only getting 24 sacks with no single player getting more than 4. That's pathetic. Having Schobel back will help that, but not enough. I think we should go O-line with one of our first-round picks and DE with the other...have value determine which position is picked first. But would you consider a tight end part of the line? Maybe we can pick up a tight end in the second if the value is there. Don't forget about OLB either. We absolutely can't go into the season with Ellison as the starter there.

Also, don't forget about the possibility for trades. The Bills have a lot of ammunition for trades, especially if we can move Kelsay and/or Parrish. I think teams would be smart to wait for Buffalo to cut Kelsay, and I don't agree with trading Parrish, but the fact remains that the possibility is there for us to acquire more draft picks this way. We can also give up a pick or two to acquire somebody else's player.

This is going to be an interesting week.

We need a Defensive End, Left Guard, Left Tackle, Linebacker, Tight End, maybe even a Center or Defensive Tackle. Don't forget either that it's a real possibility that the Bills could shuffle a player or two that they already have on the o-line to a different position...like Walker to Left Tackle...I'd rather not do that, but that's not up to me.

[Nighthawk]

Re: The Bills could have made you billieve if...

I hope not. I want 2 of the first 3 picks to be O-line. Buffalo has spent too many middle round picks on O-linemen in recent years to have one of them still on the roster. Since they will not go after the premier FA's at the position, earlier in the draft is where they must go.

I understand your wanting them to rebuild that line, but you don't take lesser value then you might be able to get at another position.