You can point to the owners, you can point to the coaches. To me it's simple: the draft. A micro-view of the last 5 drafts - 1st round, both had 5 first round choices. In 3of the 5 years the Steelers were drafting behind the Bills.
The Bills had
Clements - I rate him as near pro-ball level
Williams - a bust
McGahee - a starter
Evans - a starter
Losman - inadequate so far
The Steelers have
Casey Hampton - pro baller, top 2 NTs in NFL
Kandall Simmons - Pro ball guard
Polomalu - pro ball superstar in the making
Roethlisberger - superstar in the making
Heath Miller - a starter, already making waves (6TD, 459 yards, 39 rec in rookie year, and the Bills's top 2005 TD catcher is Evans's 7TD)
What does this tell you? Draft, draft, and draft.
And don't tell me we can get these kind of players from free agency. Let alone how much you have to pay for the services of these players, they may not be available period. And the Steelers enjoy these players coming into their prime and on the cheap, too.
Draft is what makes or breaks a team. That is the truth.
On 1st round alone, since Donahoe left the Steelers, they drafted Plexco Burress plus those guys in the first round and Plexco is a solid starter borderline star as well. Now look at the 6 first round picks before that - when Donahoe was calling shots in Pittsburgh, they had Charles Johnson, Mark Bruener, Jamain Stephens, Chad Scott, Alan Faneca, and Troy Edwards. That's where I see similarities to our Bills draft the last 5 years, one or two hits, dotted with misses and busts. No wonder the Steelers would miss playoffs 3 years in a row by the end of that time. After Donahoe's exit, they got 6 years in a row of hits, and they are superbowl champs!
This is really we Bills fans should be hoping for, not FAs, bad calls, etc.: we want good drafts, we want consecutive good drafts. And Levy should be judged as such.
The Bills had
Clements - I rate him as near pro-ball level
Williams - a bust
McGahee - a starter
Evans - a starter
Losman - inadequate so far
The Steelers have
Casey Hampton - pro baller, top 2 NTs in NFL
Kandall Simmons - Pro ball guard
Polomalu - pro ball superstar in the making
Roethlisberger - superstar in the making
Heath Miller - a starter, already making waves (6TD, 459 yards, 39 rec in rookie year, and the Bills's top 2005 TD catcher is Evans's 7TD)
What does this tell you? Draft, draft, and draft.
And don't tell me we can get these kind of players from free agency. Let alone how much you have to pay for the services of these players, they may not be available period. And the Steelers enjoy these players coming into their prime and on the cheap, too.
Draft is what makes or breaks a team. That is the truth.
On 1st round alone, since Donahoe left the Steelers, they drafted Plexco Burress plus those guys in the first round and Plexco is a solid starter borderline star as well. Now look at the 6 first round picks before that - when Donahoe was calling shots in Pittsburgh, they had Charles Johnson, Mark Bruener, Jamain Stephens, Chad Scott, Alan Faneca, and Troy Edwards. That's where I see similarities to our Bills draft the last 5 years, one or two hits, dotted with misses and busts. No wonder the Steelers would miss playoffs 3 years in a row by the end of that time. After Donahoe's exit, they got 6 years in a row of hits, and they are superbowl champs!
This is really we Bills fans should be hoping for, not FAs, bad calls, etc.: we want good drafts, we want consecutive good drafts. And Levy should be judged as such.
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