I find it interesting.....

[Gunzlingr]

That thoughts on our draft have somewhat shifted in the media. At first they were all dogging our picks, but now you see a few here and there saying that our picks weren't so bad and filled our specific needs. Maybe Marv knows what is going on after all ;).

[FlyingDutchman]

I will admit I was freakin out about our picks, and im still not entirely happy with how we went about getting them, but I am starting to come around. I just really wish we got a good Olineman in the top couple of rounds.

[Typ0]

the only thing that concerned me about what we did was Leinhart was there when we picked and we got nothing for that occurence. I must admit, there were a few moments I wished we had TD handling that situation.

[Drive 4 Five]

I never doubted Marv. Ever. And like I said before, I didn't care when they were dogging on our picks and conversely I could care less about their opinions now.

[wbat27]

Damn right **** those idiots

[The_Philster]

The people that were dogging us were too dependent on big name players and what Kiper and the other draftniks were saying. After some research on their own, maybe they saw a little more than names

[BuffaloBillsStampede]

I called NFL radio today (Eric in New York) and asked them what they thought about our picks be cause I think our defensive backfield is going to be great in two years. Solomon Willcots when on to say that we already have stars at the positions we took minus SS. Apparently Solomon didn't watch any Bills games last year to see everyone and their mother breaking troy vincent tackles and Nate Clements getting burned left and right. Just goes to show they don't always know what they are talking about, and sometimes they just go by the name on the jersey.

[The_Philster]

Regarding Nate Clements...he was playing off the LOS pretty much constantly...which hurt his play.

[Captain gameboy]

the only thing that concerned me about what we did was Leinhart was there when we picked and we got nothing for that occurence. I must admit, there were a few moments I wished we had TD handling that situation.

That is exactly my view.

I had no interest in any QB, but as I watched it develop, I thought we could leverage the two available into a knockout day 1.

[Tatonka]

i do think we DEFINATELY could have traded down with denver.. and wish we did.. we would have come out alot better.. but i dont have a problem with who we drafted.. just trading down would have landed us a guy like eric winston and/or spencer.. which would make me feel 10 times better about our oline.

[BuffaloBillsStampede]

I know Clements is a good player, and I truly think he had a bad year and thats it. I was just trying to point out that Willcots just plain wasn't right especially because who knows how long Clements is going to be here.

[CAbills]

The people that were dogging us were too dependent on big name players and what Kiper and the other draftniks were saying. After some research on their own, maybe they saw a little more than names

Quoted for Truth.

[Philagape]

I'm still skeptical of the thinking ... we targeted certain players no matter what. That's drafting with tunnel vision and awfully risky. They wouldn't trade down because of fears that may or may not have been founded.
That's NOT to say they picked the wrong players ... but they have really high standards to meet to justify their selections. For a top-10 pick, anything less than a Pro Bowler is a disappointment. And we sacrificed a pick for McCargo, so he has a lot invested in him too. They'd BETTER be the right players, because if they're not, it's a blown opportunity equal to or even greater than Mike Williams.

[patmoran2006]

My only problem with Marv to this point in both the draft and FA is he seems to have only a PLAN A... Honestly, I think they expected Huff on the board and when gone they took the second best safety. Maybe Whitner will be a Pro Bowler.. At #8, he better damn well be one day. (I think he will too, he's a good playmaker)

Just like with Idonijie, when that fell through (it showed OBVIOUSLY he knew the line needs to get better) his plan B comeback days later was resigning Ryan Denney?

[FlyingDutchman]

The people that were dogging us were too dependent on big name players and what Kiper and the other draftniks were saying. After some research on their own, maybe they saw a little more than names

Im not so sure people are giving crap for the players we took, its how we took them. At least thats what the core of my whining has been about. I think we got good players, just maybe could have gone about it differently. Then again its always easy to look at a situation in retrospect.

[HAMMER]

My only problem with Marv to this point in both the draft and FA is he seems to have only a PLAN A... Honestly, I think they expected Huff on the board and when gone they took the second best safety. Maybe Whitner will be a Pro Bowler.. At #8, he better damn well be one day. (I think he will too, he's a good playmaker)

Just like with Idonijie, when that fell through (it showed OBVIOUSLY he knew the line needs to get better) his plan B comeback days later was resigning Ryan Denney?

I will feel GREAT about the Whitner pick if he can impact a game like Mike Brown did in Chicago. For two seasons it seemed every highlight I saw of the Bears showed Brown making a huge play.

[Nighthawk]

That thoughts on our draft have somewhat shifted in the media. At first they were all dogging our picks, but now you see a few here and there saying that our picks weren't so bad and filled our specific needs. Maybe Marv knows what is going on after all ;).

I feel 100 times better about this draft than I did about any of TD's drafts. Time will tell, but it looks like we did very well for this year.

[billsburgh]

Regarding Nate Clements...he was playing off the LOS pretty much constantly...which hurt his play.
thanks alot Jerry Grey.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I'm still skeptical of the thinking ... we targeted certain players no matter what. That's drafting with tunnel vision and awfully risky. They wouldn't trade down because of fears that may or may not have been founded.
That's NOT to say they picked the wrong players ... but they have really high standards to meet to justify their selections. For a top-10 pick, anything less than a Pro Bowler is a disappointment. And we sacrificed a pick for McCargo, so he has a lot invested in him too. They'd BETTER be the right players, because if they're not, it's a blown opportunity equal to or even greater than Mike Williams.

The Bills had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last year. And, one of the reasons that was so was that there were players on that defense who just plain quit in certain games--even when guys like Fletcher and Spikes addressed them before or at halftime of a couple of those games. There was NO WAY that Marv Levy could or would let that kind of situation stand without sending a message loud and clear through the lockerroom. Because, if he didn't do something about it, the team wouldn't respect him and they would feel that they could do it again with impunity. So he decided not just to change players, but defensive systems.

Now, the Tampa Cover 2, which Levy saw and liked in Chicago when broadcasting the Bears, uses very different personnel at certain positions than the Titans 46 that the Bills used with Jerry Gray at DC. So, while the Bills did have players at some positions who could fit both systems, there were some positions where the Bills had to bring in players suited to play in the Cover 2 in order for them to be able to play the system: specifically safety and defensive tackle. Despite the signings of Tripplett and Bowen, the Bills simply did not have enough players at those positions on their roster to play the Cover 2 system properly. If they were going to play that system this year, they were going to have to go get them in the draft because there aren't many free left who can fill those spots adequately.

So, yes, they targetted those positions in the draft--because, otherwise, they would have to play the system with players not suited to play in it. It's no different than when a team switches their offense from a WCO to a deep passing attack or their defensive from from a 4-3 to a 3-4. No one criticises a team for going out and targetting the right people to play the new system when they do that--you wouldn't slam a team transitioning to a 3-4 for drafting a NT and LB, would you? It's because you need to go out and get the players who fit the system. Well, that's what the Bills are doing and what they just did in the draft: they got two players at the top of their draft that fit their new defensive scheme at their two weakest positions on that side of the ball. What's wrong with that?

The Bills are fixing their defense this off-season so that, hopefully, they won't put a unit on the field that will quit when things get tough, like last year's group did, and so that maybe they can win a few close games when their offense struggles--and it will struggle because they have not been able to put as much into fixing the weaknesses on that side of the ball to improve it significantly. They could have put their effort this off-season into fixing the offense, but, then, they would have been stuck with a defense that not only would not have been any better, but that would not have been chastized for quitting last season and could be expected to quit on the team again--which might have also undermined their efforts to rebuild the mindset and psyche of the team.

But, that's why they targeted those positions and why they don't appear to have a Plan B--instead of addressing the many weaknesses of the team piecemeal with the BPA, they are focusing on fixing an entire unit while upgrading, where possible on the other side of the ball and maintaining the excellence of their special teams. It is a focused, 2-3 year process not unlike what Bill Polian did in the late 1980s when the Bills' defense was quickly upgraded with the additions of Conlan, Bennett, etc. And, once Levy, Jauron and Fairchild find out what they have and what they need on offense this season, you can expect them to make a very focused attempt to get the players that they need to upgrade their weaknesses on that side of the ball next year. After that, they can start adding extra talent in the form of BPAs that they don't require to fill an obvious weakness. But, right now, they have to fill the holes with people who can fill them first. And, a third round pick who may or may not help them do that is useless if they miss out on the players that they have identified as players who can. That is the mindset and the approach that they are taking at this point.

[Night Train]

There was no way that everything was going to be fixed in one off-season.

I can still point to certain positions needing an overall upgrade in starters or depth, such as OG, LT, DE, RB etc. That just shows how many needs this team has. That's not Marvs' fault. It's a leftover from TD.

This Draft may have found us 5 players ( Whitner,McCargo,Youboty,Simpson and Williams ) that will see significant playing time right away. So that's a darn solid Draft in my eyes. Our D was falling to pieces last season.

New Schemes with a new coaching staff and the QB issue means it's going to take a couple years, like it or not.

At least I can now see light at the end of the tunnel instead of that fools gold TD, Mularkey and Co. were trying to sell us.

It's going to take a little time but that's to be expected. A roster that can win is taking shape.

[casdhf]

Clements is made for the cover 2 ... he'll have a great year.

[feelthepain]

The player's talent wasn't questioned, it was where they were picked. The Bills could have had an A if they were patient. Instead they reached for Whitner and McCargo and wasted picks they could have used for more depth. Talent should be a B and execution should be an F.

Basically a D overall, because it was also a vey unbalanced draft for the Bills, your biggest need is Oline and you wait till the 5th round to address it and you had quite a few extra first day picks to fix it and the Bills basically pissed away picks they could have used to address the needs. If the Bills had a solid Oline they could afford to wait till day two to add depth to the Oline not look for starters on day two.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

The player's talent wasn't questioned, it was where they were picked. The Bills could have had an A if they were patient. Instead they reached for Whitner and McCargo and wasted picks they could have used for more depth. Talent should be a B and execution should be an F.

Basically a D overall, because it was also a vey unbalanced draft for the Bills, your biggest need is Oline and you wait till the 5th round to address it and you had quite a few extra first day picks to fix it and the Bills basically pissed away picks they could have used to address the needs. If the Bills had a solid Oline they could afford to wait till day two to add depth to the Oline not look for starters on day two.

The Bills really didn't "reach" for either Whitner or McCargo. B.Billick said and Whitner confirmed (see the thread on his press conference) that Baltimore was going to take Whitner if he was still on the board at # 13. Whitner also said in his press conference that he had also talked with St.Louis about the Rams possibly taking him at # 11--which they may well have done because they traded down out of that spot after the Bills took Whitner and are now left with trying to replace A.Archuleta with Jon Alston, a LB that they announced that they are converting to SS.

Also, with McCargo, there is all kinds of evidence, from the NYC area papers and the tap-dance that Ernie Accorsi did in his press conferences after the draft, that the NY Giants were going to take McCargo at # 32 to replace starting DT K.Clancy who left in free agency. If he was going to go to the Giants at # 32, the Bills really did not "reach" in taking McCargo at # 26 because he wouldn't have lasted until later than # 32. They had to trade up to get him before the Giants did. And, as a result, the Giants ended up having to settle for Barry Cofield in the 4th round as their new DT because of the drop-off at the position after McCargo and wound up taking Kiawanuka to sit behind Strahan and Umeniyora, two Pro Bowlers, at # 32 (do you really believe that they wanted to do that rather than fill their hole at DT with that pick?!).

Offensive line was a need, to be sure, but DT and safety were bigger needs at the top of the draft and the value that the Bills got in Youboty and Simpson in the 3rd and 4th rounds was too great to pass up, even if it meant having a mediocre offensive line this season. You can win some games with a mediocre offense, but you won't win many with a bad defense--the Bills needed to upgrade their defense to even have a chance to stay in games this year and they did that.

[feelthepain]

The Bills really didn't "reach" for either Whitner or McCargo. B.Billick said and Whitner confirmed (see the thread on his press conference) that Baltimore was going to take Whitner if he was still on the board at # 13. Whitner also said in his press conference that he had also talked with St.Louis about the Rams possibly taking him at # 11--which they may well have done because they traded down out of that spot after the Bills took Whitner and are now left with trying to replace A.Archuleta with Jon Alston, a LB that they announced that they are converting to SS.

Also, with McCargo, there is all kinds of evidence, from the NYC area papers and the tap-dance that Ernie Accorsi did in his press conferences after the draft, that the NY Giants were going to take McCargo at # 32 to replace starting DT K.Clancy who left in free agency. If he was going to go to the Giants at # 32, the Bills really did not "reach" in taking McCargo at # 26 because he wouldn't have lasted until later than # 32. They had to trade up to get him before the Giants did. And, as a result, the Giants ended up having to settle for Barry Cofield in the 4th round as their new DT because of the drop-off at the position after McCargo and wound up taking Kiawanuka to sit behind Strahan and Umeniyora, two Pro Bowlers, at # 32 (do you really believe that they wanted to do that rather than fill their hole at DT with that pick?!).

Offensive line was a need, to be sure, but DT and safety were bigger needs at the top of the draft and the value that the Bills got in Youboty and Simpson in the 3rd and 4th rounds was too great to pass up, even if it meant having a mediocre offensive line this season. You can win some games with a mediocre offense, but you won't win many with a bad defense--the Bills needed to upgrade their defense to even have a chance to stay in games this year and they did that.

I don't understand how you can say DT and S are bigger needs then Oline for the Bills. We shall see.

[mysticsoto]

I don't understand how you can say DT and S are bigger needs then Oline for the Bills. We shall see.

It's really very simple. We only had 1 starter on the defensive line. Getting more DTs was absolutely paramount. At safety, the cover 2 relies on safeties heavily and therefore you need to make sure you get the correct people for that scheme or you will have problems maintaining coverage.

As for Oline, while it would have been nice to get some more there, you can only do so much in the draft. And truthfully, from last year this time, there are 3 new starters on the Oline, not to mention that we have backups with more experience this year - the addressing of the Oline was done in the offseason with veterans!!!