1 agreed
2 agreed but poz is by far our best linebacer right now, not ray lewis but not terrible
3 best draft pick that was hated (even by me) in a long time why does this team seem to hit so often on its second round pick but f up its first?
4 turnover is bad for any squad

“But we’re not going to make the playoffs, which is why, after all of that…”

I think we will be alright. No need for all the negativity, unless you really don’t like the team. What keeps you tuning in???? There is more to football than stats, the best team on paper doesn’t always win..

I totally agree with you on Fitz. It’s not so much that he’s a bad player, he just has no business starting in this league. And for those out there thinking, “why would the Bills sign a backup QB if he wasn’t any good”, I’ll respond with, what else were they supposed to do? Think about it like this: How many starting caliber QBs are there in the league? 20-25? Considering that there are 62 QBs who are either starters or backups, it’s pretty tough to find a really good backup.

I’ll just say that I disagree about Poz and leave it at that.

I don’t see how the Bills offseason was them being too clever. Every single scout out there thought that Levite’s best fit was at guard (6’3’’ players don’t play OT in the NFL, so the good 6’3’’ offensive lineman play guard or center) and every single scout that Harris was a 4-3 OLB. Those aren’t clever picks because those guys were on every single team’s draft board as OG and OLB. Pretty much the same with Byrd too, almost everybody thought his best fit would come as a FS because he simply lacks the straight line footspeed to play corner. I don’t understand how taking a great college cornerback who is too slow to play cornerback and shifting him to free safety is clever. And off the top of my head, Eugene Amano, David Baas and Mike Pollak all played center in college, but play guard in the pros. That was just a need thing, Buffalo wanted to draft a guard around there and the next player who actually played guard in college to get picked was Louis Vasquez with the 78th pick.

Buffalo simply didn’t have the money available to go after a big time FA. I was saying it all offseason. People didn’t realize how much money this team already had invested in the roster. We got luck with TO because it was a one year deal that didn’t require a huge up front signing bonus.

Did the Bills really draft Edwards to be the franchise QB? He seemed like a value pick to me. I doubt the Bills would have drafted a QB if a 2nd round prospect like Edwards wasn’t sitting there in the third round. Losman was coming off a good 2006 season too.

I thought the special teams had a good game. They caught a bad break with the punt that hit Reed and Palmer’s block in the back was pretty stupid (although Jackson doesn’t break that long return without it). But I thought Jackson looked good, the Jets had one punt return yard on 8 punts and Leon Washington averaged 19 yards per kick return.

Your take on Edwards and Fitz is right. Like I said in the game thread, if the Bills come back to win this game, it will be the beginning of the end of the Edwards Era, not that Fitz is the answer. I just think your looks at our draft picks are the pessimistic looks at some average moves. You could put positive spins on most of those moves.

1) Fitz is bad, I’ve said that so many times the past 6 months. Today we saw how bad he is. Accuracy and decision making issues are not a recipe for much success. Trent has been beyond terrible lately, but it shouldn’t be a consideration going to Fitz in a starting role. As you said, this isn’t a playoff time, so we aren’t going to see Fitz other than in injury and mop up time. Let Trent sink or swim from here on out. He’s not our future anyhow.

2) Agree. The LB unit stinks, and was nothing special when fully healthy. I fully agree about Poz. He’s a very average player. He doesn’t shed blockers, struggles reading and reacting right away (or so it seems), gets sucked in to the pile too easily and just isn’t stout enough in the run game. The surrounding talent in front of him and alongside him doesn’t help, but the overhyping of Poz has turned him into a better player than he really is.

4) I don’t think it’s that at all. I think injuries, new blood and stupid mistakes are the issues. We have had a lot of turnover from the past few years and have a lot of young guys and rookies playing major roles in the ST’s. That’s hurting performance. The injuries have shuffled these guys in and out of the lineup, obviously not helping the cause. And our best and most explosive return man was lost after a few games. The fumbles and penalties are what’s really killing this unit so far this year. It happened again today with the phantom Reed touching and the Palmer penalty taking away the long Jackson return.

I don’t think having faster, smaller guys is involved at all. April’s units have always had a lot of DB’s, WR’s, and LB’s playing big roles and being successful. As the young guys get more comfortable and improve, so will this unit. It was better today, especially in kick/punt coverage and the punt return unit. If Bobby April is still around next year, I bet his units will again be very good.

As we discussed last night JPH, I’ve seen the light on Trent Edwards’ unwillingness to throw downfield when I witnessed Ryan Fitzpatrick – of all people – step right into the game and proceed to begin taking shot after shot downfield. Sure a majority of his throws were short, sure he threw some ducks up there but it was in horrendous weather (has Trent ever looked that good in that kind of weather?) and a QB’s worst enemy is not snow or rain its cold and wind – Fitz looked pretty decent. If you don’t think he played admirably for such conditions just look at the other QB on the field. Sanchez simply couldn’t play. I’m officially off the Edwards train. I probably stayed on for more stops than the majority of you but last night, within 2 minutes of Fitz coming I watched my theory of Trent has not being given the situation to make throws downfield get shattered by a pretty bad back up QB. Did anyone else notice Lee excitedly talking to Fitzy after Trent got hurt or TO putting his arm around him in the huddle and yapping in his ear? It looks to me like these playmakers felt like they had an opportunity rather than problem when Fitz came into the game. A guy they could talk into just throwing them the ball to make a play. “Hey Fitz, just throw it in our direction, I’ll be doing this [blah blah blah] and just throw it here [blah blah blah]. Its not like anything else has been working, ok buddy?” I was wrong, call it flip flopping, call it what you will but I think of flip flopping as changing your position without first burying the hatchet in the chest of your old one and removing any doubt you feel you were dead wrong. I was. I was wrong. I apologize and concede to whoever told me otherwise. Our playmakers are at WR. The only way we win is by getting them involved. If Fitz is willing to do it, even in his terrible, bad QB way, then so be it. Sorry Trent.

I totally disagree about Poz though. I thought Poz had a great game and was refusing to let us lose. He was making big tackles all over the field and his pick was glorious. JPH you were even giving him props multiple times last night! He is a tenacious tackler. No one says Poz is Ray Lewis, I think the guys who say he is over hyped are the only ones who have over hyped him. Poz is not Ray Lewis but what he is is the surest of tacklers and a play through the whistle leader and is determined to win. You put Ray Lewis in this linebacking corp and they still give up huge runs. One player can’t stop that playing next to Keith Ellison and Ashlee Palmer. Neither is starting caliber. Either way, I won’t argue with you about Poz as a player, lets keep it to this game. I thought he played great.

Finally, I want to add props to McGee. The guy played hard all game while we were getting slashed. His play has to pump up guys around him watching him chase down players when they arent doing their jobs. I hope he is ok, McGee is very underrated. Byrd is the wyrd. Enough said.

I love how everybody is on the wagon for Byrd b/c he made a few picks already. Let’s remember, these INT’s were basically punt returns for our defense! Byrd looked like a chump when T Jones ran down the field, an McGee flew by Byrd to pull him down in the endzone. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know you need to tackle the guy running down the field Byrd, his lack of speed will be the death of him.

As for Poz, are you sh!tting me??? The guy is a monster, playing with a broken arm, and has also been out the last couple weeks. Oh, and last time I checked, I didn’t think LB’s were judged based upon the amount of INT’s they pull… He’s a defensive leader, and a huge presence on the field, ’nough said.

Who on the defense are primarily responsible for stopping the rush? I think most of us would agree it is the linebackers. Among the linebackers, who has the ultimate responsibilty for stopping the rush? I think most of us would agree it is the middle linebacker. The Jets rushed for 318 yards.

1- Ryan verse Trent <> I don’t think either are the answer, but with pass protection being a problem and a young line, hard to determine the verdict on Trent. Still don’t know why the Bills don’t sign Jeff Garcia.
2 – Run Defense – Usually the defense is running after the RB after he get’s into the open field, enough said.
3 – Byrd looks promising and might end up being the top pick from this draft. It’s nice to know we now have about 10 defensive backs that can play.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/09000d5d81389aea/Mark-Sanchez-Highlight-WK-06-vs-Bills-2009

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/09000d5d8138af16/Leon-Washington-Highlight-WK-06-vs-Bills-2009