Bills need to add centerpiece players

Yeah, pretty dreadful. Nix also said that he’d add a QB if it were best for the team, so I’d consider all that QB talk to be Nix just dodging the question.

I also heard a soundbite recently where Nix said that Schobel was a better fit in the 3-4 and that getting him moving around and rushing him from a stand up position is what suits him best. And I can’t imagine that’s true, or even what Nix believes, so I’d take everything he says about the roster with a grain of salt. Or at least put it in the perspective of Nix being unable to say anything bad about guys on the roster this early in the offseason.

Yesterday, GM Buddy Nix spoke for the first time on the Bills’ QB position in 2010, saying the team’s first priority "is to make one (a quarterback) out of the three we’ve got."

Did you expect him to come out with, “we’re drafting the best QB left to us at 9”… Or, “we plan to trade back into the first, and take Skelton”….
All these comments right now, especially during these combine pressers, are nothing but posturing… And Chix knows the game….

I’m thinking that this comes more from him being unimpressed by this year’s QB class. I mean he can’t possibly see Trent or Ryan as a long term option.

I’m more taking this as a “Wait a year, we’ll get our guy then.”

To me it points to the possibility that there gonna upgrade key positions, then and only then add the QB. What’s wrong with that?

Bill Parcells made Jake Long the centerpiece of that offense when he took him first overall. I know they had Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams and drafted a QB in the 2nd, but Long, the OL and a power running game became the face of the offense. The QB is always going to be what people think of first with an offense, but a lineman can be a centerpiece player for a team that is run heavy.

You could make the case that Jason Peters was the centerpiece guy in Buffalo too. When he made his first Pro Bowl on an offense that didn’t really have any other big names, I’d argue that he was the centerpiece of the offense.

had a few on both sides, Kent Hull was one of them….

I said they were important. :-)

I agree with you Brian that linemen are as important as other players, and many games are won in the trenches. However, I must agree with MRW on the definition of a centerpiece player and that the Bills are in desperate need of one.

While linemen set the tone for a game and are often as important to victory as a centerpiece player, they almost never make game-changing plays. When I think of a game-changer or centerpiece, I think of guys like Ray Lewis, Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu, Peyton Manning, or Darelle Revis. These are guys who play well all game, but you can count on them to make big plays when the game is in its final minutes. The lack of these type of players is really what took us out of all the game we lost in the 4th quarter. Too often did I find myself rooting for Jairus Byrd to make a drive-stopping play, as I felt that he was the only player with the ability to do so on a consistent basis. And at no point on offense did I feel like we had a go-to player to get us points.

As for the linemen you mentioned, I think it’s more important to have a cohesive unit than to have a marquee player on the line. A dominant tackle is more easily taken out of the game than a dominant qb, rb or safety.

Ralp must have broken a house of mirrors or something

It happened about 15 yrs ago… He was walking under a ladder, dropped his lucky rabbit foot, and slipped on a banana peel when he leaned over to pick it up…. You can find the story at…..

www.juskidding.gov

rec’d

I’m curious as to what you’re suggesting by this comment:

Lets stop being cheapskates and go get some real talent whatever it takes.

The best teams aren’t the one’s who win free agency…its the ones that win the draft.

My thoughts on that are you get your guys in there that are adequate then replace them with high talent guys. That way your adequate guys go to being better than adequate depth and you solve both your depth and starters issues by getting one guy while also bolstering depth.

You and I are on the same page here K.

Yeah, I’ve pretty much resigned myself to suffer through 2-3 years of rebuilding. I don’t imagine many players on last year’s team will be here in another 3 years.

Have I missed that one? What is it for?

Nix knows how to make moohshine and grits while telling you everything about any football team in the SEC.

well that’s one of my favorite sentences that has ever been written. Makes Nix sound like some weird hobo-savant.

Nix has to trade down with either our first or second pick, He has a lot of holes to fill and can’t miss any if he wants to be competitive. Some wrote it earlier tonight… what did you expect him to say? Hypothetical Nix news conference. “Fellas, I’m here to announce that we worked out a deal with Seattle trading our number 9 pick for their 14th and 40th. They think Dez Bryant will be available at 9 and want to get him before Denver does. Just don’t air this report in Denver ok?”

We all know your feelings about Poz. I’m saying both guys can be pieces to a good to great team but you probably don’t want to build an entire defense around them.

Because they’re all we’ve got (depending on Maybin) in the front 7. And I think you could make the argument that Williams is fairly close to being a centerpiece in a one gap scheme. Or if Buffalo had switched to a more traditional 4-3 and put a two gap NT next to Williams, even if it was just Stroud, I think he’s a really good player.

Important pieces aren’t centerpieces. The Bills need a superstar on defense and neither of them are that caliber. But now instead of having two solid guys and some older vets you could build around, they have one guy who may be suited for the 3-4 in Maybin and another in Spencer Johnson. My problem always was that the Bills have virtual zip to play the 3-4 defense but a few starters and a bunch of quality role players.

Oh God… can of worms.