Sports Illustrated has their first mock draft board of the year posted, and they have the Bills taking Oklahoma State tight end Brandon Pettigrew with the 11th overall pick in the 1st round. The Bills offense was just awful for the second half of the season, and Pettigrew is the type of tight end who could add blocking support for Trent Edwards while at the same time being a good passing option, especially for those dump-off passes that are necessary when a designed play goes wrong. The Bills haven’t had a tight end like that for many years, and their offense has suffered because of it. At 6′6″ and 260 lbs, Pettigrew has Jeremy Shockey-like size and has good hands and swift-enough legs. Pettigrew does have a criminal history that includes a charge for assaulting a police officer. We’ll have to wait and see if Ralph Wilson will let the team pick a player with that kind of baggage.

Taggy: 2009, brandon pettigrew, Buffalo Bills, draft pick, draft prediction, football, nfl, oklahoma state

USA Today did a good piece about the Bills season yesterday. It said what all Bills fans already seem to know: the opportunity was there, the stars were aligned, and the Bills blew it. The Bills were blessed with the 2nd easiest schedule in the NFL this season, the star quarterback for the top team in their division was injured in the first half of his first game of the year and was unable to play the rest of the season, and the Bills got off to a 4-0 start. Everything was going right for them, and then everything fell apart.

Looking back, it’s easy to see the obvious turning point. The Bills went into Arizona confident. They came out a team that had been dominated on all ends of the field. The Cardinals had not had the look of Super Bowl contenders at that point, but there were some early hints that they were not the team that their slow start indicated. They had just come off a loss to the Jets that I think was the turning point for that franchise. The Jets had built a 30+ point lead in the first quarter, only to watch the Cardinals charge back and nearly win the game. I think that was a momentum changer for the Cardinals, and when they faced Buffalo after that the poor Bills never knew what hit them. They struggled to find themselves after that game and had devastating stretch from mid-October through early-December that would see them drop completely out of contention and be eliminated from the playoffs with several weeks left in the season. Not the typical fate for a team that started 4-0.

Taggy: arizona cardinals, Buffalo Bills, football, nfl, schedule, season

Alright, so here’s the deal. Some lame group calling themselves the Arabian Media Center hijacked this blog and deleted all of the old posts. Yes, I was careless not to back them up and I was stupid to not keep my Wordpress installation up to date. My bad. This season was one that I’d rather forget anyway. I find it ironic that this blog would be targeted by a Middle Eastern group of hackers, considering the Bills 3rd string quarterback is the Arab American Athlete of the Year.

What do you think the Bills need to do in the offseason to improve? Who should we be considering drafting (I think we have the 10th or 11th pick, just like every other year)? Do we stick with Trent Edwards and try to find a better backup than JP Losman?

Taggy: Buffalo Bills, football, jp losman, nfl, quarterback, trent edwards