The Bills Blues

As some of my previous posts may suggest, I am not incredibly optimistic about the season to come for the Buffalo Bills. Today, the Bills cut their left tackle Langston Walker who was entering his third year with the team. Walker was an immense 6'8" and 366 pounds but was an average talent. The Bills make the move with less than a week until the first game of the season against the Patriots and that is what has me fired up. Where is the continuity for this team? Walker was cut in favor of left tackle Demetrius Bell, who is currently nursing a sore back and may not even be ready for the opener. For those of you who don't know who Demetrius Bell is...let me enlighten you. Oh wait! I don't know anything about him and neither does anyone else in Buffalo.

All kidding aside, Bell is a second year player and former seventh round draft pick from Northwestern State. Generally, seventh round picks are training camp fodder and are designated to the practice squad. However, the Bills will be starting Bell on opening night in Foxboro. I don't consider this to be a critique of Bell and his skills because he could be an absolutely fantastic lineman. Rather, I question more flawed decision making by the powers that be in the Bills front office. Walker's mediocre play didn't prevent the Bills from playing him over the last two years or signing him to a 5 year, $25 million contract in the 2007 offseason (That 2007 offseason was a real doozy. The Bills also signed fellow underachiever Derrick Dockery to a 7 year, $49 million contract that same offseason. Dockery is in the same boat as Walker, no longer a Bill. Ouch!). Instead, the Bills tried to move Walker from right tackle to left tackle this offseason, in order to fill the hole opened by the trade of Jason Peters to the Eagles.

If the Bills were high on Bell then they should have made this cut before training camp so that Walker could have at least found a job in another NFL city. This would have also allowed Bell to get a few starts under his belt during the preseason. The Bills must have had some idea that they might want to make this move in the future. But then again, I thought the same thing about the firing of Schonert. Is it possible that the Bills are throwing in the towel already? Are they going for the youth movement and hoping to be good in three years? Was the T.O. signing even worth it? Should the Bills just fire Jauron and start over? At this point, I think the answer to all of these questions is no and there will be no real answer until the season is played out. However, if the Bills don't pull something together and produce a winning season, the answer to all of these questions will most likely be yes in January.

Despite my reaction to the situation, I don't think the cut of Walker is a really huge deal. What I think is a huge deal is the message that it is sending to fans and to other teams around the league by trading away the only experienced player on an incredibly young line. As a fan, I shouldn't be asking myself if the Bills are giving up before the season has even started, but this move has led me to doing so. Have I overreacted to this whole situation? Probably. But to be honest, I think I have grown a little bit stir crazy in anticipation of the season. Seriously, why is the season starting so incredibly late? September 14th is definitely the latest start that I remember in my lifetime, albeit short. Well until the season starts I am sure to be singing the Bills Blues.

On a lighter note:

I will always appreciate Langston Walker's time with the Bills for what he brought to the locker room with his own show, 68 Seconds with Langston Walker. The clip of numerous Buffalo Bills singing the 12 Days of Christmas is truly classic and without Walker (or Robert Royal for that matter) it may not have come into fruition. For a good laugh you should at least watch until the 9th and 11th days.

Lastly, the Word of the Day: Chagrin

Chagrin, noun

humiliation, embarrassed disappointment

At times it is tough to deal with the chagrin that comes with being a diehard Bills fan.

Thank you for reading and putting up with my ranting (if you made it to this point) and I hope all had a fantastic Labor Day weekend.