VOR

Take a look at Culpepper's 2004 season, which was 2 seasons after Carter retired.

Culpepper was made by Moss. Just like Cassel was, with help from Welker. Kitna is equally terrible, unless (like with Cassel) you focus on yards, and not things like TD:INT ratio, sacks taken, and fumbles.

You have at least 3 people telling YOU that the NFLPA won't stand for it. Do you think the NFLPA will say "der, it's a unique situation, let him sign for $4M a year below the franchise tag because hey, who cares about the value of the tag anyway?" That is, unless you think that he's worth close to $14.65M a year. Cassel played better than anyone expected? He played about as well as a 4th year player in a great offensive system should have played. And his performance against the Steelers in his 12th start met expectations, as did his JP-like 47 sacks taken. Again, how many more starts and how much more talented of an offense does he need? Hell, maybe the Cardinals will trade for him! Hardy is a sociopath? Really? Just like Lynch, right? What about Peters? Simpson (Ko, not OJ)? I'm just "pointing out the obvious" when I say I don't know you from Adam. You're a newbie and we get our share of trolls here. What we don't get is "Bills fans" who come here trashing everything about the team.

Ah, I see. It's the "uniqueness of the situation." Can't argue with that brilliance. I know the other posters. They've been here a long time. You OTOH "Mr. WEO" just came here, and a quick review of your posts reveal you bashing Ralph, Hardy, and blowing Cassel. If it walks like a duck...

If your room/TV space can only handle a 32" TV, I'd say go 720p and plasma. At 8' you won't notice the difference between 720p and 1080p, plasma is a better picture, and cheaper. And DO NOT buy from Best Buy. They are seriously over-priced.

I know that Patriots fans like yourself think that the Patriots can do anything they want, hence the belief that the NFLPA can do nothing about it. The fact is (and I've said this about four times now, but you're new here so I'll cut you some slack), that no franchise player has EVER signed a contract averaging LESS than his franchise tender. Obviously to you, that's some gigantic coincidence. To everyone else, it's a trend. But hey, maybe the NFLPA doesn't care if their franchise tag gets applied and the "franchise player" ends-up signing a well-below tender offer. It's only money, which they don't care about. All they care about is Matt Cassel and his getting traded. Right. Whether it was a "good move" will be determined by if they can trade him, and how fast. Cassel's tender eats-up most of their cap room, not even leaving them with enough to sign their rookies, much less sign their RFA's and EFA's, much less an injury fund, much much less adding FA's. And if his season was considered a rousing success, standards have gotten low. He didn't make the Pro Bowl, All-Pro, or even take the Patriots to the playoffs. Put most any QB in that system and they duplicate what he did, minus the almost half-century in sacks taken. That's JP-level pocket presence, despite a great O-line and WR's. Speaking of which, you seriously undersell Moss and Welker, which isn't surprising. Welker caught 67 passes with the woeful Dolphins in 16 games with just 2 starts, before Belichick decided that he needed to trade a 2nd rounder for him, inserting an illegal poison pill to ensure he got him. And Moss had Culpepper throwing to him with the Vikes, so he didn't need a great QB tossing the rock to be productive. Potential versus proven mediocrity. Take your pick. Any team dumb enough to trade for him, and thus pay him the big bucks, will be in no better a position than the Raiders.

Would it be "better?" I don't know, I'm not the guy drafting or paying these guys. But from watching the workings of the NFL over the past couple decades, I'd say that yes, the NFL favors potential to guys who have proven that they're not worth a ton of money, like Cassel. Well by golly, Cassel allegedly "improved" week to week. Yet his game against the Steelers was poor for an alleged "franchise QB," and his game against the Seahawks was nothing to write home about. Yet what you're saying is that some team should pay him $14M a year and trade a 1st for him, because he threw for multiple TD's and yards against bad defenses and is definitely going to get better? Because 4 years in the league with the same team and system, 11 starts (prior to playing the Steelers), and taking over the reigns of the best offense in NFL history weren't enough? Perhaps you missed the Patriots' 2007 season. The same O-line had no problems protecting Brady, allowing 21 sacks, whereas Cassel took 47 sacks. The offensive output in 2007 WRT scoring was also close to double what it was this past season. It's not like Cassel took over a bad offense, although it's apparent by your previous post that you're blaming Moss, which is pretty funny. The first overall pick gets insane money. On that much I think we can all agree. But using the Raiders as your shining example is your first mistake. Russell wasn't worth the 1st overall, the Raiders reached, and a team like the Lions only has to go back 2 years to see what a mistake reaching for a QB with the 1st overall pick is. There's no QB even approaching Russell's freakishness (size and arm strength). Trading the 20th overall pick would make more sense, but again it all depends on the numbers. And given the history of traded franchise players, it's far more plausible to believe the NFLPA will have a hand in making-sure the integrity of the franchise tag gets preserved, than it is to believe the NFLPA will make an exception for Matt "right place, right time" Cassel. At worst he gets a $14.65M payday next year for being franchised when he had no right to be.

Considering no franchise player has ever signed for less than his franchise tender, I'm betting the union CAN and does do a lot about protecting their coveted franchise tag. But I guess we'll see.

Cassel's week to week improvement had more to do with facing poor defenses, if not the same poor defenses, than with him suddenly getting it after 4 years in the same offensive system. When he faced a real defense like the Steelers, and even against the Seahawks, his numbers were less than impressive. And if you're going to pay $14M a year for a guy, you want him to be able to play well against even good defenses.

It all depends on what contract numbers Cassel is seeking/has to seek. Since he's been designated a franchise player and the NFLPA has a vested interest in seeing the tag continue to increase, I can't see them allowing anything but a contract averaging at least the franchise tag tender (as has been the case all along). If that holds true, I cannot see any team offering him almost $14.7M a year. The guy can't throw deep and routinely threw behind receivers, while getting sacked a ton behind the exact same O-line that protected Brady so well last year. And when big games came around, he came up small.

Yes, let's trade-in the best ST's at the "I'd rather have a better offense or defense" store, shall we?

Moorman (sic) the best athlete on the team? Ah, no. And Martz? LOL! He's on the fast-track to the CFL (now that the AFL is defunct). Given his "body" of work since being blessed with the Rams' offense, it's safe to say he'd not only continue to stink as an OC, but make the entire offense mutiny because he's a pompous arse.

This was a no-brainer move for Cassel/his agent. Everyone knows that Cassel isn't even close to a franchise player and that the Patriots only franchised him to get something in trade for him. But now he's at-worst guaranteed to make $14.651M for the next year, which is more than he probably dreamed he'd ever make in his career, let alone one season. The question is, will any team be stupid enough to offer him $14M a year plus trade away a 1st round pick? Paying for potential (like the #1 overall pick, whose contract isn't even as large as the one Cassel will have to look for) is one thing, but while Cassel has played and won games in the NFL, he didn't prove he could beat good teams and that will be a major red flag. The move also put the Patriots in a huge cap bind, because now they're just $3.9M under the cap, and that will still probably be about $1M short of covering the rookie salary cap. They'll also need about $2M to tender RFA's and EFA's, plus another $1M for extra space for injuries.

I don't see how the NFLPA can allow Cassel's agent to accept less than the franchise tender as the average of a new contract. No one has ever signed for less per year than his franchise tender, and I don't see an exception being made for Cassel/the Patriots. Doing so lowers the value of the franchise tag, which hurts the NFLPA's position, not to mention it's career suicide for his agent. The fallbacks are to have Cassel sign his 1-year $14.65M tender and play for that for the year and then whatever happens next year happens, or the Pats remove the tag and allow him to become an UFA. In either case, Cassel is still making-out like a bandit.

In the future, a lot of abdominal surgeries will be performed going through the stomach, vagina, etc.

Who said anything about a bottle of (sic) Petron?

Can your pu$$y do the dog?

Here's hoping no one is stupid enough to trade for Scott Mitchell v2.0.

Why would he cut players and/or fire coaches and/or change the scheme of a great, SB-winning defense? The answer is, he wouldn't, and if he wanted to, was probably told that he couldn't or he wouldn't get the job/would be fired. I no more give him credit for keeping LeBeau and the 3-4 than I give Jauron credit for keeping Bobby April. It was a no-brainer.

You're kidding, right? The Steelers had just won the SB thanks to their defense, and you think that Tomlin had any control over it or LeBeau? He was probably told "Dick LeBeau and the 3-4 stays and if you don't like it, this interview is over."

I'd do her. Pat Benatar (in her prime), not so much.

The Jags will be the next, and probably last, team to move. Jacksonville doesn't deserve a pro team.

Isn't Rich Funke older than Pat Summit? That would explain the comment.

Simms was a good QB, but he was helped immensely by a great defense, running game, and Mark Bavarro, not to mention Parcells and Belichick. Had Jeff Hostetler not led the Giants to a SB win after he got hurt during the 1990 season, Simms probably would have been considered a HOF'er.

There were 2 plays he made, but only because Roethlisberger didn't put enough zip or air on the ball. Other than those, he was abused.