LGB

Another Peter's holdout will hurt the team more than help if Peters is not in game shape. He should be paid what he is worth in my view and at least on par with someone who has contributed as much as him, but his 2008 effort did not appear to be at a very high level (being voted to the pro-bowl was questionable based on what we saw of him, but could help in a trade deal). Why play musical chairs with the OL because of him again? Make an honest offer and a decision before the draft so you know what your needs are and can address it accordingly.

Being 1 or 2 million apart on a deal does not seem like that big of a deal in today's world of pro sports. If the Bills wanted to get the deal done, you would think it would have been done by now - maybe by offering the difference in incentives. What is hard to understand is here we have a good - if not great player in Peters and a deal has not been made, where players like Kelsey are given truckloads of money for little or no performance. Maybe just offer these players big incentives to go along with some guaranteed money.

Here is hoping that we do not have to sit through another Peters hold-out. OBD should make their best offer before the draft and then move on. Him being out of camp and in playing shape with the rest of the OL - far outweighs any possible benefit from trying to get him to honor his contract. Another repeat of last year - watching Peters trying to make up for lost time is not going to get us any closer to the Playoffs. If he does not want to play, move him before holdout #2 comes and decreases his value.

The Bills have to be looking at what the Pats are doing - right? They have been a Jauron killer every year and there are reports that the Pats are trying to sign Julius Peppers. If I were GM, I would make a move for a quality TE....yeah, Pettigrew might drop down in the draft, but this is one position the Bills have not been able to fill in a very long time. Why not try for Tony Gonzalez?

Steve in Atlanta has convinced me with the chart he posted. What else do you need to know? TE has a faster ball speed than Paul Thompson and James Pinkey?..who...?!? Yep, case closed and put to bed...lol Look, Drew Brees has no cannon for an arm, but year after year seems to get the ball where it needs to be for his WRs. The same can be said for Chad Pennington. But it helps to have ball speed (as mentioned) in Orchard Park. So where is TE based on what we have seen so far? Well, Trent has had some good games and some not so good games -- so the jury is still out and this thread lives on. To be honest, at times TE has looked like a younger Kelly Holcomb. Check the stats, they are about the same from when they have been in Buffalo. The only difference being experience and it does not mean that TE will become a career backup. That said, it hasn't been a slam dunk that he is the QB we have been looking for either.

Okay, we all know that the Bills needed to put another quality WR on the field to free up the 9 million Evans, but there weren't too many people that thought that the Bills would sign a player who has had some pretty well publicized team chemistry issues in the past. So the question now is: which Owens is going to show up and at 35 yrs old can he be effective catching the ball in Buffalo? Having TO might be a good idea if the Bills can shore up the OL and generate a more balanced offensive attack without an imbalance in the locker room.

congratulations cossack, you are just what OBD would like to produce: fans that will spend time, money and appear at games expecting nothing in return. Most Buffalo fans support their teams and do not ask for much...like an honest effort at putting the right personal on the field and players playing like they might like to win, justifing the millions of dollars they are getting paid (e.g. Kelsey and Denney). Being a paying fan affords folks to the right to think the unthinkable? Holding their team to a higher standard or heaven forbid, have a negative thought or two? Recently, it appears that that the Bills effort has been below .500 and maybe a whiff of the playoffs once every dozen years might be too much for kool-aid drinkers like you to expect, but it might not be for others. Just ask Thurman Thomas what he thinks of the current Bills: “The team I can’t stomach the most when I watch them is probably the Buffalo Bills,” Thomas said to laughs. “I’m serious. They stink.” Why? “They need some better football players,” Thomas said.

the NFL collectively is saying: been there and done that with someone who might have had a glimmer of promise only to Ryan Leaf out...

2010?!?...could be the Toronto or LA Bills by then...

Seeing Coles going to the Bengals affirms that the price was too high for the Bills. Here is hoping that St. Johnson and Jenkins have a great camp and hit the ground running in the fall. Hopefully Hardy will be back sooner rather than later and can contribute. With Royal gone, it would be nice to pickup a pass-catching TE.

Okay, if Evans goes down, that would be a loss, but the same can be said for other postitions (e.g. Edwards, Schobel etc.). What is hard to accept is that the Bills would seem to have to offer over 6 million dollars a year for Coles. Doesn't that bother anyone? Just because he is available, doesn't make him worth that much money when the Bills have other pressing needs at DE and OT.

Is Kevin Burnett still available, he might be a good pickup if the Bills decide to go with experience.

If the Bills were to sign Coles, how much money would be tied up at WR when there are more pressing needs at DE, OL?!? Wasn't Hardy suppose to be the WR help Evans needed? Josh Reed (5' 10") had a pretty good year and if Hardy (6' 5") and Johnson (6' 2") develop, why would the Bills pay big dollars for the 5' 11" Coles? But then again, look how much money the Bills have thrown at Kelsey and have received nothing in return. He has got to be the highest paid and least productive player on the Bill's squad. So is it any wonder that this staff is forever destined to be 7-9 with sack superstars like Kelsey, Denney and McCargo?

Just watched the replay again and from the time the incomplete/fumbled pass play whistle to the time the next play ran (knee down), it was roughly 75 seconds. Doesn't seem like enough time to look at the replays and send the findings down to the field (if they even did)? The last time the Stealers won was not without controversy - right? Back in 2006, there were some questionable Superbowl calls: 1) the offensive pass interference call that wiped out an early touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Darrell Jackson, forcing Seattle to settle for three instead of seven. 2) Roethlisberger ran for the goal line near the end of the first half, but replays appeared to show a stop by the Seahawks. 3) Then, with the Seahawks trailing 14-10, a phantom holding call negated a completion that would have given Seattle first and goal at the one yard line.

With less than 10 seconds left in the game, this looked like a pretty close call...and since the Cardinals had proved the on-field officials wrong before in the game, why not review what was ruled a Warner fumble when his arm was moving forward with the ball? If it was Tom Brady, that pass attempt would probably have been ruled incomplete from upstairs. If it was a fumble, fine, but the play call was certainly close enough to warrant an under-two-minutes booth review. It was almost like the network wanted to air the "Office" and rushed to end the game.

Didn't know that either...just reaffirms that it is all about the math (making money first - winning is secondary...see Jauron...status quo etc). It looks like the lease is up in 2013 (but could probably be broken at any time). More than likely, there will be a change in the next four years: new ownership...maybe a new location probably with a new stadium. Seems like OBD is just treading water until then.

Agreed, but going forward, it appears that the Cowboys will at least have the money part of the equation solved. Not that it solves everything, but it sure helps in establishing a playoff contender and keeping the team from packing up and leaving.

That is a big "if", but could it work in the OBD/WNY environment? Would RW or whoever buys the Bills be able to install something like that? It could be that the "Buffalo" in Buffalo Bills is short-lived without a new stadium and pricing structure that is evident in today's NFL. Sure Jim Kelly might be able to put together a group of investors that might be able to out-bid some other group from out of town, but if the Bills stay in western NY, will we be able to complete with the Jerry Jones of the world and the sky-rocketing NFL and pro sport ticket prices? Look what is happening right now with the Yankees. Last season, tickets behind the Yankee's dugout cost about $150 per game. This season, because it was the last season at the old Yankee Stadium, the cost went up to $250. Next season, the same seats in the new Yankee Stadium, go up to $850 per seat. Not only that, but it looks like you have to sign a minimum four-year contract and the Yankees want a third of the cost of the first year up front. The same type of thing is happening to the Dallas Cowboys. Sure, it is supply and demand, but it is doubtful that the Yankees/Cowboys model would ever succeed in the WNY economy.

Could it just be possible that that you really do get what you pay for? The Bills have like the lowest ticket prices in the NFL (that probably equates to being able to put enough money together to buy a Ford Fiesta to go up against Ferrari). It is clear that the Bills have done the math and have determined what the market in Buffalo will bear. So rather than go out and pursue a proven GM and coach, the math at OBD says that enough Bills fans will show up to cover the costs of Jauron and company to make x dollar amount to try to keep pace with the rest of the NFL ownership revenue. Would Bills fans and RW pay more for a better product? It really looks like this year, Bills season ticket sales will decline, while newer stadiums are being built across the league and new stadium fees are being introduced that allow fans the "right" to buy season tickets. Can the Bills keep pace? If the Bills had a better GM/coach/team than the Argonauts, maybe that would result in the ability to sell more seats? The same sorry staff of poor decision makers seems to be status quo. If RW was really committed to winning, would he take more of his own money to hire some quality leadership or is he just stuck to the OBD business model until the moving vans arrive?

Don't think for a minute that someone at OBD has not done the math on this. There is a reason that DJ is coming back and there is a reason that the team continues to be 7-9 every year, because there is enough interest in mediocrity that being a Bills fan is a lot like buying a lotto ticket. As a lotto ticket buyer, you can select your own numbers and buy as many tickets as you want. The fun is that you have a chance to win, but in the end the house always wins. Win or lose, as long as there are people that will step up to the ticket counter, the Bills will go on.

If you are a Buffalo Bill, why would you not want to see Dick Jauron come back as head coach?!? The easy-going, mild-mannered, do-not-work-the-players-too-hard coach is back. Yahoo! Welcome back to Club Dick, more easy practices...less two-a-day workouts...oh and if you screw up and make bad game day decisions that cost you at least three games a year, no big deal. No one cares. No one gets excited. You don't have to worry about anyone yelling at you. Forget mediocrity, below par performances get rewarded by big contracts and extensions...with Dick Jauron at the helm, players and coaches get paid millions of dollars for hardly breaking a sweat. Sure, you might look bad on national TV, but as long as the checks keep getting deposited, its no big thing at Club Dick! wow, what is not to like if you are a Buffalo Bill? At Club Dick you never have to worry about playing past 16 games and can make early off-season plans every year. Yippee! Dick is back!

The Lions fired head coach Rod Marinelli. The Jets have fired Eric Mangini. The Browns fired head coach Romeo Crennel. Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher has told the Cleveland Browns he's not interested in returning to coaching and says he will not be back in the league before 2010. Bill Cowher says NO Mike Holgrem says he will not be back until 2010 either. This leaves the Bills behind other teams who have fired their HC and are now in a position to aggressively pursue the remaining available coaching candidates. status quo anyone? 7-9 forever?!?

The big question is: will 7-9 for the third straight year be good enough for Jauron to be brought back in 2009 (for a chance to go for four straight below .500 seasons with a tougher schedule)? Greg Williams had three years with one .500 season and was gone. Mike Mularkey was only given two years (this, after guiding the Bills to their only winning season since 1999). Dick Jauron 2008 record: 7-9 (predicted) Dick Jauron 2007 record: 7-9 Dick Jauron 2006 record: 7-9 Mike Mularkey 2005 record: 5-11 Mike Mularkey 2004 record: 9-7 Gregg Williams 2003 record: 6-10 Gregg Williams 2002 record: 8-8 Gregg Williams 2001 record: 3-13 Will Jauron ever show that he can put together the required personal and staff to be able to formulate a game plan and make effective game day adjustments to beat the New England Patriots? After the Patriots beat the Bills last season in Orchard Park for the tenth straight time (by a 56-10 score), it was clear that Jauron and company have not been up to the challenge. If the Bills pull out a win, Jauron could be back, but likely Jauron becomes just another failure in the Bills Coaching Carousel.

It is unclear whether Whitner is a bust or not at this point. He has had some injury problems, but it seems to me that he has not had the impact that you would like to see in someone drafted that high (like say Antoine Winfield - who is about the same size), but the Bills needed a safety at the time. Also not sure how Donte was higher on their draft board than Haloti Ngata (hindsight being what it is - they screwed up and then they reached for McCargo).

2006 Donte Whitner = ? 2006 McCargo = Bust 2004 JP Losman = Bust (has any Bill turned the ball over more than JP (51 turnovers) during the time that they have appeared on the field?) 2003 McGahee = Bust (traded away when problems arose) 2002 Mike Williams = Bust 2000 Erik Flowers = Bust Five first round busts in 8 years might have something to do with no playoffs during that time (and current 7-9 year after year)...but hopefully the Bills can build upon their selections of Lynch and McKelvin the last two years and get to .500 again...