TimGraham

I think they might have to. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds because other teams need linebacker help, too. The Bills will be competing for whatever guys are available. Think they'll sign with the Patriots, Bears or Bills?

I grew up in Cleveland. You're not alone.

Sorry I wasn't around after the game. It was a late finish and deadlines took precedence. Tuesday was a travel day.

You and I must not check out the same Stadium Wall message board because the vast majority of people here have called Peters overrated and insisted moving Walker to left tackle would make the offensive line superior to last year's unit. I think folks here have been taking a more reasonable, wait-and-see approach to Demetrius Bell.

We're not going to know the real winner of the Peters trade for a few years, but it doesn't look good for the Bills right now. One of their planks was Langston Walker at left tackle. They've saved a lot of money, so that's a plus. Now Bell, Wood and Nelson need to help them win.

My prediction all along for the Bills has been an "improved" 7-9. I'll still stand by that, but if I were to adjust, I would go downward in the win column.

The Moss trade wasn't a robbery at the time. The Patriots' offer was the best on the table. 30 other teams could have offered more but didn't want to touch him. There are mitigating circumstances with both Seymour and Burgess that make it more nuanced than they would appear on the surface. Seymour is entering the final year of his contract. Burgess boycotted the offseason and demanded a trade, and the Raiders signed Ellis to replace him, making Burgess expendable on their roster. They needed to unload him. While the Patriots won every one of those trades, they did so by taking some risk other teams wouldn't. Moss was radioactive. The Patriots are weaker this year without Seymour and have to wait two years to get their compensation.

My opinion is limited by the number of times I've attended them since I joined ESPN. That's why I deferred to the guys who regularly cover the team in that post. I didn't think his response was anything unusual based on other coaches I've covered, and the tone didn't seem out of the ordinary for a Jauron news conference (as I know them). But the guys who cover Jauron on a daily basis (which I will be now that I'm moving back to WNY) were surprised.

I loved Bob DiCesare's column in today's Buffalo News. Sharply written and raises a lot of valid points.

Even before Seymour went AWOL, it was a horrible trade for the Raiders. Of all the scout types I spoke with, none thought he was worth more than a second-round pick. True, the Patriots have to wait two years for their asset to ripen, but there's a good chance it will be a top-5 or top-10 pick. They chose to acquire value now for a player they knew they weren't going to re-sign. I think it was a brilliant organizational move. It weakens the Patriots' defense a little, but they also are happy with the youngsters coming up (Brace, Pryor) and now have the money to give Wilfork an extension.

These were not AVP moves. Remember, he was in place on Friday. The Bills cut Chambers on Saturday and held onto Walker until Tuesday. Chambers was expendable as long as they were trying to trade Walker. I'm sure they signed Chambers at a discount and saved a nice chunk of money. Bell is healthy enough to play Monday. This is, of course, only Wednesday and back injuries on humans that large can be difficult to manage.

I have no idea if Turk scripted plays. If he did, then he shouldn't have. If he didn't, then he should have considered it.

QB Matt Baker LB Alvin Bowen DE Copeland Bryan OL Kirk Chambers TE Tyson DeVree DE Ataefiok Etukeren OL Christian Gaddis RB Bruce Hall DB Cary Harris WR C.J. Hawthorne OL Nick Hennessey WR Felton Huggins DT Derrick Jones DT Corey Mace LB Ryan Manalac RB Dominic Rhodes TE Jonathan Stupar

They have until 6 to make the cuts, but are under no deadline to announce them. Of the four teams I cover, the Jets are the only ones to have announced the moves. And they did it at 4 p.m. and put Rex Ryan on a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Yes, I liked that.

Deadline is 6 p.m. The confusion stems from a misprint in the NFL's annual guide.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/...-dominic-rhodes

I have some background on this that I cannot divulge here until I report it. As for what difference Van Pelt will make, I don't think it will be much. The Bills' offense still can turn into that dynamic attack we expected, but that might've been the case under Schonert, too. I doubt he was unveiling much in the preseason, and the absence of Terrell Owens didn't help. The offense I saw early in training camp looked nothing like the offense in the preseason games.

Not sure what you mean by that. But if you're suggesting I wrote that line, I didn't. And if you're suggesting the person who did write it failed to give proper attribution, you're wrong. Fans are calling him that in more places than this message board.

That's an interesting question. I think the options are different with each unit. The first-team WRs have to appealing targets for Edwards. Even when you consider Owens has been out for a while, remember that Edwards got used to throwing to him, Evans and Reed all summer. That carries over to games. On the second and third units, the difference in appeal between the WRs and TEs is less stark. Not saying that's the absolute reason, but it's a consideration.

I'm not sure what the trickle down would be if Bell wins the job over Walker. If Wood were the left guard, it would be more clear cut. But the longer Bell is out with the bad back it gets tougher to sort out.

Thanks again to everybody for their concern. I'm trying to get things back to normal, so let's talk football.

I want to thank everybody on the site for their concern and warm regards. Things are getting better. They're not fully back to normal, but we're headed in the right direction. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the kind words at a difficult time. It makes a huge difference.

There certainly would be a domino effect, but I'm not privy to thinking on who would be shuffled. Many are saying just move Walker back to right tackle and Butler back to right guard. But then Wood needs to be moved, too.

Here's the Boston Herald story on the play ... http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/footbal...me_for_big_hit/

The only way sacks allowed could become official is if it was charted by each team's coaching staff. Even then it still would be subjective. But that won't happen. The NFLPA never would allow management to assign official stats to the players.