Punch

Didn't Buddy/Russ explicitly state on 1/1/13 that if/when they find the right guy they would hire him? They didn't wait for Gus Bradley, Mike McCoy, Jay Gruden and didn't interview Trestman, but is it crazy that they acted when they were impressed with Marrone and 8 teams scrambling for a new head coach and a relatively small number of quality candidates? I understand what you're saying, but that opinion has also been expressed by the likes of Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter--- based on collective sentiment from around the league. That doesn't make Nix a great (or even average) GM, though.

Of course, with a multi-million dollar contract and NFL stardom at stake...

He's gotten a lot of mileage out of his time in Green Bay, although he only served as QB coach in 1997-98. Well after Brett Favre was established. Reid has proven successful at upgrading mediocre QB talent into average. Which as you say, is also a description that fits Gailey.

You may be right, but I don't think there's anything in the phrase "upgrading restrooms" that explicitly means they are not necessarily expanding or adding more. That very well could be what is meant by "upgrade".

Which later became the epitaph on the Buffalo Bills tombstone, 2000-2012. RIP

This paragraph from the linked article caught my attention: Caldwell won his first 14 games with the Colts in 2009 before losing the final two regular-season games after resting Peyton Manning and most of his starters. The Colts reached the Super Bowl only to lose to the New Orleans Saints. Indianapolis went 10-6 the following season and captured another AFC South title, but lost to the Jets in a wild-card game. With Manning sidelined all of last season, the Colts went just 2-14 and Caldwell lost his job. Which detail jumps out? Peyton Manning? This was clearly an example of The Emperor Has No Clothes. The issue with Jim Caldwell not getting any interviews has more to do with Jim Caldwell than a failure of the Rooney Rule. I bet you're right. A public comment to "look into it" could very likely be a PR move to settle down any potential angst.

The Rooney Rule is serving it's purpose, and serving it well. If the NFL believes otherwise, they should provide a list of minority candidates with acceptable credentials for public scrutiny. Having said that, I wonder if the reported argument between Ray Horton and management in Arizona is directly responsible for this announcement? Once McCoy was hired in San Diego, Horton believed he was getting the job--- possibly because he was led to believe so. When that proved to not be the case, and Arians was hired, there was apparently a spat.

This is true. The "draft boards" that are constantly changing are the draft boards of mock draft speculators and commentators, not of NFL teams.

I don't think Hater is comparing them as QBs, only in so much as they have seemingly shot draft boards via word of mouth and hype in a weak class.

By no means am I an expert on football analytics, but by my estimation, it is not a prerequisite, considering 80% of NFL head coaches are not named Mike.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-tough-questions-will-come-from-nfl-scouts-011813 Another general manager who spoke Friday with FOXSports.com believes Te’o is one of the best inside linebacker prospects entering the league in some time. He also said Te’o will remain a first-round pick unless “something really, really messed up” is revealed about the hoax. The GM, though, is curious to see how Te’o handles explaining what has transpired. “Part of me wants the kid to come out, be a man and say, ‘Hey, it ended up being a hoax. I’m a linebacker. At my core I’m a meathead ball-buster. I got carried away and I apologize,’ ” the general manager said. “Maybe that would be simplifying it, but instead so far he’s trying to come across as naïve. That’s a little funky in itself. “You’ve got to look through all this and make a judgment. If it’s a lying and major fabrication issue, you need to determine the depth and duplicity of it. In light of what’s going on with Lance Armstrong, we all know the best way to do this.” http://deadspin.com/5977235/heres-a-photo-of-manti-teo-with-ronaiah-tuiasosopos-sister-the-night-before-the-notre-dame+usc-game?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow Here’s A Photo Of Manti Te’o With Ronaiah Tuiasosopo’s Sister The Night Before The Notre Dame-USC Game This photo, provided to us by a friend of the Tuiasosopos, was taken on Nov. 23, 2012—the night before the Notre Dame-USC game. It shows Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's younger sister, known as Pookah, with Manti Te'o. (According to Manti's uncle Alema Te'o, Pookah supposedly posed as Lennay Kekua's cousin.) Geeze... http://deadspin.com/5977243/newspaper-lennay-called-manti-teo-in-december-and-said-shed-faked-her-death-to-elude-drug-dealers Manti Te'o has told family and friends that the woman who was the voice of his fictitious girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" called him in December and said she had to fake her own death months earlier to elude drug dealers, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has learned. The woman, who has yet to be identified, tried to re-engage a relationship with Te‘o months after she supposedly had died of leukemia in early September, the Notre Dame All-American linebacker has told the people close to him. The account was shared with the Star-Advertiser by a source close to the Te‘o family. According to the account, Te'o asked the woman to transmit a photo to him with a date stamp, which she did, but this did not allay his suspicions and he later told his family and Notre Dame officials about being scammed.

I love Klosterman--- and Gladwell's no slouch! This Grantland correspondence piece is a gem.

If they do, he'll need a new tattoo, at any rate.

According to a post here on TSW, it was reported on the John Murphy Show. I haven't heard it directly myself.

That's hysterical. Lord knows over the past 13 or so seasons we've had plenty of vomitories on the field matching the 1st definition.

43 is the Mike.

There's really no way to respond to this when you say "no matter how you break it down". That's the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "Lalalalalalalala". Chip Kelly was my first choice, however, Oregon's previous 4 seasons weren't much different than the 4 years under Kelly: They were incredibly successful, and the program continued to recruit at a very high level. Syracuse was an absolute tire fire under Greg Robinson. Every critical observer of the Syracuse Football Program is convinced that Marrone's tenure be deemed a success based on where they were when he got there and the recruiting classes and resources he had to work with. If he stayed there, the expectation was that the program would continue to improve and return to prominence. I didn't want Kelly because he had a sparkling W-L record--- I wanted him because he was an innovative progressive mind that could (potentially) take the game to a higher level. Marrone may or may not turn out to be a good head coach in the NFL, but his track record with the Orange speaks in his favor not against it. That's true. Personally, when I have critical observations about the Bills or Sabres it can be cathartic to read a well written piece of a like mind. But the regurgitated axe grinding is exhausting. For my money, Mike Harrington is even worse. He's not only clueless about hockey and fottball, he's constantly petulant. Today's Sabre's Edge blog is just embarrassing how he proudly recounts how he inserts himself into the center of a postgame press conference like a junior high kid that got detention for defying the teacher by throwing spitballs in class. He's actually "celebrating" the one-year anniversary of an unprofessional incident.

.500 over 4 years is not terribly impressive until you take into consideration the fact that the same football program was 27 games under .500 the previous 4 seasons. How many top notch recruits do you suppose were playing for Marrone if they were recruited during that 10-37 stretch?

I guess the difference is that most people have no idea what this means in regards to the President's past but pretty much the first thing that comes to mind when you mention Manti Te'o is his strength and resiliance in the face of losing his girlfriend to leukemia. Kind of a huge disparity. EDIT: Not to mention, the whole reason this is a story right now is that the media did not properly vet Te'o in the first place.

His recent column about Grigorenko was atrocious. The assessments he made on Grigorenko are completely unfounded because he admittedly hasn't actually seen him play. It was merely a collection of cliches that could be true of any talented young hockey prospect. He hedged his bets so he can refer to this column if Ruff/Regier send Mikhail back to Quebec or if he is kept in Buffalo and produces. Sad and predictable.

This is pretty well overstated. There's no vitriol here, but whether or not it has been answered in the past, it is definitively answered in this thread. The "level of emotion involved" is not a concrete basis for the assumption you are making. Posters creating threads or crafting replies discussing the Pats cheating does not imply they do so out of jealousy or spite because the Bills "suck". If anyone suggest the Bills only suck because the Pats cheated, they are moronic. It's not worth a response.

Thanks for the breakdown. Looking forward to listening to it.

LOL

This stance is not unreasonable, but a columnist should have a slightly more educated and less invested opinion than do fans. Sully is either all in toward a negative stance (70% of the time) or all in on some wistful emotionally charged take (as when he bet Jeremy White he'd run down Hertel Ave. in his underwear if Fitz didn't get 30 TD passes). Jumping to completely opposite ends of the spectrum as a gut reaction is easy and requires little writing skill and even less thought. Worse than that, it's boring.

This question has been answered over and over again. Of course teams have been stealing signs from the sidelines, for decades. The Patriots did more than merely steal signs on the sidelines. A very select few actually believe the Bills suck because the Patriots cheated, but they're wearing tin foil hats. Why continue this mission?