Punch

It's right in the interview: It wasn't until the morning of Dec. 26, Swarbrick said, that Te'o contacted Notre Dame coaches about the call. Swarbrick said Te'o wanted to discuss the issue face-to-face with his parents over a holiday break before bringing it to the staff's attention, and on Dec. 27, Te'o and Swarbrick met to discuss the details of the relationship.

Absolutely, these are all fascinating questions that demand answers. It wouldn't be crazy if Te'o had evidence of this, though. The mere presence of pertinent questions coupled with the lack of answers (at the moment) doesn't mean there aren't any. Either way, Te'o has issues.

If he has answers to the questions you've outlined, it's likely he's provided them to Notre Dame in December. If Notre Dame "cleared him" without asking those questions, then it's nothing more than PR. This story is fascinating, and I kind of hope it's not the latest sordid tale of celebrity sociopathy.

In 2012, are we still debating whether or not it is possible to be hoodwinked by someone with whom we are having an online relationship? The possibility was already common knowledge in 1994, but it's incredibly prevalent now. The hot 18 year old blonde cheerleader with a tan is probably a 300 lb plumber named Jack. It's a cliche, not a shocking development.

Since when are mock drafts based on what teams tell the press??? The Bills draft picks are rarely correctly predicted. Kiper is only the most famous mock drafter, he's by no means the most accurate.

If true, it's very bizarre: http://deadspin.com/...eason-is-a-hoax Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, the stories said, played this season under a terrible burden. A Mormon linebacker who led his Catholic school's football program back to glory, Te'o was whipsawed between personal tragedies along the way. In the span of six hours in September, as Sports Illustrated told it, Te'o learned first of the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. Kekua, 22 years old, had been in a serious car accident in California, and then had been diagnosed with leukemia. SI's Pete Thamel described how Te'o would phone her in her hospital room and stay on the line with her as he slept through the night. "Her relatives told him that at her lowest points, as she fought to emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at the sound of his voice," Thamel wrote. Upon receiving the news of the two deaths, Te'o went out and led the Fighting Irish to a 20-3 upset of Michigan State, racking up 12 tackles. It was heartbreaking and inspirational. Te'o would appear on ESPN's College GameDay to talk about the letters Kekua had written him during her illness. He would send a heartfelt letter to the parents of a sick child, discussing his experience with disease and grief. The South Bend Tribune wrote an article describing the young couple's fairytale meeting—she, a Stanford student; he, a Notre Dame star—after a football game outside Palo Alto. Did you enjoy the uplifiting story, the tale of a man who responded to adversity by becoming one of the top players of the game? If so, stop reading.

If you don't want to re-live it, the best way is probably to not respond to a comment about it. It only fans the flames.

Is that why Whitner is no longer a Bill? Because his twitter comments were posted on a message board?

This meme gets more ridiculous everytime it's posted and it's completely untrue. Speaking for myself living in Northern Virginia, I am witness to fans of several different teams viewing the Pats in the exact same light--- the legacy is tainted, deserved or not. On the other hand, the more I learn about Bellichick's methods and attention to detail the more it is cemented in my mind that he can absolutely be classified as a "genius". He has earned the distinction because he is consistently ahead of the curve. That doesn't mean the Patriots didn't act inappropriately. In 1972, Nixon beat McGovern in a landslide--- and he also cheated. Dirty tricks aside (it is politics, after all), Nixon didn't secure a landslide victory because of Watergate. He won because of a win at all costs suffocating overall strategy that exploited the weaknesses of his opponents with absolute precision. Regardless, his legacy is forever tainted. Sounds familiar, though the 21st century sports media is much more forgiving than the political media of the 1970s. Acknowledging this does not in any way justify the nonstop tire fire that has been the past 13 Bills seasons.

There haven't been a large number of high profile QB trades over the past decade, but there are a handful that can be argued as successes. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but there have been several QBs that were successful with a 2nd team following a trade over the past 20 years. This doesn't include free agents, of course (Gannon, Brees, Manning, Favre in 2009, etc) that found success with a new team. It isn't impossible to find an above average-to-very good QB via trade, regardless of experience: Brett Favre (traded from Atlanta to Green Bay in 1992) Joe Montana (San Fran to KC, 1993) Warren Moon (Houston to Minnesota, 1994) Jeff George (Indy to Atlanta, 1994) Mark Brunell (Green Bay to Jacksonville, 1995) Chris Chandler (Houston to Atlanta, 1996) Jeff George (Atlanta to Oakland, 1997) Brad Johnson (Minnesota to Washington, 1999) Aaron Brooks (Green Bay to New Orleans, 2000) Trent Green (St. Louis to KC, 2001) Drew Bledsoe (New England to Buffalo, 2002) Matt Schaub (Atlanta to Houston, 2007) Jay Cutler (Denver to Chicago, 2009) Carson Palmer (Cincinnati to Oakland, 2011)

Jay Cutler and Carson Palmer are arguable, but it's obviously a very rare occurrence.

Shying away from Matt Flynn because his early resume superficially resembles Rob Johnson is as logical as rushing out to trade for Thaddeus Lewis from the Browns (following 1single but awful start) because his resume superficially resembled Brett Favre in Atlanta. There are logical reasons to be cautious in evaluating Flynn's potential. But it's lazy to compare Rob Johnson to Matt Flynn, because it's a surface comparison at best.

+1 The verdict is still out on Flynn. Whatever happened this past summer with Seattle is not an indictment of his potential as a starter.

I can certainly imagine some elements of a west coast style offense being used, but I haven't read/heard anything along these lines. Is it possible that a writer or two confused Nathaniel Hackett with his father Paul, who is pretty strongly associated with the WCO?

Your post is an excellent assessment of the situation, and I don't think there's anything I could add to it aside from agreeing with this last sentiment. The Seahwks decided to "swing and hope" repeatedly for a QB until they connected with Russell Wilson: Tarvaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, Matt Flynn, et al will only be remembered in Seattle as the answer to a trivia question if they're remembered at all. Even if none of the 2013 Draft QB prospects are "the guy", the Bills need to keep swinging until they hit the sweet spot.

That's not right. It is a reference to Overdorf's Bald Directive, a very effective cost saving measure which serves to limit men's hair products at One Bills Drive. The savings from this single initiative was instrumental in acquiring Lee Smith off of New England's practice squad.

It's a good list and an interesting read, but one thing to take into consideration before making declarations about which QBs were "good" or "bad" is the situation in which they were drafted. Tim Couch very possibly could have been a perennial All-Pro if drafted by a more stable franchise with talent in place around him. Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees as a Buffalo Bill could have likely gone the way of JP Losman and/or Trent Edwards. The question is, how do you feel about the Bills current situation in regards to coaching, talent evaluation and roster? If the Bills rated well, then drafting a QB like Nassib/Glennon/Dysert/Whomever late in the 1st or in the 2nd might work out better than it did to take Losman in the 1st in 2004.

Cecil Lammey ‏@cecillammey scout talk "Ryan Nassib = Ryan Fitzpatrick, worst kept secret in the #NFLDraft the #bills want him" some think he WILL NOT make it to 2nd rd Retweeted by Buffalo Bills Draft Cecil Lammey ‏@cecillammey If Nassib is on the #bills wish list then they'll have to trade back into the late 1st to snare him, too high to take at 8 IMHO #NFLDraft Retweeted by Buffalo Bills Draft Buffalo Bills Draft ‏@BillsDraft Those are tweets from @cecillammey who is at the Shrine Game and is very well connected. Not good news if you’re a #Bills fan imo.

I see-- I didn't make it all the way through the slideshow.

Honestly, I don't know. I can only say I've never heard a comment like this before on a cleanout day, and it was considered out of the ordinary enough that a Seahawks beat reporter mentioned it as such. Perhaps it isn't that strange, though.

Sam Monson ‏@PFF_Sam Legend RT @willbrinson: RT @johnpboyle: QB Russell Wilson wasn't in the locker room for cleanout b/c he was watching film. Seriously.

It appears the list includes coaches with at least 50 games in their NFL resume, which would explain why several have been left off that many of us would deem "worthy". Having said that, I think a HC that coached less than a full season could still be considered the "worst coach" in NFL history.

Danny Crossman comments on joining Bills Have you maintained a relationship with Doug Marrone through the years? You both played together in the World League and coached together in college. “Doug and I have known each other for the last 25 years or so. After playing together, we had the opportunity to coach together twice before in college football and compete against each other in the NFL. We have maintained a very close relationship over the years.” Doug Marrone comments on Crossman What attributes and qualities will Crossman bring to the position? “The thing I am excited about for what Danny will bring to our special teams is a system that plays to our players’ strengths-something that we have obviously talked about. For our players, we are going to be able to evaluate what their strengths are and be able to put them in the best position possible for us to win.”

He's coached ST in the NFL for the past 11 years and his record looks ok, on paper--- but I wonder if any ST coach's record would balance out over that time span? Despite the ST tire fire in Detroit for some of this past year, we could do better, we could do worse. http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-2/Bills-tab-Danny-Crossman-special-teams-coordinator/45a6ef4b-20c6-4a30-869b-670a5b59a1f8 During Crossman’s tenure with Detroit from 2010-12, S John Wendling tied for the NFL-lead with 51 special teams tackles. In his first year with the Lions in 2010, the kick return unit was the third-most improved in the League with an average 3.5 more yards per return than in 2009. Returner Stefan Logan posted the fifth-best punt return average in the NFL (12.1). Detroit also had the NFL’s 10th-most significant improvement in punt return average in 2010 – a jump from an 8.8 punt return average in 2009 to 12.1 yards per punt return in 2010. ... The Panthers ranked third in the NFL in 2008 with an opponent average drive start after kickoffs (24.7) and were one of three teams that did not allow an opponent to start a drive following a kickoff past the 50-yard line. Carolina posted a league-best 30 touchbacks, 33.7 touchback percentage and ninth with an opponent kickoff return average (21.9). In his first year as a special teams coordinator in 2005, Crossman’s unit ranked among the best in the NFL. The Panthers finished ninth in the Dallas Morning News special teams ratings which were highlighted with a second place finish in punt coverage and seventh in kickoff coverage.

Those 3 aren't even the worst 3 in the history of the Bills franchise--- they're just the most recent failed HCs. Articles like these tend that purport to estimate an "all-time" list of anything tend to have no sense of history. History being anything more than 10 years ago.