maddenboy

You fell for it, MDFan. You must be new around here. Oh, and Ralph is cheap.

I'm halfway through my 2nd watching on Tivo. "Culture change" blah blah blah. But I will say this: this team does not seem to know its not supposed to win. Every game and every play. And I dont just mean "hang around, keep it close, and just give yourself a chance." They dont seem to know that its hard to win in this league. Dont be surprised, is all i'm sayin.

Offense: EJ's was Efficient. Tuel's was Aggressive passing and Boring running. Defense: Youngry. (They seemed to be always getting to the play and bringing "it" when they did) ST: Focused. You always hear how ST is not just guys running down to cover or block, but they run actual plays. I sure saw the difference yesterday.

I never ever ever ever have a dolphins player on my fantasy team. I'm in a 12 man league, with basically the same guys for 10+ years. There is one dolphin fan. And there is another life-long Bills fan besides me. I cannot and will not be caught dead with a dolphin on my team. Exception: I might draft a Dolphin in order to trade him to the Dolphin fan. The dolphin fan knows this, and will draft Bills players in order to create a bidding war between me and the other Bills fan. But this all works out BEFORE the season starts. I will never have a Dolphin on my roster. It would make me physically ill to have to actually root for any dolphin to do anything to give me points. Funny aside, maybe very telling about the difference between Dolphins fans and Bills fans. The Dolphins guy in our league has no problem whatsoever with starting Bills players. I'd rather be dead.

Good call. It would be just like Belichick to dictate, instead of react to, the future. I saw a piece on TV where he said that him and his deep-dark-cellar-dwelling genius guru guy looked at the league and decided that Safety was the suckiest position in the NFL. So they decided to attack it with Tight Ends. So began the Gronk, Hernandez era. Maybe this year they decided that: (1) their WRs suck and they cant fix it anytime soon, and (2) the MLBs and NTs and run stuffing Safeties in our division suck, so lets get at 'em. It wouldnt surprise me if they decided to be the Giants of the late 80s. But, do they have the RB depth and a power back?

I'd like to see the "metrics" (or whatever its properly called) on the players before I chime in. And since its probably a closely guarded secret, both in methodology and in results, we'll probably never know whether its smart, dumb, or in between when they sign or dont sign some guy. I gotta think that part of the Levitre issue was injury issues, and part was replaceability, and part was the value of that position. For Byrd, I dont know his health issues, if any. But value of the position is a big factor. Not counting FB or LS, which are silly, I think S is probably and correctly considered the least valuable position after RB. And the Bills seem to have drafted some gamers in the past couple of seasons, signalling that they are fine with not tying up huge dollars at the S position. And as an aside, I know Safeties are supposed to be more valuable if they can cover tight ends. But I wonder how the Gronk injuries and Hernandez issues have decreased Byrd's leverage. Who else in the division do we need to pay top dollar for a Safety to cover??? "We'll keep drafting young studs, paying the rookie minimums, and we'll only lock up the next Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu or Ronnie Lott. If you arent one of those, and you turn up your nose at our idea of a fair offer, let the doorknob hitcha" And frankly, I'm okay with that. Until and unless we are 1-2 players away from a Super Bowl, AND our safety is somehow one of those players.

+1 Rastro's posts are very well balanced. But the different tone of the OP's post made me wanna run through a wall (of days between now and the season opener).

Its tough to sneak qbs (Tuel) onto the practice squad. I dont think they'll gamble like that. There are too many qb needy teams. And too many teams in our division who'd love to pick the brain of a guy who was in every qb meeting under our new coach/staff. Charlie B(izz)atch > Leftwich > Kolb. At least B(izz)atch makes plays. Leftwich just runs plays. Kolb just prays to god he doesnt get killed on most plays.

Barkley looked decent tonite. And I was sure that EJ would be taken in the first round. I made a financial wager with a good friend and fellow lifelong bills fan about it. He was crying about how EJ would be available in the 3rd, blah blah. I said "dont Eff around. Just get the best qb. And take him in the first. Dont gamble with your future." When they traded out of 8 my heart was in my throat for about an hour or whatever. I just "knew" he would go in the first round. When my friend sent me my cash in the mail, it completed a pretty great draft feeling for me. They Got Er Done. This doesnt feel like false hope. And it feels ten times better than when we got Mario. EJ touches the ball on every play.

I didnt whiff on the tradedown. As I said earlier, I wasnt trying to predict, as such. You can see from my sig, made in March, that I wanted EJ at 8. Really, It was what I wanted, that seemed reasonable. Not a wish list. Not a prediction. But what I thought would be the best possible result. Underscored by the "git er done." Nobody was more shocked / excited / stoked than me. "With the sixteenth pick in the twenty-thirteen draft, the Buffalo Bills select E" was all I needed to hear. Ya just cant imagine. I was kinda floating on cloud nine for the whole day until the next pick. When they took Woods in the second, it was almost like "of course they did. This cant be real, but I hope I wake up tomorrow and it is."

Other than the shade of green being slightly off (maybe its my monitor), this link captures the essence of what the new-look Dolphins are all about. I mean, really. Can you see Brian Urlacher in the dolphins gear? Ray Ray? Earl Campbell stampeding bitc%es? Otis Sistrunk? Mel Blount? Mean Joe? Dick Butkus? Picture (if you can without throwing up) the famous images of Mike Singletary, with his huge eyes and frothing at the mouth, in the Dolphins gear.

Do you have a link to his prediction? And, it depends on who is doing the pushups. If she's especially cute, I might settle for 5 pushups and 5 situps. And not to be greedy or push it, but 5 trampoline jumping jacks never hurt anybody. Just sayin.

We're in escrow. Hopefully we can close after the 3rd preseason game.

best of all is the new Flaccid Penis logo. At least for them, the old logo looked kinda like it had a purpose. Even if that purpose was to jump through a firey hoop at seaworld. This new logo is limp, elongated, and just uninspiring. Yay !!!!!!

To be fair, it wasnt really a prediction. It was what I really really wanted. And It was at least a reasonable possibility. I figured that EJ would be the first qb taken, and was sure he would go in the first round. After that, Woods seemed like he'd be best available WR in round 2. I liked both because they seem to be grownups and to take football very seriously. Bills lack veteran leadership, (at least proven-winner leadership) so it doesnt help us to bring in boys who are just happy to be in the NFL and to be relatively rich. We need to draft men for a couple years.

Thankyousir !! Thank you very much. Thanks for going back and digging that one out. But for the future, I think we're looking pretty good. It feels like more than the usual "selling hope to the fanbase, rinse, repeat." I think we are building something real.

I left Buffalo in 1991. And I've often wondered (1) is Chippewa still synonymous with hoes (I expect not), (2) where did they go? I remember they were trending toward Genesee, and (3) is it still appropriate to say to someone of our generation "I saw ya mama on Chippewa last night" and achieve the desired effect? It has to be, IMHO, no matter where they actually went.

I chimed in on Astrobot's last post. It seems that the qbs are overthrowing some. But are they ever UNDERthrowing? I prefer overthrows. I hope there's never any underthrows.

+1 Its not just that I like it. Or look forward to it. Its a need. Seriously. "Hello everyone. My name is Maddenboy. And I'm a Astro-Notes-a-holic"

"Eff this red jersey. DAMN life is good !! Show ya podna sum luv !!"

And as to the substance, I just dont believe than any in the national media actually care about the Bills. King, as a top pro, came to Buffalo and tried to say something meaningful. But there is no analysis here. Just mentioning some names that the local, small fanbase will be happy to hear in a national publication. But of course its our own fault. Win a little, and then we'll become relevant.

I always thought there's a famous football name that made the guy super tough (and no neighborhood kids would fail to notice and give him grief about it): Dick. Butt. Kiss.

One thing I took away from this wonderful breakdown. It seems EJ never UNDERthrows anyone. Maybe keep an eye out for it, but I'd rather have an overthrow 10 times out of 10. I'm psyched.

Not to rain on your parade, but there's not much analysis in your article. "last year a knucklehead did well, so this year's knucklehead might do well also." Is there something about their families, their support systems, their coaching, their particular brand of knuckleheadness (weed?) that lends itself to a fresh start (being not physically addictive, but merely psychologically addictive)? It seems to me the better comparison might be Burfict = Honey Badger (although I fully understand that burfict and Da'rick were undrafted and considered borderline undraftable). Give me a little bit more to sink my teeth into.

"ninja" doesnt get it. I guess you havent heard the clip. He used it in the worst way, with the hard "R" sound at the end. The way that makes us black folks' hair stand on end, and expect a lynching to be coming soon if we dont fight back or gtf outta there. Not the "we white boys think we're cool so we say it with the "uh" sound at the end" way. Or a Vanilla Ice concert. If there IS such a thing.