Rob's House

As I was being reminded why I haven't been following the news much lately I stumbled across another warm steaming pile smeared across the pages of my local paper by the wonderfully "non-partisan" "fact" checkers at Politifact. The basic gist of this one is that Ken Cuccinelli said Mark Warner cast the deciding vote to pass Obamacare. Although this is absolutely true in practical terms, the slimy little sh!ts split hairs to coax their meter to a mostly false reading. You can read for youself what these dipshits wrote. This is what passes as "non-partisan" these days.

Do we know what their hiring budget was?

I've thought of this, and honestly if I was in that position it would be really hard to fire a good friend. Of course, it would bother the hell out of me to dash the dreams of so many young players during cuts. Maybe there's a happy medium. Maybe he could create some kind of assistant coach position so he could keep his buddy on Ralph's payroll while allowing someone else to coach ST.

Failure to succumb to peer pressure is highly frowned upon.

Golden seal

I wish I had some way of starting a slow clap. This post is excellent.

I think football fans in general underestimate the value of ST. I can think of some big games that turned on ST plays just off the top of my head. I'm reminded of a fumbled kick return turning my joy to sadness in the closing minutes of a game against NE a few years back. IIRC a similar play cost the 49ers a trip to the Superbowl year before last. Peyton Manning's victory drive in Indy was precluded by a ST blunder. ST plays were one of the few things that kept us in games last year. And I'm not going to go so far as to say we'd have won in NE had the ST unit had played a mediocre game, but we'd have had a chance. The point is, ST may not be the sexiest aspect of the game, but it can be the difference between 7-9 and 9-7, and that's a huge difference. Nice. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't cite this example too.

The best presents for someone like that are little things that are significant to her. For example, if she's into boating a little decorative model sailboat would be nice. Or if she's into dogs, a dog figurine. Just like your charger cord was nice because you knew she was thinking of you, the little trinket will mean more to her because she'll know you were thinking about her.

Just to clarify, did the Heritage Foundation endorse this plan, or was it just concocted by some guy that happened to work for Heritage at some point?

I'm starting to see a pattern. You and Ryan - both smoke pot, both like Cake, both turned lib. Now I'm getting nervous. Pot or Cake, which to give up... Sometimes it's just fun to troll the troll. Speaking of which, anyone know what happened to gatorboy? I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag b/c everyone seemed to have fun arguing with him (made me laugh to beat the devil), but I'm pretty sure he was trolling this place for months. I also think it was his 3rd handle, not counting the one his parents gave him.

Have you gotten your EJ tattoo yet?

The only way this could get worse is if they booked Keith Urban for the SB halftime show.

Dude, I don't know what you were watching but Jerry Ostroski was awesome in one of the early Madden games.

I think it's one of those things that won't win you the game but it can lose you one. It's maybe an oversimplification, but that NE game was the perfect example of horrid ST play taking away any chance the team had at a win.

I'll tell you why. It's because... ...wait for it... ...it's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. :slam dunk: Oh Yeah! In your face!

Just busting your balls Ryan. All that pot must be making you paranoid.

I think what he was getting at is that to the average fan he was just some guy that was supposed to be good and fell in the draft. To people who followed college football and actively evaluated the WR class, Rogers was considered a 1st-2nd rd talent. Even with the off-field issues most had him mocked in the 3rd or 4th. If You'd put a mock in your sig listing him in the 4th or 5th people would have told you he wouldn't have been available. I for one was stoked to see we signed him after the draft. In the 6th and 7th I was watching hoping we'd call his name. I get what you're saying and I'm not arguing the point, just offering some context that might explain why it grates on so many nerves to watch this guy succeed after we cast him aside.

I'm not going to play by their rules any more. I don't necessarily think the problem is the fault of any one guy. I think if EJ played like a top 20 QB we'd all be quite satisfied with the offense. Hopefully he makes the leap in his second year (along with Goodwin & Woods) but that's another discussion. I just don't think it would be wise for the FO to write him off after finishing in the top 20 on offense with a QB carrousel of Rookie and PS players.

I know it's been popular to bash the man, but I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt going forward. No, our offense wasn't dominant, but given what he had to work with I'd say he got respectable production out of them. Not only did he have a rookie QB with rookie WRs in Woods and Goodwin, and a 2nd yr project in TJ Graham, he managed an offense that ranked 19th in the league. And let's not forget, he's a rookie himself. What's impressive to me is that there was very little drop off when Tuel and Lewis took over at QB. I'm sure some will argue that he had 2 great RBs to carry the team, but I keep hearing how bad CJ sucks (which is weird to me b/c I think he's exceptional). I'm excited to see what he'll do next year with an offensive unit that has a year of experience playing together in his system.

No worries. I wasn't trying to attack you personally, just the statement.

That's a good point. A self-identified liberal holding himself out as evidence that pot is harmless to brain function is a bit of a self-defeating argument.

From earlier in this thread:

Anyone know where Marrone likes to drink? I'm considering a career change and would like to get a gig as a position coach for the Bills. I don't have any experience, but I've been watching all 22, I've played a lot of Madden, and I'm fun to drink beer with. If any of you knows where I could happen upon a chance encounter with him at such an establishment I'd be very appreciative. Thanks in advance.

I"m not an expert, but I've watched a fair amount of tape with focus on the O-line and it seems to me Urbik was inconsistent this year, and was more effective at pass blocking than run blocking. Sometimes he picks the wrong guy to block (particularly on screens) causing a potentially big play to be snuffed out early, and he doesn't have the strength to overpower many DTs. Put another way, he's better at holding his ground than he is at imposing his will. IMO he's pretty average. He's not that bad, but he's not that good either, just okay. I'd rate him above Legursky and slightly below Pears. I'd say that Pears is a lot better than he gets credit for, but he still blows a lot more plays than he should, a few times embarrassingly so. My take is that if he's someone you want to anchor your line you're going to have a bad time, but if you have a solid crew and he's just a guy on it he's serviceable.

I wouldn't jump for joy over it, but I'd consider 8-8 progress.