hondo in seattle

A year past this, I stopped caring.

Another example of evil being victorious over good.

Wow. Tebow might be a leader of men. I'm not sure. I've never seen him in a locker room, let alone a huddle. As an ex-army guy, I'd really like to see a guy when bullets are flying before I call him a leader. As far as him being equivalent to Manning, you observe the flaw in that comparison yourself: Tebow was only scoring 10 points a game! Tebow completed less than half his passes with the Broncos! His QBR (which measures how much a QB contributes to an offense) in 2011 when he started 14 games was paltry 29.5! EJ's worst year wasn't that bad. The Broncos didn't win because of Tebow, they won despite Tebow. People should not mock Tebow because of his faith. But people shouldn't exaggerate his football acumen because of faith either. The guy's just not very good. Even his QB guru, Tom House, says his passing - while much improved - is still not elite. Tim seems like a nice young man and I wish him success. I hope House really did help his ability to throw with accuracy. But I'm glad Tebow's not a Bill. We have enough mediocre QBs already.

Marrone was the de facto OC so I agree that it's hard from the outside to judge Hackett. It was Marrone's scheme, Marrone's game plans, and Marrone had the final decision for position coaches. We'll see if Hackett has a good coaching career going forward. I wouldn't be totally surprised if he does. It does seem, however, that some of the offensive players have more faith in the coaching staff this year than last.

Oops, sorry. You're correct. Not sure where my head was at. On another note, Dunne said the unnamed exec wasn't sure if EJ's problems were fixable. I think it's funny many here are convinced that EJ's problems are - or aren't - fixable when even a pro talent scout is unsure.

I've been reading all of Tyler Dunne's articles since joining BN. He's a solid, old-fashioned sports writer who will sometimes provide a new slant or insight into a player or situation. I'd much rather read him than Sully. But I notice that in several articles he quotes an unnamed NFL personnel executive. I'm thinking it's the same guy over and over in all Dunne's articles. My guess: Tyler graduated to phone-call status with one of the guys in the personnel department in Cleveland and keeps drawing water from the same well. I hope Tyler can move past this and get to know some folks at OBD.

I disagree. I've watched a number of games at Bills Backers bars and love when Buffalo expats break out into SHOUT in an excess of enthusiasm. Makes ya feel at home!

It's possible he may not get in his first year of eligibility. I think some member of the Board of Electors may want to deprive him of that honor as a slap on the wrist for his cheating. But he'll get in. His career accomplishments are too stellar to ignore. Just my guess. Here's another thing I wonder: will his play suffer this year because he's bothered by a rock-hard football? Based on the texts we've seen, ball under-inflation was a big thing to him.

I'm convinced. Then again, I was before this.

I'm too lazy to look it up but wasn't a Whaley a pro personnel guy at Pittsburgh? But I'm not throwing Whaley under the bus. Everyone swings and misses sometimes. All player moves are calculated risks with a chance of failure. I'm hoping with Incognito, Whaley will improve to 1 for 3.

That about sums up his career thus far. As I recall, he wasn't selected as a captain one year despite being the starter. And I think one year with the Vikes he was behind Cassel on the depth chart. Lots of rumors and stories about him and his odd behavior. I'd pass.

"Is he an elite passer? Probably not." So says QB guru, Tom House. Tebow was in an interesting situation. He was young enough to reinvent himself. He was rich enough to afford it. And he was desperate enough (being out of football) to make it worth the effort & risk. I'm curious to see how this works out. As Flip points out, Tebow might revert to bad habits when under stress as people often do. If I was a DC facing Tebow, I'd sure as heck try to get him uncomfortable.

Yikes, lots of names come to mind... I was a WR growing up and idolized Paul Warfield when he was with Cleveland. I love watching great running backs and have a deep admiration for both Jim Brown and OJ as football players. I'm in awe of Beattie Feathers for rushing for over 1,000 yards many years before anyone else. (Though Dr. Z thought his 1004 yards was probably actually an all-purpose total). Walter Payton was an unusual combination of class and talent. As long as we're in Chicago, so was Gale Sayers. Ken "the Snake" Stabler (RIP) is one of the best QBs not in the HOF and was fun to watch. Speaking of fun to watch, how about Dan Fouts?

Link?

Interesting. There is no skill set in football that the right woman couldn't teach. The problem, of course, is that most women don't have the background as players or college coaches to land NFL gigs. And that's a huge obstacle with no obvious/easy solution. Congrats to Jen Welter

I don't get all the Tim Graham negativity regarding this article. Some see this as Bills-bashing, Maybin-kissing. But I agree with Steve that Maybin doesn't look particularly great in Tim's portrayal. TG gives us the POV of one of the great draft busts of Bills history. The article is a good peak under the tent into Maybin's surreal kaleidoscope world. Maybin comes across as an interesting young man - certainly not the stereotypical jock. But I don't like the Bills any less or Maybin any more because of Tim's article.

Yep. We already have good pass rushers. Why sign someone with his character issues to add so little?

Wow. You don't have much faith in Pegula's business acumen! Yep, Terry grew a multibillion dollar business from nothing because he's poor at evaluating the business acumen of the people in his organizations.

Can't disagree. Athletes do stuff like this all the time. They're young, rich, immature and horny. I'm not defending the behavior - I just don't think we should make too big a deal about this. It's not illegal and other players have done far worse. I wish every Bill was as classy as Fred Jackson. Realistically, that'll never happen.

Yep, it's complicated. Yet sandlot football players seem to get it right. It's a catch if you catch the ball. It's not if you don't.

For many, playing in the NFL is a dream job. Not for Maybin. And while Maybin brings up some good points, you wonder about the psychology of a man who feels being a NFL player is anything akin to being a slave. Every job has its pros and cons. Maybe seems to delve into the cons of being a professional athlete far more than the pros. The dark side of professional sports effects him more deeply than it effects other players. And yet he's been a huge beneficiary of one of the pros of the being a NFL player - money - and he's used his money well. Really good article by TG. TheLynchTrain wanted more fact-checking by Graham. It's a fair request - some of Maybin's claims stretch credulity. But I don't think Tim's aim was to write a balanced, objective article. I think he was attempting to give a glimpse of Maybin's life through Maybin's eyes. And I think he succeeded.

I would prefer Bills players to be virtuous. But Shady's vices are hardly unique - or very serious. I've heard stories that some single Bills players once season pitched in their money to fund a bachelor pad for these kinds of parties. Young men will be young men. I like Fred Jackson better and respect him more. But these kinds of antics from Shady won't make me cheer any less enthusiastically when he breaks lose into NE's secondary.

The problem with Rodak isn't that he's always wrong. He's not. Rodak knows more about the Bills than the average NFL fan - but less about the Bills than many Bills fans. And that's the problem.

I get the basic argument that Kiko was good value while Shady is not. Shady is a premium player at a premium price. A NFL team has to limit how many premium priced players they have. You want value - for example like the Seahawks have with Russel Wilson who has been terribly underpaid for his level of contribution. Nonetheless, Whaley had few options. We don't have a franchise QB and none were available. Well, if you can't pass, you need to be able to run. If you don't have a franchise QB, you must have a franchise RB if you expect to compete.

I'm getting the same vibe about Lal. He's big on route-running technique but also good at the interpersonal part of coaching. From what I've been reading, I'm not expecting either Harvin or Incognito to be locker room cancers. And I expect both to do well on the field this year.