Wayne Cubed

And Basketball players aren't making free throws 99.6% of the time.

It's been reported a couple times that they want to interview Quinn, again. Never heard about the initial interview, but I still don't think a decision will come anytime soon. Possibly before the Super Bowl. EDIT: And as I say that... @Eric_Branch: Jim Harbaugh said #Browns have contacted #49ers regarding Cleveland's head-coaching opening. Declined to offer name(s).

Petrine watch 2014: The Final Hours?

I don't think they should get rid of it, but go to something like the Rugby extra point conversion. Wherever you score along the goal line horizontally, you have to kick from there. So if you score in the middle of the field you kick from there, towards the sideline you kick from there. Then remove offensive blockers and make the defense rush from the goal line when the kicker moves towards the ball (can only attempt to block kick not tackly the kicker). This would force kickers back 15 yards at least. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2deEnqLizE

Chan couldn't even "salvage" Edwards.

What a game.

Mike Zimmer's first hire. Wow. Maybe he'll just end up being a figure head for Zimmer ala Pettine for Rex?

Yea they got great value for him but again they traded up for him in the first place. They, the Browns, over-valued him to begin with and lost 2 picks in the process. Getting 1 pick back only saves face, it doesn't make them brilliant.

They traded up to get Richardson in the first place, I wouldn't exactly call it brilliant getting rid of him. More like saving face.

To add to this point more, Pettine's name is on a list of NFL HC candidates, supposedly. So, teams know about him. And yet he still only got 1 interview 3 weeks into the offseason. This to me seems like the Browns doing there job and seeing what else is out there. Could they hire him? Sure, if he impresses them enough. I think you need to understand where this franchise(Cleveland) is. They just fired a guy after a year, fans are pissed. Even players are pissed. I know fans in Buffalo love Pettine, but take of the rose colored glasses for a second. Pettine has been under Rex's shadow for his entire NFL career, his first year out and he mildly improves a Buffalo defense. Do you really think the ownership of the Browns would be able to sell this to fans?

But the game has been changed loads of times in the past. Some good, some bad. Specifically in terms of FGs the style of kicking has changed from drop kicks to place kicks to soccer style kicks. In 89' they got rid of the tee you could use for FGs. The place kicker didn't become a specialized role until the 60s. They'd have someone who plays another position, much like the rest of STs now, kick. Now maybe specializing the kicking positon contributed to what we see now in the game. Gimme extra points and high percentage FGs within 50 yards. Is this made the game better? Or less exciting?

I'm for narrowing and taking a Rugby type approach for extra points. Whatever side you score from you kick from that hash. If you score between the hash marks you can line the ball up from there and kick. And move the hash marks out a bit. The extra point is the most boring play in all of sports.

Within my travels, different parts of India make different types of dishes. Like Chinese food, the food style varies from city to city, for example the South of the country is mostly vegetarian dishes. IMO, it's difficult to replicate Indian food at home but I think what is key is fresh ingredients and spices. Getting fresh ground spices can be tricky but result in the best flavor. Also, taking a "low and slow" approach help's enhance the flavor. EDIT: If you can get whole spices and grind them yourself, even better. The best Indian places have first pick of whole spices when they come in.

I think what you are thinking is where Pettine said he wasn't suppose to originally be the MLB but was put there out of necessity. He also said he could see Kiko playing a lot of different positions. I don't think he's ever said he plans or had planned to move him to WLB, which is still an ILB in Pettines scheme. Personally, I think why change a good thing. Kiko played MLB all season and played it well. There's more to the position than just being a big thumper. It requires intelligence and leadership. He can do everything thats required of a MLB. He takes on blockers and sheds them well. He made some rookie mistakes, but that has nothing to do with his size. Unless the Bills think they are getting a MLB thats better than Kiko, I wouldn't change it. Just find the WLB.

I'm not a fan and don't think the Bills will have a shot at him anyways, but at least he's using his head: @ProFootballTalk: Manziel will spend next few months training with QB guru http://t.co/BOeVAuvltD

No offence, but I didn't say anything remotely that absurd. I stated 2 facets of an actual football game, offense and defense. How ridiculous is that? Anways, I'll leave it a difference of opinion.

Not that I don't believe you, but I think you would find it really hard to prove that ST's are good for +/- 2 games a year. I mean you could argue that long return's from the Bills/Pats game contributed them to losing. Or you could argue the Bills defense not being able to stop the ball contributed to it. Or you could argue the offense played inconsistently throughout the game. EDIT: And even saying that having the best ST unit and a mediocre offense/defense isn't good enough to break .500 as seen here in Buffalo.

While I agree that given the past results Crossman definitely has turned many a ST's unit bad, I wasn't posting Bobby Aprils ratings to boost up Crossman. I was merely showing that even April has had his up and downs within his own career. He has seen decent ST's go bad (Philadelphia), He has had a yo-yo type team (New Orleans) and had just plainly bad teams (St. Louis). But he did have truly great teams in Buffalo. Special teams in general are up and down around the league. And I agree, Marrone has made his choice and we as fans have to live with it. IMO I don't think keeping Crossman will determine his future. I don't deny that April has had some good teams. He's had great ST's on craptastic Bill's teams. Didn't change much. I and probably Bandit as well just don't belive that ST's improving or declining will be the reason that the Bills turn it around.

I posted earlier in this thread. Besides his stint in Buffalo, Bobby April has had a mixed bag in terms of ST results and has had quite a few below 20 rankings. And even with his top rated ST units in Buffalo, the team was still a below .500 team. Special teams in general are up and down, with every team. EDIT: And April hasn't had a top ST unit since leaving Buffalo. His Philadelphia teams declined each year.

Does it make any sense that the Raiders retained Bobby April? I mean his ST unit did finish below Crossman. EDIT: Not that I think the Bills should be following the Raiders decisions.

I do agree that ST are something that can easily be fixed. I just don't believe it's the difference between a team that contends and one that doesn't. Dick Jauron led Bills were consistently 7-9, despite having one of the best ST units in the league. That to me, demonstrates that even if you have the best ST's, it's still not good enough. Is ST's important? Of course it is, but like I said it's a distant 3rd in priority to the offense and defense, IMO. EDIT: And like I said above, when the Bills improve an offense that has been no better than 16th in the past 10 years thats when they'll start seeing the post season. If Marrone isn't able to improve the offense and lets just say ST's improves, he'll be gone in a couple years anyways.

Except Joe Flacco actually made it to the AFC Finals his rookie year and in the following year made it to the divisional round. He's made it to 2 AFC Championship games. He's had success in the playoffs prior to his Super Bowl win. Eli Manning has been to the playoffs 3 times. Twice he's won a Super Bowl, so he's 2-3 in that aspect. Not bad. Andy Dalton has been to the playoffs 3 times. He has played horribly each time and the Bengals haven't been close to winning. If he had played decent to good in any of the 3 games, they would have gone onto the next round. He didn't even throw a TD in the playoffs until this year.

Is the point of a season just to get to the playoffs? And If he isn't going to play to a level that advances the team in the playoffs, whats the point? They have given him just about all the tools a team can give a young QB and it has resulted in an 0-3 playoff record. Hell, Mark Sanchez took 2 Jets teams further than Andy Dalton ever has and I think we can both agree Mark Sanchez is below average.

I don't think there is such a thing a "great" Special Team's coach either. It's too up and down. That's why I'm not overly upset about him keeping Crossman. Marrone's job will depend a lot more on 1. Offense and 2. Defense. Getting good special teams, IMO, is a distant 3rd.

Wow, 15 pages. How about a bit of perspective, in terms of Special Teams. Here's Bobby April's, who many consider to be the best, resume and rankings throughout his career as a Special Teams coach: Pittsburgh Steelers - 1994: 15th 1995: 5th New Orleans Saints - 1996: 26th 1997: 11th 1998: 5th 1999: 30th St. Louis Rams- 2001: 29th 2002: 17th 2003: 26th Buffalo Bills - 2004: 1st 2005: 1st 2006: 2nd 2007: 6th 2008: 1st 2009: 13th Philadelphia Eagles - 2010: 12th 2011: 17th 2012: 23rd Oakland Raiders - 2013: 31st First, I am in no way comparing Danny Crossman to Bobby April or even saying Danny Crossman is any good. I am showing this to point out how up and down special teams play can be. Obviously, April's best run was with the Bills, even though those teams were not very good overall(combine record of 41-55). But, he had 2 really bad teams in New Orleans, never really got anything going in St. Louis and watched the decline of the Philadelphia team. So far, things aren't looking good for him in Oakland either. Doug Marrone may or may not be a good coach in the NFL, that book has yet to be written. But his job certainly won't be saved by having an excellent special teams coach, IMO. It certainly didn't help Mike Mularkey or Dick Jauron. So far, the defense has improved to the best it's been since the Bills last winning season (according to Football Outsiders, ESPN, etc.). If he is to keep his job, he'll need to improve the offense as well, which hasn't been better than 16th in the past 10 years.