richNjoisy

Let's not get paranoid. MONEY is the key here and, all "strutting" and talking aside, that is what this will come down to for Travis. IF the Titans want to beat out the Jaguars, they will have to not only work out the trade with Buffalo but alos work out a deal with Travis' agent. Engelhard is in this for the money. Period. If Tennessee comes up with equal or better money to the Jaguars, then he will convince Henry , "it's for the best". Travis, meanwhile, proably prefers Jacksoville (closer to home) but more $$$ will get his attention since, in reality, that is all he is truly interested in. The Bills are not in much of a hurry unless they think they can sign another FA with the cap room a Travis trade clears up. The Jags and Titans and henry, however, ARE in a hurry. Sooooo, the Bills can wait until their demands are met and Travis and the offering team agree on a contract. Relax, this poker game is going fine for us. -RnJ

I plan to grab him in the 1st round of the 8-team league I am in (none of them Bills fans heh heh) I expect the draft to go like this: Tomlinson, Holmes, Alexander, Portis, and then maybe McGahee -RnJ

My God Mickey your analogy reeks of someone who needs constant stimulation. Your comparison of "excitement" to "trip to vegas" fits in perfectly. I certainly can undersatnd what you are saying but I don't happen to agree with it. To help you understand, try replacing the word "exciting" with "enjoyable". Thus SOME people (not you evidently find fishing ENJOYABLE while others (such as yourself) find it BORING. SOMEpeople ENJOY going camping, others enjoy going to Vegas. You couldn't pay me to use my free time in a casino. You, on the other hand, apparently would have to be roped and thrown physically into a rowboat or canoe to ever get you to go out into nature. Different strokes for ...... As to the Henry news: Fine. You're bored. To the rest of us, the idea of FINALLY ending the Travis henry era in Buffalo AND getting a decent draft pick IS exciting to SOME of us. sigh Good luck in Vegas Mickey. I hope you win but , more importantly, I hope you have fun. watching the red-tailed hawks out my window (which I find exciting) RichNJoisy www.cnjbbb.org

Green Bay could match anyway but if a deal could have been struck that the Bills could meet but the Pack could not.......grrrrrr From FF.Mastermind.com: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports transitioned free-agent TE Bubba Franks has yet to sign an offer from another team and has until July 22 to do so. After that date, he can either sign the tender offer for one year at $2.095 million or negotiate a long-term deal with the Packers. Thus far, things have been very quiet on the Franks front. With just a week left for him to sign an offer with another team, things could heat up. The Packers have the right to match any offer another team would give Franks, but if they chose not to match the offer, they would not receive any compensation. Assuming Franks is back with the Packers - and they simply can't afford to lose him at this point - the tight end position should be solid.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor..._len&id=2093822 Check out the article which confirmed this - The "in-between" conjecture is somewhat confirmed but the article also mentions the jag coaches lauding the work of " two young backs, third-year pro LaBrandon Toefield and 2005 fourth-round draft choice Alvin Pearman, and expressed confidence the two could successfully fill in if Taylor's recovery is prolonged." I think the jags were unwilling to use another draft pick on a RB, were hoping for good news on taylor (which seems crazy to me given the severity of his injury), AND - and this may be the key point - were hoping to get Henry on-the-cheap as a further safety valve. It looks like this is going to work out for the Bills, perhaps for Henry , and for the jaguars. The holdup may actually be TD trying to get a conditional 3rd rounder. The 3rd rounder straight up seems all but assured now IMO. The conditional one WILL happen if the Jags wait too long and another team loses their starter during the preseason (not THAT unlikely a scenario). -RnJ

For the umpteenth time folks - Taylor reported a few weeks ago that he had two torn ligaments which were operated on last December! There is no way he will be ready to play by September let alone mid July. Not to mention Taylor was injury prone anyway. The Jags front office lied stating it was only a 'scope so the Taylor announcement (which the Jaguars front office admitted was true) was BIG news. Do ANY of you know of ANY player who has come back from this type of surgery in 7-9 months? The standard recovery time is one year to be able to play and two years to be 100%. In the next few weeks, Taylor will begin to run around and prove to them that he is - at best - at 50% which would be pretty good just 7 months after a double reconstruct. If the Jags go into the season depending on Taylor then they are nuts. The Jags will cough up the 3rd rounder. richNjoisy

"MrLocke" - Objectivity is almost impossible to find inside WNY let alone outside! Your points are well taken but you are wasting your time trying to convince anyone ESPECIALLY outside of Buffalo. JP will simply have to go out and do it. The keys to JP's season is a lot like you say and also like "canbuffan34" is stating in his complaints about the rags thread, the coaching is going to play a MAJOR role in how well JP performs. Unlike a veteran who has established his own way of doing things, JP is much more able to listen, learn, and adjust. The game plan - unlike almost every brand new QB in the league - will not be focused on him but on the rungame. Most newbie QB's are on weak teams and the new QB's play is the key role. That is hardly the case in Buffalo. JP is the caretaker of the offense. IF he performs well, his role will expand. Defenses will be set up to STOP THE RUNGAME not the passing game. Look at the great Peyton Manning: The first few times the Bills played them, the defense was focused on stopping Manning. it worked....to a point. The key for Manning was the addition of James (obviously adding Harrison helped too!) JP comes into a similar situation as Roethlesberger except JP has a full year of practice under his belt PLUS he knew by late February that he would be the starter. Ben was thrown into the fire in Week 3. Ben was susccesful due to a great ST, defense, rungame AND a gameplan where he was not the key player. If JP is well prepared and IF the coaching staff puts together a game plan geared to what JP CAN do right now, there is every reason to expect him to at least match Drew's performance (Drew was # 27 out of 32 teams.......uhhh, not so hard to match right?). I actuallity, is expecting JP to be as high as #20 outlandish? If so, that is a HUGE improvement in the Bills passing game from last year. Let the games begin. -RichNJoisy www.cnjbbb.org

Nick you, your friends, and your family are in our prayers. RichNJoisy and RevNJoisy

OBD announced awhile ago that Peters would be moving to tackle. There has been no word on his progress however.

I totally agree with this assessment and prediction. I also agree with the premise that Reed needs a big season to be resigned. I have my doubts that he can do this. Early in his career I was convinced he would be a great rec (not just a good one). Staring with his drop of the flea flicker in the 31-0 drubbing of the patriots 2 years ago, reed has done nothing but disappoint and my expectations are now low for him. Too bad. My cnjbbb friends bought me a Reed jersey 3 years ago.

I figure this is impossible but I would love to own just one game which represents the kind of RB OJ was like. I have tried to describe his running style to my wife - kind of like Barry Sanders except north to south and with the strength of an Edgerrin James. I doubt anyone has any video of OJ though. VCRs came out...what...in the late 70's? Maybe McGahee will look like that this year - hopefully he will have a better home life in any case. sigh

I tend to agree with you (uh-oh Nick , we are dividing again ).... I have always argued that there is no such thing as a RB "controversy" (as opposed to a QB controversy which is very real). Thus, if Travis wants to play - play well when you get the rock. If you want a good contract next year , then play well when they hand you the rock. Complain, and the rest of the team will drill you in practice. This means showing up, shutting up, staying in shape and making the best of your opportunities - on THIS Nick and I AGREE Hey Nick - BTW - good luck with your new Backer's Club!!! RichNJoisy CNJBBB www.cnjbbb.org

Ahhhh Nick this is why neither of us is a GM. I don't disagree with your prediction (aka A Trade) but I do disagree with WHO is in the driver's seat. Let me ask you this: Were you one of the people advocating trading Travis for LJ Shelton? if so, then you would have traded a yet unknown value (to us) for a player that Arizona eventually released (thus of no value) PLUS if we had traded for LJ we would have paid him $3 mil per year for 3 years. Now if you were not advocating that trade, then you got that one right and then you and I only differ in that I DO NOT see Travis holding out forever but - if no trade ensues - he will come in for his paycheck. I am not seeing TH with rose-colored glasses. I see TH as a very capable and cheap backup at a critical position. You see him as a guaranteed zero so any trade will do. We'll eventually see what happens. IMO, I am glad you are not GM Of course, your prediction may come true. I hope not

I see no reason for the Bills to release Travis - his cap hit is only 1.25 mil. if he holds out, the money comes back to the Bills eventually and he gets fined PLUS his contract rolls over. I just don't see him throwing away the money. I honestly don't. This is not your rich sports athlete. He is poor due to well known money mismanagement. Thus, $1.25 mil is a lot of money ( not just to us !) Travis will eventually come into camp where the other players will pound him to make him realize he is only hurting himself by holding out OR some other team will pay the Bills price.

well, as long as he doesn't do it from the upper deck (with the illusional reindeer in front of him) I guess that'll be alright

Sounds good! Now, if the Bills can only hold up their end of the "bargain"..........

Greg Jones is awfully big to be a fulltime RB - he's listed at 250. Seems to me to be more of a FB. How many carries can you expect in the Florida heat from a guy this heavy? 15? 20? (I get tired just thinking about it). This whole Henry issue is interesting since we do not whether the draft pick cost or the contract cost is the bigger issue. If it's Henry holding up the trade, it seems to me that at some point he will bend since his options are 1.) sit out and make no money 2.) come back to Buffalo and sit for 1.25 mil 3.) go to another team for 1.25 or a little more perhaps. A huge contract is not in his 2005 future. Why would any team give up a pick AND sign him to a rich, long term deal? Only in desperation. Travis' best move would be to come to Bills camp and work hard and say the right things. Meanwhile, when a trade is discussed, he should either insist on playing out his contract or work for the best deal possible without risking the trade. -RnJ

Way to go! If the team is doing well, the CNJBBB wil be there. As the date approaches, make sure to remind me and I will have your very own plate of Hot Wings ready for ya. Dang! Now I want wings.....(and beer too, of course)

Thta is my point - not close and we are talking about a player who has been injury prone his ENTIRE career. I am unsure of this but I THINK this is the most serious injury he has suffered (two torn knee ligaments). To expect him to come back from such an injury (December, surgery in January) in 9 months is beyond optimistic even if his name were McGahee - a YOUNG, never-before-injured RB. Taylor is none of these things. A more reasonable timeframe is November for about 50%-75% playing speed and 80%-90% strength. The Jag are stupid to not have acquired another RB by now IMO. With Henry out there, who can be had for a 3rd rounder, I just don't get it.

I agree with your assessment both as to the potential effect on keeping the Bills in town and on your estimation of potential sellouts. My only additional comment is that I think the Denver game WILL sellout since it is against Denver (a good , snow team, who we have played in big games in the past), the fact that it is a national game, the fact that is on a Saturday gives regional fans the day off of Sunday to travel home plus the late start gives regional fans an easy drive up and need only stay over one night. The CNJBBB, in fact, is already discussing a SECOND tailgate (which means, FEZMID, a second chance at CNJBBB wings in Hammer's Lot) for the game. The Bills record and the weather may play a role in this (the former more than the latter certainly - I mean, what does it matter if it snows on our deep fat cooker??) Go Bills! -RichNJoisy www.cnjbbb.org

It must be the almond cookies

Arthroscopic vs full reconstruct? Peh, you media guys...ya think you are doctors now huh? (by the way, they may not have lied....I have had two reconstructs and each one included an arthroscope as well.....of course that's like saying you had your teeth cleaned while also getting a root canal) I repeat my contention, there is no way that Taylor will be ready for training camp in one month if he had a full recontruct in December - especially at his age. From FFmastermind.com: Jags Refuse Comment on Taylor's Knee -- Thu Jun 30, 2005 --from FFMastermind.com # The Florida Times-Union reports Jaguars spokesman Dan Edwards said the team will have no comment on the condition of RB Fred Taylor's knee, but expects him to be ready to start the regular season. HC Jack Del Rio was unavailable for comment on Taylor's contention in a radio interview last week that surgeons performed what he called a "full cut'' on two torn knee ligaments, even though the club announced in January that he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ....systems/2.html A great read. I don't know if I want the book he's plugging.....but maybe.

Yeh, a bit of a homer. The Fish certainly have big problems and are likely to end the season at the bottom of the AFCE. The Jets have the Pennington issue, one of these days Martin will actually get old, and their defensive line took a hit plus Abraham is holding out. But New England is nowhere near "in trouble". They are huge favorites to win the division and go deep in the playoffs. They are practically everyone's SB pick. The Bills season hangs on how well JP plays. The rest of the pieces except for placekicker and TE are set. The o-line is suspect but serviceable IMO. This puts the Bills way behind in expectations to the Patriots and at or just behind the Jets. I THINK we all will actually know a lot more by the end of August. Can Pennington throw? will be answered. Can JP run a "competent" offense? may also be known by then. Preseason injuries amongst NE, NYJ, and BUF will also give us a clue to what may transpire in 2005. -RnJ

Returning from an MCL and PCL injury generally takes 9-12 months minimum I think the Jag's are dreaming if they think an already injury prone RB can be ready by September let alone by late July. We'll see huh? -RnJ