BiggieScooby

http://www.facebook.com/marymowen http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1426963645 Good thing for us Bills fans this Wall Street Investment Banker for JP Morgan is from Buffalo. Let's Hope They Get Married!Go Bills!

I awoke from a dream and realized Ralph has this transition thing all planned out... "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Benjamin Franklin Create false scarcity to drive demand By holding the future of the franchise whereabouts in doubt, Ralph is simply driving demand and maximizing his profit. The University of Virginia alum and WWII veteran has us all fooled. Because of the economics and complexity of ownership in today's market, the NFL has lowered ownership equity from over 50% to 30% nowadays. some good reads on this topic: John Clayton - complexity of ownership in today's NFL: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3485962 NFL discusses lowering equity limits for family ownership: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2011-03-29/nfl-business-dish-owners-discuss-easing-equity-rule-for-heirs Tim Graham AFC East owners net worth: http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/11599/11599 Conclusion: Ralph Wilson's estate is worth 1.3 billion of which 900 million is what the franchise is valued at. The estate would be subject to a 35% Estate Tax meaning his heirs collectively would owe 400 million. The Bills are valued at slightly over 900 million, by selling a 49% minority interest of the team upon his death (roughly 450 million) Ralph's heirs can maintain a majority stake in the franchise while Jim Kelly & Co. would control the rest. Best part is Ralph's heirs would cover their estate tax bill by selling the minority stake. Will Ralph's hot neice Mary Owen and fellow University of Virginia alum will be our next President?... http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2011/01/24/bills-promote-mary-owen-to-vp.html

Stevie can catch the ball coz he's got 9-5/8'' claws. Stevie's #1 attribute is his route running. I'd like to see Stevie get stronger than his 2008 pro day 6 225 reps, 275 max bench. If he develops a stronger upperbody he'd be a much tougher matchup against physical corners. The only area of improvement I could see on the stat line would be to get him the ball deep as his long was only 45 yards. He grabbed 11 passes over 20 yards and had 401 yards after catch. Stevie ranked #5 among WRs in yards after the catch.

I think Carolina, & Buffalo shouldn't have anyone in the top 100 based upon last year. Honorable Mention, Kyle Williams, Steve Johnson.

I don't doubt all the teams in the league have had some form of contact. Agent's have to make money and I don't see this lockout stopping them. As long as a player's agent is willing to speak on the condition of anonymity then we can be certain there is contact. Hopefully we can acquire a few of these guys to build up our depth. It's almost a guarantee that Boston College's Mark Herzlich will be a Patriot after going undrafted. He'd be a great high character guy who would be worth giving a tryout.

Brady surely has helped but suffice it to say the Patriots were a good team without him. Brady put them over the edge. Given time Belichick finds a way to win with what he has. Matt Cassel hadn't started since high school and went 11-5 in 2008 and is now 60 million dollars richer. Ryan Mallett who by all accounts has tremendous potential if coached properly could flourish when Brady hangs em up in 4 to 5 years. That said Belichick's strategy of stockpiling picks and trading back could have landed him another later round "franchise qb" who the naysayers can say he stumbled upon. I beg to differ.

Game Theory applies to the draft only when deciding whether to trade up or down. Otherwise you stay put and select the best player on your board, which is something prior Bills FO's haven't faired too well doing with the exception of Bill Polian. We can argue the reasoning behind their choice but we can't say they were taking a risk. A risk would be selecting a kicker in the first round. A risk would be selecting a player rated in 3rd round in the 1st. McGahee, Maybin, Spiller, Mike Williams, and Whitner were all mainly 1st round grades on everyone's board so you cannot say the Bills were taking the riskier choice. You can block & tackle all you want but without some gamesmanship and risk taking your chances of winning are around 50/50, depending on the quality of your opponent. Las Vegas does a great job creating a point spread system based upon these probabilities of victory. The idea behind Game Theory is what will it take to get your team over the hump to give you that extra humph needed to win the game. Perfect example would be Sean Payton's ballsy decision to execute an onside kick to start the second half of Super Bowl 44. Another one would be Belichick's decision not to run out the clock and play for overtime in Super Bowl 36 and to go for the win. So despite however well the Saints or Pats blocked and tackled in those games, the pivotal game changing moment came from a calculated decision. Taking too much risk can blow up in your face and cost you a game, but in general a more aggressive risk taking coach gives his team a higher number of chances to win than a less aggressive one.

I agree, however you can't win unless you take risks. The Bills historically have been a risk-adverse organization. They are a conservative bunch. Bill Polian era was unique as was the awe-inspiring Levy leading our team. I put Levy in a more cerebral coaching category similar to Phil Jackson & Dick Vermeil. Say what you want about Belichick he gets the job done. As an avid Civil War buff I'd make this analogy, Levy & Vermeil are to Robert E Lee, as Belichick is to U.S. Grant & Sherman. Belichick would do anything to win, whearas Levy would not accept winning if it came at the cost of morality.

As an economics major Bill Belichick is well versed in Game Theory which models strategic situations, or games, in which an individual's success in making choices depends on the choices of others. University of Chicago Economics Professor Steven Levitt who wrote the famed book Freakonomics analyzed 125,000 offensive plays between 2001-2005 and concluded that a team who exploited its knowledge .."could add one or two season wins and millions of dollars in associated revenue". Bill Belichick has exploited Game Theory both on and off the field and in general has benefited from making calculated decisions based upon probability. http://www.nber.org/digest/oct09/w15347.html On The Field: Bill Belichick told his defense before Super Bowl 25 that they would win if Thurman Thomas ran for over 100 yards. Bill Belichick in effect "invited" the Bills to run on them dropping 7 to 8 men in coverage and told them to "punish" the Bills receivers should they decide to pass. The game plan was to slow the Bills No Huddle attack and it worked, not only did the Giants dominate time of possession, they also forced the Bills into punting. In Super Bowl 36 Belichick employed a similar strategy forcing 3 turnovers which directly led to 17 points against a Rams team known as the Greatest Show on Turf. The underdog Pats "shocked" the highly favored Rams 20-17 despite being outgained nearly 2 to 1. Belichick goes for it on 4th down more than any other coach in the NFL. Can this be explained by the relatively high level of job security he enjoys or the fact that he is merely playing the percentages? While we all know the outcome of his infamous 4th and 2 call against the Colts in 2009, Belichick has enjoyed more success than failure electing to go for it on 4th and short. Belichick knew from a probability standpoint that teams on average convert 43% of all 4th downs. More and more coaches are deciding to take risks even on their own side of the 50 yard line. In fact High School Coach Kevin Kelley of Pulaski Academy in Arkansas has a different view on punting...he doesn't. http://www.sportsquant.com/fourth.pdf Off The Field As a master of understanding his opponent Belichick was willing to gamble on the prospect of getting caught cheating to get an upper hand on his opponent. Spygate demonstrated the lengths that he would go to gain an extra edge on his opponent before the game was even played. When analyzing the fallout from Spygate what really has been the cost to the Patriots? The shame of getting caught has to be considered the worst, a $500,000 penalty and a forfeited 2008 1st round draft pick were mere slaps on the risk. While the gains are unknown, one could argue that their tactic of cheating contributed to a dynasty. Another off field tactic Belichick employs is his willingness to trade back in the draft. This can be compared to his willingness to go for it on 4th down. By stockpiling picks year after year Belichick is ensuring that he has a maximum advantage in the draft over other teams giving him a greater probability of success. My hope for the Bills organization, Chan Gailey & Buddy Nix in particular, is that they too have the Balls & the Authority to take all the risks necessary to build a dynasty.

#1 Shortened preseason as most estimate the lockout to end in September #2 Familarity with current roster, especially Kelsay, Lindell, Moorman #3 Opportunity to contribute on 3rd downs as a situational pass rusher #4 Age will turn 34 in September and had last year off his body & mind could be rejuvenated #5 Loyalty to the team and city of Buffalo. He reportedly turned down his hometown team Houston & shot down New England #6 70/30 last summer said he was 70% leaning toward coming back #7 Regret & Desire to help Bills make it back to the playoffs #8 Good Ole Southern Boys Buddy & Chan can relate to the Texan Schobel #9 Money he walked away from millions, perhaps this won't motivate him but offering him a pile of cash couldn't hurt #10 The 12th Man. Tell him we need him it couldn't hurt http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron-Schobel/1591755558

This guy looks athletic enough to play Long Snapper & since no more wedges are allowed we just got ourselves a 2 for 1 man wedge!

This guy had a solid college career for the Tigers. He plays both Tackle positions and Guard. Will be an adequate LT and a solid RT 2-3 years down the road.

True, it is about winning games, and making the plays to win them. Steve Johnson's drop not withstanding Fitz & the rest of our roster didn't make enough "game-winning" plays when the game was on the line. Fitz is in the prime of his career and playing at a high level as compared to his peers. He is in the top half of all the QBs in the league in terms of his performance last year. You can bang on completion percentange all you want, but Orton & Young have won games based upon being on squads with better rosters and coaches. Fitz has been paired with Gailey one season and showed tremendous growth as the season wore on. Putting Fitz in a "competition" for starting QB would be a shame. He has earned the job and should be given managements full support. Without Fitz last year we'd have gone 0-16.

Fair enough, I should have written prime of his career, which he is in. Peyton Manning (35yrs) & Tom Brady (34yrs when the season starts) are the best, however their days on top will soon be over thanks to that damn thing called time. I think the next wave of elite players is Aaron Rodgers, & Matt Ryan. Ryan Fitzpatrick is not in that class, and never will be. That said Jim Kelly wasn't at Elway's or Marino's level and yet he beat them, because he was on the better TEAM. Give Fitz a good roster and a "good" quarterback may just be the elite quarterback.

yeah its called 13 games in 2010. I love how people write off 23 tds in 13 games. Did he play at an elite level every game? the answer is no, but he did play good in a majority of the games, the answer must be yes. If the defense hadn't been so poor against the run perhaps we pull off some more wins. The guy can play, he's in the middle of the pack out of 32 starters. If his play continues to improve then we're talking top 25% off the league. He has the opportunity to build off 2010 and prove you wrong. Its anybody's guess, but my guess is this guy delivers.

Why? Ryan Fitzpatrick is our guy, we have a vet who knows our system in Brian Brohm and a guy entering his second season with Levi Brown. Bringing in Jimmy Clausen, Brady Quinn, Kyle Orton, Kevin Kolb would only serve to undermine Fitz in '11. If Fitz goes down then we can bring in someone off waivers, an undrafted rookie free agent or someone's practice squad. Fitz turns 29 in November he's still got 4-6 years of elite level play in front of himself if he stays healthy and plays well he's our best hope to win in 2011. If Fitz goes down our season is lost and we'll be looking at a high draft pick in 2012.

These guys are all good for the depth chart considering all the injuries are players endure. Short yardage and goal-line plays got a bit easier for our linebackers.

Big Guy could be like Refrigerator Perry and get our short yardage carries. All this guy needs to do is occupy the the center & one guard and let dareus & company take care of biz.

Good post. IMO we won't make it back to playoffs until we rebuild our decrepid defense. We are 1-2 seaons away if we can execute in the draft and the coaches develop these guys.

None of these QBs were as NFL ready than Jimmy Clausen, which says something. At the end of the day, Fitzpatrick gives us the best chance to win in 2011 and 2012. If Fitz falls flat on his face this season we'll likely be drafting high again so don't worry. This rebuild wasn't going to happen overnight. Ralph Wilson has good genetics and probably has another 10 years left in him, so we have plenty of time. Be thankful we didn't end up with Cam.

bone on bone...will need artificial cartlidge and microfracture surgery...in other words he's a 21 year old with Curtis Martin's knee.

damn camera's get ya every time.

Kyle Rudolph & maybe we can get a linebacker in the 3rd

JP = JL Jake Locker

Orange Juice to Apple Juice.