TC in St. Louis

Anybody paying attention knows that the Bills were two plays and some idiotic coaching decisions from being 9-7. 1. The Losman fumble v. Jets. 2. The end of the Cleveland game. Conservative coaching, missed field goal. Also, the injury to Schobel eliminated the pass rush. He's back. And the Trent injury in game 5, in my opinion, made his head on and off for several weeks. One week, 25/30, next week 3 interceptions in a quarter and fear to throw downfield. We are in good shape now.

I got calls from a bunch of my friends here in St. Louis asking what I thought. Pretty much everybody hates the guy. But I thought about it, and I'm actually happy they made the deal. Dude has major talent, and he need to be off the radar. But that is impossible, so what he will do is put the focus on the Bills, and maybe get us more looks from players on the fence. And we definitely needed a guy to take the heat off Evans. Josh Reed is a cool guy, but not a threat. We need to sign a linebacker, possibly our own guy Crowell, and have a good draft. Avoid injuries, avoid boneheaded coaching maneuvers, and we will be in the playoffs.

Chase Coffman. The guy catches anything thrown his way. Never drops a pass. His dad was an All Pro with Green Bay. I'm telling you, he is going to be a perennial all pro. trade down a few slots in the second and take Chase Coffman.

Maybe he watched the Oilers game on NFL last night, and saw what it's like to play in front of real fans.

Yes, Beebe's foot was out of bounds, but it was after he went by the guy, so big deal. Plus, who's to say they wouldn't have scored in the next couple plays anyway? There was a deep pass to Beebe at the 1 later on that was nullified by a motion penalty on Ballard, and even later an interception by Bailey that killed a drive was rubbed out by a roughing the passer call on Bruce....so there were plenty of calls that the Bills overcame to win this fantastic game.

I don't know who did color on that game, but he was a total douchebag the entire game, absolutely in favor of the Titans (Oilers). When Odomes made that pick in OT, he said that Talley "absolutely mauled" the guy he was covering, Givens. He barely touched the guy. Throughout the game I was pointing out to my wife that the guy was biased, and with that last call, well....they even sought out a skycam view of the play, which in no way showed Talley did anything except cover the guy. I remember watching that game, nearly giving up.

Didn't Edwards and Cutler go face to face in Denver this past year? Who won? Oh yeah, Edwards. Whattya say let's just forget about that egomaniac mediocre QB Cutler. We're fine with Edwards.

I don't care. Let him go. He isn't that good. He'd sign for 6 million a year and screw up our salary structure.

This shows that Dockery has no faith that he will play out the deal with the Skins. He'll probably be mediocre there, and after he collects all his signing bonus, sign elsewhere. He's a ding dong who is not worth the money. The Lions offered 3.5 million more over the term of the deal, but he'll never get there. He's making big dough with the bonuses.

Right. I'm glad the guy is gone. And the Lions are the big losers. They wanted him, they stalled and lost him. They outbid the Skins and still managed to lose him. How many of us would turn down a deal that paid 3.5 million more than another. On the other hand, this shows that Dockery has no faith that he will play out the deal with the Skins. He'll probably be mediocre there, and after he collects all his signing bonus, sign elsewhere. He's a ding dong who is not worth the money.

I don't care about this. I'm glad Dockery and his 7 million dollar salary are gone.

The Bills cut Dockery yesterday. They reported the Bills did not get the papers in? And then had to cut him today? What? Does that make any sense? I believe there are some ramifications to trading a guy and being responsible for the entire signing bonus applied to the year of the trade. If they wanted to trade him, they could've traded him today....just like the Pats did with Vrabel. I think they are doing the right thing by taking their time and letting the idiots overspend. They've got dough to fill the needs.

The Skins must be cheating like crazy to sign 156 million on 2 guys, with only 8.1 million in cap space. They do this all the time, dump tons of money on big name players. Yet, how many times have they made the playoffs since Snyder took over?

I was working at a show at a rock club in St. Louis, and I was introduced to one of the head security guys....Curtis Brown. I heard he was the guy who used to play for the Bills, so I asked him about it. I said, "Didn't you return a kick for a TD?" "Yep," he said. "102 yards?" "Yes sir." "You still a fan?" "Yep, once a Bill, always a Bill." I have no idea how I remembered that 102 yard kickoff return, but I just looked it up, and it's true. What a small world, eh? He's 54, doesn't look a day over 40.

Those aren't even his best catches. I never heard anybody use the word "slow" during any of these games.

Schobel only played a quarter of the season. They were undefeated in the games he finished.

It was among a pile of VHS tapes on my dresser. I need to have that transferred to DVD. It is a great video.

I was rummaging around yesterday and found the video highlighting the 1991 Bills team that ended up getting shellacked by the Skins in Super Bowl 26. What an amazing team that was!! This is a great video. It's got everything you want, chock full of highlights, including some excellent crowd shots. There's one with this guy who had painted his head in Bills colors, and he's screaming, and there is a pause, and a guy just down the aisle looks at him and says "nice head," and the guy says, very politely, "Thank you." You've got Thurman, Andre, Bruce (only played 5 games that year) Jim, Lofton, Al Edwards, Beebe (4 TD's in one game v. Pittsburgh), Talley, Conlan , Biscuit, Jeff Wright, Seals, Nate Odomes....phenomenal The final shot of that portion of the tape is Bruce Smith giving a large hug to Bill Polian. Following that was a brief thing on OJ Simpson, and it was good to be reminded about what a great player he was. But the best part of the video was a look back at the great defense of the 60's with excerpts from Tom Day, Paul McGuire, Booker Edgerson, Marty Schottenheimer.....shots of the Rockpile and what they said was the greatest defense in the history of the AFL. (When I was a kid, some of the Bills came to Niagara Wheatfield and trounced our faculty in basketball. I asked Tom Day for an autograph, and he picked me up and carried me into the locker room, and they all signed.) It was an excellent way to start Super Bowl Sunday.

I saw both these guys play, and I'd take Coffman. He's big and has amazing hands. It would be fun to see the Bills actually use the tight end as something besides a 4th option. Plus, he can learn how to block with a good coach. Mizzou ran a spread offense without much of an emphasis on traditional tight end blocking. Coffman's dad was a Pro Bowl tight end in the late 70's, early 80's, for the Packers. And they don't take that position lightly up there. He's got lineage.

Sorry dude. We're on the same page. I just get a little cranky sometimes. Let's go Bills.

And you factor in the Rams incompetence? Does that come from a Fan's Chat Room? Just examine their drafts, and how they have gone from Riches to Rags, because of idiotic drafts. Look, I know you think you're smarter than I just because your theory makes sense to you and mine does not. And I have every right to be laughing at you, because you could be as wrong as I could be right. But there is not need to be an ass about this. We disagree. I'm not laughing at you because I think you're wrong. In fact, I think it's just a disagreement. Is it a coincidence that the Skins took exactly who everybody in the country thought they were going to take? And is it a coincidence that the Rams continued on in their merry cocky way and took a guy about 30 slots above where he was ranked? And that he sucked? They ran to the podium like Renaldo Nehemiah with that stupid pick, and the Skins got up there on their heels and took their future mediocity at quarterback. Both were jumping with joy. I don't really know why I'm getting into this. I don't care about the Rams or the Redskins. My point was, I think that teams should take more of a commodities broker stance when it comes to the draft. Value is a lot easier to calculate at the top of the draft than later on. The Bills have swung and missed a few times by coveting specific players rather than getting value with the early picks. But it's a matter of speculation. I know nothing more about this crap than anybody else on this board. I read the mock information and the player profiles, and I get worked up every year about the draft. Then, usually these days I get to watch my team wallow in mediocrity. And that doesn't make me laugh my ass off. I don't really understand how that would make anybody hunkered in front of his laptop laugh at another Bills fan. By the way, it's Shanahan, not Shannahan, no matter what the boards say. I have a picture of a story in the Milwaukee Journal from the late 70's. The headline was "Isaiah Thomas to Turn Pro? No Way, He Says!!" Exactly a week later, the headline read "Isaiah Thomas to Turn Pro." So, don't be shocked if Shanahan ends up coaching someplace next year.

The reason I know that the Skins wanted Ramsey was because that's all everybody was talking about on the Skins pages and on ESPN, and they did not need an undersized middle linebacker (although they eventually wound up with a pretty good one in Fletcher), and the Rams have a history of showing off and running arrogant drafts. I heard Charley Armey on the radio prior to a draft bragging, and this is a quote, "We found a long snapper I guarantee nobody else even knows about." Then they drafted him. Chris Massey. If nobody else knows about him, WHY DRAFT HIM? They took Trung Canidate in the first because Martz was showing off, and the guy was a stiff, and they had Marshall Faulk at the time. They drafted Jacoby Shepard in the 2nd so the world would see how smart they are, and guess what? They wasted a 3rd and a 4th on Milton Wynn and some other wideout when they already had Bruce and Holt. They were so focused on showing the world how brilliant they were taking Robert Thomas of UCLA in the first round....not the second, well most had him late second to early 4th. And he sucked. And drafts like those turned them into the crappy franchise they are....you think it's hard being a Bills fan. The Rams had won a Super Bowl and had 3 first round picks in the next draft and blew every one of them.

I agree. I don't understand how the Bills could sit there with the rights to Leinart and Cutler in their laps, and grab Donte Whitner at #8. They looked like buffoons at the time, and I don't think Whitner has played up to the expectations of the 8th pick in the entire draft. I remember one year the Rams had the last pick in the first round, and Washington had the next pick. Everybody in the universe knew that the Skins coveted Patrick Ramsey, and they were desperate to pick him. The Rams could've called the Skins and told them "we're taking Ramsey unless you give us an extra 3rd round pick" but they instead chose Robert Thomas, a mediocre LB from UCLA. They could've gotten Thomas with the Redskins pick, and had a extra pick. Teams should get stockbrokers to handle these transactions. Picks are commodities. I do believe these guys target individuals, and to a certain extent I think I agree with making trades to get the players they want. However, 2 of the 3 trade-ups were duds (Losman and McCargo....jury still out on McCargo). If they do a 180 and trade down with somebody looking for a specific player, they get the extra picks....that's the way Jimmie Johnson used to handle things in Miami, just as he was turning that franchise into a joke.

You coached against him in high school, and somehow being the lazy ass, he got a division I scholarship, played 4 years, and became a first round draft choice? He must be a total loser. There are only 32 people in the world who are first round NFL draft choices per year. Therefore, McCargo must be a total waste of a player.

HE HAS COACHED 4 (FOUR) FIRST ROUND DRAFT CHOICES. AND THEY HAVE ALL FAILED. does anybody else sense a SLIGHT CONNECTION? Jamie Kennedy. Damione Lewis. Ryan Pickett. John McCargo. All first round draft choice defensive lineman. All failed under Kollar. This is what we in the world of reality call a pattern.