In-A-Gadda-Levitre

Two months ago without limping!

Once Thigpen got comfortable in the pistol, he improved. That's nearly 222 yards per game and 12 YPC. not bad considering the player and team.

good point about delivering, it remains to be seen. I just thought it was very interesting that it's his job to lose at this point in the off season. Gailey won't put up with continual mental lapses or lack of toughness, that's for sure.

Well, according to Chris Brown today, Roscoe is the starting slot receiver. Of course, after OTAs, training camp, and preseason, that could change, but looks like Parrish sticks and plays if he delivers...

I doubt if Chris Brown pulled that lil number out of his hat. He must have been told by the coaching staff. That's big news!

great stuff, thanks. a couple other links for Stones fans... A free to watch, 5 hour documentary, from the 60s to the 2000s called Just For The Record lots of interviews from former band members, producers, engineers, etc. and of course, great footage Another documentary, entitled Stones in Exile, is a soon-to-be-released DVD about the making of Exile on Main St in the south of France. The trailer is Jimmy Fallon previewed the entire movie a couple weeks ago, it's out on the net if you look hard enough The New York Post's Tyler Gray writes a nice 4-pager on the movie and what happened in those days. debauchery is a good word... enjoy!

ouch

Trent never said that. He said he wasn't a fan (implicitly that he was a player) and couldn't really answer the question posed. Just saying...

umm, the "guy" that brought in Walker-Dockery was John Guy. Tom Modrak (assuming you mean the guy still in charge of scouting) isn't responsible for veteran trades and FAs. BTW, I agree with you that it's totally aggravating for the past two preseasons not to have a known quantity at LT. Last year we all know what happened and of course this time we hoped that they'd take one of the highly-rated tackles in the draft. I'm still pissed about that, but I can only reason that they didn't have good grades on who was left after the 1st 8 picks and stuck with their board. Maybe they'll still trade for a veteran LT, or more likely their plan is to use their existing players and develop (or draft) their franchise OL bookends in the years ahead.

Something else that's lost in all this much ado about Maybin. In college, he was a DL, never dropped back into coverage, never had to or trained to... As a pure pass rusher in the Tampa 2, 4-3, he clearly didn't do all that well in that role, but we never asked him to play in space either. Now comes the 3-4 and a whole new crew, and he's got a shot at redemption as an OLB. But he's learning on the job and this will be the 1st full offseason that he's had to learn the that position. Last year at this time, ugly! So if he's not 1st team at the rookie camp, maybe he'll get a lil bit better as he gets more experience. ADD: I realize labeling him as a project covers this in a broad stroke.

and he gets hit on...

The problem is that we have no clue what AS has (or hasn't) told the team, nor do we know what the team has told him. I never really understood the Bills' approach to PR at times, so the fact that they haven't announced anything doesn't mean a lot. They could be waiting for Mandatory OTAs or something.

Rotoworld reports he's scheduled to make $1.025M + $500K roster bonus this season.

come on, you're really trying to make a case that Ralph Wilson, Jr. doesn't know what the going rate is for elite LTs or their impact on the success of the offense? I'd concede he might not know whether Jason Peters is worth $8M or $10M, and he might have perceptions about the dollar value of Gaither, Bell, Brown and others, but he's very well versed in the economics of player salaries. I'd also think that although OLTs don't put butts in seats or sell a lot of jerseys, they contribute heavily to winning and that makes Ralph a lot more money.

No, I don't think they did. What I meant was last year's low cost plan didn't work and that should give Buddy and Chan some leverage if they decide that spending the money on Gaither is going to make their team much better right away. Nobody knows if his job or the fiefdoms have changed. I just think the philosophy is different and Buddy will be given some latitude to do it his way and that includes money to pay players that him, his staff and the coaches think are worth it. we're in total agreement with this part.

again, didn't say that. What they did or didn't do in FA is more reflective of Buddy's philosophy and probably shared by Chan as well. What has happened is that football guys are running the football side of the operation, and they're being given responsibility for the quality of the product on the field. That's very different from last year, and you can choose to believe that it's the same ole or not. Regardless of what happens with the CBA, you can bet that LT and QBs drafted amongst the first 50 players overall will continue to command some serious money. So unless Ed Wang, and our current collection of OL players rise up and perform well enough to make the Bills a contender this season, in terms of giving whomever is playing QB time to throw and to open holes for all the top flight RBs we have, we're gonna pay someone that kind of money next season anyways.

Of course RW has the final word and Brandon gets a big piece of it as well. I never said Buddy and Chan decide by themselves, in fact I agreed it would get a lot of scrutiny. However, last year's "we'll go with the guys on our roster and not pay Peters" blew up in their faces, made worse by the injuries and lack of good offensive coaching. I don't remember anything being said about Overdorf's role in the new organization. Just because he wasn't canned doesn't mean same as it ever was. He might still be negotiating contracts, but he's clearly got some different marching orders. RW knows as much as anyone in football what a good LT makes. He also knows the crapshoot of the draft. IMO, Nix and Gailey could convince Ralph to pay the man and get much better on the field this season, as opposed to hoping and praying they get production out of their current roster. Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors at OBD, but to use bean counters and the previous FO structure as the basis for who might be filling the biggest hole on the team (perhaps behind QB) is a mistake.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Brohm had some references in the reports as having thrown a long pass, the rest were attributed to Brown. I really like Brohm and hope he steps up to the challenge, but your claim regarding he's being quoted in the reports as throwing long more than Brown just don't hold water.

Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey run the football operations at OBD, not Littman or Overdorf. If they say we want this guy and he's worth $8M a year or whatever is reasonable for someone of his ability at LT, Ralph will likely go along because he's holding them accountable for the product on the field. There's no indication whatsoever that Littman and Overdorf are (still) deciding who gets paid, what. Of course there's a budget and there'll be scrutiny over a contract that big, but IMO your viewpoints are clouded by the past.

+1

I certainly don't doubt your scouting reports, but the Bill's Doug Majeski, said:

right on! Lee doesn't go over the middle because he doesn't want to is total BS. How would that work? Lee: "Coach, don't call that play, I'd rather run a fly route" or "yeah, I know I was supposed to cross over the middle, but I thought I could get open with my speed on the sidelines" it has to be the play calling!

Cincy, I'm confused... You talk about what strong programs they have, but you don't want to draft players from those schools? Are you saying because of their strong supporting casts, they can make mediocre players look good?

now that is is interesting! no wonder he wasn't elected