AKC

Conditioning is far more crucial to the guys on the other side of the line, but it can play a part. Ask yourself this question when assessing how much emphasis to put on it regarding the '06 Bills: How much better is Benny Anderson in the first quarter than in the last?

On part one I agree completely- targeting Losman shows a lack of understanding of the game that's become far too frequent around here with the QB-QB-QB- crowd. On the second part though, our O Line was good enough to finish in the top of the league in first quarter offensive production, falling steadily after that as games wore on. That's far more indicative of poor sideline coaching. Look at it this way- how could some awful OLine unit open up games dominating their opponents, only to get measurably less effective as the game goes on? If you're bad athletes or bad players you never excel to begin with.

Pickett has surely made a strong statistical showing in the middle of that line, but do you have no concerns that over the course of his career the Rams have moved from a middle of the league rush D steadily down into the toilet? No doubt adding a starting quality vet playing a 1-technique and kicking Sam out to exploit the opposite A and B gaps could be the nucleus of a dangerous line if in fact, as you mentioned, we bring in a young turk like Ngata to give us a full rotation ( and the flexibility to shift to a 3, 2 or even 1 down line set situationally). Anderson would continue to contribute as the 4th guy and we could allow the narrowly skilled and far too often injured Edwards to "test the waters". I'll bet he sinks- head first.

Given the questionable cause of Mr. Besselo's early exit from Planet Beverly Hills, I'd have to argue that Toni Mannix proved to be the superior gridster on the Benedict Canyon squad. If I'm correct in recognizing an affinity for the famously macabre, I should point out that merely a stone's throw from the location above are the arguably higher profile incidents concerning Paul Bern and of course the Kingpin of the genre in which Steven Parent made a fatally poor choice in his hawking of a clock radio.

Since I haven't landed on a hard position regarding where we are, I'd be interested in having you entertain a slightly different position: Outside of Saban's 64 and 65 AFL campaigns Marv Levy has overseen all of our most successful seasons. He's stayed associated with the game and made no secret of his continued fondness for the game. He isn't taking the job of HC that requires 90 hours of work every week all year long, plus he's a proven delegator. Could his very good record with the Bills and continued focus on the NFL offer us any hope that he may still understand the game at a fundamental level better than generally assumed and that this could lead to the coaching staff he's assembled being much better as a unit than the sum of its individual parts suggests?

Indeed. Perhaps under the Smilie .gifs we can begin a new category called "Slappies"? Slap yourself, slap someone else- could start a whole Message Board movement..................

I matched your reaction to that point. In the answer may lie the explanation for many of the woes being bandied about. I'm guessing the hire wasn't done exclusively based upon the similarity in style to Marv he favors or his Coach of the Year in 2001. There's something in the equation that's not visible at this time..................

I caught a background story on Seattle Linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski yesterday. The story was the most compelling thing I've seen them do- about an Endicott, NY kid who's family was homeless at times and his desires to escape his upbringing through football. Great stuff if you get a chance to see it.

I've got a 5 lb. brick of Cuba Extra Sharp in the fridge- and you can ask Bob Lamb about the goodies in the Cuba Cheese "Entertainer" gift box! Relatives in Friendship, Bolivar and Richburg. I live now in "Wellsville, California", a mountain town of about 3000 north of LA by an hour. I actually just shoveled some snow (to get to the hot tub) and black bear raid the garbage cans with some frequency. Just like "home" ;-)

Didn't Mike Hennessey buy it a couple years ago from Ducket and his wife Lisa?

Give 'em their due- it's the best deer hunting in New York State.

There may not be any in that limited gene pool of 5000. Ducket was originally from Salamanca.

Get off the 405 at Roscoe and go a couple blocks east to Sepulveda. North 2 blocks on Sepulveda at 8525 you'll find the Travel Inn, head up to room 23 on the second level and get a digital shot for a great avatar ;-) Another couple blocks north and then turn west onto Rayen you can find this spot where the crew sets up- you'll recognize a lot of the neighborhood from the show: My Name is Earl Locations

Does the tailpipe burn when you embrace it with your lips?

At this point I'd limit the things that can be fairly assessed to: A) We've got ourselves a bona fide athlete. Like they say about height- you can't teach that. B) We've got a kid who has shown that he has the capacity to learn. He exhibited pocket discipline for the firs time in a Bill's uniform after the sitdown- not enough yet but still he had even consecutive plays of solid pocket discpline in his return. C) We have someone who has embraced WNY and has expressed the intentions to make it his home for his football career; a kid with very strong family values and commitments. D) We also appear to have a team player who while others are melting down around him has held his cool and accepted the team's decisions. He's weathered diversity at the college and now pro levels, and from my seat did it admirably. Now if we can get the right influences working to match his skills with an effective NFL offensive philosophy we might just find we have a quarterback capable of competing in this league.

His wife was a local who was indifferent to football. She also seemed to be the more financially aware of the two yet even when I explained to her why her football season business had been reduced to a small fraction of it's former glory she just said something like "do you really think so?"

Stephen Ducket, a guy I met when he bought a bar in my hometown of Wellsville apparently gave a tourist some notes of paper and then took a dive into the Niagra just above the Falls, apparently in the past week. Funny thing about this guy is that first of all Wellsville is a big-time Bill's town and he bought the only real young to middle-age crowd bar in town where you aren't taking your life in your hands eating off their silverware. It had been the center of Bill's football activity for many years. This guy buys the bar maybe 16 years ago and tears down every reference to Buffalo and of all things covers the walls with Cowboy gear. Since then what were previously the biggest business days of the cold months turned into this guy sitting alone in his bar with the TVs all playing the Cowboys games. Apparently it's enough to literally send you over the edge.

They've done a great job developing it- from the casting to the infinite storylines, it's pure entertainment. And Joy and Catalina have their own following ;-) I stopped by the motel where they shoot it last week- believe it or not the place really is a rat infested stojanhole- and they shoot a lot of the other scenes right down the street.

Watched it in a bar in Los Angeles and left immediately after the game for a Raider house party where I "announced" my entrance with a Rebel Yell. Got a lot of "ARE YOU f%^&* NUTS" and wasn't even offered a beer!

Earl and the crew are eating wings when someone queries where they come from- Randy says: "I think they're from Syracuse". Earl looks unsure and says "No, I think they're from Buffalo" to which Randy insists it's Syracuse- Joy settles the whole matter by saying- "Nope, they're made a' chicken". It was probably the third thing in last night's episode that went like that- another was Randy responding to the topic of Robin Hood says "Oh yeah, that guy in the green tights- and I really like his little friend, that bird fairy named Tinkerbell." I need to find out who they're buying their weed from.

Yes, I'm pleased that you finally recognize that no QB rated among the worst in the league at his throws over 20 yards could ever be credibly argued as a "deep threat". You've made some progress this evening. I'll let you know when your next lesson begins.

Mike Tregovac seems to fit your criteria perfectly-

Twist and turn all you like, it doesn't change the fact that QBs rated at the bottom of the league over 20 yards are not "deep threats" in any honest man's judgement. It appears clear you are content to remain the lying sack of garbage you've been proven to be instead of taking the honorable opportunity I've offered you to simply admit your past indiscretions. We used to have some honest fans from opposing teams around here but the bottomfeeders like you have convinced them to leave for message boards where even a lying Troll would never argue that the worst QBs in the league at throwing passes over 20 yards are "deep threats". But you keep saying it- you might actually begin to believe it at some point and it may lessen your whining about the referees in the Denver game!

And now opportunity knocks at your door- You previously claimed that Tom Brady was a "deep ball threat" in the NFL. I've shown that in fact he's one of the worst QBs in the league when throwing over 20 yards. You now can simply admit what anyone with eyes and a functioning brain realizes- you said something that was false. In the intertest of "accuracy" I'd think you'd take this opportunity to recover from your past misstep and just say "Yeah, I was a stupid Troll and I shouldn't have been flag-waving on a Bill's message board, especially when the tripe I was peddling was demonstrably false". Or you could continue being the jellyfish Troll that you and I both know you to be- devoid of anything but trollscum talk and unable to admit in the face of incontrovertible evidence that you don't have the ability to be honest.

So the tact would be to ignore that Lovie Smith, John Fox, Jack Del Rio and Marvin Lewis are racking up wins at a pace rivaling any 4 coaches in the league while Coughlin is the sole retread with any success in the immediate past and is very likely guiding a team on the decline at this very moment? I think see pretty clearly your pattern and I intend to get the craps table out of the attic next time you come up to the Mountain. ;-)