TPS

Cross Wilson off, as he signed an extension this year. I think it was just before free agency and signalled buh-bye to Donte.

I'll preface this with, Beck at QB and injuries on the Skins OL, but I thought this was a coming out party for the guys picked in the last 2 years. Moats, Dareus, Batten, Carrington, Shep, and even Troup made an appearance. The Ralph is going to rumble next week!

I've had the Jets game as the Bills' Litmus test this year. The Jets physically manhandled the Bills last year, and this was the game I thought would tell us if they are for real or not. My perspective hasn't changed. I think this is the game that determines whether the Bills are a playoff team or not.

Yep, he should get credit for causing a few of the sacks that others got. I also thought Carrington played well too. I think he played a lot inside today too, if I'm not mistaken.

While the Green Bay model is no longer allowed, I don't know why you can't give municipalities a minority equity stake for their "investment"? If the team moves or sells, the city gets its investment back with hopefully a little "capital gain" added in.

Let's not say clueless, let's just say private sector finance can hire the financial engineers who keep a step or three ahead of regulators. The publics raise tuition when state support gets cut. That said, you've touched on a sore point... The trend in higher ed for the past 30 years has been to reduce full-time faculty and hire part-timers, then use the money on pet admin projects and salaries for themselves. The "instructional budget" % has steadily declined. Administrators claim they must be paid private sector salaries to be competitive--what crap! Higher Ed is not immune to market forces, and the crunch is coming....evolve or die!

Really? Is there anyone here who tries to support fraud if "their side does it"? Let me know if you can find a poster who supports corruption. While Darin and I have disagreed on most things, one thing we have always agreed on is that both parties are corrupt.

Was that before or after 750 were arrested? I've been reading the stories about Wall Street lawyers fighting Volcker, yes, just as they always have, but they ARE on the defensive. It's too bad that 12% buffer wasn't in place 10 years ago.. It won't matter, the FED will buy the loans anyway...so the banks are made 100% whole. The old "well they did it too argument." The extent of the relationship and influence is cyclical. The excesses of the 1920s brought Roosevelt and regulation, and stability for 30 years after the war. The breakdown of those safeguards over the next 30 years lead to this crisis and the current populist backlash from both the right and left. I'd say they are more like the Populists of the 1890s. Here's a list of "demands" someone posted on the OWS site, I don't see the student loans stuff there...In fact, there's not much I'd disagree with in that list. OWS

Which is why I'm surprised you don't support it? I think I've agreed with you on this all along as well. It's not a left-right thing; it's a take back democracy issue. And the corporate media will twist this to turn people against those who threaten the system. "It's smelly hippies who want the government to give them a job and bail out." That's just Bull ****. People are fed up with a system that rewards the politicians who reward their big funding constituents. I'll support someone like Ron Paul, despite many disagreements with his policies, because he is a threat to the system, which needs to be taken down. As for K street G, they ARE in the right place: it's better to threaten the puppet masters than the puppets...

Seems there's a good joke in there about putting him in the "missionary position...."

And who exactly does this government entity work for? The poor who don't pay income taxes and don't vote? The middle class that's disappearing? The point which you apparently don't get is that so-called government represents those who fund campaigns, and the biggest contributors over the past 15 years have been unions, Wall STreet, Healthcare, and every other industry dominated by big firms. Laws are made to protect or promote those interests. And where do those politicos go after their work is done? They get well-paid jobs with the industries they rewarded. Who do you think benefits the most from the $5 trillion that government circulates into the economy? Do you think the health system wants to end Medicare? It's a gold mine. Banks, which are given a government license to create money, don't want regulations constraining their ability to create more and more paper, and they pay their government whores protection money. While you can find or cherry pick people to say something that fits fox snews spin, the majority are focused on democracy and fairness--defined as a level playing field. The system's f-ed up, and people know it.

The (bold) is where you are wrong. If you are assuming this based on "10 years of absolute futility," than you are not being rational. As for reason, Tampa Bay always had a good offense, and they now have a defensive minded coach, and are a very good team. I will wager you any amount of money (ok, within reason)that the Sabres will make the playoffs. As for the Bills, my two "IF" scenarios for a 10-6 season are gone--my projection was based on a healthy Merriman and Bell. However, all is not lost. Both Bell and Hairston will return, so I'm not too worried there. On D, it's very likely that my man Moats plays better than the gimpy Merriman. In addition, as Gaughan wrote about last week, the Offenses of the teams that the Bills play over the next 7-8 games rank 16 or worse (if I remember correctly). The road to the playoffs is tougher for the Bills, but certainly doable. Now go beat your dog.

Interesting. Probably took out government-backed student loans, got their education degrees at a public institution, and now both have high-paying government jobs as members of the teachers' union...Go 53%!!!

To quote my favorite band: "I change by not changing at all...."

My preseason prediction was 10-6, but I hope I'm wrong and you're right!

My response was a pun. If they draft 32nd, I'm going to get drunk, aka pissed.

I'm going to get pissed if we draft 32nd....

I'll keep harping on this too: this is exactly where I had them in my guess of 10-6 for the year. Two reversals happened: we beat the Pats and lost to Bengals; we beat Philly and lost to Giants--at least for my predictions. Here's the positive I take at this point in the season--I had us losing both games to the Jets, and now I know we'll win at least one. 10-6 is still the most likely outcome I see, and 11 wins is a good possibility still. Go Bills!

I was just about to start a post on that article, but with a different focus. During Wednesday's presser, someone asked Chan (something like), "when you play against the great coaches like Belichek, Reid, et al does it motivate you to beat them?" That's where the "No. No way. Nice try." comment came from. Gailey is the man for this job.

He's certainly competent, and was gaining confidence. I think he was looking good in the last game because he was the guy that drew single the most. Fitz always says he looks for the open receiver. Philly was taking away Stevie and Nelson, which left Jones.

There's a prediction thread if you look through the topics.

Only if they score more points than the Giants.

Fantastic!! I'm an old surfer, and met some great people there during a trip in 1979. I was there again in 1989. You are lucky mon ami. Of course, I am sure it has grown and changed since then. Does everyone still wear "espadrilles"? If I am lucky enough to make it back, I will surely visit you again. Enjoy. TPS

Where do you live now? I spent a week in and around Hendaye-Biarritz years ago. I also spent an evening in San Sebastian as I made my way up the coast from Portugal. Beautiful area.

Nice to hear from you Olivier. Maybe the Bills doing well will bring back some of the other old timers?! Good luck with all of the changes and changing the diapers. TPS