Shaw66

Your post was about good performance for the investment. My post was about the pointlessness of that comparison. There is no stat that meaningfully captures the performance of players other than qbs. Nothing measures Beasley's route running or blocking, nothing measures Gore's pass protection or locker room presence. Even YP reception and YP carry aren't very useful measures of value. Putting dollar values on performance makes even less sense. Right. If Brown contributes meaningfully to Allen's success, then Brown was worth it regardless of his stats.

I think the question itself is meaningless. It's a team game, and who accumulates yards and points simply doesn't matter. Offensive total yards and total points and defensive total yards and total points are what matters. By far, the only individual stats that matter are the QBS stats. The relationship between a player's compensation and his stats is really, really pointless. If Shady gains 114 yards on the season and catches 12 passes, and if the Bills go 12-4, why Wil I care how much he was paid? It's a team game.

Thanks for this, and thanks to NyNole, too. PFF is far, far from being the definitive word on anything. People need to remember Kyle Williams being incredulous when he realized evaluations like PFF exist. He asked how anyone except a coach who knew what the player's assignment was could possibly evaluate how he did on a play. And there's a much more important point, and that is that offensive line play is very much a team thing. When a play succeeds, it's because the line succeeded as a UNIT. Whether the Bills line has improved will depend on how the coaches are able to get the line to succeed as a UNIT. Having said that, going from no one who was good at center to someone who is among the best is a huge upgrade. A guy who can read the defense and call assignments, as well as make all the blocks, will be a huge improvement alone. Morse will make the guards better just by being there.

That's the way I heard it. He didn't say anything like "we will continue to be in touch with his agent."

This is just your negative spin on that class. Davis they hoped would recover from injuries. Star has been, I think, exactly what they wanted. Bodine was signed to compete to start. Morse was signed this year to start. Big difference between those expectations. McCarron was supposed to be a veteran presence and compete to start. If the Bills had expected their free agent qb to start they wouldn't have stayed out of the free agent and just signed the last guy left. Ivory couldn't run behind the oline any better than Shady could. I think you may have had unrealistic expectations out of that class. I didn't. Many of them didn't disappoint me because I didn't expect much from them. Beane also didn't expect much from them. He has always said that you build through the draft and fill in with free agents.

I'm not down on him at all. I revere him. He brought pro football to Buffalo, kept it there when it was in his personal interest to move, assured it would stay when he died, and gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the City to boot. But he often was tight fisted and he generally didn't make good football decisions. Running a winning pro football franchise just wasn't something he was good at.

Yea, Thurman. Combat that nonsense. Every GM misses sometime. Wait until the draft. Then watch training camp. The Bills are going to be putting more talent on the field for the third consecutive season, and they will do it again next year too.

There is no doubt the franchise has changed dramatically. Yes, they haven't won yet, but the FRANCHISE has changed dramatically. To wit: 1. Ralph Wilson is gone. Great man, but not a successful owner. Was willing to spend only inconsistently. He insisted a positive bottom line, and that insistence got in the way of team building. Pegulas are completely different in that regard. 2. Russ Brandon is gone. 3. Brandon Beane has a clear focus, and he is extremely disciplined. He approach is thoughtful. For examole, McD wants Allen to focus on the short passing game, so Beane's gets one of the best short-game receivers in the league. Great focus. 4. McD is organized and has a system. His players love it and want to play for him. 5. The Bills are all in on a great young QB. Yes, he still must improve, but the Bills haven't had this kind of talent in the building since Bledsoe or maybe Kelly. That's dramatically different.

In his interview with John Murphy, Beane sounded to me like he is done with Ziggy. Didn't say It exactly, but his tone and how he said things sounded like the Bills have decided they aren't interested. Ziggy's price will have to come down.

Guy knows what he is doing. Im pp ressive.

Yes, thanks to all. If its.about the Bill's, its here. Thanks to all.

You're a pro! Thanks.

It's actually a great option if there is a team that wants to move up.

I've ignored pretty much all the news, but I'm on TBD daily. Yolo and we are amazing. Others as well. If there's Bills news, it's on TBD.

On a tour. Hanoi, Halong Bay, HoI An in Viet Nam. Siem Reap in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Luang Prabang in Laos and two days on a Mekong River boat to Thailand. Chiang Rai in Thailand, Bangkok tomorrow, then Singapore and home. As others have said, it seems a lot of Americans retire to Thailand. Cost of living is low, and most people who live in the cities eat most meals on the street. Good, low cost food. Haven't been to the beaches. Temples ARE amazing, but after a while they are just another temple. People are really friendly. Free speech doesn't exist here, and not much democracy either, but the people don't seem to mind much. They have homes, food and family, and they generally have more money then their parents had. Capitalism in Viet Nam and Thailand is changing those countries almost before your eyes. Cambodia will need several more decades to overcome the devestation of US bombing, civil war and and the Khmer Rouge. What happened there was horrifying. They're all scared of the Chinese, but they like Chinese investors. Fascinating to see life and civilization so different from our own. And yes, there seems to be almost total lack of awareness of American football. McDermott once said, as he was describing the process, that everyone gets evalauted regularly and has objective set regularly, including himself. Terry is pretty hands off; that leaves Beane as the only one to evaluate McD.

I will be there in about three days. I will be the guy in the Bills cap. Look for me.

He couldn't do it on his own, I agree. And I agree that the Pegulas also might fire the package. But I am certain it's Beane's responsibility to evaluate McD, do performance reviews. I can imagine a scenario where he'd go to the Pegulas and recommend a new coach. It's no different from players. It's part of the process. If Beane can getter a better player, he gets him and they let someone go. That happens when a player has maxed out on his potential and just won't get any better. Of McD maxed out and Beane thought he could get a better coach, I think it's his job to do it. I agree with the others. I think McD is doing fine. But if the Bills go 6-10 this season, Beane has to begin to wonder about his coach.

Tourism. We were there for a half day, some people stay for a couple days and help take care of the elephants. American, European, Asian tourists like not because they're saving wildlife and protecting the environment. You can invest in the company. He says they are currently earning 7% for the investors. they can do it because the cost of living is low here, so their employees are getting paid maybe $1000, $1500 a month and they think they're getting paid a lot. It was an interesting place.

Thanks. I guess I knew about those guys being free agents but forgot. That's not uncommon. And yes you're right. All the free agent o linemen than should make the team. I really want a good rookie OT.

Thanks for the proof read. Not many Germans, but you're right about prices and food. Apparently some Americans retire here.

The best part is that here, here is you DON'T hear, hear.

I've said since the season ended that the Bills need one or two new vet starters on the oline, and one rookie starter. The Bills are on track. Morse looks like a perfect addition. I think McBeane really buy the old adage that the most important players play closest to the ball. In less than a year they got their MLB, their QB and now their center. The other acquisitions will fight for their jobs. And Mills, Miller, Groy, Bodine and Teller all are on notice. Like I said to start, I love what Beane is doing.

I absolutely love the Gore signing. Yes they need some youth at running back, but does anyone really think he doesn't know that? I said someplace else that Gore is a better Ivory. Tough, tough guy, football saavy. I didn't know he and Shady are buddies. I think it's a good thing when your team has guys who want to play together. It says a lot that Shady encouraged Gore to come. Gore almost certainly is another locker room leader. Probably means Ivory is gone, which is disappointing, but that's the nature of the game. Best part of being in Asia is that it's easy to avoid all the US political news.

Like a lot of people, I thought John Brown was great when he hit the league. Then he seemed to fade. But I think he is a great addition. Obviously still a serious deep threat, and Allen need another to go with Foster. He also should be a mentor for Foster. I've always admired Beasley. Tough as nails and reliable. He's the kind of player McD loves. And I think the thread about Daboll building what he learned from Belichick is a good thought. We've been hearing the McD wants Allen completing more short passes (for higher percentage). That's why Duke Williams was signed, and Beasley for sure. And Andre Roberts. They liked the quick throw to McKenzie, and the jet sweep, and I'm sure they will be using Roberts in that role. The draft hasn't happened yet and the offense already has enough skill position players to be explosive.

We visited an elephant refuge today. They take elephants that have been trained to do work, or be in the circus, or run in elephant races (really) and spend two or three years teaching the how to live naturally in sort of controlled wilderness. Our top was conducted by the CEO. It's a for-profit business. He described that everyone in the organization has jobs that are focused on the ultimate objective. There actually is a human being, 24 hours a day, who follows each elephant around. They work in shifts, stay out of the elephants way but step in life they need help. Then there are support people who get whatever the elephant followers need. The CEO's job is to hire good people, train them, fire the ones who aren't getting the job done. The CEO was describing all of this and I was thinking I've heard this before. Then I realized he was talking about the process. He was describing building a team in the same way McBeane talk about building a team. Elephants, linebackers, all the same. That's got to be weird. I think Thurman is over here somewhere. I wear a Bills shirt some days, a Bills cap some others. No comments yet.