SoTier

When I worked in suburban Albany, NY, we had a moose on the loose in the area just west and south of our site. It didn't actually invade our parking lot, but it was playing in traffic on the nearby expressway during morning rush hour and caused a major traffic jam as DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) staffers tried to herd it to a safer area. Smacking a deer with your car is bad enough ... smacking a moose is likely to be terminal. They weigh about a ton and stand like 6-8 feet tall at the shoulder I think. I worked for the local community college here in Jamestown, and we had migratory Canada geese nesting and raising broods on our pond every year. One year one of the young geese had a deformed wing that prevented it from flying. The family wouldn't abandon the handicapped goose, so they wouldn't have migrated south in the fall, so when the geese were moulting and couldn't fly, we had a "goose round up" to catch the handicapped one and send her to a nearby nature preserve (where she's still living), and her family would be able to leave on time with all the rest of the migrants. We had probably 50 people, and it was still a hilarious disaster. Luckily, nobody gotten bitten.

My list of major misses was for first and second rounders, the supposed blue chippers, not Day Three scrubs destined to spend their careers playing special teams if they stick at all. All teams miss on high picks on occasion but I don't think winning organizations regularly miss at the rate of 27% (ie, more than 1 out of 4) on first and second rounders. Moreover, I didn't include any of the first rounders in that group who most consider "disappointments" like Whitner or McKelvin but just the guys whom everybody considers busts. Frequently gambling on drafting guys with physical issues in the first and second round -- sometimes even trading up to get them like the Bills did for McCargo -- is plainly a stupid strategy ... like counting on winning Power Ball to fund your retirement. How Is having to draft DBs with regularity in the first round to replace the good ones the Bills let walk not just another example of FO incompetence? The Bills have been shedding top class DBs with regularity long before the rookie salary scale came along. The Bills started that when they let Antoine Winfield, their 1999 first rounder, leave for Minnesota where he was a Pro Bowler several times.

That's because winning in college ball is 99% about school name and recruiting success. Successful big time college coaches collect and stockpile talent, blow out conference weak sisters and run up the scores against modest programs like UB or Ball State so that the idiots who produce the collegiate rankings are suitably impressed with the teams' awesomeness ... and proud alumni donate millions to stadium renovations, weight rooms, scholarship funds, coaches salaries, etc. The failure of big name collegiate coaches crashing and burning in the NFL goes back decades, probably at least to the 1970s. It's become even more noticeable with the salary cap leveling out the talent among pro teams. When big name collegiate HCs try the NFL, 99% of them fail because they have to be good, smart coaches with sound game strategies. There are no UBs or Ball States for the Oregons or Alabamas to overwhelm on talent alone since the talent difference between the best and worst NFL teams is only marginally different. Moreover, since pro players have years to hone their skills and knowledge of the game, they're a whole lot smarter than college kids, so NFL game plans on both side of the ball are much more sophisticated. The few collegiate HCs who prosper in the NFL tend to be like Pete Carroll -- guys who already have NFL HC experience. In Kelly's case, his "system" really was a gimmicky one. He won a lot of games in Philly while defenses were figuring it out, but once they did, that was all she wrote for Kelly in the NFL.

That was a great game. I haven't been a hockey fan in a whole lotta years since the Sabres have been about as pathetic as the Bills and I just put the game on because nothing else appealed to me, but I'll probably watch the Finals now.

I have perennial gardens to weed at home and the remainder of my veggie garden to plant at my camp (tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants). On Monday, if it doesn't rain, my neighbor and I will attend the Jamestown Memorial Day Parade and the wreath laying/flag raising ceremonies at Lakeview Cemetery. Her grandson's paternal great grandfather is being honored for service in World War II at the ceremony. We'll probably attend the ceremony even if it rains.

I totally agree. The idea that the Bills' low talent retention rate is because of anything except the product of FO incompetence doesn't fit the facts. The Bills have sucked at drafting, especially in the first two rounds, since John Butler and AJ Smith left for San Diego after the 2000 draft. It has absolutely nothing to do with changing coaching schemes sending lower round picks packing. The Bills have drafted the following in the first and second rounds since 2001: 2001: 1- Nate Clements (#21), 2- Aaron Schobel (#46) 2002 1- Mike Williams (#4), 2- Josh Reed (#36) 2003 1- Willis McGahee (#23), 2- Chris Kelsay (#48) 2004 1- Lee Evans (#13), 1 - JP Losman (#22) 2005 2 - Roscoe Parrish (#55) 2006 1 - Donte Whitner (#8), 1- John McCargo (#26) 2007 1 - Marshawn Lynch (#12), 2 - Paul Posluszny (#34) 2008 1 - Leodis McKelvin (#11), 2- James Hardy (#41) 2009 1 - Aaron Maybin (#11), 1 - Eric Wood (#28), 2 - Jairus Byrd (#42), 2 - Andy Levitre (#51) 2010 1 - CJ Spiller (#9), 2 - Torrell Troup (#41) 2011 1 - Marcell Dareus (#3), 2 - Aaron Williams (#34) 2012 1 - Stephon Gilmore (#10), 2 - Cordy Glenn (#41) 2013 1 - EJ Manuel (#13), 2 - Robert Woods (#41), 2 - Kiko Alonso (#46) 2014 1 - Sammy Watkins (#4), 2 - Cyrus Kouandijo (#44) 2015 2 - Ronald Darby (#50) 2016 1 - Shaq Lawson (#19), 2 - Reggie Ragland (#41) The outright busts: Williams, Losman, McCargo, Hardy, Maybin, Troup, Manuel, Kouandijo. That's 8 total wastes from 30 picks in Rounds 1 & 2 between 2001 and 2014, which is almost 27%. That, boys and girls, is abysmal drafting. One striking thing about the list is the number of players who had physical questions about their health when they were drafted. Mcgahee, McCargo, Troup, Kouandijo, and Lawson all fit that category. Of the veterans, only Mcgahee worked out. We'll see about Lawson. Another striking fact is how many of the guys who actually did work out, some of them Pro Bowl players, the Bills either let walk or sent packing in their primes. That would include Clements, McGahee, Lynch, Posluszny, Byrd, Levitre, Gilmore, and Woods. Certainly the most egregious example of this is Marshawn Lynch. If you think that the Bills haven't made the playoffs in 17 years for any reason other than front office incompetence, I have a sllightly used but recently rehabbed bridge over Chautauqua Lake that I'd like to sell you. As for the new administration, they'll have to prove themselves before I fall for OBD's shell game again.

I guess 17 playoff-less years has made me a skeptic .... it's wishful thinking until it happens.

Sorry, but this is just ANOTHER excuse for the Bills' futility. Other teams win 10 games and even make the playoffs with flawed rosters. A number of teams have not only won 10 games but even made the playoffs during their first season under new coaches. We're not talking about winning the Super Bowl, just about winning 10 games, something that the Bills have not done since 1999 even though numerous teams do it every season and some even do it with regularity. Hell, the Bills have won as many as 9 games only twice since 1999, so even winning that many would be a moral victory I suppose. McDermott has far more talent, especially at key positions, than any of his predecessors have had in their initial seasons going back to the 1970s ... except for Wade Phillips whose 1998 Bills team won 10 games and made the playoffs. If McDermott is the real deal, he'll demonstrate it this season, but I'm not jumping on his bandwagon until I see results.

Actually, Rodgers could have easily been a Bill. Donahoe traded back into the first round in order to draft JP Losman, giving up the Bills #1 pick in 2005. The Bills' 2005 first rounder turned out to be #18 which Dallas got. Rodgers didn't go until 24 or 25. When I read or hear people claiming Whaley was such an awful GM, I remember the trade that landed Losman here and LMAO. Methinks I've heard this song before ... several times. I'll believe it when I see it ... just like I'll believe that the Bills are going in the right direction this time when they actually win 10 games and/or make the playoffs.

Agree with all these points. Another problem with running a no huddle -- and a major one IMO -- is that it lends itself to shortened TOP which puts your defense on the field longer so that they tire out, too. Moreover, the NFL isn't the same league in 2017 as it was a quarter of a century ago just as the world isn't the same either.

Last year under Rex clock management, along with the defense, sucked. It was almost reminiscent of the clock mismanagement under Jauron. Therefore, even barely competent clock management this year will be a noticeable improvement.

Ms Williams don't let your babies named Mike grow up to be football players ...

Whatever. True believers will believe anything. Some people still make excuses for Joe Paterno, too.

Yeah, American Graffiti is a " High School movie". It's about kids who are either in HS or just out of HS. It's also about decisions HS kids had to make -- and still have to make -- about their futures.

Thank you. I was going to ask the same thing. Gordon's Canadian ... how could he possibly offend anybody? I think I've read exactly one article about him in the media in the last five years although I've seen a handful of announcements of concert dates in/around Western NY during that time. Hardly the stuff to say he "needs to go away"!

American Graffiti hands down. It captures the essence of what adolescence in rural/small town/suburban America in the 1960s was like.

I disagree with your interpretation of Dareus' reaction to Saban. I don't remember that interview but I'm assuming it was after Dareus had been a pro for at least a part of a season and had some basis for comparison between how coaches treated players on both levels. Successful big time head football coaches at major schools like Alabama, Nebraska or Penn State are gods who can do no wrong, and if college presidents won't stand up to them, how are 20-year-old kids going to do so? There's no NFLPA to stand up for them, either. I tutored Nebraska football players for one semester back in the early days of Tom Osborne's reign, and got to see some of the culture of big time athletics first hand while a starving grad student. I would never disbelieve any reports of wrong-doing in collegiate athletic programs, particularly those involving the exploitation of the athletes themselves, for that reason ... and the reprehensible conduct of Joe Paterno and his sycophants for years at Penn State underscore that. BTW, Saban failed miserably in his two year stint with the Miami Dolphins with his teams going 9-7 and 6-10.

I don't think anybody "knows" about our new D or the new coaching staff, except that they figure they can do better with what they've got than Rex Ryan, who was supposed to be a defensive genius, did. The Bills defense seriously under-performed during his two years here, especially last season. They were outright putrid last year -- almost as ineffective as they'd been under Chan Gailey despite a whole lot more talent -- and could never come up with the big play when they needed it.

Exactly this. I hope this report from Polian is bogus only in the Bills' supposed reasoning of why they want Dareus to be better. Winning teams aren't built using the logic of "well, we spent X on Y, so we can't afford to spend A on B" even though both are great players but play different positions. Winning teams are built on the premise that each player needs to play up to his potential or he's gone whether he's a first round draft pick, a super star, or a special teams player. Dareus needs to perform up to the level of talent that earned him his big contract, and having Watkins on the team is irrelevant since they don't even play on the same unit. Polian's description of the Bill's reasoning on Dareus reeks of the "put butts in the seats" philosophy that's resulted in 17 years of no playoffs. If both are playing up to their superstar potential, then the Bills need to figure out how to accommodate their big contracts under the cap while staying within the cap -- and without gutting the current team or mortgaging their future. Other teams manage to do it, and contrary to the claims back a decade or more ago, they manage to not only stay competitive for several years but to build dynasties as well. If one or both aren't producing, then they should be gone but on their own merits, not because of the stupid idea that there's already another expensive player on the team.

Actually, that might be Southern Tier eHarmony. There are a lot of Amish in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties as well as across the state line in Erie and Warren Counties in PA.

What's work? Oh, yeah, that's the part of my life that I finally escaped on April 1, 2016. YEEE HAAAAWWWWWWW!

I would think that wool would make up a significant part of the income stream if you were to raise sheep with any intent to at least make some money on them, so hair sheep are probably not commercially viable in the US. I would bet that it's the humidity rather than the heat in NC that's the real culprit because Australia raises a lot of sheep for wool, and it's god awful hot in most of that country. Around here, alpacas have largely replaced llamas but most of the farms are small-scale hobby farms. I think alpacas are better tempered and their wool is more valuable, so people prefer them. Since they're also more expensive than llamas IIRC, people can't afford as many. For a while, a few farmers in the area tried raising ostriches for meat and then buffalo became the fad. The Amish have started to seriously raise sheep commercially in this area. It's not unusual to drive through Amish country and see pastures full of ewes and lambs when even five years ago, seeing a single sheep was a surprise.

Honey chile, how many economists and mathematicians do you know? Just cuz they claim they're not kooks doesn't mean they're right about themselves. I worked in academia for several years and then in IT for nearly 30, and paranoia seems to run rampant among a significant percentage of very intelligent, well educated people, especially those who deal with the theoretical rather than the pragmatic like mathematicians, software/systems designers, economists, etc. IMO, I think there seems to be a really fine line between genius and mental instability, not just among theoretical types but among creative geniuses in the arts as well. "Mad scientist" might be a silly fictional stereotype, but there's a kernel of truth buried in it.

You keep on circling the wagons and scapegoating anybody and everybody. Wade's been gone from the Bills for 16 years ... and he wasn't the guy who inked expensive contracts with aging stars to keep butts in the seats that put the Bills in cap hell or who traded a first round pick for Drew Bledsoe or traded up to draft JP Losman or filled the team with special teamers rather than first stringers ... Whatever his failures as a HC, his post-Bills career as a HC and a DC have demonstrated that he's both a good coach and a class act.

Did you watch the games? It's not about statistics! It's about effective plays. Good pass protection means that a QB consistently has time to throw the ball when the defense knows he's going to throw ...just like good run blocking doesn't mean occasionally breaking a 20 yarder but that the OL enables the RBs, even journeymen, to make first downs on thirds and short. The pocket was seldom there long enough for Taylor to throw first downs on thirds and long, and often it wasn't there for him to throw downfield at all because receivers need time to get open. Apparently, some people's standards are much lower than others. Brady consistently has "excellent" pass protection. You don't see him getting knocked on his butt every other play ... and when he does, the Pats struggle. Taylor has never had Brady's level of protection, especially last season. The Bills' pass protection resembled Pitt's the year that Roethlisberger got all beat to hell trying to stay in the pocket ... and the next season, the Stillers seriously shored up that OL so that their QB would survive. Taylor runs because he can ... Roethlisberger's too slow so he couldn't escape and got beaten up for his trouble ... The Bills need to improve their pass protection. Claiming it was "excellent" or "was there most times" is not only being in denial but it's scapegoating Taylor, the favorite past time of some Bills fans. Taylor is a decent enough QB if given some protection and some targets. Coming out of Baltimore, do you really think he doesn't know how to throw from the pocket? The last time I looked, nobody would confuse Joe Flacco with Cam Newton.