Gray Beard

and Fitz over Edwards

Every other thread is about the lack of depth, and now people want to cut somebody who is good but not great. There was another thread yesterday that said Sheppard was on his way to being a bust because after three games in his rookie year, he is probably not going to be invited to the pro bowl. You can't have it both ways. Cut guys who are supposedly underperforming, and then whine about lack of depth.

Edwards was obviously scared after that hit (not that I can blame him). I think Edwards got hit in the head, and Fitz got hit in the chest. Fitz hasn't seemed scared, just weaker. Lately he has been starting to run the ball and throw a few blocks again. He wasn't doing that for the two or three games after the Redskins game. I hope that means the lingering effects are becoming less of a factor.

Stevie's next touchdown celebration?

Good Article! http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/page/fleming-111215/flem-file-urges-nfl-commissioner-get-bills-fred-jackson-pro-bowl

The salary cap is for players. All the coaches, trainers, facilities, etc. are places where an owner can cut corners. Cutting corners on those secondary expenses is a great way to build a mediocre, injury prone team. That should come as no surprise.

I hope they resign Stevie, and then Nix can resign himself.

All these posts that say winning games is the best marketing plan are correct, but I assume any ability to effect that issue is beyond the scope of your assignment. I live in the Utica area, and our CBS station that plays Buffalo Bills games on Sunday afternoon is out of Syracuse on Time Warner Cable. It stinks that we are subject to the black out rules even though we are 200 miles from Buffalo. The Syracuse CBS station is the only CBS station between the Rochester area and the Schenectady area. That is a lot of coverage (of course, there aren't that many people for all that area). Most people in this area are Giants fans, since the Giants are broadcast on the local Fox network, are not subject to blackout rules in this area, and generally win more often than the Bills. You could stop people on the street around here and ask them to name three players on the Bills team, and they probably couldn't. And this is a local broadcast market. Think about that. Do the players do local commercials on Buffalo TV? I never see any out here in Central New York. It seems like a no brainer to get some name and face recognition with things like public service announcements. "Hi, I'm Fred Jackson of the Buffalo Bills, and I would like to remind you to put fresh batteries in your smoke detectors twice a year." My daughter is a Colts fan because she thinks Peyton Manning is funny in TV commercials. Of course, it's much easier for your agent to get you TV commercials if you are on a winning team, but if a few guys can be successful with local spots, maybe their agents can then start to work on bigger deals. Maybe in the Buffalo area these things are common, but like I said, I'm in Central New York, and I NEVER see anything that is related to the Bills on local TV.

It's crayonz. Getting a rise out of people by saying mean and hurtful things is his schtick. Read his posts from other threads. He rarely adds anything of value. Not a traditional troll. More clever than that. Probably one of the more intelligent posters on the forum. Just likes to use his talents for evil rather than good. Kind of like the Joker.

So your thinking is that Fitz and Williams are loafing since they got big money, and now the team should throw big money at an injured Fred Jackson. So if they pay Jackson, and then find out he can't play like he used to because his injury and rehab have caused him to be less effective, are you going to blame that on the big money? You are the one who says to pay him before finding out if he can still play as well as he did before the injury, so if his play drops off do you blame it on the nagging injury, or the big contract? I realize this is crayonz, so I don't expect a meaningful response, but I just figured I'd throw my 2 cents in anyway.

The thing that annoys me most about Kelsey (and I am not a Kelsey hater) is that he ALWAYS bites on the screen passes and gets caught chasing the play from behind. Merriman seems to know what to look out for and hold the edge to stop the screen from developing. Can't those things be coached?

They were trying to get a practice squad QB from Green Bay. I think they know that Thigpen is done after this season. I thought Levi Brown looked better in preseason than Thigpen, but Gailey and Thigpen have history together from KC so Brown got the shaft. Gailey specifically brought Thigpen in to be the backup, so there was really nothing that Brown could have done to save his job. Of course, during the fourth quarter of a preseason game it is hard to judge how good somebody really is.

In Buffalo they would have made him try to be a pocket passer. He would have failed. Then he would be run out of town. Then he would make his next place cool. I see what you were going for and I kind of agree, but I don't trust this staff to change their plays to suit his style.

Tell that to Maybin. Just using this to point out that an innovative coach would be able to use some of these guys better. Moats has speed but not size. He should be able to be put into situations that allow him to make plays.

Lee Smith caught a pass for no gain. He was targeted by Fitz as a checkdown on another play, and Fitz missed him by a mile from about five yards away. That was weird and scary to see that Fitz could be so bad. The picked up PI flag has been discussed at length. It was a terrible move by the refs, the ball was underthrown but the defender clearly grabbed Hagen by the shoulder and caused him to lose balance. A classic PI case if there ever was one. In summary, Hagen and Choice are two new guys who looked pretty good.

I also don't remember seeing McIntyre in the backfield in San Diego. I thought McIntyre and Spiller together looked like a good combination. They must have decided that Choice can do the job instead. Maybe if they ran the ball more than a few times during the game they could use some different personnel combinations, but since they go pass wacky almost immediately, they don't get a chance to use all of their weapons.

I am sure the I am in the minority, but I can't stand Jaws and Gruden on Monday Night Football. Too smug and arrogant, and they jump on the bandwagon of whoever just made the latest play. Gruden's one-on-one discussions with quarterbacks are awful. I can't help but think the quarterback is sitting there counting the minutes until the phony nonsense is over so they can get away. I am probably in the minority on this, but it all just seems too fake and Gruden's all-knowing, insider demeanor is nauseating.

To me this is an incriminating and truly damning admission. I am angry as I type this. Belichick (and other good coaches) will change up schemes on offense and defense EVERY GAME based on the team he his playing. They exploit weaknesses and avoid the other team's strengths. And they win even though they have one of the worst defenses in the league. That is coaching, scheming, film watching, planning and practicing. Apparently those are the things Gailey doesn't think are necessary. The idea that flawless execution can make the same game plan work regardless of the opposition is a Pop Warner approach. It will not succeed in the NFL.

I am surprised that we don't see any new plays, gimmick plays, new personnel combinations, etc. It's as if he designed his plays before the season started, and he hasn't changed anything since. You hear a lot of discussion about how Belichick designs different schemes for different teams. Chan definitely seems to have a "one size fits all" mentality about plays and game plans.

I would love to watch Tebow versus the Bills on Christmas Eve, but it will be blacked out. I also don't think Tebow will need any last minute heroics to beat the Bills. He will have a 20 (or more) point lead by the fourth quarter, so there won't be any last minute excitement.

perfect

I think the bad ref calls are pretty random. It seems like when the refs think that they might have gotten one wrong they make up for it later. Holding happens on every play, and it is easy for the refs to use a few well timed holding calls to steer the game any way they want. And the Bills were beneficiaries of a few holding calls. Fitz was pretty gutsy running the ball, so I am not sure if he is hurt anymore. After the hit by Fletcher in the Redskins game he was obviously hurt for the next two or three games, but last week he looked good, and this week he ran the ball, threw long passes, and seemed pretty lively in general. In fact, he ran it when he should have passed on fourth down. I feel like Fitz has regressed. On one play he had a lot of time (which seemed weird) and then he overthrew his checkdown to the tight end. That looked pretty foolish.

Were the rookies doing well? They seemed like it. Sheppard seems small but he made a lot of tackles, and many of them at or near the line of scrimmage. Dareus seemed to have a presence. Searcy and Rogers seemed to do ok. That's a lot of rookies.

I actually think the defense played better than the offense in this game. And the defense was terrible.

He was being paid top dollar in Buffalo. The Jets got him cheap. Big difference for a specialty/luxury player. And we all know the Bills need the cap room.