BillnutinHouston

Nice! Ever see Sons of Liberty? Cool show.

I'd let mine go for $12,500.

Hammer, just to clarify I do not "want" another stadium. I'd love it if the Bills stayed put and I'd gladly wait for my seniority to creep up the list so I can relocate my seats to prime areas. I love the ride to OP, get excited when I see the "Town of Orchard Park" road sign, love looking at the fall leaves on the way, love the tailgating and the tradition. And Hammers of course has become an institution that's part of the tradition. BUT, I just don't see the Bills staying put. So my point was if we have to go to a new venue, I'm going to pony up. If I get the chance to put myself into prime seats I'll pay to do that if an affordable option is there, and I suspect many others will as well. As I said before, I'm all about the sight lines and have no use for the amenities. Maybe Pegula would help honor the tradition by creating a special Hammers parking area downtown. Who knows?

I've done some looking at the Vikings new stadium and that one appears to offer a more varied set of offerings at different price levels. I hope Pegula goes in that direction so people like me don't have to choose between paying $75 K a year or ending up in the upper deck. That is no choice at all. I will admit I'm a seat snob. I'd think that if there's an option to sit in between the 30s on the first level and do it for $5-6k a pair per year, they would get a lot of takers in that range. What I want is just prime seats. I'm willing to pay a premium for that, but I don't care about amenities. Hopefully there will be an option that can work for people like me.

Great news. I understand that the Pegulas can't exactly take credit for this, but it does further the narrative that the Pegulas want everything they do to be the best. Added talking point with free agents as well.

Well, Peter King's article (from 2013 I think) where he described his time hanging out with Steratore's crew before a game included a mention that he marked an "L' (for his fiancée's first name) on every inspected ball. So there's ample precedent for refs making a unique mark on checked balls.

This assumes the NFL thought it was more important to catch the Pats** than to have the first half of the AFC Championship game played fairly. That decision would require a high level judgment call by the NFL that I simply don't believe happened. It would be absolutely mind blowing to think that the NFL received multiple complaints from other teams about the Pats** balls but failed to actually put a gauge to their balls before the Championship game.

If by this you mean that the notion that "almost everyone cheats" is or should be a mitigating factor when considering punishment, I completely disagree. This line of thinking is akin to saying "teams that don't cheat are suckers, and they should really start getting busy." Any punishment that sends that type of message to the league only spawns more widespread and/or more creative cheating.

Brady now hedging about what the investigation will show - per interview with Costas to air on SB Sunday If you are innocent, why squander an opportunity to put the issue to bed unequivocally? The hedging he's doing is not helping the coverup effort one iota. Can't wait to see how the apologists spin this one.

Regardless of where you stand on this matter, one thing that has to be of interest to everyone is the role of Steve Belichick, if any. If it's determined/concluded/deduced that he was involved in deflating the balls, it immediately calls into question the veneer of plausible deniability that Bill has built for himself. This would lead all but the most ardent supporters to determine that not only was Bill involved in the plot, but also the coverup and outright lying about it. I think it would be a career-ender.

I recall reading recently about how after Spygate, Goodell wrote to the owners and expressed a personal interest in lowering the burden of proof needed to discipline rogue teams. I suspect this is a direct acknowledgement from Goodell that he's seen ample evidence (in his mind) of various actors being willing to play in the gray in the pursuit of championships.

Agree. It really is bizarre. I would hope that the apologists at least recognize and lament the fact that the Pats** have forever lost the benefit of the doubt in the court of public opinion based on their history of aggressively pushing the ethical limits of the game. Their "end justifies the means" philosophy may be effective but it certainly isn't attractive to the vast majority of fans. Fact or speculation?

I mentioned Welker because you did. Welker was included in a study of six Pats** fumbling stats done by the Wall Street Journal. Collectively, he, Amendola, Green-Ellis, Woodhead, LaFell and Blount "have lost the ball 8 times in 1,482 touches for the Pats** since 2010, or once every 185.3 times. For their other teams, they fumbled 22 times in 1,701 touches (once every 77.3). Care to explain? WSJ reporting of Pats** curious non-QB fumble stats

Yes, now you're getting it...sort of. Good mention of Welker - he was one of the six who fumbled twice as often when not in a Pats** uniform as he did when in one.

How does this deflection of the topic onto QB sacks address the fact that non-QBs (the six highlighted in the linked article) fumbled half as often while wearing the Pats** uniform as they did for other teams? Analyst: "Patriots Fumble at a 'Nearly Impossible' Rate"

I have this book on my reading list and it seems even more relevant to the Bills now with the hiring of Rex.

I think the Belichick's son thing is way too premature to run with like many of you are. However, his son's involvement would explain why he felt the need to come out with that stupid, laughable pseudo-science lecture the other day.

They were up 17-7 at the half. How is that evidence that it didn't work?

How would you explain the fumble gap - specifically that the six Pats* players studied fumbled half as often in a Pats* uniform than when they played for other teams?

Stunning how Patriot players, when they're not Patriots anymore, fumble twice as often. The circumstantial evidence continues to mount.

Yea but he's great in pass pro....ah never mind.

The case is still circumstantial as of now, but this adds even more weight. Stunning.

From Urban dictionary: nut-cuttin’ time Time to get serious, time to stop messing around

One point and one question: 1) Investigations start at the peripheral actors and work their way in to the primary actor. It's completely expected that Brady would be the last or near-last to be interviewed. 2) Anyone seen reporting on whether or not the Patriots' balls were re-checked AFTER the game? Just because balls were checked and possibly corrected at halftime doesn't mean they weren't re-altered for the second half.

Thank God!