silvermike

Fair enough. I wouldn't bet on it, but if not for slim hope, what's the point?

Times do change. Adams played like a slug early on, and nobody was happy. He turned it on, and now we're back on his side. Is it THAT hard to imagine?

How about this stat: The Bills, Jets, Patriots, Steelers, Bengals, Colts, and Jags are all undefeated against the NFC. Only the Giants can make a similar claim out there, and they're an unimpressive 1-0.

What is the actual NFL rule? It didn't happen, but let's say the Bills had a player named Justin Kelly in the early 90's. Jimbo would have had Ji. Kelly back there, not Ja. Kelly for his real name (James Kelly, I assume.) Roger Esiason wouldn't have had Boomer wear "N. Esaison" (Norman). So...what's the line? Real last names?

There's some kind of comparison worth doing about Special Teams + Penalty Yards vs. Offense's yards in determining where points come from. The first beat the second this week.

Lindell's FG% is highly misleading. Yes, he's made, what, ten in a row now? But they're all chip-shots. We punt from the wrong side of the 30 yard line. Preposterous Punts are the only shortfall on the Unit - they have to go for it in 4th and under 10 inside the 40.

I really, really, really, really hope that this is a joke. I'm pretty sure it is, but you never know sometimes.

Neither Henry nor Moulds is worth a #1 to anyone. Accurately, I think, but generally teams seem to overrate the draft as compared to players. But Henry will probably fetch a #3 at best (is he as good as Corey Dillon? I say no, it'll bump down a round) and Bledsoe will fetch a nothing. He's no better than the usual crop of journeymen FA QBs. No takers. Moulds is worth more than Price, one would think, so why not a top pick? On the other hand, it doesn't pass the smell test. What were other WRs traded for? Boston wasn't much, I remember. Who else has been traded?

7-9 isn't good, but it's an improvement from last year, which is good, and it would mean finishing the season 7-5 after that awful start - progress. It's a team moving in the right direction instead of the wrong one for the first time since...I don't even know anymore.

Slight correction: Few people can lose on the road like the Bledsoe-led Bills. The Feely-led Dolphins make the cut. Not that zero isn't zero, though.

Anyone have second half numbers? Looked like at least 20 minutes of time for the rams with no points, and I counted 1 positive rushing yard for them. And three negative rushing yards for Marshall Faulk. Wow.

Yeah, except for that one that seemed to be at a middle school dance. Umm...

Don't kick - go for it! A 50-yarder is best-case a longshot. 50% or worse for a strong kicker, and this one had some wind in its way. Not worth it. A punt, on the other hand, will probably only net you 20-25 yards. Not worth it. They start around the 35 on a kickoff anyway, why not risk it and try to get the damn first down! You'd been moving well.

All yours, upon the receipt of $6 million.

Okay, these things I think. And I'll preface this by saying I'm a liberal, so take that for what it's worth. 1.) Decency/Obsenity laws need to be rethought pretty seriously in this country. We're extremely prudish (legally) about sex and curse words, but violence is pretty much OK. The regulations on naughty language have got to go - it's ridiculous that you can see somebody get shot or watch Britney gyrate in panties, but not be able to hear the word "sh-it" or "fu-ck." You can watch Jay-Z get shot in the 99 problems video, but they bleep out "gat." Um..OK. Then beyond that, I think it's time we started giving kids a little more credit for being discerning consumers and parents a little more credit for being able to control their kids. I knew what the f-word meant at 5 or 6, thought it was funny, and basically grew up normal. Oh, except for that one killing spree, but I was one pissed-off 7 year old after Super Bowl XXV. If you don't want your kids to watch Howard Stern, don't let'em. Buy a V-Chip and block it out, the technology's easily there for channels to mark their programming as unsuitable and get picked off by a monitor. But if you don't like that, don't own a damn TV. The rest of us shouldn't suffer because you're scared. I'm not advocating for porno on network TV, but I think we can relax a little bit. Free speech is an important value in this country, and we really believe it - it's part of what makes this the best country in the world. But we've gotta be more ready to trust our citizens with some things we might not like. And this goes for the PC crap as well as sex and violence. If ABC wanted to show even "Birth of a Nation" or something, well, that's their problem. I wouldn't watch it, and I'd boycott their advertisers. Lots of people would, and they wouldn't show it. It's called the free market, and it's wonderfully capable of creating what people want. Janet Jackson, on the other hand, broke out of that. Now, it was legitimately a mistake, I think, so that tempers it somewhat. But it was still NOT part of the deal, and you couldn't prevent it from getting into your home unexpected. But it wasn't CBS's fault (or whoever). It was the performer's fault, it was the NFL's fault, and it was MTV's fault. The fine shouldn't go to the affiliates, it should be passed along to the people who broke the deal.

Ashcroft has a lot of faults, but this isn't one of them. The FCC doesn't work for the Justice Department, it's a branch of the Commerce Department, who also had its head honcho resign (Don Evans). But the buck really stops with its own chair, son-of-the-SecofState Michael Powell. He's the prude here. Helping out is Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico, who claimed she was so shocked by Janet Jackson's little incident that she started crying. Heather, have you never looked down in the shower before?

Steelers over the Patriots. After the Eagles are upset yet again in the NFC championship game by some Cinderellaish team, the NFL decides to give up on the NFC this year and just re-play the championship game at a neutral site. Seriously, I don't trust the Eagles and I have no idea who else to pick over there. Not the Vikings, certainly, nor the Falcons, or the Seahawks. There's only one more team above .500, and that's the Giants. They're not that good.

Does anyone care? I mean, honestly, it's the top story in the news everyday - why should anyone care about Scott Peterson? He's just another killer, maybe a particularly ugly one, but still.

The Bills are better than that ranking, but I think it's acceptable for the Jets to only go down one spot - everybody in the league gets one mulligan per season. You !@#$ up, it happens, things break the wrong way or you run into a team at the perfect moment. Who knows. It's when you get to that second bad game that the mulligan expires and you have to be reassessed.

It's actually taking them back home. Way back in days of yore, there was a team called the Los Angeles Chargers that played for a year before moving to San Diego to become the lovable losers of current day fame. Still doesn't mean there's not strong tradition there - we could move the Chiefs back to Dallas and the Lions back to Portsmouth.

Try again, but this time use sentences.

1.) Lee Evans made a legal catch. 2.) That it was called such means the Bills got a break. I mean, come on, I think we're at the point where simply NOT being screwed by the refs qualifies as a break. But it was a very, very close call, that ended up being right but easily could have gone the other way. We got a little lucky, but it was more skill than luck. Lee Evans was lucky that he made the play as much as got the call - it's a hard thing to do, and Jerry Rice '90 would be lucky to pull it off. So the ball bounced in our favor for once. End of story.

Let's see what they could have done: For Eli Manning, the San Diego Chargers received: the #4 pick, a third, and a first and a fifth in 2005. With the 4th pick, they could have traded down with the Browns (say) for the 7th pick and a 2nd (the exact trade for the 6th pick, I'm being conservative). With the 7th pick, they could have traded with the Bills for the 13th pick and a 2005 1st (half the Losman trade). With the 13th pick, they could have drafted..Lee Evans, a legit WR threat to go with Brees and Tomlinson. An instant starter, for sure, over Reche Caldwell. Then, in the 2nd, they'd have their pick, #5 to spend on Jake Grove, say, and then go in to 2005 with THREE first rounders. Wow.

I think the Chargers are a bit stuck - I don't have the details on Rivers contract (I'll look in a second) but you usually can't afford to take that hit from a guy one year into a long-term deal. I'm still amazed they went all-out for Rivers and didn't just accept those picks and look pretty.

Well, may he rest in peace. Because the last thing this world needs is the Zombie Arafat.