Hollywood Donahoe

Because it's not. I saw it called exactly the same way on Kurt Warner against the Bucs in '02, and on Tim Couch against the Pats in '03.

You won't catch me trying to explain away the "just give it to 'em" game. You guys got jobbed. The Patten unconscious play and the tuck call were by the books, though. Weird rules, yes (although the unconscious one makes sense if you really think about it), but the correct calls were made. And as was mentioned, the refs missed Woodsen's headslap on the tuck play. But "just give it to 'em" was a joke, plain and simple.

Yeah, everyone knows that all Jets fans are jerks.

If this year is anything like last, I'll have the opportunity to watch more Bills games than I'd care for, and I always like watching division rivals to see what's going on; so it should be fun to see McGahee and Losman, as they both seem like exciting young players. I honestly have nothing against McGahee, and was kind of excited about the rumors of the Pats taking him in the middle rounds of the '03 draft. I just think he's been a little overhyped this offseason by the media and Bills fans. It's a good question. Graham is adept at run blocking, so perhaps on playaction near the goal line, the Pats like to keep him in to block to better sell the run, leaving only the 2nd and/or 3rd TE's available to run a route, one of which is usually Vrabel. Also, Brady could've lost confidence in Fauria after the latter dropped two TD passes in the '03 AFCC game. The Jets have been overcoming Pennington's noodle arm for a while now, so I do still fear them. And as you said Miami's QB situation is enough to make them non-factors, despite Brown. The Bills are a real interesting team in that the D, ST and running game are more than good enough to contend, but they have a blank page at QB. If he pulls a Roethlisberger and doesn't hurt you, you guys will be right there at the end.

That's not very nice. I really like your PPP posts, anyway. Sorry I've led you to believe I'm an idiot.

Well, I've contended throughout this thread that I'm just waiting to see more from McGahee. If he can up his YPC this year and do it over a full season, I'll give him due credit. Until then, I just think his hype outmatches his production.

So Henry has the edge in YPC and McGahee has the edge in TDs. The point is that their numbers are comparable, yet Donahoe gave up so much to go from one productive RB to one who is about as productive. As for winning %, I think that may have had more to do with the cupcake 2nd half schedule than McGahee. Before the Bills reached the aforementioned cupcake portion of their schedule, the Bills' offense as a whole sucked, McGahee included. Notice what happened when they ran into New England on Sunday night. The facts simply don't bear this out. 8-8 with Henry in '02 and 9-7 with McGahee in '04 isn't turning the franchise around by any stretch of the imagination. Clark/Steinbach + Henry > Mcgahee At least in my opinion. Especially in today's win-now NFL. They opened last year in a 2 TE base offense, but that was scrapped when Watson went down. So you can stop doubting. You must know that Watson was injured all last year, and that Graham caught 7 TDs in 2004. Right?

Oh yeah, fully recovered. Belichick's seems very pleased with his progress. He does have an injury history though, so who knows? If healthy, I am optimistic that he and Graham can form a very formidable 2-TE set.

If I'd known about this place when the Pats were coming off of 5-11, I'd have been here. That's when I started posting at my current Pats board. I'm certainly not writing them off. It's natural to doubt teams with first year starters at QB, given the track record, though. But the Bills do have a great D and ST. Three? I count one - Bruschi. Johnson wasn't close to a pro-bowler, and Law wasn't starting for most of the year. When you've seen your team start 42 different players over the course of a season, and proceed to go 17-2, you tend to be pretty confident about your team's ability to overcome offseason losses.

You and me both. But until I learn more about what went down, I'm going to trust Belichick's judgement. Fair enough.

I'm saying that, living in NY and without Sunday Ticket, I've watched more than a few Bills games. Henry didn't need replacing, IMO, and put up YPC numbers better than McGahee managed in '04 over the '02-'03 seasons. So instead of spending a 2nd round on a productive RB and drafting a player at a need position in the 1st round of '03, the Bills spent a 1st round on a RB who put up the same production, traded their productive 2nd round RB investment for a 3rd rounder, and blew the chance to get a player at a need position in the 1st round of '03. It doesn't make sense to me. But you said yourself that McGahee's production only matched Henry's. they needed a TE and an OL as well, and missed the chance to draft productive pros Dallas Clark and Eric Steinbach. Both of the Pats' first round TEs are set to start this year. The Milloy saga is well-documented. Belichick wasn't keeping him at his then-current cap charge, and tried until the last minute to get it down. When Milloy wouldn't budge, the team turned to the Belichick-drafted Eugene Wilson. Would he have liked to keep him or trade him? Sure. But he couldn't, and he was prepared anyway. That's what the good ones do.

False. I simply said that I didn't expect Belichick to handle the situation this way, but that I'm not going to question someone with his track record. It's not, and it never has been. Problem solved. Again, I never said that. It's obvious that you're only interested in hyperbole. I'm hear for real football talk, so if you ever want to participate in that, I'll be here.

Hey, thanks! Apart from a few bad apples like this guy and MadBuffaloDisease, this board has been very accepting of me, despite being a Pats fan. I certainly never "troll" and am just looking for good football conversation. It's a great board full of really pasionate fans, so I like to hang around and chime in now and then.

McGahee's year last year < Henry's '02-'03 stretch. I think he'll be a solid pro, but acting like it's already a huge coup for the Bills when it forced out your Pro Bowl RB and cost you the opportunity to draft a player at a need position makes no sense to me. In the year before the Pats released him, Milloy made no impact plays for one of the league's worst defenses. Declining. Belichick must be the only coach/GM around who can "mishandle" his way into Super Bowl wins. Frankly, I'll take Belichick's "bad judgement" if it leads to consecutive championships

For what it's worth, I like your J. Peterman avatar.

Feel free to engage me in those discussions, if you feel you can do so without being rude. I don't recall saying that. I don't know if drafting a player who hasn't yet posted numbers as good as the guy he forced out and building a team that's won three out of the past four Super Bowls are quite the same. Releasing declining players with too-large cap figures? Certainly. If said player was declining and overpaid, yes.

It certainly is. I've been following camp via the Pats' offical website's daily video news show and updates from attendees, and it seems to be going smoothly. No major injuries, which is all you can really as for. I understand the Bills haven't had any major injuries yet either, which is good.

Because I don't question the motives of a guy who's built a football dynasty? That explains my lack of insight? I'm afraid I don't follow your logic. The point is that others have no problem with me, my screen name, or my avatar. Stop speaking for them. And look back at the majority opinion on issues like the Milloy release. Maybe more people should learn not to question Belichick, lest they end up looking like jackasses. It's simple, that I won't argue. I'm gussing complexity is quite beyond you.

The Sox will always be first in Boston, from what I understand.

Dunno. I've learned not to question Belichick. I've been over this a million times. The screen name is the result of an in-joke with one of your members who posts at my Pats board. My avatar was a harmless Pats-related photo before a Bills fan on this board PMed me and requested a new Donahoe-themed avatar.

Could be. All successful teams have their fair shares of frontrunners.

My guess would be that people who live in that are like the Red Sox, and wear Red Sox stuff during the baseball season. But then again, I live in NY and root for the Yanks, so don't take my word for it.

I was pointing out his sentence's flaw. I guess that whooshing sound was my post flying over your head.

It IS the case that the Pats WEREN'T ravaged? So you agree with me?

Indeed. All facts. Depth often leads to winning, but it doesn't equal winning. I never "expected" anything. This move tells me that the Pats want Seymour in camp, but aren't quite ready to extend his contract at the money he wants, and that they're preparing themselves for the years ahead by locking up Green. Nothing more. Again, I really don't see what you aim to accomplish through namecalling.