Cotton Fitzsimmons

First on point #3... YE OLE would actually love to see Gruden here. That said, he was Ralph's first choice last go around and reportedly was offered a ridiculous amount of money then and declined. Not saying he wouldn't accept a ridiculous amount of money now to come here, but I have my doubts. As for #6/#7... you're essentially willing to trade Spiller for Cousins and a 2nd rounder? Cousins is a perfectly nice chap, and he may turn into a very good NFL QB. It's entirely possible. But at this point, Cousins was drafted in the 4th round and has thrown 48 passes in the NFL. Spiller on the other hand may be the only talent on this team that would make a big name coach consider taking this job right now. The man is averaging 6.5 YPC, is the second fastest RB ever to 1000 yards, and is faster than everyone else on the field. As much as many of us hated the pick at the time, he is showing that he very well be a "generational" type talent. If I'm Washington, and we were even considering such a thing, I'd cut out the middle man in your scenario and send Cousins, a 2nd, and a 3rd for CJ in a heart beat. Is there anyone that wouldn't take that deal? RG3 and CJ in the backfield for years to come, in exchange for a Kirk Cousins and a couple picks? Kasper, my good friend, frustration abounds this time of year, but this deal is horribly misguided.

Philip Rivers is THE WHIP... FACT!

mcnasty, my good friend, YE OLE is with you on this one. Now it's entirely possible that Rivers has simply hit a wall and will be in a steep decline from here on out. Now YE doesn't personally believe that is the case, but that's at least plausible... but where are these arguments coming from that this guy is just another mediocre retread... and going as far as to compare him to Trent Edwards? The Chargers are 4-8 this year, but Rivers is completing over 65% of his passes and is on pace for another 4000 yard season and roughly 24 TD's. If this is the worst season we ever got out of our QB, sign YE OLE up. The Chargers have problems, and Rivers isn't playing as well as he had become accustomed to, but this guy has been VERY good and at 31 may very well have several years left in the tank. Just imagine how much more difficult it would be on opposing defenses to stop our run game, if they are forced to pull an extra defender out of the box, because when TJ Graham gets behind the defense (and from what we've seen it looks like that's a question of when not if), we're actually connecting on the deep ball. Rivers could make that happen.

Dadonkadonk, my good friend, you have been Taken to TASKER!

This would be the gridiron answer to playing "buckets," gents! You make it, you take it! Aside from the obvious change in kickoff, it would change the entire dynamic of a game when a team gets down in the second half. If their offense gets rolling, they could convert a couple of 4th and 15's and never relinquish possession. Much more doable than converting a couple of onside kicks.

4th down, game on the line... Trent plays it safe, tucks the ball and trots out of bounds. That was the end of Trent Edwards.

YE OLE was speaking to a more general set of circumstances that are going on in our country today. That said, with regard specifically to the Tank, you are correct. It doesn't seem that anyone is threatening to jail him.

Now, YE OLE believes in treating others with respect, despite whatever disagreements we may have. But, one thing that is absolutely frightening is the inability of folks to speak their mind these days. This climate where if you offend this certain group over here or this group over there, then you're going to be threatened with fine, suspension, jail, whatever is very dangerous and not right.

For YE OLE it was when Luck spiked that ball to the turf at the end of the first half with 1 second left on the clock. The mismanagement of time that led to such a fiasco was just beyond words. YE OLE let loose a barrage of expletives that made it so that YE is once again banned from watching games while the Mrs. and YE YOUNG are present. YE had done a masterful job of biting his tongue the past couple of seasons, unlike his younger days, but yesterday was just too much.

Barbarian, my good man, if YE OLE is following what you are saying, your logic dictates that field goals are not a necessary evil and can be abolished, because teams can simply go for it on 4th down and create more excitement in the game. If that is the case, why is the same not true for punters? Why would the punt be a necessary evil? Couldn't teams simply go for it on 4th down, therefore creating more excitement in the game?

Big UPS to Beerball!

Howard does and has lurked this board for some time. One of YE OLE's favorite anecdotes traces origin back about 10 years ago to THE SIMONCAST. Tom Galley was Howard's producer back in those days and YE OLE decided to pay homage to the man behind the scenes by affectionately referring to him as "Back Alley Galley" and making it a point to mention him early and often in all of YE's posts. So, mid afternoon rolls around one day, and YE OLE is tuned to Empire (Channel 626 for those of us on DirecTV in those days), and Ricky Jay comes on to give scores/updates leading into a break. Much to YE OLE's delight, Ricky Jay and Howard get into a little conversation where Ricky responds "I don't know, you'll have to ask old 'Back Alley Galley' over there." Naturally, YE OLE had to follow up on this and emailed the show requesting the back story on this "Back Alley Galley" and asking if he was perhaps a "bar room brawler" in a past life. The next segment, Howard read the email and asked Ricky Jay about the origins of all of this nonsense. Ricky Jay explained that it came from some knucklehead at Two Bills Drive and he thought it was hillarious, and had to bring it to the air. That knucklehead of course was yours truly. The moment was surreal, as from that day forward, YE OLE had to embrace the fact that important people in the Buffalo sports scene read what the good folks of this forum have to say.

Russell "Spaulding" Wilson... well played sir!

Mr. BaBaBa, Hammer aside from being a fine, stand up human being, has no reason to distort the truth with regard to his lot. Hammer's lot is indeed legendary and it's not at all surprising that Lee chose to show up there. That is the fact, Jack!

YE OLE understands that some here have a greater disdain for Fitz' ability than others, and YE OLE would not argue that an upgrade at QB couldn't greatly improve our chances. That said, this "Anybody but Fitz" mentality is misguided. Have we forgotten how bad a QB can really be? In the 15 years since Kelly retired Fitz is far and away better than anything we've gotten from the QB position outside of Flutie and Bledsoe. We've had a cast of characters here that couldn't eclipse 100-150 yds. passing on a regular basis, and it almost required an act of God to get into the endzone. If we have a chance to land a guy with a bonafide chance to be an upper echelon QB in this league, by all means lets go for it, but if we're talking about replacing Fitz with the second coming of Van Pelt, Holcolm, or Losman, no thanks.

Fish can't stop Spiller But Chan can; goes pass heavy YIKES! Interception

Fluffhead, my good fellow, this happens frequently in the NFL. You may recall the painful loss at Miami in the wildcard round in '98, as just one of many examples. A game that ended in agonizing comedy of errors. Andre Reed getting jobbed at the goal line... Reed getting up to argue the point and getting flagged, and finally THE FLUTE MAN coughing up the rock to seal the deal.

By week 8, we the fans, resign ourselves to the reality that we once again are going to miss the playoffs.

Hazed, my good fellow, YE OLE heard this too in the post game and was angered by this. Chan and Wanny are great friends and Chan has the utmost respect for Wanny as a coach... as such he's completely handed all dealings with that unit to Wanny. On the flipside he completely controls the offensive side of the ball and fulfills all duties of offensive coordinator right down to playcalling. What we've ended up with seemingly is a staff that's devoid of a true head coaching presence as Chan seems more intent on solely micromanaging the offense and an offensive coordinator in Modkins who is a coordinator in name only (What exactly does this guy do?). Then you have Wanny, who had a history of being associated with some good defensive units over the years, but who has also proven to be rather mediocre to a train wreck at times as a head coach. And I say this, because, essentially Chan has made Wanny a de facto head coach over his portion of the team. Chan even made it clear in an interview before the season that Dave works WITH Chan and not FOR Chan. Not to get caught up in semantics, and clearly Chan was trying to express the respect he has for Wanny, but we're getting to a point now where Chan has to take responsibility for this team and get things on the right track. So far this regime has given us nothing more than a slightly worse version of the Jauron era in terms of W/L. Jauron's teams were fairly unwatchable at times, but I give him credit in the sense that he consistently got 7-9 out of less talented teams than Chan has right now.

Word on the street is, Siefert was taking Vince to meet up with Wanny at a local Karaoke bar where the two of them are going to peform Falco's "Der Kommissar"

Maybe Fitz isn't the long term answer here and this team needs to address the QB situation, but through 7 games we are 8th in the league in points scored. We are 31st in the league in points against. As YE OLE brought up in another thread, this defense is on pace to give up 519 points this season. We need to really think about how bad that is. Just for a reference point, the 2001 team under Gregg "High School" Williams with rookies and journeymen all over the defense (real heavy hitters the likes of Raion Hill, Jay Foreman, Brandon Spoon, Erik Flowers, Leif Larsen, etc.) gave up 420 points that entire season. That team was in complete rebuilding mode, but seriously think back to how piss poor that unit was, and think how much worse this unit is playing. With all due respect to those who disagree... it doesn't matter how untimely Fitz's bad throws were today, or through the first half of this season for that matter, because this defense is terrible in epic fashion. This isn't just going to rival the worst defensive units in our franchise history... it's going to rival the worst units in the entire history of this league. Again, this team is ranked 8th in the league in points scored. We can and have done much worse than this over the past decade+. I'm all for finding a better QB, but Fitzpatrick for all of his physical limitations and poor throws is getting this offense in the endzone enough to win games... and today was no exception.

Here's the situation with the defense, gents... through 7 games we're on pace to give up 519 points this season. The 2001 Buffalo Bills in complete rebuilding mode with rookies and journeymen all over the field (we're talking Brandon Spoon, Raion Hill, Chidi Ahanatu) gave up 420 points all season.

We in here talkin' bout PRACTICE ... not a game... PRACTICE

LiterateStylish, my good friend, bravo! When YE OLE read this, he actually envisioned the Most Interesting Man in the World in his usual attire under center, sending Charles and/or McCluster in motion, and proceeding to gun it out there, catching the passes from you like they usually do... you'd hit them in stride and they'd take it to the house. On a side note, YE OLE agrees with your post wtr to SUPER MARIO.

CJ should sport a yellow blazer next week in Cleveland, a la Chad Johnson a few years back.