BuffaloWings

I think you see a lot of QBs, linemen, and coaches become analysts because they have to know a lot about the game. QBs & coaches for obvious reasons, but linemen will make audibles at the line, which requires them to know what play is being called and give a quick read of what the defense is lined up to do. I agree that Aikman is easily one of the best player-turned-into-analysts that I've ever seen.

Yes....flex schedule only applies to Sunday games. That is, they only move games from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night. They will not (and should not) move a game from Sunday to Monday and vice versa.

It shouldn't have even been called an INT. I thought Lee's knee had touched down with dual possession and the ball came loose almost immediately after that. Nevertheless, Trent led them down the field twice within the last 5 minutes. What impressed me most was him standing in the pocket and taking the hit on the Roscoe TD. He's looking more & more like a leader - he may not have Kelly's arm or Flutie's elusiveness, but the offense is feeding off of him and trusting him.

Spot on. Turk should have been screaming to Trent to get up to the line and call a quick off-tackle run. Heck, even a QB sneak would have been fine. This is been a disturbing trend with Jauron & his staff. He's gotta know that it's a controversial call that they were able to benefit from.

OK....so do we now say that Porter knew what he was talking about? *shudder*

Since many idiots in the media think the world is run from the NYC perspective.

Uh...hmm.....

Call me nuts, but I seem to remember Murph & Kelso saying something on the radio broadcast that there was a legitimate reason he returned it from the goal line. At the very least, they didn't make a mention about what a boneheaded play it was.

Let's just hope we don't have bad days against better teams.

Especially if the game is within reach...and 15 points was well within reach with the weapons they have. That sounds like a clear-cut "we give up" statement from the fans.

I think sales will be going up pretty quickly. I want my Edwards throwback, too.

It definitely wasn't Hochuli. I want to say it was Walt Coleman (who was definitely the ref for the tuck rule game), but it was the sideline refs who made the "just give it to 'em" call.

Nobody really deserves hate mail or threats or anything like that for a blown call in a football game. I know money rides on stuff like this, but that's just wrong. I don't necessarily feel bad for Hochuli, because he made his own bed here, but I respect him for responding to everyone. He seems like a stand-up guy who readily admits his own mistakes. SD fans shouldn't be too upset at him, since they did have a chance to win the game after Hochuli's gaffe.

Thanks for the input! I only hesitate because my QB play (so far, albeit after two weeks) has been outstanding. Rodgers was even better, fantasy-wise, than I expected. Looks as if I'll go for the trade for LT.

I have both Tony Romo & Aaron Rodgers with Matt Ryan as my 3rd QB. Luckily, I only get to start two of them. I'm in a pretty deep league (12 teams), so the free agents are pretty slim. I have two trade offers right now.... From the first guy (who is a Cowpoke fan & has a huge man-crush on Romo), he wants to give me Drew Brees & Marshawn Lynch for Romo & Clinton Portis. From the second guy (who's desperate for a QB), he wants to package Tomlinson & David Garrard and maybe a 3rd player for either Romo or Rodgers. Personally, I'd rather not give up either QB right now, but I'm not terribly thrilled with my RBs - Portis, Kevin Faulk, TJ Duckett, Lendale White, and Rudi Johnson. If you were me, which trade would you do? I'm leaning toward the first, since I feel both Brees & Lynch will give me as many points (if not more) than Romo & Portis. Romo can have those blow-up games and Portis is somewhat inconsistent, IMO.

Yeah, but the first half was the most fun I've ever had being hung over from the night before. I remember smiling all the way through the second half knowing they were going to the big dance.

At least they prefaced it with "absurdly premature", but that would be nice, wouldn't it?

Looooooooooong way to go.

Don't you mean Andy Reid? Personally, I would have benched him for the rest of the half and maybe the rest of the game if he wasn't my most explosive receiver. I then would have sat him for the first half of the next game. I don't think that's worth a suspension, but maybe tearing him a new one in front of the entire team.

I thought Gus Johnson (maybe it was Tasker) said that the Bills thought the ball was tipped at the LOS. Del Rio was arguing about the non-call and both announcers questioned why a flag was thrown if there was no penalty - the only reason could have been that the ball was tipped.

I usually look for a few things in an analyst: 1. Knowledge of the Xs & Os of the game 2. How well-spoken he is (i.e., doesn't mumble and can have good chemistry with the play-by-play guy) 3. Amount of homework done on the two teams 4. Objectivity I think Tasker is good at the first two. He was always a smart football player, so you know he understands the intricacies of the game, plus I think he's good at explaining that info to the audience. He usually does his homework on the two teams and knows who he's talking about. I agree with most people that he does try to not be a homer, so the objectivity thing is difficult to gauge. If this is really the case, then CBS should assign him to different games.

I admit I was nervous they wouldn't come back...but these guys showed me something yesterday, especially Edwards. When young players have confidence, it makes for a dangerous team. They're not there yet, but a particular Rick Jeanneret comment might suit these guys come December.

The problem is...if you're the only official in position to make the call, you have to make a call. If you don't have replay, then you're the only one on the hot seat if you blow it. At least the NFL officials have the fallback of replay, but even so, I think a lot of officials are afraid to make a call, fearing they'll get it overturned by replay. Just make the call....don't worry about your ego. I think that's what Hochuli did, but I still have no idea how he though that could have been a forward pass. I've seen numerous plays like this where the fumble/incomplete pass call is questionable - I remember the Bills got hosed against the Packers once when Ahman Green caught a swing pass, took one or two steps, then dropped the ball. A Bills defender picked it up and started running the other way (would have been an easy TD) when the play was blown dead. It was tough to tell live, but replay showed that Green caught the ball cleanly - didn't bobble it or anything - and began to run with it when he simply dropped the ball. It was a bang-bang play, all happening within a second. At the time, the play was not reviewable because the official blew the play dead, thinking it was an incomplete pass. Had they let the players play it out, THEN go to replay, the Bills would've had a TD. Green Bay went on to score and won the game by less than a TD, I believe.

Vince Ferragamo