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I used to talk to him every year back in the 80's to buy his draft guide. Before he made it big. Great guy, and very approachable.

One thing that may get overlooked, at least from a personal perspective, is this: I like my team, the Buffalo Bills, more then I did before Marv came back. Not just in terms of performance. I feel I have a team, for the first time in awhile, that is actually a team with an identity. And a team who's character/personality I can get behind even more. I like what I see, and that alone gives me more hope.

Simon was right on with his assessment. I will add, however, that I think PP has grown up a little. He is no longer my least favorite Bill of all time.

Finally, someone who has a clue about trading...

A voice of reason...

The easiest sell... I think I may have misinterpreted something in your post. The reality, though, is that I am lashing out at the overwhelming number of idiotic posts that suggest we should give up/swap the 12 for either Briggs or Turner. I just can't stand it any more !! I think you did succumb to suckerdum on one point, however. You seemed to take the the linked article seriously. It is so bogus and ridiculous on so many levels that it did not even warrant discussion.

Seriously, people like you shouldn't go to a car dealer without a good friend. All the salesman has to do is tell you that the car you like is the last one on the lot, and someone is about to swoop in and steal it from you....and you end up paying full price. (Please take no offense, I'm just trying to illustrate a point.) You have a number of teams, players and agents who's self interest it is to hype the market for Turner. You (they) are now saying the Jests and Dallas are interested? Didn't NY just trade for T Jones with Leon W on the roster? Doesn't Dallas already have a RB controversy because M Barber has been so successful? Now, in who's interest is it to get us all excited and worried? ...hmm, lets see now...SD of course, along with the other obvious guys like Turner and his agent. What about Green Bay? They can hype Turner so much as to get Buffalo to do something silly...and thereby have a better chance to snag AP or Lynch....how about NYJ who wouldn't mind the Bills needlessly burning picks while disguising their own interests...and the list goes on. I wish fellow posters would get over this idea of trading our very valuable picks for magic beans. Especially in light of the our own experience of getting so much less for our own players being shipped out.

Swapping 1sts is already too much. No way we move that far down, especially when an outstanding prospect will probably be on the board at 12. I would even be upset if we gave up our 2nd. Consider for a minute that McGahee, a much more highly touted RB, and one still probably more valuable then (the backup) Turner, went for 2 3rds. I have to assume, for sake of sanity, that our brain-trust is more clever then that.

Wasn't sure about the Jets. That may very well be the one I was thinking of. It was a 60-70 yarder IIRC.

OJ Simpson against the Jets, I believe. Bad weather game, he takes a screen pass...runs right....runs left, then up the middle for a TD, leaving about 4 opponents holding their jocks....on the ground...

Congrats Niagra. And thanks for helping keep the Bills in Buffalo.

Do you have some sort of insider info on Caddy or are you just making this sh-- up? He is not available, is a very expensive and uncuttable top 5 pick, and the head coach by all accounts happens to be in love with him. So except for these minor points I can see him getting moved this off-season....

Nice post Dave. The key is something that does not get stressed enough - CB is de-valued in the Cover 2 system. I think it may be done for a very important reason; namely, it is a way to avoid having to pay top corners so much money that it drains the coffers for OL and DL. It is a way to reorient the salary structure of a team to stress fundamentals of team play. DL is simply more important in any scheme in the NFL, and the C2 allows teams to get players up and running faster. I look at it as the same philosophy used for OL. Teams cannot pay top money to everyone on the OL, so they put their money into the more demanding and rare talents at tackle. The guards are easier and cheaper to acquire. The team, therefore, is much better positioned for success then if they left too little money looking for an OT. Same thing happened at LB and RB. Don't get me wrong, CB is widely known as one of the positions teams earmark for big bucks. The others are QB, OT, WR, and DE. Its clear that DT has had a huge increase in recent years too, but you get my point. Now what happens if you can remove one of the MUST-HAVE, MUST GIVE HUGE $$$ TO positions? More money for the rest of the team. The reliance on the S position in C2 supports this, since Ss are universally cheaper then CBs. (Unless you draft them at #8.) This is why IND seems to let their LBs go every year, and let a CB like Harper walk. They have huge bucks at QB, WR, probably OT, and Freeney is going to back the truck up this off-season. You as GM put your money into the rarest of skill position talents and make due with the rest - where the talent is not as rare or hard to acquire.

Ya know, I was not down on TD like many others here. I really enjoyed his wheeling and dealing on draft day, and he was as slick as they come when it came to getting value for players we could not keep. In each of these things he will always be better then Marv. BUT I will simply never forgive TD for robbing the Bills of our team identity. Moving Jones aside. Getting Mr knowitall Greg W who took a top notch defense and striped it of guys like Ted and Pat. At every turn getting rid of guys that bleed RW&B for 'name' FAs like DB. And on and on. If Marv proves one thing in his tenure as GM, it will be that TEAM is far greater then the sum of its parts. Actually, given our reaction to last years team, he probably already has.

Dude, you have no idea..... When I was a kid my mom owned an antique shop in Clarence. She ended up keeping some of the very old dolls that came through the store, and for years after. They had worn porcelain skin - cracked. No hair. Dead eyes. They looked like something out of a creepy horror movie . You know, the one the main character goes up to the attic where the former (evil) tenants kept their stuff. Those dolls. But my little story isn't done yet. As a kid I was very afraid of the dark, and often had horrible nightmares. My mom stationed her 3 evil, dead-eyed dolls about the small dinning room on antique highchairs. And of course I had to walk through the dinning room, at night, to get to my bedroom. Not a walk, really, more like a sprint. Going to bed at night, or getting up for any reason, was comparable to walking through a cemetery at dusk. Just at the moment when the dark spirit world would take notice....

By not acknowledging the extraordinary feat of going to 4 straight. Damned by faint praise.

Terrific idea! I will go one further. I remember many times during the SB years how we came out of the gate pretty fast only to get out asses handed to us in week 3 or 4. I always felt those loses early in the season helped the team stay a bit more humble and a lot more focused. Time will tell, but the growth of a team, especially a young one like this, is often every bit as much about the loses as the wins.

Reading this thread was a depressing experience. There is so much irrational expectation and hate for JP one would think they were listening to the national media. The guy throws 22/38 for 328 yards, runs in a TD, gets killed on the blitz because the media darling McGahee doesnt understand what that is, and you all think he is a bum? It has been said a few times already, but I will throw my twist on it. With fans like this who needs enemies...

TW is trying to get Fans to pressure the NFL to make the cable company even more money. Very disingenuous.

Saw them at Red Rocks (Colorado) a few weeks back. Great show and yes, Young played the skin off his guitar. But I was very disappointed in one thing. His writting aint what it used to be, and no way does his new stuff (last 15-20 years) make up for the almost complete lack of the old. The songs just can't compare to a set of Cinnimon Girl, Old Man etc. Still, me and the wife had a great time.

I agree Bill. The perp in this story must have been one bad ass to pull it on an NFL linebacker. A regular sized guy would have had his throat removed.

Another old timer will chime in. To give you 'youngins' perspective on OJ and his era. Consider this year's draft sensation, Reggie Bush. He is regarded, perhaps rightfully, as a once in a generation RB talent. Quite possibly the next Barry Sanders. Really take it all in. The Bush hype is over the top. He can do it all like no one has in a long time. Now consider OJ: 1. He had Bush/Sanders moves. Actually, they were more impressive. These guys dart like water bugs. OJ just moved his head slightly to the left or right and the defender's jock strap had to be retrieved after the play. The term 'fluid' can only begin to describe him. He was physical artistry. 2. He had the size of even the larger current starting tailbacks. He could and would go inside or out. Was it Joe Ferguson who said that OJ never got enough credit for his toughness? He could make positive yards on a stacked line, unlike guys like Sanders (and probably Bush.) 3. If OJ was racing Reggie Bush and all the other top RBs of this era, they would all come in 2nd place or worst. He had legit, World Class speed. Not a 40s only number. A guy who helped set collegiate 100 records. 4. TT deserved to get a 1st ballot into the HOF. Kelly did. OJ was waaay beyond Kelly as a recognized 1st balloter. No contest. IMO, the guys who talk of OJ as a top 5 all time back do him a disservice. The only guy I could argue is better them him was Brown. And I only say that because I give deference to the guys who saw him play. In short, for you to understand the OJ of his era you would have to take Bo Jackson with his amazing size / speed combination, and then add the moves of a Sanders or Bush - at full speed. Then you can understand why us guys who watched him roll our eyes when OJ gets dropped to 'top 10' all time rankings because of his double murder, or when the next batch of young football watchers dare to suggest the GREAT Thurman is better. Or, for me, even the guys who talk in whispered tones of the legend of Barry Sanders. Don't even wast my time mentioning a guy like Emmit Smith.

Can't hate on KH, but I must admit the thought of his 1 yard bomb to Moulds on 4th and whatever is a memory that will not die easily.

I think you mean - one of the best 'fantasy football' QBs in the league.

This whole thing may have been valid if you had included Steve Tasker on the original list.