1billsfan

I get the feeling that Robert Kraft will cut ties with Belichick after this Superbowl. This new scandal coming up during Superbowl week will have done way too much PR damage for the Patriots to continue with him. The Brady/Belichick era is drawing to a close so why prolong the inevitable for Kraft. There comes a point where your talents as a head coach no longer exceed the damage you are doing to the franchise's credibility. What's the fun of winning if no one thinks you did it fairly?

A fine only? Well if that's the case then Roger Goodell should get ready for the Sean Payton, Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson supporters to provide the counterattacks and accusations of favoritism and racism that will get 24/7 coverage during Superbowl week. Bring your popcorn. On top of that, the credibility of the NFL going forward will take a huge hit with fans of the other 31 teams.

If Goodell’s plan is to “create murkiness” and think that this will all go away during Superbowl week then he is dumber than I thought he was. Only a fool would have reasonable doubt of Pats guilt regarding 11 of 12 balls being equally deflated a couple of PSIs. Superbowl week blows up into 24/7 “Deflategate” if the NFL goes the “much to do about nothing” route. There’s a picture of Goodell and Kraft at a party in Kraft’s house the night before the AFC Championship…LOL If “protecting the shield” means thinking you can avoid this scandal by creating murkiness for a buddy after a second hugely embarrassing cheating scandal damaging the credibility of the NFL, then you don’t know Superbowl week..

I think that Chip winning the power play a few weeks ago means that he was given the green light by the owner to do whatever it takes to get Marriota. I think that Chip will eventually trade both LeSean McCoy and Nick Foles for draft picks and use what they get in those trades plus additional Eagle draft picks to move up to get him. The only NFL team 100% comfortable in drafting Marriota is the Eagles so it will happen one way or the other.

The NFL changes and updates rules all the time. Leave it to your cheating Patriots to provide the impetus for another needed change.

In a blind test today on ESPN, Mark Brunell and Jerome Bettis were both able to identify an under inflated ball, correctly inflated ball and an over inflated ball. Brunell said that he'd be able to throw the under inflated ball 10 yards farther and with more accuracy. Bettis said that it would be much harder for a defender to strip an under inflated ball from the runner.

+1000 They aren't going to be disqualified, but I can't see how Belichick is going to be allowed to coach in this game. The fact that they cheated again forces the NFL to lower the boom on them this time. I think there's a good chance that Belichick has already coached his last game for the Patriots and rightly so. Post a link to this claim.

Again, there's no evidence to support what you're saying. I don't know why you feel the need to cover for the Patriots by putting all of the NFL under the same suspicion. Call me naive all you want, I just don't think other teams under inflate balls like this. Maybe you're the naive one thinking Belichick isn't the only NFL head coach cheating like this.

You need to go back and re-read those articles. There's not one charge of QBs knowingly playing with illegally under inflated footballs. Johnsons claim is about scuffed up balls which all QBs like and were used by both teams in the Superbowl. In the other article, Rogers is talking about most QBs liking the balls defaulted to the minimum level possible, not deflating them to an illegal lower level. The Patriots cheated and there's been no evidence provided by you that states that any of the other 31 teams have done this also.

Also interesting is that many of the fans and media were perfectly fine with Doug Marrone staying on as the head coach of the Bills after the season ended. I was very frustrated they won the game against the Pats because I knew they would not fire him off a 9-7 season. Fans and media were still supporting him because they bought into his excuse of him having Manuel and Orton as his QBs for his putrid offensive game plans. It's funny how bad he's become as a head coach since he quit. To me he was a loser after the first Patriots game this season when he targeted Sammy Watkins only three times at home. There was no getting me back from that. He was worse than Dick Jauron in my eyes. EJ Manuel had to be the happiest man in that locker room when Marrone quit. He gets a rare fresh start with a very experienced NFL coaching staff. He will have a chance to either succeed or fail in a real NFL offense and that opportunity would have never come about with Doug Marrone still here.

Please provide a link because I haven't heard one QB come out and say they knowingly played with under inflated footballs for a competitive advantage.

Does anyone think that this cheating scandal could lead to Bill Belichick not being the Patriots head coach after this Superbowl? Robert Kraft strikes me as the kind of guy who might decide that it's time to turn the page and rid his team of the cloud of suspicion. This is the Superbowl, the whole country is going to be told that the Patriots are cheaters for two straight weeks. There's no undoing that. No unringing that bell. The PR for his team will be a constant nightmare going foreword with Belichick until he's permanently gone from the team. I actually think that there is a chance this story just might be the tipping point on ending the Brady/Belichick era. I could see Belichick using his impending departure as motivation to the team by announcing it in the locker room right before the game starts.

That's a red herring story. The NFL allows game footballs to be scuffed up to QBs specifications prior to games. I'm very skeptical of this story coming out so quickly. It seems like Johnson's nothing revelation of ball doctoring is being used as a smoke screen. If Johnson's story is such a big deal then how do you explain this.. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/sports/football/eli-mannings-footballs-are-months-in-making.html?_r=0 It's a well known practice that isn't against the rules.

Their whole 14 year "dynasty" is now and forever officially stamped with the cheater tag. The video taping practices and deflated balls is just what they got caught doing. There has never been a franchise that has been this good for this long in the modern NFL and there was always something fishy about how they always got the right bounce and they always seemed a few steps ahead of their competition. The NFL has a WWE problem now. No one believes that games are being played fair. No one believes that the fix isn't in, that there isn't a script. The NFL's most prestigious looked at franchise in the last 20 years was cheating the whole time. I remember that when they were caught the first time I said that Belichick should have been suspended the entire year. Goodall didn't do that and his chickens are coming home to roost big time. The Patriots won a Superbowl (s?) because they knew the Rams plays. How in the world does that not deserve a suspension for an entire year? The NFL is in serious trouble as far as their credibility and the only way to rectify it is to throw Belichick out of the league forever. Also, the Pats organization should lose all of their draft picks in this coming draft and their next years #1 pick.

It would be nice if they would take a wait and see approach with regards to seeing what Manuel will do under Roman considering how bad Marrone was as a coach. The Bills are bringing another QB in to compete with him and the best QB will win the starting spot in training camp. Even if Manuel starts the season on the bench it doesn't mean that the new guy will hold onto the position during the season or vise versa. I just don't get the hate, it's not like EJ's the Bills' guy and they're not bringing in anyone else to compete. They clearly are. Let's root for the best QB to win the job and take the Bills to the playoffs regardless of who it is.

Damn that EJ Manuel for being drafted a project QB and turning out to be a project QB...LOL He's not going anywhere because rookie contracts are very CHEAP. You may wish it to happen, but it won't. Although it will be fun watching the QB competition this year.

Dude has 19 touchdowns (16 passing/3 rushing) in 14 starts with the 2 amateurs Doug Marrone and Nate Hackett coaching him up. I like how you and the other EJ bashers just ignore the fact that he had a very normal and average slow start to his career that even many elite NFL QBs once had. If everyone on this board was told before he started his first game that he'd have 19 TDs after 14 games started then they'd say that was awesome.

Matt Moore stikes me as a guy who's perfectly comfortable living in Miami as the Dolphins backup QB and is fine doing this for another 5 or so years. If he wanted to pursue a starting job he would have done so after they drafted Tannehill to replace him. He didn't do that then so he's not a guy to pursue as competition to Manuel IMO. I think they will either trade for Glennon or sign Hoyer and that will be the competition for Manuel.

I think that Jerry Hughes is the top priority FA signing. Why? Because I think that he is THE GUY that other teams fear when playing the Bills. He's our Suggs, Harrison ect. If Hughes goes then the intimidation factor of their defense drops down a couple of notches. Pay the man, he's earned it.

I wasn't talking about Dallas' offense, just talking about their line being the only one in the NFL being "ground and pound" ready. I think that many fans here think that Rex will try to run the ball as if they had Dallas' "bully" line, but I highly doubt he is that stupid to try that strategy. I think that Rex is someone who talks a lot but that you should not believe everything he's saying. Rex will tell Roman to tailor the offense to who the Bills have on the roster. Yes they'll run the ball a lot, but they will not be a "ground and pound" offense because they don't haver the offensive line for that.

I'll say it again, Seattle's QB rushed the ball 112 times. Having a QB run it that many times is not a true "ground and pound" offense. If you want a true winning "ground and pound" attack then you need Dallas' offensive line. The Bills clearly don't have Dallas' offensive line (not even close) or the RB so I highly doubt that Rex is planning the "ground and pound" attack that you are imagining. The Bills are going to run the ball with their RBs, Manuel and Watkins on end arounds so it's not going to be a true "ground and pound" attack. They are going to use misdirection and surprise than pounding the defensive 8 man front into the ground. They simply do not have the players to do that so it would be a mistake to do it anyways. Also, expect a LOT of passes to Watkins this year. Rex loves him.

The good teams always tailor their offense to the players they have on the roster. People are bringing up Seattle as a "ground and pound" attack, but their QB had 112 carries for almost 1000 yards. Their rushing yards and attempts are skewed because Russell Wilson is a unique player used in a unique way that's successful. The threat of Wilson running the ball on the outside is what gives Lynch much more room to have success with carries up the middle. I think the Bills have a mix of offensive talent between that of Seattle and Pittsburgh. The Bills have a QB like Seattle's Russell Wilson in EJ Manuel who should be able to have success running with the ball 6-8 times a game. He won't be as good as Wilson, but he should be good enough that he'd be a constant threat for the opposing defense to account for on every play. The Bills also have a WR like Pitt's Antonio Brown in Sammy Watkins who needs to get 10-12 targets a game, doing this opens things up in the middle. Incorporating both of these strategies into the offense would open up much bigger holes for the RBs and the "ground and pound" part of the attack. This is how I see the new offense working, Creating a working offense with the skills your players have rather than saying we're ground and pound and just running the ball into 8 man fronts for three yard gains. The only team I see built for a true "ground and pound" attack is the Dallas Cowboys, but to get a offensive line like that you have to draft O lineman high in the draft over and over again. So instead of doing that just tailor the offense to the talent we already have.

Rebuilding their defense? Imagine the Bills trading something like Kiko Alonzo, Preston Brown and next years #1 for Rothelesberger. Now, I'm NOT saying I want that trade to happen, but Ben probably isn't going to be around when the Steelers are ready for a real Superbowl winning run. So they might be in the mood of tearing their current team down, rebuilding the defense with great young players and finding their QB along the way. If I'm the Steelers GM I'd think seriously about a trade like that one. If I'm the Bills, I don't even know if I could do that one because I want a 10 year monster Bills defense and getting a 33 year old Rothlesberger with a lot of wear and tear at the cost of their defense is something I don't know if I could sign up for.

In 2004, Tom Coughlin benched Kurt Warner for Eli Manning. Warner had a Superbowl ring and the Giants were 5-4 at the time of the benching. Coughlin is a smart guy and he knew it was better for the team in the long run even if it didn't mean he gave them the best chance to win the rest of that season. Doug only carried about his record this past year, not the long term interest of the Bills. Once Orton started to fail badly he clearly should have been benched. If other players complained then tell them where the door is...they aren't the head coach, they're young and they don't know anything beyond QB instant success stories like Luck and Wilson. I think that too many fans and media types bought into Marrone's misguided keeping Orton as the starter decision being the right decision. Specifically, him saying that Orton gave the Bills the best chance to win. Once Orton started to play badly then it served the team no purpose to play him over the young guy who was showing a normal up and down slow learning curve progression for a young QB and who was certainly no longer any worse than Orton. The blessing in disguise with Manuel not being put back in is that no QB could succeed under Marrone's offense so he didn't have to suffer the avalanche of criticisms when he'd fail a second time. Manuel will now have real NFL QB coaching from a guy who knows what he's doing. If Manuel doesn't succeed under Roman than at least he was truly given a fair shot in an NFL offense and not that horrifically conservative, simple and predictable mess of an offense we witnessed under Doug Marrone.

Before every home game they should drag Billy the Buffalo to midfield and let the dude on the horse dressed as Buffalo Bill shoot him down with blanks. "The Buffalo Bills...We're a bully team now. We're going to kill our mascot before every game." No, I'm not serious.