marck

Bump as this is an excellent football related topic

This off-season will be the time when the final pieces are put into place to move the team back into playoffs for the 2005 NFL season. The first matter of busisness will be for the trading of Travis Henry and receiving adaquate compensation. Henry is linked by rumors to teams down in Florida, namely Miami & Tampa Bay as well as Oakland. Prior to being able to trade Henry, the status on quality running backs who can move as free agents has to be resolved. Will Seattle Franchise tag Shaun Alexander or let him test the waters. Rudi Johnson, will he be retained by the Bengals? and where will Lamont Jordan go. It is my feeling that Seattle will indeed franchise tage Alexander, taking him off the market, Rudi Johnson is basically the same type of runner and has comparable skills to Travis, but at a much more expensive price tag. Jordan may stay with the Jets as they give him more carries and start the eventual phase out of Curtis Martin. In my opinion, Henry is more marketable due to his low 2005 salary and would be a lesser impact then Rudi Johnson. I have read that the asking price is a 2nd round pick, maybe what we should ask for is a player instead, for example if TH is dealt to Tampa Bay, would you prefer a 2nd round pick or a proven player like Joe Jaravicious who would make an excellent slot receiver and be the replacement for Josh Reed who we might be able to also ship off in the trade. We could also ask what the price would be for Simeon Rice, who would add the explosive pass rush needed to complete our defense. Maybe they would make a Henry & Reed for Rice trade straight-up. The Bills also need to re-sign Pat Williams as soon as possible and then guage the market for Jonas Jennings. There will be other tackles available and if the cost is high why not persue a player such as a Kyle Turley who would add the intensity and effort that this lines sometimes lacks. Also, it is possible that Walter Jones of Seattle would be available as a free agent and possibly Orlando Pace, if both of these players are available, the market drops for Jennings making him re-signable. As far as the draft is concerned, the players selected will be tied to any trade and free agaent gains/losses incurred. The most pressing needs are for a place-kicker and 3rd down slot receiver. Linebacker depth and offensive line depth also need to be added in the late rounds. Looking forward to hearing about everyone's opinions.

Great looking uniform design. Love the red sleeve marking with the logo. Hope to see that uniform style in the future.

I completly believe that this years Super Bowl will match the Colts and the Falcons. Not because of the play on the field, but the desire of the NFL to have this match-up. With all the negative publicity the league has seen since last year's "wardrobe malfunction", the NFL has gone on a new pace to curb the negative image its network broadcasting partners have set-up for them. I see the league trying to get its two glamour players, Payton Manning and Michael Vick in their showcase game. It is for this reason that I say that the Patriots have no chance this week and if the outcome is in doubt look for the officals to make some call or calls that affect the outcome of the game. I feel the same thing for any game the Falcons play on the way to the Super Bowl. It's just the way that I see the NFL going. Its going to be Payton vs Michael in a game the NFL wants their viewing public to see. Comments anyone?

I prefer shows with well written diologue and great story lines: Here is my list: 1. West Wing: Show is winding down as we get through the shift of main characters and move on to the new characters that will be involved in the next presidential election. 2. Gilmore Girls: Very sharp and well-written program that has great story lines, quick witted diolouge and great looking women whose characters are really interesting. 3. American Dreams: Great flow throughout the program as its shows the life of a family going through the turbulent 1960's under the backdrop of the old "American Bandstand" series. Also uses new music artists to play historical musicians. Provides all the elements of a great show. 4. Law & Order CI: Very well acted drama and the story lines are well defined and its a pleasure watching Vincent Denoforio solve the cases. 5. South Park: 4th grade kids swearing is never not funny

Hate to tell you but San Diego is 21 million undr the 2005 cap. Brees will be franchised tagged for 9 million, still leavig plenty of money for taking care of draft picks and extending Antonio Gates.

I think you have a fine team but history tells me rookie QB's do not play well in playoff intensity. Plus, the teams that will play the Steelers in the 1st round, either San Diego or Buffalo, can stop the run and can force the Steelers into a throwing game. You do have excellent receivers but I don't think Big Ben will do well against either of those defenses. Plus Cowher's teams do have a choke mentality in home playoff games. Simply harken back to losses to the Bills in 1992, the Chargers in 1994, the almost choke agiunst the Colts in 1995, and the loss to Denver in 1998 all with the Steelers being heavily favored. I just think you have a lot to be concerned with.

I know that is putting the cart before the horse but I was doing a little prognostication and assessment. When the Bills beat Pittsburgh on Sunday and the outcome of the Bronco's and Jets games determine whether the Bills have the 5th or 6th seed I was thinking of our chances for victory in the wildcard week. The Bills and Chargers make for a very interesting game, but living in San Diego, I have seen the Chargers all season and know that the way to exploit San Diego is via special teams as their kick return defense is very poor, however they do have a great punter who gets unbelivaible hang-time, and their pass defense. I believe that Bledsoe can use the Moulds/Evans weapons to keep the chains moving by throwing against Quinten Jammer and with our slot receiver against Sammy Davis. Running will be difficult but one big advantage is that the Bills will have practice against the same type of 3-4 defense this week against the Steelers. I think we beat San Diego in a close game and move on. If its the Bills and the Colts, I see a major advantage in the primary running series the Colts use is the slow developing stretch plays which the Bills defense can handle very well because of their size up front and fill speed of the linebackers and safety's. They will take away James and put Manning in a constant must pass situation. Also the no huddle matches up well with the Colts base defense meaning they won't be abale to get their other speed rusher either on the field or off. This means the Bills will use the power running game and I love our tackles Williams and Jennings to pound on Mathis and Freeney in the running game. I think the Bills will be able to run and maintain ball possession limiting the Colts time with the ball while using their dominant special teams to win the battle of field position. I really can see a scenario in which the Bills control the clock for at least 35 or more minutes and win a game about 27-17. This brings me to dealing with the Steelers. In all honesty do you really think Big Ben is ready for the speed and intensity of his first playoff game , playing ateam that will shut off the run and put the game in his hands to win. We also have to remember the Steelers history of losing home playoff games during the Cowher era and I have to think we have a great shot to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh and move on to the conference championship game. Sadly, if we get a game at New England, we do have serious issues especially with Drew playing against Bellicheck's defense. Anyways, love to read your feedback as your collectiv opinions and thoughts are always enjoyable. Go Bills and thanks for the great ride this season.

This is correct. The playoff schedule will go as follows: Saturday January 8th, 2005 4:30 PM - 6th seed @ Green Bay 8:00 PM - 5th seed @ San Diego Both games on ABC TV Sunday 1:00 PM - 6th seed @ Indianapolis - CBS TV 4:30 PM - 5th seed @ St. Louis or Seattle

The games are scheduled as follows, CBS has the 10:00 AM West Coast game on Sunday since they have the late game the next two weeks. Therefore the Indianapolis game will be on Sunday morning and the game in San Diego will be on Saturday. Since the one NFC game is either at Seattle or St. Louis that will be the late game on Fox Sunday. Therefore the AFC playoff game will be Saturday night in San Diego at 5:00 PM West Coast time. I hope this helps. Marc in San Diego.

Actually if the Rams win out and Seattle loses to Atlanta on Sunday, the Rams win the NFC West at 8-8, the Seahawks get one wildcard at 8-8 and the other wildcard goes to the Vikings if they win, or if they lose, the other wildcard will be the winner of the New Orleans @ Carolina game. Therefore the Rams will be giving their all tonight and since the Eagles will be resting players, they will lose tonight and the Rams game being at 10:00 AM will be fighting for their playoff lives against the Jets. I feel the Rams will win both games and with the Bills victory on Sunday will make the playoffs. Then it will be up to the Colts to see if they want the Bills or the Jets as their playoff opponent. In my opinion, a Bills victory and Jets loss will motivate Indy to play their asses off as they would much rather play the Jets then Buffalo in the 1st round of the playoffs.

I believe the game you are referring to is the Bills @ 49ers game at Candlestick Park in 1992 when the game was played without a punt and the Bills defeated the 49ers 34-30. I have this game on VHS format and also have a dual deck VCR which I can make a copy of the game if you would like. Please let me know and if so, I will send you my e-mail information. Glad to be able to help you with this.

I am certain that the Bills are going to go 10-6 and in my opinion, will get the 5th seed in the AFC playoffs. I also believe that San Diego will lose to the Colts this weekend and be the 4th seed and will be the match-up for the Bills in the wild card round the weekend of January 8th/9th. Here is how its going to happen. Denver @ Tennessee - Titans put up great effort in final home game and Billy Volek to Drew Bennett send the ponies to the glue factory for the season. Baltimore @ Pittsburgh - Steelers lock up #1 seed in the AFC Playoffs, plus they get revenge for Ravens earlier victory and now get to rest their starters against the Bills which only makes the last game even easier for us. Houston @ Jacksonville - Toss-up game as I see it. Texans playing well late in the season, almost beat the Colts, dominated the offensively challenged Bears in Chicago and since this is a big rivalry game, Houston just may be able to pull off the upset. Even if the Jags, get this one, they will lose to Oakland the last week of the saeson. New England @ NY Jets - Patriots, will be fired up after the stinging defeat by Miami. Will look to lock up the 2nd seed in the AFC and will hand the Jets their 5th loss of the season. Bills @ San Francisco - No trap game here. Buffalo has way to much of everything against this pitiful 49er team. Easy win on the coast, 30-3 with the defense and special teams each scoring in this one and with Moulds and Evens lighting up the lame 49er pass defense. After week 16 - here is the w/c picture NY Jets 10-5 Buffalo 9-6 Jacksonville 8-7 Baltimore 8-7 Denver 8-7 Week 17 Bills win against the Steelers and wrap up a playoff spot. Jets lose to the Rams and slip to the 6th seed based on Buffalo's better record against common opposition. Here's how the AFC Playoffs shape up. 1. Pittsburgh 14-2 2. New England 14-2 3. Indianapolis 13-3 4. San Diego 12-4 5. Buffalo 10-6 6. New York Jets 10-6 Wild card Round New York Jets @ Indianapolis Colts Buffalo Bills @ San Diego Chargers This is what I think is going to happen. What about you folks?

As I was watching Miami nail the Patriots last night, I started to think of the critics of the Bills who say that the reason for their record is because of their soft schedule. Lets simply look back at each of the wins and see how they play out. 12/19/ - Cincinnati - That win looks pretty good dosen't it. The Bengals went to New England and gave the Patriots a great game and the week before that came back on the Ravens Pro Bowl defense for 24 4th Qtr points which is more then Payton Mnaaning had in four quarters. In my opinion, a truly impressive & dominating victory. 12/12 - Cleveland - Nothing to write home here about except how can holding a team to 2 yards until the final drive not be considered dominating. Even though the Browns are awful, this performance was described by Cleveland's coach as "Boys playing against Men". 12/5 - Miami - The Bills beat a Dolphin team getting better each week. The Bills won on the road, by 10 points against a team that had the Bronco's on the ropes on the road and who came back from two scores behind to beat the world champions last night. This win is looking better and better now. 11/28 - Seattle - Went into their home, and put on a toal and complete dominant performance. Beat the leaders of the "NFC LEAST" division by 29 points on the road even with Drew throwing three picks. Also shut down and stuffed Shaun Alexander who leads the NFC in TD'S & Rushing. The Seahawks, although terrible on the road are historically a great home team and the Bills totally kicked the crap out of them. 11/21 - St. Louis - Complete domination on offense, defense and special teams. Stuffed Marshall Faulk, beat up Marc Bulger and dominated on special teams. Great win over a Rams team playing their best football of the season the week before against Seattle. With the Rams struggeling now this win does not seem as impressive, but please take it in the time window of when the game was played and its looks very good in that contect. So, five wins in a row, each looking very dominant. Just wanted to see what you folks thought of the opinion I have heard that the Bills have feasted on weak opponents. Thanks.

I live in San Diego and everything I hear is that Drew Brees will get the franchise tag and be playing and starting for the Chargers in 2005. The primary reason for this is two-fold. His value is rated as a late first of early 2nd round draft pick because he has no history of success. Also the Chargers are 20+ million under the cap for 2005 and have plenty of space for Brees. Rivers will be the starter in San Diego in 2006 as A.J. Smith has said consistently that he will not trade Rivers. This is the latest as far as the news media and radio talk shows say.

Actually I think this guy is really good. Of course that may be bacause he and I agree on many of the subjects he introduces. What I look for in a sport show host is knowledge and the ability to communicate and draw out quality feedback from his guests. I think Colin does that. Plus he talks football every day of the year which is a big plus as far as I am concerned. Just my opinion, but he is an acceptable replacement for Tony Kornheiser. Now if you want a pompous ass, simply listen to Jim Rome. About the only decent show he has on any more is the yearly "smackoff". Every time I listen to his show he is interviewing athletes which in my opinion is the biggest waste of air space you can have. They either say nothing of any importance or they are irritatingly incoherent. This is just my opinion though.

One thing to the Bills benefit is that the Bengals have given Carson Palmer more then the usual practice repetitions to speed up his learning curve. This means that Kitna may not be as sharp and precise as he would be with normal back-up reps each week. I also believe that he will tend to throw more short routes and use the TE more. The Bills should review the game films with Cincinnati last year and this will provide them guidance in how to deal with a Kitna led offense.

What a stupid take on the Bills GM. Willis is now 78 yards short of 1000 yards, has 10 touchdowns and has been a relevation at RB. Lee Evans now has 6 touchdowns and shows great hands and speed. Kelsey is playing solid football and is a valuable player on the dline and Denny is able to make plays from three positions on defense. I doubt if you have any brains to respond to this topic as you are obviously retarted or developmentally disabled to post such an asanine thread.

I found this on the Cleveland Clowns Page. Coach of Browns says his was a team of boys against a team of men. Read and enjoy the laughs. Terry Robiskie started his postgame news conference after the loss to Buffalo with some opening remarks: This one is tough. They are all tough, but this one is tough. This was a tough game to lose, and to lose it, I think, the way we lost it. Going into the game last week we had talked and we had a sense going into the game that New England was an outstanding football team and we felt they were better than us. Today I think going into the game we felt like we knew it would be a tough game. We knew the stadium, the crowd, the weather, the environment – we knew it would be a tough battle. But to sit down and say in the end that we’d end up losing by 30, it was hard. It was a hard pill to swallow. It was a tough one to take. Buffalo has got a good football team. They do a lot of things extremely well. They’ve got a veteran group on defense, and it showed. We went out on offense and put some guys in the game. I think ultimately – to be honest about it and I’m going to be honest about it – I think there were points in time when it was men against boys. Their defensive group, a couple guys we had on offense playing, the speed of the game, the tempo of the game, the environment, the weather, the crowd, the noise .. I think a lot it was it was too big. It was too big for a couple of the people we had in there. To be honest, one of them was Luke (McCown). Today, the tempo of the game, the speed, their defense, the blitz, them coming after us. I thought it rattled Luke a little bit, got him nervous and shook him up a little. I don’t know if he recovered from it. They have a veteran group. They took advantage of the young guys we had in there. They made the decision to come after us and it worked. You look at the game and the score and you see 37-7, I think as people around the world look at it and as Browns fans around the world see it, you’d think the defense again let you down and the defense played poorly. I told the guys at halftime I thought the defense was playing. They were playing their hearts out. I thought they did a lot of things extremely well. Offensively, like I told the guys at halftime, I don’t think we did anything to help the defense. Not only were we not helping them, we were hurting them. We put them in some bad situations, we put them in some bad positions. Again I don’t know what the play numbers are but when the defense is on the field for 80 plays and the offense is out there for 50 plays the defense is going to get worn down. And we put them in bad positions … Any time an offense has a chance to go on a short field they’ll take advantage of it. It was a tough game. It was a tough battle. Like I told the guys, I know we got a group of coaches here – we got a lot of good coaches – we got a group of coaches that will keep working. We’ve got a lot of coaches who are going to keep working, keep going. And I saw a lot of players going and I hope they’ll continue. Well keep coaching and see what we can get done. What happened to Jeff Garcia and what about the other injuries? Jeff ended up going in the game and the one where he dropped back and took that sack, they think he sprained his knee. He’s got an MRI scheduled … All of a sudden you look up and there goes another guy, another one, another two or three guys getting hurt. I don’t know, it’s getting to that point where it’s ugly. Every time you look up the trainer is coming over saying we’re taking these two or three guys in. … All I remember was saying, where does it stop? At what point in time do we stop taking guys in? What do you do now? How demoralized are these guys? I don’t know. I know it’s tough on us. But like I told all the guys, I know it’s tough. It’s tough on every player. It’s tough on every coach. It’s demoralizing, but we got some good kids in the locker room. A lot of guys with heart and a lot of guys with a lot of desire. Like I told them, I know the Cleveland Browns are going to see better days. It might not be today. And it isn’t tomorrow. But the Cleveland Browns organization is going to see better days. Could you comment on the offensive line play? That’s a little bit of what I was saying. Just my feelings standing on the sidelines. They had Sam Adams in the game, they had London Fletcher in the game, Takeo Spikes, Posey. With their group, I just got a sense standing on the sidelines that it was too big for us. Me as a coach standing on the sidelines looking, we were running running plays and we couldn’t block them on runs, we were running passing plays and we couldn’t block them on pass. Third downs we had passes called up and we couldn’t pass protect them. We had pass protections that we blocked perfect against these guys in the scrimmage way back in July or August. We had pass protections that we had used then that we used perfectly and we came in the game and we didn’t block it. Can this team win another game this year? I don’t know. I would hate to stand before you and be Jim Mora. I don’t know. I really don’t know if we can win another game. I know we’ve got a lot of guys that want to. We have a lot of guys that have a lot of heart, a lot of desire. We have a lot of guys that have a lot of fight in them. We are a beaten group – coaches, players, front office. We are a beaten group. We are. We are a whipped group. But we won’t quit fighting.

The game last night was the most pathetic excuse for an effort ffrom a supposed group of paid professional athletes. The sorry exhibition on the field of Gilette Stadium was an embarassment to the NFL, the loyal supporters of the team and to each member of the organization. It was more then being beaten by a better team. The Bills never showed up. What a complete lackluster effort that showed neither heart or character. It truly made me sick to watch, I can handle watching the team struggle and fight and lose a game, but that last night was an utter and complete disgrace. I am obviously venting with this e-mail and let everyone who would like to vent just post on this thread. Thanks to TBD for letting a frustated fan vent after last night's sorry ass performance.

Living is San Diego, the word on the talk shows and in the streets that the Chargers do have the cap room next year because they pulled in their dead money this year. This means they can afford Brees for one more year. The bigger concern here is that Antonio Gates is a restricted FA and will need to be given a significant upgrade before a team can offer a front-loaded contract with poisen pills the Chargers can't match.

There is no sure fire #1 pick in this year's draft. This leaves the Dolphins with a pick that they can't trade because nobody wants it and if they take a player they will have to pay a ridiculous salary for him. The Chargers will franchise Brees and offer him around for a #1 pick. But the pulse in San Diego is to apply the franchise tag, let Brees play one more year and then make the choice in 2006 to trade either Brees or Rivers because at that point the salary hit if they did trades Rivers would be much less. Therefore, forget about Miami getting Drew Brees.

I live in San Diego and the Chargers are tight lipped about the status of Drew Brees. The Chargers do have sufficient cap space to Franchise Tag Brees. If the team does make the playoffs this year and I believe that this is highly possible, the Chargers in my opinion will apply the one year Franchise Tag on him and then might then turn around and trade him to a team such as Green Bay, Miami or possibly Arizona. This would give them three 1st round picks to build the franchise and would allow them to start Phillip Rivers next season. Obviously this would set the team back a bit but would present a great future for the Bolts. The one thing that will not happen is that the Chargers just leave Brees available on the FA market.

Great takes Tolstov. This team does have an excellent defense. The pass rush is coming along, and in fact yesterday, they only gave up 10 points and if Fletcher does not take that stupid roughing the QB penalty, the d PROBABLY ONLY GIVES UP 7. Sadly, the offense gave up 10 points themselves. The biggest problem I see is that with a weak offensive line and an immobile QB, the Bills have no chance of progressing. Here is my suggestion. Play Drew this week to get the win against Arizona, then play him at New England as putting Loseman into that game would be terrible for his confidence and then start J.P. against the Rams. Play out the season with the weapons we have and develop our QB for next year so that Drew then becomes the back-up starting in 2005. In the draft select and in free agency for gods sake get some road grader offensive lineman and a complimentary pass rusher to aid Schoebel.

I am glad I live on the west coast, have multiple TV's & Recording platforms and that the Yankee game will be over by the time the new episode of West Wing starts out here. Of course most of the people on this board don't have the intellectual capacity to watch a program that needs the ability to think to understand. Itrs sad, but we seem to live in a nation where being uninformed, illeterate and lacking depth and awareness of the complexity of problems seems to be the norm and the people who can think and are proud of their intelligence sneered. Like you I am looking forward to the new season and think this is the best program that's been on the air since its inception.