leh-nerd skin-erd

The narrative, as some believed, was that Williams was in Marrone's doghaus and at some point, it was just personal. That never made sense to me. Why would a coach looking to build his resume through wins-losses keep the most talented guy of the two off the roster? What was in it for him? I'd think a coach who makes it to the top of the NFL, with a team struggling offensively, would absolutely put the best player on the field. this explanation makes sense, and would explain why a guy who went for 80 yards once might seem to be the guy at that moment, but maybe not be it so much for the other 59 minutes of the game. then again, maybe given DM's desire to build a resume to have him actually move backward on the food chain four tsteps, maybe he did botch it all and Orton is a convenient scapegoat.

this article was almost unreadable. it's like a bad jason bourne novel, weaving salary cap considerations, dead money, potential contract extensions next year, and play on the field to support the premise that the fins are best positioned to challenge the pats? What on earth does dead money have to do with beaing the pats come September? I have come to despise these guys who opine that someone was drastically overpaid, like there's a sensible rhyme or reason to this all. salaries in the NFL are the very definition of fluid. if you want to write a 'management overpaid' article, do it. if you want to write a "dolphins have more talent", do that. my humble opinion is absent getting a non-existent legit franchise qb to shore up the O, you'd be hard-pressed to argue that the signings made by Buffalo haven't strenghtened the Bills substantially on paper. the addition of Rex on D (and he acknowledged same) and Roman on O on paper make this team stronger. Not sure how you write that article, though, and not even mention the loss of wilfork as a key piece of the defense. still, this is absolutely true--the Pats rule the division until someone takes 'em out. obnoxious.

But Aaron---isn't he telling you he needs him...or at least wants him? Why else the push to sign him?

I'd suggest Hughes is integral to the defense as it stands now--contributing to the ability of other players to play to their elite level. More importantly, that's the way the guy with a stellar reputation for building elite defenses sees it as evidenced by the desire to retain him. I love the message this sends whether it works out or not. Other players will be signed, you've got a very good OC to work the other side of the ball, let's see how it plays out.

the expression that seems to fit best here is "dance with who brung ya.". nothing is guaranteed, but if they stand you up at the goal line, you still have your timeout for a pass play. if they hold you out, it wasn't meant to be.

I know where you stand on all this having read your posts, but think you're wrong on this 7 years ago, it really would have sounded like sour grapes. I think his point is given the latest pats controversy, it's fair to wonder. The interesting part for me here is the number of players/ex-players saying the same sort of thing.

The head banging guy in your post is perfect. It applies to this whole thing: "It is no big deal" "Everyone does it" "it didn't matter, the colts got blown out" "Brady didn't know" "Belechick seems to be telling the truth" The balls were checked and they were fine, they were subsequently checked and they were not fine by a fair amount. The league was notified of a potential similar issue in November. You have all sorts of former players, immediately recognizable names, who use some variation of "this ain't cool.". When was the last time that happened, including spygate? Jesus, here's something crazy. Yeah, we did it, but we didn't think it would be such a big deal. NFL is bound to look silly here.

I'm with you on this one. The rules rejects the minutia that the nfl counts as law. We'll flip a coin, winner gets choice, both teams get the ball unless one scores 6 first, but if the first team scores 3 first they win if the other team doesn't score 3 or 6, but if they score 3 we keep going until someone scores again. Both teams possess the ball once. High score wins thereafter. Green Bay collapsing in the final minutes is not the point. Besides if you can cover on special teams; or kick the ball out of play, your defense has a chance to stop all scoring. If you can't stop a team from going ______ yards, you don't deserve to be there.

this is pretty simple in my opinion. if they didn't deflate the balls, it's much ado about nothing. i hate the pats but find this one a stretch. if they did, they are the dumbest smart people in football. the nfl is on the ropes, constantly being battered for things like ray rice/ap, drug use, spyagte, bountygate and many calls have come for Goodell's head on a stick. to do something as silly as deflate footballs in violation of a pretty simple rule is assinine in this environment. it lends to the conpsiracy theorists, the officiating issues, and the general feeling that the game is tilted one way or the other. if they did it, i'd look for a substantial penalty from the league. this happened on the national stage, one of two important games, and if the NFL isn't embarrassed by it all, they have lost all perspective.

39 years old, major neck surgery a couple years ago, limping around, dancing slowly just out of reach of Father Time...sure, go to the place that had 7 feet of snow in 45 minutes not long ago. I can see it happening.

I think the cool part is you can pay out the psl, and still get to walk by the drunk a*hole chucking hot dog bits and PBR onto the parking lot near some poor soul's drivers side door. It's Thunderdome.

hopefully you can put this anonymous web question issue behind you in the new year. Although...I think the apology really should go to CG.

i think the point was to allow readers to reflect upon the level of silliness of the author. KO drives a Prius...and played football in the NFL. The carbon footprint of the leviathan called the NFL must be massive. KO's personal carbon footprint must be massive as well. But...he gets 40 miles to the gallon so it's all good.

I think one of the reasons the 'board explodes' is because people look at simple comments about wanting to win a football game as him having a "puffed out chest". We all have thoughts about the coaching staff, and that's part of beign a fan, but how do you read something as bening as a guy wanting to win a football game as puffing out his chest? I'd think you'd want the guy to want to win. I can't ever recall hearing a coach say "We're shooting to lose by 10 or less.". I also don't see the potential for any more, or less embarrassment. Its seems that we've beaten them once since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor...how much more embarrassing can it be? They beat us by 50? 75? 100? I agree though--Pats win, proably in a big way, and likely snuff out any potential enjoyment that might be left after this season of dismal offense. I'm greatful to be otherwise occupied during the game so I can be spared some of the pain.

But you got the middle-aged Peter Pan guy....ahhh, nm.

Unfortunately it's the logical conclusion to playing a season without consistent offensive production. You die a bit week to week until eventually you cannot be resuscitated. After the field goal, you need 10 points to win and we're lucky to get 10 offensive points over 3 games.

Agreed. And, given the screen shot here, what's talked about as sure 94 yard td becomes a 40-50ish yard completion against a d playing very well for the other 59:50 of game time. A great play no doubt, but hardly a sure thing and hardly a nail in the coffin at that point.

Some things are really complicated, and running a successful offense in the NFL likely falls into that category. Some things are not that complicated, like consistently stuggling to score touchdowns in the NFL. When KO underthrew for the kick yesterday, and overthrew Sammy later in the game, it was not the first time those two events happened. I want the guy to succeed, but he seems to be a guy who earned the right to be on his 5th team in the league. I don't know that Hackett is the problem here--and I'll say this--Marrone should be held accountable for the teams w/l record and mistakes he makes. He should also get credit for both the Petine and Schwartz hires, and for sticking by Crossman because he thought his plan was a good one. Players have to execute at some point, and while I'm just a guy watching the Bills, I've seen a fair amount of poor exceution on the offense.

I have seen little evidence he can go downfield and consistently hit the mark. Absent that ability, why would a defense respect the deep pass? I struggle with blaming Hackett for much of this.

Agreed. I don't know if it's just that football boils down to success in a matter os 16 hours of play time or what, but it seems that people are often looking to create a back story for pretty much anything said or done. We know, since Orton will be starting, that Marrone thinks he offers the best chance for a victory. What more really needs to be said?

that's my point on the intricacies of the rule, actually. i get that the play evolves as it unfolds and it may have been the right call. my point was simply that one official saw a hold and threw a flag. a second official apparently saw both the ball and the hold, which seems odd given the call was away from the play. given the speed of the game and all those players flying around, it struck me as odd that they would pick up the flag.

well if we're talking unprofessional...a flag was tossed in the 4th and subsequently picked up. as i recall, the explanation was 'there was no defensive holding as the ball was already in the air'. stepping aside from the intricacies of the rule for just a second, i figure it this way. One official sees the penalty and tosses a flag. Another official sees the ball in the air. Who's the third official that see's both and counsels to pick up the flag, Marty Feldman? the officiating is inconsistent, and as a fan you have a right to complain about it. it cahnges nothing, but then again, how much changes when we complain about a fumble, bad clock management, poor coaching etc.

JC he threw a pick in the red zone! moves the ball down the field and choked badly on the throw. He also took the early dive on a critical 3rd down scramble. Finally, call me crazy, but had I not watched the game, looking at the bills drives in the 4th quarter, I'd have thought WE were milking the big lead. He played just well enough to have us lose by 7.

Someone has to tell Hackett and Orton that you don't have to wait until there are two minutes left to run a two minute offense. I think they were confused by the name.