BuffaloRebound

No, let's contunue what we've been doing the last 3 pre-seasons. Run for 2 yards... Run for 1 yard... 3rd and long - incomplete...punt. Then let's start the season losing games we could have won because we couldn't score more than 10 offensive points. Showing nothing in the pre-season has sure confused and surprised our opponents in the past.

Pre-season isn't the be-all/end-all, but the SB Bills didn't have anything to prove in the pre-season. They knew they could turn it on when they had to. The current Bills have proven nothing. F the vanilla offense and no game-planning BS. Just once, I'd love to see the starting offense come out and tear it up in the pre-season. Game plan if you have to. Run reverses, trick plays or whatever you have to do to put some points on the board and develop an attitude that you're going to put 7 points on the board every time we get the ball. For young, unproven teams, the pre-season means a lot.

TV households, not people.

That's why it would be a surprise. Would Gaddis, Whittle, or Preston be much of a drop-off? I can't answer that question, but I do know Fowler is in the last year of his deal and the Bills don't seem eager to sign him to an extension and those other 3 make less money. Plus the only other starter/near-starter who has any chance of being cut would be Ko Simpson.

Fowler

I think Favre is a horrible fit for New York. He has been hero-worshipped in Green Bay for the past 15 years. I can't understand why he would want to put himself through the scrutiny and demands of Jets fans and the New York media at this stage in his career. This has a much higher probability of being a disaster for Favre than anything else. On top of that, does anyone think he is going to respect much less listen to Schottenheimer's kid and Mangini? Green Bay knew what it was doing. If anything, this was a Hail Mary by the Jets before the season even started and is more an indictment of Pennington and Clemens and the Jets chances with one of them as their QB.

If Peters truly wants a new contract from the Bills, he should fire his agent. All his behavior is doing is backing the Bills into a corner making it impossible for the Bills to re-do his deal even if Brandon wanted to.

Well said. It's not like the Bills made him him play at the vet minimum his 1st 3-4 years, which they could have like the Bears are doing with Hester. On top of that, he hasn't been around since his hernia surgery. Peters' actions don't reflect someone who is serious about wanting to play for the Bills.

I have a hard time believing the estate tax prevents someone from starting a new business. An unnamed 1994 study isn't too convincing neither are 'some past economic studies'. In 2000, federal estate tax receipts were $29b and state receipts were $8b. The 2004 IRS expense budget for the year was $10billion.

If the average guy is doing alright. Right now he's not and there is no way the estate tax should be repealed when the US is running up $200-300 billion yearly deficits. I can't see how it would be good for the average guy if the the top 1% starts owning 40-50% of the total wealth. I actually think it wouldn't be good for the top 1% either. No one makes money in a vacuum. Consumers to buy goods, military and law enforcement to protect people and property, infrastructure to transport goods and workers, healthcare to make people well enough to work, etc.

For me it comes down to fairness. Mommy and daddy earned that money and you are getting the first $3.5m or $7m tax free, so I don't consider that being taxed again. The top 1% whom the tax would affect already own 33% of the wealth. Without the estate tax, that figure would widen.

Sad, but true. If it takes longer than 1 sentence to explain something, you lose most people. Dumb it down and it gets gobbled up.

"meager $3.5m exclusion", $7m for married couples. I love that... meager $3.5m. What's a multi-millionaire to do? Put the inheritance tax up for a referendum vote like gay marriage. I'm sure the average guy has a lot of sympathy.

The “Just Shut Up” rule applies, said Connors, whether you are innocent or guilty. The classic example is the innocent man accused of murder who tells the cops he never liked the guy, but he did not kill him. Comes the trial, and the cop testifies that the accused admitted that he did not like the victim. “Right there,” said Connors, “you’ve got your motive.” Lynch’s case is a whole different story, but you get the idea. What you say can and will be held against you — innocent or otherwise. So you clam up, let cops make a case and then — and only then — sit down and tell your side. It may look like Lynch is sidestepping the law as if it was an opposing linebacker. But that is how this game is played. It is not like the guy has run off and skipped town. His day of judgment is coming.

This article by Donn Esmonde, Buffalo News sums up the situation quite well. Lynch is playing it smart whether he's innocent or not.

Is this the same Frank Clark who claimed that 13 year old girl who was murdered in the 90's had consensual sex with a 50 year old, the same guy who was convicted of a previous murder in a similar way? Dateline NBC exposed Clark for being incompetent at best, vindictive at worst in their special on the Buffalo cold case detective who cleared wrongly imprisoned people. What do you have to gain by talking to the police/DA if you're Lynch? Even if you know you're innocent, why would you trust that they won't use what you said against you? Let them build their case. As far as I know, you can't incriminate yourself, so if the DA has the evidence to press charges, go ahead and do so instead of running to reporters. You can't expect someone to willingly talk to police especially someone who rightly or wrongly is distrustful of them, unless he has to. Lynch very well could have known he hit someone and drove away. But I don't know that and I doubt anyone here knows that. After watching that Dateline special, I would be handling this exactly the same way Lynch has been handling this.

If this is the same Frank Clark handling the case that was exposed on Dateline NBC for being an incompetent, vindictive fool, I would be handling everything exactly the same as Lynch is right now.

Also, that 60% going to the players doesn't include coaches, gm's, scouts, marketing. That's gotta be at least another 10-15%. So we are really talking about 70-75% of gross revenues going to employee costs. That is ridiculous. But it is the owner's fault for agreeing to that % in the first place. Then there are things like adjusting the rookie pay scale which everyone agrees with, but the players I'm sure will want something in return even though you'd be hard-pressed to find one veteran player who doesn't want the same thing. This has the makings of an ugly battle, but unlike hockey all teams are still making money, so you'd think they could agree to something.

Maybe you can, but I can't think of one industry where employee costs average 60% or greater of gross revenues. The most I can think of is in the banking industry where employee costs approach 50% of net revenues.

Agreed. I'd like to sign Evans too, but keeping Peters happy should be priority #1.

Hardy should be reprimanded. It's probably not smart from a business standpoint for the Bills to do it themselves, but it looks like they are doing it through the back-channel route. Hardy needs to know showing up in police blotters won't be tolerated whether he is charged with a crime or not given all the talk about him growing up from his past incident.

I don't think the Bills are at the point yet where vets at the end of their careers hop on thinking they are the missing piece. This is what concerns me a bit about the relative ease in which Stroud was obtained. Maybe the guy truly wanted to come here, but you'd think a guy with his pedigree and with many teams in need of quality DT's that Stroud could have picked where he wanted to go if he was healthy.

Exactly. The only evidence up until now was the Jets tape and some very vague statement from Goodell about the Patriots taping other games. The Bills did a good enough job sucking on their own the past 8 years, so for me it was a bit of a jump to think the Patriots contributed to that sucking by cheating. Now that there is hard evidence of them taping the Bills, this directly affects me as a Bills fan and changes my perspective a bit because there is now no doubt about the depths of their cheating.

How can Ralph say nothing now that it is official they taped the Bills? I know we sucked anyway during that time, but plenty of people invested hard-earned money, time, and emotion only to see an opponent dominate the division the last 8 years who balatantly cheated. One 1st round pick and everything is supposed to be OK? We can't blame sucking the last 8 years on the Patriots, but 1 f'in 1st round pick ain't gonna do it. If Ralph doesn't demand a greater punishment, it shows a huge disregard to the team's fans. Belichik needs to go.

He's really in a good situation as the 4th DE. He has some time to develop into a complete player, but in the meantime can pin his ears back in pass-rushing situations and use his athleticism on special teams. It sounds like V Tech runs a similar defense to the Bills and he has 30 plus starts in that system.