Fan in Chicago

Thanx as usual, Mark. I can't wait for Prometheus. Killer premise with a terrific cast. As a side note for those who don't know Idris Elba - guy is an intense Brit actor. I saw his BBC series called 'Luther' and it is fantastic. OTOH, "Abraham Lincoln" is just not getting me excited. "Magic Mike" may be interesting simply due to Sorderbergh. By the way, whats with the stinking foreigners getting to see movies a week before us ? Of the prominent ones, Avengers and Prometheus both were released to the international crowd before the US.

Very nice.

If its going to cost that much, I might as well get married to her and bang her a few more times

I would say 75-25 Brolin-Jones

I agree on your 'Public Enemies' comment. I do want Depp to take on more of such roles though and just stop doing these ridiculously stupid 'Pirates' movies which are turning him into a caricature. I understand that the Pirates franchise makes a lot of money but at some point, a good actor has to think about his legacy and stop thinking about how to swoon through the same role 4 (or five) times over.

I don't have the numbers in front of me, or information regarding differential cap hit for them. But, I did not mention Edwards because we have yet to see how KWilliams comes from injury, if Troup can even be a depth player and if Heard can progress. Edwards looks to me to be better suited as a DT than Spencer Johnson. As of now, the DL is a strength and smart cuts are what are called for (should we need the cap space)

Sure we do. And that is cap management. Say the FO agrees that a vet WR or LB is available and will fit our scheme well. I would think these players (presumably cut due to other team's cap issues) should be available at a reasonable price. We do need to sign all of those you listed and we will cut some players ourselves which will be a surprise. Trick is that we need to shore up weak areas and maintain areas where depth (good mix of youth and vet) is available. The obvious (only?) area is along the DL where players such as Spencer Johnson may be cut to make room. All this is ofcourse speculation but I am seeking to answer your question about how we can bring in help for areas which are weak now and then proceed to manage the cap over the next year

Saw MIB 3 also - tepid at best. Better than part 2 but certainly not as good as the first one. I actually had some hopes for #3 but thought the plot lacked depth and the jokes were forced. Not much flowed freely. It was good entertainment for 1 hr 45 minutes but could have been better. Dark Shadows is a rare Burton movie that I have zero interest in watching. (this coming from a guy who thought his 'Planet of the Apes' was pretty good). Depp better change his style in a hurry as his performances are getting way too repetitive. More 'Public Enemy' and less Captain Sparrow will do him good.

Despite the questionable credentials of the writer (I am not going to dignify him with the 'journalist' label), I do think the Bills will be well served by adding a vet WR with a 1-2 year contract. We need one while we know for sure what we have in Easley and TJ. Easley may or may not become a good WR and typical 3rd round WRs do not make a huge impacti in season 1. Hence, the crying need for another WR.

:-)

Sure they haven't won any superbowls but no matter how much you hate Brady, the fact remains that he is one of the elite QBs and one of the best to ever play this game. With a less than stellar defense, he led the Pats* to the Superbowl. Credit Brady or BB, but that combo has consistently won and have had the Bills' number for the better part of the last decade. For many years now, members on this board have predicted the decline of that team only to see them go to the playoffs consistently. Hate if you must, but there is plenty of evidence to say that Brady is one of the all-time greats. Flame away.

I am a very big Bond fan. Prior to Craig, my favorite Bond was Connery with just the right balance between suave-ness and manli-ness. But I have to admit, Craig is more in line with my current expectations of what a fictional superspy should be like. If you are going to try these latest two movies, I suggest watching Casino Royale first - one of my all time favorite movies even if you take my Bond bias out of the equation. I was less than impressed with QOS. Craig also admitted it was a weak effort and explained that it was written during the writer's strike and they wanted to push the movie through quickly which resulted in a hodge-podge script. Skyfall is supposed to return to the raw and edginess of CR so is worth looking forward to.

I agree that we have a lot of question marks on WR. TJ and Easley are both unproven and we will be well served by adding another vet (read: proven) presence at that position. If there are some surprise cuts in June, Buddy should pounce on one of them.

Ironic considering you posted in this thread to tell us that.

Now you are just being ridiculous. Assuming what you say is possible (it isn;t because Polian didn't 'set the Colts up'), here is what you are saying - If Polian comes in tomorrow, he should set up the Bills for failure so they can have a shot at Barkley. Then he would hope Barkley turns out to be the next PManning. Doing this will make you happy with his job as a GM ? He certainly turned around that franchise as he did the Bills. But he could have ruled the NFL with PManning as QB and a better defense. 4 trips - but one victory only with arguably the best QB to ever play his position. Whereas a marginally lesser talent, Brady, has three rings. BenR has two. Because their overall roster was superior to the Colts's roster. Brady went down and the Pats* still had a winning record with Cassel.

I was and still am a big fan of the X-Files (TV Series, not the movies) and agree that Home takes the cake for disturbing episodes. The brilliance was not the outrageous premise and story but the fact that there was actually a twisted logic to the entire plot. Takes the meaning of family bonding to a whole new level And speaking of creepiness, not scary-creepy but gross-creepy: a scene in this movie called Towelhead where Aaron Eckhart is with that teen girl. That was disturbing and what my daughter's would call 'totally creepy'

DrD - thanks for correctly interpreting my question. My goal was not to tarnish Polian's legacy with the Bills. Arguably he made the then sad sack franchise relevant again. But since his departure from the Bills, his record has been spotty overall save for one blockbuster pick. Perhaps he never changed his strategy as the league around him changed with FA and what not. Maybe he just got lazy. No way to know what happened, but his recent record has been less than stellar which is why my vote goes to Nix and Whaley

Do you see the discrepancy of your own logic ? You correctly state that this team depended more on one player than probably any other team in the league. Putting all your eggs in one basket is not a strategy that teams or businesses do these days. The responsibility of team building was on Polian so he has to take the fall for it. I do not entirely absolve the Colts ownership either because they would have been too dumb to not see this roster deficiencies.

The premise of the article is strange to be sure considering the euphoria going around with this off-season. However, I thought it would be useful to get everyone's opinion as Polian is quite revered around some circles here.

It is heartening to see the overwhelming support in this thread for the current FO over Polian(s). As for those that mention Chris P, I doubt he is anywhere as skilled as his father. It is too early to tell if we will pick up a QB in next year's draft. We should enjoy this upcoming season as it promises to be the best in recent memory. Hopefully, D&C will stop their lame attempt to create a 'GM controversy' (as someone put it).

I was somewhat surprised to see this article by Roth asking if Polian is the next Bills GM: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120516/SPORTS0103/305160020/twobillsdrive?nclick_check=1 I thought a bit about this point. Polian arguably built a very good Bills team (there is a different thread about his player moves) and drafted Peyton Manning. In effect built two successful franchises. I have gone on record before and said that he underperformed in Indy where he put too many eggs in the Peyton basket and neglected building a team. COntrast that with how Nix has gone about stocking the roster here and I see a good foundation which can lead to long term success. The big caveat ofcourse is that Polian has results to show and Nix has yet to show us the baby (I am not counting Nix's earlier tenures as he was not fully in charge). Balancing both the above points, I am leaning towards keeping Nix and have Whaley as his successor. I think their attitude, player choices and resolve in sticking with the plan is commendable and will lead to successful seasons for a long time. What do you guys think ?

He even directed 'Avatar' in his spare time. So dude is multi-skilled.

My confusion is regarding your earlier sentence that "...If the Bills are practicing their spread offense only, there is a very decent chance that Thigpen looks better than Young in practice and pre-season and just beats him out, even if he is the lesser QB." If Gailey is going to evaluate the QBs based on his measures, they need to be fair and open. Just because he feels that Thigpen may win out the battle in practice does not mean you pre-emptively CUT him. Either VY is a better QB or not. Each needs to be given a full chance to compete for the #2 spot.

I don't understand your point. Why would Nix get rid of the guy who is better suited to Gailey's style of offense. It makes little sense to keep VY if his skill set is vastly different than what Gailey is trying to do on the O. Because the offense is more than the QB, albeit the most important piece. I would rather be dispassionate about the #2 situation and keep whoever is most likely to step in and quickly continue to lead the team without too much offense modification.