Fan in Chicago

Why wait for a latter round and lose the player rated so highly on our boards ? I rather run the risk of being accused of reaching for him (assuming it is a male) than missing out all together.

It appeared that Fine is developing into a receiving threat. Given he was a mid to late round rookie, he did fairly well IMHO. I do agree with you that Royal should have been permanently benched and Fine should have played the last several games. I am not entirely confident in the coaches' ability to identify talent, which is why I want Royal cut outright to leave the coaches with little option but to play Fine. Finally, the TE should not necessarily be a down field threat by default. If he covers the short to medium area of the field well, then it will open up the deep game for speedsters like Evans. My preference would be to cut Royal, get another TE, an experienced WR and promote Steve Johnson (another example of someone who should have played a lot more than he did).

** POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW **** Sure he can go in that direction. Was it Nolan who recently said that we need to separate the character from the actor ? If there is a Joker in a future movie, that actor will have a lot of pressure to live up to Ledger's performance. It will be better if that actor take a different tack with the role than Ledger did to lessen the impact of the inevitable comparisons.

My opinion is that both performances stand in the vision that the director created for the character. Burton and Nolan are both excellent directors and I think they may have chosen the actors based on how they envisioned the Joker. Both actors did full justice to their scripted roles. As a side note - remember that in 1989, Burton's Batman was considered a dark movie.

Nice !

I have not seen Gross play, but assuming what you say about his skills is true, why would he demand less money than Peters ? It is close to a free market - better talent should get paid more.

Ofcourse, Kelly. But not the way it was handled. I went to see it 'cos it was a Boyle movie and my wife wanted to see it cos her friends said it was great. Imagine the aftermath of walking out (on our anniversary !!!)

Call it the burden of my home city, but I walked out of the theatre after half an hour. I am from Mumbai and I just could not get beyond seeing that city shown in such poor light (slums, guy jumping in sh**...) I realize that one of the points of the movie was the rise of a boy from such surroundings. My decision to walk out was purely emotional - it sucks that Mumbai is frequently (also see Salaam Bombay) portrayed as place of slums and filth when it is far more than that. I have not heard the score of the movie but AR Rahman's music is quite different from the standard HIndi movie music. I happen to not be a fan of his cos there is not much originality in his music. And ... rap, Deano ?

HBD, beer dude. I drink to another 50 years.

Or he spends money on talent that is useless with the coaching we have...

I know the majority thinks the Iggles will win, but I think the Vikings D will be quite tough. I still maintain McNabb chokes and it depends if he chooses this week or next to do that. I won't bet my house, but if I did bet it would be in favor of the Vikings.

Looks like that long run by McGahee with the stiff-arm (which we used to love) will seal the deal.

Tat of the cover art from Jethro Tull's Catfish Rising

As I stated in another thread, the difference has to be coaching and schemes. Also, we were quite stacked in the secondary so he was expendable. Speaking of ex-Bills, Mike Gandy ('birthday boy') looked quite good yesterday. Too bad we were stacked on the OL also

Good games so far. However, I just can't get rid of this depressing feeling of yet another january without the Bills playing ...

Jim Leonhard has made some plays today. Coaching and schemes make a difference...

I agree that Peters had a down year but he had a stellar year before that. I just can't believe his talent disappeared overnight. Even after the first few games, he did not perform well which indicates (1) his injury was still bothering him and/or (2) he was not motivated enough to play to the level he can. If (1) is true, it needs to be determined if he will ever rise back to his 2007 level. If the team thinks not, he should be traded when his value is high due to the ProBowl nod. If it is (2), the coaches better do what they were doing in 2007. My personal feeling is that this was a uncharacteristic down year for him and he will return to his dominating form next year. At this point, the Bills do have leverage due to his lower performance and would be a good time to extend him (after assessing his health ofcourse). We cannot simply chase away key OL players who we do not consider probowl caliber. Ruben Brown is one example we got rid off and who proceeded to have a decent career with Chicago. I say, assess his health and if healthy give him a decent contract. Then go ahead and get a real C and RG.

Saying nothing is always an option.

Very nice work. I would be happy with Batch, Garcia, Carr or Ramsey as back-up. Unless the coaches feel the need to introduce some competition, in which case we may have to bring in someone who is young and prospective starter material. By the way, you did not track who will be the cheapest.

I hate to think about what the combination looks like. At this point, ANY schedule will look tough.

RW ?

Excellent point !

My general thoughts are that first adding even big name free agents not do much for our chances at a playoff appearance. As several other posters have stated, I too have little confidence that the coaching staff can bring out the best in the talent we have, or translate that combined talent into the best chance to win games. Secondly, I think we are underestimating the true loss to the Bills as a result of keeping DJ. There is more to the team's revenues than just the season ticket sales. I think businesses will reduce their Bills advertising which will hurt the team even more than the estimated $1 MM loss due to reduced ticket sales.

umm... what ?

Sure, every owner wants a winner. But I highly doubt RW knows how to build one any more. Arguably, he has never known it and the time we were successful was more due to Polian than RW.