Fan in Chicago

I don't think Peters is the only difference between a winning and losing season, albeit a big difference. And if Walker does play & play very well at the LT position, I have no problem renegotiating his contract if he goes about it in a proper manner.

Do we really need yet another thread about this topic ?

Come on man, Bluefire is correct on this one. Define that convention any way you like, but it is typically how a dialog/debate progresses. If a person puts forth a statement, the onus is on him/her to back it up with facts. Not on the other person challenging that statement.

The over-arching theme to the movie is that the joker is creating chaos to push everybody over the edge and reveal their baser, corruptible side, which he is convinced everybody has. Perhaps you can read into his drive a desire to vindicate his own 'craziness'. If you analyze closely enough, perhaps you can dig up some illogical scenes but I won't label them plot holes (which I consider to be obvious gaffes). To me, the director provided enough throughout the movie to earn a suspension of disbelief and hence I enjoyed the movie. Unlike Indy 4 which was ridiculous. While I understand that you did not like the movie, your opening statement 'if this is the best Hollywood has to offer ....' is a bit over the top to me. That is the statement which caused me to question your post. If you are looking for entertainment, you can do far far worse at the movies before proclaiming that Hollywood needs to start from scratch.

Really ? Care to share why you disliked the movie so much ?

The analogy according to me is if a new hire gets more money than, say, a 10 year old veteran. That veteran is then justified in going to his boss and requesting pay equity or better because he has already proven himself to be invaluable to an organization. However, it would not be correct for that employee to stop reporting to work during team preparations for a major upcoming project until he gets said raise. Doing so hurts the team and the start of the project. This behavior dictates whether or not he is a team player. If anything, the Bills have treated players in good faith and have come through - recall the promise not to franchise Nate Clements for a second time and doing exactly that. Hence, there is no track record to say that the Bills will promise to negotiate with Peters in camp and not do so. Peters OTOH is demanding a raise for the second time in 2 years and acting more belligerent this time around.

Better start preparing for a better 2009 draft pick right from game 1 onwards.

First of all, I appreciated your posts on other topics as they are at least well thought out and supported by facts. On this topic however I disagree with you. On a philosophical level, the Bills helped make Peters what he is today - a highly rated O lineman. In addition, he got a hefty raise not too long back. Given this, his hold out is disturbing and mildly frustrating to me. I do understand this is a business and there is a legitimate case for him to get much more money. Which side needs the other more is debatable but what is clear is that both sides need each other badly. Apart from my philosophical (BS) point above, Peters has chosen the path of confrontational negotiations which is an unpleasant way to go about things. Even if he signs in time for Aug 8th, he still will have hurt the team.

Reflects my thoughts entirely. As a side note - his recent antics are only serving to wipe away the rosy image I had of him as a nobody who worked his way up to become a star in the league. With his ungrateful actions, he is shown himself to be nothing more than a greedy athlete to me. And I really am hoping he reads this thread to see how a majority of the fans on this board feel he is justified in asking for a raise but is being a sulking a$$ going about it.

And, next to Dockery, if he appears to be more than adequate at LT, Peters may lose a lot of leverage. Either way, this situation may turn out to be a good learning experience about just how badly we need Peters, or not.

I am not sure you can make the conclusion that if the team makes him happy now, that he will stay happy for the length of his new contract. He already got a raise, what 2 years back, and is now pouting big time ? What happens if and when he makes multiple pro-bowls ? From both, Peters' and the Bills', perspectives they can only do what makes sense in the medium term. I do believe Peters deserves more money now but he is going about it the wrong way and the Bills are doing the right thing by making him sweat. Aug 8th is not too far away but his lack of participation in TA, especially in a new offense, will hurt us even going into the regular season. Even if he reports, say around Aug 8th, he has lost valuable practice time which will cause a problem even though the line has been together since last year.

Just to set the record straight - I am totally in favor of this expansion. Both from a pragmatic point of view and selfish (my company will do most of the work ). And you are right - people just want cheap & abundant gasoline and power. If they don't get it, they want the gubmint to make it so and blame the oil companies for making ... gasp.... high profits.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080729/bp_refinery.html?.v=1 So BP is planning an expansion to process more Canadian crude (reduces reliance on sources in politically unstable areas), complies with environmental laws (but is being held to a higher standard), wants to spend some of the 'windfall profits' (read: more jobs) and produce more gasoline (to relieve any supply issues in the Midwest). However, it is creating a firestorm between groups in Indiana and Illinois about who will be the first to stop this expansion. What gives ?

Thanx for the report. I hope your judgment that JP outplayed TE in this session is based on more than these 2 passes. Also, nice to see a nobody like Johnson to put in extra effort. Interesting that Schouman is being used as a TE rather than FB.

Hardy is unproven, I still suspect Parrish's capabilities, Tight End position is unproven, OC is a question mark, run blocking is average.

You are overstating the obvious my friend...

Favre coming to Buffalo is wrong on many levels: - I am not convinced we are a QB away from the playoffs. We are an offensive scheme and skill talent away from it. - Trent is our starting QB and it will not be good for his development to be told he is not the starter. Trent was thrust into the starting job last year and needs to continue playing. Getting Favre is a stop-gap measure which IMHO will not mask the weaknesses of our offense (namely: not enough, proven players as WR and TE). - What happens if (when ?) Favre sucks and starts throwing a lot of interceptions ? Do the fans have the b@lls to call for his benching especially when we will be the focus of national attention once Favre becomes our starter ? - Will Jauron have the b@lls to bench Favre ? Does he risk his career on a Tom Donahoe-like flashy move which has way too much risk associated with it ? - The money and/or draft picks that may be needed may make this a very expensive gamble for us in the long run. We need the money to lock up Peters and Evans this year plus sign some more FAs next year - We really don't need a side-show on the team. I would rather continue with our ground-up rebuilding process and set up for a long multi-season win streak. Bottom line, weighing the risk and perceived rewards, I think this potential acquisition is way unbalanced against the Bills.

Do people advocating Favre as a Bill really believe that the QB is the only position keeping us from making the playoffs ?

Very true that movie preferences are very subjective. This movie was great without having to apply the 'est' at the end. It is immaterial. IMHO, 'Gone Baby Gone' was the best movie of last year and NCFOM was way over-hyped. But none of those two statements matter to anyone but me.

8 years ? While I agree in principle with your post, I am not so sure his smile will stay equally wide 2 years from now.

Probably just Favre.

I too don't think the boards or the votes on IMDB count for anything. But a slight counterpoint to your argument - I was very eager to see Indy 4 and used to visit the boards occassionally. When the movie disappointed me, out of spite I made sure I went to that page and gave it a poor rating. My point is that the votes for movies are not necessarily just by people who loved or hated a movie.

I am trying to understand your point. You were waiting for JP to have a LONG scramble but in comparison you remember Trent scrambling for short - medium yardage when required. Some stats: JP in 37 games rushed 91 times for 419 yards: 2.46 rushes/game at a 4.6 yard/rush TE in 10 games rushed 14 times for 49 yards: 1.4 rushes/game at a 3.5 yard/rush JP attempted to rush more times and gained more on average per rush.