Casey D
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Posts posted by Casey D
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do we know how much money/year the contract is? i haven't seen anything yet
It is for 4 years, but I have seen no numbers. There is an article on the main page from a Rock Hill paper in South Carolina, where Hangartner says it is not a "sick" contract, but it is for more money than I ever thought I'd make. Estimated to be north of $3M/year-- probably $14-16M for 4 years.
That article is also interesting in what it reveals about Hangartner. Talks about how much he is liked in Carolina, and about an emotional phone call he had with Delhomme about leaving. Seeing that, and seeing he is real smart--which is critical for a center, as it impacts the whole line as he makes the blocking calls--I am feeling very good about this guy.
Now we need a left guard, a linebacker, and someone who can make plays catching the ball(WR or TE) in FA and we would be in pretty good shape going into the draft.
I also like Fitzpatrick. I think a smart QB is really good too. Strikes me as a Frank Reich type, not blessed with great physical tools, so he can't be a starter because his weaknesses are eventually exposed, but plenty smart and good to fill in. Brains are underestimated at the QB position, in favor of physical gifts. That's Losman's problem, all the physical tools in the world, but inadequate brain power to harness those gifts...CD
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That's good.
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Dick- At the end of the game you put the pressure on your footballs players. Kickers, while wearing a football uniform, are not football players. You put the pressure on your O to get into range where there is no pressure. That includes the possibilty to trust your qb to make a 5 yard pass. We have a DICK, but no NUTS.
Exactly! CD
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Last night's game was a real low point for me. I've followed the Bills for almost 40 years from multiple states. What did me in was the deja vu element of Super Bowl XXV. Not the 'wide right' but the philosophy of the coaching staff. Just like last night, we had time in the Super Bowl to get closer but decided not to risk it and set up a 47 yard field goal. That's not coaching, that's laying the blame on someone else. A 47 yd field goal isn't a gimmee and it's NOT a risk you should be willing to settle for with a Championship or a season on the line. Both coaches (Levy & Jauron - ironic Levy hired Jauron, isn't it?) showed no confidence in the QB or their players or their ability to call the right play at a clutch moment. Norwood nor Lindell didn't blow it, their coaches froze. They decided to 'pray' instead of 'play'. Very nice people, both of them. Excellent minds. But I'm afraid not quite 'championship' material. They can do a great job of keeping a team together (what Marv did for 4 years was outstanding and Jauron kept the team together last year) but when faced with an equal or superior opponent their philosophies of reaching but not grabbing the moment comes up short.
Jauron missed a great opportunity to motivate this team. Let's say he throws a few screens, short passes, maybe a longer strike to seal the game, an endaround, or something beside 3 straight runs and FAILS to advance the ball. He goes back to the locker room and press conference and says, 'hey, I believe in these guys. They didn't get it done tonight but I know these guys will get it done more often than not in the future so I have no problems trying to win this game with these guys. Trent had a poor game - just like all the hall-of-famers did - yet he had us in position to win the game despite the bad start. I wanted the game on HIS shoulders. He's won final drive games before and he will many times in the future. I'm sure others will say, 'you should have let your OUTSTANDING kicker finish the game' but while we do have an OUTSTANDING kicker we also have an outstanding team that will win these game. That I can promise you." He'd be a hero in the locker room. But now what do we have after last night - a QB with a shaky confidence that was REINFORCED not supported by the coaching staff and a kicker that now wears a "Wide Right' necklase. Terrible coaching philosophy by a very good man. Sad all the way around.
I agree completely with this observation on Jauron. Super Bowl 25 not so much--there was only 7 or 8 seconds left when Norwood kicked. Another play and the clock could easily have expired. No such excuse last night. Settling for a 47 yard field goal try into the wind on a cold night is utterly indefensible when there is a minute on the clock. While all aspects of the team sucked last night, the game was still winnable but for that final coaching error. Lindell has hit 44 in a row inside the 40. Get to the 23, and you have as sure a thing as you can get in football. But we essentially kneel down at the 30, and so we lose. I can't watch this stupidity for a while...Cd
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Marv tried to rebuild this team with character guys--guys who would pull together.
You never learn that much in life--or anything--when you are doing well, a test of any person is how they respond when things go bad--when there is adversity. Well the Bills face adversity in bucketloads right now.
They now face another soft patch in their schedule. If they dig down deep, there is no reason they cannot get on a little roll--if they want it. I agree it looks grim at the moment, but the hole is not that deep at 5-4, thanks to the fast start. They need to stop digging, and move forward. If these guys have the character I believe they do, things could still get interesting in December...CD
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In the short term, I'd say this is VERY good for Buffalo. Indy plays NE at home this week and should now have even more motivation to win.
Long term, it's largely irrelevant. Too many variables between now and week 17. Tenny has a 4 game lead in their division with 9 games left, so they will probably win their division. I expect Indy to be fighting for a wild card spot as they get healthier. Buffalo, of course, needs to take care of their own games first. I could see us winning the division, and I could see us just as easily missing the playoffs. Take a look:
1. Tenn: 7-0
2. Pitt: 5-2
3. NE: 5-2
4. Denver: 4-3
5. Buff: 5-2
6. Balt: 4-3
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7. NYJ: 4-3
8-16. AFC teams with 4 or more losses
Things are obviously pretty tight right now...
I don't think the seeding works the way you indicate any more. Winning the division no longer seeds you higher than a wild card with a better record, at least I think they made that change in the off-season. The reason was to force teams to continue to play until the end, and not hold back when their seed position was locked up...CD
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Only a TD favorite against Miami? Heck, they should be favored by @ least 20.
Then you should bet on Buffalo when the time comes...lol...CD
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While it's been argued elsewhere on this board that yesterdays game was the least critical of this 3 game division gauntlet, I disagree. It may have been the MOST critical. While most would probably say that the Bills should win this week at home vs NYJ, @Miami was probably our best chance to go 2-1 in the division. Does anyone really think that we have a better chance to win in New England than at Miami? We've had success at Dolphin stadium in the past. We haven't won at NE since probably the late 90's. If I was a betting man, I don't bank on that streak ending this year. If we won yesterday, we're probably 7-2 going into the Monday night game with Cleveland and in good shape for the division. Now we're probably 6-3 with a 1-2 division mark. Our "home game" against the fish is in freakin' Toronto. A game I actually have felt unsure of all season. We won't see NE again until week 17. It may not matter then. Amazing how one division loss can change things, but throw in an injury to Reed with no viable backup and an ailing secondary and things are looking tough. Division contests don't get any bigger than next Sunday. Even if we win we're swimming upstream for awhile unless we now figure out how to win at Gillette. It's not over by any means but an opportunity was lost yesterday and it may get worse soon.
Frankly, your post is kind of silly, with 9 games still remaining. You are putting way too much stock in yesterday's game, and the next two games(assuming we don't lose all three). Nothing was ever a lock, and nothing is out of the question.
Suppose we are 6-3, as you suggest--which may be likely(say beating the Jets and losing to NE). The Bills next four games are Cle, at KC, SF and Miami--all very winnable games(all games in which the Bills will be favored--probably by a touchdown or more). Even if they lose one, that gets them to 9-4 with three games to go at NYJ, at Den and home against NE. If they split the first two of those games, they are 10-5 facing NE on the last game of the season at home. A very good(and fun) place to be if you ask me--and something a playoff caliber team ought to be able to get to given the schedule. If they can't get to 10-5, they don't deserve anything anyway...CD
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Despite the long-stanidng rivalry with the Dolphins, this has all the characteristics of a 'Trap' game that they fell into.
- Big 'signature' win last week
- An increase in positive press coverage
- A road game against an inferior opponent that they had defeated the last 4 times.
- A motivated divisional opponent
- Two big Division games coming up (Favre & Pats).
Add to that a few key injuries (Schobel, Youbouty, Reed).
Afterwards, they came out and said that they were not as prepared as they thought they were. I have full confidence that will not happen the next two weeks, and the Bills will be 7-2 and 2-1 in the Division.
I think you totally nailed it.
The NFL is very even right now--no real dominant teams, and only a few terrible teams. So any given week, teams that just played well play poorly, and vice versa.
For example, San Diego loses to Miami and then pounds New England--so they are back. Then the Bills beat them, after the Bills suffered a bad loss to Arizona. New England gets pounded by San Diego, then pounds Denver. Arizona gets pounded by the Jets, then beats the Bills and Cowboys. Miami beats NE and San Diego, then lose to a winless Houston team. It goes on and on. The whole season has been like that--not just with the Bills.
If things go according to this roller coaster form, I expect the Bills to do very well against the Jets. I am not nearly as sure that they will beat NE in NE. But after the NE game, the Bills have four consecutive very winnable games(Cle, at KC, SF and Mia). If the Bills go 6-3, and stay reasonably focused, no reason they cannot be 10-3, or at the worst 9-4, when they hit the final three games which are a bit tougher(at Jets, at Den, NE). I like our chances...CD
- Big 'signature' win last week
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Anyone know about the injuries that occurred to DiGorgio, Peters, and Butler?
We'll get a report I'm sure from Jauron in the next day or so, but if we lose Peters and/or Butler, our offensive line depth will really be tested.
Peters and Butler both came back and played.
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Reading all the comments on the Board--and from the media experts--this seems like a perfect trade. Column in the Baltimore Sun says the Ravens gave up too much. Others ask "are the Bills crazy." So like a settlement in litigation when nobody is totally happy, the deal is usually fair in these circumstances. Time to move on and use the draft pick resources to our advantage... CD
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just because he heard it does not mean there is not a link somewhere....lightenup Francis
This is wrong I believe. The news story is that since New England traded a 2nd rounder to Miami to get Walker, it will be hard for them to pursue Moss, who they have had an interest in. I could be wrong, but this sounds like a game of telephone...CD
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No need to apologize Casey D, most informative post I've read here in months, thank you.
You're most welcome...CD
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Dead-on Casey. Also another important piece to the "Ralph isn't whining" puzzle is that every team that has built a new stadium, starting with the Pats, has received $150M in essentially free money from the NFL (that includes Ralph) to build their new stadia, yet they're not expecting to share "local" revenue.
I don't give much credence to the arguments of the big market teams. They basically want a baseball model, where they can buy a title. It's the only way a guy like Danny Snyder can do it, given his horrendous track record even on the mildly biased--in his favor--system now in place.
When the Steelers become like the Pirates, you'll know the NFL has killed the golden goose.. Hopefully the owners will heed the motto "pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."...CD
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Dev I understand that aspect of it. My question is:
Salary cap 100 million
Bills salary 80 million
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free cap space 20 million
If the Bills in fact have 20 million real dollars left over where does that money go?
I'm sure it gets complicated with the CBA and revenue sharing as all of that 20 million may not have
been generated by the BB.
Let's go through at a basic level the economics of an NFL franchise, and then you can answer your own question. We'll use two teams as examples, with numbers that are not actual, but a good guesstimate.
There are two basic sources of revenue for all NFL teams--shared and unshared. Shared revenue includes 1/32 of the TV money, and formulaic sharing of ticket sales. Unshared income includes private suites, charging for training camp, private seat licenses(PSLs), merchandise, and stadium deals.
Each team also has costs. Salaries are the biggest. Right now the cap is around 64% of TOTAL League revenue under the new CB(which has not yet been ratified by the owners, by the way). Under the last CBA, the cap was linked to total shared revenues only, and this change adversely effects the Bills, let me illustrate in a moment. Teams have other costs as well, such as debt service on the purchase of the team and stadiums. These costs do not adversely effect the Bills--as Ralph owns the team free and clear and did not build the stadium--but it does effect teams like NE, Philly, etc who have new stadiums.
Let's use Buffalo and Washington as examples. Let's say the Bills get $110 M in shared revenue. Let's say they make $35M in unshared revenue. That's $145 M they can spend on EVERYTHING and stay in the black. Say Washington also gets the same $110 M in shared, but earns $125 M in unshared. It has $225 M to spend and stay in the black. Let's also assume that the average team has total revenues of $175 M, so the salary cap is set at 64% of $175 m, or roughly $111 M.
In this example, the amount that the Bills can spend under the cap is actually 76% of its total revenues, while Washington only has to spend 49%. In $$$ terms, after spending to the cap, the Bills are left with just $34 M to pay for everything else--all overhead, coaches, debt service(none right now), out of pocket bonus money,etc. Washington has $114 M.
If the Bills do not "spend to the cap" as you suggest, it does not create more revenue, it simply let's them keep money for other things. For example if they only spent $100 M on salaries, they would have $45 M left for other things--still far less than Washington.
What Ralph wants is more of the unshared revenue to be shared, to fix this imbalance. While this might seem like asking for a handout--and it is a bit-- actually it is fair because now that the cap is a % of all revenues(as opposed to only shared revenues under the old CBA), the unshared revenues from teams like Wash, Philly and NY(especially when they have a new stadium) drives up the cap, and creates revenues for the big teams to pay the increase, but adds nothing to Buffalo's revenue stream. In other word, the big teams drive up the Bills costs with their unshared revenue schemes, but provide no new income to Buffalo to pay for it.
Now the big teams argue that they have a lot more costs--mostly debt service for their stadiums and/or paying the debt on purchasing the franchise)-to make the extra revenue, and its not fair for them to give money to Buffalo who, while having low revenue, have lower costs. But that's why Ralph gets all worked up about a new NY stadium, it just is going to make worse the problem the Bills and other small teams already have.
Now the Bills will be OK until Ralph dies, but then we will be screwed unless new revenue sharing has been put into place. The reason is the new Bills owners will have to pay say $700 M for the team. They will have to borrow money to finance some of this-- let's say half or $350 M. If they have to pay 10 % interest on this annually--that's $35 M more each year in costs for the new owner that Ralph does not have. That makes the Bills a non-viable operation in Buffalo, without revenue sharing.
So that's what all this is about. I believe that ultimately there will be more revenue sharing that will keep our Bills safe. But until we get it, Ralphie will B word. And it's not because he is whiny, it's because of the economics I just laid out.
Sorry this is long, but it's a little complicated... Happy New Year... CD
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Notwithstanding his misstep in the end zone--and who among us has never screwed up--I really like this guy. Listening to him talk, he's smart, and seems like a quality guy. Fairchild started working him into the offense late in the season, and he has responded. At 27/28, I look for big things from him next year.
I really think the Bills need to spend all their off-season addressing the lines, with some lesser re-examination and tweaking at LB and WR. I leave it up to Marv and Co. about how critical Clements is at the price he will cost. I think the rest of the team is solid, especially with a year with Jauron and company under their belt.
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It's funny after how painful the loss on Sunday, it turns out it really did not matter from a playoff perspective. The Jets win last night would have effectively ended the Bills playoff chances even if they won against Tennessee, because it would have taken(at least) a Bills win against Baltimore, a DEN loss at home to SF, and a KC win over Jax, just to get the Bills into a position to get a tiebreaker.
So to paraphrase Bill Murray in Meatballs, "it just didn't matter."
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was a great run, really exciting football the last month and a half...
I'm just happy that we won't be looking to draft a QB in the offseason, we have something to build on!
Every game I went to at the ralph was awesome (the two games i attended on the road, Chicago and Detroit, kinda stanked)
Can't wait for next year, got season tickets for the first time!
GO BILLS!
As painful as it is today, when we reflect on this season we'll remember how far we came since last January, when the Bills were a national laughingstock.
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Me 2! And on turnovers, it's the only way for our D to survive against anyone, given how soft we are against the run.
But the way the Ravens handled the Steelers yesterday, I would have given the Bills no better than about a 20% chance of doing that with the Ravens really wanting the game--per today's Baltimore Sun.
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We should all keep in my that even with a win yesterday, and a Jets loss tonight, the Bills still had a hugely difficult game next week. The Ravens need a win against the Bills to ensure a bye. As much as I wished the Bills had won and kept their chances alive yesterday, we have to remember that it would have remained a longshot chance nonetheless.
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Hangartner
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Really, I did not get that impression at all. The exchange with Delhomme said to me they were close because Hangartner came in and protected Delhomme's ass. Between that, and the guy's clear intelligence, he seems like an excellent pick up for a center. Perhaps with him making the line calls, and an upgrade on the line overall(still needing a LG of course), we will see significant improvement. But it is funny how people read the same thing and have totally different takes.