Taro T

But what there is of one WON'T highlight the reason for the delay, and any R claims of it being proof that the rates are higher than previously advertised will be pooh-poohed as partisan posturing.

But the narrative of WHY the rate announcement is delayed will be driven by the WH, not the HoR.

You really think the President will allow the rates to be announced 1 month before the midterms?

Nobody explained how addressing preexisting conditions would have made a difference for a patient with a preexisting condition?

[quote name=G G' timestamp=1381253825' post='2939199] I know that it's the fans' nature to expect immediate results from players, but the main knock on EJ coming in was that he perhaps was not ready to be an NFL quarterback, and that sitting and learning for a year would be a good move for his development. To me, there's no doubt Bills had that in mind with whichever QB they were going to draft, and I firmly believe their plan was to have Kolb start the year. So I'm hoping that Kolb's injury doesn't derail EJ's progress and now I'm thinking that the mild knee sprain can work to his advantage for next year. EJ has shown flashes, but to me there are still many aspects of the game that need coaching and observing outside game situations. I think this time off will give him the opportunity to slow things down and hopefully refocus on the fundamentals, instead of game day preparation. I don't think that he's had a chance to do that since he arrived. The preseason injury came at a bad time, because you could sense they were trying to rush him back into the line up with Kolb out. If Kolb was not hurt, there's no way that EJ starts the opener. I think the pressure is off him for a couple of weeks. There should be no reason to rush EJ back into the line up now. If Lewis bombs, then the Bills would be out of playoff contention. If Lewis does well, then you can also ease EJ back on a slower schedule. I think over the long term, this mid-season break will work to EJ's favor. Interesting idea. Where I see it as a blessing in disguise is his inability to realize the negative consequence of taking unneccesary hits only cost him ~4 games. He's supposed to be a smart guy. Smart guys learn lessons quickly. If he learned this one, it's probably worth it.

If he ever gets to proposing A budget, I suppose he could think about then getting a balanced one out. Baby steps.

Too cheap to buy a mulligan for charity?

Not surprising that you don't remember something that doesn't jibe with your view of the world. He was pretty consistent in saying he'd be reelected because people are morons.

I'm in.

With all due respect, it isn't the same thing. If you have a revolving door at tackle, you can still keep a TE or RB in to help him block. And when the D gets through, they still have limitations on where / how they can hit the QB. (Far more limitations than on hitting a RB) And, if you have a revolving door at tackle, you are pretty much telegraphing that any read option plays will almost exclusively necessarily go away from that revolving door. Much like they would with a designed rollout to buy some extra time from that guy's side. As somebody else said earlier, the guys that run a read option are younger guys. As they age, they will necessarily go away from it. It'll be interesting to see how the Skins change the way they use RG3 this year, if at all. I'd expect they'll still use the read option alot, but not nearly as much as last year. I keep reading that teams are planning on hitting CK every time he runs the read option whenever possible. Knowing the QB is going to get crushed every time will likely limit the read option to a handful of guys built like a Cam Newton or Russell Wilson sooner than later. (And it's not like all 32 teams will be running read option this year.) RBs have short careers because of the pounding they take; I don't see teams continuing to have their star QBs taking that kind of punishment once Ds get used to defending it.

Obviously, a QB could break their leg in the pocket. But there are a whole lot of rules governing how a QB can be hit in the pocket (or not hit, more accurately). They don't have nearly the same protections when out of the pocket nor when appearing to be a runner while still in the pocket. Unless the rules on hitting running QBs change dramatically, I don't expect to see most teams using a run option as a major component of the offense in ~3 years. MOST QBs aren't built to take that kind of punishment; and even those that are, if they've got an accurate strong arm, why risk losing it for a decade's worth of production by having that be a major part of the O?

The issue always was they didn't want the QB getting the snot getting beaten out of him. It remains to be seen whether a run option QB can be durable. RG3 didn't even make it an entire season without suffering a major knee injury.

Christie is definitely my favorite kicker, so I'm glad that his record wasn't broken by a good (but not great) player. I liked Lindell (after he got his accuracy back after recovering from the shoulder (IIRC) injury that messed up his mechanics early on) but he wasn't one of the greats. Due to rarely ever trying long ones, Lindell's accuracy was inflated a bit. Christie could boom 'em and was accurate too. It'll be broken eventually; I'm hoping that it's a great player that does it.

How is something that's predictable and to be expected 'amazing?' 'Typical' would have been more accurate.

John, Cool idea. Sorry I won't be able to make the drive. Maybe next year.

It's not even close between Kent Dorfman and him.

It's possible he makes the team, but right now I'm not expecting it. I'd like to see Hogan and Easley both get some work w/ the 1's against the Skins (even though it'll be Kolb rather than EJ looking for them) to see if they can get open against the 1's. If they can only do it against the 2's-4's, I'd expect Rogers chances go up. If they get the chance and look reasonable, Rogers is probably toast. Perhaps his physical potential will get him onto this squad. Unless Easley or Hogan falter these last 2, I expect he'll have to show more from here than he has to date.

He definitely seemed 'Trentative' out there. Hopefully that's just a case of him not facing real action for ~10 months. If not, his tenure backing up EJ will be short. He'll get a lot of action against the Skins. For his sake, he'd better make the most of that one.

I'd be surprised if Rogers makes this squad. If he clears waivers, which he probably won't, then I'd expect him on the PS. Paul Hamilton was saying on GR that he'd miss reps in practice because he wasn't paying attention. Maybe he's slow to mature, maybe he's just slow, but either way, if he can't focus well enough to take his reps in practice and he doesn't get reps in games, I don't see him fitting into their scheme at present and possibly ever. Maybe he'll be a star in the league some day, I don't see it in this scheme. This looks like a really talented bunch of receivers - the Bills haven't had that in ~10 years. I don't see them keeping a true project on the active roster when they've got the opportunity to keep several other guys that could potentially step up as a reasonable starter this year and have potential to be true #2 quality guys next season.

Unfortunately I am out.

That would be amazing. Right now, I'd be extremely happy with Tuel continuing to look good when he plays garbage minutes in preseason games the next 2-3 years getting a chance to play in A real game over that same time period and then dumping him like the FLA teams dumped Mitchell and Johnson. Tuel looked good in 1 appearance. Keep giving him opportunities to look good in garbage time this preseason; builds his confidence and maybe long run builds his trade value. Maybe he even becomes a useful #2 for the Bills down the line. All of it's good, none of it's a given. Give EJ the bulk of the #1 reps and get him ready for the opener. If they can't get him ready to start the opener, which would be somewhat surprising the way he looked in the 1st outing, then throw Kolb to the wolves. Right now the odds are strongly indicating that EJ's the QB of the future. Why screw around with that by giving the guy that was only supposed to be camp fodder #1 reps?

The HD feed on 13 definitely had issues. I've still got a TV hooked up to an SD box and that feed wasn't effected by whatever was going on.

Now that the game will no longer be live, IF it shows up again on NFL Network, then it won't be blacked out. So you might still be able to get their take on it.

Because Channel 13 broadcast the game. When the local station has exclusive broadcast rights in the market, the other channels get blacked out. It's the same way w/ Sabres games and CI. You cannot get the other team's feed in Buffalo / Ra-cha-cha.

Bills win coin toss. Brad Smith brings opening kickoff back for a TD. Marrone and Crossman reward him w/ a wildcat snap on extra point and he runs it in. Bills up 8-0.