Taro T

Wouldn't Bruce DeHaven seen an ability to play special teams if he had any?

Really? He had 1 great run in the playoffs against NO, but he'd been pretty disappointing other than that last year. Has he been looking better this preseason?

If so, either he's swapped code cards w/ somebody outside the blackout area, has DTV believing he lives outside the blackout zone, or he's damn lucky that somebody at DTV made an error. Whichever the reason he's not blacked out, I would recommend he not point out to DTV that he isn't. Everyone in Syracuse & west, and Erie & north is supposed to be blacked out. (Not sure if Elmira gets blacked out or not.)

Except it doesn't anymore. Those 7 or so houses and 1 restaurant were reclassified as belonging the the Ra-cha-cha market back w/in a year or 2 of the AFC contract going to CBS. Ralph basically said he didn't care, they were still Syracuse, and there would be no lifting of the blackout for the Syracuse market.

What's wrong w/ her celebrating a North American made car? The UAW does have chapters in Canada, you know. Amateur hour appears to roll on w/ no abatement. At least this administration is consistent.

How many Kent Staters are?

Didn't that one end up before an arbitrator w/ the NFLPA taking the Colts' side and the league agreeing w/ the Bills? IIRC the arbitrator ruled in favor of the Colts and then the league changed the rule to keep other teams from getting screwed the same way.

Kelly, the league let it go, because they hadn't specifically had a rule against it in the Wolford case. They also immediately changed the rule so that particular loophole was closed afterwards. Which really sucked for the Bills, because Wolford was playing like a HoFer to that point of his career and Fina, while serviceable, was never close to Wolford talentwise.

By definition.

As mentioned upthread, he wasn't 'cut.' He was put on waivers so that he could be reactivated from the injured reserve list. He wasn't left for dead by Houston. The Eulers were actually quite pissed that the Bills claimed him.

They'll try to time it; I'd expect the horse will be well out of the barn by the time Bernanke sees inflation on the horizon.

I wouldn't include Anderson on that list. He was a rookie when he was cut, and didn't beat out an incumbent, though there was a widely held perception that Anderson intentionally performed poorly in camp for the Bills because the Bills wouldn't give him a reasonable contract. He reluctantly signed what they offered, couldn't (wouldn't?) make any kicks, was cut at the end of the preseason, and then promptly was signed by the Steelers and played great for them for a VERY long time.

True. The article's author certainly comes across as a dink in his article. That, in and of itself, doesn't necessarily invalidate the research. Unfortunately, I don't have a subscription to Nature to read the original article.

To answer your bolded question: absolutely. Why do I say "absolutely?" Because Lou Saban was the reason his team made it to the 2 AFL championship runs, and he and Lou couldn't keep that together and because Bill Polian was the reason they made it to 4 consecutive Superbowls and he fired him in the middle of that run. IF Ralph has lucked into a keeper in Buddy Nix, he sure as heck will screw it up (if he lives that long). His past history shows that he (and his lackeys such as Littman) can't coexist w/ guys that know what they're doing. He screwed it up w/ Saban twice, he screwed it up w/ Knox, he screwed it up w/ Polian in spades, he screwed it up w/ Butler (who was nowhere nearly as talented as those others); and I have no reason to believe he won't mess it up again in the future given the chance. There is absolutely no LEGITIMATE excuse for having fired Polian. That guy has been 1 of the top 3 best GM's in his entire tenure in the league, and he'd be here today if Ralph hadn't been an idiot. If you can come up with a legitimate reason to have fired Polian (and I don't consider his butting heads w/ Littman nor calling Ralph's daughter a nasty name when she reported to him but was playing the 'my daddy owns the team' card legitimate reasons for firing him), then I might agree that Ralph gets criticism he doesn't deserve. But until I see that reason, I will stick with the belief that Ralph has earned all (well, most of it at any rate) the criticism he gets.

Well, they were also helped by reduced DoD spending as a result of the end of the Cold War. But even w/ all that, as you alluded to w/ your "surpluses;" we have not had a true budget surplus in my lifetime.

Not sure about south, but everything in the Syracuse market is blacked out to your East when the Bills don't sell out. Prior to CBS taking over the AFC, the dividing line was the Monroe County / Wayne County border.

Kelly, I didn't mean to imply that he can't throw the ball at all nor did I state that the wildcat couldn't work if it has a guy running it that can throw the ball. Actually, I think that his skill set can make the wildcat work as a change up to the normal package and had stated that in the post you took exception to. I think he'll give the Bills 2-4 extra 1st downs per game than they'd get using just their base defense. I also don't see him having a good enough arm to be a legit starter, but I am not the guy that doesn't think he's smart (I haven't actually seen anybody take the position that he isn't smart in this thread) nor am I the guy that is imagining others don't think he's smart. And, even with someone like Smith running the wildcat, I don't see it working over a full season as a team's base package because eventually the guy running it will get too banged up. But as a change of pace, where it isn't the thing the other team has been gameplanning against all week, especially when a pass is a legit threat 1/3 - 40% of the time, it could not just work but be reasonably successful. And for Smith to run the wildcat successfully especially the way it seems to be envisioned this season here, being smart is a definite positive and pretty much a necessity. Which is just one more strike against the original straw man.

That would be a reasonable explanation. Thanks.

And as Kelly and others have pointed out, the reason Smith isn't considered in the discussion as a starter isn't because of any lack of intellectual skills, but rather because he doesn't have the throwing / passing skills that are expected of an NFL caliber starting QB. The Fish have shown that once the gimmick of the wildcat wears off, it isn't a particularly useful primary offense because it is highly predisposed to the run. A Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, or even a Michael Vick could probably be effective with it because they have (had) the ability to make NFL starting quarterback quality throws. Of course, their coaches wouldn't likely put them into a wildcat offense on a regular basis because they wouldn't want their passer getting the pounding that Ronnie Brown took. Smith hasn't shown anybody (except perhaps you and a handful of others) that he can throw the football well enough to be a starter at this level. Hopefully, he'll show enough throwing ability that between making the opposing D defend a regular O and the regular wildcat that it can work for Buffalo as a change up to the normal package(s). Again, not considering him as starting material has nothing to do with what's in his head, it's what's not in his arm that's the issue.

OK, even if the team is trying to pinch Ralph's pennies, in what bizarro world would a 4th be a preferable return to that? The news / banter just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

That Tebow will likely be a bust at the NFL level and there are people that don't believe nor expect that doesn't effect Brad Smith's intelligence level; it more likely is indicative of their intelligence level. It also doesn't alter your having set up a very bizarre straw man regarding Smith.

How in the world did you make the logical progression from 'some people would like to see the Bills acquire Tebow' to 'people think Brad Smith is dumb?'

What? That Maxine's a loon? You won't get much argument about that.

GR had a quote from him stating essentially that he didn't understand what was going on w/ Spiller and him being 1 & 1A and he did not sound happy about it. The actual quote is probably in their audio vault.

How in the world do you come up with that?!? Jackson, flat out, is better than CJ NOW. CJ looks very scary in picking up blitzes NOW. He isn't where Jackson is NOW. While he MAY turn out to be a bust, he could also become a really good back. Other than attempting to tank games to have a better chance of getting 'better through the draft' next year, I don't see a legitimate reason to consider CJ to be a 'co #1' or '1A.' While it's troubling that Spiller hasn't appeared to pick up on things he'll need to do better, it is only his 2nd season and he had no contact w/ the coaching staff until about 3 weeks ago this off-season. Hopefully, he'll get it in time. He could, but he's not there yet; the good news is that Fred is there. It's a shame for guys like Spiller that the lockout took place, because a full off-season of OTA's and mini-camps would likely do him a world of good.