gobillsinytown

Quote from the Sports Xchange: "Buffalo, 1-10 last year, has an impressive schedule outside the Mid-American Conference next fall, facing Auburn, Boston College and Wisconsin" I think "impressive" is a very kind word to describe the slaughter. Here in Youngstown, OH, the Youngstown State Penguins (Div 1AA) are getting into this act. Last year they played Pitt and got beat 48-0. This year, they're playing Penn State. These are what college coaches call "money games". Youngstown St. got a check for about 350 grand to play Pitt last year, and will get close to a half million to be destroyed by Penn State this year. It's like revenue sharing for colleges. It's all about the networking, just like in the pros.....Jim Tressel coached YSU for fifteen years before taking the Ohio St. job, and I see Turner Gill is the new HC of the Bulls. Hopefully it will lead to better play since they'll hopefully use the money to upgrade the program. I feel sorry for the players though........there's nothing quite like getting pounded so badly that the other team's freshmen are in the game by the third quarter.

You forgot: -bench any player who doesn't agree -desperately shuffle positions -lose winnable games due to radical trick plays and poor game management -do such a bizarre job of managing the team that the 87 year old owner is forced to come to the office and have a private talk with one of your vetran players. -lose job at the end of the year.

Probably nothing, unless it's for legal purposes as far as formalizing the organizational chart. The only significance that I can see is that it may put his daughter in a better position to control the team if Ralph "goes to the big front office in the sky" By every account I've read, his daughter is actually quite competent. That's a good thing if he's positioning her to inherit the team.

You hit it right on the head.

From the site, which is awesome: "Sometimes instead of the safeties dividing up their jobs in terms of run support and pass support, instead the safeties will divide up the field into a left half and a right half, and each will be responsible for anything that comes into his half of the field. This type of division of responsibility is becoming more and more common, and is called a "cover-2" defense." Now we know why they drafted so heavily toward Saftey/DB. That's a lot of ground to cover, so you need players fast enough to do it, and big enough to handle the run support.

No one should forget though: The most important aspect of any OL is chemistry. I don't think there's any other unit on a football team that has to play well together in order to succeeed. I believe this is why teams with OL's that have played together for a while generally have better O-Lines. That's getting harder to do with free agency, but I think the rule still applies. If the coaching staff can settle on a starting five an actually stick with them, we should see some dividends by mid to late season. For example: Bennie Anderson may have been a better player in Baltimore because he fit their scheme better and worked better with his teammates on the line. When he came to Buffalo he had to start over. Some players make this transition better than others. At least this year there shouldn't be any desperation shuffling by the head coach to try and save his job.

I read today that Vick looked awful. No accuracy on his passes, and he looked like he's forgotten how to run even a basic offense. The article said he might be able to stick on somewhere as a "slash" type player. However, the article also said that Turley actually looked pretty good at TE and was the most promising player in the tryouts. But it's one thing to run around in minicamp and another to keep his temper during a game when everybody on defense is going to be trash talking to try and get him to loose his cool.

I wouldn't worry about TKO's ability to pick up a scheme. He's too much a student of the game to be confused. I think he meant that he's frustrated that he can't be out there fully participating in it. He wants out there in the worst way and I think that's testing him. I think camp is going to be critical time for him becaust the temptation to overdo it is going to be enormous. Judging by the article I read about him in Sports Illustrated, it was a huge test of his patience not to overdo it a couple of days after the surgery. I also like that he mentioned he's going to "straighten out" a few Patriots players, who apparently were pushing around some of our players on defense. Apparently he's big on field "etiquette" and is anxious to "remind" some of the Patriots players of that. I can't wait for our first game with them! I'm going to be watching for TKO's "reminders"

Where'd you get the old Irv Wienstein picture?

"cheesedick" is a pretty good description, but I like this one from the medical dictionary: Smegma: The secretion of a sebaceous gland; specifically : the cheesy sebaceous matter that collects between the glans penis and the foreskin

They're pretty much related. Here in Youngstown, OH they put everything decent on digital cable to try to entice you to it. But the price is brutal and I refuse to be gouged.

You forgot: "redneck", "egomaniacal", "self-important", and last but not least, "secretly-afraid-of-their-small-weeners"

I think part of the problem last year was the indecision on the part of TD and MM regarding who was going to start. I can't remember any team doing well when no one's sure who's going to start from week to week. I was also suprised last year by how long they were willing to do that. I'm not sure if it was because they were desperate to save their jobs, or if it was Mularkey wanting to establish control over the team. It sure was strange though. So now the question becomes whether or not Losman's confidence has been permanently eroded. If he's resilient, he'll bounce back and at least show enough progress in a rebuilding year. But if the coaching staff is going to waffle each game on who's starting, his development is going to suffer again. IMO the most important thing to a team is chemistry between the QB and the OL, and that can't be developed without playing together. I say make it an open competition in camp, then keep the guy who wins behind center for the whole season.

Very encouraging! Let's hope he can assimilate the speed of the pro game. In talking to some pros, they said that the biggest adjustment they had to make on the field was the speed of the game, which requires that decisions be made much more quickly. One of my late father's friends, who played for the Oilers, said that NFL practices were harder than some of his college games. Plus, I'd really love it if McCargo turns into a great player, just to prove the "experts" wrong.

I doubt Mort "hates Buffalo" because of the fans.....there are always going to be fans of other teams that will be upset with him. Mort has made plenty of negative comments about other teams in the past and been hassled by the fans of those teams. I would really doubt it's personal. I'm sure he thinks it's all in good fun and is actually happy for the "controversy", because it generates interest in him and in ESPN. I think it's fun myself. But I also remember it's entertainment. The only thing that truly aggravates me is the smart*ss age and senility references to Marv and Ralph. While I understand that they're public figures, that's getting tiring.

I think Saban was smart. He doesn't give up anything, and gets a lot of potential. I also think he's showing a lot of confidence in his medical staff, who will be very involved in the kid's rehab. Ultimately, it's a crapshoot because the kid will be out of action for a while, but then again everybody thought Thurman was done after tearing up his knee, and the Oilers let Tasker go partly because they thought his knee was bad. So, why not take a chance?

Mort gave us a "D".......for "Donahoe's agent"

But....but.....Mel didn't like it! and Mort too!

That's because he's actually D'Brickishaw's secret BIGGER BROTHER!

Just goes to show what the "draft experts" know.

You are so right. I also find it funny that these idiots claim to be fans. I've been supporting and following this team since I was five. Why should I stop now? If I can follow this team during the Hank Bullough years, I can follow them through anything!

Also, everybody keeps forgetting there's a time limit. 15 minutes isn't a lot of time to do an acceptable deal when they were talking with 3 or 4 other teams.

"All major writers who make this their living (Clayton, Banks, King, Kiper, etc) all have stated that the Bills reached for lower rated talent." You're wrong already.................these people, who make their living on pro football, beg to differ. See below from Pro Football Weekly: "The first pick of the Bills’ new regime was a shocker to many observers and fans, but it wasn’t a surprise to other teams. Ohio State S Donte Whitner, a junior eligible, was expected to go in the mid-to-late first round, but Buffalo had him ranked high on its board and may have reached a bit to get its man at No. 8. The Bills were reportedly attempting to trade down, in an attempt to acquire more draft picks and still get their man in Whitner. But word came in late that Whitner might go earlier than expected, and they decided to take the OSU standout after using up all 15 minutes of the time allotted to make their pick. Buffalo has had great success in the past drafting defensive backs from Ohio State, and Whitner follows in the footsteps of current Bills CB Nate Clements and ex-Bills/current Vikings CB Antoine Winfield. Whitner is strong, physical and aggressive with great instincts and closing speed. He is known as a high-character guy who takes the game seriously and wants to get better. He also is a big-time hitter who plays bigger than his size (sounds like Winfield, doesn’t it, Bills fans?). He has CB speed and brings leadership to the field. He should be a perfect fit with Troy Vincent aging and Matt Bowen more of a special-teams standout. The fact that several other teams were clamoring for Whitner illustrates that the Bills were on the right path in taking him. And his character and passion for the game fit the recent pattern of player acquisitions under GM Marv Levy and coach Dick Jauron. The Bills’ brain trust is set on making the roster younger and hungrier, picking up high-character guys who care about the game of football and are willing to do their best at all times. Whitner is a promising start to a very important draft for the rebuilding Bills."

My point was: None of this really matters, because these kids haven't played a single down in the NFL yet.

I noticed there wasn't a lot of reponses to your post, which proves my belief that the first round , and to some extend the second round, are so driven by agent hype that nobody pays attention to the biggest day of the draft, which is today. Day two is actually the day where teams begin to find real value.