gobillsinytown

After watching Vernon Davis almost single handedly destroy the Cowboys defense, I had forgotten what a pain in the butt a great TE can be to D-Coordinators. They're tough to find, but if our team could somehow scout/draft/pray for a quality tight end, the pressure would come off EJ in a big way. Granted, the Cowboys are awful on the defensive side of the ball, but Davis was open by at least ten yards on some plays.

I think this is going to be a long, drawn out process. The trust may want a quick sale, but with this kind of price tag, there are going to be a lot of people involved. It would be nice to get this issue settled so that we can all move on, but this could drag into next year. I hope not, anyway...............

There is a lot of money at stake here, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if the bidders or the team were using "anonymous sources" to play bidders off one another. This happens all the time before the draft, with agents using their media contacts to plant information. Unfortunately, I think that this is going to go on for quite a while. There's going to be a lot of haggling until the trust finally decides on a winner, even though they're looking for a quick sale.

Despite the babble of owners like Jerry Jones and others, I think that putting an NFL team in another country is going to be a lot more complicated than we might think. The two countries most mentioned are Canada and England. Here are just a few issues that will be of intense interest to the team, the players and the agents of the players: 1. The currency exchange rate. I would think that the player agents are going to want their players to be paid in the currency that is currently favored in the exchange rate. With rate fluctuations, this could be an issue in player contracts. 2. Taxes. Will the team and players pay the taxes of the country in which they're located? Canadian taxes are definitely higher than here in the States, and British taxes are even worse. Also, will the team/players have to pay taxes in the country where the team is located, and US taxes as well? 3. Residency. Will the team/players be part-year residents? What about citizenship? I know these things might seem minor in the light of a 1B+ transaction, but I just don't think that it's going to be as easy as everyone seems to think. There will be a ton of little details like this that will have to be considered.

Nice lively discussion........but I think that we all have to remember not to put too much into this sample. Both teams only put in the most basic of game plans. They're not going to show anything in the first preseason game, and probably not the full playbook until the first game of the year. In fact, I would be surprised if they spend much time looking at the film of this game at all.

I was at the HOF last night. He looked happy but a little emaciated, which is to be expected after dealing with six weeks of radiation to the head. Radiation swells, burns and irritates everything inside, including the mouth, the tongue and in his case this sinuses. His pain tolerance must be incredible. Hopefully he won't have to deal with that again. The whole ceremony was incredibly moving. The place was packed with Bills fans and it was a very special night.

Hi folks, Sorry if I missed this in the topics, but I had a question: How does a player (specifically, Marcel), "fail" his physical, and then a few days later, pass it? I'm thinking that some of these designations are just labels so that a player technically "can't participate" so that they can go deal with personal issues. Either that or Marcel spent three straight days working out! Any thoughts?

ProFootballTalk doesn't have anything new about Marcel getting arrested again........but then again, ProFootballTalk is leading with: "Brian Hoyer isn’t thinking about what his teammates do off the field"

It took me longer than I thought it would, but I did expect someone on the board to panic. I'm not sure why though. Injuries happen. No team can expect every starter to make it through the year, or even start the year. Good teams overcome injuries and it's as simple as that. Other players step up to fill the void. So this is the year we'll find out if the Bills are a good team.

No question that it sucks, but this happens to at least one team per year. I think that in the case of Kiko, who is very diligent about off season conditioning, he may have been doing a workout routine that put too much stress on the knee. Or it could just have been a freak accident. During a morning practice in high school football, I saw one of our receivers tear his knee up running a pass pattern. Just running the pattern with no pads, in shorts and no contact. A 12 yard down and in. He sprinted out, started to make the cut and went down screaming. In a strange way, it's better to have to deal with an injury like this now than in the middle of the season. The rest of the linebackers on the team are going to have to step up and fill the void. Good teams overcome injuries like this all the time. We'll find out if our team has enough talent on defense to play through it.

Cancer can be strangely empowering. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I think all the crap that Jim has been through has made him even more resilient, if that's possible. Willpower and focus are incredible things. It's certainly an inspiration for anyone dealing with this disease, and I hope other people fighting cancer draw some strength from the example he's setting.

Not to sound like an old man.....but "back in the day" this would have been regarded as harmless, but stupid. While I realize that today's NFL is vastly different from back in the day, it definitely shows the contrast between the interest level in the NFL today versus the interest level even 15 years ago. Definitely a stupid move on his part though.

Awesome...........they could build a pleasure dome! Complete with strip club, race track, tattoo shop and medical pot dispensary. I like it.

I don't believe that it's impossible to build a new stadium in Western New York. To me that's not the issue. The issue to me is how badly does the Western New York community want it? How badly does the community want this entertainment venue? As fans, we all love the Bills. But ultimately, it's entertainment and not necessarily essential to the region. Unfortunately, a new stadium will be the price that will have to be paid. It will be difficult, but not impossible.

The offseason is so much fun!

Supply and demand. Byrd hit the free agent market at the right time. I have no problem with him wanting to make as much money as possible. The average career span for an NFL player is four years and it's unlikely that they will find careers that can match their earnings once they're done with football. He wanted to be the highest paid safety in the league and for now he is. I have no problem with it. Fans can be upset either way as to why he left, but I really doubt that any fan is honestly glad that he's hurt or hoping that the injury is more serious.

Because of where the cancer is located, the radiation treatments irritate the inside of his mouth, where he's already had surgery the previous year. The radiation also temporarily damages the taste buds. So not only is eating acutely painful, there's also no sense of taste. He was getting his nutrition through a feeding tube for a few weeks, but even with that he is bound to lose weight. Not a fun time, but I think that hitting the cancer hard with chemo and radiation now will hopefully put the cancer into remission.

As much as I dislike Brady, he has to be respected for his work ethic and conditioning. There's no way he would have lasted this long without both. I think it's going to depend on his O-line. If they can keep his knock downs and sacks to a minimum, he'll continue to perform at a high level. But aging is a funny thing in the NFL. A player can go from a high performance level to decline very quickly. It's a long season and the hits on even a well-protected quarterback start to add up.

I think this is a great illustration on just how obsessive media coverage is when it comes to pro football.

I don't think the term "hero" applies here. I think that this term is used far too often. I had a lot of respect for Ralph, because in my opinion, he could have moved the team from the city quite some time ago for greener economic pastures but chose not to do so. Looking at the history of the team, the two years of 1984-85 would have been an ideal opportunity. I think he chose to keep the team in Buffalo because of the league concept that he helped create. The concept is that, if there is a true league with true revenue sharing, then a pro football team can play almost anywhere. If Green Bay has a football team, then so can Buffalo. In my opinion, it's going to come down to how badly the community wants to keep the team. If Western New York as a whole, from the business community, the politicians and the residents feel that the team is worth keeping, then I believe it will happen

Rumor has it that even though we got a "C-", we were .787634 points away from getting a "C". Seems like the coverage of the draft has become more important than the actual draft.

The draft is ultimately a crap shoot. For all the time and effort that teams spend on scouting, evaluation and metrics, luck still plays a big role. If I'm in Whaley's position, I go with what I think is the best strategy. Obviously he feels the team is set at QB with what they have. They're taking a gamble on EJ, but that's what they get paid to do. Is he right? We'll find out this season. If he's wrong, he will likely be out. This team has some real talent. The biggest question mark going into the season is EJ, but I'm not sure that drafting a late round QB would have been any kind of insurance policy. Anyone in the late rounds is going to be a development project, and that takes time that Whaley doesn't have. Every team takes a gamble at some point. Jacksonville going all in on Blake Bortles is a good example. All the experts had Johnny Football and even Teddy Bridgewater going before him. Anyone that's unhappy with the Bills' draft strategy won't have to wait long is it doesn't work out.

I love Freddy but guys his age can fade very quickly. The hits start to accumulate past the body's ability to quickly recover and it's a long season. I don't think they're getting rid of him at all. Brown has had some issues, so maybe putting him together with Freddy will help. If Browns turns things around with Freddy's help this will be a good move.

Looks like the traditional Browns luck is holding..............

Thurman Thomas had a knee ligament from a cadaver when he was drafted. I think it depends on conditioning and sheer luck.