Pyrite Gal

Agreed! He is the owner and in our sorta free market economy he has a right to manage or mismange this toy anyway he wants. However, the way he has handled things with his ownership activities clearly associated with a number of QB reads that simply did not work (the handshake deal with Kelly for his next big FA contract, his public endorsement of RJ for mopping up Indy when they had gone in a shell, allowing the Bills to spend big bucks on QB deals which did not work like RJ or replacing a bad Bledsoe with a worse young JP) suspecting Ralph of "meddling" with the judgments of the football professionals is a pretty legit suspicion.

I think the amusing thing about this supposition and those who would have favored picking Leinert because he (or any good QB chosen would lay the basis for us becoming a winner) is that it still remains uncontroverted by any objective analysis that 50% of 1st rounders are disappointments if not busts. When one adds to that the difficulty attached to being a good enough QB by most fans and the simple fact that the more one advocates that Leinert would be such a stud, the higher the standard you set for him to not be a bust, advocating this move gets harder and harder to justify.

1. Ralph and Marv would likely have put off gettimg respectanle for at least an additional year (currently we are likely looking at the 2007 season for repsectability unless lightening strikes and we rebound this year. It is possible that things break badly for us and respectability does not come til 2008, but if we were waiting around for Leinert to develop (if he ever does) then we are more likely looking at a 2008 return to respectability EVEN if Leinert works out but more likely 2009/ In other words Ralph might be gone and as Marv says if an HC us preparing for the future he likely is preparing for the next HC. Leinert would likely have been a death warrant for Jauron as HC. 2. TSW would be filled with posts alternately further squalling about TD wasting a 1st on JP and running on a hair trigger for Leinert to produce. 3. JP would still be on this team due to his contract and we would be undergoing yet another mostly mindless QB debate and potentially one which might make RJ/DF look like a lot of fun. 4. The coaching staff would really have to divide its time trying to make sure that JP is not gonna develop because nothing would be worse than cutting him lose and then pull a Brad Johnson or Trebt Dilfer who were cut by their original teams only to have them win the SB when they found the right situation to let them play productive QB. As soon as Leinert had the usual "learning experience" games or JP had a good outing by luck or talent, the media and many fans would chose up sides again and the unity that is one of the better things about being a Bill fan (even amidst the DF/RJ dispute since at least we were winning) would really add another dispute which would take much of the unity and a lot of the fun out of our love for the Bills. In other words, it would almost certainly be a disaster.

In the real world it has simply been the actual occurence that teams have proven capable of winning the SB when they acquire a QB for the vet minimum or near that level. Examples of this in recent history are Dilfer, Warner and Tom Brady who were all paid about the vet minimum for playing QB for an SB winning team. On the other hand, it is a fact that finally after about 15 years of any team winning the SB led by a QB they picked in the 1st round Ben RoboQB finally did this for Pitts. It seems to me to make justt as much if not more sense if the Bills should for some reason tank this year and end up with the #1, I hope they trade it away for some proven players rather than take the risk which usually does not pay off of hoping that a player who excelled at QB in college will also excel as a pro. In fact, even the cases like a Peyton Manning which prove to work out and produce a QB who eventually is at least a consistent winner, simply proves incapable of leading his team in real life even to the big game or even to the conference final more than once. I hope to heck we do not get a shot a the first pick and if that disaster does befall us that we do not pursue the risk low success method of choosing a QB with that pick. The good news will be that after a 7th consecutive year missing the playoffs, the Golden Boys will be even more frantic to win now and will not take the 1st round QB risk which has shown little success of working in the big picture and even when it pays off a Manning who was picked when his team got his rights by winning 3 games proceeds to win 3 games with him the next year and finally began to turn things around when they got the RB and the stud WR they needed to be a consistent winner in the NFL. Even with this O support, they still with one of the best D mined HCs in the NFL and with one of the best GMs building a solid ST with good signings, tough contracts and the most accurate kicker in NFL history have still been incapable of going to the SB except by getting a ticket. Yhe Quinn panacea seems like the ultimate in Fool's Gold and I doubt the Golden Boys would buy it.

If TO produces wins then I do not expect that there will be any problems with Bledsoe, the Cowboys and most important Parcells. If the Boys lose this season, agree that TO has not changed but just as he was with the Iggles he likely will not burn his bridges until his second season. I doubt there will be many TO problems this year, but they better win this year with him or even with Parcells riding herd on things he likely will melt down next year. Its hard for me to see predictions of DOOM and falling apart this year as more than wishful thinking on the part of the many folks generally (and correctly) hate TO, or the many folks on TSW who (wrongly IMHO as he is way ino the backside of his career but is not a bad guy) have their panties all up in a wad about Bledsoe and tthe many folks who hate the 'Boys. The main folks of course that wouid love to see TO meltdoen of course is the media as his antics sell a lot of papers. I'm sire they will give TO many chances to insert his foot into his mouth and when he does they will then run to Bledsoe playing lets you and him fight. Given the weakness of the NFC and the likelihood the Boys will at least be fighting for a playoff berth, i suspect that Bledsoe will ignore most baiting.

The analysis ignores the simple point that though the amount spent on the secondary is high and one can express that high number with an AVERAGE of $4+ million per player. there is simply such a wide discrpancy between the $7+ million cap hit of the NC and the rest of the bunch that trying to reflect this large total as an average simply asks for poor analysis of the situation. The analysis also ignores the fact that the cap limit has increased significantly this year with the huge network payment to the NFL and will likely increase again when next year\s revenues are assessed. As by agreement in the CBA 59.5% of this money will have to be distributed to the players. All player salaries are going to have to increase significantly and in the not very distant future the $7+ million given to Nate will actually be no where near the top 5 in DB salaries (already it pales in comparison to the $18 million cap hit Peyton Manning alone requires). Given that even the one year NC amount is now by definition a one time event which will go down either way next year as NC will either be released or extended at a lower cap hit, this concerns is transitory at worse. If one wants to find a cap issue, then it is actually a better analysis to look at the significant amount of cap room (over $10 million) that the appear quite unlikely to spend this year, When NC's cap hit goes away and if TV s cut the Bills will spend no where near $11million to draft another Whitner type player in the first round to replace them. The bigger question this analysis raises is that assuming a worse case where we fo lose NC and TV and are left with "merely" McGee, Youbouty, Greer. King. Whtiner, AND the first rounder you envision to fill the 4 DB slots, do we spend the 10+ million, $11+ million from the loss of TV and NC. AND whatever the amount that the cap increases next year on getting a 7 th DB we are comfortable with or do we use this money on the other positions the poster identifies as more important. The analysis of these numbers simply does not go very far in looking at this situation.

I have no disagreement with any of the numbers presented here. However, in general, i was just observing with a friend that one of the thins which I think is really great about sports is that even after years of watching too many games in many different sports, almost routinely something will happen or a player will give some performance which was totally unexpected by even the wisest of pundits and which the numbers and past experience simply has no precedence for, It was Floyd Landis and his amazing ride which prompted the comment, but I find the same circumstance to exist in a wide variety of other sports at a particular time and place. Sometimes its a performance enhancing drug or technological innovation (which we either find out about or not), sometimes it's pure will and the human condition. sometimes it simply defies explanation The fact that we do not know is what makes this interesting to me. If football (and much less the outcome of injuries) coul really be figured out with any certainty which make any prediction little more than a guess, then football would be far less interesting to me. I would disagree though with the idea that the greatest chance for hope for TKO making a substantial enough or even complete recovery is some medical breaktrough. Actually the greatest chance for hope here is that when TKO was initially diagnosed as having a total tear of his achilles that when they actually went inside, the found either that the tear was not as complete as they thought, was at some point of the tendon which was at its most healable point, or in some other way was different from the Peterson or worse cases. Either way he needed surgery, and once in there he was going to need to be done for the season anyway. The Bills, TKO's docs, and TKO himself would be stupid to give to rosy a picture about what they saw and found once inside. A far better situation exist not to raise expectations of a date of his return that if he healed slowly, slipped in the shower or whatever he failed to meet. I think we all would be foolish to believe totally or simply accept anything but the most basic of medical info about TKO. By far the better course seems to me to wait a few weeks for sure and we will know what his progress or lack thereof is. Right now the best sign we have seen is that the Bills seem to be wanting to find a starting spot for Crowell at SLB. This strongly implies that the starting job at WLB will likely not be available for getting Crowell on the field.

I think the issue for the Bills is going to be how much he comes back. 75-80% of TKO is worth 100% of many other LBs. In addition, how one or several bodies respond to an injury does not conclude how another person will respons=d. We'll see.

Yesterday and today's practice have some special import (especially for Nall) as you only get one chance to make a first impression that sets a tone for the future assessments, but the fact two folks saw different things speaks mostly to this QB (and other position) battles being more than a one day affair. The snapshots and assessments of how a player performed that particular day. However drawing any or many galactic conclusions about whose ahead before at least a week or two is done and quite frankly until these players see real opponents in the first pre-season game is simply way to premature. The most significant things I herd today regarding the QB battle is the word Nall pulled a hammy and has yet to be fully evaluated.

You are totslly correct with at least part of item #1. Bannan will not produice even 1 sack for this Bills team. I guess your point really shows who is the marshmellow here.

I define average as being in the middle third of the league. So any player who is in the top 10 at his position (actually the top 11 if you round off the math) is above average mathematically. Bills meeting that requirement IMHO are: Schobel: His double digit sack numbers and ability to do pass coverage down the field makes him a top 10 RDE in my book. Fletcher: he led the NFL in tackles credited to a player the last 5 years. His smarts have made him the team D captain even though TKO is the better player. His ball handling skills and ability to track and catch a ball in flight as shown with his KR accomplishments links with his constant motor and experience and football smarts reading plays makes me feel confident in him as a cover guy and a greaty fit for the Tampa @ we are apparently going to run. I think he easily is in the top 10 at MLB and it is a travesty he has not gotten a Pro Bowl nod. TKO (assuming he recoveries from injury and Clements who disappointed last year but still merited a franchise tag as a top 5 CB are also on my list. McGee I looks to be a better CB than McGee these days and the "extra" of being one of if not the best KR guy in the NFL adds him to the list as well. It shows how badly we have fallen down on O that I agree that only WM is likely a top 10 guy at his position. However, Evans is a serious threat to achieve this status this year as he is now the go-to guy on the pass. So, even though the team clearly sucks based on the ultimate stat W/L, I think that claiming we only have 2 above average players in terms of their real world performance and/or ability is a misread in my view.

I also find it ironic that anyone who is a Bills fan would want a Bill to be such a bad performer he is cut. I can see being overjoyed with positive news about Crowell demanding field time due to his play, but being happy that your former starter is not going to be good enough to be a back-up seems to be bad news for the team. The good news that I actually take from Crowell getting reps as starting SLB is that this seems to be a real sign that the Bills braintrust is practicing like TKO is gonna be there to start at WLB. As far as judgments about Posey go, i think the facts of the situation indicate that he a central part of a D that was pretty good in 2003 when it finished 5th in the league statistically and saved the Bills many times as the 03 offense under Bledsoe was horrid. Several folks (including some folks who have benefited with good football knowledge) judged Posey to be inadequate, but it is simply the case that the 04 D improved its performance over 03 with Posey still logging considerable time and playing a key role. If he was so obviously bad then I would think that folks might easily have pointed to specific plays where his tackles were busted for big gains in 03 or 04 or a player whom he likely was covering caught a big gain pass or scored a TD. No one could provide these examples and the great statistical finish by the team that year indicates these examples simply do not exist. Even a defender of Posey such as me could see that he and most of the rest of the D failed to execute well last year. I think Crowell is a more talented player and I think we will have a stronger LB corps with TKO. Fletch. and Crowell. but it is fine with me and I think it is likely that Posey is the 4th best LB on this team (I look forward to seeing what Watson can do). Given the uncertaintys which will revolve arounf TK)s recovery from injury until he plays a few games, I hope Posey resumes his past level of performance from 03 and 04. In fact, I think it will be great for the Bills if he can resume his level of performance he achieved in a 3-4 with the Texans and actally gives us another resource at DE to make the Tampa 2 scheme work well. I think most folks rooting for the Bills would want Posey to do well even if they also hope Crowell starts at the Sam spot as i do.

The amazing thing is that all this pablum is still more interesting than Sabres talk at this time of year,

It certainly is worth talking to Parcells given his apparent willingness to do without Ellis and given the question marks we have at LDE. However, it certainly is not a good negotiating tactic to rush into this and appear to panic and actually, given the Kelsay appeared to be on a great trajectory until a downturn last year (which apparently accompanied him bulking up per orders from the old regime) we need to take a look at him before we decide whether we give up the value Parcells would likely want for Ellis. In addition, there will be a new D scheme this year which will call upon our LDE to focus primarily upon QB pressures and sacks and not the pass coverage duties and some stoutness against the run which were more of Denny's forte. Just as it only makes sense for us to see how Kelsay adapts to trying to become the old Kelsay, it would be smart to develop a better semse of how Denney does in a new scheme before we trade. I hope we enter the fray in terms of discussions but I see no need for us to just get 'er done until after the coaches get some feedback from practice and maybe not until after we see what we got in the first pre-season game.

Many apologies as I was not reacting to you at all beyond using some good information you provided to suggest an action some folks may want to take beyond the usual meaningless internet complaining. A long the lines of walking the talk, my plan is to make some inquiries to folks who work in telecommunication law and also to some of the folks who in particular have been involved with the City of Buffalo Cable contract to find out about specifics on re-openers or other leverage the City might have. No politician wants to get on the wrong side of a Bills issue locally, but politicians can be difficult to keep focused on the community's needs as they are generally focused on the next election. I can commit to reporting back what I find out and again my apologies as there was no disrespect intended toward you.

I have not heard that we would lose it stated, but as Time Warner does not contract with them and we are about to become part of the TW service this seems logical. One other thing I think should be looked into is what ability a change in owners of Adelphia's contract gives the City of Buffalo the right to opt out of or re-open the contract. If this is the case, then City government can be asked/forced to exert pressure on TW to give and activist group of voters what they want (access to as much Bills stuff as we can get including NFL Network. The City of Buffalo Telecommunications Office would have information about these issues and is the point to exert leverage on the City to leverage TW. Their number is: (716) 851-4297 and the head of the office was a fellow named Tom Tarapacki (though this may have changed in the transfer from Mayor Maisello to Mayor Brown. If you are simply interested in whining then whine in your posts. If you are interested in doing something about this in the real world, then call the Telecommunications Office and ask them what ability the City will have to re-open the contract with a transfer of owners and whether we will retain all channel we get now including the NFL Network for Bills stuff.

If wants to make it back by week 3 then it is important to set a goal of aiming to play by week 1. Attitude and setting positive aggressive goals helps healing (even if there is no scientific proof it makes a physical difference it clearly helps one roll out of bed when you feel like staying prone all day or helps you do 10 reps when you feel like stopping at 9). The counterweight to this positive approach and aggressive goal setting is that one can also be too aggressive and train hard before you are ready and set your recovery back. One hopes TKO is aware of this dynamic, is honest with himself and with his docs and trainers. As long as he keeps a good positive attitude and the health professional monitor his progess carefully and react well counseling speed up or go slow depending upon objective measures like range of motion and amount of weight he can lift with and without discomfort, he will do the best he can do getting back which is all one can expect even if we ask for even more.

Its actually not surprising that they did not draft a T this year because they need immediate help. Even with the high picks, the draft is a crapshoot. Second day picks are good if they contribute their first year as non-starters. The draft is a useful tool and certainly a part of a winning strategy ( for the simple reasons good players have to come from somewhere and better players tend to be drafted). However, it seems pretty clear that many fans place far to much importance in the draft as a strategy for creating a winning team. It must be PART of creating a winning base for a team, but its mostly about getting the best available player and after the 1st round has little to do with immediate need (or even rarely meets need the next season- though we hope Yobouty is an exception). However, the advent of fantasy leagues and ESPN providing wall to wall authoritative coverage of the draft has inflated its importance beyond its production for many teams.

The amazing thing about this if real life events substantiated this claim would be that the Bills D finished 5th statistically in the league three seasons ago with an inadequate starter at SLB and then even improved to finish 2nd in the league two years ago with the same inadequate SLB. One would think that the OCs in the league noticed his inadequate play 3 seasons ago and then picked on it, but siomehow the team improved its performance despite his inadequate play which could even be noted by fans such as yourself. I think the evidence indicates that Posey actually performed a lot as part of a successful unit 3 seasons ago and that with him logging lots of minutes and having lots of responsiblities the unit improved 2 seasons ago. I think the reasonable conclusion here is that Posey was a favorite whipping boy of some on TSW and though his play and much of the rest of the D was inadequate last year, he actually performed well in his job in 2003 and 2004. If you or anyone disagrees (particularly if this was so obvious) then it should be simple for you to point to the several examples of the player he was covering beating him for a TD or a large gain in 03 or 04. I do not think you can because fact is though he sucked last year he was a solid starter for us in 03 and 04.

Actually for most normal human beings it is John Grishan (or the person of your choice of a similar beach ilk, I'm an Archie and Jughead fan myself for deep introspection) season.

Remember also that this is the first time in their life that any of these men have signed a contract dedicating several years of their life to a job in exchange for multi-millions of dollars. It is only prudent that you hire someone (a firm) that has done this before and that operates within the norms of the industry to represent your interests. The norms of the industry are fairly silly IMHO, but this is an outcome of us operating within a capitalist system which functions based on two (actually more in the big picture) parties operating in an adversarial system where the employer is expected to represent their interests and the employee is expected to represent his interests (which to whatever degree reality provides includes his future, thanking his parents for their past efforts, close friends who have been with (a pool of people which suddenly grows when there is money in the water) and baby momma if he has them. IMHO the system is silly its just better than all the rest (economically speaking).

It really points out how difficult and important the task facing JMac and the Bills braintrust is. I actually am one of those folks who is quite happy with the moves the Bills made on the OL this off-season. I think virtually anyway you cut it they definitely upgraded the potential 06 starters over the 5 whp actually started on the OL for the Bills last year. Certainly Fowler is not pro bowler and even though I think Reyes was a solid NFL starter last year, this was at RG rather than LG. However, I think any rational assessment shoul say that even if Fowler and Reyes turn out to be merely adequate as a players, this is essentially a real upgrade over Anderson who was not even adequate at LG last year and over the good athlete but beatable center played by Teague. When one add to this a move to the recently extended big time Peters over the inadequate MW, i think in terms of the starters we have significantly upgraded the OL. However, what the Bentley injury shows is sinply that depth at every position is critical. The big problem which I see on the OL will actually only become really apparent if we have the same bad luck that Cleve and Bentley had as pre9season goes on or is quite likely to happen in the regular season as all pros suffer at least some injuries they take as nicks and play through them, As far as bavk-ups, I only have some real faith that Preston will be a good player (its fortunate it is him as #1 RG Villarial is the most likely player to go down. Adter that the Bills have a real need to train Gibson to be a reasonable replacement if necessary for Peters, and thne after that it is merely jist young player or FA spevulation or even worse hoping even a well-regarded rookie will step up. I think we will be fine and actually surprisingly good to many naysayers on the OL to start the season. However, if we ger unlucky and even if thinfs fo fairly normally some players are going to have to develop and step up or it will begin to get very bleak by game 4 or so (and that is if things work out OK).

The keys are going to be whether the speed of the Bills personnel at WR results in a system being crafted where these players get immediate separation from their defenders, It matter little if the passes only travel 8 yards (or even 3 yards for that matter) in the air if the WR is able to get 10+ yards on average and the not infrequent TD from RAC.

No need to panic yet as only anout 1/4 of the 1st round choices are signed yet, Still the Bills are getting reasons to get er done with Whitner as the slotting is taking shape with the #4 signed and most important with the S Huff taken just before Whitner being signed. There appear to be some generous escalators in this deal, but the Bills will probably siply have to bit the bullet on this one as here is little room for negotiations due to slotting. If Whitner is slow to sign the character which may be called into question is actually the Bills if they refuse to give Whitner a contract not equal to but consistent with Huff's apparent mega-deal.

I think the key for KH being effective is going to be if Fairchild can desing, teach and effectively implement an O based on the St. L model. If he can design plays which utilize the speed of our WRs (Evans, Price, and Parrish) and the theoretical Run after the Catch ability of former RB Reed or Davis or nance steps up in a surprising way then it will make no difference that KH does not have a Bledsoe like rocket for an arm If the D is forced to give our recievers a cushion due to our speed, or through use of motion or picks we do not get called for he allows the receivers to get quick separation this will really play toward the good judgment which KH has developed with experience. Like almost all NFL starting QBs he will need to throw the deep on on occaision just be to make a credible threat that opens up the short passing game. However, though he does not seem to have the arm to throw deeo all day long. if we have a good O design with our personnel all he would need to do is offer the threat he is going to effectively let fly a coupkle or three times a game and the opposing D will need to respect that possibility all the time The really good news may well be that just as how Brad Johnson made far better and effective blockers out of his OL with his reads and quick short tosses so that an idiot like McKinnie did not have to hold his blocks forever as he did with the scrambling Culpepper, so too might KH running this scheme improve our OL performance. Its complicated and a lot of things have to happen correctly (like WM demonstrating that his second half of the season production outage not only can be reversed in his running game but he will have to be effective and effectively utilized as a Marshall Faulkeque receiver in this O. A safe checkdown will be needed and it is quite doubtful that blocking Royal will be used much as a pass catcher except in the redzone. I think this can work though.