Albany,n.y.

Devil's Advocate here. A co-worker asked me if Ralph was in the HOF, I told him no & here's why he isn't: For years Ralph was a known cheapskate who wouldn't pay anyone their worth. He's the only owner I know of who lost the top pick in the NFL draft to the CFL. When the USFL came around, his team lost a #1 pick and the team's top RB (Joe Cribbs) to the upstart league. For years, the Bills were the laughingstock of the NFL, having the league's worst record in 1968 (AFL), 1971, 1984 and 1985. Among his more bizzare moves was the resignation of John Rauch before the 1971 season. In July 1971 Rauch criticized ex-Bills Maguire & McDole. Ralph told Rauch he was going to make a public statement defending the 2 players. Rauch resigned 5 days into camp and Ralph made Harvey Johnson, who wanted nothing to do with the head coaching job head coach. That was a 1-13 season. Currently praised for keeping the Bills in Buffalo, we older fans remember his threats to move to Seattle, among other cities. There was the dark period between the late 1960s and mid 1980s which would once in a while have some light due to fan disinterest to the point that Ralph would hire a decent coach to fix the franchise. It worked in the early 70s when Lou Saban came back before getting disgusted with Ralph & in the early 80s when Chuck Knox brought the team back to respectability before getting too upset with Ralph's stinginess. Although he lasted through the 1982, Knox was POd at Ralph from 1979 on when he lost Cousineau to the CFL. Ralph gained favor among fans after the Super Bowl years, but reverted to the old Ralph in 2001 when he fired Wade Phillips and tried to get out of paying him by saying Wade was insubordinate because he wouldn't fire Ronnie Jones. His treatment of Wade-he even cancelled Wade's family health insurance without Wade's knowledge turned off some people who were forced to remember how Ralph can act at times, possibly dooming any chance he had at the HOF. Ralph has been notorious for underpaying his coaches. Some on this board claim TD doesn't want a head coach who could threaten his power-more likely it's Ralph not wanting to pay top $ for a head coach who would demand Ralph's money. I like Ralph, but I understand that the guy's got a dark side that rears it's ugliness. It's that dark side that has kept Ralph out of the HOF, the Wade stuff possibly being the final straw at a time that Ralph's induction seemed imminent. I hope Ralph makes it to the HOF in his lifetime, but if the voters turn him down, I can understand why, better than a lot of the bandwagon folks from the 90s or the younger Bills fans who haven't seen the worst of Ralph.

The last time a QB came in with a crewcut, it didn't work out so great (Drew)

Please correct your typo, you seemed to have added a zero to the Bills score in your 27-3 prediction.

You must have a death wish for JP? Geisinger????????? Please, the guy is so far from the starting lineup, Bob Lamb & R. Rich could do just as good a job as Geisinger. Please! If you want to put Preston at center or guard, that's ok. But just putting in guys who haven't played at all (for a valid reason) and then trying to give JP a legitimate shot at success doesn't work. A much better line is one where Bennie goes to the bench, not Williams & Villarrial. I still can't see any long term future at T for either Peters or Gandy. Next year's tackles are going to be M. Williams and a rookie. Preston will be at center. Villarrial will be 1 guard and someone else will be the other guard-but it won't be Geisinger.

You might as well go out and buy more cigarettes before the game .

There's a big difference between this year and last year. Last year at 1-5 when people at work were telling me the Bills would win 4 games, I could point to the schedule with confidence that they would win a lot more because we still had creampuffs like the Cardinals, Dolphins, Browns and 49ers on our schedule which I could pencil in as certain wins. I figured they had another win or 2 at least beyond those teams as the players adjusted to the new system. This year, we just got crushed by a 1-4 team after already playing 3 of the weakest NFL teams in home wins. There are no more sure wins left on the schedule. The only games we can pencil in as MIGHT win are Carolina, @Miami & @ Jets-and I can't say with any confidence that those games won't be losses as well. Overall I can't see better than 6-10, with 4-12 a real possibility.

Peters isn't ready to start in the NFL, probably never will. However, if we want to see Preston get reps at center and Gandy at guard, just kick Teague out to LT and replace Bennie with Gandy. Then we draft best LT available-which at the rate we're going is going to be the best LT in the draft to replace Teague. Meanwhile, Peters sits & the QB doesn't get killed. I seriously doubt Peters will ever be a full time starter on the OL. What's wrong with him being what he is-a good roll player & special teams demon.

1st Chuck Dickerson get back on the WNY radio in both the Buffalo & Rochester markets. Now he has his own website.

Take a look at what Drew did yesterday with Dallas at the end of the 2nd half. That's what MM was afraid JP would do.

Reagan had Alzheimer's disease, that's why he fell off mentally-it was a disease, not old age as people in their 40s & 50s have also been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Most of Ralph's problems are physical aging, watch him walk-you can definitely see a difference than his younger days. Many people Ralph's age are sharp as a tack, but may not walk or hear as well as in their younger days.

TD has tried to address the OL, he just hasn't been very successful in his attempts: 2001: He drafted Jonas Jennings & Marquis Sullivan. Both had starting stints at LT, obviously Jonas was the better of the 2, but due to free agency & the unwillingness to pay an injury prone player he's gone. He also tried to bring Kris Farris off the Steelers scrap heap. 2002: He made a huge push to improve the O-line. Drafted Mike Williams with the 4th overall pick, as an afterthought drafted Mike Pucillo-a starter in 2003-in the 7th round. He signed Trey Teague as a FA and the servicable Marcus Price as a FA. He also picked up Mike Houghton on waivers right after the final cuts. 2003: Drafted Ben (IR) Sobieski in the 5th-a reach considering his college career Picked up Ross Tucker on waivers. 2004: Signed Chris Villarial as a FA and drafted Dylan McFarland in the 7th. Cut Ruben Brown. 2005: Drafted Duke Preston (who looks like a really good prospect) in the 4th, and Justin Geisinger in the 6th. Signed FA Bennie Anderson (don't say it) and street FA Mike Gandy. Lost Jonas to SF as a FA. So, he's drafted 7 linemen and signed another 4 unrestricted free agents and some street free agents including the current LT. It's not like he's not trying, he's just not doing a very good job in evaluating the talent. So, we need more than anyone willing to draft OL, we need an upgrade in the EVALUATION of OL talent. I don't know if that's TD or his scouts. Whoever told him to sign Bennie Anderson should have his job on double secret probation.

But as a Bills fan who isn't at ND, most of us would you feel better if Clements had left for the ND job.

This Ralph is senile bs is ridiculous. He's fine. Just because he walks a little slower & talks a little slower, some of you people assume that he's got mental problems. You people must be about 15 years old with no contact with people in their 80s. There are pleny of octogenarians who are in control of all their mental faculties. In fact 99.9% are smarter than the dumb@sses who question Ralph's sanity. For the record, the old Ralph was a cheapskate who didn't give a rats @ss about the W-L record until the stands were empty. Then he would spend saome money to bring the fans back. The team was so bad for so long that we got some players like Bruce Smith with the 1st overall pick. Through luck, the team drafted Jim Kelly and due to dumb luck Ralph fell into hiring Polian, who hired a crony-Marv Levy and made some very astute draft picks before Ralph told him to get out of town. The difference was mostly over money(a Ralph Wilson returning to his cheapskate thing) between one of Ralph's bean counters in Detroit & Polian. So 1)Ralph is fine mentally 2) Ralph is actually acting like the younger Ralph-the w-l record only matters when the fans stop going to games.

There's only one realistic way the Bills beat the Patriots: Knock Brady out of the game early.

1) It's called tampering-loss of picks... 2) Nobody leaves ND to coach in the NFL unless they are failing at ND. ND is one of the greatest coaching jobs in the profession-if you're a success. 3) I have no problem if Marv wants it.

Ok, here's my challenge to you fire them folks. Who do you realistically think the Bills can replace them with. Can not should. Don't go suggesting names of guys who will never come here like Weis who would never leave ND for this team. You have to be realistic, a lot of guys won't come to Buffalo due to weather (Nick Saban's wife would have never let him go to a northeast city), power-The Tuna would never have come here, salary etc-Marvin Lewis wanted nothing to do with Buffalo-at Ralph's coaching wage. As far as GMs, who do you want who will work for Ralph? Modrak-his mentor is the guy you want to fire. If you want these guys fired without reasonable replacements, it's as bad as letting Drew go for Losman-we could get guys a lot worse. So...name some names & why you think they would be willing to come here. Otherwise, rethink your position-we know what we've got, just to fire them without a better replacement is not the answer. I don't have an answer, but since you want to do the firing, you obviously do-or should.

If you are the successful coach of Notre Dame, it is better than any NFL job, especially the mess we have in Buffalo. There's no way Weis will leave ND to coach the Bills.

I was reading the grades on the front page and the 1st time it was posted it had good grades for the game. I was all set to blast Steve Saslow, when I rechecked the grades to spell his name & now the grades are right on. Good job Steve, those grades left from a prior game really scared me.

Yep, but not in January...again

They have to wait until after NE. There's nothing that can be gained by JP getting the snot knocked out of him in NE. We then get a bye & JP has 2 weeks to prepare for KC at home.

He threw a pick & put Seattle in FG range with 6 seconds left. But he sure has a great QB rating! His play today sums up why we let him go. His team is up 10-3 with less than a minute left & the other team scores to tie (maybe if Drew could have produced more points in the 1st 59 minutes there wouldn't have been a tie) Then trying to drive Dallas for the winning FG, he drives Seattle to the winning FG instead. Same old Drew.

Once NE beats us, we'll have a bye & can find out whether JP is an NFL QB during the last 8 games.

Wilson, Gates, Leonhard, Ezekiel, Geisinger, Newfeld, Jefferson. Matthews #3 QB. Parrish & Moss are active.

Bills 37 Raiders 10 Lots of Collins turnovers. The only problem is next week it will be something like NE 37 Bills 10, followed by a KC win at the Ralph & a crushing loss at SD. We'll be 4-3, soon to be 4-6. Please don't start talking playoffs after today. Our 4 wins will have come against 4 of the 5 worst teams in the NFL.

The owner should go in at halftime & fire Tice immediately. Let Ted Cottrell coach the 2nd half. Tice has done everything to get himself fired except get the Vikings old NFC championship trophies hook them up to his car & drag them around the parking lot a la Costanza.