Saint Doug

I agree that we hit the jackpot in obtaining Williams and Peters. But, isn't this a feat in itself? And yes, there would be other ways of obtaining these superstars, like drafting them early. But, we already failed in doing this. For some reason, the Bills FO has great skill in drafting DBs in the first round. But, we suck at drafting linemen on the first day. Williams and Flowers are great examples - both complete busts. Add Bannan, Anderson, Merz, & Preston into that group too. Truth is that our FO sucks at finding linemen in the draft. I would love to have faith in the FO to do this, but I don't think that drafting linemen early instead of DBs would work. It's a sad truth. Or, maybe its the coaching - maybe they just can't develop young linemen well. I wish Ellis the best of luck in avoiding being added to that list.

I agree that Jauron has no "swagger." Or, is it that he has no "ego?" He seems comfortable enough not to micro-manage; instead he just delegates. And I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. The good coaches seem to micro-manage - see Belicheat. And I don't think that letting all of our DBs walk at the end of their rookie contracts has lead to a "decade of losing" and I don't think you actually think this either. Letting Big Pat walk and not building up our lines have lead to our losing ways. Let the DBs walk - they don't matter as much - but retain the lines (which I actually see us doing now - for a change). I don't think our current FO would have ever let Big Pat walk like TD did.

Thanks a lot to both of you too! Great reports. And Mike, you're gonna have to cancel that trip to Maryland - it's overrated. I find it interesting that April had the "kickoff/punt catchers" catching with a ball already in their hands. How is this a realistic situation at all? When the heck ever are you going to have to catch a punt while already holding a ball? I wonder if this helps at all?

I would rather be a farm team for DBs than to sign one after their rookie contract expires. Look how much veteran DBs are making. It's ridiculous! I would rather draft a McKelvin and let him walk after 5 years than pay what San Fran gave to Clements. I say drafting a DB in the first round every 4-5 years is not devoting our resources. Signing a DB to Clement's contract is devoting too much resources. We can deal with young DBs here - we don't need expensive veteran-type DBs for our type of game. Our OL may be thin, but we are pouring considerable resources into it - with what Dockery and Walker are making. The jury is still out on how good Butler is going to be, but we did throw a bunch of cash his way. Now, I do agree that superbowl teams need great LTs, so I think we should pay Peters more, but I think he needs to be at camp (read: a team player) before we show him the money.

Yeah, make sure we lock 'em up at a young age so he won't be holding out for more money in a year or two, just like we did with that no-name Peters. Oh,wait!...

I agree that the undergrad campus areas and Mt Washington area nice, but Fell's Point, Canton, and Hampden are dumps. People have to realize that Baltimore is a very large city because the city limits are huge. The county and the city are the same thing. This is why there are some places in Baltimore that are very nice, like Mt Wash. If Buffalo=Erie County, it would be like saying: "there is zero crime in Buffalo, just look at the Amherst area." But the actual "city" part and its surrounding areas are very dangerous. And it is hard to tell the bad parts from the safe parts. You could be in a nice neighborhood, but then walk 2 blocks and find yourself in a very bad neighborhood. And Towson (which is like an Amherst area) shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Baltimore. In terms of safety, they are apples and oranges.

I too live in Balti-less, in the Canton area, and work in East Baltimore. I have to agree with the above poster - this place is a very dangerous dump. Some of these areas make the fruit belt look like Disney. Just 2 more years....

It is also what keeps (most) people from loading Mac's OS X onto PC's.

No, I did not. You're missing my point. My point is that we/the media/NFL make such a big fuss about stupid things like when white players are drinking in a hot tub when there are much more serious things occurring (like beating one's wife). If a black player was caught on camera in a hot tub drinking, we would never even know about it. But, when a white player is, then something "bad" has occurred. I think this is just another example on how white NFL players are held in a higher regard than black players. It seems that teams have higher expectations for their white players.

Its kind of interesting how, in the NFL, the behavior of blacks and white are held to an entirely different standard. Leinert was caught drinking (but he is 21?) and bathing with girls, but somehow this is unacceptable behavior. And everyone is "disappointed." Then there are blacks being caught with drugs or beating their spouses, and for this, "they need help," like they are some mental case. Its like they hold whites to such high standards and lower the standards for blacks, like they're supposed to screwing up so we mine as well just accept it. Now that photo of Leinert with the champagne bottle, that's a different story.

The whole Jimmy Johnson era, including Kareem Abdul Jabar.

My question is: what's this millionaire doing with a CRT TV in his house? Doesn't he know that we are going to HDTV in 2009? He should've changed to a nice 65 inch HDTV Plasma TV by now. That alone makes the whole story fishy.

Let's see: they let 2 of our best players walk last year (for nothing), they signed an overrated player to an ungodly amount of money (talk about painting yourself into a corner!), they continue to pay Connolly while he spends more time in a hospital bed than the ice, and looking towards the future, they fired all of their scouts. However, I don't think this is TGs fault. He basically saved the team. I would say Darcy has his head in the sand.

Taking a page out of Al Wilson's book? He needs to become a little bit more creative. This just doesn't come across as sincere.

Speaking of Moulds, any know if or where he is going to play next year? Kinda sad that he was such a great player for us, then starting complaining, then got traded, then fell off the face of the Earth.

Yeah, any link to the information on this presser?

This is my favorite part of the article: "He's as talented as any offensive player I've been around," says Cal coach Jeff Tedford, who has coached many NFL first-rounders, including Aaron Rodgers, Trent Dilfer, David Carr, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington and Kyle Boller. "He's so natural in doing it all. He's fast, strong, has great balance; he can catch; and he has a great feel for the game in all phases. He's so natural and explosive as an athlete." C'mon now, what was the author thinking!

No, AJ, the all-great holder of secrets, is the second coming of God. They should put him in the backfield. Does he actually know how much of an ass he sounds like? At first, I thought that article was a parody.

The Chargers can take our 2nd round pick and pick any other RB not named Peterson or Lynch and sign him for 5 years at a fraction of MT's price. They will then have a good back-up RB for cheaper than MT. I think AJ is being short-sighted. What happens after the 2007 season? Are the Chargers not going to be a contender anymore? Will they not need a good RB to back-up LT after next season, when MT walks?

All he is saying is that the trade all depends on the draft and the trade may occur on draft day if specific things happen. For example, if AP falls to us, we will not trade for MT. If we can trade up for AP at a reasonable price, we will not need MT. Now if AP and Willis are both off the board, he may swap first round picks to get MT.

I know everyone wants to be a stand-up "character guy," but why isn't Turner and his agent crying for a trade like everyone else in the NFL? I just find it weird. We have people making over 8 million per year crying for trades. Turner will be making 2.5 million next year, but this is only a 1 year contract. Just like everyone else with a 1 year contract, he is one injury away from being out of the NFL. Why isn't Turner pleading for a trade? He could be looking at a least a $30 million contract over multiple years and would be set.

Yes, you're right. ESPN is a Crosby lovefest.

This is really nothing new. The day after a Sabres win, you will see a picture of them on the front of CNNSI's NHL webpage. Then go to ESPN's NHL page, the won't even mention the win. They will usually have a picture of Philly or Detroit.

We have a winner gentleman!!! Fresh from this week's Peter King's MMQB: "YOU FORGET ONE THING ABOUT THE BILLS IN THE DRAFT LAST YEAR. From Tom Hirliman of Chesapeake, Va.: "I find it interesting that this year it is OK to stand pat and not trade down. Last year, the Bills got killed in the media for not trading down. Call me crazy but maybe no one wanted to move up into their spot.'' Ah, but wait. Denver wanted to move up to the eighth spot, and Buffalo could have had the Broncos' No. 15 pick, still gotten safety Donte' Whitner of Ohio State and paid him less than they had to pay at No. 8. That was my only problem with the Bills' handling of their draft spot last year -- not drafting Whitner, who played very well as a rookie. Sometimes you win not only by getting the pick or picks from the trade-down, but also from paying the player less, which leaves you more cap room to sign additional players." http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...0/mmqbte/1.html Don't you just love all the backpeddling? First, it was a horrible pick. Then it was a 1/2 horrible pick and 1/2 taken too early. Now, it is just silence and STILL some taken too early crap.