MattM

I'd be pretty happy if this is what the Bills did. Best part is that it's quite possible and doesn't cost a lot of cash (Crowell and a FA TE (Owen Daniel or LJ Smith come to mind) should come relatively cheap), which is key to Ralph. Would immediately improve our Front 7 on D and our O-line and passing game. Combine that with more experience this year for TE, Marshawn, Simpson, Williams, Leodis, Pos and the much maligned Whitner, among others, and the team might go 8-8 or better with a little luck. Not bad considering our murderer's row schedule next season. I'd love to go 12-4 or something, but let's be realistic here.....

I'd love to see this as well--as you note, if we cut Kelsay's non-performing arse, that should free up $4-5 million in "cash to cap" since his contract wasn't too frontloaded and he gets that much per year. I also don't believe we have any major re-signings (tenders to keep Jackson and maybe Ellison and Preston (although perhaps not after Sunday) unless Ralph feels like keeping Fat Boy Peters happy, so we may be able to afford this (but then little else in FA). Folks also should keep in mind that the Ravens also have a pretty good number of their own coming up in FA (including Ray-Ray and Bart Scott), so can't afford to keep everyone. Do I think that this has a good shot at happening--no, but I don't think it's completely out of the question.

He's referencing a Skooby post in another thread, not stating it himself I suspect.

Unfortunately by then the team will very likely be in Toronto or LA. Does this strike anyone else as being straight out of "Major League"?

Anyone else notice that nowhere in the press release from Wilson does he talk about spending money to get FAs? He's expecting to get better via the draft and better veteran leadership, with this coaching staff that made HS coaches look like Hall of Famers. I watched and rewatched that pre-halftime sequence last night and was just stunned at how amateurish (at best) it looked. Absolutely pathetic. That combo should be good for 4-12 maybe next year. I'm really starting to wonder if Ralph is pulling a "Major League" here.....

But, but.....we're a DYNASTY, WAAAAA!!!!

You watch the League find a way to move this game to 4 o'clock when the winds are expected to die down for their pass happy darlings.....

Bills 27, Pats* 28--the Bills surprise the League and have the game in hand until some new calls never before seen in NFL history come out of the "rulebook" (or Bob Kraft's checkbook, take your pick). More seriously, Pats* 27, Bills 17. This one will be closer than a lot of folks think.....

I was going to say the same thing--if this game is remotely close, look for the hankies to come out in the 4th quarter, like they do every time we play these guys close. The usual something is still rotten in Denmark I'll bet.....

A lot of you conveniently forget a basic fact--that you simply cannot charge in Buffalo more than a fraction of what you can charge in large market cities for tickets, merchandise, etc. Complain about Ralph being cheap all you want, but the fact is that there's no corporate base in Western NY to buy luxury boxes and the average fan here can pay about 30% of what an average fan can afford to pay in a place like NY or Boston. Those are facts, and the result is that Ralph starts with a large disadvantage vis-a-vis many other owners/teams in larger markets. As others have noted, when things like luxury boxes in other cities inflate the cap, welcome to the MLB-ization of the NFL--how'd that work out for baseball? Their ratings have plummeted precipitiously over the last 20 years to the point where they no longer have a real network contract (those of you old enough will certainly remember, for ex, NBC's Saturday national games and ABC's Monday Night Baseball from the '70s) and many folks who used to love to follow that game (like myself) could care less about it now. Unless you're a Yankee or Red Sox fan, you can forget having a consistently good team no matter how hard they try--watch what happens to the Devil Rays over the next couple of years as an example. This Yankee offseason is another example--didn't make the playoffs this past year, so let's buy every major FA out there. I suspect they've at least bought themselves an AL East crown, if not more, but time will tell. And before you all say, "well, people who try to buy championships usually fail", I say you may be right part of the time, but it certainly helps your competitiveness--for ex., who else thinks the Jests would have been a lot closer to another 4-12 without their free agent spending this past offseason than to the 10-6 they may end up?

I saw the same thing--what a shock, a key first down at midfield wiped out by a phantom call on the Pats* opponent. Will wonders never cease. And here I was hoping that perhaps Bob Kraft's Ref Retirement Fund was invested with Bernie Madoff......

Perfect game for me--the two teams I hate most in all of sports? The Cheatahs* and the 'Pokes. Two "birds" , one stone--sweet......

If they don't go DE in the first round this year, they're nuts. That's the only way we'll get a quality end (potentially), as those guys never hit FA.

Read Peter King's column today--he didn't think it should have been overturned, and he's the biggest "NFL Officiating"/Mike Pereira rah, rah guy around......

I said the same thing in another thread yesterday--glad to see I'm not the only one who will no doubt be called a conspiracy theorist by Pats* fans--anyone who watched that replay knows there's no way in heck that that call on the field should have been overturned on that video evidence. It was all just too weird.....

I honestly think that Jauron will be such a "good chap" in that regard (i.e., contract or not, he will exit gracefully if requested and paid a little bit, but not the entire value of the contract).

Who was the biggest beneficiary of all of this (after the Steelers, of course)? None other than the New England Cheatahs, who look to likely be out of the running for the AFCE title and now must rely on a wildcard birth they're chasing along with the Ravens. Had the Ravens won they'd likely have pretty much sealed the Cheatahs' fates--I'm used to seeing bad calls in their own games go their way, but this is a new low (as anyone watching that play saw, there was no way in h*ll that there was enough visual evidence to overturn the call on the field in Pittsburgh).....

I wondered about that, too--some Jet had both arms wrapped around Steve Johnson's waist on that play in a very easy to see area and yet no flag. Complete garbage if you ask me, but, hey, got to make sure the major media markets are served come playoff time, right?

Personally, I don't think he ever did. It was all just an excuse so Jauron wouldn't get criticized for yanking him in the Fins 9ers game....

He's a huge Pats* homer--he and King both.....

Only problem with that is that it looks like the two good ones will be gone well before we pick.....

I'm not so sure about that. Dick may be a horrible coach, but he's not a, for lack of a better word, "dick". If he knows Ralph no longer wants him around (and in fairness to Ralp, from his quotes the last two weeks, I'd say he's seen enough) I suspect he'll do the right thing and leave, extension or not, after negotiating a buyout of some kind from Wilson shortly after the season's over. That's my prediction for what happens here.....

What's really so funny is that most of you posting negatively and calling for the heads of the players and coaching staff were many of the same folks praising them to high heaven after going 4-0 and 5-1. We weren't as good then as you all thought and we aren't as bad now as you all think--with the exception of the Cardinals game and perhaps the Pats* game the Bills haven't really been blown out or manhandled this year. They were in all of their other games until late, but just couldn't finish the job. To be expected with a young QB and youth at other key positions--not what people here want to hear, but it's true. I'm as frustrated as any of you with the ups and downs of this team, but I'm not quite as ready yet to completely throw them under the bus--that might change tonight, but until then.....

Yeah, if B'more can go 1-3 down the stretch (they have the Skins, Jags, Steelers and Cowpokes, so it's not completely improbable) and we win out, we actually have a decent shot of getting the 6. Again, I'm not predicting any of this will happen, but there seem to be more ways for us to make the dance than some people seem to realize.....

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/playoffscenari...amp;14=04000000 If we win out and get a couple of breaks (namely Miami beating the Jets in the last week of the season and losing to SF or Oakland and NE losing to Az, which I think will actually happen, or any other game (Sea or Oak)) we would actually make the playoffs if I'm reading this correctly. We'd be the 3 seed with a home playoff game to boot. Not that I expect any of this to occur, mind you, but I didn't realize that there were actually a number of scenarios by which we might get there. A man's gotta have a dream, I suppose (until tomorrow at 7 or so I'm guessing).....