MattM

Muchas gracias in advance, senor....

The stuff about the radios are not assumptions--they were reported as fact by at least two coaches, Jack Del Rio (in a playoff game, no less, if memory serves correctly) and Rod Marinelli. Neither is the stuff about HGH, as Rodney Harrison showed last year they've got at least one user on the team, and the only way he got caught was by being dumb enough to use his own address, as the NFL doesn't test for HGH. Ever see the size of the melons on Bruschi, Vrabel and Seau--each is so large that it has its own gravitational field, a known side effect of HGH use. Not saying they're users, but according to a power lifter acquaintance of mine, an enlarged head is a symptom power lifters call the "bloat", and they seem to have extra large noggins to go with their advanced age and athletic ability. They've also apparently been accused of a ton of things by their brethren--just read the article I linked to earlier. What say you to that?

Not to be too much of a downer, but unfortunately when the time comes, they're not going to need, or even ask, your permission to move the team.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/sports/f...amp;oref=slogin This article may answer some of it for you, apus. Seems that whenever the Competition Committee gets a complaint on cheating/unethical behavior by a team, it usually turns out to be the Pats. Some highlights: The committee heard accusations that the Patriots had taped opposing coaches’ signals, placed microphones on defensive players to steal quarterbacks’ audible signals and manipulated clocks and coach-to-quarterback radio systems. The N.F.L. team executive said the Patriots were the subject of most of the accusations discussed in the rules committee’s deliberations. The team’s recent success and tight-lipped approach, as personified by Belichick, has played a role. “They were the only team, really,” the executive said. “Clearly, they were the team mentioned far more than anybody else.” How 'bout that? Peter King had a similar article in late Feb., citing anonymous coaches and players he spoke to at the Combine, most of whom thought there was too much smoke around NE for there not to be fire (his words.) I, too, believe that these guys are up to more "no good" than we currently know. Anyone who's watched any of their games and the officiating therein has to wonder whether Bob Kraft has Mike Pereira (head of the NFL refs) on the payroll.....

Many thanks, Clump--I was interested in seeing who will be FA's in 2009 and 2010. Basically I'm curious as to how much of our team is locked up for the next two years or so.

The odds of that happening randomly are more than 4,000 to 1 actually....

Many thanks. While I'm in awe of Clumps detailed salary cap analysis (and always have been), it doesn't look like he has the information I'm looking for, namely, who we have signed through 2009 (and the length of our players's deals generally). I'd love to see what the roster's likely to look like for the next 2-3 years.....

Don't hold back, now, Colin, tell us how you really feel!

Looks like Joey's not with the NFL Program that "it wasn't a big deal" and "didn't affect the outcome of any games". Horsesh*t. When you know what's coming it's a heckuva lot easier to go where they ain't and run plays to counter what the defense is going to do. How folks can say otherwise defies credulity in my view.....

Anyone know where to find a page that show the current status of the Bills' players' contracts (i.e., how long they're each signed through)? For ex., I understand that going into 2009 our main unsigned players will be Evans and Crowell (absent extensions this year). Is that correct? I'd also like to take a look at how long we have the rest of the team currently signed through. Any help would be appreciated.....

Link on that? (Not saying I don't believe you, but would like to see where that was reported). I personally suspect BB and Co. did much more than what they've been caught at--for ex., remember how when they were caught last year they happened to have 2 extra radio frequencies on their headsets? Anyone who's watched any of our games with them over the last 10 years or so (overlaps a bit with Kraft's ownership, perhaps?) knows first hand that they've had the refs seemingly in their pockets in any game with them that was close (which is when the fix would show itself). I personally suspect that this is the tip of the iceberg and that may be another part of why the League just wants this to go away. I'm also still stunned that no major media outlet has picked up on HBO's statement that a Pats player confirmed much of Walsh's story, including that the taping really did benefit the Pats' offense greatly. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but that seems a bit weird to me, what with all the attention this matter is getting generally.

While I agree that the Pats' and the League's interests are aligned here on wanting this to go away, I'd bet that if it were a less influential team (like ours) we'd get thrown a little more to the wolves than NE and the Krafts have been. New England has always gotten better treatment than most teams in everything from the schedule (playing the same one of your better division opponents after a bye week 4 years in a row--odds of that happening randomly are over 1 in 4,000) to refereeing and I for one don't think it's a coincidence. Goodell was clearly the choice of the large market teams and Kraft was both on the search committee and a big backer, and the Pats have reaped some of those rewards, IMHO.

While I hate the Pats, I think that one is more of an issue for the players' union than the competition committee, so I must admit that I agree with Goodell that that one doesn't rise to the level of an additional fine or loss of picks.

I agree with that--every game they play the opposition is going to be jacked for a number of reasons, from Spygate, to rubbing people's noses in it last year, to the dirty play of Harrison and Wilfork, to their general arrogance. In fairness to the Pats, they faced that the last 5-6 games last year, when going undefeated was possible, but it's interesting that that was the stretch when they started to fall to earth a bit, having trouble with teams like the Jets, Ravens and Eagles, not to mention the Giants in the last game of the year. I don't think they got any better this offseason and in fact got older in some spots (WRs (Moss is now 31, I believe) and LBs' despite Mayo and Crable, the latter of which won't start) and worse in others (the secondary comes to mind, as does the LB corps with the loss of Colvin). A key injury or two (if I had to guess, the obvious choices would be Brady of course, and then someone else like Maroney or Wilfork (a little payback for Big Vince is coming at some point)) and this team will fall to earth in a hurry. I also predict that when the inevitable comes and this team does fall to earth, be it this year or another, you'll see some beat downs delivered to Belichick, as coaches have long memories in this league. I'd love to see us partake at some point.....

While he also mentions the Bills, call me a homer, but someone calling up Mouse McNally on their own and offering free pointers on his old team isn't so much a reflection on the Bills as it is on that coach. It's certainly nowhere near the level of what the Pats* did, IMHO.

I don't think so--they said it was someone who was there that first season they used this (2000) and Dillon didn't come on board until 2003 or so, I believe. I'm sticking with my guess it was Antowain. I'm actually surprised this part of the story hasn't gotten more play--nothing in this morning's NYT on it, for ex.

...on a number of points in his story, saying it was all true, including that (a) it worked 75% of the time and (b) that it gave the Pats O a great advantage. They didn't name who it was other than an "offensive star" with the team, who played at that time. My guess may be our very own former "star" Antowain Smith, but that's just me. What you talkin' bout, Willis (990)? This ain't going away any time soon.....

This may also explain Drew coming out and pooh-poohing the whole investigation--anyone else find that a bit weird earlier this week?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/sports/f...amp;oref=slogin "After filming opponents’ signals, Walsh would edit the tape or deliver the original to Adams. Walsh said a quarterback — he declined to say whom — would learn the signals, and the next time the Patriots played that team, the quarterback would relay that information to Weis, who would use the coach-to-quarterback communication system to send the information to the field. That process, Walsh said, took seconds...... ....The Patriots then opened the regular season against the Buccaneers. Walsh said this was the first time he had seen quarterback Drew Bledsoe operate a no-huddle offense when not in a two-minute or hurry-up situation. In the week after the game, Walsh said he asked a quarterback — again, he declined to name whom — how helpful the signals were. Walsh said the quarterback told him “probably about 75 percent of the time, Tampa Bay ran the defense we thought they were going to run — if not more.” (Bledsoe was the Patriots’ starting quarterback in 2000. The other quarterbacks on the roster were Tom Brady, Michael Bishop and John Friesz.) Anyone else wonder if it's possibly the Golden Boy himself? Boy, would that ignite the Spygate flames once again......

Not a good way to start your pro career.....

Go over to any Pats board and you'll see that this all just the "haters", don't you know, there's no grain of truth at all to this, no matter how many folks report it repeatedly from different sources connected to the League (Peter King said basically the same thing at the end of Feb. from the combine--many coaches and players he spoke with there believed the allegations against NE since there was so much "smoke" around that team there had to be some "fire). BB and Kraft both just have a near psychotic need to win at all costs is my guess as to the root causes here.....

I'm trying to get out to the KC game with my dad, since I, too have always wanted to see a game at Arrowhead--the one crimp is the timing--it's right before Thanksgiving. The good news is on StubHub looks like you can get good seats at a reasonable price.

Only problem with all this is that, while reprehensible, Goodell did know the cheating went back to 2000 when he made his punishment decision, so I doubt anything new will come of this unless Walsh has additional new evidence here. If you'll recall, he only admitted this after Walsh spoke in early February. I suspect that what happened is Goodell's statement caught Walsh by surprise and thus here we are. Will be interesting to see if Walsh has anything else next week (or if he's been bought off after all, but we'll never know that).

Many thanks for the research. I really liked the way the Bills recruited this kid--telling him they wanted him even though they may not be drafting him and telling him they weren't planning on bringing in any other rookie FBs. I also really hope he makes the team.

It's a bit like Bizarro World over there--the Colts and Tony Dungy are evil incarnate, the media hates the Pats* and the refs, why the refs are always making calls that go against the Pats*. I don't know about the rest of you, but I want some of what they're smoking....