MattM

I think Kevin Curtis got something like a 48 or 49 as well a few years back.

No takers, huh? Just a simple question, looking for some simple responses. No need to write a treatise, but I am curious about which direction folks would go on this....

By bias, do you mean because we're Bills fans (i.e., in the same division)? What I'm trying to do is gauge the attitude to such a scenario of fans of teams other than the Pats--any fan of a team other than NE may (or may not) have some bias to the Pats, but considering the nature of my inquiry I'm not sure how I remove that from the equation here......

I'm trying to conduct a poll of sorts (informal though it is). What would your reaction be if (a) Walsh comes forward and has a copy of the Rams SB walkthrough and (b) the Pats claim for whatever reason that Walsh was acting alone and they had nothing to do with it and © the Commissioner does not punish the Pats or punishes them leniently. Would this make you angry or would you abide by the Commissioner's decision? Thoughts?

Were Poz and Peters no-shows? (or at least not seen by CB?)

Wasn't Burress' rookie year somewhat of a bust? 22 catches for 273 yards and 0 TDs, and he was a Top 10 pick, if I recall correctly. How is that a good rookie year by any stretch?

I thought I'd read that Ralph has little or no debt on the team, so if that's the case (and I'm sure he's not alone), then there must be some teams that are close to half their value in debt. While the NFL is hugely popular, you never know what a downturn could cause in terms of economic havoc even for them. Perhaps this is part of why Goodell is fighting so hard to sweep Spygate under the rug--that kind of news ain't good for business......

The lifelong Pats* fan part might actually explain why he never came forward on his own in the fall--imagine how you'd feel as a Bills fan and you got your dream job working for them, only to find out they were a bunch of cheaters, willing to do anything (legal or not ) to win.....

One of those two 3rd round picks and one of those 5th round picks went Jacksonville for Stroud. Not saying we won't get them back (for ex., by trading JP for a 3, but probably a later 3 than the one we lost, and by getting a comp. pick for Gandy's loss last year (I've seen us getting a late 4th for this on other boards)), but at the moment, we ain't got them.

Not only that, I found it on the most played page.....

If we draft Patrick Willis and trade for Turner or instead draft Antonio Pittman or Irons then I'd say that the only position we haven't at least stayed the same talent-wise at is CB. IMHO, Willis, Crowell and Ellington would be at least as effective as Fletcher, Spikes and Ellington or Fletcher, Ellington, Crowell, our two LB combos last year. Don't get me wrong--I loved TKO when he was here, but he was just not the same player last year. Ellington looked like a promising rookie and should be even better with another year under his belt. Willis being a high draft pick (for a reason) should be able to fill in for Fletch. The other Willis did not have a great year for us last year (the Jets games excepted) and I think Turner or one of the rookies, along with a steadier does of A-Train, would be his equal or better. As for Nate's loss, we clearly did not compensate for that so far this offseason, and likely won't. We'll be relying on our scheme and getting to the QB better than we did last year, which may be helped by the acquisition of D. Walker (27 sacks or so from the DT spot in his career) and the return of McCargo, who had a rep. as a similar penetrating DT in college. As that also illustrates, we have also upgraded our D-line at least slightly with those two being available this year. With that, no one will deny that we also upgraded our O-line. This should help both JP and whoever our RB is immensely. We also seem to be getting no credit for our increase in experience. Our players will also have one full year in our systems on both sides of the ball under their belts and our young guys, especially our rookie defenders (Whitner, Simposon, K. Williams, Ellington) and JP, who each effectively had their first years as starters last year, will take a big step up in my opinion based on that experience. We had the second youngest team in the League last year and at times it showed. Young guys do have a tendency to get older and more experienced and I think we see a big jump this year in that regard. Your biggest jump up the learning curve is from year 1 to 2 IMO, so I expect good things from that whole crew. That's one reason why I think it's actually likely that we'll actually get closer to the Pats this year (not saying we'll overtake them in 2007, but I fully expect us to by 2008)--they have played together for years and their learning curve is likely to stay relatively flight, albeit at a higher level. Can't wait for them to strap them on and see how we do.....

That's great work, dude. Many, many thanks for pulling all this together. It confirmed one thing that I suspected, namely that we have really gotten hosed in this regard. I'm surprised that the Patsies have gotten stuck 6 times in the past--maybe the "love" from Park Ave. wasn't so strong a few years ago. Only half jokingly, you ought to consider sending this to Marv and the staff, as they may want to gently remind the League office of this for the 2008 schedule somehow, since I suspect we will be alone at the top after 2007, since we have two more this year.....

For whatever reason, the odds of this happening randomly 4 years in a row are 1 in 4100 or so (1/8 per year each year for 4 years). Doesn't sound too much like coincidence to me. I'd really love to see which teams get stuck playing multiple opponents after a bye each year (like us seemingly every year--again, statistically it should be one each) and which don't face anyone coming off a bye (like the Pats at least this year). That's where there's something screwy. Combine that with all of the other evidence (horrible pro-Pats officiating in many of their games over a number of years, which no one can really credibly deny, even Pats homers--if you think this is just a sour whine complaint of Bills fans, go ask fans of other teams who the "luckiest" team is in the League when it comes to officiating--getting tons of supplemental draft picks each year through the supposed "black box" award process while teams like us get stiffed (remember how much/little we got for losing Phat Pat and JJ, each among the biggest FAs the years we lost them,), etc.) and it starts to add up. Money talks in the NFL like anywhere else and the big market owners that have it seem to be able to call the shots.....

What I'd like to see is how often a team has had to play other team's coming off their bye the last 4-5 years, as I seem to recall us getting reamed every year in that regard. Wasn't it a couple of years ago that we had something like 4 or 5 games like this (so, I'm exaggerating, but it was at least 3, when statistically it should be 1)? How does that not get evened out over time? Once again, not surprised to see the Patsies "luck out" in this matter--how is it they always catch us off a bye and yet this year don't play anyone coming off a bye? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we find out 10 or 20 years from now that there was something fishy going on between Boston and Park Avenue.....

Don't get me wrong, I was the biggest Takeo fan ever--I was doing cartwheels the year we signed him and thought he played great for us pre-injury. It was sad last year, but you just didn't see him making plays. What I saw a lot of last year was Takeo getting there a step or two slow, just as the play was over. In all honesty, I really don't think our D will be all that off from losing him.

I agree--I'm calling BS on this as well. No way that Dallas or the Jets have any business being interested in Turner considering the backs they already have. It makes absolutely no sense. I see this as AJ Smith trying to make us think there's real competition and a real market for Turner. My guess is that the "sources" responsible for the article are the Chargers themselves.....

Zemaitis is a Rochester guy (native) as well, but didn't he pretty much ride the pine last year in Tampa--I thought I read about him having trouble even getting activated for games. If that's the case, no way you trade an emerging playmaker for him.....

Big Market Team--that's all you need to know. A waiting list for season tix that's years long, the pricing power to charge through the roof for regular ticket holders let alone luxury box holders. It's the wave of the future, boys--we cut Takeo because we can't afford to take a chance on his injury and still have to pay him $4.6 million this year, while jackasses like Snyder will be able to spend to their heart's content, year in, year out. The old days of the NFL as a relatively level playing field are soon to be long gone (if not already)....

Ahhhh, Bunkley--I remember last year when the Eagles staff was getting fluffed by ESPN and all the pundits for having such a great draft, getting both Bunkley and Winston Justice, meanwhile we were getting savaged for ours. I myself even wished we'd made the picks you had. From what I hear, Bunkley needs to step it up or be labeled a bust and Justice was no great shakes either, while we got starting production out of our 4, 5, 6 and 7s, in addition to Whitner. So just goes to show you never know what you're getting until they strap on the pads....

On the website, it also says that his wife has an MBA from Wharton (as does mine, so I feel for the guy--only kidding about that last part, dear!).....

I would agree--I suspect that the Spikes move may have been linked to that....

And his wife has an MBA from Wharton as well.....

I think we got an extra 7 for the McGahee trade this year as well.....

This is what I'm hoping, but suspect that it will be a 5th or 6th the more I think about it.....

I'm not quite sure that's accurate either, as the guys who leave would then have to be successful elsewhere--when has that really happened? JJ left and has spent two years on IR, we all saw Bledsoe's humiliation last year, Milloy supposedy had a horrible year last year in ATL, etc.