MattM

Post of the day right there--that's something that helps separate winners from losers in the NFL right there....

We've had whole threads on this (the Pats*' amazing luck in bye week scheduling) in the past. Some soundbites: 1. They recently played the Bills after their bye 4 years in a row--odds of that happening by accident? Approx. 4,000 to 1 (8x8x8x8x8); 2. In other recent years they've quite often gotten other "high value" games against either divisional opponents (like the Fins the year after the Fins won the division) or tough out of division games (like the Ravens the year after the Ravens bounced them from the playoffs in rough style at Foxboro, or the Cowboys); and 3. Recently they play far fewer team's coming off a bye than the average team (none this year, for ex., vs. the Bills 5 or 6 vs. An expected 2). Make of this what you will, but some of us see enough smoke to suspect fire....

Must admit that it sounds to me like his strategy is to play as little as possible this year to make it tough to justify paying him $8+m next year on the tag, all while collecting this year's franchise tag $ and giving himself a good story to tell next year when he hits FA....

It's in the new Rolling Stone article on Hernandez. Makes it pretty clear the Cheats* knew a lot more about AH and his thug life lifestyle than they've led the public to believe to date. Worth a read..... Supposedly Belicheat* had had enough of AH's antics that he'd threatened to cut or trade him (after the 2013 season, of course) if he slipped up again. Oh, well, at least Belicheat* is a man of his word (kind of).....

Not necessarily--he may still be ready, but they just don't want to go into the season with no vet backup, which they'd be doing as of today absent signing Leinart and/or Lewis. May be a competition between those two this week for that job....

The NYT ran a big piece on this recently in which they discussed how ESPN at the 11th hour pulled out of co-producing this, even though it's based on the reporting of two of their reporters. As per anonymous ESPN employees in the documentary/news group, this was because of pressure from the NFL on ESPN to not participate in something critical of the League on this issue. Way to put player safety first, guys.....

I agree to a large extent. People forgot about him in the first two preseason games because he seemed invisible--but that's because he was blanketing his receiver and they were never throwing his way. I'm not sure I'd list him as our most important player, ex-Manuel--I think CJ, SJ and possibly Mario fill that role ahead of him, but he's darn close and we've really got no one behind him. I'll feel a whole lot better if someone can tell us soon that he won't miss any time....

Not tonight.....

Speaking of which--any more news on his step grandfather? Sounds horrible. On a human level, I feel very sorry for CJ and his family about that. On a football level, that may turn out to have a much larger impact on CJ and his performance this year than an injury (see Dareus, Marcel).....

After actually watching part of that game, the Pats* looked decent except for the turnovers. They didn't consistently suck on both sides of the ball....

Part of me is wondering if they've been reading their own press clippings

Against backups--big deal

They just blitzed and sacked the 'Skins 12th string QB

Why? Against the Pats* if history is any guide, it won't matter whether we play like choirboys or not, those hankies will still come raining down either way, especially if we jump out to a lead or mount a comeback....

I thought the same thing--this move shows that Russ is fully in charge now and doesn't care/worry about the Wilson family looking askance at this hiring of his brother. Thanks, too, for the link to Gregg's LI profile. I feel slightly better about the hire (other than my general on principal (earned by working at companies where it happened waaayyy too often to the company's detriment) distaste at hiring a relative) after reading that in that he does seem to have some more "general" corporate-type experience at his last job. That said, I still believe that if the job opening was subject to an open, transparent, "blind" (i.e., resumes with identifying characteristics scrubbed off) process, it's borderline whether Gregg would have even made the cut for an initial interview. Jobs like this are amazingly competitive to get and would in most cases go to someone like a law firm partner in one of the major disciplines (like labor or corporate here) or someone with direct, relevant experience in a franchise or League legal dept. Just my two cents. That said, I wish Gregg well in the new role and I hope he can add some value to the team.....

No, he was hired to be the general counsel.

Yes--they're brothers. Here's the Buffalo News article on it--it's towards the bottom: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/bills-notebook-marrone-expects-byrd-to-make-smooth-transition-20130821 I take part of what I said above back--looks like his current company handles sports teams' websites, so if the Bills are having legal problems with their website, he's their man!

Maybe because he now has total control of the organization? Gregg Brandon is an IP (intellectual property) attorney as per his bio. Unless the Bills plan on suing folks for trademark infringement or their business mainly consists of IP licensing deals, he has little to no relevant experience to be the Bills' general counsel (his new position). I'd expect such a position to be held by an attorney with labor law, commercial/contract law and perhaps litigation management experience. He has none of the above. Pretty easy to see why he was hired, however. Here's a good article on the phenomenon: http://dealbook.nyti...-scandal/?_r=1 Like many articles these days, the comments are better than the article. A defense of nepotism by Andrew Ross Sorkin (some may know him from CNBC) is hardly surprising, however, considering that his father is a partner at one of NYC's most profitable firms and has probably earned an average of $2-3m a year for the last 30 years, putting him squarely in the top 1/10th of 1% in the parlance of the day. Funny, too, that dad's page on said law firm's website lists the NY Times (where sonny works) antitrust case as one of his biggest cases. Also funny that ARS's mother-in-law is an editor at a major women's magazine, while her daughter (ARS's wife) is a literary agent. See how all this works? I learned all of this from a 3 minute set of Google searches. Ain't technology amazing..... I'm the general counsel and SVP of a subsidiary of a large company, yet based on my experience I'd in no way be qualified to be the Bills' general counsel. Not how the law works. There are practice specialties that one works for years in before being able to actually "do" anything, particularly of that size. I wish him well and luck, since he's part of our team, but believe me, there are many other people who are better qualified for that position....

Looks like the Cheats* are having a rough night in Mo-Town. It's 13-3 Lions, but should be worse considering they've fumbled 3 times and Brady's been picked once and sacked twice. The Lions (w/o Megatron) missed a FG, too, and the Pats* can't seem to get anything going on O. Bunch of 3 and outs. Let's hope this continues on Sept. 8....

That's what I thought when I read his bio--absolutely zero relevant experience.....

Thanks, Astro--these reports are pure gold!

Ward was always a smart guy and class act in my book

I hate Belicheat* as much as the next non-Pats* fan, but he's right on this one....

Considering what it does (reduces recovery time for both injuries and normal workouts), isn't it a heckuva lot more likely to be used by aging vets than younger players/teams, all as I originally noted above?

Some of us know what we know (and it may be more than others on this board) about certain issues--I'll leave it at that. Bear in mind that Rodney only got caught because he was dumb enough to use his own name and address in ordering his HGH from a pharmacy later raided by the DA. It's really inconceivable to you that a team that's been proven to have cheated wouldn't also possibly have, shall we say, "looser morals", when it comes to PED use, and that such a reputation may not help it bring in older players who may be willing to take that chance? One of my gym buddies and I were talking a few years ago about HGH. He told me that it tends to give users an outsized head--serious lifters call it "the bloat". The next week I saw an interview on TV with Vrabel, Bruschi and Seau (it was right before the Giants kicked your arse--the first time!) and they all had heads the size of melons. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Personally, I wouldn't be shocked at all if one or more of them were using at that time, but obviously can't know that for sure. Let's get testing and see who's using. Brain fart above--meant Faulk for Brown in the RB example.....