MattM

Right before that, however, they sold 19,000 season tickets in the early 1990's, in a metro area about 5 times the size of Buffalo, with corporate/disposable income probably closer to 10 times the size of the Buffalo area.....

Many thanks for responding--I didn't see all of that game, unfortunately, so don't remember those calls. Anyone else who watched have a view on them?

Still waiting.....

Spikes was among the hottest FA's the year he joined us....

I've asked Pats fans many a time whether they can name a game that they lost late on a bad call or no call and never get an example of that from them. If it evened out you'd think there'd be at least a few, since they've won so many that way, whether it be the Tuck Rule, "just give it to them", the Colts AFC Championship game a few years back, the Ravens MN game in 2007, the Bills game with the "inadvertent whistle" saving Brady from a pick 6 by Clements, the Texans game from about 2003-4 when Brady's pick at the end was miraculously waived off with a late flag away from the play (one of my favorites--the announcers had absolutely no idea what the infraction was, even after the ref announced it), etc. I'll ask Pneumonic--any you can give us?

Does the DB have to get out of the WR's way seemed to be the question to me on that call....

As per PFT this morning, in the end zone you only need to get two feet down. No football move is required....

I thought it was pretty close, too, but I had no illusion that it was going to be looked at again against the Pats*. Having watched similar garbage involving them for over ten years now, I just never expect any late calls to go against them....

Despite what the article says, I also believe that the Pats* have a pretty large number of FA's to sign in addition to the guys listed in the article--like Koppen and Connolly on the O-line, Ninkovich at LB, Shaun Ellis and Antuan Molden (if they want them back).

Need to remember that in addition to the 4th rounder unloading him also saved us, err, Ralph, several million dollars we could have used to....well....uhh...never mind....

Brady's 34 and won't likely be playing more than 3 more years, IMHO. Gronk had an injury history out of college, so may be due (for the record, I'm NOT rooting for this.) They have cap space, too, but also have a ton of FA's this year, including Welker, Branch, Connolly, Koppen, Shaun Ellis, Andre Carter, Ninkovich and Guyton at LB, plus some minor guys (like Molden at CB). Absent the 2010 draft with Herndandez and Gronkowski, their recent drafts have been pretty weak and I'm not too scared about those 1's and 2's next year, considering the 1 is NO's and the 2 is about the 54th pick. That said, they do have a way of making chicken salad out of chicken shite it seems, so who knows....

I think that starts in 2013, but I could be wrong....

That's EXACTLY why I'm pulling for the Steelers....

And he's from Buffalo and a Bills fan to boot. I coincidentally watched a Bills game with him once at Boomers on the UWS in NY, my old Sunday joint during football season. Didn't even know who he was until he said "wow, that was some hit. Back in my day they didn't hit like that" and then spent part of the rest of the game talking about his playing time. Funniest thing was he said hands down he'd always root for the Bills over his old team, the Giants....

If anyone is surprised by this anymore, I'd just ask where you've been for the last ten years or so.....

Some S&C coaches seem to do a better job than others. Pretty good article on the Falcons' program in the NYT recently featuring none other than Coy Wire, who was raving about the effectiveness of the new methods Atlanta uses....

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy....

They need to toughen Bell up. When healthy he's an above avg LT.

How about Donte Whitner, v 2.0?

Yes--that's certainly preferable to letting him walk for nada, which is absolutely the one thing we can't do. I think Gailey did the right thing today if it was a well-laid out team rule as some here have said. I just hope that Stevie has the maturity to (a) understand this, respect it and realize he let his teammates down and (b) not let it affect his decision on where to play next year. He and Fitz have chemistry that isn't easy to replace, especially on a team that even with SJ has so many holes, including at WR2. I really hope that this offseason isn't another 2 steps forward and 3 steps back one we're recently used to....

Where's WEO? If you need any further evidence of the League protecting one team and one player, look no further than that INCREDIBLY RIDICULOUS call on Florence. That probably cost us 3 points....

Oh to have such a problem....

Pretty simple, really, nothing too complicated. Someone bribes a ref who has a weakness of some kind--drug addiction, gambling addiction, a wife/mistress who wants more than he can afford or just plain greed, for ex. Many potential culprits--gamblers (tougher to spot, since it would be about points and not outcome and "winners and losers" would float, but do it too many times at your own risk of being exposed or booted as an official), TV execs wanting a popular team in the playoffs, for ex., or a billionaire owner who can't stand losing, all come to mind. Toughest part is probably knowing who to approach without getting the whistle blown on you, so you'd need to do your homework. Not saying it has happened, but after Donaghy and the Serie A scandal (multiple team officials and refs) it is idiotic to say positively that it can't happen in football, despite what WEO says. In fact, someone about 10 years ago wrote a book naming games that were fixed, I believe. Mainly '70's era stuff. I recall reading it at lunch at a bookstore in the bargain bin, but was too cheap to buy it. Personally, how else can you explain things like watching a ref look right square at Pats* defenders grabbing Marcus Pollards's shoulder pads in that AFCCG a few years back on successive plays without a flag? Had that Tivoed and watched it over and over. He had an unobstructed view of what was clearly holding (the guy had so much jersey on one play that Pollard about had his head jerked clean off), yet no flag. How does one explain something like that benignly? Again, not saying it happened or is happening, but something that already has happened in similar sports is certainly by definition in the realm of the possible at least. Sorry if any of this has already been discussed, just catching the end of the thread here....

No, it's not your bias speaking again. "New England has been a league leader in compensatory selections since 2000, making a total of 24 since the Bill Belichick era began" as per the recent Bleacher Report article that details their picks the last decade or so. What surprises me about this is that while the Pats* often get their steals via trades (Moss, Welker, Ochosucko and Haynesworthless this year), the Pats* DO sign FA's--look at Adalius Thomas (the biggest FA of his offseason)or Roosevelt Colvin (another highly sought after FA), for ex. I'd have expected someone like the Steelers to be higher in comp picks, since they lose decent players periodically (Burress and Holmes both come to mind) and are almost never FA players. As they say in Animal Farm, "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." That about sums up the Pats* relationship to the NFL in most things, including comp. picks..... http://bleacherreport.com/articles/628363-new-england-patriots-recent-history-of-compensatory-draft-picks

Plus one.....