Dr. Trooth

What kind of ticket prices were they charging? Also, owners aren't interested in "packing the house" because it's shareable revenue. What they want is a stadium with 500 luxury boxes at 100K-150K a pop and enough general seating to fit 40,000 fans. Can Oklahoma City Pony up for that? And... will Jerry Jones allow another owner to cut into his territory?

Curry is looking more and more like Benoit Benjamin. I'd put him on notice... his play last year was every bit as disgraceful as was Benjamin's play throughout his career.

I just had a brain fart. Right now, the Patriots are only carrying 3 QBs. After Brady, they have this Matt Cassel (rookie last year), who was a backup to Matt Leinart at USC. Tte only other QB they've got is a rookie,Todd Mortenson. 1) Doesn't a team really need 4 or 5 QBs in training camp, just so that the top two don't get overworked? 2) Is Cassel that good the Patriots have enough confidence in him that if Brady goes down he can step in, or do they have plans to wait until another team cuts a QB and then scoop him up?

I'll chime in a little here. Isiah Thomas has no business coaching or managing anything in the NBA. But, "troothfully" and honestly, James Dolan has no business owning a sports franchise... let alone the Knicks, Rangers, and the Garden. This dirtbag is a total disgrace to not only all owners who own sports franchises, but to any sports fan as well. Lastly, as far as the Bills being a "laughing stock". Well, if that is so, it is well deserved. That is what 5 and 11 gets you in the world of professional football.

I think their is pros and cons to either argument. We won't know the answer until most of the season is over. Even if Moulds has a terrific season in Houston, would his performance with the Bills be matched, especially with an unsettled QB and Oline situation? We just don't know yet. Better off w/o Moulds? Yes... salary cap gain (although the Bills did take some hit) Yes... he'd be a 33 yr. old WR on a rebuilding team that's going nowhere this year. (taking playing time away from a younger wr) Yes... in that he wanted out of Buffalo Yes... if Kyle Williams turns out to be a very good player Yes... if the offense resembles the Rams... which used smaller, quicker, faster WRs. No... if the Bills were a playoff team with a settled QB situation No... if the offense will rely on sound blocking from the WRs No... if Kyle Williams turns out to be marginal or worse yet, a bust. No... if the WRs we have now play like crap.

Pro football players are no different than the rest of society. Whatever the percentage of players are wife beaters, you will probably find the same percentage in the general population in this country. It's all about self control.

Correct,... thanks to the tax$$ showered upon them by the upstate taxpayer. You must remember, there are two New Yorks... Area wise, NYC and a 65 mile area around it consumes about 5% of NY State's land and 55% of it's population. They have their universe within that box. The rest of the state is on the total opposite end of the scale economically, politically, and culturally. We pay high energy costs because of the NYC demand. We pay high taxes because of the burden NYC places on the other 8 million New Yorkers. And... when was the last time you new of any politician that is a significant player in NYS other than a downstate politician? Except for Joe Bruno who was Glens Falls born and raised (and he has even lost touch with reality), any politician with any political weight is a downstater.

Wow, Zonabb. You are right on the money... you "get it". Unfortunately most of us don't. I am also plotting my exodus from this state... and I'm a life long resident. Frustration and futility is the best way I can describe it... pissing into the wind. In fact, for the first time since I was of age to vote, I am not voting in the November election. It's not apathy... it's pure disgust. It does not matter who is elected in this state... none of them do a Goddamn thing that that will make an appreciable difference for the better. Stick a fork in New york... it is done, finished, overwith.

Now thats the best characterization I've seen yet. "Welcome to the State of New York: Government for the lawyers & politicians, by the lawyers & politicians, and of the lawyers & politicians."

I am doing the same. Also... FYI... any new NYS Trooper must have a 4 yr. degree. As far as the Democrat/Republican thingy...it matters not... and Spitzer will be as irrelevant as Pataki. And historically Dem's do not cut spending nor taxes. Last time I checked, Spitzer was a Dem... so, business as usual in Albany. They will all thump their chests and tell you what a great job they're doing as things get worse and worse. Bottom line... we have two states... Downstate and upstate. Two very different states. One tends to vote liberal and the other more conservative. Downstate always wins because they have more voters. Just a reminder... if you happen to be the last upstater to leave the state, please remember to turn out the lights... at 11.8 cents per kw hour, it can get expensive.

This is to add insight into the NY Times article which Dave McBride linked us to. Some facts about NYS... 1) Highest tax burden of any state. Nearly $5300 for every man, woman and child. (to get some perspective, California's tax burden is $3800 for every man, woman, and child) 2) NYS has the highest electricity costs in the continental US @11.8 cents per KW hr. Only Hawaii is higher. The National avg. is 7.2 cents 3) The cost for Workers Compensation Insurance in this state is triple the cost in any other state. Yes, this state is a treasure trove for trial lawyers... the folks at Alexander and Catalano are heavy hitters and they are on your side... they will get you the money you deserve. 4) One of every 4 jobs is a union job... twice the national average. 5) NYS has the slowest job growth rate of any state except for Maine, NH, and Vermont. 6) Property taxes have doubled, and even tripled in some regions of NYS in the past 10 years. There are more tidbits that I could throw out to you... but this is depressing enough. OK, so ask yourself this question... why would any business or corporation want to locate in NYS? The answer is no business that wants to make a reasonable profit. The costs are simply too high. So, what is the problem? Simple, you have a dysfunctional and corrupt state government... basically the senate and assembly are not going to stand up to the union lobby and the trial lawyer lobby. That's who get the politicians elected and then pays them off. The cost of living in this state will continue to rise and the exodus of our youth will continue on to greener pastures. Eliot Spitzer, our next governor will not change this. I've never known a NY Democrat to reduce spending and cut taxes. He can't, or won't, stand up to Sheldon Silver and Jim Bruno. And even if he does, these two political scumbags will only be replaced by some other "downstaters" who don't give a camel turd about "upstate". Remember this... There are approximately 18 million New Yorkers. 10-11 million of them live within 75 miles of NYC. The rest live in upstate. In an election, downtate votes one way and upstate votes another way... and downstate always wins and will continue to win. I'm a lifelonf NYS (upstate) resifdent and I had a serious moment of reflection a year ago. No matter how emmotional I am attached to this region, I reached a painful and agonizing conclusion after realistically looking at everything in total... and that is this... New York State is done! Finished, as we know and knew it.

Don't know what you've been watching. Gandy certainly was not outstanding, but he was solid. Started and finished all 16 games and gave up something like 2 sacks all season.... this while having to play right beside, you guessed it, Bennie Anderson. McNally gives Gandy good grades.

That would be pure speculation. I seriously doubt they would pencil this guy in as the starter if Fletcher retires or leaves via free agency next year. They can do one hell of a lot better. If it pans out that way, so goes it. However, it appears to me as though the Bills feel the depth at the MLB is shallow. After Fletcher, there's Esekial... a gamer, but this move would indicates to me they are concerned that Esekial is either not the answer, or not yet ready for prime time. As far as Fletcher. Do not underestimate his importance on the field or in the locker room. His only critics are fans who don't know donkey doodle about the game. He's a true professional and certainly a role model for younger players. You have to admire a 9th year vet that wants to, and loves to, play special teams.

Nope... we need a very good QB and an adequate Defense and Special Teams. Take a look at the last 10 SB winners. Only Tampa Bay and Baltimore had great defenses. The Rams certainly didn't play good D. Denver's really weren't that good, and neither were New England's ...although the Pats D was opportunistic and exceptional in the red zone.

Look at the last 10 SB champs. You will find that their defenses were OK to great. So, defenses are definitely factor. But, the biggest single factor in the past 10 SB champs has been the QB. If you want to win the SB, you better have a QB that packs a rating of 85.9 or higher for the season. The only exception in the past 10 SBs was Trent Dilfer who fell into the SB with a 76.6 QB rating... but then again, the Ravens team that won the SB had the best defense (by a good margin) of any SB winner in the past 10 years. 6 of the 10 teams that won the SB had QBs that packed a rating of 92.6 or above, with Kurt Warner packing the highest rating for the season at 109.2... which overcame his team's defense. So we have the extremes (low/high) of Dilfer and Warner... and both of those teams were extremes (low high) on defense as well. So...JP, Nall, and Holcomb, will any of them hit the magic number of 85.9? And even if one of them does, will the defense and ST be good enough to bring a cup home? JP was essentially a rookie last year on a bad team. He still may be on a bad team, although we don't know that just yet, but for JP, either way, he needs to emerge this season and show big improvement... In my book, to show he is on track, he's going to need to hit a rating of above 77... otherwise, we know that Holcomb is above that level already. Nall? For this guy to emerge as the starter, either the other two are that bad or Nall is pretty good. He didn't throw a single pass last season, only 33 in 2004, and never started a game... I won't say that it can't happen, but in my book, as it stands right now, he's long shot to start.

A lot of "trooth" here. Once Ralph passes... game over. Not good news, but about as accurate and "troothful" as it gets. I wonder if we all took our Buffalo Bills fan hats off for just a moment, and without any sentiment or bias, answer this question? If you just purchased a multimillion dollar business, would you locate it in upstate NY? This is exactly what the new owner of the Buffalo Bills will have to deal with. The NFL has become all about the almighty $. But, in "trooth" their greed is a microcosm of the economic society and climate we live in today. It's all about the corporate bucks (sponsorships), the price and number of luxury boxes sold. Owners don't like sharing revenue and they will find new revenue streams that are exempt from sharing. The only way is to have a solid core of corporations within their venue. Anyone try to cop a Super Bowl ticket lately? They simply can't be had. A small percentage of those tix go to season ticket holders by seniority or lottery. The rest are already snatched up by the league, corporations and a few travel agents. The blue collar fan is getting pushed out. In the not too distant future, it'll cost as much as a game ticket does now to watch the game in your living room.

Promo speaks the "trooth" here. A lot of the wallers are either transplanted WNY'ers or 13-30 year olds that really don't have a conception of the economic climate in upstate NY. They have no conception of what it's like to pay $10,000 a year in property taxes (more than a mortgage payment) on their home that is assessed for $225,000, an electric bill that averages almost .12/KWH (highest in the continental US), not to mention taxes on gas and some counties have as much as a 9% total sales tax to keep afloat. Add to this an economic rate of growth that is 10 percentage points below the national average, and the economic picture is as pretty as Rossanne Barr. What does this all mean for the Bills? Well, once Ralph has passed, the team is going to go up for sale. The next owner is going to want a return on his investment. The venue in which the Bills are located in has little or no economic viability to support an investment like that. Because of the high taxes, the high energy costs, the impotent political climate, eroding tax base (people leaving the state), etc. No business or corporation wants to locate (or even keep) their operation in a venue which considerably raises their operating costs. When a government contract is up for bid or an international company has plans to locate a facility in this country, NY state is usually the first place that is excluded... simply because of the ridiculous high cost of operation and the political machine they must go up against. So, the Bills are sitting in the middle of this and a new owner is not going to tolerate rising costs and a dwindling economic base, leaving him no option but to locate his business (the Bills) in an ecomically viable venue. I don't specifically no where that would be, but I know it aint in this state. I am sorry for the long and depressing rant. As a life long resident of NY it pains me greatly to see this. And I must admit, I am in the planning stages of relocating out of state... for good. When Elliott Spitzer made the "Appalachia" comment when characterizing a ride from Schenectady to Niagara Falls, he was dead on accurate. But my reaction was "Hello.... WTF"? this is 2006, NY state has been in an economic freefall for the past 30 years, and a light has gone on for some politician? And then, after that comment, Spitzer has the balls to say to the graduating class at Hamilton College last weekend to "stay and work in NY". Where? and doing what? and for how much (afer taxes)? Sorry my friends... I know it's a depressing thought to think that the Bills would move. It won't happen soon, but the reality is, the new NFL is profit driven and an entrepreneur can't make a reasonable ROA in this state. 10 years from now, unless there is some dramatic and almost impossible turnaround, they are gone. Folks, the Bills are the last NY pro football team. The Jets and Giants moved out long ago... and all efforts to bring them back within the NY State borders have been unsuccessfull. Ralph aint stupid, and never was. I think more than anything, while he's alive, he's sounded the alarm... perhaps even fighting his last fight for WNY, before he passes.

My God!! We can't all be stuck on "stupid". Why is that that everytime an NFL starter is released, it immediately triggers some brain waive in a "waller" that automatically envisions the released player in a Bills uniform? Wilkinson is a lazy, fat, marginal one or two down player that has underachieved at every level he's played... even at Ohio State. Rod Marinelli, the Lions coach... who knows a thing or two about running the cover two, thinks so much of Big Daddy and his fit into Detroit's scheme that he kicked him to the curb. So, why even bring up the possibility of this guy playing for the Bills.

"Troothfully", I cannot imagine a better seat than the Bills benches on the sidelines. After that, I dont know, maybe Ralph's box.

The bottom line, er, uh, excuse me... the "trooth" is... what Mr. McGahee must answer is can he be trusted in passing and/or 3rd down passing situations. We all know he can catch the rock. But, do we know, and are the coaches confident, that he can carry out the other nuances of the RB position in passing situations, ie blocking, selling the play, being in the right spot, etc.? There is a reason why Mr. McGahee was not used a lot in passing situations over the past couple of seasons. We can certainly use Mularkey as an excuse. But, I think the answer to whether he can be trusted in passing situations is a resounding "no" until he proves otherwise. This ain't Judge Judy... so, yes, in this case he is guilty until proven innocent.... or if you look at things differently, McGahee thinks he's the top back in the league. Well, if he were accused of that, there isn't enough evidence to indict him, let alone convict him.

Nice name. Don't expect the plant to be located anywhere in NY though. Not unless they cut them huge tax abatements and free energy. NY not even considered for Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Hyundai, or Kia plants in the USA because of their anti-business climate.

Willis has already made his statement as far as committment. New coaching staff, new system, new gm. The "right" thing for any starting RB in the NFL to do would be to step up to the plate and show you care. Show your passion, show the new staff that you're on board. Not Willis. This guy has missed most of the OTAs, voluntary or not, I don't care. Actions speak louder than anything and Willis' actions (or lack thereof) have made a statement. What do you think the coaching staff makes of this guy? Of course, publically they are going to take the high road and extoll his virtues. But, let's take a peak at reality. They can't be excited that Willis is not attending the OTAs. And, what are his teammates thinking? You have an offensive line that has been much maligned, but have been busting their balls, while Willis basks in the sunshine of Florida. If you were in this position, wouldn't you want to be with the Oline... the guys that open the holes for you? Wouldn't you want to show support and solidarity with them? Wouldn't you want to bond with your teammates? As far as I can see, Willis is Willis... and that's just the way he is... a selfish cockbite that only cares for himself. He did nothing to earn his salary in year one, he earned his salary in year two, and tanked it in year 3. Now in year 4, it appears that he does not want to be in Buffalo... at all. He's no Thurman Thomas... he'd defend his offensive line, and put the blame on himself. He'd encorage them and bond with them. No way Willis is cut from that cloth. He has no leadership ability or charisma... and no interest in being a team player. He may be a running back, but he is not a football player. Let's face it... Willis will not be with the Bills after his contract expires... and maybe before then. I smell a rat... and I smell a running back in next year's draft.

How do you know this? Houston ran a 3-4 defense at the time and Posey was an olb. How would you know whether his hand was on the ground or he was stand up rushing from OLB unless, of course, you've been scanning tape? Posey was essentially replaced by Jay Foreman in that alignment when Posey was signed by the Bills and Foreman was traded for some kick returner (or punt catcher) that is probably bagging groceries now. Posey was initially used as a DE by SF. But, he was deemed quite inadequate. That is when Capers picked him up and decided to uitilize him at olb. Posey's best performances have been out of the 3-4 alignment as an olb. He will not function optimally in a 4-3 alignment at any position.

The "trooth" is, the first thing readers of TBD need to realize is that this Connor Byrne guy is simply a blogger with wild fantasies. He doesn't have any access to the Bills organization or any of the players. He, basically, like many of the "wallers" just fantasizes a lot and spews out his opinion. He has no more knowledge of the game or the Bills than you or me... and probably a lot less. The guy has no idea of what this new defense is going to look like, nor how Denney or Kelsey would be able to function within it. He mentions the inability of Kelsey and Denney to distinguish themselves as top notch DEs, yet catupaults a player that the majority of fans think is one of the defense's week links (Posey) into some potential breakthrough he thinks makes sense doing... moving the guy to DE. That makes a lot of sense. What next, Lavale Sape to guard to solve the Bills OLine problems?

"Trooth" Ralph is "frugal". If he had Snyder's money, he'd burn his. He doesn't have Snyder's money so he must spend his wisely (and never ever make a mistake like Tom Donahoe again).