widerightradio

I want to have with that the Bills brass know what they are doing. When they let vets leave and those players don't succeed it's some evidence that the front office made the right decision.

I see your point: Football's a dangerous game. But, for example, last night the refs missed a defensive player taking a shot at a QB's legs. If you miss roughing the QB, horse collars, and the like, then it does increase the probability that someone will get injured.

Gailey's head nearly exploded. The refs nearly blew another call at the end of the first half. The crew calling the game gave the refs credit for recognizing that an offensive penalty inside 1 minute resulted in a 10 second runoff (thereby ending the quarter). Apparently, it was Gailey who let them in on this rule. Can you imagine if this stuff happens during the regular season? Yesh. I know there are badly called games, but this is beyond the pale. Time for the NFL to pony up and bring the real refs back. It's disrespectful to the players, other employees, and fans.

I had a similar reaction while reading the article, but I think most of the observations are simply disagreements rather than mistakes. For example, perhaps Hairston is heavy-footed regardless of what the coaches say. I think it's very likely Thigpen will win the battle for the #2 QB slot. Enough people on this board have made noise about Moorman being pushed that we can't exactly critique the national press for saying the same. The only comments I thought were flat-out wrong were that Moats was pushing Barnett and that our WRs lacked acceleration and quickness: As you pointed out Graham can accelerate, and although Johnson may not be fast he is definitely quick (ask Revis). Let's keep politics out of this.

Madden says Freddie isn't even Top 10: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000046912/article/taking-a-peek-at-the-top-10-rbs-in-madden-nfl-13 Past performance matters. The Head has yet to put up the same numbers as other backs in the league. I think Jackson is probably in the Top 5-8 range in terms of expectations for this coming season. But he has to stay healthy, keep putting up big numbers, and help his team win in order to get the respect he deserves.

I think you mean "facial hair" in the subject line. Although, given the size of Fred Jackson's head, facial growth may also be occuring. That nit-picky enough? Amish Aerial Attack Assails Ailing Airplanes

Morrison will be fine. He'll only be on the field about 40% of the time and has a long track record in the NFL. Martin is special teams. Don't be shocked if he makes the team on that basis alone. The whole depth chart is slanted away from this year's draft picks (with the exception of Gilmore). That is, I think their spots are a reflection of seniority rather than any predictor of making the cut. I think Gailey wants the young guys to earn it. We're not cutting Graham, Brooks, Carder, or Bradham. Asper and Sanders probably have to win their spots. Heard over Troupe and Moats over White are the only two that I think are worth noting as predictive. Possibly Hagan as #4 WR, but Gailey had said as much already.

Yes. Particularly because they've both now had the playbook for at least a year. I think it's highly unlikely the Bills bring anyone in on offense unless it's a long-term project.

I believe all driving while intoxicated crimes are considered Driving Under the Influence/DUIs in California. Doesn't matter what drug is in your system; it's the same crime. (There might be additional charges if it's an illegal drug.)

I'm not sure it'd be that much. That's top end free agent money for a guard and free safety. If we sign them now, they avoid risk of injury/poor performance for next year, they get paid their new salary a year in advance, and they get the time value of money one year in advance. My guess is both are in the $5m area. Some nifty accounting and both fit under the cap. Or cut Edwards or Johnson. I'd be surprised if we kept both.

I'm not a moderator or anything, but I'd prefer these be posted individually and the topic heading not be changed every day. The thread has become this mishmash of discussions rather than a cohesive one. More so than usual at least.

I think what you meant was "Can everyone freak out about something else now?" With that in mind, I offer you the following options: 1) Wood's health, 2) Asper/Brown/Jasper for back-up guard, 3) Fitz's beard and its impact on his accuracy.

Moorman has been a special teams captains since 2006 and Wilson since 2007, I see no reason for that streak to end. In reference to the OP, I think McIntyre won't make the team. The Bills are introducing Jackson/Spiller two-back sets and want an H-back package with Dorin Dickerson. I agree with Carey, I think it'll be Fitz, Freddie, K. Williams, and Barnett rounding it out.

Not exactly. The hold up is over the 25% rule, whereby teams can increase a player's base salary by 25% each season. For the first pick in the third round, if the two sides were the maximum distance apart, this would mean a difference of around $300,000. From an article posted earlier in the thread: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/conflict-continues-between-agents-team-192009786--nfl.html For what it's worth, I'd wait a few weeks for $300k. Or $200k. Or...

That's kind of impossible. To decide whether or not I like it, I must read it.

By extend, I assume you mean sign this off-season rather than waiting until the end of the season. Guy's like Levitre and Byrd have proven themselves and should be extended. I wouldn't mind waiting (and paying a higher price) should guys like Nelson, Jones, and Merriman continue to succeed in this system over the next six months.

Remarkable how often he was double-teamed in that video. I doubt he will see a lot of double-teams this year. Also, watching Florence needle Dareus makes me think we'll miss his veteran presence. There aren't a lot of guys out there who can and will say those things to rookies.

I think the Bills strategy towards the Patriots' offense is to either force Brady to throw quickly or make the Patriots put in a max protection scheme that eliminates their strengths in Gronk, Welker, and Hernandez. Buffalo Rumblings had a nice piece back in March outlining the potential blocking schemes: http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2012/3/17/2878990/mario-williams-buffalo-bills-defensive-line If the Bills D-line does not command additional blockers or does not get to Brady quickly, it'll look much like last year. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills put Gilmore on Gronk.

How much cap space any given player is consuming is different from how much of a cap savings we would get if we cut him and how much the Bills would save in actual dollars by cutting him. Some of the numbers are the same or very close, though.

You're assuming that calls at the beginning of the year are worse than calls at the end of the year. That the refereeing in the NFL is worse than the referring in other professional sports. And that there are no costs to mandating that all referees be employed full-time by the NFL. This may be true, but there's no evidence that calls improve over the course of the year or that NFL referees are worse than other professional sports. I think the idea that referees must only do refereeing in order to be the best is also flawed. Smart, talented people often do many things. I think there's an open question as to whether you would see a drop in talent if you made NFL referees full-time as they might chose their other job over being an NFL referee. You might say "good riddance," but those might be your best referees. Perhaps the NFL should implement a pilot program with one team of referees employed full-time then see if they were statistically more accurate during the year. Improvements in referring will mostly come from technology. You could probably set up cameras trained on 10-15 areas of the field with referees watching both on a video screen and on the field. Integrate sensors into football players' gear so that sideline toe-tap calls and ball advancement were mostly computerized. I think most fans like the human element of referring. We like having someone to blame. We like the appearance of fairness tinged with randomness.

TJ Graham is actually Roscoe. It's a rebranding thing. Companies do it all the time, so Roscoe figured, "Why not me?"

There were some earlier statements that made the full- v. part-time issue out to be black and white. I just think it's more complicated than that. I think there remains a question as to whether or not this is really a full-time job. Twenty-one games a year plus perhaps a couple of playoff games, plus trainings, promotional appearances, practice sessions. Compare that to what hockey, baseball, and basketball refs work. I don't think there's enough work there for full-time employment. And if there isn't, you'll miss out on a lot of great refs who take pride in what they do and want to have busy, fulfilling careers. Again, there's a lot of information I don't have in terms of how the referee union feels, how many hours refs currently work, how many hours refs can potentially work, and the comparative quality of NFL refs versus refs in other sports. Has there been detailed information over what the difference is between the NFL and the referee union?

I read an article several years ago (at the time of the last ref contract) where a large number of NFL refs did not want the position to be full-time because they were able to hold down other jobs. The argument goes: If you make it full-time then you may actually have a drop in quality (especially short term) as refs leave in order to keep their full-time jobs. Also, if you make it full-time then fail to pay the refs enough, that problem will persist. Referring is a hard gig. Is there any evidence that the NFL's part-time refs are demonstrably worse than other sports' full-time refers? The NFL should pay its refs more, but I think the question of full-time v. part-time is much grayer territory.

Only the Ravens, Panthers, Bears, Packers, Chargers, and Seahawks have all their picks signed. Several teams have no picks signed. Bills are doing just fine, particularly when you consider that the top 8 picks are unsigned. Sheppard took until training camp to sign last year because the difficulties signing third round picks under the new rookie salary cap. The deal will get done. For what it's worth, if someone told me I could make another $10k to $20k by waiting to sign on the dotted line, I'd wait.

I'm unsure why Batten was long-snapping: attempting to replace Sanborn or getting a few snaps in for depth in case of injury. If it's the latter, then this is a non-story. If it's the former, I'm mildly concerned. There's a reason why pretty much every team in the league feels the need to use up a roster spot with a specialized long-snapper. Gailey has a proven weak spot for multitasking: Levitre at C, Spiller/Smith at WR, Johnson at OLB. These moves have had varying levels of success, but I don't think they've made the team better.