HalftimeAdjustment

The NFL.com play by play said R. Lindell kicks off for a touchback. Is that correct or was it Potter?

So, if I was the coach and felt he was underperforming because of his recent family tragedy... I would probably do this: 1) Keep him in as starter. Officially dropping him would probably be bad for him and probably bad for team morale given the situation. 2) Call for a LOT of substitution packages with his backup. Assuming his backup is playing better. Otherwise.... do nothing. Beyond that you just have to give him time to work through it. If he comes back next year and does poorly you deal with it at that time... Hopefully that is not the case. If it hurts his performance for future seasons he should seek help... but I do not think the team can get into that. Right now the loss is too fresh and there is very little anyone can do about it.

Good point. I say QB in rounds 1-4. Rds 5-6, LB. Rd 7, WR *or* trade away our rd 7 pick for a rd 6 pick in 2014. On a related note I would try to trade away our Rd 7 picks every year.

It's unlikely that teams 1-9 will all pick QBs but I would be OK bringing in the 10th best QB in the draft at this point.

Put her in at any position on D. Can't hurt.

Win 7 of the remaining 11 games.

I haven't heard of him. Git 'r done, Buddy.

Too much Twitter leads to dropping the ball, right?

Has any other player expressed an interest in having a refrigerator in their locker? Was there a longstanding "no refrigerators in player lockers" policy, or is Mario just the first player to pimp out his locker this way? Do any of the New England Patriots have refrigerators in their locker? I feel that the whole story has yet to be told. We already knew that Stevie Johnson drops passes due to overuse of Twitter. Now we need to know if easy access to bottled water is causing Mario to overhydrate... and once he's bloated he can't defend himself against hands to the face?

In related news, Fitz is no longer leading the league in INTs. Romo has 8.

Currently, Fitz is 23rd in Comp %, tied for 1st (aka worst) in Interceptions, and 1st in TDs. He is 12th in YPA which is actually pretty surprising, and 16th in passer rating which I don't put much stock in. I don't see much of a reason to rank him in the bottom 5. It is true that I'd rather have some of the people below him (ex: Andrew Luck), but that is due to "potential" not current performance. Looking at the NFL QBs list, I have the following players as obviously better than Fitz now: Ryan, Roethlisberger, Schaub, RG3, Dalton, Brady, P.Manning, Flacco, Rodgers, E. Manning, Rivers, Romo, Newton, Brees. In the "probably better" category I have: A.Smith, Ponder, Kolb, Stafford. In the "higher potential" category: Locker, Bradford, R. Wilson, R. Tannehill, Luck. These players are not necessarily better than Fitz today but have a good chance to exceed him in the future. At least one of this group will bust most likely. That leaves the following at the same level as Fitz: Carson Palmer, Michael Vick. And below Fitz: Gabbert, Freeman, Cassel, Sanchez, Cutler, B. Weeden (could improve). So, I can see an argument for "Bottom 10" QB, but not "Bottom 5". I also can see a weak argument for "19th best" which is where he is paid... if you only consider the "probably" and "obviously" better QBs.

Matt Cassel has to be in the mix.

So... at the end of the season we get an all-new front office right?

Run is wearing our D out.

Russell's.

Jasper finally got on the field.

Unless you count the one who was picked at #4, that is. But he wasn't available to the Bills.

I am glad Bell did not return to Buffalo because I hate the new spelling of his name.

They have proven he was complicit, since there was an email notifying him about the bounties years after the NFL first asked the team to investigate and stop such a system. Payton's suspension is as much about these two things as anything else: - When asked about the system, he lied to the NFL about it. - When notified that the NFL would be investigating, he instructed his assistance to "get their ducks in a row"... interpreted as instructing them to hide it. As such, the NFL deemed Payton to be the most responsible party other than Williams, and as head coach responsible for cooperating with the NFL commissioner's office. Had this been just a bounty system with no complications, or had it gone on for 3 years THEN been discovered, penalties would be MUCH less severe. The fact that the team was investigated, successfully concealed the rule violations, then continued them for 2 more years, causes a great magnification of the penalty. At any corporation, this kind of behavior (failing to cooperate with a security investigation) would result in immediate termination of anyone in the organization who conducted themselves in this manner. The magnitude of the original offense (the bounties) is not what determined this penalty.

Good choice of punishments. Waiting to see what's done to players (probably not that much, except for Vilma). As for people asking why Belichek was not suspended - the question is, did he lie about it to the league? I think Payton got suspended big time not just because of the injuries, but because he lied to the league, and because he associated with a known felon who paid into the bounties.

I'm sure Brady did, so Anderson made sure to sign with Buffalo. If he buys or rents a home, he will never have to stay in the hotels!

Actually, PFT is reporting that he left Buffalo to fly to Nevada, where he will visit with ex-Bill Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson.

Any chance that the Calvin Johnson deal threw a wrench into negotiations, causing the delay?

My interpretation is that Nix etc, with the aid of the upcoming CBA provisions that mandate teams spend near the cap, have convinced Littman (and therefore Ralph) that they should be allowed to spend up to the cap, and that they should be allowed to pick the players that will make up that spend. And, because they cheaped out for the last couple of years... they have the money... even under cash to cap. The fact that the cap stayed basically the same from last year could only have helped their case.

The question of relative penalties for the Saints vs. other organizations has come up in this thread, as well as "statute of limitations". A couple of points: - If the NFL has previously considered a 'statute of limitations' for penalties then it should apply here. One would think that going after any teams beyond 10 years is out of the question. 5 years is a long time in pro football. No easy answer here. Saints were in continued violation. - Teams that lied about it and/or failed to cooperate with the investigation (read: New Orleans) must be punished far more harshly than any teams which cooperate. Cooperation from other teams TBD. I would argue that if either the Redskins, Bills, or Titans cooperate with the investigation then that team should face no more than fines. No competitive penalties. - New Orleans included outside (non-player, non-coach) money in its bounty pool. This is an extreme red flag and must be considered very problematic. Any team where outside money is found, must face severe sanctions regardless of points 1 or 2. Here's why: Outside money inevitably leads to organized crime. You might think "If a gambler offers money to players to make good plays, they are wasting money; the player should be doing that anyhow". Not so: the gambler pays the players for a while to do good things, then blackmails them into doing bad things based on their having taken dirty money in the past. The fact that the outside money in New Orleans may not have been tied to gambling, is irrelevant. Any outside money being allowed into a team's compensation system, is in my opinion as severe a violation as can be made from a management perspective; and on this basis alone Sean Payton (who received an email from a non-team source detailing the bounties) should be suspended and fined heavily. Ask yourself: in this case, what would an MLB commissioner do??? All of the "it's only football, which is violent" discussion is nice, but what about taking OUTSIDE MONEY to reward players??? So... if that did not happen at other teams, they should be penalized much, much less.