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Great story. And say what you will about Belichick, but I doubt any other organization would support someone like this. http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2016/04/21/memory-late-father-stokes-nate-ebner-olympic-rugby-quest/Y9xXxo1nfCDULPL6EacVzI/story.html?event=event25

There are a lot of comments about Peterman having a noodle arm - accurate, yes, but weak. The consensus is that with less than stellar arm strength he can only progress so far; like back up QB or maybe a borderline starter, with the club necessarily always on the lookout for a better guy who can really get the ball out the way it should be - with plenty of zip. I have watched a ton of Peterman highlights and have always wondered what those naysayers were talking about. In the highlights that I've watched I have seen a lot of 35-45 yarders with what seemed to me to have a good deal of power behind them, and one that was exactly 50 yards, right on the money. I was trying to find that one so I could post it here for all the doubters, but instead found this one. Go to Nate Peterman 2015 Highlights - YouTube and you'll see at the 12:05 mark, a 53 yard toss, from the opponent 45 to his 2, right on the money for a TD, with a 1 step-up delivery. Have a look and then tell me that he'll be limited by his weak arm. You might check out the entire tape to see a lot of excellent throws.

All I am reading today is the draft capital to get a QB in next year's draft .... is it just me or did no one like what Nate showed on Thursday? First drive as a pro ... drove down the field and scored ... in the fourth scrambled for good 1st downs .. and then hit Taiwan Jones perfectly on 4th down on the 5 yard line .. but he turned his head to run and dropped the ball ...likely could of been game tying score. This kid went to Clemson last year and beat #1 in a shootout against D. Watson ... I like what I saw and yes only one game and yes against 2nd/3rd string .. but certainly better than what I saw from Yates vs. the Vikes ... but given the lack of comments and I am island?

Pretty Interesting QB Analysis. EJ is in the mold of Alex Smith and Mark Sanchez but less likely to have a really bad game. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-10-types-of-nfl-quarterbacks/ You can plot QB's individually here. https://michaellopez.shinyapps.io/my_app/

https://youtu.be/DKaE31VgXjU It makes me feel good to know we are going to be doing this to him week 2

@globejimmcbride: #Patriots left tackle Nate Solder will miss the rest of the season with a torn right biceps, according to a team source. Surgery upcoming.

At 5-11, 220 pounds and 34 years of age, he is the longest of long shots. But unfavorable odds typically don't deter men who have served with the Green Berets, and Boyer's beaten them before. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, he decided at age 29 that he better attend college, fearing he never would otherwise. In the process of matriculating at the University of Texas, Boyer also walked onto the football team even though he'd never played a competitive down in his life. "I didn't want to regret never playing, and I'd never had the opportunity," Boyer told USA TODAY Sports. "It was always my favorite sport to watch." http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/draft/2015/05/01/nate-boyer-green-beret-texas-long-snapper/26694629/

It is now 3 am EST. That means, that there are now about 12 hours for Nate Silver to change his predictions, like he did in 2008, and in 2010. So far, he has only talked about Romney's odds being longer. Thus this thread is about documenting my own "predictions" about the excuses Silver will use if Gallup is right(and to bust balls) If Romney wins, and especially if it's a Dick Morris blowout...look for the following 3 excuses: 1. "Most polls I used(and not the ones I down-wieghted or ignored) were biased in a way my "house effect" adjustment could not have anticipated". Silver has already put this forward. So far, I'm batting 1.000. What could possibly have made a "bookie" like Silver, suddenly decide to hedge his bets, regarding the polls? If there's no problem, why even bring that up? How about: Silver has read the objections to the polls provided by people that he knows and respects? The timing of this, relative to the "intellectually coherent"(Silver's words), arguments being posted that challenge the polls...is no coincidence. 2. "The polls this year acted completely differently than they have historically and/or the turnout was unprecedented, so I'm not wrong". Yes, Nate, no schit. That's what we've all been saying for 4 months. We've been saying something is F'ed. You've said "nothing is F'ed here, man". We've been saying "Nothing is F'ed? The God damn plane has crashed into the mountain!" And, you have ignored that. Had the polls been this goofy for Romney, or had the turnout been a goofy R+11, you'd have made THIS YEAR adjustments, and not screwed around weighting individual polls as you did instead. We still have no idea how or why you do this weighting, but yeah, if Gallup is right, a whole lot of polls are wrong, which have made you exponentially wrong due to your own tinkering. Whatever in the world made you think that this electorate would = 2008? Whatever in the world made you think the Ds would have a turnout = 2008? Or, did you get the internals from Axelrod, again, and try to work backwards from there, again? 3. "Romney beat the odds." Ah yes....the Right Bauer of excuses. I don't need to explain the absurdity of just saying this, and not explaining how or why, do I? Silver: "after all this is a prediction, not a certainty". This means "I can never be wrong, because I gave Romney a >0% chance of winning". How great would it be, if you could go through life like this? "Well, I am not wrong, because I didn't give myself a 100% chance of being right". Try telling that to a client or your boss: "well I didn't get 100% of the job done, but I told you there was an 83% chance that I would, and me not getting it done? Well? That beat the odds". ------------------------------ Now, of course, if Obama wins, we will hear none of this. But, if Romney wins, we will probably hear all 3. The part of this is: none of these excuses are "wrong". In fact, you could just as easily call them "explanations". But...here's the thing...if Obama wins by a hair, that doesn't invalidate the reasons for these excuses either. The only thing that makes them wrong: if he final electorate is in fact <=72% white, and if the turnout is in fact >D+7. Again, it all comes down to Axelrod VS. Gallup/Rassmussen. Additional prediction: If Axelrod is wrong: Nobody will be screaming "pants on fire" louder or longer than Silver. If Gallup is wrong: Nate Silver will serve as the chief executioner. Either way: Silver's model will not be to blame.

New York Times stats guru Nate Silver has elevated the likelihood of President Obama’s re-election to better than 85 percent in his latest update. In an early morning update Sunday, Obama improved to an 85.1 percent favorite of winning a second term. That’s the highest Obama has scored in Silver’s influential polling model — which balances a wide variety of state and national polls and weighs them according to past performance and likely accuracy — since he topped 87 percent just before the first presidential debate in Denver. http://www.salon.com/2012/11/04/sunday_update_nate_silver_makes_obama_85_percent_favorite/

http://fivethirtyeig...tically-biased/ Read the whole article if you like, but if you've paid attention to me at all, you already know what Nate Silver is saying, and why. Ask yourself: how it is that I was able to predict Silver saying this, so easily? Why is Silver saying this today...and not 3 months ago? Is this any more true today, than it would have been 3 months ago? If we assume Nate Silver is "brilliant", then doesn't it follow that he would see the flaw in his own work, immediately react, and start the disclaimer process, or, fix his model, as soon as he sensed there might be a problem? Why is he reacting...now? I have a theory as to why: http://www.aei-ideas...uld-sweep-ohio/ Hey Nate? Feel your sphincter tightening? Yeah Nate, if you are only using top line #s, and ignoring the internals of the polls, and the obvious data patterns in them, then...yeah...if there are problems with those top line #s, you are screwed. Nate has, in politics, essentially ignored things he would never have if this were baseball. You will not find that in this article...which is essentially a very long disclaimer. His "house effect" adjustment doesn't take into account what is happening THIS year. THIS is the year we are seeing some real nonsense in the polls: again, the internals not matching the top line, the effect of Independents, etc. Thus, he has NOT accounted for bias. He simply thinks/says he has. Had he been truly objective, he would have seen the problem with the internals and adjusted for THIS year's problems. Yes, Nate, this certainly is unlikely to reflect sampling errors alone. Thank you Cpt. Obvious. It is rather, much more likely to reflect the awful WEIGHTING methods in the polls you use, or the Axelrod pushed demographic model. Silver assumes that there's nothing wrong with the methods used to produce these polls, whose weighting produces bizarre internals in other areas(again, Romney leading independents by 10+, Party ID of D+6, etc, Romney better on economy by an average of +6.). Instead, he uses a strawman = sampling error. Nate Silver needs to ask himself the screaming question: why is he relying on polls that have a D+6 or higher turnout bias, when we know that is a fantasy, and when he himself says that people vote by party ID almost exclusively, and, he himself says races depend on Independents? If you want an in depth(and I mean it) explanation of this...look no further than another baseball guy who does politics too, Baseball Crank. http://baseballcrank...012/10/post.php And, you guys think I write long posts. If you don't want to read all of that, just pay attention to this: Look for excuses #2 and #3...coming soon to Nate Silver's blog. Again, none of this says Obama = lose. What it does say? We can read Silver like a book, and, Nate himself has now exposed a significant crack in his model.

Nathaniel Hackett ‏@CrazyNateHacket 12h Hey @BonJovi, here's a pretty good look at what you'll look like if I ever catch you near my #Bills pic.twitter.com/b0LVXW8VgA Please note...this is a fake account and does not belong to Nataniel Hackett.

@mikerodak: Former Seahawks OL Nate Isles is trying out for the Bills today. @ChrisBrownBills: OL Nate Isles here for tryout and participating. Wearing jersey 67. #Bills

Patriots offensive tackle Nate Solder should be suspended for kicking a Ravens player in the head after beind pancaked on the Ravens all-out blitz which led to Solder, Tom Brady, and Steven Ridley all getting blown up in the backfield during a series of great defensive plays which limited the Patriots to a field goal. Collinsworth highlighted the head kick during a replay of the play, and I would be shocked if Goodell doesn't catch this and lower the hammer on Solder given the attention the incident was given on national television and the two game slap the league handed down to Suh last year for a similar incident.

What they do with this guy will say a lot about the new regime. I personally wouldn't mind seeing Marrone go as well, but I do see the argument for keeping him. Hackett is another story. He has been out matched by his NFL counterparts from day one and it is obvious. He has made no progress in 2 years. Pathetic! I am excited every year but if Hackett is back, it is going to put a serious damper on the off - season. So get rid off his ass and Whaley, stop being cheap with the offensive line you ahole. Chris Williams signing was so bad.

I absolutely HATE your offense bro... Not doubting you know tons about X's and O's, but sometimes it appears that you have NO CLUE how to put it all together... Shouldn't a good offense be able to create mismatches, and misdirections for opponents? Why does our offense seem to rely 100% on the speed of it's players? It's like a foot-race from the coin toss, and if we're not the fastest, we barely score..... Where's the trickeration? -Where's the GOTCHA!? We have depth and talent at the RB position, but you insist of pounding the hell out of the same two backs! -News flash, Boobie Dixon is a PUNISHING runner, as well as a sure-handed receiver... Why doesn't he get used more??? You are ridiculously predictable... You'll bring in Boobie or Tank on an OBVIOUS SITUATION, like 3rd and goal... The opponent will stack the box, and we won't score. Your claim to fame is having a daddy who coached Montana, but what have YOU done? Besides take a sorry college team, and improve it to mediocre? Where's your imagination? -What do YOU bring to this game? Here's what you SHOULD do going forward... Practice multiple TE sets to help out your immobile QB... The best QB's in the business rely on the high-percentage completions that a solid TE can deliver. Peyton... Romo...Brady.. Solid TE play facilitates the success of their offense... Multi TE sets also create mismatches that are hard for secondaries to react to in time...Screens with Boobie Dixon are a good idea too... With a full head of steam, he's a daunting task to bring down.. Bottom line... Don't squander Orton's experience, CJ's speed, and Sammy's atleticism by doing things the same way as the past year and a half... Pull out the stops.... By the end of next week this team can have a different future.

I didn't see this topic posted so wanted to make sure! I want to see more CJ in the pile on first down and other great calls like 3rd and 1 incompletions down field to Goodwin. How about finding a TE Gray that has two big plays and then disappears so Stone Hands Chandler can get his snaps. Don't let this gem escape WNY, TBD will never be the same!

Another long form deadspin article I only have begun to read but I know others will be interested. Its a former player recounting his struggles to stay healthy and treatment behind the scenes. Bills relevant, he touches on his issues with Plantar Fasciitis -- also topics that have been discussed on here with torodol and other drug treatments, and constantly playing through injuries and feeling the weight of team expectations. Jackson played for shanahan in denver too, so theres that. Similar to the Jason Taylor article from last year but much longer and more in depth. even includes excerpts from a lot of his actual medical reports. http://deadspin.com/my-injury-file-how-i-shot-smoked-and-screwed-my-way-1482106392 also should have some sex drugs and rock n roll in the article, but i havent gotten that far.

Finally a good game plan from our OC. The first 3 weeks we were in the shotgun all day, and could not establish a running game with those stupid inside handoffs. Well we finally made the switch. Putting EJ under center really allowed up to establish a running game against a pretty good front. Our usually outplayed OL got some good push and took the fight to the D, which they weren't doing from the shotgun. The running game gave EJ lots of great opportunities out of play action. Some of the throws were under thrown, but he was clearly more confident in this scheme rather than the all-day-long shotgun. He looked like a totally different QB, it was noticeable in his throws. Now, this has happened before with the Bills. We go a couple games wondering why they aren't running or using play action or doing this or that, only to have them finally do it and it works great!!! But then? THEY REVERT BACK TO WHAT DOESNT WORK!!! N. Hackett: Please re use this type of glam plan the rest of your career in Buffalo :-) PS, Also tell EJ that it is OK to overthrow long balls, but not OK to under throw them.

OK, you don't have to apologize - I borrowed that from the Byrd thread - but give Hackett some credit: 1) He opened the playbook up for EJ with reverse, fake reverse, screen and long ball; b) He was on the sideline (coaxed by Marrone) but looked engaged; III) Goaline call to Frank "the Tank" Summers (rather than forced throws); d) Even though the run game was stuffed, he consistently ran the ball with EJ under center. This allowed for better play action (rather than running out of shotgun all day) Fifth) He devised a game plan without his #1 and #2 WR's. 6) He has flashes of brilliance. After gaining 30+ yds to Graham, he calls a 40 yd go route to Goodwin (where he may have gone to a run, run, pass series a few weeks ago) I suppose Nate is getting better each week just like all these first year guys. Ohhhh, and props to JR in Pittsburgh and you other guys who picked us to dominate the Jets. I would have never guessed it would happen.

I hope I'm wrong but the only chance we have next week against the Jets is probably based on Pettine's ability to create havoc on D with turnovers including a TD. No lunch money for Hackett Sunday, Rex is going to steal it.

I was watching Real Sports last night and they did a segment on 300 + pound linemen in the NFL. They showed clips from years ago showing interviews with former players who got even heavier after the NFL. Two of them died young. Then they showed Nate Newton. The guy had stomach surgery in 2010 to restrict his food intake and he's lost about 180+ pounds. There's no way anyone who hasn't seen the new Newton would ever believe he was an NFL O-lineman who weighed well over 300 pounds. At his worst, he ended up around 400 pounds after he left the NFL. I couldn't find any clips from the HBO show, but if you scroll down on the link, you'll see the current version of Nate Newton: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Former-Cowboys-star-Nate-Newton-has-lost-175-pou?urn=nfl-282606

per kffl.com

"I think the fact that it wasn't a city like Miami or Atlanta is something that was kind of a hidden blessing in disguise," Clements said when talking about beginning his career in Buffalo, "I wasn't able to always go out, and I think that really helped me on the field."... Jim Kelly must be laughing his butt off at that pathetic statement. Jimbo and his buddies never had any problems finding "places to go out" around Buffalo. Then, in order to keep the public incidents to a minimum, he built his own bar in the basement of his home so he and the Bills could continue to party privately. I know Clements wasn't earning 10 Million a year in Buffalo like he is now, but he ceratinly had enough money to be "able to go out" if he really wanted to. Being from Buffalo, and rooting for the Bills my entire life, I really have to laugh at all the insults athletes and media members try to throw at our fair city. They just end up making asses out of themselves. For every one ignorant arrogant idiot like Clements, there are two Steve Taskers, Scotty Bowmans, Paul McGuires, Jim Kellys, Thurman Thomas's, Larry Playfairs and many others who have decided Buffalo is so great, they end up living here full time.

Nate Clements will be returning to Buffalo this weekend....how will you greet him if his name is announced?

I like him, and I didn't want him to leave. I think he's a good player. I therefore felt pretty bad for him, although I realize that every CB has a miserable game every once in a while. But today, my God.