Doug and Travis

[Nanker]

Here's a good rule of thumb: the minute you think I'm being serious about topics like Flutie, realize I'm being sarcastic. It's not often I live in the past, and if I do, I try to limit myself to mistakes I could possibly make again or watching Frank Reich orchestrate a comeback.

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Flutie was a midget locker room cancer with a mullet that is all the envy of the New England area, and Travis is a child-molesting locker room cancer with the mental capacity of a mop and Ray Charles balancing his checkbook.

 

What we need are team players. People with experience, but class. People who can carry a team on its shoulders when the chips are down.

 

Like Drew.

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You should give us a list of Bills players that it is OK to like and or dislike.

It would make it easier to post, and we could all adhere to your specific rules.

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Or you could lighten the hell up and learn how to spot sarcasm.

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I get it!

There is no “I” in TEAM, but there is one in FlutIe!

There is no “I” in TEAM, but there is one in TravIs!

There is no “I” in TEAM, and there ain’t one in DreW – (just a big ol’ “W” – which is always the last thing you think about when his name comes up.)

[Ramius]

I get it!

There is no “I” in TEAM, but there is one in FlutIe!

There is no “I” in TEAM, but there is one in TravIs!

There is no “I” in TEAM, and there ain’t one in DreW – (just a big ol’ “W” – which is always the last thing you think about when his name comes up.) 

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Theres no "I" in TEAM, but there sure as hell is an "L" in bLedsoe!

[Alaska Darin]

Tremendous post. The DF haters are mentally deficient.And TH is getting screwed.

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Yeah, I sure wish I could be as mentally efficient as you are. Then I wouldn't have to waste any time with thinking.

[plenzmd1]

Tremendous post. The DF haters are mentally deficient.And TH is getting screwed.

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How in the world is TH getting screwed. Guess Drew Brees got screwed last year?Guess we really screwed AVP when we picked up Drew. Why, oh why, would Travis not want to fight for his job.Thats what is really irritating me about his whole situation. Hes screwing himself by not wanting to compete. That my friends, is the essence of any truly great athlete, someone not afraid to compete either for his position, or agaisnt whoever lines up across from him on Sundays.

[BRH]

I just wanted to say that buftex's post hit the nail on the head. Out.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

And, this was one of those instances where "scabs" really did hurt their union.  I know we all think that NFL players are more than adequately compensated (and they are), but compared to the other major sports, the players got hosed from that strike.  It is good for us, as fans, but I don't think any other union would have sold its' employees out like the NFL players union did in that strike negotiation.

 

Think about it.  NFL players have a shorter average lifespan (both as players and in life) than any of the other major sports (I am still including hockey) and it would seem that their sport puts them at greater bodily risk than either basketball or baseball (hockey is a pretty rough sport too, I will concede), yet their players have the smallest part of their contracts guarenteed.  Once a team is done with them, they are done with them, only having to pay the rest of their signing bonus.  That is fine if you are Drew Bledsoe, or Kurt Warner, but what about a guy like, say Mario Haggens, or just the average Joe in the NFL?  As Fred Smerlas would say about the "scabs", "what a bunch of earfworms!"  And this from a leauge that makes more money than any other leauge....

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Yeah, boo hoo. Like millionaires need a fricking union. Like ANYBODY needs a union.

[Buftex]

Yeah, boo hoo. Like millionaires need a fricking union. Like ANYBODY needs a union.

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I would expect nothing less from you...your ability to simplify everything is unmatched!

[IDBillzFan]

I would expect nothing less from you...your ability to simplify everything is unmatched!

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I would argue that if everyone tried to keep things simplified, it would render unions more useless than they already are.

[crazyDingo]

Please allow me to interject that the truest reason, the reason that no matter what other ancillory reasons you may have, the root reason we can ALL agree is:

 

 

 

 

Because its fun to talk smack.

[Buftex]

I would argue that if everyone tried to keep things simplified, it would render unions more useless than they already are.

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Well, things are a bit different now than they were 20 years ago. What unions are left, are now in bed with corporate America. Corporations own everything, including, it seems, the heart and souls of many...whatever your feelings about unions are, you would have to admitt, in the case of the NFL players union, they really screwed their employees. They made free agency their top priority. They got that, but they didn't see far enought into the future, to see that with such small portions of the players contracts guaranteed, they were only selling their members short in the long run, for short term gain. You can bet that when the next labor negotiations come up (in 2 years I think) guaranteed salaries will be the biggest issue for the players.

[Tcali]

Yeah, I sure wish I could be as mentally efficient as you are.  Then I wouldn't have to waste any time with thinking. 

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I was being ironic

[Tcali]

How in the world is TH getting screwed. Guess Drew Brees got screwed last year?Guess we really screwed AVP when we picked up Drew. Why, oh why, would Travis not want to fight for his job.Thats  what is really irritating me about his whole situation. Hes screwing himself by not wanting to compete. That my friends, is the essence of any truly great athlete, someone not afraid to compete either for his position, or agaisnt whoever lines up across from him on Sundays.

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OK--you make good points there..

[Buftex]

How in the world is TH getting screwed. Guess Drew Brees got screwed last year?Guess we really screwed AVP when we picked up Drew. Why, oh why, would Travis not want to fight for his job.Thats  what is really irritating me about his whole situation. Hes screwing himself by not wanting to compete. That my friends, is the essence of any truly great athlete, someone not afraid to compete either for his position, or agaisnt whoever lines up across from him on Sundays.

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The difference between AVP and Brees situations, and that of Henry, was that Henry was coming off a great season (by most teams standards) and must have felt, in doing so, that he was cementing a great future for himself in Buffalo, his favorite team, not drawing up his inevitable walking papers.

 

Van Pelt and Brees were coming off mediocre, at best, career performances. Van Pelt is sort of was never expected, at any point in his career, to be a starting franchise QB. An opportunity fell into his hands, by someone elses' misfortune (RJ sucked and could not stay healthy, so AVP got the job be default). Sure, Van Pelt offered the Bills a little stability at Qb, in an already lost season (something RJ never could do), but his performance was more competant than remarkable. Nobody (execept maybe some fans and AVP himself) really expected the Bills to head into 2002 with Van Pelt as their #1 quarterback.

 

Brees situation was sort of similar. Word all around San Diego, at the time, was that if Phillip Rivers had not held out during training camp, he would have been the #1 QB with no competition. Brees would have never gotten the opportunity to turn his career around, at least not in San Diego.

 

Travis Henry did not lose his job for underperforming. He lost it because a player with much more perceived talent fell into the Bills lap. That is a fairly unusual sitution, which is why the drafting of McGahee was so controversial. Conventional wisdom was, "Why did the Bills, with so many bigger holes, take a gamble on Willis McGahee, when they already have a proven player at that position?" In Brees case, he had already shown, up to that point, that he was not the QB of the future for the Chargers, after a sufficient amount of playing time. The Chargers were wrong about their guy (or so it appears one year later), and the Bills gamble looks wise, two years later.

[Nanker]

Ever remember the summer that OJ held out all training camp?

The entire offense was retooled to feature Jim Bubba Braxton.

OJ strolled into town the Saturday before the season started and immediately became the starter (again).

 

Not exactly an analagous situation I'll grant you, but Bubba didn't pout. Why's Travis pouting? I'll tell you why - he's envious because he knows he's not the man any longer. This might be the first team he's ever been on that he isn't THE guy, and he's not reacting very maturely. It'd be nice to see some mature maturity maturing in his maturation. That's what I think!

[BRH]

Ever remember the summer that OJ held out all training camp?

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Yes.

 

I was seven years old and my summer day camp went on a field trip to Niagara to see the Bills at training camp. No O.J.

 

[VABills]

Travis Henry did not lose his job for underperforming. He lost it because a player with much more perceived talent fell into the Bills lap.  That is a fairly unusual sitution, which is why the drafting of McGahee was so controversial.  Conventional wisdom was, "Why did the Bills, with so many bigger holes, take a gamble on Willis McGahee, when they already have a proven player at that position?"  In Brees case, he had already shown, up to that point, that he was not the QB of the future for the Chargers, after a sufficient amount of playing time.  The Chargers were wrong about their guy (or so it appears one year later), and the Bills gamble looks wise, two years later.

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Teams do not draft a replacement in the first round if you are not underperforming. Sorry but Travis was and that is why he was replaced. Period.

[BRH]

Teams do not draft a replacement in the first round if you are not underperforming.  Sorry but Travis was and that is why he was replaced.  Period.

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Sir, I strenuously object!

 

The Bills drafted Willis because (1) there was no defensive lineman worth taking at #23 after the earlier run on DLs, and (2) they had a chance to get a TOP 2 PICK with the 23rd selection.

 

Travis was replaced in the starting lineup last season because he was underperforming, I can accept that. But the Bills didn't draft Willis because Travis was underperforming.

[C.Biscuit97]

Sir, I strenuously object!

 

The Bills drafted Willis because (1) there was no defensive lineman worth taking at #23 after the earlier run on DLs, and (2) they had a chance to get a TOP 2 PICK with the 23rd selection.

 

Travis was replaced in the starting lineup last season because he was underperforming, I can accept that.  But the Bills didn't draft Willis because Travis was underperforming.

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I totally agree. I just don't understand why Travis is getting bashed so harshly. Football is a business. The Bills showed Henry that when they drafted MacGhee. Now Travis is showing the Bills that by demanding a trade. Why is he such a jerk for doing this? And for the people who say Travis should just go to camp and try and compete for the rb job, that is nonsense. How much did Travis play once Willis got in the lineup. He may get in a few 3rd downs a game, but he's gonna rot on the bench. He knows this, his agent knows this, and the Bills know this. They need to get rid of him for value as quickly as they can. That's my two sense. Thanks.

[BuckeyeBill]

Very good post. But here's the situation.

 

RJ took Flutie's role away from him for one reason... about 10 years of age difference. When TD came in, he had one of the worst caps possible, with 2 quarterbacks under MULTI-MILLION dollar contracts. He had to cut one. He chose to cut the older and stick with the newer. I personally believe that any situation there would have been the wrong one in hind-sight. A lose-lose situation, and TD chose to lose with RJ.

 

As for Henry. I think it is sick that he gave up. When he was benched, he stopped trying. Did you see him run in the mop up games? He sucked it big time! He just didn't care anymore with WM in there. TH must know for CERTAIN that he is nothing compared to WM, and that's why he wants to leave Buffalo. The idiot should come out and say it rather than be rude to the organization and fans by his horrible attitude.

[Buftex]

Teams do not draft a replacement in the first round if you are not underperforming.  Sorry but Travis was and that is why he was replaced.  Period.

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Come on VA, even you know this is not the case. Henry was coming off a 1300 yard season, a pro-bowl appearence, and was the toast of the town, amongst Bills fans. The Bills drafted McGahee, and Henry responded with another, above average, season. Remember all the carrying on here, on the wall, about how he was one tough little S.O.B., and he should be on the Wall header? He was our offensive MVP. That doesn't mean he was the best RB in the leauge, but he was the lone highlight of our offense. Yes, I will agree, once he lost his job last year, he seemed to give up last year (though I have heard or seen nothing to indicate that he was the "locker room cancer" that so many here seem to feel he was), but it is human nature, to a degree. He had done everything he could, the offense as a whole struggled mightily, so he he lost his job to McGahee. McGahee proved to be the superior player, end of story. He/we knew Henry was going to lose that job as soon as he faltered.

 

As far as your assesment that teams don't replace players with 1st round draft picks, unless the player is underperforming, I think this is one case where you are wrong. Sure McGahee is better, but at the time he was drafted, he was not filling a pressig team need...which is what caused so many to question TD.

 

Of course, this is the same TD that drafted JP Losman, and someone on the board is insisting that the Bills have already, internally, written him off as a bust!