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jahbonas

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Bills make their biggest trade in a long time on Friday and on Saturday we get an article from the Buffnews that simply states the terms of the deal.....today we get 1 column by captain obvious Allen Wilson who states trading peters leaves a hole in the Off Line.

Can anyone at the News get any type of access to the brain trust of the Bills ??? This is what writers need to do...its not their writing styles - its their access to information that the average fan does not have .....without such info the news will go under....

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Bills make their biggest trade in a long time on Friday and on Saturday we get an article from the Buffnews that simply states the terms of the deal.....today we get 1 column by captain obvious Allen Wilson who states trading peters leaves a hole in the Off Line.

Can anyone at the News get any type of access to the brain trust of the Bills ??? This is what writers need to do...its not their writing styles - its their access to information that the average fan does not have .....without such info the news will go under....

 

Maybe there will be a "secret left tackle visit" that he can't tell anyone about.

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Bills make their biggest trade in a long time on Friday and on Saturday we get an article from the Buffnews that simply states the terms of the deal.....today we get 1 column by captain obvious Allen Wilson who states trading peters leaves a hole in the Off Line.

Can anyone at the News get any type of access to the brain trust of the Bills ??? This is what writers need to do...its not their writing styles - its their access to information that the average fan does not have .....without such info the news will go under....

I was actually thinking the same thing. I got up this morning looking forward to several Buffalo opinions/perspectives on the trade and there was only one article. Budget cuts I guess. pretty worthless......

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It is not the budget cuts - it is the quality of the writers they employ. Almost all of the best writers move on to other places but the remainder continue writing with their work 'syndicated' by AP and other press trying to get 'local' coverage.

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I'm not fond of criticizing guys but I couldn't agree more. What offends me is that it strikes of laziness, plain and simple. Hasn't he cultivated a single connection in the entire league who could comment on this situation? Without credible, objective opinions by NFL insiders his piece has no more merit than many of the posts you see on this board.

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Five things.

 

1) I have no problem with Wilson's article. It states a widely held opinion and he has every write to write that in a column.

 

2) Mark Gaughan is on vacation.

 

3) The Bills, like the Sabres, act like spoiled children because they don't like the negative press they wait till they are out of town to make any kind of comments.

 

4) It is no coincidence that teams wait till late Friday to announce any potentially negative or controversial pieces. They know they can usually by pass the beat writers, regular radio talk show host and sports directors this way.

 

5) The News web site provided many pieces on the trade.

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I agree with the lack of analysis in the reporting of this... I think that Mark Gaughan is on vacation this week. Which would be the cause of the lack of coverage. With that being said, we have been very spoiled by the quality of reporters that have covered the bills through the years.

 

One thing that I do like is the chat sessions that the news has... Many times you get insights that are not included in the actual news portion.

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Five things.

 

1) I have no problem with Wilson's article. It states a widely held opinion and he has every write to write that in a column.

 

2) Mark Gaughan is on vacation.

 

3) The Bills, like the Sabres, act like spoiled children because they don't like the negative press they wait till they are out of town to make any kind of comments.

 

4) It is no coincidence that teams wait till late Friday to announce any potentially negative or controversial pieces. They know they can usually by pass the beat writers, regular radio talk show host and sports directors this way.

 

5) The News web site provided many pieces on the trade.

 

Agree. I mean, what more do you want? Another opinion piece? The news story is there.

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Agree. I mean, what more do you want? Another opinion piece? The news story is there.

 

Yes I want opinion - INFORMED opinion - one of the very best sports writers of all time Will Mcdonough was never arrogant enough to think that readers bought the paper to get HIS personal opinion....he understood readers wanted informed insider opinion from either scouts or gms or personnel men ettcccc.....The News writers never gather such opinion....they either state an obvios fact...or they give their own personal opinion......get off your asses and do what it takes to get quality informed opinions of men in position to know...if you cannot do that....find other work !!

 

One classic example - the week Fluite was benched in favor of RJ in the Buff news we got jerry sullivans personal opinion and we got Captain Obvious stating the change in starting QB.....in a Boston paper writing about a Buffalo team Mcdonough wrote a great article by stating that the decision was controversial and that he gathered the opinions of defensive coaches who played against the Bills that year = he published their quotes and opinion about the move and how they felt it made a difference in defending the Bills offense at that time.

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If a piece doesn't contain quotes from NFL sources, a viable and justifiable alternative would be a timeline such as the following:

 

* April 2004: Jason Peters is signed as an undrafted free agent.

 

* August 2004: Peters is cut and re-signed to the Practice Squad. Any team in the league can now sign him. Many Peters haters point out that the Bills took a risk with Peters and gave him his first chance. But what risk did they really take? They didn't spend a draft pick on him. If they really coveted him why was he cut and placed on the Practice Squad for 3 months, leaving him exposed to other teams? The truth is the Bills had nothing to lose in signing Peters. There is no league-wide interest in Peters at this time so former GM Tom Donahoe must be given credit for signing him but Peters cost the Bills not so much as a draft pick and only as much money as it takes to sign an undrafted free agent.

* November 2004: Peters is promoted to the active roster largely to play tight end and special teams. To make room for Peters, Constantin Ritzmann is placed on injured reserve.

 

* In 2005: Peters beats out former first rounder Mike Williams to start at right tackle.

 

* March 2006: Peters is rewarded for his play, signing a five-year, $15 million contract extension. This contract replaces the contract which paid him a total of $461,895 for 2004 and 2005 combined. There are two years remaining on the former contract.

 

* In 2006: Peters, seven weeks into his new contract is moved to left tackle, replacing Mike Gandy who is moved inside to left guard. After the season Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman debated selecting Peters to his All-Pro team. "I was rooting for the Bills' Jason Peters, whom I would have loved to pick, but he isn't there yet. Very athletic, but not enough of a roughneck." Clearly Peters is playing at or near a Pro Bowl level.

 

* March 2007: Bills re-sign Chris Kelsay to a 4 year, $23 million contract.

 

* August 2007: Bills tear up last 3 years of Aaron Schobel's contract and give him 5 year $50 million contract to assure he's the highest paid D lineman on the Bills. Said Schobel "Obviously, I had three years left on my deal so they didn't have to do anything ..."

 

* March 2007: Bills sign Derrick Dockery to 7 year $49 million contract.

 

* March 2007: Bills sign Langston Walker to a 5 year $25 million contract to play right tackle.

 

* January 2008: Jason Peters is selected to the Pro Bowl.

 

* June 2008: Bills extend Brad Butler with a 3 year $8.8 million contract with 2 years remaining on his contract.

 

* July 2008: Bills extend Kyle Williams with a 3 year $14.4 million contract with 2 years remaining on his contract.

 

* July 2008: Bills GM Russ Brandon states that he hasn't spoken with Peters since a late January physical for his sports hernia. He says that he has spoken with Peters' agent Eugene Parker but only with regards to James Hardy contract negotiations. How proactive were the Bills in attempting to dialogue with their best player?

 

* January 2009: Peters selected to a second Pro Bowl.

 

In view of this chronology it's easy to see why Peters became disenchanted with the organization. Also bad advice from his agent (not reporting to workouts and OTAs) and Peters' reticence to speak publicly on these issues hurt him in the court of public opinion. Peters went about it the wrong way but I think he was justified in feeling disrespected by the Bills. It probably reached the point where he didn't want to return, thus the trade to Philadelphia. Too bad for both sides. Except for possible repostings and debate as to whether the Bills got good value in return, this is my final word on the Peters debacle.

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I was actually thinking the same thing. I got up this morning looking forward to several Buffalo opinions/perspectives on the trade and there was only one article. Budget cuts I guess. pretty worthless......

Sully needs time to sharpen his knives. Expect a bloodletting Monday.

 

PTR

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Sully needs time to sharpen his knives. Expect a bloodletting Monday.

 

PTR

Yeah, that's about par for his course.

 

As a rule, I find all of the S'nooze writers--be they reporters or columnists--to be a uninspired and under-achieving lot. Lack of upward mobility makes for lacadazical editorial demands and 'good enough' writing.

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Bills make their biggest trade in a long time on Friday and on Saturday we get an article from the Buffnews that simply states the terms of the deal.....today we get 1 column by captain obvious Allen Wilson who states trading peters leaves a hole in the Off Line.

Can anyone at the News get any type of access to the brain trust of the Bills ??? This is what writers need to do...its not their writing styles - its their access to information that the average fan does not have .....without such info the news will go under....

I thought Wilson;s article was good/well written. I don't completely agree with it though.

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In view of this chronology it's easy to see why Peters became disenchanted with the organization. Also bad advice from his agent (not reporting to workouts and OTAs) and Peters' reticence to speak publicly on these issues hurt him in the court of public opinion. Peters went about it the wrong way but I think he was justified in feeling disrespected by the Bills. It probably reached the point where he didn't want to return, thus the trade to Philadelphia. Too bad for both sides. Except for possible repostings and debate as to whether the Bills got good value in return, this is my final word on the Peters debacle.

 

Now the issue wasn't that the Bills didn't want to resign him, the issue (which you omitted to mention) is that he was asking for too much cash after a truly mediocre season last year. Last year he was asking for a ton of money, didn't keep in contact with the franchise and showed no good will by boycott all workouts including his own. He dug himself a grave within the franchise that probably would have been dug even deeper had he not been traded.

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