San Jose Bills Fan

And the Eagles are considered to be stacked in talent most every year including last year.

Also, you wouldn't compare player payroll to net season ticket gain. You'd compare net increase in player payroll to net season ticket gain. OR, you'd compare total player payroll to total season ticket sales. And you're calling Brandin (it's actually Brandon) a tool?

Those guys have two wives and two girlfriends? That is too much to ask!

I noticed some things about your 53 that I question. You have Danny Batten making the final roster…. and you have Kirk Morrison listed as an "ILB" though he's vying for the starting position at OLB. I don't think Batten will make it… I think they'll keep McKillup as MLB depth. Also, I think there will be one surprise cut at DT to accommodate one of the other young DEs. I agree that Hagan has a shot over Ruvell Martin. Both or them are excellent special teamers but Hagan probably offers more on offense.

Just like Bart is now leading the voting, I've forged ahead of you, Hammer. Three days, three votes. Catch me if you can!

As a general rule, yes. Some players who are considered undersized play with great leverage though.

The coaching staff generates the depth chart. Chris Brown refers to the depth chart in his writings but other than that, he has nothing to do with it.

To add to what AJ just wrote, several scouts made statements to the effect that "if Wilson was 2 inches taller, he'd be a top 5 pick." It can be argued that the publicity surrounding Wilson's strong preseason is unwarranted and premature. It can also be argued that some fans are being overly dismissive of him simply due to ingrained and dogmatic attitudes towards shorter quarterbacks.

Still interested in the drama caused by the release of Shawne Merriman. Lots of speculation surrounding Kyle Moore, Jarron Gilbert, and Robert Eddins. Nice piece on Eddins in the D & C: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120822/SPORTS03/308220036/two-bills-drive He made it a point to talk about former Bills linebackers Andra Davis and Shawne Merriman. That's class. Also quite an interesting anecdote about today's practice: "That’s why, during practice on Wednesday, the 6-foot-3, 246-pound Detroit native was charging into or around the blocker at the snap and/or coach’s command. During two-on-two drills with the offensive line, he and his fellow defenders were dominant. They always seemed to barge their way to the backfield. At one point, a frustrated Eric Wood tossed his helmet about 12 to 15 yards. Offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris did more than just a little yelling at his group."

I think your characterization of that play is inaccurate.

He mentioned getting another safety but that was before the "emergence" of Delano Howell in the Minnesota game. I watched some of the Jets-Giants and Rivers looked really solid.

Thanks, Jeremy. I probably spend way too much time thinking about this stuff.

He would only need to beat out Spencer Johnson or Dwan Edwards next year to justify keeping him on IR. He's not competing with Dareus or Kyle. I have to say, the topic is bizarre. The cutdown day is less than a week away. The team already has 3 open roster spots. Is there a compelling reason that the Bills should cut Troup today? Three open roster spots. Apparently that point hasn't sunk in for some.

One subtext to this discussion is Vince Young. One's view of Young would have a lot to do with that same person's view of the Bills quarterback situation.

Sounds like a personal problem. I concur with thebug. I don't recall Mark Anderson having a mustache.

From a pure football standpoint, I don't know. I think Andy Reid is perhaps the NFL's best offensive coach and I wasn't very impressed with Vick when he was in Atlanta. He seems to be getting better coaching now and is starting to become a more complete QB but he has deficiencies still. Also physically, I wonder how long he will be an effective player. Between his slight stature and his high-risk style of play, I think he'll have a relatively short prime compared to the truly great QBs. I wouldn't trade Fitz for Vick.

To the bolded above, they wouldn't say that. They'd say.. "There's no question that Peyton Manning will make the Broncos offense better AT THE QUARTERBACK POSITION. Apparently I never received the memo that "at the ________ position" must be added every instance that one talks about a player. I am humbled by your humility. My other biggest pet peeve (I have many I assure you) is the word "prideful." At what freaking epoch-making moment did the word "proud" cease to exist? Every one of those dumb-ass, itinerant ex-jocks who now wear suits while butchering our language on national television seems to think that saying "Peyton Manning is a prideful player at the quarterback position" makes a good sentence.

Hey Vet. As far as the link, the author's argument is weak on three points, IMO. Firstly he points to two examples to back up his argument. One of those players hasn't yet played a regular season game (Kalil) so he only gives one proven example in Joe Thomas to back his argument. I guess he could have cited D'Brick too but D'Brick isn't really that good, IMO… certainly not in the company of those great (and much larger) players mentioned upthread. This is not much of a sample to back up his advocacy of a new age offensive tackle. My second criticism is that the author states that pass rushers today are smaller, faster players. However NFL pass rushers have almost always been smaller, faster players. If you look at the list of the NFL's All Time Sack Leaders, the list is very strongly slanted towards speed guys, not power guys. The All Time Sack list is dominated by guys like Lawrence Taylor (LB), Bruce Smith (albeit a natural 300 pounder who cut up to play at around 262 in his prime), Kevin Greene (LB) Chris Doleman (tweener) Charles Haley (tweener/LB), Derrick Thomas (LB), Ricky Jackson (LB), Leslie O'Neal (tweener), Pat Swilling (LB)… these guys were all about speed and in fact, this is the predominant pass rush prototype. They are the model for those who came later like DeMarcus Ware, John Abraham, Shawne Merriman, Terrell Suggs, Von Miller etc. So the author is right that these great pass rushers are smaller but they've always been smaller. Guys that were primarily bull/club rushers like Reggie White are the exception. On the All Time list, there are very few of this kind of player. In today's game, the only power rusher I can think of is Jason Pierre Paul and he's very fast and athletic so he's not exclusively a power player. There is a third type but they are more similar to the speed rusher/tweeners than they are the bull rushers. These are the long, athletic, slender pass rushers… guys like Jason Taylor, Simeon Rice, Jevon Kearse, Richard Dent, Clyde Simmons, Sean Jones, Trace Armstrong… all 6'5" and athletic. Long bodies, long arms. Today's example of this type of player are Jared Allen and San Francisco's Aldon Smith… tall, slender, and very long arms. So the author is wrong about the physical characteristics of pass rushers. Those characteristics have not changed. Thirdly and finally I think he's also wrong about smaller tackles being more effective. Virtually every great pass rusher sets up his opponent with speed and when the tackle overplays the edge, the pass rusher counters with a bull rush, driving the blocker back into the quarterback. This has been true from the beginning of the NFL's modern era. (You can't try to run someone over and if that doesn't work, beat them to the outside… the great pass rushers start with speed and counter with force) I'm not a physics guy but when you combine 260 pounds of speed and power, you need an equal force to negate that speed and power. However because pass rushers go forward… pass blockers must go backwards. In order to absorb the force of the smaller but faster pass rushers, the pass blockers need to have enormous mass to anchor themselves. The prototypical long arms allow a pass blocker to steer the rusher away without overcommitting his movement towards the outside. The prototypical mass allows the pass blocker to anchor against bull rushes. I think this will always be true and IMO, Cordy Glenn is a prototypical left offensive tackle. To the author's contention, even though pass rushers are smaller, a smaller tackle who can mirror will get overpowered too often because he's moving backwards trying to absorb someone moving forward. In response to the suggestion that Walter Jones had a finesse aspect to his greatness, that's true of all the great offensive tackles. But Jones' feats in the weight room are legendary and his workouts included wearing a body harness and lanyard attached to a car and pulling that car across a parking lot, repeatedly.

Funny that Holmgren is sometimes called "The Walrus." Andy Reid looks just as Walrusish if not more than Holmgren.

Well, they do have a DB named Howell… and we could have drafted a cornerback named Captain… Captain Munnerlyn.

Two days, two votes.

I don't think anyone is concerned about "the DT position." (in former days you could just say DT… now everyone must say the _______ position).

Wait a second… I was all over Luck (and Harbaugh for HC) back in the early days of their time at Stanford. Plenty of people were all over Luck as I recall.

Two things come to mind while reading the posts in this topic. Corey McIntyre is a great blocker, can catch, and might be able to run… we don't now because he's not given the chance. I hate that Gailey is at the forefront of coaches who ignore the fullback. We might have a guy in CMacwho could line up behind our huge O-line + Lee Smith and just pound on teams late in games when nursing a lead. Why is it that all the Bills QBs look for Roosevelt when he's on the field? Isn't that fact pretty damn important… that the QBs are comfortable with him because they always trust him to be where they think he's going to be?

What happens when you pronounce it in a British accent? Serious question.