San Jose Bills Fan

Corey Mac is an exceptional player in kick coverage. Opponents ultimately just get out of his way so there's something to be said for that.

Let me put it this way. It's a thin line and it's probably a bit subjective. Kyle Calloway, taken in the 7th round the same year as Wang didn't make the team but because of his low draft position I did not consider that a whiff. Now a 5th rounder is degrees different, IMO. For an accomplished football guy like Buddy Nix, I hold him to a high standard and a 5th rounder is still someone who can be a good player. In Nix's time here he's drafted Zebrie Sanders, Tank Carder, Johnny White, and Ed Wang in the 5th round. I completely see the rationale in drafting the first two guys. Both of them are pretty accomplished, credentialed players. Johnny White I consider a whiff even though he can still prove me wrong… I don't believe in drafting marginally talented running backs at all and while he's an impressive human being, I never saw anything that made me excited about him as a player. After we drafted Ed Wang, I watched several videos of his college work and came away very unimpressed. He seemed like a very poor athlete and clearly did not have a mean streak. I guess some of calling a pick a whiff has to do with my perception of each player's ability as well as their career outlook. I loved the Sanders and Carder picks but would never have drafted Wang or White.

This is an idea I like a lot and all of these posts make really good points. I should clarify my thoughts a bit. Living and working in the Silicon Valley, I am not a Luddite. I accept the inevitable increase in technology and try to embrace them and keep up even though computers are not really of my generation. I also love the telemetry used in sports broadcasts these days… auto racing does an incredible job… being able to pick your camera, seeing how fast the car is traveling, how many rpms the engine is running at, what gear the driver is in, when he's applying his brakes, etc. I am not anti-technology. My wider issue I think is the degree to which people become oblivious of the world around them as they immerse themselves in their personal electronics. My wife and I were visiting friends some time back and at dinner, our friends were on their iPhones (my wife and I choose at this point not to have smart phones although the apps for these devices are outrageous). I thought it was a bit rude but also hilarious and I had our waiter take a picture of my wife and I sitting their dumbstruck while our friends were glued to their iPhones. It's a pretty funny picture. There's a difference between your usual after work routine (television, computer, etc) and when you're "venturing into the outside world" as I put it. I think there's something lost when people don't notice the world around them because they're checking emails as they walk down the street. Don't even get me (or others) started on talking or texting while driving. I already mentioned witnessing pedestrians almost getting hit by vehicles while crossing intersections. I guess the real issues are the sadness and sometimes contempt I feel towards people who choose not to be aware of their surroundings. Personal safety, and consideration to others also has to do with my feelings on this issue. I guess I'm a stodgy old "purist" and would like to see live sporting events exist more as they did back when I was younger, knowing full well that those days are rapidly disappearing. You have to admit though, when someone builds a Jumbotron so big that it decreases the area in which the game can be played (I'm talking to you, Jerry Jones), then something's gone too far!

Thanks for posting. Very interesting article with attendance declining in each of the last 5 years. This topic relates to my post on the stadium experience… I like some of the ideas mentioned in this WSJ piece but I wonder if the NFL's plans are really going to enhance the stadium experience and draw more fans… or do the opposite. From a strict economic standpoint, if paid attendance is declining, shouldn't they at least stop with the ticket increases to let the market adjust itself?

TI, I think pretty much every rookie has a chance to contribute this year, including Tank Carder and Powell (or is it Potter)? Nix has whiffed on very few picks (Ed Wang comes to mind).

First of all thanks for the compliment. A lot of entitled, spoiled, me-first athletes age into grace… without having a gun held to their head… or in this case, their leg. In other words, Plax didn't change of his own volition. He was forced to change and it's hard for me to not be cynical about the reasons why. IMO, he's "changed" simply because he wants to extend his career (earnings). I've accepted the evolution of character in many athletes who I didn't like as younger men. But not Plax. He's spent an entire career being a complete jerk and I'm not buying that he's a changed man. I have a lot more compassion for Terrell Owens who in spite of being a deadbeat dad, is on balance, a much better person than Plax, IMO.

There's a bit of truth to what you say but you don't hear Brett Favre saying he wants to see the Bears implode or Dan Marino saying he wants to see the Bills implode. Kelly's openness is pretty refreshing in this day of overly-filtered athletes and ex-athletes.

At least they don't go to commercial between a TD and the extra point. Yet. I agree that there's a lot of dead time to fill during an NFL game. I guess it's just a matter of how they go about doing it with the constant media bombardment. Between the commercialization of the sport and the catering to attention deficiters, the stadium experience is not so great. And I totally agree with Offsides's point about personal electronic devices and football games not going together. You're supposed to be yelling and screaming and if you aren't clapping with your hands, the only excuse is that you're holding a beer. Can you imagine a football game where people have their noses buried in their smart phones while the game is going on? The whole concept of wi-fi in the stadium is ridiculous.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Awesome first post! Very prosaic! I remember having to work at Santora's Pizzeria on Main Street in Williamsville (I think it's now closed) the Sunday that Butler had his 4 TD game against the Jets. We did listen to it on the radio and I recall it was another sunny, glorious fall day in Orchard Park… another golden memory even though I couldn't watch the game.

As I'm sure you know, part of what's going on is that Tebow and Kelly are friends. It's kinda funny that Jimbo wants Tebow to win that job… and for the Jets to implode as a result.

As was already pointed out upthread, Lombardi, while dying of cancer, took a Redskins team coming off two losing seasons and led them to a 7-5-2 mark in his ONLY season as Redskins Head Coach. You're drawing the wrong conclusion about Lombardi's time in DC.

Seems now that he would cry if he were ever forced to leave Western New York.

Some funny stuff. I like that you try to combine solid football takes with a bit of humor. Also, I enjoyed the Jarron Gilbert piece titled "Why #73 Jarron Gilbert is the most important player on the team." http://www.thekickisgood.com/?p=2059 Also good was the link to The Draft Guys feature on Jarron which I'd seen before and really like: Good luck.

Amazing. Not exactly fan friendly. Great to know how much some customer service things have improved. Some retailers don't even require a receipt for a refund anymore.

The classic San Diego at Bills game… maybe the most memorable game of the Jauron era. In addition that might have been Trent Edwards' finest moment as an NFL quarterback. And it was ironically two weeks after his career was "wrecked" by Adrian Wilson. I loved that the NFL Network featured that as their Game of the Week. Because of the power outage, they had to rely more on NFL films footage and less on the television videotape. It was a glorious sunny day and I was euphoric after the win. That win brought the Bills record to 5-1… they went 2-8 the rest of the way. Anyways, my disclaimer is that I don't have a smart phone, and that I rarely answer my cell phone when I'm in the company of others… I think it's impolite and disrespectful of the moment. I'm a good multi-tasker but I wish people would stop obsessing over their electronic devices.

100% agreement with these opinions.

Stop threatening me. Seriously, once in 12 years is a pretty good record. Makes you think about the days before there was a plan B for lost/forgotten tickets.

Former Clarence Red Raider, Colgate Red Raider, Washington Redskin safety and present-day President of the Green Bay Packers, Mark Murphy made an interesting comment recently. "Our business is very competitive," Packers President Mark Murphy told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "We're competing with ourselves, in a sense, because TV is so good and we want to make sure the experience in the stadium is unique. It really focuses on technology." I wonder if Murphy is truly buying into Roger Goodell's mandate that the NFL stadium experience become more technological and that fans are able to enjoy high speed wi-fi so that they can use their smart phones and tablets to entertain themselves even as an actual game is going on right in front of their very eyes. Admittedly this might be a subject that is interesting to me only but I think it's fascinating that Jerry Jones builds the largest television in the world to put in his football stadium and that on top of that (pardon the wordplay) he was unwilling to raise the height of said television to eliminate the risk of punts hitting it. In other words, the implication that the television has become more important than the game. Moreover I believe I read that some of the seats at the very top of the Cowboys Stadium have no line of sight to parts of the field. I guess I'm old school (maybe just old) and look to the football stadium as a place of both sanctity and sanctuary… respecting being in the moment of witnessing the greatest football on earth and not being bothered by the usual distractions in life (media). I feel like it should be a place which commands our undivided attention for a few hours. It was one thing when the soundtrack to a sporting event went from being the crowd itself to it being the constant barrage of music, video, and message boards. But when the Jumbotron encroaches on the physical space of the game, then something seems wrong. There are a lot of related ideas to this discussion… the fact that a player running for the end zone often uses the Jumbotron to see how closely he's being pursued by other players for instance. For some reason, when I think of people and their personal electronic devices, it makes me think of the times I've watched pedestrians almost getting hit by cars when crossing through intersections… and the analog of that behavior in the days before wireless devices ("He never saw that lion hiding in the tall grass"). Do we not lose something when we choose not to pay attention to that which is right before our very eyes? I reflect on the fact that at AT&T Park in San Francisco, that every concourse has a view of the field and at virtually every concession stand, one can look through the stand and out onto the field. This ballpark, IMO is the greatest sports arena every constructed. Every seat is excellent. Except for the unbearably beautiful panoramas of the surrounding bay, the stadium puts the game on a pedestal. The playing field, not the television set, is the center of the universe. How do all of you feel about ridiculously huge video boards and high-speed internet in stadiums? Is this something the NFL should be striving for? Are there better, less-technological things the NFL could do to improve the stadium experience?

Kudos to you also… but a de-merit for being "ticket forgetful." Also I find your avatar to be disconcertingly threatening. But I will trade kudos for your word that you're not in any way trying to threaten me.

On several levels, I like the way you think!

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/29/jim-kelly-im-rooting-for-tebow-sanchez-turmoil/ Gotta love it! “As a Buffalo Bills fan, I hope there’s so much turmoil during training camp, I hope Tebow plays great, he pushes Sanchez, and all of a sudden the locker room is coming apart,” Kelly told Andrew Siciliano on NFL Network’s Total Access. “They open with the Buffalo Bills first game of the season in the Meadowlands, so this could be very exciting.”

First hand experience. Put more succinctly, this guy has been a major league jerk his entire life. Now that he's gotten a wakeup call (hard time in prison) and is at the twilight of his career, he deserves another chance? Plax crapped in his bed and now he has to sleep in it.

Lombardi isn't only considered a great coach, he was a great coach. As for Bart Starr, he was quite similar to Len Dawson and Bob Griese… more game managers than guys who could carry their teams to victory. Ironically all three are in the Hall of Fame although none of them are ever mentioned when it comes to the discussion of best quarterbacks ever. Gibbs in his prime was a great coach, IMO. And he never coached a great quarterback. Three Super Bowl victories with 3 different QBs.

I hear McNabb is no longer winded from Super Bowl XXXIX. Now that he's caught his breath he might be worth a look see.

Kudos for your compassion.