San Jose Bills Fan

Russ is in control now. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

I agree with Dave and WebsterGuy. I find Rex very likable and charismatic, partly because he's an obviously flawed person who can poke fun at himself and is comfortable in his own skin. He seems like he'd be a great guy to hang out with. He's very honest (actually too honest) and he's probably better-suited to being a coordinator than a head coach. As far as the Jets go, I hate them and predicted in 2010 that their success was unsustainable and that their team would eventually implode due to a slew of big money/name player signings: Santonio Holmes, LaDainian Tomlinson, Bart Scott, Jason Taylor, Braylon Edwards, and huge extensions for Ferguson, Mangold, and Revis. When I criticized their team building approach several people (you can guess who they were) here argued that the Jets were going about it the right way. Those people were wrong. It was obvious then that they were built for the short run. Their GM was fired. Rex is hanging by a thread. They have a QB crisis and no one is predicting anything special for them. As far as the Jets owning us recently, that has almost nothing to do with Sanchez so yes, I'm glad he's their quarterback. He sucks and Geno sucks and now they're talking about another QB timeshare like the failed attempt of last year by their now-deposed offensive coordinator. The Jets are a trainwreck. We beat their asses in the last meeting, we have a winning record against them all time, and we have a better all-time winning percentage than them. The Jets suck and will continue to suck. And finally, we're fans. We can say anything the !@#$ we want about other teams whether it's trash talking them or being amused or happy when bad things happen to them. That's exactly what we're supposed to do and it's exactly what their fans would do in the same situation. It's ridiculous that Bills fans here would try to curb the zeal of others Bills fans who are doing what sports fans do naturally: cheer for their own team and "hate" on their rivals. It's an absurd idea and points to some Bills fans having low self-esteem and allowing their own feelings of inadequacy to effect their behavior and worse, attempt to change the behavior of other Bills fans who don't have low self-esteem. Advice for people who think it's wrong for Bills fans here to act like normal sports fans everywhere: don't post. You're weird and your weirdness has zero value here. Go start a forum for other weird fans who think that until the team starts winning we have to sit on our hands with our heads bowed in a darkened room and avoid making negative comments about teams we've hated our entire lives. If you hate your identity as a Bills fan, you know where the door is. I have a Bills bumper sticker on my toolbox at work and wear a Bills hard hat on Fridays during the football season. If people give me crap I give it right back. There's no shame, there's pride. We love our team and we're not fair-weather fans. If you can't act like a normal sports fan who loves his/her team and dislikes his/her opponents and rivals then maybe you shouldn't follow sports. If it's too hard for you to cheer for a team that's fallen on hard times, then give up. We won't miss you.

More importantly, what does nfldraftbites have to say about the situation?

You seem to be having a problem with the spelling of his name. Perhaps this would help. His German relatives are in the wine business.

This is good advice. Get yourself a good square spade shovel like this one. There's nothing better for scraping up road kill.

We lived in the upper and the code on our Niagara Mohawk bill said "956 Dick Up." It was a constant source of hilarity to a couple of 16 year old stoners.

Maybe, maybe not. I'm not a part of that culture so I don't really know for sure. However, according to this story, Ortiz has been labeled a "snitch" Police knew they could find him there, too. So, many times he has run from them when cruisers rolled down and around the horseshoe-shaped street of boxy, Section 8 housing, looking for him on a warrant for a stolen bike or vandalism or some petty theft. And Davis Drive residents would cover for him:Charlie? Nope, haven't seen him. "He was," Ortiz's cousin Jose "Ito" Torres said, "one of us." Was. Ortiz — who appears to be the prosecution's star witness in the murder case against former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez — has had his membership revoked in the DooWops, the nickname for the Davis Drive family, because, Torres says, he is a snitch. So, if the case is headed where some legal experts believe and Ortiz is granted immunity to help prosecutors convict Hernandez of the execution-style murder of Odin Lloyd, Ortiz should think about staying out of the old neighborhood when and if he's a free man again, his cousin said. "He can come back here," Torres said, "but if you come back to the streets where everybody thinks you're hard but you've been snitching ..." His voice trails off. He doesn't want to say the words. It's not just that Ortiz apparently is cooperating with authorities, Torres said. He is flipping on Hernandez, the guy from Bristol who became an NFL star with a $40 million contract. Not many from Bristol made it as big as Hernandez did, and Ortiz is threatening to put him away for life. He's violating the code. "Everybody knows that Charlie told," Torres said. "He's been labeled a rat. He's done. He's done. You're going to have another breaking news (story) on TV."

That is really gay… not that there's anything wrong with that. But I'd prefer that they embellish the flyaway collar and just go to something in a good heavy stiff linen, maybe a pleat wing collar like this: Much more manly. You have to intimidate the opponent in football.

Damn! I dunno why I have a mental block with that guy's name. But I should get bonus points for spelling Legursky with a "y." Especially after having lived on Dick Road for all those years.

Yeah but I doubt Zimmerman could pass a screen test, much less play the part of Officer Nordberg.

That or the horshack test, one of those. Perhaps Kollege Studnet could shed some light on this conversation.

Pretty sure it was Dartmouth or possibly Dickinson. One of those old Eastern colleges.

All I know is that it supposedly goes well with peanut butter.

Every once in awhile Fluff brings us something of substance.

Well to start off with, I would say the only significant loss of the offseason was Andy Levitre. I was sorry to see Chas Rheingold leave but his loss was certainly offset by the addition of Doug Legursky so that's a wash. On the other side of the ledger, besides what I consider a strong draft, a good undrafted free agent crop and a good new coaching staff, significant additions include Kevin Kolb, Manny Lawson, Alan Branch, and I'll say it… Jerry Hughes. Jairus Byrd is a wild card.

Have fun and take good care!

To flesh out the offseason a bit: Additions Player Pos. 2012 team Acquired via EJ Manuel QB Florida State 2013 NFL Draft - Round 1 Kevin Kolb QB Cardinals Free agent Jeff Tuel QB Washington State Undrafted free agent Kendall Gaskins RB Richmond Undrafted free agent Drew Smith RB Albany Undrafted free agent Frank Summers FB N/A Free agent Robert Woods WR USC 2013 NFL Draft - Round 2 Marquise Goodwin WR Texas 2013 NFL Draft - Round 3 Da'Rick Rogers WR Tennessee Tech Undrafted free agent Brandon Kaufman WR Eastern Washington Undrafted free agent Kevin Norrell WR Stony Brook Undrafted free agent Chris Gragg TE Arkansas 2013 NFL Draft - Round 7 Zack Chibane OG Syracuse Undrafted free agent Ryan Turnley C Pittsburgh Undrafted free agent Alan Branch DL Seahawks Free agent Izaan Cross DL Georgia Tech Undrafted free agent Aaron Tipoti DL California Undrafted free agent Manny Lawson OLB Bengals Free agent Jerry Hughes OLB Colts Trade with Indianapolis Kourtnei Brown OLB N/A Free agent Jamie Blatnick OLB N/A Free agent Keith Pough OLB Howard Undrafted free agent Kiko Alonso ILB Oregon 2013 NFL Draft - Round 2 Marcus Dowtin ILB Eagles Waiver claim Nickell Robey CB USC Undrafted free agent Vernon Kearney CB Lane Undrafted free agent Jumal Rolle CB Catawba Undrafted free agent Kip Edwards CB Missouri Undrafted free agent Duke Williams S Nevada 2013 NFL Draft - Round 4 Jonathan Meeks S Clemson 2013 NFL Draft - Round 5 Jordan Dangerfield S Towson Undrafted free agent Dustin Hopkins K Florida State 2013 NFL Draft - Round 6 Brian Stahovich P N/A Free agent Subtractions Player Pos. Departure 2013 team Ryan Fitzpatrick QB Released Titans Tyler Thigpen QB Free agency unsigned Corey McIntyre FB Free agency unsigned Donald Jones WR Free agency Patriots David Nelson WR Free agency Browns Ruvell Martin WR Free agency unsigned Joe Sawyer TE Released unsigned Adam Grant OT Released unsigned Andy Levitre OG Free agency Titans Chad Rinehart OG Free agency Chargers Kyle Moore DE Free agency Bears Chris Kelsay DE Retired N/A Shawne Merriman DE Retired N/A Spencer Johnson DT Free agency unsigned Nick Barnett ILB Released unsigned Kelvin Sheppard ILB Traded Colts Kirk Morrison ILB Free agency unsigned Terrence McGee CB Released unsigned George Wilson S Released Titans

I believe exWNYer is correct though. I'm pretty sure the only guy that was tagged who hasn't put his signature on either the franchise tender or a long term contract is Byrd.

Hey Ray. Didn't think about that and I doubt I'd have the heart to include it if I did. Remember, we're hopeful Bills romantics. Hope isn't allowed to die until at least week two!

Neither of these pieces means anything as far as guaranteed results and in fact neither writer makes any claims as to how Marrone will do. Therefore the articles should be judged on: 1) The quality of the work done by the writers in terms of research, background, and how Marrone is depicted. 2) Whether you feel Marrone's background and experience as presented will make him successful or not.

Buscaglia suggests a backloaded contract which the Bills could "get off the books after the third season if his play dips." Wouldn't this be the kind of contract that the Byrd camp would be against signing? As was suggested upthread it might make more sense to give him a frontloaded contract while the Bills have the cap room (right now) with less money due at the end of the contract. Same average per year but more money upfront.

It really was unbelievable. If one single (repeated) act can define a person's (in)competency for their job, that would be the one.

You know, this is a fair question and I remember Johnson doing this at least 4 times as a Bill. So the question becomes: Did he know or did he not know that running out of bounds for a loss was worse than throwing the ball out of bounds for an incompletion? There's no satisfactory answer, thus making the question somewhat irrelevant. Wouldn't you agree?

Who better to inaugurate that experiment than the school’s football stud? “I had to do a soliloquy on Othello in her class,” Marrone recalled. “I went up and did it, and I was into it at the time, and she always makes me do it when I talk to her on the phone now. She said, ‘Why don’t you come out to the drama club?’ ” Marrone thought about that for a moment. He was the big man on campus, literally and figuratively, a hulking 6-foot-5, 300-pound kid who was going to have a chance to play Division I football somewhere once he graduated from Lehman. And Mrs. Preston wanted him to go on stage and sing and dance and act? “She bargained with me a little bit and she said, ‘If you do this, you can help your grade’ so there was some incentive there,” he said with a smile. So Marrone accepted the challenge and the first time out he was chosen to play Vince Fontaine, the hip radio disc jockey in Grease. “I did some background singing and a little dancing,” he said. The following year, he landed the lead role as baseball player Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees. “That was some solos, some duets, there was a lot for that role,” he said. “It was great, a different type of bonding with the drama people than you have with football, but I loved it. The toughest part for me was the makeup. I have a great appreciation for people who wear eye liner. You just have to be comfortable with who you are.” Hopefully this means that his inspirational speeches will be very convincing.