San Jose Bills Fan

Thanks EA. As others have pointed out there's roughly a 50/50 chance he'll succeed. But I'm so tickled that the Bills took the player I wanted that it's actually hard for me to be objective about him now that he's actually a Bill. And I really like him as a person. I find that he has substance to him and I like his temperament. Also I don't sense any phoniness in him so all things considered, he's gonna be an easy person for us to root for.

Short-yardage/goal line running backs!

Clearly I would say your take on his comments was accurate. Thanks for posting that. I was intending on finding it but got sidetracked.

Again, one of the main questions is whether RGIII, Cam Newton, and Kaepernick will be able to build on their early success. Vince Young was Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowler in his first season so he too had success early. It will be interesting to see if the 3 more recent QBs can do what Vince Young couldn't do and build on their early success.

The story of my life. In fact I'm considering that line as the title for my memoirs. It's a garage door opener. I would only buy a Genie or a Liftmaster. Craftsman is good too but they're built by Genie for Sears.

He said crossing his legs…

Hey, at least it wasn't Peter Pan.

The bolded are the two salient questions and neither question has yet been answered. As JohnC points out, another question is whether the QBs in question (basically we're talking about Cam Newton, RGIII, and Kaepernick and by suggestion, EJ) will be able to continue to develop the mental aspect to compensate for the inevitable decline in their physical skills. That is the 3rd question for which we have no clear answer. You've made some great points Chris but I think this question misses the mark because two of the players have yet to play a regular season down in the NFL. But yes, I'd rather have Matt Moore (80.5 career passer rating, career record of 13-12 on mostly bad teams) than Kevin Kolb. I'd also probably take a guy like Shaun Hill who has a lifetime passer rating of 85.9 and a career record of 13-13, mostly on bad teams. So to your point, there are backup QBs that I'd prefer to Kevin Kolb. In fairness to Kolb however, I don't profess to have a comprehensive grip on exactly how competent he is.

This whole "15-20% thing" has been chatted about a bit with varying opinions on what it means. I'll try to dig up the exact quote so we're interpreting what was said. As much as Parker would be a bit of a looney for interpreting the rookie contract they way you describe above, that's exactly my impression of the quote at the time I read it. I hope NoSaints' interpretation of the quote (roughly that Byrd was only making 15-20% of what he should be making on a new contract) is more accurate. As UncleFlap and yourself adroitly point out, Murph and Brown are employees of the Bills. This means that some of what they say is in accordance with the agenda of the Bills management. However it also means that little of what they say can be taken at pure face value.

Was this the first person you spoke with or did they transfer you to customer retention? Also, what time did you call?

What an awesome gif. Thank you!

I generally agree with you that (IMO) CJ wasn't dramatically underutilized last season and I know this is not a popular viewpoint. I'm skeptical of CJ's ability to shoulder a large burden and keep in mind he did get injured in the first quarter of the Cleveland game last year, even while being "underutilized." As a result of that injury, he only got a total of 16 touches in the games against Cleveland and New England. What this means is that in the other 14 games, CJ got 234 touches (195 rushes, 39 receptions) for a true average of 16.7 touches per game. I would like to see this number increased to about 18-20 touches per game. I will agree with the criticism of when he was taken out of games more than the criticism that he didn't get enough touches.

I like your explanation except I thought Buffalo was a bastardization of "Beau Fleuve?"

The problem is that Kaep is an NFL quarterback thus he's a public person and as has been illustrated in this very case, there is not a firewall between his personal and private life. I know that you see both sides of the discussion but I think it's more proper for a guy in his position to "toe the line" as opposed to asking millions of a team's fans to be understanding. I understand what you're saying about objectivity, etc but what you're saying is very unrealistic. On the other hand, asking Kaep to behave like every other NFL QB in history is not unrealistic. Again, (I'm sure you got my point the first time but) you're a private person. Kaepernick is a public person. BTW, as a slight tangent, the next step beyond what Kaepernick did was if a golfer who was sponsored by Nike was caught wearing a Callaway cap. Employer vs corporate sponsor is not quite equivalent but it's getting pretty close.

I agree. On top of that, neither one was looking for out of whack contracts like Winfield and Clements got to leave. Or what Schobel or Kelsay got to stay.

After the sentencing hearing, the victim - identified only as "Glen" - said he wished Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey could have given Kieu more time behind bars, City News Service reported. "Deep down inside I was hoping for a stronger sentence, but given the restraints of the law this is what he had to do," he said. "There may be a situation where I can be happy, but whole? Never ... I've got a long ways to go."

There were rookies who were unsigned that were issued playbooks. EJ Manuel participated in numerous practices before he finally signed. Presumably he was issued a playbook.

On the trucks I've driven, the system is the same.

To your first sentence, I hope his career is over and I don't think I'm being harsh. Naturally one learns from mistakes but this simply should never have happened. I also hope there are sanctions against the other pilot on duty. As for your second sentence, that's approximately what happened in the Colgan crash in WNY.

Okay gotcha. Thanks.

There's certainly a wide range between "Meyer contributing to Hernandez becoming a murderer" on one hand and "Meyer ran a loose program that helped enable his players to feel like they could get away with a lot" on the other. Hernandez was at Florida for 3 years and Urban Meyer was powerless to change the course of his life. Is that a fair statement? And before people get too defensive of Meyers, there's still the question of the bouncer who was assaulted by Hernandez who insisted on pressing charges but after talking with the coaching staff and school administrators, decided he didn't want to press charges. This same man, Michael Taphorn now refuses to comment on the matter. When asked to respond about the possibility that the school reached a settlement with Taphorn, UF spokesman Steve McClain released the following statement: "No one from the university's general counsel's office was involved in this manner." Notice however that the statement does not address the possibility that others might have settled the case of Hernandez assaulting the bouncer. http://www.usatoday....rfight/2483559/

First of all, I agree with you on this discussion regarding the issuance of the playbook. Undrafted free agents are issued these things before they're inevitably cut. As we've pointed out, there are security measures associated with the iPad in terms of locking and or wiping it clean from the host server. Also the player AND the team both have some common interests one of which is that when he finally reports and plays, he plays well. No one believes that the Bills want Byrd to have a poor season, do they? I don't know whether Byrd has a playbook or not but I know that if I were running the team, I would offer to make the playbook available to him with zero restrictions. I also agree with your take that it's natural for Byrd to shoot for highest paid for the very reason that by the expiration of the contract, there will be lesser players making more money. There's zero question in my mind that he's going for a top-in-class contract and I think that he should. This does not mean that I think the Bills should give it to him btw. One aspect that you've brought up several times is mystifying to me… the 15-20% comment. Wasn't this with regards to how much Byrd was paid during his rookie contract? If so in what way is that even relevant? Byrd was drafted at a certain slot, paid accordingly, finished out that contract, and is now in a position of more leverage. To me nothing is less relevant than the terms of his rookie contract, unless I'm misunderstanding the 15-20% issue you raise.

And I'm pretty sure my boss would be really pissed off if I came into work wearing the baseball cap of one of our competing mechanical contractors. This kid needs to grow up and start acting like a professional.

To add to what NoSaint said, if this happened to EJ Manuel or Kevin Kolb, the topic would be 15 pages by now and people here would be freaking out. As your post implies, this is disloyal behavior. The Niners drafted him. They pay him. On top of that he's the quarterback meaning he's the face of the franchise and bears a higher standard of behavior than the non-QB players. There's a reason QBs are expected to be the first player in, the last player out, the guy who organizes voluntary workouts on his own dime, and who when successful becomes the highest-paid player on the team. How many other NFL QBs have ever been caught flying a competitors colors? IMO this is really stupid behavior by Kaepernick and if this happened to one of the Bills QBs I'd be really pissed off.

^^^^^^^^^ Looking forward to it Boyst.