WhitewalkerInPhilly

I don't understand the Chandler hate. He's a decent TE who can be good when used Correctly. Marrone never could. But I went with Spiller. He's the Reggie Bush mold player that Payton has done a lot with.

That was my point. The league, I'm sure, would have loved to sweep this under the rug, but couldn't be directly involved. The Wells report was independent. It involved an outside party, going to two different labs to test possible claims. Both came up with the same result. It just so happens that when the Patriots hire an outside group, and pay them a lot of money, they say what the Pats want to hear. Even without those lab results, there is more than enough circumstance that makes a coincidence unlikely. You'd never nail anyone on a criminal charges if they had a decent lawyer...but this is not that.

This is perfect.

I agree. I was reading an interview with a sports agent and he mentioned that the greatest threat to the sport is if the fan base feels that it's rigged, like in wrestling. Even if it is, and even if Goddell does play favorites and listens to some owners a lot, if public confidence wavers, people stop watching games.

One, I'm going to rely more on the science of an independent arbiter than an outside group to discredit it. There is something in the scientific community known as Confirmation Bias. Mainly that when you go in with a particular result in mind, you find it. Two, the circumstancial evidence is pretty damning. Remember, the standard of proof here is NOT beyond a reasonable doubt. It is "more likely than not". Three, a good chunk of the penalty was for lying and being uncooperative with the investigation even when extraordinary privacy allowances were made. Four, Goddell handed Wells a blank check. Throwing it out admits that he wasted millions of dollars of league money.

Well, the good news is that there are few, if any, starting D-lines are scary as ours.

I can't be entirely disagree with someone who has a dose of skepticism for trusting the right side a 3 round rookie and the guy who couldn't play his way onto the field before we see contact drills. That said, I am all in. Cyrus was critically mishandled. Miller already looks like a younger, more solid Urbik.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Cassel's upside that he was the accurate veteran? Again, apparently Tyrod was best.

I know...some of the best screen playmakers and nada

Wait, Sammy can be used on screens? Someone tell Doug Marrone!

Ok, that makes a lot of sense. In Philly when they talk about "fast paced" they mean time between running plays. Which is great when you have an offense which can sustain long drives. When that fails... Throwing in a lot of motion keeps the pressure on, confuses defenses and, even better, chews up clock and doesn't let the defense relax.

I find this interesting. So much of what we heard was "Ground and Pound" so I'm curious to see what they try to set up in training camp.

From what I heard, the seam route had been the Niners bread and butter. Teams got wise, and started to scheme that. When their line got injured they lost the ability to ram the ball down their opponents throat. With Davis taken out of the picture they had no way to make their opponents pay deep for stacking the box. Maybe if Kaep was more accurate they could have relied more on their WRs deep, but that was never the case. Unlike there, Roman has receivers (Sammy, Harvin, Clay and Shady) who are great at picking up YAC. I just hope they pull it off.

Dammit! I had successfully excised from my memory and now it's back.

Same here.

You mean, besides us?

I don't think that we're doing a high powered/up tempo offense no matter who we have at QB. But I agree that if Tyrod winds up being the guy, and that he can be reasonably accurate, he absolutely can do well without needing pinpoint accuracy. The Bills have playmakers who can do wonders with YAC on short passes (Sammy, Shady, Harvin, Clay) and guys who can truck it on the ground (Shady, Freddy, Karlos). Really, as long as you can make teams pay if they play too close by being able to hit a few deep passes you can run a working offense.

I'm pretty sure you can't be a fifth year rookie. I'm not saying Tyrod will be the guy, but I have to imagine that if the ability to pass the ball is equal you go with the younger, cheaper guys whose contracts don't end this year.

"It's ridiculous! He didn't do anything! And besides it wasn't that bad!"

I agree about us not surgically passing the ball. The deep threat is going to be necessary to make sure other teams don't pack the box.

I know he has physical limitations, but I would imagine that his body of work up until now would have silenced some doubts.

From the last three years, I've heard the exact same thing about Robey at this time: "Wow, he has such a high motor and such great ball skills. It's too bad about his size, and we have so many talented players in the secondary..." And he keeps kicking ass. I'm a little surprised that we seem surprised. With spread offenses and people going pass happy, is it really a shock that we want to have a counter to the Tavon Austin/Wes Welker/Amendola slot receivers that high powered offenses love?

Oh god, is it training camp yet?

As much as I take PFF grades with a grain of salt, they did wind up being spot on with Bradham last year. I remember not being thrilled with the pick at the time, but the more I hear of him, the more it sounds like Brandon Spikes, only he isn't a liability in coverage.

I shut down when he started to complain that Chris Gragg is more talented overall than the guy who won the award for best TE...or anybody. I think he's a psychic out in California