WhitewalkerInPhilly

You forgot Rex! Seriously though, I'd agree that he was a good coach while he was here and I think a second year with Spikes and Brown would have helped the run defense. That said I am really happy with the Rex/Roman combination. Does anyone else remember the last time we had both an OC and DC who were previously accomplished coaches in their respective areas, and both of their philosophies were in lock step?

Right, I had forgotten about that game. It really was one of his better ones, and I thought it was a sign of progress. It was absolutely not his fault that on back to back drives, where the offense was clicking and they were finally into game winning FG range that both of his receivers fumbled away the chance to win. I remember punching a concrete pillar waiting for the train home. It was that kind of game.

I think this is where a lot of EJ supporters are, myself included. We saw flashes of great play, such as some of his two minute drills and his second Jets game but we haven't forgotten some of the embarrassing games. We just know that sounds shockingly like Tannehill's first two years and now that guy is making bank. But Marrone got a raw, athletically gifted QB with accuracy issues and then decided to build the Gulf Coast Offense that Payton uses...only Payton had Brees.

To be fair, I watched a lot of Eagles games last year (my girlfriend has offered to give me a secondhand McCoy jersey ) and he did look a little more hesitant last year and he did take his share of negative runs. That's how he plays. That said, McCoy does have great vision, and with an uncertain QB situation I will gladly take a few tackles for loss if Shady can take it to the house on long runs like he's shown he can do.

This is the difference for me. I actually didn't hate Marrone while he was here, but he desperately was going to need to change offensive coordinators and let him do his thing without interference. I remember looking on agonizingly at the Raiders game, screaming at the TV because the play calling was just so bad. Roman, for all his faults and criticisms, certainly knew to make adjustments depending on the talent at hand. I'm still optimistic for EJ if not full throated in defending him. I can't wait for training camp.

If it really happened, then yes. But that doesn't jive with what else we've heard IMHO. A guy expects a bunch of teenagers, waits for them, confronts them, hits one, throws his fishing gear into the ocean and THEN tries to threaten the guy into silence? I have no proof of course, but it SOUNDS like something a scared and pissed off teenager would add at the end of a story to explain to his dad how he got a black eye...who was actually the one who made the complaint.

Well if I had any doubts before, this settles it: Kromer must stay. I generally find that the exact opposite of what Bucky Gleason thinks serves me well.

I would also like to point out that McCoy's "decline" year was for 1300 yards. He'd had a record year the year before but I wish all of our RBs "declined" like that.

I agree. Kromer probably wants this over with as quickly and quietly as possible for his career's sake. Few prosecutors are going to take a hard line for a misdemeanor offense when the defense is "It was dark, and there were people on my property and they were stealing/defacing my furniture. They'd done it before. So I lost my temper and hit one. What was I supposed to do, let them rob me while I wait for the cops to roll up an hour later so they can file a report under "Let's go and work on important cases"?" I'm not saying that is the case, but I doubt you can get 12 jurors to completely disagree.

My favorite take on that is "As American as apple pie and the childhood obesity it leads to"

I expect that he'll plead as well, just because it's likely to be a slap on the wrist . It's pretty much a slam dunk that he gave a minor a black eye, but stopping a group of thieves, on your property, in the middle of the night while using force that was not endangering anyone's life or risking serious injury is a pretty mitigating factor. The more I hear, the more Kromer seems sympathetic.

Well it's impressive that you guessed what I was going to say after stopping at the 10th word You're right though, I shouldnt assume that we could all agree on anything. We're like herding cats that way. But seriously, people do get suspended from their jobs (I'm thinking of cops) while undergoing review or an investigation. If Greg Hardy had new charges pop up we'd likely be in favor of that.

I think the link is broken. I agree with the premise though. Murray is a bit more guaranteed for post I've yardage, but he doesnt seem to have the same big play potential. We already have someone like Murray in Freddie and Karlos. Shady is just scary.

Ok, I'm just going to say this: If it wasn't our team, we'd be fully supportive of firing Kromer or suspending him premptively. Because he's not, I want to see how this plays out. He certainly should have some kind of punishment and nowhere does he deny that he hit a minor. It seems like he caught a couple of kids messing with his stuff and lost him temper. The law is specific about that. If the price the league has to pay for punishing the Greg Hardy and Ray Rice offenders properly is that a position coach of ours gets swept up I'll deal with it. But I really, really doubt that anything goes far criminally. You are often allowed to use non-lethal force to stop people from taking your property. Realistically, a first offender on a misdemeanor who takes a plea would pay a fine and get probation/community service. The "I'll kill your family if you talk" does sound like an embellishment a pissed off couple of teenagers would tack on to be taken seriously.

I have a suspicion that, even with a crowded field, he's going to be the starting #2 TE, at least at the start. Simply, Clay is more of an H-back, and I expect him to be doing a lot of blocking on the line and doing leading blocking. Gray being a converted receiver makes me think that he's going to be a receiver in 2 TE sets that Roman has a history of liking.

Ok, I am entirely ok with Sal replacing Joe. The film breakdowns are a nice touch.

To he fair, that's some pretty piss poor analysis but it's what we heard from Schwartz last year. I believe the comment was something along the lines of "The best indicator of a strong pass rush isn't sacks, because that doesn't count rushed passes that fall incomplete. A much better guide is Pressures, because that means you're shrinking the field and consistently beating the O-line."

Pretty much. And I do think Goddell's discipline choices have often been off base (fines for sock choices, coming down incredibly hard on recreational drugs but ignoring assault and domestic violence) but the NFLPA chose to trade limiting Goddell for more money. And for the guys who spend 4 years in the league and keep their noses clean it's easily worth that trade off. But Goddell absolutely has the authority to do what he is doing. Whether that's a good idea or not...that's another discussion.

They are rather good. Cox, Kendricks, Barwin and Kiko are all studs. That said, I would take Hughes, Mario, Kyle and Dareus every day of the week vs those four.

I don't get the "blown holes" thing Schefter is going on about. Two separate independant labs came to a conclusion. That doesn't even count the exhaustive interviews and the text messages.

I don't see how you think it's weak. We have video evidence of the balls being taKen away. You have the equipment managers talking about taking bribes. You have a guy named The Deflator. You have evidence of Brady lying about knowing McNally. You have reassurance after the fact, showing cognizence of guilt. You have the equipment guys getting fired by their own team. You don't need a smoking gun when the level of proof you need is "probably" FWIW, this is an article written by a former investigator. He seems to think the Wells report was well put together and honest:http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2015/5/12/8592785/the-wells-report-as-reviewed-by-a-former-investigator

I agree that neither side wants to go to court, especially now that Brady has gone under oath and could be tried for perjury. But seriously, one game? even if you discount the scientific evidence of the Wells report (I personally will take the findings of two separate independent labs) the circumstancial evidence of guilt is overwhelming. I think you can argue that the penalty is too stiff (previous penalties were fines), but I would give two games, at minimum, for the blatant lying, not cooperating with the investigation and the bitching to the media that we saw.

Can we kill this thread? At this point we're talking about conjecture on an article written weeks ago, and for which there won't be anything new to go on for more than a month.

It would be an extraordinarily Billsy outcome: Brady being able to come back juuuuust in time to play us.

Look, I am all for presumption of innocence before being proven guilty in criminal law. But this ain't criminal law. It's not even civil. It's a rules decision in a game. Not turning over evidence which might incriminate yourself is one thing, when you have to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Stubbornly refusing to when the standard is "He's probably guilty" is less effective.