WhitewalkerInPhilly

That's pretty much my attitude. The starting CBs should be Gilmore and McKelvin, and maybe Graham if they don't rotate him to safety. And I'm not forgetting Robey in there either. That said, if we have learned nothing about our CB group over the last few years, we should have learned that the odds of our top 3 CBS going all season without one of them spending some time on the injury list to be slim to none. The last thing I want is another "and now Justin Rodgers is a starting CB" moment.

Breaking news: Bill Belicheck signs CB Justin Rodgers, is genius. [/sarcasm]

Not so much the appealing as the claims that the Pats** seem to be interested in filing a lawsuit. As mentioned already, I'm pretty sure that of the NFL gets sued, this is now an actual legal case and evidence and witnesses can be subpoenad instead of being voluntary as in the Wells report. What *is* on that phone that Brady wants to hide?

No, that's what I intended. The more Brady has his agent and team owner scream and stamp their feet, the more coverage and the more this gets dragged into the open. I don't know if one interview on the Phanatic is proof, but if he really wants to keep at it I suspect things get ugly.

Seriously Tom, it only gets worse from here if you keep pushing it. *Now* the knives are going to start coming out.

Two things I take away from this: -Rex is clearly learning. People were looking for a quote on Brady to throw fuel on the fire and Brady didn't give it to them. -Miller sounds up to speed. I'm penciling him in as a starting Guard.

We definitely needed to stretch the field more last year. For all the 49ers fan complaints of conservative play calling and predictability, I haven't seen anything as bad what Marrone and Hackett did with those "Spiller up the middle" plays.

I know it's a joke, but man, the Pats have a putrid CB group right now. The Eagles had likely the worst secondary last year, and Bradley Fletcher was by far the worst of their starting 2 CBs. They are likely going to be picked apart.

Look, I don't want to dismiss Hogan's performance, but at this point he's at best the 4th receiver on the team. Easley is the ST ace, and Goodwin has kick return ability. If I have to pick 5 WR, I'm sticking with Sammy, Woods, Harvin, Goodwin and Easly, and send our 7th rounder to the PS.

I don't see why they'd want to do a lawsuit then. they got a penalty, while serious, still isn't enough to seriously damage their playoff chances. In the Ray Rice case (which their new lawyer took on) the damage was already done to his reputation. In this case, there is no smoking gun, but if they open it, everybody looks bad. If Brady cops to it, admits he lied and ask for clemency he probably gets 2 games. A pittance, and he keeps his 4 SB rings and has a chance to do it all over next year.

Honest legal question here, because I honestly don't know. The Wells report was an independent investigation, which from what I've seen relies heavily on voluntary information and outside scientific testing. However, if Brady does indeed file a lawsuit (which they seem serious about now), wouldn't the NFL be able to subpoena the two equipment managers to testify, along with Brady's phone...the full thing now, not just printouts of texts?

I think that's for our best 11. To be fair, we look best in our nickel pacKage (arguably Big Nickel if you count Graham as a safety rather than a CB). This is not a bad thing.

I wish him the best of luck. While I agree with many here that Cassel has the highest floor of the candidates, EJ's ceiling is much higher. G-Ro (I am totally using that from now on) is the guy credited with adapting Ault's Pistol formation into something NFL ready, and helped a very raw Kaepernick get to the Super Bowl. If there's anyone who can get EJ at least to game manager level it's him.

Pretty much. We would have gone "Oh, lol, those Patriots again" and that would have been the end of it. But no, we had Kraft demanding an apology from Goddell for even suspecting something like it.

In all fairness, Farmer's texting didn't give a competitive advantage. He was *annoying* his OC. And he didn't assemble a ridiculous charade trying to defend it without admitting to it.

Yeah, like many I suspect Miller will be at LG. His area of strength is his run blocking, and Incognito has the flexibility to do both, so I'd put him on the side where we run the ball to. I also agree that Graham will probably slide to something like a CB/FS hybrid. I honestly think safety is an underappreciated position, so I see zero problems with putting a talented player with great ball skills but is a touch slower as a center fielder.

I agree it's nice to talk actual play rather than draft prospects. And Shady, despite his rep as a guy who dances, is not Spiller. He has far better vision and toughness. Seeing the holes in these blocking schemes, I think Shady might have another record season.

It really will be. The Marrone/Hackett combination was trying to be a hurry up, West Coast offense which didn't have a QB with great accuracy which then got slowed down because we kept playing good offenses. I wanted a new OC before Marrone left, and I would have been ok with having Roman brought in as HC. I really think Roman is one of the best choices for what we have: a run first team with a stable of running backs, and a line of relatively slow maulers, and QBs who should be expected to be game managers.

I'm really confused by this. Granted, Rex managed to come on 6th overall last year with some of the worst DB play in the league, but his front 7 was amazing. The Patriots were average on defense last year despite playing some of the worst offenses (The Jets and Bills) twice a year, and that was before losing Wilfork, Revis and Browner. The idea of cutting the next man down for so little money.. I don't get it.

Great stuff Yolo. I can definitely see Clay and O'Leary acting as the H-back blockers there. I'd love to see Shady with a hole like that.

Hey, I'm happy and I think this helps. But I'm a Bills fan...I'm used to us snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The last time I tried to circle a win in advance it was against the Raiders, and we remember that game...as hard as I try to forget it.

Yeah... Last year week 17 was Marrone throwing all he had against Brady without the Pats** best offensive weapons and any compelling reason to try. 17-9 does not fill me with an abundance of confidence.

Pretty much this. If Dareus, one of our best players, is suspended for the season opener do you think that Andrew Luck is going to hang his head and say, "Man, I really wanted to show up those pass rushers"? It's a team game. Week 2 is hardly a lock to win.

Look, if people want to make the argument of, "Oh, we want to beat Brady at his best!" Well congraut-u-f*cking-lations, you're going to get the chance on MNF, on the road against a pissed off Brady.Quit your bitching. In the meanwhile, I shall heartily enjoy the idea of NOT playing Brady.

We're Bills fans. We hope for the best all while expecting the worst. That said, Jimmy boy is not Brady. I fully expect our defense to spend the game double teaming Gronk and forcing Jimmy to make magic happen. Assuming no appeal shortens the punishment past two games, this is big for the Bills.