transient

My point was that he hasn't exactly kept his thoughts on retirement a secret for the last two years, so to suggest his announcement today is somehow surprising is misguided. Also, it's not as though the Bills haven't been acquiring LBs to fill out the roster. Taking his time, as he said he would, has in no way hurt the team. There's no telling if he would even succeed in the 3-4. None of this is surprising. Also, the protestation of fans suggesting that taking his time to consider all the ramifications of making a life altering decision to retire is somehow inconsiderate and should be done to meet their arbitrarily imposed timeframe is ludicrous. There are 60 and 70 year olds that struggle with this decision. He's telling management where he's at in the process, and that's all you can ask of him. He's even stated he understands if they need to move on before he makes any final decision. What more do you feel you or the Bills are owed? He owes it to himself to make sure he is comfortable with whatever decision he makes.

One of my favorites was Robert Smith. Prove to yourself you can do it, play out your contract, and leave on your terms to pursue loftier goals. Can't blame Brad Butler, either, for pursuing a lifelong career when he had the chance.

?? Really?? He's stated since last season that he's contemplating retirement, and has alluded to it since he got hurt in '08.

You have to hand it to Ricky, not many have the strength to be their own man in the stereotype that is the NFL, especially when their beliefs are so far left of commonly held social norms. I applaud TG for having the intestinal fortitude to write the piece in a way that could open him up to ridicule as well, instead of taking a cheap shot at William's "eccentricities."

I'm with you on that. I think it is the general negativity surrounding most disingenuous athletes that makes people look for ulterior motives. I'm not getting that from him. I think this was a heads up from a decent guy who's been saying for months that he's considering retirement that while he's not ready to make it official, his employer should probably move on, and if they do he's ready to accept the consequences. If he's true to his word, he's not looking to play elsewhere. Thing is, if he was looking to play elsewhere it would benefit him to say so, cuz he's more value to the team disgruntled and tradeable than retired.

IMO this says if you really, really need me to and can talk me in to it, I'll consider coming back. If not, I'm retiring, but I'm only 32 and it's really hard to make this official at this point, so let me ponder it as long as I can before I have to look myself in the mirror and officially say I'm done. Essentially he is letting the Bills move forward without having to make anything official this minute, which is considerate on his part. I don't think he's looking to play elsewhere based on his comments, but who knows. I take the "it's in the Bills' hands" to mean they should find someone to replace him or somehow convince him otherwise that they really need him to be a part of the team, and their actions will ultimately dictate the outcome. While it's waffling, I can't imaging retiring from something that I love because I knew I couldn't perform the job at the level I wanted to... let alone at the age of 32. He's one of the few athletes in this day and age to give all he had on the field and for the most part keep his complaints out of the media, despite this disastrous Bills' decade. He's been a true professional, and I wish him well.

I wouldn't think that any seasoning you could apply would get rid of that bitter aftertaste.

pessimist= overly negative EVERYTHING AT OBD SUCKS!!!! optimist= overly positive EVERYTHING AT OBD IS PERFECT!!!! realist= Not expecting much this season but willing to be surprised MAYBE THINGS AT OBD CAN CHANGE THIS TIME ROUND??? closer to living a less frustrating and more fulfilling life= What are these Bills you speak of? Where is this OBD?

Carroll spoke to Tate and agrees Maple Bars are irresistable

Depends entirely on the scenario. If this season was about advancing in the playoffs with a hope for the SuperBowl, then veteran depth would be a valuable thing. However, in a season that is more likely to be based on player evaluation, keeping a replaceable player like Mitchell around and paying him money that could be spent elsewhere is foolish.

To be accurate, Thigpen's numbers were what they were, however he was a third string QB playing cuz of injury to the other two QBs on a team with no defense. Given the offense on this team the last few years, I think fans would take 18 passing TDs in 11 games. I don't think Thigpen is a starting QB in this league, however I think Gailey got all he could out of him. He hasn't turned pigs*&t into ProBowlers, as someone suggested, but he has designed offenses around his player's strengths. His offenses were successful behind such inauspicous QBs as Kordell Stewart, Jay Fiedler, and a host of other second string has beens. There are 4 young QBs on this team and IMO, with the exception of Fitz, all of them have the tools to potentially succeed. Give the man the chance to evaluate them and see what he can get out of them. There was no QB in this year's draft with the potential to come in this season and be more successful in this situation than what we already have. Nix has said all along that if you bring in someone else who doesn't make the situation better, you've only compounded the problem. Regarding LT, I'd love to play poker with those that insist something has to be done now. There are two LTs potentially on the market, and now SD's LT doesn't want to sign his tender. The only team that comes up as a possible destination is Buffalo, because everyone knows we could use a tackle. That's three sellers potentially, and one buyer. We don't need to make a move before training camp, and realistically not even a week or so before preseason starts, as I'm sure a starting caliber tackle can probably pick up a blocking scheme and cadence on short notice. So, why not wait for the market to come to you while evaluating what you already have, which is a couple of young players with potential who ended up starting too early last year because of horrible decision making and a kharmically challenged slew of injuries. Why spend money or burn draft picks when you don't know what you have in place currently.

My tastes vary, as well. HUGE IPA fan though, especially the Imperials. Love most of what Dogfishhead and Stone brew. Also a big fan of Avery's Maharaja. Unfortunately, on moving to Houston I've found a general lack of good beer on tap at a lot of places, so now I just drink my tears... especially on game day.

I am glad to see they finally brought in a QB coach who's done it for a while to work with their young QBs. Expecting both your QB coach and your QB to learn on the job is a recipe for disaster.

I had heard Dos Equis had approached him to be the new face of their "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign so that they could stop paying him royalties to use anecdotes from his life.

Trent's problems are more mental than physical (you know, with the exception of that whole injury thing), so if "the light goes on," or if this offense makes more sense to him (or anyone for that matter) he could improve. I'm not a huge advocate of any of our QBs, but unfortunately the one with probably the best (and biggest) head for the game is also the one who is woefully lacking in talent.

While this may be the case, the problem for Fitz is that we've seen what he has to give. He's maximizing his potential. He's not going to get any better. If he's starting opening day, we're screwed.

Really?? I would have thought that everyone on this board immediately following a game was stone cold sober.

The whole problem right now, as I see it, is that we don't know where the holes are, because we don't know if we have the players in place at those positions or not. Who knows if Hardy or Johnson can fill the number 2 WR, or Easley for that matter. We don't know yet if Nelson can fulfill his potential at TE. We don't know if the young guys can fill the holes on the line, and we don't know if any of our QBs can play at a reasonable level. And on, and on. The only thing that is certain is our secondary is set. The FO tried to fill the holes they KNEW existed with this draft. Now we'll find out, assuming Gailey's philosophy is sound, who is serviceable, who is not, and who is the answer at their position for the foreseeable future. Evaluating a players performance based on the last several seasons is akin to gauging someone's swimming ability by whether or not they survived the Titanic disaster.

I gotta say, if all I did was write inflammatory blog posts in my early 20s when I was drunk (and honestly, not even all that inflammatory), my mid to late 20s wouldn't have been spent dealing with the mess. The path to maturity is different for all, as is the scenery along the way.

Has anyone seen my taser?

I've seen mention of Sanchez's success in a number of places, and I personally believe his "success" was the result of the best running game in the league and the Jets defense. He may have played a few good games, but overall he looked like a rookie. YDS CMP% TD INT RAT 2444 53.8 12 20 63.0 Hardly awe inspiring. The fact is he wasn't expected to win games, he was expected not to give them away (like he did in that trainwreck in Buffalo, 5 ints, and a final QB rating in the single digits). I think Flacco and Ryan are more of an exception than the rule, however they were also the beneficiaries of having solid teams in place. As for the Bills in the last decade, they haven't had a solid core in place probably since the Bledsoe seasons, so it's no surprise that the growing pains of young QBs are magnified, especially with the nightmare OC merrygoround we've had in place. When you're expecting a rookie QB or even a young QB to be the reason you win, you're usually setting them up for failure. If you want a young QB to succeed early, you need a dependable running game that can produce even when the opposing defense knows your gameplan is to run it down their throat, and your defense can't get routinely torched for 200+ rushing yards.

Didn't mean to imply that you were suggesting they don't play the youngins. Was using your post more as a jumping off point of saying I think there is a youth movement afoot, and unless Nix and Gailey feel what they have is destined to fail, I don't see them bringing in anyone soon. I see Green at RT, either Meredith or Bell at LT, and Wang and the loser of the LT battle as depth, as well as Calloway and Levitre if need be. I agree that Bell was not ready, but neither was the offense in general. Meredith looked ok toward the end of the season. I think they go with one of the young guys in order to figure out if they need to draft a LT in the 1st or 2nd, or pick up a free agent next season when maybe there is a better selection of UFAs. At WR, I see them going with Hardy or Johnson as #2, and a combination of Parrish, Hardy/Johnson, and Spiller in other formations. Again, unless there it looks like a disaster early, I wouldn't expect any moves. I really think Nix is taking into account the total ineptitude of the previous coaching staff in player evaluation.

I don't think the current regime knows what they have in Bell, Hardy, Johnson, Maybin, or a host of other young players, and if they bring in someone to fill those spots on the team they will not find out either. Hardy, Johnson, and any young player healthy enough should have been mandated to play as soon as DJ was fired last year, if not before when it was obvious the season was a loss. By not playing them, they took an obvious losing season and made it a total loss by not even using it for talent evaluation, effectively forcing the new regime to do it this season and eliminating any chance of them being competitive early on. It sucks, but it is what it is. They will never know if the young guys can play if they glue them to the bench.

Neither did the goofy kid at school with the funny last name, but HE got one.

3 yards and a cloud of... spunk?