starrymessenger

True. Harder to watch than a video of Tom Brady on a dance floor.

Not concerned about the former Jet camp bodies. They will be gone come September. I'm more worried about the real Jets. 2015 Division title is a crapshoot IMO.

I get better looking and smarter when I'm hammered. I find my girlfriend does too. When I'm hammered that is.

Not sure what it is about Hogan that causes me to have reservations. He's a fantastic athlete, has decent hands and appears to run good routes. He seems to want to be good and puts in the time. To me tho he still looks average at best and has lots yet to prove. As for DR, if he indeed lacks and is unable to develop discipline and a work ethic then of course he has no chance regardless of whatever physical gifts he may have. The NFL is crowded with world class athletes but the league is so competitive that they all have to bust their butts in order to have careers. Maybe DR was one of Doug Marrone's few good calls. Meanwhile the Bills are still looking for that big receiver.

No question he's a great college coach and a very bright guy. And I can think of one authoritarian task master who'se done pretty well for himself in our division. I just don't know how far you can go with system trumping talent to the extent he does it. Not really the NFL way. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Improvement in the Division is pretty critical IMO. Bills, Finns and Jets will all be better, possibly much better. I wouldn't concede the Pats as a lock to win it even if TB had his suspension reversed (favoured at the outset ok, a lock no way).

A reduction to 2 games certainly would not be surprising. On the other hand, unless Brady can bring something new to the discussion, which I doubt he can, I would not be at all surprised if the commish stood his ground.

I can't direct you to the site unfortunately but I do recall Chip being reported as saying they did try. Idk but I suspect he would be good in any blocking scheme, just that he would logically be better, possibly much better, in the one he is used to and that physically he is better cut out for and that it might affect his own decision making. But he's a great player and I agree he is in a different universe than say Chris Williams. Kyle Williams is not a nose tackle but he can play it with some accomplishment because he's a heck of defensive tackle. I expect Mathis would certainly be good and a significant upgrade.

And y'know I'd go so far as to say that it will be twice as bad if he's out four games. Actually it wiould be more than twice. I think it could gut their season. I could easily see 0/3 or even 0/4.

He's turning 34 Nov 1. He's not a great fit for the Bills blocking scheme. In Carolina, Cinci and Philly he played in a zone blocking scheme, which perfectly fits his size and athleticism. Roman and Rex will be running power/man. At 300 lbs Mathis is not a road grading mauler, which is the direction the Bills have gone and what their current O line personnel are cut out for. So Mathis would likely not be as good and as comfortable here than with a team that zone blocks. That could also impact his decision making. As for the money issue, I may be missing something. Eagles claim to have tried hard to trade him (and his current contract) without anyone showing any interest. One would think that some guard needy team like the Bills might have offered a 7th if they were that interested. Apparently he was happy to play for the very small increase the former GM had promised him for this year but when Chip took that off the table he got his nose out of joint. My guess is that he will not be getting a (much) better contract than he had (and maybe even less). Probably some team will dicker with the contract terms a bit (guaranteed money, contract term) to let him save face but ultimately he gets about equivalent consideration as what he was to get in Philly. Maybe we can deal with the money. Would he upgrade our line? Absolutely he would, and that's a good thing in the circumstances we are in. The fact that he's played with and is familiar with McCoy is also a real positive. But i think some fans are maybe going a little overboard in their expectations.

He's a great zone blocking guard, not at all a power blocking mauler. Does he fit with what the Bills are looking to do?

Not saying that Wright was in the doghouse but Belly said last year that he was facing a steep learning curve. He was a completely forgotten man in the later part of the Pats 2014 season and was not an option for Brady in the post season. As has already been mentioned he's not really a true tight end or even a hybrid. He's a big wide receiver. I'm not shocked by this and not surprised either that vets like Chandler or Davis might be seen as better to work with Brady at this time. In the right system and if used properly the kid has proven that he is capable of producing so he should not clear waivers.

There is a world of opinion out there concerning Chip and his methods. Bottom line IMO he will be lucky to make it out of Philly alive.

Nothing against NB but I'll wait till our wide receivers start raving about TT's accuracy before getting excited. Early days. Very early.

I see Cassell as the vet backup and mentor and I expect that the Bills would really rather like one of EJ and Taylor to step up and show enuf in preseason to begin the year as the confirmed starter. Right now I'd say it boils down to which of the two shows he can best throw the football. They both have a lot to prove in that regard. If neither one shows up Cassell will be the starter. Pretty straightforward IMO.

Geno Smith certainly hasn't yet proven that he is going to be the answer for the Jets but he more easily conforms (than EJ) to the model of the young QB who is going to take his lumps while he learns to improve, make better decisions and play with more consistency. Marty asked him to do a lot with limited resources while EJ was pretty much mollycoddled by Marrone and Hackett. On the other hand, had they turned him loose in the same way Smith was I suspect he would have become an even worse turnover machine. I would not be surprised if it turns out Smith should have been the pick at 16. Love the Bills but frankly I don't think they have much of a clue when it comes to QBs. Whaley does a great job scouting LBs and safeties, positions he played in college. QBs not so much.

2015 NFL Draft Scout reports his "low" 40 time as 4:36. For what it's worth.

Have to wonder about that 4:36. I had heard about it, can't remember from where. If he had done it at the Combine, even unofficially but with lots of evaluator butts in the seats, I have to think he would have gone well before the seventh.

He needs an NFL strength and conditioning programme and maybe another 10 lbs which his frame would permit. Then he needs to find some nasty in fighting DBs for the ball. If he can do those things, he's Marques Colston. Went into his pro day looking to improve on his combine 40 time, which was respectable. Ran once, hand held 4.48 I believe.

Yeah baby! That's the ticket! Kraft for Commissioner!

I think he will miss a game or two but maybe not four (unfortunately for Dallas who have supported the league office while reminding folks that the commish has come down hard on them - meaning they don't want to play against TB if they can avoid it and applying a little moral pressure). A groundswell of opinion from respected former players with a national audience has somehow now mobilized in support of reducing or eliminating the penalties, especially the Brady suspension. Prior to the penalties being announced, Terrelle Davis for example was very critical of Brady. He focussed on his lack of candour and unwillingness to come clean and fully cooperate with the investigation. Now he says that he understands the reason for the suspension being those very factors but that the penalty is disproportionate to the offence. IMO he is losing sight of the reason for the suspension while continuing to acknowledge it. In other words, in his view the penalty is disproportionate even if it is being levied for the players disengenuous behavior. Well the most powerful man in the world was driven from office not because of the actions of a bunch of clown hackers breaking into an office, which had no influence whatsoever on his landslide election victory, but because he knowingly lied about what went on. Only his credibility was impugned and that was enuf to bring him down. So such things matter and what this is mostly about now is a personal integrity issue, not whether a material advantage was secured. Generally, unlike Davis, folks like Heath Evans and Willie McGinest (the latter at least being a generally stand up guy) defend TB on the basis that all QBs like their game balls in a certain personalized way, that game balls get aged or seasoned (or not) depending upon such preferences, etc...Sorry, all of that relates to the "material advantage" issue, which is in fact a non issue. But their views are captured by a national audience and can influence (unthinking) public opinion. McGinest also makes the point that the Patriots are held to a very high standard of compliance by their coach and accordingly he never saw Brady once break any rules. Wasn't the super corner Revis sent home for being late to a team meeting? Well there is no doubt that a very well run team like the Pats is going to have the players adhere to team rules. The question is does the team feel the same way about league rules? It was the enforcer BB who was spying after all. Willie is a good man, a better man than his former teammate, but maybe he is blinded by loyalty or being a little thick between the ears in this case. TB's defence is basically the following - you can't prove it. The league can't prove that he knowingly conspired with the equipement guys to have the game balls deflated below the regulation psi. Brady's strategy can work only due to the much lower level of discovery that applies to league investigations than to all other investigatory procedures, be they criminal, civil or indeed congressional in nature. Poor Tom was asked to turn over relevant info from his phone. The nerve. Well people who argue along these lines have really no clue of what a real discovery process is like. It is a virtual colonoscopy. Tom Brady may well be able to get away with the sort of thing Richard Nixon and Martha Stewart did not (Martha went to jail not for trading on the basis of material non public info, but for not cooperating with federal prosecutors conducting the investigation) indeed even if the evidence fully justifies the Wells report findings on the balance of probabilities. And all this hogwash about the evidence being "circumstantial". Circumstantial evidence is frequently more probative than direct evidence. Just ask Ronald Cotton. They can stick a needle in your arm on the basis of evidence that is circumstantial. If the Brady campaign succeeds in any of its objectives the credibility of the league as a self governing and rule making authority will be irrevocably compromised.

Great post. My guess is that it's the balls (meaning a conspiracy was afoot that had much more probable impact on game results than whatever advantage they got in the passing game). We should be able to better understand this "statistical anomaly" now that the game balls will no longer be under inflated.

The Pats, all of them, Kraft, BB, Brady, the talking heads who know and love Brady, and the Patriot fans live in a bubble, a small one, and then there is the rest of the known universe, which is a radically different place. The longer this goes on, the worse it will be for what's left of their reputation.

Wells has just told Brady and Yee to put up or shut up. They have nothing to put up so they will now probably just have to shut up. They are going 9/7 IMO, assuming the suspension remains in place,and won't win before their date with the Jets.

Not at all. TBH I would rather TB and the Pats were not liars and cheaters. Thing is they are not quite up to the picture perfect image that they themselves probably believe they are and would like the rest of the world to also believe they are. IMO deflating the game balls is not a big deal and in no way detracts from their on field success (although I do question the remarkably low rate of Patriot fumbles since 2006). But the more they aggressively deny, insult and threaten the league authorities (Yee = Brady), the more damage is done to the player's and the team's legacy and the worse they look and in fact are.