hondo in seattle

I disagree. I've watched a number of games at Bills Backers bars and love when Buffalo expats break out into SHOUT in an excess of enthusiasm. Makes ya feel at home!

It's possible he may not get in his first year of eligibility. I think some member of the Board of Electors may want to deprive him of that honor as a slap on the wrist for his cheating. But he'll get in. His career accomplishments are too stellar to ignore. Just my guess. Here's another thing I wonder: will his play suffer this year because he's bothered by a rock-hard football? Based on the texts we've seen, ball under-inflation was a big thing to him.

I'm convinced. Then again, I was before this.

I'm too lazy to look it up but wasn't a Whaley a pro personnel guy at Pittsburgh? But I'm not throwing Whaley under the bus. Everyone swings and misses sometimes. All player moves are calculated risks with a chance of failure. I'm hoping with Incognito, Whaley will improve to 1 for 3.

That about sums up his career thus far. As I recall, he wasn't selected as a captain one year despite being the starter. And I think one year with the Vikes he was behind Cassel on the depth chart. Lots of rumors and stories about him and his odd behavior. I'd pass.

"Is he an elite passer? Probably not." So says QB guru, Tom House. Tebow was in an interesting situation. He was young enough to reinvent himself. He was rich enough to afford it. And he was desperate enough (being out of football) to make it worth the effort & risk. I'm curious to see how this works out. As Flip points out, Tebow might revert to bad habits when under stress as people often do. If I was a DC facing Tebow, I'd sure as heck try to get him uncomfortable.

Yikes, lots of names come to mind... I was a WR growing up and idolized Paul Warfield when he was with Cleveland. I love watching great running backs and have a deep admiration for both Jim Brown and OJ as football players. I'm in awe of Beattie Feathers for rushing for over 1,000 yards many years before anyone else. (Though Dr. Z thought his 1004 yards was probably actually an all-purpose total). Walter Payton was an unusual combination of class and talent. As long as we're in Chicago, so was Gale Sayers. Ken "the Snake" Stabler (RIP) is one of the best QBs not in the HOF and was fun to watch. Speaking of fun to watch, how about Dan Fouts?

Link?

Interesting. There is no skill set in football that the right woman couldn't teach. The problem, of course, is that most women don't have the background as players or college coaches to land NFL gigs. And that's a huge obstacle with no obvious/easy solution. Congrats to Jen Welter

I don't get all the Tim Graham negativity regarding this article. Some see this as Bills-bashing, Maybin-kissing. But I agree with Steve that Maybin doesn't look particularly great in Tim's portrayal. TG gives us the POV of one of the great draft busts of Bills history. The article is a good peak under the tent into Maybin's surreal kaleidoscope world. Maybin comes across as an interesting young man - certainly not the stereotypical jock. But I don't like the Bills any less or Maybin any more because of Tim's article.

Yep. We already have good pass rushers. Why sign someone with his character issues to add so little?

Wow. You don't have much faith in Pegula's business acumen! Yep, Terry grew a multibillion dollar business from nothing because he's poor at evaluating the business acumen of the people in his organizations.

Can't disagree. Athletes do stuff like this all the time. They're young, rich, immature and horny. I'm not defending the behavior - I just don't think we should make too big a deal about this. It's not illegal and other players have done far worse. I wish every Bill was as classy as Fred Jackson. Realistically, that'll never happen.

Yep, it's complicated. Yet sandlot football players seem to get it right. It's a catch if you catch the ball. It's not if you don't.

For many, playing in the NFL is a dream job. Not for Maybin. And while Maybin brings up some good points, you wonder about the psychology of a man who feels being a NFL player is anything akin to being a slave. Every job has its pros and cons. Maybe seems to delve into the cons of being a professional athlete far more than the pros. The dark side of professional sports effects him more deeply than it effects other players. And yet he's been a huge beneficiary of one of the pros of the being a NFL player - money - and he's used his money well. Really good article by TG. TheLynchTrain wanted more fact-checking by Graham. It's a fair request - some of Maybin's claims stretch credulity. But I don't think Tim's aim was to write a balanced, objective article. I think he was attempting to give a glimpse of Maybin's life through Maybin's eyes. And I think he succeeded.

I would prefer Bills players to be virtuous. But Shady's vices are hardly unique - or very serious. I've heard stories that some single Bills players once season pitched in their money to fund a bachelor pad for these kinds of parties. Young men will be young men. I like Fred Jackson better and respect him more. But these kinds of antics from Shady won't make me cheer any less enthusiastically when he breaks lose into NE's secondary.

The problem with Rodak isn't that he's always wrong. He's not. Rodak knows more about the Bills than the average NFL fan - but less about the Bills than many Bills fans. And that's the problem.

I get the basic argument that Kiko was good value while Shady is not. Shady is a premium player at a premium price. A NFL team has to limit how many premium priced players they have. You want value - for example like the Seahawks have with Russel Wilson who has been terribly underpaid for his level of contribution. Nonetheless, Whaley had few options. We don't have a franchise QB and none were available. Well, if you can't pass, you need to be able to run. If you don't have a franchise QB, you must have a franchise RB if you expect to compete.

I'm getting the same vibe about Lal. He's big on route-running technique but also good at the interpersonal part of coaching. From what I've been reading, I'm not expecting either Harvin or Incognito to be locker room cancers. And I expect both to do well on the field this year.

I tend to agree with quinn early's ghost. I'm certain we have a good DLine. I'm uncertain about Rivers, how much he has left, and how well he would perform in Roman's offense. To trade away a certainty for an uncertainty would make me nervous.

I know others feel differently, but that's why I'm not into fantasy football. I don't want to spend my time analyzing player statistics. I'd be into analytics if I was a coach. But as a fan, I'll read the occasional stats-guru article but that's it. The game itself is exciting and is full of human drama. The numbers, not so much. Anyway, most authors of analytics based articles don't seem to understand statistics, or the flaws in their methodology, or just don't care. Often someone just wants some numbers, no matter how flawed, to back a pre-existing opinion.

Nice play! I'm actually surprised it took 4 pages to come out.

Welcome to the forum, BuffJim. Thanks for your first post. And I don't disagree. But don't get used to that. However rational and well-supported your opinion may be, someone will nearly always offer a contrary point of view.

Chan Gailey made a bad offensive line look better. Roman will do the same. But can he turn EJ into the latter version of Alex Smith?

When Rex 'forgot' Brown's name, I figured he was the odd man out. I still think so, though it wouldn't totally shock me if Boobie was released instead. I'd be sorely disappointed if it was Fred who was bumped from the roster. I've never seen Karlos play, but the more I read about him, the more I expect to see him in a Bills uni during the regular season. Good point. There's a realistic possibility that one of these five guys will get hurt.