hondo in seattle

Lookie, Lookie! Here comes Cookie! Welcome to the board!

Gossip columnist?

Clearly, if he's guilty we shouldn't sign him and if he's innocent we should. But there's another possibility. What if the case lingers unsolved with lots of suspicion directed toward Collins? Do we want a suspected killer playing for the Bills?

BWA indeed! A crowded backfield just got more crowded. Those of you predicting the demise of Fred Jackson, I think you're underestimating how much he's got left. We'll see, but I think he's still the best overall back on the team not counting Shady.

I don't read Jerry because - even on the sunniest day - he'll always find some dark cloud to talk about. He doesn't have inside information. He doesn't know more than the average fan on this board. He's not especially eloquent. What does he have to offer? I'm not entirely sure if his negativity is a journalistic shtick or if he is a Debbie Downer in real life. But I wouldn't want him for a neighbor.

I really hope Collins falls to us. Both the Jets and Fins are going to have strong defensive lines this year. Whoever our QB is, he's going to get crushed if our OL plays like last year. Richie was a great pickup but we need more help.

Thanks for the memories. In your highlight vid, I see a back with good vision and balance, nifty moves, tremendous determination and maybe average acceleration. I don't see a washed up has-been.

I started watching the Bills in '69 when OJ was drafted. An amazing athlete: sprinter's speed, elusiveness, tremendous vision, and oft overlooked power. He was a threat to go the distance on every play, regardless of the blocking. I love Thurman. But he played behind a great line and the Bills were loaded with offensive weapons in those days. When OJ played, the defensive game plan was always simply "Stop OJ" or more realistically, "Slow OJ down." Of course, back then the hash marks were spread further apart (which could pinch an offense against the sideline) and, if I recall correctly, offensive lineman weren't allowed to block with their hands. A lot of rule changes since then have helped offenses and of course defensive schemes these days key on the pass making it easier for backs like AP to pick up chunks of yards. I really don't think AP or the greats of the past like Dickerson, Payton, Sanders or any of those guys could compare with OJ in pure running ability. I've never seen Jim Brown play live though his highlight reels and stats are amazing. So I won't claim OJ was better than Brown. But I'm not sure how anyone who saw both Thurman and OJ play could vote for Thurman. OJ was on another level.

I'm glad to see Cookie Gilchrist getting mentioned though I'm wondering what you guys are basing this on. Did you actually see him play? There are very few highlights of Cookie available (though hopefully that will soon change).

Bryce Brown averaged 4.6 ypc behind Philly's good OL. He only averaged 3.5 ypc behind Buffalo's OL. Does this mean Brown is over-the-hill? Losing a step? Or does it just mean that Buffalo's OL was crap last year? Philly's OL is apparently good for about 1.1 ypc more than Buffalo's. So if Freddy had the privilege of running behind Philly's line, he would have averaged 4.8 ypc instead of 3.7. But Freddy didn't have that privilege. And he didn't complain about it.

I think OJ is arguably the best back in history - at least in regards to carrying the ball. Maybe the best ways to compare backs of different eras is to compare their production to the production of their peers. By that standard, OJ's 1973 season was the most dominant ever by a RB. His 2003 rushing yards were 75% better than the total of the next most productive back (Brockington, 1144)! Brockington, Calvin Hill, Larry Csonka, and Lawrence McCutcheon all had good seasons. But they couldn't come close to what OJ was accomplishing. Here are the best five seasons in NFL history: 1. OJ, 1973, 75% ahead of his nearest peer. 2. Jim Brown, 1963, 70% 3. OJ, 1975, 46% 4. Walter Payton, 1977, 45% 5. Jim Brown, 1965, 38%

I actually share your concern and likewise hope Incognito and better coaching sweeps away both our worries. It's be an interesting season, for sure.

It's a truism that DEs tend to get more sacks against weak opponents than strong ones. It's also true that DEs often get sacks in spurts. Should we deduct all of Bruce Smith's multi-sack games from his totals? And all his sacks against weaker opponents? I'm not convinced that Sam is an NFL talent but your argument doesn't convince me he's not.

At the combine they talked to 13 QBs and 1 OL. I get the interest in the QBs. The lack of interest in OL puzzles me (even when you add the two OL invited to private workouts).

We paid a premium price for a premium player. And when you don't have an elite QB, you need an elite RB. Yep, there are a lot of good backs in the draft and I feel like you evidently do that there's still some left gas in Freddy's tank. If Andrew Luck was our QB, I'd be happy with a backfield of Fred, Boobie, Brown and talented rookie. But with Cassel as our probable starter, we really need to make sure that we have a dynamic running attack. Trading for McCoy wasn't as reckless as it was necessary. I think the price for Clay was reckless. Then again, you can't always look for value at the dollar store. Sometimes you gotta splurge.

In the short term, this was a great trade for the Bills. As we all know, our D did fine without Kiko last year and our O sucked. Without an elite QB, we desperately needed an elite RB this year. But will we suffer buyer's regret someday? In 3 or 4 years, Shady will be in decline while Kiko may be at his peak and going to Pro Bowls.

There are a lot of backs on the roster but I wouldn't want to lose any of them. I'm glad Rex is planning on using Fred and not just letting him keep the bench warm. As an AFCE guy, I'm sure Rex has an appreciation of Fred's worth. As for Rex calling out Brown like that, it might have been more effective if he had done it in private. I'm not sure he's even met Brown yet. For a player to read about his coach dissing him like that, it could be demotivating. Leadership is about creating relationships that bring out the best in people. You start by building mutual trust and respect. I'm not sure this was the best way for Rex to start building a productive relationship with Brown. Hopefully Brown takes it the right way and commits himself to ball security like never before.

It's like asking me if I would prefer broccoli or brussel sprouts. Can't I avoid them both? But if forced to choose, I would take Cassel over Fitz. Cassel at least had a Pro Bowl season once when surrounded by a good cast. It would be hard to imagine a scenario where Fitz would be invited to PB. And I agree with qwksilver, when defenses figured out that Fitz couldn't throw deep with any accuracy, they started sitting on the short routes. Cassel at least can kind-of, sort-of make all the throws an NFL QB needs to make. Defenses will, I think, need to defend more of the field when Cassel is under center. This is funny. The best QBs make tossing a football 60 yards down field look easy. Fitz, on the other hand, exerted every muscle in his body and grunted like an Olympic shot putter when throwing 30 yards.

Yolo, thanks for posting! Great stuff! Nothing Rex said surprised me except the comment about Brown. When the rumors were flying around about cutting Fred, I thought he might be the odd man out. And it would make sense, given Fred's age. But I think Fred still has gas in the tank and his leadership contributions shouldn't be underestimated. In any case, it seems Brown is the one who has to prove his worth. Given Rex's history as a player's coach, I thought it was odd Rex would publicly call him out that way.

You make a legit point. But until we've proven that we have an effective OL, we keep drafting offensive linemen. Having a good OL is too important to rely on speculation and wishful thinking.

Yeah, I'm with FireChan on this.

Somewhere I read that the Ravens weren't happy with Taylor's accuracy. I wouldn't be surprised if we did some sub packages with him but I'm expecting either Cassel to start or EJ to beat him out by making a leap forward this year. We need a QB who can distribute the ball to Harvin, Watkins, Woods and Clay. Otherwise, ground-and-pound will see nothing but 8 man fronts. And our OL isn't good enough to handle that.

Somewhere I read that the Ravens weren't happy with his accuracy. I wouldn't be surprised if we did some sub packages with him but I'm expecting either Cassel to start or EJ to beat him out by making a leap forward this year.

The weaknesses of this team, as it stands right now - are OL and QB. So the defense will attack the weaknesses. They'll come after it with both run and pass blitzes. They'll aim to overwhelm the offensive line. At least, that will be one tactic attempted.

Joe Rose was really enthusiastic about Clay in that interview with Murph. Considering that Rose used to be play TE in the NFL himself, Rose made me enthusiastic. And the highlights back him up. Clay isn't just beating LBs, sometimes he's beating CBs. And while not super-fast, Clay has a combination of speed, agility and strength that make him dangerous after the catch. Thanks for the links!