simpleman

If he refuses to report to camp without the "no tag" deal, my attitude is that he has played his last game as a Bill. His attitude as a selfish "Mr. ME" is a plague on the new attitude the Bills are trying to build on a young and growing team. If he is unwilling to take his already big bucks for this season and be a good soldier, it is time for the Bills to work with him toward just one path. That is to find a team HE wants to play for and is willing to give him the dollars he wants, AND is willing to give the Bills the Draft pick(s) that the Bills are willing to trade him for. Giving him the big bucks he already gets this year with his franchise tag and knowing he is leaving next year with ZERO compensation makes absolutely no sense to the Bills. Short of a miracle, this season is (Yet Another) building year for the Bills, not a winning year. Paying big bucks for him as a one year hired gun is a waste of resources and a damaging distraction. Having players with his "Mr. Me" attitude is bad for the team moral and chemistry that the team needs to develop in this building year.

There is a difference between being paid well according to your actual performance, and proportional to your relative value to the team's overall success, and simply being grossly overpaid.

I often criticized the old Nix regime, but they were right on in not overpaying him. And now I see Jones was released by the Patriots already, so again it looks like they made some good decisions. And the Patriots are seriously short at experienced WR and TE talent going into the start of the season if Gronk isn't ready.

After being released this winter after signing a huge contract, I think that confirms the decision made by Buffalo not to give that free agent a huge contract. I will be curious just how little a contract Dallas will sign him to if he passes the physical. Another example of why not to give a Free Agent a big contract when he is not integral to your team being a winner.

It is not about this year, it is about next year and the year after. Next year will be a very painful year cap wise. A lot of tough decisions will have to be made, and a lot of decent players will be faced with being dumped as cap casualties. This year an excessive contract would not hurt the team, but that same contract could cripple the team next year and beyond. This year only those who really are drunk on the Kool-aide think we have a real chance this year. But next year, if a few more pieces are added in FA and the draft, and a few players finally reach their potential, Buffalo could finally be competitive for the first time in decades. Crippling the team with the cap because of excessive contacts like he is demanding could destroy that opportunity.

I am not a Bryd detractor. I think he is a an excellent D back. But beyond the emotional boost we give our own players, I can not see overpaying him. Searching on the Internet I tried to see how he compared to his peers at FS. The best rating I could find for him was this, at 8th. http://www.footballnation.com/content/2012-2013-final-nfl-free-strong-safety-rankings/22622/ Statistically he was way down the list of FS. Granted you have to consider circumstances. There are the unmeasurables that add to the players value. http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?archive=false&conference=null&statisticPositionCategory=DEFENSIVE_BACK&season=2012&seasonType=REG&experience=&tabSeq=1&qualified=true&Submit=Go Yes he is talented, but do the facts show he is the best FS in the league, NO! Why make someone the highest paid FS, if they are not the best. Also I question spending so much of our very limited cap space at a player at his position. We are headed for a cap crisis next year, even though we don't have a problem this year. I can't see putting a cap hit on him of 8 mill or more a year. Not using fan emotion, but using logic and reason..

Your grass cutting story is full of the scare tactics used by the rich to discourage the common taxpayers from changing the status quo that helps the rich get richer at the expense of everyone else. “Give us subsidies and tax breaks or you will lose your sports team.” “If YOU don’t provide incentives, we will go to a city that WILL.” We need to eliminate the ability of the rich to play cities against cities and states against states. We don’t need to do that by limiting what a business can DEMAND, but by limiting what incentives the government agencies can OFFER. By eliminating the existing breaks and exemptions that the businesses currently have. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Every break and exemption increases the burden on everyone else to make up for the break they just received. The grass will always grow. Someone will always mow it. Any adjustment by the consumers (mow it less) due to the price increase will be short lived, just like when gas hit $2.00, then $3.00, and then $4.00. Yes, those businesses that have been exploiting workers and paying them less than their competitors as the key basis of their business plan will fail. Their competitors that based their business plan on providing better, quicker, friendlier service (whatever their advantage might be) will survive and hire the failed businesses former employees at the higher wages to mow the yards that will still need mowing. Maybe some of the former employees will start working for themselves and mow some of the same yards, keeping all of the funds for themselves and making a better living for themselves. The argument that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs in the long run has been disproven over and over again, every time the minimum wage has been raised in the past. The rich use smoke screens and fairy tales like the failed theory of trickledown economics, the need for “guest workers”, that raising the minimum wage will cost people their livelihood, and that incentives are needed for cities to keep their sporting teams as scare tactics to keep the status quo. The only ones that actually benefit from these failed theories are the rich, at the expense of everyone else. Simply, we don’t just need to end the tax breaks and incentives to sporting teams. We need to eliminate the existing structures and public policies that allow the teams the opportunity to exploit the taxpayers.

I agree completely. Next year will be a very tough year for the Bills cap wise. There will be either cap cuts or restructuring of a number of deals. It makes no sense for either party to redo Spiller's contract this year. Either his worth will rise astronomically next year, or plummet. Both sides should wait to see what happens this year to see what his real worth is, this the year he either shines or is exposed. I remember saying the same thing before the Bill's prematurely gave our departed QB his big contract that we will still be paying for next year. We have plenty of cap for Woods and Byrd this year, the question is how much of your future are you willing to sacrifice to give an oppressive contract to a few players and restrict your teams future, and how much are they REALLY worth. As much as I have always thought Byrd was a highly skilled player, I would not mortgage the future to keep him. He is no must sign player like a Manning or Brady were at the same points in their career as he is right now.

Thanks for sharing the link. I think the analysis of the players is thoughtful and insightful. Better than a lot of the garbage I read so often online.

It is time we stop this blackmail of taxpayers by the wealthy. If football is a business, the taxpayers should not be forced to pay for their profits. The NFL wants the public to share the costs and provide the investment, but is not willing to share the profits or control in return. They want the taxpayers to pay for the operation of their business, but yet explicitly forbid the taxpayers from being a team owner. If we want to buy tickets and things like seat licenses as individuals, that is our free choice. But the costs should not be forced on every taxpayer. The federal government should remove all special exemptions from sports businesses and disqualify any state and local government unit from receiving any federal funds in any year they give huge exemptions or spend public money to directly support a for profit enterprise. That is what is called Free Enterprise.

Because the Kool-aide is an extremely powerful hallucinogenic and many fans here are long term addicts who refuse treatment!

Laughs, I was disappointed, I thought it was going to be a joke, like their patriot logo behind bars or something,lol

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. This is not really about the security of the fans, it is just an excuse to justify more dollars from concessions. It's all about the money!

Aaron Hernandez didn't break his phone. He asked Tebow to throw it to him, but it hit his video security system. #HonestTruth Great One!!! thanks!

With multiple reports that an arrest warrant has been issued for him on serious charges I think there is a very strong possibility that NE will be without both Gronk and Hernandez for their series opener with the Bills. I would be curious how Belichick will redo his game plan to deal with that huge hole. Without his top TEs and with a different WR group for Brady to get the ball to.

:thumbsup:

I don't care what position they were drafted in, or what they have done before this year. I only care what they do on the field in the here and now. My criteria is whomever shows the greatest potential to win the game on the field during the regular season based on their performance between now and the NE game . Yes we all want EJ to be our savior, and most believe he has the most upside. I think few view Kolb as the future of the Bills like we hope EJ will become, but there is plenty of time for EJ to prove himself before January. But I want the QB to start the season who gives the Bills the best chance to win the games before the bye week. After bye week, if the Bills are not in the hunt for the post season, if the coaching staff feels EJ is ready and is not already starting, then it will be time to see if he is the future. Or if it is time to start evaluating the top QBs in the 2014 draft.

I'm not going to drink the kool-aide over Marrone. Ask me 5 games into the season. On the other hand I am definitely excited about the defense being coached by Pettine. If he can't shape up the defensive talent on this team, no one will.

According to Chris Brown's article Tight end touchdowns Of the four touchdowns thrown by Bills quarterbacks Thursday, three of them went to tight ends. Mike Caussin made a quality over the shoulder grab in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown on a pass from Kolb. Rookie Chris Gragg scored on the same exact play a short time later. He also scored on a quick hitter over the middle on a pass from Manuel for his second scoring play. The question this brings up to me is were these just good plays showing the potential of the TEs, or does the fact that 3 of 4 touchdowns scored by the offense were by TEs show a possible pattern that there is a certain situational vulnerability in Pettine's defensive scheme that needs to be corrected before some smart coaches like Belichick recognize and exploit it in a game situation?

Ok, We know Fig does not agree with a majority of football pros. He thinks Luck and RGIII are not exceptional talent. Who says you learn from the starting QB. You learn from the coaching staff who's job it is to teach you and coach you.Who are supposed to help you overcome your weaknesses and build from your strengths. And we all know that you will ruin a QB if he does not start immediately after he is drafted, look how it ruined Brady and Rodgers to be a backup. In what alternate reality was EJ drafted in the top 10? We know how well some people are rooted in reality. I just hope the Bills are more firmly based in the real world and not in some fantasy universe.

Teams used to do this all the time, let the rookie learn the job and grow into it. That is the way a rookie QB usually became the starter. Now after last year many on TBD think that all the rookie QB's are just like RGIII and Luck. News Flash, they were rare exceptional talent. I would hope NFL professional staff are realistic and don't have the same simplistic expectations. Most rookies have to learn and grow into the job of starting QB. I'm afraid Buffalo will fall into the trap and put EJ in too early, not because he is ready to start, but because the fans want him to start. I only want EJ to start if the coaching staff actually judges him the best QB on the team based on performance and truly believes he is the QB that will give the team the best chance to win that particular game, not based on fan expectations or because he was a first round draft pick. There is nothing wrong with giving a rookie the chance to develop and grow at the pace that fits him personally. Making him a starter does not automatically make him a better QB, and is not necessarily the best thing for his long term development. That would go for the Jets as well as the Bills.

EJ is limited by the NFL contract. So he will not cost more than 2 Mill. Byrd already counts about 7 Mill of the cap, so even a signing bonus spread over 3 or 4 years and up to 9 Million a year only adds 3 to 4 max to the cost this year to sign him to a long term contract. That still leaves over 12 Mill in cap space this year. We do need a vet guard and a vet CB. I'm still not comfortable with our LB situation. A decent vet TE on a short contract would be a nice addition, since I doubt Chandler will play the first 1/4 to 1/2 this season. Especially if we start EJ early in the year, we need to help him with a decent TE and a reliable guard to protect him. We don't need to create another Captain Checkdown from too many avoidable hits too early in his career so he is always worried and hearing imaginary footsteps bearing down on him. Why are we not trying to sign Moore? He can't want too much that we could not afford on a short term contract.

I do like the "Right Here, Right Now" suggestion. It references the Bills,and if you love being on the water it answers the question Where would would you rather be but "Right Here, Right Now" on the water.

Exactly, I see Lindell, Williams and Smith as the only possible cuts that other teams will have much interest in. And all of them would be backups on other teams, not starters. If Williams is cut it will only be because his injuries have finally caught up with him, so he will be damaged goods

I wouldn't read too much into EJ's comments. If I was going into a job interview I would not say, "Boy this job is tougher and more confusing than anything I have ever done". I would go into it and say "I get it, I am so excited about doing this job, and I am positive I will do great in this job". EJ is not the starting QB yet, he has 2 other competitors for the job, 3 if you want to be literal. He is a smart guy who wants to win the job of starting QB. He will naturally say things that will win him the job, not make public comments that might instill doubts in the minds of the people that will decide if he wins the job.