BillsGuyInMalta

I have no problem that Ricky smokes pot, nothing wrong with that in my opinion...his choice... But the way he's constantly letting his teammates and Dolphin fans (both of them) down has got to be damn annoying. Its clear he doesnt want to play football, he's just doing this for the cash...I'd let him go and wash my hands of him. Waaaaaaaay too unreliable.

He would have gotten at least a 3rd...and then spent it on a high motor DE or an undersized WR.

I'd be fine with that draft, aside from Bunkley. I've got a sinking feeling that he's just another workout warrior, he only really did well at FSU one year (this season) and was nothing special before that. I'd pass on him in the first, especially since we could still land a good DT in the 2nd. I do like the rest of the draft though, big props for the Derek Hagan selection...damn good player.

At least they are trying, you know? I'd love to see a website like that, I already wrote to Clinton and Schumer last night and I think a website to coordinate efforts would be a great idea. Some people are content with just letting the Bills die, others arent. You got to start somewhere.

Mangold wont be drafted because the Bills signed Melvin Fowler to man the Center position. You know, people rag on Winston Justice all the time, but the guy is 20 years old and got in trouble for solicitation when he was 18 years old. I did some REALLY dumb stuff when I was 18 as well, does that make me an evil person? Or was I just a dumb kid who learned from his mistakes? If you listen to the interviews Justice has given, like the one ESPN News had with him last week, you'll get the impression that he realizes he's screwed up, he has apologized for it, and in my opinion he has atoned for them. People who are just willing to close the book on a player and never allow a second chance are often burned. Sure there are a lot of screw-ups out there (like Lawrence Phillips and Marcus Vick, who never apologized for anything he's done), but at the same time there are lots of guys who just make silly, youthful mistakes and learn from them. Justice is one of those guys. Look at Eric Moulds, coming out of college the guy never paid child support and was abusive towards his girlfriend...he calmed down and accepted responsibility, and we got a damn good player for a decade. People have to be willing to offer a second chance if the player looks like they are on the straight and narrow again. Justice got suspended, worked hard, came back last year and dominated. He served his punishment, who are we to demand that he gives up more? I say we take the talent and trust that he's got his life in order because it seems to me that he has. Justice and Joseph would be instant starters on our O-Line from Day One, and would take a big step towards that goal that all Bills fans have been crying for the last few years...Improving the O-Line. As for Dvoracek...well, to me he's calmed down quite a bit over the last year and I heard he's going to counseling for his alcoholism. But an angry drunk willing to knock your head off and spit on you? Isnt that what basically embodies 95% of ALL Bills fans these last few years? The guy would be perfect here!

Could you imagine the depression amongst Bills fans if we took Jay Cutler? We're already low, what with the talk of moving to LA and our inability to improve this offseason...that would be the nail in our confidence coffin right there.

Just think, when this team moves to LA under a new owner, more than likely we'll be one of those big city, high revenue jerk-off clubs the rest of the league hates.

I dont think they've learned that lesson yet, they still seem to fold quite a bit.

"Some day Steve, alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll of this will be yours"

Agreed. We'd never have this PC if the Bills were a winning team.

I think he did actually. I had no idea about the qualifiers, and was actually very surprised with how candid he was about the other owners and what goes on during the league meetings. It helped clarify his position on the CBA and keep Bills fans up to date with more details on everything being reported in the media.

Now JSP, I know about your hate-a-thon with all things Bills lately, but I actually think that Ralph sounds a hell of a lot more with it and coherent than he has in past interviews...seems very good today. You can hate on a LOT of things with the Bills, but Ralph actually seemed good today, explained things very well in regards to how he views the current NFL landscape. I only wish I'll be that "with it" when I'm 87.

Says Ralph has only met Golisano once, but it was very nice of him to say he'd be interested in keeping the Bills in Buffalo. Says he didnt need him to help yet.

Says the Bills "could" lose money...seems like he's taking a worst-case scenario on things, but I dont think he's lost any money up to this point...just a guess on how things will be run. Says at the owner meetings, they dont talk football anymore...all of the new owners want to talk about is money.

Ralph says the big city clubs have a LOT of influence with the commish. Said he's "undecided" whether or not he passes the club onto a family member.

Its what Ralph was saying is probably going to happen under the new CBA. Small cities will be lucky just to break even.

Sweet, then we'll have some money to spend...right?

Ralph once again stating he's not selling the club. Says the Old Guard in the NFL is gone. The NFL has changed with some addition of a few owners (Snyder, Kraft, Jones). According to Ralph, they dont have the same values about the league that the old guard did.

Seems to be the big deal is about the qualifiers which Ralph seems to think treats the smaller city clubs unfairly and takes more from them than they should. Says the Bills are just asking to break even.

Ralph: "We need people in political power to see that we get a fair treatment under this new extension, which can be opted out in 4 years."

Pataki said the Bills are too important to the state and Western New York...Pataki said its the only team in the state and he'll express his hope that the Bills will be treated fairly.

Says the medium and small clubs had two big cities on their side, but they copped out at the final vote and left the smaller markets high and dry. Says a lot of the clubs didnt understand the new CBA, they were trying to get a finance man in to explain things but Tags called for a vote and the teams seemed to vote just to get it done. Says the league doesnt even understand the new CBA and some of the qualifiers arent even known yet. Hope it wont disqualify Buffalo from the revenue sharing, even as unbalanced as it is. This is not a matter of making money for the Buffalo Bills, this is a matter of SURVIVING. A lot of other clubs are in the same boat. Ralph: I'm trying to keep the team here, I have no intention of moving it...how long will it stay here? (which I took meaning after Ralph passes) I dont know. But I can tell you we are going to fight very, very hard to keep the team here and be competitive with the rest of the league.

Ralph is really just giving a detailed account of what happened in the last month with the CBA. Says its too expensive to figure. Says the county gives the Bills 3 million bucks a year for the stadium, and the NFL (under the new deal) counted that 3 million as "revenue" even though the Bills never kept the money, they used it to keep the stadium running. The Bills figure that 16 or 18 clubs will qualify for "revenue sharing" in the new CBA. There are qualifiers, if the attendance drops below 80%, then the team doesnt qualify. Says its extremely unbalanced since most teams have to meet these qualifiers while 10 or so hog it all. Meeting with Pataki, he wanted to put his mind at ease. Said he was not going to ask the Governor for money (pretty funny) and explained to him that the Bills were under pressure due to how they voted for the CBA.

Says the big city clubs have formed a block, and any new extension of the CBA they wanted to go their way. They didnt want to give any of the extra money they got from their new stadiums and their greater population down to the medium sized clubs. Acting in their own interests instead of the best for the NFL, and it damaged the league.

Says that the teams who have built the new stadiums who charge very high prices for seats have thrown things out of balance. They have forced their costs down onto the lower market teams.