Mickey

The two answers you hear most: "cut spending" and "raise taxes" are both wrong because neither, on its own will do the job. You could cut all the discretionary spending in the world and it won't balance the budget. Military spending and entitlements on their own are big enough to sink us. Raising taxes certainly isn't an acceptable answer, on its own, either. Political reality 101 says: 1. Out of control gov't spending is any spending that doesn't benefit you. 2. The taxes you pay are always too high and the taxes others pay are always too low. 3. The electorate's appetite for government largesse will always exceed its willingness to pay for that largesse. 4. You will always win more votes by spending more money on your constituents no matter how it effects the budget. 5. You will always win more votes by cutting taxes whether those cuts are justified or not and regardless of the effect on the budget. 6. The party out of power that has no ability to balance the budget will always claim it can balance the budget. 7. The party in power that actually has the votes to balance the budget will always claim that the budget is balanced enough for now and will some day be totally balanced. 8. People are blind to the connection between the services they demand and the taxes they pay. 9. Convincing people that No. 8 is true will just pi$$ them off. 10. Everyone is for a balanced budget, no one is for losing their services or raising their taxes. 11. Blaming "government waste" implies that the budget can be painlessly balanced by simply suffocating this beast we call "government waste". Then we will live happily ever after. It is not true but it plays well on TV. 12. Increasing taxes on the wealthy implies that the budget can be painlessly balanced by simply getting a few more pennies from the rich who will hardly suffer a dent in their monthly ration of caviar. It is not true but it plays well on TV. ...and my personal favorite: 13. Economy of scale, a phenomena which allows us to prodcue more for less, is applauded by the same people who will have to work more for less to create that economy of scale. Okay, that one really isn't a budgetry Murphy's Law but I couldn't resist.

You might not accept the team's record over the last 4 years as dispositive on the issue of whether TD has not done all that well so far but to consider it to be lacking in logic enough to warrant a rude slam like "moron" is over the line. It is a reasonable position and frankly, it is the main standard all NFL GMs are measured by. Lose enough often enough and you lose your job. You asked for details, I gave some without turning the post into a marathon, eye baking mess. I don't think personal insults are ever justified on the board unless in response to a personal attack against yourself or, on some occasions, others. I don't dispute that TD has made some good moves however, he has made plenty of mistakes and the team's performance on the field is not entirely unrelated to his mistakes. Five years is pretty long for any GM to serve without getting into the post season. This could very well be a make or break year for him. I don't claim that my position is the only one or that there is no way on earth I could possibly be wrong here. I simply think he was brought here to build a winner so it is high time they started winning.

You know Todd, it would have been nice to have a discussion where perhaps in the end we agree to disagree and not had to interject personal inuslts like calling people morons becuase they disagree with you. From your response, obviously, that isn't going to happen. Just one more adult male on the TBD acting like a 12 year old in a locker room rank fight because lord knows, that is just what this place needs more of. I'm sorry, I didn't know that in order to have an opinion on whether TD has done a good job or not I have to conduct an indepth analysis of every move by every GM on every team over the last 4 years including not just what they did but the alternatives they passed up rather than to simply point out where TD has screwed up using specific examples. I have plenty of posts on this site discussing the teams personnel moves over the last 4 years, I am not going to rehash each and every post I have ever written on TD, good or bad and I have written plenty of both. The point which you apparently don't seem to think matters in the least is that the final measure of all his moves is 4 years out of the playoffs. Coaches, free agents, trades, draft picks etc. in the end all those moves yielded very little in terms of results. Wins. That is how all the players are measured. That is how all the coaches are measured. That is how all the GM's around the league are measured. I don't see why TD should somehow be exempted from that standard, you seem to think that the on-the-field performance of this team simply is no measure of the great things TD has done. We disagree. That doesn't mean that he is soley responsible, it doesn't mean that he hasn't had some hits as well as some misses. It does mean that sooner or later, he has to produce a solid, winning football team or hit the road. The only question is when do you give up on the guy and go in another direction. For my part, this coming season ought to be his last chance to put up or shut up.

The show is all about language and I don't mean just the cursing. They actually speak very formally as compared to how we speak. They speak like aristocrats for half a sentence and then like drunken sailors for the last half. Did you notice how Bullock and the widow address each other as Mr. and Mrs. so-and-so even though they are doing the nasty so much Al is complaining that Bullock is not doing his job as Sheriff? The language more than anything draws you into the show. They often speak in long, complex sentences with unecessary flourishes and tangents that force you to listen closely. Just when you have picked up the tune they drop in a string of combinational cursing that is foreign yet immediately recognizable that knocks you back on your heels.

I think the biggest factor in MW playing better the second half of the season was the patsy schedule we played over the last 8 games or so. I am still clinging to the hope that MW will be a player and have defended him here on more than one occasion but even I have to admit that the ship of mediocrity may have already sailed on this one.

You want details? Gregg Williams: so good he was fired. Ryan Denney: so good we had to take another RDE the very next draft. Travis Henry: so good we had to spend a 1st rounder to replace him with Willis. Reed: So good we had to spend a first rounder on Evans. Teague: so good he was taken in the 7th round and dumped by Denver who knows a bit about offensive lineman. Tucker: so good Parcells cut him but what does he know about offensive lines and power running football. Drew: so good we had to use a first rounder to get him and another one to replace him. Mike Williams: showed up in camp out of shape and an emotional basket case. Let Hollis go but sticks with Lindel through thick and thin. I could go on. The bottom line is wins and you can make all the excuses for him you want but at some point you have to hold him responsible for results. He gets the same cut of the TV revenue and the same number of draft picks as every other team in the league does. Sorry but I don't think it is unreasonable to expect results in his 5th year. That is longer than most GMs and/or head coaches get.

Right, what does Bill Parcells know? I guess he isn't watching the same game as you. I guess that is why he has those rings and all that money, because he isn't in his right mind. Instead, trust the judgment of the brilliant crew that hired Gregg Williams and has thus far authored 4 seasons of not making the playoffs. The same crew that traded a number one pick to get Drew must be smarter than the team that got him for nothing. I certainly am willing to see this as a case where reasonable minds may differ. However, to declare everyone who might disagree with you as crazy, ie, no one "in their right mind", is ridiculous.

I'm not sure what "great things" your are talking about, ticket prices maybe? His job is to produce a winning team, he hasn't. What he has so far achieved is mediocrity. Not good enough for me. He needs to do better or update his resume. No more excuses. I'm not interested in the statistical rank of our defense, I want wins.

No panic here. However, we have been out of the playoffs for 4 years running now so pardon me if I am not impressed with Donahoe's theory of what you pay for a guard. That "theory" gave us Mike Pucillo which, as I recall resulted in lots of 2nd and 19's. Just once it would be nice to get through a pre-season happy with the offensive line we have. That unit has stunk for waaaaaaayyyyyyy too long now.

You gave your opinion and I asked what it was based on, why does that iritate you so? As for his "taking charge" of the huddle in preseason, I am underwhelmed. I saw the game and what he did was go into the huddle, call a play, break and walk to the line of scrimmage where he proceeded to bark out signals. I have seen every QB we have ever had do the same exact thing. It could not have been more ordinary or run-of-the-mill. It is the same thing I saw in camp. I have seen many quarterbacks correct a receiver going in motion to the wrong side, I have seen them waive off a back and all that kind of thing a million times. I've seen Drew do it as well. To me, those things are no big deal. Fans have a tendency to discuss these abstract qualities ad nauseum. I remember Marv talking about "confidence", a similiar abstraction. He said something along the lines of players don't win games because they are confident, they get confident from winning games. Winning is where confidence comes from, not the other way around. Joe Montana never waived, ordered, pointed or yelled or gave much other objective evidence that made it look like, from afar, that he was "in charge" of the huddle. He just won a lot of games and made a lot of plays so when he spoke in the huddle, everyone shut up. JP is a big fat question mark and, in my opinion, people are investing him with all their hopes and as a result, seeing things that aren't there, not yet anyway.

Failed a physical??? You're kidding right?? Please say you're funnin' us. Pleeez.

"...natural tendency to take charge of the offense..."????? Upon what do you base that conclusion, a press conference? He hasn't been "in charge" of this offense at all let alone ever taken charge of it. Look, I know we all want to see JP succeed but you are seeing things you want to be there, not things that are there. He will get his chance to show us what he can do and then we can measure him for his halo. Until then, lets wait and see him play.

His record is 0-4. Four years, zero playoff appearances. What are we in that span, 26-38? Oh wait, our cap numbers are great though. Whoooopeeee. Whether it is fair or not, if he doesn't produce a winner here after 5 freaking years, his tenure would have to be judged a failure unless we are going to hold him to a lesser standard than every other GM in the league. O'l Whitey needs a playoff team.

The problem is not that we lost so many or too many starters, it is that this team did not make the playoffs. We need to get better, not just hold the line. At best, we new starterts that play as well as Jennings and Williams did, at best. That doesn't make us any better. I think we need a LG as well as a LT to improve. We could also use more production from Posey's position. He has mostly underwhelmed. For a defense this good, he should be making more plays with the opposition having to worry about London, Spikes, Clements and all those safety blitzes with Milloy and later, Vincent. Depth on both lines is an issue. How would you feel about this defensive line if Adams goes down with an injury now that Pat is gone? We appear to be about to lose Price which means we would be losing not only the starting LT but his back-up as well. Its not reason to jump off a cliff with crazy free agent signings but at the same time, lets not pretend that there are no serious holes in this roster. All the angst and public spasms of hysteria over the Willis/Travis situation and the Drew/JP thing is wasted if the line gets blown away at the snap. I don't care how good Willis and JP are, there never has been an offensive system or group of players so good that they didn't need people to block.

Now there is something you don't see every day, a Buffalo Quarterback running for his life. How terribly novel. The weakest unit on the team just got noticeably weaker. We need a new LT as good as Jennings just to get back to being as bad as we were last year. Can JP play on a skateboard? He is going need some wheels come next year.

What else would he say? "I'm glad I got the starting job based on a board room decision and the impressive way I toted a clip board." I'm sure he is great and will play great but lets not fall into the "everything JP does is gold" thing so soon.

Let me see, he is humble yet has swagger you say? Is he also tall but short? Is he rich but poor? Nice but mean? I think if you look closely enough you'll see a red "S" on his chest and a barely visible halo. I am sure he is a great guy and all that but lets keep our beating hearts and fluttering skirts in check long enough to see him actually play an entire game. Then we can ooohhh, ahhhhh and gush to our heart's content.

That is a possiblity but the problem with that scenario is that if it works, you are right back to having two guys getting LT money which just isn't in the budget. I would be willing to bet that MW is one of the most highly paid RT's in the game and that is just off of his rookie contract. We are overpaying for a RT and that is a problem that needs fixing at some point.

I'm not sure he would do well there but I think that MW is not just likely to move to LT, I think it is probably definite. He wasn't drafted that high and paid that much to be a right tackle. You can't have two lineman getting paid left tackle money which is the situation we were facing with MW on the roster and Jennings' contract being up. Someone had to go. MW is going to move out to the left side and we will get a RT who will get paid RT money. My concern is that he will not be able to handle playing LT. He has mostly underwhelmed us with his performance on the field so far. Showing up to camp an out of shape, over weight head case last summer was ridiculous. It is not so easy to move from one side to the other. Everything is different. The skill set required to excel is not the same. What gives me hope is that McNally knows what he is doing and he must think Mike can handle the move so who am I to question the move? We'll see.

Maybe so but I don't know that the way to improve a team is to get rid of its best players. I know that without Pat Williams on the roster, our cap situation is better but our "winning football games" situation is not. I care more about wins than I do capology.

Well, if that line doesn't improve, and it is hard to believe that will happen with Jennings leaving, JP will certainly get plenty of opportunities to try and rescue plays that break down.

Yeah, that Parcells is a moron. Not nearly as smart as Tom Donahoe. Parcells only got Drew Bledsoe for free while we paid a first round pick for him. Sucka.

How dare you suggest that this matter be settled on the field rather than a board room? Haven't you seen The Apprentice? Know what I love best about that move? The way they meticulously set up a "Plan B" in case JP pulls a Todd Collins. Convince Shane Mathews not to retire? Brilliant! Yikes.

Insight is one thing, posting something that is common knowledge and claiming it is insider infor is another. Certainly, the internet is pretty well known for the rampant spreading of hoaxes, gossip, rumor and malicious lies. I think it is only healthy to take such posts with more than a grain of salt and when they are this transparent of an effort at self aggrandizement, the poster deserves the responses he gets. Really, Travis won't be a Bill and the Cards are interested in him? Duh. That is not insider info any more than is the prediction that the sun will rise tommorow.

The reaction to that story just shows that the ant-Drew hysteria still lingers on even after he is gone. Even if you believe King who thus far is the only source that this event happened at all, the story he told is that when he got out on the field Drew thought the wind was coming from a different direction than they thought. Now, if you are Drew and the wind is coming from the opposite direction than was thought once you got out to the field, what would you do? Would you conclude that your ability to sense wind direction was somehow freakishly defective and just blindly go with the original call despite all your senses telling you the wind direction had changed? Or, would you conclude that as your senses tell you, the wind has in fact changed? It isn't like he had a bat phone to pick up and ask MM: "Hey, the wind out here is coming from the opposite direction, what should I do?" It wasn't a "stunt" it was a judgment call he made on the spot based on what he believed to be true. If a sweep to the right is called and in the middle of the play Willis cuts the opposite way because, as he percieved it, the called direction of the play was going nowhere, would you accuse him of pulling off a "stunt"?? The eagerness with which so many here have embraced this unsourced gossip from King as gospel truth and of sufficient truth to blast Bledsoe is shameful. We watched this guy lead the team for 3 years and, say what you want about his foot speed or touch on short passes, he always conducted himself honorably and with dignity. To accept as true a gossipy story from a hack like King that completely flies in the face of what we have seen up close now for 3 years is childish. It sounds to me like the worst kind of scapegoating after one of the most embarassing losses in franchise history.