Rocky Landing

I guess the bottom line is that I don’t agree with your take on Duke Williams. At all. I think your reliance on bare numbers is shortsighted, and incomplete. And your dismissal of his abilities, and the aptitude’s he has shown so far is biased. Whether it’s in a Bills uniform, or not, I do believe that Duke Williams will prove you wrong.

I think the argument on this thread has started to center around this very question. It may very well be that it comes down to one, or the other. Personally, I think the chances of the Bills keeping seven WRs is very slim. We may only take five, IMO-- Beane has hinted at this more than once. They may feel that Zay has already reached his potential. In all honesty, I was very hopeful for Zay's improvement when he came back from the offseason 15lbs heavier. Would you say that you've seen improve this preseason from where he left off last season? I thought I saw him do some pretty athletic things in TC, but he seems to have the same issues with catch radius, high-pointing, and ball drops that he had last season. And, right now, if the choice were between Zay, and Duke (and it may be), I would prefer what Duke brings to the table.

I've met quite a few pro athletes on commercials. Ive met maybe 20, or so NFL players. I met Rogers on an ESPN gig I did last year for the ESPYs. He was actually one of the more decent guys to be around. Good sense of humor, and friendly to the crew. Gave me some good-natured crap for wearing a Bills hat.

It'll be interesting to see how much playing time they give him tonight. The fewer snaps he gets, the more likely they're putting him on the roster. We'll know soon enough, I guess.

I think you may have missed some of Duke's backstory, which is one of the things that makes him such an intriguing player for fans. He was a star out of HS, and at Auburn, but was kicked out of Auburn for a drunken bar brawl he was involved in. He wasn't able to play a snap of football for months leading up to the combine. He spiraled down from there, and got his life together in the CFL. I don't know how much of his story (outside of raw stats) you're aware of, but a lot of your knocks on him seem to miss, or ignore his history. What we're seeing in these last couple preseason games is the potential that many saw in him start to play out. I'm proud to say that I predicted this, myself-- that once the pads came on, and the real hitting started, was when we would see Duke excel. I posted back in the Spring that if Duke made the 53, he could be the best blocking WR we've ever had. He's been showing that aptitude in the last two games, as well. You shouldn't ignore, or downplay that potential.

I'll watch my calves.

Check it out. Gugny went trolling and landed ten pages of fish! Well done, sir!

I do, in fact. I think one of the exciting things that happens in team sports (all of them, really) is that the game can occasionally come down to one guy being able to execute their role. One muffed PAT can cost the game. Yes, I like that. It's one of the things that defines "any given Sunday."

If I understand roster cuts correctly, players clear waivers in the same order as the draft, so Bellichick*, and the Pats* wouldn't be able to claim him until all the other teams have passed on him, which I doubt would happen.

I usually agree with your takes. But this I disagree with entirely!

It won’t work. I’ve lived in Los Angeles since 1991. When the Rams moved back here a few years ago, I thought I’d give being a Rams fan a try. It didn't work. Then, the following year, the Chargers moved back here. I thought, “I should try to at least follow the Bolts...” it didn’t work. You think you can shave a couple hours off your drive, and become a fan of one of those Jersey teams? And endure that traffic??? (And those fans???) Trust me: It won’t work. Once a Bills fan, always a Bills fan.

I'm still not sure if you're being intellectually dishonest, or haven't really been paying attention to Williams, but are a fan of Zay. I don't want to be the guy who accuses someone of "not understanding football," but if you are being honest, and you have been watching Williams' work in preseason, and you are aware of his career in the CFL, and you still don't understand Williams' value, then I have to wonder. But, frankly, if you're still holding to the ridiculous statement that, "of all the receivers on the team Jones still has most potential," then I'm going to go with dishonest.

If you're saying that that's all Williams has done to show his potential, then you're either being intellectually dishonest, or you're not paying attention.

I pretty much disagree with everything you are saying vis a vis Zay vs. Duke. But, your statement that I bolded is ludicrous. The truth is that Zay may have already reached his ceiling, and if he hasn't, he isn't likely very far from it. His improvements that we can observe from one year to the next is incremental. Foster likely has more potential than Zay. His improvement from the beginning of last season to the end was dramatic. Brown, and Beasley have more potential because they are likely better now than Zay will ever be. Beasley has far more reliable hands, and always has. The tape on Brown includes contested catches that Zay has never been able to make. The same can be said foe Williams.

Here's my bizarre, bold prediction: By the middle of the second quarter, Tyree will find his groove, and by the end of the game he will look like an NFL prospect. Some posters on here will suggest that he needs to go to the PS. Some might even suggest that he will need to be the third QB.

It's a fine line between "need," and "want." Maybe one could say: If you need alcohol to enjoy football, you have a drinking problem. If want alcohol to enjoy football, you have a drinking solution. If they ever institute an 18 game week, I would expect them to add a bye week, and raise the roster number by a some amount.

I definitely like this new system. Like eball, I don't spend any time on here while the game is on. But, during halftime, and commercial breaks, and afterward, I do. My problem on game day has always been sifting through dozens on pages of about 60% meaningless posts. I generally haven'y posted on game days, or responded to posts as they will quickly get buried by all the chatter. I think this new system will make game days much easier to navigate, and will likely elevate the level of discourse. And, I suspect it will evolve as the season progresses, as need dictates, as Chandler#81 pays attention to such things.

I think that instead of practice squads, there should be a Minor National Football League with farm teams. Same number of teams, different cities. The following rules would apply: -- Exact same rule book. -- Each farm team would be subsidized by an NFL team. -- No city with an NFL team would be allowed to have a Minor NFL Team. Different cities. -- If another NFL team wanted to recruit from another's farm team, the owner of the farm team would have the opportunity to match that team's offer. -- The Minor NFL would have the same length season, offset to some degree -- starting several weeks early, perhaps. -- The final cut to the final 53 would happen earlier, sending cut players to the Minor NFL, and preseason games would be restructured to accommodate that. -- The Minor NFL would have something similar to the Super Bowl (called something else, of course) that would play the day after, and in the same city as the Pro Bowl.

I like preseason games.

You're not. So is the chick she's married to. (No one needed to say that.) The Jills deserve a second chance, decent pay, benefits, and union representation.

Wow, that's terrible news. I hope he has a full recovery some time in January.

Or drunk!

I do know that he was told to go out on the field more than any other wide receiver on the roster in game three. And while I certainly didn't go to any of the practices that fans were allowed to attend, I can say that Astro reported on Williams every time. (I believe Astro is a fan of D'haquille's, as well.) If it's silly to say we should keep him, it's sillier to say he was invisible.

That's really a meaningless statement. In reality, he did what he was told, participated in all the drills he was given, and pretty much caught everything thrown in his direction. If he's not put in with the first team, there isn't going to be a lot of reporting on him. Lack of reporting does not equate with "invisible." If he was "invisible," he wouldn't have been given the opportunity he was just given in the last game-- and opportunity he capitalized on.

Are you saying his practice time didn't go well? I don't recall any reports suggesting that.