Dan

Same here. Peyton is just a great guy and a great player. And Barry was one of the few players that would make me want to watch a horrible team, just to see what he would do.

I voted. we're 2% ahead and I still say no chance they show the game. Someone, please update this post tomorrow. I won't be able to watch, but I'd like to check back here and see if they showed the game.

I'd fall into the camp that says this is a great post. It gives us all some numbers to think about. Are they good, bad, or meaningless? That's up for discussion. Imagine that. Personally, I think its interesting that although it appears our preseason has been horrid, the individual stats would seem to suggest that we're not as bad as the score of the Bengals game or the 0-2 record would indicate. I find it somewhat encouraging, for example, that JP ranks as highly as his stats indicate. Does it mean he'll be great this season? No. But, I would argue that it does indicate progress on his part.

I kinda like the fact that we haven't whored out every aspect of the Bills yet.

Since birth. Being a Bills fan is not a choice..its a birthright in my family.

By all accounts Marv and the Bills have been generous with the FA contracts (some say too generous); they've also been fair with all the draft picks. Why would they suddenly decide to go cheap and screw their top pick? It doesn't make sense to me. For that reason, I'd have to say the hold out is more the blame of the agent/Whitner than the Bills.

Exactly. It's not so much about money as it is about greed in my opinion. If the contracts were in the $100,000's range, I could completely see the argument. But these are rookies getting 20-30-40 million dollar contracts. I mean the league minimum is what.. several hundred thousand a year. I know myself and just about anyone can live quite well off that.

I can completely agree, players need to get all they can. However, I guess the question is how far the 2 sides are from one another. Do you really think the Saints aren't offerring fair money to Bush. So, he's leveraging and hiding behind his agent to attempt to squeeze a few million more out of an organization when he hasn't done a single thing to earn it yet. My initial point was I'd much rather havea player with Simpson's mentality of saying hey good enough lets get to playing football. As opposed to somone who says if I hold the organization hostage I can get another million on top of the millions I'm already getting. And we can all say what we want about making as much as they can and short careers and all. But, to even suggest that making upwards of 5 million in one year could not be properly invested and provide someone a decent living for their life is ludicris.

Say what you want. But I'd rather cheer for guys like Ko than Reggie Bush. As good as he MAY be, his attitude of late blows. Same goes for players like TO and Michael Irving. NEver would I want guys like that on the Bills.

There's no way you cut Vincent this year. I'd be pretty well shocked if he doesn't make the team. On a slightly different note.... "I'm glad we went ahead and got the contract out of the way," said Simpson. "I told my agent to go and get it done and I'm ready to come in and help the team any way I can." So, if he can tell his agent to get the deal done, then why can't Reggie Bush? I'll take players like Simpson over Bush any day of the week.

2 more are now reported as being signed. Patience, grasshopper.

I think that may be the definition of hell. You get to go to all the Bills games but can never see any of them.

Actually, I would disagree. I see that play as symbolizing a season in which we struggled, fought back and made a strong run that came up just short in the end. (perhaps the '04 season) I see last season as being more represented by Holcomb's 4th down pass to Moulds...ill-conceived and with little hope of having success so just give up and dump it off hoping someone else takes the blame for the mess.

I'd take one probowl caliber, starter over 2 (or even 3) "Cory Wire's" any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

You should consider a job writing for ESPN, SI, etc. and I mean that in a good way.

Well, I went as far as clicking on the link, then quickly scrolled down the diatribe. But, I can pretty much guarantee that I'll never read all that. We all know that facts is facts and figures is figures, but that don't change the reality that Culpepper is far from elite. Average to above average, perhaps. But elite? You could define elite as: The best or most skilled members of a group. Well, clearly he's not the best. And if you consider "most skilled members" to include 1 of the top 16 QBs in the league currently, I might give it to you. But most skilled "present and past" is such a stretch that I find it hard to imagine for consideration.

Most all veteran QBs have good completion percentages of short to mid range passes. As has been discussed extensively here, Holcomb has a great completion percentage in those situations, but would you consider him elite? I doubt it. So, having a great completion percentage, especially in short to mid-range passes, says little about a QBs greatness. I was pretty good at alot of things in college too. But, college is college and that was years ago. Who cares? So, if he's such a great QB, why was he struggling so mightly in all areas of the game early last season?

I said it prior to last season, without Moss Culpepper will suck. He is (or was) the king of "throw the ball up to an area and let Moss run to it and out jump and get the thing" passes. Make him survey the field, make him throw tight passes, make him put the ball on a spot; and he'll look very ordinary. Very ordinary, indeed, he looked. I know the fins have Chambers, but I'm not ready to annoint him the next Moss, nor am I ready to concede Culpepper can come back from that knee injury. So, until I see something on the field to convince me of an alternate reality, I say Culpepper in Miami was a great move.. for someone that wants to see the fins crash and burn.

Now I'll agree with you there. TD definitely knew how to work the FA market. He was also great with the contracts of the existing players. And I'm not sold on the team this year, just yet. But, I am glad we changed everything from the top down. I think we were more than a little from being a playoff team. I don't have false hopes that we may somehow make the playoffs this year. Borrowing miracles, you never see a change like the Bills have made and have them in the palyoffs within a year. However, I see it more as taking a step backward so that we can take 2 steps forward in the future. I saw the previous teams as becoming stagnant. If all things were clicking they could be good, but there was no fight or leadership anywhere to be found.

I think you can argue the quality of players seven ways to Sunday and both sides will never come to agreement. IMO, you have to look at the overall record. And no playoffs sums it up. We were up and down - from medicore to poor, but never good. The coaching hires were probably his worst moves by far, especially if you buy into the theory that our players aren't that much worse than any one else (overall). I can see why you're not excited about the Bills this year and were in the past. But those flashy moves TD made, where did they get us? This franchise was in desperate need for a change in direction. Marv is doing just that. It's not flashy, its not exciting; but it is changing the look and feel of the team. I suspect that this season, we're going to see a more focused team; a team working towards an identity; and a franchise beginning to change their direction. In 2 or 3 years we'll be able to truly grade Marv and Jauron. And in the end they may not pass, but we defintely needed to change. For 5 years, we waited for and anticipated the great team that would be on the field. They never showed up; it was continual spin. Why wait 1 more year, just to see if suddenly things fell into place?

I think that sums it all up. Period, end of story.

Absolutely. It's a team effort with a healthy dose of luck. Injuries, ref calls, ball bounces - you can't coach or plan for any of that.

What I don't get about Bledsoe is he's so easy to figure out. If you rush him up the middle and knock him down early, he gets flustered and he becomes average. However, if you put a big line in front of him and slow down that rush, he can pick apart any defense. So, are good offensive lines that hard to build; or are the Pats, Bills, and Cowboys (perhaps - jury's still out on this one for me) just not smart enough to see this?

Makes sense to me. And that's why I'd be surprised if he makes the team this year. Despite what many seem to think, Marv has brought in a lot of guys at every position and I'm sure they'll find a few gems in the midst.

I agree with you. And I'll go a step further and suggest that's why Marv hired Jauron. He wanted a head coach that he saw eye to eye with. In that way, they're on the same page and providing the much needed direction to the franchise.