KingRex

I like the arguing about it. The process for any of the HOFs isn't fair, but last time I checked life isn't fair. I agree arguing about it is a sign folks care and I love the argument!

The key to the QB battle is that there is a real possibility that the Bills D might pitch a shut-out holding the opponents offense to zero0 points. The model for this Bills team to make the playoffs is the same one Baltimore used to make failed1st round pick Trent Dilfer an SB winner. Can anyone out there make a serious case that manul, Cassel. Tyler (or even Simms) is capable of leading of leading this (or any other) NFL team to glory? Nope. The success (or failure) to make the playoffs will be determined by: 1. How the DL does- Prospects look very good 2. Whether the LBs step up- Prospects look quite possible 3. Whether our secondary steps up- McKelvin lack of recovery challenges depth but early Darby results make prospects good. ST also needs to continue level achieved at end of last season. Its very tough to win an SB with mainly a great D, but Balt shows it can be done. The good news for us is that winning the SB is not our key goal, "merely" making the playoffs is. We can do this led by our D and the QB battle is really little more than an interesting sideshow for the true prospects of this team.

Too early to say for sure about Darby as starter, but the main cure for earliness is for Darby to get reps. Though one obviously has to not feel great and wonderful about McKelvin, one reasonably has to feel good about Darby as a plan B. Given plan C in a real crunch is moving Graham back to CB or going with Brooks (who must improve to be a credible plan C, this whole episode makes me feel good about the big picture rather than worried. The Miller boo-boo is a much bigger worry (given he is back in regular rotation for day 3 than the McKelvin setback for this fan.

I think people are looking for a mid-point statement. One reasonably should always be concerned about every player at about anytime in a sport so prone to violence and injury. However, I would also say, that there is no need to WORRY (meaning break a sweat or advocate making a roster change unless there is some proven medical report. I actually do not think is reasonable to worry about losing a player if you have a comparable back-up. Even if we lost Leodis, I am not worried because I think Ghrahm can be a capable starting CB starter if needed and that I am hopeful Darby or even Brooks in a pinch can fill to accompany Gilmore. 5 deep for two starting CB slots means we should remain concerned, but I would worry about OL way before being worried about CB. I

The NFL and their band of high priced lawyers intelligently agree with you. Thus, they have already filed a motion with the federal court in Manhattan seeking a pre-approval of this decision. This was done in order to block the Pats from forum shopping and putting this before a Boston based judged. One never can tell with judges, but stopping this is gonna be a hard uphill slog for Brady He hs to show a likelihood of winning in order to get an injunction. Simply being debatable ain't good enuf. He will have to demonstrate a likelihood he will prevail.

Still too early to make an intelligent prediction (game result predictions without preseason injury results' revelations about who actually took the off-season off, and practice hints game result prediction are woefully uninformed at this point. However, its the nFL and the internet so I vote the Bills drill the Pats. In regard to a Brady suspension, game 2 is perfect for the Bills. The tape of Game 1 has far more value to the Bills than it does for the Pats in virtually every case. Belicheat genius or not will have to reveal a lot about the way Garapolo (sp?) is going to run the Pats O built for Brady.m Blicheatgets to trick the opponent in game 1 with anew O designed for his #2 QB. However, games 2-4 simply have to be about perfecting how even a vet team like the Pats runs their new O. On the other hand the Bills D will also be a new design, but essentially the same players Particularly since a likely strength for the Bills is going to be QB pressure from a team returning 3 Pro Bowlers on DL .and a 4th guy with 2 consecutive 10 sack seasons. Its goona be hard for the Bills but beyond hard for the "new" Pats sans Brady.

Having the state (NY in the Bills case) does make sense in one case: IF YOU ARE NOT THE STATE OF NEW YORK! Buffalo, while it is clearly part of NYS, the key to realize is that even though we are easily the second largest city in NYS (sounds like San Diego vis a vis CA in the John Oliver video) we are well behind NYC in population and in income due to the huge salaries on Wall Street. Having NYS pay for the stadium makes some economic sense for WNY IF NYS sets up a sports authority and the simply stupid aggreements NFL owners can force their "partners" in state government to agree to are spread across taxpayers in all o0f NYS. This actually makes perfect sense for WNY and Bills fans because there is simply no way for us WNYers to get the larger capitol pool of NYC to send $ consistently in large amounts in virtual perpetuity except through getting politicians to agree to take on this massive debt for the ONLY NFL team which plays in NYS. Pouring these NYS $ into othr public benefit projects like childhood lead poisoning prevention or road and bridge infrastructure makes far more sense for NYS and WNY as investments in WNY, but these investments are quite unlikely to happen. Funding a new Bills stadium makes no sense for WNY, but using OPM (other peopl's money) makes good sense for WNY and Bills fans!

Yep, sometimes. When it suits American interests we are and should be the police of the world. Are you against American interests?

Its all part of his strategy to earn the respect of Richie Incognito.

The thing which has me most excited about this D is simply the quality of the play demonstrated over the last couple of years by the players. I simply think that these players generally seem to be on an upswing or near the peak performance of NFL players at their positions on the DL. IF the DBs and LBs continue to develop and improve and the DL players can hold on and continue to perform at or near the top of the AFC at their positions we amazingly might b able to post a shut out or two this season. Specifically: DL: If the team plays a 4-3, it simply boasts a DL where 3 of the 4 were legit Pro Bowlers and the one who did not make the PB has registered 10 sacks EACH of the last TWO years. Are these individual players that (actually yes in M Williams and Dareus' cases) but even in the other two cases both 5th round pick K Williams and Hughes have demonstrated in multiple seasons that they have learned how to exploit the fact other teams need to dt 2 players to run their O. Can these players maintain their production? Tough to say yes, but looking at them individually: Dareus- I 'd say he is on a great upswing in his career. He was very immature as a kid and appears simply through survival and getting older that on the brink of his second pro contract he is peaking. Unless he gets slowed by injury I expect him reasonably to improve Mario- An older man now but at the top of his game. Moving to OLB in a 3-4 may both play to his strengths as by lining up all over the field opponents will have great difficulty scheming to dt him. Further, his speed and athleticism should actually allow him to drop back and cover in a zone blitz which can make his peers even more effective. Kyle- He has actually been around long enuf that I think he is on the downhill side of his talents, however, KW has simply proven to be a much more dgged and talented player than the scouts thought when few argued he was more or less than the 5th rounder choice of the Bills and second DT oicked by the Bills. However, our first round pick faltered and never got a second offer from us KW filled in admirably. In fact, I remember him going through three blockers and getting a sack. I suspect these days are gone but with MW and DM demanding dt attention I like him one on one particularly if he gets ahold of a rookie opponent. Hughes- it is simply amazing a player credited with 20 sacks the last two years still needs to prove himself to many. I think he can reasonably be expected to get better and taking on som added OLB duties in our 3-4 will do that Back-ups- Charles/Bryant- While neither player can be mistaken for the starter, they are both solid back-ups capable of rotating in to give the starters a blow. They might even credibly provide 1 start if injury occurs. Carrington is a solid reacquisition whose demonstrated proficiency as a kick blocker provides a new weapon under new kicking rules. Wynn also is a solid back-up. LBs-This clearly was the area of greatest concern for the Bills as the 2015 season approached particularly after the trade of Kiko Alonso for Sean McCoy (a good trade for the Bills O certainly but cost the Bills an LB who had sat out 2014. Add to this the likely switch to a 3-4 D requiring yet another LB. Yet, upon deeper consideration, on the face of it this switch provides at least 1 of the best D players in the NFL, Mario Williams to this unit. In addition, the configuration which Ryan plans to use has 10 sack/season the last two years Jerry Hughes moving to OLB and a review of specific players provides a lot of hope, some tangible and some intangible to LB potentially being a strength for the 2015 team. Preston Brown- When push came to shove, what player led the well regarded Bills D in tackles to his credit last year? It was rookie LB Preston Brown who after 2 games forced his way into the starting line-up and didn't let go. Sophomore slumps happen, so nothing should be assumed, but also there are many reasons to not only reasonably hope but to expect Brown to have an even better year in his second year. If Brown he does improve he actually would be following the same path as the player who finished just behind Brown in tackles to his credit Nigel Bradham- Bradham is not a star player (like a MWilliams or a Dareus) but there was no sophomore slump for this LB. I think though not a star he now can easily be judged as a solid starter. He is not an easily exploitable weakness and in fact can be a better player with great players around. He forced a couple of fumbles and registered a couple of sacks and even picked off a pass. As he enters the prime of his career his next step is not to become so great he demands a dt but instead be good enough to exploit the fact that MW and Dareus demand dts and that Gilmore and McKelvin can cover top WRs on their own. Ty Powell appears to be one of the players who the coaches have spent a lot of time complimenting his play. Not a starter he, but seems like a reasonable back-up. One of the duals this camp looks like whether hometowner Gaines or new draftee Steward wins a spot on the roster for the future.LB development Mario- His past outstanding performance as a DE speaks to simply not moving him. However, his athleticism, demand placed on an opposing O to have two blockers account for him speak to the benefit of moving him around between 4, 3, and two point stances or even flipping sides he is covering. Our switch to a 3-4 mandates thinking of him as an OLB to really challenge the opposing O. Hughes- Likewise Hughes is no Mario. but his double digit # of sacks each of the last two years would encourage keeping him at DL, but junior-Mario is anathletic guy who on a team swtiching to a 3-4 can likely benefit from Hughes lining up often as an OLB. Manny Lawson is a former starter.whose role has changed not because he is bad and getting worse, but simply because the competition from his teammates has been so good. I am pleased to have him as our plan B at OLB. Buchanan was a nice pick-up as a reserve and even Randell Johnson deserves some PT. DBs- The games that taught me a lot last year were when Gilmore went down for a game plus. The opposing WRs had not made much noise against Gilmore but it turned out that with Gilmore out the opposing QBs simply picked on Brooks (who actually I think is not that bad. Gilmore has had a few nicks which made it hard to think of him as a shutdown CB. However, I think tat as long as he can stay on the field he is gonna be the shut down corner we want. McKelvin- Also has some injury issues but has demonstrsated he can cover with the best of them. Graham is moving to S and deserves this shot is deserved by his play as a CB reserve. I did not feel scared when our stating CBs went down so even though he deserves the start, if our starting CBs go down then Graham should be our first choice. Our 1st draft pick Robey seems like a reliable in empty backfield or other situations where we need another CB. I like his cover work. Brooks, Cockrell and Butler are gonna make the last cut a hard one to make. ST work will make the difference.. S- Aaron Williams has become a leader of the Ss and now with Graham getting a shot the S role I like our starting 11 on D. Williams is pressing to possibly start (making him a good back-up. Rambo had at least one brilliant sub game last year and Meeks we will see. I predict at least one rare shutout this season and perhaps two. .

What is your question actually? I you are simply asking who is the best QB in the NFL that's one thing (actually two things 1. Brady is the best QB who knows and fits his team well, but 2. Wilson is the best combo of age/talent/experience in the NFL and though I would take Brady and his knowledge of his team if you gave me one year, but if I am picking 1 QB for now and the future it is Wilson. If you are asking who fits the Bills best I go with Wilson then Rodgers as you would need escapability behind our OL.

The bottomline is actually that NFL football and fantasy football are really two different things. I for one would find it hard to care less about fantasy football because I do care a lot about how my Buffalo Bills are doing. If our offense works like it appears to be set-up to work well, virtually no Bill is going to be a good fantasy league starter because Roman will call games which rely on the pass when the D puts 8 guys in the box to stop a McCoy/Jax D and then alternately he will utilize the will employ a solid dose of runs cause the D is forced to commit 4 tacklers to our two WRS and either the run game or use of Clay shreds the opponent. I hope the Bills suck as individual fantasy investments because they actually distribute the scoring and yards gained so broadly.

Actually, one thing Rex has said which I believe (and a good chunk is not to be believed if Rex is smart which he is- the important thing for an HC to be successful in the NFL is NOT "don't lie" it's "don't get caught lying without a feasible excuse for your lie") is that the O players he has assembled will be a match-up nightmare for an opponent. I would avoid taking just about any Bill as being my fantasy teams # 1 at just about any position. Even at its best Ryan/Roman are going to have to distribute good touches to a bunch of players. Simply to keep everyone happy it is doubtful that the QB (whoever that may be and it looks like Ryan has set-it-up so this team will win Ws by the QB being the best game manager handing off frequently in a Roman rotate btw. McCoy/Jax hand-off/short passes and it is to be hoped good ROC from Clay/TE, and well-placed check-offs and occasional stop/go flys to Watkins/Harvin/Woods. If this O works. all are very good and get their props on Sportscenter, but none of them are fantasy workhorse producers. The fantasy sweetspot is to spend your fantasy $ securing a likely producing workhorse at all fantasy O positions AND then get Bills as cheaply as you can to start them in your league only when the D match-ups look advantageous. If the opponent has good run defenders and lets say 1 lockdown CB, that's the week you start Harvin. who should feast on the opponents # 2 (or maybe they zone up and Woods is the likely hot target) If the opponent has weak safeties start McCoy or has given up significant run yardage its McCoy time. Understanding the opponent will be a key to acquiring and using Bills O players in most fantasy lands this year.

Though I think the impact of the decision on the Bills will have no impact on the decision, my sense is that a one game suspension will be such a repudiation decision will judged as a repudiation of Goodell that it is unlikely to happen. 2 games splits the baby and I think this will happen.

The precedent for this is that in most contentious cases, the default is no one takes a total bath getting blamed for all charges or gets a total walk. My sense is that simply upholding four games would be a total hit on Brady/Kraft and reducing the suspension to 0 games would be a total walk for Brady/Kraft. Neither is likely to happen. 3 games in reality for this situation will be interpreted as a pretty total slam on Brady/Kraft giving them a mere figleaf. Likewise 1 game ends up as a big hit for Goodell with the 1 game being a fig leaf. 2 games seems by far to meet the true past precedent that no one escapes this with everything (or near everything which 1 or 3 games would be interpreted as) but everone takes a little hit. The effect on the Bills will be a mere side-effect, but a 2 game compromise is a nice side-effect for us (actually perfect as a week of film on their back-up really plays to our ability to identify weaknesses in his play and their blocking schemes.

You do realize don't you that the owners have already been capped by the CBA agreement with the NFLPA near the end of the last century? Rather than the Stalin family imposing a cap on the owners, it was the owners themselves that heartily rejected a free market when the players threatened to decertify themselves as a bargaining agent for the players after the owners simply crushed the AFL-CIO led NFLPA by imposing a lockout on the players during their mid-80s contract dispute. The owners so effectively destroyed the NFLPA with the hiring of "replacement" players that a talented tenth of players led by Gene Upshaw were able to team up with some smart NYC lawyers to sell the players on the idea of threatening decertification which would have forced the owners into a free ,market where they bargained with individual players to sign personal services contracts. It became clear that a "free" market would kill the NFL and the owners rushed to agree to a complex CBA which sheltered a ton of income for the owners for items such as designated premium seats. Upshaw and his talented of smart NFL players agreed to the new designated gross system since it delivered more $ to the players than ever before. They held their fire until the CBA called for a mandated renegotiation early in the 21st century. Upshaw started off these "negotiations" by unilaterally announcing the end of designated grosses and declared the new cap would not only be calculated off of total gross receipts, but that the player share needed to start with a 6! The final agreement awarded the players 60.5% of the total gross receipts. The problem here is that actually many ideological fools do not realize that the NFL in no way is a free market (the NFLPA and the owners have been allowed by the courts to restrain trade for individuals by forcing NFL players to participate in a draft which forces individual Americans to only negotiate with one team. Even further the courts have allowed the NFL and NFLPA to bar adult Americans from even playing NFL football until they are 21. How un-American, how downright Cuban to force adults to play and live where they are assigned by a draft rather than choose to live wherever they want like most Mericans. The NFL is perhaps the greatest version in the world of doing business based on a social contract rather than a free market. You do understand this don't you?

Rather than cap them, my hope is that the players would just cut them out of the process. The owners were a necessary part of the process back in the day when the NFL was being constructed as these sportsmen were the main source of capital. However, its a new day and with the TV nets being the main source of capital, the individual owners are little more than a relic of the past. It would be a tough transition because players careers are so short, but if the end result of getting rid of the team owners and replacing them with a series of Green Bay management style teams we would cut costs by about 40% which could be split between even more $ for the players and even a cost savings for fans. I have zero desire to watch Jerry Jones don shoulder pads. Why do some fans want to see the players cut out rather than have the owners cut out as long as we are choosing fantasies?

I think the answer is to cut out the costs which can be replaced and dedicate all the cash which football teams collect from fan and see that devoted only to producing the best product. Looking at things from this cost/benefit I think the intelligent thing to do is not necessarily to cut the costs paid in a free market to the players, but instead look to cut the cash paid to th owners and Roger Goodell. Why would you advocate first cutting the payments that a player like Mario Williams gets from the market when it would seem more rational to me to first chuck the $40 million + paid to Goodell to seemingly routinely make bad decisions or to an idiot like Jerry Jones to add ridiculously little to the product. You seem to be advocating taking cash away from someone (as un-American as that is) If we are gonna live in your fantasy world where this could happen, rather than worry about the 60+% of the total receipts going to the players it makes more sense to eliminate the 39% which goes to the owners who really add little to the quality of the product. I'd much rather see 32 teams using the Green Bay Packers model than the current limited value being provided by team owners and Roger Goodell to the game.

The LBs are Mario, Hughes, Brown, Bradham, Lawson, Powell, Buchanan, Johnson, Gaines, Steward, Tarpley, Hudson. My guess is they cut two of these players, cut but resign 1 to PS. This leaves 9 players 5 have some NFL starter experience and they will need to find 4 per play (actually 3 LBs when they use the nickel). Some will debate whether they should run a 3/4 or a 4/3. I think what Ryan actually to run a 7.

However, it easily is possible that Tyrod pulls a muscle, that Cassel pulls a Kyle Orton, or that EJ is our thrower as Watkins/Harvin/McCoy trot continuously into the endzone. My $1 says you cannot ignore these real world possibilities when making grand pronouncements.

Dibs thanks first off for the great work you are sharing with the rest of us. My answers to your two questions is that a fuller and more accurate analysis needs to articulated to A:: The question whether his contract is comparable to similar RBs of his age and past production. does not take into account that though a dollar bill owned by you or I. and a dollar bill owned by Pacula are the exact same amount, there still is a difference between the value of that same dollar bill to Pacula or to you and me. The salary cap to some extent even things out. However, it is still a fact that a thousand (or ten thousand bucks makes a real difference to you and me, but still is little more than a rounding error to Pacula. In the end, Pacula and his band of high priced lawyers and accountants have the ability to front load or guarantee contracts that have real value to McCoy or some future Andrew Luck while you or me cannot do that. The questions of comparable worth or in the end simply eating a contract may be the same exact amounts for all of us but actually are quite different for someone like Pacula who has cashed in on his hydrofracked wealth. Add to this a variance for Pacula placing a higher value on winning now than I can because even though I want win now but I cannot ignore the future monetarially, your comparison of our two contracts with the exact same dollar amounts is simply comparing orangess to bananas.. They are both fruit, but one I can put in my milk with cereal and one I cannot. 2. The same comparison holds true to how long a player lasts in this league. Ultimately its all the same as no one gets out of here alive. However, there is a huge difference because Pacula can back-up Shady with Fred Jax and I have to back him up with Byron Brown (or maybe all I can afford today is to hire Steve Tasker to play for ne today. pa

I can see folks making the hard to refute argument that when the cheating balls were found at halftime and Brady an the Pats still destroyed the Colts with regulation footballs as a hard argument to refute. However, the answer to your question is that attacks on "such a fine stand-up organization" will stop when (if) the Pats respond in a fine stand-up way. 1. Do you really feel that Kraft demanding an apology early on "when" the results of an inquiry reveal that the Pats did nothing to the gameballs? 2. Do you really feel like Brady's non-answers to the fans questions in his po rally before an HS crowd was stand-up? Its hard for me to see the Pats** treated as a stand-up org until they act in a stand-up manner.

Copping out is the least of the NFL's problem from this fans perspective.

Actually its two asterisks (asteri?) because the NFL Wells report explicitly based its "cheating" finding on the previous transgression of videotapegate. My GUESS is that part of the reason why Bob Kraft simply pulled his appeal of the Wells finding may well be that after the Pats personalized the issue by claiming that any accuser would owe them a public apology after the investigation and then directly calling out Wells, they created an incentive for Wells and or the NFL to escalate by identifying a third potential case of the Pats cheating. Kraft (and potentially Brady) saw that they ran the risk of either the NFL or Wells revealing or simply accusing the Pats of a another transgression. It could not be anything that simply is an unusual application but not violation o the rules. However, if a third case of the Pats violating the spirit or letter of the law could even be hinted at the Pats ran the risk of tainting their entire winning record and history with a dreaded asterick. Once is an incident, twice may be a coincidence, but a third case would be a trend that might stick forever. I actually would not be shocked to see Brady also pull back and settle for 3 games or even four.

Huh? The title of this thread only Is at most the 4th point Carucci makes in the article. Instead a thread based on VCs claims listed in the order in the article are: 1. Carucci sees Cassel as a back-up with Manuel starting 2. VC says team brass seems serious about letting this competition be decided on the field 3. VC says He title of this thread is a pretty large misread of the article whch makes the following claims in order VC says Cassel was acquired to be the #2. VC says the brass are committed to seeing this settled on the field VC likes Taylor (but does not say as what VC says he has no source that says this but he suspects EJ is starter or he is gone (this point seems to ignore possibilities such as any nagging injury which happens to Cassel or EJ would probably keep EJ here) VC says EJ is valued highly by the Iggles brass and even if he failed here he would likely be in demand. EJ is probably pleased with this article IF it was true.