maryland-bills-fan

20 kids? So two got a red card already?

Heh? hockey is played on a small playing "field" and its equally dumb to have 1/3 of the field excluded for use and having many scoring attempts in hockey killed by offsides. Actually, the hockey rule (the puck must enter the zone before the attacking player) and the soccer rule (the player can not enter the zone behind the last defender before the ball is kicked to him) are similiar. In soccer, at least if the "offside" player is not gaining and advantage from being in that position, then the play is not stopped like it is in hockey. I think there are more offsides in hockey then in soccer and certainly less "iceing" calls in soccer (e.g. none) then in hockey. I think hockey would be a different and maybe better game if they didn't allow substitutions during actual playing time. Be a man and suck it up for 45 minutes rather than 90 seconds.

Ref'ing is fun and a way to give something back to the game. The hardest games are the youth games where the coaches and parents don't know the rules but thing that they do. Too lazy to look up "ask the ref" or study a rulebook. They also have the baseball little league mentality that diss'ing the official is the thing to do. A problem with soccer that doesn't affect baseball, American football and most other sports is that the action is continuous and tension builds during the game. People can go pretty crazy. "Soccer Moms" don't realize that soccer is a contact sport. Badmition is a non-contact sport. American football is a collusion sport (but while wearing 20 pounds of armor). It is sometimes scary to have to stand up to parents and coaches who are literally crazy for a period of time. The part of soccer that people who refuse to consider or accept it is that the beauty of the game is the ball skills, the continuous flowing tactical action and the on-field strategic evolutions that happen during the game. Often while playing, the player can go into a sort of trance or zone, where you are watching yourself doing things that you could never do if you weren't in the flow of the game and half oxygen deprived. You are constantly absorbing information about your players and the opposition, where they are moving, how fast, what their body language says about their intensions and where the ball is. Sometimes you haven't seen the soccer ball for 10 seconds or so, but know exactly where it is, as if it was a 2 million degree glowing ball. Soccer fans who have played the game can watch a game and put themselves mentally onto the field and participate in this. That is why spectators at a game can get so excited and into the game. If your sports experience is limited to 4-5 second set plays and then 3 minutes of down time, you will not understand the vibe.

The Baltimore Browns?

I've played, coached and refereed. The custom is that the referee does not end the game if a try on goal looks like its going to happen in the next 3-5 seconds. The ref actually has a lot of influence on how the game is played and what roughness is allowed, not so much by actually blowing the whistle, but by how he looks at the players, talks to the players and even by how he positions himself on the field. A good ref will not have to stop play for infractions all the time, nor hand out very many yellow or red cards. You might look at his role as faciliating a fair game, rather than a policeman.

Do you realize how many rules there are in American football? Every try explaining how many things can have a whistle go off before the ball is even snapped? Certain people have to be stationary. They can't wiggle a finger. Others can move, but how many can move at the same time is defined. Some can move sideways, some can move back. Some can move and stop and how long they stop is defined. Some can move forward, but not all the time (and depending upon what side of the border). How many can line up where is defined. There are 7 officials to keep track of 22 players, plus a bunch of cameras to help out if a coach throws a red panty onto the field. Players can stop the game if they see something they don't like. So can coaches. At least 5 fat players stick their asses up in the air for people to look at. One guy moves up and rubs the groin of one of the bit fat guys from behind on almost every other play. Sometimes he does that and then suddenly moves back a few steps (I can understand that- those big fat guys must eat a lot and the guy coming up behind him may get gassed out sometimes). Most of the "60 minutes" (49) is spent standing around, having players run off and onto the field, standing around in a circle talking about their golf game, having the referees collect the ball for the players and play toss with it for a while before putting it down, or waiting for the ball to be put into play. A guy named the quaterback gets great praise for starting a play with an irregular chant that makes the other team think the play has started when it hasn't. The average play last 4 seconds and then you wait around for a while. Then there is the matter of participation. There are about 750 kids in the average high school. Maybe 50 are on the football team and actually play the sport. The participation is limited to the biggest kids, unless they are exceptionally speedy. Others never get a sniff of actual competition. For post high school, only about 6% play college ball.

We need the calender to move up 3 months.

This is no longer a topic for discussion. Thad is better.

This is true. If Toronto is taken out of the CFL (Hamilton is close enough), it has little interest and becomes the minor league football league in Canada. The other small cities would not like that. It is not going to happen.

You can't fix everything at once- get superior players at all positions at once. The Bills worked on fixing the o-line and WR this year. We are renting linebackers and have two interior lb rookies to go with kino. We have a bunch of strong-in-one-aspect tight ends, with Chandler the best well-rounded guy. He is okay and they stacked a lot of nitch guys and a cheap gamble guy behind him. Expect that we might go with a high round TE in the next couple of years.

Maybe he can retire rich without having to play another game?

There were a lot of long sideline routes that were thrown out of bounds. I think many of these should be put into one of the following categories: 1. Long sideline pass thrown out of bounds or barely catchable as a safe means of stretching the field for the defense & safety in order to get more space for the running game. and 2. Long sideline pass " " as a throw away when the first 2-3 in the progression were covered. There is always the chance of a blown assignment, trip or pass interference. One "weapon" we had last year was 2 very track speed type guys. Running a lot of fly sideline patterns will tire out the CB's and almost always the safety will want to be on top of that. So one WR takes two defenders out of the play as surely as if he blocked them to the ground.

Tony Moeaki is an intriguing option for tight end as he appears to be the best balanced at the several different aspects of the position. We already have Watkins, Wood and Williams penciled in as the starting wider receivers. Should we start a petition to have Moeaki turn the first letter of his name upside down and also add a "s" so that he would become: Tony Woeaski.? This could make our receivers the "4 W's" and Woeaski could get an endorsement contract for Wardynski's kielbasa. Sounds like a winner all around.

With teams using 5 fast wide outs, should there be fewer defenders with a "safety" profile, and more with a cornerback profile? News flash, fast "tight ends", who can outrun a safety or linebacker have been around for the last couples of years. These guys line up next to a tackle about 3 times out of 20 plays. I would not really call them tight ends anymore than I would call the #2 receiver a "split end". Expect to see 3-4-5 undeniable cornerbacks out there.

We need a DE at abotu 285 pounds to balance Mario at the other end.

His name starts with a "W".

See the value that Byrd contributed to the team?

This is the betting line. It is where they think most people will put their money, not what they think the finial records will be. Actually it is not a guess at where 50% of the people will bet, because the odds they publish has to leave a profit for Vegas.

If you ever noticed, his interceptions came in bunches in games that were well under control. Did any team or WR ever fear playing against Byrd? He held out because his feetsie hurt even though he had a full off season to get better and he stayed out until Aaron Williams came back. (why not be sure he looked good). He said that he could have played earlier but asked " ... how would that help me make my case?" Notice that Spiller is using him as a model, when thinking about his new contract- do we need a poison on the team? We had a better record without him then with him. Does it make sense for the second highest salary to be for a safety? ............just for starters.

I was living in the mid-Hudson valley and the house was really in a valley with terrible TV reception. After trying the multiple antenna and tinfoil tricks I drove to a crossroads bar that was open with almost nobody in it except me and the bartender. I almost left at halftime, but, what the hell, it was the last Bills game I would see until next year so I stayed. Glad of it. Making a lot of noise in a place that was empty except for echoes. The bartender thought that I was a crazy man.

espn said This is extra money needed above the cost of buying a team

Maybe in moving back to Buffalo, his mom will keep him in line.

He isn't guilty for this earlier crime. He was just an accessory. Bellicheck was the trigger guy. Free Hernandez!!! (spoken as a UB MA gradute!!!) (spelling noted)

Should any Bills fan give a flying finnigen about the substitue Browns draft picks?

Did he steal crap legs from the same crap or from different crabs?