Last Guy on the Bench

Agreed, John. Thanks for posting. I'll never understand why we can't have a reasonable discussion about whether a coach is the right guy at the right time without trashing him. It seems not to have worked out with Chan this time. That's life. But he seems to be a great guy, and he's obviously been very successful at his profession for several decades. The math is that the cumulative record of all coaches in a given league is .500. Everyone who doesn't win a super bowl is not a moron or a coward or a charlatan. Thanks for the reminder that we are still talking about human beings here - human beings who are trying extremely hard to do good work and who want to win much more ferociously than we do, whether or not they manage ultimately to succeed.

Agreed. That might be the the funniest football play I've ever seen. It's mesmerizing, and I can't stop chuckling. Haven't watched the game yet, but I think I will just based on that.Thanks to Fixxxer for posting it.

My wife asks me the same thing. It's embarrassing how emotional I get about this team. I'm pretty good at talking myself into something resembling sanity and equanimity by Monday morning, but Sunday nights are tough. I swear I am a reasonable, rational, emotionally adjusted adult in other areas of my life. I think Bill from NYC captures it best in his weekly posts. Somehow I just love this team even though it is generally painful. Can't walk away. Been that way for 30 years. Lately they are finding new ways to test us. I can enjoy a scrappy, under-talented, young but developing team over the course of a losing season if I feel like it's going somewhere. But this turning our wheels in the sands of mediocrity no matter how improved the talent looks on paper is killing me.

Quite. But the argument wasn't that they were successful in Seattle because they were drafted low (obviously) but because they were big and physical.

Also notes their big physical, un-pedigreed corners. If this argument is right, makes me even more excited about Gilmore. http://www.slate.com...l_s_second.html

It was definitely not just you. Bills fans came through loud and clear on the little MacBook I was watching the game on. At the peak moments, the Cards fans were louder, as they should be, but during a lot of the game, it was hard to tell where the game was (you know, except for the picture of that angry red bird on the 50 yard line). Awesome job, Bills fans in AZ. Very impressive.

Wow. Some serious insight in that. Very interesting read with nuances that you don't often hear anything about.

One of the reasons I so want this team to do well, make the playoffs, get some national pub, etc. is because this group of players is so easy to like. (The other reason is because like the rest of you idiots I have been personally suffering psychological and sometimes physical pain on more than half my fall Sundays for the past 12 fargin years.) From Senator Wilson to Ryan Neighborhood BBQ Every Sunday After Home Games Fitzgibbon to Fred Greatest Teammate of All Time Jackson to Kyle I Will Tackle You Without Touching You By Driving Your Own Lineman Into Your Grill and Then I Will Chuckle About It Williams to Leodis I Don't Care How Many Ways I Get Benched and How Many Fans Yell at Me on Twitter I WIll Still Be a Friendly, Stand-up Guy, and I Will Still Try to Play My Ass Off Every Time I'm On the Field Sink or Swim Which is Why My Teammates Mob Me When I Do Something Good McKelvin, it's a righteous team. I love them. I love them all.

I'd rather see them try to run him out of the backfield a little bit, especially with CJ down. That might be interesting.

Agree. One of the things I've really appreciated about Gailey is that he doesn't ever seem to play scared. He goes for it. Doesn't always work out, but you're right, it's more about creating a certain attitude on your team than optimizing any particular possession.

Buffalo's own. Wish he were the Bills' own. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1205810/1/index.htm

I'd feel a lot worse about this if the days of getting useful sports info out of local papers hadn't long since passed. Ever since press conference videos and transcripts became available, I've been shocked to realize how few reporters do anything but go to those conferences and cobble together a few quotes to make a story. Since I've already seen all the quotes at source, I almost never get anything out of the local guys any more. There are exceptions - I think Tim Graham will actually go talk to someone different sometimes, and our own AP meister John W. often does some legwork. But the exceptions are too few to tempt me to subscribe to a paper, plus John's stuff is readily available anyway, being AP. And as for commentary, I get more insight from The Stadium Wall - from the actually knowledgeable football guys here who watch something more than just the ball - than I do from any columnist. I'll take Simon or Bill from NYC or Kelly the Dog or a number of others over any columnist going. They might not always be right. But they are always interesting and original.

Right. I don't get the arrogance or the disdain for the Jets. They've been kicking the crap out of us regularly and they've had recent post-season success. Maybe they will fall off the cliff this year, but they have a tough D and they know how to win, so I doubt it. (I'd be happy to see it, don't get me wrong.) Either way, I wouldn't talk trash until it actually happened.

Good question. I was wondering that myself. I can compare it to my high school calculus course. The teacher was a great guy, but gave us brutal exams. We went way deep into the underlying theories - really had to think creatively. It was easy not to do well, no matter how smart you thought you were. When it came time to take the AP exam at the end of the year, though, I can't say we walked into it all that confidently, but five minutes after that test had started, we were flying. Compared to what we had been doing all year, it was a cakewalk. Pretty much everyone in the class crushed it. So I'm optimistic.

This thread took an awesome turn thanks to Sage and San Jose.

I know what you mean, but for me it's more about the player's expectations. And in this case, I HOPE they believe the hype. I want them to think they are good with the potential to be great. I want them to be dumbfounded when they lose. With many teams, inflated ego is bad fuel. But there is no way these guys get fat, delusional heads before the season. They have been too crappy for too long and the memory of that 7 game losing streak last year has to be pretty fresh. So for them, I think all this pumping up is good. Personally, I think we are a year (and the continued development of Fitz and the o-line) away from being a really good team. I'm expecting nice improvement to 9 or 10 wins this year, and I will be delighted with that, if it happens (even though I will still freak out and be depressed for two days every time they lose, as always).

Preach, Brother. I'm with you. Although I do appreciate the cynical bastages on the board too. Even though it's not my temperament, it keeps the place lively. I won't even mention the actual, thoughtful, reasonable, knowledgeable, realistic, civil posters, as there are only about eight of those, God bless them.

Yeah, for some reason (probably my typical April/May delusional fog), I find myself more excited about Brooks than any other draft pick. Doesn't make sense and I can't explain it. I just think he might turn into something special. Either way, I'm loving the DB competition and depth this year. Surely SOMEONE has to turn out to be good out of this very presentable collection of potential (Gilmore, Williams, Brooks, Rogers, maybe McKelvin sees the light or is moved to the slot where he can keep things in front of him, etc.). Then again, I fall for this shite every year (and happily - how else would I entertain myself?). Whenever I see '19-0' at the bottom of The Senator's posts, I always think, "I guess it's possible . . ."

I think people are writing off McGee too quickly for this year. IF he's healthy (a big if, granted), I don't think there is any way they start a rookie and a 2nd year guy over him. I think McGee will start and Gilmore, Williams, and Leodis will be battling for the other outside spot and the nickel spot. If I had to make a prediction, I see McGee and Gilmore starting and Leodis covering the slot with Williams getting time in dime and getting himself ready for the inevitable shift that will happen when McGee and Leodis leave/fade/retire, etc. I see this as a transition year in the d backfield. I do think you're right that next year the starting DBs will be Gilmore and Williams (unless Brooks or someone else shows some mad skills).

Agree on Burn After Reading. The first time I watched it I was disappointed. I think I was expecting a Coen-style thriller (e.g., Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple). But I watched it again a little while later (this time knowing it was more of a comic musing) and I loved it. I thought it was hilarious. Wouldn't put it in the brothers' top five, but it really grew on me.

The OP was asking about three players with multiple double digit sack seasons. 1995 was the only season Hansen had double digit sacks (he had 10).

Cape Town, South Africa

Exactly right. They did say "good news, bad news" - but they were just being cute. They meant that the bad news was that there was nothing much to say about this other than "Good job" - no room for debate, nothing to get the phones boiling, etc.