Typical TBD Guy

Wow, you really need to brush up on your pre-late 90's Bills history.

The same teams who would also be willing to make Clements the highest paid CB in the NFL. That's who. The Redskins will probably be the highest bidders in the offseason unless TD can re-sign NC now.

Thanks, Lori. My only problem with what you said concerns Trafford's PS eligibility. If he's not eligible after 2 seasons, how do we explain Drew Haddad's being on our PS last year? Drew Haddad Anyway, screw it. Trafford's on my all-out cut list now. Here's an update: ROSTER (53): K: Lindell P: Moorman LS: Dorenbos QB (3): Losman, Holcomb, Matthews RB (3): McGahee, Williams, Gates FB (2): Shelton, Burns WR (7): Moulds, Evans, Parrish, Reed, Aiken, Haddad, Smith TE (3): Campbell, Euhus, Neufeld T (4): Williams, Gandy, McFarland, Peters G (3): Villarial, Anderson, Preston C (2): Teague, Tucker DE (4): Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Ritzmann DT (5): Adams, Edwards, Anderson, Sape, Bannan OLB (4): Spikes, Posey, Stamer, Crowell MLB (2): Fletcher, Haggan CB (4): Clements, McGee, Greer, King SS (2): Milloy, Wire FS (2): Vincent, Baker PRACTICE SQUAD (8): FB Goldsberry, WR Wilson, TE Cieslak, G Geisinger, DE Gause, MLB Ezekiel, CB Fontenot, FS Leonhard INJURED RESERVE (4): WR Vann, G Smith, G Sobieski, LB Brantley PUP (2): TE Everett, CB Thomas All-out cuts (7): QB Thompson TE Trafford G Jerman C Esposito LB Hunter CB Oglesby CB Richardson If/when we decide to activate Thomas and Everett off the PUP list, Burns and Fast Freddie would seem to be the two most likely cuts.

Thanks for all the replies. Here's my comments on the criticisms I see: 1. Trafford has been activated for only 4 games in his career, and I believe the max # for PS eligibility is 6...so that would make him still eligible, right??? I could be wrong, of course, and if I am I'd just switch his fate with Cieslak's for all you scorekeepers out there. 2. No way would I cut Dorenbos now. Maybe we don't re-sign JD next season after Preston gets more long snapping practice, but that Bears game wasn't exactly a vote of confidence for such a decision. Our games this year are most likely going to be close, low-scoring ones where 1 bad punt snap/1 wobbly field goal snap per game could singlehandedly alter the outcome. 3. From what I remember seeing of Jerman, he sucks. Bad. McFarland still needs to add more bulk to his frame, and this takes time. Plus McNally drafted DM, so I don't think he'll bail on him after only 1 year and 1 preseason of NFL experience. 4. Looks like the majority here believe we will - and should - keep 3 QB's on the roster. I agree on the "will" part, but not on the "should" part. A Matthews - Fast Freddie roster swap makes the most sense, although (usuing similar logic with cutting Dylan McFarland) I don't think we should bail on a second year draft pick for a guy whose main purpose is to mentor JP. Isn't that what Mularkey, Clements, and Wyche are for? 5. I think PUP players still count on the opening day roster, but if they don't, then you scorekeepers can place Matthews and Burns back from my all-out cut list to the regular roster.

ROSTER (53): K: Lindell P: Moorman LS: Dorenbos QB (2): Losman, Holcomb RB (3): McGahee, Williams, Gates FB (1): Shelton WR (7): Moulds, Evans, Parrish, Reed, Aiken, Haddad, Smith TE (4): Campbell, Euhus, Everett (PUP), Neufeld T (4): Williams, Gandy, McFarland, Peters G (3): Villarial, Anderson, Preston C (2): Teague, Tucker DE (4): Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Ritzmann DT (5): Adams, Edwards, Anderson, Sape, Bannan OLB (4): Spikes, Posey, Stamer, Crowell MLB (2): Fletcher, Haggan CB (5): Clements, McGee, Thomas (PUP), Greer, King SS (2): Milloy, Wire FS (2): Vincent, Baker PRACTICE SQUAD (8): FB Goldsberry, WR Wilson, TE Trafford, G Geisinger, DE Gause, MLB Ezekiel, CB Fontenot, FS Leonhard INJURED RESERVE (4): WR Vann, G Smith, G Sobieski, LB Brantley Which leaves the all-out cuts (9): QB Matthews QB Thompson FB Burns TE Cieslak G Jerman C Esposito LB Hunter CB Oglesby CB Richardson I'd like to hear everyone's feedback. I don't know if Mularkey and Co would be willing to go with only 2 QB and 1 FB on the roster, but my logic is that we'd be just as well off with Moorman as our emergency QB and Neufeld/Gates/2nd TE/3rd WR as our replacement FB.

Special teams, I'm guessing. He finished 5th on the team in ST tackling last season. That or the pictures...

Get over yourself, dude. Seriously. This is an internet message board about sports and probably has little correlation with how people run their lives away from their computer. I don't want to defend all the doomers and gloomers because some of them are making some ridiculous statements (how can anyone NOT be excited about this season on our D and ST alone?! Examples: Ravens and Bucs this century?!), but the offense is an area of concern that's worth discussing. Game 3 was not pretty, and it only reinforced some concerns dating back to the offseason. This game may actually be the best thing that could have possibly happened to this offense. Better to first see signs of cracking now than in the actual season. We still have time to tinker with players and plays before the games matter. But I'd rather talk about what's broke and how to fix it here instead of constantly raving about how awesome we're going to be. It makes for more interesting football discussion.

Stevewin, to say the least, seems very passionate about the quality of the backup safeties on his team and especially astute at judging tackling protocol. So unless he's insane (you're not insane, are you stevewin? ), I'm inclined to believe him. However, Wire is the only current backup SS on the team. Leonhard and Baker play FS, and neither is physically built to play run support in the way that Jerry Gray wants our SS's to play it. So unless some good free agent SS pickups are proposed that are equally strong on special teams, I'm going to have to side with the Wire Apologists on keeping the whipping boy fan favorite around.

Maybe. They penciled Pucillo in as the starting LG at the beginning of last season. So McNally and Co. are not infallible. Of the three linemen on the left side who have been getting a significant amount of snaps with the starters - Peters, Gandy, and Anderson - I think Bennie has been the worst. He's been very mediocre in the run game, and while I recognize that his performance is partly influenced by others around him, I have also not seen any flashes of run-blocking dominance in the preseason games that was suppposed to be his only strong point. Instead, along with his mediocrity at the run game, he has shown (to me, at least) to be just as flawed in pass protection and in mechanical discipline (penalties) as his reputation in Baltimore suggested. The coaches may be sticking with Bennie as starter primarily for the purpose of continuity, but I don't think it would be such a horrible break in continuity to slide the very versatile Gandy one spot over and keep Peters in at the LT position he's been practicing at all preseason. Peters himself still has work to do in run blocking, but unlike the stagnant Anderson, he seems to be getting better each game. And while Gandy has been doing relatively fine at LT, I think he'd be much better at LG where his limited mobility won't be tested as much.

How about: LT Peters LG Gandy C Teague RG Villarial RT Williams ??? Or anything to get Bennie Anderson out of the starting lineup, really...

I wanted to address this specific paragraph of yours that I lighlighted: Are you basing this opinion on actual information from military personnel? Or is this a position you've reached after careful selection of only the negative news reports that support your "Bash is bad" argument? The reality is that we haven't seen the Iraqi soldiers show any capability in fighting the insurgents on their own because - to date - we have not done a very good job of training these Iraqi soldiers. It's only recently that the high level military officers are recognizing their faults in how they've executed these Iraqi training programs or in how they've prioritized this aspect of the war. So my point is to give our own military and the Iraqi military a chance to switch gears and correct this training deficiency before declaring the whole war hopeless and unwinnable. And many military officials DO believe that we'll be able to win the Iraqi War over terrorists; but unlike people such as yourself, they have the virture of patience and realize that an Iraqi democracy won't stabilize for at least several more years. As soon as we're able to properly train enough Iraqi troops for urban guerilla warfare, we will be able to pull our own US troops out of Iraq. And once the Iraqi cilivians, Iraqi soldiers, and Middle Eastern Muslims in general see that there is no longer a US occupation and that the insurgents are only fighting other Muslims, the terrorists will begin losing their support base within Iraq and among neighboring Middle Eastern countries. You are probably reading this and laughing at my optimism. But I am basing this optimism on a myriad of opinions I've heard from people that work directly with military personnel and with US counterterrorists. I value these people's opinions over everyone else's because they're the ones who actually work with the data and facts surrounding the global war on terror. At the very least, they have more exposure to the various faces of the truth than do politically biased lawyers like yourself who love complaining for the sake of complaining, even when no viable alternative solutions to problems have been proposed by the complainer.

Here's my prediction: ROSTER: K: Lindell P: Moorman LS: Dorenbos QB (3): Losman, Holcomb, Matthews RB (3): McGahee, Williams, Gates FB (2): Shelton, Burns WR (6): Moulds, Evans, Parrish, Reed, Aiken, Smith TE (3): Campbell, Euhus, Neufeld T (4): Williams, Gandy, Peters, McFarland G (3): Villarial, Anderson, Tucker C (2): Teague, Preston DE (4): Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Ritzmann DT (5): Adams, Edwards, Anderson, Sape, Bannan OLB (4): Spikes, Posey, Stamer, Crowell MLB (2): Fletcher, Haggan CB (5): Clements, McGee, Thomas, Greer, King SS (2): Milloy, Wire FS (2): Vincent, Baker PRACTICE SQUAD: QB Woodbury, FB Goldsberry, WR Wilson, TE Trafford, G Geisinger, DE Gause, MLB Ezekiel, FS Leonhard INJURED RESERVE: WR Vann, G Smith, G Sobieski, LB Brantley PUP: TE Everett I don't think players on the PUP list count as roster spots before their 3 week mid-season activation. But if they do, then I'd cut Shane Matthews to open up a spot for Everett. The only real "controversies" in my final roster/PS breakdown are probably: 1. Cutting ReShard Lee 2. Keeping Wire 3. Cutting Haddad 4. Keeping Reed So here's my official reply on these: 1. One great return on special teams against backups doesn't justify an otherwise lousy preseason. 2. Ward and Leger just got cut, and Leonhard is too small to play SS in Gray's D. 3-4. I have an extensive post history on this (keyword search: Reed, Haddad). I will miss Haddad's cool mustache, though.

Ah, OK. I re-read your post and now I see what you meant. My bad. Sorry. Continue on...

No, it's probably not the main motivator for most military recruits. But it IS a factor for many of them, one that often becomes interwoven with the whole "finding a greater purpose in life" reason for joining. Care to still defend your blanket statement that Middle America doesn't care nearly as much about foreign countries as Coastal America and Big City America do???

Point well taken (I mostly agree with you on this one), but you missed the spirit of my post. I was merely presenting the biased counterargument that could be made by the right to match KTFABD's biased statement on the left. I'm well aware that most political issues are far more complicated than Red State/Blue State, right/left, Reps/Dems, conservative/liberal - especially foreign policy.

Well since we appear to be in the business of making broad stereotypes... I'd say that Coastal America and Big City America care more about themselves and their own selfish/materialistic desires than any country - foreign or their own. While the Blue States do a lot of general talking and criticizing about foreign policy, the obvious majority of the US military is comprised of Red Staters actually willing to sacrifice their time, security, social life, family, and jobs to help free other countries and peoples who these soldiers have never previously met in their lives.

1. There is a difference between legal immigration and illegal immigration. In the future, I hope you can recognize the difference without having to pull out the "racist" flag. Doing so only cheapens the debate. 2. I'm confused by this historically inaccurate comment, "all this fear and suspicion is unAmerican." Surely you forgot about all the fears and suspicions that Catholics faced during colonial times, Irish and Germans faced in the 1800's, Italians and Jews faced in the early 1900's, eastern Europeans faced in the McCarthy Era, Japanese and other Asians have faced throughout the twentieth century, blacks have faced since achieving freedom from slavery, and now Mexicans/Arabs face. Nothing can BE more American than fear, suspicion, stereotyping, and discrimination. I'm not defending this behavior; I'm just pointing out the facts. 3. You trivialize the border situation yet fail to realize that now there is a national defense element in play. It's not just Mexicans running in here to find work; there are hundreds of Middle Easterners who have been caught crossing from Mexico this year ALONE. 4. No need to further discuss the general drug/crime element and the financial draining of the American welfare system (a system I'm sure you hold so dear) that some of these illegals carry across with them. 5. The idea that illegals take the jobs that no other Americans want is not entirely true. There are lots of American teenagers and college students who could use the money that these illegals earn. And unlike the illegals, these Americans put this money back into the American economy instead of shuttling it down to Mexico. 6. Read up on some historical anthropology to learn about the problems that are created when one group joins a larger group but doesn't bother to assimilate with the larger one (through common language, common moral ideals, common views on law, common respect of cultural differences, common love of country, etc...). The collapse of the Roman Empire and even the Roman Republic would be a great place to start.

I'm sorry, but while I completely agree with the idea that both parties engage in hypocrisy, I don't believe this is a specific case of it. One big difference between the two war situations: Iraq was an issue of national defense (at least that's what it was sold to us as), while Clinton never attempted to describe the Bosnian military intervention as anything but international humanitarian assistance. So any Dem who supported Clinton in Bosnia CANNOT, in good conscience, claim that Bush's Iraq war is somehow unjust (they can, however, disagree with HOW the war has ben carried out). And those Republicans who were against US involvement in the Bosnian war CAN still support the Iraq war on the grounds that our intelligence agencies believed Saddam posed a grave threat to US sovereignty via WMD's and support of Islamic terrorists. Furthermore, the Reps can blame the poor intelligence gathering that led to Iraq War 2 mostly on Clinton. It was, after all, an intelligence community that Mr. Clinton let collapse under his 8 years in office following the Cold War. FWIW, I personally was in favor of our involvement in both conflicts. While in principle I hate the idea of having to police the entire world, I blame the total incompetence of the UN and NATO for putting us in this position of military authority.

Those "lapses every now and then" are what ALL of the best CB's have. CB is the toughest position in the NFL, next to QB.

...which we don't have...in other words, our front 4 is not good enough to be as productive as they are without our top-notch LB's and DB's doing what they do.

There is a HUGE step down from our #1 (Clements) to our #2 (McGee), #3 (Thomas), #4 (Greer), and #5 (King). Losing Clements next year would be very detrimental to a defense without a dominant pass rush. Sure we'd be ok, but only ok in the sense that we wouldn't fall out of the top half of ranked NFL D's. If TD can sell me on the idea that he can land a dominant pass rusher with Clements' $$$, then I'd be ok with losing Clements. But otherwise, I say now is the time to end the vicious Buffalo Bills cycle of drafting 1st round CB's and letting them walk 4-5 yrs later.

Have you considered the Libertarian Party?

Mr. CTM, you are a physicist, correct? So then maybe you can answer my questions: Is the title of this thread wrong in calling this discovery "cold fusion?" I thought cold fusion is fusion that takes place at room temperature, while this bubble fusion allegedly occurs at the typical millions of degrees needed for nucleosynthesis... Also, isn't there a huge difference between achieving a fusion reaction and actually sustaining it? So this discovery may still very well be a dead end in solving the world's energy crisis, right? Finally, what's the general scientific opinion of cold fusion right now? I read an internet article a year ago alluding to the idea that this field is mostly a crackpot field and has been since the Pons/Fleischmann debacle. True or not?

Nah, I stand by my position: Denney is one of the best backup DE's (top 5) in the league, though this time I'll specify with strong-side DE. I haven't seen enough of Gause yet, nor has anyone else. And until Gause shows us consistent excellence in the next 3 preseason games, he doesn't deserve to take a roster spot from Denney. But if Gause does look too good to store on the PS, then we would simply find room for him with a 5th DE roster spot rather than cut the more experienced Denney. Regarding Reed: what's funny is how sometimes different fans can see the same result on the same field and draw completely different conclusions from it. Read all of the training camp reports on this board and you'll see what I mean. I saw the preseason game on tape last night, and from what I saw neither Wilson nor Haddad nor Reed were exceptionally good or bad in their WR play (I'm not including special teams play, since your argument against Reed and for Haddad/Wilson is a fair one when you factor in this additional contribution). To me, Haddad maybe looked the most solid of the 3, but he also didn't face the same quality of coverage as Reed. So I have to wonder if the level of Reed bashing this offseason is as much a reflection of the fans' preconceived expectations as it has been his crappy play. I could also expand the above statement to Reed's past 2 seasons. Other Bills players drop balls, but they don't receive the same level of scrutiny in this facet of the game as Reed gets. You are quick to cite some of the circumstances that have kept Haddad's NFL career down. Some of that may be true to some extent, though I find it hard to believe any sane NFL coach would jeopardize his ability to win by promoting day 1 drafted players over clearly more capable ones. Also, Haddad's size issue can't be much of a factor if Parrish and Freddie Smith are on the team and players of equal height like Evans and Reed are on as well. But my question to you is why are you so quick to ignore the circumstances that have kept Reed's NFL career down, like Gilbride horribly misusing him in 2003, Bledsoe throwing to him, and his injury in 2004? Who are you really rooting for? The best 4th, 5th, and possibly 6th WR on the team? Or just the Flutie-like underdogs?

Denney is one of the best DE backups in the league. He plays the run like a starter, can be rotated to DT on passing downs, and is a positive contributer on special teams field goal/punt units. His tall (almost 6'8") and relatively skinny frame gives him a center of gravity that makes it harder to turn the corner at DE without losing leverage against the RT/TE. But even so, he still produces a pass rush as good as any other backup strong-side DE. Denney is still only 28 years old, so let's give him one more 4-year contract offer in February proper for a vet DE backup. In the meantime, for this upcoming season I say Denney backs up Kelsay and Ritzmann backs up Schobel. That's 4 DE's on the roster, so Gause goes to the practice squad. I think Reed makes the team because we'll go into the season with 6 WR's (thanks to Parrish's injury). That would be Moulds, Evans, Parrish, Reed, Aiken, and Smith - in order (with Wilson on the practice squad). Until I see either Wilson or Haddad beat up on preseason competition who will not be working at McDonald's in September, I'll continue to hold this roster ranking. Coach Tolbert has said that Reed is the best WR on the roster at getting separation from the defender. I believe him. Reed's biggest preseason competition remains his own lack of confidence manifested in dropping the ball - not Wilson or Haddad. PS: Somebody - ANYBODY - explain to me why Haddad gets all the fan forgiveness in the world for taking 5 years to develop, while Reed is being relentlessly bashed after 3?