Wraith

Yeah and they're usually wrong. The original poster grossly distorted the truth, anyway. Here's the real layout. AFC Jets (Sanchez, 1st rd pick) vs. Colts (Manning, 1st rd pick) Ravens (Flacco, 1st rd pick) vs. Chief (Cassel, Trade) Bye Steelers (Roethlisberger, 1st rd pick) Patriots (Brady, 6th rd pick) NFC New Orleans (Brees, Free Agent) vs. Seattle (Hasselbeck, Free Agent) Green Bay (Rodgers, 1st rd pick) vs. Eagles (Vick, Free Agent) Bye Atlanta Falcons (Ryan, 1st rd pick) Chicago (Cutler, Trade) 1st rd picks at QB in playoffs with the team that drafted them: 6 of 12 teams Of those six, two are mediocre to decent (Sanchez and Flacco) and reliant on great defenses.

I saw eleven guys wearing blue not do what they were told on that play. They looked like they'd never attempted to cover a punt before in their lives. Blaming the punter alone is assinine.

You do realize his shortest attempt of the day was from 48 yards, right?

Two things: 1) It's a common strategy to push the gunner out of bounds, especially now that the rule is in place that the gunner has to immediately make an effort to get back in bounds. You don't think it's unsportmanlike behavior to form a human wall to impede the gunner from doing so? Not to mention you've intentionally put the players and the human wall at risk for severe injury. 2) If they did it on purpose, were they told to do so by one of their superiors such as Rex Ryan or the special teams coach? If so, they could be implicated as well. Obviously, there is a difference between being a passive impediment and an active one but there is also a murky area in between. Had the coach not already admitted he did it on purpose, this act would've fallen in that gray area. So it begs the question, what were their instructions? Were they told to stand absolutely still, or were they told to make themselves big and be subtle about it. Both are bad but one is technically legal (but still unsportsmanlike). The other is worthy of severe punishment.

No, moving into position before the punt would suffice.

Wow. Self-righteous much? This post is off the charts on the unintentional comedy scale. You claim to be one of the few intelligent fans around capable of noticing subtle nuances yet you are so clearly wrong about almost everything Fitzpatrick related. Fitzpatrick has all the mental abilities you'd want in an NFL quarterback. He also has plenty of arm strength and is generally highly accurate. He also is an above average scrambler who avoids sacks and makes his offensive line look pretty decent. A few times every game his mechanics will break down and the resulting throw will make you scratch your head in wonder. Mechanics can be fixed, especially considering most of the time they're already fine. If Fitzpatrick put up the exact same performances but he came out of USC and was drafted in the first round, fans and media alike would be proclaiming him a star in the making. We'll talk again at the end of the year when his numbers are well above average and he's won enough games to jeopardize our chance of getting the #1 overall pick. Which will be a good thing, because the drafting the mythical "franchise quarterback" early in the first round would be disaster.

No that is definitely not the rule. An offensive player touched by a defensive player out of bounds is not out of bounds himself. That rule only applies to a the ball touching a player out of bounds.

1. Smith? Really? 2. Edwards gift wrapped not one but two pick sixes last week that were dropped so a little karmic retribution there. 3. Sure, maybe Johnson should have caught the first one but it was both a horrible throw (high, away, and right at the linebacker) AND a horrible decision (Parrish was wide open past the first down marker). 4. There was nothing wrong with the throw to Parrish but the play call was horrendous and I've got to believe the Edwards could've and should've audibled out of that some how, given the coverage. Edwards deserves some of the blame on those interceptions, to be sure.

I knew there would be a topic about this after that moron Randy Cross kept going on about no receivers being open. I've sat all evening watching Tom Brady, Peyton and Eli Manning, and even freaking Mark Sanchez complete passes to receivers who were a hell of a lot less open than the Bills receivers were on the one and only play they bothered to actually show the receivers. This is the NFL. If they are covered one-on-one and the guy covering them isn't Darrelle Revis, they're open.

No there primary home and away uniforms have been the same since the start of 06/07. In that time they've had two versions of the third jersey which were similar (both with the classic logo) but the first version was royal blue while the second was navy blue.

Let it go, VABills has a disconnect with reality. His obsession with Trent Edwards leads him to say really stupid things. Anyone who doesn't blame the receivers on at least three of Brohm's incomplete passes (including the interception) is willfully fabricating things to try to rile people up.

Brohm has looked very competent. His passing has been accurate and with good velocity. He's made good decisions with his throws and runs. He'll be way above average as a third quarterback and probably a good second quarterback as well. Oh by the way, he's also young with all the tools and an excellent pedigree. He won't be cut to make way for Levi Brown. Brown will easily clear waivers and make it to the practice squad. I suspect most of the disparaging remarks about Brohm's performance are a counter reaction to those who overhyped up Brohm as the starter or by those who are still insecure about their support of Trent Edwards.

Interesting attempted use of statistics going on in this thread. A little too much cherry picking for my tastes, though. There's a lot of dimwitted people around here that have no use for statistics (apparently unaware that their very lives depend on them every day) but the selective use of the data by the original poster is even worse. The OP supports his argument that Lynch was underused around the endzone with data showing Lynch had only 19 carries in the redzone while Jackson had 29. Fair enough. That averages out to 1.8 redzone carries a game for Jackson and 1.5 redzone carries a game for Lynch (in only 13 games). The difference is 0.3 carries a game. Seems neglible to me. As an aside, we should all be disgusted that are top two running backs touched the ball so infrequently in the redzone last season. But when you look a little closer it becomes apparent that you selected the only piece of data that supported your argument when there is plenty to refute it. Instead of simply looking at the red zone, lets look at the opponents goal line to 9 yard line. After all, that is where the really tough yards are found and where guys with a "nose for the end zone" earn their reputations. In that zone, Lynch had 7 carries for 12 yards (1.7 ypc) and 1 TD (14.3%). He averaged 0.53 carries in this zone per game. Jackson had 8 carries for 17 yards (2.1 ypc) and 2 TDs (25.0%). He averaged 0.50 carries in this zone per game. Jackson actually touched the ball in this zone ("close to the goal line") at a slightly lower rate than Lynch but performed better than Lynch when he did. But this is an incredibly small sample size and once again we should be disgusted with how infrequently our running backs were given the ball near the goal line (for a variety of reasons, none of them good). So lets look at short yardage situations all over the field. On 2nd, 3rd, or 4th and 2 or less, Lynch carried the ball 9 times for a total of 9 yards (1.0 ypc) and 0 TD (0.0%). Jackson carried the ball 22 times for 70 yards (3.2 ypc) and 0 TD (0.0%). Lynch's average yards per carry on short yardage plays was absolutely pathetic! The splits have a separate category for "3rd and Short" although I do not see a definition of "short." In that category, Lynch had 5 carries for 3 yards (0.4 carries per game in this situation for 0.6 ypc!!!) while Jackson had 7 carries for 16 yards (0.4 carries per game in this situation for 2.3 ypc). The stats absolutely do not back up your claim. Lynch was absolutely pathetic in short yardage last year and near the goal line and despite that fact he was used at basically the same rate as Jackson. His size and previous performance indicate he should be better in the short yardage situations and near the goal line than Jackson. But he wasn't and given his character and work ethic, there is little evidence to show that he ever will be again. What exactly has Lynch done since last year's pathetic showing to show he should take some of Jackson (and now Spillers) playing time?

As a Yankees fan, I have always felt conflicted about George Steinbrenner. While he clearly was an imperfect person, I certainly won't hold that against him as he also used his money and power in a lot of good ways. So that aspect of Steinbrenner never bothered me. In most respects, he was the owner all Bills and Sabres fans wish their teams had. When good players are available, there is no question the Yankees will make a serious effort to acquire said player, or they will have a damn good reason not to. He also laid down the money to keep the off-field talent around. He's also never played games with the fanbase. The last Yankee Dynasty (of the late 90s), however, was not built by throwing money around. The core of those teams was a combination of homegrown stars and role-players who really blossomed when they became Yankees after mediocre careers elsewhere. Here's a list (from memory, please excuse any omissions) of the core players from those teams: Derek Jeter, Scott Brosius, Tino Martinez, Jorge Posada, Joe Girardi, Jim Leyritz, Paul O'Niell, Bernie Williams, Any Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, David Cone, David Wells. Jeter, Posada, Leyritz, Williams, Pettitte, and Rivera are of course home grown Yankees. Tino Martinez was a nice player in Seattle but certainly no superstar. Wells and Cone were also excellent pitchers who were on the downsides of their careers and had bounced around a lot. Scott Brosius was a career utility infielder with Oakland and came out of nowhere to be an awesome thirdbaseman and post season hero. Paul O'Niell was a platoon outfielder in Cincinatti before being traded to the Yankees where he became a Yankee icon. However, when that dynasty started to slip after 2001, the Yankees' opened up their wallets and started bringing the really big names every offseason. It wasn't a very good strategy as it took them nine years to win another Championship despite outspending everyone. Worse, though, was that it has tarnished the images of the real dynasty of the late 90s because the perception of the average fan became that the Yankees have been buying Championships for years. Since I am very sentimental about the 90s Dynasty, I hate that their image has been tarnished. In any case, may he rest in peace.

I felt it in Greece on the West side of Rochester. It was a moderate side-to-side motion for maybe 5 seconds. I was on the third floor of our manufacturing plant and I thought the building or some of the large machinery in the building had shifted. It was an interesting feeling.

That's not exactly true. In the sabermetrics world, batting average is far more relevant than the other traditional measures HR and RBI.

Of course not. We live in a world where results matter. I'm an engineer and I put the decimal point in the wrong spot and I over fill a tank with water, no big deal. I make the same mistake and the plant explodes, yeah I should be fired.

Oh please. People get fired for making mistakes every day. Single handedly ruining one of the rarest events in your profession is grounds for firing, easily.

What the hell was that moron thinking? I'm a Yankees fan and I'm livid.

Even if the material has been allowed to acclimate, it will still expand/contract. I installed laminate this January so I know it's going to swell, so I had to pay very close attention to the recommended 1/4" gap. As far as installing to a curved threshold, the flooring won't be problem. You can, and will, have to cut the laminate into a variety of funny shapes to fit around cabinets, under/around door frames, etc. Use a template and a jigsaw as Exiled recommended. The challenge will be the transition piece between the laminate and whatevers on the other side. The traditional transition pieces supplied by the laminate companies aren't designed for curves. I'm sure you can find an alternative, though, as you must already have a curved transition piece you can use for ideas.

Jim is definitely my favorite, followed closely by Pam and Dwight. The intrapersonal dynamic between those three is great. I also love the almost parental relationship Jim and Pam have with Michael (with them being the parents and Michael being the child, of course). I don't enjoy Michael's cringe-worthy moments like some fans do, but that aspect of the character is integral to the show so I look past those moments. My favorite scene of Jim's is from last year's episode "Broke" where Jim engineers the buyout The Michael Scott Paper Company by Dunder Mifflin. I love how he thwarted Dwight's attempt to spill the news that Michael's company was broke (The Case of the Beat Bandit - Mose in Socks) which would've killed the deal. I enjoyed how loyal he was to Pam and Michael. His involvement was very subtle and none of the active parties (Michael, David Wallace, Charles) ever caught on.

Similar situation for me. I had graduated UB a year earlier but was back in Buffalo for the graduation ceremony/party of a bunch of my buddies who had stayed for the 5th year. We had the game on at the party and it was so packed it was hard to keep your attention on the game. The way that goal set up, I could hardly believe my eyes. Talk about out of nowhere. That goal had everything needed to make it legendary.

Decided to give up on supporting your argument with evidence, I see....

Incorrect. Ryan Getzlaf was called for goaltender interference in the first period after he took out Miller with a stick to the face.

While you certainly can't pin the whole loss on Brodeur, I think it was pretty clear that Marty was pretty un-Brodeur-like last night. He made not one but two horrendous errors on the second Rafalski goal. First, he inexplicably batted the puck out of the air right up the middle of the ice and then over-reacted and dove across the crease out of control only to deflect the shot into the net. Also, on the eventual game winning goal, he probably would've made the save had his stick been in the right spot rather than caught behind his left skate through his legs. He's a goalie who always seems to be in the right spot positionally and he certainly wasn't that last night.