Lori

Hmm. Don't know about Ireland, but Parcells has never been a big WR guy. Fer crissakes, he won a Super Bowl with Phil McConkey, and another one (sob) with Steven Baker and Mark Ingram. And we all know about his reaction to drafting Terry Glenn and his non-relationship with T.O. If Coles is as moody as they say, Tuna might just say, "Nope -- not interested at any price."

Here's the original blog post PFT is talking about: Why would Pats turn down 12th pick for Cassel? Tim included part of his e-mail exchange with Mort:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afceast

You're a celebrity here, you know. So you essentially said the same things you wrote about on the blog last night. Guessing the rest of Nightcrawler's notes may have been the host's reactions to your statements? Dunno. And as Dean said, thanks for clearing up any confusion.

Really? I've already got my Coles jersey on backorder! Ehhhh, maybe not. But while I'm glad that the GM/former marketing whiz isn't making player personnel moves based on selling jerseys, I do question the ability of the current roster to compete in the AFC East. Coles (or another starting-quality WR) might help close that gap a little.

One view from the Carolinas:

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1 is true, or at least players (some of them, anyway) think it's true. See: Chidi Ahanotu living in Toronto, and Willis' cracks about Applebees. 2 is absolutely true. I've seen some of the newer stadiums in the league in recent years, and the Ralph doesn't compare. At this point in its lifespan, it's functional, nothing more. More about the weather later. 3 speaks for itself. Players take pay cuts to sign with the Pats. Why? They think they'll have a chance to play for a championship. Buffalo used to be like that. Lately, not so much. 4: He's probably right about the FAs. (Look where all the $$$ they threw at Dockery and Walker got them, and to be honest, there aren't all that many big names left out there.) Not so sure about the Toronto angle, although that might have changed once the players saw what that alleged "home game" was actually like. 5: To read it in Tim's own words, click here: Buffalo out to slow start in free agency He is. When he told me he was being mocked for the decision, I replied, "People across the country are going to say, "He's doing WHAT ?!?" ... but the ones from around here will completely understand." However, there's a big difference between the Grahams moving home (his wife is from here), and a young, single, rich football player from someplace like Florida or California moving here. And it's not all about the snow. Y'all know that. If the money is equal, does that guy move to NYC or Boston or Denver ... or Buffalo?

Remember, too, that McKelvin will apparently start at CB this season. Not sure I want him trying to do all three jobs (CB/KR/PR).

Pros: as already mentioned, he'd be an instant upgrade to the WR corps. Hardy won't be back from that ACL tear any time soon, and he'll still have a lot of catching up to do when he does return. So unless they make a move, that leaves Evans and Reed as their top two again, and you know how well that worked last season. (Even better when Reed went down and nobody was able to fill the void.) Cons: Coles is 31, was never what I'd consider an elite receiver, has always had a reputation as a moody guy, and last I knew, was looking for a long-term deal with a good chunk of guaranteed money. Depends on the terms of the deal, I suppose, but it sure would be nice to have someone besides Evans to catch the ball on this team. I'd be all right with signing Coles, but I wouldn't break the bank for him. And with so much money already tied up in Evans, neither would the Bills. (I think.)

Remember, Coles wasn't exactly happy with Jets management last season. The coaching change may alleviate some of that, but as pointed out above, Gang Green's current depth chart at QB lists Kellen Clemens, Brett Ratliff, and ???

So now you're going from "make another team's practice squad" to "would be starters elsewhere." Yeah, okay. Never mind. Nice talking to you.

If you find one, let me know, because I'll have to redo my records. Thanks.

Nope, my point was that one of our backups from last season did a little more than making another team's practice squad. But thanks for playing, anyway.

New Bills center aware of AFC East nose tackles More at the link ...

No. Jauron started here in 2006, the same year Kitna went to Detroit.

And gee ... isn't it a damn shame that the best guy on the Broncos beat, Jeff Legwold, isn't reporting on this story?

That's what Schefter said from L.A., but there's a TV guy in Denver who has a different opinion: http://cbs4denver.com/sports/broncos.cutle...l.2.946829.html

KTD, Kitna started for five full seasons before the Bengals tossed the keys to Palmer, and didn't exactly suck (although he did play for some craptacular teams). Full disclosure: when he was in Cincy, he lived a couple houses down the street from my stepbrother. I met him a few times back then, and was suitably impressed. He's anything but the stereotypical, self-absorbed jock. And I would've taken him on this Bills team in a heartbeat.

Really? Kitna was every bit the team player and mentor in Cincy. He won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2003 while No. 1 draft pick Carson Palmer watched from the sideline, and was nothing but gracious when Palmer was handed the starting job before the '04 season. http://bengals.enquirer.com/2004/08/13/Ben...Paper-0813.html

Innnnnteresting. That could be the source of the "mystery team" rumors that popped up in the Cassel deal.

Jim Leonhard says hi.

Damn, that was hard to read. Guilty as charged -- I use both em-dashes and ellipses far too often ...

Belichick speaks: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afceast/0-5-146...el--Cassel.html Nice work, Tim. I'm still not seeing this statement anywhere else -- even Reiss doesn't have it yet. Add: You beat Karen Guregian by seven minutes. http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/

Um ...