Lori

Hey Clump, props to you in Ed Kilgore's latest column. Congrats. Oh, and there was a salcap printout being passed around the Booster Club meeting the other night that looked suspiciously like yours, too...

Hey, I could live with one Tony Hunt trading in the Blue and White for the red, white, royal, navy, nickel... am I forgetting any colors? He'd have to talk Youboty out of #26, though... Just saying that while a lot of people like the idea of trading WMcG, if things don't break right, it could end up as a "be careful what you wish for" deals.

He wrote a piece for PFW when Marv was hired as GM. I liked the overall tone, but he messed up a certain easy-to-check fact: Fact is, Levy's last year was 1997, and the Bills finished 6-10. Wade coached the team that lost in Miami. I called him on it. His response? "I was aware of when he left but poorly worded what I was saying. It should have read, as you point out, prior to the 1998 season." Um, yeah. Nice try...

I think that with Shaud Williams and Fred Jackson the only other RBs on the roster, the Bills had damn well better have a good Plan B in place if they intend to follow through on trading McGahee.

Speaking of Borges, I'm surprised you haven't mentioned his latest, um, 'problem'. Seems he hasn't been doing his own work? Tsk.

Ballard: 11th round, 1987. Still a valid point, though, since the 11th round dosn't even exist any more... (Edit: oops. See that's already been covered.) Sure, I'd love to see homegrown talent on the OL... but in the era of free agency and salary caps, the Pats are the exception to the rule. Check the starting OL of this year's Super Bowl participants: the Colts drafted Tarik Glenn, Jake Scott, and Ryan Diem, but Ryan Lilja and Jeff Saturday were FA. As for the Bears? Kreutz is their only drafted player; Ruben, Fred Miller, Roberto Garza, and John Tait were all FA acquisitions.

Simpson did play four years of college ball. Two at CC San Francisco, two at USC. You were saying?

But he can get that exact same raise if he plays for Denver and puts up those numbers too. It doesn't matter what team he plays for this season Say what you want about Rosenhaus, but oviously he is a damn good agent if everyone complains about him. Agents are like lawyers, usually the ones no one wants to have to deal with are the best ones to have representing you. But Denver almost certainly doesn't make this deal without signing him to an extension, which means he doesn't get to free agency next season. And extending him based on his current career numbers (versus FA market bidding after Dan's hypothetical 1500-yard season in 2007) could cost him a TON of money...

I wouldn't have minded that...

Valid point about the Pats' multifaceted D... but if Thomas could learn all those different positions in Balto, I think he'll be able to pick up Bellychick's scheme. JMO, of course...

Been wondering the very same thing, Harv... Good answer. Leave it to you to come up with that... The only depth Reyes provided by the end of last season was occupying a permanent spot on the weekly inactive list, holding down the bottom of the depth chart below 2006 seventh-round pick Aaron Merz. Why would things be any different this year?

Here's the problem, though: Thomas doesn't have to be the second coming of L.T. to make the New England defense better. All he has to be is an upgrade from Tully Banta-Cain, the guy he's replacing... and I don't think anyone here is quite silly enough to take Banta-Cain's side in that comparison.

Dockery was the Skins' starting left guard when they played at the Ralph in October 2003. Y'all may remember that game as "Welcome Back Rob Johnson Day". The place was as amped as I've ever seen it when RJ came in at QB for Washington, and (if possible) got even louder when Aaron Schobel sacked him on the next play. Think Roman Coliseum, with the Bills defense playing the part of the lions...

That's really amazing... considering your track record on this site began just eighteen months ago, and after Mularkey was hired...

Considering his name is spelled Haven...

Where else would you rather be? 2 in 109...

Smoot talks a better game than he plays. Remember when he mouthed off about Steve Smith of the Panthers, who proceeded to torch him for a 200-yard game and topped it off with a "row, row, row your boat" touchdown celebration? No thanks.

Agreed. Fixed. Thread from the Texans board: Texan Chalk Talk: Eric Moulds released

You're evil, John. You cursed him...

Thinking it was Gandy who supposedly voiced his displeasure re:Reyes' work ethic, not long before King Tut was benched?

Point taken, although the average jumps back up to 3.0/game and 1 sack per 9.3 attempts in the last five games. Of course, a QB taking a sack doesn't necessarily have to mean the blockers were to blame, either. But if we're discussing the performance of the offensive line, why draw the dividing line anywhere other than the massive overhaul at midseason? Tell you what - instead of adding them in with the 'before' or 'after' numbers, let's treat those first two post-bye games as preseason, since that's essentially what they were for the reshuffled unit. (Yeah, I know we can't deduct them from the W-L record, but we're just messin' with stats here anyway...) Seven games before the bye vs. the final seven games. 1st 7: 122-197 for 1314 yds, 61.9%, 6.67 yds/att, 10.77 yds/completion, 6 TDs, 6 INT, 21 sacks - 173 yds, 78.9 rating. 1 sack every 9.4 attempts. GB/IND: 16-27 for 185 yds, 59.3%, 6.85 yds/att, 11.56 yds/completion, 1 TD, 0 INT, 9 sacks - 70 yards, 92.4 rating. 1 sack every 3 attempts. Ouch. Last 7: 130-205 for 1553 yds, 63.4%, 7.31 yds/att, 11.52 yds/completion, 12 TDs, 8 INT, 17 sacks - 89 yds, 88.6 rating. 1 sack every 12.1 attempts. Discarding the "run for your life, JP!" games in the middle, there isn't a huge difference in the number of sacks between the beginning and end of the season... but note the disparity in the sack yardage. Interesting. As I said in my earlier post, I think that shows the later sacks were more from JP scrambles, not as many flat-out whiffs by the OL - he apparently had time to get back toward the line of scrimmage on most of them, instead of getting blindsided 10 yards deep in the backfield on a regular basis.

Considering that Thomas averaged 2.8 yards on the 15 carries he got in the second Jets game?

Fixed.

We still haven't heard the real story on Reyes. For them to not only bench him, but basically tell him not to bother showing up for work by the end of the year, there has to be something else going on. Dunno whether it's locker-room friction, the 'family situation' that Jauron mentioned when excusing him from practice, or some combination thereof...

One small quibble: sacks actually stayed fairly steady on slightly fewer passing attempts (28.1 att/game before the bye, 25.8 after), averaging three/game throughout the season (including three in each of the final five games). Differences? Once the Bills got past the initial learning curve with their revamped OL (nine sacks in the first two games and zero point nothin' time to throw), more of the post-bye sacks could be attributed to JP holding the ball and trying to make a play, as opposed to a flat-out whiff by a blocker. He also started getting enough time to complete the deep throws to Evans - after heading into the bye with a longest reception of a mere 27 yards, Lee had a catch of 30+ yards in six of nine post-bye games, including all three of his long (70+ yard) touchdowns. That will crank up those yds/att averages in a hurry... Also good to see that his completion percentage actually went UP after Fairchild allowed him to start moving a little more. Agree that the short-game touch still needs some work, but the potential is definitely there.