Lori

the fact that this is an excuse and calling miami at home in december "not sexy", is making me sick to my stomach

I'm guessing you weren't around for 51-3 or the '88 Jets game?

In that order? Just bustin' on ya, bills_fan. Y'all have fun...

I'd agree with that. So, probably, would all the people still waiting to receive Christmas cards from me... (heh. Sorry about that, Bill. Hope yours was Merry... )

And at least 10,000 more season tickets sold that year than in the just-completed one. That Raiders playoff game was sold out, but the attendance was only 61,923. (And God bless each and every one of 'em for risking frostbite that day. The rest of us are not worthy... ) I think you're right... ...which means you might be, too. And doesn't that stink? But seriously, we're not going down this well-beaten path again, are we? 'Cause I can just go back and bump the (multiple) threads from last month, if we are...

Outside The Lines, normally one of the few shows I watch on the WWL, is running a poll asking which nicknamed NFL post-season moment is the most memorable? And to do this, they just showed Wide Right and Homejob Throwforward back-to-back (although they still insist on calling the latter something stupid like "Music City Miracle"). Bastages... (On a serious note: we should go rig that poll for Franco or "The Catch", just so we don't have to endure even more replays of the above clips...)

Right there with ya, guys. Heard that Mike&Mike interview with the guy who turned in the blank ballot, and he fell back on the "a precedent has been set" line vis-a-vis unanimous inductions. I was kind of with him on the steroid thing, but after he started stammering out the "..but Aaron wasn't unanimous... and Ruth..." BS, I changed the station. Can you imagine something similar in the other Halls of Fame? Like, say, Bruce Matthews shouldn't get in this year because Art Shell didn't make it on the first ballot twenty freakin' years ago? But like you said, Sketch, it's their ballot and they can do whatever they want with it... even if it makes them look like idiots, IMO...

Yes, he did, even though he was playing on a bum knee. Took the second one to the Miami five-yard line; DJ punched in the go-ahead score from there. Gifto had two, too. Don't remember who had the fifth one...

Muhahahahaaaa... Priceless.

Not sure why we needed the next three pages of this thread, because you nailed it. BBWAA: "If Babe Ruth wasn't unanimous, neither is anyone else. EVER."

Learned a lot, actually. Sherman burned me once; the Web-ready bio I put together is still saved somewhere in my docs file. Not again...

That was from the first interview, last Thursday. According to this story in today's edition of the Arizona Republic, Sherman is the first candidate to be called for a second interview, and has supposedly emerged as a leading candidate. The thread title is premature... but it may turn out to be correct.

Agreed. Here's your link, BTW: Dallas Morning News

Hate to disillusion you, KR, but as much as I dislike Tags, he grew the NFL into a multi-billion dollar global enterprise, the most popular spectator sport by a 2-1 margin over MLB, and the only league without a work stoppage in the last twenty years. He's a lock; the only question is what year he goes in. BTW, for anyone who might have missed it, here's the top of the official release. (The whole thing includes each finalist's bio and extends to 12 pages in .pdf form, so I won't burn that much server space...)

No. As I said last winter -- which you wouldn't have known, since you weren't here yet -- there were far more compelling reasons to show Donahoe the door than his player-personnel work. But if you really want to know how I feel on the subject, instead of calling me a "cry baby" based on a single two-sentence reply, I'll give you this post from a thread last month: Overall, 31-49 doesn't lie... but despite the vitriol directed at him, Donahoe was far from the worst GM in Bills history, and several of the players he signed or drafted are still making a significant impact here. That, I believe, was the point said 'whisperer' was trying to make -- and I have to agree. Just my opinion; yours may vary. That's cool. Just don't assume that every single statement regarding a certain player/coach/administrator is a surefire sign of a hidden agenda, okay? Thanks.

No waiting period for Grand High Poobahs. In fact, Pete Rozelle was still the commish when he was inducted in 1985.

...which count exactly zero toward his rushing yardage. Guess I should have made myself more clear. BTW, would you be interested to know that Faulk's second-best combined-yardage season was in 1998, when he was still in Indy?

What we have here now - i.e., Tim Anderson instead of Pat Williams at DT - is BECAUSE of who we used to have at GM. A little history lesson now and then can be a very good thing:

Not until 2009, I believe -- 2003 was his final year in Washington, so he won't be eligible until fall 2008. Reed / Thurm both made the finalists list, of course.

MadMikeMartz, SuperGenius? Oh, hellz yeah! Ronnie Brown? Kiss your yardage-based contract incentives goodbye, dude, because <insert QB name here> will be chuckin' the ball 50 times a game, every game. Can't wait for their next December visit to the Ralph. (Recent rushing-attempts ranking under MMM: STL 2002-32nd, 2003-28th, 2004-30th, 2005-29th, DET 2006-32nd.) And I'll start the pool right now for the date MMM fires his first special-teams coach. Over/under: week 10, 2007 season.

No arguments here.

On running plays, you may be right... but how much of the no-huddle's success was directly tied to Thurm's blocking/receiving ability? Chicken or the egg?

In Taylor's case, instead of debating how many games he started each season, you should be asking how many he finished. Use the 2-game 2001 season as a dividing point: in the three season before then, Taylor missed 10 of 48 games due to various injuries. 1998: shoulder (inactive 1 game, missed parts of 2 others), concussion (missed half of 1 game) 1999: hamstring (inactive 6 games, limited in others) 2000: strained MCL (inactive 3 games), hip pointer (missed half of 1 game) 2001: groin (inactive 14 games) 2002: started all 16, but missed more than half of 2 games(back contusion, sprained ankle) 2003: most durable season - started all 16, no mention of injury 2004: knee (inactive 2 games) 2005: ankle, thigh bruise (inactive 5 games) (source: 2006 Jaguars media guide) The "Fragile Fred" side of the debate remembers his pre-2002 history; those who argue against them point to the 46 consecutive starts from 2002-04. Both points are valid. Taylor is no wimp, and has played hurt before... but he's also no Curtis Martin, who once went six seasons without missing a start. So let's look at the current facts instead. In recent years, the Bills have asked their lead back to shoulder most of the load - Travis Henry carried more than 300 times in each of his full seasons as the starter here, and McGahee had 284 and 325 carries before dropping off to 'only' 259 attempts in 14 games this season. Can Taylor -- soon to turn 31, and already with over 2000 carries in his NFL career -- stand up to that kind of punishment? Not so sure. The Jags are supposedly more than $30 million under the cap, so they'd have no problems eating that $2.55mill salary due next season. They're better off keeping their #3-ranked rushing attack intact and fixing their QB/WR problems than creating a hole on their roster where none currently exists. And for the Bills, offering up a first-day pick for any thirtysomething back when the yards-per-carry data shows most RBs start to decline within a year or two of turning the big 3-0? (Thurman is one exception to that... but he also split time with Antowain Smith in those seasons, much like Taylor and Jones-Drew did this year.) That would be a decision I'd strongly disagree with. JMO. One more thing to note: like McGahee, Taylor is a Drew Rosenhaus client.

Not sure about the NFL, but it's happened more than once up North. Ricky Ray was benched for Jason Maas in both of Edmonton's divisional playoff games last season before starting (and winning) the Grey Cup game. And a few years before that, Doug Flutie, returning from midseason elbow surgery, was booed off the field in favor of backup (and North Division All-Star QB) Jeff Garcia during a Calgary playoff game in 1995...

RB STATS ONLY: 1990: 438-1947, 4.4 ypc, 27.4-121.7 yds/game, 20 TDs 1991: 459-2177, 4.7 ypc, 28.7-136.1 yds/game, 15 TDs 1992: 497-2305, 4.6 ypc, 31.1-144.1 yds/game, 17 TDs 1993: 495-1798, 3.6 ypc, 30.9-112.4 yds/game, 12 TDs 2001: 347-1302, 3.8 ypc, 21.7-81.4 yds/game, 8 TDs 2002: 356-1541, 4.3 ypc, 22.3-96.3 yds/game, 15 TDs 2003: 392-1546 3.9 ypc, 24.5-96.6 yds/game, 11 TDs 2004: 441-1696, 3.8 ypc, 27.6-106.0 yds/game, 15 TDs 2005: 371-1408, 3.8 ypc, 23.2-88.0 yds/game, 5 TDs 2006: 368-1370, 3.7 ypc, 23.0-85.6 yds/game, 8 TDs Conclusion: RB ypc has dropped off not only from the Super Bowl run (which is to be expected - not only was Will Wolford probably the best LT in team history, Thurman and KDavis were far and away better than our top two RBs now), it has even dropped from Travis Henry's last two full seasons here. Hmmm.