RJ (not THAT RJ)

Very true, Lori.... though in a couple of years, when the Colts are not doing well, someone can go back and look at their drafts since 2000 and say "how terrible, they kept drafting DBs..." without considering that they may have hit the jackpot with a good player, and that the most important thing is quality of personnel, not the obsessive drafting of linemen... not that anyone around here would argue otherwise, of course.

Nice research Doc!

Of course, the mere fact that the Colts drafted someone from the trenches shows that they are a winning organization... so what if it turns out that the player was a bad choice? [/sarcastic reference to earlier debates]

They tried to make him go to rehab, he said no, no, no....

I think you have those reversed... usually one only says idiotic things AFTER one hits one's head on a wall...

The clock is already ticking... the Bill Parcells Theory of Diminishing Returns will not be denied!

I would say he is a tool... but that is not fair to tools, since they are at least occasionally useful...

The NFL is far from a free market, and with very good reason. A sports league requires a degree of stability, which means the members share risk and reward to some degree. The NFL actually figured this out long before other leagues, by pioneering revenue sharing and the like, though a few recent owners (Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder, Bob Kraft), who have no historical sense and do not realize that the social stability has been the key to the league's success, are happily trying to destroy that stability.

Which side are you on? That will help me decide...

Bill, those three sentences made me laugh uncontrollably... Those old ladies at the Ralph can be rough, can't they? That was an awesome game!

Nice!

That was the 1974 season opener. The first time (and for a long while, the only time) the Raiders lost on MNF. Ahmad Rashad beat Willie Brown for two TDs in the fourth quarter, sandwiched around a Raider fumble return for a TD.

Now you are digging a deeper hole. Plenty of players have held out for more money, including one Orenthal James Simpson, yet there is no evidence of Ralph holding grudges or cutting players out of spite. Just back away, man... go get worked up about something else.

Thanks john. No worries, I am a big fan of nostalgia too.... I remember that year well, there was a point when the Bills were 9-4 and it really looked as though they were on their way back to the pinnacle... sigh. This year we have hope, and hope is not such a bad thing to have. Go Bills!

I loved Jimbo as much as the next guy... but 2006 was a very mediocre year for the man... some great performances, but the Bills lost three straight in December and had to beat KC on the last Sunday to make the playoffs. Then against the Jags the Bills started strong, even with the ill-advised shovel pass, but the offense went to sleep in the second half; the only TD coming on the Burris INT. Jimbo had become immobile, and concussions were an increasing danger. the Bills do not need another old man at QB; they need to give a young QB an honest chance to succeed.

Excellent question... I believe the answer is zero. In fact, off the top of my head the only QB to lead two different teams to the Super Bowl is Craig Morton (Dallas in SB V, Denver in SB XII), and he lost the second time, to his old team, Dallas. An even better question is how many teams have won the super bowl more than once with different quarterbacks: Packers, Cowboys, Steelers, Raiders, 49ers, Redskins, and Giants. Not too many considering that there have been 42 of the things...showing how hard it is for teams to be actual "dynasties" with leaders handing power to their successors... but that is another idea for another thread.

Really? I had never heard that... oh wait, except in the two dozen other threads in which you said it....

That last sentence sounds impressive, until one remembers the following: 1997: Antowain Smith 1998: No first round pick/Rob Johnson Trade 1999: Antoine Winfield 2000: Erik Flowers 2001: Nate Clemens 2002: Mike Williams 2003: Willis McGahee Beyond that, we are talking about people who are still on their first contract. So, since Eric Moulds, how many of those guys were still around and worth keeping by the time their first contract ended? I see two... Winfield and Clemens. Looks to me like the bigger problem was drafting bad players than drafting the wrong positions... but that's just me.

No, I wouldn't, because I am only a Bills fan and get ill at the thought of rooting for anyone else. Without the laundry, and the connection to home, it's just millionaire genetic mutations in Halloween costumes. ;-) Fair enough on McCargo, but didn't you say earlier that you did NOT advocate big fat run-pluggers? I can't keep up....

The winners, such as the juggernaut Baltimore Ravens, who were 5-11 last year and are attempting to rebuild? All snark aside, I understand the point you are trying to make, but perhaps taking into account McCargo's injury, and the possibility that his talent is emerging might lead to a different conclusion?

Not really, as I remember it... despite the pounding, the Bills had the ball many times down the stretch, and were on the 10 in the last minute... play calling made the difference, and three bad bounces--one on the deflected pass that led to the first FG, one for the second FG that bounced through, and one on the bad punt snap. I am not sure that the Browns were that much better.

Reading this, I come back to the notion that your entire argument, including the attempts at quantification, is just an extended riff on the simple sentence: "I wish we drafted Haloti Ngata and Tommy Harris." Not that there is anything wrong with that, but there is a big difference between wanting a particular player and trying to find a universal law where none exists. Also, for a guy who says here that you believe that the future lies with strong but not huge young tackles, you have little use for John McCargo... is that just because saying you liked him would undermine your efforts to paint the Bills as unable to address the DL?

But wait, drafting Tony Hunter, a TE, high, is the mark of a winning team, right AKC? [Forgive me for cross-thread hijacking.. could not resist!]

Thanks so much for doing that research!

Tarzan no like Lindell!! Fire Bad!! ARRRRRrrrrrr!!