RJ (not THAT RJ)

I think you are right, Mickey. My feeling is that they are right now fine-tuning the details of the incentives that would allow the 6th year to be voided, which is one thing that is open to negotiation. I was going to add a joke about how important it is to have things properly slotted before you void, but couldn't think of anything funny to say. Though I did say "void," which is pretty funny. Heh, heh, heh.....

The fight was Nick Nicolau and somebody else... 1989, the classic Bickering Bills year.

Ah, now I see thanks! Funny, is this the downside of having an OL made up of high draft choices?

I was not able to load the video (my problem) but I have to admit this puzzles me. I thought Steinbach was the can't-miss Guard that we should have drafted instead of McGahee. If he is so wonderful, why would the Bengals already be thinking they will not re-sign him? Or is this just speculation on his absurd FA contract demands?

Yes, I suppose I did.... Although I have no desire to cause personal offense, your post managed to combine for me just about everything that is wrong with message boards: an unnecessary new thread on a dead horse that has no chance of providing any other information. That you started it with an offensive title was the cherry on top. In the end, though, I have to go with George Costanza. The problem is not you, it's me. I obviously need to stop visiting tsw. So, I thank you for helping me to see the light.

Wow, someone wondering about Ralph's departure... What insight, what brilliance, what creative spirit to tackle a question no one at TSW has thought fit to discuss yet.... Ugh.

I really do not understand this thread at all... considering that this happens every year. Every year, people... This thread, combined with the time machine-quality Rian Lindell thread, makes me wonder about the utility of the Internet... Though it also is proof that the season better hurry up and start, since people are so desperate for things to worry about... That said, I love my Bills family.

That is hilarious... in a really sad way.

...and ended up crippled. Otto was the subject of a profile in the late 1970s that was positively chilling. My father, who was a big Otto fan (because he was Daryle Lamonica's center--my family fought the Kemp-Lamonica wars with a vendetta passion only Italians can understand) was nearly in tears while we watched Otto show how hard it was for him even to get out of bed. I will never forget that. Thus one can see why he might be a tad bitter.....

Classic stuff... but I am amazed Bang harshed on Joe T., considering what a huge 'Skins fan Mr. Bang is. Love the CFL promotional film, though....

Handing off from the six with seconds left... twice. That's class baby. Hank Stram class, ca. 1969.

Poor Thurman, I really do think that the desire to make up for the lost helmet led him to get a bit too nervous for subsequent SBs., and his head was not completely in the game. What is worse is that in the AFC Championship game agains KC he had one of the greatest games in Bills RB history, pounding out 186 yards on a cold day at Rich.... His fumble early in SB 28 led to 3 Dallas points, then this one with the TD just crushed him. I was listening to that game in Germany, so it was past 2 a.m. when he fumbled.... such an empty feeling.... and then to see the picture of him sitting on the bench with his head in his hands... Football Gods, why oh why was it necessary to torment such a great and hard working player while idiot cokeheads like Irvin celebrate? Sigh.....

Ahhhh... My Eyes! My Eyes!!!! Must.... stare.... at.... Meazza's avatar..... yess.... much.... better.... now.

Well, if it read "Stadium Wall in despair" it would be accurate....

Ah, but if we consider the possibility that Holcomb was more likely to throw the short check-downs than Losman, and completed more of them, then the same receiving corps can have quite different results. My point is not necessarily to champion JP, but rather to point out that there are too many variables at play to select one, such as ypc, and use it as a point of comparison. EDIT: and, as brought up above their is a big difference between relying on yards per completion vs. yards per attempt.... further proof for why stats in isolation can be an unreliable indicator.

OK, I am sure I count as an old guy on this site, but geez, reading "Cornhole Classic" makes me giggle like a middle schooler....

This is exactly the question. We have no idea how many no-shows other teams have, yet we are so quick to assume that the Bills situation is especially dire. I have no idea one way or another, but such conclusion jumping in the absence of concrete evidence offers a window into the dark and tormented soul of the Bills fan....

Lori, I am honored to provide your sig line.

I have never claimed to be "realistic" when it comes to the Bills. Personally, I think the use of such a term makes no sense when dealing with a voluntary activity in which we invest emotions in a bunch of glandular freaks in Halloween costumes who could care less about us. I love watching football; I laugh and cry when the Bills win and cry bitter tears when they lose. I am a lifelong fan. But I try to remember that there are far too many real problems in the world to waste my time being "realistic" as I visit the toy department of life that is professional sports.

Obsessive, consistent pessimism is not realism, it is clinical depression.

Yes, Willis serves the purpose of reminding all Bills fans of the four words that they should cling to at all times: ROOT FOR THE LAUNDRY!

I never said it was easy to defend him... a defense had to play well, be disciplined, not rush him but contain him. But if you did that, he had a hard time beating you... If you over-pursue (as the Bills d-line did in 2001 when he ran for that late touchdown), he could kill you. My point was not to demean Flutie's abilities, but rather to say that there were limits, and those limits had become obvious by late 1999.

I have to pile on here... because I think there is so much confusion and revisionism about Flutie and his time here... so here goes: Yes, Flutie played great in 1998 in relief of RJ. He threw deep, essentially saving Moulds' career, and he won a ton of exciting games. Whether he "saved the franchise" is in the eye of the beholder, but he was certainly good enough to keep RJ nailed to the bench in 1998... BUT.... even that year he proved vulnerable to a disciplined defense that did not lose its focus. The Parcells-Belichek Jets beat the Bills with Flutie twice, allowing only one touchdown and five field goals in those two games. The inability to beat the Jets (combined of course with "Just give it to them" and Vinny's helmet TD) kept the Bills from winning the East. It is also important to remember that, although he racked up big numbers against the Fins in the playoff game, he also turned the ball over TWICE when the Bills had first and goal inside the 10. That red zone problem was another thing that exposed the weakness in his game... smaller field meant less room for the defense to get spread out, which exposed how difficult it was for Flutie to zing the ball into tight spaces. Those problems were then exposed even more in 1999. Even though the Bills had a solid record, anyone who watched them that year will remember how the offense sputtered. Part of this was because of Joe Pendry's sophomore slump as OC (especially the failure to settle on one running back), but Flutie had many problems as well. His numbers were down, the offense was much less explosive, and the Bills not only lost big to Indy (on opening day) and Seattle on the road, as well as a late-season 17-7 loss to the Jets (in which Flutie fumbled in the end zone to give the Jets a TD), but also lost games at home to the Giants and Raidahs in which the offense was simply unable to get anything consistent going at all. This is why when RJ came in on the last Sunday of the season against Indy and put up 21 points in the first quarter (one of I think only two times the entire year that the Bills scored three touchdowns at all), Ralph (with Wade's assent, grudging or otherwise) felt that the offense needed the change... My point is not to attack Flutie. I was a big fan when he played at BC, and I am a confirmed laundry-rooter for anybody who plays for the Bills (a subject for a different rant), but I think it is possible to see the limitations in his game withoutt having to fall victim to any Kremlinology about whether or not he was a locker room problem. RJ turned out to be a disaster as well, but I do not think the Bills can be faulted for wanting to see what the kid could do. By late 1999, they saw exactly what Flutie could do, and although there was much good there, one could also see many growing problems. Go Bills!

Except when he was in the red zone and the field got short. He threw quite a few end zone interceptions.... and the Miami playoff game..,,,, *shudders at the memory*