Fake-Fat Sunny

It is fairly amusing to watch Jerry Sullivan and other reporters who simply have not done good reporting for us fans twist in the wind looking for information. It does hurt my own interests to get less information rather than more information. However, since folks like Sullivan, WGR and other media types took the lead of the money-making Coach Dickerson when he was here and began to warp their providing good information to merely providing information which supported their own individual theories (and their thoughts are clearly as lame as my individual theories- anyone can have an opinion, whether the opinion is more correct than not is related to good reporting which they lazily have passed on doing). It hurts not to have good reporting from the mainstream media. However, this failure has been replaced by the camp observations available through forums like TSW and far better access to info on the web from sources like KFFL so I can actually do without good reporting from Sully et al. (though I do miss the Empire more direct reports which at also tended toward perspective rather than facts but at least it provided a variety of perspectives though interactive TV and phone calling rather than the static diatribes of an article or the seemingly cherry-picked and screened WGR calls. Folks like Taker and NFL HOF involved folks like Felser had their failings but were simply close to facts and the NFL than a has-been like Dickerson and a never-was like Sully. At any rate the current bug-a-boo about the lack of detailed injury reports on Parrish is the latest piece of amusement. Nevermind, that for some reason the issue of who is our #3 WR seems be such a hot-topic when of much greater import is the question of the #1 LT and the OL issue (one cannot tell easily or simply from TV whether an OL player did well or not and it requires real reporting and digging so Sully et al. pass. The Coach demonstrated with his diatribes against Parker who was driven out of town and resurfaced to be a crucial part of the NYG SB run and hos assetion that Corey Louchiey was the answer that mere opinion of OL stuff is silly). Sully and others foolishly are ranting with zero information provided about the Bills about Parrish when actually this serves the Bills general interest which is just spell the name right because they are in the paper and even serves a conspiratorial interest if the Bills have one because rather than focusing on a real problem like the OL he is diddling around on the #3 WR question (which is important but not crucial). The HIPAA focus really makes me laugh. At least he says it is only an issue in part rather than taking the easy way out and blaming the law entirely, but this issue strikes me a a red herring as any of us who have filled out a HIPAA form for anything medical knows that an individual can sign away the right of privacy and allow information exchange about medical data between your doc and insurer to serve a cmmerce interest. Likewise, the Bills can and should have their players "decide" to sign away their right to medical privacy to allow transfer of medical information to serve the NFL's commerce interests. Parrish can "choose" not to do this, but also the Bills can "choose" not to draft a player or "choose" not to contract with him if he refuses to play the game and be an NFL player by not signing away his rights. While the Bills would have no knowledge of this persnicketedness before the draft, in the real world, the Bills would have total ability to say what they want to say to comply with NFL rules or build relationships with reporters. Instead folks often take the easy way out of blaming some faceless regulation when actually the Bills are quite happy to not give out injury info and reporters like Sully are quite happy not to do real reporting or digging on real issues but merely to complain about side issues.

I was responding to a post on a Nate thread and then I could not reply to it and it seems to be gone. At any rate here is the reply and post. My sense is that the Bills should make a lot of effort to keep him as the issue of whether he is the best in the league at CB is peripheral (it is important as it relates to how much the market will give him) and the important thing is clearly he is the best CB on our team 1. McGee is better than NC in terms of non-position contribution but needs to learn the CB position and may be better than NC in the long-run, 2. Greer is impressive and a good #3 (nice INT in the game) but no where near the shutdown guy Nate is right now and probably in the long run. 3. Thomas also is impressive in spurts but nver translated the big play ability he showed in college to consistent performance as a pro. His current injury sidetracks him as he will need to demonstrate he got his speed back but he is a #3 at best for right now. 4. Vincent is a great resource because he is well-respected quality guy but as he gets older he should not be relied upon to cover speed WRs consistently as a CB. However, though his injury last year raises the age issue in a real way, he looked great transfering his ability to the safety slot and may well be one of the best at that position having to rely more on brain-power to be in the right position but the age issue reara its head once again as there will be a higher tackling demand at safety than CB. If we need a reserve CB for a game due to injury he is likely a great choice. 5. King is a prospect with some potential and nothing more and based on his performance so far nothing less. Due to his PR chops and his age (heading into his prime) he is certainly someone to be signed, However, given that we have 5 options to find 4 guys next year we do not have to do something huge (like we did at saftey where the GW/Gray misassessment of Jenkins forced us not only to start Wire when he could not do the job, but the unfortunate retirements of BOTH Cota and Battle forced us to spend a load on Milloy- fortunately he has stepped up a lot but it still is a load). I say sign him and the very good news is that the new cap level next year bouyed by TV money will lilkely allow us to do something outrageous in terms of absolute $ for him because we have to under the CBA anyway. If NC judges that the market for him under the new cap will give him such a windfall that his demands are extraordinary (beyond the $18 million bonus Chump Bailey received) the Bills should not go there not because we cannot afford it under the likely new cap. but because it blows any sense of our budget and we have lesser talent alternatives than NC but acceptable ones if NC's prices is too high.

BUMP

I think that based on the examples you site (PW and JJ) of TD refusing to pay and the examples a poster reminded you of where TD paid a pretty heftt market based figure (Spikes, Milloy, Moulds) if you are looking for a common thread it is that TD will pay a lot for a player who deems will give a valuable performance and will not pay for a player he thinks won't. For these 5 examples I'd say TD looks like he is batting 100% in these choices. Spikes and Moulds both earned Pro Bowl nods after they were signed and Milloy has not disappointed in terms of his performance for the Bills as some said he was done and the alternative is Coy Wire. Its too early to tell how things will play out with the loss of Phat Pat and JJ, but given that the D looks very impressive so far and doesn't seemed to have missed a beat with Edward/Anderson stepping in for PW and JJ already missing some practice time with an injury these look like great choices. When one throws in some great deals he pulled off for Pro Bowler Adams, signing Moorman long-term for a song and getting good production from FAs Fletcher and Posey, the good choices he has made that have worked out seem to easily outweigh the few clunkers he made with horrible decisions regarding placekickers being a dime-a-dozen and resigning Bledsoe *an example again that is contrary to your original thesis that he refuses to pay. As i have said, I think that Clements is the one who is unlikely to really want a deal as uncertaontioes regarding the new cap which may either go up or go up a whole bunch. In addition you don't have to go that high in salary that if he really wants pay consistent with being one of the top CBs in the league it may be impossible to a deal that large under the current cap.

This is one of the ways to do this certainly but the devil is in the details. However, even before one gets the difficult part of negotiating out the details, there still is that question of whether Clements expects to be paid what the market reasonably sets as his value and also where NC thinks he falls in the market of CBs. 1. If NC and the Bills disagree about where he sits in the marketplace (it strikes me that there are both reasonable assessments of Clements that he is the most valuable CB in the market and also that he is "merely" around #5 among all CBs in the league. If NC says he is #1 and the Bills have him at #5 the price and bonus payment differential probably makes it difficult to do a deal and even if they both have him as #1 both sides probably have to wait until the new cap # to pay him what the market will give the #1 CB. 2. If NC and the Bills disagree about what the salary of the #1 CB will be even if they agree he is the #1 CB then a deal is difficult or impossible to do until the NFL/CBA aggrees what the new cap # will be. A deal might get done, but a lot of things have to break correctly in terms of agreement between the two sides for this to happen and even if they both agree on the salary figures and what the new cap is going to be they both still may have to wait. I hope it works but I doubt it will before the season begins. If anything, i think there will simply be uncertainty and if I am NC there is probably no way I decide to sign now because I doubt TD can offer me the deal the market will say I deserve at the end of the season even if he wanted to.

Thanks for pointing out the substantial NC cap hit this year as it does provide some wiggle room in putting a deal together right now which essentially pays him the $3.5 he expects this year but turns $2.5 + whatever extra he negotiates into part of the amortized bonus. However, I think the press reports from today descrubing France's visit as the Bills really finding out whether it is even possible to do a deal under the current CBA is correct. If NC has two simple requirements: 1. He wants to retire as a Bills and, 2. He wants to be paid like the #1 CB in theNFL that he almost is and could well become, I don't think it is even possible to do this deal until the new cap kicks in next year. If the market cost for NC is the same (or anywhere near) the bonus of $18 million which Chump Bailey received, you need a 6 year deal (beyond the end of the current CBA to amortize this bonus down to $3 million a year. The Bills will know a lot more today whether a deal is even possible before this season ends. Maybe it is, but if I am NC and mt two goals are too retiire a Bill AND make what the market says I am worth, there is probably no way I chose to and probably no way I can sign before the season begins. There are a lot of details and I hope I am wrong, but it all depends on how much NC wants.

I felt that JP saw a significant amount of PT last year and put that time to good use. I'm not sure what the minutes add up to, but even without the mop-up time in NE my guess it amounted to more than a quarter's worth. I was quite pleased with the amount of time MM was able to give to JP last year and I think he demonstrably learned some necessary lessons from that time and progressed as a player. First outing- NE game where he logged a good small chunk of time since Drew sucked so bad the mop-up came early enough for JP to get multiple series. Was his confidence shattered (as ICE seemed to fear) by being thrown to the wolves here? No, not at all. However, was our hero shaken? It sure looked like it to me in the post-game interviews where thankfully he did not make excuses for some piss-poor results (he easily could have done this) but simply admitted his results sucked and he had to work harder to get better. MM made a good call and realized that he needed to be shaken and jerked around a bit in order to appropriately adjust his attitude (one would think Vincent giving him too hard of a shove as he took advantage of the QB practice tutu would have done it. JP seemed to learn a valuable lesson that anytime you put on the uniform you have got to be ready to play. Losman sees 4:36 time of action. 2nd outing- JP comes in and right away it is clear he does not yet have command of the huddle or the ability to efficiently call plays as the Bills are hit with a delay of game penalty. On the good side though he recovers enough to correctly call the plays and hand off to WM for a TD. One should not underestimate the importance of the team having success under his guidance even if WM did the work. In fact, learning the lesson that the team can get good results by JP relying on WM rather than simply having sole confidence in relying on himself is a great lesson and something he needs to become the vet we want. Losman saw a bit over 9 minutes of game action in an extended mop-up. 3rd outing- JP showed he was learning by not getting the delay of game this time, but still showed he had a lot to learn as he stll did not get the play called effectively and avoided the penalty when he called a TO when his job was really to keep the clock moving. The very good news was how he played in this extended outing. He not only ran for a 1st on 3rd down to keep the clock moving, but also hit a key pass to Trafford in this series to move the ball. Again he successfully led the team to a TD. He did show that his confidence in himself could still come down a notch in order to be a good QB as after he picked up the first he put his head down and took a hit to ram ahead for a couple of yards. Its nice to see that he has the confidence in his post-injury body to take punishment, but there was no game need for him to take any punishment here. Losman was in fr 9:22 clock time 4th outing-An extended set as Losman QBs most of the 4th quarter in this laugher at SF. Again he leads the team to an effective performance with Shaud Williams pulling off a long run for a TD in JPs first series and carrying the load as we burned a lot of clock in the second series. The bottomline is that JP actually saw a bit over a half of action last year and though his confidence was certainly shaken (by intent it appears by MM and by both his post performance comments and his later game performances) it was far from shattered as he took this attitude adjustment well and played more effectively as he dialed it down a notch or so. Losman saw over 13 minutes of game clock,

Thanks for sharing your memories. One of my buddies from college worked at Cantor-Fitzgerald as a consultant and he lost about 5 folks he knew in the terrorist act. We talk about them from time to time and while remembering them is painful it does seem to keep the good memories and them alive for him as well. One of the contrdictions certainly in life that remembering them brings both pain and joy.

There are probably several reasons I don't think much of Easterbrook. 1, First (and perhaps formost) he is one of the few people in the world I have seen who can be more long-winded about football than I am. If anything gives me pause about being such a windbag they are Easterbrooks' columns. 2. I have actually had the pleasure of meeting him personally as he once addressed a group which I am on the Board of. Perhaps he was projecting this persona because he was working but he really seemed to be a legend in his own mind who really overestimated his intelligence. There actually is little crime in that, but he also seemed to underestimate the intelligence of his audience and this can be a fatal flaw. 3. I'm as big a stathound as anyone, but because I like them so much I also know the limitations of stats. They can be used for whatever purpose one wants and though they can indicate a lot they really prove very little of import. Easterbrook was quite facile in his use of stats and really misused them (particularly averages). In the world of Easterbrook the average person averages approximately 1 testicle and approximately 1 tit as he adds up the total number and then divides it by the population. I took a look at this column until even I bogged down. Right from the start he takes an example which is bad for the simple reason that the cliche that one needs 3 or more years before one can accurately value a draft proves true. He concludes (or at least feels strongly that Rivers made a big mistake by blowing his first year by holding out and losing his job to Brees. Maybe but: 1. The stats indicate that QBs in general prove to be more successful when the actually sit most or all of their first year rather than start (the Chad Pennington model). There are many reasons for this finding some of which probably do not speak to the quality of the player (for example there is a case to be made that alegedly stud QBs are often drafted and pressed into early service on bad teams and this may explain part of their bad results rather than them being rushed. However, the statistical analysis I have seen indicates this is not the general case. Folks seem to take Peyton Manning as the example when actually he is the rarity and folks like Ware, Smith or even Ryan Leaf who are given a starting shot quickly are more the rule. Rivers may be much better off in terms of developing as a QB because he got to watch and learn rather than being thrown in before he was ready. 2. QBs get hurt often enough that assuming Rivers will get no chance to play for a while is foolhardy. 3, Contracts are alot more than the $ amount. If by holding out Rivers got language that can serve his advantage as to when bonuses kick in or are paid can make a differrence as to win he becomes an FA or gets paid. To measure the contract as Easterbrook does simply is not accurate n assessing whether a deal is good or not. In general I think one can read the title scan the begiining of the piece for key points and simply ignore most of what he says.

I think many of the replies really overstate the problem you are siting. Is JP's confidence shattered? No. However, is his confidence shook (which you so say in your title)? Yeah, probably a little. However, I think this is a good thing in that I think one of JP's failings as a player we drafted was that he was a bit too cocky to be productive as a pro. Its tough. I think we all loved Jim Kelly's confidence so we like cocky players. However, I think that the best and most productive NFL players (and even Kelly at his peak) played within themselves and prospered by doing so. Losman as a player did great in college becaise he was a gunslinger. This approach probably served him well riunning for his life and improvising behind a porous Tulane line. Part of becoming a great pro is also having the ability to improvise, but only at right time. In general the team and JP will perform best if he emphasizes doing the same thing in the same way almost every single time and quite frankly if he is a little less reliant primarily upon himself and relies more on his teammates and helps them make winning plays rather than depends upon himself to make an extraordinary winning play every time, It may be Dr. Phil dimestore psychology but I think JP had his confidence appropriately shaken a number of times during his brief career. 1. MM simply threw him to the wolves and I think adjusted his attotude on purpose in the first NE game when he unexpectedly to virtually all threw him to mop-up this game when Matthews was all set to go in. JP relied on his own confidence in his athletic ability and had an INT and a fumble to show for it. He was upfront in saying afterwards he had a lot to learn and he was going to change his ways. 2. I think JP also screwed up and showed signs of lack of control when he came into his first appearance post NE debacle and got a delay of game call in his first huddle. The very good news is that though he still had not got it quite right in his second game, at least he merely took a TO he should not have had to call and avoided the penallty. Hr has improved each game in showing command of the huddle and though i would comfortably call his confidence that he could simply stroll on to the field shaken it was not shattered as he translated these failures into better performance. 3. Likewise the word is JP was taking advantage of his wearing the QB practice tutu which did not allow him to be hit to bail out of passes in practice and simply run for a score. Vincent gave him an unfortunate lesson by giving him a shove which fractured a bone (I actually think his development probably profited by being forced to the sideline to study and watch). My sense of how this has effected his play that actually one of my complaints about his game right now is that I wish he would run more instead of trying to force the pass. In the scrimmage against GB there was a play he seemingly could have walked into the endzone, but instead he overthrew a pass to a covered receiver. Likewise in this exhibition game there were times where I think JP is looking to pass first instead of run when his past confidence in himself seem to be part of him looking to run whenever the pass was even marginally covered. The bottomline for me is that is JPs confidence shattered as some falsely depict this thread as saying? No! Is JPs confidence shaken? Yes, but he needed to have his confidence shaken and taken down a coiple of notches in order for him to become the vet QB we need and deserve. The best QBs in m mind are no nonsnese when nonsense is not called for, but one of the best Montana stories I heard was how in the final seconds on a game, the players came into the huddle afraid that they would not be able to do the job in crunch time of the most important game of their lives. They came into the huddle and looked to Montana for leadership. He looked right back and asked whether anybody could see a man sitting in the endzone in the 6th row. He wondered if that guy was John Candy and remarked that he loved Candy's movies. The players looked at each other and by that time Montana was back to business and called a play. The 9ers players remarked that Montana was so matter of fact about things rather than intense they all relaxed and just did their jobs. They won the game. I love Kelly's intensity but I think the best performance from JP will come from him lightening up a bit and having a good balance between confidence in himself and confidence in his teammates.

There are two parties involved here and it would be pretty poor GM work by TD not to prepared for the possibility that Clements either decides to go or someone makes him an offer so crazy he can't refuse. Sigining possibilities in case we lose NC is not only the prudent thing to do, but if we have other options even if they are not nearly as good as NC it allows us to negotiate with him from a position of OK ness rather than a position of weakness. I think those who argue that TD and the Bills should simply just pay NC the money now do not understand the cap because there is nothing simple about the cap at all. The Bills MIGHT be able to meet NC's salary requirements under the current cap #s, but actually it MIGHT also be the case that signing him now is actially impossible to do. TD may not be able to show him the money even if he wanted to. The current top CB contract in the market had an $18 million bonus. If NC figured he was worth this kind of money (not an outrageous thought given that Champ Bailey has not played as well by most views to merit this money and it is not unreasonable to sat NC is just as good as Bailey even if you feel other CBs are better than NC (not many in my view). Prorating a signing bonus this large over a contract means a 6 year deal which i think actually runs beyond the current CBA so a contract of this length may not beven be possible to do. This proration amount would be a cap hit that already uses up the cap room that the Bills have and added onto that would be the vet minimum so signing NC is probably already putting your team over a barrel by forcing you to sestructure some deals (the Bills can do this) but actually restructure a lot of deals in order to sign new talent or to simply cut some players to free some cap room. If one is going to say TD is a cheapskate for not showing him the money, if you want this claim to be taken seriously you also have to say who you would cut to create cap room. Even if you can get this done, there is also the sense that if I am NC I actually refuse to sign and want to play the free-market because the new cap from the income of the new TV deal is likely going to force teams to share the new wealth with players under the CBA. Who knows what the new cap may be, but $18 milion bonuses may be mere chump change under the new CBA. Fear of injury or bad performance might make NC take a bird in the hand and sign right away, but if he has much confidence in himself and the usual immortalitty young folks feel that it is the other guy who will get hurt, I negotiate with TD to see if he gives me a silly offer but I would not sign a deal until FA at all. The Bills have done the correct thing by bringing in CB talent and if we sign NC then we are doing great anyway having McGee, Greer, Hill and even Vincent in a pinch at CB.

Economically a casino and gambling are probably necessary for Buffalo to do to defend itself from losing dollars to the Canadian casinos and the Niagara Falls casino. However, they are simply not economic development engines as: 1. The money they produce will mostly be local money which is useful to have folks spend here in the US and potentially in Erie rather than Niagara County, but it simply is not going to be new money unless there are other draws (this is why Las Vegas is going toward family and other entertainment to add value to the increasinly competiitve gambling draw, this in part is why Atlantic City is little more than a facade). 2. Casino customer in general are not good customers for supporting business like restaurants and other downtown attractions. We would not only need to create other attractions but pump and advertisely them furiously if we are going to draw people. Casinos must provide free rooms and food to gamblers to get them to come and spend real money on slot machines, et al. Between locals who do not use hotels and other things and the neuroses (sometimed phsychoses) that keeps gamblers gambling it is a huge effort to turn these bodies into a benefit for other businesses. Personally, I think we should probably get a Buffalo casino but the main justification for one is as a defense measure so we keep the nickels of Buffalo gambling addicts and casual users ourselves rather than see this money go off to Canada or Niagara Falls. It makes far more sense to house this gambling in a location off to the side from downtown as it can be an option for those who want it, but economically is quite unlikely to be a centerpiece of action. There will be some % of folks who fall prey to losing their (and unfortunately their families and perhaps their businesses $ to gambling addiction), but Niagara Falls or Canada are not so far away and gambling on the Internet is so ubiquitous that having a casino in Buffalo strikes me as not likely to increase overall the addicts and as long as the take from gambling pays for the increased health care and policing in requires I say simply deal with it.

There is simply a world of difference between the course or progress that Ryan Denney has shown andthe course of regress that Josh Reed has shown that it simply amazes me that folks who clearly have been around TSW for awhile and care deeply about the Bills do not seem to get it that while initial opinions that Denney sucked were legitimate (the use of his body and the leverage he could apply was so bad by him as a rookie he was easily thrown about by even the slightest NFL vet and we were forced to keep him inactive most of his rookie seasons). However, by his second year, Denney had mastered so fairly fundamental lessons in terms of bending his knees properly when locked up with an opponent such that he even was a starter his second year. While Denney never has developed the pass rush talent to be a consistent LDE starter, the acquisition and development of Chris Kelsay allowed the Bills to utilize Denny as a back-up for both LDE Kelsay and RDE Schoblel. The fact of this truth is not mere opinion but is objectively seen in the Bills not having to run to the waiver wire for a fourth DE when Ritzmann went on IR, but Denney backed up both slots on the roster last year. Those who make the claim that Denny is so bad he can be cut really need to explain if they are to be believed: 1. Given the Bills use of a DL rotation which saw Denney get ample playing time last year, if he was so bad why didn't the Bills even think about looking for another player on the waiver wire to back-up and replace Denney as the 3rd of only 3 DEs? 2. If Denney was so bad last year, how on earth did the D finish 2nd statistically in the league with this obvious liability often on the field? 3. If Denney was so bad why didn't opposing OCs also notice this and pick on him savagely whenever he was on the field (actually I would not that in the one game against Pittsburgh he and others got taken to the cleaners quite a bit by the opposing OC who I think was operating under the guidance of Dick LeBeau who was intimately familiar with the run-blitz he developed and we used and the strengths and weaknesses of Bills players, Denney was far from alone in being a target of Pitts play). Outside of the Pitts debacle Denney simply was a key part of a productive D last year. If you want to watch and learn from the game (which I do all the time), Denney is not one who we should hyperventilate about as being a great DE, but he is a solid and quite valuable player for the Bills. He actually is probably more accurately considered as a very good back-up (and reallty it is true when TD calls him a co-starter) who not is sinply cinsidered as a back-up LDE to Kelsay, but: 1. Has showed incredible athleticism for a player as tall and rangy as he is. One of Denney's great strengths in our scheme is that he has incredible wingspan which makes his a potent force in short-zone pass coverage when he drops back in the zone blitz (allowing folks like Spikes and Fletcher to make 3 sacks apiece and Spikes in particular to make INTs on short passes in the flat to RBs). Even better his unusally good athleticism allows him to cover in the medium zone which is simply unheard of for most LDEs (remember a mid zone INT he got last pre-season). Schobel also has shown good athleticism and can drop back pretty far (not as far as Denney as best as I can tell) and having two DEs who can play pass coverage gives us incredible flexibility. 2. Though he has limitations as a pass rusher, he is incredibly stout as a run defender. This talent was again objectively shown in the stat that Phat Pat took less than 2/3 of D snaps last year even though he was the DT starter. Not only did Denney confortably allow us to sit Phat Pat on 3rd down, we could even use Denny on some 2nd and long situations as Deeny showed both the skill to do pass coverage when the zone blitz called for him to drop back or to hold the line when the offense went with the run option on these 2nd down plays. 3. We traded up to draft this older player (a thing which TD haters still hold against him though I am sure it gave him a little chuckle when he drafted Denney who was on the phone with Pittsburgh who had decided to pick him with the next choice) and he disappointed as physical play problems did not even allow him to play immediately, but once he solved the physical issue, it really has given us benefit that he is an older bright boy. A key to our defensive performance is that 8th year player Posey makes excellent reads on whether the O is going to pass or run on a particular play and he drops back or holds the line accordingly. Denney has shown some good (and actually developing) ability to make good reads and is better thought of as a back-up to Posey (who is still in the game with Denney for that play but Denney switches repsonsibilities with him as Posey often lines up as though he were an end in a three point stance thugh Posey may still drop back into pass coverage depending upon his read). Denney in the Bills D plays a position that Posey often plays which TSW watcher CSNittan has called the "watcher" which describes well how Posey or Denney plays a key role in making out zone-blitz work so well. Honestly, those of you who think there is even a remote chance of Denney deserving to be cut watch the D perform with even a small sense of football knowledge and how the game is being played and you will see Deeny being incredibly well uised in our D scheme and far more often than not performing quite well. It is more than understandable that one would not want to watch the game with this level of focus as it is simply enjoyable based on the results (as long as we are winning like we did in the streak last season). However, if you choose not to devote too much reasonable attention to the details of the game, you need not mrerely trust in the rantings of thos of us do devote more rational time to this than it deserves. There are in fact outside objective measures of the quality of Denney's play and importance to the Bills which you should take into account: 1. We kept only three players at DE last year in a D which used a DE rotation so Denney had to be relied upon by us to play alot. 2. Te D was quite successful with him playing a lot. 3. Objective measures show not only that our starting DT sat alot (he played only 58% of the D snaps but the other starting DT Adams was notable in complaining publicly about being sat down (someone Edwards and Denney) were manning the DT slots these plays. Believe me Denney is not the best DE out there, but he plays a critical role in a very successful D. It is extemely unlikey that Denney would be cut to keep Gause or Ritzman. These two may be keepers as we stil could use DE depth, but if we keep them it will not because either sacks like they are Bruce Smith (they don't because no one does) but they will be kept if they can pass cover like Ryan Denney.

All of this is open to interpretation and the blessed lawyers are more than happy to be paid by us to debate for us what "is" means. However, in general it will be tough to argue against a team complying with HIPA by not giving out specifics of health problems, but stating when a player is expected to return to action or how long or likely he is to be out. In theory, adherence to HIPAA would require total secrecy about health problems by an employer. but there is a recognition by the law in practice and probably with the usual wiggle room in the language (we need to depend on you lawyers for this) that their also is an important commerce need for balancing that levels the gambling playing field by requiring teams to report honestly (subject to fines if they stretch reality). The bottomline here is that I would not worry about HIPAA because though one can make some sort of argument based on theory or ideology to interpret application of the law, money talks. There is a huge chunk of change which drives the NFL in terms of gambling and this need strikes me as trumping in reality what folks think is the "right thing to do" in terms of ideology just about every time. Add to this that the HIPA laws clearly allows the individual to waive their right to restrict access to health data when they choose (we do this routinely on HIPAA forms allowing the hospital to share our health data with insurers or other parties who must be paid) that there is no seeming restriction under the law for the teams to "allow" (meaning force if the want to) players to sign a waiver which allows their team to make statements about their health condition for economic reasons (aka creating a balanced playing field for gamblers though they would never say this. HIPAA is a non issue.

BMP- I hope folks still think about 9/11 at least from time to time.

The gtragedy is horrible, but mostly reading the article my sense of sorrow keeps getting ditracted by the bizarre and somewhat contradictory accounts and descriptions, particularly those given by officials which I would hope would not invest in dramatic overstatments which simply will confuse relatives already overwhelmd with grief and cause folks to jump to wrong conclusions. I'm not even sure what being "frozen solid" means beyond how folks use to look when Mr. Freeze got them on the old Batman show, but how an official draws a conclusion that folks are frozen solid from an examination of bodies burned by the fire of a plane crash is beyond me. How some frozen solid people are seen by the F-16 jet fighters trying to gain control of the airplane is also beyond me. How a frozen person makes a cellphone call is also a bit of a feat. The reports from witnesses of being frozen solid and also being too hot reported in the article sound a bit contradictory to say the least. The air condiioning problem is probably relevant as some indication of past electrical problems which MAY be a factor in a catastrophic breakdown which led to sudden oxygen lost which overcame the pilot so that he could not bring the plane down to a breathable air level, but the article almost makes it sound like the silliness that people "froze solid" because they set the air conditioner temperature too low. The horror of a plane crash simply deserves better reporting than this article. If its too early to make conclusions from the reports and lack of data then say that.

It's just the technical name for sprinkles.

Aggreed on your analysis. Thanks for it. The two points I would add are: Woodbury continues to be interesting and they are clearly looking for a slot for him. I'm not sure what that is as the spot he seems to excel at in terms of his play is that he is best suited at QB but we are not going to use him there. There was nothing extraordinary to note in his performance, but after his last game in against Pitts where he missed a chip shot, being merely adequate is not good enough for us but is far better than he has been.

I found it very entertaining to watch the Bills D take on Dungy/Sorgi and the Colts O last night. It was great to watch the chess game as the Bills D seemed to break from the normal pre-season coach's decision to be vanilla in showing blitzes and schemes and the Bills seem to be coming with the blitz all the time. It was actually great facing an offensive oriented team like the Colts because Sorgi seemed to audible quite a bit in the face of his read on whether and how the Bills were coming and sometimes Fletcher or Crowell seemed to adjust our set to the switch they made (the guess or estimation was more often than not correct by our guys until the subs blew it and got burned for a TD by an uncovered TE going up the slot. Though I enjoyed it, I did think a bit about whether most teams are vanilla in pre-season for a reason so as not to tip their hand on how they are going to react to certain sets. Just as in the scrimmage against GB, the D seemed to let it all hang out. In general though I aggree with this approach for the following reasons: 1. This style is how we play so it should be how we practice in these exhibition games. Though we are revealing things and giving some tape to opponents. I think the benefit of allowing our D to practice what they are going to use is a bigger benefit than any loss. If there are co-ordination problems better to see them hit now when it doesn't count rather than to learn later in a real game. 2. Since 10 of 11 D players are back there are actually few surprises we are going to keep secret. Opponents have already seen how these guys play together and the major change is that they will play together the same way they always have just be better at it with time together under their belt. 3. It actually is a rare opportunity for the back-ups to run our real D against real opponents. I took a lot of pleasure out of seeing Crowell calling signals for out whole package if gosh forbid he gets pressed into MLB service. 4. I love the fact that we can build D confidence in pre-season by running over opponents. Before we get too excited about our D being so dominant, I do wonder to what extent the results may be a little different in the regular season when the opponent actually gameplans for our D and how it will be later in the pre-season since generally the Ds are ahead of the Os right now. However, all in all it is very impressive and with JP having a fairly Bledsoe like output in terms of results until he learns the game a little bit more, we are going to need our ST to create points for us as Sape did last night and the D gave JP a huge hand in doing with a great Greer interception and perhaps most important making up for O mistakes like the turnover deep in our territory by holding the Pats to 3 and out (we are gonna need dumbluck too as the usually perfect Vanderjagt missed a chipshot FG). Still last nights pre-season game was more fun than the norm.

BUMP

Reed's big problem in competing for a spot is less the non-catch than it was some good contributions to the team by his opponents. 1. He didn't make any crucial or outstanding catches, but Aiken did make a couple of catches and seemed to run good routes allowing plays to develop and the offense to be more effective with him in (JP getting his act together after a slow start was probably the larger factor). 2. Haddad led the team with 3 catches including a nice heads-up play by him when he caught a tipped pass not intended for a critical gain. The tipped pass was by a defender of Reed who if the coaches blame him for not getting separation or running the route well will get noticed along with the Haddad catch. 3. There seemed to be good ST contributions by players other than Reed on the ST job he will be vying for (MCGee is the KR guy but Lee did not drop anything though he was unspectacular if we are looking for a back-up and there are tons of guys with return experience on this team including Haddad). The ball to Reed was not well thrown though as folks point out the catch was makeable. However, in the films and in assessment both he, JP and other teammates were clearly complaining to the refs (who obviously need pre-season work also) that the catch was made. When the catch is blown you can usually tell by how the players react whether it was dropped and my guess is this one the refs will probably be blamed more by the coaches and players for blowing the call than Reed for missing the catch. Nevertheless, Reed's chances were hurt more by the good play of others than this "miss".

The sad story on Coy Wire IMHO is one of poor development and implementation of him right from the start. A post above which blames TD is correct to the extent that the buck stops at the GM's office so he bears responsibility for this, but I think his primary error that he can be blamed for regarding Wire is that he chose to hire GW as HC and he made a series of mistakes with development and use of Wire (who the general skinny on is that he is quick player who put up good enough numbers at the Combine to make him a first day pick and he is a bright enough guy to perform well enough academically at Stanford, He has also demonstrated as a Bill off the field that he is a high quality guy who has given back a lot to the communities and charity). Nevertheless though he is a high quality enough guy to be made ST capt. at one point who cares about off-field stuff if you do not prove it on the field as a player. The mistakes were: 1. GW/Gray badly miscalculated in signing Jenkins to start at SS for the Bills in Wire's rookie year only to find out that this former GW D player with TN got cut by them because he had nothing left. His failure to be the player he was alleged to be by his former coaches led to an opening at SS which Wire was asked to fill. 2. Wire got the job showing a willingness to sacrifice his body tackling, but struggled a lot with pass coverage as a rookie starter which was not surprising since he never played safety at any level of organized ball. Maybe the plan to bring him along as a sub behind Jenkins might have worked but having him start at SS as a rookie was a disaster. 3. Recognizing this TD and the Bills signed first Chad Cota and then Ainsley Battle to play the role Jenkins was supposed to play. Both retired after signing with the Bills and occupying the spot through camp. Milloy became available suddenly and the Bills paid a ton to get him because Chicago and others had the cap room and opening to bid Milloy up/ Wire was sort of adrift and there was some thought of switching him to FS. However, right from the start he almost was responsible for giving up the only score in our 31-0 blanking of NE as he took an interference call on a Hail Mary in the last seconds when he had pass coverage in a mop-up role. Pass coverage remained a struggle. 4. He was then made an ST ace, but again with little focus in learning the ST game he made big errors right away. With a TD lead over CIN in the last minutes rather than simply taking the ball and trying to run out the clock whatever his name was who was a buddy of GWs and ST coach recommended to GW we send Wire in on a punt block. GW stupidly agreed. He not only took an angle which Tasker said later was an impossible angle to block the punt given the effectiveness of the blocking, but he took an angle where when he missed the block guaranteed that he could not avoid running into the kicker as he left his feet in a futile attempt to block. I think many posters make two mistakes: 1. They do not seem to realize that ST is a key to this game and with a young QB a crucial necessity to us winning. I am pleased with JP's development but overall he was fairly Bledsoe like in effectiveness tonight. Fortunately the ST with a blocked ount and TD for Sape and the D with a super INT by Greer giving JP and the O a short field and the D pulling a 3 and out on Indy after a turnover and then the dumb luck of Vandy missing a chip shot is why we won the game. Spending money on ST is not optional for the Bills but a necessity. 2. Tasker is the standard all ST players and particularly Bills should shoot for. However. Tasker did not walk onto the field as an ST player who will probably be the first ST player in the HOF. It took years of training and the huge ST focus Marv allowed him to have. Wire never had the training (that now April is providing), the focus (as he was distracted by trying to be a starter) or the time to be all he might be on ST. The punt block is far from the only time Wire screwed up on ST as he sometimes took bad angles and simply missed tackles on ST (such a return by Santana Moss against the ST Wire'ssecond year which saw him and Stephenson both badly miss tackles against a good player. Fortunately Proleaux both stayed in his lane and also had the speed to chase down Moss though he had to come all the way across the field from his responsibility. The issue for the Bills though is that when one looks on the depth chart, the direct competition for the back-up SS slot is actually Marvin Ward. If Leonhard is going to take the slot he will have to make the jump from 3rd string FS to SS. This can be done as the the two safety slots are used in a fairly similar fashion in the Bills D. But we will have to see. Wire is probably a goner, but Leonhard will have to show himself in pass coverage to force him out.

In general it is fine and I think it speaks highly of the Bills and our chances that the debates are about marginal players and back-ups for the most part. There are some critical questions still to be determined (among the many choices we have available what in fact will be the best one at LT) but in general its pretty good. As far as specific reactions to your list: 1. I think its terribly popular to trash Reed right now. There are reports on his camp performance which range from folks saying that he dropped 5 of 12 balls thrown right at him to folks saying he has caught everything thrown at him. All I can say is that I am waiting for tonights game and to see his real world performance in games. It is clear that the paid media is an unreliable reporter and their prime motivation of getting attention to make bucks may well be causing them to skew their reporting of the facts. Reed has certainly sucked the last two seasons due to droppsies the year before last and injuries and bruised confidence last year (though we expect and demand of pros that they play through these lapses. The skewed reports that he can do nothing right strike me as ignoring the reality that he did actually perform and do a lot right as a rookie and that he isnot necessarily done yet despite the media looking to make a buck pretending to be tough guys by ragging on him and also that some fans seem to feed some self-inflated sense of self by ragging on a person who is far more athletically gifted and richer than they will ever be. Reed will almost certainly never be a good enough player to be the #2 WR we hoped for when we cut PP go (which regardless of how Reed does will be a great move because that pick turned into WM). He may well be so haywire in terms of his confidence he may not even be able to be the #3 WR he was as a rookie. Yet, god has not finished with any of us yet and there is a chance that Reed will be as good of a player as he already has been. 2. The good things Woodbury showed in the scrimmage impressed me as well (it was not the laser arm which even impressive ones like his are not uncommon among the pros. The thing that he did which impressed me was the faking he did on the bootleg score. Players who can effectively do this at QB in the heat of battle are more rare. However, he will need to show a lot more before I would cut Matthews for him and try to get him on the PS rather than taking the risk of develping him quicker than he is ready by making him our #3. 3. Folks already seem to be done with Rashard Lee as a reserve RB and this may be correct as Parcells signed Thomas who we were after and was happy to cut Lee allowing us to get him. The second choice at best may not be Bills material, but I want to see him perform in an actual game before drawing this conclusion.

I start this thread to simply move beyond some morbid and sorrowful thoughts prompted by the release of the 9/11 tapes by NYC prompted by a lawsuit from victims families and the media. I do this because though it is necessary in living life to move beyond sad events (be it the loss of a loved one or a tragedy like 9/11 or Bosnia, or Darfur for that matter) I think it is important to remember these sad events even while we move beyond in daily life. This is a football board so I even ask the moderators if this topic bogs down TSW then move it. However, I not sure where you want to move it to as my intent in remembering 9/11 is not to make any political or punditry point (the right uses terrorism to justify the Pres' Iraq policies while the left uses terrorism to claim the Pres' Iraq policies sshould instead focus on 9/11 so remembering 9/11 is not a political statement either way in itself). At any rate, the thing I would add to the mix is restating my own experiences with 9/11. Like many Americans, my first interaction with this terrorist act was through the 24-hour news media. I was more oblivious than most to the bin Laden threat or the perceived US financial weight that led to the selection of the WTC as a symbolic target as I was just back the night before form celebrating my 12th wedding anniversary with my lovely wife with a trip to Canada (we had moseyed across the Lwesiton brdge and stopped at Old Man River for bunny dogs and ice cream the night before and remarked to each other that we should have extended our vacation in Canada past our 9/10 return as we were having a great time across the border (if we had made that move we likely would have been in Canada a few days as the border was essentially closed on 9/11 even with our longtime friend and biggest trading partner Canada). At any rate, I got up late on 9/11 and flipped on the tube as I got on the treadmill and saw the burning towers and thought for a brief moment in confusion what movie was this on TV. The reality of the tragedy became all to real to quickly. I watched in horror and awe for awhile and then wandered upstairs to awaken my wife from beauty rest and simply said "the world is now very different than it was last night when we went to sleep." My personal interaction with 9/11 actually did not occur until January when I went to NYC for the first time since the attack for a couple of conferences. I had already booked a trip to Denver from Buffalo in late Setember before 9.11 happened. It only took this experience with lengthy delays at airports and travel delays punctuated by two hour lines at metal detectors to get me to lay off my previously exocitc and relatively constant travel schedule for the rest 2001. The new year saw me finally make a several trip for conferences which were important to me in NYC so off I went. The weekend gig was great and pretty well attended despite many folks obviously having stopped traveling as I did. Perhaps life was resuming (among normal events which occured that weekend was taking a little time away from work to watch NE win its first SB). On the Monday morning I was awakened with way to cheerful a call from a Buffalo buddy also attending the conference (on the seemingly esoteric issue of recombinant DNA and its relevance to communities and neighborhoods) who asked me whether I wanted to do breakfast. A reply came back to her of no thanks since that morning afforded a chance to go down to Ground Zero and pay homage. "Who said that." I said to myself after we hung up as I had not planned to go down to Ground Zero. I had not had any plans whatsoever to go down to the WTC, or as I later admitted to myself this thought was in the back of my mind but I had not even admitted it to myself. Treating 9/11 as some tourist opportunity did not sit well with me at all so I did not even entertain any thoughts to myself about going down to gawk at this site of carnage. Nevertheless in a moment of early morning honesty before I was awake enough to put the usual barriers up, I hasd unbidden articulated my desire to go down to the WTC site not to gawk and enjoy but to pay homage to and acknowledge for myself the tragedy. My foolish experience interacting with 9/11 on TV and just coming off a vacation has no comparison whatsoever with NYC folks, DC area folks, or PA folks who experience the attack firsthand. It does not compare remotely to the tragedy suffered by families who lost loved ones. I can only begin to think even remotely about the terror felt by individuals who were in an attack site or who jumped to their deaths rather than be biurned alive. I did not go to Ground Zero even to feel what they felt because I cannot. However, I realised that in whatever feeble way I had to go to the site to somehow share in their pain in a more real way no matter how feeble it was. After dressing, I stopped by the conceiarge desk because I really had no idea how to get best get down to this disaster site from the mid 50s on the east side where I was staying. Leave it to our hearty friends in the NYC hotel and tourist industry who have lots of practice dealing with us out of town yokels that a timid request to the help desk produced a map, schedules and other materials about how to make the trek from the hotel to Ground Zero. As one needed to make a reservation the day before to go through the viewing area above the hole and I had not done that, I decided to take the subway down and get as close as I could whatever that may be. I hopped off the train at a lower Manhattan exit which I knew was near the WTC and was marked as such. the first thing I noticed as I walked to the exit was how clean the subway was at this stop. I relaized in horror as I marched to the exit that this site was probably only a couple of blocks from the falling WTC buildings and that the subway probably was filled with dirt and dust. The wals were so clean because they had probably needed to be scrubbed as part of cleaning out the dust. I had a sudden immage in my mind of the Shakespeare play where one woman kept trying to clean out the bloodstain of a murdered person and wailed "out out damn spot." No matter how much she cleaned and rubbed the spot the stain or murder and tragedy could not be removed. So too with the subway station walls. The secnd thing I noticed when I came out of the station was the smell. I had never smelled that odor before but I can only describe it as what a couple of hundred stories of falling building must smell like. I was shocked that this smell would still be there over 4 months after the event. I ound out later that though the winds had in fact disperesed the old smell, that major digging and unearthing work in the pile was still going on. As they exposed buried wreckage, occaisionally new fires would break out in the rubble long shielded from oxygen but stll hot as it lay buried. If the wind happened to blow in a particular direction while this digwork went on once smelled what the falling/burning buildings smelled like. The third thing I ran into which struck me was a non-temporary looking sign on one of the streets which warned hoes and bulldozers to raise their plowblades as the street was uneven due to metal sheets put on it. The fact that these signs had been manufactured and printed like street signs was a clear indicator of how long that folks expected to be here doing the clean-up. Oh my god. I came out on the street and looked left and right expecting to see fairly easily which way to go toward Ground Zero. Seeing nothing I began to wonder whether I had come out of the wrong exit. I asked a guard at a nearby bank which way to Ground Zero and with an accent typical of a recent third workd immigrant to out merlting pot he suggested I take a path that involved walking a block over, a block down and then I could look and not miss it. Intrepidly I set off and did as instructed. I walked a couple of blocks and looked and saw nothing an was a bit confused. I walked in a different direction and came to a point where I could see my starting place a couple of blocks away and also the open space I had spied when I first came out a couple of blocks away. It was then that I realized that the "nothing" I saw was in fact where the WTC was. They had not needed signs to point one to the WTC in the old days because it simply dominated the area. When the towers fell, there was no "tourist site" left to come to, here was simply nothing there. As I drew closer I was able to see that there was nothing but a hole in the ground, a hole in the skyline (and perhaps most important a hole in our society and a hole in our hearts) where the WTC had been. Having no reservation at the "official" site I did not get a birds-eye view of the site, but in many ways I am glad of this because I resist the notion of this tragedy as a tourist site at all. Hwever, there were plenty posters of lost souls, remembrance signs, and other pieces left by victim's families which made this more real for me without taking the tour. There was the overwhelming smell. For me personally, because of a neurological issue I have I actually had presswed into service a hiking stick my father-in-;aw had used on a trip to the Himalyas to help me wander around NYC. With all the aimless walking my leg hurt quite a bit. Yet, feeling physical pain in an odd way made me feel even closer to the indescribable pain felt by those at Ground Zero on 9/11. My pain was not the same as it was voluntary and I was off to a lofty conference and a nice facility at Columbia U. that afternoon. The folks who really experienced 9/11 as one can tell from listening to the just released auditapes were scared, facing the unknown and stll performed enormous acts of courage and helped their fellow people in need where they could. The pain I felt in my joints was nothing compared to the bleak reality of that day, but i'm glad I had my little experience with pain and smell to make it more real for one of those fortunate to carry on with life. So all in all, I am happy that the victims won their suit, hope the media spreads this info around the world and hope that people are strong enough to listen to these tapes and remember. There is nothing we can do to bring the folks who died back. There really is little we can do to salve the wounds of those who were hurt that day beyond do the best we can to help. There is a lot that many are trying to do to stop a tragedy like this one from occuring again. Folks can and should debate about whether those actions will or will not improve the situation. I am not debating these actions here. However, the one thing I do know for sure is that we must never forget 9/11. We must not foget the pain suffered that day. We must not forget the actions or let off the hook the cowards who caused this pain and their rational (or irrationale) for doing it. Moderator move this from this football site if you must, but if only one peson reads this and remembers a event they would not have thought about today then I am glad I took the time to write this and the time it remains available to folks. In fact. even if no one reads this, it helped me to remember to write it. I value that. Never forget.

There is a thread below which claims TD really screwed up the 2005 draft becasue his first two picks suffered injuries which have laid them low. First, this is a rather stupid conclusion since while one might (I mean MIGHT) make the case that a good drafter factors into his selection the notion of injury proneness and picks acordingly and be correct. This concept is far easier to see in extreme cases (let's say one such as a player like Sobieski being an obvious talent who obviously had a series of injuries which quite likely will continue be a story in his career so one doesn't spend a first day pick on him even though he had first day talent) or in retrospect (who knew Gale Sayers would have his knee blown out and then who knew he would have such a great comeback from it with the help of Brian Picolo and who knew he would blow it out again and would you be silly enough not to draft him even if you knew what his injury story would be). There is a reasonable case to be made that TD should not have gone after a smurf like Parrish due to fear he would not take NFL pounding with his little body. However, this case may still prove to be wrong depending upon how he heels and if he has a career (very possible based on his early showings) that equals that of the Redskins who popularized "The Smurfs" as a positive football nickname. Even in the Parrish case the jury is still out on judging this draft. In the Everett case it simply looks like a bad break (almost literally) so i do not fault TD or MM for this. So I think the bust label for the 2005 draft is way way way premature. Second is the bigger issue that someone strangely also lambasted the 2004 draft for the same flaw. Mostly i think this shows how silly some folks are in hating TD that they simply want to warp reality with their claims. As far as the 2004 draft goes, TD picked two 2005 starters in the first round in Evans and Losman. The rest of the picks, Anderson, Euhus. McFarland and Smith all saw some PT last year (with Smith contributing a score) with Anderson threatening to even start this year. Its still too early to judge this crew as Smith seems to be the one most in danger of getting cut and obviously the jury is out on Losman, but an assessment of the 2005 draft job is just silly. Add to this that in my view a better way to judge a draft class in not actually some fantasy league assessment of the players but actually a more fact-based judgment of their contribution to the team. By that standard the TD draft record is best judged by what has his drafting contributed to the Bills right here right now and if you want to be historical go no further back than the 2004 contributions. By this model, I think one can judge TD's draft work as pretty darn good and actually it has been some lousy work on his part hiring his first HC and some miscalculation with extending the contract of Bledsoe that has undercut some very good contributions from his draft choices to a team which finally sported a winning record and missed the playoffs in the last game. Specifically: 2001 draft- A very good draft class as he got two Pro Bowl performances from his first day picks (NC, Henry) resigned starter Schobel and will likely get 2005 starts from first day pick Edwards in addition to Schobel and Clements 3 first day picks equals 3 starters 4 years later is as much would want from a draft). Add to this the he got a future resource in return for Henry (unexpected as the rules say one can only exoect them to play the free market at the end of their contract and they end up like JJ or Schobel). In addition, he did get Bills starts from a number of his picks (ranging in quality from these gone players to JJ's contributions for four years to Spoon's contributions for one year or Sullivan's career). The extra benefits to me balance out the lack of productivity of TDs second day picks that year. 2002- The Bills braintrusts weakest draft under TD if current trends keep going on a class which I think can be accurately judged after this year. It fits the same TD MO (and the rest of the NFL actually as Terrell Davis is the exception rather than the rule in terms of drft performance) as the first day was much more productive than the 2nd. However, there remains reasonable hope that MW who was finally a productive player after the first couple of weeks, Reed has disappointed and I think will be gone as a bill probably later rather than sooner but he likely is not a contributor as a pick after his contract is done, Denney however, I think is really poorly and badly judged by much of the Bills faithful and actually has been a good player on a good D and the last first day choice Wire has disappointed though I think this is actually an outgrowth of bad decision-making by TD in choosing GW who I think can choose whether GW screwed up in choosing Wire (I disagree as I think he is a quality choice of a good bright guy with some NFL level skills just not enough skill to be a rookie starting safety) or he screwed up in how he developed and tried to use Wire (bingo IMHO). The second day was not productive. 2003- We move from too early to judge to way to early. However, the prospects and tea leaves look pretty good for these picks as they do have two years of real production to judge on and already some real achievements. Finally, we do see from a TD selected crew some second day pick contribuions as McGee has already made the Pro Bowl for his ST work In addition, first day pick Crowell and second day picks Aiken and Haggan have been major contributors to an ST which last year was one of the best in the league. These achievements turn a A into an A+ if all things continue to work as they have in the past since first day choices have produced an RB who may become one of the best in the business, and an LDE who many hope will have a breakout year after earning the starting job. 2004- Likewise, this draft moves the bar from simply being way too early to draw and real conclusions to way way too early. However, the indications are good from some first year POTENTIAL Pro Bowler production from Evans and Losman being out starting QB in his second year. Second day picks do not look half bad as Smith already has produced a TD and several good punt returns, Euhus has been average (as is actually pretty good for a rookie) and may start due to our failure to have a commanding TE and our weakness on OL will also likely get McFarland a shot to do the job or not. For folks who want to complain that the Great Satan TD is horrible at drafting well simply point to the evidence in some specific form. His 2001 draft which he oversaw is one which has simply been productive for the Bills producing a couple of deserved Pro Bowl nods from the first three rounds and producing players who were good enough to start for the Bills in their first contracts and actually beyond. Knock him back a grade for like much of the rest of the NFL failing to produce a starter from his second days picks (it should be figurable and done somewhere to show how many starters were produced from NFL seond day picks in 2001 and my guess is that TD with is right there with a majority of NFL teams. Knock his grade down to a C if most teams have starters on their 2005 rosters who were picked by them on the second day, but I doubt this is true of most teams. His 2002 draft was the weakest he oversaw with the Bills based on current indications and a real judgment will come after this season when we see how MW and Denney perform (and possibly Reed and Wire). However, even with this draft and with no production on the second day I think this one appears like it will be a C about average for NFL drafts. If MW becomes Ryan Leaf then I move it lower. The TD record is uncertain for 2003 and on but based on initial production and indications (McGee, WM. Evans and Losman POTENTIAL I find it hard to be pessimistic about this unless it says more about you as a person than it does about TDs work.