Fake-Fat Sunny

I assume you must be talking about the decision to transition tag PP because the move to pick WM rather than being predicted was a total surprise to virtually (if not totally) everyone. Due to the grave doubts over whether WM would even play again after his college injury, TD having the faith in the Bills docs to pick him in the first, and having the intelligence not to rush him into service at all the next year WMs production last year clearly establishes this pick as one of the best draft moves in draft history. As f

I'd actually put myself in the camp of being a TD supporter. I think he has done a good job as Bills' GM and was a great choice by RWS on the short notice of the bottom falling out of the Butler negotiations. However, as much as I like (and continue to like him as GM despite the losing Bills record under him because of some brilliant moves that balance off mistakes he has made like restructuring Bledsoe or signing GW for me) he is very good, just not perfect (but then who is). I may be totally wrong that TD was bruised by getting fired by Cowher a guy he hired and run out of town in Pittsburgh so consider me reined in cause I do notknow him well of enough to insist this correct. However, if he took it in stride and rebounded quickly or at all then praise to him because I think this reaction would be a surperior and well beyond many human beings due to our flaws. Do you feel there was no perceivable effect on TDs work style and job performance with the Bills caused by him getting canned in a fight with a guy he hired. On various issues with GW there seemed to be some tussling which struck me as counter-productive at worst and the two of them being on different pages at best. For example GW went on the public record saying Larry Centers would be a Bills as long as he wanted to be. Within a week to 10 days, Centers was cut and Gash was signed to replace him. What i took from this was that either GW is simply a lying snake or changes his mind in an instant and one should never believe he will stick to what he says publicly, OR he happened to intrude into the GMs contractual balliwick and was either not informed that discussions with Gash were ongoing or that TD disciplined GW was speaking out of turn on a decision which was not his to make and TD had Centers lose his job over it. Maybe I'm wrong about TD an he has some super-human ability to see beyond getting fired and it had no effect on his next HC hiring. I like his work, I just doubt he is superhuman.

The big difference I see between the Bledsoe and Shelton cases and specifically the handling by Dennis Green and TD is that Bledsoe was cut in the winter and given the maximum time to get an early deal (and certainly one before the draft) and Shelton got cut 2 weeks before a redistribution would occur. One cannot say what the true motivation in a person's heart was. Both did make the cut taking the hit now rather than distributing it over two years and there may well be significance to this. However, TD did it in a way that ended up working out well for Bledsoe and players will not forget that. Green did it in a way that may be justifiable in terms of giving the Cards the maximum amount of time to get some any trade for Shelton, but the move makes it harder for Shelton to get much in a deal from someone and players making choices about where to go in the future will remember that as well. The good thing for Bills fansin trying to dope out the meaning of the timing of the Bledsoe cut is that the Bills are near the norm in the NFL for total deadspace even with the Bledsoe cut and are not hard up against the cap and have room to create cap space by restructuring deals like MWs if need be so I think there is little reason to diagnose the the timing of the Bledsoe cut as putting off going for it this year.

You don't necessarily do both because there is the concern that people will (or do right now) perceive that we do not have enough money to do everything and that if NYS spends big bucks on two projects downstate, it will spend no money upstate. Generally, most people by far live downstate (NYC is the state's biggest city at 8+ million folks in the metro area depending upon how you define the metro area, it's second largest city is Buffalo with 275K+ thousand folks or so) so money should stay at home with the lionshare of taxpayers. However, as a WNY resident in an area perceived to have a bad economy (it does compared to NYC, it does not compared to most other places in the world) there needs to be a clear allocation and spending by NYS here to match any commitment to invest in these two ideas. The political reality is given that NYC and its suburbs in LI, Westchester, etc tend to be split on many issue. WNY even though the population is relatively small compared to NYC, we hold a balance of power poltically important here. As a WNY'er I will not support either deal or certainly both without the clearest possible appropriate companion investment by NYS in WNY. If I have to support something downstate (which reasonably I should, I prefer backing a Ground Zero memorial first and a sports stadium second by far..

The Cards are clearly aiming for the future and not 2005 to make their team real. If they had waited until June 1st to cut Shelton they would have distributed his accelerated cap hit over this year and future yeats. However, they chose to take the total hit this year and have more room next year and thus seem to be putting this year clearly into the rebuilding mode. Arrington as the 4th RN taken in the draft and a big drop-off from the prospects the experts judge the first 3 to have will be doing quite well and better than most to be up to be the starting RB as a rookie. Even if he has the same rookie year success that Henry had (rougly 700+ yards from this 2nd rd pick or Julius Jones had in Dallas last year (800+ yards from this 2nd rd pick) it will be a long year at RB for the Cards. I agree with the opinion Green seemed to have that they had better potential from getting Henrt who has produced 1300 yds plus in 2 of his 4 NFL seasons. i think he lost out on this deal and will now have it work out for him only if he gets lucky.

I never said drug abusers don;t deserve what they get. I just said I felt bad for a team when one of their players ends up not entertaining me because of a non-football issue. I can certainly see a point of view that fells sorry for Rae Carruth but would be willing to deliver him the the poison to end his life for killing the woman he impregnated. I have no problem being part of a society which kills someone who deserves it, but i do feel bad that sometimes it is necessaary or useful for society to kill someone.

Because I think that W/L is the ultimate measure of GM success (I'm merely a fan so i do not have to care about tthe real measures of whether his boss Ralph is excited about him which is W/L AND how the business is going, what are the prospects for the future and has been exciting or an embarassment for the most part to own the team). As a fan I judge TD to be a failure because the Ws have not been what I wanted. However, in making the claim that TD will be a goner merely because his record sucks you ignore the other important factors that will determine his employment which have little to do with how you and I judge him. By ignoring the obvious in merely claiming he is a goner because his record sucks you actually make the case for the other guy because your ignoring key facts is so obvious your argument is easily ignored. TDs record sucks but: 1. All reports and many objective signs indicate that the business side is being well run and bringing in money even well above the NFL standards of raking in the big bucks. 2. TD made a big mistake in hiring GW instead of Fox or Lewis and he simply was not a complete enough football guy to be a winning HC. TD actually has a skilset which could have complimented GWs strenghts and weaknesses well if he had been a bit more forceful in not letting GW hire a bunch of assistants who had less experiene than him by using his connections to the old guard and then forcing them on his employee. However, my sense is that TD seemed bruised enough by getting fired by a guy he hired in Pittsburgh that he avoided hiring a strong0minded HC like Lewis who might take him on and beat him and instead hired GW who he coul allow to make his own bed and beat him if he had to. A. TD should have never allowed GW to hire such and inexprienced staff. B. When inexperienced members of the staff sucked TD should have forced GW to hire his choices for replacement (he has publicly said he pushed for Clements as OC but gave in to GWs choice of the wounded and controllable Kevin Killdrive as the OC. When GWs buddy Vinky was not up to the OL job, TD never should have allowed the only marginally more experienced Ruel have the job. C. TD recognized the team's weaknesses and set things up so his buddy former OC Les Steckel was there when Killdrive ultimately failed, but he never forced GW to made Killdrive change obvious failings with the O. D. Etc. 3. In part thenks to us ravenous fans getting excited about possibilities, some very good TD work building the base for success (some good cap management work, good accumulation of front office talent led by Modrak and the scouts, being a very good negotiator and market reader with trades and drafts), but he has always accompanied this with some fatal boners which undercut good base building (hiring the not ready for primetime GW snd resigning Bledsoe rather than cutting him afteer 2003 - the initial acquisition was good really helping the Bills in 2002 while the trade killed the Pats in 2002 as they absorbed the accelerated bonus and even missed the playoffs, but he should have written off Bledsoe as a wash after 2003. At any rate, TD has always followed up the horrdous 2001 and 2003 records you site with some acquisitions (Bledsoe for RJ, MM for GW, and even potentially JP for Bledsoe after a winning season that ended in a disappointing fashion. I think RWS has generally been pretty happy with the prospects for the future of the team and if that is the case TD stays.

As a football fan I don't like seeing a team lose a player to injury (TN's RB Brown broke his hand in a contact drill in his shorts without pads. He is only out for a month but this comes on top of him losing 5 games last year to turf toe and 4 games in his rookie season to a hammy pull so question arise in TN about counting upon the man envision replacing George). As a human being I hate to see another person fall victim to drug abuse (MN's RB Smith has apparently been suspended for a year due to a drug violation). At any rate, part of the past TD arsenal has been for him to make what I call a take-out bid of overpaying for a player but making a take or leave it offer to avoid getting into a bidding war when he thinks his value would go up anyway and he wants to close the deal. Its why we paid through the nose for Milloy and he avoided a bidding war with Chicago with offer. Generally it has paid off as Milloy (outside of a couple of nicks which cost him games has performed and still been among the team leaders in tackles even losing a game here and there. It looked to some that TD had missed the market when Arrington dropped to AZ in the second round. However, it looks like injury is building a new market for Henry and pre-season and unfortunate injuries to come has not even begun yet. TD has a lot of good reasons to sit tight and see what the future brings in terms of market. I think if the Titans want Henry, or Philly is still interested because Westbrook has not yet answered their call or MN has a new need, its going to take a takeout bid of the 2nd (or at least a 3rd) to get TD to bite instead of waiting.

That does sum up a conclusion. The too-lengthy details sauys exhaustively why maybe is a far more intelligent answer than :he has never won anywhere" or "Drew is a great guy" which is a summary of many other Bledsoe posts which are essentially fact-free opinions.

I disagree to the extent that I think Belicheck also demonstrated a great understading of the pluses and minuses of Bledsoe (finalla afterhe got the lucky break of Bledsoe having his lung collapse and the break BB hoped for that the team became a TEAM playing around Beady and he experienced a level of success which allowed BB to go with Brady. However, though the use by BB/Weis of brady was short-lived and he had no choice about it, I do give BB the credit for supporting making the following moves regarding judging Bledsoe and making moves in accordance with his QB potential: 1. Though finishing the AFC championship game was a short episode for doing the proper work with Bledsoe it was as close to a must-win situation as you want to get and BB gets and derserves a lot of credit and Weis even more because it was all about the game call for their use of Bledsoe in this game. Kudos to the coaching staff because though the game call did not suit the Bledsoe golden-arm style at all, they stuck with the brady game plan that the offense was built and practiced for by the team all week. Though the results did not suit Bledsoe in terms of the glossy individual stats he may have want, the result got the only effect that mattered in that they won a must win game. Credit does go to Bledsoe's play however, in that he did throw for the winning TD in this must-win game. No one can credibly claim it was pretty but no one can credibly claim it was not effective either and that Bledsoe and the boys won a must-win game that made an SB win possible. Winning the SB is simply flat-out important, significant and simply cannot be ignored. Bledsoe has the ring and deserves it. 2. The next move in decision-naking regarding Bledsoe's potential was the difficult no-brainer to pull off in sitting the boy-wonder in the SB. BB was a stalwart in making what turned out to be the right decision for the team in going back to brady the next game. I think this move spoke to Bledsoe's potential as a QB as in his effective but pedestrian performance in the championship game, BB correctly stuck with the no-brainer assessment that Bledsoe was not likely to get the job done if he was brought back in after he was the QB for NE in a must-win game. I think this move had a game effect and was player significant in that Bledsoe did prove to be a teamer in simply accepting this move (though I assume it was hard for him not be the man in the game). In addition, Brady was playing in the biggest game of his career nad dealt with that pressure with the addition of the pressure of having BB pass over Bledsoe and put the game in his hands. I think the best move of the game was BB or whomever had the idea of introducing the Pats as a team rather than focusing on an individual unit and thus the prescence of Brady and the absence of Bledsoe. 3. Finally, BB made the right move in dealing with the potenial of Bledsoe as a QB and the potential of Brady by trading Bledsoe and keeping Brady. Though taking his medicine and making this move played a huge role in the demolition of the Pats post-SB season when they failed to even make the playoff absorbing the accelerated Bledsoe cap hit and not being able o replicate the same moves which saw NE pick up 15 or so players after the cap cut in their 1st SB year, the fact they won two in a row after that justified the move. Ironically in terms of the Bills handling of Bledsoe and his potential as a QB it turned out to be the best of time, followed by the worst of times, followed by inadequate times in his three years here: 1. 2002- The best of times and a great move by TD and even a pretty good set of moves by Kevin Killdrive on the field- Bledsoe played a key role in a the Bills having a virtual record-setting turnaround from 3-13 to 8-8. In looking at all the things Sheppard did wrong in failing to achieve the year before (and he did wrong as he got canned for it) Kevin Killdrive did lead the way with a game call achieved a turnaround in accumulation of Ws in his first. i wouldn't get all ga-ga over this success because the handwriting was on the all of teams beginning to do better against the Bills O as they accumulated some tape and mapped its tendencies (bad weather helped the Ds and the Bengals being idiots helped Bledsoe) and BB and Crennel provided a roadmap in how to nullify Bledsoe (Bledsoe has demonstrated that he has a golden arm in his play through the years and even demonstrated that he has a brain when he watched Brady operate from the sideline and apparently according to Brady's testimony could assess what was happening and efficiently communicate to Brady things his vet eyes could see and Brady's young brain could no interpret correctly. However, though I think Bledsoe has good arm and also a good brain, his ability to foster a connection between the two under the stress of a game simply is not there. His brain farts in games can be simply painful to watch. BB/Crennel did a great job in having the Pats D delay lining up in a formation until the last possible moment and Bledsoe proved to be incapable of implementing the appropriate play quickly enough and the Pats destroyed the Bills in the games though since the Pats were goofing up overall bad enough that even two wins against a division opponent could not get them to the playoffs. Yet overall, Bledsoe's individual play that year over the whole season was meritorious and the play of a non-loser in terms of team's record and a winner in terms of him meriting his Pro Bowl reserve nod that year (if one disagrees simply say who deserves to be on the Pro Bowl instead of him that year) and being elevated to the level of comeback player of the year consideration. 2003- This was clearly the worst of times as Killdrive simply refused to vary tendencies everyone had figured out and Bledsoe made it worse with is predictable audibles and Killdrive's failure to rein him in. The buck does stop with the HC and GW deserves the final blame (and got it when he was canned, Killdrive was canned, Ruel was canned, and Gray was kept and has propered without him). Bledsoe was simply bad, bad, bad as the team went 10 straight quarters during the cruch time of the season without scoring an offensive TD. Yet, one cannot properly assess the blame of Bledsoe for this crunch time failure without giving him appropriate credit for NE having the ultimate crunch time win in the 2001 AFC championship game. Likewise one cannot recognize the credit he deserves for that win without acknowledging his failure in 2003. In the end, i think his play under his contract which demanded a decision due to a bonus at that time was a wash. Very good achievement in 2002 and stinky in 203. I think TD made a mistake by resigning him. I think given the dire straights the 3-13 Bills were in bringing him in to replace RJ was a good move. I tend to value 1st round picks appropriately I think in that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Since the Bills got a lot for nothing initially (2003 1st rounder would by definition do nothing for the team in 2002 and TD turned this into a reserve Pro Bowler) and TD used the impetus of trading this pick to do some magic on AT and get a 1st rounder back who ultimately became WM, I have no problem with his simply calling the Bledsoe deal a wash and cutting him after the 2003 debacle season. However, i ain't in charge and he didn't. 2004- A much better season for Bledsoe but compared to a horrendous 2003 one can be much better but still inadequate at the same time. TD madea bad move in my judgment restructuring Bledsoe (a judgement by me which I think proved to be correct in that they cut him) but I was really impressed with the way TC and MM got play out of Bledsoe last year which I think realized his potential as a QB. The good side is: 1. Bledsoe can lead a team and manage a game run by a superior football mind. A key to squeezing wins out of Bledsoe led team was shown by Parcells in his constant harping on Bledsoe in practice to just throw the damn ball when Bledsoe would hang on to it to long and go into his familar pat. MM seems to be more of a tactican than the jovial corrector that Parcells is (he cuts like a knife but apparently is one of the funniest guys in the world while doing it) but MM used his alarm clock set to 4 seconds to harp on Bledsoe to throw the damn ball. Ultimately this improved his game. TC and MM also simplified the game and lowered some of brain farts by limiting Bledsoe's ability to audible. This removed on of Bledsoe's problems of translating thought into action quickly. 2. Bledsoe is a 10 year vet and runs a game-fake well. From his constantly running out plays where he handed off providing no tip off that WM was going turn back at the line and pitch the ball to him and he would hit the streaking WR (catching a shotgum like snap from a youngster keeping an eye on the receiver while fielding the ball and turning around and hitting the reciever is no simple task and I have seen QBs blow one of these jobs a number of times). Further his play fake of the QB sneak and then pitch to WM who scampered for a TD was also a thing of beauty. Kudos to him for these plays and TC/MM handled him well and used this potential when it was not in the Killdrive playbook. 3. I had bought the line on TSW that Bledsoe is a statue and can never run. Firtunately TC/MM did not and recognized that exactly because no one would ever call Bledsoe fleet-footed this is why he must run. Bkedsoe is no going to score any TDs on the QB draw (though i think he actually did this once on a redzone play so I may be mistaken) but you have to show the threat he will get positive yardage on this play or opposing rushers will simply pin their ears back and commit to the blitz. That 1-second delay is all the Teague needs not to get bowled over while he is focusing on making the line call, getting off the appropriate snap, and meeting the blocker. he would get bowled over due to his difficulty initally in mult-tasking. The fear put into rushers that if they commited upfield that Bledsoe would simply pick the other gap and be past them or WM might go wide the other way really helped the pass game a lot and I think is one of the prime reasons the sack total went down. Still overall, I think it would have been a constant struggle for TC/MM with Bledsoe. they likely could have squeezed adequacy and a reasonable shot at the playoffs out of a Bledsoe led team this year (they almost did last year) but the goal is the SB and that is incredibly unlikely to happen. I think the same is true for Parcells and Dallas. It depends on how it happens, but Bledsoe leading this team to the playoffs and falling flat in the playoff will actually confirm in my mind why you let Bledsoe go.

On the Shelton deal alone, even if the Bills docs gave a report that makes us want him (still an uncertainty because the Bills let the word out unofficially playing it both ways which is just the way to do it) they made a good move because: 1. they stand a good chance if they want him of getting Shelton at a lower cap hit than $3 million but, 2. retain the possibility of giving him a bonus which can be prorated over the length of the contract giving him more money 2. Can backload the contract with a big base salary which they will pay him if he is a stud at LT, cut him and not owe him the base pay if he sucks or we have a cheaper option, and still give him a total contract as big or bigger than the deal he got from AZ. Even better they gave no value to get him and ultimately if they trade Hemry for someone they get Shelton anyway plus the new draft pick or player. if this plays out it will create a situation where a decision to cut Henry was obviously dumb, but actually trading him for Shelton might have been even stupider.

I'll try to check some of the facts on this to confirm the reality of situation but it is quite doubtful that Shelton will command a raise on the open market and the Bills are quite likely to get if for less than a $3 million cap hit IF they want him. Shelton arranged visits with the Bills, Broncos, Rams, Bucs and Bears before the draft and I don't even think all these visits occured which were arranged by Shelton's agent so this is probably a list of the Bills competition: The cap room of each of these teams should be checked because if it is constrained these teams would need to make some moves to create $3 million in cap room or even the $1.25 hit TH would get which the Bills could easily offer and even far more if they has a reason to by redoing big hits like the one MW has. In addition, to whatever cap hits the teams have, this may well go up if there draft class is large like TB giving them even less money and also if they got an LT prospect in the draft as the Bills did not they are likely off the table. My sense even before the Jennings deal was that the Bills might be able to keep him at a lower cost than the $5-6 million annually which is the going minimum for starting LTs. Many felt the contract for Jennings would be this high because this is what teams were paying for fairly pedestrian talents like Petitgout and Clifton and outside of Jenninngs inability to stay healthy and start all 16 at any point in his brief career he is probably just as talented as these players if not more so outside of his history of nicks. My sense was that the rampant cap commitments to folks like these two plus the fact that the vast majority of top 10 OL cap hits are for LTs is that actually the market for LTs was pretty constrained. All a player needs is one offer and SF overspent (in my opinion for JJ). However this means one more team off the table competing with the Bills. Of the teams expressing even some interest (this number will drop with the draft): Broncos- Have Matt Lepsis as the starter on their depth chart and my recollection is he played well and has had the job for a number of years. They have a fellow named Carlisle as his back-up. I do not remember them as having a lot of cap room so I tend to doubt they are big competition to bid us up. St. Louis- I hope like heck they are interested in Shelton and sign him because if they do if will mean they rescind the tag offer for Pace (if they can he might have taken it because the top 10 5 OL hit will be a huge contract for him and even if he is hurt this season a new team will still pay a mint to him next year unless his leg falls off. If Pace is available I say restructure MW, every one they can, take a good chunk of cap room we still have and sign him. Tampa Bay- They will need to cut Walker (which apparently they want to do anyway (but they have a couple of three potential T replacement candidates with good names (but limitations) on the roster already like Todd Steussie, Anthony Davis and some guy named Martin. In addition to these players with 2 years they also have a few rookie Ts. This is a team i suspect may want to cut Walker to make cap room for the guys they got and their huge draft class rather than looking to sign another candidate. Bears- There is some interest but i do not remember their cap situation. However, they seem to have at least 3 Ts on the roster who may be vying for the job including Colombo (well regarded but s history of injuries, Quasim Mitchell who has played LT before for the Bears, and John Tait who I think maintained n 8 year career with good RT play. The case would seem to be if other teams have collected a few candidates as many of these teams have done they may well be reluctant (if not unable capwise) to add another real candidate to the mix or alternately Shelton may be less willing to go to a situation where he may well sit on the bench rather than the Bills situation where if he is healthy i think he wins the job. It only takes one offer so he may go elsewhere even if we want him, but if we want him i think we got him and probably for a good chunk less than a $3 million cap hit. Who do folks think will offer him more than $3 million or even be able to beat the Bills out if we do want him. A backloaded offer to Shelton with a $4 million bonus would actually give Shelton more in his pocket than the $3 million Arizona would pay him this year in base salary, reduce his cap hit well below that level because it can be prorated and allow the Bills to cut him next year or the year after if Peters comes into his own. Of course there is some risk of him walking because some other team can offer him the same type of deal, but of the 4 other teams that have seemingly tangible reasons to do so there are reasons why the will not in the info above. This needs some research work to confirm the truth but has a bit more reality than the usual fac-free opinions we fans have about players and team spending.

I just hope the Bills docs actually evaluated Shelton as being able to play and were merely correctly lying to the public with any backstories badmouthing him (I don't think there are any public quotes by name with JMac or others saying he was done as a player but please correct me if I am wrong and there is a link to a public statement about Shelton from the Bills). I think Gandy is a better prospect to play the back-up role which proved to be essential that Price played last year (given the usual nicks which cost MW a couple of games and Jennings a couple of starts and a couple of other games he was unable to finish). I find it really hard to believe that Peters is such a phenomenal athlete that he will be able to be trusted to start this year at LT and guard JP's blindside. I think Teague can adequately man the LT position using his mobility, heightened line smarts from playing C, being smart enough to know when to take a penalty for tackling an LT or yelling at JP to run or duck if a Jason Taylor beats him. However, this move would cause enough disruption on the OL as to set the chemistry back to square one. My tendency is to believe the Bills and JMac when they have no seeming interest in Shelton as we were not willing to trade Henry for him. However, I hope to gosh they were simply lying to us and Shelton despite his athletic limitations (his failings blocking in space will mean he will need to take penalties or yell like Teague would likely have to do) is enough of a road grader that he is the LT we want leading the running game for WM. The word is that if Shelton can engage an opposing defender then that tackle is done on that play and WM will run right by him.

I agree it would have been hard if not impossible to dump Bledsoe if the Bills made the playoffs. Perhaps if he was the clear main reason for a playoff loss and got undressed the way Belicheck played him in his first game against the Pats, then maybe. However, it really would have taken this type of power outage in the first playoff game to overcome: 1. The Bills would have been featured as one of the comback stories of the year going from an 0-4 start to a 10-2 finish. WM's prescense would have gotten the main credit, but Bledsoe being the QB for a team that finished with a very very impressive 7 regular season wins in a row would have got his fair share. It ould take a huge Bledsoe power outage even surpassing his joining with Lindell, Clements funble and the D taking the weekend off against Stillers scrubs to reverse the effects of this week long commercial for the Bills and Bledsoe. 2. If the Bills finished with 7 straight wins and double digit victory, not even taking into account the reversal of fortune after an 0-4 start, Bledsoe was so horrendous in 2003 that as the nod is for regular season performance a lousy playoff game would not stop Bledsoe from getting some nods as 2004 comeback player of the year, It would be really hard even after a playoff loss unless it was all demonstrably Bledsoe's fault to cut him rather than invest in the hope that he would comeback yet again from this playoff loss. 3. Bledsoe actually did improve quite a bit under MM and TCs guidance even though he did not improve enough to be adequate (TD should have cut him after his 2003 horrendous season rather than resign him). Under MM, Bledsoe did achieve after the 0-4 start: A. a great ability to run the playfake leading to beautiful downfield tosses with his strong arm to Evans. He always had good ballhandling ability as shone by his catching some of the shotgun adventures from Teague until he settled down a bit and he used this well receiving pitchbacks from WM and throwing sufficient bobs to Evans. Many QBs can't even throw a catchable bomb on the dropback and Bledsoe catching the pitch from a first year player and hitting the downfield receiver for a TD or big gain should not be dismissed as something anyone can do because they can'. B. They even used the stature as an effective runner sending him on several QB draw plays for positive yardage last season. It does not matter that he never broke one for a TD or much more than a gain of 6 yards or so. Bledsoe being used as a runner on the delay up the middle combined with WMs effectiveness to force opposing players (particularly their LBs from selling out completely on the blitz or going around the blitz pick-up because they had to hesitate to watch the middle before abadoning it for the blitz. I admit I had actually been lulled by the constant references to him as a statue on TSW to assume he would never run. MM and TC however, correctly saw that Bledsoe is a big boy who can survive a hit 6 yards downfield as well as he could survive multiple hits he took getting sacked. C. They also used Bledsoe as a credible fake to run the QB sneak (something I think KG and GW never did) and he turned this fake into a pitch back to WM who scampered over 40 yards for the TD as the D committed to looking inside first to stop the Bledsoe 4th and 1 dive. Clearly the comfortable 6 wins came about because of theST, WM and the D primarily but I think it is not logically deniable (though those who are psycotically addiceted to Bledsoe do not depend on logic or rationality to bash him) that Bledsoe was much better in 04 than his incredibly stinky 03 when the Bills went 10 or so quarters consecutively under his QBdom not scoring an offensive TD. 4. it would have have been a ticket sales and PR disaster to cut a playoff QB who has been a totally quality guy until he got the word the Bills wanted to cut him if he didn't take a paycut, Many hate Bledsoe (we have seen their posts), but likewise from the moment he arrived a lot of people loved him and worship him. To cut him once his squad made the playoffs would have so soured a lof of ledsoe loving Bills fans (even after a playoff lost) that it would have meant a lot of splaining and selling to fans and would have heightened the already big pressure on JP to produce and produce now. Further, MM and TD would have heightened the risk they are taking which will comeback to bite them IF JP has the usual first year adjustments players have and Parcells remains smart enought to coach Bledsoe to "just throw the damn ball" as he did when he made the SB with Bledsoe. I actually suspect that Dallas is a better situation for Bledsoe to be productive than Buffalo. 1. Parcells will not have to rely on the QB leading the team like many Bills fans will expect more than JP individually than he needs or likely can produce for the Bills to be a winner. Both Dallas and Buffalo will likely win more games by getting a Trent Dilfer like result out of QB than getting a John Elway like result. Neither Bledsoe or JP is anywhere near a Elway in terms of playing ability. The question is whether this player with the golden arm/lead brain of Bledsoe or the a player with the first year starter limitation of JP can in fact be coached into managing a game like a Trent Dilfer. Parcells did this once before with Bledsoe when they made the SB so saying it cannot happen ignores reality. 2. The personnel in Dallas will actually suit Bledsoe- They are in OK shape at RB with Jacque Jones showing not as much promise as WM, but he is good. The WRs are muc weaker than Moulds and Evans but to the extent this makes even Bledsoe think twice about throwing instead of running this may not be bad. Their OL is getting old with old talents like Larry Allen and Flozell Adams and young but les productive than hoped talents like Gurode, but I see no one saying our OL is a stone cold lock to be solid from the start. I think we will solve the TE problem but like us TE is a question mark but Parcells has demonstrated that he can find productive answers to these questions even with the limitations of a Bledsoe. 3. There schedule does have them facing 6 games against playoff teams but only 2 of those in the first 8 and the last two against Carolina and St. Louis. Getting out of the gate well will be tough but can be doable for Mr. Bill and if he gets on a roll then and Bledsoe are on a roll. The bottomline is that if Bledsoe is even hinted by the press as a doing a comeback after the Bills cut, then the Bills better be winning with JP (I think we can if we do not rely on this youngster to win games as Pitt did last year letting RoboQB ride Bettis and an opportunistic D to Ws) or TD and M will have some splainin to do to disatisfied customers. If Lindell had not missed a chip shot. the D had played their usual game against Pitts scrubs, if Clements hadn't taken away by laying the ball on the carpet as much as he giveth with is TD return. or if Bledsoe had proven to be a good enough QB to overcome all these errors (he is not) and we had made the playoffs, then TD/MM would have gotten grief even if this team was winning and Bledsoe produces Ws in Dallas.

Exactly. This is why the idea of improving the Bills merely by targetting the elimination of Posey may not result in much improvement and in fact may be a really poor investment of limited salary cap dollars. If it cost more to acquire a quality OLB to replace Posey than it would to upgrade the DL (perhaps we should have offered a bit more to Phat Pat, perhaps that is the FA purchase we should have made) then replacing Posey would not result in improvement. I agree with laziness being a good reason for a normal soul to not research the games for actual tangible episodes of Posey hurting the Bills rather than fact-free opinion that he sucks which is not supported by the overall results of the D or specifc evidence of scores or big gains on Posey. (If folks notice my own too lengthy pieces are done mostly in theory, memory or quick looks at last years stats while sitting on the conference calls I get paid for with work, rather than doing real research om football). I can relate to not looking stuff up. However, my challenge if met will involve folks looking stuff up because I think the fact the D did well with Posey getting a lot of PT and no one has yet listed a number of times where Posey errors cost us points or big gains means that evidence of him causing our D to be bad does not exist.

I hereforth issue the Posey Challenge!!! Some very good football minds like Simom have posted about the failings of Posey. He has disappointed me because when he was acquired by TD as the first FA signing in the league in 2003 I bought the line that he was an incredibly cheap acquisition who would build off the 8 sacks he logged for the expanision Texans to put up double-digit sack numbers for the Bills. Yet, 2003 saw him get off to a pretty slow start for the Bills and though he eventually logged 5.5 sacks that year (more than Spikes or Fletcher got last year when they were great BTW) I was disappointed (despite one of them being a tough hit that knocked David Carr out- I don't root for injuries but he rung his bell). He logged a mere 1 sack last year and many of the Bills faithful called for his head. However, as usual when fans start calling for a player to be cut, it is time to take a second look. As best as I can tell Posey did get off to a lousy start, but my guess is that much of this came from him learning how to work in a 4-3 rather than a 3-4. Even tougher was that he did this while working to learn a new D scheme (the LeBeau run-blitz). Still there a two reasons why I think Posey can be assesed as doing a good job. First he eventually got it together and played his assigned sackmaster role. Second the Bills D was statistically very good (top 4 in the nFL) and Posey started 16 of 16 games. Rather than be even more disappointed with his lackluster sack totals for 2004, I think the real measure is that the Bills D was even more successful last year and Posey once again played a big role starting all 16 again. Watchers such as Simon claim that Posey seemed to turn the wrong way and looked lost out there a significant portion of the time. The POSEY CHALLENGE is this. Please educate me and the rest of TSW as to where your observations of bad play by Posey made a tangable difference. If one could site horrible statisitcal performance by a D where Posey logged a lot of PT then maybe he is one of the culprits. The D was not perfect (witness giving up over 100 yards to a Pitts scrub rusher) but this D was good and it does not surprise me that the LB corps (including Posey) get come credit for this. If Posey is just riding on the coattails of a bunch of great players who produced good cumulative stats then simply tell me the plays where the bad work overwhelmed by the good work was Posey's faults. When was he beaten for TDs because he was turned the wrong way? When did he drop sure INTs? I know he only logged one sack, but the team as a whole was one of the best sack crews in football and part of this was not 11 guys running after the QB like their hair was on fire, but a few players staying back in demonstrably effective coverage because the QB had no one to throw to and got sacked. I know folks complain about Posey and his sole sack was disappointing, but i think he did a good job last year. That being said it certainly does not mean for this fan that he gets to rest on his laurels. I thin TD is right that competition is good and i would love to see Posey get beat out because someone plays better. However, I do not see this happening because Stamer who is behind him on the depth chart strikes me as producing more as a #2 LB than the more highly regarded Haggan and Crowell the last two years, but I do not see Stamer as a good enough player to be a starter. Haggan and Crowell have shown flashes of productivity on ST and both have better pedigrees than the more productive at position play Staer. However, both are not challenging Posey on the depth chart and unless something about their play forces a move for them which does not involve unseating Spikes or Fletcher it ain't happenin. So please educate us all and give some of the broader statiscal examples or the specific play examples of lack of production by Posey. Failing that I am happy to accept the judgment he is an important contributing part of one of the best LB corps in the NFL.

I assume obi wan reprinted my entire post due to its final relevant question regarding why change drastically (improving must always be sought after, but fine-tuning and radical change are two entirely different things. The is always a good reason for improving but there seems to be little rationale reason for radical change of the D and asserting we should switch to a 3-4 because it is certainly true our D is not good enough to win it all does not follow). However, this is the internet, so who insists that we be rational so the argument is an interesting football discussion to me even though it is quite pointless in terms of what the Bills should do. The main thing that I think this thread shows is that it provides a stock example of how folks are too much slaves to body size and their supposed prototypes for a player's weight and size even though this is not the same as how he performs. Folks keep saying we are unable to run a 3-4 capable of getting us to an SB (reaching the SB even if you lose it does mean you had a successful season- not total success certainly but success nonetheless- if you disagree then you are one of the few that considers the Bills SB lsosing teams of the early 90s as not being successful). The early 90s Bills teams used a 3-4 D and one which irritatingly used a brnd but don't break approach and were successful to the tune of reaching 4 straight SBs. Folks who insist that is impossible to run a successful 3-4 because the Bills DEs are undersized and with the loss of Phat Pat we do not have the size needed to run a 3-4 ignore the fact that the Bills DL had: RDE- Phil Hansen- not a small boy, but not a big boy either by any stretch of the imagination. I'd be shocked if he push the scales much above 290 and would not be surprised if his playing weight was close to 270. The NFL is bigger and faster today than even 10 years ago, but I do not think you need a behemoth to play RT in a 3-4. Schobel's big weakness has been strength at the point of attack and against the run. However, Denney is stronger against the run than against the pass to the tune that in the real world, the Bills have actually lined him up at DT on some plays. Though Denney was never the pass rusher we wanted, he overcame his problems which benched him as a rookie of not using his bodily properly so that most NFL vets could get leverage on him and nullify him after looking at the tape. Though Denney never has developed the pass rush authority we want, he has learned how to use his body and not only shows enough strength at the point of attack to play DT, but has made great use of his huge wingspan and athleticism to make the run blitz a real threat because he can get back and do short and even medium zone pass coverage (this is how he got a pre-season INT last year). Even better Denney has developed the flexibility to play RDE and LDE (if you don't believe this because you believe all the TSW post still ragging on Denney becayuse of his rookie problems then take note of the fact the Bills had only 3 DEs on the roster last year with Denney backing up both Kelsay and Schobel. If he is so bad that the Bills should have cut him how do you explain this Bills decision and the statistical success the Bills D had using Denney alot in our DL rotation. The fact is the Bills had success with the 3-4 even with an average size RDE and a behemoth is not required. A footbell player is required and Hansen was one and Denney (who even earned a shot at TE duty from the coaches is a football player). NT- Jeff Wright- If ever there was a player at NT that is the opposite physically of behemoth DTs like Big Ted, Phat Pat, or Miami's Bowens it was Jeff Wright. Generally it was the strategy of the opponent to try to beat the Bills D by pushin him around (and this was successfully done on notable occaisions like the nTG SB win against our Bills) but in general the a big part of a successful Bils D in the early 90s was fleet-footed and undersized Jeff Wright manning the NT spot and holding his own. A big reason for this was having BRRUUUCCCEEE lined up next to him and 2 and sometimes three blocker would flow toward Bruce leaving Wright to beat one on one blocking. Even still there was a ton of traffic in the middle and fleet-footed Wright picked his way through it or diagnosed theplay and occupied the correct blockers so LBs like Conlan and Talley could come in unchecked and clean up the trash. You need some help at LDE which i think the Bills lack to make an undersized NT effective. However, using the run blitz and having a player like Adams who is not undersized by a longshot and still has one of the quickest first steps in the game, I could easily a see a 3-4 working with this crew. LDE- Brucccceeee- The key to his game was when after his early seasons Bruce became a workout warrior and pushed his weight down to around 265 but maintained his strength and determination. Bruce is no example to build around because no one can imitate the quality of Bruce's play. yet, he does provide a real world example of how you can make things work with an undersized LDE. Kelsay will never equal Bruce and should not even try to. However, the good things about his first two seasons is that he has shown some particiular strengths which might (I said MIGHT) end up with this year as a breakout year for him as a pass rusher and force opposing Os to shift two players his way to block him. If that is the case, and he actually fakes a rush but drops off into a short zone on the run blitz, you will have two blockers standing there dancing with the air while an OLB, a DB doing the safety blitz, or Adams with one on one coverage storm in to kill the QB. Kelsay's good point to me have been: 1. Great athleticism- the pass block he made late last season was a good but typical use of athleticism. The fact he stayed on the batted ball and took it down for an INT was simply outstanding athleticism. If he can also harness this to use his body to keep him strong at the point of attack he will be a formibable tool. He will never reach Bruce levels (he was athletic enough that I saw him once get best on a play and still nail the runner flying by into the hole he had just left by hauling him down with ine hand) but he has shown some athletic ability which explains why he won the starting job last year. 2. He has developed a good second move- Great ends often have a devastating move which they love. However, it does not take a lot of film for an opposing OL player to catch on to and look for that move. Part of Schobel's problems as a youngster was that he had trouble developing a second move when plan A did not work and opponents could stand him up and neutralize him (he did have the motor to keep going, but then he was dependent on the DBs shutting down the opponent which often happened with AW/Clements but we could be had as the LBs led by Robinson were not up to the task of watching the middle of the field effectively. Now that Kelsay has the ability to use additional tricks when his first move is blocked he can still pressure the QB and get sacks. 3. He does have the constant motor- The best thing for the Bills sack totals is that with McGee coming into his own and teaming with Clements we are approaching having lockdown CBs. Add to that Vincent who is a CB by training and a vet to recognize plays next to Lawyer Milloy we have the DBs (even the nickel is strong with Thomas and Greer) to lock things down and allow a DE with motor to get some late sacks. At any rate, while Bruce shows you can play the 3-4 with low weight DL players to join Hansen and Wright, Kelsay's skillset shows that he may be enough of a player that we could make the 3-4 work with the undersized personnel we have. However, that football exploration being said, the 3-4 is a great theory which I think can work with out personnel, but why make this radical change when fine tuning of a D with 10 of 11 starters returning was quite productive last year.

Even better you will get to pay for this (which the pranksters richly deserve) with your tax dollars. As with several other OT threads regarding miscreant minors and the utility of beating them, the question arises: Where were the parents, what do they think or say, and how are their kids being raised? Raising kids is a handful into today's world, so when their kids take negative actions that violate public laws and thus the public is involved in evaluating their parenting choices, I still think the public should be charitable in making these assessments. However, just because we don't demand that minors make adult judgments, it does not mean that their actions involve little more than a free-pass. Theae kids took actiions which fortunately did not result in serious injury, but they could have and they should be disciplined accordingly. Likewise, their are most likely mitigating circumstances which mean the parents should not be punished for the actions of their children. However, these actions had potentially serious enough repercussions and were so out of line that the parents have some splainin to do in my judgment.

As bad as things are with the web system for doing ticket sales, i can't help but remember back to a time not too long ago (mid-90s, certainly late 80s?) when the use to sort tickets and will call orders into shoeboxes. The Bills really have moved into the 20th century finally (and TD has had a lot to do with managing this there have been some notable advances like the upgrade in pre-season operations at St. John Fishers over Fredonia) but unfortunately this means that there will be some clusterfs as the Bills come to grips with 21st century approaches.

I think posters are too caught up in whether a player has the appropriate body size or theoretical demographics to man a particular position. The key point for the Bills is can they play. Demographically it would be crazy to use a stork like Denney in pass protection even in the short zone. This seemed particularly true since he had problems bending properly as a rookie and could be easily countered by opponents taking away his power because he did not athletically use his body properly to maintain leverage when he got locked up. However, Denney proved teachable and the Bills retrained him to use his body properly. He is an athlete and a football player first and a DE second. Though he is not the traditional pass rush specialist a DE can be, he is very effective even in the middle zone on pass coverage (he has exhibited characteristics more like the true stork Ted Hendricks as a player). Denney works well in pass coverage in the run blitz. Even better, it means he is not being employed in a weaker area for him (pass rush) and he actually is being employed more in a stronger area for him (run D). I think London Fletcher is a player (it did not surprise me at all he took a dominant role in ST last year once MM decided to use starters on ST unlike GW). He is shorter than the traditional LB, but who cares if he leads the Bills in tackles. Think back to how we employed the 3-4 successfully in the past. A poster above makes the point we do not have a big body to play the NT role. Are you saying that Jeff Wright who played NT for the Bills for years in the 3-4 had a big body? I think not. Folks need to get caught up a lot less in whether a player has a particualr body type and ask more whether they are players who can pull off non-traditional roles. Denney has, Fletcher has and there is some potential that Schobel, Spikes or even Posey can. I see no sign the Bills are going to switch to the 3-4 as a base D, but it strikes me as the case of being because our D has been in the top 5 statistically for a couple of years running a 4-3. Why change?

Typically the Bills do not release salary amounts or the details of contracts and that appears to be the case with Rashard Lee. Eventually the general salary of all contracts is available through the NFLPA website at NFLPA.org. This is done by agreement of the NFL and the union as this how they can trust each other and the public release of cap hits of all contracts is essential in order to police the salary cap and set the franchise (top 5 salaries at a position) and transition (top 10) levels. Good reporting also ends up with general contract amounts being openly discussed and also additional payments of the line (such and such player has a bonus or has an incentive coming if gets x yards) because people talk and informally the GM might confirm or deny a specific figure rather than letting a false rumor float around. However, there has not yet been the time for that kind of reporting yet and even when it occurs suprises like the trigger date for a bonus payment can suddenly emerge (ex. the off-season bonus that Ruben Brown got was a surprise to the public and the triggering of this bonus moved the Bills to cut him rather than pay him.

Actually, Darin, even though my wife and I were smart enough to know we had other things we wanted to do rather than being parents. I do have 18 years of experience dealing first hand with parenting and raising a child. You see. I was a kid once myself. I actually think that this first hand experience was quite valuable for me, but just as raising a kid gives a person zero real ability to determine what is right in parenting by another parent, my experience as a kid gives me zero real ability to say what is right for someone else. I and you can say whatever we want, our experiences simply do not make what we say definitiely correct in all cases for all people.

Sim- I actually think the conversation is falling into the trap where its interpreted that if one doesn't agree that Clements is the #1 or #2 Bills CB in the last 15 years therefore your're insisting he sucks, I do like AW for what he showed as a Bill better than I like Clements for what he has shown. However, I think that Clements is one of my favorite Bills performers right now, I think he deserved the Pro Bowl nod last year (I was actually surprised that it took an injured starter for him to slip in, and I think there is a pretty good chance he will remain a Bill because even though his salary demands will escalate to a level no mere football player deserves and even relative to other football players on the team he doesn't merit (WM's play for example is more critical to whether we wibn or lose and he has even better prospects than Clements to be a difference maker in the future, but he is paid by the slotting, by career time, and the vaguries of injuries to get far less $ than Clements. Just cause in my football judgment I like AW over Clements does not mean I think Clements sucks. Overall, i simply feel that AW has shown the rare ability to be most important player on the field through his consistent action as he not only can nullify extraordinarily good receivers be they fleet WRs or big TE receivers, but his hits are do wicked on anyone crossing the middle that he has the all the receivers hearing footsteps. Clements is a much better INT guy than AW, but he can be raped with game-turning results as well as the oft mentioned Jimmy Smith catch demonstrates. He's great but there is still a bit to much feast or famine in his play for me to be worried about facing him as an opponent. If I'm an opponent, I'm worried about AW on each and every play whether its a run play or a pass. Not only am I not as concerned about Clements on run plays, but I'm happy to take my chances with a quick hitch pass to a WR and let him take on Clements one and one and try to make him miss. He will get me sometimes and may even strip the ball, but I know I will get him sometimes and may take him to the house. On the other hand, if I face AW trying to stop my run, odds are I going to get tackled and on less I am careful I might get hurt. I think one of the factors that gets skewed because we tend to rely on examples to much and claim they prove all points is that they actually make Clements look worse than he was in his initial years and make him look better than he is now. During Clements initial years, there are several examples like the one cited regarding Moss ripping him a new one where Clements actually got tested a lot because the rookie or at least youngster was a far better target than AW. There are examples or I remember Clements getting taken a few times as a younger player because opposing QBs and OCs chose to pick on him rather than AW. Clements actually impressed me as a younger player because even though he saw a lot of action and got took sometimes, he held his own and also took opponents like Manning to the house sometimes. Last year as well though, Clements sometimes shut down opponents because QBs would choose not to throw his way when they had the young learning McGee to pick on. In general I think he did shut down opponents, but part of this was his deserved rep because you ran the risk of an INT if you went his way and there was much better picking on the other side. A key for me is that as much as I loved AW and his hitting and cover ability, i was fine about letting him walk rather than paying him a mint because I was confident Clements could step up to the#1 slot and McGee could be the number 2. Vincent was nice transitional overkill if McGee could not do it. This year I also feel fine about Clements walking if necessary (I don't think it will be with a larger cap) because I am pretty comfortable that with another year of experience McGee can step up and I see a couple of candidates (Thomas and Greer for the #2 CB job). Even more fun Vincent may well still be around for transition and we also acquired a 4 year starter in the draft. I agree that Clements is one of the best Bills CBs in the last 15, but though great I do not see him as essential.

Its understandable that some or many are confused after readimhg my ramblings. I use the internet for thinking things through (mostly what may happened to my beloved Bills). My apologies for them being longwinded and I just a simply write and send and do not proof read much if at all. In addition, as folks have noted, my posts tend to be on the one hand and on the other rather than the usual one-sided doctrine that tends to be theusual drivel (as opposedto my drivel) on the internet. The posts can be difficult to follow die to poor editing and also because some readers are fairly mentally challenged and have trouble putting a thought that does not involve eating foor or going to the can with an idea. I leave it to folks to judge which it is on a particular post or comment. At the suggestion of others, I have tried to boil some posts down to cliff notes and I will do so on this one. Cliff notes begin: 1. It seems more than justifiable and in fact essential to physically alter a kids behavior with a spank/slap/whatever when he is hurting someone else or about to her themself. If the method for knocking the magnum pistol out of your kids hand and to give him the message never pick up that gun again involves punching him/her in the mouth then so be it its the parents call (the real issue of course is why your 6 year old had a magnum pistol but we'll deal with that later. 2. However, I'm surprised that posters seem to be quite OK with a non-parent, even someone who is acting as your child's caregiver get the endorsement for giving 15 minutes or more of physical discipline to your kid for some misbehavior. Alot of details that are important are missing from this story (not that it ever stopped anyone from having their fact-free opinion on the internet), but I for one wouldhave a big problem with anyone touching my kid or giving him more than a swift measured physical punishment to alter his/her behavior. I authorize any adult to slap my kid to knock a gun out of his hand. I have issues with an outsider laying hands on my kid with some 15 minute or so physical intervention. 3. Teachers may be in my place but they are not me and though I authorize what I deem to be appropriate measured short phsyical interaction to stop my kid from hurting someone else or hurting themselves. I am pretty much opposed to someone laying hands on my kids for some extended theoretically corrective episode. 4. If my kid is so out of control that the onlu way to discipline him is some 15 minute long Abu Ghraib exercise using tape, then there are some bigger problems here that I need to deal with my kid at home before I let him out to torture the world. If anyone needs to beaten up here to correct their behavior , its probably the kids' parents who have laid their out of control child on this teacher. I suspect that is also case regarding many posters on TSW who seem to endorse teachers making up for failed parenting. Cliff notes end

Billsfan4 also has my thanks for a thoughtful post which I like though I disaagree with a few of the assessments but even more so with some of the alternative thoughts folks have to the initial post. I think the RB situation is not driven by any huge dissatisfaction with the alternatives we have on hand (Williams as a 3rd down back, Burns as an ST and back-up FB, but more that the Bills have a correct sense that these players may be adequate for the above roles but signing FA Lee and drafting Gates late is a no0lose situation for the Bills because if they step up and realize some of the potential we see great for us, if they don't and we cut them too bad for them but no big hole for us. The back-up RG situation is simply too uncertain to make a reasonable prediction. Injuries to other teams will determine the demand and supply at RB which will determine his ultimate trade value rather than an assessment of him as a player or a person. The Green trade is interesting but I think Henry coming back to be WMs back-up as unlikely as that is seems more likely than Green becoming a Bill. Several things can keep Reed on this roster: 1. His cap hit becomes 400K in deadspace if he is cut and anyone kept over him not only has to equal him but actually do much better to force him out. 2. Despite two lousy regular seasons in a row, he impressed folks in camp because he is a workout warrior and does well in camp. Though hid past mental and physical breakdowns make it unlikely in my book that he will ever become the WR we want, cutting a nice figure in practice will likely keep him around. 3. He has actually done the job envisioned for him before. Reed showed that mentally he was not up to being the #2 and physically he broke down last year and created the opportunity that Evans seized. However as a rookie Reed feasted on LBs and 4th or 5th DBs when Moulds and Price mandated great attention. Moulds and Evans should do this again and there is a reasonable expectation that an even more experienced Reed can perform like he did as a rookie. My guess is they keep Reed and Aiken wins the #4 job. I agree that giving up on Lindell does not make sense to me since he did a great job as part of the kickoff game, and a very good job on onside kicks. Hie failure to be a money placekicker certainly calls for looking at a replacement for him. However, I have seen little real evidence that any of the kickers on the roster can handle the kickoff duty well and in the absensce of this I think Lindell will stay. As far as LT is concerned I do not think the starter is on this team yet. Rather than being naive, the availability of a cap casualty in a couple of weeks strikes me as a far more likely scenario than the wildcards of getting Green or Simon. The Bills braintrust seemed split on Shelton and I think if the docs say he is OK we will sign him. There is also talk of Whitfield being released an he would be an upgrade over Gandy (particularly if they believe in Peters at LT cause he will need at least a year). I agree that JMac is hot on Gandy, but being the back-up T to both positions is something the Bills should get somebody they are hot for to play. I think the primary weakeness of the OL laid out in this thread is that it does not have a credible back-up T for both sides.