Fake-Fat Sunny

I really doubt anything dramatic will be necessary. Henry would have to adopt the attitude and actions of a Wickey Williams to not report at all. Such a move would essentially end his career as the Bills would retain the rights to him and no other team would want to take on the burden of a player who has then gone two seasons since being productive on the field, finished his play the last time with an injury and now has let down his teammates an his team in addition to these issues. If TD does not get good value for Henry in a trade, then we almost certainly pursue the line TD has been talking all along that we would be please to have Henry back with the Bills. In the face of this, Henry has no other sane options (I think he is certainly not a bright boy, but has shown no signs of Wickey level insanity like having a rap star as his agent, a history of pro-Marahoochee statements, unusual physical appearance like his dreads, participating in and forcing his trade) than to suck it up and operate as best he can as WM's back-up. Perhaps he will take an insane approach, but seeing this as the likely option for action probably says more about the thinking of the poster in terms of what is sane than it is an accurate prediction of the Henry course of action. If he takes such idiot actions, the Bills merely just move on and do nothing and he is hosed.

(Sorry(()

I'd agree that I have been a bit harsh in my judgment on Edwards, but I would sat that my harshness has not been without reason in that it is also hard to improve your game when you turn out to be so bad as a rookie that ypu emd up inactive on a team that does not have much in competing with you at all. It took am injury to do it, but my gosh Brandon Spoon was even good enough to get PT (and actually contribute with a couple of INTs for TDs) and he was bad enough to get cut the next season. Edwards was not even good enough to be active. Yet, there is hope, Denney was so bad as to be inactive as a highly drafted rookie and he managed to learn the game well enough that he also started his second year and then unlike Edwards continued ti develop into a pretty valuble member of this team (and at a lower cost than Edwards actually). There is still hope for Edwards and with Phat Pat gone he will get every chance to prove his point this year.

No prob since as always feedback on my rantings is appreciate but not required as I use these writings to lend format to research and to prepare discussion points for figuring out Bills goings on with my buddies in real life.

The following is my player-by-player assessment of whether TD did a good job for Bills fans and the Bills (these are two different things in this society of ours as we are the customers and they are entertainment provider, our interests often coincide because a maxim in business is that the customer is always right or you will not be in business for long, but the seller and the buyers intetests are simply different) in terms of assessing players on our roster and negotiating deals with them within the market place. Many fans (incorrectly in my view) make the assumption that a particular player is worth a particular amount based on his play or the prospects for his future play. No. A player is worth )is paid) what the market says he is worth. Worse players will get more money than better players depending on what the market allows and comparisons of players based on their play are indicative of things but far from conclusive in terms of what we should offer or what he will be paid. In addition, this list is developed with a sense that ALL NFL PLAYERS ARE OVERPAID. I value even the best of NFL plauers and even my favorite Bills much less than I value thework done by our troops in the Mideast. firemen, police officers, etc). Pay and salary are based on market worth and not on value to society so all of these assessments are fairly mercenary assessments of worth to the Bills and the entertainment they provide by putting up Ws rather than Ls: PS (TD gets the primary blame/credit because the buck stops with him, but clearly the assessment and training is the work and responsibility of many people in the Bills braintrust, but because Modrak and MM are primarily TD creatures I will use TD as a shorthand for them all). 95 Adams, Sam DT 6-4 335 31 11 Texas A&M- Great job by TD who not only got SA for less than he could have gotten in the market. but great management of this employee by him taking far fewer plays off than he has historically over the last two years. 89 Aiken, Sam WR 6-2 204 24 2 North Carolina- OK job by TD sd the amount of his draft contract was pretty much determined by slot and he was a draft pick who has potential in his third year to really contribute to this team if he improves his game. 69 Anderson, Tim DT 6-3 304 24 R Ohio State - OK job by TD as the amount of the contract is slotted but drafting a DT early was clearly a need move as we lost PW to FA. His play does not yet show hw is up to the task yet, but we will see thi year for sure. 26 Baker, Rashad FS 5-10 198 23 R Tennessee- Great job getting this UDFA and paying him the minimum while he plays well enough to push for a starting job. Definite rookie errors but epitomizes bang for the buck concept with last years play. 97 Bannan, Justin DT 6-3 305 25 3 Colorado - Amount also determined by slotting. However, good play as a rookie was followed by a couple of disappointing years at DT. Folks are probably more excited by his work at LG in the redzone last year. However, if he is going to merit the money he makes a revival in his DT prospects is likely what we will have to see and LG development will likely take him a couple of years and the escalators in his contract probably are not worth keeping him merely to learn a new position. 30 Brown, Dante RB 6-1 215 24 2 Memphis - Non-issue as far as I am concerned as he likely gets the minimum and has contributed like it. Joe Burns- I am adding him since he was resigned but was not moved into the roster yet. Signing him is probably a good idea with the loss of Prioleau imcreasing the importance of having experienced SR around. Uncertainty at RB also gives an experienced Bills RB some value even though he has not produced much in this role for us. If his contract amount is much above the vet minimum we are probably reaching here. 84 Campbell, Mark TE 6-6 255 29 6 Michigan - Pretty good pick-up by TD and the Bills as we got a starter in exchange for a conditional draft pick which was a 6th rounder or so. His cap ihot jas creeped up over a million but this is a small price to pay for a starter who shined in a couple of games last year. The injury he suffered to his ACL and his age make him a candidate for an injury settlement unless TD is right the he will be a full speed by pre-season this year. 22 Clements, Nate CB 6-0 209 25 4 Ohio State - Amount was set by his slot, but kudo to TD for trading down the year he was drafted when we desperately needed extra picks in a rebuilding year imposed by cap hell. He got an escalator for making the Pro Bowl which TD and the gang agreed to include to the detriment of our cap. but complaining about this is not only useless but silly since he preformed well and got paid for that. 55 Crowell, Angelo LB 6-1 235 23 2 Virginia - Another player whose salary is determined by slot. The jury is still out in judging the player assessment as though there is the good news that he contributed to a successful ST unit there is non-news since we have not needed him to contribute on the field as he backs up Spikes. In theory, if he was great he would show the LB skills to allow him to flop sides and challenge Posey, but give the successful performance of the D and ST there is no requirement that this happen. Figure him as an OK pick-up but if he wants to be viewed as a great pick-up we need to hear some more noise from him. 92 Denney, Ryan DE 6-7 275 27 3 Brigham Young University Unlike many on TSW I jusge him to be a good and even approaching a very good pick-up. Most folks are spoiled by having Bruce Smith play be the level we are used to at DE. Obviously Denney is no where near a Bruce as a player. In addition, he was poor enough with his first year play that he was inactive much of the year (the rap on him was that he did not bend his big bodt down enough or in the right way and was easily exploited by a far less talented vet). However, he demonstrated the maturity he has an older player who took a couple of years off to do his BYU mission ny solving this problem enough to be a starter his second year. He lost the starter job to a more talented player (Kelsay) the next year, but the good news is that this seems to have as much to do with Kelsay being good as Denney issues. This is demonstrateg by Denney's flexibility allowing us to go with only 3 DEs as he could flip-flop. It is also demostrated by an INT in pre-season which shows Denney and his wingspan are valuable in the run blitz. Despite Kelsay being the starter Denney actually edged him out in tackles credited to hom last year. Folks who complain that Denney did not merit the Bills trading value to move up to get him overlook the fact that we literraly stole him with this move while Pitts (much to TDs glee I'm sure) was on the phone with him (testimony that anoyhrtpsrty had him ranked as the best DE available). This move up was dictated by us having to go OL in the 1st round and deciding to go with a talked about 1st round choice (Reed) who was still there in the 2nd. In addition those who site the picking of Kelsay the next year as confirmation of Denney's failure overlook the fact that with the loss of Wiley/Hansen/Big Ted and Bruce and the switch to a 4-3 from a 3-4 even if Denney had been a star we likely would have drafted a DE with out second pick in 2003 anyway. 49 Donnelly, Joe TE 6-3 250 24 R Syracuse - Likely roste fodder who deserves no more than the minimum/ 54 Dorenbos, Jon LS 6-0 250 24 2 UTEP- another candidate for an injury settlement unless he comes back, but to TDs credit we already have a replacement for the S on the roster. LS is definitely a contributinh position onthis team but I doubt Dorenbos gets much over the vet minimum and with his injury and Banta in place does no deserve much more. 98 Edwards, Ron DT 6-3 320 25 4 Texas A&M - An interesting case. I would say TD made a bad assessment judgment drafting him because he was vitually singular among TD's 2001 draft class in being a disappointment (Clements, Schobel, Henry drafted before him became starters and Edwards and even Spoon drafted after him also became rookie starters while Edwards remaied mostly inactive. He was a started his second year but really by default and my arguments to those who labled Adms (signed to challenge him) as a fat tub of goo led me to reply so what as this is an upgrade over Edwards who was a skiny tub of goo. Nevertheless in his 4th season Edward did begin to show some production getting sacks as a back-up to SA and at one point in a game even forced this Pro Bowler to the bench. The FA loss of PW will likely give Edwards a chanc to demonstate whether the real Edwards was last year's sub threatening to become a starter or the first year player who was inactive or second year player whowas overmatched. At a cap hit of a million this is marginally an OK deal by TD but I would cut him unless he takes the starting DT job in pre-season. 60 Esposito, Jasen G 6-4 305 23 1 Kutztown 0 Cmp fodder who is OK at the minimum and probably makes the PS due to our uncertainty at OL. 87 Euhus, Tim TE 6-5 249 24 R Oregon State - An OK pick on the second day of the draft and the slotted salary it brought him. An ACL injury get him looked at closely and his youth and a TD produced last year gets him a look see if he is hurt instead of an inuiry settlement. 83 Evans, Lee WR 5-10 197 24 R Wisconsin - Great assessment of this slotted salary as he produced immediately. His raw speed makes a much better player out of Moulds. Put this one down as a good and potentially great TD pick-up. 59 Fletcher, London LB 5-10 245 29 7 John Carroll - I'd also list him as a great pick-up by TD. $3.8 million for the teams leading tackler on a D easily in the top 5 statistically two years in a row is a great pick-up. In addition to this he is a team captain who has demonstrated by his correct onfield complaining about various ref calls and slow substitutions by GW that he knows what is going on in this game. He stepped up to have some value as a wedge buster and hands guy on ST. The only complaint I have is that he gets little to psyched up to play his game and got a couple of out of control penalties last year (though one was a stupid call bu the ref Fletcher did not derserve). Still a great value for the Bills at his salary and a good move by TD. Those who advocated cutting him seem to know little about football. -- Gandy, Mike OL 6-4 310 26 4 Notre Dame - Not sure what the cap numbers are, but my understanding is that he signed for a very low base salary (appropriate for a player I judge to be at about back-up talent though I have no idea if JMac sees something with his profesional eye I am missing completely with my amateur eye. In addition who knows what escalators are actually in the contract, though if these escalators are tied to real world production like games started or minutes played they are a fine idea from my standpoint (as long as the cap amount comes out of someone else not making an escalator- the Butler gift of guranteed $ to RJ while Flutie played like we wanted him to and this cost us big time should be avoided, He looks like a nice pick-up cap wise for the Marcus Price role, 37 Greer, Jabari CB 5-11 169 23 R Tennessee - Another goo pick0up by TD as he is threatening to produce his way into a nickel spot for the NFL minimum. I'll knock here for dinner- more later

On target, but the key question is WHY HAS DONAHOE PRODUCED SUCH A HORRIBLE RECORD ON HIS WATCH? I think the answer to that is that he screwed up badly and failed completely at his first big task as a GM when he hired GW as the HC. One can theorize as to why he made this colassal blunder (though my guess is that he passed on or did not develop a positive relationship with two candidates, Fox and Lewis that he worried might hand his head to him the way Cowher did in Pittsburgh, while he felt more comfortable with personally with GW and knew he could beat him in a fight if it came to that, but that's just my guess). I think those who accuse TD of making a series of the wrong moves in negotiating with, assessing, or signing players are generally wrong and this view is unsuported by the facts unless one wants to twist and turn a couple of episodes where he did make contractual errors. TD simply stunk up the joint in foolishly picking GW, but generally he has done a pretty good job on the assessment side of the game (butressed by good football heads like Modrak) and an outstanding job reading the market and negotiating deals. Even better from the owners point of view, TD has overseen some substantial upgrades on the business side of the equation (the move to St. Jon's Fisher, paying partnerships with ticket selling partners, and the nuts and bolts of stadium management (which had quite simply gotten out of control with patrons having sex in the stands). Even with the losing record (thanks to the GW failure) I doubt he has any problem getting his contract extended. As a fan, I am pissed that his miscues have impacted the part of the game I care most about, but I understand that what I care most about is not the only thing Ralph likely uses to determine the quality of TDs work. In addition, the part I care most about (W?Ls) has turned around in a big way under MM. We should only trust but verify with any business, but it is hard for me to see any Bills fan not feeling pretty good about this team with its one year improvment from 6-10 to 9-7. Further the prospects for the future are uncertain as they are for all NFL teams where worst to first (and vice versa) is possible like never before, but are pretty good with a D which has been statistically in the top 5 the last two years and only lost 1 starter to FA, with an ST which by most statistical rankings was among the league's best last year. and with an O that remains troubled but offers some potential with a more mobile QB who needs to be trained not to be Jim Kelly but trained not to make mistakes which drag down the D and ST. I think the worry about the OL is logical, but the replacement of Vinky and Ruel with someone with far more experience that I think for sure the OL may still be inadequate but it will likely be better at the same time.

You answer your own question with line above from your post. Need- Our OL need (particularly for vets) was severe (particularly at G) because of the cut of Ruben who was operating under a too generous Butler contract which made RB the only G in the top 10 OL cap hits. He made the overpayment for Brown at the time because we were desperate after Dusty had reneged on a verbal agreement with Butler to take a job with NYG which guranteed him a shot at center and we reversed field on Ruben after saying goodbye to him to test the market. Ruben actually played a key role for the Bills as he was the only OL player on the 2002 squad who had started as his position as a pro. However, the fact they even felt it was necessary to call out his boss (Kevin Killdrive) publicly when the mismanagement of the the players and the O got so bad. The huge overpayment had finally gotten to the point where the cap hit for cutting Brown was a wash and cutting a guy who had challenged the boss (even if RB was correct in the challenge) was a necessary thing to do. Overpaying Villarial was made necessary by the market as G salaries were in the process of going way up because teams were switching to bigger more aggressive DTs putting a premium on this position. In addition, the years of poor development of our huge investment in MW (who had to learn from Sullivan and Pucillo at RG) needed to be recitfied. In addition, Teague is a smart player, but JMac was not sold on him being the vet leader of the OL (and still isn't as best I can tell though he has more hope for Teague's leadership now it appears). The Bills made an overpayment to this long-term vet who seemed to be a good enough replacement as a player for RB, and who could put out investment in MW into the best position for it to work out. This year is a different situation and a different matket and comparing DeMulling's offer to Villarial's salary is an important indicator but it is way inconclusive to establishing what level of contract DeMulling is worth or should be offered. In fact, the largish contract given Villarial speaks against offering a largish contract to DeMulling as well since the largish contract given to Villarial means that we cannot have a winning budget for the team if we spend in an untoward way on the OL. I am of the mind that it all begins with the line play and at team should reasonably expect to spend way more than 1/51st (the number of salaries which count against the cap) of it's cap on OL players. In fact they should exoect to spend more than 1/22 of the money they allocate to starters on OL players. However, it you start with an average of the appx. $85 million cap across 51 players this is a cap hit of $1.66 million annually. Right now, the Bills have: 1. RT/MW at a $5.896 million hit 2. C/Teague at a 2.625 million hit 3. RG/Villarial at a 2.993 million hit above this level. Already this made it quite unlikely they would be able to sign Jennings if anyone (SF turned out to be the one to overpay him) offered him what fairly pedestrian LTs like Pettigout and Clifton had gottten. I doubted the Bills could spend much more than $4 million for Jennings and make any kind of reasonable winning budget for building the team. Given that I suspect the Bills will want to have the ability to spend for an LT (a $3 million hit if they can trade for Shelton, cap casualty releases which like Seattle's Terry do happen at LT), I doubted they would devote much to DeMulling unless his prescence allowed him to play C letting us move Teague to LT solving the budget problem for LT. The question is not simply what is DeMulling worth (I think he was the best player available on the FA market but not good enough for us to blow our budget on) but how does he fit into our plans for paying for and building an OL. DeMulling did not.

Great story Rockpile and I am glad that you and your family were able to use the events of life to teach what is seemingly a valuable lesson about inter-generational sharing to her grandkids. It sounds and I hope you are correct in offering that this life-lesson also benefited your grandma. It does not sound like it continued a tortured existence for her as the continuation of Terri Schiavo's life so politicians can score political points with their base seems to be (who knows as I may be wrong). Ultimately, this whole thing seems to come down to a debate over who makes the choice for a person when their incapacitated about continuation of their life under these circumstances. Traditionally in our society it has been a person's chosen family within the sanctity of their marriage rather than their inherited family of their parents. The real iron here is that those who have accepted the mantle of religious conservatives have chosen |life" as the driver in their moral choices over the traditional view of marriage. Further, these activists are investing in the court system and federal authority over states rights as the way to defend their "pro-life" views. Even though this irony is interesting to me it certainly gets overwhelmed by the individual tragedy Terry Schiavo is going through at the hands of a dispute between a husband who is advocating letter her die (potentially for his benefit) and parents who are advocating letting her live though the actual life she will lead strikes me as having more in common with a cat who keeps alive a mouse who cannot escape than life as we hope it is. I'm just sorry that her husband and her parents proved unable to do what so many have done when confronted with these beyond human questions and work it out as best as they could. Their failure to work it our is the strongest endorsement I can image for someone to set up a living will, if not for themselves then for their family. Some would really profit from the course you seemed to have taken, others might profit more from a version of assisted suicide like they have in Oregon. A living will makes it less likely that a person and their families will be played with like a political football or a mouse caught by a cat when their capacity is at the least to impact these decisions.

DeMulling might have been worth big bucks IF JMac viewed him as a player capable of doing a better job than Teague at C and this freed the Bills up to maintain our OL budget by moving Teague to LT. Such a maneuver may well have worked, but probably would not have as it would depend on both DeMulling being good enough to be this team's leader at C AND Teague having improved as a player over his adequate at best LT play for Denver. Of these two, if JMac is a believer in Teague then there might have been a reasonable chance that what he has gained in OL knowledge as a C and him at about the age of peak productivity for an athlete who might have made this switch successfully. However, JMac wouod have had to have been a big believer in DeMulling at C as there is little in his career that would indicate to me that he would have been much more than adequate at best (actually at around or a little less than) Yeague at C for the Bills. I think he was a player worth getting at a reasonable price but not worth busting the budget for.

I agree with you that starving her to death seems cryel and inhumane. However, keeping her alive in her current state for 15 years now (and seemingly for some infinite time in the future according to those who say she is live and just needs to be fed and her muscles kept somewhat supple with physical therapy seems cruel and inhumane to me as well. I feel sorry for Terry Schiavo. He husband seems like he may want to use her for insurance money if you believe the worst "pro-life" folks say about him. Her parents seem to want to keep her breathing so they can go on appearing to be loving parents and to work out there own demons if you believe the worst things said about them (I have no reason to believe they are that evil and operating for their own interest though it appears clear that Tom DeLay, Randall Terry and other politicians are doing so(. This is really sad because her body is being played with by two sets of folks who in theory should be looking out for her best interests, Whether it is those who want to end it quick by allowing her to die or those who want to torture her for while by keeping her alive, it is not human kind's finest hour.

This seems like a case where there are clearly two sides and both of them are wrong and potentially evil. The husband seems to want to allow her to die and that is wrong. The parents want to keep her live in a vegetative state which strikes me as torturing her. Whose wrong? Probably both of them.

Look we know how important you are because clearly you are more important the me and the rest of the Bills fans. However, from my perspectie as important as we customers are, I think many recognize that the Bills as a team are even more important. Thus, as important as me having good accurate information may be (and thus it is even more important that you get good information), I'm pleased as a Bills fan to urge them to lie flat out to me and fool me about our actual cap amount. I certainly value accurate info, but I want my team to have every advantage it can have over enemy teams that would love to beat them on the field and love to have every piece of info they can have to gain an advantage in negotiating with a player we both want. Keep the enemy in the dark about our actual cap figures as much as you can even if this means being less than honest with the customers, with me and even the lofty poster who asked this question and demanded an answer. I know its going to be a tough thing for the Bills to do. Much info is public and can easily be found on NFLPA.com regarding individual player salaries and the amount paid to each position. Release of accurate data on this site is part of how the MFL and the NFLPA keep tabs on each other and assure that both parties in this partnership are being honest. In addition, Bill's specific info on our cap levels is easily found at the salary cap page of Billsdaily.com. Best of all clumpingplatelets who regularly posts on TSW has done some great research for all of us which is posted on the cap page at Billszone.com. Most important about this site is that Clump knows nobody has exactly accurate info about the cap, but he not only has produced the best information available (even if it is not perfect), and says so and is more than happy to work with interested Bills fans to get better figures. SO TD, LIE TO ME! I'm a big boy and can get by with the great info but uncertainties of dealing with simply having the best info available if I care to take a look. Your priority needs to be to help the team and being totally open about cap issues gives the enemy too much of an advantage so lie to me about the cap.

I think the really important point is not simply how her husand got like this. but actually if what you say fits the facts how the FL court system, some number of doctors who agree with his right to pull the plug, a university medical ethicist who I saw supporting his right to pull the plug against a Member of the US Congress who wanted the case to go to another court, and some sector of folks who have worked with the case who support her husband have all been sold a bill of goods on this. Why do you (or others) feel that some number (it seems significant to me and may be a majority of folks who have experienced the case, but even if not is certainly a significant number) of people still are willing to endorse an action by her hubby that would lead to her death? This is the explanation I want. I can easily see that her hubby is an evil person who has done all the things you decribe (just as I can easily see that her hubby is actually pursuing her interests, I don't know enough to know for sure because all I know of this I have gotten from the unreliable source of TV and the media). However, the thing that I thnink should be answered almost as fully as the indictment above of hubby Schiavo's actions is why a number of people seem to buy this alleged bill of goods from him that they and the FL courts have suceeded in getting the tube emoved. The question is not whether the husband is psychotically evil in exchange for a few 100K of the remaining malpractice settlement (coulod be, I and other TV watchers really don't know enough to have an opinion which should be accepted by anyone) but the broader question of is our society and the state of FL courts who have looked at this issue as exhaustively as anyone so completely fooled?

If that is his MO it does not explain: 1. The huge overpayment he made to Bledsoe because clearly his play level in 2003 did not merit the large deal he was given and the fact we had to cut him shows he was overpaid. 2. The huge payment he made for Milloy. I would not call this an overpaymentbecause the market dictated his price as the vailable supply of quality safeties was exactly 1 at that point within a week of the season's start and the demand was at least two teams with the need and the cap room (the Bills and the Bears) and TD made the huge payment to him because the GW/Gray misassessment of Jenkins and the retirement of Cota and Battles made it necessary to pay a huge amount for Milloy or let him go and TD proved willing to pay a hyge amount. 3. The overpayment to Ruian Lindell who is better than many folks give him credit for but has not earned the 1st tier kicker salary he gets based on kicks like his horrible shank in the Pitts game. 4. Some very good contract extensions involving large (though probably brlow market due to good negotiation) payments to Moorman and Schobel. Players like Mike Williams and Eric Moulds have gotten huge contracts and needed restructuring because their contracts were so large and TD negotiated and signed those deals. In my view he quite correctly did not overpay Jenings and unfortunately (and he publicly laments) he did not get the deal done with PW but overpaying for a player of his age should not be done either. The concept that TD does not overpay or does not give huge contracts in all cases simply does not fit reality.

The Bills plan for making the playoffs: 1. The key factor will be the leadership of MM providing leadership in a winning way and demanding accountability from the many folks who have taken responsibility in the Bills machine. This is not a bad bet as the team did produce a winning record his first season after a rocky start. He actually showed a lot by not panicking in the face of a bad start and staying the course. He made a variety of high-profile personal decisions which set a positive tone for the team (his motivation of the team to win on the road in Seattle was a turning point). He also hired theright folks as his lieutenants as April put his mark on a successful ST, Gray continued his work with a successful D, and Clements put his mark on a troubled O but did solve red zone malfunctions with MM's help, oversaw the re-development of WM, ran some flea-flickers successfully and even got improvement out of Bledsoe over a horrid '03. The release of Shaw (not a malcontent but no production), the release of Bledsoe (Losman is a risk but Bledsoe was not there), and a general demand that players produce on the field has indicated increased accountability. 2. Another factor is that despite the loss of PW (not our best DL player actually) the D needs to have a third year of good statistical performance and actually increase its productivity to put us over the top. This is also not a bad bet as there is no reason to assume that any players on the D will go completely downhill and if they do there usually is a candidate behind them to step up. Clements, Vincent, Milloy, McGee are all quality contributors (though Vincent and Milloy are a little log in the tooth) and Baker, Greer and Thomas all have potential to improve their past play. Wire and Reese are potential goners but do have starter experience if the cap allows them to stay. Spikes and Fletcher are two of the best in the league. Posey is somewhat maligned on TSW, but this seems to be more disappointment that he isn't Spikes rather than specifics. The most specific indictment has been Simon's that he turns the wrong way or is out of position, but in the absence of specifics of how the Bills got burned for six or big gain by these alleged problems there is no proof of there being any there there. Stamer, Crowell, and Haggan have not shown that they can step up if called upon (though Stamer shows some good signs in position play) but generally they have not been asked to do that because the D has been productive and they have been productive players on ST. DL is the question mark but perhaps it is because of the run/blitz that individual failings have not shown up here. The team sack total was great because the LBs and DBs chipped in with the run-blitz and the DEs have to be given credit for being athletic enough to cover in the short zone (particularly Denney actually because his flexibility made it possible for us to go only 3 deep at DE last year). The DTs made the run stopping stout so last year's play cannot be faulted for the DTs at all. The loss of Phat Pat is the big question but you actually have to take some hope (rather than adopt the DOOM of Rudy) that he was on the field for only 58% of the plays last yr. He is a good player who must be replaced, but it is no impossible at all that Edwards (highly drafted and disappointing but he has started a full year) may be able to step up from a surprisingly good reserve performance with multiple sacks last year. In addition, Anderson did not impress last year but also was highly touted when drafted and will be given a chance to step up and he might do this. Finally at DT, the desperation many feel about the OL have many fans slobbering to move Bannan to LG. However, though he disappointed at DT last year, he was quite productive as a reserve DT his rookie year and my first choice is for the opening created by the loss of PW to have this be a make-or break year for Bannan at DT. Having 3 not unreasonable options to replace the one player you lost on D who started but played 58% of plays is not a bad situation to be in given the good statisitical production of the D last year. 3. The ST has to be pointed to as a very positive factor last year. it was only one year so this is not a trend and hard work must be done. However, there is obvious room for improvement in several facets of ST work so things can get better as well. The biggest problem is the loss (or likely loss) of a lot of tackles and men are going to be required to step up (Prioleau gone and Wire may be gone). Overall the situation appears to me to be: Kick returns: McGee was a Pro Bowler here and will be back. On several of his TD returns he was untouched which is both a tribute to his great eyesight and anticipation and his good speed, but also is a tribute to return scheme and excellent blocking by many players. No one is McGee but there is some back-up talent at return (Smith, Fletcher lining up short, and even Josh Reed to not fumble but no TDs) if he gets nicked or they kick away from McGee. Punt returns: Same deal as for Kos in terms of blocking and both Clements and Smith are dangerous return men for opponents. Punting: For two years in a row we (but not Pro Bowl voters) have been astounded by Moorman's work. Distance, hang-time, coffin corners and the occaisional key run or pass to boot has been part of his work. Kudos to TD for signing him cheaply long-term and this deal shows the non-reality of the complaint that TD never spends to keep his own young studs. Placekicking and kickoffs: This is the facet of the ST game which clearly can improve as MM clearly showed no faith in Lindell making the long one and he has not had the chance (fortunately?) to kick game determing FGs like the good ones (Vinateri) has done. The shank of a very makeable FG in the Pitts game has made for an obvious demand that he be gone or we spend a draft choice on a pro unproven phenom like Nugent. Also TD's stupidly cavalier comments that good kickers are a dime a dozen (explain Ariens, Graham, Hollis and even Christie decision making then where the results have simply not been good for the Bills) makes the Lindel contract and shank problems a real sore point. Perhaps the list of kickers that produced elsewhere but did not do the job in the tD era here (Graham, Hollis, Christie) proves TDs point that there are a lot of good kickers, but even if so the kicker we have needs to produce here and Ariens and Lindell as a placekicker have not. It could happen that the clear statistical overall improvement in Lindell's production (mostly due to a good team and the winning streak) in '04 bodes for a brerakout year for him in '05. It could be that his often ignored part in the return game with great predictable KOs in the winds of the Ralph nad one very nice kick and cover job on an onside kick are really the description of Lindell's value. Could be but prove it. Keep him and it better work or move on and it better work. 4. The O was far better last year than it was in '03. However, things were so bad in '03 that being far better still left or O last year as inadequate. The Losman switch is a logical move because though Bledsoe is a great candidate for the #2 job anywhere (he did this job to the ultimate success in 2001) he is not a #1 who is likely at all to bring success. Losman has potential to be a success, but potential simply means you have not done anything. JP showed the usual problems and improvement of a rookie QB last year. The debacle in NE when he was thrown into the game, the total lack of control of the huddle in his first mop-up leading to a penalty for delay of game as he failed to get the play off, and the TO to avoid the penalty in his third game were all rookie failures. However, in a perverse way they also lay out a progression of growth as he moved from panic, to confusion, to mere controlled inadequacy. its bad but it is improvement. Overlaying these failings however, is the fact that he did lead the team to TDs in his two final mop-up roles and that the improvment from getting a TD by tranlating the call and handing off correctly several times in a row to WM, to his actually hitting a couple of passes on the run and scrambling for a first down on a third down play (he does need to protect himself and learn to slide after getting the 1st rather than delivering a blow for two meaningless yards however) is a great sign. The key to JPs development it strikes me (my views are unlike our friend ICEs in that I do not think that on-field work is the ONLY way you learn to be a good NFL QB. In my mind on field work is actually NECESSARY to be a quality NFL QB, but it is not SUFFICIENT in and of itself. In fact, unless an NFL QB does the proper and needed work in the film room, studying the playbook, in practice and whereever else and ONLY tries to master the task on the field he will look a lot like Billy Joe Hobert. If JP takes and has taken (in the booth when he was injured) the unique opportunity of learning from Sam Wyche, if he has worked through repetitive practice and visioning proper pass mechanics and throwing off the correct foot, and if he made the great insticts he has even better by increasing his knowledge of the game he can be a great one. Learning the game on the field is essential and for now his focus should be not on carrying the team on his shoulders but instead on playing mistake free ball and let the D and the ST do the lionshare of the work winning games we will be fine. The other big unanswered question on the O is the OL which has been productive at times since Kent Hull left but for the most part has been in disarray and suffered from inexperience position coaches operating in a pretty predictable OL under kevin Killdrive. While the loss of Jennings is regrettable under the cap rules Bill should not have given him the same overpayment as SF. he is good but not that good and he can be replaced. The question for the Bills is who and how as we have no set left side of our OL. Yet, even here there seem to be multiple options and it falls upon JMac and TC using the tools TD provides to get the job done. I for one am concerned about how they do this because I am a Bills fan but not worried at all that we have the tools to get this done because I am pretty confident that even with the marginal players we have on the roster right now that JMac could put together an OL which with an RB of the quality of WM and a QB of the mobility and flair of JP we can be adequate today. Adequacy however is not our goal and we should and can be dominant. The Bills need two players to step up and I think this can be done through finding one through development of players currently on the roster (In my mind, Tucker at LG is a possibility, Smith at LG is a possbility, Gandy at some position is a possibility which might allow an existing player to switch to LT or LG and there are even several unlikely possibilities like Peters to think about) and finding one through acqusition of a player (the remaining FAs. the draft, and cap casualties are possibilities) makes this important issue a concern of interest but not a worry for me given this team. All of the above (which I apologize for repetition and summarizing but I am thinking this through while I write) is why I would say to Rudy that I would never say say we WILL make the playoffs because this league interests me because little is really predictable in this league where worst to first is possible like never before. However, I think this team is a pretty good bet to make the playoffs this year and we'll see after the draft, the "voluntary camps. and the schedule release how likely this is. For now I am psyched.

I would think at best. There is miscalculation about whether a player has what it takes to make the jump from college success to the pro game (the failures of Ryan Leaf are a lead example of a player who produced in college but could do nothing in the pros). I do not expect this is the case with JP from the little we have seen of him, but the brain cramps he suffered when he took a penalty arriving in the huddle in his second game and improved on that to take a meaningless TO when his job was to run clock in his thid game shows he needs/needed some work. In addition, bad luck with or the occurence of injuries is something which sets back players who have produced in college or even in the pros as RJ did. I think it is still way to early to label JP as injury prone based on one injury in pre-season practice, but you need a first unfortunate injury to have a second odd injury and one down hopefully none to go. One odd injury can happen. Two can be a coincidence. Three is probably a trend. We're not there yet. Also, added to failure because the athlete unexpectedly cannot translate college success into pro success on the field, and unfrseen injuries, there is the case of something happening off the field in terms of a relative dying, a car crash, a bad hair year or whatever. All of these things and more happen and there is nothing we can do about them. That being said, success happens as well and I hope that is the case with JP. If not, we seemed to have put ourselves in a position that the season will not be definitely over because though Holcomb is more likely a failure as an SB QB than a success, he is a credible #2. I feel like the D and ST are strong enought that worse comes to worse Holcomb can play the Trent Dilfer role and we can get further than we got last year.

I'm not surprised that very few if anyone on this thread has taken it as an opportunity to beat you down and I think most fans are concerned about steroids be it out of prurient interest. concern about rule-breakers, worry for favorite athletes or what have you. It all ends up in the same place which is wondering who is doing what. I also think that most of us like you really have no real clue has to who is doing what. The thoughts that you have about Moulds and the reasons why his career has taken the track it has are certainly so far from conclusive that they really are not even indicative of steroid use. The BALCO incidents had clear indications that head toward conclusive evidence that there are people who say they have injected specific substances into specific athletes. This is substantiated by receipts, lists that name dates and amounts and these numbers can be checked against reality. This led to people being forced to testify and put under oath because they could not demonstate that they were not in the place alleged at the specific date and time. Still in a society in which folks are innocent until proven guilty this suspicion based on reality needs to be grudgingly pursued and followed up to establish the truth. This is so far from what you provide which is not related to specifics but based on TV and newspaper observations by a seeming layman of a chain of occurences that it is not even a real indication of HGH or steroid use that it has not inspired much flaming at all. Folks are very interested in whether an athlete used/abused steroids and probably hope that ypu pr someoe else presents something when you have something real.

d wag (or anyone else)? What's your OL budget for 2005? The Bills have one (though they are smart enough not to let folks they are negotiating with know what that number is). According to Billszone (an inaccurate source of into but the best info available as far as I can tell) the current hit for 2005 from the existing roster is this: RT- 9,174,000 (Williams) RG- 2,998,000 (Villarial) C- 3,629,000 (Teague) LG- LT- Reserve OL (only the top 51 salaries count against the cap and many of these players at the NFL minimum or on the PS won't): 714,000 (Tucker) 540,000 + unclear bonuses (Gandy) 305,000 (McFarland) 230,000 (Eposito) 305,000 (Sobieski) 380,000 (Smith) 230,000 (Pruce) 305,000 (Peters) Currently the overarching cap budget is about $85.5. The 5 OL players represent 10% of the total players in the cap (I think it is reasonable to assume all the starters will be in the top 51 salaries). The OL salaries (and thus the budget for all the OL starters and reserves) will likely run well over the 10% total because of the import of OL play. Yet, with just three players signed their '05 cap hit come to about 15.8 million, well above the 8.5 million 5 starters will get from an even distribution, Even knowing our budget is going to end up well above $8.5 for the starters (much less the unit as a whole) aomething has to give here. In addition to a redistribution of cap hit in the OL we are also going to need to cover other purchases (TE, disaster QB, reserve RB, etc). We will also set aside $2-3 million for the draft. I think we are in good shape as far as our cap needs go because moves yet to come (like restructuring MW's contract for about $4 million, trading Henry for about $1.25 million, additional cuts, converting base salary into bonus which can be spread over a number of years) will allow us to meet these needs and sign another significant OL FA )if we choose to). However, it appears to me that the math says if we sign DeMulling for $3 million we better be pretty comfortable with Gandy starting somewhere because we ain. 't gonna be able to afford another big FA signing. For example if we obtained Shelton we could probably afford DeMulling as well by turning Shelton base pay of $3 million into a bonus payment which could be amortized over the life of his contract to give him a cap hit equivalent to Henry at $1.25 million. Even at that level you need to be tough on DeMulling and bring him in closer to a cap hit of $2 million or budget problems ensue. I think DeMulling is the best guard out there, because actually word is he can play center which allows us to move Teague and his far below LT salary to that spot but it still leaves us deciding we can upgrade LG with improving Smith or going essentially bare at back-up C. All I am asking that given your firm statement that we must sign DeMulling even for $3 million how do tou make it work?

The best resource I have seen on Bills specific salary cap info is the work of clumpinglatelets which he often posts about here and can be found at Billszone.cpm. One of the best things about his work is that as exhaustive as this best data available work is, he realizes that even it is not totally accurate and seems to love it when folks present new substantiated info to improve his work. Unfortunately, there are some who actually argued he was wrong when he had the Bills cap number at a levle well below the convetional wisdom and fact-free opinions often spouted on this board. I think the sudden dose of cap reality we have recently gotten was forecast in clumpy's numbers. The good news is that the clump man seems to feel confident that the Bills have a number of ways they can easily and without a huge cost to the future create cap room through actions like the recent cut of Prioleau, some restructuring of MW's deal that seems to be happening, and the convesation of bases salaries to be paid this year into bonus which can be amoritzed over several years. How teams are built is determined a lot in the modern world by the salary cap.

I like playing the fake GM game as much as anybody else. However, I'm rooting for the 2005 Bills and while 2006 is important because the future will be the present quicker than we think (can you believe it is mid-March already!) I for one would love to see this team hold off on reinking Clements until we settle the current OL issues and I am more than happy to not worry at all about the Eric Moulds 2006 cap hit issues until next off-season. I understand why these items are important to mention, but it amazes me that some folks seem to have their panties all up in a wad about whether we extend Clements or not or whether it makes sense to have Moulds on the 2006 team even if he restructures again. Puuhhleeeze. There is a whole season yet to be played and what happens (injuries, going deep in the playoffs, etc.) will have such a big impact on our strategy and team needs that maintaining flexibility is a key for anything we do. In Clements case, I can at least see the logic in locking up this youngster who slid into the Pro Bowl if you can. However, it makes no sense to me to do this at the cost of getting help right here right now for the 2005 team. Clements is playing well enough and hitting some incentive bonuses which add to his salary and cap hit and make resigning him potentially a useful thing for actually creating up front cap room, however, he has played well enough that it will probably take an additional load to sign him and if my choice is to overpay him now and forgo getting the OL help we need, or overpay him later and manage it, I overpay him later. It may cost us more, but if he gets hurt like Andre Reed got hurt in his contract year, it may cost us less to wait as well. The Moulds worry simply strikes me as insane. We are going to draft or UDFA WRs anyway because it is unclear whether Reed/Aiken can be the #3 we want. Whether Moulds stays and is productive in '06 is a factor, but he just restructured for this year and there is nothing we can do this year anyway and our decision in '05 regarding him is totally up in the air based on what happens in '05. So I hope we stay focused on the fan duty iof rooting for the '05 team because the GM duty for '06 is interesting but essentially random without info we don't have about contracts and events in '05.

As I was reading through this thread and saw the post from you regarding the need for the Bills to resign their own, I began thinking of the several arguments and cases that indicate claims that the Bills have not signed and extended a good chunk of their young FAs (ex. Schobel, Moulds, Moorman) is simply wrong or that the Bills have hurt their building by "low-balling" (the big contracts above and big contracts for Spikes, MW, Milloy) does not also fit reality. In fact, TDs willingness to give huge contracts to folks like Bledsoe and Lindell is what hurts and the Bills have clearly profitted from the lowball contracts taken by players like Adams. Fortunately a good number of folks like Simon answered your claims with some good arguments. However, I take the time to post because I think their summary of simply agreeing to disagree with your perspective is actually being a bit kind to the selective facts (at best) you present. The view that TD and the Bills always lowball just doesn't match the facts. Do you call the offer and signing of Milloy (which worked out) or the resigning of Bledsoe (which did not work out) lowball offers? Are the extensions of Schobel and Moorman easily ignored? Are signings like Adams which were below market rate bad things and should TD have offered more up front to him or to Spikes? I think a good chunk of folks are not peeved at all about the way the JJ deal went down as folks think he is a good player but simply not worth the amount the market has given LTs and what SF was willing to pay for a player who has never started 16 games in a season. TD has many shortcomings which deserve to be harped upon (the GW signing was a big mistake, he will rue the day he gave the quote that good kickers are a dime-a-dozen, and the extension he gave to Henry Jones and Holocek before cutting them is yet another example where I wish TD had been more of a low-ball guy if he thought he might cut them anyway. Your arguments simply do not give a full description of reality.

I will shed a tear if Wire is released (well a virtual tear since paraphrasing Tom Hanks- are you crying? There's no cryining in football). My tear will not be because i think he has made positive contributions to this team that justify a large cap hit. I will be crying because I think he is a talented player who has no fear of hitting whose development was totally mismanaged by GW cause he got thrown in at starting safety because GW/Gray blew their estimation of how much Jenkins had left. Wire should have been targeted and trained to try to be his version of having Taker like impact on ST right from the start. Instead they leaned on him at the distraction of the the safety position when they screwed up their Jenkins estimation. I think its a shame.

It sounds to me like there was a dispute between PW's agent and TD over which contract actually provided more money to PW. The reported offers and the actual contract signed are close enough that this may be the case. If the Bills offered a larger contract overall but did not gurantee the out years the PW would have to choose between the a gamble that he is going to last the whole contract or take the bird in the hand of more money upfront. I can see TD getting ticked at the agent and feel that the agent did not serve PW's interests if TD said to PW we will take care of you with an injury settlement if you are hurt and the agent arguing that by taking more money up fron you can take care of yourself. Perhaps TD is right that the agent painted himself into a corner so that he had to argue for getting money upfront and could not argue for trusting the Bills (probably not a good idea actually because push comes to shove they are a business). Perhaps the agent was right to argue that money in the pocket is money in the pocket. However, it seems to me that TD does seem to feel a little personally dissed by the agent.

I think the coaches are also influenced about these positives in Nugent's game: 1. Part of the outstanding job the ST did in coverage was Lindell's kickoffs. Folks tend to measure kickers by their FG % and distance, but the great results produced by the kick coverage team is a testimony that in the difficult winds of the Ralph, Lindell kicked it where he was supposed to kick-off to and more importantly with the appropriate hang time in the tricky wins for the Kick coverage teams to make the tackle. Folks may think this is a simple task of just lining up and kicking i as far as you can ad good kickoffs are measured by touchbacks. However, since they moved the kickoff line back from the 40, unless you are Janakowski or get lucky on a squib kick touchbacks are not the norm for most kickers. If one paid attention to the Bills kickoff game last year you could see we invested pretty heavily in directional kickoffs with Lindell varying not only the side of the field he kicked to but also whether he kicked it deep with hang time or more or less squibbed the kick. The proof is in the pudding as from the stats I have seen the Bills not only did not give up any long returns but were one of the best teams in the league when it came to opponent drivestart field position. It will probably take a rookie (even one good at kickoffs a while to master this skill and our coverage game may suffer. 2. Lindell was only called upon to do onside kicks a couple of times, but one to start the half of one of our games was a beaut as Lindell not only disguised our intent perfectly and the return team was backpedaling to set up blocks rather than attacking the onside kick, but he got the ball off nicely, recovered it himself after it went the requisite 10 yards and did this kick with the pace necessary that it traveled the 10 yards before any Bill even hit an opponent. I was and am still pissed at Lindell for missing the 28 yard chip shot but I don't let my anger at this blind me to the fact Lindell did some good and important things for this team last year.