Fake-Fat Sunny

The Simoncast interviewed Jeff Morison who was out at OBD today and he gave no indication of Sam Adams being cut. It might be possible as we saw from the Shaw release that part of the MM strategy is to let players know that almost everyone's job is at risk if the team fails to do better. This is particularly true if there are reasonable alternatives to the player in question (as there clearly was for our #4 WR) and now there may be at DT based on Edwards showing yesterday. However, i hope it doesn't happen. Bucking your boss in public is rarely helpful or allowed. However, since Adams inappropriate tyrade came in the form of him demanding to play and stay in the game rather than in the form of him failing to take orders by refusing to play or make a big effort, it may be best managed by forgiveness if Adams is willing to apologize to the team and bare his neck to authority. I think Parcells comments that he has had players go after him physically but it was actually a useful way to clear the air should be the guide for MM in this case.

I think one of things which saved us was that though the D was clearly unprepared for the great effort of Morris and did fall for going deeper when underneath passes with good RAC were how Miami gained any yard was that the D and the braintrust pulled off some great adjustment at halftime. Given the bad underpreparation and start do you really feel that the D continued down this road as you put it when they statististically far more effective in the second half?

Sorry for insulting you as I did not mean to since I agree with your sentiments actually and I think your comments were wholely appropriate. I saw no need to apologize to you as I agree with you and was prompted to post because many posters do not share your sentiments. You are correct to point out that you said the exact opposite of anything which shows a limit on feeling good about both TH and WM because that is how I read your post. You are also correct to question my writing if it was so poor that you interpreted as an attack on your point of view which I agree with and celebrate.

Part of the problem here is that some folks little brains and little hearts seem to be so limited in that they view their love for a Bill as a zero sum game where either they love WM OR they love WM and rooting for, respecting, valuing them as members of the Bills or loving them (in our fan like way which is great but isn't the real love we and they fell for family and other folk) and they can't love both. This view is unfortunate as it does not seem to match the reality shown most recently in Carolina that a winning team which is RB dependent needs two RBs in this league. There was more than enough glory and reps to go around. Even with the limitations of the cap which restricts a team to paying the big bucks usually to one player per position, even NFL back-up bucks is more money than these players have ever seen and as long as the hold the ego in check they'll do fine and if they play hard and get lucky with injuries they will get an even bigger payoff from being a team guy when their second (or more) contract comes around. Certainly for the Bills, both players are under contract and there is no need to move one or the other until after the season. The reality of how they perform and how their bodies hold up will determine which one to keep and their market value as trade fodder.

I'm not sure what you mean faulting the CB coverage and mentioning the McMichael coverage as a problem as McMichael is a TE and not the CBs responsibility generally. I thought the CBs generally were not challenged much in this game because Fiedler coul not throw downfield at all due to the wind and his ribs. If anyone had a bad day it was the safety position in my mind with a special notice to Izell Reese for an obvious penalty when he made no attempt on the ball at all. In addition, the passes Fielder did hit were short ones and RAC was a problem which points to the safeties rather than the CBs and actually probably points to the LBs depending on the D employed.

Perhaps if the Bills had performed in the whole game at the level they performed at in the first half one might reasonably label it a mediocre performance (though finding fault with an O which had not scored rather than with a D which had been outscored 10-7 would make a lot more sense). However, when one judges and labels the Bills performance a a second half which saw them hold Miami to 35 total yards, saw them nullify getting beaten up by Morris and saw them get the bulk of their sacks and have one bad drive against them which they escaped only giving up 3 thanks to a goaline stand mediocre is simply a wrong assessment of the D performance today. Perhaps we just have a semantic difference but in my mind there is excellent (which obviously this wasn't) on one end and pisspoor on the other end (which again obviously this wasn't. An average performance is obviously in the middle, and mediocre I would put at below average. This Bills performance was obviously helped by the weather and was against a Miami O which is not very good, but I would say this performance while having obvious failings was a better than average performance. A merely average performance does not hold the opponents to 36 yards net in a half, does not stack up 5 sacks, does not score a defensive TD, does not hold the opponent well below 20 points and generally doesn't win. There were failings which the Bills need to repair but to label this D performance merely mediocre simply strains credibility and undercuts the correct points in your posts.

As a Bills fan I would love it and wish that Losman would come back from his injury, force the Billd to play him at starting QB and moraculously lead this team into the playoff this year in route to getting the first of many SBs wins. However, as a semi rational fan I know this is not going to happen. I put a lot of stovk in the fact that playoff making QBs from the better athlete than almost anyone Michael Vick to the brainy and gutsy Chad Pennington profitted from and needed to sit and learn most of their first year in the NFL and regardless of my fantasy hopes for JP, Losman can become the most productive QB for the Bills by sitting and learning his rooke year. If his unfortunate injury has had the result of him spending time above the field in the booth learning the game and soaking up the knowledge of Sam Wyche without the distraction of preparing himself to lead his teammates based on some small minuscule chance he might play ironically he and we will probably be much better off. Players learn how to eventually lead NFL teams and contribute to NFL teams through both on field play and studying the playbook and MFL offenses. From seeing Losman play a little with the Bills in pre-season and seeing game tape of him at Tulane, I think he profits far more from focusing on the book side of being an NFL QB than the irreplaceable learning which comes from playing at NFL speeds. The idea that some have put forward on TSW that a 1st rounder must play and produce for his team his rookie year is silly and simply does not correspond to reality where excuse me in addition to the Vick/Pennington experiences big draft pick Carson Palmer sat all last year. I'd love it if JP outdid Marino and Manning as a rookie, but reality tells me that if JP isnever more than the Bills disaster QB and never plays even one down in the NFL this year, he and the Bills will likely be better off for this having happened and this is one die-hard fan that will grudgingly accept that JP didn't walk on water but I will not be disapointed at all.

As Bill Parcells noted, having a player even take a swing at a coach can end uo being a good thing IF you handle it properly. Having some emotion and some clear lines of authority leading to accountability is a clear need for the improvement of this team. Here's hoping they use this fight to clear the air and improve themselves.

It makes little or no football sense to call the Bills D mediocre today (D play is always painful for any fan unless your team is the 85 Bears or the Ravens with Lewis} but mediocre simply does not fit the team's production over the season or for today. Perhaps one can demand a shut out against a bad team or under these wind conditions. However, this demand is an irrational expectation given that the players involved are professionals and this oddly shaped ball bounces all over the place. The D in my mind played better than they had much of this season as they: 1. Delivered a crucial opening lead to the team with Spike INT. Given our non-productive O such a contribution from the D can be critical. 2. Though they gave up some stinky 3rd and long conversions, they really stepped up (finally) at the end of the game and held a lead. 3. They gutchecked it out on 1st and goal from the 1 and held the Fins to an FG after Reese made a crappy play to get an interference penalty. To label their play mediocre when once again they held an opponent below the magic 20 number demonstrates that one exclusively is taking an irrational fan perspective rather than a cold hard-hearted football perspective. As a fellow irrational fan I can understand doing this, but I am fortunately connected enough to reality that I would not label this performance mediocre.

There are sevaral keys for the Bills making this trade before the trade deadline Tuesday: 1. Unfortunately it is far more likely if some other team has their #1 RB get hurt because that will greatly increase the market interest (and thus what we can get for him) of Henry. Talk to me tonite and after Mondays game and my guess will be better. 2. How confident are you in Shaud Williams? Joe Burns does not seem like a capable reserve RB if WM were to go down and Williams (who apparently is coming off an injury) seems to be an unlikely but better candidate to be the back-up RB to WM. If you have no confidence in him then TH needs to bring not only a draft choice but a quality potential reserve.

PS add to this the notion that the need to use a holder because of the wind adds a complication that Lindell is responsible for addressing but demanding a TB under these conditions does no necesarrily add to a physical problem or weak leg on Lindell's part.

One would hope he could produce a touchback with the wind, but then one can hope we had Janakowski kicking off for us. Hopes are nice but they are fairly worthless in terms of analysis. The Bills clearly emphasize kicking direction more than they emphasize distance for the return game. Given the general success of the return game with this emphasis is hard to rationally complain about this choice and one makes a fairly defensible guess that the kicks emphasized height and direction rather than distance. The KOs don't phase me for several reasons: 1. In general the results have been oretty good even with a KO to the 5 with the wind. 2. The worse results in this game were against rather than with the win and kudos should go to a return guy like Welker who got them the ball out at the 40 by cleverly waiting and stepping OB to touch the ball. 3. The 1st kick with the wind was from the 15 because of Spikes endzone celebration

I start this as a new thread because even though it covers the same ground pursued in another thread. I think an honest football based answer to this question provides an answer that neither the folks who focus too much attention on his play as the central question for the Bills seem to want to confront. I think he played an OK game today, but generally the same weaknesses (and strengths) which he has displayed most of this season were there. I agree with Simon that Bledsoe made a number of seemingly unforgiveable errors by a starting NFL QB. He clearly overthrew some receivers one would hope and even expect an NFL starting QB to hit. He exercised some really poor judgment on a few of his throws where the only answer for a Bills rooter was thank gosh Zach Thomas has hands of stone. The great leadership which he has shown in this town marketing the Bills product was not matched by great in-field leadership which encourages/forces his teammates to perform well and this was reflected in Takeo Spikes being our biggest offensive weapon in the first half. Nevertheless, we won the game as offensive blocking finally provided him with a bit of time, Bledsoe once again demonstrated that you need not be a good runner to buy siome critical time at QB, and the D was maddening giving uo 1st downs on some critical ong yardage third down situation but this time stepped up with a lead to make a crucial goal line stand and get some timely sacks to win the game. The bottomline for me is that Bledsoe looked pretty much the same to me as a performer in this game and ironically desoite the fact he was generally the same in my view as a performer we racked up a W against this very bad team instead of producing an L. Face it Bledsoe worshippers, he is no longer the QB (if he ever was) to lift this team onto his broad shoulders and lead them to even a winning season much less an SB. However, also face it Bledsoe bashers even if he is a statue he is quite capable of being the QB of a team which can win in this league, can even make the SB with some phenomenal coaching and he can even play an essential role in helping a team win an SB with some extraordinary circumstances. Face it, Bledsoe was the QB on a team which made the SB in conjunction with (or behind the phenomenal coaching work of Bill Parcells and his NE colleagues. He also played an essential role QBing NE to a win in a must win game in place of an injured Brady in the 2001 season running a BB/Weis offense built a long a low risk model for the young Brady. Bledsoe played well enough today to be part of the Bills getting a W at home against a bad team and so far this season has played at about the same level to unfortunately not allow the TEAM to win against better coached teams experiencing some good luck (bad ref calls mostly) where virtually none of the Bills not only are unable to pick-up and load the team on their shoulders at critical times but also make some bad individual plays at the wrong time like commitng undisciplined penalties. I hope the main thing which comes from today's great victory is that all you folks who were already composing your posts about how Bledsoe is a total failure will look at reality and realize that though Bledsoe is no longer (if he ever was) capable of winning games on his own, it is also not his failings as a player which has caused this team to lose games. He certainly had a role, but Bledsoe's play is well below even a secondary area where this team can and needs to improve in order to become a TEAM and a winner.

I think Wire demonstrated good football instincts in his college days, is a great hitter at thepro level and despite the complaints us armchair GMs has impressed the coaches with his athleticism and I tend to put more credence in their judgement than that of us commentators (including me). As a safety he has exhibited good run support and a wild abandon about tackling. However, this is the first time he has played the position at any level or organized ball including Pop Warner and surprise his pass coverage decisions suck. I think Wire blows as a safety not because of his failings as an athlete (both physical and mental), but because he is learning on the job aqnd has never been assigned one job to learn so he sucks. I think Wire\s training will go down in Bills history as one of the biggest axe jobs on a players development going back to the Bills over-reaching for Todd Collins and drafting him at least a round earlier than his talent deserved becaused they waited one year too long to draft Kelly's replacement and then they rushed him along before he was ready and didn't spend at least a year working in practice to get rid of his happy feet tendencies. The Bills (with GW leading the charge by putting too much faith in Billy Jenkins who was washed up when we got him) should have immediately slotted in Wire as the potential next Steve Tasker (different skill set but the role he was trained for) and worked to teach him ST skills right from the start. I would not give up on him yet, but he needs consistent training and guidance to be a real contributor to the Bills.

With two bad teams I think the homefield advantage is magnified and this explains the logic of the spread. Both teams have made a habit of making mistakes. The Fins offense has a greater potential to make mistakes in the winds of the Ralph and given the crowd nose than even a lackluster Bills O.

Generally I judge a movie to be theatre rather than DVD faire when there is something that lends itself to the large screen (like the pyrotechnics of Star Wars) that loses something on the small screen or alternately if it is such a water-cooler flick that one should go early to talk it over with friends (For example, the movie Lost in Translation can be viewed fairly well from my point of view on the TV as the relationship between the two stars is the important thing and though the panorama of large shots of downtown Tokyo will suffer comparing the big screen to the tube. The real reason to see Translation in the theatre was not due to the cinematography but to talk over what the heck the film meant in coffeehouses and see it before the Oscar ceremonies. Garden State on the other hand does not seem to have the popularity or breed discussion like Translation so it can wait til DVD though I've already seen it in the theatre. It is a pretty good date movie so if you are going to get in someone's pants using an earthy film and a date to the movies, I'd use this one for that purpose. There is one scene in a quarry that lends itself to panorama but this one can wait in my view.

Sure can, I think my views on these issues tend to buck the conventional wisdom since I think that wisdom labels Gray a failure and gives LeBeau all the credit for the D and Gray none (I don't think Gray is a failure at all and though all things being equal I'd take LeBeau over Gray, all things aren't equal and I think Gray was probably the best choice for the Bills given the two of them. Also I think MW has disappointed big time, but this disappointment is due to a number of factors and not just MW as a player and its too early to declare him a bust and his production can be reversed and he can have a very good career though it will take a lot of work by him and the Bills (This summary will have to do as CliffNotes) Gray- The concept that he is a bad coach is silly from my perspective: 1. He called D set-ups and plays during all games last year and the team performed extraordinarily well with his playcalling. No doubt about it the zone blitz the Bills ran last year and still run this year is LeBeau's D and his design, However, you have to totally understand and command a scheme to run it as well as the Bills D last year and Gray did that. In many ways I was even more impressed with Gray's work last yearthan I was with LeBeau's as Dick did the difficult job of adapting his D to the Bills D and teaching it, but i think the Gray job of learning the new D and implementing it was an even more impressive performance. Gray made it possible to let LeBeau go because he mastered LeBeau's scheme and also separated himself from GW by operating well and better as GW's production continued to go south. 2. The D continues to have a great shortcoming that they do not close the deal at the end of the game, but performing well for the vast majority of most games means they perform well for the vast majority of most games. If ever there is an example of folks wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater it is the idea of blaming poor play by the D or Gray's coaching for the Bills losses. Look. Clements should have knocked the ball down, Oakland should not have been allowed their last drive for a score, Rashad Baker should not have taken a dumb penalty which allowed the Pats to have a 7 point lead before the Bledsoe fumble, the D should not have allowed a Pennington drive for a game winning FG. However, this is a D playing with an O that has yet to score a rushing TD in 4 games. This is still statistically one of the better Ds in the league and has held opponents below 20 points in 3 of the 4 losses. The Bills D is not adequate to win with this O and that is what it is all about, but that does not mean that the D is horrible and the idea that you would start all over and end it rather than mend it makes little football sense. 3. Like it or not race matters in this society and even in a bigger way in a game in which something like 2/3 of the players are African-American and about 10% of the HCs are. Call it what you want, but given that Gray was a former player is closer to the players in age than he is to Ralph Wilson's age and many of the top D players are African-American there aimply are advantages to having an adequate talent as DC who happens to be A-A than having another old white guy who is adequate as DC get the job. I'm not saying that Gray got the job only because he is Black, as I said above I think he can do the job and do it well. However, I think he brings many things to the braintrust team that are helpful to have in terms of managing the workers and because race matters in thie society and the racial balance of the boys in charge of the Bills is typical of the racial balanceof the boys in charge of the league Gray's race is quite a helpful thing to have in an adequate candidate. All things being equal I picked an HC talent over a DC talent. All things being equal I'd pick the orginator of a defense over someone who has learned that defense well. However, few things are equal in the society and I think both LeBeau and Gray are good choices for the job but I can see Gray really making or braintrust more complete. Williams- The concept he is a bust or even that he was a bad choice strike me as incorrect. I have problems with MW as a player after he caved in and gained weight when the Grandmother who raised him died. A better player would have used his lost as motivation to get in even better shape and play for her and her memory. However, though a better player would have reacted this way, assessment of him as a player is secondary to assessment of him as a person. Sometimes when someone close to you dies you get rocked. His reaction is unfortunate but quite understandable. Quite frankly if I was him or a member of his family how gooda professional he is important but it is way secondary to what type of person he is. His attitude toward his work can certainly be an indicator of how he deals with the important things like family, friends, spirituality and other things but one should not confuse them as being the same thing. I simply do not know MW well enough to draw conclusions about the depth of his character based on how he let his teammates and the City down. It doesn't look good but I think that one really risks drawing some wrong conclusions if one attempts to measure the man by how he reacted to this death. That being said, all I really care about is how MW affects my team. I\m sorry his grandma died but suck it uo man. After being sent some pretty stiff messages by threatened benching of him he seems to be doing thaAs far as assessing him as a player, I think the big issue is that he is where he is today because of 2 years of non-development as a player under the not-ready-for primetime tenures of Vinky and Ruel. There experience as NFL OL coaches was simply substandard and I think MW's development suffered greatly for it. Even worse he spent his rookie year next to Sullivan who obviously had litttle to teach him as he would have prospered even ie lined up next to a Joe Pano or Jerry O. Last year he had Pacillo next to him and actually despite his arrested development his rookie year suddenly found himself in a position where he needed to take care of the stiff next to him. If only MW had begun under the hand of someone like JMac with Villarial next to him I think it would have made a world of difference in the level of his play today but the good news is that it already seems to be bearing some benefits in his performance and by next season we could have a totally different assessment of MWs play and prospects if he is diligent in learning the rest of this season and working out next off-season. As far as the decision to draft him over McKinnie I see the only unorthodox thing about this move is that MW played RT in college in front of a left-handed QB. He still had blindside duty but tended to face the second best rusher of some opponents. Given McKinnie\s holdout and intial attitude MW was by far a better pick at the time and for about a year afterwards/ McKinnie has started to come around yet, but is no Pro Bowler yet so anointing this an obvious no-brainer choice seems a bit much to me/ I see some complaints about MW being damaged goods because of his ankle, but in the film i saw prior to the draft I saw no evidence of this as in fact MW seemed unusally fast and athletic for such a big man. Even as a Pro his injury problems seem to stem from him getting overweight and then doing to much as he tried to scramble and get back in shape and it led to him damaging his arch rather than his ankle giving out. MW has not impressed at all, but he has also not shown himself to be a total failure as a player. The rest of this seasn and next will tell. That's what I think of these two iassues Bill.

Speaking as one overly long poster to another I'm impressed with not only the quantity of your work but the quality. Thanks loads. I agree with most of the internals of your assessments and think they are right on target. Your Bledsoe summary is the one to make I think from a realistic football view. Most posters here come off as just fans rather than having any sense of football analysis as I think any reasonable football assessment of the Bledsoe deal needs to show nuance rather make some flat out conclusion that the move was all bad or all good. Your summary that the fault is not to be found in making the move but sticking with it is the right one in my book. I think the same is mostly true as seen in the lack of hyperventilation seen in your assessment of other moves. I do depart from your view in a couple of areas: I think you give picking up Villarial as being equal to or even better for the Bills as compared to the OL losing Ruben Brown. I think you are correct that Villarial is probably an individual talent upgrade over Brown. However, I think posters do not give enough credit to how much Brown's necessary demise (I'd probably get rid of any player who challenged the coaches so openly even if Kevin Killdrive and the Ruel/Vinklarek OL area deserved to be challenged). Villarial is a vet like Brown was and actually seems to have a bit more left as a player than Brown does. However, Villarial has not replaced what Ruben brought to the OL as a longtime Bill, a constant Pro Bowler (deserved or not) and recognized team leader with a TV gig etcetera. Look at it this way, the 2002 season saw an OL with Jennings playing LT for the first time as a constant starter, RB at LG, Teague as a first time starter since college at C, Sullivan as a first time starter at RG and rookie MW at RT. This unique sucked preventing sacks but played OL in front of a productive passing game earning Pro Bowl honors for several skill players and a productive running game for featuring TH. Was the reason for this a Vinklarek who got canned form this job by his buddy GW? Was it the leadership of the rookie C Teague? Was it the presence of the flett-footed Bledsoe? Was it all Kevin Killdrive's doing? I think the answer is that it was actually RB who provided a lot of leadership since he was a seasoned vet, a team and city leader and had the Pro Bowl chops (deserved or not) that he was listened to and followed by the youngsters. The production turned down last season, but Ruben's amger turned up as clearly something wasn't happening that he thought should happen. I don't think that the guys who got canned deserve credit for the good things this line did in the past and I look to what is missing now and among them is any internal leadership of the OL. Villatrial is a nice vet replacement for Brown but the team still misses the leadership he provided in my view. The other point I would disagree with is the centrality of the draft in making a team a winner. A full analysis of the consistent good teams in the league would need to be done to truly assess this point. However, i think it is hard to look at the Pats who won 2 of the lAST 3 and make the claim that the key to the building of this winner was the draft. Granted the draft was important to this team as it is to all teams. Hpwever, particularly when one looks at the importance of their 1st day choices, I think that the Pats drafting of high profile players was an add-on to the quality work of Scott Piloi and the braintrust making some great FA pick-ups. If you want to make a case for the draft being critical to the Pats success one would need to go to their late second day pick-up of Tom Brady in the sixth round after they let every other team in the league have multiple shots at drafting a player who has turned out to be the most productive player chosen in the last several years (if not ever after two SB wins in his first four years). However, they won the SB with the basics of this team by not only picking up a bumch of key FAs but doing so after the June 1st cap cuts. I think the key to the Pats is not building a team around the draft, but building a TEAM period with FAs playing a huge role. I think your continuity point is a good one, but this coninuity was not found through the draft but by having an HC who has proven larger than life who has helped make them a TEAM. One of the great Pats ironies is (and perhaps having a similar basis to your frustration with the Bills) is that one irony is that among the keys for their success were: 1. The 2001 injury to Bledsoe- If he had not been grievously injured, I think itis quite doubtful the 2001 Pats would have even mad the playoff much less win an SB. Bledsoe\s injury not only allowed Brady to come to the fore, but the grievous nature of theB;edsoe collapsed lung forced every player to do a gut check and step up or not. The stepped up and became a TEAM. 2. BB mishandling Milloy- After the 31-0 bookend shellackings with the Bills last year I don't think anyone credibly says that things did not go as BB planned last year in terms of the route the team took to the SB win even if the goal was what BB had in mind all along. BB deserves a ton of credit for doing the right things in the face of adversity, but much the adversity was of his own making or injuries which no one controls. Again the BB Milloy mistakes and the injuries forced every player to do a gut check and step up or not. They stepped uo. FA pick-ups like Rodney Harrison were a key to this. I think this actually points to what I see as the primary missing element for a Bills team that has the individual players to at least be competitive and actually make the playoff. They need a Parcells, a BB, even a JJ to be larger than life and force them to do their own individual gut checks and become a TEAM. I fault TD for seemingly having his primary motivation be to not get fired by a guy who hired him. He needs to protect himself by making this TEAM his publicly the way it is actually his team privately. Letting GW make his own mistakes ans then deservedly firing him is not good enough for this fan. Her may not be good enough himself as a footbal mind, but I'd rather see him try it his way and fail than see him pick someone who cannot do job like GW (and maybe MM) and fire him when he does fail.

generally on time. I think most fans over-value the draft which actually looking at the Pats example is an important augment to building a winning team rather than the centerpiece. Seymor was a great high draft pick but this iwinner was built by picking up many cap cuts in 2001, FAs like Harrison and late draft picks like Brady rather than 1st day draft picks. At any rate these good things have not produced good production as TD has made fundamental failures in hiring an HC

Finishing and cliffnoting the above post which I inadvertently sent before I was done: Cliffnotes begin The problem in my mind is that TD has seemed to be motivated by saying NEVER AGAIN to himself in terms of hiring a man (Cowher) as HC who can then fire him. He avoided candidates his first time around (definitely Marvin Lewis and seemingly John Fox) who might be good but he couldn't control and hired GW who might be good but whom he could control. Further, he seemed to allow GW to make bad decisions over his recommendation and allo his HC to make his own bed which the HC bore the blame for when they failed rather than asserting his GM authority and sharing the blame if things went south. Cliff notes end In the end (which we are quickly nearing) TDs big mistake in my mind was hiring an HC he could beat if it came down to that instead of more aggressively weighing in with what he thought was the right thing to do. Specifically, I think TD has done a great number of things right: 1. His fiscal prudency did deliver us from cap hell and into a good cap position a year if not two years earlier than should have been expected. 2, He has overseen huge improvements in the business side of the Bills organizartion ranging from moving us into the 20th century (finally) in terms of ticket sales, working with the Business Backs the Bills effort to secure seat sales and the team remaining here as long as Ralph is alive at least. The move to St. John's Fisher, the capturing of SHOUT as a house organ, andthe development of partnership deals are also big pluses on the business side and as long as he does a good job of sucking up to Ralph may even allow him to survive a horrendous onfield record. 3. He has attracted and captured some great FAs to the Bills at exceedingly reasonable contracts despite Buffalo not being an economic hotbed. This includes not only talented players like Spikes who could have gone anywhere but players like Adams who filled a clear need for us, had something left if he chose to extend himself and signed here for less than he could have gotten elsewhere. 4. Handled the draft well enough if not extraordinarily though outcomes of careers remaain to be seen. I think the complaints of some fans about the Bills recent drafts havwe not been supported by evidence which should be there. Granted, the Bills draftees in the first round have not turned out to produce like Bruce Smith or Peyton Manning, but declaring TD a loser as a drafter is not supported either because his picks have not turned out to be Ryan Leaf or Akili Smith either. It cannot be credibly claimed that TD has led great drafts, but I have seen unconroverted the claim that Bills recent picks have stuck in this league as players and been starters for our less than productive team in numbers which exceed the NFL average. One can make the subjective claim that Williams, Reed and/or Denney were highly selected busts, but objectively it is still a couple of years too early in their careers to make this conclusion. Futher Reed and Williams production as rookies and Denny improving friom just plain bad to OK simply means that though it is not unfair to declare them disappointing it is too early to declae them busts and there is a very reasonable potential for both Reed and MW to produce good careers as players when they look back in a decade and even the possiblity that Denny may do so (though this will need a lot of work I do not see happening). Any credible indictment of TD as a drafter needs to start with an objective demonstration which should be there if he is that bad of players being selected by him who are beate out by FAs, I have not seen this yet. Any subjective poor assessment which ignores an objective showing needs to recognize good progress and production by players such as Clements, Henry and Schobel along with their failings. 5. Interesting and inventive cap management has been a TD hallmark. I remain impressed with his negotiating ability which has gotten good deals and delivered drated players o camp genera

If anything I wish TD would exercise more public control of the team. His style and one of our problems has struck me that he has been too passive/aggressive about things in that his strategy for never getting fired and run out of town by a guy he hired as happened in Pitts with Cowher seems to be to hire an HC and then to let him make his own bed through the HC getting his way over TDs non-public objections. When the Bills raft hits the rocks as the HCs decisions fail, then it is the HC who ends uo bearng the blame for making a bad decision despite TDs advice. This view can easily be wrong because I'm not inisde OBD and do not now (unlike PFW seems to claim) what really motovates TD or Ralph. However, this view of the word seems to fit things we can see in terms of bad decisions by GW. 1. TD let him pick his own lieutenants after GW was hired and GW made some bad choices such as hiring the not-ready-for-primetime Sheppard to be his OC. Sheppard was so bad even GW agreed or pushed canning him despite spending Ralph's money for nothing on the time left in Sheppard's contract. It appears that hiring Sheppard was GW's idea from his lists and not TDs though TD clearly gave GW too much ability to hire his own guys though because they were not ready TD deserves his share of the blame even if the specific bodies were not his idea (letting GW hire his buudy Vinky and then Ruel as OL coach should not have happened. 2. TD let GW pick Kevin Kildrive as his new OC over TDs proposal which was to hire Clements. As an outsider I made the mistake of assuming that KG wasa TD choice because of their past history, but various souces including public statements by TD now reveal that TD was a Clements man and GW hired KG over TDs recomendation. I can see why GW would do this because KG was damaged goods and controllable because GW was seemingly insecure about his lack of O experience, but TD never should allowed this to happen as KG clearly was not up to snuff. 3. TD seemed to eventually hire his buddies in areas where GW clearly failed to produce such as hiring LeBeau to retool the Bills D scheme after the GW/Gray scheme failed to produce (particularly after they attempted to rely on old GW hands Robinson at LB and Jenkins at S after they were done as players). Bringing in TD buddy and former OC Steckel as RB coach was a good move as a replacement was right there to control or replace KG if he failed, but TD never oulled the trigger on this despite our o scheme being predictable and sucking last year. In the end (which we are quickly nearing) TDs big mistake in my mind was hiring an HC he could beat if it ca

The caveat I'd add to your list is that the important thing is not where TH ranls among a ranking of all RBs but where TH ranks among a list of RBs who are available. Sure Edge is better but cannot be had until FA which I think is this coming off-season while TH can be had for a song for a year under his extended contract with the Bills. Martin isn't even available even after this season as are most of the RBs on your list. Trading is not about a simple assessment of how good a player is, but it is a supply and demand question. Next Tuesday is the trading deadline and we (unfortunately) need to see a season ending injury to an RB with a questionable back-up who plays for a team with an SB shot with an RB. If I'm NE and Dillon goes down, I'd trade a lot for a starting RB and if TH is the onlu one available bwecause WM does well, I'd trade my first in a hot second for him because the investment might meen an SB for me and saving Brady\s neck from Ds that certainly stop TH, but have to key on him to do it. Trade worth is a statement of supply and demand and not simply an assessment f how good a player may or may not be.

Cliff notes begin: TH's worth in draft picks is more a relative statement of what the market will provide than any judgment you an I have about how good he is as a player. For example, the post below explores a little the Milloy signing and the Bledsoe deal when assessing the worth of a player. Cliff notes end The mistake here is that a players worth is not determined by some absolute judgement by us of how good of a player he is but by how much a particular team is willing to give up for him at a particular time. If my number 1 RB has suffered a season ending injury and I am all set at other positions and I feel a starting RB will make the difference for me in wether I make the SB or not, then I might judge TH as easily being worth a 1st round choice in next year's draft, particularly if Oakland is offering Jake Grove straight up or someone else is offering a 2nd rounder. Worth is a relative and not an absolute statement of value. Supply andf demand rule the day. An example of this Lawyer Milloy. At the time he surprisingly entered the market because BB miscalculated whether he would take a cut an re-sign supply of recent Pro Bowl safeties was low (Milloy was the only one available). As it turned how, demand was also constrained because few teams had the cap room to sign him. However, their were enough teams around like the Bills who had not only an opening but a need after Cota and Battle had retired and cap room because we had set aside money just in case to sign Winfield. The Bears also has a convergence of cap room and need and it only takes 2 teams tto make for a bidding war. So what is TH worth. It pretty much depends upon the supply of starting RBs out there and the demand caused for RBs by failed players and injuries. Our judgments about how good he is comes into play, but mostly as a comparison to what other players are available at what cost and how does TH compare to them. Another example is question of was Bledsoe worth what the Bills gave to NE for him? At the time the answer was clearly yes, because he cost the Bills nothing the year they got him as they only had to give up a future draft pick even if it was a first. A year after the trade the answer was still unequivocally yes, because he qualified for the Pro Bowl with his play and of even greater dollar cents import was a key to exciting fans after a 3-13 season. Even better for the Bills, the need for a replacement 1st round choice was part of the impetus for tagging PP and getting a 1st rounder for AT. Added further into this equation was that he cost the Pats big time to trade as his accelerated cap hit was a big part of not allowing them to make the playoffs as they could not sign marginal FAs under the salary cap after their SB win. As time went on, Bledsoe simply sucked on the field and NE unburdened by the cap penalty last year won the SB. TD added insult to our injury by resigning Bledsoe and thus the trade and resign is now a clear loser for the Bills. Suffice to say its more complicated than a simple judgment. A players worth is not only relative in terms of the market at he time but is relative over time as events occur.

The bills have little to lose in terms of this season switching to a more productive running game and getting practice at being more productive However there seem to be several downsides to this move which make it unlikely: A How"s WM: His full recovery from injury remains a definite possibility but he aint there yet from all weve seen Rushing him in to carry the load of a full game or starting still seems counter to bringing him a long at a good rate Pehaps if by starting him it would make the difference between making the playoffs or not you take the risk but this season has started so badly it seems doubtful he could provide much immediate benefits that justifies risking the future B Shopping Henry: If you think TH has something to offer as a Bill you start him if you think he is done as a BilL abd you want to trade him you start him If he is hurt you sit him but whether you are done with TH or not you play him to get production or to trade him The Fins have a good D but they can be run on

Exactly It is amazing to see the drew psychosis among many fans who either want to ignore his limitations and are sure he will lead us to victory AND the folks who want to ignore what he does well which when properly used can be a part of a winning team Definitely the stats throughout much of his career truthfully indicate that he has mostly been a part of losing teams However it is just silly that Bledsoe haters simply ignore the factual occurence that he has been an essential part of winning teams given the great HC job done by Parcells when a Bledsoe led team made the SB and by BB and Weis when Bledsoe played an essential role in QBing the team in a must win game when they won their first SB Again he was extremely productive in his first year as a Bill until opponents got enough tape on the Kevin Killdrive O to defend against it and the marginal late season weather took away a chunk of what he could still do well I do not think unfortunately that the Bills can win consistently {or at all if the OL can"t block and receivers drop key passes} with Bledsoe at the helm unless the HC can provided the determined clear leadership of a Parcells or has the O genius of a Weis However it simply strikes me as an incorrect view of football to claim that it is impossible to win at all with Bledsoe"s limitations Teams have proven and he has proven several seasons during his career that this is possible with outstanding offensive coaching and the right play by teammates The Bills problem is that the HC and OC have not yet shown they have the right stuff to work with {or around if you must be negative about the Bills though why you hang around TSW without a realistic suggestion about how to get better is beyond me} Bledsoe"s strengths and limitations and also that Bledsoe"s teammates have not picked up for him to maximize his game by dropping passes and tripping running into the line and missing blocks Did TD make a mistake resigning Bledsoe? You bet unless he was set to do a number of other things to win with him In my mind they are: A Build an ol which is a positive running force: I think he has started to do this by hiring an adult to run the OL rather than not ready for PT types like Vinklarek and Ruel but this will take a little time as the OL is still suffering from three years of insufficient leadership and the best OL leader on the team Ruben outstayed his welcome by fighting with Kevin Killdrive {justifiable but a player cannot defy the braintrust like he did and expect to stay} Villarial is a reasonable replacement as a player but simply does not have enough time in place as a Bill to be an on the field leader of too young players who need to be led The woulda coulda shoulda on building an OL quickly would have been to go get an SB winner vet center like Woody to fill the gap Yet Damiens center days may be behind him and the cap constraints are real so I"m not sure this was a viable alternative Unfortunately time may be the only thing you can do B Try to build a Ravenesque D: Given my sense that the O was not going to be the answer for this team then building an outstanding D would seem to be the other route The current D performance indicates that building this way was and is possible but the D is a top notch DE away and a quality safefty as starter away from being there The cap again is the major factor If the D were that good then all you are looking for is a Trent Dilfer contribution from the QB C Focus on ST: The current successful model for an SB winner is not one of relying on the draft as some on TSW say but instead to make good quality marginal FA acquisitions like the NE Pariots The draft is obviously important as seen in acquisitions like Seymour but clearly it is not the lead to their strategy as good FA pickups like harrison and unheralded late round draftees like Brady have played a far bigger role for the team I think the key is to look for marginal FAs who can make your ST studlike and can step up when an FA acquisition like colvin goes down or you mishandle a situation like Milloy