RuntheDamnBall

A classic example of where the team would have wasted a timeout - maybe two.

Cool story, bro.

Except Stevie didn't get kicked out of an SEC program for multiple drug violations. Other than that, totally the same.

Why use facts when you can fabricate your own truths?

Nobody said they are meaningless. Is it tough to admit that it's early to evaluate the most important position on the field? And I would make a distinction between kick return situations where natural talent can really take over, and QB play. Furthermore, the ST play is probably the one area where preseason competition is as close to regular season competition, given that the makeup of the on-field guys is going to be pretty close. It is the 2nd and 3rd stringers who fill those roles. If we were talking about Goodwin dazzling on offense, I think people might temper it more with "it was against the future grocery baggers of America..." Success of any kind in preseason is better than the alternative. It's just early. Period.

Not that it's the first damned week of the damned preseason or anything.

Inanimate carbon rod >>>> Skip Bayless.

I saw one of those stick figure family stickers, except it was a man, a woman and a pile of money. http://xkcd.com/946/

I'm 100% in agreement. Also: I wonder if they don't give serious thought to keeping Tuel off of field for most of camp to try to slip him through to the PS. This only happens if they are really worried about letting go of another vet to keep Tuel. And it is a risk.

Right. And it's looking like Brad Smith will be a borderline guy who would stay because of ST / versatility, not a roster lock. That versatility is a wild card and we don't really know how much it is valued here, though on defense it sounds like a guy like Bryan Scott would stick. As an aside, I had thought that Marrone's tenure with the NYJ lined up with Smith's, but it didn't... I do think there is plenty of evidence for the idea that Marrone is going to want a lot of his "own" guys and that a lot of those decisions have already been made - not keeping Nelson or Jones (though that was in part a medical decision), very few receiver holdovers in general - lots of raw guys in the OL fold - 3 new QBs brought in, two of them rookies - MLB likely to be a rookie draftee Again, for SJBF and the like - not a concern for me, because my expectations are low. I just think this signals long term growth of a team together as a priority for Marrone. Sometimes that turnaround happens really quickly if you have the right mix - here's hoping.

Guh? How much has Kolb played? Four days in camp? And has Tuel seen anything like the caliber of defense that Kolb has? I am intrigued by Tuel, but let's not get crazy.

To be fair, the thread was started before the game. But yes. people saw things they were excited about in it. It's exciting, but even one good regular season game can be deceptively promising (see: Johnson, Rob).

I'll bet they sign anybody that they think is an upgrade. But seriously, are we worried about this? When's the last time a Bills cut went there and shined? Sammy Morris? Did Sam Aiken finally develop into that top-shelf possession receiver while we weren't looking?

No doubt. I am not really concerned about it; more curious than anything else. Given that we discuss keeping only 2 QBs and people are suggesting that it might be best to keep only the two rookies, and given that Brad Smith's validity as a receiver is in question, I don't think it's that crazy to ask if Marrone will prefer to keep experience on his roster or to roll with younger guys that he feels will have more upside. And this is really more of a question concerning the positions that are up for grabs. Obviously he is going to recognize the talent of an established starter. If this is as stupid or opaque as it appears to sound to others and isn't worth discussing,, I'll close the thread.

I wonder if Marrone would rather coach up younger guys than deal with experienced guys whose only advantage might be experience (and who might be set in their ways). Make more sense? I don't know, but see above and respond... or don't.

And there it is.

Put a player A / player B situation in play without thinking about what a player has done in the past, and it doesn't look as good for Kolb. It's really a situation where the experience and having seen different situations on field could come to benefit Kolb. If Kolb gets cut, it'll be because the team has (I worry, outsized) faith in the ability of two rookies to step in and keep the machine running without having worked with anything like it for very long.

I'm wondering a little bit (but not necessarily worried), if this staff won't be prone to hand the keys to the younger players, all things being equal. Marrone has coached college the past four years and might feel like he has a pretty good handle on working and growing with that age-group as a coach. There could be wisdom yet in getting Marrone with a young corps leading the way. I don't get the feeling he will be trying to do everything the way it worked in college, nor do I feel like he will be afraid to play to players' strengths. I have no evidence on whether past hires out of the college ranks have tilted toward keeping their younger guys in the camp cuts, but it could make for an interesting quantitative study.

Ever consider the fact that you might need a competent QB to evaluate the rest of the talent on the offense, and that if EJ gets hurt you're talking about being limited to a street FA or a rookie UDFA? There is intangible value associated with having a Vet backup who knows the offense. Also, NO NFL coach goes into a season telling his men that they don't have a chance at the playoffs, and the first one that does will lose his team and his job. It's one reason that Mularkey lost his team in accepting that implicit message when he started Losman. Let EJ earn it, and meanwhile have a quality backup plan in case of injury. No matter how good Tuel looks the odds are extremely low that he is ready to be the only plan B.

Of course not. But unless they intend to franchise him over and over again or to trade him, I believe they would be offering him a multiyear contract, which is what I hope they will do. So far, he isn't on the roster, ergo, they don't have either of these players in the fold. It's fine to say you can't pay everybody, and it's stupid to pay none of your homegrown talents (at least not the right ones). Levitre and Byrd have each provided as much actual production as McKelvin has unfulfilled promise. Yet only one of those three is here in camp with the Bills.

This makes no sense because there never was $9M for Levitre, and there may not be that much for Byrd. I think most fans who were on board with the Levitre move thought that the Bills would pony up for the other one. I understood the Levitre move, but only in the context of keeping Byrd - not in the context of letting go of two Pro Bowl caliber players.

He would form part of a great defensive backfield with Dimeneck Sayftey.

That just seems foolish. Without a plan B and with 2 rookies, Kolb has value even as an extreme clipboard holder and guy on the helmet radio.

I am still astonished that we have a defensive back named Nickel Robey.

Don't get that one either. V is clearly the darkest, best directed, and overall the best (IMO). I tend to agree. The Son-Mi 451 story was the one that just kind of ripped your heart out, though the island story with the Hanks / tribal character was also really emotional. I do think that the connections / reincarnation aspect is more about how these different stories are lived out in the same ways across the eras, and that humanity's capacity (in the same space) for brutality, empathy, love, and revelation is kind of the one constant. So the reincarnation is more felt/perceived and suggested than overt. And the big difference is in how we tell these stories and in how we blind ourselves to the mistakes and cruelties that repeat themselves. Without giving too much away to those that hadn't seen it, the one story with the goofy British publicist was a pretty good way of mocking how trivial we are in the present even while there's a dose of menace and violence.