RuntheDamnBall

This is a crazy story and I maintain that Pettine is going to regret taking that job. He could have improved the Bills' D enough to get an elite position in 2015 with a team that had a playoff letdown -- Cowboys? Giants? -- if he'd stayed here. Picking up the last dented can on the shelf just because it's there doesn't mean you get a good meal out of it.

If you value the two equally, you see if Detroit wants one guy more than the other, threaten to pick him and swap picks with the Lions to gain something. It gets more complex if there is a QB that somebody likes at that spot.

I think it's kind of a weird quote from Whaley but I think what it amounts to is you want a guy who can manage the game and doesn't cost you many as a backup, while you hope for elite play from your QB. I'll give you that Manuel hasn't shown us much of that yet, so the jury is certainly out. But these guys believe he has that in him. Health is certainly a bigger issue. Because even if he did start showing us elite play, if he's only in there for 10 games and the team goes 6-4 in them, a .500 record with the backup only gets you to 9-7. The team could use competition at QB and it will be great no matter who rises to the occasion. I still think bringing in a guy like Murray would be a very sound move - a bargain on talent that is also a hedge against Manuel injuries or stagnation in the coming years. "Get better everywhere" should be the motto.

I think the point when someone points out his Olympic bona fides is that it's a package of speed and training acumen, and that with long jump there is more than just speed involved. I think it makes Goodwin more impressive. Straight line speed is nothing if you can't run routes or catch the ball.

More TG editorializing. I kind of wish bylines were included in the TBD links. It's too bad because there are good quotes from Whaley, and then Graham inserting his own ideas in there. Witness: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-plan-for-first-round-any-position-but-qb-20140222?two-bills-drive I'm not permitted to quote much here, but Graham explains how Whaley says that he is open to any position except QB for the first round. Then: If you read the rest of what Whaley has to say, including this: ...does anyone here see anything that indicates that the Bills aren't interested in adding competition at the position, period? Or do you see what I see, which is Whaley saying that he likes what he has -- a good move to instill confidence in your current players -- while noting that he is always looking to improve the team? Furthermore, we know from past experience and in general that to telegraph your draft strategy is stupid. Whaley is also subtly letting teams who want a QB know that the #9 spot can be had in trade. And he certainly won't be in a bad position -- that anyone will remember or blame him for -- if Manziel or Bridgewater fall to #9. I am not super enamored of either guy but I would understand the appeal. So why that initial dig? I wonder if TG's feewings are hurt because his great idea for a first round QB was shot down, thus he has to make a point of it every chance he gets.

Goodwin was an Olympic long jumper, not a sprinter.

It would be a perfect storm of goodwill if he fell to their spot and they want him. You can't help but hope it happens and that he succeeds...

Lots to discuss here, but one thing is that RI had the information that JM was suicidal at some point (he used it to "defend" himself via Twitter. Classy, right?). If you know that, maybe you f---ing lay off? And OL is a part of the team where the bonding is always strong, very much at the suggestion of the coaches. It is not surprising that JM would want to fit in, especially when his livelihood depended on it. Now, a stronger guy with a better sense of self, like Schlereth, can say he doesn't feel like doing that. He also said that he had a family to go home to -- something Martin didn't, which is a distinction. He also wasn't being fined by his teammates for not being a part of stuff, or incessantly texted by them. It's my guess that to some degree RI took his mission from the team to help RI feel a part of the activity, but had no real idea how to lead and actually do that because he was only a reformed career f---up, never a strong character guy. It ends up being a lot of texts and invitations to go workout, cruise for girls, and go drinking. I'm not saying that a young guy shouldn't enjoy himself, but I'm also not sure that Incognito's program would have led to greater success for the Miami OL or offense.

I think this is an interesting chart... I disagree on Wood, though. I think he'd be in the green. Also, Byrd is under team control and is top-5, so #1 need can't possibly be FS until he is no longer a Bill. I would still say that LG ranks higher on this list, because Pears is more serviceable than Legursky.

You're kidding, right? Buffalobills.com, or baltimoreravens.com, or denverbroncos.com or any of these sites exist to promote product. Of course they put out disinformation pieces. These sites are there to drum up interest. They may be selectively critical to be able to inoculate themselves against charges of complete homerism, but they are there for no other reason than to act as an extension from the team's PR department to the casual fan.

Well, good for those guys. Some times it doesn't pay to do anything other than to dissociate yourself from a group of people who have a different set of values. Speaking from my own experience, you can work real hard to "earn the respect" of people who have done nothing to deserve your effort, or you can go your own way and say f--- them by succeeding at what you're good at. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and there is no reason to sit there and take it from people who don't deserve your best. In a team sports situation, if my supervisors or team leaders believed that was the way to get my best, I'd tell them that they are not worth my time.

Obviously you have never been bullied.

Fit him up.

Maybe he means that no one has died this offseason. LG is a dire need and this can't be refuted. It may be the case - though I doubt it - that there is someone on the roster who can step up, whether it is one of these projects or late-season pickups. More likely someone needs to be added. Depth along the OL is a dire need, too. If one of these cats goes down it will be bad. If you're happy with the production at TE I suppose it isn't a dire situation. Is anybody actually happy with it? Same with the WR production. It needs to be improved. I have few issues with the guy because he is in the employ of the team and that isn't his fault, per se, but this is some Chris Brown "Lead Journalist" spin if it ever existed.

That Meggett story is just awful. It's all-too-believable, sadly, that the guy was able to skate through society as a serial rapist for years. I won't say that the % of domestic or sexual abuse cases among NFL players is higher or lower - most likely they are underreported because of the obvious power play involved when a wealthy, public man and a woman who doesn't have high standing in society are involved. There are a lot of salient points in the article, though, chief among them the notion that a man who has these kinds of issues and is championed for his physical prowess can in fact skate by. However this happens, whether at the hands of someone famous or not, it's a crime and it's something every father of a daughter fears.

"They" want to make America soft and wimpy? I don't know, I'm trying to channel my inner person who gets real offended about all this kind of stuff, and I can't locate him right now. I see a kid with depression issues, and a team exacerbating them instead of trying to help their employee and teammate. I'm not sure why it kills anybody to have this response. That the media coverage is overblown, distorted, outsized, etc should surprise nobody. It is about time for this story to resolve itself, for the teams to correct course if they're following the wrong one, and for us to move on, too. By the way, did you hear there are massive and sometimes violent street demonstrations happening right now in Venezuela and Thailand, not just in Ukraine? Probably not. Let's please talk about how important this all is for longer.

Incentive·based pay seems like a great idea on its face but there would have to be a reason for players to accept this, I.e. bigger guarantees, or contracts guaranteed for the length of them as in baseball.

Yep - They basically had a boatload of chips to wheel and deal with. The Walker trade set them up. The Walsh pick and trade basically amounts to a trade down from #1 to #15, plus a 2nd and 3rd.

A respectful team atmosphere somehow doesn't change the amount of talent or coaching talent on the team. I dunno? I'm asking to see the examples of winning teams with "toxic" atmospheres. There aren't many. Maybe that's because they're winning and bad attitudes can be kept at bay, or maybe it's everywhere and it just gets swept under the narrative of the winning team. Probably a combo, plus there is the tight knit nature of the locker room and the sense that even bad secrets are worth keeping if you want to keep a job in the league. Most often if there is any sort of team drama, it's with a player like T.O. or Dez visibly blowing up on field. I don't watch much lately but I saw plenty of it early on in the case - usually older types like Ditka calling them both idiots or babies, but it was there.

Yes, I quite recall, it was a rant of Sherman-esque proportions. I imagine when he steps off of the ledge of intense rookie bravado he'll realize the error of his ways.

"An acceptance and understanding of that particular jungle" is pretty far from support, and it suggests just as much that team members would not want to cross certain lines to put themselves up for scrutiny. Again, let's see the many other successful NFL teams (Miami not being one of them) that operate like this. I see plenty of blaming Martin to go around here, and plenty of writing this off as "the way it is" - with precious little evidence. There's also very little evidence that going this far makes for a better team, for an environment where teammates respect one another and will battle for one another. The mixed reactions you see from former NFL players who are commentators are pretty indicative of a wide range of feelings on this, and they don't all back the code or Incognito.

You're right, no one has ever improved their accuracy or their footwork at the NFL level. Loudly boasted? Really? Good lord.

The dude has checked himself in to get help before and admitted as such in prior statements about how he'd reformed himself, and in his texts with Martin. And I would say that every time Incognito has gone on Twitter or released conversations he initiated with Martin via text, he is, too, trying to shape perception, even if he is about as subtle as a brick in doing so. Still, the conclusion that you're left with is that a majority agree with him (not substantiated) and would back him. That's not provable nor is it likely. An NFL vet like Schlereth, like Donte Stallworth, like any number of guys who have publicly commented on the issue, doesn't necessarily back Incognito just because of this "code." My point about McDonald's statement is that he is trying to hold onto a job in the NFL and if I were his lawyer I'd be running from any involvement in this, too. A guy low on the totem pole has to be a good soldier even if it isn't in his best interests in the long term.

Really? Isn't footwork a tangible, quantifiable issue? Isn't accuracy? Isn't knowing when to run and when not to? If nothing else I view these as coachable. I always think of intangibles as the elements like character, leadership, all the stuff everyone believes EJ has in spades.

So because a locker room full of idiots was swayed by the most charismatic idiot of them all, Martin is wrong? I've said before that it's possible Martin doesn't belong in the NFL, for a number of reasons, but the Dolphins' "survival-of-the-fittest workplace" is working out real well for them. Also, if that statement was crafted by McDonald personally, I'll eat my hat.