BuffOrange

That isn't the case at all. In fact, I've noticed that many of the homers in this thread also defended Bledsoe last year. They're consistent in seeing everything thru rose-colored glasses. Most of the "pessimists" are just being realists. We're happy when crappy players/coaches (Drew/GW) leave. But spin-doctoring the personnel changes in the trenches this offseason is just fruitless. They're worse on both sides and it's really not even debatable.

I'm in the minority on that. Kendrall Bell (good rookie season), Carlos Hall (a couple good games in place of Kearse), and Sammy Knight (slow) don't really do that much for me; especially with the price they paid. Patrick Surtain is about the only "sure thing" they signed IMO. Priest Holmes isn't getting any younger either. I think it's going to be a rough year if we can't beat that team at home.

I had a feeling this thread would take off during my commute home. My job sucks because of that commute. Plus, a monkey can do my job. It was kind of cool at first being able to go in hung over and not worry about doing anything stressful, but I'm 3 years out of college now and I've done nothing with my degree. The benefits also suck. On the plus side I can't imagine having a cooler boss, and the pay is decent. I'm thankful I can comfortably put food on the table, which I wasn't sure of 2 years ago. The economy appears much better now, and I have an interview for a job I really want tommorow; wish me luck; or don't wish me luck since it hasn't worked for me in the past.

Plus the Dolphins don't get to play the Dolphins.

I don't know about the other stores, but the one I go to gives you $1 off every time you bring in your previous receipt; which makes their prices reasonable. I'm definitely in the habit of hitting that up for dinner once a week.

We're doomed...this guy has picked us to do well every year recently. Like most prognisticators, he picks the standings from the previous year and throws in one curveball so that the predictions aren't total chalk; kind of like picking three #1 seeds in the Final 4 and somebody else at random. I think he made a bad choice - Jacksonville looks like a 3rd place team in the South to me. I think the Steelers will come down to earth and be overtaken by Baltimore. Possibly the Chargers as well, although I don't like anybody else in the West.

I hate to say it, but it looks like the Jets mostly got rid of dead weight. The Patriots....does it really matter as long as Bellichek is there? I'm not as scared about having a 1st year QB as some people....but its effects could be magnified by the fact that we've gotten worse on both sides of the trenches.

My thoughts precisely.

I hate to bust on Stuart Scott again, but I was watching that 'Stump the Schwab' show a couple weeks ago and the contestants had to name the top 20 or whatever all-time leaders in yards from scrimmage. They got everyone but about 5 guys and Stu says: "A couple of these might surprise you....Thurman Thomas". WTF?

I'm not sure if it's possible to design a decent football uniform with orange & blue.... They're not terrible considering what they had to work with; better than the Bills anyway.

To be fair, Watson was a punt catcher, not a returner.

The Sports Guy had a great quote last summer: "Instead of going 4-12, lets give up a 2nd round pick for Lamar Gordon so that we can go 5-11". That was of course, assuming Lamar Gordon would be a difference-maker in any game.

Yeah, fortunately I'm only 24. Because of the unusual success the team had when I initially became a fan, I resisted complaining much after '94, '97, '01, etc... But I think the statute of limitations is up on sounding like a spoiled brat, no?

Are they really going to wait 4 months to air the main event after it happens?

Well again, I'm not going to argue about the Bengals and the 90's. My point was, 6 years in this day & age is an eternity to rebuild, and regardless of who is to blame for that, the reality is this franchise hasn't gotten it done. You keep pointing to last year's "winning record" as if it's a sure thing that they will continue to progress this coming season with the extra year's time to rebuild. I hope it happens, but it doesn't always work that way (see 6-10 in 2003 after 8-8 in 2002); so I'm only going by what has happened up until now. How are we going to spin this rebuilding project if God forbid we're 6-10 again this year - it will then be 7 years and counting?

To each his own. Personally, the Bengals futility in the 90's doesn't make me feel any better about our team's failures this decade. The fact is this team hasn't made the playoffs in 6 years, or a division title in 10. I don't know about anybody else, but that bothers me. This also isn't just a continuation of the 2001 rebuilding project - that one already failed. That's why we're on our 2nd Head Coach, 3rd Offensive Coordinator, and 3rd QB since.

Yeah I forgot about the Titans - good call. Their talent is pretty thin across the board. Jax did have a lot of luck last year, but they should still win around 7 games or so. They didn't lose much and they're fairly young at a lot of positions.

Oakland's probably not a bad pick with no defense and no running game. Kerry Collins is either really good or really bad. You have to figure they're only going to win about half of the games that he plays well in, and lose every game where he throws 4 int's or whatever.

If there's one thing you can count on from our unpredictable team, it's that they always beat down overrated teams from the NFC when they come to our place. I don't get the fascination with the Falcons game, but I'm going to win a lot of $ wagering on it just like the Rams game last year. Just go to the Jets or Chiefs game and make lots of noise - they're more important anyway.

Wow - they make the playoffs one year in a row and suddenly they're the resiliant, consistent, odds-defying mainstays of the league. Imagine actually winning a few playoff games by getting to the SB 4 years in a row, beating the hell out of your division rival in every game that matters, and still listening to every expert on the face of the earth pick Miami to win it all. Yeah, what media darlings. Has PFW, Streets & Smith, or Lindy's even picked us to make the playoffs in the last 5 years anyway?

I used to only deposit $50 at a time and then blame it on bad luck if I lost, but I was stupid then. Didn't even bother to research variance and realize that you need 300 bets in your bankroll. So I started out with $100 on Paradise playing .25/.5, then moved up to .5/1 when I had $300, then 1/2 when I had $600, now I have $1400 and moving up to 2/4 soon. Poker is a lot more than just knowing what hands are good preflop and complaining about bad players sucking out. There are some good books and discussion forums out there, you just gotta find them. BTW - I've heard Antoine Winfield is a decent high stakes player up in the MN casinos; and not a bad guy either.

Every time one of my friends' gets dealt 18 at a table I always say "18, good. 18's good". I'm not sure if they even get the obscure reference, but it's pretty funny when they lose every time. Am I a bad friend?

I'm not sure what to say about anybody who considers Lee Evans a "sleeper" at this point.

I remember watching that during March Madness 2003. Woody Paige picked Syracuse to lose every game against the awesome Big XII teams. After the final 4 they went on a week vacation and never talked college hoops again. Haven't seen the show since. I also remember listening to Jay Mariotti's radio show on weekend mornings for "OneonOne Sports" years ago. He had zero sense of humor. Now all of the sudden he's a comedian. It's pretty obvious they are given scripts on ATH.

In Parcells' first year w/ Dallas, they also played 3 teams coming off byes. Obviously they had a decent season compared to last year. The week after the bye hasn't shown to be any advantage for a lot of teams recently, either. Also, one of the good things about a lack of MNF games is that you don't have short weeks; and we have played a Miami team on 5 days rest quite a few times over the years. Although as TigerJ pointed out, it is a bit ridiculous that last year we played a team that was also coming off their bye week after our bye; in addition to 3 rested opponents this year, but IMO there's no evidence to say it's not a coincidence. If it happens again next year it might be something to talk about.