SouthernMan

I'm surprised there wasn't a headline for the recent rookie mini-camp when the new players got to meet the coach. It would go something like: "New Recruits Don't Know Dick".

I've got lots of ideas. The one I've shared with you previously involves permanently hooking up Ralph Wilson to life support before he naturally expires. This would eliminate all the hand-wringing about his inevitable demise and the future of the team. I proposed to have him live on indefinitely to avoid estate taxes and to give Jim Kelly enough time to save up so he can buy the team. Of course, we'll probably have to hook-up Kelly to some life support equipment also. Just not enough time. Maybe we could convince Ralph to adopt Jim and Thurman so they could inherit and run the team.

Hey Beavis, at around the 1:07 mark, it looked like the one lion was eating the other one's ass. Must have been the appetizer...hee he he he he

Forget host cities altogether for Superbowls. Let the team/city that's earned it, host it - just as they would for a ccnference championship game. Like the idea of reduced commercials - never happen. The NFL is all about making lots of money, even at the expense of a compromised product. And the other idea: good god, change that gay hand signal following an endzone saftey. Can't they come up with something more fitting. One of the most macho plays in the sport - an offensive player (usually a QB) getting blind-sided or pummeled in the endzone by a swarming defense, and the best they can come up with is that gay, prayer-hands over the head hand signal? The signal should have the official motioning a fisted uppercut or grabbing his nuts - anything but the current one. C'mon NFL. Get it together. The safety sign looks like something that baseball should use.

Why all the hate for Jauron is a good question. Because he's not a charismatic, animated sideline figure like a Jon Gruden, Parcells, or Bill Cowher? The Bengals' Marvin Lewis has been given a free ride for 5 years. He has one more win than Jauron during Jauron's tenure with the Bills, and for some reason, Lewis is treated like a coaching god by the media and fans. In 5 seasons as the Bengals head man, only one has resulted in a record better than .500. He's also had more talent and less injury issues than Jauron has had. Consider Jauron's challenges last season: Working with a rookie RB, rookie QB, no complimentary second WR, barely adequate TEs to replace the severly injured one, a defensive backfield wiped out by injury, the highest total of injured reserve players on record, and one the toughest schedules of the season. All this, and they were only a couple of last-second field goals away from being a playoff contender. I'm willing to give Jauron the benefit of a doubt. I think it's still too early to pass judgement on him as the Bills coach. How many coaches have had better records in their first 2 years after inheriting a minimally talented team ? Considering all Jauron had to face last year, it's amazing they finished with 7 wins!

Here's a real picture taken during last year's draft in the war room at One bills Drive. http://thesportshernia.typepad.com/blog/im...er_football.jpg

\\ I think your math is off a bit. It would be 60 minutes (AT MOST). Is waiting 1 additional hour on a Saturday afternoon, for the pick of a player, that may or may not contribute much to the team as a rookie, beginning September 7, that big a deal? I'm eager and curious to see the Bills choices also, but an hour or 2 either way won't have me downing doses of Xanax.

Dallas scores 9 points in the last 40 seconds to win. That says it all. They wanted it more than the Bills did. What the Bills need to develop is a killer, put-em-away mentality. It reminded me of the Home Run Throwback game - too much celebrating before the final seconds ticked off. Totally agree about Edwards. The guy has field vision. Give him some weapons (i.e.: a dominating center, WR & TE) and I think he'll be a playmaker. I think we all wished for Losman's sucess, but he's never going to amount to more than a situational passer with some desirable athletic skills. He's not a field general who will methodically march down the field and use the clock to his advantage, and in turn, give our defense time to recharge. Edwards has shown signs of having those talents. And at the risk of starting another uniform thread........ Don't know if it's because I'm an old timer who gets nostalgic, but damn, those uniforms look so much better than the look of our current washed-out, faded-looking navy blues. Especially in HD. God, those 21st century Bills unis are horrible looking. Is it me, or is that color just dull as hell? It has all the dynamic color range of a faded tattoo. Maybe it's my mental association with a subpar team (since that glorious Bledsoe era) that contributes to my dislike of the colors. Powers that be at One Bills Drive: Please bring back the throwback colors permanently.

Also, Edwards will have valuable time to gel with the 1st team offense AND will actually be allowed to audiblize. I think the importance of this facet to the offense has been greatly overlooked. How the hell could any offense expect to be consistently productive when they aren't given the option to look over the defensive and make changes to counter the look? I think that issue, more than anything else, should reveal why Losman is no longer # 1. The coaches quite obviously have no confidence in his ability to read defenses and be a field general. They're trading Losman's wheels for Edwards' brain and hoping that this will be the cure for the larthargic offensive production. Can you imagine Jim Kelly not being allowed to call an audible?

The Bills didnt' f-up Bledsoe, Johnson, or Losman. They arrived defective. They all had/have the same affliction - bad pocket awareness and trouble reading defenses. All had/have great arms. If arm strength was a true measure of NFL QB greatness, Jeff George would be in the Hall of Fame. I don't think any sculptors have put the calipers to his cranium lately. The Bills are guilty of having too much faith in their ability to cure these QB's defects and bad habits (can you say alarm clocks at practice?), but THEY didnt't turn them into bad QBs. They all had or have great physical talent, but not talent where you need it most in the NFL - between the ears. In Edwards' limited time, he's shown that he very well may have the instictive, intuitive, mental part of the game that can't be taught or coached. Certainly, he'll benefit from more game experience, film study, and building a rapport with his offensive weapons and linemen. Will he finally be the long awaited answer to Jim Kelly's departure? Who knows? But having the mind for NFL football is a good start.

Many would argue that the defense needs to be addressed, but another way to look at it is that a good offense that sustains drives is more of an asset (to the "D") and will allow the entire defense to rest. No matter how talented the LB or other defensive prospect may be, they'll get tired and be no better than average if they're on the field for 40 minutes a game. Additionally, a RB probably has the least amount of learning curve time when coming in as a rookie. A rookie LB is still going to make bonehead mistakes, at least through the first half of the season.

This is getting too gay. If y'all like him so much why don't you just marry him.

I think any pick taken in the early rounds of the draft, particularly 1st and 2nd rounders, are a bust if they don't make significant contributions and become expendable after a few years. These picks should be the foundation of the team. Could we get a 1st round pick for him today? Of course not. That comparison alone should earn THE PICK a "bust" label. Which leads to the question: is the pick (Bill's 23rd in 2003) a bust, or the player himself? Considering his injury, McGahee probably turned out to be about as good as expected. Could have been great with 1500 yard seasons. Could have been a chronic training room regular putting up 500 yard seasons. He was somewhere in between. In hindsight, the pick was probably a bust, since there were other players (Eric Steinbach comes to mind) that could have been fixtures and made an immediate impact, while we still could have retained Travis Henry. McGahee wasn't a regular at the start of the season until his 3rd year. I'd say it was a wasted 1st rounder.

The whole argument is supported by and centered around Wade's QB decision. Take that away and what - Wade was a pretty decent coach, right? Well, I've heard many times through the grapevine that the decision to start Johnson over Flutie was in fact Ralph Wilson's executive decision. Wade preferred Flutie. Johnson had performed well (a fluke) in the previous week's cleanup game against the Colts. If there was a QB rating system that rated performance against pay, Johnson would be off the scale. He robbed the Bills blind under the banner, Mr. Potential.

Obviously, Washington, Smith, and the previously mentioned Rob Johnson were not part of the superbowl Bills. Maybe it's just Beebe, Lodish, and now Metzelaars who'll have rings.

How many Bills from the losing superbowl teams ended up getting a champeenship ring. Pete Metzellars and Bill Polian will get their superbowl championship rings. Mike Lodish and Don Beebe got theirs. What other players from the Bills' superbowl losing teams ended up with championship rings? I don't know the answer. Looking for your input, Any others?

There WAS a huge stink about it - which is why it's still remembered today. Cosell was outraged over the media reaction to a completely innocent remark made in the course of doing play-by-play on Monday night in 1984. "Little monkey" was an endearing term Cosell had previously used, a point which was proven when tapes were found from years before using it to describe the play of a white guy. The treatment he received from knee-jerk reaction media types was a contributing factor in his retirement not long after. He was an intellectual and became bored with the "jockocracy" that was growing in professional sports. By most accounts, anyone who knew Cosell knew damned well he was far from being a racist. He was, in fact, an outspoken advocate of civil rights.

Why, that's no monkey.....it's former Redskin, Alvin Garrett. (you older fans might get it)

Watched it for the first time since way back when. Thoughts: Amazing group. Today's team doesn't hold a candle to them. I don't know that any of today's watered down teams are anywhere near as good. The shame of it is that we're quite sure the Bills were the better team . In a five game series, the Bills would win at least 3 and probably 4 of those games. The severe beating given to the Raiders the week before may have been the worst thing to happen, making the Bills over confident. The Bills were out-coached and the defense was out-muscled by the Giants O-line. I can't blame Norwood, since he never should have been put in that position, but it occured to me as I watched the endzone view of "the kick", that he was lined up all wrong. The ball was on the right hash mark. He approached the ball straight on and his body was square with the endzone as he kicked the ball. Any golfer knows that if your body is angled wrong, your drive off the tee is not going to go straight. The ball went almost perfectly straight from the point of the kick. The distance was good and had he come in a little from the right, angling it more towards the center of the field, it probably would have been good. Also. I think it's possible that, instead of spiking the ball prior to the kick, Kelly could have used a high percentage pass rip 10 yards down the sideline to try and get a little closer with around 10 seconds still left. Maybe even more than ten yards. Remember, the ball was on the 30. I think he could could have even tried for the endzone. If it fell incomplete, the clock is stopped anyway, if caught and out of bounds, it's closer and the clock is stopped. I suppose the coaching staff had to be concerned about a sack (ending the game) or an interception. But considering Norwood's 20% success rate on grass, over 40 yards, I think the odds were in favor of the Kelly pass.

It's so obvious how this is supposed to go... New England and Chicago meet in a re-match of Superbowl XX. In that one Chicago clobbered the Pats. This time, New England beats Chicago to a pulp and then we can all start hearing the "one for the thumb" chant next year. There'll be interviews with the 85 Bears, endless replays of the Superbowl Shuffle, commercials featuring "The Fridge", etc etc And then a tie in with the 1985 Purple Rain success of half-time performer, Prince. There's your story line. Bet the house in it.

If the Charger who intercepted the ball on 4th down, with around 6 minutes left, doesn't have it knocked out of his hands and subsequently recoverd by the Patriots, the Chargers probably win. can't blame Shottenheimer for that bone-headed move. He should have hit the ground and let the O take over instead of trying ot be the hero. If he ha any sense, he'd know that the Pats were desperate and would be going for the ball. DUH.

It's like I've been saying all along - he only produces in spurts.

Hardly seems like 20 years ago. Thanks for the reminder to make me feel my age. DOH!

Took the words right out of my keyboard. I was gonna say the same thing. Should have drafted Steinbach and then kept Henry, instead of jerking him around with McGahee. We gave up a whole year's worth of playing time and then ran Henry out on a rail. Unless a RB falls to us in FA or via the draft, we'll be looking for a new one by this time next year anyway.

I doubt it. I think Mularkey was given the pink slip by Marv. Being the class act that he is, Marv probably allowed him the opportunity to look for other employment, and once he was offered the Dolphin OC position, it was made to appear as if it was MM's decision. Or possibly, MM was going to be given another year under Marv's staff to see which season was a fluke...the 9-7 one or the 5-11 one.