RLflutie7

I find that when things are put on the NFL network, it's pretty much a done deal. The Bills, Jags and Rams were mentioned and they showed Ralph Wilson on the clip that was played. I think moving the Bills and Jags is a stupid thing to do. LA won't embrace those teams. Moving the Rams back to LA is the smartest thing to do. Plus moving the Raiders into the new stadium is a good idea also. Both teams have a history in LA and the Bills and Jags don't.

I can't help but think Mike Leach is right. I think this about playing time and Craig James trying to force Leach to play his son. Craig James needs to leave his son alone and let his son deal with his own problems. Leach says Craig James called on the phone more times than all the other players parents combined.

I believe that Mike Leach is right. I watched his interview on ESPN and I've watched Craig James on ESPN and I think Mike Leach is telling the truth. I think it was really about playing time and Craig James should leave his son alone and let his son deal with his own problems. Leach claims James called all the time. More than all other players parents combinded.

I too smell a rat. Indeed, I smell a huge rat. So much so, that I went to SIvault.com and read the 10-page article about Meyer. Two things of note in the article that are alarming. 1. Meyer allows his wife to be too involved with the program. In my mind that's a huge mistake. He even admits, that she decides on punishment when players get in trouble. She wants them to get counseling rather than booting them off the team. Meyer seems to bow to women a little too much, and if he yields to her that much, that can cause disruption in a program for men that is run by men. Just speculation, but I think he probably got burned out, based on conflict in the building, probably caused by his wife. 2. Mixing religion with football (and a job). I see this as the biggest factor in bringing Meyer down. Let's face it, these people are pretty young and they have younger kids (college age) and I think this kind of religious committment can get old. Old for everyone in the building, players and coaches. Why? Because church people challenge each other too much. If you're on the job and you're putting in 16 hours a day and it's all about football and God, that can get old real fast. Especially if you have players getting in trouble all the time. Whose to blame? Gotta be the coaches! Whose going to take the blame? No one.

I haven't been here because I'm paying more attention to the football season. In the offseason I will return and take all right wingers to task.

Ditto all of the above. I also think the game is like watching a movie. The color of the game, the uniforms and the weather, make it like watching a movie. The game had sunshine, darkness and rain. To have such a great game played in the rain like that was special. That 65-yard line-drive throw convinced me Flutie could play on the next level. Also he made several other throws during the game that proved to me he could play in the pros. Also if you listen to Ara Paraseghian during the telecast, he too becomes convinced Flutie could play in the pros. Towards the end of the game, he says he draft Flutie No. 1. Then if you watched the Cotton Bowl that year, Ara basically did the same thing. He was just really impressed with BC's ability to carve up a defense.

Flutie won so many games in 99. The defense blew the game against the New York Giants that year. Like others like to say, Flutie had a lead when he left the field.

I heard it and I think it would be a good move. I think the Buffalo QB job is wide open and Dungy did say that there has been communication between both sides. Plus Buffalo is used to Vick's style of play because they had a similiar style of QB in the late 90s. And you know who I'm talking about.

Also, I know you haven't had enough of your Flutie fix, so catch him on Versus covering the UFL. Don't get Versus? Check out the UFL website and watch the game there.

Flutie hardly gets a mulligan for the defeat in Miami. He played well, but he also made alot of mistakes. He had alot of great passes in that game and he rolled up a ton of passing stats, but he threw picks and he fumbled too much in the game. RJ was horrible in his one chance. If he hadn't have played so bad in the first half, and if the Bills coaching staff wouldn't have started Fina at LT it may have been different. Fina had an injured knee and couldn't move. In the second half, the center was moved to LT and the problems went away.

I think the Bills need to sign a QB who has a stronger arm. Edwards can't make all the throws. I think Tyler Thigpen is the best choice of any QB in the NFL right now, but it's too late to trade for him. Maybe this offseason, trade with Miami. If Jake Delhomme falls out of favor in Carolina, I'd give him a look. His repaired elbow seems to have given him some problems (he's lost some accuracy) but I still think he's got some milelage left and he's been to the Superbowl and several playoffs. His TD to Int ratio is pretty good over the length of his career and he loves the game and he'll play on any team in the NFL. In the short term, Jeff George wouldn't be a bad option. Although he lacks some arm strength, Jeff Garcia would also be a good choice. He's a gamer. Andrew Walter could be had off the street and he's got great physical prowess to throw a ball. He's only started like 12-16 games and there's plenty of upside. Barring all the above, I think it's time to look to the draft an keep an eye on the UFL, CFL etc.

Scott Norwood played for the Birmingham Stallions.

I don't think 8 teams will ever work. Everyone in the show said that expansion was a mistake. However, if you read a book by Jim Spence (a former ABC official who was involved with the USFL from the beginning) you'd understand my take. He said that the USFL's 1983 and 1984 season was ABC sports most profitable property, except for the 1984 LA Olympics. ABC made 12 million in 83 and 14 million in 84. "But then the league started to make some critical mistakes, the biggest one being the abondonment of cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit after the 1984 season. Cities of that size are criticial to television ratings, and the ratings were down in both 84 and 85, with ABC taking a loss on the USFL in 85." My point is and has been with any new league, if you start with only 8 teams, they better be in the biggest TV markets that you can get. And you'd better expand pretty darn quick and get into most of the bigger markets or you have no chance. The XFL didn't have teams in Detroit, Philadelphia or Boston. The biggest surprise about Jim Spence's book is that ABC sports offered a $175 million dollar contract to the USFL to continue in the spring and they declined. The first contract was for $50 million total for 83-86. The book is called "Up Close and Personal" by Jim Spence with Dave Diles.

I think you summed this up pretty well. I watch the UFL, but I'm wondering if anyone else does. They need more teams. Four teams is a joke regardless of it being a premier season or not. I can't find stats on the UFL website. The tickets should not be more than 20 dollars each. They also need to find better QBs and Dennis Green did just that, benching his starting QB (Boyd) after one game and going with McMahon. Hang on to your hat, the new USFL is coming.

I just watched it also. And I still think Trump was right, but so were the others who thought the USFL could make it if they would have stayed the course. Bottom line: Everyone on the show blames Donald Trump for pushing the issue way, way too fast. If they would have taken their time the USFL probably could have switched to the fall in 10 years. Sports is basically name recognition and I think the teams did develop followings and the fans knew the players. But the USFL failed in the big markets. Tampa didn't have a baseball team back then, so I wonder how the Bandits would do if they had a baseball team to compete against. Plus, NASCAR is alot stronger now than in the past.

Also what a lot of people don't know is that Donald Trump put in a bid to buy the New England Patroits in the late 80s, at the time Victor Kiam bought the team. The NFL sent word that they would not approve Trump's ownership because of his ties to gambling. Then Reebok executive Paul Fireman was going to buy the team. I don't know what happened with that. It was going to be approved. Then Kraft came into the picture. It was a big mess. I don't know if I have the order of events right but that's how I remember it.

I would tend to agree with you except for starting with 8 teams. No one will watch an 8 team league. Not going to happen.

If the owners would stop playing players based on salary and draft status and base it on production, then fan bases in LA - or any other market for that matter - would not become anemic in their support. NFL teams have always managed to piss off the fan base. What was done with Kurt Warner in St. Louis was retarded and the last time I checked, Kyle Boller was the starting QB. They can't come up with a better backup QB? St. Louis gave the Rams a new stadium in the 90s and now it's not good enough. The new owners of the Rams should give the uniform back to the city of LA for the new LA team and start with a new team in St. Louis with new uniforms.

I think spring football can be done if it's done right. But that window of sucess is very, very small. I think all of the start up leagues in the spring made glaring mistakes. The USFL, XFL and WLAF they all made too many mistakes. I thought the fall season was the place to be and I still think it's better than the spring, but the UFL is proving otherwise. There are no fans in the stadium. The XFL had better crowds. It's going to be interesting to see what Trump has to say. I think he didn't want to be a minor league owner and that's what the USFL was. Yes, it could have worked, but Trump wasn't the only owner to scrap the small budget system and sign big name college players.

I loved the USFL and it's going to be a great show and I'm going to record it. But . . . I already know who they're going to blame and it's Donald Trump. But, Donald Trump has been proven right about the USFL. Proven right because of the WLAF, the XFL and now the UFL. Basically, Donald Trump said playing in the spring is dying a slow death and most of the football dollars are in the fall. That being said, the UFL can't draw fans either and they are playing in the fall. They made a mistake with the uniforms and that's a killer, but it wouldn't have helped them anyway if they had great uniforms. I think the bottom line is there is just too much sports on the calander and there's no room for another league. Unless it's like the Nationwide series with NASCAR. They have the minor league race one day then the big race the next day. If the NFL had a minor league and they played in the fall on the same day they might make it work. It would be like a double header in baseball. The minor league plays the first game and the NFL teams play the second game. The fans would already be there and it could come with discounted tickets. However, there are plans to restart the USFL with some of the original teams and uniforms and with a spring schedule. It would be nice but they need the league to have at least 20 teams. Starting with 4 teams like the UFL or 8 teams like the XFL doesn't draw TV ratings or fans.

After reading the whole thread and listening to Roger Goodell on the NFL Network, I think Jacksonville is the clear choice for moving to LA, not Buffalo. Plus, the ownership situation is prime for it. Weaver is rumored to want to sell the Jags and that can be done. In Buffalo, the NFL has to wait for the owner to die and it has an estate to deal with. I also think the Rams could return to LA and that would be the best move for that market because the fans bonded with the Rams, even though they didn't attend the games. Further, Al Davis will sue the NFL for that market because he thinks he owns the LA market and he wants a stadium which he has never gotten. So the most logical thing would be to build the stadium and return the Rams to LA, along with the Raiders. Another wildcard would be the Chargers because they were born in LA. If the NFL were to try and move the Bills and Jags to LA and not change the uniforms, they are doomed to fail, quicker than the new stadium can be built (3-4 years). Not changing the uniforms will kill the team. LA people won't root for a team called the Bills.

I stand corrected. In the ESPN show Irsay complained "why do you have to hang me" about the press. He said it like four times. He also said he was a good catholic. Irsay was Jewish.

An interesting side note and more on the relocation story is Jacksonville. Goodell addressed the Jacksonville situation today in his press conference at the NFL meeting in Boston. Clearly, Jacksonville is a problem and Goodell said the business community needs to get more involved with the team for it to stay. He mentioned the tickets packages available and how they are trying to make it work. But it's not working. I think Jacksonville is cleary the team that will probably move. People say the Vikings, Bills and Chargers are the teams most likely to move, but I don't think so.

That's what I don't get. Did he have a gambling problem or what? The deal in Baltimore was going to solve all the financial problems, but it didn't. I'm glad he's gone.

Yes and he can play. He should be Oakland's starter right now. But the team had other plans. Garcia should also be the starter but the team had other plans. His time in New England was brief and Bill B. said they still believed in his abilities when they released him and it was a surprise move. They kept the other free agent QB, Brian Hoyer. The truth is Walter and Bill Belicheck had words about playing time in the preseason. After getting jerked around in Oakland, can you blame the guy.