BuffaloBob

So what inning is it now?

He better hire Parker and start holding out for money!

Maybe Mickey can give him a loan, or move and become his personal assistant to help cushion the blow!

Interesting observation, given that JP was 7 of 9 and had one dropped that should have been caught. But I'm sure you'll have some sort of convoluted explanation to justify that.

I thought Trent looked OK, but he may have had some nerves going. He made one nice throw. Hardy missed a blitz read which should have resulted in a break-off of his route and Trent threw it where Hardy should have been. He also failed to see a wide open Schoumann on his last play. It was a crossing route and Schoumann was the guy who ended up open going right to left and he followed the guy going left to right all the way and the pass was broken up. It was funny because Tasker concluded that he had no one to throw to, but I watched the play several times and Schoumann was wide open every time. JP of course was probably not playing against all of Washington's ones, but of course he also didn't have the benefit of our ones either. Derek Fine totally missed a blitz pick-up and JP got nailed. Of course the haters will probably blame JP for that, but I've come to expect that. The TD pass was very well executed. He looked left until the last second and came back right to Hardy who was wide open. He also made a nice pass to Parrish that was purposely underthrown in view of another blitzer running free on him, and Parrish made the correct adjustment back to the ball. Again, the haters will claim it was just JP being lucky, but that's OK. The haters better hope he doesn't get a chance to get in there for any long stretch of games, because I think he would flourish in this new offense and I think Schonnert would let him play his game unlike Mr. Fit "the square peg in the round hole" Fairchild. Of course, that would never lead to JP's return, but it could be a foreshadowing of things to come.

Yeah, but the problem is, he has virtually no leverage! The Bills are not going to cave in on this one. And Parker has nothing to force them to do so, except a very good left tackle sitting around on his ass not accruing any credit toward his contract, not adding to his first and only Pro Bowl, and not earning any money. This is not a team that is one left tackle away from the SuperBowl, and therefore will feel compelled to do this so that they can make that big run. If this team makes the playoffs, expectations will have been met. The Bills will not cave, and he will eventually have to show up anyway. And frankly, I fail to see how that somehow provides any overall benefit to the cause for future negotiations. It won't make things any more urgent for the Bills, because he'll STILL have two years left. And if he wants to pull the, I'll never sign a long-term deal with the Bills because you didn't cave crap, then three years from now they can just franchise his ass every year like the Seahawks did with Walter Jones. Playing the system perfectly? I doubt it.

I said to 'elevate' his street cred, not to get some at all. This business is all about "what have you done for somebody lately."

Well, obviously being stupid and gullible is not mutually exclusive of being complicit. In the statement above, you basically absolve the agent of any influence on the outcome, because it is always the client who is in charge. You then concede that maybe an agent could intimidate the client into following the agent's advice, but it is still the fault of and the responsibility of the client for being stupid enough to let that happen. What about manipulation? Is it really so hard to believe that an agent who is good at negotiating could also convince a client that a stratagy is the best, even though it may only be so for the agent and not for the client. And does that make the client stupid and therefore ultimately responsible? Of course this is part of a strategy. But who's strategy? Peters? Sure, his agent no doubt laid this whole plan out for him. And Peters no doubt ulitmately agreed to it. But beyond that, you don't know how much of this was sold to him by a guy who is trying to get his own big payday and is looking to make him look like a hero to his next generation of clients. I have represented 100s of clients, and while a few of them are very knowledgeable and therefore question everything and are very active in the decision making process, the vast majority of them are clueless and are easily convinced of what is the right way to go and how to go about it. If I were not the person I am, I could have taken great advantage of that trust to advance my own interests over theirs, and not always to their complete detriment either. I think Peters has been sold a bill of goods and I think it will be a while before that becomes completely clear to him.

Oh, and I completely disagree with this statement. There are many, many situations in which this is a lawyer's only goal as well. There are in fact more similarities than disimilarities. Negotiating contracts is something that lawyer's do all of the time, and that is true not only for personal services, but for settlement's of disputes and structuring of business relationships. In all of these circumstances, there is ample opporunity for the representative to take advantage of their clients' lack of knowledge to further their own interests. This is particualry true when the lawyers are being compensated based on the amount of money their client gets. And even if that is all any player wants is the most money he can get, there are still many circumstances of which the client should be made aware in pursuing that goal that may or may not also serve the representative's own interests. The fact is, if an agent wants to get a big pay day for him/herself (and at the same time estbish himself as the guy who gets players renegotiated deals), he may not think twice about the ramifications to the client in pursuing an unworkable strategy, even though he is able to convice his client to the contrary. I think Peters is getting bad advice from a guy who is trying to make a name for himself and is trying to elevate his street cred to attract future clients. I think he is doing this even though this is not in his client's best interests to do so. And I think it may take Jason some time to realize this, because Parker guy has manipulated him into believing otherwise. Finally, I'm not willing to blame Peters and his stupidity for that.

I know what you are talking about. But all of that advice is advice given by a guy who supposedly is providing the best advice to his/her client and the client is not always in best position to separate good advice from bad advice. If I am an agent looking for a big payday for myself as well as more street cred, I can make a very strong and persuasive argument to an uneducated guy that he needs to stay away from training camp, cut off all communication with his friends on the team, and to let me handle it. This is not hard to do, expecially if you've cultivated trust in someone already. First, you pump him up with all of the stats. You deserve to be paid way more, you are being dissed. You dah man and they're ripping you off. You've got to get their attention and this is the only way. (Reminds me of the scene in Liar Liar when Jim Carrey's character is persuading the wife that she's the victim, she desrves the money, you're tired of being taken for granted, etc. etc.) This is a seige mentality. If you talk to your friends , they're going to drive a wedge between us. Our front must be united. Don't worry, this is how it's done. Everyone understands it's a business. You gotta get yours and I'm here to get it for you. The bottom line is, you can talk all you want about Peters being stupid and gullible, but that don't change the fact that sports agents need to be more closely regulated because of the very fact that they are not required to account for the actions ethically in the same way lawyers are. This Parker guy has clearly got some guys convinced that this tactic is the way to go, and these clients are being victimized by it. He's trying to make a name for himself at the expense of what's right, and if the BIlls cave into him, they are only going to make it worse for anyone else dealing with him in the future.

Oh, and thanks for the lesson on the agent/client relationship. However, you completely fail to address the fact that often the agent is hired because of the agent's superior knowledge of legal and other issues surrounding the representation. In the legal profession, lawyers owe their client's a fiduciary duty of care because of this often vast disparity in knowledge. It is that disparity that provides opporuntiy for the attorney to further his/her own interests above those of the client. Unfortunately, sports agents are not governed by those Cannons of Ethics, at least the non-lawyer ones aren't (and arguably neither are the lawyer/agents, because they are arguably not practicing law per se), and they constantly operate in the shadow of huge conflicts of interest and in a manner which would not be permitted under any state bar. Boy, with your attitude, I certainly wouldn't want you for my lawyer, at least not in a field with which I am unfamiliar.

Boy, I normally think your posts are very insightful, but this is just utter nonsene. Gee, so why don't we just do away with all of the Cannons of Ethics governing the legal profession then? Hey, if an attorney takes advantage of a client or just gives a client bad advice, we can just say, "Hey client, it's your fault for being stupid."

I love all of this talk about how the client is the boss and all tactics are at least tacitly approved by the client and therefore the client's responsibility. This is all well and good in theory, but do you really think guys like Jason Peters, who probably took nothing but basket weaving and skirt-chasing iin college have the intellect to stand up to these agents who dazzle them with their mastery of negotiation strategy and the big dollar score that is at the end of the hold-out rainbow? These guys are supposed to be professional negotiators. Do you really think they haven't mastered the art of manipulating there own poorly educated clients? Trust me. I know what I'm doing. This is what your paying me for. You have to leave this to me. Don't talk to anyone on the team, not even your supposed friends. They will try to drive a wedge between us. We have to stay strong and present a unified front. We can't give in. This is a seige mentality. You have to be totally committed or it will never work. Trust me, this is all for your own good.

One might argue that some of that "retarded money" being thrown around the past three years has already gone to Peters. The Bills didn't have to give him a new 5 year deal. He was up and coming, and the Bills rewarded him for it, without the least bit of prodding. Last time I checked, Peters took the money and the deal. Moreover, here's a possibility: it may be that Evans has been offered lower priced interim extensions that he, unlike Peters, has refused because he knew he was going to get the biggest possible deal by waiting until his contract year. Peters is getting bad advice. Plain and simple. It's only a matter of time before Peters figures this out and tells his agent to quit thinking about his own big payday.

Oh well, of course if the media hasn't reported that they've spoken, than it must be true! They can't possibly have spoken! After all, the media knows EVERYTHING there is to know. Yes, it's REALLY plausible that not a word has been spoken between agent and Bills about Peters' contract, and he has instructed his client to sit home, not respond to anyone on the Bills, and somehow the Bills will still figure out what he wants and then of course negotiate the contract with themselves.

:wallbash:

Bingo, on all counts. In fact, this issue was probably broached very early in the year, and the parties have probably known for a very long time that they are on completely different pages. If Peters let's this little game of chicken go on beyond a couple of weeks, it is going to start impacting his ability to have a strong start to the season, which could severely impact his leverage for future negotiations.

Are you kidding me? Boy, if you can use the Brett Favre situation to resurrect Flutie/Johnson, you can use most anything! You know, I can really understand both sides in this whole Farve/Packers saga. First, I understand that at Brett's age, he has to be pretty beat up and both mentally and physically exhausted by the end of a season. And given his stature, he should be able to take most of the spring and early summer to recharge his batteries before deciding whether he wants to commit to another season. On the other hand, this NFL thing is a business, and teams (especially their football management) have a lot at stake and so much of it depends upon their long range planning which has to start almost immediately after the season ends (which includes draft preparation). Moreover, when it comes to the QB position, you need to be able to start early in mini-camps and OTAs in preparation for who will lead the team. So on the one hand, I think Brett Favre has earned the right to have the time to figure out what he wants to do, and I think a team has a right to want to know as early as possible how they need to prepare for the up-coming season and the future. It is frankly an untenable situation for both sides. The Pack forced Brett to make a decision so that could know how to prepare for the draft and that they should hand over the reigns to the kid. As a result of Brett's answer, they did just that and drafted two more QBs. I think Brett was forced to make a decision too early, but understandably so. As such, I think Brett has a right to play if he wants to, even if he did decide earlier than he wanted to that he would retire. I mean, after all, the guy was still at (or at least near) the top of his game last season. So, I like the way the Pack is handling this. I think they are making the best of an untenable situation. They are in a tough position. They'd like Brett to stay retired and have done their best to make that happen. Brett is determined to play. Now they are faced with letting him go play for another team, possibly a division rival, or they can accept him back on the team and least give him a chance to keep his old job. What other choice do they really have?

I think Parker is grossly miscalculating here, unless this is meant only to be a shot across the bow. If the Bills were just a player or two away from a serious run at the Superbowl (after say, having been close the past two years but falling just short), he might have some leverage in getting this thing done now. But the Bills are no more than an up-and-comer this year, at best a Cinderella Story getting a game or two into the playoffs. Expectations for this team will be mostly met with a playoff appearance. The reality is, he has much less leverage than he he needs to get this team to roll over for a big payday this season. The guy has had a single Pro Bowl appearance and has three years left on a contract the Bills didn't even have to give him and he didn't have to sign. A team that is not considered a front-runner for a SuperBowl birth does not have the kind of pressure on them to cave to these kinds of demands that one with the highest of expectations has. While the Bills are not flush with OTs who can play at Peters' level, I think Walker can do a more than adequate job. If need be, they may be able to pick up a competent vet that gets cut before the season starts for some added depth. Is this an ideal solution for the Bills? Not even close. BUT, I think the team will survive better than Peters and his career will. If Peters does not show up in the next week or two at the most, I think he is getting extremely bad advice from Parker. Peters has money, his career, and the opportunity to earn future money on the line. The Bills may lose a few games that might have otherwise won had they had Jason in there. If Peters is so worried that he might injure himself, he should invest some of that $3.5 Million he will make this year into an insurance policy for one year that will pay him $30 Million if he has a career ending injury.

The fact that a blowhard demagogue hypocrite who spews an unending stream of innuendo-laced effluvium couched in moral outrage and self-righteousness can make that kind of money is undeniable proof that a huge percentage of the people living in this country aren't even as smart as their own dogs.

If I were part of the FO making these kinds of decisions, I would look at this as an opportunity. This should be an opportunity to get him signed long-term for significantly less than he might command after another Pro Bowl season or two. Because he wants it now, with three years remaining on his current deal, that should give the Bills some leverage to sign him at the lower end of what he might consider an acceptable range, and you might be able to get him to swallow a more incentive based contract that only gets to a higher end of the range over time based on his performance going forward. Of course, this won't stop him from trying to sit out again in the future, but you can spread the signing bonus out a bit in the form of roster bonuses that don't get paid if he doesn't report. The bottom line is Peters has to give up something if the Bills are going to give up the three cheap years they have left. Otherwise, he'll simply have to be forced to roll the dice and let the chips fall where they may. In pursuing this opportunity, I would arrange a meeting with Peters and his agent, and make it very simple. You get your ass in camp and demonstrate the same commitment to the team as the team has made to you, and we can start talking new deal. Otherwise, we'll see ya when we see ya.

Who should I block now, Herc? Who should I block now?

Well, that's because we don't know anymore about her involvement than we do about Marshawn's. The fact is, she very well could have been drunk and jaywalking. We don't know. But anyone who has ever driven on Chippewa at that hour, and especially on a weekend on weekend knows, it's like a freakin' free-for-all. I was driving through there the other night and nearly hit three different people, and I was straight and sober. People walked right out in front of my car, while I was moving, as if I wasn't even there.

Ummmm, yeah! He has lawyers now. The obvious reason he has not "manned up" as you call it is that his lawyer is telling him to "STFU and let me handle it." That is what he is being paid for. Regardless of whether you agree with it or not, the kid is listening to his attorney. Under the circumstances, it is probably the wise thing to do. There is a lot at stake here and his lawyer is protecting his interests. It may very well be that Marshawn's initial reaction was to run down to the police station and "man up." But wisely, he called his lawyer and things are now proceeding as things often do between lawyers. It is a slow dance that will continue until Marshawn's lawyer decides he has minimized the damage as much as is possible. Again, that is what he is paid to do. All you have to do is watch a few episodes of Cops and/or The First 48 to know why anyone hauled in or sought for questioning by the police should STFU and demand a lawyer to handle it or be present.