BuffaloBob

First of all, it is VERY easy to clip a person late at night and not know it! That vehicle he is driving is very big, and is somewhat elevated compared to a normal car. Moreover, if they had the stereo turned up and doing the thump-thump thing, it would have been very easy to make contact with a woman and not hear it, let alone feel it. Also, I was driving down on Chippewa last Thursday night, just passing through and got caught up in the crowd by accident because I don't know my way around downtown that well. It was only like 11PM and already, people were stumbling around, jaywalking everywhere. Several people stepped right out in front of my car while I was moving and looked at me like I was from another planet. Several others had that go ahead and hit me look on their faces. Others were completely oblivious to my existence. And this was relatively early on a Thursday night. It was like a damn video game! Based on that experience I could easily see how one could clip a drunk, jaywalking pedestrian at 3:30 AM in a large SUV with the stereo blaring and not even know it. Not saying that I think that is what happened, but it is certainly just as possible as any other scenario. It will be interesting to see if any more comes out of that video tape. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the chick was trashed and jaywalking. It would definitely help Marshawn hang onto his coin in a personal injury lawsuit. Contributory negligence can reduce or even preclude recovery of damages.

No doubt, there would be lawyers out there willing to see if they could knock down a settlement on a contingent fee basis, but any reputable lawyer would tell you that there is a problem of proving causation. First, you would have to prove, at least by a preponderance of the evidence, that this taping altered the outcome of the game. That would be a tough one to prove, because the Patties lost games notwithstanding the cheating. Then, you would have to prove that you lost your job as a direct result of the loss in which the Patties cheated. That would be even tougher in my opinion, because I don't think too many people get fired for a specific loss to one team. One interesting suit would be a fan class action lawsuit, but again, damages would have to be limited to ticket holders of games in which they saw their team play the Pats, and it just wouldn't amount to enough money to make it worthwhile for the money grubbing class action lawyers to attempt it. I think for the most part, any lawsuits would be knocked down quickly, and once a few of them are thrown out, the run to the courthouse would stop. However, I do think the reputation of the league would suffer significantly, and the rep of Belicheat and the Patsies legacy would be the hardest hit of all.

Repeat after me: I meesinterpreted the rrrrule. I meesinterpreted the rrrrule. I meesinterpreted the rrrrule.

It may have been, if it is smokescreen BS! What better guy is there to use as your dupe?

How in the hell did the Patsies get the easiest record in the entire league??!! I guess it doesn't hurt that they play in a division in which no team has challenged them for several years now, and that we are playing the NFC west, but still! Their is just something just plain wrong with that!

"Now you're cheating like white people." "It doesn't matter if you cheat as long as you win. It only matters that you cheated if you lose." Some more great quotes (or at least close to quotes) from the episode.

You're not too smart a ya? Gee, do ya think those gross stats have anything to do with Eli starting over twice as many games as JP, and not being jerked in and out every few games to boot? Duh! And of course, it wouldn't have anything to do with all those sacks (that JP has taken) that the Giants have had an offensive line superior to ours (even last year), a better rushing attack, better receivers and tight ends, and a far superior defense then we've had over those four years? Apples to oranges is right, but not for the reasons you cited. But actually, I liked how you left out of those telling stats above (you know the ones where Eli has thrown for more yards and TDs playing twice as many games over four years) that Eli has a career QB rating (73.4) that is lower than JPs (77.3), and that in his four years he's never posted a single season QB rating over 77, let alone posted one like JP did in 2006 at 85. And I've watched plenty of Eli's games where he has made tons of mistakes, taken untimely sacks, thrown bad INTs and has looked awful, playing for a far better team then JP did. But just keep stating those opinions with authority dude. You may actually convince someone out there that you know what your talking about!

I really can't help but get a kick out of all of the "JP had his chance and it's Trent's turn now so run JP out of town" people. If you people were Giants fans, you'd have egg all over your face because you would have no doubt been in the rather large and vocal contingent that wanted to run Eli out of NYC/NJ as well. Eli is the perfect example of why you have to stick with a guy through his learning process, until he has a chance to get it. Hell, he even had some really stinker games in 2008, and look where he ended up. But the biggest difference between him and JP is that he got to keep playing through all of the crappy games until he got it. Oh, and he's had a consistently better team around him, too. Instead, JP was jerked around like one of Michael Vick's dogs on a choke chain before every fight, which could be his last fight. While I hope the Bills keep JP around for this season, the best thing that could happen to JP is he gets traded out of this town of short-sighted, impatient fans with a chance to play his game like Brett Favre got in GB. And yeah, even Favre struggled in GB in the beginning but Holmgren resisted the urge to yank him and let him play through it. Yeah, now it's Trent's turn, for what? To get run through the same mill that JP got run through. I sure hope not for his sake!

I completely agree with this take. Jauron likes running back by committee. The only way I see us going RB at #12 is if Peterson falls that far, which I highly doubt. I think if Willis is there, they grab him. If he is gone, they work a deal with a team who covets Lynch, like Green Bay, to slide back for another first day pick. Then they pick up a LB (Like Pos if he's still there) in the first round and grab a RB in the second or even third round.

Let me shake that limb that you're out on a bit. Perhaps the memory that Ralph and Marv have is of drafting a running back in the second round, a back who fell there because he had an injury early in his senior season. IIRC, that one worked out pretty good for us.

It's more than that. He gets 8 Million this year, and 6.6 Million next year. The third year is $2.1 Million. That's almost 17 Million over three years. The interesting thing is whether the option bonuses are team options. If that's true, they could cut him after the first year and except for eating the most of the first year bonus on their cap next year, they wouldn't owe him any more money. So it's an $8 Million bet!

No way the Bills were ever going to pony up that kind of guranteed jack based on his previous performances, on and off the field. I am sure his Baby-Mommas are ecstatic!!

If this is true, then I suppose adding a specific date by which the contingency must be met can be only be considered as adding a nice theatrical touch to their fantasy value-added.

I could very easily see that based on a belief that the Ravens and Rosenhaus will work out a deal, and the desire to put it behind them, that Marv would say that it's a done deal even though a contingency still exists. Especially so if no reporter bothered or thought to ask the question.

One would assume that that some numbers were thrown around first between the Ravens and Rosenhaus so that they knew they were in the same ballpark, but should be interesting.

I realize this is coming from a not so reputable source, but PFT reports: This makes sense. Has anyone else posted this? If so, Sorry about that.

My bet is on a RB in the second rouond. There are two guys that I think could be really good. Michael Bush and Chris Henry are very interesting stories. And who can deny the parallel between Michael Bush and Thurman Thomas??!! I doubt that has been lost on Marv. Darius Walker is also kind of intersting as well.

Well, I think it's an OK deal. I think the Bills decided they really couldn't have the guy on the team any longer. The year he had was not going to make him a super hot commodity. I think the Ravens think THEY can make him the back he has the potential to be, and that may be true, who knows? But the Bills were never going to get that from him, so I think they decided to cut bait and run while they could. I believe the Bills will pick up a RB in the first two rounds. My money is on Mike Bush. He reminds me of Thurman Thomas. A guy that showed great abiliity, screwed up his knee and missed his last season. Can lightening strike twice?? Maybe Marv thinks so!!

Unfortunately, it is not quite as good a deal as you are calculating. Common usage of the value chart by league GMs also contemplates that future draft picks are discounted by one round. The reason being that you don't get to use that pick THIS year. So assuming that the Ravens pick in the same spot in 2008, this deal is actually worth 178. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Marv use these picks to upgrade one of our picks for this year. For example, these picks plus our third could move us into the middle or middle bottom of the second round, or perhaps upgrade our second rounder into the bottom end of the first round. I'm not actually thrilled with this deal, but I think the Ravens (or any other trading partner), knew they were going to be taking risk with Willis. He has potential, but only time will tell whether he can realize it with the Ravens.

Jerry Sullivan = Fart Sniffing Weasel. Hey Jerry, here's another take: Everyone knew the Bills had Willis on the trading block, so no big surprise. They were simply interviewing to plan for the contigency that a deal could be worked out. No desperation, just smart planning. What do you do, wait until the deal gets worked out first? And maybe the guy you really want has already signed with someone else by then. I pretty much can't read his tripe. My reaction to his crap ranges from hilarity to annoyance to anger, depending upon the mood I'm already in, and it tends to the annoyance and anger side, so who needs it? I agree with what another poster said earlier, there are far better takes on things on this board by far then what he peddles for a salary.

Bingo! Guaranteed money is not necessarily paid out as a single signing bonus anymore. Teams have been doing two-tiered bonuses and guaranteed salaries for high draft picks for a number of years now. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Dockery's guaranteed money is being spread out over three years. Same with Kelsey. I was thinking about this the other day. The NFL is more and more moving toward guaranteed contracts. The big enticement to free agents is guaranteed money, not the huge number over the life of the contract. Teams are spreading that guaranteed money more and more over more years of the term of the contract, and accounting for the money in the years in which it is paid, rather than pushing the cap ramifications out to future years. The enticement to give guranteed money as signing bonuses has always been the opportunity to amortize the bonus over the term of the contract for cap purposes. But the common wisdom that been has evolving, especially for smaller market teams like the Bills, is not to leverage that accounting technique to sign more players, because it only bites you in the butt later. Rather, you account for the money in the year in which it is paid. That way, you don't find yourself in the position of having to purge players every few years to get under the cap when all of the dead cap money gets too large.

I was referring to Jerry Sullivan!

Yeah, where are all those people who started this thread? Chirp, chirp. (someone please keep the crickets company at least!)

I don't care how great their record is, I'm thrilled for Peyton and thrilled to see those Patties going home to play golf. Now at least I won't have to hear aboout Bill's genius and who Brady is dating, quite so much.

Yes, and this is obviously born out by the fact that his client list has continued to dwindle over the years as players have come to realize this and sign with an agent who actually does deals that benefits his clients! BTW, what Drew says must be a big fat lie because Jerry Sullivan says that the extension Drew is seeking for Willis is in the neighborhood of what he got for the Edge, and because it is really designed to precipitate a holdout to poison the waters and force a trade. And if the fart-sniffing weasel says it, it must be true!