Ennjay

Was that Carl Mauck or am I getting confused?

Once upon a time the t-shirts were actually made by Trench Manufacturing in Buffalo. Trench had an outlet store on Seneca Street (I think) for seconds and discards where, long enough ago, you could actually buy this kind of stuff. I remember seeing a Denver Broncos Super Bowl Champs shirt there from the year Denver got destroyed by Dallas when Craig Morton was the Denver QB. (Yes I'm getting old . . . ) I'm pretty sure Trench went bankrupt and the outlet store is long gone.

Jauron came here from Detroit. So you're saying . . .

The writers take care of these guys. I still have no idea why Howie Long is in the HOF.

Re: Team valuations. The Giants at #15 and the Jets at #18? The Bills are worth more than the Chargers? Gimme a break.

The problem with trading Brady and drafting a QB is timing. Nobody realistically expects to go to a SB with a rookie quarterback but of course you can with rookie WR's and LB's -- areas of need for NE. If they upgrade in those areas they contend in '07. If they spend a primo pick on a QB they take at least a year off for his learning curve (assuming, as I think we can, nobody else on their roster can step up to play SB-level QB with their offense) while the window closes on a defense that's probably set long-term on the D-line but nowhere else. Having said that, if they were in a situation down the road where they already had someone ready to step in I wouldn't be surprised if they moved Brady. Think of SF unloading Joe Montana because they had Steve Young ready to go. But I don't see them drafting a QB very high right now.

These things are always written by the star's "people" and the artificality is obvious. Since Willis in person has trouble completing a grammatical sentence, the fakeness of this one just screams at you. Yeah, yeah, damage control, but why even bother with a press release? Who knows if Willis has ever even seen it?

Part of me thinks the Dolphin brass is being really prudent and thorough with the multiple-candidate two-tier interview approach. But the bigger part of me is pretty sure these guys have no idea what they're doing.

Just FYI: Texas (unlike NY or NJ) doesn't have a state income tax. The revenues are made up with local property taxes.

I caught him on Mike n Mike (ESPN) this morning. Assuming that's what everyone's referring to, he was openly bitter about how Alabama treated his son. AL is just coming off NCAA probations and scholarship restrictions and DS said next season would be the first season Mike could compete in the SEC "on a level playing field"). Something I found really interesting: he kept getting ID'd as current vice chairman of the Dolphins (as well as former coach), but always referred to the Dolphins as "they" and never as "us."

That's just what I was looking for. Thanks.

There must be a Dolphin page like TSW that's just exploding today. Anybody got an address?

On the one hand, leaving is disruptive, especially when you've been telling your players you're staying, and who knows who replaces him in Miami (dare we dream of MM stepping up?). But on the other hand, he hasn't really done a very good job there -- and Miami has something like 22 free agents this year plus ????? at QB for the future -- so maybe we want him to stay so he can keep the Fish mediocre. Serious opinions?

NFL Network will carry games through the lives of the current network (CBS/Fox/NBC/ESPN) contracts, which I think are for at least four years each. This year's games may have been dogs but NFL Network is still negotiating access to cable systems (Cablevision and Time Warner around here, for example). There's still money to be made. Here in Northern NJ we've been watching the NFL Network muscle the local systems over carrying the Rutgers bowl game, which NFL Net has the rights to. It's like the Yes Network fight all over again and if anyone in sports is greedier than the Yankees it's the NFL. (Think about it: How many New York-area college football teams are in bowls this year?)

I have this strong feeling that Bills at Miami will be a Thursday nighter on NFL Network. I also think Miami will come to Buffalo no later than October 15 next year.

Are you serious? You've never heard of Norm Van Brocklin?????????

Suppose the Bills cut Losman after this season. Does anyone know his cap hit? Vs. the cap hit if he stays? I'm not looking for another thread debating how good he is or isn't -- I'm just curious about his cap value. I also expect that free agent or #1 draft choice replacements will be expensive.

There's an Oakland, Michigan. That's probably what confused the decisionmakers at CBS -- they think you're getting the local game.

Here's something I find telling, and consistent with what most people are posting about TV: When Marv took over he did not back up the truck and clean house like TD did. I know the situation was different -- TD's first team was in cap hell and Marv's wasn't -- but still TD was the kind of guy who wanted "his" players, not the other guy's. I really don't think Mark thinks that way. He just wants guys who he thinks are the right guys to play the game. I have a lot of faith in Marv's judgment of people going back to his coaching years. So: Milloy -- gone. Adams -- gone. Big Mike -- gone. Because Marv (and Jauron) didn't want them. And whatever some fans thought: Reed -- stays. Wire -- stays. Because Marv and Jauron (and Bobby April) think they have something to give the team. And the telling part: Marv kept TV.

Two things that hang with me on an otherwise boring Friday morning: 1. I find it strangely interesting that in Denney and Kelsey TD drafted two guys who seem to be perfect for what Jauron and Fewell want to do but were generally question marks -- at best -- for what TD's own coaches wanted to do. I think of the over-used expression "on the same page." 2. Remember that story from a few weeks ago about Turk Schoenert noticing and correcting something in Losman's footwork to improve his accuracy on one side of the field? It wasn't that long ago we were hearing about how much time uberguru Sam Wyche was spending tutoring JPL. Mularkey was supposed to be an offensive coach and Clement was on the payroll as OC. If the footwork story is true (and why wouldn't it be), none of these geniuses caught it? I just find it interesting.

Um . . . thanks, but the story actually says single tickets remain.

Anybody know yet?

Thanks.

Does anyone here know what happened to Baker? Did another team pick him up?

Maybe this has already been said but I don't have the patience to read every post on the board. This Bills team is not going to win the Super Bowl this year. It's not about eking out a win here or there, although the wins are nice, but rather it's about building a solid team that wins every week and rolls into the playoffs and beyond. Which means no more "we're a young and inexperienced (and inept) team that has to be grateful for what we can get, especially on the road against a good team" -- that's all true, but it's not going to win a Super Bowl. I thought Jauron, in his way, was calling out his own team. He was saying, "There's work to be done. You guys go out and do it. And then we'll see who's ready to play." Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Kent Hull and Darryl Talley and a lot of other glory-days Bills would not be whining (like some fans -- not the players) about going for it on 4th down. They'd be pissed as hell that the offense couldn't pick up one GD yard. And they'd be taking it out on the next team they played. THAT's the attitude you want. One last thing: Jauron saying after the game he might take the call back is just him taking the heat for his players. I expect the guys in the locker room know better.