[Pessimistic Fans Should be Heard Too]

I see you are calling heads and tails again. Congratulations.

How do you figure? You go BPA when a player at a need would be considered a reach. Both Maybin and Orakpo were considered DE's. So...

[wr Chris Henry - evidence of prior brain damage]

Wow....

 

Anyway, Yes, it is. It's a clinical syndrome and has many causes. One is brain injury. A pathology slide will not tell you if a patient was encephalopathic at the time of death--or at any time. "Mad cow" or BSE is described on pathology--the "E" because the individual was actually enchepalopathic. Hence the name.

 

Come on doc, you must have been present for part of med school and residency. It's hard to believe you're arguing this one. Wait--no it's not!

Oy. One can most certainly diagnose that encephalopathy (certain types, not all of them) was present on autopsy. Using the aforementioned BSE (and the human form, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), there are actual holes in the cortex and spinal cords of cows (humans), hence the "spongiform" term. In Wernicke's encephalopathy, there are lesions and atrophy in the mammillary bodies, among other structures. In hypoxic encephopathy, there can be generalized cortical atrophy, like in Terri Schiavo's case. That a neurosurgeon and ME (of which you are neither) said that Henry suffered from chronic traumatic encepthalopathy, based on microscopic analysis should have made you think twice. But hey, send a letter to them at the Brain Injury Research Institute telling them that they're FOS, and ask them what part of med school they missed.

[Pessimistic Fans Should be Heard Too]

In terms of draft philosophy, I think Nix is a Best Player Available sort of guy. In principle, what good does it do a team to throw high draft picks at positions of need if deep down your evaluation says you really don't think the talent is there at that position? It's how you end up with a pick like Maybin, quite frankly. If you have outstanding depth at a position, it gives you more options in terms of planning, contracts, and trades. Look at what San Diego does; that is the school that Buddy Nix came up in.

The Bills had their pick of Maybin and Orakpo and chose Maybin. To whoever made the selection last year, that was BPA and need.

[wr Chris Henry - evidence of prior brain damage]

Encephalopathy is not soley a clinical diagnosis, it can be made on the basis of imaging or on tissue obtained from a biopsy or autopsy as well (think of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or "Mad Cow disease"), therefore it can be made on a dead person. In terms of chronic changes, it could be seen if the person suffered repeated injury during his early years and sufficient time had passed. As I had said earlier, if the changes they saw were frontal in nature, it is not a giant leap at all to say that a person would be likely to have poor executive functioning, impulsivity, and other mood or behavioral problems that could lead to them taking risks that a normal person would not. The front part of the brain is responsible for these functions. It's the same as a person with a stroke in the left side of the brain losing the function of the right side of their body.

Well stated, although encephalopathy leading to poor impulse control is a little more esoteric than a stroke. However it cannot be excluded as a major cause, especially when there's histologic evidence of it.

Encepahlopathy is a clinical diagnosis--it therefore cannot be made on a dead person. Seeing chronic changes of repeated head trauma on a 26 year old is dubious. Making the link to his behavior that fateful day requires a quantum leap of faith---even on the doc who is making this claim.

"Encephalopathy is a clinical diagnosis?" If only you'd just misdiagnosed an ACL tear from your TV.

[Tomlinson: I will 'absolutely' win a Super Bowl]

Even Jets fans who attended their OTA's say he looks LaDone. If the Jets win a SB, it will be in spite of him, not because of him.

[Derrick Mason Defends T.O.]

A WR can only do so much himself. You need a halfway decent QB to get him the ball, and the Bills didn't have that last year.

[In Gaily's last interview he said he has 3! guys not 4?]

Levi is headed for the practice squad I think.

Doubtful. If they think he has anything worth developing, they're not going to risk cutting him and putting him on the PS and have what happened with GB and Brohm. If they don't think he has anything, he'll be cut.

[Felser article on Gailey]

I understand your point, but don't think it is as clear cut as that. (He doesn't coach the Dolphins, and wearing just one hat at this point is probably best for him and the team.)

 

Parcells has had a long history of leaving situations for various reasons; at the very least, one knows he is temperamental. He turned around some of the worst franchises going, organizations that were totally dysfunctional. That takes a tremendous amount of energy and force of will. It's not surprising that he had health and burn out issues. It is also not surprising that many of the people he trained in various capacities are running multiple franchises around the NFL, including the team that won the last Super Bowl. In a way, Parcells beat Polian again.

I'll give you that Parcells isn't coaching the Dols and has turned around franchises, but the diminishing returns are noteworthy. And he wouldn't GM or coach the Bills in any case.

[Derrick Mason Defends T.O.]

It's quite possible that Mason has actually heard someone/people saying that TO was responsible for the mess in Buffalo. Even though that's a ridiculous statement, it still doesn't mean that it's not being said.

[Brohm]

Really? The guy came in unblocked. That's not a line blocking issue?

Nope. Even Edwards admitted it was his responsibility (to get rid of the ball sooner)/fault.

[Felser article on Gailey]

Felser employs the same technique as message board posters seeking to defend the FO.

 

Claim "some people wanted X" then detail how X sucks and/or isn't as good as whomever was chose (at much less cost) instead of X.

 

This was just used by a poster with respect to Charlie Whitehurst.

Um, Charlie Whitehurst ISN'T good. And as I showed, with Parcells, it's a case of diminishing returns.

[Maybe Chan is the right coach]

Which numbers are those again? Oh the USA Today numbers. What were the cap numbers for 06, 07, 08, 09? And what were the total payrolls for those years of the top spending teams?

I gave you the link to the payrolls for ALL teams so that you can tabulate them, chief. Not just some worthless exercise of looking at the "top spending teams," which were still well above what they were previously. Perhaps in some magical world the owners didn't spend any more money, because "they didn't spend to the cap," just like they've never done. But the owners felt they paid out too much, even though they were making more than ever before. Hence they opted-out.

The owners announced their opt out in 5/08. Prior to this, in March, Bear Stearns--a wall street cash machine for decades-- was going belly up and ended disappearing--scooped up by JPMC for pennies on the dollar. Within 4 months (9/08), Lehman Brothers, a company in business for 150 years, went bankrupt. The next day, AIG was bailed out.

 

For those paying attention (say.....billionaire NFL owners with huge debts to service), none of this was surprising news.

The owners were talking about opting-out of the CBA almost a year before Bear Stearns. And months before the stock market began to tank. And NOT ONCE when they were opting-out did they mention the economy, much less Bear Stearns. For those paying attention.

 

Sorry, I'm going to side with the billionaire owners on this one. You can stick with the players. How's that going, by the way?

I'm not siding with any side, least of all the players. A better salary cap/revenue sharing situation helps the Bills. I'm just pointing out the facts. Which is why you're having trouble.

[Brohm]

If the OL pass blocks like it did last year that pecking order will quickly change for all the mutilated qbs.

Unfortunately for Trent, it wasn't a line blocking issue that knocked him out in 2008 in that Cardinals game.

[Vick Possibly In HOT Water Again]

No drugs found in that bottle.

 

A settled lawsuit is not a crime.

 

Surrounding yourself with criminals is not a crime.

 

Having a friend who is a thief is not a crime.

 

Carry on.

Bahahahahahahahahaha! Vick is just a Vick-tim!

 

Now I truly HAVE seen everything. Carry on, Hyppocrites.

[Maybe Chan is the right coach]

Oh, that's right--the league spent a billion more than they would have despite teams not spending to the cap and there being hundreds of millions of dollars of cap money laying around. And all players, wait---not all players got more money as a result of the CBA.

 

The "new CBA" included a span of time where the owners made more money than over any other such period in the league's history. The poor guys! And their labor costs didn't even cost them the 59.5% they agreed to "give" to the players.

 

Even if they had given that kind of money, 60% for labor costs in a nonmanufacturing business is par for the course. My employer, the 6th largest in NY State, has a 60% labor cost. It doesn't clear as much as the Bills each year (comes close).

Oh, that's right. It was a great deal for the NFL...until "the situation changed." At which point it became a bad deal.

 

But wait, they opted-out of it a full year before "the situation changed." And despite them making "more money than any other such period" while paying-out a billion dollars more to players (the numbers don't lie), they're crying poverty. Which is obviously lying on their part. But "the situation changed," so are they?

 

Turn out the lights on the courthouse steps when you leave, doc.

[Brohm]

Obviously, you didn't get the memo sent to you stating that Edwards is going to be the starting qb. I just wanted to remind you so you don't look silly when it happens. LOL

There is no memo. Edwards may start the season at the top of the pecking order (the head pecker, if you will), but will likely lose it.

[Brohm]

yea well, the point is clearly the coaches wanted to see what he could do given the opportunity since Edwards and Fitz were both injured.

 

Brohm wasn't exactly horrible, but he did look like someone who needed much more time to develop, hence the reason the Bills started Fitz who was still nursing an injury.

 

Everybody seems to be gushing about how much better Brohm is over both Edwards and Fitz, I didn't see it last year and I still don't see it.

That Gailey said he's catching-up, if not caught-up, to the other 2 should tell you something.

[Pessimistic Fans Should be Heard Too]

I agree with most everything the OP stated, I just don't get this 3 year rebuilding plan when the team has been rebuilding for a decade after every new head coach hire.

 

Look at Shanahan in Wash, he goes out and gets his QB, drafts a OT with the #1 pick and then trades for another OT to build up the basics his first year there. The Redskins are also switching to a 3-4 from a 4-3.

Yet, based on history, the Redskins will in all likelihood still stink. Go figure!

One of Marv Levy's first statements to the media was "we want to get as good as we can, as fast as we can", and those late 80's Bills did get very good, very quickly.

 

I can understand not addressing the QB position this year. I just don't get not addressing the OT and WR positions eariler then #4 & #5 and no OLT trade or FA just leaves me with that same sinking feeling as I felt last year with Jauron.

The Bills tried to trade for McNabb. He said no. No other QB was worth drafting high after Bradford. WRT Clausen, most teams felt he wasn't worth more than a mid-2nd round pick (which is where Brian Brohm was taken). No WR was worth taking 8th overall. And after that, they focused the next 2 rounds on adding players to their defense, which was changing (when everyone thought they'd go heavy on offense since Gailey is an offense-minded coach). They got a promising WR in the 4th, who has just as much of a chance to start as any other prospect in the draft. The only way they might have gone other than Spiller is LT Anthony Davis. But he reminds me too much of that kid from Alabama last year that the Bengals took. He was a disaster. As were most of the LT's in last year's draft, and that was a much stronger draft class.

I only wonder if Gailey and Nix will endure their 3 year plan once the losses start adding up.

How about we see how the team performs this year?

[Brohm]

I kinda figured someone would mention the Atlanta game. I didn't expect the responses to it though, which were what I would have said. Thanks.

[Brohm]

That's like the lawyer grilling a witness in court saying something like "Is it possible that someone who looks just like my client did the crime? You didn't do a DNA test, did you?" Anything is possible. It's possible that Trent Edwards will lead this team to a Super Bowl Championship this year. The team is 0-0, so it's possible. I'd prefer probable to possible, and a proven track record to some imagined "upside". Theres's nothing to indicate that any other team in the league would start Brohm, or even consider him a candidate for the 2010 starting job. That right there tells you how bad the QB position is on our roster. Someday, we'll see a worthy successor to Jim Kelly and we will no longer have to pin our hopes on a small percentage possibility. I hope that day is within a season or two, but the probability is it is not this year.

 

As far as ability to absorb damage goes, the guy who has shown the most durability is without a doubt, Fitzpatrick. Brohm had 3 injuries in college & Edwards gets injured opening up the Buffalo News about every other Monday.

The best anyone can say about Fitzpatrick is he's durable. Other than that, he won't win you games and has zero upside. There is no use in starting him this year. None whatsoever. The worst anyone can truly say about Brohm is he's unproven at the NFL level. Talking about how the Packers or the rest of the league handled him means nothing without actually seeing what he can do on the field. At worst the Bills still suck on offense. And then it will truly be a rebuilding year.

[Pessimistic Fans Should be Heard Too]

Like I said, pessimism/cynicism is a great defense mechanism.

[Losman Looking Good in Seattle]

I'm not disagreeing with this. So you would also conclude that the best plan for JPL would have been an offense that did not have him passing as it's centerpiece, but instead was focused on the run.

 

When they relied on his passing in 2007, they tanked.

Yeah, it's been SO much better with Edwards. Hopefully they limit his chances to zero.

[Maybe Chan is the right coach]

No, it was an idiotic move to resign this career loser after a handful of consecutive wins. It was apparent to the many who said so back then. You still can't come to grips with the fact that you were wrong about it ("hot free agent"!).

The team looked like it was going to do well that season, hence jumping on the contract extension early. Again, it was understandable but proved to be a mistake, thanks in large part to Trent regressing badly (limiting his throws wouldn't have helped him, BTW). As for the "hot free agent" part, WTF?

 

Nice non sequitor re: the CBA---ouch! Jury's still out on that one, doc. Keep your fingers crossed!

Oh, the irony. You still haven't come to grips that you were wrong about the CBA. The jury left a long time ago and the courtroom is dusty. You are the only one left on the courthouse steps. But hey, what else is new?

[Felser article on Gailey]

Felsers' article is the first time anywhere that I heard that bills fans were clamoring for parcells. I can't imagine it was more than a handfull of people. I personally CAN"T STAND parcells and would have hated him being our coach. I'm still pissed at him for beating us in Tampa! and he's an arrogant a-hole as far as I am concerned. Many of us, me included, wanted cowher. But somehow, I think we got the right man for the job. Only time will tell of course, but I don't cringe anymore like I used to with jauron. and that's a good thing.

There was a rumor that Parcells was going to leave the Dols, because he had an opt-out clause in his contract. But he never exercised it, so I have no idea what Felser is talking about.

 

As for Parcells, his teams have steadily done worse. The Giants were SB winners. The Pats were SB losers. The Jets lost in the AFCCG. The Cowboys and Dols didn't win a a playoff game.

[Maybe Chan is the right coach]

I will repeat my original point. GM Levy hired an incapable HC. One of the most important duties of a GM, whether he is a real or fictitious GM, is to hire the HC. Levy's hire was disasterous, as were the drafts and free agent acquisitions during his very brief but damaging tenure.

The context to which I responded was the claim that Cowher recommending Gailey didn't mean much because Levy hired Jauron. In light of that, the fact that Cowher worked with Gailey while Levy had never met Jauron, much less worked with him, is an important distinction.

The decision by the baron owner to bring in a very ill-equipped Levy to turn things around after the Donahoe stint was a dismal failure. Two years plus the one year of the Brandon stint were wasted in moving the franchise in the right direction. Do you doubt that if the mercurial owner would have hired a knowledgeable football person such as Nix after the Donahoe fiasco (a Wilson hire) the Bills would be much further along to restoring credibility to this very lackluster franchse?

Once again John, the Bills had a higher winning percentage under Levy/Brandon/Jauron than TD/Williams/Mularkey, John. And again, TD was a widely-hailed hire by the Bills that didn't work out. There was no "goofiness" to that hire. Yet it produced worse results than the "goofy" hires. Your attempts to pin blame on the ownership are funny, but hey, everyone needs a scapegoat.

Not acknowledging an extension to a HC is weird. It is a symbol of the insular and chicken poop nature of the operation.

What significance does not announcing the extension until December of that season have to anything? The fact is it has nothing to do with anything.

I am absolutely not saying that. The Bills started losing at a very staggering rate because they lacked talent and the coaching was below average. The owner and organization grossly miscalculated how bad the team actually was. That shouldn't be too surprising because they miscalculate on draft picks, free agent acquisitions, coaches and negotiating value based contracts.

 

My point is very simple and obvious: The Bills have been mired in long term mediocrity because of the caliber of ownership and the wretched decisions he and the organization make.

Maybe one day he'll get smart and order more video cameras and HGH, or have the Bills be the worst team and get the 1st overall pick in the draft again, or somehow make Buffalo an attractive place to be for GM's, coaches, and players. But I doubt it.