gobillsinytown

I don't think anything is going to happen immediately. There will be a lot of issues to settle not only with the Bills franchise, but with all of Ralph's other business interests. Based on what I've read about this other businesses, he was pretty diversified. His main business was construction, but he was also invested in a wide variety of other fields. Even though I'm sure plans have been place as to the disposition of Ralph's assets for quite a while, I think that the minute details are going to take quite a while to work out. At least, I'm hoping that way. It would be nice if the team could focus on the season instead of the ownership issue.

My co-worker told me when he got a headline feed on his phone. I took a deep breath from the shock, even though I was expecting it, since at 95 he had a great life. Still, I now have butterflies in my stomach. Let the speculation begin.................

Done.

Sounds like Mark is upset about one of two things: 1. Not being mentioned by the major news agencies for a while, or 2. He wanted to buy an NFL team and wasn't able to do it. I don't think the NFL is going anywhere. The league certainly has its challenges, but it will adapt to them. If Mark thinks that an NFL implosion is going to be good for his, or anyone else's, sport he's mistaken. The implosion of the NFL would result in the loss of significant revenue for the cities that host NFL franchises, the loss of significant revenue for players who want to play football professionally, and large losses in the advertising, merchandising and clothing industries. Typical shoot-from-the-hip comment by a guy who's known for running his mouth before he thinks. Besides.....he's a billionaire. Maybe he's getting too fat?

Unfortunately I'm only guessing. None of the reports that I've read have indicated what stage the cancer has reached or whether it's reached the lymph nodes. Not sure why none of the people covering the story haven't asked the doctors. That would be my first question......unless they're waiting for some tests to come back.

Cancer is a brutal, frightening disease. It can affect almost every part of the body. Fortunately, real progress is being made in its treatment. Let's hope that they caught it early enough. The first time required surgery with no additional treatment, which indicates that the lymph nodes were not involved. This time it appears that they detected it before it spread to the lymph nodes. But upon a second occurrence, chemotherapy and radiation are automatic. Obviously, Jim is scared, the family is scared. But, his type of cancer has been successfully treated before. Jim is an extremely resilient individual, so if anyone can beat it, he can.

The draft is always a gamble, despite all the data, scouting and film study. Even with first round draft pick contracts now down to a more reasonable level, it's still about a 50-50 gamble that can set a team back years if the pick doesn't pan out. This draft is pretty deep, so I'm thinking it might be good to trade down this year. If they draft Evans there's no guarantee he'll blossom immediately with a 2nd year QB, and that's assuming EJ progresses the way he should. Same with Ebron. This draft is going to be a challenge this year, and they have to get it right.

Where's the airport tracker app when you need it!?

Whatever works........I hope Stephon is able to tap in to the higher level of consciousness, thus enabling him to know in advance where the quarterback is going to throw the ball on every play.

Definitely the offseason in the country's most popular sport. I think this kind of stuff goes on all the time between teams and coaches, but rarely goes beyond the "talk" stage. Sounds like this was the usual chatter, but because of the name involved, someone took it and ran with it. I try to look at it from both sides: The Browns would be instantly seen as one of the more savvy teams in the league, and Harbaugh would be a lot richer. I don't get the impression that Harbaugh wants to spend the next 20 years coaching anyway. A big money deal like this would have pretty much set him up for retirement. It's been said before, but there is no real loyalty in the NFL......not with the amount of money involved.

Just heard a segment on this from the CBS Sports afternoon radio host. Based on what he said about the investigation that was just concluded, it sounds like Johnathan Martin has psychological issues that go beyond football. It sounds to me like he's been ambivalent about persuing a career in football for quite a while. It's tough enough for a player to be constantly questioning himself under the stress of playing anyway, but to add in the bizarre locker room situation in Miami would make it impossible. He's too unsure of himself to function in the NFL.

I never understood this idea that players need to be "nasty" to do their jobs. The Seattle defense doesn't have a reputation as being "nasty", and I don't think that what Sherman said after the NFC championship game qualifies as "nasty". They're just better than everybody else and they proved it. I don't think "nasty" players add to a team at all. I think they just put a bullseye on their own backs.

Or we could have Marrone play "Nasty Boys" by Janet Jackson over the PA system during practice..........

I would think that the league could bring some form of pressure. Again, this isn't my line of thinking. I'm hoping that it will be less of a deal by the draft than it is now. If I were an NFL GM, I wouldn't care whether a player is gay or not. For me, it would be whether the guy can play or not. If he can play and help my team win, I'll draft him.

This thread is going to be quite broad in its scope, so I'll focus on the player himself and why he decided to "come out". I'm of two minds on this. I think his motivation could have been: 1. His sexuality was going to become an issue during the draft, since his teammates were aware of it, but not necessarily the scouting departments and GM's in the NFL. So he decided to get it out in the open now so that it wouldn't come as a surprise to any team thinking of drafting him. If this was his motivation, then it's definitely shows a lot of integrity on his part. However, I have to play the devil's advocate here: 2. His motivation was more cynical in that by coming out now, he would virtually be assuring that someone drafts him, because the NFL would get a huge black eye if they don't draft an openly gay player. Listening to his interview, I'm leaning towards #1. Either way, the draft is going to be very interesting this year. I watch it every year anyway, but I'll be paying particular attention on day two.

The hiring of "buddies" is one of the most common practices that exist in the NFL. Most coaching staffs are put together this way. For example, the Belicheck, Reid, Parcell, Walsh, etc "coaching trees" all have their origins in this way. It's the same in college. People hire their "buddies" because they're comfortable working with them, or because they feel they have proven themselves. Networking is how coaching staffs come together. Whether it works in this case will depend on the performance of the wide receivers in the coming year.

Every post route I saw him run. First, getting to the post point of the route with straight line speed and power. Then, hitting the post part of the route with total precision and control and coming under Jimbo's perfectly thrown ball. Those two were so in sync that Jimbo probably could have thrown it with his eyes closed.

I live in Youngstown, OH about an hour away from Cleveland. Lots of Browns fans here, most of them trying to stay optimistic. I don't think they're that far away from contending. I can see why Pettine took the job, because he's in position to draft a franchise QB in Bridgewater or Manziel. The problem is who he has to deal with in management, and in the owner. Some people are calling the owner "the next Jerry Jones". Then there's the upcoming distraction of the owner's trial coming up, although I don't think that should have much impact on the football operations. That being said, there are only 32 of these gigs, and lots of coaches who think they can do it, so I can't blame Pettine for taking his shot.

The Browns are going to have an interesting year.

The evolution of the web has made it more difficult than ever for writers who want to cover sports for a living to be successful at it. As a result there is always going to be pressure to sensationalize stories to get clicks/views/ratings. As for this particular story, I'm not sure if that was the intent but it definitely comes across that way. The only way to find out if EJ is injury prone is for him to play. I think last year was somewhat of an aberration in the sense that the coaches knew that the team wasn't going to make the playoffs, so there was no point in playing him even on a slightly injured knee. IMO if the team had been in serious contention for the playoffs he would have played. If EJ learns that he can't run with the ball the way he did in college, I think he'll be fine. But if he doesn't learn to slide or get out of bounds, he won't be able to play a full season.

As long-suffering Bills fans, I think we're all a little over sensitive to this stuff. Everyone has bad memories of a job they didn't like and I don't think NFL players are any different.

His family is originally from the area where I live (Youngstown, OH). He bought his parents a very nice house with some of his NFL money, so he seems to be a family oriented guy. As a player he was pretty well respected as a guy who made the most out of the opportunities that came his way and got the most out of his ability. I think it would be a good hire in the sense that he's going to be very motivated and will relate to his players. That being said, if he gets the gig he's going to be judged by how much the LB's improve.

I feel bad for Browns fans.....there seems to be this feeling of embarrassment, like it's their fault that their team can't find a coach. I know the Bills' front office has done some bizarre things, but the Browns firing Chud was totally off the wall.

The rumor here in Youngstown (Ohio) is that they like Pettine but really want Quinn and are willing to wait. The facts seem to bear this out since Pettine wasn't offered the gig after a second interview. Browns fans here are totally apathetic at this point.

Whether we like him or not, he's a first ballot Hall Of Famer and one of the best QB's of all time. I doubt that he's some kind of evil/bad guy off the field. Honestly, I think we all don't like him for one reason: He's pretty much owned our team since the beginning of his career. So is my intense dislike pathetic? Absolutely! I dind't like Marino when he was playing for the fish either, but he's still in the HOF and by all accounts is a great guy. Maybe if Brady ends up playing for another team out of the division his last year in the league (like Joe Montana), I won't hate him so much.