JDG

I remember hearing about this back in the very early 90's. Its a very old discussion that won't die - but won't ever happen, because it makes no sense. The truth of the matter is that all those ridiculously wealthy Goldman Sachs bankers pay an awful lot of taxes (arguably too little taxes - but still a lot more than all those lower middle class families in Upstate do.) JDG

Its great to hear that Martin Nance is catching everything in sight at mini-camp, but the #1 question for Martin Nance seems to have rarely been covered - Can He Play Special Teams? Here's the thing for the Bills at WR: 1) Lee Evans - not going anywhere 2) Peerless Price - received a $2 million signing bonus, would be an awful lot to make for just appearing at training camp 3) Josh Reed - (see note on Peerless Price) 4) Roscoe Parrish - hard to see us cutting a 2nd round pick of a WR in his second year, even if he was picked by the old regime After those four WR's, we have the following guys competing for 1 roster spot, maybe a second WR spot if we keep a 6th WR who is inactive on game days. A) Sam Aiken - By all accounts an important special teams player for us B) Jonathan Smith - An intriguing punt returner - but he probably has to beat out Parrish to stick as a returned, or beat Aiken as Special Teams cover man C) Andre Davis - Signed with the Bills cheap, and probably thought he had a chance to start. Then the Bills threw $2 million at Price and Reed. Tough break. Hard to see any scenario where he sticks without convincing the Bills to swallow that $2 million check to either Price or Reed. D) George Wilson - The last undrafted free agent to catch everything in sight for us at camp. E) Martin Nance So, barring the Bills handing a two million dollar check to either Peerless Price or Josh Reed for being camp fodder for us, Martin Nance has a tall order ahead of him. Barring injury, pretty much the only way he is going to be active on game days is to become a better special teams player than Sam Aiken. Failing that, Nance will have to beat out Smith, Davis, Wilson, and the next best player at other positions to stick as a 6th WR who will be mostly inactive on gamedays. The most likely situation still seems to be the practice squad - if he isn't picked up by someone else. JDG

O.k..... Holcomb's Arm was referring to a thread where I compared Palmer to Losman that was some time ago. I think that this proves that although QB Rating is useful, I wouldn't ever want to rest a comparison on the basis of QB Rating, without also examining other metrics.... Palmer's rating suffered because of the INT's, but overall I think it is clear that any NFL Coach would rather have Palmer's performance in those games than Losman's. JDG

Huh? Keep in mind that JP Losman threw more NFL passes as a rookie than Carson Palmer did - who did not take a single snap as a rookie. Losman's 1st 9 games: 113 of 228 (49.6%) for 1340 yds, 5.88 YPA, 149 YPG, 8 TD and 8 INT One Game with +60% passing, (60.1% in Game 1 vs. Houston) One 200+ yard passing game (224 at Miami) 2-7 Record Palmer's 1st 9 games: 181 of 318 (57%) for 1897 yards, 5.97 YPA, 211 YPG, 7 TD and 12 INT Three Games with +60% passing, including his 8th and 9th games (vs. Dallas and @Washington) Four 200+ yard passing games AND One 316 yard game vs. Baltimore 4-5 Record I don't see how there is any similarity here. With the exception of Palmer throwing a few to many INT's, he was clearly superior to Losman's performance in every other way. So, Andre Ware and Cade McNown were also prematurely assessed? Just to be clear, though, I'm not bold enough to say definitively that Losman will be a bust - I'm just pointing it that: a) it is not unreasonable to reach solid conclusions regarding a player after 9 games in his second season b) there seem to be few to no examples of a QB performing as badly as Losman did in his second year and then going on to stardom JDG

There's a difference between "nothing" = "played badly" and "nothing" = "never started." JDG

Are those 9 games as a rookie, his second year, or his third year? And are those games overall mediocre, below average, or abysmal? Are there any really good games mixed in among those? JDG

O.k., so apparently Losman isn't the best in practice, and we *know* that Losman isn't the best in games - so why exactly do you want to start him again? JDG

Not necessarily. One guy has received several opportunities and has stunk up the joint. Another guy has had three limited appearances, and played well. I'd argue that the other guy might have moved ahead of the former in the "upside department" based on that available evidence. I think that Nall has the height, size, and arm to be an NFL starter. I also think coming out of the Green Bay QB Factory is at least as much pedigree as coming out of Tulane in the 1st Round of the Draft. And its not like the choice is starting Losman or cutting Losman. All I'm saying is that unless Losman shows in practice that he is a much, much, better football player than he was last year, then the best available move for the Bills is to start Nall. If Nall doesn't pan out, then you can give Losman another shot - despite having not shown anything in practice. And you can mock Holcomb all you want, but he went on the road, in the playoffs, to Pittsburgh, in January, and hung up 33 points on the Steelers. The Browns eventually realized that sometimes you have to start the QB that can actually play the game over the QB with the arm and the pedigree. JDG

This is so completely wrong in terms of understanding the last 12 years+ or so of football, that my first thought was that you could not be claiming what you seemed to be claiming. However, the words above are the words above and they are completely counter to how decisions have been made under the salary cap. 1, Where a player is drafted is slotted and determines his initial contract. The Bills hung onto MW not only because they had sunk a bunch of $ into him.but because if the cut him the acceleration of the bonus paid to him would kill the team. Where a player is drafted has a big impact on decisions on whether to keep him or not/ 2. The HC may ignore where a player was drafted and his costs if he is commited to making straight football descisions. However, it is the owner who owns the team and its his money. Just as Ralph hated having an $8 million bonus sit on the bench and anointed RJ the starter after he rolled over an Indy team that had given up when they realized the game outcome would not improve their playoff position the decision about the future was driven by $ rather than football. 3. Pro football used to be a sport which happened to be a business but today it is a businss that happens to also be a sport. Please do not fool yourself into thinking that draft position due to slotting and sunk costs do not make any difference in future decisions. Often they are the key thing. 687752[/snapback] Sorry, Yvel, but Holcomb's Arm is right-on here. The difference with some high draft picks is that the high signing bonus makes the marginal cost of cutting them prohibitive. But you can't change the past, you can only affect what happens in the future... and so sunk costs are irrelevant. JDG

Uh.... o.k. But Tim Couch, Akili Smith, Ryan Leaf, Cade McNown, and Andre Ware all had worlds of physical talent to. In the end, though, I think that they all ultimately had less talent than Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, and Jake Delhomme. I think this discussion is being prolonged because you show no signs of even allowing for the possibility that Losman just might be in the first group, and that Craig Nall might be in the latter group - a guy who was admittedly drafted low, but ultimately has more talent than certain mid-to-late first round picks. JDG

Oops.... let me correct that.....

I suppose you think that Donahoe should just have made no notice of the fact that Bledsoe had just turned in one of the most painful and excruciating losses in Buffalo Bills history? And its not like it was "just one game". If Bledsoe had been good, maybe, just maybe, you could treat that game as a mulligan. As it was, that game was the low point of a fairly dismal season anyways. JDG

On what are you basing the difference between Nall and Losman? Playing time? Draft status?

Because Nall had no intention of blowing his free agency on accepting a job as a 3rd-String Clipboard holder?

Nall - 50%, Losman - 30%, Holcomb - 20%

That would be such a dirty and underhanded maneuver that it would poison the contract negotioations the Bills had with almost every player for years thereafter. The truth of the matter is that Marv made the deal because: 1) The franchise CB tag is going up a prohibitive amount in 2007 anyways 2) Nate Clements was not only not the best CB in the League last year, he wasn't even the best CB on the team 3) Yobouty is a potential CB starter in the future, and 4) The Bills will probably plan to sign a CB after the 2006 season - that may be Clements, or it may not - but Marv is willing to take our CB needs to the open market. JDG

It doesn't matter at this point, since the terms of the new CBA govern.... JDG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Tag

Top Holes: 1) QB - Without a doubt, QB is the #1 hole on this team. Losman was cover-your-eyes awful last year, Holcomb is, well, Holcomb, and Nall is completely unproven. Until one of these guys steps up, QB is our #1 hole. 2) DE - Schobel is nice, but he reminds me of a famous comment once made about Marcellus Wiley - "he seems to get more 'cleanup sacks' than anyone I've ever seen." Kelsay and Denney don't inspire confidence in anyone. 3) LB - Spikes is coming off an injury, Fletcher is old and is too easily blown out of the middle, and Jeff Posey is perhaps the most invisible starter on the entire defense. 4) OT - I think that Gandy is decent. Moreover, I believe that the hole here is less glaring after the additions of Fowler and Reyes on the OLine, and the addition of Butler and Pennington as developmental projects. O.k., OT is a big hole - but just less so than QB, DE, and even LB I know that won't be a popular opinion in these parts, but that's how I see it. JDG

Actually, I think that the only way Aiken makes the roster is by special teams..... he's competing for the #5WR/Special Teams roster spot, plain and simple. JDG

Actually, Dik ;-), my point isn't so much injury as the distinct possibility that just maybe Nate Clements isn't very good any more. Our defense was cover-your-eyes awful last year, and it can't be because we had all good players. As I was watching the games, it seemed more Clements was getting burned far too often for comfort (or to write off as simply being the product of the scheme.) He also had only 2 INT's next year. In the dreaded Miami game, Chris Chambers didn't have all 15 catches going up against Rashad Baker. I think Marv's deal is predicated on the idea that we can't come anywhere's close to paying Clements like the best CB in the League when he isn't even the best CB on our team. JDG

I think that Travis Henry will go down as one of the more enigmatic players in Bills History. On one hand, one can point to his production, which was impressive enough. On the other hand, he had a huge case of fumbilitis. He also didn't seem to have his head screwed on straight, from his legal troubles to taking a terrible (for him) contract extension from Donahoe before he could get paid. In examining the balance sheet, I think that it simply cannot be discounted that Buffalo replaced and traded him, and now the Titans have effectively replaced him as well. I suspect that deep down, Henry simply did not have the mentality to be a premier NFL back. JDG

McGahee looked scary bad for long stretches last year, our offensive line be damned - his performance wouldn't have been acceptable if we were starting the University of Buffalo offensive line last year. The possibility that McGahee might not be very good keeps this Bills fan up at night - our success really rides on McGahee panning out (well, that and our QB panning out.) JDG

My early bold prediction for a training camp shocker is Stamer and Ellison beating out Posey for a roster spot... Posey has "veteran camp cut" written all over him.... he's very fortunate that he only has to beat out Stamer and a rookie 6th rounder - it might save his job for another year. JDG

Its been in the back of my mind for a while now that out of the group of Davis, Price, and Reed, one man is going to start and one man is going to be cut - and you could probably make a case either way. I can't see cutting Parrish, a second-round pick, after just one year, so I put Parrish and Evans as locks, although Parrish will be #3 at best. That leaves Davis, Price, and Reed fighting for two spots, and Aiken, Nance, and Smith fighting for a special teams spot. I don't see how Wilson and Denney have a chance for anything other than the Practice Squad. That's a crowded group, so there's probably going to be a lot of prayers from those guys that we keep a 6th WR this year.... The 6th guy could be the loser of the Davis, Price, Reed derby vs. Smith vs. needs at other positions. JDG