Pyrite Gal

Positive D miove- Triplett Positive ST move- Resigning Reed or maybe signing Bowen Positive O move- Not much, but increasing competition with Nall or maybe improving blocking with Royal but mostly shows we need work here. Overall, canning TD and MM leaving means that we are certainly moving away from a bad scene and unsuccessful leadership, but the jury is out on whether the new leadership will produce far better results. The positives of changing the braintrust were: 1. Bobby April was the co-ordinator who survived and he deserves the promotion to assistant HC as his STs have been about the best in the NFL for two years. 2. Given Ralph cannot be fired (ultimately the buck stops with him) hiring Marv is not a bad idea. If they pull a Bush/Rumsfeld and Marv only tells him what he wants to hear the results will not be good. if on the other hand Marv can keep the owner from meddling too much (tough to do since he writes the checks) because they are peers then this may work. I particularly like that they did not hire either Sherman at HC or bates at DC. The too are talented men, but simplifying rather than supplementing Marv's failings iseems a better route to success for us IMHO. A key weakness for us is likely to be too many cooks if Ralph meddles as he is entitled due to the Golden Rule (he who has the gold rules). 3. I like Jauron going to the cover 2 and am hopeful that Fewell's experience running a cover 3 will really work well with our DB and LB quality. 4. Fairchild also looks like a good selection as OC. His experience under Martz was successful and if he can get as much out of the passing game and utilize WM as a Marshall Faulk threat we will go far.

There actually are several ways this question can be interpreted: 1. Which QB is the best player? IMHO- Holcomb is likely the most immediately productive of the three. This is due to him having far more experience starting than even a combined JP and Nall record. he also tends toward playing mistake free and making the useful dump-off which suits the diminishing arm of a getting older player. However, KH has never been a consistent producer as a starter and outside of wishful hopes there is no rational reason to assume he will become one now. I hope he does one just cannot expect this at all. JP's game has a lot of flaws, but the talent he showed running for his life at Tulane was real and he has flashed little bits of this in his play the last two years (steady progress as a rookie but from a horrible beginning due to injury and what he showed getting thrown to the wolves in NE and he and Evans lit it up for a quarter against Miami this year). KH is better now but JP has potential upside that KH has not shown consistently in 10 years. Nall is the most interesting as a player as he is at a take-off point at 27 for still being young, but having alot of sideline and practice experience behind one of the best. Intriguing but no starts makes him a #3 til he shows something. 2. Who does a TSW poster think will actually get the start. Like most in a recent TSW survey I think JP will win out. Even if KH is a better player know he is not so much better than JP that it will outweigh JP's upside that got him a 1st round contract. JP needs not to be great to get the nod but simply (though this simply is hard to do though simple to understand) show that he can become a very good QB this year. Again Nall is intriguing because of his background but there is no real production as against NFL players and coaches who have gameplanned for his strengths and weaknesses to base an assessment on. 3. Who do you like more and want to win the job? IMHO, I don't care. I'll leave adoring or hating these players to the soap opera football fans out there and make my judgments based on how they are playing now and what it means for this season and next. As far as gut reactions. I feel least bad in my gut about Nall asa Bill because he has yet to play yet. JP has not delivered the highlight reel joys of Jimo yet on the plus side and on the negative side expectations and hopes for him were so high that even when plays adequately it is disappointing. Holcomb has fulfilled his mandate of being a solid back-up but really done little else with last year's poor team. Sio who cares who is most likeable. just win baby.

Different folks find different primary appeals from the entertainment of the NFL, so it is not surprising that there are some posts in this thread from folks who are simply looking for some player not be at workouts so they can call him a slacker. Some love it for the football detail (my own way too long posts are an example of this), some folks love it because it represents the region they live in. Some folks hace a passing interest in it and are all over it when we are winning and couldn't care less about it when we are losing. Whatever, vive la difference and there is no rule which requires us all to be the same. However, I will take this opportunity to say that perhaps the most annoying "Bills fans" are those who seem primarily attracted to and entertained by a soap opera view of the game. Some seem to pretend that they actually know the players, drives and motivations merely from what they see for 3 hours and change a week on the field and the selective biased reports of the media (even when we see on TV or hear on the radio a report there is potentially great bias and untruth which can be presented as these bites lack the context of the entire interview. Even many single quotes need to cross-referenced with other sources before we believe them totally). While folks showing up to participate in the off-season workout proram is a good sign and some of their stated reasons for doing this sound very good for our team (like Wiilis' comments) this does not mean at all that simply because a player is not here he is a slacker or a bad player. If gold star attendance is so simportant to some folks they should make inquiries whether the absence is excused by the Bills braintrust. Actually players do not even need a official excuse from these "voluntary" workouts. However. particularly with a new HC and expectation of attendance can be very strong I see no signs of Jauron team-building in this way, though GW tried to push attendance as a big deal when he came aboard. The irony of this was that reality struck rather quickly in that the Bills acquired Larry Centers and almost immediately GW who actually was an active Centers advocate of him being a prototype class act. GW made noises that he "expected" every Bill to be here for volountary conditioning and training programs. Centers informed GW and the world that he had built a clear record and rep of showing up on time and in shape when the mandatory workouts began. In fact he felt better about his routine and the equipment he was used to using at home and felt he would get a worse worjout if he was yukking it up with his teammates at the Bills session. GW shut up. All in all is it significant that someone is here? You bet, By being here WM shows that he wants to do things differently his year and his investing in the collective of the team rather than individualism of working out at the U. However, it may not be significant at all if a player is not here. Folks like Centers and WM have been committed to working out and though theree is a bakance to be struck by the need to build a sense of team which can only be done when all are gere, in general the key is for the player to not pull a Mike Williams and show up ready to play. A platyer does not have to attend voluntary workouts to do this. Also, there are some cases where if a player actually came to the workout to hang with the boys and in doing so was not around for some important familial moment (like helping his wife have a baby, or saying goodbye to a dying parent, I'd be mor worried that the player blew off something important because he needed to workout. The mentions in this thread of a theory that Holcomb was not here, that WM was going to hold out this year, or that his attendance or WGR rumor is truly the measure of a player's character is just sopa opera trash as far as I am concerned. Yet, it is a free country and people are ebtitled to their own opinion even if it is baseless and silly. I just hope with the demise of "Whitey" as a Bill and other major changes that posters will focus more the actual occurences on the field of play rather than backroom soap opera theory about who said what to whom and what dolks really think.

Not so fast and cockure about this! While it certainly is not likely that we will get a 2nd for Moulds, it clearly is a real possibility (though again it is not a likelihood). This is because the amount a team receives in return for a traded player is governed most by supply and demand. On the supply side, om the Scouts Inc, ranking of available WRs all the UFAs except for David Boston through the top 15 WRs are gone and if the Bills were to cut Moulds he would easily be the #1 WR available. On the demand side, Moulds having been allowed to work out a deal says multiple teams have expressed interest. Based on the assessment of folks on TSW he probably is not simply blowing smoke here as several teams such as Philly or the Broncos either have a huge position need at WR or this one player might make the difference for them in obtaining an SB berth. If supply of a WR of Moulds rep and recent production are low and the demand is high enough to create competition this can lead to idiotic maneuvers we have benefitted from such as AT giving up a 1st for PP, TN giving up a 3rd for TH amd hurt us when we were forced to overpay for Milloy when safeties Cota and Battle signed and reneged on us and unless we overpaid when he surprisingly hit the market the Bears might have got him. It is a steely-eyed waiting game right now because if two of these teams feel he can make the difference for them reaching the SB or putting enough butts in their seats they would be silly not to part with even a 1st for Moulds if that is what the supply and demand of the market dictate. The quality of a player's work, his age, and his contract are quite relevant factors to consider. However, Moulds is still the best offensive player on this team due to his experience and athleticism (Evans, McGee and maybe McGahee are closing fast) and his quality makes a high draft pick for him meet the laugh test. He is well into the backside of his career, but if a team is looking to get value from him for only 1 year (to make the difference in an 06 SB run or to pretend to be a good team in 06) then trading for him makes sense. His salary hit is high but it has become standard operating procedure to rip up inherited contracts and negotiate new deals which provide the advantage to the player that he receives a ton of cash upfront he would not have even gotten from his old contract, but his new team gets to prorate that hit over the life of the contract and have a very manageable 06 cap hit. Is it likely that Moulds would command a 2nd or 3rd in a trade? I would not say this is a probability or even likely. Howerver, is it possible that the Bills might even be able to pry a first out of a team so that they are assured of getting Moulds when it is unlikely they would get him as an FA since bad teams get first shot. Yes this is certainly and easily possible. My bet is on the Broncs as the best potential trade partner, Moulds could team with the quality WR they already have to create a force similar to the one Moulds teamed with PP to form in 2002. If Moulds went into FA it is doubtful he would be there when the Broncs turn came around so if they want him they have to trade for him. Finally, the Broncs have two first round picks in 06 but neither are high enough to get them an guaranteed impact player(not that the first picks of any draft provide much in the way of surefire immediate help- see Mike Wiiliams and Harrington if you doubt this). If Marv is as tough a customer as TD was (his reading of the market and not even panicking when their was no draft day deal for TH as 3 of the top picks that day were for RBs) then he will resist the wails of fans who want something to happen yesterday and maybe we get a surpirsing pick for Moulds.

What is a person of integrity supposed to say in this situation? My understandfing is that the owner and GM neither asked for Bledsoe's guidance or permission on whether to pursue TO. Once he is delivered to the team, do you expect Bledsoe to draw some line of tension with a teammate. My sense of Bledsoe's comments are that he appropriately welcomed a teammate, promised honesty and laid out a requirement of honesty. I have no problem whatsoever with that. What do you propose that a "man of integrity" says in this situation that serves the interests of his team?

Given the layout originally presented, all the immediate superstars are gone and there are a lot of immediate starters left. The obvious answer to me given all of our needs is that you end up hoping someone is antsy that pick #9 or #10 is going to be the one guy they must have (Cutler, Vince Young perhaps) and the answer for us is to trade down #8 pick up an extra #2 and figure that in this deep draft there is no one who will help us win an SB this year, but if we can get another starter quality player we would not have gotten the trading down in the thing to do.

The thing is though in terms of looking at the football effects is that even a "clutchless a$$" is a definite step up for the Dallas kicking game. Dallas is assembling quite an upgrade in talent and this cannot be rationally denied. It will be quite the test for Parcells. Maybe he will force Vandy and TO to room together on the road. If he wants to cut one of them but avoid the cap hit just give the other one a knife.

I am happy as well, but have no illusions that while he is a helpful contributor to the team, he is a player who can fill in the right spot at the right cost but he is not a player to build around. The bottomline is while I am happy he is here it needs to be at the right cost. I'm not certain what that exact amount is under the new salary cap amount, but even though signed a year later under the new cap his contract amount should be no where near what we paid to resign fellow DE Schobwl who not only gets more sacks, but covered better in the zone blitz, was comparable as a run stopper but does not have the motor Schobel has.

Yep, all three make the roster and we are set at QB. The idea of cutting JP now even if he is bad this year is pretty retarded. We pay hime for the most part whether we keep him or not and only save the base pay portion of his salary, most of which gets used up to sign a disaster QB to replace him. The mistake the Bills have made the last few years is selecting their QB based on how the front office thinks they should do rather than on what they actually do on the field.

The best thing about this move is that it is virtually a no lose situation for Parcells and probably be for Bledsoe. If TO keeps his mouth shut enough (doubtful but possible) they win. If TO melts down yet again, they cut him and move on with essentially the Keyshawn hole to fill (bad but not impossible). In the interim when he is on the field drawing DTs he makes the aging Glenn a more productive WR and allows the developing Witten to run wild over the middle. In terms of management, just ignore this A-hole when he rants there is little reason to go out of their way to make it work, because either he grows up or it simply cannot be made to work.

Your addition is a sound one as a specific point, but does not change the overall analysis that Bledsoe is not capable of leading a team whose D gets beaten by a better O and whose ST males critical mistakes. Im addition a recognition that Parker was a third stringer on his way up also does not change the key point of the reply that just because Bledsoe is not capable of being John Elway this does not mean he can't be the QB of a team which makes the playoffs. Some folks are entertaned by assuming that if a player sucks in a lot of ways )or even in a couple of ways) he sucks at everything. While football is far from reality, reality and even football doesn't work like that.

We Are Not Worthy! We Are Not Worthy! Great job Clumpster!

Actually if Parcells watches tapes of the Bills games with Bledsoe under GW/Kevin Killdrive and Bledsoe under MM/Clements the blitz should not scare him alot. MM/Clements under TD cerrainly crapped up the offense under JP, but MM/Clements really showed some good football once they got things under control after an 0-4 start and eventually pulled off a lengthy win streak before a better team Pittsburgh beat the Bills in all phases of the game including a lackluster Bledsoe performance. Clements put on a play calling show on how to beat the blitz with the immobile Bledsoe at QB calling: 1. Bledsoe has little mobility, no escapability and is no runner, but to beat the blitz you have to run him from time to time. Basically any QB can pick up 5-7 yards running the QB blitz if the OLBs are focused on taking outside lanes to get to the pocket. Clements called the QB draw empugh times that it simply kept the LBs at home guarding against giving up the middle of the field. Bledsoe has negative zero breakaway speed, but when he can turn a 1st and 10 into a second down with a run/pass option available to the O, or cam turn a 2 and 10 into a 3rd down with medium or even short yardage it really helps the O alot and makes it harder for the D to sellout on the blitz, Killdrive never used Bledsoe as a runner and this allowed the LBs to sellout completely on the blitz. 2. If you cannot defeat the opposiion straight up then call trick plays. MM/Clements made liberal use of trick plays like the hand off and pitch back to Bledsoe who specializes in throwing the long ball well to a speedster like Evans who only needs the CB to cheat a step toward the run to be open deep. 3. An effective runner who can get outside does a lot to beat the blitz/ The Bills made great use in 04 of the outside threat and ability to lay DBs out with his stiff arm to force the D to always be wary of defending the outside. When the D is covering the line outside they don;t b;itz as much. I know little about Dallas RB Jones running style, but if he presents any turning the corner threat it will help them out against the blitz a lot. 4. Bledsoe has a ton of failings (boy don't we know) but he also does a lot well and make use of those things. As annoyed as Bills fans were with DB, his good points are: A. Besides the exception of the Jones hit which collapsed his lung Bledsoe is a big durable fellow. He will get blitzed and tackled a bunch but he started every game he was on the Bills for and Parcells should not live in fear of Bledsoe getting hit. He's a big boy (actually a very big boy). B. He has great hands. Trey Teague as he learned the center position and particularly on shotgun snaps was saved by Bledsoe's ball handling ability. Do not fear that Jones will pitch the ball to him with the skill of an EB and not a QB cause WM did the same thing and Bledsoe handled these pitches and still hit Evans (and at least once Moulds) going deep downfield. C. Bledsoe has seen a lot of football and though sometimes he suffers brain lock (like the time he threw a pass OB to avoid a sack, but it was 4th down on the final play of the game. boy it was ugly). However. Bledsoe follows orders as any yoke; would and he is capable of pulling off some great fakes like the time he faked the QB sneak and at the last moment pitched it back to WM who scampered 40+ yards for the TD. Like him or not the reality is that the man owns an SB ring earned with NE that by playing QB for the majority of a must-win game and even throwing the winning TD he deserved. Further he did lead NE to an SB berth under Parcells. Further in 2002 he deserved his reserve Pro Bowler nod as he ran a Bills owe that completed 100 passes to Moulds, and 94 to PP and ran TH for about 1400 yds (if you disagree you can simply blather that Bledsoe completely sucks or you can name who should have gotten the Pro Bowl reserve nod instead of him that year (that sound you hear is crickets). Bledsoe has demonsttrated that he is not capable of leading a team to the playoffs of the lay the ball on the carpet on ST (Clements against Pitts), shanl a makeab;e FG (Lindell against Pitss) or the D gives up over a 100 yards to a 4rd or 5th stringer (Pitts was resting at least it two lead backs in that game). Bledsoe is simply not the QB he once was when he could use his golden arm to lead a bad team to a win. That being said however, he is capable of playing QB on a winning TEAM if the TEAM and the HC carry him along emphaszing his positives and avoiding his negatives. The blitz is one of those things that can be minimized through good playcalling and the hits an immobile Bledsoe will certainly take in any case can be shrugged off by the big guy. After watching Bledsoe the blitz does not bother me more than it does for a more mobilr QB IF a team does good playcalling even with a bad OL(.

While Moulds always has the right to refuse to play (and thus not get paid) I think the Bills are in the drivers seat on this one and Marv is playing it that way. Crunch time for us looks like it may be around June 1st IF Moulds is due some bonus then that we cannot afford to risk him not playing, but at that point post draft and just before camp, opponents have pretty much spent we they can or will spend and rosters are set. If Moulds is released at that point, he likely signs for chump change probably with a team that is not going anywhere and from this based this older man is looking to make a case for rewarding him as an FA next year. It looks bad for EM. The Bills have him under contract and cannot be forced to move him unless they blink. If they remain tough they can: 1. Let Moulds do the initial trade work for them. 2. Hold out like the Bills did with Travis and get maximum value for him in a trade. 3. Worse comes to worse force Moulds to either resign with us (kissing his teammates butts big time to get back in their good graces) or see him monkey around forcing us to pay him while he does not try hard this season, However, if he did this it would not put him in great shape for being an FA becayse this 30+ year old guy would be coming off of two unproductive seasons in a row with his teammates on the Bills badmouthing him around the league for being a bad teammate this year if he merely punched the clock. Its a dangerous game as EM can screw the Bills if he also willing to screw himself out pf # and the respect of his peers. I doubt he will do this so Marv should continue to say nice things about EM and let him either work to get us a good deal or simply twist in the winds..

A lot will really be determined by how the oddly shaped ball bounces. I know you and others have some firm sense of who is the better QB, but IMHO. all have pluses and minuses and most important the minuses for each QB are a pretty good reason why NO ONE should be counting upon any of these three to be a dead lock cinch to win the starting job. Holcomb- clearly the best player among these three, BUT he never has produced consistently as a starting QB in his ten years in the NFL. The ten years are a double edged sword as he uses his experience to make good decisions under pressure, but he clearly is on the backside of his career and no one reasonably views him as the Bills QB of the future when it would be a great 06 for us simply to even make the playoffs. Nall- He has showed some flashes of talent but they were in Europe and in a mop-up role for the most durable QB in NFL history. Still the Pack has a well deserved rep for picking quality back-ups who when they leave town because it was impossible for a talented QB to sit and wait for Favre to get hurt actually blossomed into SB capable QBs like Hasselback and Warner. Still Europe and mop-up are just Europe and mop-up and even though Nall is just hitting his prime it would be nuts to count on him. JP- Incedibly well regarded running for his life but still producing for Tulane. If he had stayed in school given the week competition at QB that draft if he had a year like his junior year when he produced with little help he likely would have been the first QB chosen. Yet his Bills career has been up and down wth an impressive pre-season devut which was ended by injury which occured in part due to his cockiness. He showed good progress in each mop-appearance after his injury which began with him getting steamrollered when he was thrown to the sharks against NE. His rookie year production was started by him stupidly be anointed the starter rather than winning the job on the field and any progress he showed was in fact progress but he went from mediocre to sub-adequate. None of these men deserve the starting nod based on their resumes and performance (though again Holcomb clearly has the best performance to be seen among these three. My guess is that JP gets the regular season start because his age and his contract will make him first among QBs who are all inadequate to take the starting job. I can easily be wrong, but the good news is that it will be decided on the field of play and not by the rantings of fans. If the ball bounces out of Shelton's awkward hands and right into a defenders arms as it did late last season when Holcomb got 'credited' wth an INT he did not deserve, one might see a QB get the job even if his play was worse.

It really depends on our trade partner as far as determining what Moulds brings in a trade. If a team judges itself to be one player away from going deep in the playoffs and making the SB for the first time or even winning it and that player need is for a WR then Moulds is easily worth a 1st to that team (for example Philly knew TO was a greedy idiot but got him anyway because it was a lack of WR talent which had gotten them knocked out of an SC berth the year before). On the other hand, if a team is stocked at WR is does not matter how good they judge Moulds he is worth little in a trade for him. Folks who judge a players worth only by the quality of his play are really missing actually calculating how much he can deliver in a trade.

It would not surprise me if what has yanked Moulds chain was that not only did the organization take him on when he and Tyke Tolbert had a hissy fit match on the sidelines when his main contribution to the team in the Miami game was to be a decoy and allow Evans to torch them, but to add injury to insult the team suspended him for a game because of his unprofessional reaction. Even worse for his ego, his teammates did not back him up in terms of taking on the team and he had to simply shut up and take his medicine. My GUESS is that this is not primarily about money at all, and ironically probably not even primarily about Moulds being pissed with management as the management guys in question for the most part, TD and MM are gone. What likely cheeses Moulds off is that he would remain a teammate with a team that seemed to feel his suspension was justified. I don't know but it all fits together as an explanation of why Moulds agent is saying such drastic things in EMs name but alternatelyLevy for the Bills are saying very nice things about EM. I'd be curious to hear what Moulds has to say about some of the team leaders like D captain Fletcher and respected NFLPA head Vincent since they likely are among the players whom the team would follow their lead in judging Moulds behavior with his meltdown in the Miami game. My GUESS is that it did not help Moulds case at all that his tirade was prompted by another WR getting the TD glory as Evans moved from being the NEXT Bills #1 WR simply being the Bills #1 WR. My sense is that if his teammates interpreted his tirade as being prompted by a younger player taking over his spot due to production it happens to the best of 'em and they would view his tirade as a hissy-fit rather than a manly stand for principle. It also did not make his case easier that this face-off came against Tyke Tolbert who is of African-American descent so Moulds could not even try to play the race card if he wanted his hissy fit to instead look like some act of principle, I do not think it is impossible for him to come back, but if the issue here is that he us judged to be a questionable self-centered teammate he would have to kiss some butt big time to make it work.

I think the Bills should hold out for far more than a 4th or a second day draft pick for Moulds. I think folks are not assessing Moulds trade worth correctly if they simply are making a comparison of their assessment of his ability to their assessment of some other player's ability and how much he got in trade value. A players trade value is set by supply and demand, not by some static assessment of his playing ability A merely slightly bove average WR is worth more than a great player at some other position if there are no other WRs available or if there are tons of options available at the other position Form what I understand, though well into the backside of his career, Moulds is clearly the best WR available out there. With other high rep (though idiots players) WRs like TO and Keyshawn signed if a team feels it needs a solid vet WR then Moulds is the man. Another item to factor into this is a team's sense of what the acquisition of a WR will mean for their production as a team. The Broncs fell just short of going to the SB last year, and part of their problem was the lack of a go to guy at WR. It is not determinative at all that Miami gave up only a 2nd rounder for a likely more productive player than Moulds. If Denver makes the asseassment that with Moulds rounding out their O they can get to the big dance then paying the Culpepper price (or even higher) for Moulds would be a smart thing to do.

I'm not saying that location has NOTHING to do with this decision. I'm just saying that it has so little to do with attractiveness of a town for most players that it is in essence a non-factor. Sure it is a big factor for the odd athlete, but the reasons are that his Mom or Dad are nearby to a town and about to die and sonny wants to be close. In this case an athlete might choose Buffalo over much nicer digs and even a better deal in a town like SF if his dying Mom lives on the east coast. If location were such a big deal then that disadvantage us, it should be quite simple to name a bunch of cases where we had an interest in a player (either expressed in terms of public interest or staff rumor by us, or simply in terms of players repetitively visiting us but choosing other locations. In fact, the occurences of reality show the opposite such as this year when the first three visitors to Buffalo all signed in Buffalo. In fact the only visitor I can remeber losing this year was Fabini. People's sense of us being an unattractive place for players seems conjured up more by the insecurities and ideological biases of posters rather than any clear demonstration of a series (or even a few) actual cases.

The great thing about our QB situation this year is that JP, Hiolcomb and now Nall can credibly compete with each other for the job. None of these men appear to be stud NFL QBs as best as I can tell, but all have a reasonable chance at being adequate enough to get this team into the playoffs once it becomes a TEAM/ Regardless on what we think this one will be determined on the field rather than in the front office which is where it should be settled and that is a great thing IMHO. In terms of my own fact-free opinions as to how this battle will turn out my sense is: 1. Losman has the inside track due to his age and contract. Though I think this one will be settled on the field, one would have to be a fool to ignore the fact that age and contract make a difference. In this case I think the marginal difference will be that if KH or even Nall clearly are better and more productive than JP on the field they will get the nod. However, if it is a close call or even if the other two are marginally better than a JP who makes a showing that he may well come around by mid-seasom. I suspect JP will get the nod. As far as on field, I think folks are giving up on him too soon. I think his talents were real and the seasoning of playing will make him a better player and even though he will still be far from perfect as a starter this season I think he will be good enough to get the nod. 2. KH is a very good back-up QB and I will be pleased to have him if JP folds or is hurt. However, he has never been a consistent producer over a season despite a few highlight reel games. 3. Nall is intriguing. I'd love for him to show enough to surpass KH and command the #2 slot. I doubt this will happen but he was a creduible back-up to Farve in the few times called upon. Competition is good and thats the bottomline.

One of the pages from the TD book (many pages were flawed but some of his moves and skills were quite good) that it seems the Bills are following is to let a player who wants out seek a trade and do a chunk of the GMs work. Its a smart move in a negotiation because if the Bills call first then the other team gets to lead us through the negotiating process. While the Bills are still the seller and the other team has a buyers advantage that they can "pretend" to walk out of the showroom to wedge a bit more out of us, by having the player make the initial ask, as we did in the Travis Henry case it puts us on a more equal footing with the "buyer". This is also similar to the Henry case in that the player clearly had burned bridges and was not going to come back, but the player is still under contract to us and we own him. The Moulds situation is a bit different in that we owe him the big bucks while TH was mere chump change to allow him to sit if we chose. However, Moulds would really need to pretend to be interested in being a Bill while playing like a schmuck in order for us to pay and if he played this card it would make his name crap to his teammates and other NFL players and not be a smart move for a player of his age. My assumption has been that Denver is a WR away from going even deeper in the playoffs and Moulds would be high on their lisr/ However, I am curious what those who scan the rest of the MFL say in terms of what other teams need WRs and what they could part with in exchange for Moulds.

Given the FACTS that multiple FAs who had locations to choose from such as TKO, Sam Adams, Vincent, Milloy and even most of the middlin talent wooed, brought in for a visit and signed this year (the Skins wanted to resign Royal, Triplett had several suitors) it is simply untrue that this is not a desireable team for FAs. In fact, rather than having to pay a premium to attract players, the Bills have historically been able to sign players at lower payments than other teams offered in some cases such as Sam Adams. Folks pointing to tax rates and other issues seem to reflect more their own personal ideological hobby horses than anything based on a player specifically noting the issue or even a mere statistical correlation of the Bills being unable to reel in FAs. The list above is only a short form of several real world examples of FAs coming here. If someone wants to say my theory that we are not at a significant disadvantage is wrong that is fine but at least back this random thought up with either some specific evidence or statistical correlation, These whiners cannot do so.

A knowlegable party like Clumpy can tell us for sure, but the numbers we have are his cap hit numbers are not necessarily all the details of the contract which are relevant to why Nall signed or what we may pay. For example, 1. There is a panel of contract reviewers with the NFL who look at incentives and determine whether they are easily made or true incentives. If Bills by contract agree to pay Nall a substantial bonus if he totals a huge amount of yards, throws fo a certain # of TDs or even appears in a certain # of games, but the levels set are ones he never achieved before they certainly would not be relected in the cap and I do not think we would even know unless either party told us. Likewise if his incentives were for numbers he achieved before or easily obtained roster bonuses there is a cap hit decreed by this secret committee for that player. 2. When bonuses are paid they must be reported but until they are made and paid they can be a secret to us. For what they are Nall's #s are reasonable back-up #s we can afford to pay for reasonable back-up.

Actually I think we agree on a fundamental point. This is football and not a government (and not an academic institution which is where she made her rep to get the government gig). If Condi actually embraced this job as a fan she MIGHT be a good commish. All I am saying though is that if she applied the same economic approaches she endorsed both in her scholarly writing and her state Dept work to the NFL it likely would be a disaster. The question of whether she could become or would be a good NFL commish would in my mind be greatly determined by how much she ran away from and did a 180 on her previous economic views gear toward promoting the individual and instead worked to support the collective by adopting the NFL's socialistic economic ways which have been so good for the game the last 20 years. This issues are far afield and seemingly silly hoo-haa to us fans, but it was an econimic dispute which almost just brought a workstoppage to the NFL and there wou;d be no football. This is ecomic issue is essential to the game and it is the major part of the Commish's work.

Actually, you seem to be reading a lot into what my opinions are about Bush economic policies from a post that discussed and presented a bit about these economic issues which may well be related to whether Rice becomes or how good of a commish she would be. However, you are reading and guessing alot about my economic views from this post as the post did not even come close to trying to state my economic views. In general, I do not know whether Rice would be a good commish or not, but the post basically makes a case that she would only likely be a good NFL Commish if she did not apply much of the ideological stance and direction shetook either as an academic or as a Administration appointee. The two hallmarks I take from my far less than complete understanding of her academic writings and approach is that she was a top level scholar about the Soviet Union and in general found its communistic economic approach and also many European socialist approaches to economics lacking. I agree with her completely about the failings of communist economics because IMHO they cannot operate without a totalitarian anti-democratic approach I dislike. But in general I find European socialistic economic approaches inefficient for maxzimizing financial gain, they are fairly consistent with democracy and though their social welfare commitment is economically inefficient it has a lot to say for it in terms of producing a kind and gentle state. As far as her US government role statements, I think her endorsement of capitalistic free markets has increased and intensified which is quite understandable given she is a politico now rather than an academic. Her statements are totally consistent with what our country has chosen electorally twice in giving the Presidency to Senor Jorge Bush. So I have no problem with her doing the work she was hired to do in this case, though I do not think that the economic foreign policy dicta of the current Admin though simple and straighforward do not always fit a very complex world. The line in your post that she does isn't involved in economic policy is naive at best. Foregin policy is all about economic policy big time. You must asee this even if it is convenient for your argument to contend these two are separate items, On the other hand, NFL economics are all about collective and socialistic practices. The team ownerss and the player workers are partners who have joined together to restrain trade of individual athletes. I am not contending thatRice would without a doubt be a bad commish. I am only saying that she would be a commish advocating taking the economics of the NFL in a totally different direction that one that has brought almost 20 years of labor stability and more money to team owners and players than ever before. She likely only would become commish and only be a good one if she abandoned the economic approaches she built her academic work and governmental work around.