Dibs

who rates Posey????? Everywhere I look Posey is considered marginal at best. If he is our most over-rated player, it goes to show how under-rated the entire team is.....or how bad the entire team is.

You are a bit rough on LSI. If he comes accross a bit immature for you, that might be because he has only recently turned 17. Give him a break. It won't be too long before he too has been crushed down by the weight of the world & is a serious, grumpy, fed-up Bills fan.

Internationally televised since I remember that one. I was watching with a mate of mine(49ers fan ). I've always viewed that that play symbolized the turn around for the Bills. Before that play we were the perenial superbowl appearing, K-Gun awesome, kick ass Bills. After that play we became the downwardly mobile cellar dwellars that we still are today. AAARRGGGHHH....why bring up the BAD memories????

Oh I get it....you like Reed don't you.

I don't think I made myself clear which is no surprise since I am not 100% sure of it but....here goes. If today we were to tare up NCs contract & offer him a...what's a top contract worth? This won't be right but let's use these figures......say a 7 year $49 mil contract. Normally that might include a say $14 mil signing bonus. With yearly payments of... Y1 2m Y2 3m Y3 4m Y4 5m Y5 6m Y6 7m Y7 8m If he was cut after 4 years, he would have received 28mil(7 mil a year). The cap hit would be....6 mil. If however the same 7 year $49 mil contract was structured as.... (firstly we have about 15mil under the cap now, plus NCs 7mil is 22mil.) No signing bonus. Guaranteed year 1 of 22mil Y2 2m Y3 2m Y4 2m Y5 2m Y6 9m Y7 10m Again, if he was cut after 4 years, he would have received 28mil(7 mil a year). There would be NO cap hit. It also would mean that we would be better off in terms of cap room in.... 2007 by 3mil, 2008 by 4mil, 2009 by 5mil, 2010 by 6mil, 2011 by 0mil, 2012 by 0mil. That was the part I am fairly sure is possible. The part I am unsure of is..... If we were to wait till just before FA next year....just before the new NFL year....& we re-sign NC to the deal I put forward above(even though he has already played all the matches for the year & the season is over) In effect it would be using the left over salary cap room from this year as a signing bonus which does not count towards being a signing bonus. Is doing that legal?

Teach him well & let him lead the way?

Does anyone else find it exceedingly strange that PP would be talking about DB at this time of year.....& just happen to be discussing it on the phone in public.....while on plane awaiting take off? This just seems odd.

This is really a touchy topic because most everyone...optimistic/pessimistic/neutral...believe they are themselves, realistic. Take myself for instance. I believe I look at things in a neutral fashion, assessing the positives & the negatives & coming up with a realistic assessment of how things are & where they are likely to head. The thing is....so does everyone else....pretty much. I put things down to being Dogmatic or Pragmatic. Those that are dogmatic formulate opinion & rigidly stick to it discounting opposing arguments often without logical rebuttal. Those that are pragmatic formulate opinion but are willing to adapt &/or concede to the concept that it may be in part or even totally wrong. A board full of pragmatists might be a far more level & thoughtful place but it certainly wouldn't be as fun. ....also, many might dosagree about the fax because they do not bother to spell check. ...try & find the google toolbar....it has an onscreen spell checker.

If most people believed the same as you do about Tiki, he would be my vote for most over-rated player.

BIG BEN? To be over-rated, you must first be rated very highly. Hands up who thinks BB(at this point in his career) performs at a true probowl type level. O.K. now.... Hands up who thinks BB(at this point in his career) doesn't perform at a true probowl type level. Well there you have it. Most people don't think he is(at this point in his career) a magnificent player...therefore he is not rated highly enough to warrant being the most over-rated player in the NFL. If I had asked for hands up on who people think is going to be a great player...that might have been a different story. JMO mind you.

I don't see anyone predicting a 6-10 season as overly negative at all. To me that is well inside the realms of high possibility. It's the 2-14 predictors that I find odd. The 12-4 guys(are there any?) are just sort of amusing.

Was Warner an elite QB on his day? Was....Gannon? Was....Aikman? McNair? 3 of the above were MVPs & the other has 3 SB rings. There are 2 ways of looking at this, thus perpetual argument. Elite means(is interpreted as meaning)... 1. Performs at a level that all acknowledge is very impressive. or 2. Can perform at that level wherever he plays & under detrimental circumstances. To say a QB does not fit into meaning #2 is not saying he is no good. Obviously to fit into #1 you have to be very good...just not as good. It is easy to watch a top talent in a great situation performing awesomely & say "WOW, he is an elite player". It is harder to tell if the player actually is. IMO of the 4 QBs I've listed above only one fits into the #2 category. I'm not saying who I think it is. Is Culpepper? Under meaning #1, of course he is. He has produced at a top level over several years doing extraordinary things. Under meaning #2? I'm not sure & I'm not sure if we will ever know. If he cannot regain his full mobility he will obviously never be as good as he was...his mobility & physicality were integral IMO to his success. To say it was all to do with having Moss to throw to is in my opinion over-stating his abilities(Moss) & also a bit simplistic. In 2004 Moss missed 3 entire games. Culpeppers combined stats in those games were... 95-65-765-7-1 QBR=112.8 Is Culpepper meaning #2 elite? Well, he was good from the get go & until last year had maintained his performances pretty much under all circumstances. I tend to lean towards yes....though perhaps we will never know.

Are peoples prediction of Preston at RG due to purely the belief that CV is on the way out or has there been some promising news about DP to imply he could be starting? Or is it just wishful thinking? Not knocking here....just wondering where people are coming from.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but....we should be able to 'front load' a contract after the season finishes....all the way up to the new NFL year.(I think the Rams did it this year with Glover(?)). It has an additional effect of spreading any signing bonus you do pay over an additional year as well. It would work like this.... Just before the new NFL year(next year), we offer every cent left under the cap to NC(or any other up&comer....Peters(?)) for a renewed contract for the 2006+ season. It would work as a 'fake' signing bonus. The player would then be locked up long term, get the money he demands & leave the Bills with very reasonable cap figures into the future. It also means if the player turns to ****(injury) & is cut in 2 years, there will be very little cap hit since it was paid as salary not cap in the first place. Please somebody correct me if this is not how it works.

I have a feeling the reason why we did not sign him up long term already was because Marv & Co. were not going to lock up BIG dollars long-term on a guy who had just had a very bad(for him) year. I tend to think that if NC was coming off back to back pro bowl type years we would have him locked up for top dollar. Hopefully he will play his a$$ off this year. If he does, he tests the FA market, we Transition tag him(assuming they have fixed it) & we retain him for what he is worth....big bucks hopefully. If he is worth keeping...i.e. he has a pro bowl type season...& he is let go, we will probably get a 3rd round compensation pick because of the loss. Not good...but better than nothing.

Arn't we expecting a little too much from a #2 WR at this point? Surely people will be thrilled if Price puts up a 55-60 catch 750-900 YDS season. I know I will be if he does....that would imply Evans would be doing even better & our QB(whoever it turns out to be) is getting the ball to the WRs.

Now THAT was funny.

I agree with this draft technique(though I'd grab a QB every 2nd year to allow time for development). Even doing this though, you still have to make picks who are going to become legit starters/stars. Also, there is an entire teamful of positions you must be mindful of as well. Perhaps grabbing a FA OL who was a first day draft pick every now & then would be a good substitute for picking one yourself. Especially a young FA OL who has shown competence as a starter & has potential for improvement. Someone like Melvin Fowler perhaps.

Absolutely nobody. The only talent left that I could see fits into 2 main categories.....RFAs(of which there is pretty much nobody)....& 'Old Farts'(& there is not many left of these either). Like it or not, unless teams start trimming starter calibre guys off their rosters, we are playing with what we've got now.

WOW....69.7% accuracy!!!! He's Fantastic!!!

2002 G GS ATT COM % YDS YPA TD INT QBR Bledsoe Bills 16 16 610 375 61.5 4359 7.15 24 15 86.0 Pennington Jets 15 12 399 275 68.9 3120 7.82 22 6 104.2 Maddox Steelers 15 11 377 234 62.1 2836 7.52 20 16 85.2 McNair Titans 16 16 492 301 61.2 3387 6.88 22 15 84.0 Couch?...you can't be serious. Pennington & Maddox did not start the 1st 4 & 3 games respectively. This means that at vote time for the pro-bowl they had probably played only 7 & 8 games. I think there is an arguement that their seasons were more worthy than DBs but his stats at the time of voting would have looked awesome....it would not have included the last 5 games. Like many at the time I viewed McNair as a lesser talent & in hindsight I feel he should have made the PB that season. Personally I feel that Bledsoes awesome 1st half blinded many at the time(myself included).

Good post, thanks....though my heart skipped a beat at the 'parroted' word. DJ obviously did a great job that year. Though Coach of the Year should have gone to Belichick that year. It was a good arguement for the awards to be figured after the playoffs. From what I understand, that whole GM vs HC thing was what finally cost DJ at Chicago. Here's to hoping he can produce somthing in the same ballpark as 2001.

Marv had final say on all personnel matters. If he had not given the O.K. on...geez...every personnel acquisition, they would not have gone ahead. This is not to say he did all the work involved in finding them, or even any of the work, he just made the final 'yes' or 'no' to the trade or draft pick based on the information given. This makes me really wonder whether he(Marv) or his head coach(DJ) have the final say at the moment on personnel decisions. I assume it is DJ since when Marv was a HC he insisted on it but....does anybody know? Please excuse that I sound like I know him personally....I'm simply responding by what I have recently read in the book. Edit:- Against bringing Bennett??? What you said only just sunk in. According to Marv(in the book) He was salivating(my words) over Bennet but since we only had the #8 pick & Bennett was going at #2 we picked Shane Conlan instead. When Bennett would not sign with Indi, Polian orchestrated the famous 3 way trade. Marv (happily) gave the go ahead to give up 2 1st round picks plus players to get him. There is no way he did not want Bennett on his squad.