Rubes

Thanks everybody. It does seem more and more like the right thing to do, but still a difficult thing to accept. The toughest part will be the emptiness felt in the house afterward. She's been there every morning and evening for 15 years. That's a big hole she'll be leaving behind.

Our 15-year old schnauzer mutt Ginger has bladder cancer, and it's now bad enough that it's making it hard for her to urinate. She spends a good chunk of the day and night straining to urinate, and although she hasn't seemed uncomfortable by it, things seem to have worsened the past couple of days. So the wife and I think it's time. The hardest part is admitting that the time has come, especially for a dog that otherwise still seems playful and lively. The past couple of days have really seemed more difficult for her, though, and her days and nights are now preoccupied with the effort of peeing, so yeah, it does seem like the time is upon us. We got her when she was 6 months old and she's been a great dog all these years. I knew it would be tough, but you can never really prepare.

Wow. The guy definitely has talent to be a big-time WR. Man I hope he can keep his head on straight.

Looks like it's already blocked.

Hmm, good question. My initial reaction is that it was Damphair. I think Asha arrived later to take him back to the castle. I'd have to go back and look... I wonder when the other Ironborn characters will be introduced to the TV show? My guess would be the start of next season.

It's a touching tribute, and really heartwarming to know that a person really can have such a large impact on others even through the relative anonymity of the internet. It would have been nice to have met him.

It's so tempting to think what the offensive line would be like if all three of those picks pan out...but then reality slaps me in the face

AdamSchefter Bears reached agreement with 3rd-rd pick Will Sutton; Chicago exec Cliff Stein is first one this year to have his full draft class signed. 5/15/14, 7:39 AM Wow, that's impressive. Has anyone else even started yet?

I'm not really sure why, but this totally made me LOL.

Let's not let hindsight get too much in the way. Remember, at the time of the trade, the Bills were 3-3 (in a strike year, FWIW) after finishing the previous year 4-12. At best, you're talking about a mediocre team, which, in the end, they turned out to be with a final record of 7-8. Yes, there was a lot of talent on that team. But at the time, many of them hadn't hit their stride yet. Harmon turned out to be decent, but unreliable. Burkett never panned out. Metzelaars, at the time, had only had one decent season as a starter. Bruce was only in his third season, and was just beginning to tap his potential. Radecic, Burroughs, Drane...those guys were talented, but average starters. They had definitely assembled a team that seemed poised to make a move, but they hadn't made that move yet. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who, at the time of the trade, believed the Bills were one impact defensive playmaker from hitting the big time. The jury was still out on many of their draft picks and new acquisitions. The one thing you could definitely say is that they were set at QB, which is a big thing, but this was by no means a team that most people thought was one player away.

I don't think it's particularly fair to lump my critique in with the knee-jerk "run down anyone who doesn't high five the Bills draft" reaction, either. I have absolute respect for Polian and his body of work, and I'm definitely not one of those that believes the game has passed him by, by any means. I also don't buy the argument that you can't compare personnel decisions from the late 80s with today. Teams were constructed differently, sure. But like you say, back then the draft was the #1 way of acquiring players and filling out a team, other than trades. So in that situation, draft picks -- especially high draft picks -- were extremely valuable. Nowadays, if you don't have a #1 pick, you can always try your luck acquiring a great player via free agency. But to me, this just shows that trading away your #1 and #2 picks the following year, plus your #1 the year after that, was a huge gamble, moreso than the Watkins trade. And yes, he did have a franchise QB. But let's not forget that, in early 1987, Bruce still had not fully lived up to his billing as a #1 overall pick. And as mentioned, this was a team that had gone 4-12 the year before. There was a lot of young talent on that team, but much of it was still unproven at that time. This was still a team very much in rebuilding mode, not a team that most believed was one impact LB away from the big dance.

I don't buy his argument about Bennett. If you think about it, the trade occurred in 1987, right after the players' strike ended. The year before (1986), the Bills went 4-12. At the time of the trade, the Bills were 3-3. There was definitely a sense that the Bills were on the rise, but it's not like they were a player away or anything. They still had a lot of team needs, and Polian still mortgaged the future -- remember, that was a player in exchange for the following year's #1 and #2, and the year after that's #1. That's huge, much larger than this one. For a team that just came off a 4-12 campaign.

How awesome is that? SI_PeterKing How great is this? @sammywatkins visiting Jim Kelly between cancer treatments today: http://t.co/4Ss3Vb7pDJ 5/12/14, 7:19 PM sammywatkins Pray for uncle Jim great guy it's crazy how strong he is and how he continues to smile and make jokes… http://t.co/FWCqI5ZtgJ 5/12/14, 7:15 PM

Another stadium site is proposed: Linky I'm trying to figure out exactly where this is. Is he talking about just west of Lackawanna? Or am I completely off base? If so, I have a hard time figuring out how traffic would get in and out of there.

Yes, but some obviously have a lot more talent and potential than others. For instance, Watkins has a lot more talent and potential than, say, TJ Graham. The point I was making is that we drafted guys with a lot of talent and potential, but who come with a lot of risk because of other issues. The 7th round OL guy is a good example of that.

The first I saw of it was on Twitter by Tim Graham. ByTimGraham Howard Milstein tells The Buffalo News he will not bid on the Buffalo Bills or participate in any attempt to purchase the team. 5/12/14, 10:07 AM

All around, I'd say it was "risky". A bunch of guys that have a lot of talent and potential, but also a reasonably good chance of flaming out. If Watkins turns out to be elite, and they hit on a couple others (especially on the OL), then it will have been a very good draft. Big "ifs", though.

I went back and looked at it again as well. I still think it's debatable, in that Stevie was not "pulled down," but rather had his arm hooked, and in my opinion the contact wasn't tremendous. The ball might also have been deemed uncatchable. Mind you, I think it was a good call, but I do think it's debatable. I've seen much worse not called, and much less called. A different ref could have called it very differently. The point here is not that Stevie was not interfered with, but rather there is no clear standard for the call, and different refs call things differently. That's where the debate is.

Well, you know, if a certain referee doesn't call a very debatable pass interference penalty on Luke Kuechly, there goes one of the wins.

Hi.

Welp...not Niklas.

Interesting. So, it's the fall of 1987. The Bills finished the previous season at 4-12 -- not quite last place, given the pathetic Colts at 3-13, but damn near close. Now they have an up-and-coming GM, a coach in his second year, a #1 overall pick from two seasons prior (though still not playing up to the level of the #1 overall pick), and they just returned from the player's strike, beating Miami on the road for the first time in like...forever. They have a new gunslinger QB and a team that is showing some life and excitement, but they still have a looong way to go. So the GM goes and pulls off the "trade of the decade", giving up their #1 pick the following season, and their #1 and #2 the season after that, along with an established RB, for one potential major impact player -- arguably, the second-best rated player in the draft, behind only the legendary Vinny Testaverde. Knowing how Cornelius Bennett turned out -- and he's not a Hall of Famer, for what it's worth -- do people think it was worth such a huge mortgage of the future? Remember, this was not a team that was one player away from the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl. This was a team that could barely get out of it's own way the year before. It was a huge price to pay. Huge. For one player. Yes, he seemed like a sure thing, but you never know. No #1 pick the following year, no #1 or #2 the year after that. Would you have done it? Did it prevent the team from making the playoffs? Or getting to the Super Bowl? Yes, yes, we all know -- we had our franchise QB. But there was no guarantee at the time that Kelly was going to continue to develop into a hall-of-fame QB, or that he wouldn't suffer a major injury, putting the team in a terrible position with no top draft picks for three years. Funny, I don't recall anyone bitching about that trade at all, or the high price, just excitement about the impact player they just got.

Todd McShay liked it. Is he an expert? http://youtu.be/Fxo1BK9mFUg

I believe the quote was, "He is a beast in the open field after the catch; one of the best I’ve seen in 36 years of doing this." Nevertheless, point taken. I'm glad we have him.

Cue jokes about which class you missed that day...