Rubes

How could he forget James Harris? After he was released by the Bills, he led the Rams into the playoffs.

Exactly. And I've read more than once about how Royal is possibly the best blocking TE in the league. Aside from the colossal blunder he made in the Tennessee game, I'm fairly sold on his receiving skills, too.

We can only dream....

Not to jump too much on the Royal bandwagon, but I think we started to see how much potential Royal has as a receiving TE (we already know he's a great blocker) once the offensive system opened up a bit the second half of the season and allowed him to actually run pass patterns. I'm not worried at all about our TE situation, except perhaps what might happen if Royal goes down.

This topic is like the gift that keeps on giving.

The biggest help for JP right now would be a couple of guards who can actually play at a high level.

I would like to see the Colts win for many reasons, but I'm finding it difficult to believe that it will happen. That said, if the Colts can prevent Hester from burning them during this game, it will be close.

I will never forgive meathead for this colossal blunder.

You're right, that's very interesting. Next offseason we won't have many difficult decisions to make. 2008 will be a tough year, though.

After blowing who knows how much just for the right to sit in crappy seats to watch 52-17, I think I'll stick to the TV.

Lucky? Wasn't that his defense?

I think I need something cleared up once and for all... McCargo and Triplett play the same position (DT), while Williams and Anderson play the other spot (NT). They're not interchangeable, right?

On a side note, it was nice to hear the radio sports talking heads finally ripping a different owner for being old and senile.

"Oh God I shouldn't have eaten that triple bean taco last night."

Although it was alluded to earlier, keep in mind that, at least in the past, most of the money in these huge contracts is back-loaded. That means when a player signed a gigantic contract, most of the money was put into salary in the later years of the contract. Since NFL contracts aren't guaranteed, the chances of the player actually seeing that money is slim. The team can either re-work the contract (pushing the money even further into the future), renegotiate the contract anew, or just cut the player and not worry about it. Particularly because of the higher cap, players (or more specifically, their agents) are now trying to seek more guaranteed money (ie, bonus money). I'm not smart enough to really figure out the ramifications of that, though.

...can we finally dispense with all the talk about the NFL being fixed?

Cripes, man, have you already forgotten the 1970s? Isn't that why we hate the f'ing Dolphins so much?

True, but I'd be willing to bet that Fairchild and Schonert had more to do with it than Alex.

What do concussions have to do with sex?

Sorry to hear that, 'cause Willis ain't worth anything more than a 3rd rounder...maybe. I still think a 4th at best.

One thing that's killed me about Losman this year is...as soon as he throws a bad pick, everybody starts in with the "he locks onto receivers" garbage. You know what? He does it once in a while. And guess what? Nearly every other quarterback does it, too. I've watched all of them do it this year. Brady, Manning, Favre, and whoever the hell else you want to name. Losman threw a few bad picks this year, but in all he didn't throw very many. I've seen some horrible throws from the best QBs as they stared down their receivers, too.

I'm actually surprised how few people are picking the Bears this weekend. Not that I think the Saints can't win, but man, just about everybody thinks the Bears will tank it.

Oh really? Please tell me how Willis has proven as much as Henry. The unrealistic expectations of this board are nuts. Of course, that just leads to angst about how bad Marv is when he doesn't get what everybody else thinks is Willis's true value.

Except that excuses don't do a whole lot for raising your perceived value. We all think we can get great value out of our players, but we're not GMs and the game doesn't work that way. Few teams would give up a first day pick for a guy who has so far proven to be an average RB, with one year left on his contract, and who is publically looking for the big bucks. If a team is willing to part with a 2nd round pick for Willis, why not just use that pick on a RB? If I'm another GM, I'd be saying to myself, "Self, I can probably get just as much production out of my 2nd round pick with a rookie RB than I would with Willis...plus, he'd be a hell of a lot cheaper, I can pick someone without the attitude, and I wouldn't have to deal with that bastard Rosenhaus." Maybe, MAYBE a third rounder. But probably not. An early second day pick is all Willis is worth right now.

As I mentioned in another thread, why would any team give up that much for a player who hasn't proven anything (positive) yet? Look at all that someone like Travis Henry did, and what did we get for him? Everyone thinks that RBs are easy to replace via FA or the draft, and it's probably true. I would consider us lucky to get a 4th for him.