MattM

It is pretty funny, isn't it--they're really used to doing the screwing....

Hysterical--now that the Steelers will probably have won two SB's since the Pats*("Oooh, we're a dynasty, don't you know") had their last one four plus years ago now, the Pats* fans think that the Steelers were "lucky" to have missed them this year and in prior years, otherwise the Steelers would not have gotten past them. What a load of crap--the Stillers kicked the Pats*' arses this year towards the end of the regular season and would have done the same yesterday or last week. Talk about a fanbase increasingly starting to live in the past: http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patrio...super-bowl.html

I'm not so sure about that--the Cards looked good last night and, at home, can be downright dominating (as we witnessed firsthand in October)....

Whew, for a minute there I thought you were talking about Rodney (and I nearly lost my lunch).....

The other stats I'd be really interested in seeing with Cassel is how many passes he attempted over 15 yards downfield and how many of "his" yards were from YAC. From what I saw his dinking and dunking made Trent look like Mr. Rocket Arm. The few times I saw him try to air it out, he was 10 yards off his target. No way I'd give more than a 3 for him personally. That said, I have to give him and BB credit, as from the Pats* pre-season he looked absolutely atrocious, so he stepped up his game incredibly during the season.

I believe that the ball also must travel to or past the LOS for it not to be intentional grounding, but I could be wrong. I also don't recall that pass as being anything more than an attempt not to get sacked--no realistic chance of completion.....

Don't forget the intentional grounding by Rivers that wasn't called on that last drive--that ball got nowhere near the LOS. Big difference between 2nd and 10 and 2nd and 18. The announcers started to say "Rivers got away with one there", but kind of stopped mid-sentence, as if they'd been told not to criticize the officiating.....

Now that the game's over and it's clear he was torched repeatedly (that Boldin TD for about a mile was all Milloy, for ex.), can we all agree that not all of our castoffs become all pros elsewhere? Speaking of which, I don't think I heard Coy Wire's name called once tonight and he was a starting LB (I actually like Coy, but he disappeared tonight).

You're forgetting that this also allows us to get one of the draft's best DE's as well, which is this team's top priority. Your plan would relegate that to FA (good luck with El Cheapo spending money on one of the most cash rich positions in football) or a 2nd round pick or later. No thanks--I'll take my chances with drafting a premier DE at 11 and giving up Roscoe or a 3 to move up to get Mack.

I'd be pretty happy if this is what the Bills did. Best part is that it's quite possible and doesn't cost a lot of cash (Crowell and a FA TE (Owen Daniel or LJ Smith come to mind) should come relatively cheap), which is key to Ralph. Would immediately improve our Front 7 on D and our O-line and passing game. Combine that with more experience this year for TE, Marshawn, Simpson, Williams, Leodis, Pos and the much maligned Whitner, among others, and the team might go 8-8 or better with a little luck. Not bad considering our murderer's row schedule next season. I'd love to go 12-4 or something, but let's be realistic here.....

I'd love to see this as well--as you note, if we cut Kelsay's non-performing arse, that should free up $4-5 million in "cash to cap" since his contract wasn't too frontloaded and he gets that much per year. I also don't believe we have any major re-signings (tenders to keep Jackson and maybe Ellison and Preston (although perhaps not after Sunday) unless Ralph feels like keeping Fat Boy Peters happy, so we may be able to afford this (but then little else in FA). Folks also should keep in mind that the Ravens also have a pretty good number of their own coming up in FA (including Ray-Ray and Bart Scott), so can't afford to keep everyone. Do I think that this has a good shot at happening--no, but I don't think it's completely out of the question.

He's referencing a Skooby post in another thread, not stating it himself I suspect.

Unfortunately by then the team will very likely be in Toronto or LA. Does this strike anyone else as being straight out of "Major League"?

Anyone else notice that nowhere in the press release from Wilson does he talk about spending money to get FAs? He's expecting to get better via the draft and better veteran leadership, with this coaching staff that made HS coaches look like Hall of Famers. I watched and rewatched that pre-halftime sequence last night and was just stunned at how amateurish (at best) it looked. Absolutely pathetic. That combo should be good for 4-12 maybe next year. I'm really starting to wonder if Ralph is pulling a "Major League" here.....

But, but.....we're a DYNASTY, WAAAAA!!!!

You watch the League find a way to move this game to 4 o'clock when the winds are expected to die down for their pass happy darlings.....

Bills 27, Pats* 28--the Bills surprise the League and have the game in hand until some new calls never before seen in NFL history come out of the "rulebook" (or Bob Kraft's checkbook, take your pick). More seriously, Pats* 27, Bills 17. This one will be closer than a lot of folks think.....

I was going to say the same thing--if this game is remotely close, look for the hankies to come out in the 4th quarter, like they do every time we play these guys close. The usual something is still rotten in Denmark I'll bet.....

A lot of you conveniently forget a basic fact--that you simply cannot charge in Buffalo more than a fraction of what you can charge in large market cities for tickets, merchandise, etc. Complain about Ralph being cheap all you want, but the fact is that there's no corporate base in Western NY to buy luxury boxes and the average fan here can pay about 30% of what an average fan can afford to pay in a place like NY or Boston. Those are facts, and the result is that Ralph starts with a large disadvantage vis-a-vis many other owners/teams in larger markets. As others have noted, when things like luxury boxes in other cities inflate the cap, welcome to the MLB-ization of the NFL--how'd that work out for baseball? Their ratings have plummeted precipitiously over the last 20 years to the point where they no longer have a real network contract (those of you old enough will certainly remember, for ex, NBC's Saturday national games and ABC's Monday Night Baseball from the '70s) and many folks who used to love to follow that game (like myself) could care less about it now. Unless you're a Yankee or Red Sox fan, you can forget having a consistently good team no matter how hard they try--watch what happens to the Devil Rays over the next couple of years as an example. This Yankee offseason is another example--didn't make the playoffs this past year, so let's buy every major FA out there. I suspect they've at least bought themselves an AL East crown, if not more, but time will tell. And before you all say, "well, people who try to buy championships usually fail", I say you may be right part of the time, but it certainly helps your competitiveness--for ex., who else thinks the Jests would have been a lot closer to another 4-12 without their free agent spending this past offseason than to the 10-6 they may end up?

I saw the same thing--what a shock, a key first down at midfield wiped out by a phantom call on the Pats* opponent. Will wonders never cease. And here I was hoping that perhaps Bob Kraft's Ref Retirement Fund was invested with Bernie Madoff......

Perfect game for me--the two teams I hate most in all of sports? The Cheatahs* and the 'Pokes. Two "birds" , one stone--sweet......

If they don't go DE in the first round this year, they're nuts. That's the only way we'll get a quality end (potentially), as those guys never hit FA.

Read Peter King's column today--he didn't think it should have been overturned, and he's the biggest "NFL Officiating"/Mike Pereira rah, rah guy around......

I said the same thing in another thread yesterday--glad to see I'm not the only one who will no doubt be called a conspiracy theorist by Pats* fans--anyone who watched that replay knows there's no way in heck that that call on the field should have been overturned on that video evidence. It was all just too weird.....

I honestly think that Jauron will be such a "good chap" in that regard (i.e., contract or not, he will exit gracefully if requested and paid a little bit, but not the entire value of the contract).