MattM

Sorry, but I'd rather take the word of two NY college professors (one from Columbia and the other who has a Harvard degree) who said in the NYT that it was likely done via tampering with the balls over some NE* fanboy experiment

Oh, for sure on that, but the spin lately from him is all one way, rather than a hit maximizing two ways. He was all over the Pats* on this initially, but 2-3 weeks ago took a hard turn in the other directions in a very noticeable way

I'm not sure the first part is fair--they ALL look like men among boys in college, that's why they're top QBs. That said, I thought Jameis regressed last year. His Heisman year he looked like he might in fact be in the Manning/Luck class. Last year, not so much.

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Florio seems to have turned into a Pats*/Kraft mouthpiece the last few weeks? Every time something damaging about the Pats* comes out in the regular press, suddenly Florio has some other leaked pro-Pats* spin tidbit. He also is keen on trying to infuse all of this with the high level of proof that comes from a criminal case, which is totally ridiculous considering what we're talking about. Personally, if League officials measured both sets of balls pre-game and then again at halftime and found one set had lost 2 pounds or so of pressure as a general matter, while the others didn't, that's really all we need to know to be convinced there was tampering. All this sideshow about a post game chain of custody and the guy later selling the balls is just garbage. I also noticed a commenter there in the latest cycle of garbage articles yesterday claiming to be a long time "associate" of the Jets who claimed inside knowledge of the NFL's investigation saying that Pats* fans/defenders wouldn't like the direction the investigation is now going in and that there were a number of currently non-public things that will come out in the report that those folks won't like. Who knows if the guy is for real, but it was an interesting comment. Might also explain all the pre-release obfuscation and spin.

I thought I'd read previously that Cutler's contract is such an albatross that he actually has negative trade value, i.e., the Bears would trade Cutler and their 3rd for another team's 4th (and only because the NFL demands some compensation go back to the team trading the player). I'm not a Cutler fan, but in such a case, it might convince even someone like me (depending on the other compensation) to give him a try....

That about cinches Pitt as the Pats* opponent first week of the season.

Tokyo, Japan. There for a (great) year for work. Listened to the first part of the game on Armed Forces radio (tape delay) and stomped out of my tiny apt sure the Bills lost. Only saw in the next day's Japan Times that we came back and won. My dad taped the game for me and I watched it 10 months later when I got home.

Prediction--they'll either release the report immediately after another major event that will soak up the news cycle's attention or late on a Friday in order to bury it. It will be March sometime at the earliest. Rog already has the broom out to help sweep this under the rug...,

You mean like last time?

From a sociological standpoint, it's interesting how many of them inherited their team's or the wealth they used to buy the team. Pegula's one of the few truly self-made folks on that list. Part of that's the nature of the NFL--the League's getting up there in age and teams often stay in the family--but that doesn't explain all of it, as even some relatively new owners like Stan (Walmart marrying) Kroenke, Woody (J&J) Johnson, and Bob (married the boss's daughter) Kraft show....

To me, it's their whole body of work/favoritism that kind of tells the story--from the cheating we know about (Spygate, letting IRed players practice, aging vets on HGH, etc.) to that which is suspected (headsets going out at Gillette, extra frequency on their headsets discovered in the Spygate investigation, suspicions that their locker room is bugged, "it was one team, really, brought before us over and over again" as per an NFL Competition Committee member, etc.) to the favoritism from the League office (favorable scheduling (as in rarely playing teams coming off a bye and getting either division games or quality opponents off their own bye), favorable treatment of their players (like Vince Wilfork not being suspended despite having 4 separate finable offenses in one season or Alphonso Dennard not getting any time off despite serving time in jail last year), etc.) It's really quite a body of work. All the while they act shocked (absolutely shocked!) when someone points out their less than honorable ways. That's what gets me about these guys.

I hate the Pats*, but I agree with this.

They're scumbags, so why are you surprised?

Congrats to the Cheats*--great game

Wow--just wow

Congrats to the Cheats* l🆗--Seattle shocked big time

Perhaps all this Revis talk is just that, to perhaps drive up his price for whoever ultimately pays it, be it the Pat* or the Jets? Personally, I'd consider him if he comes at a reasonable price, but that's very unlikely, so I'd hope we spend our FA money elsewhere where we have real needs--like at G, TE or QB (if Bradford becomes available). I figure we can get a new RB to replace CJ in the draft if we can fill the other holes.

My apologies to the Pegulas--my wife reminded me that I may be thinking of the price I paid two years ago (when there were Toronto games). I think my increase this year was more on the order of 10%.

I couldn't tell for sure (as I forgot precisely how much I paid last year), but if my memory is correct, my seats in section 113 went up about 20 to 25% from last year. I recall paying 1500 or 1600 for the pair and it's now 2000 for the pair. There's the answer to my question above I guess!

Head--Pats* 31, Hawks 17 Heart--Hawks 56, Pats* 0

To me the measurement part is the key part here--that will be the key determinant. One being well under is a lot different than what was reported earlier of 11 of 12 being 2 psi under. I'll withhold judgement until we see the report, however, particularly considering that Rappaport was such a pro-Pats* homer when he covered the Pats* for ESPN.

Not sure that you were paying attention, but the Spygate taping was done over many years, including their SB years--as you may recall, there was even taping of the Eagles during the same year they played them in the SB

Resign Hughes and Searcy and through some combo of FA and the draft, get us a QB, at least one G, a TE and a RB (assuming Spiller leaves) and we have a really good team. To state the obvious, QB will be the hardest spot to fill. We're going to need a little luck there.

Where are the 2004 AFCCG when the Pats* defenders had free reign to absolutely mug any receiver wearing Colts white, or the "inadvertent whistle" that stopped a Nate Clements pick 6 of Tommy Boy that would probably have sealed a Bilks victory against the Cheats* in 2006 or so? So many to choose from.....

I don't believe they've set the pricing yet for 2015. Once they do, we should get a notification on reordering. Will be interesting to see what the Pegulas do on pricing. In terms of changing seats, they have a process for that--you basically are given a day and time to call (based on seniority) to upgrade. To give you a rough idea of options, I started about ten or 12 years ago in the upper deck (I don't live in the area any more, but get them for my dad) and each year have upgraded slowly--closer to the middle of the field, then lower in the upper deck, then down to the lower seats then closer to the middle of the field. His seats now are on the visitors' side on about the 30 about 16 rows up. We had them lower, but he didn't like having to stand half the game, as folks in the first ten rows or so tend to do. I suspect that there are about 15k-20k of hardcore fans who've had their seats longer than we have and will keep them, so I don't anticipate too much more movement in the near term. Hope this helps.