MattM

To follow up my last thought, TO gets roasted League-wide for being a "me first" punk, but I'll bet you dollars to donuts that when he leaves Buffalo, he will have something nice to say about the team and its fans......

You MUST be joking--that guy is the farthest thing from classy. Anyone else remember when he signed with New England*? No "thanks to the Dolphins and their fans for taking a chance on me and supporting me, but it's time to move on"--nope, none of that. Right away he started bad mouthing his old team and sucking up to his new one with quotes like "Boy, is this great--I, and all players, always wanted to play for such a great organization. Everyone else sucks in comparison" or some such (and it wasn't really far off of that actually, if I remember correctly). As others have said, I never root for injuries, but that guy is a punk.....

MLB, here we come. Who else likes the sound of the "Buffalo Expos"?

It may be harder in the NFL, but the simple fact that it's happened in the Donaghy case and twice in Europe in major soccer leagues in recent times (the current dustup is small potatoes compared to the Italian soccer league scandal two years ago in which a large number of refs was apparently involved) means it can happen in the NFL, and money is money, it doesn't have to be gamblers calling the shots. Many, many folks have a large economic stake in the NFL and a particular team or outcome. To get to the top in a manner to allow yourself to buy an NFL team you might have to be pretty ruthless, no? Do you think guys like that always stop where the rules tell them to?

See my comments above re: Donaghy, who said the same thing about the NBA. He's obviously got some credibility issues, but he may be right about that part at least. I've watched lots of Pats* games over the years and they get WAY more than their share of calls and players in the League seem to know it (witness Bart Scott and Ray Lewis's outbursts). If only you could get the media, most of whom work for outlets either with direct economic ties to the League via content deals or who need NFL access to do their jobs successfully, to look at this, even as a "it may not be true, but a lot of people seem to believe this", but I've long ago given up on even that......

I thought the PI calls were legit for the most part, but am still shaking my head at the obvious hold on Schobel that didn't get called and am also a bit incredulous on the false start on the TD that was called well after the play was run and over, unlike 99% of false starts which prevent a play from even being run. It just seems that all the flags are little bit "late" whenever we play these guys--ie., let's see if we need to throw a flag to stop a good play here.....

I loved the obvious hold on Schobel on a big pass play to Moss that went uncalled. One of the announcers started to mention it and then just trailed off for some odd reason (to discuss McGee's injury perhaps). It just sounded odd--almost like a producer was whispering into his ear "don't go there." As I noted yesterday in a post, Tim Donaghy on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago said that in the NBA it was common knowledge who the League wanted to win--large market teams--and the refs called games accordingly. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if there's something fishy going on with refs in the NFL, particularly with respect to certain teams like the Pats*. I've just seen way too much over the years watching their games that just did not compute....

In the words of my younger brethren, "Word up". I laughed, too, when I read the "I've been following this team for a decade part".......

Unless they step up their play considerably, they'll be one and done (and may even get really embarrassed by Indy or SD if they do win that first playoff game)......

That's what he said--common knowledge was what he said actually. All the refs knew it and called games accordingly. He's got some credibility issues, of course, but he may be right. (On the credibility issues, they actually reported on several games where he called key fouls/ejections against his own bets, causing him to lose those bets, so the guy may actually not be so in-credible as some may make him out to be, but who knows.) What does allowing a team to exist in a small market mean to this argument? Absolutely nothing when you have all the big market's covered (by definition, there are only so many of them). After all, your Globetrotters need the Generals to beat repeatedly, don't they? Look who's won the last few NBA titles and Donaghy doesn't look so stupid actually--particularly considering which teams seem to have vouchsafes into the playoffs (kind of like baseball, but there's an economic answer there since they don't have a salary cap). Good luck rooting for your real favorite team in the post-season--I predict one and done for the Cheats* this year myself as they aren't anywhere near as good as in past years, but we'll see......

Exactly. The same on the TD that was called back due to a false start. Come on, if it's a false start, blow the whistle and the play never gets off--don't wait to see how the Bills do and then throw the flag. A lot of these flags are late and after a good Bills play today, which always makes one wonder. Anyone else catch the Tim Donaghy interview on 60 minutes a few weeks ago? He basically said that the NBA favored certain teams (large market--his words, not mine) and wanted them in the playoffs and the refs all knew that. Golly gee, anyone else think that the NFL might think the same way? Every time we play the Cheats* my only request is that the refs don't cost us the game. That's the only team I feel that way about.....

I didn't watch the whole game, but when I did I was watching JP. He looked very good generally, but there was one play when his man (Umenyiora, I believe) beat him and hit McNabb, forcing a bad throw. Other than that, JP looked pretty solid, IMHO.....

Plus 1--would serve those arsehats* and their arsehat fans right.....

Oh, no, they extended him to a good long deal for something like $40 million, with about half guaranteed, IIRC. Anyone have the exact numbers? He flat out sucks. I called that one last offseason--I don't always get them right, but I did this one. He was a product of the NE Cheatriot* system and when not surrounded by their talent (and extracurricular "aids") he's no better than a journeyman backup. The guy seriously can't hit anything over 15 yards......

Plus 1 for the best wishes for Lori and her family.....

I agree with you that we're not getting Tony Dungy here. I disagree with you on the quality of Dungy as a coach. The standard you're holding him to seems to be whether his good to great teams won the SB every year he was coach, a near impossible standard to meet in a parity-driven League, yet you give him next to no credit for building or leading those teams and helping make them good to great. He's helped build winners twice as HC (and as noted, one franchise at least has suffered greatly in his absence as time went on, suggesting anecdotally at least that he had something to do with their success). Hasn't failed yet at making teams he's joined better. Too bad he won't get a shot here. On Russ Grimm, if that's the best we can do I'd take him--better than the clowns we have now.....

How'd Jon Boy do AFTER that SB win with the Bucs (with Dungy's team)? 7-9 and then 5-11 if I recall correctly, before having one more good year and several bad to mediocre ones......

Don't look now, but your Cheatriot*-colored glasses are showing again. Have fun crying yourself to sleep the rest of the year, as the Patsies* circle the toilet bowl of the playoffless before plopping in for a second year in a row. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I know we have.... For the life of me, I will never figure out the irrational hatred that Pats* fans have for Tony Dungy, who the rest of the "normal" world views as an honest, decent, hardworking, intelligent, upstanding guy who can coach. The Hatorade that Pats* fans show him is just bizarre.

They've been accuse of a lot worse than Spygate http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/sports/f...ttee&st=cse Personally, I think where there's that much smoke, there's fire, and agree with the poster above that they may have been read the riot act by Goodell about all of it. Think about it--you're cheating on a number of levels, then you get caught on only one of them and all holy hell breaks loose. You have a choice--keep doing it and risk being caught again, with the likelihood being much stiffer sanctions (personally, I think a lifetime ban for Belicheat and others would be appropriate if they get caught doing something major again) or do you risk it all by continuing to cheat and risk losing when you're playing on a level field? I suspect that Pats* have faced this dilemma the last couple of years.....

My big question is "where was Lynch the rest of the game after several great plays in a row in the TD drive"? Unbelievable that they didn't use him more after that. I thought he might have been hurt, but then I saw him in there again at the end of the game. I'll say it again, unbillievable......

Early '70s, last year at the Rockpile--Bills lost 17-0 to the Baltimore Colts, who were led by Johnny Unitas. Our seats were at the very top of the stadium. I carried a small sign that read "All the way with OJ". Good times, man, good times.....

Almost nothing is as sweet, as a beatdown of the Cheats*

Too bad we need a QB and LT with our first round pick, since it would be nice to get a shot at Suh with our Top 10/5 pick.....

Sorry--I'm listening and not watching. I know the O is not exactly burning up the running game, but is he really that bad?

Just curious--he might be nice depth next year if they were able to sign him for more than just this season.....