OCinBuffalo

All this is nice and may be true - but has nothing to do with my post. It is completely irrelevant. If you are doing something poorly(Tom Donahoe) and you are getting bad results(no playoffs), you should be criticized - no doubt about it. But according to you: if you change what your doing(Marv Levy), and you get better results(last years draft and improved record, offense coming together), you should STILL BE criticized. WTF? The real BOTTOM line is this: we have been told for years that the MODEL the Patriots use is SUPERIOR and that's why they win. Now we are being told that, because it's the Patriots, that model is no longer good. Let me ask you this: if Bill Belechick punched one of his players in the face tomorrow would you be telling us that is ok too, since " 2001 they have 3 SB's, 4 AFC championship games, 5 years in the playoffs and the most wins in the NFL during that time"? Of course not and why? Because the truth is the Patriots are as likely as anyone to make a mistake. IF you think another 30 year old LB is gonna help a LB corp whose average age is 29.5(that includes the scrubs) get YOUNGER - well that's just hysterical to me. In fact, if he replaced Bant-Cain, the starting LB average age will be 31.75. Yeah what a youth movement - silly and stupid is no way to go through life.

If only i could take it in the outbound lanes of the Ben Franklin Bridge.

Dallas is no joke either. I've got Kansas on this year's schedule as well - many, many stories = looking forward to that one.

There are literally 1000's of articles that back this up. But I will relate one simple story in one sentence: Marv was not convinced we needed to bet the farm on Cornelius Bennett and Polian had to convince him it was a good deal. Polian is on record as saying that he had to convince Marv to move forward with that deal. Why? Because they all worked as a team. Hell, I was in just barely in college in 1990 and this was all you heard about at the time - to the point that my non-Bills fan buddies would sing "kumbayah" whenever they would run the story about the Bills organization "getting along" and working together, because they were tired of hearing it. That enough? Or do we need to haul out the files for you?

Yep and of all of the things that may be(I don't want to get in trouble) legit gripes coming from Miami->weather, taxes, he picks restaurants? Jesus, if making sure he ran for 1500+ a season = making sure he enjoyed the restaurants I am certain those folks in Buffalo were equal to the task. I mean this is a ridiculous argument. IMO, what this really is about is the fact that Buffalo, and Upstate in general, is generally not a kiss-ass culture. Last season I was hanging out with my brother at that little bar on the corner(I always forget the name) after the J-ville game, I turn around, and Lee Evans is standing next to me . I told him he did a great job blocking in that game and he got all excited and said: "yeah, you know nobody ever tells me that and I work so hard on it". I didn't kiss his ass cause that's just not me - my brother played WR so he started asking him about routes, etc., and Lee seemed to enjoy sharing what he saw, and what he goofed on. I had a similar conversation with Jim Kelly outside smoking a cig and we talked as if it was simply no big deal, just talking football. I doubt that conversation could ever happen with McGahee because he would be offended that I wasn't effusively kissing his ass. I think he missed the whole point, that Kelly, Thurman, Bruce got, which is that the cool part about playing in Buffalo is that you don't get hang around with 1000's of dilettantes whom you can't respect, you get to hang around with 1000's of friends who will act like friends even when times are tough.

Yep. The thing is: last year Marv didn't do much to help either line(he did sign two FA o lineman and draft 3, and he did sign one good DT and draft one). I think there were many reasons for this but the two main ones were: 1. You simply can't make wholesale sweeping changes, no matter how right they would be, your first year on the job. He needed to see who we have and what they were able to do. 2. We had to draft starting/soon to start guys in Marv Draft #1 because the team was in trouble with the guys we had, and we didn't want to take the time to draft and develop lineman, especially o line, unless we set 2-14 as an ok benchmark. In Marv Draft II, they have a lot more flexibility, but at least we aren't staring at every position on the team being a potential hole - like last year.

I gotta say that while I don't know of any Striped Bass/Le Bec Fin type quality restaurants in Buffalo(not that Willis would know them either) I am sure that there has to be some good ones. My parents are from the Falls and my brother/sister/cousins didn't start going out to the restaurants and bars when we go "home" on holidays in Buffalo until relatively recently. I've also been in Buffalo some lately for work. I have to say that I continue to be amazed by the number and quality of flat out pieces of ass(no other way to put it) that I saw. It easily rivals where I am at now - which is supposedly well known for its women. I mean, I don't have a horse in this race, but I am not seeing what he is saying. Did anyone check to make sure Willis knew the way to Chippewa? I guess if he had a hard time with the playbook as a running back(um... 6 choices: run straight, run left, run right, block, got out for outlet pass, stand there/do nothing), is it possible he messed up the directions? Seriously, I haven't seen Applebee's in that area. Did he simply not know where to go? The chains seem to be a suburbs thing mostly - is he pissed because there ain't a lot of hot women in Tonawanda(randomly picked suburb that happens to be on the 190)?

Yes, Fu#k New Jersey. It is right to say such things. Say it proudly with me: Go back across the bridge, You Jersey Douchebag! Get out of my parking spot, You Jersey Douchebag! There is no right on red in this city and you almost killed me, You Jersey Douchebag! You live in one giant suburb of two cities; which are the only reason you exist(except for AC of course), You Jersey Douchebag! But most of all: Fu#k New Jersey, You Jersey Douchebag!

So it's safe to say that the endless "why we need Patrick Willis" and/or the Running Back Carousel posts are getting you down as well, huh? Again, the draft cannot get here fast enough for this board.

I was gonna start this thread but you beat me to it. I read somewhere that Holcomb "will probably fit best in the Eagles Horizontal Passing Game" while that is true, I will take our VERTICAL passing game any day of the week. The best news is now we don't have dead cap money from releasing him - which we were going to do anyway. The worst news is....um, wait, well, there really isn't any. But, in an effort to say something nice, No One Circled the Checkdowns like Kelly Holcomb.

I'm starting to agree with this thinking - for today at least.

Sent in my welcome - mentioned that he needs to ask a teammate about the Canadian Ballet and that he can expect football-smart, drunken idiots who will actually cheer at games instead of merely drunken idiots who will boo for no real reason.

You know it's absolutely fascinating how the Patriots can be praised, for YEARS by ESPN/Everybody, about "Not wasting money one big free agents" and/or "building a solid team through the draft" and/or "letting the players they aren't happy with go on to free agency"; AND THEN DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE THIS YEAR and have the same drooling idiots and some posters here PRAISE THEM for it. This is the worst sort of pandering. It is equally fascinating how the Bills have been deeply criticized for doing the opposite of the Patriots for years: roll the dice in the draft, sign decent to cast-off FAs; AND THEN DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE(minus the O Line signings - but let's face it something had to be done) and STILL BE CRITICIZED. This is the worst sort of hypocrisy.

4 favorites: "Yeah, well at least I'm housebroken" "You can guess what happens next." The Dude: "He fixes the cable?" As The Dude gets thrown into the limo: "Hey, take it easy - there's a beverage involved here" The whole scene with "This is what happens, Larry, when you f--- a stranger in the azz!"

Those are the tourist places/happen to be next to where the other stuff is(Jims). Genos and Pats is where you go after the bar - so it doesn't matter - it's FOOD, especially greasy food that cuts the alcohol. Jim's is a wanna be and always has been(but being on 4th and South Street = make money no matter what). Mike Schmidts = tourist trap. The best places to go are not as well known. Near me there is a cousin of the family that runs Pat's - in the convention center/Reading Terminal Market - that owns Rick's. These are infinitely better steaks than Pats(but they all use the same bakery for the bread=the secret to making a good steak). I go there once a week(no more) as a rule. Also there is a place in old city called Sonny's - also much better and it actually offers a decent place to sit down. And if you want the best - Tony Luke's down on front street and Oregon(south Philly) - this is where I take clients who really want "the best steak in town", etc. Pat's and Geno's are open 24 hours a day - and all the celebs go there after the bar(I was on line when Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson showed up - they were hammered and were hysterically funny), just like the rest of us - so they have the most notoriety, and also why they have all those pictures. The best places close at 6 at the latest - so nobody knows about them. Ok back on point - I think the TKO trade is a mistake. I think this is too much change to make in one year. However, I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong. To me, this puts a boatload of responsibility on Crowell. I hope he can meet this challenge and exceed my expectations, which aren't good.

Whooa! Hold on buddy! Where did you go to get steaks in Philly?

You have to be kidding. No one can match the FEDS BUDGET on the WHOLE yes, but there is no way the government, at any level, outspends private industry, OR NON-PROFITS like the American Cancer Society, on SPECIFIC CANCER RESEARCH. Again, another false choice argument. The Federal Budget is spent on all kinds of things, in addition to research grants, but you are not talking in terms of dollar for dollar spending. I am not slipping any lies anywhere - WHAT AM I LYING ABOUT? I am talking about the first post in your thread. I don't care about what other people have said, I care about what you have said. Don't try to say there is no implication in your post when there clearly is. You are implying that there are only 2 choices: 1. massive funding of government grants, 2. or no funding at all. as though choice 3. Private industry oncology research choice 4. Non-Profit oncology research don't exist. When the fact is they do. I would much rather see money moved to a dedicated non-profit, whose job it is to cure cancer, than the government, whose job it is to RUN THE FRIGGIN COUNTRY for as cheap as possible so we get to have more of the money WE WORK FOR. And, if someone says: "hey we need to put this in the proper context of the country as a whole", or, "the government is not necessarily the best place to spend money since they have no profit motive", both valid points, you ACCUSE THEM OF NOT CARING ABOUT HEALTH CARE, which isn't the case. If you aren't capable of thinking in terms of relativity, don't run around and attempt(poorly) to belittle those of us that are. It just makes you look more foolish than you already do. Go ahead and try to address this in reasonable terms: I dare you.

They do that kind of thing in my business too - this way when we actually invent something new and claim IP rights or a patent, GOD forbid = not too popular in my line of work nowadays, when they (TRY TO) steal it they can point to a bs whitepaper they wrote a year ago saying "we already thought of it". They never can produce any working code that shows they have it -> just a lot of paper. It's just a way to try to stay with us->which they will never do because their culture prevents the degree of independence necessary for true original thought. Btw, the Isrealis and the Russians try to do the same thing.

I don't think I have ever met/heard of a person who is more capable of missing a point more than you. Let me dumb it down for you: You can't pose false choice questions and expect to get away with it as long as I am monitoring this board. Of course we should spend money on Healthcare Research - hell it would help me in my job, and my job helps lots of people. The point of this thread, which you clearly missed, is that you, like most shrill liberals(the A.N.S.W.E.R people especially) are posing ridiculous, political point-getting arguments about a very important issue, and when you not doing that you are using zero or infinity, or all or nothing, logic. You might as well ask if we like to sing a song when we beat our kids(I don't have any). Do you see that no matter how I answer the question, I am agreeing with your premise that I do in fact beat my kids? I am not going to talk about songs with you if it means by doing so, I become complicit in beating my kids. It's the same thing with you every time-> you raise an issue out of proper context and then set up the proverbial straws on edge, knock them over, and say "See I was right. Straws on edge fall over". Your ridiculous post is full of false implication and apparently you're too dumb to realize it. Let's try one false implication just to keep it simple for ya: You say: Healthcare is a priority but you don't qualify that against other priorities. By unrealistically isolating health care as a "priority" and then attempting to point to a lack funding, you imply that anyone that doesn't agree with you must not care about health care. The facts are not even close - we all care about health care. WE ALL WANT a way to solve this problem that EQUITABLE FOR EVERYONE. The problem is you, as usual, aren't offering a solution, and, as usual, are blaming others for FAILED LIBERAL POLICY. Another false choice example: You are, also as usual, telling us that we have to raise taxes to spend more money on research, with the implication that ONLY THE GOVERNMENT is capable/willing to spend big bucks on research, WHEN THE FACTS ARE that health care companies, not just limited to the Pharma companies, spend BILLIONS on research every year. SO AGAIN "SHOULDN'T we spend money on government funding...etc., implies that IF WE DON"T = WE DON'T CARE ABOUT HEALTH CARE. It also implies that the government is the ONLY way to fund Health care research. And again, we know that that there are many, many ways which money is being allocated to health care research besides the government. I have told you once, and I am telling you again, you are entitled to your opinion, but the minute you try to bullsh!t people I will be on you, making you look foolish, every time.

Yep and yep. This is the second time he has specifically praised Anthony Thomas for "knowing what to do" regarding blocking and the plays in general. Definitely a shot on Willis - or an amazing coincidence. He could have said anything about Thomas both times, but he keeps talking about this issue - coincidence? no chance.

Anyone who doesn't put making sure ManBearPig(south park) doesn't kill our kids as a TOP PRIORITY is an IDIOT and DOESN'T CARE ABOUT KIDS. It's that Simple. Republicans don't even ACKNOWLEDGE ManBearPig's existence, so obviously they don't care about our kids. In other news, OCiP asked Molsen_Golden a direct question: When did you stop beating your wife/husband/gay partner? To which Molsen_Golden could not give a solid answer. Obviously Molsen does not care about kids either and is not in touch with American working families .

In response to the original post - highjackers aside - I agree that JP's presence is much improved and is very exciting to see. He didn't fall into the traps of criticizing McGahee, and he handled the new offensive line questions quite well. Also, I actually believe him when he speaks! I think this is due to the fact that he doesn't use canned answers in every situation. Hell, I wasn't even bothered by him referring to himself in the third person, because he said: "It's time for J.P. and Lee to start voicing their opinion a little bit to some guys". I think that sentence alone speaks volumes about what we can expect in terms of team atmosphere. It's a hell of a way off from: "This is my team" from Deadslow.

I gotta admit I'd be doing the same thing and be just as happy. I suppose I would be most happy for my family, especially my dad. He doesn't show it as much as my mom - but when they lose it absolutely kills him.

Yeah I won't suck someone no matter what, and I wouldn't accept any money no matter how much if it meant the Bills lost the superbowl. Now then, if sucking someone meant the Bills would win the Superbowl, I'd gladly outsource that job to one of the members of the Canadian Ballet on the premise that they would do a better job than I would

...is all this FLEXIBILITY really a positive, or can it possibly create convoluted thinking/way over complicate this? I think it would be easier if we were either drafting at 1-6 or 18-32 because it would make things a hell of a lot easier. We might me be too high on the board to really make a trade up effective in terms of value. I mean if we are going to trade up, where to? I.E., what does moving up to #6 get us, really, in terms of what we have to give up? How do we know that the guys we want won't be there at 12 anyway-> is there that much of a talent drop off once you get past the top 5 value picks? Likewise, we may be too low to make a trade down effective. I.E. is Cincy really gonna be willing to trade up 6 slots and at the same time give up a 3rd/4th round pick? What does that really buy them? I can see if they were to trade into the top ten, but #12? If a guy is around at #12, what's to say he won't be there at #18? There seems to be a much larger number of "Must Have According to TSW Poster (insert name here)" draft prospects for the Bills than last year. There are at least 9 guys(the usual suspects listed in no particular order: Peterson, Lynch, Leonard(my guy), Willis, Okoye, Bush, Poz(my guy too), Hall, Revis) that we all seem to think would at least be good for the Bills. I don't hear much in terms of real negatives about these guys in comparison to the troves of positives. IF any of these guys would be a good fit, does it really matter who we get? I realize that there are needs, but ask yourself this: do we really need LB more than RB? or DT? or CB? We all know all the arguments on this, but is there any one argument that clearly stands out/can't be countered reasonably by another? We know that RB is a need, but so is LB, but RBs can be had in the 2nd round, but so can LBs.(you can use DT or CB in this as well and this debate can go on forever with no clear answer resulting from it) So given all of this, does anyone see that this has the potential for trouble? especially in those critical 15 minutes before we pick? Certainly it creates the potential for Marv to give another team a serious ass-raping in terms of trading down, but the reverse it true as well. Does it make the most sense to stand pat where we are, for at least the first round? since we have so many players available that are sure to help us?