JohnC

I say this with all seriousness that my question had no sarcasm and condescension attached to it. I don't know why you would think that? Next week I will get my schedule for the scope on the tear. I do appreciate your knowledgeable response to my inquiry. Again, I was serious with my question and there was no intention of being sarcastic.

In a couple of weeks I will be going in for a scope on my knee because of a meniscus tear. Instead of dealing with the plaguing issue I hobbled around for a year. Did I hurt my chances for the most optimum recover because of my lack of attention to the issue. What is my prognosis?

Thanks to the moderators who do an essential but thankless job. Because of the nature of their job they are more likely to receive complaints rather than accolades for their voluntary service. I say thank you.

You are right that he has had issues most of his life. Those issues that relate to mental and psychiatric health have never been fully addressed. What's evident is that his behavior is erratic and potentially destructive to himself and others. He not only needs medical attention now but probably for the rest of his life. You bringing up how he treated the Bills has absolutely no relevancy to his situation. Whether he is with the Bills or not or whether he is in football or not he has obvious indications that there is a mental health/psychiatric issue afflicting him. That's the issue here: Someone who is not only now unhealthy but someone who will for the rest of his life have to deal with it. Your lack of compassion and empathy toward someone who clearly is troubled says a lot about you as a person. While this man glaringly needs help you are critical of him because he is no longer with the Bills. That is utter nonsense. Don't worry about the Bills. They'll survive whether he is with the team or not. The issue is whether this troubled individual can get the help he needs so that he can live. That's what at stake here: His life!

Was it a sausage that sizzled in the bun?

At least now there is hope. Before you knew that before there was a snap taken at the beginning of the season we didn't stand a chance. Where I have a different perspective is I still don't know how McDermott got his stripped down team to win 9 games and make it to the playoffs? Getting that below average talented team into the playoffs was a tribute to McDermott and the players buying in to what he was selling. That was a masterful coaching job done under challenging conditions.

I'm hoping the foolishness and inexplicable oddity of past decisions have been banished to the sordid past. Whether one disagrees with some of the decisions that the McBeane tandem has made since their arrival at least you can understand their reasoning and logic for making them. Decisions such as hiring Marv to be the GM or bringing in Rex or an inexplicable passivity of Whaley towards addressing the qb issue were not only bad decisions they were simply zany decisions. The hallmark for this regime isn't brilliance or creativity as it is basic competency in doing their job. Too bad the process couldn't have started a couple of years earlier.

If Peterman and/or McCarron had a $16 million cap hit the front office should be charged with criminal malfeasance and negligence. ?

You hit it right on the head. Peterman was a fifth round selection from a major college. So it is evident that he was well vetted. I can see a player from a small school who is drafted in a low round be a surprise talent but that would be due to the fact that it is very challenging to judge a player when playing against lower caliber talent. It's my belief that Peterman was properly drafted. He was selected where he should have been picked. There is no shame to that. That doesn't mean that he can't have a useful role as a backup. Tyrod Taylor was drafted in the sixth round. I don't consider him a franchise qb. But that doesn't mean he can't have a productive career in the league, as he has demonstrated.

Whatever your views are on Peterman they are your views. Where I strenuously disagree with you and others is that it is unfair to define a rookie by one disastrous experience. Whenever there is a mention of Peterman there is a reflexive response by many about that Charger game. That's history. In my mind the fifth round pick is at best a backup. If that's the case then that doesn't disqualify him from having a useful role in the league. I believe that Peterman is going to earn a roster spot this year. Many if not a majority of people believe otherwise. The overwhelming consensus is that Allen is going to be our franchise qb, and there is a good probability that it will start sometime this season. But that doesn't mean that there aren't important roles for the backup/s. Let's see how this plays out.

To take it to another level when all is said and done Tyrod Taylor already has had a lucrative career and will continue to add to that bank vault amount of money even when he gets replace as a starter by Mayfield. Taylor is a sixth round pick who has surpassed a lot of higher drafted players. He's a high character and low maintenance player with a high work ethic. To me he is not a franchise qb and will never be. But that doesn't me he can't have an important role on a team as a backup or spot starter. The NFL is a relatively short career. When his career is finished he is going to look back and realize he did very well for himself. Because he is such a responsible person the money he will have made will put him in a comfortable position for the rest of his life. To put things in perspective Michael Vick was the first player taken in his draft year. He has earned an incredible amount of money in his career. While Vick squandered most of it because of his off field antics in comparison Taylor is set for life, at least from a financial standpoint.

I doubt that the agent would have signed the diminished contract if it wasn't approved by Incognito. Incognito agreed to the terms but was irked by the salary cut. Without question he had second thoughts about the signing. The team did the right thing for itself by not wasting their time being involved in a conflict with a player that they weren't committed to. When all is said and done they acted in their own self-interest and were more than fair and generous with the volatile player.

Very steadily the roster is being turned over with McDermott type of guys i.e. players who are self-motivated and effort players. I don't want to single out Dareus but he represents the type of a player/person that McDermott doesn't want on his roster. Dareus has the talent to be an all pro DT. He is immensely more talented than Star Lotulelei but because of his lack of work ethic and preparation won't be as consistent and dependable as Star. I like Dareus and wish him the best. I hope the change of scenery in Jacksonville with Marrone pushing him he will fulfill his vast potential.

He's been the best or one of the best for a decade at his position. To be clear I haven't said he would be in the HOF. What I have said is that he will be seriously considered for the HOF. While the Bills felt that Demetreus Bell was an acceptable replacement the departed LT thrived in Philly where it was acknowledged by most that he was one of the best tackles in the game for a very extended period of time.

Your biases are owned by you. That doesn't mean that they are owned by others. An offensive lineman who makes the pro ball doesn't qualify the player to be considered for such a lofty honor. But an offensive lineman who does it for a decade or so consecutively certainly puts him in consideration. I'm not quarrelling with your position on the importance of linemen or the replaceability/interchangeability of them. Some people hold to that position and (I believe) more don't. But when you rank Peters against his peers and predecessors he clearly ranks in the upper echelon. To be as good as he has for such an extended period of time makes him a prime candidate for the Hall. At least in my humble opinion.

Some people are portraying the Incognito saga as a player holding the team hostage to his demands. That' s far from what has happened here. The Bills required Incognito to take a pay cut in order to stay with the team. If he wouldn't have agreed to the cut he would have been released. The point is that he wasn't seen as an indispensable player that this team had to have. Incognito wasn't happy with the pay cut yet still signed the contract. That was a mistake on his part because he could have just said no to the cut and then have his release. I understand Incognito's mind-set. He is a player at the end of his career and although he is still playing well he doesn't have much marketability from a contract standpoint. When all is said and done the Bills did the right thing. They let him go free and clear of any encumbrances i.e. having to pay back some of his bonus money. That was the right thing to do for him and for the organization because the Incognito issue is completely gone. Instead of fighting for its right to keep a penny the organization acted in its own interest by not getting entangled in an unnecessary conflict. It also showed that the organization was more than generous in doing the right thing for its former player.

Jason Peters is near the end of his career and without question the Eagles are prepared for his nonparticipation. That's what well run organizations do. I disagree with you that Peters has no chance of getting into the HOF. Will he? I can't say for sure but what I can so for sure is that he will be seriously considered. You may not be aware of it but he has had a long and distinguished career with the SB Champs and has over an extended period of time been a perennial all-pro.

I don't know if the story you are alluding to about his call to the owner/s is true. Whether he plays again or retires I hope that he can have a stable and happy life. He's had a history of volatility and erratic behavior. It seemed that while with Buffalo his behavior was much more serene than from his past. Regardless what he decides to do I just wish everything works out well for him from a life standpoint. He's the type of person where the demons within him can overcome the angels that also reside within him. I wish him the best. They didn't need him this year but that doesn't take away his HOF caliber career he has had with them.

When all is said and done the Peters fiasco worked out for Peters and it was a major failure for the team. The organization was more than willing to overpay for mediocre talents such as Dockery and Walker but were not willing to be more flexible with the player they drafted and developed. The NFL is a business. The interest of a team isn't always in the best interest of a player. And the interest of a player isn't always in the best interest an organization. Contracts are contracts but in this business there isn't anything sacred about it because terms are frequently reworked as circumstances change. Negotiations and accommodations are part of the landscape. When the Peters situation is reviewed in hindsight there is no other way to look at it as a bad loss for the organization. Winning the battle when it costs you the war is dumb.

The ugly past is the past. I'm confident that with the Pegulas as owners and with a more enlightened and sophisticated football operation under McDermott and Beane these types of nonsensical decisions will not occur again. All organizations in retrospect make bad decisions. That's just part of the business. But making a decision that doesn't work out is qualitatively different from making a decision that at the time makes no freaking sense. I'm very optimistic with this new regime. While Whaley took a more short-sighted patchwork approach to running the operation this McBeane tandem has a more coherent and longer view toward how the operation should be run. There was never a quick fix to rebuilding this roster and reconfiguring the cap structure. It is being done in a systematic manner. Overall, I'm very bullish about this regime and what they are doing.

The Jason Peters fiasco was a reflection on how inept this organization function. They religiously fought to save a penny when in the end they lost a dollar. A mom and pop operation in the modern world of a complicated business.

Do you know the person who is the most happy that he was represented by Parker? Jason Peters. He ended up with a contract commensurate with his talents, having a long career with a team where when it is over with he will be under consideration for the HOF and to top it off he has a Super Bowl ring on his finger. For those people who believe that an agent should work in the interest of a team at the expense of the player they are representing I say they are being illogical and not understanding that the NFL is a business. To put things in perspective with respect to the trading of Jason Peters it is going to go down in its inglorious history of being one of the dumbest decisions that this organization has made. This team willingly paid out gargantuan contracts to wretchedly mediocre players such as Derrick Dockery and Langston Walker but traded a player that they drafted and developed because they didn't want to pay him what he was worth. Stupidity at a stupendous level.

It wouldn't bother me if Allen doesn't get immediate playing time. As you are saying or I think you are saying I hope he demonstrates rather quickly that he can handle the position. If McCarron or Peterman start off as the starters because they have a better grasp of the offense I would be fine with that. What I want to know is whether Allen can grasp a pro offense that includes progressions and reads. Once that is determined then his physical skills eventually will prevail in his competition with the other qbs. There are two players that I will be following in training camp and preseason: Shaq Lawson and Zay Jones. I don't believe either will ever be elite players but I hope that they can improve their play to the level of being solid players.

The Bills need guys to run deep routes and to run after the catch. The Bills need some guys capable of making chunk plays. Shady and Clay are the only ones capable of making big plays. I thought that the Bills should have kept Thompson. Thanks for the info. Thompson seemed to be our speed receiver but there wasn't much production with him. On the other hand just the presence of that type of receiver makes the defense have to account for him. I'm not sure if Rod Streater is considered a speed receiver but it seems that the wrestling coach is enamored with this often injured player. I also get the sense that this regime accentuates height when evaluating the position.

You follow the Buckeyes so you are familiar with the speedster receiver. What I didn't see on those clips is he running any deep routes. Most of the plays were more gimmicky or short near the line of scrimmage passes where he outraced the defenders. I did like his quickness and his run after the catch instincts. What the Bills desperately need to add to the mix is a receiver who can run the deep routes and create more space for the other more possession receivers.