BillsVet

The opener will be a decent test for an improved Bills team - on paper. It's been talked about for so long, but running the ball and stopping the run are still huge things the team hasn't done well in a long time. Without putting too much into pre-season, there were some issues running the ball. I'd like to see the OL, with or without Peters, put that notion to rest. They'll have the benefit of not seeing a few Seattle guys like Babineaux and Bernard, but Tatupu and Kerney remain from a decent defense. The defense has the size to finally hold up at the line of scrimmage and keep opponents from running the ball down their throat. Stroud should be setting the table each game for the LB's to make some plays. I always tired of hearing how previous Bills teams wanted LB's to run to the ball and make plays. The difference was a stout front 4 to control the LOS, and now they have that - on paper. As a reasonable Bills fan, I've got to be cautiously optimistic. The schedule seems to favor them, and they've got more size in the defenses' front 7. As improved as the defense seems to be, if the offense cannot put at least 20+ on the board each week, there will still be issues.

Larry Tripplett also cut by the Seahawks...guess no return to Buffalo for him. To think, Marv and Dick gave this guy 5 year 18.5M just two seasons ago.

FWIW, Anderson lost his job to the now-franchised Stacy Andrews on the Cincinnati OL. He acknowledged that wear and tear doesn't allow him to be a regular starter like he used to be. As cheap as Cincy is, and Mike Brown makes Ralph Wilson look like a big spender, it's not surprising considering he couldn't play at a high level consistently anymore. He'd be a depth guy, capable of playing a few games. Anderson and Andrews He's a name, sure. But as a player his skills no longer match the regard his name used to.

New regulations from the Federal Transit Administration prevent publicly subsidized transit organizations from competing with private companies such as First Student (formerly Laidlaw) and serving a specific group of people like those going to RWS. The main reason is that publicly funded transit can severely underbid private companies, especially considering the former don't have to pay taxes like the latter does. RTS was fortunate a federal judged ruled in February in their favor, as their routes to provide this service to the city school district were specifically designed for the school kids and not really public. First Student took the matter to court, but ultimately was found not to have the resources to do what RTS does for the city school district. The downside is, no further routes for events like the Lilac Festival, Bills training camp, to RWS, and anything which caters mainly to a segment of the populus are permitted. The rules are ambiguous, and unfortunately I haven't heard of anyone from the private sector willing to do this service. If there is, they can't possibly do it for what RTS used to charge.

Didn't they just give another guy a contract who happens to play the rush LB position that Merriman occupies? To me, they're preparing for life after him.

The better a team gets, the more their players cost. Buffalo will have plenty of tough decisions in the next few years as guys like Edwards, Posluszny, Crowell, McGee, Lynch, and perhaps Whitner will need or want new contracts. There's no way to sign them all and some will not remain. Polian deals with this every year, and finds a way to replace talent. Guys like Jason David and Cato June leave, and they have already drafted their replacement in a Marin Jackson or Freedie Keiaho type. At the same time, Indy made sure to keep Manning, Freeney, Sanders, Wayne, and Harrison for the long term. Buffalo has decided to spend far less than the cap, which has become a growing trend in the NFL. It's also important for the personnel people to provide Wilson with sound advice about who to open his wallet to and who not to. Evans has been decided on, primarily because they lack of threat at WR, but I've got a feeling people like Crowell and McGee are players they believe are replaceable. Regardless, Peters should be re-signed at some point. He's too valuable to their selected franchise QB and team success. They have money to work with, but they're not ready financially to do it this season. If he departs this team via trade and can play at his current level, the front office immediately becomes one, if not the worst in the NFL. After all, I keep hearing about now and playing well now. Draft picks don't help this season.

Defensive Tackle Importance Defensive End Importance "You talk in any sport about your strength up the middle," Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said. "Those guys are right in the middle, right at the ball. The closer you are to the ball before it is snapped, the more impact you can have. I go back to my initiation as a player in the NFL in the '70s and being with Joe Greene at tackle in Pittsburgh. He created total havoc. And fear." No less an authority than Tony Dungy preaches what we all know. Finding the right player in the middle is difficult, and it's clear only a few in the NFL today are difference makers. OTOH, Carucci believes DE's are the player to have on defense, and I would certainly agree they're important. The Giants overwhelmingly demonstrated it during the Super Bowl. Either way, defensive line play sets the stage for the rest of the defense to function and succeed.

As has been mentioned numerous times, the probability he has a catastrophic injury and refused to communicate on this basis is a conspiracy theory. It's too bad enough around here have bought into. The only thing left now is for the National Enquirer to run an article confirming Peters is now the Elephant man and isolated in a room to hide it. Can anyone imagine a player concealing an injury during contract negotiations? It's impossible, and would permanently harm any agent doing so.

This goes back to someone's post in another thread which emphasized how Ralph talks about being competitive, not necessarily being a Super Bowl team, let alone a playoff team. The fans purchased 56k+ season tickets, know there is a favorable schedule, withstood the Toronto thing, and has waited through 8 non-playoff seasons. That's a strong fan base if there ever was one. Regardless, Ralph has a strong personality, as evidenced by his stance on the recent bad CBA for owners. I don't see him caving to anyone, especially a 26 year old. He has or will collect his revenue sharing, ticket money, and Toronto pay to play funds. He's in the driver seat, and unfortunately, NFL owners cannot guarantee a winner on the back of tickets. He has no requirement to earmark 50M+ for a player with much of it guaranteed. And he won't.

Unfortunately it takes a hard hit to Hamdan for people to realize Bell has a long ways to go in his NFL career. He's not even close to being a NFL starter.

mayle with two misses in the endzone=cut

Announcer pre-season I guess

I don't think they'll cut him for this season, but with his level of play, I could see it after three seasons. He still makes bad mistakes, as evident here, and when his position coach calls him out as we've seen, it's bad news.

Wright was Ralphie's pick on Day 2 2007 Why owners shouldn't have a say in picks, even if he was a 4th.

nail in the coffin for D. Wright 3 fumbles in preseason

I still think it's funny that both players who are so important to this team and play marquee positions were holdovers from the Donahoe reign of error. Regardless, there are similarities and differences that hasn't had a lot of talk about: Schobel looked for a new Kelsay deal as a gauge to determine a new deal for himself. Peters must look at Walker and Dockery's contracts as proof the Bills would pay OL. Obvious difference here is that Walker and Dockery were UFA's, while Kelsay's deal came just before UFA. Still, Kelsay cashed in on the then soon to be UFA market by re-signing with Buffalo. The Bills, IIRC, had only a few days to reach a deal before UFA began. Schobel also got his first pro bowl nod after 5+ seasons of starting at DE for Buffalo. Peters made it in his third full pro season, and first at OLT. The main differences I see is Schobel's contract came after 5+ seasons of starting at DE. Peters has 1.5 at LT. Other than Buffalo anticipating Schobel wanted a new deal after Kelsay's, it's strange that Buffalo didn't think it would happen when Peters' contract was superceded by Walker's and Dockery's. They had Peters penciled in at LT for 2007 and knew he'd performed beyond expectations the previous season at LT. It's downright foolish to not have seen a holdout coming for 2008 after all these events. Perhaps the front office simply ignored a problem, hoping it would work to their favor in 2008. IMO, it boils down to the wrong year to be looking for a contract. I believe this has reached a ridiculous point, but the Bills had to have realized this would happen, particularly after Peters hired Parker. Last year, the Bills had plenty of room to work with (upwards of 33M in cap space), and used some of it on Walker, Dockery, and Schobel. Meanwhile, the Bills this season had those aforementioned contracts, Stroud, Mitchell, and Johnson, to go along with an anticipated deal for Evans among other deals for McKelvin, Parrish, Williams, and Butler. According to PFT, Buffalo has just shy of 21M in cap space before they sign Evans. I'm not clear on their C2C space, but it's evident that they've not budgeted for one more sizable contract this season and will remain committed to that ad infinitum.

The greatest difference between good and bad franchises is a front office. Good teams are built by good front offices that draft, use FA effectively, and hire the right HC. After that, deciding which players to retain (not all can be) is a crucial requirement to keeping a team out of cap problems. I think right now in no particular order, Pioli, AJ Smith, and Polian are the three best GM types in the league. They've all maintained a high level of play for their franchises over the last 5 or more seasons. I really wish the Bills had hired a true GM, but realize Ralph wanted someone he could trust to keep costs down and deliver a team that could be moderately competitive. I think he's been scarred by the Donahoe experience, and rightly so. Thus, the Bills will maintain the front office in its current form unless the team is terrible, which I don't think it will be this year.

Comparing the deals Williams and Butler signed to the Peters situation isn't even close. Their two deals combined are probably not even half of what Peters is worth as a LT voted to the Pro Bowl. Peters could have showed up at the start of camp and it would not have mattered. Despite nearly 21M in cap room, the Bills never said authoritatively he'd get a new deal. It's ridiculous to think that Buffalo renegotiating small deals is a precursor for a player who's in the top 5 at his position.

Be careful, there are some who believe he's hiding in a darkened room like the elephant man and his silence demonstrates it. The routine hernia surgery was botched, and he can't compete, but wants guaranteed money before admitting all this. I'd agree the Bills hold most of the cards, and if (it's a big IF) the players become upset the team isn't reaching their potential, that may induce him to return. It's obvious he communicates with some of them, so perhaps a guy like Dockery becomes the go-between to address this issue to him. Then again, maybe he doesn't care. Either way, he is a great player and not having him is a huge blow for a team that is looking to make the post-season.

I've read Graham's column which states that a few unnamed players now doubt even if Peters shows at this late juncture he'll contribute very little. I'm not quibbling over a statement, but the article itself does not paint any unknown players as being completely anti-Peters. I'd anticipate that could change if he carries this thing deep into the regular season and Walker or whomever plays OLT becomes a liability. It is telling that some agent or agents agree with the Bills stance, because this impasse has surpassed every other holdout in the NFL. I'll be interested in what the players think after Week 1, as I can see that becoming a point of no return for Peters' teammates.

Hiring Parker as his agent reminds me of Brian Westbrook firing his to find someone who could get him 10M a year. Only one guy stepped up to be Westbrook's agent, and he still couldn't manage to do it. Competition to be the best agent on the block is fierce, especially with the mega-houses that feature agents like Condon and Dogra. When this is all said and done, getting rid of the last agent (Taylor) may be the worst thing Peters has done.

Peters will not be traded. Either Buffalo wants too much for him, or plain lets him sit while accumulating fines, missed game checks. The OL, while not superb last season in run blocking, was quite adept at pass protection. We all know Peters was a big part of that. I hope Walker/Chambers can adapt to their new positions, especially when they take on good pass rushers. Atlanta, IIRC, spent a first rounder on Sam Baker to protect their newly tabbed starter Ryan. Peters seems to be out of the question. That's not to say teams wouldn't want him, I just believe the price would be too high and the stalemate will continue.

He's also in the final year of his deal he signed back in 2007. I've heard no talk of his extension, though I wouldn't rule it out of the question. The Bills have 20.9M left in cap room for 08 alone, and I wouldn't doubt they have at least that in 2009.

Entering the 2008 season, 18 of 32 starting NFL tackles are first round picks, nine of whom were top 10 picks. Eight more OLT's went in the second round and outside of Peters, only 5 LT's were Day 2 picks or UDFA's. The physical skill set to play LT is so infrequent when compared to interior line play. A premier LT needs long arms, and be strong enough to handle players who can both speed and power rush from the edge. Peters has that, and right now no one else does on the team. Walker's got size, but less than adequate lateral movement. If he had the ability to play LT in Oakland, they'd have had him there after Gallery flopped on the outside.

Even worse, the population exodus out of Western NY has continued unchecked for years. That we're not even talking about a stadium for the Bills in a thread about the Colts new home is remarkable. We all know a new one for Buffalo will not be built anytime soon, even if the team remained after Wilson. Every county in western NY is behind or barely ahead of the population increase in the country since 2000. Little wonder that when jobs leave, people do right behind them. If only those NYC pols actually cared about the entire state. But that's for another time and place.