TKO

[Pass the Pipe]

Let's cut the most marketable player on the Bills ASAP.

 

Most marketable player? Are you joking, what is his agent going to market the tape of Travis Henry dragging his client for 5 yards? I think Levy would send a strong message that he means business by cutting our losses and going forward. The guy has made plenty of money yet we haven't made the playoffs, where is the return in this investment? He is past 30, has had a major injury which means he is done! What part of "stick the fork in him" don't you understand? If he will take a major pay cut then I can see some possibilities, otherwise we can do better in the draft or with a lower profile free agent. FAs are attracted by 1.) money, and 2.) a chance to win a title; how we deal with an over-the-hill player is the least of their concerns.

[BADOLBILZ]

What will be his cap hit if we cut the guy Monday Morning?

 

Let Jeff Littman save Ralph's money. The team is going to be about $30M under the cap, unless they are going to actually do something productive with the money(they'll never use it all) the fans get no benefit from cutting Takeo. Yeah, he's overpriced for what he can produce right now, but imagine cutting him, then having a couple injuries in camp and being stuck with some stiff like Joe Cummings playing LB when you could have had a healthier Takeo? But hey, at least you have $20M in cap room to shop the waiver wire with on September 1st, right?

[Pass the Pipe]

Let Jeff Littman save Ralph's money. The team is going to be about $30M under the cap, unless they are going to actually do something productive with the money(they'll never use it all) the fans get no benefit from cutting Takeo. Yeah, he's overpriced for what he can produce right now, but imagine cutting him, then having a couple injuries in camp and being stuck with some stiff like Joe Cummings playing LB when you could have had a healthier Takeo? But hey, at least you have $20M in cap room to shop the waiver wire with on September 1st, right?

 

 

I agree with you at a reduced salary, but not at his current compensation. The guy has lost too many steps and isn't making any plays behind the line of scrimmage. Frankly, the only play he has made all year was the first one of the season. By the way, your comment on Joe Cummings was dead on!

[Pass the Pipe]

The topic of whether Spikes belongs on the Bills moving forward is entirely different than cutting him Monday morning. The Bills gain zippo by doing that. If they retain him they keep options open at the very least.

 

When was the last time you purposely did something that you knew could hurt you but could not help you?

 

 

People are taking this out of context; whether we do it Monday morning or March 11 is not the point, cutting him is. There are two FAs that would replace TKO very well, Cato June (a cover 2 guy because of his speed) or Adalius Thomas, a big time play maker with size, but not a cover 2 guy

[Pyrite Gal]

People are taking this out of context; whether we do it Monday morning or March 11 is not the point, cutting him is. There are two FAs that would replace TKO very well, Cato June (a cover 2 guy because of his speed) or Adalius Thomas, a big time play maker with size, but not a cover 2 guy

 

Unless you and the Bills docs know something about the nature of TKOs injury and are virtually certain about his prospects for recovery it would seem to b suicidal football to cut him early in the off-season or before how one sees how the draft shapes up interms of available talent at the Combine and even who one gets from the draft.

 

There would seem to be little reason for us in terms of footbsll to get our panties all up in a wad and feel some need to cut him quickly. TKO worked out like a fiend and did well enough that he surprisingly to many made it back out onto the field for the first snap this season and with a brain that has played a lot of football made the right read (in fact a demonstrably better read of the play than noneother than Tom Brady) and got a sack for this good work.

 

However, based on the simple facts of what happened, he may have pushed too hard and ended with the setback of a badly pulled muscle.

 

Will TKO with a full off-season to rest rather than focus on rehabe recover to be the Pro Bowler he once was? No, I doubt he will.

 

However, it not only is possible that despite his current shortcomings as an LB who not only was recovering from an injury, but also was playing a new LN position, hile it is not likely at all he will ever be the player he was, it is quite conceivable that he could after an off-seasom become 80% of his old Pro Bowl self and if he does I think he worth keeping as I think that 80% of TKO is easily equal to 100% of the young Ellison or the uncertainty of a rehabbing IR'ed Crowell.

 

Maybe in fantasy league one can mix and match and exchange players as though their performances makes them virtually equal, however, I think making a final judgement regarding how well TKO will perform in 07 is premature and declaring any of our back-up KBs equivalent to TKO is simply unsupported by the fact that all the Bills D and LBs in particular gave up way too many rushing yards to a Travis Henry who was clearly inspire and an LT whom no one has really contained this year.

 

In fact. tjpigh TKO and the entire LB corps had trouble dealing with Vince Young (surprise) and an inspired Henry, a nice pass breakup by him on one 3rd down play this weekend, and his 6 tackles in the game where the D shutout the fish and 4 tackles in game where the D forced the Jets to turn the ball over on downs twice was actually pretty good and a real improvement over his previous 0 tackle games.

 

It would seem to be the height of panic to cut TKO now or probably at all this off-season. The real football question is whom would we replace him with and this team would be weaker with am LN corps which used our current back-ups to replace him and certainly Fletcher.

 

As far as cap hit, the Bills are essentially hit next year with his cost whether we have him or not as his remaining bonus amd the contract cost of replacing him. Since the cap is way up my sense is we keep him unless the docs indicate he is done/

[Dawgg]

YES. The most marketable player. Go to Ralph Wilson Stadium on a Sunday afternoon and see whose jersey most fans are wearing.

 

He will need some time to recover from that injury. A year removed from tearing his ACL, Edgerrin James had a pretty mediocre season. Colts fans were screaming for him to be cut. Luckilly for them, Polian wasn't smoking your pipe and Edge was very productive the following year.

 

That's not to say that these injuries are similar but for you to be calling for his head after this season is premature. He had virtually no training camp or preseason and suffered a major hamstring injury early on requiring him to play catchup ever since. I thought he had a great game against San Diego but had a horrible game against Tennessee -- then again so did a lot of people on the defense side of the ball.

 

 

Let's cut the most marketable player on the Bills ASAP.

 

Most marketable player? Are you joking, what is his agent going to market the tape of Travis Henry dragging his client for 5 yards? I think Levy would send a strong message that he means business by cutting our losses and going forward. The guy has made plenty of money yet we haven't made the playoffs, where is the return in this investment? He is past 30, has had a major injury which means he is done! What part of "stick the fork in him" don't you understand? If he will take a major pay cut then I can see some possibilities, otherwise we can do better in the draft or with a lower profile free agent. FAs are attracted by 1.) money, and 2.) a chance to win a title; how we deal with an over-the-hill player is the least of their concerns.

[Pass the Pipe]

Dawgg,

 

To quote Marv Levy: "The minute a coach starts listening to the fans they will end up setting next to them!" The fans in Buffalo want a winner and Spikes is no longer holding up his end of the bargin. For a reduced salary he makes sense, but at this current compensation package we are not getting a fair return.

[dave mcbride]

YES. The most marketable player. Go to Ralph Wilson Stadium on a Sunday afternoon and see whose jersey most fans are wearing.

 

He will need some time to recover from that injury. A year removed from tearing his ACL, Edgerrin James had a pretty mediocre season. Colts fans were screaming for him to be cut. Luckilly for them, Polian wasn't smoking your pipe and Edge was very productive the following year.

 

That's not to say that these injuries are similar but for you to be calling for his head after this season is premature. He had virtually no training camp or preseason and suffered a major hamstring injury early on requiring him to play catchup ever since. I thought he had a great game against San Diego but had a horrible game against Tennessee -- then again so did a lot of people on the defense side of the ball.

I actually don't have strong opinions about this either way, but you can't compare an ACL tear and an Achilles tear. ACL tears are borderline arthroscopic surgery nowadays, and don't be surprised if it's considered a 4-6 month injury by 2008. Achilles tears, on the other hand, remain catastrophic (relatively speaking), an injury that is as bad now as it was in 1980.

[Oneonta Buffalo Fan]

So you think that paying Spikes AND Fletcher top dollar to train their replacements would work? These guys both want to go and compete, not train. I think we have coaches that can train the players. The experience is going to have to come from Shobel, Bowen and othe established professionals. Somehow i do not think Ralph is going to open the cauffers to rtain players to train others...

 

Not exactly. Coaches can teach you. But unless they actually played the position they teach, it's not as good as learning from a player whose experienced and is playing the position currently. He can teach the player in a more 1 on 1 approach.

[Lori]

Let's cut the most marketable player on the Bills ASAP.

Most marketable player? Are you joking, what is his agent going to market the tape of Travis Henry dragging his client for 5 yards? I think Levy would send a strong message that he means business by cutting our losses and going forward. The guy has made plenty of money yet we haven't made the playoffs, where is the return in this investment? He is past 30, has had a major injury which means he is done! What part of "stick the fork in him" don't you understand? If he will take a major pay cut then I can see some possibilities, otherwise we can do better in the draft or with a lower profile free agent. FAs are attracted by 1.) money, and 2.) a chance to win a title; how we deal with an over-the-hill player is the least of their concerns.

Ten DAYS past his 30th birthday. Damn, that's harsh. Been watching Logan's Run?

[Dawgg]

Agreed, and I acknowledged as much in my post. I still think TKO should get another year.

 

 

you can't compare an ACL tear and an Achilles tear.

[Pyrite Gal]

Dawgg,

 

To quote Marv Levy: "The minute a coach starts listening to the fans they will end up setting next to them!" The fans in Buffalo want a winner and Spikes is no longer holding up his end of the bargin. For a reduced salary he makes sense, but at this current compensation package we are not getting a fair return.

 

You are correct and for exactly these reasons I think Marv will ignore the bleatings of some folks that it is time to cut TKO.

[Kipers Hair]

Most marketable player? Are you joking, what is his agent going to market the tape of Travis Henry dragging his client for 5 yards? I think Levy would send a strong message that he means business by cutting our losses and going forward. The guy has made plenty of money yet we haven't made the playoffs, where is the return in this investment? He is past 30, has had a major injury which means he is done! What part of "stick the fork in him" don't you understand? If he will take a major pay cut then I can see some possibilities, otherwise we can do better in the draft or with a lower profile free agent. FAs are attracted by 1.) money, and 2.) a chance to win a title; how we deal with an over-the-hill player is the least of their concerns.

 

Ten DAYS past his 30th birthday. Damn, that's harsh. Been watching Logan's Run?

 

You know - with the achilles injury - 30 is a huge deal - remember his tendons have 8 years playing at the pro level....It is asking a lot to come back at 90% let alone 100%...That said, I'll take TKO at 90% at his current salary...