Jason Taylor will visit 1265 Lombardi?

[Fritz]

Well, I piqued my own curiosity. A quick bit of research shows that the Bills have finished 7-9 the past three seasons.

Last season, they ranked 23rd overall in terms of points scored, and 14th overall in terms of points allowed.

And by the way, Bills fans are happy to get rid of Duke Preston. He apparently is best remembered for two bonehead plays: one in which he got into a meaningless tussle with a New England Patriot at the end of the half of a 3-0 game (Buffalo behind) which cost Buffalo a field goal attempt; the other in which Preston was playing center and thought the QB was behind him instead of in shotgun formation and so snapped the ball to the QB who was not right behind him. As one poster said...."Forest Gump and Rainman look like Einsteins compared to Preston."

Doh!

[pbmax]

I agree with the general sense of dissatisfaction with Bedard. His only point of recommendation is that unlike many others who work in newspapers/magazines, he seems to realize that the internet is not going to get off his lawn. It helps that he is under the age of 55. No offense shadow or KYPack. Both of you are obviously more quick witted and bright than most writers.

But on this point I think he has some insight. He confessed last year that he has no new information on Taylor's thought process, so he hasn't hidden this fact. But he has stated that Taylor has a goal of a job in the entertainment industry after football (Tiki Barber, Howie Long, etc.). That information has been reported elsewhere and could easily have been known to Bedard prior to his current distance with Taylor. And so he has stated that moving to a smaller media market would not be Taylor's first choice. This isn't first hand knowledge, but I think its a reasonable inference.

After that, the Buffalo stuff is just a rehash of who won the offseason last year. Though since he is talking perception, this might be the case.

McGinn is the only true beat writer/reporter for JS on the Packers. But his contract is not 365 days a year. Silverstein (and then Bedard) fill in during the offseason. SilverBeard then get to fill in the ancillary angles and write columns/opinion pieces. JS has a simple rule, when you see just the standard byline, its reporting. When you see their shining faces, its a column or analysis. Bedard's columns have been mostly terrible, its clear he doesn't yet have sources with the Pack or their players.

The blog stuff I don't mind as I know it just to cover what else is out there, like the threads on this board.

On other thing, cpk alluded to but goes against my every memory. JS and the WSJ were taking hear all summer long for backing up the Packer side of the Great Favre Debate. They along with Glazer and Schefter had all the newest Packer tidbits. Wilde played it pretty straight and McGinn launched his training camp with a piece that defended the decision to let Favre go. I think you could make the case the reporting after this ended went back in the other direction, but that wasn't the point you were making.

But even here, I think the players are mainly at the mercy of their sources. Favre had frozen out the locals for some time (which probably explained his need to his own office) and when push came to shove, the only people talking to the local newpapers were the Packers.

[The Shadow]

Bedard is unimpressive. It would be nice to have a more informed guy.

[digitaldean]

Between Lori Nickel's fluff pieces, Bedard's snideness it's no wonder the JSO is having problems.

There are very few writers there that I like reading. Though Hunt isn't my favorite, he is probably the best of the bunch. As for the GBPG, I wouldn't give you a pinch of S*** for Vandermause. Demovsky I like and respect.

Jason Wilde or Tom Oates are my favorite Wis. beat writers for the Packers. Wilde consistently gets under the skin of MM when he gets the usual canned answers.

[pittstang5]

So, not to interrupt the discussion of who is the best Packer writer or whatever everyone is talking about...Does anyone know if Jason Taylor actually visited today or not?

[red]

so we signed him, right?

[SnakeLH2006]

Bedard writes that he sees little chance of Taylor even wanting to go to Green Bay. I think he's doing this to drive up offers that other teams are making.

That's hearsay goddamitt!! TT locks 'em up. No FA uses GB as a bargaining chip. Oh wait. Yes they do. Sorry...