BillsfaninFl

I left Buffalo 26 years ago for a job-related opportunity. Eventually, I retired to Florida. But whenever someone asks me where I am from, (hardly anyone in Florida is from Florida,) I proudly tell them Buffalo, NY. People make the city and Buffalo is a great city. Fear not, western New Yorkers, when global warming really takes hold, Buffalo will become the new Orlando, Florida. The population will go back over 300,000 and people will be standing in line to visit there on vacation. New businesses will move in and decent paying jobs will be available. Regarding the article writer's depression, it's her problem, not everyone's who lives in the area.

A newscore article indicates he paid a player to start fights during team practice sessions. Go to http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/New-England-Patriots-Bill-Belichick-players-fighting-110511

So if you wear it to a game, you get teased about only being a half-fan. Then again, if it was a pair of pants, you could be a half-assed fan. It's a neat idea, but I think the people in that business would rather sell two jerseys than one.

The team is playing better than most of its history, and we are again talking about next year's draft? What would it take to focus you on the present?

He kissed Tebow's neck.

Why are we still talking about Luck? The Bills are already out of the running for him, by virtue of having four wins. The only way they could land him is to offer a blockbuster deal to the team with the top draft pick. And we all know that it would never happen.

I'm not against the players filing the lawsuits, but I feel that it will be a difficult case to win. There has been plenty of publicity over the years to indicate that concussions are commonplace in contact sports. That is why the professional hockey players started wearing helmets - long after the NFL was requiring it - and why amateur boxers and wrestlers wear them. So it's hard to say that players did not know in advance that there was a risk of debilitating head injuries when they joined these pro sports. There are so many documented examples of former players who were never the same after a number of concussions, it is not very credible to say that players did not know they were risking such injuries. I certainly agree that more can and should be done to protect players. Helmets with additional external cushioning have been around for several years. I don't know why they have been used sparingly.

Runningbacks taken as number one picks often become the starters their first season. The fact that Spiller could not beat out the competition proves that many of the members of TSW were right when they questioned why the Bills picked Spiller in the first round. I'm not saying he is a bust, justing reiterating what was often said, that the team had greater needs. Spiller may be a good back in the future, but we didn't improve the team by drafting him. That said, C.J. will get his reps this season if/when Fred gets hurt. Jackson is being used too much for a guy in his thirties, making him more vulnerable to injuries. (Those who think he has less mileage because he got into the NFL late should remember that he was playing football the whole time.)

Do you seriously think that when Wilson passes on, the new ownership will think "we can't move the team now, they just made improvements to the stadium?"

It's easy to poke holes in the performance of the Bills. It's not perfect, but I love that ... 1. They are playing aggressive football: taking chances on offense and defense. 2. The coaches were smart enough to have Fred Jackson carry the load with only brief appearances by Spiller. And, as critical as most of us have been toward Jauron, turning wide receiver George Wilson into a safety was an excellent move.

Calm down, everyone. Chad is being interviewed on Saturday for a job with the organization. I think they want him to videotape the other team's signals during the game.

I agree with the others who said it is too early to be thinking about playoffs. But it feels good to do it. Keep in mind that the Bills started 4 and 0 in Jauron's last 7 - 9 season. So let's take it one game at a time. We haven't played a good defense yet. On the other hand, it's great to see some exciting offensive plays in consecutive games. We haven't had this much fun since the early 90s.

Grew up in Buffalo and enjoyed sharing my support for the Bills with friends and family. There were a few highs in those early decades and a lot more lows. But it didn't bother me very much because we enjoyed being at the games, rooting for our team, tailgating before and after, sharing the highs and lows with other fans, etc. Eventually, job moves took me away from Buffalo and most of the fun experiences. But I still went to occasional games, watched the others with family, etc. Even then, it didn't hurt that much when Christie missed or Tennessee got away with a bad play. You still felt the team would be back fighting for the SB the next year. After the new century started, it was becoming obvious that Wilson was no longer trying to field a winner - just a team that would continue to bring in the fans' money. Recent years keep piling onto that fact. So for me the lowest point was just before this season started. After the Bills blew away the sleepwalking Chiefs, I felt a little better. Hope springs eternal, I guess. But I still know that the sad story of the Bills and Buffalo fans is probably heading for a sad ending. I'll keep hoping for a savior, and in the meantime try to get some enjoyment out of this season.

I thought I was awake. I thought I ate breakfast. I thought I was ready to watch whatever Florida teams the local TV channels were offering. (Not my choice, but I live in Florida.) Then my wife happened to notice that DirecTV was offering a free trial (today only) of Sunday Ticket. So I recorded and watched the Bills game. (After the last couple of seasons I had cancelled Sunday ticket, because it just wasn't worth the money to watch another losing season.) I thought I was awake, but the Bills were clobbering the Chiefs. It wasn't ugly, it wasn't lucky bounces of the ball; they actually looked pretty good. Of course, I wasn't awake. It was too good to be true. It was all a dream.

The Bills owner has been maximizing the team's value for years now. Ralph makes an occasional spin comment, but really doesn't care about having a winning team. Nix and Gailey are caretaker staff, but the power is with the financial guys. I can't believe so many people here refuse to accept this.

It seems there are many "experts" that say the Bills suck every year. People on this board say every year that the Bills still suck. Many in this group say they are clueless and only right in their predictions half the time. Then the team goes out and plays the games and proves all of them right. But the same people keep drinking the kool aid and swallowing the hype every year, predicting great things. Those people are not right half the time. They are not right year after year. To them I say, I envy your ability to get excited about the next season in spite of the team's record getting worse. Sooner or later, it's bound to happen. The Bills will win a few that they usually blow at the end of the game and get to 7 & 9. And there'll be a ticker tape parade on this board for the improving team. Jauron never did worse than 7 & 9 (even in his first year), but he was the worst coach in the world. So even though I was no fan of Jauron, I'm having difficulty understanding how some of us can be predicting a winning season and bashing anyone who doesn't agree.

And the winner is JCBoston's number 3. It could happen.

It's not hard to figure out why Trent was the starter at the beginning of last year. Each year he was impressive in training camp. But when the real bullets started to fly he became a different guy. Chan just fell for the same illusion that Jauron did. You don't see the real Trent until the whistle blows.

Regarding Overdorf and Littman, I have been on a bandwagon for some time about how they have hurt the team. But as more evidence comes to light about Bills heirarchy assignments and decision-making, I have to challenge my own thinking. I know what it's like when the big boss adds to your pile of work. You do it or else. So if you are a marketing guy and are told you are also going to serve as GM for awhile, you do it. If you are the numbers guy and you are told to slash the payroll you do it. And if you are a scout or college coach and you want to be a GM or head coach (again), you take the single job offer available, and agree to the strings attached (like having other guys overrule you or do part of your job). If you play along, you keep your job (unless a scapegoat is needed after a few years). The scoreboard for Overdorf and Littman looks pretty good if you are Ralph Wilson. They are helping you do what you want done. If not, they would have been gone long ago. No one is going to blow the whistle on Ralph if they want to keep working in the NFL world. Maybe after a guy gets really old, he might come forward and say or write about the dysfunctional Bills organization. Then again, the oldest guys in the league sometimes get hired by the Bills. So how old is really old? Certainly not 80. I guess we'll never hear the full story.

Good point. New owners always think they can do a better job of stocking a team, so having a bad record is not a deterant to buyers.

The odds of the Bills going 0 and 16 are almost as astronomical as the team going 16 and 0. They are the same odds against us getting Andrew Luck next year.

I guess each of us has to answer that question for ourselves. IMO this is not an apples to apples comparison. Yes, as you imply, it is better to have loved and lost, than not to have loved at all. But the Bills are in the entertainment business. Not quite the same level as "is my life fulfilled." My view of entertainment, especially my favortie sports team, is that it should entertain me more often than not. The Bills have not even come close in the last decade. Therefore, I cannot agree with you. I feel football should be fun to watch. Sometimes your team wins and sometimes your team loses, but they should be strong competitiors and win more than they lose most years to satisfy me. Forgive me for expecting a return on my investment (both time and money), but that is a reasonable expectation. It is not enough for me to have had bad entertainment for most years. Unlike some who have announced they are "out of here," I continue to be hopeful that I will be entertaioned by my favorite sports team. But I reserve the right to be unappreciative just because we have had a team all these years. Man, how low can our expectations go. The last couple of years I keep reading comments after we swoon time and time again at the end of games, to the effect of "we should have won, and look what our record would be if we did." That's really sad.

If you are going to get rid of something meaningless, get rid of cheerleaders. No one goes along with their cheers (as they do in college ball). People just watch the little cuties flaunting their bodies. Wait, what am I saying? Nevermind.

Spin, hell. You're comment is "pie in the sky." I don't know about the other realists on this board, but I am not convinced that the team has more NFL talent than in recent years. What evidence points to that? Drafting Dareus is potentially the only big upgrade at a position that has happened in two drafts. The jury is still out on whether the total of lost talent helping other teams has been replaced by better players. Certainly, the Bills have not acquired a lot of players via free agency and most of those they did take have not panned out. (See offensive line acquisitions.) I hope Merryman and Darnet contribute more than their predecessors, but they have to play in games before we will know. You're the king of spin.

I can't believe how many of you guys are acting like this is new news. Several of us have been posting the way this organization is run for years. Don't expect John Wawrow to elaborate any further on his point. It took courage to say what he did. Of course, many of you will not believe that this franchise has been devious and dysfunctional for many years, and now is even less subtle about cashing in as much as possible right now. I've been an executive in corporations that are getting ready for sale, more than once. At some point the ownership decides that the ultimate goal is the sale of the business (team) because they know they will not be competitive in the future. This may be because new competition has far more resources, or it may just be that the current ownership (of the Bills) has determined that they are not willing to invest the big bucks it will take to have a champion. So for a period of months or years, the business starts tightening its belt by cutting expenses (therefore improving profitability). When the business goes up for sale, interested buyers see a financial profile that looks very healthy, making it look like they can offer more money for the organization. As fans, we have to hope that a buyer wants more than a lucrative investment. We need new ownership that wants his new toy to be a champion and is willing to spend the additional bucks to make it happen. We also need the purchaser to keep the team where it is. The situation is not hopeless, but we need a "white knight."