WinBeforeYouLeave

"Ground Chuck" demanded they be tough. Knox' tenure was a special time. I was in junior high, but I remember the buzz.

I, for one, am not smart enough to take my hand off the burner. I have to agree.

Easy, open the ticket widow. We're mallards. Its cheap entertainment, and we all want to be there when it 'happens', too many of us have paid the dues, year after year. We're desperate for the breakout, and who wants to miss it when/if after all this?

Shanahan, Walsh, Belichick, Landry, Gibbs, Mangini, Holmgren, Levy, some more intense than others, sure- but the clapping and running and shouting (IMHO) works for few, fails for many. Tomlin is not a screamer, (sorry) but I had to start somewhere. I prefer a guy that seems smarter than me, motivated, but not a clown or a stereotype. When fans asks for a screamer, all I can think of is Barry Switzer. Probably my bad. Still, I wonder if a young Ditka would last half a season in today's media intensive environment.

You read my mind... Most Rah Rah screamers wear thin after a short time. The players stop hearing it after a while. Marv seemed to use his emotion as punctuation, keeping it effective. It's like saying the F word constantly, what do you say when you're really pissed? Didn't Jauron play on a cold weather team that played outdoors? When did the Lions move indoors, and when did that stop being an advantage? Even if it isn't, it's part of the lore of the Buffalo Bills. We relish the elements, we want the same from our team.

I've been sitting in that place since 1992, moving down a little here and there, waiting for the product to improve. There will be a few that check their tickets that haven't had them long, but after a decade, well.... What do you do, stop? I go with my 67 year old father that walks from California Road to our seats without fail, and as long as he's got the legs, we'll sit out there and hope. It's easy to stop if you're in crappy seats you can buy for single games, harder after so long working your way to the fifty.

...lest we forget this team was thiiiiis close to signing Lawrence Phillips before San Fran did in 2000

It's been said here before, but I think it's an important point. Losing Rusty Jones may have been the greatest loss this team has had in a long while. This team cannot stay healthy, and it seems like a lot of pulls and strains.

In all fairness, Spaugnolo sp? is in a Parcells linked system, right? (In an article on 2BD- GM's/ VP's/scouts from Miami to Dallas to Miami) That has to be a better set up than coming into this club and having to acclimate. I dunno if he'd have the same success (esp. early on) coming in here with the ghost of Levy hanging around. The Bills would never sign Joey Porter, either. Even though we did court Lawrence Phillips once...

I think that's well put, even if I don't really have a ton of faith DJ won't keep it in reverse, gaining speed. Even as it was happening (5-1) I viewed it as a welcome bonus, because I thought 2009 and 2010 were the years that would start the big upswing. A welcome bonus seems to be just another Buff sports tease.

I didn't see the amount he was carrying. That stuff is awful tough to get out of your system, how is it he's passed piss tests? It is attributed to him, but an NFL veteran has been tested so often, it seems odd he's a first time offender. That is, unless it actually was someone else's and he's ultimately responsible for what was in his car. With as much to lose as an NFL player has, no insurance? Dumb dumb dumb. That's something I'd pull.

Hell no. I did however, think that it was meddling Ralph making that call- even if I agreed with it. I gave it some thought, and lightened up. I figured he has been around a while, so he must know things I don't etc.... Anyway, I thought Johnson played very well in the fourth quarter, and reasonable the rest of the game. It wasn't on him. By Tennessee everyone had Fluties game more than figured out and his arm looked dead after what, week ten?. Pendry didn't help. Perhaps I typed it poorly. Flutie's presence sure wreaked a ton of havoc in this organization however, that is something he HAD to have contributed to. When he left I was already over him. I think he did one great thing, Flutiemania did a lot to grease the skids when all the stadium negotiations were going on at the time. Also, in the first few months, he looked like a fairly complete quarterback, or so we wanted to believe. Sometimes I think Ralph tends to make emotional decisions he figures his guys are too uptight to make. I'm not going to try to evaluate his results in total- who knows what he presides over? What a beat up offshoot to the conversation. Sorry.

In 93 or so we (fans) couldn't stop fixating on the 4-3. That lasted a while. There were some horses on the roster those days, but in retrospect there was more athleticism with the LB's, and most were pretty good size. Jeff Wright was probably about 50 lb light compared to the current standard, and the unit was still effective, so in that way they were a little off the prototype. The current group is woefully small, with no Bob Sanders to clean up behind them. There has to be a way to cut K Mitchell loose on passing situations, even if it means a little man coverage against mid-size receivers. As far as moving Schobel to OLB in year eight of his career... can he even cover? I've never seen a scheme change do much, Wade Phillips was a guy I liked. He just did what it took the way his guys could best pay. Scheme seemed to take a back seat to gameplan. IIf I remember right, in important games he and his group responded, often creatively.

I was ready to forgive the play calling v. Dallas last yr because I was impressed by the character of the 'second tier' youth he had available. I really liked the toughness they displayed. If this was a veteran team, I'd consider letting him coach the first year of his extension since I had to eat it anyway, and there have been flashes of inspiration from the players, and the players like him. Stability does have value, if tinkering can really help. Now, I hear too many befuddled young players in post-game press conferences. I am very pro-Trent's potential, and I swear I've seen some of the best decisions made by a Bills QB since Flutie early 98. (Bledsoe talk still hurts too much) Losing a young QB that we've been potentially (that word again) waiting for 10 years is too high a risk to take if it's the coaching staff's fault for his decline. Hardy's progress doesn't bug me much, he's probably a kid that never had to truly work before, he was so gifted athletically. Remember Moulds early? The Coach implied he was a couple clicks this side of short bus. Once he learned the game, his athleticism took him to next level. He wasn't stupid, just football lazy, and figured it out. I can't point at (Steve... Jackson?) getting in more snaps as all failure- perhaps he's developing pleasantly ahead of schedule? What else can I believe on some levels. They already cashed the check. Van Pelt was very 'listenable' on the radio, I wonder if he is an effective coach?

Great board, I had to join in- I though Butler was like a second term President in the 7th year. I think everybody involved was ready to see him go- including the fans- because of the cap prison we were heading into, the big three leaving at once, Flutie/Johnson... AJ Smith is no longer the darling he was, and Polian, well, letting him go was the biggest F up of Wilson's tenure, I think. I have to understand how it is such a disaster and so 'un-football' when an owner is interested in how and what and why of FOOTBALL operations. I couldn't begin to comment on how he might approach other facets of team ownership. If he influences or makes a personnel call, good or bad (Johnson v. titans?, that was attributed to Ralph) I remind myself that not only does he 'write the checks', blah blah...... but he's also been in the professional football game for nearly fifty years, fruitless as some of those may be. Kraft, Snyder, many of the owners that have been labeled meddlers don't carry his tenure. From what has been said about Marv, (and by him in his book about Ralph) a little bit of regular information flow to Ralph went a long way. I gotta think getting c**k blocked and shut out by his well paid 'football men' would get real tired when you make sure their checks clear. If Ralph did pull the trigger on starting R Johnson in Tennessee, at the time I thought it was ballsy and was so glad to get the midget and his incompletions on the bench he (Ralph) was my hero for it, rumors be true. I know I wasn't alone. I was so glad someone mentioned the elephant in the room- Flutie's stench at the time. He skipped 14 in a row off the turf or linemen's helmets in Az, or something like that. Then, RJ sucked azz in 2000 and the decline continued. But I digress.