NewHampshireBillsFan

1.) The Patsies* in no way are scared of us and they don't think it will be difficult for them to win. That may work to our advantage because if we come out with a ferocious intensity we might gain the upper hand. 2.) Belicheat* is a very careful coach and thinks of anything illegal or legal that he can do in any game to win. He won't be surprised by the Bills. 3.) DJ is overly impressed by Belicheat* and wants to suck up to him. That is bad because it mitigates against #1. The Bills never look ferocious against the Pats, except in the first Lawyer Milloy game, when LM's presence sparked something on our team. 4.) The officials will also work against our intensity by the cheap penalties they will call to take away our edge. Still, we can win, I think, this time, but a lot to overcome. It will probably be a fairly low scoring game contrary to what most think. If we win it will probably be something like 16-14.

I know the AFL had 8 teams, Fish and Bengals were added later. I even mention at the bottom of my long dissertation that the Bengals were an expansion team. When I call a team an original AFL team I mean that the origin of the team was in the AFL, before joining the NFL in 1970. But I realize using that term could be confusing and thanks for pointing that out.

With the celebration of the 50th year of the AFL and the start of the season with two MNF games celebrating this event it is time to review the curse of being an original AFL team regarding super bowl wins. By the way, before we get into that, don't you find it totally ridiculous that NE* is the site of this game! In the 1960's about half or more of New Englanders were Giants fans and didn't even support the Patsies* while in Buffalo the Bills were established as a major Buffalo institution during this same era and were a spearheading AFL powerhouse. The Patsies* were a nothing in the AFL and RW had to even bale them out financially to survive, partly because their fan support was so poor. He should have let them croak. Anyway, SB wins and the curse: 1.) 4 of the original 10 AFL teams (Bills, Oilers/Titans, Chargers, and Bengals) have never won a SB. That's 40% of the teams. 2.) 6 of the original 10 teams, 60%(!!!), have not won a SB playing in the NFL. The Jets and Chiefs won when still in the AFL. 3.) 7 of the original 10 teams, 70%, have not won since the early 70's, 35+ years ago, since the Fish last won after the '73 season. Of course I'm glad they haven't won again. 4.) 8 of the original 10, 80%, haven't won in the last 25+ years since the Raiders last won after the 1983 season, before many current NFL fans even were fans. 5.) 9 of the original 10, 90%, haven't won in the last 10+ years since the Broncos last won after the 1998 season. 6.) 10 of the original 10, teams haven't won in this century, unless they cheated, since only the Belicheat* led Cheatriots* have won in the 2000's. By contrast, 11 of the 16 NFL teams who merged with the AFL in 1970 have won SBs. Only the hapless Lions, Vikings, Saints, Falcons, and Cardinals have failed to win. Five of 16 teams is only 31% of the teams that haven't won a SB. Of the four AFL teams that haven't won, the Bengals were an expansion team so they didn't play in the AFL long as an established team. The other three, Oilers, Chargers, Bills all were were very successful AFL championship teams. But that was to be the end for them, at least up to now.

Belicheat* is a brilliant coach who understands nuances about this game that even other HC's fail to grasp. That is why the cheating that he did is so significant. He understood how the cheating would seriously help him in ways that the media could not grasp. Give credit where credit is due he wouldn't have gone through the risk and trouble of massive taping for a whole decade if it wasn't a serious advantage to him. And Goodell, trying to minimize the damage to the league, correctly understood that even in Buffalo, people would write threads admiring Belicheat*'s brilliance as a coach. So the brilliance of Belicheat* would overcome the cheating* of Belicheat* in the end. That is why Goodell was determined that Belicheat* would not be forced to miss even one game as a coach due to cheating. Think of that as you wonder where M. Lynch is Monday night.

The moves with Turk and Langston does not suggest a team that plans extensively for future events. It has been said that living in the moment is a virtue. That virtue the Bills embrace.

Not Marty. He has decades of experience losing big games when his team was the better team. But 1-3 will not get DJ fired anyway, unless all the losses are by 4 touchdowns. Everyone expects the loss to NE*. They will give him some time. Now 1-5 might be a breaking point.

So true. I think any list of 5 items that doesn't include the level of bias the referees have for the Pats*/against the Bills is silly. Look at the videos of the last few season of Bills/Pats*!!! I mean the game is not fixed or anything like that but the officials are certainly intimidated by Belicheat* and Kraft* and the Pats*. For example, rushing Brady is only effective to the level the officials allow it. They could call a PF anytime anyone touches Brady* while he is throwing or simply not call any offensive holding on the Pats*. This is not some kind of crazy talk. For example in college basketball for non-conference road games everyone wonders what the officiating will be like. The NFL is not some type of holy institution that considers fair play the most important thing in life. Officials are people and they are a lot more afraid of Goodell, Kraft*, & Belicheat* than RW or DJ. And Goodell showed his colors in the Belicheat* and Wilfork* rulings.

Old players coming off injury are not the answer for the OL. We got to let the young players play and grow together at this point.

So much for players wanting to play hard for DJ. But in any case the Donahoe/Levy eras had to be among the most frustrating eras of the last 50 years. That is because it wasn't like we never had any talent during those years, but the pieces were never put together in the right way to lead to success.

I don't think the Patsies* planned something with all this. That being said don't reference Goodell in some positive way. He is a total hack as was proved by he becoming the defense attorney for the Patsies with the Belicheat* scandal. Goodell is Mr. tough guy with people like M. Lynch who get in some minor trouble with the law and play for teams without clout like the Bills. With the Patsies* he is a Mr. get down on your knees and kiss every one of Kraft*'s toes kind of commish. Name me one ruling where Goodell has ever done one tough thing to the Patsies* with all the shenanagins they are always up to. Did he suspend Wilfork for elbow jabbing sorry JP's knee?

At one time, in the 70's and 80's, few people in Buffalo had any second team, unless they had grown up in another city or something like that. One reason Buffalo might lose their team is because the NFL could easily calculate that most people in Buffalo would still watch the NFL and the posters on this thread bear that out. Me, I might hate some teams more than others but I could never rejoice in another teams's success, and if the Bills leave the NFL leaves with them.

We'll have to figure this out game by game. But, rookie QBs usually have enough problems trying to play for the first time in the NFL so I think Sanchez, at least, won't kill us even if he stays healthy.

Maybe you are right and it is crude of me to wish Brady* to be hurt. I did grow up in Buffalo and Buffalonians are great people wherever they might end up. But you have to realize I've lived in New England for over ten years now and some of their mentality is sure to rub off on me, without my even realizing it. I also lived in NJ for a while and that didn't help either. I remember seeing a Giants home game on TV and as soon as it was clear the opposing QB was hurt the whole stadium broke into wild cheers. What if I only hope Brady gets a bad concussion like TE last year and is sub-standard the rest of the year.

We always forget that RW doesn't have any debts to worry about. JJ in Dallas has to pay off an expensive stadium. Part of the revenue they generate goes to paying off the debts. Plus, most owners also have some debt incurred in buying their teams. Part of the money they make goes to help pay off the debt they incurred buying the team in the first place. RW paid $25,000 a long time ago and has no debt for buying the team or stadium cost debts. He shouldn't have to make nearly as much money as the other owners because he gets to keep all his profits and not use any to service debts. Of course what this all means is the next owner of the Bills will have even a much harder time competing in Buffalo without drastically raising ticket prices, etc.

Wishing your own team to lose defeats the whole purpose of being a fan of a team. And by the way it will not cause any more embarrassment to the FO than what they already have. We have lost 16 of the last 17 to NE*, admittedly with them blatantly cheating for a good chunk of those games, but in any case it hasn't caused RW to suddenly change his modus operandi. But I can understand your frustration and I wouldn't blame you if you just stopped watching the game on Monday if things go badly for the Bills. Take some time off, look yourself in the mirror, and then come back ready to root for your team to win in spite of all the obstacles. On the injury issue, perhaps that is my way of dealing with the duel frustration of seeing the Cheatriots* get rewarded for cheating and the Bills constantly bungling along and also seeing Wilfork purposely injure Losman and getting away with that as well. I have taken this line of reasoning: 1.) NE* has been called the model franchise by Forbes and even ESPN writers echo that opinion. 2.) NE* blatantly cheated and Goodell, when explaining the situation, sounds like NE*'s defense attorney rather than a supposedly impartial judge. 3.) Wilfork deliberately injured Losman and Goodell did not penalize him and Belicheat* and Kraft* never talk about him except to praise him, so they condone it. 4.) So if the model franchise deliberately injures opposing QB's and Goodell is fine with it I am going to rethink my attitude and ask the Bills players to copy Belicheat* and the model franchise. Unfortunately I agree with you that we don't have the Wilfork type players on our team to get to Brady and mess him up.

Walker did a decent job at RT for a couple of years. But it is true we don't seem to hit any big winners in FA. But I wonder how many teams really do. Some teams really pay enormous money but even then the returns aren't always there. Don't tell me Nate Clements was worth the money he got in FA. You have to build through the draft, ultimately. Not that we have done that great there either.

A true Bills fan would never wish the Bills to lose for any reason, even a better draft pick. As Chuck Knox said when he took the job as HC, "the Buffalo Bills exist for only one reason: to win football games". As fans that is all we should care about. If someone is so frustrated by the mismanagement of the team then take some time off. Wanting to see your team lose makes no sense. Personally, I hope we injure Brady permanently on Monday and he never plays football again. I hope the players on the Bills take out their frustrations on the Patsies* because that is the right approach in sports when you have a lot of frustration with losing. I hope we finally get our revenge for Wilfork and Losman. If NE* does get a big lead they would be smart to get Brady off the field before he is carted off the field by a hit from a frustrated Bill.

I was there as well with my two brothers. One of my brothers dove into the net behind the goalposts after the goalposts were brought down. He could have had his hand dislocated but he was able to rip off some net and we all got pieces which I still have. Miami used to be #1 by a long shot. But we really owned them during the Levy days and we sent Shula to retirement with the frustration of never being able to get by us his last years. Now I live in NE* and hate their guts as much as I hated Miami in the 70's. Goodell letting Belicheat* get away with blatant cheating with no real penalty and the officiating when playing NE* is about as biased as when we played the Fish in the 70's. I hope God punishes Belicheat* and NE* some day because I can see that Goodell, the media, and officials are going to continue to kiss their sorry butts* big time for years to come. Yah, I think my hatred for NE* has exceeded what I even had for Miami.

I don't think he burned bridges for 40 years but I think RW is a somewhat out of the loop on GM talent. When he hired Tom Donahoe he was in his early 80's and stated that he wanted to hire a GM that would also be president of team so that he, RW could more or less just sit and watch. So for 5 years I think he was not as involved. When he had to fire TD he went for Levy because of his past relationship and then with Russ Brandon because he was already in house and growing in his job. We do have a somewhat unusual situation in that our GM is not a football talent guy by training. If this season flops RW really needs to not only hire a top coach but someone who would also be the GM, maybe the same person. But I think they keep Brandon and try to hire another fairly inexpensive coach.

Teams don't usually want to keep a player who was a starter on the OL as a backup when they are LT's age. Probably Butler looked like he had more upside than Walker at RT, so they didn't want to move him back there. Anyway, I have no problem cutting him if they weren't going to start him. Give the younger players a chance in that case and save the $3 million actual salary he was due to get. Unfortunately, the Levy era for the OL was a real disappointment. They bring in Dockery and Walker for high salaries which ticks off Peters and the whole thing is set back for years. I think Russ Brandon and co. at this point have done a much better job of at least setting up the line well for the future and even this year they can't be worse than last year, at least I hope not.

Don't forget the officials. After a personal foul call Maybin will realize that officiating is not fair when playing NE*.

Unless TE is absolutely a disaster for a few games we won't see Fitz. No chance of bringing in an outside QB at this stage. The NFL doesn't work that way. Kelly wants to be an owner of the Bills, not a position coach for the Bills. Big difference between the two.

The posters at TBD have some of the shrewdest comments anywhere, better than any writer who gets paid to write. On the other hand some posts on TBD are unimaginably dumb. Sometimes I think there should be a minimum football IQ needed to be a Bills fan. Hopefully I would pass the test.

Signing someone like Garcia at this point would be a desperation move and we are not the kind of team that operates with desperation. OK, Trent didn't play well this preseason and we just fired our OC. But we have AVP and so we are not desperate.

I think OC's who are trying to prove or re-prove themselves try to make things too complicated. Secure OC's and successful teams often keep it simple. The Bills certainly have examples of both type of OC's in our history, but more of the types that try to show how smart they are, unfortunately. One thing to remember is that with a developing OL you want them to get comfortable and complicated play calling is not the way to do it. In this area DJ has shown intelligence by pushing Turk to simplify and eventually firing him. I'm glad he didn't wait until we had lost some real games to do so. With DJ's penchant for extreme loyalty to staff, when he does fire someone I would accept it as the right thing to do.