NewHampshireBillsFan

I don't think the NFL would continue to be the premier league it is today without salary caps and revenue sharing. MLB is somewhat different in that the lousy teams know they have no chance to make the playoffs most years but any given summer night they might beat the Yankees or Red Sox in a game. Baseball is a very unpredictable game and the worst teams beat the best teams several times a year. In football, if you have a lousy team and are playing a great team you almost certainly know you are going to lose and do lose most of the time. It is tough to get fans to come out or even watch on TV for such an event. You can only get so much from gambling and fantasy football. It won't replace local fan interest in local teams. Local interest won't be there if they know the games are hopeless beforehand.

ESPN said that AVP had not been a coordinator at any level but he did have that year as coordinator in NFL Europe. I remember seeing a clip of AVP being interviewed in Europe a few years ago and showing him calling plays from the pressbox. I don't know if there could be a link for that somewhere. But AVP mentioned in that interview that he liked having the responsibility of calling the plays. My thinking is that he at least might be some improvement on Turk and the team won't do any worse with Turk gone.

The no-huddle the Bills were running did not have TE calling his own plays. Turk was calling the plays and now AVP will call the plays. They plan to still run this type of no-huddle even though Turk is gone.

1.) When DJ was retained he realized he had to do something to make this a better year. 2.) He told Schonert the offense must improve drastically. 3.) Schonert came up with the no-huddle, which DJ liked. 4.) The no-huddle didn't work well in the preseason. 5.) DJ figured AVP could do better with the current offense and made this move. 6.) Russ Brandon, I think, put pressure on DJ to do something.

There is some finite chance the Bills win on Monday night but they have to overcome four difficult obstacles: 1.) The play of the Pats* on the field. 2.) The coaching of Belicheat* on the sidelines. 3.) Whatever new types of cheating* Belicheat* and NE* are doing this year. A cheater is like a sex offender--they never really get "cured" of their disease. 4.) The refs. on the field. Besides roughing calls whenever anyone gets close to Brady expect a call like offensive pass interference against TO, sort of like the call on Moulds when the Bills were close to winning several years ago.

Huddling when you told everyone you wouldn't huddle is no big deal. It would just make it easier for the defense to send in subs based on the down and position. If they never had told anyone about the no-huddle and then did that in the first game would place NE* in a maybe awkward position. Doing the reverse does nothing to NE*. If they come out without the no-huddle on the 14th all it means is they realize the no-huddle didn't work well in the preseason. They won't do that so expect the no-huddle and maybe a few plays they didn't show in the preseason. The rest is execution and OL play or the lack of those.

Quite true. Cold and even slippery weather does not make it impossible to throw. Look at all the playoff wins Buffalo has had in OP, and most of those were not primarily ground attacks. Slippery fields can make DBs fall down and leave the receiver wide open. The only thing that makes passing extremely difficult is very strong winds but even there Kelly and Ferguson did a great job once they learned the way the winds work in the OP stadium. Edwards has unfortunately not learned how to throw in the wind at all in the first 2 years. Cassel threw better than TE in our own stadium in the windy NE* game last year. Hopefully they will work on TE in the wind this year.

I appreciate the knowledgeable insight you bring to this board. It may be true that RW has forgotten more about football than we or even you know, but then all the more what is his excuse for only 17 winning seasons out of 49? Of that 17, I remember well 13 of those winning years and they were exciting. But how many grueling seasons of despair that went on for years on end between those so few winning years. The sad truth of the situation is that RW is the key person in all of this and RW has found a way to be the head honcho of poor to mediocre teams through many different type of eras of football from the 60's to the 00's. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is that of the 10 AFL teams that merged with the NFL only 6 have ever won SB's. On the other hand of the 16 NFL teams that merged, 11 have won SB's. So the Bills are part of the sizable 40% of AFL teams that have never won a SB. Fun facts to know in this 50 year anniversary.

Williams was a huge loss and I think it was a Tom Donahoe idiocy. Donahoe once quipped that his job in Buffalo was not finished yet because he had not replaced all the players there before he arrived. The point is he assumed he could do a good job replacing anyone who left and he couldn't. Peters is another story in that the OL was a never a real strength of the team during his years here. He may do OK in Philly but it won't be like we see a big decline in the OL after his leaving, since it wasn't that good while he was here.

Some of the best teams use a 3-4. But it is not going to add size as you suggested above. We have Stroud, Williams, and Schobel on the field now in the 4-3 and Kelsey/Maybin.

So many good posts on this thread, especially from long time Bills followers. I was aware of the Bills in the 60's and became a fanatical fan in 1973 at the age of 17. A few points: 1.) Although there was a mild threat to move the team to Seattle in the 70's, it was really not that big a deal that Ralph kept the team in Buffalo for at least 3/4 of their 50 year history. The stadium (which the county built) was sold out in the 70's and 80's when the team had any reasonable success on the field. The Bills led the league in attendance many years because they had 80,020 seats in those days, larger than nearly every other stadium. The discrepancy in ticket prices or corporate suites with bigger cities was not that large in those days. In short, Buffalo was a perfectly fine place financially compared to other NFL teams for most of its history. Teams that left, like the Browns or Oilers, often had stadium issues which Buffalo didn't have for a long time after the OP stadium was built. 2.) Ralph had and has a bad combination of being both cheap and stubborn when dealing with his coaches and GM's and eventually turns off all the good ones. The bottom line is I don't think it bothers him that he only had 17 winning seasons out of 49. He got his way and saved money and that is his bottom line. 3.) The hall of fame selection had really nothing to do with keeping the team in Buffalo. It was that he saved the AFL and helped pave the way for the merger with the NFL. Ralph has been given credit in the past for being concerned about the league and not just his team. I wish he would have been more selfish to worry about his team's success on the field and not care about the league.

They may be desperate but they are not innovative by nature. The no huddle is their idea of being innovative. DJ has never been an innovative type of coach. He has been a conservative, play not to lose coach who gets his players to play hard for him. That is all you are going to get. The coordinators are both first time coordinators who spent most of their careers as position coaches because no one saw any huge potential for them before DJ came along. It wasn't always this way. When Levy was HC he hired Ted Marchibroda to be OC. He was a former and future HC who was always very innovative on offense (K gun, etc.). Later Levy had Wade Phillips, another former and future HC, as DC. So instead of looking for former HC's as coordinators or former coordinators as coordinators, we look for position coaches to be coordinators and learn on the job. Its all about money for RW, but it wasn't always this way for the Bills. At one time we paid for top assistant coaches.

So true for me, especially living in NE*. I liked it better when Pete Carroll was coach before the cheat* and Jerry Jones's stooge was our coach.

The young guys are learning and trying. But I'm starting to think the veterans have finally started to quit on Dick, Turk, and Perry. I don't think you can just bring back a failed coaching staff like RW did to save money and expect the team to continue to play with maximum intensity. Maybe at one time the players wanted to play for DJ because he is a player's coach, but players also want to win if they bust their butts and I think they are starting to realize their coaching staff just isn't top notch. Subconsciously at least they realize this current team is screwed and this affects them on the field. If we fans realize this team has serious problems shouldn't we expect the players to realize it even more?

I think that is true to a large extent, although the lack of a strong personality ties in to DJ's persona. But Kay was the one who called the plays for Knox during those great couple of years in the early 80's when we should have won a SB.

NE* without Brady is not that intimidating. All it takes is one good hit. Learn from Wilfork and Losman how it is done. All I can say is I'm glad Rex Ryan is in our division now. He learned what football is about from his dad (bounties on QB's, etc.). DJ is a total wuss and out team is a bunch of wusses to let the cheaters* keep their QB healthy after all they have done to steal wins from us and deliberately injure our QB. We need more character on our team that refuses to let another team intimidate us and we need to dish out more than we receive, such as Wilfork/Losman vs. our D and Brady.

Why not just officiate NE* games fairly. Then a lot of teams would have a chance, maybe even the Bills. Oh but I forgot, NFL refs are supposed to suck up to the "model" franchise*. Kind of like the Dolphins of the 70's.

Agree. First of all if Bell comes in Walker goes back to RT where he has played well in the past. No way Butler beats out Walker at RT. Butler coming back to guard makes the most sense. The only problem is that Butler played RG and now Wood is entrenched there already. So if Butler could play LG that would work out best and Levitre sits for awhile. And no way does Hangartner go to the bench. They really like his high IQ and they need someone experienced and sharp at C, especially with all the the new faces in the OL and trying to run the no huddle to boot.

When the Bills lose every serious fan at the game is depressed. Football and all of sports is about winning and losing really sucks. In many ways the agony of losing is more intense than the thrill of winning.

We always seem to be drafting corners in anticipation of losing our current starters. I wish we could have drafted a lineman instead of McKelvin and kept Greer, who clearly was good enough to be at least a decent starter in the NFL.

I think it makes people like myself feel good to know that the Bills generally cut the right players in that they rarely go on to star other places and often don't even catch on for long with another team, like Preston. At least it shows it wasn't (just) coaching but talent itself with people like Preston. I guess I would feel even better if the Bills knew how to draft or sign free agents that went on to become all pros and led us to a SB win.

Part of the reason people feel the Levy-post Levy/Jauron era was skewed so heavily towards DB's is the all important first pick of the draft for the team. In two of the four years a DB was picked as the first pick of the draft by the Bills. The first pick is where you hope to have your biggest impact player, for the upcoming year and for years to come. Plus, both Whitner and McKelvin were relatively high first round picks. Also, in 2007 they practically had to pick a RB with the first pick and some might say they practically had to pick a DE with the first pick this year. So in the 2 years when we had some options they went with a DB in both drafts as the first pick.

Quite true. When the Braves left not only did Buffalo not get another NBA team in 30 years but no one ever even mentioned Buffalo as a possibility for an NBA team. For one thing the NFL probably does not want to expand above 32 teams. The only way I see it happening is if they internationalize with Canada, Mexico, and possibly Europe, and that probably would not happen.

WE ARE INSECURE. I've never met fans of any other NFL team that even think about losing their team. Maybe Jacksonville but I don't know any Jag fans. But we probably should be insecure and Goodell and other bigwigs haven't exactly given a ringing endorsement that the Bills will stay after Wilson. The attitude is Buffalo has to continue to prove they can support the team. But Buffalo fans epitomize what is good and honorable about the NFL--rabid fans who support their team with the enthusiasm of a southern college town. By the same token NE* epitomizes what is bad and disgusting about the NFL--a cheataholic head coach who the commissioner sucks up to like he was Vince Lombardi. Bottom line: the NFL may have more to lose by the Bills moving than they realize. Bills moving may signal the beginning of the decline of the respect the NFL has in the sports world at this time. What Goodell should be saying is the NFL will do everything in its power to keep the Bills in Buffalo, such as extend low cost loans to the new owners, etc. Low cost loans like the NFL gave the Giants/Jets to build their new stadium which Wilson rightly complained about.

And the SOP cheating didn't just hurt his reputation. (Imagine his HOF induction vs. Wilson/Smith. The only thing anyone will be thinking about is that he cheated to win.) It also seriously damaged the creditability of the league in ways that will only become apparent in the years to come. Eventually someone in the media with courage will do a real expose instead of helping with the cover up. If it wasn't for fantasy football and gambling the NFL would be in much worse shape.