chris heff

I don't understand being a fan of a team and hoping they lose. I don't understand hoping that players or coaches fail just to be right. I've been a Bills fan pretty much from the beginning. I never, never root for them to lose. I never root for failure from anyone associated with this team. I'm not delusional, I know when the team is a mess. It's hard to be optimistic some times, like when Levy is named GM and Jauron is named HC. We all pretty much knew that wasn't going to work out, but I didn't wish for failure. I have long believed the problem with the Bills came down to one individual and that was Ralph Wilson. Prior to that team of the 90s Ralph was not considered to be a good owner. That team was built by Polian, who became GM by default. Ralph Wilson was instrumental in building the NFL of today, but a good owner? No. The amount of bone headed moves are too numerous to list. When Ralph relinquest controll to Ross Branden and what subsiqently happened gave me more hope than I had for decades. Whaley becoming GM and the hiring of Marrone was completely un-Wilson like. Yes I know that the bean counters stayed. No one knows how this is going to turn out. There will be new ownership. I hope that Whaley and Marrone have enough success that the new owner doesn't feel the need to blow the whole thing up. I think that blowing it up would be a set back.

The only championships the Bills ever won were in the old AFL in 1964 and 1965.. The helmets were white. They changed to the red helmets in an effort the help Joe Ferguson throw less interceptions.

I hope Dombrowski is our punter, just so the announcers can point out that he went to Harvard. That never gets old.

Wait, what? Somebody could move the Bills?

Ralph was adamant about the Miami thing.

Willie "Satellite" Totten that's whom. Willie was the replacement QB in1987. Willie was also a four year starter at Mississippi Valley State, he had a pretty good receiver.

Willie Totten

I don't hate EJ, I think he was a rookie, being told to be careful.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought this.

I felt from preseason that Manuel was aiming the ball. In crunch time, specifically two minute drills he stopped aiming. It seemed to me that Hackett had him so worried about turn overs that he was tentative. When he stoped thinking just played he was much better.

I've wondered the same thing about sharing that stadium.

Since Kelly retired, I believe we established in another thread that at best you have been right 58%. You predicted Bledsoe would fail, but he had success prior to being a Bill, and he was at the end of his career. So I think he gets thrown out. Therefore your record is 50% right and wrong. How is it that you conclude you are more likely to be right?

Where do you get that Manuel "wasn't even that good @ Florida St."?

Yup, it's all about Belichick that's why his record in Cleveland was 36-44 and the first year in New England without Brady 5-11. People always want to point to that year Brady got hurt and say "see, Belichick can win with anyone at QB". That one year is the exception not the rule. Fact is without Brady, Belichick record is 52-60.

Good articles, the guard/center situation is not good. With TE there is at least a chance.

I happen to be in NYC and this was a bigger story on the local news than this article makes out. I winder if this is anything? http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/06/19/mike-pettine-tom-brady-bragged-to-jets-coach-that-pats-had-jets-playbook/

I went to a Bills, Dolphins game a few years ago at Robbie Pro Dolphin Shark Sun Stadium. We had luxury box tickets, there was a Dolphin fan in the box that spent the entire game on a couch watching the game on a small TV. I kept wondering why he bothered to come to the game at all. I've had great experiences at stadiums and some bad. I love to see games live, but I also like the comfort of my own home. I will admit that I will never go to a night game again.

This

The rebuilding started at the beginning of Manuel's career not the end. The 2008 team, the year before Manuel's freshman year had one member drafted, 2009 had three, 2010 had three and 2011 four. Bowden's last year was 2009, Manuel's first. Fisher took over in 2010. So first coaching change on 33 years, NCAA violations, no national championship in ten years and a losing record against your biggest rivals. Yeah they weren't rebuilding. I agree that we have not seen enough to make a judgement. I don't know of he is the guy either, but I don't understand people looking at Manuel's college career and saying he was unsuccessful or mediocre.

Obviously

I live in Florida and have for a long time college football is bigger than the NFL. The big three, Miami, Florida and FSU are judged by their record against each other and National Championships. Florida obviously dominated the 2000. Both Miami and FSU had huge problems. FSU had both the 2006 and 2007 seasons vacated because of playing in eligable players. Bowden's program was a mess when he retired. They were absolutly in a rebuilding mode. When the Bills drafted Manuel, I began asking FSU fans that I knew what they thought. The casual fans generally said he was ok. I don't recall anyone saying they were glad he was gone. The most astute fan that I know was the first to point out Manuel's supporting cast vs Winston's. His opinion was that Winston had better protection, better receivers and better running backs. Go back and look at those rosters. I watched more than a few of Manuel's games. My suggestion to you is go to YouTube and watch the best and worst of his final season. The Clemson win, the NC State loss and the Florida loss. In the Clemson game Manuel is great, they had the NC State game won went into a shell, that loss is on Fisher. In the Florida loss Manuel was getting killed, he had five turn overs, but only two of them are really on him. One fumble was a helmet to helmet hit that in the NFL would have been a penalty, also after that hit I don't think Manuel knew where he was.

What exactly about his FSU days did you find objectionable? Was it his starting at QB for a program that was rebuilding, or his 25-6 record as a starter, maybe the three bowl wins?

How does Henderson have travel issues?

I could have written that.

Florida State