dubs

Exactly. I don't think its anti-buffalo per se. But I think rather buffalo is an easy if not subconscious target for refs to make calls and know there won't be much backlash. The media doesn't care about th Bills and they've been bad for so long that it's easy to brush losses under the rug.

I will say this, beyond how terrible the referees have been at the Bills expense, officiating around the league is just as bad. Somewhere along the way officials went from calling what they see, to looking for calls to make. It's made the game (in my opinion) borderline unwatchable. This year has been the least I've watched football in my life. Primarily because the game has become way over engineered and officials are way to prominent.

You're joking, right?

I don't think anything is going to change until one of these players hauls off and knocks one of these refs into oblivion. I'm shocked it hasn't happened yet.

Why are we talking about stats from years ago when we have Orton's stats from this year. He's 16th in the NFL in QB Rating with a 92. We're one game out of the playoffs. He stays in until the Bills are mathematically eliminated.

I agree with this post (see how easy that was instead of the uber annoying, 'this') Going into the Denver game 4 of our 6 receivers are on the injury report. The two that are not are 1 catch all year Marquise Goodwin and special teamer Easley. If Williams is not actually hurt, then I would much rather see him in the lineup instead of Gay. Especially in Denver when Carp can easily kick touchbacks and we're going to probably need to air it out, a lot.

We're on to Cin....er....Green Bay

Well, what does it matter. If it doesn't provide much insight, then it's just some wasted money that's not yours. It's not going to hold up any decisions about the team.

This is one of those topics that baffles me that people are suspicious about. There are only two reasons that the Pegulas would use a consultant. 1) they understand they have zero experience owning an NFL franchise and will leave no stone unturned to help them make the best decisions. 2) they are simply using it as a PR move Since the Pegulas have a lot of goodwill, imo they should have the benefit of the doubt. Either way, it's not like it will prevent the Pegulas from making timely decisions on big team issues (GM, Littman, Coach, etc...). So the question is, why does it matter to people?

Well, all I think a consultant means is that he wants to bring in some completely independent, experienced football minds to get a good understanding of how things are done in the NFL, and some thoughts on what's working, organizationally, and what's not. Makes a ton of sense in my mind.

Are you being serious or sarcastic? Sorry, sometimes hard to tell. I'm assuming sarcastic...

I love football and The Bills as much as the next guy, but the Bills game on Sunday is about number one trillion on the priority list for the area. If it's bad up until Saturday night they should just play in NYC on Monday or cancel the game.

I'll summarize it for you. OP believes that you either have to be very doubtful about the Pegulas ability to improve the Bills because the Sabres are in last place and won't contend until 2019. If you don't agree with that, you believe in something the OP made up called "Pegula Dust". Apparently it's a mystic potion that improves sports teams. But there is no in between. One or the other. Don't agree, you're taking Pegula dust. You're caught up.

JV Thread

This troll thread is the perfect illustration of the downside of the Internet. Even ESPN would blush at the content and there is not even enough to fill a single tweet. Makes me side against net neutrality.

You're right!! The Bills are only 2 - 3 since the Pegulas owned the Bills! We're doomed! Another 30 years of mediocrity! You burst my bubble!

Um, not to point out the obvious, but that persons screen name is "finfanfromrochester", yet is on Bills message boards.

A sport that has gotten to the point that rule enforcement is so pervasive as a result of it's hypertechnical nature is not enjoyable. Unrelated example - the tuck rule game. Any rule that turns an obvious fumble into an incomplete pass and changes the fortunes of two franchises is ridiculous. Rule book nerds will look and that and say they got the call right. Football players will look at that as a travesty.

Hahaha. This made my day. Kudos!

Does anyone have a video clip of the Hughes penalty? I haven't been able to find one.

Thanks for that. Perfectly explains how ridiculous that call was. You're on the wrong thread. The thread for talking about why the Bills lost is drastically different that a separate thread on how bad the officiating is while recognizing it was not the reason buffalo lost.

Yeah, I think we are speaking to different perspectives. I don't doubt somewhere in the rule book the league can point to a sentence that can be interpreted in a way that includes the play in the definition of Intentional Grounding. Of that I'm as certain as you are. My point is that its ridiculous to begin with. That a play which was in the wide open field and that 100% of people seeing the play (media, players, coaches, fans) did not even bat an eye lash about would get overturned after about 30 seconds of a conference because the refs got together and had a little chat about the technical aspects of IG.

Thanks for reinforcing my point. "He did intend to ground it" "He wasn't even looking at Watkins" "He was avoiding pressure" "The bills deserved it" When those are components of calling a penalty in place of just plainly seeing the play its a recipe for disaster. The rule was not established for that play. No way. Watkins was close to the ball. The ball landed in bounds. It was thrown about 20 yards down the field. At this rate, we may have the NFL start givin officials compasses and protractors to determine if the pass was grounding.

Here's my issue with the officials. First, I do NOT believe there is some agenda against Buffalo. Second, the Bills did NOT play well enough to win, regardless of the officials. So what's the issue? My problem is that officiating is taking so much enjoyment out of watching football. I may be in the minority but it's gotten so bad that I find myself disinterested in most games that don't involve buffalo. I think the issue is you have a convoluted rule book that is hyper technical and the officials interpret these hyper technical rules in their own way. They do this rather than just use their eyes to judge a play and decide if it was really a penalty. The Safety was a perfect example of this. I'm sure a case can be made that according to a hypertechnical reading of the rule, that was barely grounding. But to the rest of the world that watched the play, it was clear that Orton, under pressure, was trying to get the ball upfield to Sammy, not just dump it out of bounds. Not a single person in the stands, watching on TV or the announcers even contemplated it might be grounding. Then the officials gather and talk themselves into it because of some obscure interpretation that Sammy was not close enough and miscommunication between receiver and QB isn't a consideration. It's ASSANINE! This development in officiating makes no sense and its consistently bad week in and week out and game to game.

Here's the thing. Obviously we have not been able to put points up lately. it's the biggest factor is losing. That being said. Another large factor is the horrendous officiating. I honestly can't understand how these officials can consistently make such awful calls week in and week out. It's not like they have 300lb linemen chasing them down. All they have to do is stand still and call what they see and can't even get that right. It devalues the product on the field significantly.