CodeMonkey

Because it is one they should have won. As bad as Atlanta is this season, even the talking heads thought so for a change. Your expectations, along with those of most of the Bills nation, were higher than normal which makes the loss that much more difficult.

Atlanta, before yesterday, was 2-9.

League officials, who are on salary, discuss maximizing profits? I'm sure owners do. But if you think they figure out week to week who wins and who looses and tell the officials to implement it, and this has happened for at least 14 years without something leaking, then you are probably one of those who think the pharoes were ancient aliens and the CIA blew up the twin towers Benefit of the doubt is pretty simple. At full speed, which is what the (probably too old) officials have to go by, if a play is close and they see a first ballot HOFer against a nobody WR or DB they figure the better player probably made the better play.

Like the 1919 black sox you say

I agree that 14 straight years of no playoffs with the way the NFL schedules and draft are setup would seemingly be very difficult to accomplish without outside interference. But if you look at the series of GMs, HCs, and the players they acquired during that time you will see a pattern of incompetence that can also explain it. Too early to lump Marrone/Whaley in with that group in my opinion, but we will see.

I am willing to give Brandon the benefit of the doubt and say I'm sure he thought many Bills would travel to Toronto and the atmosphere there would be similar to the Ralph. But by this point it is pretty obvious that is not the case and the last extension and any future extensions are nothing more than a money grab.

Manipulated implies a conspiracy and I can't buy into that. I would agree however that the better teams/players tend to get the benefit of the doubt.

So you are saying Bills fans here are over achieving this week?

Yes I did. But I am not one of those that thinks all of the bad calls have gone against the Bills for the last 14 years and there is a conspiracy against them.

The PI in the end zone was a good call. He grabbed the receiver by the collar in plain view for gods sake. Even the Pats* probably wouldn't get away with that one much less a bad team like the Bills. The other "phantom" call some are complaining about near the end I honestly don't remember and would have to look again.

You cannot be serious? Usually if the game is close at the end I proclaim to my family that this is where the Bills lose the game. But Atlanta is so bad this year, and played so badly yesterday that at the start of the Bills drive at the end of regulation I proclaimed that this is where the Bills were going to move down the field and win the game ... and then there was SJ13. There were bright spots. Spiller had a couple very nice runs (surprised he was caught on his very long run), and I thought Manuel had a passable day as examples. But Atlanta this year is nothing, played like nothing, and still walked out of freaking Toronto with the W. Any decent team beats Atlanta by 20 yesterday. There was nothing "excellent" about that game.

Ahhhh my faith in some Bills fans whining about bad calls is restored.

ESPN picks Bills 11-2. CBS with spread (Bills - 3.5) take the Bills 5-3 CBS straight up takes the Bills 6-2

If what you are looking for is tailgating and the quality of play on the field does not matter. Then absolutely the cheap ticket prices and great parking lot atmosphere in Buffalo has been perfect for you.

People cannot pay what they do not have. But your point about how a winning team could draw people who can afford the higher priced tickets and are willing to drive 4 hours to games is certainly possible. I don't believe it, but it certainly is possible. Agree to disagree

No they would not. Not because they wouldn't want to, but simply with the economy in Buffalo they cannot afford to. It is the same with most corporations in Buffalo ... three division championships, ten division championships, or no division championships. This is not because the Bills fans are not deserving of a team, it's just economics.

I agree in that if the Bills didn't suck for so long they would not have nearly the problems selling out that they have had in recent years. But how do you figure "generate large sums of Money"? Whoever buys the Bills is almost certainly going to have some significant debt. Plus they are going to need a stadium, or at least significant renovations, sooner rather than later. Buffalo's ticket prices are some of the lowest in the NFL. It is significantly easier to pay down your debt when your customers are willing, and more importantly able, to pay $100 a ticket and $50 parking rather than $50 a ticket and $25 parking. Mr. Wilson can charge what he does because he carries no debt. New owners will likely not be in that same situation. And then there is the corporate boxes etc. Toronto was supposed to help with this. I do not know if it has or not yet, but it is pretty easy to see how a city in a non-economically depressed area such as Buffalo would make selling luxury/corporate boxes much easier and at a much higher price. If the Bills stay or go will depend upon economics. Unless as some have mentioned, a group of white knights forgo economics in favor of the tradition of having the "Buffalo" Bills. Filling a stadium is great, particularly with fans like there are in Buffalo. But at the end of the day it needs to be run as a $800M business.

One has nothing to do with the other to me. With Canadian laws basically prohibiting government from giving handouts to sports franchises like they do in the US, there is no way (in my opinion) any NFL team is going to land in Canada. Also whether or not they sell out RWS at the bargain basement ticket prices they charge now (compared to the rest of the NFL anyway) is also irrelevant (again in my opinion) to whether new ownership keeps the team in Buffalo or not. And lastly, I trust Brandon completely. His job is to make the Buffalo Bills organization the most money he possibly can. And I trust him to do that every step of the way.

Yeah I guess Marcia can't play defense too

No, Brandon is saying that his awesome plan to sell home games to Rogers is working exactly as he envisioned and "up yours" to any players or fans who don't like it.

Hence the problem!

Seems to me I've heard this somewhere before .... oh yes, before the Stillers game. Never underestimate your opponent.

My contention was, and still is, that Indy "sucked for Luck" on purpose. Too much of a coincidence that they suck for one season, lose P. Manning, and just happen to be able to draft P. Manning Jr. in that one suck season.

Ahhh but this makes too much sense for governments and the NFL.

In general I agree. But the Bills are going from the Ralph to a dome, and playing a warm weather team. That's giving up an advantage, and the Bills are not good enough to give up such advantages.