CodeMonkey

I could be persuaded to put money on 4 or better wins next season. Jets X 2, Browns, KC at home, Jags, Bucs. I can see 4 out of that mess.

I had missed that, thanks. According to that obvious marketing brochure ("countless constraints", really ), they do take "number of days off between games" into account. But right at the top, they list the overall challenge as "Develop a game schedule that maximizes television ratings and accommodates the teams and their fans" which states their main priority perfectly. I would love to have a more detailed look at it to see if things like nationwide popularity factor in to their maximize TV ratings constraint. Maybe I should try and get a job there and add a Bills positive bias to the formulas

I really have no use for sports writers and do not read their stuff, and I certainly do not follow any on Twitter or any other social media. I do not care about their opinions. I watch things like sportscenter to see scores and the highlights of things I missed. I generally don't even watch the talking heads on Sundays before games or during halftime. About the only sports opinions I read are on here

True. Liked I stated earlier, any third year computer science student could create that software (if it doesn't already exist, and it probably does).

People will cry every year.

With so few games to work with and profit being an extremely big motive, you may well be right if you mean they don't take after-the-bye into consideration at all.

Making a schedule, be it manually or done by software, comes down to what parameters are more important than others. Good, popular, large market teams playing in prime time is a high priority. What teams play more or less games against teams after their bye, is a much lower priority. So if a team needs to get "screwed" on the after-the-bye parameter in order for the overall schedule to put the better teams in a position to drive up profits, then so be it. With a relatively small number of teams and a very small number of games, the likelihood of this happening is increased. It's a pretty simple scheduling concept.

Quite frankly the easiest way to make it fair would be to eliminate the bye week entirely. It's only purpose is to extend the TV schedule by a week. But scheduling software like this could be done by any third year computer science student. I suspect the NFL could afford that expense if they wanted to. But, they don't want to. Their mission is simply to make as much money as possible. And their current scheduling method works just fine for that.

Better, more popular, teams playing during prime hours means higher TV ratings which translates to more money (via future TV contracts) as well as licensed products purchases etc. Taking this into account would be a higher priority to me if I were the NFL than worrying about if some teams play more teams off their bye than others. The fact that there even is a bye week, which extends the season by one more week (for extra TV) shows that. If there were no bye weeks at all, having "fair" schedules would be that much easier. But the NFL, like any good corporation, wants to maximize profits so the bye stays.

If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that not just draft order be biased based on the teams previous season standings, but the Bye-Bias and strength of schedule as well (as in the lower in the standings the team is the easier the schedule is made the next season)? That's an interesting concept. But I would think the draft bias would be enough to achieve parity if a team didn't have it's head up its ass. Plus as mentioned before, the primary concern of the NFL is making money, not achieving parity.

Neither of these two things help the reporters argument, so ...

So to summarize, the schedulers hate the Bills, the refs hate the Bills, King Roger hates the Bills, the media hates the Bills. Did I forget anyone? I expect to see whining from some fans, but to see it from the Bills media outlet a month before camp even opens is sad.

"Losers lose and make excuses--winners win."

Or try the non-adversarial approach of suggesting setting an early season timeline to negotiate a longer term deal while he plays under the tag this season. Many different ways to go about it. What's happening now is not good for either side.

A) No one knows what the Bills have or don't have this season. Too much new and/or unknown. B) Writers have to write something. An article stating " I don't know, I'll let you know after preseason" would probably get them on the unemployment line. C) After the last 13 years of suck, predicting a 14th year is the safe bet.

It astounds me that there are not more female posters here.

If the Bills lose any game it is always due to a series of bad calls, that is a given. Read last seasons threads if you want proof.

What !!!! A reasonable, level headed post !!!! You sir are banished!

A private business at least partially funded by public money muddies the water just a bit, but I completely agree with you in principal.

If it is already decided, then someone should tell NE to cancel their travel plans so Marcia doesn't have to suffer through another night in a ****ty Buffalo hotel.

DHGate will probably throw one in with your $15 authentic jersey order. I still have all of those freedoms ... on my couch

Something has to be done about the NFL refs. The average age of a ref seems to be 1000+ any more which leads to all the mistakes. I don't give a **** if a ref is male or female, as long as he/she is young enough to do a good job.

The Bills will probably have one for sale in the Bills store.

Yeah, sometimes you have to remember that they are still kids and they probably want to do more than one sport when they are that young! My daughter is not playing fall ball and is instead going to try cross country. This gives her a nice break and at the same time gets her very fit for the school basketball season Tell your son to hurry up and age. The Bills need a good tough MLB Agreed. Culture change is almost always a slow process. But with soccer in the US it seems to be glacial.

Git er done Darcy (you P.O.S.). Yeah both Ice time and equipment are a killer expense wise.. Not to mention the girls national team led by Rochesters own Abby Wambach!