BADOLBILZ

The current High Mark stadium just sits there unused, off season. But it's also in the suburbs......and the outskirts of that suburb as well..........it's not like tens of thousands of people are driving past it every day on their way to work pondering it's existence. Whatever you build in Orchard Park is going to sit there unused for 340 days per year, doesn't matter if it cost 20% more to build it or not. The reality is that it's just a big televised entertainment studio that you are trying to get people to show up and spend 3x as much money at as they are currently spending. I think people have a hard time grasping the value of money over time. Rich Stadium cost $22M to build and a player who performs there eventually signed a 6 year contract extension worth $258M. His contract is worth more than twice the inflation adjusted value of constructing the entire stadium 50 years later. The cost of doing business in construction and entertainment are rising much higher than most anything else. When wide receivers are signing $300M contracts in 15 years........not spending $300M to put a lid on the venue to give the team a positive performance environment to play in will have seemed like a very shortsighted decision.

I literally sit about 20' directly in front of Daboll........it's not been a peaceful place to sit most of the season........there have been games this year where you aren't sure if it's just raining yet again or if it's the overspray from people critiquing his work.

Just the thought that someone thinks you might not know something irks you.

I think Cover 1 touched on it as well but it was Eric Wood who explained the rationale in a couple segments he did on WGR last season. We've had many discussions in the past 14-15 months about the Bills decision to go to majority zone blocking at mid-season last year. I didn't love it........they have a hodgepodge of scheme fits and misfits on the OL.........Jon Feliciano made himself even less effective this offseason by losing a bunch of weight trying to fit better in outside zone.......their RB's aren't really very good in OZ. They signed the athletic Forest Lamp and the Shanahan-SF-proven outside zone threat in Matt Breida.........but Lamp failed to make the roster and I think Breida made too many mental errors to earn a lot of PT this season.

Yep and maybe free agency will be rescinded and players won't be allowed to make business decisions about not playing their home games in a negative individual performance environment. More realistically...........over the course of the life of the new stadium..........players will have considerably more influence over where they play. And while they might not otherwise choose against living in a city for 6-7 months if the QB/HC and money is right.........superstars aren't likely to choose to run their races on a muddy track. (and I'm told that Terry Pegula fancies a heated natural grass field........so that could become quite literal ).

The explanation we got last year was that running much more outside zone plays allowed for quick and easy line calls.......which allowed them to run up tempo and gave Josh more time to focus on how to attack the defense in the passing game. They were averaging 8 yards per attempt throwing the ball and in the second half of the season it almost seemed like they didn't need to run the ball at all. The pass protection collapsed this year though and the passing game has subsequently become much less productive on a per play basis.

The warning signs were there last year that their receiving targets weren't as explosive as their overall passing numbers would indicate. They weren't a very good RAC team even then..........but Allen averaged a ridiculous 3.14 seconds before throwing which was statistically the highest above expectation in the league...........so he was getting very good protection and often "waiting" receivers open. They doubled down on "route runners" in the offseason when they got less explosive with Emmanuel Sanders. Beasley and Diggs took an absolute beating last year and haven't looked as healthy or explosive this year. Things still might have worked similarly this year but the pass protection fell apart. But either way the Bills have become underpowered in the weapons category. It wouldn't be a pretty picture if they had an average QB with this supporting cast.

That was one of the more "lucky" postseasons for a team ever though. Raiders narrowly escaped to beat New England. Steelers totally annihilated the Colts. But both the Steelers 1,000 yard rushers were lost for the season in the Colts game. The 15-1 Raiders against a Steelers team with almost twice the point differential of the Raiders.............that might have been the ultimate matchup game of the 1970's. I guess fortune favored the bold that postseason! That Steeler team had a PD of over 200 in just 14 games.......that's crazy.

There is no maybe about it. As noted earlier in the thread McKenzie once had a season where he fumbled 6 times in 24 returns..........and had fumbled twice in the preseason that year as well. It was an epic amount of fumbles.........cost him his roster spot altogether in Denver. He came to Buffalo and promptly fumbled twice in 16 return chances and lost that job again. He's a known commodity as a fumbler. Maybe Stevenson will turn out to be unreliable too but McKenzie absolutely is.

Stevenson had 1 career fumble in college and pro football games combined prior to Sunday. Not saying he's a great option.........despite his strong showing in preseason I wasn't overly impressed with his punt receiving in practice setting this summer and honestly thought he'd be IR'd all season..........but ball security has proven to be a serious issue with McKenzie.......and over a much larger sample size......so it's not the least bit surprising they have tried someone else.

McKenzie is not a very natural catcher of the football........his hand eye coordination is off just enough that he ends up double catching too many footballs..........not as big of an issue in the receiving game when he drops a ball or impales himself on the football with his awkwardness..........but it's very concerning in the return game. The punt return that he scored on against Miami last year was almost a muff.........had to double catch that one. For the little bit of impact he was giving them on kicks and punts this year it probably wasn't worth the stress to McDermott.

It's not about the big injuries.......it's the game to game wear and tear. The cumulative impact of lot's of strains, sprains and bruises to the entire body that only occur from all of these high impact hits running around. Executing at a high level from the pocket involves a great deal of precision..........guys like Brady and Brees were able to keep their mechanics tight and have great longevity by keeping the mileage on their bodies to a minimum.

It's been fun watching him run these first 4 years but that has to change soon. They need to fix the OL and get some more explosiveness........and maybe size.........in the receiving corps. Diggs and Beasley's yards per target are down a whopping 40% this year.........the Bills 20+ yard pass plays have fallen off a ton from 66 in 2020 to 49 in 2021........and the Bills average yards per pass attempt(6.9) is tied for 21st in the NFL same as the Colts and Titans. Need to make the offensive side of the football their focus this offseason..........and I don't mean draftin' a RB in round 1..........they need blocking and big play receiving targets to get away from Allen needing to run the ball to extend drives because of their significantly less punchy passing attack.

One freak fumble? McKenzie became available to the Bills on the waiver wire because he fumbled an astonishing 6 times on 24 return opportunities with Denver. One of the all-time worst seasons by a returner ever.

If the subject is what we don't care about........fill in the blanks about how much I care about your very existence. The subject is the sustainability of football in Buffalo...........and make no mistake it is going to be about maximizing revenue..........which is why so many of those new stadiums are domes. Do I expect the Bills to f*ck it up and build another venue that contributes to them continuing to be a historically bottom third winning % franchise? Yep.

5 of the last 7 new stadiums built have been domes. The biggest game of the year is more often than not going to be played in a dome from here on out. It was an outdoor sport 20 years ago, but not anymore. The future of NFL football is indoors or in good weather.

I am a fan of letting stupid teams draft RB's high and then stealing them for cheap...........like the Seahawks did with the Bills to get the young, healthy and cheap Marshawn Lynch. But trading for and paying an injury ravaged Saquon Barkley a robust $7.2M next year isn't that. Only way you are getting that figure down if you trade for him is to extend his contract...........which would be batsh*t crazy at this point. Not a fit until or if the Giants release him and he becomes a free agent..........where his market will be much more modest. Gotta' do it more like Tampa did with Fournette..........they've paid Fournette $2.6M per over the two seasons he's been there.

Very different situation/stakes. Bills were a SB favorite this summer when these choices were being made.............they made their choice.........and ended up missing the most important/pivotal game of the regular season. The Falcons have a 2% chance of making the playoffs right now. Not surprising if their players are being careless.

Mostly forgotten......because he didn't win anything and his prime was short........but not underrated in his time. He was the #1 pick in the 1975 draft so always anticipated to be a stud QB..........and was considered a superstar QB in the early 80's............but RB's were equally as important back then and his RB William Andrews was arguably the best offensive player in the NFL from 1979-1983 so he wasn't even the best player on his team. As was often the case back then.........by the time he was becoming a smart and more efficient QB his body was already failing from the beating he had taken.

Nobody values their spite more than you.

A reprieve from a sport played once per week? As soon as football ends.....in addition to following the draft/FA..........I start following NCAA hoops, NBA and NHL a little closer and a couple weeks later I am watching MLB spring training games. I know there are people on here who just follow the NFL because of the Bills..........we have a contingent of that at our tailgate and that's always going to be a % of NFL fans...........but there is no need for reprieve from sports for real fans of it.

He's reminded me a lot of Brad Kaaya but with better wheels. Can't see how that's first round with all the QB talent in the NFL now.........but Kaaya was grossly overrated by draftniks as well.

I don't have 10 off hand..... but these come to mind: Ghost The Mummies Warlock Pinchers Bloodhound Gang (early to mid 90's new wave/hip hop mix)

Oh no.........you aren't getting out of praying for the Texans over Tennessee in week 18 that easy.

I would. But the majority of the most active people on this forum are from far out of town who don't attend Bills games in Buffalo let alone come here for a minor league football product.