nostyle126

That would not have "saved Buffalo". That was the late 1800s. Buffalo saw many prosperous years after the love canal's failure. Buffalo didn't truly begin to erode until the mid 20th century, as its key industries all died. The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 was the proverbial nail in the coffin. Buffalo's status as a major player as a port, railroad hub, and steel center were history, and the remaining industries (such as the automobile industry) were headed for hard times as well. Buffalo's leaders had no vision for the city's future...no ideas to help the city in a painful but necessary conversion from an industrial blue collar town into a modern technology-driven white collar city. Now Buffalo is paying dearly for this lack of vision.

Here's an aerial of Charlotte. Notice the EMPTY LOTS that surround the stadium. Magnet for cafes, bars, condos, and shopping? Uh, no. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/356012...beb84dedf_o.jpg By comparison, an arena that hosts hundreds of events a year can fit in to a city's core quite well: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/356010...4fd46ce59_o.jpg

It was a horrible mistake, no doubt, but I think the decision to put the 190 along the waterfront was even worse. The urban renewal projects of the late '50s and '60s really destroyed Buffalo. The highways shattered neighborhoods. The waterfront was rendered useless. The urban fabric has never recovered. The decision to build UB in Amherst took what little hope Buffalo had left and gave it to the 'burbs.

You live in Charlotte. So do I. So go take a look at Third Ward. The whole area around Panther's Stadium is a DEAD ZONE. There is NOTHINGNESS for many city blocks in all directions. You need to walk 5 blocks north to reach development...3 blocks east. and NONE of those developments sprouted from the stadium. They were built to be near the CBD (such as the Wachovia Cultural Campus), not because of the "hustle and bustle" created by the stadium. For those of you that don't live in Charlotte, Google map it. The area around the stadium is DEAD LAND. That would be our waterfont if we did the same thing in Buffalo. Enjoy.

Give them 10 concerts. We're now up to, say 20 events a year. There are 365 days in a year. That leaves 345 days of NOTHING GOING ON at a MASSIVE stadium surrounded by SURFACE LOTS. Stadiums are out of place when built in the urban core. They are suburban in nature. I also think you guys underestimate how expensive it would be to build a new stadium in general, let alone in the brownfields that were recommended. Those are potentially toxic sites that would require very extensive remediation before the land can be used. $$$

Football stadiums do NOT belong in a downtown, let alone along valuable waterfront property. You only get EIGHT marquee events there every year (the NFL team's eight home games) and a few other events. The rest of the year the stadium is sitting there USELESS and EMPTY, devoid of street life and surrounded by SEAS of SURFACE LOTS. The stadium is fine where it is.

Great report. A few things come to mind as I read this. First off, maybe facing a 3-4 in practice will finally get TE over the 3-4 hump, which will definitely help in a division of all 3-4 defenses. Second, as good as the pass rush sounds, I worry that it's not really how good the pass rush is, but how bad our tackles are. Third, even if our pass IS good, it might not matter if teams can run all over us. I'm hoping that our guys inside can hold down the fort because I'm still not convinced we have anyone that can truly play NT in this system, and teams will try to expose that weakness all season long. Question. Is Shawn Nelson our hands-down #1 TE at this point?

He was being interviewed by the guys from 97 Rock. He gave them a ton of attitude and that was one of the things he said. He didn't mean on a specific play...not in the context of the conversation. I remember going to a Dolphins game one cold day back in the Rob Johnson Era. Fina was a turnstile that day. We got blown out and fans began to leave late in the 3rd quarter. There was fina, standing on the sidelines, sarcastically waving goodbye with this jackass smirk on his face. Not my kind of Bill.

As much as we love the Bills, from time to time players make their way on to the roster that just rub us the wrong way. Here's my list: 1) John Fina - overpaid, underachieving. Once told a reporter he's only paid to block for 4 seconds and if the play lasts longer than that, too bad. Oh, and he sucked during those 4 seconds. 2) Willis McGahee - never wanted him here. He was a bad draft pick and isn't a Buffalo kind of guy. I was glad to see him go. 3) Marshawn Lynch - not a fan of "Beast Mode". He's a cocky, immature, east-west RB that is underachieving out of the backfield and hasn't seemed to get any better at picking up blitzes since joining the team. A relatively obscure Fred Jackson was a welcomed breath of fresh air. 4) Mike Williams - he absolutely frustrated me, he was so soft. How this guy ever got to the level of an elite college tackle is beyond me. Anyone else worth mentioning?

Just curious, who do you guys think will be surprisingly good this year. Here are a few guys I think are candidates: Eric Wood - I think he's going to come back with a vengeance. Steve Johnson - May end up our #2 receiver. Reggie Corner - May end up our #2 cornerback. Thoughts?

Wouldn't it be better if WE got to decide where OUR money goes?

Aren't you almost a full season behind?

Sabres, UB, Charlotte Bobcats, Carolina Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes (I follow them...that doesn't mean I like them).

If he said "we're gonna run a base cover-2 read-and-react defense", then essentially that's EXACTLY what he'd be saying.

I remember one of the sports radio guys betting on the Ravens before the season started back in 2000. Nobody ever saw the Ravens coming. He made some good $$$. ...anyone remember who I'm talking about? I haven't lived in Buffalo for nearly a decade.

If the choice is between Trent and a proven veteran, I'll take the proven veteran. If the choice is between Trent and anyone else on the roster (or drafted), I'd probably lean in favor of Trent (although Brohm intrigues me). So again I more or less agree with you.

"Taste of Buffalo" restaurant...right of 77 in Huntersville.

I agree and disagree. I understand where you're coming from, but IMO it still comes back to the way he has been coached. For most of the early part of his career jauron stressed mistake free football, even if it means checking the ball down time after time after time AFTER TIME. Trent did as he was told. Then we all started putting pressure on Jauron for how bad our offense is, so Jauron seemed to change a bit and you almost get this feeling he went to Trent and said "open things up a bit"...well that's easier said than done when you've been told time and again to be overly cautious. jauron was desperate though. Trent felt that pressure to force the ball downfield and he couldn't do it. He couldn't just suddenly adapt to 'forcing' the ball downfield in an offense that he wasn't comfortable with. I know this comes across as making excuses for Trent, and trust me, I'm fed up with Trent too...but I'm just not quite at the point of completely giving up on him. I think Trent can be coached back from the oblivion, with the right coach. Is Chan Gailey that guy? We shall see. Either way, arm strength is still a concern.

As someone else said, you're describing what an ALL-TIME GREAT quarterback can do in a bad situation, but even above average QBs need some help from their supporting cast. Manning is considered in a league of his own for his audibling...you can't expect Trent to perform at that level. It's just not realistic. Nor should it be all on him to make a bad offense work. We need to give our QB (whether it's Trent, Ryan, Brian, or some guy we don't have on the roster yet) a better chance to succeed than we have in the past.

you just described exactly why Buffalo was voted the 2nd worst place to play by NFL players.

I have to disagree with your 3, 4, and 5. A bad offensive line is a REAL reason for failure. IMO it is an OC's responsibility to adjust the offense to compensate for a bad line, and we NEVER did that. That's not the QB's job. There is only so much you can do when you're being asked to drop 7 steps (or put in shotgun) while your receivers run long routes, watching your interior line collapse into your lap, and knowing that half the time your LT is being beaten on the edge by a speed rusher. How do you expect a QB to "work around" poor gameplans by the coach? Seriously. What do you want TE to do? He has to trust that his coaches are putting together a gameplan that will exploit opposing defenses while taking advantage of our strengths and masking our weaknesses...but then, when the bullets are flying on gameday and NOTHING is working the way it was drawn up, what do you expect the QB to do? That leads to your fifth point. TE was given a shoddy offensive scheme that he was clearly never comfortable with, did not suit his strengths, and was easy for opposing defenses to defend. Then we're shocked when he is indecisive? I'd like to see TE behind a good offensive line, with a sound offensive system drawn up by a competent offensive coordinator. Then let's see what happens.

TE was coached to FAIL, bottom line. Jauron believes in a safe offense that limits turnovers and keeps games close. TE did exactly as he was coached to do. On top of that, he was given a shoddy offensive line and a mess of a coaching staff. He was never really given the opportunity to get comfortable in an offense. It showed in his inability to make decisive reads downfield. He would realize a receiver was open a second too late, rather than having the anticipation and confidence you need to have in the NFL to throw into tight windows. As a result he turned into "Captain Checkdown"...fans hated it, but this is what Jauron and company were coaching him to do. Give TE a real offensive scheme, time to truly grasp it, and an offensive line that can give him a reasonable pocket to throw from, and I think you'll see a competent QB. Having said that, I think you could give TE all of the above and I still question if he has the arm strength to play in Buffalo. I think TE might be the kind of QB that needs to play in the sunbelt or a dome. His arm strength is not all that different from Peyton Manning's, but we've seen how peyton struggles when playing in bad weather. You need to have a Brady or a Big Ben kind of arm to have any kind of a passing game in brutal Buffalo winds. TE doesn't have that. ...but I betcha if he played in, say, Jacksonville, Tampa, Charlotte, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, etc, he'd make us regret letting him go.

That, and it's the 67th largest city, so it too was not eligible.

Buffalo is the 69th largest CITY (city limits) with a population of approx. 270k, but the 47th largest metropolitan area with a population of approx. 1.12 million. This study went based on city population, so you're right, Buffalo didn't even qualify.

The Bills had more talent but inferior coaching. And since coaches are part of the team, the better team won.