hondo in seattle

No tats. Not a tat guy. But here in Seahawk country, I have a Bills case for both my iPhones, Bills stickers on both my cars, a Bills entry mat at my front door, and a nice Bills wallet. Oh, and Bills blankets in my living room. I'm probably going to add that hilarious 'Buffalo Bills - Stanley Cup Champions' flag to my garage. My wife and step-kids are from the Philippines. My biological daughter was born - and grew up - in California. But I've decked them all out in Bills paraphernalia to take them to games or Bills-Backer sports bars.

I was in Desert Storm during this Super Bowl. I couldn't watch it then and haven't watched it since. Not into self-flagellation.

Marchibroda certainly had talent to work with but we still have to give him a lot of credit for transforming an anemic offense into a powerhouse. It took a lot of balls to implement the K-Gun full time and give away play-calling to the QB. Some interesting comments from Eric Schweitz back in 1997... "In retrospect, it seems hardly a coincidence that while the Colts under Marchibroda were slowly and steadily improving as an offensive team, the Bills, in his absence, were slowly on the decline. The last year Marchibroda was with the Bills, Jim Kelly threw for 33 touchdowns. The next four years, Kelly would hover around 20 touchdowns and bottom out his last season with a meager 14 touchdowns. Meanwhile, under Marchibroda's tutelage, Jim Harbaugh and Vinny Testaverde, two quarterbacks who had each nearly been drummed out of the NFL altogether at times, would have brilliant campaigns in 95 and 96... Along with Kelly's almost naked drop in production after Marchibroda's departure, one can see a dramatic drop statistically in Thurman Thomas's rushing production. Thurman averaged almost 5 yards per carry in Marchibroda's last year and the first year afterward. Since 92 however, Thomas's numbers have dropped to the 3.7 to 3.8 yards per carry range. Could all these factors be linked in some way? The answer is very definitely in the affirmative. Without Marchibroda, the Bills were left with a creative and innovative void in their offense. While he had put in place a system that would continue to succeed in the short term, in hindsight it becomes obvious that those entrusted to pick up where Ted left off did not do so. " I think the paradigm nowadays is that any OC could have succeeded with Kelly, Thurman, Reed and Lofton - and Marchibroda was merely a replaceable, unimportant cog in the machine. I'm not convinced Ted was our greatest OC but I do think he's under-appreciated.

Just thinking outloud... Bruce DeHaven isn't a close second as ST Coordinator? Ted Marchibroda maybe for OC. Wade Phillips maybe for DC.

A QB so bad he was waived by the BROWNS in July is only barely newsworthy.

I really bought into the hype (2x All American, Orange Bowl MVP, SI cover, #1 overall pick) and expected him to be a Bills stud for years. He never made the Pro Bowl playing for the Browns or 49ers. Though - with the Kelly pick - drafting Cousineau worked out for us in the end. Given more time??? Collins played in the NFL for 16 years and never became a good starter! Actually, I know what you mean. He was supposed to learn from Kelly on the sidelines for a couple years but was forced into service while still a rookie. That was 1995 when we all still had a ton of faith in our personnel department. A lot of us expected Todd to do well mostly because we drafted well back then. Now when we/if we draft a QB, we expect him to fail because we've lost our faith.

Now that would be a surprise! That was actually the idea - to think about something more positive than Rex's flaws and mistakes.

A childhood friend of mine from Cheektowaga is now a high level planner at CENTCOM. Oddly, he's been both a Raiders and Bills fan since he was maybe 8 years and is still disgusted that the Bills traded away Lamonica.. He took me to Charley's a couple years ago when I was in Orlando for a conference. Good place.

The Bleacher Report recently did a piece projecting a surprise starter for each NFL club. For the Bills, they predicted Glen Gronkowski. Especially if you consider nickel backs and #3 WRs as quasi starters (after all, both these positions play more than fullbacks), I think there are many other possibilities. Who would you pick? Here's an excerpt of B/R's write-up on Gronk: "Gronkowski's versatility will be his calling card," Bleacher Report NFL Draft Lead Writer Matt Miller wrote of Gronkowski before the draft. "He can line up at multiple positions and play on special teams. Coaches asked him to carry the ball at Kansas State, and he has some value in short-yardage and goal-line situations." Gronkowski may also be able to provide an upgrade over Felton, rated just 34th overall among 36 fullbacks by Pro Football Focus last season. With Felton due to earn $1.55 million in base salary this year, Gronkowski will definitely be cheaper. http://xxxxxxxxxxxx.com/articles/2648647-predicting-every-nfl-teams-most-surprising-starter-ahead-of-training-camps/page/5

Yep. Rex effed up last year. It doesn't mean he'll eff up again this year. He has had some very good seasons in his resume - let's hope he repeats his successes in '16, not his failures. On the positive side, Rex probably has the best OC and QB he's ever had in his run as a HC. I'm not convinced Rex is the HC to return us to the playoffs. But no one on this board will convince me he's not. To me the proof is in the pudding: I want to see what he can do going forward.

Many, many years ago, I used to buy into pretty much all the hype. A few years ago, I was buying into maybe 50%. I'm down to maybe 10% now. Time teaches hard lessons.

Ah, the memories.

Erik, very nice work! When you see a play like this live, it can look like an easy TD. The planning and meticulous film study that went into the play isn't immediately obvious. As an aside, we didn't have the best OL in the NFL last year but we did lead the league in rushing because Roman is a good OC.

Well, this is the unpopular opinion thread. And I'm not intending to demean Thurman who deserves to be the HOF. But when Fred was in his prime (a short-lived prime, to be sure) and healthy (not often enough), I was in awe of his ability to consistently make something out of nothing. I think both Eric Moulds and Fred Jackson tend to be underrated because (#1) they played on losing teams, (#2) and their statistics didn't fully reflect their ability largely because of #1.

This is great history. Despite being a soldier, I am not a violent man. But that day I really wanted to beat him to bloody pulp to release all my frustrations and disappointments. He was a good soldier & man and spent the next three days apologizing to me. And my response evolved from "How could you make such a monumental effing mistake like that?!?!?!" to "No worries. It wasn't your fault."

First Super Bowl... I was an army lieutenant serving in Desert Storm somewhere in the middle of the Arabian Desert. I had no access to TV or radio broadcasts of the game and the game was going to be played in the middle of the night, local time. So I went to sleep on my cot as usual but told the young Specialist on radio watch to wake me up if he heard a Super Bowl score. At maybe 3am he did. "The Bills won!" he yelled excitedly. "Really?" I said anxiously. "Yeah! At least I think so. I picked up something from the BBC but there was a lot of static. It sounded like Buffalo won on a last minute field goal." So I spent the next few hours thoroughly scouring the radio waves looking for news from the BBC or VOA, hoping for confirmation. When I learned the truth after all my frantic, hopeful radio searching, I was crushed.

Pretty ingenuous, PTR. I may mimic this.

$40 million profit per year on a $1.4 billion investment is emphatically not a good return. You could make much more money with your billion dollars in a number of other businesses. The idea of moving a club to increase its value is purely hypothetical. The owners who make money on the NFL, make their big money when they sell the club, not through annual operating revenues. So far, the value of clubs has been appreciating nicely over the years. Some think the whole concussion problem - combined with increased competition from other sports - could slow the appreciation down.

Thurman played behind a good line on a good offense. He had a HOF QB and a HOF WR (sometimes two) drawing attention away from him. And as you know, the TE was pretty good too. Fred played behind a crap line on a talent-poor offense. In both 2009, and 2010, PFF ranked him Freddy of the top 4 most elusive backs in the NFL because he broke tackles and got his yards on his own. In fact, 76% of the yards Fred got in 2009 running outside the tackles came after contact (#1 in the NFL - in comparison, Adrian Peterson earned 64% of his yards after contact). Fred's 2,516 combined yards in 2010 is 5th most in NFL history. Thurman averaged 4.2 yards per carry over his career, playing on good teams. In his best year, he averaged 4.9. Freddy average 4.4 yards per carry over his career, playing on bad teams. In his best year, he averaged 5.5. Both Fred and TT were good out of the backfield. Fred was probably better at blitz pickup. If Fred played in the early 90s instead of Thurman - and stayed healthy - he'd be in the HOF too. https://www.profootballfocus.com/the-elusive-rating/ https://www.profootballfocus.com/elusive-rating-2010/ https://www.profootballfocus.com/between-the-tackles-part-2/

I think most of the people who want to put Rex on a 2 year leash are the same people who didn't want Rex to be hired in the first place. They've already determined that Rex will never be a good NFL head coach. And they may be right. I just think two year leashes are too short. I think NFL coaches need more time to get their staffs and systems right. But I also want Buffalo to be the place that every coach wants to work. When you listen to coaches talk about their careers, their two biggest gripes are (1) hours away from family, and (2) the constant moving. No one can fix #1 but the Pegulas can do something about #2. They can develop the reputation of being good, patient owners who give their coaches a fair chance to succeed. First impressions are lasting impressions, as they say, and I don't think firing Rex after two years gives the right first impression to the NFL coaching community. Unless, of course, the Bills are so abysmally bad this year that it's obvious to everyone Rex needs to go.

My thesis is that some good coaches need more than 2 years to build a winning program. And it is true. Bill Belichick left Cleveland with a 36-44 record (5-11 in his last season). I bet Brown fans now wish they had been a little more patient. Marv Levy accomplished little in nearly 5 years with KC (he was fired after a 3-6 start to the '82 season). He later turned his career around. Pete Carroll was horrible with the Jets. And he delivered progressively worse W-L records during his 3 years with NE. (10-6, 9-7, 8-8). Tom Landry didn't achieve a winning record until his 7th year as a head coach. Chuck Noll has his first winning season in his 4th year. Hand Stram, in his second go around as head coach, didn't achieve a winning season till his 4th season with KC. Bill Parcels, in his second go around as head coach, finished 6-10 in this third year with the Pats (definitely not on the upswing!). The next year, he took the team to the Super Bowl. Revisiting Parcells, he went 10-6 his first year with Dallas and then 6-10 his next year. He finished with winning records the next two years. Mike McCarthy went 8-8 his first season, and 6-8 his third season. He later turned it around. Sean Payton when 10-6 his first season and 7-9 his second season. He later turned it around. All these great head coaches needed more than 2 years. I bet their fans are happy their owners didn't put these guys on 2 year leashes. And, no, I'm not claiming Rex is as a good a coach as these guys. But most of these guys didn't prove themselves as good coaches until after their second year. Sometimes, not until their second team. It takes a while for a coach to implement their schemes with the players and really get execution and buy-in where they want. And it takes a couple years, typically, for a head coach to build his staff. Virtually no head coach has the staff he wants in his first year. Most of the coaches he respects are already employed so his first year he makes do with what's available.

I've got to agree with this. When OJ was in the game, you couldn't take your eyes off him. Fans in the stands would leap to their feet when he received a handoff. He seemed to be a threat to score on every play. He was at another level. Freddy - what a great guy and a very good player in his prime. Honorable mention... Bobby Chandler because I viewed myself as a WR with good hands. Roland Hooks for rising out of obscurity from time to time to deliver crucial plays. Cookie for his fire.

When I was much younger and had a cast iron stomach, I used to enjoy Mighty Taco's original location on Hertel. It was a dumpy little place and it seemed like greasy hair and acne were requirements to work there. The sketchy neighborhood, the dirty kitchen, the drunken clientele - it took a bit of courage for a shy teen like me to eat at Mighty in those early days. But the food so tasty that it overcame my fears. Now they've gone all generic and my strong stomach has been weakened by years of abuse.

Really? Maybe things are changing but I've always thought the pizza in WNY blows the doors off of pizza on the West Coast, for example. Or most international pizza. I used to rave about Mighty Taco. It was awesome when it was new. Now, it's just another non-authentic Mexican-inspired fast food joint.

Yeah, that's the weird thing about NFL franchises. The small market teams don't actually make a lot of money. But you can turn a tidy profit when you sell the club - especially if you move it to a better market.