hondo in seattle

"Bills Mafia Field" at Ralph Wilson Stadium. I'm in.

I'd like to see the NFL write up a common sense catch rules. Sandlot players have a better grasp of a completion and incompletion than the NFL does.

I'm waiting for "A Look Back at the Daryle Lamonica Trade."

Stevie has a knack for getting open - someplace other than he supposed to be. Fitz and Stevie were a great tandem. Either Fitz threw the ball somewhere in Stevie's general direction and Stevie had a talent for getting under it. Or Fitz could figure out where Stevie was going when no one else could. Since being traded, Stevie has yet to crack 500 yards for a season. His unpredictable route running - being based on guile more than speed - makes it hard for QBs to get the timing right when trying to throw to him. He was fun when Fitz was under center but I don't miss him.

To rank fans, you have to look at W-L record. How much money would NE fans spend (a key component in this study) if the Pats had missed the playoffs for 16 consecutive years? Buffalo has a 393-451-8 all-time record and have never won a Super Bowl. Yet we have the best tailgate parties in the league, typically sell out the stadium (despite our small market), have Bills Backer supporters everywhere, and frequent sites like this religiously. The loyalty of Bills fans is remarkable. The rankings have Packer fans outside the top 10, Steeler fans in the bottom half, Chief and Bills fans in the bottom five. Those results clearly indicate the methodology is flawed.

My prediction isn't all that bold but here goes: I think the Bills will run a well-balanced attack and finish somewhere between #5 and #10 in yards.

I suppose this might be interesting if some math guys with experience in sports-related regression analysis put it together. From the very get-go this thing is purely a click-bate opinion piece with little connection to reality. They have 3 guys subjectively rate each team in five categories. Each category is subjectively weighted by the author, thus giving you a final score. There is zero data to suggest the methodology produces anything but garbage.

Fun exercise, Erik. Thanks for doing this.

I like Woods as a #2 but I don't see him staying beyond the end of his contract. Roman runs a run-first offense and he's probably better at coordinating a run game than a passing game. Shady and our other backs will get a lot of touches. On top of that, we all saw how productive Sammy was during the 2nd half of the season. Sammy's going to be targeted a lot this year. Plus, there's been a lot of talk about Clay not earning his paycheck and maybe not being fully integrated into the offense. I expect him to have more targets this year. That just doesn't leave a lot of targets for Woods. Fully healthy, he'll play well this year. But I don't see him putting up monstrous numbers. Feeling under-utilized and under-appreciated, Woods will find a big contract in a more pass-oriented offense somewhere else.

Eric, nice work as always! One of the great things about football is that the basic ideas are simple enough that a new fan can catch on relatively quickly. Yet football is complicated enough that experienced fans can always find new things to dissect, criticize and/or admire.

Interesting how bad Darby looked in preseason compared to how good he looked when it counted.

I'd ask him what makes Roman so good at coordinating a run game? And I'd ask him what it'll take for him to earn a roster spot with so many talented backs in camp?

Clearly Roman is a good play designer. Here are a few thoughts about that: * We didn't have a great OL last year. Our linemen did not consistently win their one-on-one battles nor did they create a ton of push in short down situations. Yet we lead the league in rushing last year. Roman's running plays didn't always require dominant linemen. They just required competent execution. * Rex is credited with ruining the D last year, and rightly so. I wonder, though, why he gets so little credit for recruiting Roman and encouraging DW to sign TT. A good HC builds a winning staff and helps build a winning roster. On offense, Rex did that. As HC, Rex is required for both sides of the ball. One side improved, the other side regressed. That's Rex's ambivalent record so far with Buffalo. * I don't think we should make too much about Roman designing a passing attack that works around TT's weaknesses. Every OC tries to create a scheme - and call plays - that utilizes the strengths of their QBs and avoids their shortcomings. Let's hope things between Roman and Tyrod click even more this year.

Over the years, I've twice seen articles written by guys who tailgated in all 32 cities ranking Buffalo #1 in tailgating. Then again, I've also seen articles rating the Bills game day experience poorly because of drunken fans.

I think it was a qualified success. I'm guessing Toronto series did help earn us a few more Canadian fans. Combined with training camp at SJF, I think Brandon has been somewhat successful in selling the Bills as a regional team, not a Buffalo-only team. And I also think the Toronto games proved the Bills are much more viable in Buffalo than in Toronto despite the difference in population. I'm glad, though, the experiment is over. The players clearly prefer playing in front of a rowdy home crowd at O.P. As a Buffalo ex-pat, I watch most games on TV and it's exciting watching Bills home games. The moribund Toronto games were uncomfortable to watch.

I remember when the Browns of the Century Division had a rivalry with the Cowboys of the Capitol Division. Then, with realignment, the Browns developed their rivalry with the Steelers which made more sense and was far more bitter. All cool stuff. And I used to think the Bills-Dolphins rivalry was pretty meaningful. I was at the January 1993 playoff game in Miami when the rivalry still mattered and the fine folks of Miami harassed us Bills fans relentlessly before, during, and after the game. Great fun. But the Bills have been irrelevant so long that our rivalries have become irrelevant. In Buffalo, New York and Miami we all just want to see the end of Patriot dominance.

When I read the original post, I was dumbfounded. But some of the subsequent posts have transformed my puzzlement to laughter. Thanks, team.

Is there no middle ground in this debate? Yes, Goodwin probably trained harder this offseason than most Buffalo Bills players. His results are great speed, explosive leaps, low body fat, etc. These will benefit the Bills. No, Goodwin's didn't design his training to maximize his NFL readiness. He probably now needs to work more on upper body strength/bulk, some flexibility, and other things that will help him be more durable. He also needs to start practicing more route running. It was an interesting decision by Goodwin. He went after his dream of medalling in the Olympics by risking his on-the-bubble NFL career.

The Packers represent all of Wisconsin. The Chiefs represent all of Kansas. The Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is nearly double the size of Buffalo's. I'm not sure comparing Buffalo to these other markets is a fair comparison. But I agree with Ganesh's main point. If the Bills moved to Sacramento or Austin or one of the other bigger MSAs, would the NFL really benefit? Would the attendance be as good? TV viewership? Merchandise sales? And how much would a move damage the 'good will' of the NFL?

If small markets are not viable, what do you do? Cut the NFL to 24 teams? There are 53 metro statistical areas in the US with populations over 1 million. Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls is (barely) one of them. Most of the top 30 MSAs have teams within their MSA or nearby. If you moved the Bills, where would you move them to? Would that really make the NFL better? More profitable? Given it's history, traditions, and the loyalty of its fan base, I have to say the NFL is stronger with the Buffalo Bills than without them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

Fortunately, he's not scapegoating... He says playing football has helped him in the long jump. "It's toughness," Goodwin said. "Strain a hamstring going in, you just have to push through it. You can't make excuses. You can't go out there and say, 'I have a hurt hammy or I got a broken hand.' When you're on the field, you just have to go out there and compete. You give it your all. If you win, you win; if you lose, you lose -- you take your L's like you take your W's. "At the end of the day, you have to remember -- this is fun. You can't take the fun out of it." If Goodwin qualifies for the Olympics, he says winning a medal in Rio would complete a dream he has had since he was 9 years old. "It would be No. 1, being that I've never won an Olympic medal," he said. "I've accomplished a lot, but an Olympic medal is something I've always dreamed of. The Super Bowl, as well. If I could get two of those, I could probably die right after. God forbid that happened, but I could." http://espn.go.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/16714136/olympic-track-trials-2016-marquise-goodwin-reaches-long-jump-finals

Born and raised in Cheektowaga. Oddly, I was as much as Browns fan growing up as a Bills fan. But my enthusiasm for the Bills grew when I moved away for college (it was a way to stay connected). My enthusiasm for the Browns declined when they moved away for money.

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.