ThurmasThoman

what you guys have to remember, is that the buffalo area, despite (some of) your eternal pessimism, is a VERY large market... Toronto, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, etc. all associate as Bills fans. IF the bills left... you would have a completely vacant section of the country on the NFL television map; a section that not only didn't have a team, but one that was completely alienated by the NFL. Now, I know what it means to be a Bills fan. I know what it means to sell ourselves short and never look on the bright side. But instead of looking at this from a perspective of a Buffalo Bills fan... it's VERY crucial for some of you to start looking at this from the perspective of an NFL fan. In 99.99% of ANY article that is published regarding relocation, the Bills are never mentioned. The chargers, the jags, the vikings, the rams - all come up ahead of buffalo. The simple fact of the matter is that the NFL is king. It is BIG BIG business, and it is viable in buffalo with a product, that, for TEN years, has been absolutely, undeniably, awful. You wouldn't close a bagel shop on Long Island if it had lines out the door every morning to buy moldy bagels. Ralph's gonna die. Sure. But a new owner, in a terrible economy, would have to move the team to a city that has an NFL stadium ready to go, and pay a relocation fee, AND, if it's LA, they would have to be reasonably assured that the team will succeed - something that has never happened in the NFL before. I can say with 100% confidence, that the Buffalo Bills will be, at WORSE, the Niagra bills, for my, yours, and your childrens life time.

the sport is cyclical. 10 years ago the patriots were a below average team with no history of winning anything, with an aging quarterback, and a retread coach. then bledsoe fell on a football, broke a few ribs, they hired a guy with a camcorder to sit in the stands, and theyre now the 4th best team in the nfl, according to this list. problem with the bills is - they were (justifiably) written off and forgotten about long long ago by the national media. you can't expect a national journalist to share our optimism with this front office. to us, picking 3rd in the draft and taking a stud is a step in the right direction. to most, its just more of buffalo picking fairly early in round 1. the only thing were guilty of is thinking other people care more about the bills than they actually do.

this is wild. with the draft we just had, and wanny on our defensive coaching staff, our D is going to be much improved, and thats if merriman never steps foot on the field again. if he can even return to half of what he was, we could be a good to very good defense. our offense showed flashes last year. we have good wideouts, a strong backfield, and a healthy line going into the year. for the first time since... 2003? 2004? going into the season, i'm not thinking "if players a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h all improve from last year due to a strong offseason workout program, we're going to be good." no man, this year, you just have to look at how last year played out. 4 wins? yes, of course... but FIVE of those games were by less than a touchdown and two others were close as well. this year, instead of every sunday hoping we give up a 3rd down so we can get luck next year... pull for the bills to make a play here or there. because im starting to think this team is a bounce here and there away from a 6 seed...

ill tell you what... as a madden owner, i play with the current unis - dark pants/white top or white pants/dark top and i gotta say - when the current unis are worn the way they were designed and INTENDED to be worn, they are great. they absolutely make sense, and are a nice blend of old and new. its really too bad that they were never given a fair shake, because when done right, theyre really, really good.

from my very limited understanding of the situation in tennessee, it wasnt VYs fault, per se. apparently, fisher didnt want to draft him, but bud adams basically stepped in and targeted him as "his guy," (sound familiar?) and fisher resented that move, and vince young, for the remainder of his tenure with the titans. VY denies that "suicide" story through and through, and like it or not, the stats do support VY as being a consistent winner. i would be 10x happier signing or trading for him, and using our picks on defense, although i dont know how i would feel about some of the... other... qualities vince brings to the table. doesnt look like a good fit for east aurora, orchard park, et al. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i29.tinypic.com/2d262hd.jpg&imgrefurl=http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/23585642.html&usg=__08NV82RMg3p6CQLXwcf-E6QMygE=&h=375&w=500&sz=176&hl=en&start=0&sig2=9uJNCjJjdHYFjD909aBEng&zoom=1&tbnid=DeBOXrSxk-dl6M:&tbnh=163&tbnw=216&ei=htSxTaT6Nui20QHmlIW-CQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvince%2Byoung%2Bdancing%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=147&vpy=159&dur=376&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=169&ty=116&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

that he is going to start bleaching his skin soon?

a scenario my (patriot fan) friends have been mocking me mercilessly for since the concept was proposed. let me tell you why, as a bills fan, you should hope we come out of this with 18 games on our schedule next year. as we all know, for the 2002 season, the NFL realigned the league, creating 4 divisions in each conference, with 4 teams in each division. the effect of this realignment on "parity" has actually been pretty alarming (statistically speaking.) in the 9 seasons since realignment, the average win total for the top seed in the american football conference has jumped a full game, from 13 to 14 wins, while the average win total for the 6th place team in the conference (or the final wild card spot,) has also increased a full game, from 9 to 10 wins. what does this mean, and why is it happening? in essence, the good/great teams are no longer being "penalized" with a tougher schedule, while the bottom feeders are no longer being "rewarded" with cream puff opponents. added into this is the fact that before realignment, half of a team's regular season games were played against divisional opponents, whereas now, only 6 out of 16 games are played within the division. the fact of the matter is, our last place buffalo bills can not (statistically) catch a break. ever. our strength of schedule last year was brutal, and our common opponents with the patriots, just like every year since alignment, was a staggering 14 out of 16 opponents! the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor. when the league realigned in 2002, the patriots were at the top of the division, and the bills were at the bottom. 9 seasons later, the patriots are at the top of the division, and the bills are at the bottom. now, i recognize that the self-flagellation of bills fans is endless, so feel free to respond that our decade of futility is aaron maybin, tom donahoe, modrak, russ brandon, trent edwards, etc. etc. know this though: if the schedule does increase to 18 games, and those 2 additional games are different for divisional winners/divisional cellar dwellers, it becomes almost a statistical certainty that the bills will return to the playoffs, sooner, rather than later.

i think we can all agree, the best part about this draft is that when it's over, we won't have to hear/use the word "smokescreen" until at least next october.

this absolutely sickens me. the thought of kraft even being able to mention (whether it happens or not,) the idea of buffalo or minnesota relocating is criminal. the patriots were nothing, nobody, insignificant... for years. by cheating, they won 3 superbowls in 4 years, were severely punished by the league, and have not won jack since then. their team is on the downslide now, their defense is terrible. pioli left them for kc, and they havent brought in equal talent since his departure. in 2013, when this is supposed to happen, the pats will be right back where they belong - to being the patsies. a cupcake win on everyones schedule. belicheck will have left town, brady will have retired to pursue a political career. and youre gonna tell me that the owner of THAT team wants to move the legendary MINNESOTA VIKINGS?!?!?!?! all i can say, is bills nation better fight just as hard to keep the vikings in minnesota as we do to keep the bills in buffalo. would truly be a monumental loss for the league to lose a fanbase that rabid.

it definitely doesn't feel like were spinning our wheels and going nowhere anymore. i don't think we'll make the playoffs next year, for no other reason than we are in an extremely tough conference. but i must admit, im guilty of taking pleasure in watching us slowly assemble a winning culture, or at the very least, a different mindset/philosophy than has been shown by our team in the years since bledsoe was qb. and i'll keep my fingers crossed for an above .500 season next year, but we're probably in store for another 6-10, 7-9 campaign. i know you buffalonians find it hard to believe, but as an out of state bills fan (my parents are from buffalo) you guys have no idea how universally loved the bills are, and how much the entire football watching nation wants nothing more than to see us return to prominence. we play in the same division as the pats and the jets for god's sake - two of the most hated teams in the league. EVERYONE wants us to get better, believe me. glad to see everyone in here today happy about the hire and the direction the bills are going in!

first to 6.

98.6 rating this year, 10 tds, 3 picks, had the titans off to a great start. overall winning record as a qb, has gotten the titans into the playoffs before. id rather go 10-6 with stupid, athletic qb and laugh at his sat scores, then go 4-12 with a guy that looks cool because he has a beard, wears a wedding ring when he plays, and is admired by broadcasters and internet posters because he went to harvard. vince young, cj spiller, roscoe parish, steve johnson? are you kidding me? that offense would be fun to watch, fun to read about in the police blotter, and fun to hear chris collinsworth and dan patrick talking about a saturday one year from now as we get ready to travel to oakland for the first game of wild card weekend. or hey, theres always the alternative, we could win 5 games next year and have a rousing discourse on how were going to trade up to get luck.

this is the same board that didn't want vick. take vince in a heart beat - fisher never wanted him there, but young can be a very good quarterback. he probably would have had the titans competing for the division this year. lets not make the same mistake (vick) twice. i would make the deal this morning, and have fitzy listed as our number 2 by lunch. if gaily can have fitz looking above average, he can make young a pro bowler (again.)

i read an interesting article awhile back that i just spent a good half hour trying to find, with no luck. the basic premise of the article was that since realignment, the win percentage of the division winners has gone up by almost 2 full games. in essence, when there were 3 divisions in each conference, there were more divisional games, so teams beat up on each other more, effectively lowering their win total... division winners before realignment had an average of say, 10 wins a season. now, 12 is par for the course. the article postulated that 14-2 and 15-1 seasons were going to become more common and (this was written before new england had gone 16-0) we would probably see an undefeated team within the next 10 years. the underlying thought behind the article was basically that with the scheduling formula the way it is, there is really no challenge to the teams that win the division: they play essentially the same schedule as the bottom feeders in the division, with 2 fewer division games at that! now, what does this mean in the big picture (to me?) if goodell is smart, and makes the extra 2 games inter-conference, you might see more teams at the top of their divisions (new england) scheduled to play harder opponents for those 2 games, while teams like us get more cream puff games.

lol, my bad. those 4am posts are tough...

Peter King reported on FBNIA tonight. For what it's worth. Personally, I won't believe it til the deadline passes.