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In 1999 I turned 10 years old. I was a diehard NHL and Sabres fan. Honestly, I had loved the Sabres since I could walk. The sport clicked with me more because I played it and grew up in a hockey family. I remember attending game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals, the first Cup game hosted in Buffalo since 1975. It was electric. We lost 2-1, and I was devastated. I didn't cry, but I remember being very upset that it put us down in the series, and it was the first time that I considered the possibility that we might lose. You see, up until that point in my young life it hadn't occured to me that my favorite city was actually destined for failure. It only made sense that we would win it all before this game. Hell, we had Hasek! Later in the week we lost the finals in game six. It was late. I was up, but it was just so late, and being young and watching the cup being hoisted around by the Stars while there was all this controversy and just hearing my parents talk about getting screwed... it just really affected me. I remember just shouting "WHY?" over and over again into my pillow. It's weird that the same feeling has bubbled up in me...maybe not the tears, but an internal "what did I do to deserve this" mantra has appeared so many more times over the years as a Buffalo sports fan. Anyways, that's not the last time I cried over sports. Later that year I got really into football. Of course I was a already Bills fan, and we had season tickets, but this was the first year that I really "got it". Remember that first year where you learned who the nickel corner was? The first year where you actually followed the draft and paid attention to position battles in training camp? 1999 was that year for me. The year I got hooked for life. A few memories stuck out more than others that season... I remember a home game against the Steelers where we held on for our fourth or fifth consecutive win. We were 4-1 or 5-1 at the time and I could feel for the first time that playoff energy you get after the game where it's just clear that we're having a good season. I've since learned to reject this feeling out of superstition. We were buzzing about how Antoine Smith looked like a promising rookie and Flutie had looked so much better than Kordell Stewart. When we made the playoffs I remember my father getting me hyped for the game. I had just missed the Kelly years. Sure, I was technically there... I had been to a few games and I have some scattered memories of our "dynasty", but I wasn't old enough to really "get it". My Dad explained to me how important this season was. We still had Bruce and Andre, and Phil Hansen. There was a passing of the torch to younger guys like Moulds and Winfield and Cowart, and I was fortunate enough to witness it! I'm sure my Dad was just getting me excited because he wanted to experience the playoffs with me and enjoy watching me go through my first time following a team on a run. I mean, can you blame him? It's still the 90's and we hadn't done much else but win. I don't remember the game at all, just the last minute. I must have blacked it out from all the chaos. When Christie hit the field goal to go up I remember jumping up and down in the living room. My Dad and I had earlier pushed the couches back to play a little fake goal line stand game in between the TV timeouts so there was more room than usual. So there I was, just running around and jumping and genuinely celebrating. When the kickoff happened I was barely watching. My Dad got my attention when he screamed for them to squib it and that made me focus on the return just as the forward pass took place. The rest is insane. It's a blur, really it is. I just remember the feeling compounding with the Cup loss not six months before and just crying into the night. It broke me. I think the joy of watching the game with my Dad, after being groomed all season to really follow the team, and the heartbreak right after made it feel surreal. I didn't just take the loss like a loss, I took it as if the world had played a cruel trick on me, and it wasn't fair. I'm in the weirdest generation of Bills fans. We're all rounding the corner to 30, and yet remarkably, that is the only playoff game we remember. We're the right age to understand how the city and community feels when the team is dominating, but we were just so young that we don't have clear memories of it. Those of use that have been fans since the '99 season... the drought hits us maybe the hardest. The "hey day" is the stuff of legends. Playoffs seem less like a regular season goal and more like greek mythology. I've watched those epic games like the '90 AFC Championship and I shed a tear even though I wasn't there. Just to experience that feeling. How great it must have felt. Those of us from Buffalo, we have something to prove. I live in California now, but there isn't a single friend out here who doesn't know I'm a Bills fan. They can't figure out why I have so much pride about the Bills, but that's because they've never had that memory. Hugging and high-fiving your father in the living room one minute, crying yourself to sleep the next.

538 usually explains their stats a lot better than simply saying they commissioned a company and this: In other words...they ommitted their sample size, and I happen to think that it's incredibly small. I think most casual fans aged 18-30 might not know a single thing about the Buffalo Bills.

I happen to think Dareus is one of our best players. The other circumstances (contract, off the field behavior) are things that I don't care about while I'm rooting for the Bills to win a game.

I don't mind him at all as a change of pace back. I would have expected us to use Banyard more to sub in for Shady though.

I only care about winning. I don't fawn over stars, sorry. By saying wins I did not necessarily mean that it's a QB "stat" that I look at, but rather the only thing that matters to me in general as a fan. I could give a sh*t about QB rating. Drew Brees? Jim Kelly's stats are much worse but he's played in more and won more playoff games. People tell me Tyrod has a great QB rating, but I just want to win. I guess I'd rather win with a good franchise QB, that seems to have sustainability, but wins are the only stat that matter to me, regardless of position. I want guys that win, guys that have been around winning organizations and have a history of taking games over when it's needed most. Winning can be infectious, and to downplay it's role to an organization in favor of a guy like Brees going 7-9 at age 40 because he throws all over the field is ridiculous to me.

What a weird stat to brag about after one game. I'm not even on the Tolbert hate wagon, but that argument is ridiculous.

Wins.

He now has more steroid suspensions than pro bowls.

I noticed it took a while to upload stuff. The quality has improved though as you mentioned.

I am not hating on Tyrod the way Crusher or some others are, but let's be real about the "progression". He looked VERY similar to how he's been his whole time here. Still need to convert third downs in the fourth quarter. Still left some points on the field. Overall made a lot of great decisions sprinkled in with some Phantom pocket collapses. He is what he is. Right now, we're fourtunate to have him at QB, we've had much worse during the drought.

Was at the USC Stanford game last night and I'm not sure about this. Darnold made a few really nice throws, but he didn't stand out as particularly special to me at all. He's good, but definitely not far and away better than anyone else.

You seem nice.

You're right. Gilmore played it flawlessly... /s

The idea of a concession stand food photo shoot is hilarious.

Back to the discussion at hand... what are the odds Taylor starts on Sunday? 90%?

He can't name famous instances of recent cases in which the police used excessive force that resulted in death? Why is that?

Pretty sure he's whining about his rights being violated. This thread should be locked immediately because your post belongs somewhere far, far away from 2017.

Add me as well. I'd get rid of McCoy before Watkins any day of the week. I love McCoy, it's just...nonsensical to pretend he has a greater upside moving forward than Watkins.

Apparently you know something about EJ Gaines that we don't.

I don't understand this Whaley vs Beane debate. It's possible to dislike them both. This new staff has not earned the benefit of the doubt. The Watkins trade is ridiculous, and defending it requires a ton of mental gymnastics. In it's simplest form, you'd rather have Watkins than EJ Gaines. If you're hyped on the 2nd round pick... how's that worked out for us lately?

Are you being paid $94 million dollars ($60m guaranteed) not to be late?

Was it not just last season where everyone said we were going to win the home opener vs the Jets? How well did that go?

As a fan of the Bills (not just a specific regime - something a lot of these GMs seem to forget), this is so incredibly frustrating. The Rex Ryan hire was one of the most obvious and clear mistakes in franchise history. It set us back in more ways than people realized at the time, and the change in scheme has resulted in many players aging out of their prime with good teams, and other players deemed irrelevant. I'm not interested in assigning blame anymore, it's just pure frustration at this point and absolutely maddening that we can sit here and watch them telegraph so many mistakes to us. Will this regime turn it around? Should I be hyped by all these trades? I don't know, but I don't give them the benefit of the doubt. We've seen this script before, and it usually gets thrown out before the third act.

37 TDs over two seasons, and you're praising him. We definitely have a low bar in Buffalo.

There's no other way to do it. You need to get live game reps in. If they want to limit it to 2 games, fine, but you can't just cancel preseason on the off chance that you'll be injured. That's ridiculous. As a side note, Landry is still my least favorite player in the league not on the Patriots.