Kirby Jackson

I didn’t see a thread posted on the topic. Over the last few years the NFL trade deadline has been active. Contenders have added pieces. This feels like the a good place to throw out ideas for both the Bills and other teams. Obviously there are cap considerations with any move. I had one idea and that was reason enough to start this. Ray Davis to the Cardinals for a 4th or 5th? The Bills recoup the draft pick that they used on Davis. It gives them ammo to deal elsewhere and gives Gore a shot at that spot. The Cardinals are without their first 2 backs. If Davis plays well he can be a part of their backfield rotation moving forward.

Um, no they weren’t. It was right after that TD. They went nuts. It just got cut off during the kickoff.

Bills 34 Pats 17

Thanks for proving my point. I too can google 4 weeks of stats. I’m just not delusional enough to believe that a pretty good QB, with a 5-11 record, looks like the world’s best player, reigning MVP who also happens to be +100 to be the MVP again. Lol, that’s EXACTLY the craziness that I’m talking about.

Yeah, the topic of the song is odd. So is Sweet Caroline. Obviously it’s not the same but the point is sometimes these things take off regardless of the topic. No one really cares what it’s about. 7 Nation Army is another song from 2003 that’s still around and is pointless. I just don’t see how something that the people love so much, associated with a team that they’ll always love, will just disappear?

These things all started somewhere. This old song resonated with the team so they brought it to the fans. The fans loved it. I fully expect the crowd to be singing along to Mr. Brightside long after this group is gone. The crowd loves it. It’s Sweet Caroline for the Red Sox (eff those guys). Maybe the players won’t be as hyped in a decade but the crowd sure will.

I guess I strongly disagree. I’m there every week and the crowd goes CRAZY when it comes on. Lol, this isn’t a contemporary song. It’s 22 years old!! 🤣Drew Bledsoe was entering his 2nd year as the Bills QB when the song was released.

Oh I think that they are in a nice rebuild. They’re a WC contender. Vegas still has it more likely that the Bills win by 20 than that the Pats win. They aren’t a contender to win the division like their fans are starting to think. The Bills are -1800 to win the AFCE. While the Pats have improved, the gap between the 2 teams is still massive.

Why is it different? Shout remains relevant because the fans embraced it and have carried it along. Why shouldn’t we expect the same thing to happen with Mr. Brightside? It’s happened with 7 Nation Army, Zubaz, “where else would you rather be,” and others? All of those traditions started at some point.

At some point, the Bills are going to play a good game. We haven’t seen it yet. We have seen flashes but not dominance. They’ve kind of been sleepwalking for the last few weeks. This week I expect more urgency. This is a great opportunity to put the Pats back in the corner.

Is it just me or have Pats fans replaced the Dolphins fans for the most delusional in the division? They are swearing that they have a shot at the division. They believe Maye is in the conversation with Allen. They have taken steps for sure. They’re still an 8.5 underdog. @HappyDays provided an interesting way to look at spreads last week. The Pats are +350 to win the game. The Bills are only +336 to win by 20.5!! There are levels to this.

Another good call. 7 Nation Army feels forced and that definitely has the drought stink on it

Totally fair. We will probably see more new traditions when we get into the new stadium. It’s going to be incredible. The new traditions like the pregame chant and Mr. Brightside have largely been great. People earlier were complaining about it feeling forced. The Mr. Brightside thing is the perfect example of things developing organically. It was stars of this team, drunk at Knox’s wedding, singing like frat boys. It is so authentic compared to a lot of other things. We should be open to that. That holds especially true if it is driven by the players. I’m not suggesting forsaking traditions just to do so. I’m saying let’s continue to embrace new traditions that are distinct to this group. They’ve earned the right to carve out their own place in franchise history like those early 90’s teams did.

Fair. It’s not so much devolving as it is evolving. The table jumping and Zubaz wearing, exploded during the drought. They were cries out for relevancy. We wanted to show the world how passionate we were. This was like the black sheep of the family trying to get mom and dad’s approval. It worked. “Bills mafia” became a thing and we were recognized as an elite fan base despite an average(ish) product. We can lean in on the things that make us elite (tailgating, charity, road attendance, elite passion) without the sideshow tactics. I’m not talking about changing Hammer’s Lot. That IS a part of the tradition. I’m suggesting we do away with Zubaz-clad, 22 year-olds in the grass lot, blacking out and jumping off buses. Those attention-seeking efforts can go away. We earned attention. I said it earlier, but there is a fraction of the Zubaz, and especially table jumping, than there was a decade ago. That will continue with the new stadium. The market has spoken, and priced out a good bit of the chaos. The stadium is as loud as it always was, but a much more evolved environment. My initial point was that we should keep the best of what makes us unique. We should also embrace new traditions that belong to this era. We don’t need to be the “wacky neighbor” that we were in 2015. We are still unique and as elite a fan base as there is. We can do that without being a sideshow. We are moving in that direction and that’s a positive. The new uniforms didn’t need to be “more Zubazy.” That’s the past. Let’s embrace the now and the future. Josh Allen and co have earned that.

The Mr. Brightside thing started at Knox’s wedding. It was about as organic as it gets. It was literally driven by the players as opposed to the game presentation staff trying to shove it down your throats (like when they try to “SHAKE THE STTAAAADDDDDIIIUUUUUM”) at the start of the 4th.

I think they were certainly mainstream in the Super Bowl era. There’s no doubt. The point was, everyone and every team had people in Zubaz back then. It was the thing. Everyone else dropped it because it’s lame. We kept it, and doubled down for the last 25-30 years. We made it “our” thing instead of “everyone’s” thing. I’m suggesting we should leave them, and the table breaking, behind. We should have dropped them when Josh became elite.

I’m not shocked. I’m at every game. The frequency of table jumping though is about 5% of what it was 7 or 8 years ago. FWIW, the Zubaz percentage has, thankfully, dropped significantly as well.

People wore them seriously in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s everywhere. People had them in multiple colors. Go look up old Legion of Doom photos. It was, unironically, the style at the time. We stuck with it during the drought to be ironic. I don’t hate Zubaz. As I said, I own some and have that 20 ft carpet that I got directly from Zubaz for a party. It’s just a drought era thing like table jumping. It’s lame. I don’t expect them to go away but this era won’t be remembered for table jumping, Zubaz wearing goofballs. That’s the drought.

No one is suggesting that we erase history. The tailgating, the passion, the traveling, etc… Those are the traditions. Going early and going all out is the tradition. Wearing goofy pants, that we wore during the drought to attract attention and jumping through tables, isn’t our glorious history. Fortunately, the table jumping is mostly dead now. I’m simply suggesting we do the same with the goofy Zubaz. No more gimmicks. I’m fine keeping Shout. I like the new traditions. We will have more in the new stadium too. I just think that culture, legacy, and identity are earned. The early 90’s teams are why I’m a Bills fan. I’m not suggesting abandoning what they accomplished. I’m simply suggesting that we continue to evolve. The traditions started by this team, like the early 90’s were organic. It’s okay for us to dump things from the drought like we did those ugly uniforms. There’s nothing special, or memorable about Zubaz. It is just gimmicky and attention seeking. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The Bills absolutely kept Zubaz afloat. Allen Iverson once kept Reebok relevant. We did our part. It’s a ridiculous look and we did it to be ironic. It was “our thing.” We don’t need to be the “goofy neighbor” anymore. We can move on from being Kramer, Urkel or Kimmy Gibbler. We don’t need gimmicks to be relevant. Zubaz are/were ABSOLUTELY a gimmick. It was us trying to be unique. It worked. “Bills Mafia” was relevant, passionate and quirky even when the team wasn’t very good. Now, that we’ve experienced sustained excellence, with the best player that we’ve ever had, we can “act our age” a little more. We can still go out, party and have fun. We just don’t need to dress up like it’s Halloween to attract attention for our team.

This isn’t college where they turn over rosters every 4 years (or way less in the NIL era). Also, a lot of college teams have released new traditions over the last decade or whatever. The early 90’s team was the genesis of a lot of this. The Shout Song probably stays but this era, absolutely deserves traditions that are unique to them. They don’t need to hang from anyone’s coattails. I actually find it odd that people are hung up on things like Zubaz. I own some. I even own a 20 ft long Zubaz carpet for events. That’s from the drought. That’s not the Josh Allen Bills. It’s time to move on.

I’ve been big on giving this team its own identity and their own traditions. Zubaz, the Shout Song, etc… belong to the early 90’s Bills. This era deserves their own memories and identity. The new stadium will be the biggest part. These jerseys, Mr. Brightside, and the legend of the game (despite using early 90’s sayings) are unique to them. They absolutely deserve that. It’s time to say goodbye to Zubaz. Maybe they never retire the Shout Song but if there was ever a year to say goodbye, it would be this year. Through the drought it was fine to pay homage to the glory years. This era, stands on it’s own. I have no idea why they waited. It certainly wasn’t based on the sales being slow. They were sold out immediately and everywhere. I somehow was able to get it on Fanatics (with the sleeves) right at launch. I was the only one in our group of 12 that was able to get one.

I’m surprised that it took them this long to announce this “plan.” As soon as they released these jerseys, the white out was obvious. The Bills always look clean in white. The uniforms are 🔥🔥🔥. It’s nice to have a change up.

I can’t tell if you’re serious or not. You once wanted to trade Mario Williams for John Skelton so this isn’t even your craziest idea. Davidson had some success as a Division 2 punter. There are dozens of guys, more qualified than him to do the job. Obviously the Bills should replace Johnston will the most qualified, and best, guy.

As of today, he’s in the conversation. He is currently +1500 (tied with Amon-Ra St. Brown). He is trailing Puka, Taylor, Bijan and McCaffrey in that order. Not bad!!