All I Need is Hope

It may well work out fine regarding the surgery and his availability early in the regular season. The part that amuses me is Whaley and Co.'s proclamations about maybe needing surgery "down the road" and Shaq being a day one starter. As long as you continue to be mediocre to bad, year after year, please keep your mouths shut, and don't open Buffalo up to any embarrassment / bad press. This just pisses off your fan base (minus the "bliders on" homers). Agree with the earlier poster, just a bad look for a team that has set the bar for mediocrity / bad decisions (GM, coaching, QB's, cap mgmt., culture).

I think that it hinges on Rex's ability to regain the trust, respect and buy-in of the defensive players and Tyrod improving. I think the latter will happen, but I think Rex's standing with the team is irreparably damaged. It's gonna be ugly. 5-11

Any recent reports regarding their progress or potential to start? I always liked Johnson's physicality and instincts.

No question that Jerry tends to pile on and is really cynical, but as many have posted in this thread, this pitiful franchise deserves most of what he dishes out. There is typically threads of truth in all of his articles, but it depends on your stance as a Bills fan regarding how to take his articles. Me, I'm just mad that I'm a fan of such a fantastically inept sports team... and that I can't completely quit them. I'll admit that, after all of these years, I take some sick pleasure in writers going over the top in their bashing of the team. For me, it's almost as if I want to see if, somehow, they can manage to find another way to do something unprecedentedly bad, stupid, knee-jerk, etc. It's my coping mechanism.

Disagree jeffismagic... culture trumps individuals. We're seeing the same behaviors as we have for the last 16 years. All talk, no real urgency, little accountability, playing down to the level of their competition, losing is ok, "as long as we fill the stadium". Somebody needs to acknowledge it and own it. I don't see it coming from ownership yet... maybe some hope for that this offseason.

We need to zoom out of the details of this latest piece of sh&t season and examine the long-standing / deep-rooted dysfunction in this organization. The tough part is trying to figure out what to do next. I'm not confident, one bit, that the current leadership (owners, president, GM, coach) know what to do next. They've literally tried about every approach you can think of... football czar (Donahue), offensive minded coach, defensive minded coach, disciplinarian, "player's coach", build a dominant defense, build an unstoppable offense, build a team of smart / character guys, build a bully... blah, blah, blah. I would like to see them bring in the best "organizational excellence" mind they can find. I don't even care if they know football. This organization and culture are rotten to the core and losing is accepted, so maybe they can start there. Also, if there's a potential franchise QB near where they draft, they better figure out how to get him.

As each year goes by, I become less interested in this team, and the losses barely get to me anymore. It's a weird phenomenon, and one that I never would've thought was possible. I was a avid fan for two decades. Unlike almost every other team (except the Browns, maybe), the Bills don't have an up and down cycle that repeats every several years. They're just always down. So, I never have a few good years over the course of maybe 7-8 to re-energize me and give me hope. If they ever become competitive and relevant again, I'll be back whole-heartedly. In the meantime, they can suck it, and I will casually watch, but certainly won't spend a dime on them.

I think that, after 8 games through a season, you are what your record says you are. They're an average team that's inconsistent, prone to stupid penalties and don't seem to be buying into the defensive scheme. This is the "prove it" game of the season, and could change our fortunes if we can manage to win. However, I had higher expectations for this year, but we seem to be right back to where we are every year. I'm not optimistic for this game, if fact, my gut tells me they are going to somewhat embarrass themselves tonight.

Same problems, week after week. Undisciplined / uninspired defense. Same pattern, year after year. A "good" win against a marginal team. What's different this year, it seems, is that significantly more of the fan base isn't getting sucked back in after a win like this. The posts this year reflect a huge amount of skepticism and cynicism, and I expect them to get smoked on national tv on Thursday. They're on their glide path to between 7-9 and 9-7, with non play-offs.

eball - I don't see the connection, but your randomness of your reply made me laugh my a$$ off.

I think that many of us would love to be the lead (team employed) journalist for a pro sports team. You get to use your creativity, cover the sport you love, travel with the team, be around world-class athletes, etc. Having said that, I don't think that I could do Chris Brown's job for nearly as long as he has. Trying to find the positives for this sorry franchise has to wear you down. By necessity, he has become THE master turd polisher. I go to the Bills official site for the past few years, just to see how much sheen they've been able to put on the current turd. He's a trooper.

I don't post often, but sometimes I'm compelled to respond to some of the opinions being shared. For the last 15 years, this team has failed to make the playoffs. The odds of a team being able to do that are staggering. Considering that 6 out of 16 teams make the playoffs every year, it's over 1000 to 1 odds that a team could manage to be this terrible for this long. This is pure odds, and doesn't even factor in that the league is built to give the poor performing teams the advantage of picking earlier in the draft and acquiring better talent. It's almost as amazing that, over the 15 years, they haven't been able to acquire an above average to franchise level qb. There's no way I can even get close to thinking that they will manage to salvage this season. The penalties, play calling, players already questioning Rex, Rex's track record of running a loose ship, general tolerance for losing, etc.; coupled with the fact that there has to be something deeply and fundamentally wrong with the organization to produce this logic and probability defying futility streak; makes me ok to take a break from this team. My opinion (only because this might be the one thing they haven't tried) is that they need to bring in a highly capable individual (football czar?) or team of experts to evaluate the organization, top to bottom; clean house, suggest a tank, get a qb, and go from there.

Rex talked about potential changes and more accountability in post-game speech, especially regarding special teams penalties. Is there any information regarding what changes might be made? What would you do?

So, how does this play out? Does Rex have the ability to turn it around (penalties, can't check his emotions like an adult, performance accountability vs. making excuses for his team, etc.), or does Roman get promoted and Rex rides off into the sunset in the clown car? Or, some other scenario? Probably too early to tell, but some really disturbing early evidence that this could go really bad. HB

A slightly less terrible Thad Lewis

Throughout these 4 pages of posts, very little is provided regarding specific examples of Russ' accomplishments, good or bad. Plenty of opinion, but concrete examples of what he does that makes him really good or great aren't available. In the absence of examples, I keep coming back to the fact that he's fortunate to work with teams in a market where fans support crappy teams, year after year, no matter what. An exceptionally loyal fan base has to make it much easier for him to be successful. I think that his responsiveness to the "voice of the customer" and improving the Ralph and fan experience is good, but this would seem to be a basic expectation for someone in that role. Also, the league sets / mandates minimum stadium amenities / conditions, so I'm sure these played into the effort to upgrade. I'm guessing, but I think that he tightly controls the content / tone of the Bills website, through which he's expertly sold false hope for the last decade or so. For this reason, I'm skeptical regarding his real business acumen, versus being a really good salesman. Finally, It seems like he was the ultimate yes man to Ralph, protecting his place / power, by never advocating for a strong football man to come in and run the football ops side. Admittedly, my perception isn't based on a lot of facts; so, if someone can help with examples to support his greatness, please share.

We dropped DirecTV and got the Amazon Fire Stick. Does the NFL have currently, or are they planning to have an app that let's us get Bills games through Roku, Fire Stick, etc?

Seriously, he does need to go... I always come back to the fact that he's always been associated with losing during his tenure with the Bills. You need executive leadership that have driven and been a part of success and know how to replicate it. He doesn't. So, he's gotten really good at selling false hope. That's his value to this organization. If the team begins winning and develops a winning culture that sustains, we don't need him or his false hope anymore. Then, I don't have to read the stupid/biased "what they're saying" articles on their official web-site, and can see the proof on the field. Sorry... bad mood today

Definitely a culture of "we're above the law" in that organization. It would be fascinating to study how it was built. Also, public relation firms and university PR programs are probably salivating at the opportunity to study this latest Pats "got caught cheating + ridiculous response" episode and present as the "point-by-point, what not to do when you get caught red-handed". I truly don't understand what Kraft, Brady and their lawyers are trying to accomplish. Man, what a disaster.

Joe was almost always a pass-through for information that was available elsewhere. He rarely added informed insight (just opinion), and he was difficult to listen to sometimes because he took WAY too long to make a simple point or share a thought. I appreciate Sal's style. He's energetic, doesn't take himself to seriously and he's genuine. I think he has much more football knowledge as well. Hopefully, he'll develop some good sources and bring us information and informed opinions that we can't get elsewhere.

Considering coaching upgrades, I think overall we're slightly better. The Bills always "win" the off season... we'll see if it translates to better than 9-7. I'm hopeful that Roman can build an offensive system and schemes that can take advantage of all these playmakers... and effectively manage through the growing pains from all of the change (personnel, personalities, system). The unknowns like T. Taylor, EJ with different (better coaching), Cassel's ability to be a little above ok are what make me hopeful.

Thanks for all of the responses / perspectives. I'll readily acknowledge that my post was jaded by 20+ years of buying into to the "positives" and ultimately getting kicked in the bag. It does feel like the optimism about what's happened so far isn't proportionate with what we've actually done to improve. But as many have said so constructively , there's plenty of time left.

Clarification GreggyT - they were great, but that doesn't make Kiko expendable in my opinion.

I know that it's very early in free agency, but some of the enthusiasm seems to have faded. So far, we're maybe breaking even when comparing last year's team to this years; specifically, - Cassell for Orton - maybe a slight plus McCoy for Kiko - maybe a slight plus - I don't buy the argument that our defense was great last year without him... it's still an elite young talent going out the door - one which would've made our defense even better Incognito for Searcy - wash Kept Hughes - we're supposed to keep our own good players - wash adding Felton - I suppose a plus If we address TE (Clay) and upgrade guard and add a good linebacker, we could probably say we're better than last year from and overall talent perspective. However, none of these have happened yet. Right now, about the same as last year, with no first rounder...

What are we saving this year's cap money for, our franchise QB? - hilarious! Pay the man, preferably before he hits UFA (I know, too late). We knew he was a really good player two systems ago. He can get to the QB in any system... these players are hard to find. Ask the 20+ teams with crappy pass rushes. Kyle and Mario are getting old. What happens in 1-2 years when they're production drops off and we have no pass rush pipeline? BTW, I don't want to hear about how "we need to save money to extend extend Dareus, Gilmore, Glenn, Kiko, Bradham, etc"; unless you can share the details of the Bills cap situation. We should be able to keep all of these guys.