sven233

To answer your questions, what happened was that Adelphia was running the NFL Network on their basic package and then Time Warner bought them out. They kept the NFL Network for a couple of months while they tried to reach an agreement. They couldn't and dropped it. When I confronted them with the Empire Sports costs and the NFL Network replacement, they told me that while I was right about it, not to expect the refund. Yeah, they admitted to me that I was right about the charge and that the refund won't be issued. I realize that all of their customers didn't have this initial charge, but it is not the WNY customers fault they don't have any Empire Sports or NFL Network anymore. So, they either need to put the NFL Network back on or give their Adelphia subscribers a break in cost.

Guess Time Warner screwed up here too. They said that even though we don't get the NFL Network, we would still get all of our hometown BILLS Games!!!! Yeah, I knew the blackout rules applied, but Time Warner made no mention of this! They could have at least taken all of that money that they are not spending on the NFL Network and bought the last few thousand tickets. I can't believe this game did not sell out.

THE POINT IS THAT THERE SHOULD NOT BE A CABLE RATE INCREASE JUST FOR ADDING THE NFL NETWORK! WE HAVE ALREADY HAD THAT INCREASE AND WE HAVE NOT BEEN REFUNDED FOR IT! The NFL Network is not forcing any additional costs on TW customers, because TW customers are already paying for it. Until TW moved in and dumped it, we HAD IT ON BASIC CABLE. Also, if you actually read my other posts, you would know that I can't get a dish, or I would have a long time ago. My apartment complex does not allow dishes and even if I had a patio or balcony of my own, we are facing NORTH, so the dish wouldn't work anyway!!!!! Stop trying to defend a company that is already charging $10-$15 more per month for LESS CHANNELS! SCREW TIME WARNER!!!!

IT IS NOT THE CUSTOMER'S FAULT THAT ADELPHIA FOLDED! We are still paying for channels we NO LONGER GET! So, Time Warner HAS NO ARGUMENT WHATSOEVER UNTIL THEY REFUND ALL FORMER ADELPHIA SUBSCRIBERS THEIR $2.22 PER MONTH (While the $2.22 number may not be exact, I do know it was over $2.00 based on other articles I have read). As soon as that refund happens, I will re-evaluate the situation. But us former Adelphia subscribers are already paying for NFL Network.........It is no longer on the system and we are all entitled to a refund. Time Warner has NO ARGUMENT at all here. FACTS ARE FACTS. And the FACT is we are still paying for Empire Sports Network/NFL Network and we no longer get it. SCREW TIME WARNER!

The point is, WHY WOULD THE CABLE COMPANY HAVE TO RAISE THEIR RATES?????????? They are already at least $15-$20 more per month for BASIC cable! Plus, like I said before in another post..........WE CABLE SUBSCRIBERS ARE ALREADY PAYING THE FEE TO HAVE NFL NETWORK!!!!! WE ARE ALREADY PAYING FOR IT!!!!!!!!! The cable company charged ever subscriber about $2.22 per mont for the Empire Sports Network. When they left, they put NFL Network in its place. NOW WE HAVE NEITHER! And I have not gotten a $2.22 reduction of my bill every month for not having those channels!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO, WE ARE ALREADY PAYING ALMOST 3X MORE ALREADY THAN THE NFL IS ASKING EACH SUBSCRIBER TO PAY AND WE HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT! ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS THE CABLE COMPANY IN THIS DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT! SCREW TIME WARNER!

Like I said in the other thread, we are in an apartment complex with no balcony or patio. On top of that, we are on the NORTH side!!!! So we can't get a view of the southern sky. Other people may be able to do this. and I encourage them to. TIME WARNER IS NOTHING MORE THAT A GREEDY MONOPOLY THAT WILL CONTINUE TO SCREW IT'S CUSTOMERS AS LONG AS THEY CAN! SCREW TIME WARNER!

Thanks for the info. I just PM'd you back with a response basically stating that we are screwed. We are facing the NORTH in our apartment and we have no balcony or patio. So, until we move, we are screwed. Oh well. I hope that information helps someone! SCREW TIME WARNER!

You do realize that us former Adelphia subscribers are ALREADY PAYING FOR IT, RIGHT? The fact is that when Adelphia brought on the Empire Sports Network each subscriber had their cable rates raised about $2.22 PER MONTH. Then when Empire Sports Network left, we were given NFL Network as a substitutaion. NOW WE HAVE NEITHER!!!! So, when is Time Warner going to give all of their subscribers their $2.22 PER MONTH back??????????????????????????????? I guess Time Warner chooses to ignore the fact that we are already paying for a network we no longer get. TIME WARNER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS! To everyone who does have the opportunity, PLEASE GET A DISH! SCREW TIME WARNER!

Let's see........Over 200 other cable companies provide the NFL Network to their customers. Dish and DirecTV provide it free to their customers (FOR A LOT LESS MONEY PER MONTH IN SUBSCRIPTION FEES, I MIGHT ADD). And Time Warner does NOTHING for their customers! I am already paying almost $60 PER MONTH for BASIC CABLE!!!!!! And, I get less channels that I would if I had DirecTV for $39.95 PER MONTH! Anyone who defends Time Warner in all of this is crazy. I just wish my apartment complex would allow us to get a dish. TW is PURE CRAP!

A little bit of both. Mario Williams is a good player (not great by any means), but he was slowed with an injury today. HOWEVER, as down as I have been on the O-Line this year, I will not take anything away from what they did in this game. They provided solid pass protection all day. If it wasn't for Thomas completely wiffing on a protection pickup, there would have been no sacks today (on a side note.....I hope today will put to rest the whole "Thomas is better than McGahee" CRAP that we have been hearing over the past several weeks. In the last 2 weeks.....against 2 of the WORST RUN DEFENSES in the league, Thomas managed a spectacular 3.5 YPC average! I am not bashing Thomas. I like the way he runs and he has done a good job filling in, but he doesn't have near the talent of McGahee. The fact is, the O-Line is just not good enough for either runner to be great. But for all those that said Thomas is better because he doesn't miss blocks and runs better and picks up short yardage, the last 2 weeks have clearly showed that he is not the best RB on this team. In fact, he not only missed that block in the Texans' game, but was stopped on 3rd and short in the Texans' game and struggled last week as well. Is Thomas a better option on 3rd and short? Maybe. But the fact still remains our O-Line can't knock anyone backwards off the ball when necessary.) But anyways, I am done with my rant. The O-Line is STILL not good enough, but they were better today. Losman was able to sit back there and make reads most of the time. They were solid overall today, but don't be fooled......they are not good enough. But, I will save that for another day. Today is a day to give credit where credit is due and they did get the job done today.

HA! He had another TD today!!!!

YUP! All his fault too! He should have been benched after the 3rd one!!!! What is he still doing in there?????? He is awful! HA!

You fail to point out that Farve turned the ball over 4 times!!!!!!!!! I am not saying that JP is the answer, but it is just the way it goes sometimes. The fact is, you have to let Losman play the rest of the season no matter what happens. Craig Nall IS NOT the QB of the future here. Holcomb IS NOT the QB of the future here. If Losman does not get it done the rest of the year, he probably will not be the QB of the future either. THE FACT IS, that if JP Losman is not the QB of the future, the QB of the future IS NOT ON THIS ROSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a lot of problems on this team. JP is contributing to these problems. But THERE IS NO WAY WE CAN BENCH HIM THIS SEASON!!!! I find it very funny that everyone blames Donahoe for not fixing the line, but yet they want the fancy new QB that will have the same TERRIBLE LINE in front of him. As I have been saying all along, if you get a dominant O-LINE, an average QB will look like a SUPERSTAR!!!!! Same for a RB!!!! I am sure everyone out there would have said Edge James was a SUPERSTAR BACK, but now he is in AZ and runs for 50 yards on 30 carries. Did Edge get worse????? NO!!!!!!!!!!!! The line did. If you have a BAD LINE, the QB and RB WILL BE BAD no matter how much talent they have!!!!!!!! Again, I am not saying JP is the answer......he holds the ball too long and locks onto receivers. At times he looks like he doesn't know what he is seeing in the defense. BUT, he was under a lot of pressure most of the day (he was responsible for 2 of the sacks he took today) and our receivers WERE NOT OPEN!!! The Bills insist on running pass patterns 20-30 yards down the field most every play instead of throwing screens and slants to loosen up the D. They rarely test the D LONG down the field (even to try to get a pass interference call). The right side of the line is AWFUL (CV and Pennington were BAD). The only place they could run was left because the right side was getting blown up ALL DAY. So, there are a lot of problems on offense. Not just the QB. JP MUST BE GIVEN THE REST OF THE SEASON. There is no way we can dump him after this year without knowing for sure what we have (I an just hear this board 2 years from now if he was to finally "get it" somewhere else behind a better line and became a Pro Bowl QB..............HOLY SMOKES!!!!!!!!!!) Again, I am not saying it will happen. The guy may not have what it takes. But, he does have all the physical tools to do the job. WE NEED TO FIND OUT, FOR SURE, whether or not he will ever get it. You can't do that after 16 starts in the NFL (only 8 starts in this offensive system). JP NEEDS TO GET THE REST OF THE YEAR. Then we will see where we are at.

Fact is, Brady sat down........The Bills did not just kill him!!! They just lightly tackled him. Sure, maybe by the book it is close, but it is not like the Bills just lit him up. No hit to the head, no rough tackle, nothing. Just wrapped him up. I have seen much worse, not called. But anyways, that play had nothing to do with anything. This team is BAD and in need of a HUGE talent influx. There needs to be a BIG turnover in the players that are on this team. We have a long ways to go and have gotten worse EVERY week. I never would have thought that this team would get worse as the year went along, but they have and whatever "mental toughness" this team was supposed to have is completely gone. They need 4 new O-Lineman and 3 new D-Lineman before this team will ever be decent again. This team is awful to watch.

We have one of the DUMBEST TEAMS IN HISTORY. I don't have to wait until the end of the game to write my post game report, because this team keeps making the SAME DUMB MISTAKES WEE IN AND WEEK OUT! Stupid penalties, poor decisions, and some of the worst tackling in the history of the NFL. This team will never win another game until they stop making these same DUMB MISTAKES. They are killing themselves on EVERY drive either through STUPID penalties or poor play. Losman, although he played pretty well int he first half has 2 turnovers (AGAIN). The fumble is tough to put on him because CV couldn't block his man one bit, but IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES can you throw that INT. He locked on to Evans and NEVER looked anywhere else. Every defense in the NFL (excepts maybe ours) makes that pick. SAME DUMB MISTAKES. Our RUN D is TERRIBLE and has given up 2 TD runs that should not have happened. We can't tackle at all. Yeah, we are getting some pressure on Brady, but they have had trouble finishing at times. Heck, Brady even sat down for a sack and apparently they can't touch him when he gives up. Awful call by the Refs there, but really, all they had to do was touch him with 1 finger. Overall, I thought the Bills played well enough to be in this game, maybe winning it, BUT THIS TEAM CAN'T GET OUT OF ITS OWN WAY. We are beating ourselves and it has been happening most every week. Until they get the 'STUPID' removed from their head, we may not win another game.

Too bad that Clements guys doesn't play for us anymore........ Sure we have an over-hyped, overpaid CB with the same name and number, but that guy in the video dissapeared a couple of years ago. For the first 2-3 years of his career, I really thought we had a franchise CB. Now all we have is an average CB with the franchise tag. Man, would I wouldn't give for our defense to hit and attack like that again.

Again, I did say that, but the last 2 weeks they haven't even shown up. This was not the same team we saw the first 4 weeks. They have not been properly prepared. The pass protection has been even worse than it was early in the season, instead of better, and they are showing NO HEART. They were hungry early in the season. They outplayed NE and Miami. They were there with the Jets and could have won that game and they beat the Vikings (even though the score ended up being close, they were much better that day). All of a sudden they get beat by the Bears and it looks like they have given up hope! If this team would just forget about the losses and move on.......play with a little HEART and not be so soft, YES, THEY COULD PLAY WITH ANYONE. But this team is not playing with any heart, fire, or desperation. That is a recipe for losing. This team needs an attitude adjustment and they need it quick. They are better than what they have shown in the last 2 weeks. For some reason, the fire and passion is gone and I don't know why.

You know what......I did say that. And I really believed that. But Clements and McGee has regressed A LOT in the last year or so. I still love our young safties and McGee has shown good skill in the past. But right now, the fact is that they are not playing well enough. If these guys would get up on the line, knock their receievers off stride and throw the timing off on their routs and attack the ball carriers, they would be much better. There are a lot of things that are going wrong right now, BUT I think it may be a lot of technique and attitude problems rather than physical skills. So, to go back to your quote, yes, I said that. And, I still beleieve it if they would start playing more physical and with heart like I thought they would BEFORE the season started. Right now, they are just not getting it done. But they have a lot of upside and I still think with a little attitude adjustment and some technique corrections, that statement will be true. It is way to early to tell either way right now, but at this time, they are not getting it done. I hope they get it figured out soon.

Yeah, I just checked that out. I am not sure if that is accurate. He looks bigger to me than the 305 they are listing him at. I don't know. Even if this trade does happen, it won't make us THAT much better. Like you, as I said in my 'FURIOUS' post, I want 2 FAT guys in the middle to clog it up. I'll let speed at DE and LB contain the outside. I don't need my DTs to be fast. I don't need them chasing down WRs or anything. Clog the middle of the line and take away the ability to run up the gut and use your speed in other places to stop the outside run. If the Bills did that, their Defense would be much improved right away. Also, I didn't see the post below on this.......if the Mods want to merge these, it is fine.

They were just reporting on Sunday Sports Final on Channel 7 that there are some strong negotions going on between the Bills and Buccaneers that would send Nate Clements to Tampa Bay in return for Anthony McFarland. I have not looked for a link yet, but John Murphy and Vic Carucci just reported it around 12 AM on the Sunday Sports Final. That would be a good trade for both teams if it happened, I believe. We would get much needed size in the middle and Clements would help TB. They did say that the contact for Nate could be a hold up as he wants BIG money (that he doesn't deserve), of course, so we will have to see what happens. Trade deadline is Tuesday so it would have to happen soon. We won't have long to find out, I guess!

WOW........This team is BAD. There are so many holes on this team, it isn't even funny. We are so bad at so many positions on the field that it may take 2-3 more years to get things solved. And that, my friends is WAY TOO LONG. 1. The biggest problems on this team are the Offensive and Defensive Lines. I know a lot of you follow my posts throughout the year and know my stance on all of this. But, it needs to be said again. If you have a dominant Offensive and Defensive Line, you WILL WIN A LOT MORE GAMES THAN YOU WILL LOSE. I don't care if you are average at every other position, if you are DOMINANT in the trenches, you WILL win games. Right now, the Bills have 1 solid Offensive Linemen and 1 solid Defensive Linemen. THAT IS IT. Peters is a SOLID tackle and could be DOMINANT sooner than later. Schobel is also solid at DE. HOWEVER, they are not good enough at any other position on either line. Both of the lines are getting blown off the ball every single play. The O-Line couldn't push anyone into the backfield if their lives depended on it. That equates to NO GOOD run blocking and SWISS CHEESE pass blocking. Like I have said on several other occasions, you can have an average running back that can turn into a star if you can open holes. This O-Line we have now can't get out of their own way. In "pass protection" (like there was any today), any QB that is in the NFL can look like a superstar if you give him 4-5 seconds to throw the ball. JP was getting 2-3 and then having to scramble because there was never a pocket to allow him to scan the field. Granted, JP does have some issues of his own, but he gets a bad rap for a lot of things he shouldn't just because he is forced to get rid of the ball so fast. If he had more time, he would find guys open. But, that all comes back to the O-Line and they, aside from Peters ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. On the D-Line, they are getting blown off the ball EVERY SNAP. Nobody is even touching the opposing RBs until they are at least 5 yards down the field. I am sick of this whole "we need to attack the run with speed at DT" CRAP! Give me 2 FAT guys in the middle to take up space and let the speed at DE and LB contain the outside. I don't need 2 DTs that are 290 lbs and run a 4.8 - 5.0, 40. I don't need DTs that can run 20 yards down the field to make a tackle. Just stuff the middle of the line and let the speed outside take care of the rest. I am sick and tired of seeing Tripplett, Williams, and Anderson getting blown off the ball and pancaked to the ground every play. Get me 2 STRONG, FAT GUYS that can't be moved and I will worry about stopping the runs to the outside with my DEs and LBs. Like I said earlier, Schobel is the only guy on our line right now that is good enough. With the undersized DTs getting man-handled at the line, the LBs are getting blocked way too easily allowing the RBs to pick any hole they like. As far as I am concerned, the other 3 D-Linemen can go. If the Bills want to ever be a dominant team, it starts up front, in the trenches. Until they understand this, they will be spinning their wheels. Like I have said in several times in the past, you build a team from the O-Line and D-Line out. If you are dominant up front, you will win a lot of games even if you have average talent at all the other positions. Having dominant lines allows other average talent to look good, sometimes even great. The Bills have 1 player on each line that is dominant enough. The rest are not good enough. 2. While I do believe that the lines are the biggest problem on this team, our CBs are average, at best. I am so frustrated watching these guys try to play the position and not doing what they need to do. We may have the least physical corners in the league and that is not going to cut it. Roy Williams was not the first WR to tear us up this year and he won't be the last. Until this team learns to be aggressive at CB and knock these WRs off their routes, they will continue to get burned. Williams was knocked down 1 time this entire game. I think it was Greer who had the initial coverage on him. He stepped up to the line and knocked Williams on his butt and the Bills almost had a pick on the play. That was the only time he was challenged all day. Every other play he had a free run into the secondary. You won't stop any WR in the league if you don't re-route the WR and throw off the timing of the play. The CBs on this team, no matter how athletic they are, will continue to get burned until they start jamming the WRs at the line and intimidating them from the start. ALSO, IF I SEE ONE MORE PLAY WHERE THE CB OR LB IN COVERAGE SITS DOWN AND WAITS UNTIL THE BALL CARRIER COMES TO THEM TO MAKE A TACKLE, I AM REALLY GOING TO GET PI**ED OFF. I don't know how many times this season, teams end up getting an extra 5-10 yards because our defender waits for the ball carrier to come to them to try and make the tackle. Usually, they don't end up making the tackle because the ball carrier is already by them with a quick move. Until this team gets the mentality to go ATTACK the ball carrier and take the play to them, they will continue to give up unnecessary yardage. I have seen CBs do it and LBs do it. They freaking wait to make the tackle. BE A MAN AND TAKE THE PAIN TO THE BALL CARRIER!!! GO HIT HIM! DON'T WAIT TO BE HIT. INITIATE THE CONTACT! BE AGGRESSIVE WHEN SOMEONE HAS THE BALL. A prime example of this was on the critical 3rd and 5 (or 6) with about 2 minutes to go. Detroit runs a little swing pass to Jones and Thomas, instead of running up and just taking him out of the play, stands back and waits for Jones to come to him. By that time, Jones had already put the move on him and was down the field for the 1st down. If Thomas just sees the swing and runs up to hit Jones and takes the contact and tackle to him, it is a 1 or 2 yard gain and we get the ball back. OUR DEFENSE IS WAY TOO SOFT and we will not improve at all until this defense steps up and attacks the opposing offense. Yeah, they may get burned for a big one once in a while, but the will change the game and that is what a defense is supposed to do. This defense needs to force the issue and they are not doing that right now. They are playing soft and scared to give up the big play and they are giving up big play after big play because of it. The defense needs to step it up and dictates to the offense how the game is going to be played. We are supposed to be an aggressive defense. Right now they are scared and soft. Until that changes, expect more of the same. 3. Play calling - Although I haven't had a lot of problems with most of the play calling, there are some things that have happened regularly that I have issues with. For example, every time we get 1st and 5 or something like that because of penalty, we always end up throwing it 3 times. That ticks me off. RUN THE BALL, pick up first downs and build some confidence! Even if they do run it once and only get 3 yards, RUN IT AGAIN AND AGAIN, if necessary and GET FIRST DOWNS! Pound the ball and move the sticks instead of throwing away opportunities. Also, I know we have had some success running the ball inside, but can we PLEASE run some more plays off tackle????????? Every time we take the ball to the outside we seem to pick up 10-15 yards, AT LEAST! The prime example was today. They were getting little or nothing inside and then on the one play that went to the outside, McGahee picked up 21 yards!!!! Did we see another run outside all day? NO!!!!! McGahee has shown that he does have some speed to the outside this year. On that 1 today, he was just a half step away from outrunning the CB that he beat to the outside. He can do it, but they don't call enough plays to take advantage of this. Also, we saw 1 pass to a TE today that went for a TD. I hope they realize that the TE is in on most every play and it is OK to throw to them once in a while. Also, what happened to getting the RBs involved in the downfield passing game? They did it in camp, but they have not done it yet in 6 games this year! I know, Losman seems to throw the balls high every time on the short dump passes out of the backfield, but they need to get it figured out. Every pass thrown to McGahee or any other RB this season has been within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Lets try to get the RBS and TEs more involved in the passing game and that will take a lot more pressure off Losman. This team has a lot more issues than those I have listed, but I do believe that some of these issues would go away if we had dominant lines. THE WAY YOU WIN FOOTBALL GAMES IS TO BUILD YOUR TEAM FROM THE LINES OUT. To be honest, I like most of the players we have at the skilled positions. McGahee, Evans, Price, Parrish are all good enough to do some damage and score some points. Losman is good enough to get them the ball. BUT, until we get an O-Line in here that can knock somebody's teeth in, they will not be any better. Each one of them would look GREAT if the O-Line was dominant. They may not have the most talent in the world, but with a good O-Line, they would have the potential to BE VERY EXPLOSIVE. Unfortunately, our O-line, like it has been since the early 90s unit disbanded, will continue to have bad pass protection and will continue to fail to knock people off the ball when it is needed the most. This team needs better players up front on both sides of the ball to become the dominant team they want and need to be. Unfortunately, that may take 2-4 more years to fix (and that is only if they recognize this right away....although it is hard to miss). Sorry for the rant guys, but the fact is that I have been saying this for so long and these guys that run this team still don't get it.

must have posted at the same time........ oh well........no biggie!

per v-coach HERE IS A LINK TO THE FULL STORY: http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?NEWS_ID=4261

NO KIDDING.......This may have been Gandy's worst game as a Bill. He was awful. But then again, other than Perters at RT, our O-Line is all holes that should be improved. We get no push up front and there rarely are holes for Willis to run through. Believe it or not, but the Bills O-line is actually better than what they have been the last several years! The problem is, the unit as a whole still stinks. Same thing with our D-Line. Out DTs are so small they can't hold anyone at the point of attack. Neither of our starters (Triplett or Williams) weight over 300 lbs. WAY to small to stop the run. There are definately holes on this team, but most of it is our big men on both sides of the ball. But, I have been saying that for years now, but it still never gets addressed. You win and lose games at the line of scrimmage. Until the Bills realize this, they will be another average team that may do great things here and there, but won't be the contender they need to be.

The fact is that there are no moral victories in this game. We didn't show up to play today and we paid for it. We got smoked. No moral victories today.