BillsFan4

Where do you get that from? What makes you think the NFL badly wants a team in Toronto? It was Russ Brandon and Ralph Wilson who set up the Toronto series, not the NFL. And the NFL had zero problem with the Bills abandoning that series. Even when the Bills played there, it wasn't very successful. I don't see the NFL making any other teams play in Toronto, like they do London and possibly Mexico City. I don't even hear any rumors of games being played in Toronto. So I guess I just don't get why you say "the NFL wants a team there badly". If you have some proof I am overlooking, feel free to share it! Also, you may not care what the Pegula's say, but look at what they are doing - how much the Pegula's have invested in the city of Buffalo. They spent millions upon millions building the HarborCenter and restaurants and a hotel. They just bought another multi million dollar building down there. They bought land around New Era Field and are building a new practice facility there. They've sunk millions into New Era Field already too. The Pegula's have said how they didn't just buy sports teams, they also invested in Buffalo and want to help its resurgence, and they've backed that up with actions.

Boy, this thread makes me feel like I'm right back on BBMB....

That's crazy... Definitely not enough focus put on the QB position. But, just looking at the last few years with our current GM - 2 of these drafted since Whaley took over. 2 in 4 years seems about average, no? What's the average around the NFL for a GM? I doubt it's realistic to draft one ever year. Teams seem to like giving their drafted QBs a chance before drafting another (except for the Jets maybe).

How much would it actually raise taxes? A few $ per person? Or are we talking $100's? My guess would be it's closer to a few dollars per person. Maybe $20 a year at most. I doubt Pegula will be overly greedy about it IMO. If that's the case, we can afford that. Reality is that eventually Buffalo will have to build a new stadium if we want the Bills here long term. NFL owners have zero problem moving a team. Look at the Oakland vote today. 31 for (including Pegula, again). 1 against (Miami). 2 teams moved recently because of stadiums - San Diego, Oakland. Had nothing to do with fan support. The fans always showed up. Even St. Louis was partially moved because of the stadium. There was obviously more to it in St. Louis though. But chances are we either help the team build a new stadium or eventually lose our beloved Bills. As much as it may be BS that we have to help these rich NFL a holes, it's probably the reality of the situation. If we want the luxury of having an NFL team, we will likely have to help build a new stadium.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AmerksHockey/status/845384494848888832 Sabres signed goalie Jonas Johansson to a contract. He was drafted by buffalo (in 2014 IIRC). I am worried that this makes it harder to get Cal Peterson signed. I will be very sad if he decides to leave college and turn UFA this summer. I still think he is our goalie of the future...

I'm glad to hear he might get a second chance. It'd be great for him to learn from Payton and Brees. But I'd be worried for the kid's sobriety if he were living in New Orleans. Part of being and staying sober is "people, places, things". You really need to avoid temptation, especially for the first couple of years sober, and NO is a big drinking and drug town. They have a huge drinking scene and a huge drug scene. It's very hard for a newly sober person to avoid that much temptation. Hopefully the team has a plan for him if he does sign there. He would absolutely have to keep his head down and stay the **** away from that whole scene. Maybe even having some type of team chaperone might not be a bad idea... Wish him the best though. Just not sure NO is the best place for him. But it may be the only place willing to give him a chance, so...

I completely disagree. When has a GM ever been fired for passing on a QB in the 1st round that is seen as a project/gamble? It's not like any of these QBs are seen as sure things. Every one is seen as a project. GM's pass on project QBs every year, some that end up being good, and I have never heard of one of those GMs getting fired for it. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though. On the other hand, how many times has a GM been fired for whiffing on a 1st round QB pick? IMO I feel like it's almost a guarantee that if Whaley whiffs on (another) 1st round QB he will lose his job. I don't know how many GMs are given more than 2 opportunities to draft a 1st round QB, but I bet the list is extremely small (if there's even a list at all). Whaley himself said he expected to be fired if EJ Manuel didn't pan out... It's on video. GM's usually don't expect to survive missing on a 1st round QB. Especially a top 10 draft pick. If he misses on a top 10 picked QB, how can Pegula Not fire him?

The pagers were outdated even when the show was on air. That was part of the plot - Drug dealers being disciplined enough to still use pagers and pay phones. And as for the flip phones, I actually just upgraded from my flip phone a few monyhs ago, so I resent that flip phone comment! lol j/k I know they're outdated. but I really did just upgrade cause my flip phone finally took a crap on me. It was going to be th same price to get a new flip phone as it was for a smart phone, so I finally got one, but I avoided those smart phones as long as I could... Did you ever watch the HBO mini series "The Corner"? It's set in Baltimore and was written by one of the guys who helped with The Wire. Well worth watching. I think you can find it on YouTube.

There's groups of Bills fans that scream for a 1st round QB every year. It's never forced the Bills to draft a 1st round QB in other years... The Bills didn't have to draft a 1st round QB that year. The fans would still have come to games. They don't run the team, and if a GM is doing things because the fans would get mad if he didn't, that guy should not be a GM. Thats a horrible way to run an NFL team. It had nothing to do with the fans. The Bills backed themselves into a corner by ignoring the position for years and then cemented their need for a QB when they released Fitz before they had anyone to replace him with. I remember things differently when it comes to the fans and the 2013 draft though... I absolutely did not want any one of the 2013 QBs in the 1st round, or at all for that matter. At the time I said I'd be ok with taking a chance on one in a later round, but that's about it. Pretty much every Bills fan friend of mine I talked to IRL said the same thing, citing how weak the draft was considered. Also, just about every scout/GM/exec & well respected NFL analyst I read/seen quoted said that they didn't really see any franchise QBs in the 2013 draft. The only person I remember saying anything different was a Buddy Nix, who said "I don't agree with everyone saying that there is no franchise QBs in this draft. We see 3 or 4 potential franchise guys". I honestly think that Buddy Nix decided he was taking a 1st round QB before he even did any in depth scouting on that QB class, and then just convinced himself that there were franchise QBs available because he wanted there to be so badly.

EJ was horrible. All you had to do was watch the game to see that... lol. I don't even see how it's up for discussion. Anthony Lynn basically even said after the game that EJ sucked. He said he didn't expect him to play so bad and didn't have any choice but to pull him (or something like that).

I'd assume if it were that easy, it'd be done already. I read earlier in the offseason that one of the Bills priorities was to sign Z. Brown, so I'm sure the Bills want him back. IIRC I think I also read that there was an offer on the table for him. It kinda sounds like Brown wants big money though. The Raiders had him in for a visit and rumor was that Z. Brown was insulted by their offer. The Bills can't just sign him at all costs. It has to be a deal that works for both sides. Brown had a very good first half of the season and then his play fell off a bit. I agree that he's probably better than what's left out there, but money/value also factors in. He's not irreplaceable. If he wants crazy money/term, then it changes things. He's worth bringing back at the right price, not at all costs.

I actually really hope they do draft a QB at #6 this year. No QB is deserving of a top 6 pick this year, it would help a good player drop to Buffalo and hopefully it would also keep the Jets from drafting a QB in the 1st round of the 2018 draft.

He is. But now I am legitimately worried that the Jets will land a 1st overall pick next year (or at least a top 3 pick) and get one of the top QBs in what looks like a very strong draft - Darnold or Rosen or Allen (etc) - and it will haunt the Bills for the next decade... McCown has played for at least 2 (or was it 3?) teams that ended up getting 1st overall picks. I don't want to see the Jets getting one next season.

I'm not sure if any more good FA college defenseman are left. I think a few have already been signed. I know Buffalo almost signed the guy who just went to Dallas. It was down to us or them and he chose them I guess. Hopefully there's more out there that I'm not aware of, because we have a spot for them! lol I heard Buffalo is signing a LH D from the KHL though. Antikpin. He's actually supposed to be pretty good, but he can't play for Buffalo until next season I guess.

http://www.wgr550.com/articles/news/sabres-recall-two-defensemen Brady Austin and Casey Nelson called up. This will be interesting... lol.

Nice! You gotta give some credit to whoever wrote Rex's contract (Overdorf?). It was smart putting that offset language in there about broadcasting jobs.

I know when he was with the 49ers there was some questions as to how much work he was putting in to certain areas, like how much he was studying the playbook and stuff like that. Bill Romanowski talked about how Gabbert using tablet 4-5x more for film study when he was backup and Kaepernick was the starter (supposedly it was leaked by the team) - http://www.ninersnation.com/2015/11/27/9798870/bill-romanowski-colin-kaepernick-rumor-ipad Steve Young has hinted at it - http://www.sfchronicle.com/49ers/article/Steve-Young-on-49ers-Kaepernick-Onus-on-QB-to-6785052.php?t=6c617bb8a57d4f3860&cmpid=twitter-premium Michael Crabtree mentioned something about it - http://thebiglead.com/2016/02/05/michael-crabtree-summed-up-colin-kaepernicks-demise-as-well-as-anyone/ I also remember reading some questioning how dedicated he still was to football - something about how he had really changed over the last couple years and seemed to be more focused on other things outside football, or something like that. I have no idea if any of that is true or not, but it does kind of make me wonder if it possibly had anything to do with his regression.

Passing yards really is not solely just a QB stat. It's a stat that represents the offense as a whole, since it includes the Yards After a Catch that the receivers/RBs/TE's (etc) get. So wouldn't it be more correct to say that the offense failed to get 200 passing yards? Some of it was obviously Tyrod. But some of it was the offensive design (look at Roman's offense in SF, it's always been bad for YAC) and some of it was the people catching the ball too.

America was (partially) founded on protest. I don't get how you can hate a guy for peacefully protesting... It's one of our rights as American citizens. It's part of what makes this country so great. Freedom of speech is a constitutional right. I will never forget what a veteran friend once said - freedom of speech is one of the things he fought for, so someone expressing their constitutional right is not disrespecting him at all. It's honoring what he fought to preserve. Anyway... He would not be my first choice, but I'd take Kaepernick as a cheap veteran backup QB. I'd only be interested if he came cheap enough, though. He plays a similar style to TT, so the offense could pretty much stay the same if Tyrod happened to miss any games, and I don't trust Cardale in the backup spot yet. I think the Bills could use a veteran backup QB (not necessarily Kaep). I think a good veteran QB could do Tyrod and Cardale some good. Not really sure Kaepernick is the right guy for that, though. I want an experienced, team first type guy who would be willing to help mentor Tyrod and Cardale.

Sweet! IMO this gives the WR depth chart a pretty nice boost. He is easily the #3 WR, and maybe the #2 the way the current WR depth chart sits right now. If the Bills can find a #2 WR before the season starts, and slide Holmes and all the other guys they've signed down 1 spot, I think our WR depth chart looks better than last year.

I think you have to be smart with your QB picks in the first 3 rounds. IMO You can't just say "we are going to draft a QB with one of our first 3 picks every year". You have to look at each individual draft, and then see how that draft plays out and who is available when you pick. I don't see where it would be that great of an idea to force a QB pick just so you could say you drafted a QB. You should be getting a player who can contribute right away with 1st - 3rd round picks. If you're using one of those picks on a QB (who may or may not deserve to be picked that high) every single year, your team depth is going to take a big hit. Plus you have to allocate roster spots to all these QBs. By next year the Bills would probably be having to carry 4 QBs (Tyrod, Cardale, QB pick this year & next year's) and then having to cut 1 the following year. How do guys ever get a chance to develop that way? How do you split up reps? Which QB do you give up on before their rookie deal is even over? I agree the Bills need to take chances on QBs in the draft. But I think you have to let the draft come to you. You can't just force a QB pick no matter what.

Let's see if EJ even gets the backup job first, before we start wondering who would win in an EJ vs Tyrod showdown... EJ is 0-5 in his last 5 starts, though. If by some crazy chance EJ does start when the Raiders play the Bills, I will take the Bills for the win.

Good luck EJ! You handled your time here with class. I hope you have a successful NFL career!

Nice! Glad to hear this.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/2018-nhl-winter-classic-likely-to-be-held-at-citi-field-with-rangers-vs-sabres-sources-say-1.13268887 "The Winter Classic likely will make its New York debut on New Years Day 2018, with an outdoor game at Citi Field in Queens between the Rangers and Sabres close to being finalized, two sources confirmed to Newsday."