Success

As an old timer, I can offer the benefit of experience in this. We did not have a winning culture in the 80s. It may be hard to believe, but things felt worse than they do now. Then, we went to 4 straight Superbowls. Take from that what you will.

I hate that Viking horn thing. I really hate it.

Just gotta ride this one out and hope they know what they’re doing.

To utilize a fine SAT word, this certainly seems like the nadir.

It’s completely sickening watching the Pats. I never signed up for this as a sports fan.

We keep wanting this season to be something it isn’t. We’re rebuilding. Maybe it could have been avoided, but it’s where we’re at and we have to ride it out

Today, sure. I don’t think we can make a definitive call for a few years. Everything they have done hinges significantly in what kind of QB Allen turns out to be.

Not like this. We have always tried to remain competitive while rebuilding. There are different schools of thought on that, but there is something to be said for going all in.

It’s weird. I actually have more faith in Beane at this point. It takes some courage to go all in like this. I think a lot of teams try to do more if a half-measure rebuild. I think Beane has a longer view, and isn’t concerned about pretending that we’re competitive while he makes moves that are necessary but painful. If it works out and we get the pieces we need in the offseason for a lengthy run, he could go down as one of our best GMs.

This is a rebuild. All we’re debating is style points.

Literally the only thing I care about is which one ends up with the most Lombardi’s.

I disagree. This was always a rebuilding season.

I know he was playing like a rookie - but I think we could be 4-4 if he hadn’t gotten hurt...

He might know a lot more than we do. As this season moves along, I’m starting to think that the brain trust knew how things would probably go. I’m sure they hoped for the best, but knew this was a rebuild.

This seems obvious, but needs to be said. I don’t think we’ve really even seen Daboll’s offense. We’ve seen the offense he calls to try to maximize the results from our limitations.

This doesn’t really bother me, and I can’t argue that it’s inaccurate. I deluded myself into thinking we could be competitive this year. I love football too much to ever concede a whole season. But after going through all of the stages of grief, I’ve accepted that this is really just a good old fashioned rebuilding year, and as such, we’re not a good team. And that is by design, though of course they can’t announce it. The main things were dumping all of the salary, and getting a new QB to develop. I still have faith that we’ll be competitive again next year, and a true contender in 2 years.

It’s freaky to think about that - same score reversed, on the way to the Lombardi. Like he planned it. All competitive athletes hate losing, but Brady is pretty unique. The only other guy I can think of like him is Jordan - they just despise losing. Basically refuse to do it. It’s a little psycho, but it works.

I’ve heard fellow Bills fans speculate that Brady still thinks about that 2003 blowout loss to the Bills when he plays us. Wouldn’t shock me.

They did own the AFC for the better part of a decade. I know they didn’t close the deal, but that kind of run still tops a lot of teams.

Not sure what’s worse. A Pats fan on a Bills board lamely trying to defend a blatantly missed call on a cheap shot by Edelman, or a Bills fan actually defending that lame defense.

It absolutely should have been helmet to helmet. You talk like we’re splitting hairs. It’s a big difference, and it was blatant and looked intentional.

Who knows. Barkley might be able to play himself into the regular backup role for the next few years. It is a position if need once Allen is starter again.

These are long seasons - and I agree with those who identify this one as particularly taxing. It’s over earlier than usual, and beyond that, even previous poor seasons have at least provided a more competitive team, and fewer blowouts. I saw a Pats fan on twitter call their win “annoying.” I presume because it didn’t have the usual style points. What a different world they live in. Allen gives me hope. I feel like we finally ditched the idea of taking half measures to find a QB, and went all in in the NFL’s most important position. I think he has the intangibles to lead us out of this wasteland.

Are we still talking about wanting an NFL coach to speak with more candor and personality at contractually required pressers?

There really is no excuse for the missed call. It’s not like a missed holding call where the ref has a bunch of things to have to monitor. I hope the shoe is on the other foot one of these days. Tough trying to beat a superior team AND the officials, twice a year.