corta765

I can't even imagine being there. You could feel on broadcast the entire place just get sick the moment the TD happen. The worst thing was the defense blew a fourth down they could've just knocked down going for an INT.

Oh don't worry we got Robert and Finn we good haha.

I think I have mentioned this before that my wife and I since we got out house in 2013 do a Bills party typically week 1 (two years we have done week 3). We started with 30 -40 people now it is like 50+. Well 2018 we were pregnant with our first child and we found out the gender right when opening week was so hey lets do a small gender reveal (we cut a cake we didn't burn down a forest lol). This game/party is always a big deal for us and we just hope for a good game, so with the reveal mixed in at half time we were fingers crossed a decent game. NOPE. Haha talk about an absolute disaster of a game which made the gender reveal the only highlight of any form on that day. I think when Josh got a first down in the fourth quarter people actually cheered a little just because it was something of note that wasn't a turnover or TD for Baltimore.

Oh geez that game was buried in the back of my drought memory probably for the reason you listed. I was a sophomore in college and we knew the moment the play ended it wasn't good. On broadcast I do believe they said he was stabilized at some point, but you knew it was probably uber uber bad. True miracle he lived. I 100% believe if you were there it would've been just such a drain/scary thing. When Aaron Williams got carted off in 2015 against NE week 2 it happened in front of us and you could feel the intensity leave the moment he didn't get up. And yea the Broncos ending was a ball buster to the max.

I can 100% buy that. My youngest son was born on 9/10 and we came home that Sunday. I swear to god the only reason I didn't get upset was lack of sleep and general happiness to have our new guy. Otherwise yea incredible buzz kill with some truly awful play calls on offense and bad coaching decisions in general. I will say going into the game wayyyyy too many Bills fans thought we would cake walk to like a 30-13 win and I kept cautioning PIT was a better team then that just because of their D.

Didn't the fans take down the goal posts if I am not mistaken?

We are finally ever so slowly inching towards the start of the football season and this year is pretty neat with the Bills going to LA to opener the NFL year. I am willing to bet the game will probably be a thriller with some end of game drama either way. It got me thinking about what my favorite/worst/best opening season games were as a fan and figured I would list mine and see what other people had for theirs. As an 80s baby my memory starts in the 90s so if you are before that would love to hear about some past games good bad or just a favorite. FYI for the worst game putting something like the 2018 Ravens game doesn't hold much weight to me because yea the Bills lost bad but expectations were incredibly low heading into that season. Favorite: 1996 Giants win- On TNT Sunday Night the Bills rally back to win 23-20 in OT in the Meadowlands. It was the last ride with Jim Kelly and a fun game 2014 Bears win - Freds run was amazing and with the offseason the Bills had with Ralph passing, Kelly fighting cancer, and the team for sale it was a needed boost 2019 Jets win - Insanely wild game with Allen technically having four turnovers even though two were due to his own teammates making mistakes. But coming back from 16-0 to win 17-16 on the road I think set the table for long term where this team was headed and what Josh could do. Worst: 2004: Bills lose 13-10 to the Jags on the final play of the game on a rule that no longer exists and cost the Bills a playoff spot. Earnest Wilfords "TD" happen because the Bills pushed him out of bounds as he caught it never getting any feet inbounds which was an automatic catch at the time. Absolute gut punch of a loss. 2009: Bills lose 25-24 to the Pats on Monday Night Football thanks to Leodis McKelvin and that is all I need to say. 2012: Bills get blown out in NYC 48-28. This hurt in a different way as the Bills had added Mario and beefed up the defense with additions like Stephon Gilmore and Mark Anderson. Add in an offense which was pretty solid in 2011 and a weaker schedule it felt like the Bills finally would end a playoff drought and jump back into the fray. Instead they were utterly embarrassed removing any optimism out of the gate that things would change. 2016: Bills lose 13-7 in Baltimore. This is quite possibly the most boring football opener in the history of the sport as literally the only exciting play was a Mike Wallace 66 yard TD. Other then that if you like 3 and outs and punting this was your game! Factor in strong expectations for playoffs or bust and it just felt depressing Best: 1991: 35-31 win over Miami - Coming off the Super Bowl loss in 25 nothing felt better then squishing the fish to open the season as the Bills roared back from a 17-7 deficit early on. 2003: 31-0 win over New England- Nothing else needs to be said this was awesome 2008: 34-10 over a Seattle team that had been in the playoffs for years. It felt at the time like we had a guy with Trent too. 2015: 27-14 over Colts - For the first game of the Rex Ryan experiment it couldn't have gone better and the place was rocking.

This is super well articulated and covers everything well. I would add timeframe mattered here big time. Besides Ralph and the Pegulas etc.. the city of Buffalo and NYS was not in the position in the 2000s to do much to help keep the team here. Buffalo is far from a perfect community but the economy and population in general has stabilization where there is some growth and NYS in the last decade has shown at least a little interest in helping the cities outside NYC. Again not perfect but I think even if you had a Pegula in 2007 trying to keep the team it would've been an uphill battle at that time. And year the Rodgers piece is 1000% on. Ralph would've sold and maybe after a year or two they were heading up there.

I got a few random memory games: 2003- Bills Skins 24-7 win This was the game Rob Johnson came in to replace poor Patrick Ramsey who got wrecked all day. 2010- Bills Ravens OT 37-34 loss Fitz was amazing and I always felt the Bills got hosed in OT as our TE Chandler I think might have been Robert Royal was stopped in terms of forward progress and the refs instead of blowing it dead let Ray Lewis pick him up and Raven ripped the ball out 2012- Bills Browns 24-14 win The Bills did their business and the defense looked good for a second straight week after an awful opener. It was fools gold as it felt like ok maybe they can get it going to at least make the playoffs. That team had too many games they snatched defeat from victory and the schedule was so dang light. 2013- Bills Phins 19-0 Thad freaking Lewis and the Bills ended the Phins playoff hopes. More importantly the tailgate had the wildest wind storm/gust I ever saw as this massive front game through and flipped over every tent imaginable. It was like something out of a sci fi movie.

I saw that to and figured this was a joke A new stadium I think OJ and the electric company need a place in the museum. It is part of the teams history and would talk about that period of time. I would not put his name up. It balances good player with absolute atrocity of a person. I get the issue currently that his name was already up when everything went down, but a new stadium you can refresh.

The early 90s started the moving/new stadium craze that sucked up the NFL. Had the Bills stayed the way they were in the 80s they 100% would've been pulled into that. Figure that Raiders, Rams, Cardinals, Oilers, Browns all did move while Pats, Bengals, and Seahawks all were at risk of moving without new stadiums being made. Buffalo would've been in that crew of at least talks and the stadium renovation/club seats in the late 90s was crucial to them staying in Buffalo. Someone made this point earlier but Flutie and crew in the late 90s was actually more critical in some senses as people got really excited when the stadium reno talks were happening which made it easier to absorb.

Most times in sports it is this combination more then anything else. I do believe some orgs are healthier then others and the owner stays the heck beck which allows the FO and coaches to just do their job which eliminates overlap/division. The Ravens I have felt are the best run org in football as they have won going on 3 decades and won a variety of ways without having a true franchise elite guy until recently with Lamar. The 49ers in the last decade went from great to awful/tirefire and back to great basically because ownership stayed out, got involved, and they stayed out as they hired some smart people. They are a focal point of literally what to do and what not to do haha But yea Ralph finally hired a smart personnel guy in Polian and stayed back long enough for it to turn up. I think he even said firing Polian was his biggest mistake and while Butler was good you could slowly see things change as smart guys like AJ Smith left. Owners are very wealthy and powerful people who like to have a say as they are use to that. The best are smart enough to understand they do not understand and let the people in charge do what they should. The Pegula's got a little lucky with McD and Beane, but I do think they also saw the issues with people like Whaley/Rex and getting involved.

I would say this Kelly/Bruce/Polian helped rise the team out of the doldrums to a level that made them mythical in a sense with four super bowls in four years, K Gun innovation, Bruce dominating, HOU comeback etc... That was probably what also helped to cement the fan base as a wild passionate group too. By the fourth SB heck 3rd people were done with Buffalo. The fans basically through the middle finger up and said were here deal with it same as the team. Without that success does the team move? Probably not but by the same token without all that winning and success if they just were a fringe playoff team from time to time, then they basically are the Detroit Lions or the St Louis Cardinals. Maybe you don't have the passion to keep the team or the history etc.. of people leaning on great Bills teams that do bring great memories. Much of the national sports media throughout the drought wanted to see Buffalo get good again because it was good for the sport and the passion of the Bills fans was respected. That doesn't happen without Kelly/Bruce/Polian etc.. yea they never won a title but in a sense they became mythical for their perseverance and later Kelly with cancer. So yea I think it did play a role and without the Bills successful and that history maybee nationally the attitude is well its just Buffalo whatever. Whereas with the success your moving a franchise that played a significant role in NFL history both good and bad fortune wise. The 80/90s saw some historic franchises move that you otherwise wouldn't have thought ever happen (CLE/BAL/HOU) so I do not ever assume we would've been protected.

Until Josh Allen defeats the Packers, 85 Bears, and 07 Patriots in the Super Bowl at the same time while also defeating Thanos in the parking lot and the Emperor in pre game I need to see more.

Very unlikely this passes and even if it does loopholes exist anyway