Maguire's Beer

I've seen his name mentioned a couple times, but Tajh Boyd is a junior, and I doubt he'll declare this year. If he stays for his senior year, he's likely to be a top 3-5 QB, and would have a good shot at the first round. I have a hard time seeing him going earlier than the late third this year, talented as he may be. That said, if he does come out, I bet Chan would love to have him. He's a big, fast spread QB with a good arm.

This can't be said often enough. Until there's a new owner, we'll be stuck with sub-replacement-level talent in the front office and on the sidelines. Once there's a new owner, either the team will move, or we'll once again be able to attract at least decent GM/coaching candidates. Once you accept that, it's a lot easier to deal with the ongoing mediocrity stew.

It's not that Ralph is cheap. It's that he's 94 years old, can charitably be described as unengaged, and has stated that the team will be sold to the highest bidder upon his death. No GM or HC worth anything will come to Buffalo under those circumstances. See the most recent GM/HC search for confirmation.

This is true. And no *meaningful* changes - that is, replacement of Nix and Gailey with more competent leadership - will occur until there's a change in ownership.

See, that's the problem. For us, there's NOT necessarily "always next year:" There's actuarially a 95+% chance Ralph dies in the next five years. And, unless you believe the folks who say that there's a secret succession plan, there has to be - at best - a 50-50 chance that the team is sold to an owner who moves the team out of WNY. So there's not always next year. Every awful, soul-destroying year might be our last. And that's not a scenario that's going to entice any young front office or coaching talent to come to Buffalo, as we saw during the talent search that resulted in Nix and Gailey. This is why we, as a fanbase, are worse off than any other, except for maybe Jacksonville (and they don't really count, do they?) Now, the only good news is that when Ralph dies (which I am NOT in any way cheering for), the endless mediocrity and uncertainty of the past decade plus will end. Either the team will move, and we'll mourn it, but eventually move on - or we'll have a new owner, committed to Buffalo, who cannot possibly be less effective than Ralph. It's sad, but the only hope on the horizon is tied to a man's inevitable death and the possibility of the team's death, as well.

As many others have said, Buffalo does have its problems - just like any other city. It's also got its strong points, not the least of which is its absurdly cheap real estate prices coupled with relatively high wages. People complain about the taxes, but the fact that you can buy a 3-4 bedroom house in a safe neighborhood with good schools for under $150K is worth a helluva lot. That kind of value is unheard of anywhere within 75 miles of my DC home. So you weigh the good against the bad, you weigh the factors according to your own personal tastes and preferences, and you make your own decision about where you want to live. I live in DC because I love my job, and this is where I have to be to do it. But if that weren't the case, and I was free to move to a town I really liked, I would definitely consider Buffalo, along with Seattle and maybe Chicago. That's just my taste - I travel a lot for work, and after spending time in just about every major American city, thos three are place I'd like to live. I wouldn't consider Atlanta or anywhere in Florida (except for maybe the Keys, if I could find a job there)- but I get that some people love those places. They're just not my cup of tea. I guess what I'm saying is that there's no one city that's right for everyone. There are things that are objectively better and worse when comparing cities, sure - but the manner in which each of us weighs those factors is pretty subjective. From an objective perspective, Buffalo has some good parts and some bad parts. But from my subjective perspective, it's a great town. And more importantly, it's Home - in a way that DC never will be.

He tweeted yesterday that he was in Rhode Island tending to his sick mother, so I assume that had something to do with it.

Again, though - if we'd run the ball just once in the previous three downs, it provably would have been a 48-50 yard kick. The only reason it was debatable at all is because Chan once again forgot that his running game was far more productive than his spread passing attack.

Ding ding ding! The punt/kick decision was only a decision in the first place because Chan passed three times from the 35 - with an EMPTY BACKFIELD on 2nd and 3rd downs. There's your problem, right there.

I live in DC, so I'd inevitably end up following the Skins. I'd never love them like I love the Bills -- it's impossible that any other team could ever make me feel the joy or pain that the Bills bring. But I love football, and I'm gonna watch football no matter what, and DC has been home for 10 years now, so I'd probably become a Skins fan. Not a fanatic, but a fan. The fact that the Skins are completely dysfunctional, have sucked for the past decade, and have a horrible owner would make the transition easy.

No, this is definitely the lowest period in Bills history. Why is this worse than the low points of the '70s and the early '80s? Because hanging over the miserable play on the field is the very real fear that the team will relocate before it ever gets good again. That's what makes the last few years so damn depressing.

Always a concern with any development in WNY. I like your Bethlehem idea, but if you think building on the NFTA land would be tough, imagine the environmental issues that would come with building on a former heavy manufacturing site. No doubt. But the old Nabisco site is for sale, and the city is pushing its redevelopment.

Nope. The OP has it right. There is no hope as long as Wilson owns the team. At this point, we're just waiting for the inevitable to come to Ralph -- and at that point, we'll find out whether we're going to have a team going forward. But given how bad the team is and has been over the past decade, I agree with the OP -- I'd rather find out now whether they're staying under new ownership or moving, rather than suffer through another X years of purgatory.

Think it finally finished up in the early '90s. My father spent a substantial chunk of the first decade of his career as a lawyer on the Dome Stadium case, and stopped working on it before it reached a final resolution. It was Buffalo's own Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

Agreed entirely. That said, WNY has a decent amount of public land on which to build a new stadium. The NFTA property at the Outer Harbor (i.e., the former home of Shooters) seems a likely candidate to me. Frickin' windy in December, though.

Present: Pretty mediocre Future: Los Angeles (Sorry, but I'm not feeling that optimistic today.)

The Sirius NFL guys seem to project him as a guard.

He's raw, but he sure outplayed LeFevour in the GMAC Bowl. Good arm, but it's a long way from the Sun Belt to the NFL. Still, you could do worse -- I'll take Brown over Crompton, LeFevour, Jarrett Brown, etc.

We need a new coordinator . . . of defensive football.

If Bradford is there at 9, he's hard to pass up. Any of the other QBs feels like a reach to me that early -- there's certain to be better talent out there at other need positions.

I do like the definitive manner in which Gailey seized the OC role.

Say it with me, Chan: "It's hard to win in the NFL."

Buddy is Major Kong from Dr. Strangelove. "Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be human beins if you didn't have some pretty strong personal feelings about the Bills' head coach."

Exactly. If the Pats failed to comply, the penalty would be loss of their 2016 7th round draft pick. If the Bills had failed to comply, the penalty would have been seizure of all team assets by the League and relocation of the franchise to London.

If Carroll really is leaving, it means USC is about to get destroyed by serious probation over the various booster scandals.