The Red King

I think that's a fair assessment. Sometimes it takes a lucky bounce here or there. My issue is with people that attribute their playoff appearance mostly or entirely to luck, usually in the context that they didn't deserve/earn it. That team busted their asses to get to 9-7, even pulling themselves out of a three-game losing streak that would have been a death spiral other seasons in the past. What I object to are people that think last season's team was terrible and didn't deserve to make it. As if the playoff fairy descended from above and blessed a 4-12 team with a playoff birth, and Buffalo didn't do a thing to actually earn it. And yes, some people here feel that way and have said as much.

Hmm, you state this as an absolute certainty, yet neither Josh has played an NFL game. Wait...wait...you can see into the future, can't you?!? Quick, what are this week's winning lottery numbers? Unless...wait...no...you couldn't just be passing off your opinion as if it were absolute fact, could you? That would just be a stupid thing to do...

I already addressed the Ravens/Bengals game in the OP. To be honest, Cincy held the lead for most of that game and almost blew it at the end. It could be argued that had Baltimore won, they would have been lucky to make it in. Buffalo could have beaten Carolina had that last pass connected. It should have, and almost did...but didn't. Are Carolina fans saying the Panthers were lucky to make the playoffs because of that play?

Alright, this has been eating at me for awhile, and it's time I get it off my chest. I want to scream every time I see someone claiming that the only reason the Bills made the playoffs last season was luck. Like last season's Bills were some 6-10, 7-9 team that was visited by the playoff fairy and granted a playoff birth. It's a discredit to the team and what they accomplished. The Bills earned that playoff birth. First, look at the playoff game itself. The Bills, a team with absolutely no playoff experience in the 21st century, went to Jacksonville and lost by just seven points (on the road). This to a team that beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh and almost upended New England in New England. A team that barely missed a shot at the Super Bowl...and we lost to them in their stadium by just seven points. Now, of course, some will point to the Ravens/Bengals week 17 game. Yes, it was an upset. Cincy beat a team that would finish 9-7. Well...that wasn't the only one. Earlier in the season those same Bengals beat the Bills...another team that finished 9-7. If Baltimore had won that game and squeaked into the playoffs, would people claim the Ravens were lucky to make it in because of the earlier Cinci upset of Buffalo? Of course not. Yes, it took a 4th down play, but 4th and 12 is not impossible odds. I seem to recall the Giants completing a 4th and long with a helmet catch to knock off NE in a Super Bowl, but nobody's claiming the Giants were lucky to win that game. People are mistaking luck with overachieving. On paper, was last season's squad a playoff team? Not really. They played with heart though, and that you can attribute to the coaching staff and the change in culture. No mystical force gave them all those early turnovers, no wind of fortune blew Shady into the end zone in the Indy game when it looked like we'd have to settle for a tie. The team got key plays at key times, remove any of them and maybe the Bills don't make it in. But they did make the plays. Despite all the so-called sports experts predicting them to be in a dogfight for the top draft pick, they went out there and did what precious few thought they could. They won games. They won enough to make the playoffs, and continued to play hard enough to keep the JAX game close right up to the end. That was hard work, effort...not luck. They hit a horrific three-game losing streak where it looked like they couldn't beat a high school team and it looked like yet another historic collapse, but this time they changed the script. They beat KC and turned it around. Despite a crippling setback they continued to fight and scrap never giving up on that elusive playoff spot. Bills teams in the past would have thrown in the towel after the Chargers game, rolled to a 7-9 end. Not this squad. It was gut-check time, and they passed. They didn't get lucky with tiebreakers, either. Four teams tied for two spots. The tie-breakers are not random, not arbitrary. Nobody rolled a die or flipped a coin. They didn't play musical chairs or pull miniature helmets out of a hat. Each tie-breaker was tied to actual accomplishments. This was regarding the AFC playoffs, so conference record was the first tie-breaker. The Titans had the best one, so they got the #5 seed. The Chargers had the worst, and so were eliminated. No luck there, the Bills did better in the AFC then the Chargers and so positioned higher. That left the Bills and Ravens tied for the #6 seed. The tie-breaker was strength of victory, the number of combined wins of all the teams they beat. For all the people that want to claim the Bills had a light schedule, this shows otherwise. If they had a weak schedule, they would have been eliminated. The bottom line is, the teams the Bills beat had more wins then the teams Baltimore beat. They beat better teams and as a result earned that playoff spot. I understand. The Bills have been so bad for so long it's only natural to be leery. We Bills' fans are always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and after being so sub-par for so long, it's easier to just attribute last season to luck and expect the worst this upcoming season. And who know? The Bills might well be terrible this season. I don't think they will be, but I certainly can't say they won't. But to write off what they did last season, what they managed to accomplish with what they had to work with, is quite frankly insulting to both the team and the coaching staff. Last season was an accomplishment. It may have been a fluke, an anomaly, time will tell in that regard. But the Bills earned that playoff spot all the same, on their own merits, and for me that's at least encouraging.

Good for him. I always hate when the media goes fishing for a story by baiting athletes looking to draw a steamy quote or two. Tyrod handled this with his usual class. Okay, Tyrod was a plan B. The man's not dumb, he knows Cleveland brought him in as a bridge QB. Whether he was choice one or one-hundred changes nothing. TT's goal right now is to bust his rear and try and show he's more then a bridge. He's going to fight to be a long-term starter, either with Cleveland, or another team. Regardless of your opinion of the man's on-field ability, I think most people would agree TT handles himself with class off the field, and this is no exception.

He is good. I'm not denying that. My issue with him stems from his crying. The amount of whining and petitioning for penalties is ridiculous, as is how often the league caves in to it. I remember one time during the drought, it was a typical Buf/NE game...still first half, Patriots were up by at least two scores and near the Red Zone. Brady fades back and gets smeared just as he releases. Clean hit. Was still a completion inside the twenty. What does Brady do? Immediately jump to his feet and run to a ref waving his arms and looking for a penalty. It was a clean hit, he completed the pass, his team was already killing ours...and that's not good enough. He has to look for the "Personal Foul - Having the Audacity to Touch Tom Brady, 15 Yards..." penalty. That is why I have no respect for the man, and that has nothing to do with what uniform he wears.

And still the point is ignored, so one more time for those in the back... The NFL is an employer, a workplace. The players are the employees. Employers are free to set policies for their employees while their employees are on the clock. If the employees do not like the terms, they are free to seek employment elsewhere. NFL players no more have a right to kneel during the anthem then I do to wear a "F*** TRUMP!" shirt into work and not expect to get called into my boss' office.

I don't know how people miss this point... Playing for the NFL is a job. The players are employees of the NFL. I think the NFL is being generous in letting players stay in the tunnel if they like. The NFL, the employer does not want to see any of the players, their employees kneel on the field during the anthem. If any of those employees are unhappy with the terms of their employment, they are welcome to quit their place of employment and find new jobs, plain and simple. I could start a business, King's Crab Cakes. And I could stipulate that at the start of the workday, the national anthem will be played throughout the factory, and every employee must stand for it. Failure to do so will be met with disciplinary action that could lead up to termination. Anyone who does not like this policy is welcome to seek employment elsewhere, this is how I want to run my business. And while people might think me eccentric, nobody would say I was doing anything wrong. I was running my business my way. There is nothing different from that example and the NFL right now, so I don't see where anyone has any right to complain about this.

Besides, this whole discussion is academic. Same contract, new contract with pay cut, new contract with raise...none of it would have mattered. I mean, according to Coggie, his current physical health is so terrible he couldn't possibly have played football this season anyway. When he retired he made it perfectly clear just what a mess he was physically. I mean yeah, he's working out at a gym, and drinking shots the day he was released, but I'm sure that's just a smokescreen, him putting on a brave face to mask those debilitating health issues he mentioned. Thanks to his health, no matter what the contract situation was, he was never going to take another snap again in his life. Right? I mean...he wouldn't lie about his health, right? That would be a real scumbag thing to do... ?

Everyone, either the Barbarian here is trolling, or they are so focused on Cog being a poor, mistreated victim in all this that you'll never get through to them anyway. Not worth trying. Hmm...I must have missed the part where the Bills put the gun to his head and forced him to sign it. ?

Cog is rapidly becoming a poster child for how not to handle contract situations, with every move shining the light on a new mistake. Don't let others sign your contracts (if that actually happened), don't sign a contract you're not happy with, don't retire citing horrific health reasons...then un-retire, don't throw an adolescent tantrum on social media over your new contract and for the love of all that's good and holy if you do get your contract voided and have any hope/desire to play anywhere ever again, don't make things worse by chucking a barbell at someone resulting in getting detained for a psych evaluation. Just...wow...

Sorry, false logic. Players and teams are both welcome to renegotiate at any time. See, Coggie had this little tool at his disposal. He was asked to take a pay cut, not demanded. As a result, and I know this may sound crazy to you, stay with me... ...Richie could have said "No." rather then signing the new contract. Wild, I know. And you know what, if he had, I might even be on his side in all this for all the reasons mentioned in this thread. But he didn't. He signed on the dotted line, saying with crystal clarity "I accept these new terms that you offered, and agree to play by them." At that point, any right to complain about those terms went right out the window. That is my reasoning. If one side or the other wants to change the terms, they are more then welcome to readdress the topic, but in the end the signed contract is the default. Bottom line, if Cogs didn't like the terms and wanted to fight for more money, that all should have been done before signing the new contract. He lost any right to complain after he put his name to the paper.

...what...does that even mean? ? Yes...it goes both ways. Regardless of whether or not the contract was fair, once both parties signed it, they should both honor it...and...the Bills had every intention of honoring the new contract, so I have no clue whatsoever what you're getting at.

I'm sorry, he signed the contract. Welcome to the real world. You sign a contract, you honor it. And don't give me any BS about him giving his agent the power to sign a contract. If that's what happened it's still on him because he gave his agent that power. We're talking NFL money, there is no way I allow my agent to sign anything. You work out a deal, shoot me the numbers, and let me make the final decision. Whether what the Bills offered was fair or not is completely irrelevant. Richie agreed to it and should have honored it.

I do so love watching a good... ...in progress.

...and when he signs with the Pats? I was hoping for a shaky line in front of Brady. That team catches all the breaks. >.< This makes no sense.

...and by extension, Tom Brady must really be awful, because how many QBs have had real success at his age? Poor Tom, why is he even still playing with the Patriots? Calendar isn't his friend, after all. Thanks to TT's inability and unwillingness to throw deep, Shady had to run against defenses that stacked all eleven players, a couple cheerleaders and an assistant coach in the box and still managed to get the job done. Regardless of your views on Allen and AJ, both QBs will at least stretch the field, making it a lot easier on the running game. Even if he loses a step, not running into a brick wall every play should allow him to play at a level at least equal to last year. And rearview mirror? Dude...ah...that Indy game was just five months ago, week 14! Shady has only played three games since then. Yeah, I think it's reasonable to look at that as an indicator of where he's currently at. What's next, you're gonna tell me a MLB pitcher is showing signs of aging and losing his speed, when the guy just threw a 100 MPH fastball three pitches ago? And if I point that out will you say "That was three whole pitches ago! Rear view mirror man, time isn't his friend. He's all washed up now!"?

...watches highlights of Shady winning the Indy game when all indications to that point were that it was going to end a tie... Oh yeah, worthless. Bum definitely has nothing left in the tank. ?

Beat me to it. No matter what, there will be TT threads. If he bombs in Cleveland, the people claiming he was awful will be jumping all over that, and rubbing it in the face of TT supporters. If he does well, the TT supporters will be frothing at the mouth to rub it in the face of the TT detractors. He just might do well. One possibility that nobody really touched on, is that his timidness might have been because of a complete lack of faith in his receivers. Now, this is not the same thing as having bad receivers. If he had no faith in his receivers, that might have led to some of the checkdowns and runs. However, that is still on TT. Sometimes you just have to take chances. If this theory is true, then TT was like the overprotective parent that doesn't let their asthmatic child camp, play sports or even play outside, someone so terrified that their child cannot handle something that they take no chances at all. You can be too cautious. If this is part of what happened, having a new receiving corp might well fix the problem, TT might start taking chances, and Bills fans will then rip their hair out by the roots, screaming "Why the hell didn't he do that with us?!?". If that is what happened, and what happens, then the trade was a good thing for both teams as Tyrod will finally be comfortable, and he would never have been that QB for us. This is just a theory, though. Not sure if I subscribe to it.

Any discussion of Tyrod at this point is... People are pretty locked into their opinions by now. The same arguments get made. Whatever your current opinion of TT is, you are not going to sway anyone holding a differing view. And that's understandable. We've had time to form those opinions, with the JAX playoff game galvanizing them for many. There is nothing that has happened or become known since then that is tangible enough to change those opinions. Until there is, this is pointless. Discuss about TT has degenerated into "Uh-huh!"..."Nu-unh!"..."Uh-huh!"..."Nu-unh!"..."Uh-huh!"...and people are starting to get nasty about it, throwing out insults against anyone who dare hold a differing opinion on the man. This deadlock can't be broken right now, it's pointless to try. Ultimately, time will tell. Tyrod is with the Browns, and we'll see what he does with a new team, coach and personnel. Until then, it may be best if people let the whole TT argument go. There is absolutely nothing positive to come from it any longer.

Mhm. Well, your posts on the matter are so much made up BS and spin that I'd spend way too much time pointing out the errors. You're right, not actually disputing someone else's assertions is a lot easier then actually making a real argument. Since I made points, and you refuse to actually refute them with anything other then just calling them BS, I suppose we're done here? I made my point, you let it stand.

The fans did not turn on Norwood. In fact, when the team returned home after the game, the fans that were waiting started cheering "We want Scott!". And the media didn't actually blame Scott for the loss. It's just "Wide Right" is a wonderfully tragic little clip that the media couldn't help but show it over and over. It tugs at the heartstrings far more then a clip of Buffalo not running the ball with just two defenders on the line. And the media is all about sensationalism. Always has been, always will be. Marv's teams had always struggled with in-game adjustments, and it came back to bite them in XXV.

I will also argue that had Baltimore won, they would have been the lucky ones. Cinci had control of that game through most of it, and almost choked the game away at the end. And there was still a decent amount of time left on the clock for the now infamous 4th down play (4th and 12, was it?). They didn't need a TD on that play, so it's less miraculous then it may seem. Yes, 4th and 12 is hard to get, but not near impossible. It wasn't luck, it was poor coverage that gave Cinci the go-ahead TD. A defensive mistake by another 9-7 team. If we're talking about luck in that regard, then Carolina got lucky that TT underthrew an open receiver near the goal line at the end of that 9-3 loss. Are people saying Carolina was lucky to make the playoffs because of that? People seem to think the playoff fairy descended from the sky and gave a team that only earned a 3-4 win season a magical playoff birth. Buffalo earned those wins, all nine of them. They got locked into a four-way tie for the Wild Card spots and got the tie-breakers. Those tie-breakers were designed to reward the better-playing team. They're not arbitrary. Buffalo did not have to flip a coin or roll a die to get in. Alphabetical order by city name was not a tie breaker, nor was jersey color. They had a better conference record then the bolts, and beat better teams then the Ravens (two wins against Cleveland killed them). If the Chargers wanted in, they should have beaten the Chiefs that second time. If the Ravens wanted in, they should have beaten the Bengals. Neither team took care of business when they had the chance. They couldn't get it done, leaving them 9-7, just like us. I understand. Buffalo has been sub-par for so long it's easy to want to think they still are. It's perfectly normal to be skeptical. But I think there's more at play. We don't want to be hurt again. Several seasons we've started out strong, got our hopes up, and had them dashed. This is an extension. We made the playoffs, but many people are still waiting for the other shoe to drop, fans that have gotten their hopes up time and again only to see them crushed...those people are just waiting to be disappointed again. It's a safety mechanism to keep from giving the Bills proper credit. Because if they did, then there would be reason to hope, and with hope comes the fear of disappointment. Better to call last season a fluke and assume they will be bad this season. That way, it doesn't sting as bad if they are...and if they have another good season you can be pleasantly surprised. I get it, but I won't subscribe to it. This team showed development, earned that Wild Card spot, and are making progress. This team believes in themselves and their coach. The culture is finally changing. There is a reason for optimism. I know, I've been hurt before. I understand your fears. But this team deserves respect for last year, not having it all just written off as luck. What's the phrase, "Good teams find ways to win, bad teams find ways to lose"? The Bills found ways to win, and found a way into the playoffs. That's on them, not luck.