The Red King

Never forget those who fought not just so they could be free, but rather so we all could be.

In the olden days when you said something to someone it was to their face. Internet anonomosity lets people be jerks. Just Google "John Gabriel's Greater Internet F***wad Theory". ?

Going to four consecutive championship games...winning the conference four consecutive years...makes you the worst team in professional sports? ?

OMG...just watched that yesterday! So, would that lead to..."He can't do that to our posters. Only we can do that to our posters!" ?

Still another year to The Process. Too many holes to fill. This year the D got beefier and we nabbed our QB. We're going to follow the same plan as last year, lean hard on the D and hope the O can put up enough points for the win. After this upcoming season we'll recover a ton of salary cap room. Next off-season we'll completely overhaul the O through free agency and the draft, custom tailored for our QB.

Makes sense, I suppose. But that's why these early draft grades are just as meaningless as pre-season power rankings. All comes down to guesswork and opinion. Could get something just as accurate by rolling a Magic 8-Ball over an Ouijii board.

NFL QB, or Fantasy Football QB? As noted earlier by HaplessBillsFan, that site focuses more on FF. I'm guessing TT's style of play lends itself wonderfully to wracking up FF points, ergo #12 QB. Likewise, our draft did more to bolster the defense then offense, leaving a ton of questions about taking any Bill in upcoming FF drafts, so I could see how, looking from a more FF mindset that someone could see it as a bad draft. Me, I still more care about the actual NFL games. ?

Getting some luck is not the same as them lucking in. I've said this multiple times. My gripe is people that attribute it all to luck, belittling the effort and accomplishment of the team. As for your earlier example...end of the Carolina game, replay it 100 times, how many times does Buffalo make that play, go 10-6 and make the playoffs while Carolina doesn't? Luck was in play, yes, but it was not the main reason the Bills made it, as some claim. I also disagree about this year, but that comes down to opinion. Thanks to offseason moves I see our defense (the main reason the Bills made it, and main reason the JAX game was close) as being even better. I think the O-line is weaker, but our new starting QB will stretch the field better then TT preventing opponents from stacking the box shutting down Shady and the short passing game. I think the Bills defense will be better then last year and the offense will at least be on-par with last season resulting in a slightly better team overall. I still predict another 9-7 season with a week 17 Wild Card birth, this time without help this time...but that's my opinion, we'll see what happens.

Trying to conclusively grade a draft before anyone takes a snap in a regular season game is akin to judging someone on buying a pack of trading cards before the pack is even open. All you can judge is...did teams adddess points of need. You cannot judge how well they did so. Buffalo got a high-pick QB...their most glaring need. They nabbed a linebacker, also high need and a defensive tackle which is will be a need with Williams retiring soon. As such, I think it looks like an outstanding draft. As to how well these specific players will actually fill the holes...that's impossible to tell right now. Too early.

I disagree strongly. Snow game was heart. Looked like it was going to be a tie until Shady said "Oh, hell no!", tapped every reserve, and ripped off a game-winning run. That wasn't luck, that was determination and one player wanting it more then an entire defense.

Agreed. But saying it took some luck to get in is different to saying they were lucky to make it. Some people seem insistant on throwing out the efforts and accomplishments of that team, handwaving it away and crediting the playoff birth soley to luck...implying (or even saying) the Bills didn't deserve it.

Yeah, but at the same time we had moments like fumbling the kickoff with the lead and two minutes left in regulation on MNF.

Only two ways to beat the Pats, outgun them (Eagles) or knock Brady around like a pinball (Giants, Broncos). Since we've had meh offense and zero pass rush during the drought, it's understandable that NE has been routinely thrashing us.

The Titans were also 9-7 last season. I don't hear anyone saying they were lucky. 9-7 is frequently good enough for a Wild Card. And again, it was a weak schedule that cost Baltimore a spot, we beat them out through strength of victory. Did you even read my OP?

...which only more justifies my loss of respect for him following his little tantrum. That Super Bowl was poetic justice.

I reiterate what I said earlier. Some people hated the Allen pick so much that they will use any little thing Rosen does right or Allen does wrong as evidence the wrong decision is made. And so, we will endure threads like this, including fanatics who claim to be able to see into the future well enough to say for certain drafting Allen was a mistake despite him not yet taking a snap in a pro game yet. Sadly these supposed psychics still have yet to provide winning lottery numbers, leading me to believe they are not psychics, and rather mistake their own personal opinions as fact. Basically, the minute you state with certainty that we made a mistake, rather then prefacing it with "I believe..." or "In my opinion...", the rest of your post becomes white noise to me because it's obvious you are a fanatical zealot with nothing positive to add. Rather, you're about to rant about how people are idiots for not acknowledging your opinion as fact.

I used to. Then the whole scandel thing started. Beli went and threw a temper tantrum, running up the scores on helpless teams just to make a point and stick it to the commish. It was childish and immature. I lost all respect for the man that season and grinned a little more then I should have when karma came back and bit him, ruining his perfect season by tripping him up at the finish line. I still respect his coaching abilities, just not the man himself anymore.

I'm an odd case. I hate Brady and Belly (and now Gronk after the WWE flying elbow he dropped last season), but other then them, I don't hate the Pats. If, for example, all three of them retired, my feelings toward the team would shift drastically. As such, I hold no ill-will toward any other Boston team.

There are some people that wanted Rosen over Allen. Some of them are still quite upset/angry we didn't take Rosen and are convinced Rosen will be a star while Allen will be a bust. Those people will seize on any Rosen success or Allen failure/setback as an opportunity to say "See? See?!? I was right, the front office was wrong! Rage with me! See?!? It's so obvious!!!". That's why this thread was created, and sadly there will be more. >.>

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.