Gen2

Panthers over the Jets

Most memorable for me is opening day 1960, I know we were playing Denver, but for the life of me I can't remember if we won or lost let alone the score, but what I do remember; I am son #4 and significantly younger than my brothers, so when "the guys" went out to do something "manly" it was always my dad and three older brothers, I was left at home. 1960 saw my brothers in the military and dad took me to the game. It was the very first time I felt I was one of "the guys". I remember the smells of the peanut venders outside the stadium, I remember the yells of the ticket scalpers, I remember the smells in the tunnel of stale beer, over cooked hot dogs, and the faintest whiff of urine emanating from the restrooms (which would grow stronger as the game went on and the beer went down). I remember the sight as we emerged from the dark damp tunnel and I saw a sun drenched full sized professional football field for the first time, it was glorious, it was other worldly. It was the start of a long and wonderful fandom. I've attended hundreds of game since that one, but none brings back the flood of nostalgia as that one.

The title of your post REALLY hit me kind of hard. I started my Bills fandom in 1960 when my dad took me to my first football game, which also happened to be the Bills first football game. I had always wished that he would live to see a Bills super bowl win but sometimes things just don't work out. Now that I'm an old fart watching games with my son, he admitted last year that as much as he wanted to witness a Bills super bowl win, he REALLY wanted that win for me. At that point I realized that I had become my father and he had become me. Let's hope things turn out a little bit better this time around.

The terms "New York Jets" and "develop" are incompatible ... just sayin'

When I was dating my wife I was very upfront that my Sunday afternoons were sacrosanct and the only activities that will occur Sunday surround the Bills game. She was also upfront with me that being from the south she was a college football fan, and being a UGA alum that her Saturday afternoons were sacrosanct and the only activities that would occur Saturday surround the Bulldogs game. We've spent the last 35 years yelling WOOF,WOOF,WOOF every Saturday and HEY,AY,AY,AY every Sunday.

100% true. However, the Cards and the Jets drafted Rosen and Darnold to take them to the Super Bowl, we drafted Allen to develop, and HE will be the only one of the three to take his team to the Super Bowl.

I love it, basically he plays this year on his rookie contract, plays next year on his fifth year option, and the contract $$$$ don't really come into effect until his third year. IMHO, Josh's dollars will be peanuts compared to what QBs at his current level will be demanding. What intrigues me is what kind of contracts Mayfield and Jackson will get. Mayfield (through no fault of his own) hasn't put up a season comparable to Allen, but with his new found continuity is on an upward trajectory. Jackson DOES have an MVP season under his belt, however his performance seems to be on a downward trajectory. Could the Ravens be "stunting his growth" as a QB by relying on his running abilities? The way I see it Mayfield COULD demand more money than Allen, but he really doesn't have anything to back up his demands, and Jackson COULD demand more money based on his MVP season, but do the Ravens see him as a glorified running back who can throw the ball and expect him to hit the wall physically in the next few years or as a developing QB?

beat me to it ... lol out loud

My only worry is does this leave enough money to sign Ertz ....... I'm kidding ..... I'm kidding

Actually, I'd prefer they rename the team to The Austin Power 🤣

I believe you may be mistaken on two counts, Pagula doesn't pay taxes in Florida because Florida doesn't have income tax, but he DOES pay New York taxes because his business makes money in New York.

Honestly who can say if some city (let's say St. Louis) says to Pagula "we will finance 50% of the stadium, our economy will support you tripling your ticket prices, and since it's a new stadium you can sell PSLs to help recoup your share of the stadium" that Pagula wouldn't be an idiot to turn it down. Don't get me wrong, I'm as big a Bills fan as everybody else and have been for longer than most, so it would break my heart if WNY lost the Bills, but I for one see it as a real possibility. And don't give me that "well he'd have to sell the Sabers argument" IMHO he'd dump that train wreck of a team in a New York nanosecond for a sweetheart deal for the Bills

All of this talk has me wondering what everybody's thoughts are in supporting a new stadium. Some discussion points as I see them are: 1) The elephant in the room is city/county/state support. I understand peoples reluctance in supporting a stadium with taxpayers money, but the fact of the matter is there are locations out there who would be willing to give at least SOME level of support to a stadium, how do you feel 0% - 100% government support or something in between? 2) Ticket prices. According to my research, the Bills currently have the lowest average ticket price @ $74.95 with the NFL average @ $104.73 and the highest for the LV Raiders @ $153.47. What level of a ticket price would you support, up to the NFL average, up to Raider levels, somewhere in between? 3) PSLs. Personally, I find the mere concept of PSLs distasteful, but the fact of the matter is over half of the NFL charge them to help finance their stadium, how much would you think someone should pay for the "right" to buy a season ticket? Since I don't live in western N.Y. anymore I don't feel like I have a dog in this fight, but here are my thoughts anyway. 1) I left N.Y. many years ago, and haven't returned to live for a number of reasons, taxes being one of them. With that being said, I don't really care if the city/county/state pick up 100% of the tab, however I AM sensitive that there are a number of better areas that tax dollars can and should be spent. However, I am sure that there are a few cities willing to support at least a portion of a new stadium, St Louis and maybe San Diego or Oakland ... and maybe there are one or two out there hiding in the wood work. 2) As I said in item one, I don't live in the area and fly in for a game or two per season. When piled on to airfare, hotel, and food costs, raising ticket prices to even the Raider level would only be a "background noise level" of added expense. I would still be flying in for a game or two per season. 3) Once again, I'll never be a season ticket holder so even though I cringe at the thought of PSLs, I really don't care. I'm really interested in the western N.Y. Bills fans feelings on the topic, it's just too easy for us expats to spend the locals money.

I think the only thing I take umbrige to is the fact that if a vaccinated player tests positive, they will be tested twice more in a 24 hour period, and with double negative results will be immediately reinstated. Whereas a non vaccinated player who tests positive sits for 10 days regardless. The NFL is disregarding the possibilities of a false positive in the case of the non vaccinated player.

One of the pitfalls of having a good team is there isn't a single player we could have drafted where the fan base would say "NOW we can contend for the Super Bowl". We already have those players in place. We get robbed of picking the over hyped "name player" and are regulated to picking backup strength or potential type of players and it's hard to get excited about those type of picks. It wasn't fancy or glitzy, as a matter of fact it was kind of boring, but I'm comfortable in the fact that Beane and McD have a plan and they're working toward their end goal, and our scouting department has more expertise in recognizing talent in their little toenail than I will ever have.

Thanks, that clears it up for me ... so am I to assume that each teams cap number will automatically go up in the neighborhood of 5/6% ? That could be pretty painful for some clubs to get back under the cap.

That was always my assumption too, but that brings up the question of how do all of those "extra" paychecks fit under the cap?

OH no doubt (at least I would hope so). I was just trying to solicit some ideas/feelings as to what that solution may be. I thought the discussion may be a refreshing change from the team X released player Y, should we sign him threads.

If the league adds another game to the schedule, would the players salary increase by one game check worth ? If it does, how does it fit under the salary cap? If it doesn't, how do they get it past the players union? I could see the union scream that all of the contracts signed before the addition were with the express understanding that the season was 16 games long, and if the season were extended because a particular team played in the playoffs, the "loss of salary" would be offset by the prize monies paid to each team for their participation in the playoffs, and if the season would be extended without compensation, the players salary should increase by the same percentage of the schedule percentage increase. Orrrrrrr that all of the contracts that were signed prior to the schedule increase would be null and void because the conditions of that contract have changed.

do we know the whereabouts of Rosen last night???? just sayin' he DOES have a track record.

The series of AFL championships in the 90's, the Bills had the players with "star power" names, if I remember correctly they were pretty much expected to win. What THIS championship game reminds me of is the 1964 game against the Chargers. Even though the Bills had a better season, the Chargers had the star power names on their side, they had a high powered offense that no one could stop (sound familiar?) and everyone figured the Chargers were going to pass on the Bills like crazy. The Chargers star receiver was a bit dinged up for that game but they also had stars like Keith Lincoln, Paul Lowe, and Tobin Rote/John Hadl, no one gave the Bills much of a chance for victory. On the first drive the Chargers march down the field and score a TD. On their second drive Lincoln swings out of the backfield for a pass, Mike Stratton delivers a perfectly timed crushing tackle that breaks Lincoln's ribs, and to borrow a phrase from Hank Bullough ... "that pretty much took their sails out of the wind. The Bills shut the Chargers out for the rest of the game and win 20-7

While I will admit to being an old fart, you hold Kelly, Reed, Smith, Tasker, et al dear to your heart only because that's what you remember. To oldsters like myself, the crew of the 90's didn't replace the team of the 60's it supplemented them. I love Gilchrist, Dubinion, Sesteck, Kemp, Day and those guys just as much as I love the 90's guys and hopefully I'll get to remember the team the Bills are fielding now just as fondly. just sayin'

Could it be that the players on offense stunk and our only option was to play it close to the vest and hope the defense can prevent our opponents from scoring more points than we did? Could it be that McD had it figured out all along, and the increase of our offensive performance (and his willingness to take risks) is directly proportional to the increase of the quality of his players on the field? I honestly believe his "blueprint" for building the Bills was to incrementally increase the skill level of each position group little by little while devising game plans each week to use the players we had/have to the best of their abilities.

I watch football for the pure entertainment of it, so for me a super bowl ring or not doesn't necessarily really matter all that much to me. Sure I'd LOVE to have one or two or three, but give me good seasons of football and I'm happy. I kind of look at the regular season as a drudgery to get to the playoffs, there is a bit of drama because you've got to get those ten or eleven wins to make the playoffs, but on the game to game level, most euphoria or angst is manufactured in our collective minds ... bottom line is win enough games and your in the playoffs. I like to win as much as the next guy, but I never expect the Bills to go undefeated, so a loss doesn't really bother me. When the playoffs begin the drama is real, you either win or go home, I REALLY enjoy those games. The super bowl is the ultimate drama, either you are the champions, or are the best of the losers in the league. IMHO it's all about making it to the playoffs and letting the chips fall where they may. As an aside ... I have a 25 year old son who is as die hard Bills fan as I am. Every week we sit down to watch the Bills game, even since he's moved out he always makes it a point to be visiting good ol' dad to watch the game. His entire football watching life has been an exercise in futility, we're talking depths of the drought here. During the fourth quarter of the Colts game he turns to me and says, "I don't know if my heart can stand playoff football, and how in the heck do you do it ... you're an old fart". During the third quarter of the game last night he turns to me and says, "I've decided watching Bills games was a heck of a lot less stressful when we sucked". My only response was "get used to it son ... this is what having a good football team is all about". Bottom line is, get me to the playoffs every year, I'll take my chances on getting a ring or two.

I've often wondered how ex players react to a game ... I mean REALLY react and not put on a show for us fans (especially if the player had a long and illustrious career like a Reed or Kelly et al). I would think that since they've played the sport at high levels their entire life from peewee through high school, college and the pros they would have a sense of "been there done that" and wouldn't get as amped up as us average fans who only get to vicariously taste glory through their exploits. I'm sure if they had spent all of their career (or a major part of it) with a single team they would watch with interest, and even get a bit of pride with a hard fought win against a team rival, or a good playoff run, or Super bowl win, but I just have a hard time envisioning Kelly jumping around his living room hooting and hollering over a good play in the second quarter of the second game of the season against the Jags (not that a sophisticated fan such as myself would ever conduct himself in such a manner). I would assume to a certain percentage of players, the game was just a business and once they left it they have little or no interest to follow it at any level, another group maybe follows the game to keep up with players and friends they've played with but once they leave stop watching, another group just love the game and watch but more on an analytical level than at a "crazed fan level".