finknottle

Just watch - NE falters, and Miami goes on to win the division THATS rock bottom.

More yards than JP had passing... And didn't JP have about 180 in the first quarter???

I laugh because I don't wanna' cry... what a joke. sigh...

The nagging concern that we have unusually many holes going into the off-season will be remain regardless of how we do in the game.

That's from another thread, but is probably more relevent here. The point is that revenue is dominated by television money and marketing stuff. Gate revenue is negligible in comparison. In Buffalo, the profit difference between selling out every home game and having ZERO attendence every week will pay the salary of one franchised player. Or Mike Williams. Sell-outs are good for PR, and an indicator that you can raise your prices, but that's it - they don't have an impact on RW's wallet.

I agree, and there was a thread to this effect about a week ago. I don't recall ever feeling going into an off-season that there were so many question marks at the starting positions: cross-your-finger promotions like Evans and McGee to #1 WR & CB, and Preston to center; age questions like Fletcher and the safety's; and out-right voids like presumably cb and half the offensive and defensive lines. And this is all before you get to the more routine questions like will JP be good enough, and are our other returning starters good enough...

99% of us know this, but just in case somebody is not aware, it has to be said: that Feeley injury report actually appeared.

No, we franchise Nate Clements and trade him to Houston for their #1 to use on Bush. We use our own #1 on a cb. Then we trade WM to a team with two #1's, and use one pick on each side of the line.

It amazes he how people keep looking at Ralphs position through their eyes. He's 150+ years old and the clock is ticking, and people act as if he cares - here and now - about making more money off the Bills. And what evidence do we see about his greedy nature? Business moves from almost FORTY YEARS AGO! So Wilson was a cheap bastard and a hard businessman back in the 60's and 70's. That's when he was an active businessman building his fortune. So what. It's the 90's now - no, the 00's. He's on autopilot as a businessman, running things conservatively and making sure he's not being taken advantage of. When he does things like the Wade fiasco, it's because he's being petty and vindictive, not being cheap. If he were cheap he would have worked over Western New York a lot harder. For all the people that talk about RW putting money before winning, it's puzzling that they neglect doing the simplest analysis of the gate revenue... In Buffalo, what's the gate difference between selling out every game and having absolutely zero attendence? Thanks to RW's NFL-low ticket prices (ave $37), it's about 13 million in profit per year (that's a very generous estimate). If he priced them as they are in in the middle of the NFL, like in Detroit ($57), it's about $27 million in his pocket. If he moved to LA and priced aggressively like New England ($75), it would be $39 million. Again, all very generous estimates, but using the same assumptions. So the point is that in the Buffalo market, with prices RW chooses to set, a sell-out is not nearly the windfall it is elsewhere. Realistically, if he were choosing sell-outs over winning as posters suggest, it only means a few million dollars a year to him, which is chump change on the Bills ledger. They could easily make that up by playing hardball with the State or moving.

It's amazing how people trash people once they leave the team... at least they usually have in other threads, anyway. He showed us something, then couldn't make it as a number one. So we keep him in mind in case we need an experienced minimum wage wr pickup who is probably pretty humbled by now.

In fairness, while the motive may be partisan the story is not. Or rather, it's import goes beyond the merely partisan. The desire to gerrymander is pretty much universal. There are no shortage of agregious examples by both parties. What makes this story so unusual is that they went ahead with it despite the unaminous opinion of the justice department ahead of time that it was illegal as envisioned, along with the gag order on the lawyers involved. I'm not aware of that happening elsewhere. So it is disappointing that the responses gravitated to the political than rather to this exceptional point.

I dunno - if the players believed they had a better chance of winning with Holcomb and that starting JP was only about getting him experience, then surely sticking with JP just to get him reps at the expense of the rest of the team's season would have a far worse effect on the team. And its bad for recruiting too. Prospective free agents would look at the team and think winning now takes a back seat to developing players for future seasons. Would TKO have come here under those circumstances?

I vote the Peerless Price trade. Re WM, one thing people never mention is the fact that we basically paid him to recoup - we give him a mulligan on the lost year. I don't know what his contract is, but I'm sure it was slotted and we didn't get a break on the rehab year. So if for example it was 4 mill over 4 years, then we really paid 4 for 3 years of productivity. So we are paying a 33% premium right off the bat. Is he 33% better than other runningbacks picked where he was? Add in the fact that we have him for 25% less time than other draft picks before he's a free agent, and I actually think it was a poor move. Anybody know what his contract is like?

One key difference: Wellington Mara already had a superbowl championship at the time. Ralph Wilson's life work is still undone.

I agree completely. I think he's pissed, and is not buying into TD any longer (see "with the material we have") but knows he's stuck with him for the duration...

Wilson's football legacy lies with the AFL and NFL more so than just this city. It will ultimately be measured on the national stage - what the owners, past and present, and the league thinks of him. It goes beyond what the people in Buffalo think of him. It goes far, far beyond what TBD posters think of him. If his image is tarnished in Buffalo, I don't think it effects his legacy a whole lot. Simply put, he's off in the big leagues. I doubt he thinks about his image at all. A man in his position has to be secure enough by now. Nor about making more money, despite the daily posts of how much money TD is making him. He has enough already, and his financial machinations seem to be on auto-pilot: get what you can from the state and county, but don't play hardball unless they are ripping you off. If he cares about anything football related at all, it is probably winning the superbowl before he goes, and getting into the hall of fame. And his getting into the Hall of Fame will have nothing to do with his popularity in Buffalo.

The thing that really jumped out at me was how good the Detroit line comes out. It really makes you wonder what's going on over there that their passing game can be in such disarray - is Harrington just firing randomly after a one-step drop or something?

Yes, I think a lot of posters are mad that he pee'd on their shiny new toy. I agree with 1billsfan, that this is not the best year to be evaluating wide receivers. A drop is a drop and will still get you cut, but you have to be more carefull about judging competant play with a dropoff in production.

The trouble started with that retro-liberal George Washington and that crap about a government by the people and for the people. By? For??? Ha! The whole idea of government is the problem!

I agree - that's why I say you shoot for lines or you have a unanimous declaration of something bland like 'poverty is bad.' With so many participants, and with the Palestinian issue dividing some of them, they should have planned for an uncontroversial articulation of principals that everybody agrees to, or not held it at all. Indeed, these things are usually ironed out beforehand. (And for the record I think a vague declaration is pretty useless, but that is after all the stuff of diplomacy and standards-bodies the world over.)

No problem - that just establishes your bona fides as a legit TBD poster.

I am optimistic about Everett down the road. His contribution to date has been zero.

Right - my original point was that for me the disappointment stems from the lack of reason to hope (as opposed to disgrace). Discounting the 70's and 80's (when you knew your team would look largely the same from year to year, and so you were pretty sure 2-14 one year meant 5-11 the next at best), this current team makes me worry more about next years lineup than any before.

You are only as good as you play.

Maybe some guys would prefer to be released from this team.