GhostsOfTheRockpile

Buffalo was in the final draw with Florida and Denver back in the days. Since then the Rockies have struggled but the Marlins have won TWO World Championships (granted one was via spend-spend-spend, but the other was via a bunch of no-names). There's no guarantee they'd fail out of the gate. On a similarly tiny budget the Oakland A's have achieved constant success. I'm not saying Buffalo should even TRY to get a MLB team (it would NEVER happen), but the fact the city is a "small market" does not necessarily equate to failure. Sure, the Bisons could be the next Royals or Pirates, but bring in smart enough talent evaluators and quality coaches/management and they could be the next A's. I'm pretty sure most Buffalo sports fans would take making the playoffs four out of every five years?

Team and coaches fall in line behind him... he becomes a Leader. + Playoffs. Consistently. Not every year, but at a decent clip. = JP becomes "my guy."

Visitor side club level are the best seats - high up enough you can see all the plays develop, outdoors but your dupa is kept warm by the heated seats... ... the only problem is IT'S THE CLUB LEVEL. People don't get rowdy/loud/pumped up, you almost feel BAD about standing and yelling or having a few adult pops. What a waste. That's why the REAL best seats are the first row in front of the club levels on the bench sides in my opinion. All the view positives of the club level, but without the "keep it down" negatives.

A few months ago, I was hoping Marv could use a late-rounder on Dominique Byrd (USC, TE). That was pre-Robert Royal. Now it looks like the Bills are going TE by committee, rather than my at-the-time daydream of Everett and Byrd stretching defenses all over the place, with the occasional Euhus short-yardage catch. Another giant of a man at TE is Lenny Pope from Georgia. Kid's a 6-8 man-beast. Lob it up, let him pull it down. Could use the red-zone help, that's for sure. Remaining guys who "best" address current needs of the squad: Max J-G, Eric Winston, Spencer, Allen... do they take a flyer on potentially the next Dwight Freeney with Dumervil?

I'm happy with the players Marv has brought in. Fill holes, make the team better as both CAN start this season (although I don't think we'll see Whitner starting over Bowen right away)... ... I'm just not happy with the value exchanged for them. We'll see. There's plenty of draft left.

Coy wasn't going to start anyway. There's a reason they signed Matt Bowen... I'm sure this guy's a great player and will improve the secondary... there are just much greater needs than strong safety on this team. And so far Marv has yet to improve any of those.

I don't care who good this guy is in the Cover-Two. The Bills now have SIX safeties on the roster, plenty of them undersized. The #8 pick is reserved for the Ed Reed's and Ronnie Lott's of the world. Guys who can change a defense, no matter what the scheme. For Marv to make this pick with so many other glaring holes to fill is reprehensible. Not only won't this guy start, this pick doesn't help the defense at the point of attack WHERE THEY WERE THE WEAKEST, doesn't improve a porous offensive line (Fowler? Reyes? Please...), hell... we have more of a need at quarterback than safety. This is just a bad, bad pick by Marv. The needs far outweigh the luxury of another safety.

Troy was rated a top prospect by everyone (teams, media, morons like us). This guy is a nobody who is at best 2nd string... closer to third string... next season.

Take off the rose-colored glasses. This is a HORRIBLE PICK at #8 no matter how you spin it. This guy is 2nd round talent at best. Safety was NOT a need for this roster by any stretch... certainly not AHEAD of O-line, D-line, QUARTERBACK even. Marv now has six safeties on his roster. Absolutely terrible. Goodbye consecutive sellouts...

Tags was right on when he said who Buffalo puts on the field is more important to their long-term viability than anything else. Too bad Marv & Co. weren't listening. That pick could not have been much worse. A guy they could have gotten in the second round at #8 overall? I would have preferred trading down, but hell... at least take Bunkley, Ngata, Hollywood Matt, ANYONE that's a LEGIT TOP-10 PROSPECT! Awful. Hello 3-13.

Worst. Thread. Ever.

Just to temper the doom and gloom of the past few weeks: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2417097

Interesting points. However, I disagree about lowering the seating capacity so much. If your plan worked, there would be no need to create demand and drive up prices... the fans would be flocking anyway. If the team can currently sellout a 74,000 seat stadium on a near-regular basis with the current demand, wouldn't a more "region-ized" franchise pump-up demand simply by instituting the changes you suggest? While I believe there is room to increase ticket prices, I do NOT believe there is enough room to do so at the expense of 8,000 tickets or so. If they move them to around, let's say, Batavia, I'd hope a 70,000+ seat stadium would be in the works. I would also - in any new stadium - build more club seats at the expense of upper-deck seats, including the REMOVAL of those enclosed end-zone club seats. Those high priced, but not-quite-box seats aren't an easy sell in the region. I've always thought that by replacing those seats with an equal amount of club seats (and a few thousand more, rather than in the upper deck) would be a successfull tactic for the Bills. Also, rather than the Western New York Bills, why not simply the NEW YORK BILLS? After all, with the Giants and Jets splitting the cost of what promises to be a state-of-the-art park which they will presumably inhabit for decades to come, the Bills are all but guaranteed to be the only New York State NFL team for as long as they remain in the region.

Wrong. The NHL cap was $39 million, with a $21.5 million floor. Those numbers were based on estimated revenues of $1.8 billion, with provisions built in for falling below, meeting, or exceeding those expectations. Those provisions included the controversial "escrow account" that caused players to see decent chunks of their paycheks withheld earlier in the season. Provided certain benchmarks are hit (which the league believes they will with EASE), the players will get that money back. Hitting those benchmarks should also trigger a rise in the cap next season (under the current CBA, players are guaranteed 54% of "hockey-related revenues" - that number rises as league revenues rise).

Anyone who lives (or has lived) in the Boston area knows Jeremy Jacobs is not the sort of owner you want for your team. Of course, he's better than nothing, but he'd be my (and hopefully YOUR) last choice. Besides, I doubt he even makes a bid for the team when they go on sale. It would require him selling the Bruins, which he LIKELY won't do due to his interests in the Banknorth Garden (formerly Fleet Center) and the almost guaranteed profits most people speculate the Bruins bring him.

I pray the Bills pass on Ngata. What good does a guy who can't even play ALMOST every down in college do for a pro team? Spending #8 cash on a guy who would at best play slightly more than half of the defensive downs? Yikes... ... of course, I'd expect nothing less from the Bills. Ugh...

Unreal... ... that said, a good team would give the Pats a game, bye week or not.

I am excited about Lee as well. But without Moulds, I've seen nothing to lead me to believe Lee ain't the next Peerless. Especially with two journeymen and one (to date) bust getting him the ball. That said, here's to Lee setting every Bills single season receiving mark!

It's called "sports talk," pal. You can bet your ass I call myself a Bills fan, and I'll gladly put my money where my mouth is with my near 20 years of seasons tix. But being a fan of a team doesn't mean you can't criticize them. The team was 5-11 last year, and has done nothing to improve as of now. Someone else mentioned about how the Bills had fourth quarter leads, but couldn't hold on. Yeah... that's what bad teams do, they don't close out games. How do we expect a lesser team to suddenly learn how to do that? Believe me, I hope JP or Nall is a revelation at QB, that the O-Line is suddenly AVERAGE, that the D-Line starts making plays in the crunch, and the special teams carries the team... again. I just don't see it. It ain't deeming them a failure, its making a prediction. Again, that's called "sports talk."

That's my kind of optimism. The REALISTIC kind.

As much as Huff, Davis, Hawk and the quarterbacks (Young still falling?) are all great prospects, the Bills' biggest needs are on the offensive and defensive line. For Marv to take anything other than an OL or DL, the guy better be can't-miss. If that means trading down rather than reaching for the "next best lineman" at #8, so be it. Maybe I'm just jaded on late round picks by the Donohoe years (where most failed to pan out), but I'd like to see Marv address the two pieces of the puzzle that need the most work... ... and play the greatest part in determining the outcome of games.

Pre-draft, pre-mini-camps, and pre-training camp, I'd say the Bills will be lucky to get to 1-7 on the road this season. I'd also guess they go 2-4 in the AFC East. Look, I love me some Buffalo Bills. I'm not trying to be a nay-sayer or doom-and-gloom kinda guy, but I think AS OF RIGHT NOW the roster is LESS talented than it was last year, whereas some of our opponents on the upcomming schedule have improved their talent level. For a team that went 5-11 last year, lost players they are replacing with lesser talent (or at best a wash), I don't know how they plan on winning any more than one or two more games. Could they have a break-out year from some of their players? Of course. Could JP or Nall suddenly be a revelation at QB? Why not? But even then, with EVERYTHING going their way, I can't see anything better than 8-8 under the most wild of circumstances. Marv has given every indication he's treating the Bills as a going concern, rather than a quick-fix job. That said, it will likely take a season or two to get to where he wants to be in order to even compete for a WILD CARD spot. Oh, and quit it with the "refs favor the other teams" yap. You're only feeding into the widely held stereotype of moronic Bills fans.

Some of you people need to take the blinders off. This team is 6-10 at best. Shoddy quarterbacking, below-average offensive line, no WR depth at all (can't wait to see how good Lee is when he's the focus of defenses), no impact defensive linemen, and a pair of safeties that can best be described as suspect. Through this year AND next year's draft, not to mention another round of free agency, hopefully Marv can get the boys back to competing for a wild card spot. Talkin' proud!!!

Texans 7-9 Bills 5-11

Hollis Thomas is not the answer. The guy is fat and slow and takes plenty of plays off. He's a less talented Sam Adams with the same amount of effort.