Lv-Bills

MAF is not average. My goodness. That's ridiculous. I also don't think he's elite, but he's very good. He was outplayed by a rookie in the playoffs? Really? He got one chance to come back after being out for weeks because his head had cobwebs in it from a concussion. He was unreal all year. And while nobody in the league would take any of the three Buffalo goalies over MAF, I can see the reasoning if you wouldn't want Fleury because he is getting up there in age. At 31, he is a perfect piece for a contending team and will key fetch an all star defenseman for him. But to say Buffalo has three goalies better than MAF is borderline crazy. The Penguins will likely trade him because Murray is a stud, and Fleury isn't worth keeping (at his salary) on a team set at goalie for the next 10 years.

I'm not even sure why I'm bothering with this, but I just have to ask. So, let me get this straight. MAF is average? He was maybe having his best year ever this season before getting hurt, and his defense in front of him for most of the time he was playing, was hurt and average at best. He was the only the reason the Pens were afloat until they caught fire. Oh, and he is definitely pedigreed. But, knowing all of that, the Sabres have not only one "better and cheaper" goaltender, but if I read it correctly, really have three better goaltenders than MAF and all are cheaper. Ummmm, yeah, ok. MAF is now on the cusp on being a bit too expensive for his age, but he's a top flight goalie for sure. I also find it pretty hard to believe the Buffalo Sabres have three better than MAF and didn't sniff the playoffs. And besides, if the Pens trade MAF, I'm pretty sure it will be to the Western Conference. I don't think they want to risk playing him and losing to him in the playoffs.

Why the hell would we want Sam Bradford? F#$k No

Our season ended in London. But just in case, the nail was in Kansas City. Yesterday was sinking to the bottom of lake. However, and the only reason I'm responding to this is so that I can call it now. Pittsburgh is the second best team in the AFC. Period. They should lose to Denver at home? No way in hell. Pittsburgh is not only the second best team in the AFC, they will beat New England in the playoffs. Pittsburgh can put up major points on anyone in the league. That's what it's going to take if any team has a shot to take out NE. They can do it. New England is slightly weaker, and the Steelers are healthy. Pittsburgh gets in, and cruises to the AFC Championship. Outside of New England, this might be the weakest collection of playoff teams in 10 years. The Jets will not get in.

I quit buying Gillette razors about a year ago, and went to Dollar Shave Club. Yep, all because of Robert Craft. Anyone else?

My yahoo fantasy football app just downgraded his injury status to questionable. Concussion stuff? Anyone know? I can't find anything.

Agreed. And not to mention, even going a step further, the Pats just got three of their injured offensive lineman back for this game. Yep, three. Yippee.

I'm in the same boat for that game. I'm trying to think whether or not I even want to go to that game or save some money and wait for the Cowboys game. My tickets are listed but no bites yet. Houston just sucks......

I'm usually pessimistic about the Bills. As a season ticket holder from Virginia that has to drive home 9 hours after 15 years of losing, you think pretty clearly about how ****ty the Bills really are, especially in the last 10-14 years under Ralph Wilson. That being said, I'm still good with where we are now. I still think we found a QB that can play. Rex did not just forget how to coach defense. And when healthy, we have a darn good offensive roster around Tyrod. I think if we are truly getting healthy, that we can still turn it around, and that we have a good team. Whether or not we've dug ourselves a hole too big, I don't know. But I think we are legit if we can get most of our guys back and healthy.

You lost me at......you pay $350 for the Sunday Ticket. Oops, nevermind. I was so taken back by you saying you pay full price, I didn't see where you had to pay full price because you stream it. Don't know if that's as negotiable as the TV version of Sunday Ticket or not. Sorry. lol

Also sadly, stats don't mean much sometimes. Look at who the Jets have played, and while 4-1, it's not all that impressive. Although, they are beating teams they should beat if they are looking to be a wild card contender. Let's see what happens when they play someone.

Bengals 24 Bills 20

I hear ya. The only thing is that Hurdle also sat 55 HRs, 155 RBIs, and 80 walks when he didn't start Alvarez or Ramirez. Absolutely mind boggling. The Pirates started a lineup with a leadoff hitter that can't hit good pitching, their leading stolen base guy hitting fourth, and a guy that possibly isn't even a major league caliber player hitting 8th. Really Hurdle? He's a moron. The Pirates basically gave the hottest pitcher in baseball four straight outs from #7 in the order through the leadoff spot. First time he's played that minor league lineup all year. The day was over as soon as Hurdle wrote that inexcusable lineup. I guess the plus side of the wild card is that it's game 7 intensity right off the bat. The downside is that it's a one game playoff to decide a playoff winner in a league that uses 162 series based games all year to decide who makes the playoffs. More idiocy.

I hear ya. A lot of people were put off by the previous couple of regimes. The Pirates fan base has been through a lot. It's nice to see them have their day, and the best ballpark in the league. I was at the last playoff game in the 90's against Atlanta. It was fun. I was also at the Wild Card game in 2013 against the Reds. That was a lovefest. The two weren't even similar. The 2013 game was perhaps the best sporting event I've ever attended live. 20 years of frustration all came out in one night. I will never forget the entire day. Sitting in PNC in 2013, I kept thinking that when the Bills finally break this god awful drought, it's going to be like that night in PNC times 10 (simply because the NFL is wayyyy more popular than MLB). That Pirate game makes me want success for the Bills that much more. It's coming........and let me tell you all.......when it does.......it's a friggin glorious feeling. Years and years of frustration all come out of everyone at the same time. Goosebumps two years later. Amazing feeling how happy everyone is for those 4 hours. It's coming. One day......it's coming.

Before my Pirates rant, I would love to see Toronto get an NFL team. The Bills are no threat to leave and the rivalry would be outstanding. It would be terrific. I really don't care what their atmosphere would be like, because we still have the Ralph, but it would be a close away game that Bills fans could take over. I hope they get a team. The post above is kind of an odd post. The Pirates baseball history is rich, and it's two most revered players are Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. One black, and one latino. Both are in the most revered athletes of all time in the city with Lemieux, Clemente, Pops and Art Rooney. The Dave Parker era drug scandal almost killed the Pirates, and then after a small bit of success in the 90's, Kevin McClatchy ran the team about 25 times more frugal than even Ralph ran the Bills in his last ten years. And to boot, McClatchy wasn't old. He was a young owner pocketing revenue sharing money to keep his newspapers afloat. The Pirates threatened to leave town, Pittsburgh didn't care, didn't attend the "doomsday" last possible baseball game in Pittsburgh history, and the team lost it's bluff that they gave to the fans. The team never left, despite like 9,000 fans at three rivers for the "last" ever game in Pittsburgh. The city built PNC, Nutting bought out McClatchy and started investing in the team, and the Pirates are fine and dandy now. It's amazing what running the team the correct way will do for your bottom line. Even when the Pirates were good in the 90's, they had a couple of non-playoff sellouts at Three Rivers, basically because the team wasn't endearing. The Pirates were pretty much admitting that they weren't going to pay their star players (which turned out true) to keep them, and this was basically it. Who would support that? From that point on, many MLB teams weren't selling out playoff games. The Major League baseball fan market has always been a bit soft, league wide. The fan base for the Pirates seems to be pretty much on target for market size. It's been mid-range almost constantly, because they are a small market. In the decade of the 70's, the Pirates outdrew the Angels, Rangers, Braves, Giants, Indians, White Sox, Brewers, Padres, Expos, Royals, Mariners, Orioles, Twins, and A's. MLB attendance back then, was awful overall. Only two teams averaged over 20,000 fans in the 70's. The Dodgers at 24,000 and the Reds at 20,500. About 8 teams averaged between 13k and 15K. Most were between 10-12K. 9 teams averaged under 10k per game for the decade. The Pirates were right at 12,000. Baseball is now fine in Pittsburgh. When the Pirates are good, they frequently play at Capacity at just under 40,000. And I'm sure the next time they are bad again, attendance will drop some and they will only see good crowds on weekends. Such is life in small market baseball. But, make no mistake, the franchise is stable. Not the best, but not the worst. Not by a long shot.

What the hell is wrong with you? That will never happen. It makes too much damn sense.

Yeah umm, this couldn't be any more wrong. You've got to be be kidding me.

Not sure where you sit, because I saw pretty much none of that (minus not knowing who Canadians are) in my section. The crowds have been great this year. The train is one of the dumbest things the Bills have done in years. It's awful in person, and it even annoys people on TV. Horrible.

Woods was wide open. All of us in our section saw it immediately at the game. We started yelling look at Woods as he hit that seem. He was wide open and he also knew it. He was jumping up and down immediately after the play because he thought the ball was coming to him. It happened almost directly in front of my seats. I was bummed.......I thought he was going to get the ball there. Woods was blowing by that CB that was on Sammy, because that DB was running in a direction that would have left him without a chance to recover to turn and run full speed with Woods. The safety was actually the player trying to recover his ground to get back and cover Woods. He wouldn't have got there in time if a good pass would have been delivered.

Huh? 50% of the people? The entire stadium stands up before the train sound. I don't post here much anymore, but had to log on just for this. The train sound is the most annoying thing that the Bills do. And I'm one in favor of all the noise and standing you can do, but the train thing is awful, and most people think it's awful. The train has nothing to do with the Bills, Buffalo, Ralph Wilson or anything. It's ridiculously loud when the crowd is deflated. So, not only is it used way more than just third downs, it's unbearable in a situation like Sunday when the crowd was deflated and they kept blowing the F'n thing. It's awful. Way overused. And we seriously don't need to hear it when the Bills are behind by 24 or up by 24 in the fourth quarter. Hell, add preseason to that as well. It kept blaring during the preseason games when nobody cared to do anything about it. HORRIBLE!

135, Row 17, all the way from Richmond VA. Can't wait.

This is actually a dick move. Why is Banner talking about the Bills QB battle while employed by another team. Shut up Joe. Really. Although, I hope he's right. I'm ready for something other than a painfully average QB. Even if it's hype.

You're probably right about this, but I will say this. I work at a sports complex. Our whole sports staff is located here. We have six full time employees up here. 2 Bills fans, 1 Cowboy Fan, 1 Redskin fan (who doesn't have Sunday Ticket because we are in VA), 1 Bears fan, and one dude who I guess just loves football. 5 out of 6 of us all have called and bargained to get the ticket cheaper. Every fan site has a thread about getting discounts off of the Sunday Ticket.

The weird thing for me though is that I've never had anywhere near the success of getting the NHL package discounted like I can get for the Sunday Ticket. Ever. Mystery.

Called. Got transferred to retention. I just basically told them my bill was too high. I also told them that I have Bills season tickets (which I do) and that I could go to 8 games a year. 2 others are on national TV. And now there is one internet only game. That only leaves 5 games. She gave me the Season Ticket Max for free. She then offered the $10 off for 12 months as an HD credit. She offered the $5 off for six months as paperless bill credit (which I already have). I then honestly just said that I saw some other people that got $20 off for 12 months and asked her if she could do that. She told me it wouldn't let her do that, so she would just give me an additional $120 instant credit right now if I wanted. Ummmmmmm.........yeah, gimmie that! Very nice phone call. My bill this month was $1.81. I'm very happy today. She actually told me to call back and ask for more discounts when these ran out!