Maddog69

Next week will be interesting. There are so many rumors out there: 1.) Chan getting fired monday 2.) Buddy fighting to keep chan 3.) Gruden meeting with the Bills over the weekend 4.) Jimbo joining the front office 5.) Polian coming back 6.) Ownership transition to Jimbo coming this offseason Did I miss any?

Ditka vs God, who wins? So you want him as your OC only if someone makes him cut out being an idiot?

If you take away the 'spot of the foul' penalty, every defensive back in the league would simply tackle the WR who is about to make a big catch downfield. It would be lopsided toward the defense. Every DC in the league would rather give up a 10yd penalty than a 50yd gain or a TD. I would argue that PI needs to be called more often and defenses should be forced to cover properly.

Sounds like someone I would love to see the Bills consider

At this point, I think you can call the DL a chop too. I expected them to be a ton better, but they did not play like it this year.

Agree 1 million percent. Our playcalling and game planning is horrendous. A better coach could get a lot more out of the current roster. I know FItz has limitations but I think he takes too much blame for our problems. I think Chan put him in position to fail way to often rather than building a gameplan to cover his weaknesses and take advantage of his strengths and the strengths of our roster (Spiller/Freddy). I would be fine with Fitz staying as long as Chan is GONE and legit competition is brought in at the QB position either in the draft or FA

Wrong It is used for concert and other event. I know they have "the Battle of the Bands" every year. They've had Paintball tournaments, they host High school football games and lacrosse games. They could definitely do a lot more with it, especially if it had a dome of other cover structure, but it does get used for things other than Bills games. I'm looking forward to the restaurant and store. I hope they are open all year round, I would love to take my kids there. I wish they did lockeroom tours and had a Bills hall of fame. My 10yr old son love to hear about the glory days of the Bills. He says to me "I wish the Bills were good like they were when you were younger".

1.) Can you name the "other rich people" who would line up to buy the property and pay the same taxes? And if these fantasy people existed, wouldnt they already own expensive homes and pay high taxes? We don;t have a lot of homeless rich people in Buffalo 2.) Do some research, the bars and restaurants around the stadium make most of their revenue on game days just as the bars and restaurants around the Arena downtown make their revenue on game nights. I guess common sense isnt too common on this board 3.) The cities reportedly interested in an NFL team - LA, Santa Clara, Portland, San Antonio, OK City, Toronto, London, Mexico City. Those are the ones I can think of. Since every other city with a team has paid to build stadiums and keep their teams, it stands to reason than any city wanting a team would be willing to do the same. I used the Baltimore example earlier. They paid a ton to get the Browns to leave Cleveland and become the Ravens

Brandon has stated over and over that he has ZERO control over the football side of the business. He says that Buddy reports directly to Ralph. Brandon's title is misleading. He does not run the whole show. He runs the business/marketing side. Nix runs the football operations side and Ralph and his bean counters (Littman/Overdorf, etc) have final veto power over both. So technically, I would say Brandon and Nix are both Vice Presidents.

The fact that they got the Bills to pay for any of this and to start paying rent for the first time ever is a miracle. Its a much better deal than I was expecting. Arguing over whether Govt's should pay for this kind of stuff is pointless. It happens all the time in all types of business. If NYS and Erie County did not agree to it, there are dozens of cities in the US and abroad who would definitely offer up much more than what was agreed to in this deal. Just look at what Baltimore gave to Art Modell to steal the Browns. 20 yrs of guaranteed sellouts regardless of on field performance or any other factor. I'm surprised RWS has not asked for something similar.

Tell that to all of the people who make a fortune off of parking cars in their yards near the stadium. Not to mention the property values. If the Bills left, those lots near RWS would go from selling for millions of dollars to being virtually worthless. Tell it to the bars and restaurants around the stadium that make 90% of their annual revenues on those 9 home game days, to Erie could who gets a pretty sizeable property tax payment from the numerous players on the team with HUGE houses that normal people cannot afford, to the dozens and dozens of people who work for the Bills, for the vendors on game days and for the businesses around the stadium. Maybe you should do YOUR homework before being condescending and rude to someone expressing an opinion that does not agree with yours.

Nobody knows how it would have worked. But I would guess he would have had as many or more wins for us than Fitz and would have been a lot more fun to watch. But there is no way of actually knowing what would have happened although I'm sure you will say that you know.

Didn't already do that the last time he played against us? He looked like the second coming of Johnny Unitas in that game and has looked like garbage ever since. I honestly think it would be hilarious of he lights us up again this Sunday.

So many people here say without question that the roster is much better now than it was 3 years ago. But I honestly don't believe it is. If at all, I think it is marginally better at best and it seems that the rest of the league agrees. The Bills have nobody going to the probowl while 2 players (Whitner and Lynch) who were here 3 years ago are going. I think our O-line is clearly better than 3yrs ago. Almost every other position is either the same or worse.

Nothing about the Bills pass defense indicates to me that Byrd is good in pass coverage. Yes, he makes the occasional INT but I don;t rememeber noticing him out there most of the time, except when I'm trying to figure out if it was the CB of the S that was supposed to be covering the wide open receiver who just caught the ball. Byrd is the most overrated player on the team, I think. I would like to keep him at a reasonable salary so as not to be forced into drafting a safety early in the draft since we have other needs. But I would not want to get into a bidding war to keep him. He is not Ed Reed. Levitre is one of the best OG in the game, so if need be, the Bills should overpay for him.

He has run Hunter's Hope Foundation, raised millions for research on childhood disease and testing, worked with numerous companies to raise money, worked with numerous different govt agencies and politicians to change laws regarding screening. Worked with numerous other charities, lobbyist, celebrities, etc. Not sure if any of this helps him to run the Bills but he does have a passion for Buffalo, a passion for football, a passion for the Bills and endless number of connections that he could leverage to be successful. I'd be thrilled to have Jim involved in the day to day running of the football side of the team.

I wonder if Nix and crew will all be canned and Jimbo will be brought in as a consultant to help Russ/Ralph hire a new person to run the football side of the business. Jim might be able to persuade higher profile candidates to interview for the job than Russ could on his own.

Neither Byrd nor Levitre are worth those Franchise numbers in my opinion, $6-7m per yr for Andy $4.-5 per yr for Byrd Anything more than that and I think the money would be better spent elsewhere. I would love to get both back, but the budget only goes so far. I don't want the Bills to be like the Sabres and get stuck with more overpriced contracts to keep mediocre players (Pominville comes to mind).

His playcalling is terrible. I don't want him anywhere near this team next year.

as far as I know, no mention was made about any out clause regarding Ralph's status or change in ownership. The only out is at the end of year 7, the Bills have a one-time option to buy out the final 3 yrs of the deal for around $28m. At any other time, they would need to pay the $400m buy out to get out of the lease.

Russ Brandon, the CEO of the Bills said during the press conference that the Bills will be here beyond this lease. I forget his exact phrasing but he used the word 'guarantee'. What does everything think of that statement? Do you think he is telling the truth? Is he a liar or did he just get caught up in the excitement of the day?

The NFL relocation fee is $900m So, this LA group would need to wait for Ralph to die. Then they would need to outbid any ownership groups that want the team to stay in Buffalo. Which means they would likely have to overpay for the team (say $1B or more). Then they would need league approval to move, which is unlikely. Then they would have to fight Chuck Shumer and the countless other govt officials who will fight tooth and nail to keep the only NY State team in the state. Then they would have to spend millions in court fighting the state and county to get out of the lease. Only then could they pay the $400m fee to break the lease. This after having to fund a stadium for $1-1.5B. Total cost to any new owner wanting to move the team out of Buffalo will be close to $4B. And again, they still have to wait for Ralph to die before any of this could be set in motion. Do you still think the LA boogieman is laying in wait? I don't.

they said on the radio that the 7yr mark also ties in to some change in the estate tax

So, their jumbotron shows the play before it happens? That is some awesome technology.

and if nobody buys tickets. the biggest change they will make is the city they play for.