Peevo

I would agree with all of that if he wasn't drafted 11th overall out of 200 something athletes. A "project" is something you draft on day 2, one of those "high character, hard working, great locker room" (aka-white) guys we hear about so often. A top 15 draft pick HAS to contribute immediately to any team. How much faith do you have in a coaching staff that hasn't bred any marquise players, especially on the defensive side, in 4 years of "building?" Maybin might be good someday. But at the end of the day, you need your 1st round picks to contribute. But hey, I'm sure he had a great week of practice.

I love football. I like watching teams that play the game well and actually complete passes and convert 1st downs. Watching other teams makes me really jealous, accordingly. It's frustrating to know we can't complete a simple motion screen pass or slant pattern. All that aside, as far as I can see, the only people that have the Sunday Ticket most likely have some personal interest involved in paying $80/month on top of your already expensive tv bills. Either you have a serious gambling problem, or are obsessed with fantasy football, most likely with a lot of money on the line there as well. How else could you physically watch that much football without any other stake in the game? "Sunday Ticket is for the fans," yeah right. It's about money, and it always has been. My neighbor upstairs has the ticket, and most likely has a serious gambling problem. EVERY SUNDAY you can hear him screaming like crazy, breaking stuff, and generally causing havoc over football games I'm certain I'm not watching (I have TWC). Why else would he care that much unless he's got a lot of money on the line? But wait, gambling is ILLEGAL in NYS, isn't it?

I think whats sad, yet interesting is the public response to studies like this. I'm not a father, in fact no where near the child rearing age of other posters above here. However, it seems the only hard effect this study will have on parents and their kids. Elite athletes that actually have an NFL shot will continue to take hits as long as they think it will equate to dollar signs and maybe a "better" life. Ultimately, sports fans don't care. Baseball fans don't care that an entire generation of its players cheated with steroids and HGH. I'm sure there's plenty of NFL or other contact sport athletes doing the same thing. We don't care that Leonard Little killed somebody. We don't care that Ray Lewis was accused of accessory to murder and ultimately admonished on a technicality. Mike Vick got 24 months of federal prison time for killing dogs, yet Donte Stallworth gets loaded and kills a person and gets 30 days in jail. It doesn't make sense. But after all the hoopla and "public backlash," we still turn the games on tv on Sundays. And that's really all that the tv stations and NFL is concerned with, the almighty dollar. Profits before people, right? Capitalism!

If anybody's looking for something to do, you should make your way to the game. Really, really really cheap tickets, FREE PARKING and a good atmosphere The more people at the game the better, it looks good for the program. However I predict a solid whooping from the Ohio Bobcats, on the swift road to a MAC East title. It is what it is. But its at least entertaining football. By the 2nd Half, there might actually be offensive touchdowns scored. I know, what a thought.

Personally I really liked their previous drafts. The Presidential draft last year was hilarious. If you really wanna sit and listen to nuts and bolts football talk about potentially one of the worst offenses in Bills history, have at it. But I'd rather sit back and enjoy entertainment. If you don't like it, switch the channel. It seems like there's an anti WGR post once a month up here. How many posts deep did the "I hate Mike Schopp" post go? 800 something? He must be something right if that many people have an opinion of him.

What's eerily similar, besides everything discussed above, is the offensive line situations in both towns. Guards playing tackle. Tackles playing Guard. It's a huge mess.

Awwwl Caaugght! I guess Gus Johnson is better than Don Criqui and Randy Cross. But if you keep these games in context, that Bills V Jets especially, its gouge your eyes out, mega boring football. When something actually happens, he gets wayyyy excited. Whats super depressing is they dont even assign Johnson/Tasker to Bills games anymore cause we're that boring.

Calling the game last night we were all confused as to the terrible clock management at the half. They had the ball at their 20 with 1:33 left, all their timeouts and all the momentum. A field goal at the half seals the game. I feel like I'm talking about Bills football. What a disgrace.

Whats really sad is there's now 4 pages deep of all valid, lucid and completely reasonable arguments. All of these players and decisions set this franchise back a decade. It can't possibly be just one or two of them. Its the combination, which leads to ridiculous frustration. Take your pick, Pat Williams, Bledsoe, Losman, Edwards, McGahee, et cetera. 2 1st round picks on Losman is just mindblowing. At least Bledsoe, at the time, had credentials. He won games and started in the Superbowl. But good lord, what a huge mistake. People don't credit Donahoe for some of the, yes believe it or not, good moves he made. Aaron Schobel, Lee Evans, Jason Peters, Jabari Greer, Travis Henry, Peerless Price trade (at the time). I dunno, its just frustrating. Donahoe wasn't a bad idea, he was the wrong choice.

The firing of Bill Polian has to be the biggest blunder in modern Buffalo sports history, certainly in my generation. Good job, Ralph. You raised an entire generation of fans that have no idea what its like to have any fun watching football. At least Cleveland admits they're terrible and does something to fix it. Their last 2 wins in the past 2 seasons were AT BUFFALO. Unbelievable. Actually, no, that's entirely believable.

All Day!

At its core, I will truly never understand how a fan born in Buffalo can be a true, honest, live and die baseball fan. Sure, one can admire and respect the game for its attributes. Most sports fans are baseball fans. I just think being a Yankees or Red Sox fan, while also being a Bills and Sabres fan is inherently artificial. If you told me you got as upset over a Yankees loss as a Bills loss you'd be lying. Plain and simple. It's easy to be a Yankees fan or Bosox fan. No worries about relocation, the long term viability of the franchise, or its long term competitiveness. Every year, these teams will field winners, or at least spend like they will. How does a fan of our teams, both hockey and football, have ANYTHING in common with that? Seriously. I appreciate the game. It takes a lot of thinking and patience to really appreciate the nuance of baseball. But at the end of the day, if the Yankees win the World Series, Yankees fans here will be happy for sure. But you can not tell me its the same feeling that "we FINALLY won one" like it would be for a Bills or Sabres championship. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't compare.

Well, that maybe true from a dressing sense. But the bright, vibrant colors of the 1960's stood out for a reason. I'm so glad advertising is finally shedding itself from the 90's-early 2000's super dark, safe color schemes so the "kids" will like them. Thats why the UFL uni's are so god awful. Overthought to look "futuristic and new." When instead they should of gone completely opposite-think football jersey from 1965. 2 colors, stripes, and your number, call it a day. I have 0 artistic or design skills and could of designed 4 much better jerseys in 20 minutes.

http://www.uniwatchblog.com/2009/10/11/survey-says/#results Bears voted the best. And they are sharp no question. The navy blue Bills home jerseys were overwhelmingly voted the worst, 666 votes. Me personally, I'm a huge classic jersey guy. 2 color jersey, number and stripes on the shoulders match the opposite color (colts, browns, bears, packers, etc). Simple, classy, not over-thought. There's been plenty of Bills uni threads, but I figured this is worth a quick read.

Watching that game last night made myself and all of my buddies over super jealous. Why are the Bills completely incapable of throwing a simple curl/slant/crossing pattern over the middle? Its so frustrating. I watch Rodgers fight under extreme Jared Allen duress all night, yet still fought to make plays down the field. That 4th down drop obviously killed that game. This is what the difference is between real football and Bills football. 1 FG! THE WHOLE GAME! 1! 30-23 Final. That's a football score. How are we so incapable of being in a 3rd and makeable scenario-3rd and 7, 3rd and 6, etc, and have the receivers never open. Yet GB and Minny time and again hit their receivers IN STRIDE for the 1st down. Trent simply cannot throw to receivers/RBs/TE on the run. He is inept at slants, crosses or any play designed for YAC. I hate everything.

This is a tough correlation to draw. It would require honest, and thorough statistical analysis to actually conclude that there's any relationship. Furthermore, how do you qualify/code what a "soft" camp is? You don't think that Singletary running a hard bootcamp style training camp could lead to injury? Someone a lot smarter than me would have to tabulate a huge case study. I mean, take all the coaches in the league. Aggregate that by how hard they operate camp. Thats 32 cases controlled. Then you'd have to take ALL the injuries for every team over a course of years. Probably 10 to have enough data. And then you'd have to control the injuries, (fluke accident like Kevin Everett or Brady, or otherwise). Furthermore, you'd have to quantify what defines "fluke" and not fluke. You see where I'm going with this? Basically, my point is that its basically impossible to prove identifiably that a soft camp leads to more injuries versus a harder training camp. Is Jauron soft on his players? Yes. Do they struggle out of the gate usually? Yes, but not always. Has this team suffered as many if not the most injuries in the league during his tenure? That's up for debate. You're telling me Brian Urlacher out for the year isn't a huge issue for the Bears? Or Pennington out again with a shoulder injury doesn't hurt the defending AFC East champs? It's all relative.

I dunno, a Smith would prevent something like this, but what USC or any college athlete would be benching with a Smith? Too much pride. I'm not a jacked dude, I can only put up 185 for 4 or 5 at most right now. But I NEVER bench without a spot. If for some reason my buddy is busy I'll do dumbbell press or something. Maybe, like I said, I'm not as much as a brah as some people, but I don't have a problem asking for a lift on the beginning rep. Make sure the bar is set over your chest before you negative. I mean, this all sounds basic, but who knows what happened there. Having the bar fall on your throat would mean that it was over his throat when he lifted it, which would have to be when he was either racking or starting a set. I don't understand why USC wouldn't be strict on player safety when lifting serious weight. It's in their best interest as a program. Something is a miss here.

Sure, Sully is professional curmudgeon, but I dunno, I think the questions he asked were completely valid. Lee and Terrell are being wasted. We have a career loser head coach, that punts on 4th and 1 with the game on the line. I understand you're angry. We're all angry. But Sullivan is merely a columnist, you don't have to read him. I thought he was spot on today. I just think you're deflecting your anger at the football team to a writer who (unfortunately) has to cover said team.

I agree with the general masses above. Olbermann and Patrick have completely lost their 90's chemistry. They don't even seem attuned to the fact they're on camera. Patrick wears far too much make up too, but thats a ticky-tack criticism on my part. Too many talking heads in one broadcast. Patrick, Olbermann, Costas, Tiki Barber, Collinsworth et cetera. NFL Primetime was the standard bearer, hands down. Whats unfortunate is the complete lack of any posi Bills highlights in any montage Sunday or Monday night. Sure, Bills v Bucs is not a premier matchup, but you can at least show the T.O. TD highlight, would a 4 second big play be too much? Apparently. Of course, we're Bills fans, and judge the broadcast based upon the Buffalo coverage, but to be fair, they did make highlight show material plays, (pick 6, two long td passes) I don't get it.

I like the simple solution to OT rule reform. I'm sure the NFL will roll out town meetings this year across the country,, to get the word out of course, and droves of angry white folks will then revolt against the upcoming rule changes, crying "OT rule changes is SOCIALISM." "IT'S NOT AMUURRICAN" But I digress: While the above idea of simply, no OT and if there's a tie game at the end of the 4th quarter, its tied, really intrigues me, I can't go for such a radical, far-leftist idea. Just do what a bunch of other people have said. Make it at least 2 possession OT, with TD incentives. If the opening drive results in a TD, game over. If the team kicks a field goal, the other team gets the ball with a chance to match or score a TD. If both teams score FG's on their opening possessions, its sudden death from there on, FG, TD or otherwise. Simple enough?

I read the whole article and thought a lot of it was actually very well written and pretty hilarious. Take number 16 for example: 16. Former Giants receiver Plaxico Burress (who accidentally shot himself in the leg while illegally carrying a handgun in public) was given a prison sentence 30 times longer than that of Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth (who killed a pedestrian while driving drunk and high). Not only weird, but perplexing. I think this is entirely true. How in the U.S. Justice System, thats supposed to be tough on drunk drivers-due to constant lobbying from MADD and SADD and others) let a guy that killed somebody drunk in a car out of prison in under 30 days? A valid question. Or how about this one: 12. In April 2008, Marvin Harrison was accused of shooting a man outside Playmakers, a Philly nightclub Harrison owns. The bullets were fired from a Belgian handgun registered to Harrison. Witnesses refused to come forward. The investigation stalled. The man decided to file a civil suit against Harrison. (So did another victim who was struck by a stray bullet.) In July 2009, while sitting in his car, the first accuser was shot seven times and eventually died this week, but not before telling police he believed Harrison hired the gunman. We still don't know who was responsible for either shooting. Just sayin'.

Remember in '05 when the team totally bottomed out? By the 4th quarter all Gus Johnson and Rich Gannon had to talk about was the "Eric Moulds Stat Box." And it was always something like: Rich Gannon: You know, Gus, take a look at Eric Moulds' career numbers. Gus Johnson: Wow, Rich, he's been quite the competitor for a lot of years up here in Buffalo. Rich Gannon: Thats right Gus, you know he's had 17 different offensive coordinators, 5 different head coaches, 24 different receivers coaches, and 6 different starting quarterbacks in his career? Gus Johnson: Wow, Rich, I didn't know that! (despite the fact they'd ran this stat at least 10 games in a row.) Man, I can't wait for the exact same thing with Lee Evans this year.

Week 1 @ New England LOSS 2 Tampa Bay WIN 3 New Orleans LOSS 4 @ Miami LOSS 5 Cleveland WIN 6 @ NY Jets LOSS 7 @ Carolina LOSS 8 Houston WIN 9 BYE 10 @ Tennessee LOSS 11 @ Jacksonville LOSS 12 Miami WIN 13 NY Jets LOSS 14 @ Kansas City WIN 15 New England LOSS 16 @ Atlanta LOSS 17 Indianapolis LOSS 5-11 Baby!

I agree completely. Ticket revenue doesn't account for player salaries. TV revenue does. In fact, the amount of money the league makes in TV revenue each year accounts for all player salaries. Tickets, suites, endorsements, naming rights, all is money that gets piled on top, and the big market teams decidedly can charge more. That much is true. Ultimately, small market teams can win, and do so every year. Pittsburgh loses tens of thousands of jobs and people a year, and they win Stanley Cups and Superbowls. It all starts with good ownership, and talent evaluation. A guy above said it himself. Buffalo was in no better shape 20 years ago than we are now, and we were going to Super Bowls. Why? We had professional front office people that knew how to breed and build talent! Tom Donahoe wasn't a bad idea, it was a bad choice. Sullivan said the same thing on the radio yesterday. You want to curb spending and operate on your own budget? Fine Ralph. Give somebody X dollars to make it work. Don't meddle in the affairs of a team that is clearly lost and giving up on itself 5 days before the season starts. Read DiCesare today, he gets it completely correct. Any fan that fails to see through the propaganda is doing his or herself a disservice. This team is a mess. That said, ticket holders are in as tough a Catch 22 as there is. You like going to games because the atmosphere is fun, the tailgating superb, and getting blasted with your friends is never a dull time. But the product on the field has been nothing but miserable for a decade. Do season ticket holders "enable mediocrity?" Jerry Sullivan thinks so. I disagree with that. We buy tickets, the team has no incentive to change. If we don't, then all we hear about is tv blackouts, economic viability, and the ability to support this team in Buffalo long term. Its a tough spot. Lets just hope to those that go to games, you still can have some fun this year.

Ok? This reminds of the winning rookie contest entry. Sure, T.O. MIGHT get 11 TDs and 1,200 yards receiving. Sure, Trent Edwards might be a winning quarterback. Buffalo might actually recover and pull itself out of 3 generations of wasteful management and suburbanization. I also might get in a car wreck and die on the way home. I might get a job drumming for the Jonas Brothers. All we can do is watch the games, or attend the games (hopefully considerably intoxicated) and hope for the best. Here's some speculation for you, the Bills will be worse than the 2005 or 2003 Bills. This is going to get me flamed all day, but I really don't think we are any better off without Tom Donahoe.