FistingBot

Number 39.... YOU'RE FIRED!

That was Jacksonville's #1 offense against our "today is your last game in the NFL, kid" defense. Chan put the 4th stringers out there.

Horrendous call. If that's the way they're going to call deep passes this year, then we need to go deep more on offense.

Pig Pen!

That pass was a scud. I think it landed in Lebanon somewhere.

30 yards worth of horse collar calls this quarter.

Oof. Not much of a tackle attempt by Dwan Edwards on that TD run. Nice play by Garrard.

Ahhhh.... love those 1 play drives! Another TD for the good guys!

Fitz very accurate so far. TD good guys!

Why not go for it on 4th down? It's pre-season... why not?!

This. We were the worst team in the league against opposing tight ends the past couple of years and Poz was a big part of that.

To add to this, I'm pretty sure Luck had about 400 yards of total offense and his team put up 31 points against Oregon last year. To me that certainly isn't "choking."

I watch far more college football than pro and IMHO Luck is the most pro-ready college QB I've ever seen. All of the above plus he has NFL bloodlines (anyone remember QB Oliver Luck from the Houston Oilers in the mid-80's?) and played in Harbaugh's complicated NFL-type system in college. He absolutely decimated a really good Virginia Tech defense with two future NFL corners in the Orange Bowl last year. The only thing that could hurt Luck this year is an injury... that's why I though it strange that he didn't enter the draft last year as a sure-fire Top-5 pick.

Good point. Actually there were only 8 AFL teams when we won championships in 1964 and 1965 (teams had a 25% chance of making the championship game back then).

With all due respect, it seems to me that you've posted a somewhat complex (and not particularly well-worded) question that legitimately has multiple answers.. and then you're blasting those who don't answer as you would like them to... Personally I feel that if the team is going to leave anyway (i.e. it'll almost certainly go up for auction when Ralph dies) and if no effort is legitimately being made to make the team competitive in the meantime, then might as well get it over with and move the team sooner rather than later. I'd be satisfied with lousy teams if I thought the team was going to stay in Buffalo post-Ralph. I don't think anyone here will say they have never derived any enjoyment from the team at some point over the past 50 years (your "never had the Bills at all" statement). But if it is inevitable that the team will leave, then IMHO, might as well pull the plug on the life support system now.

Praise for bad signings... Wilson counting his millions... Hockey season yet?

Yessir! I've actually posted this same thing multiple times on this board over the past couple of years. Ralph's financial moves paint a very clear... grim... picture. The two most telling signs to me are the expiration of the stadium lease agreement in 2012 and the lack of a naming rights deal on the stadium. The team will sell to the highest bidder at auction, regardless of where the bidder wants to move the team. And the buyer inherits the balance sheet of the acquired company at the transaction date. Maximizing profit now and clearing impediments (long-term liabilities) to moving the team will ensure the highest possible sale price (very likely $1 billion or more). The ONLY way the team stays is if the highest bidder wants to keep the team here. Likely with markets like L.A. out there???

I'm generally optimistic about most things, but when I think about the Bills, the "spark"... the sense of hope... is just gone. It's like I'm in Stage 4 of the loss and grief process: denial, anger, bargaining, now just depression. It isn't just that the team seems hopelessly bad yet again after over a decade of futility (while the miserly owner rack up huge profits)... it's that the only viable alternative to the horrible product may well involve the team moving to another market.

Help us Obi-Wan Pegula... you're our only hope!

Br. Smith? Do you mean Bruce Smith?

Yeah, it seems that many Bills fans are still under the delusion that the "football transactions" the team makes (or doesn't make) are actually about football and not about economics. I posted twice in the Evans trade thread that the move was clearly about cost cutting but was drowned out by the standard "Lee wasn't any good" responses. I think you're absolutely correct that the team is being run more as a profit-maximizing business franchise than as a record-maximizing sports team. Very sad for us the long-suffering fans.

My take is that Ralph isn't nearly as loyal to the city or people of Buffalo as many here claim he is. He has always been a shrewd businessman and he understands that there are substantial short-term fixed costs associated with moving to another market. He has a favorable (short-term) arrangement right now given the current lease deal, a yearly windfall from a game in Toronto, etc. For a guy born in October 1918, there is no long-term. ...Personally, I think if he was "loyal" to Buffalo he would have provided a transition plan to assure us that the team stays in Buffalo after his death. As we all know, he most certainly has not done that, which makes me hesitant to support the team financially right now. If I though the team might stay after he dies I'd be at my usual few games per year... but I cannot in good conscience line the pockets of Charles Montgomery Burns only to see my beloved team leave in a few years. That said, I really hope Terry Pegula develops a love for football very soon!

Well, I guess he can't be any worse that Jamarcus Russell! (Note: I bet a lot of teams might have taken a shot at Pryor in the 4th round)

Kind of a troubling thought, but what happens if 'ol Ralph lives until 110?! We all assume he only has a few more years left, but the # of centenarians is on the rise world wide... would he really still try to run the team if he was, like, 105 years old???