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Ralph Wilson optimistic Toronto series will be renewed


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I think what the apologists are forgetting is the fact that this team is not even showing signs of hope. We've lost 7 straight and most of those games were complete blowouts. I can be patient if I see a young team that looks like it just needs time to "gel" and figure out how to win in the NFL. But, this team and coaching staff give us very little reason for optimism, especially in the context of 12 straight years of bad teams. Our young players certainly aren't flashing superstar potential.

 

As for personnel, it's not whether Lynch is better than C.J./Freddie or visa versa. It's that we used picks on positions we already had solid players at instead of on positions of need (offensive line, linebacker, etc.). We traded away or didn't re-sign proven veterans in their prime thereby creating more needs in the process. The fact that players can't wait to get out of Buffalo and that free agents and coaches won't come here (with a few exceptions) speaks volumes for the word around the league about how inept the franchise is.

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I think what the apologists are forgetting is the fact that this team is not even showing signs of hope. We've lost 7 straight and most of those games were complete blowouts. I can be patient if I see a young team that looks like it just needs time to "gel" and figure out how to win in the NFL. But, this team and coaching staff give us very little reason for optimism, especially in the context of 12 straight years of bad teams. Our young players certainly aren't flashing superstar potential.

 

As for personnel, it's not whether Lynch is better than C.J./Freddie or visa versa. It's that we used picks on positions we already had solid players at instead of on positions of need (offensive line, linebacker, etc.). We traded away or didn't re-sign proven veterans in their prime thereby creating more needs in the process. The fact that players can't wait to get out of Buffalo and that free agents and coaches won't come here (with a few exceptions) speaks volumes for the word around the league about how inept the franchise is.

 

 

:thumbsup: Bingo.

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I love your reliable perspective Promo, but I don't think it is Nix and Gailey people are angry about - it's more what Ralph appears to be saying between the lines, so to speak. I heard, "We're keeping Fitz at QB because we just gave him a bunch of money", and, "We're not drafting a QB next year". "We're not going to be changing our spending habits, in the way of F.A.'s; rather, we're going to build slowly - so a 4 year rebuild isn't out of the question..."

What really gets me is this commitment to Fitz - It'll be the last straw for me if they allow themselves to go into next season without a viable option beside Fitz on the roster, and since we know he isn't a Franchise QB, and this draft coming up has the potential to have a few - it looks like now or another 3-5 years before we have a chance at a Franchise QB. That's what is killing me. And no mention of Defense?

 

And 3 years is enough for any GM/Coach to put together a playoff team.

Regarding your statement I bolded, I think it's worse than that. My biggest issue is that the plan is a 4-5 year rebuild, and that's assuming everything goes according to plan. It's already been 2 years, and Ralph is saying that it'll take several more years? That's the best-case scenario? That's pretty insulting.

 

He asked for patience, what more can he ask for? its not like they can do anything about it now with the trade deadline passed and FA not starting again until March. They can't start drafting players until the draft.

This is pretty disingenuous. Obviously there's nothing the Bills can do until the offseason (unless you believe some of the posters here who think that a mid-season firing of George Edwards will somehow help things), but Ralph is specifically preaching patience for several years, not months. I think if the context of his call for patience was something like, "Please be patient, we can't start fixing our problems until the offseason, but we'll do everything we can as soon as we can," then the fans would be pretty excited about that. Instead it's more like, "Please be patient, because we're not going to be good next year either." There is a massive difference between those two requests.

 

Great teams aren't built overnight, unlike what some want to think. Teams like Detroit, and San Fran have gone through many regimes and years of drafting near the top to get to where they are this season. NE was a struggling franchise until Bledsoe and then lucking into finding Brady. Indy was another struggling franchise until they drafted Manning. New Orleans and Tampa spent many years as a league doormat until they found recent success.

I'm not sure of your point. The Bills have also gone through many regimes and years of drafting near the top. And this regime is the worst of the last 4, based on record. Are we as fans supposed to be cool with that? Are we supposed to count Matt Millen's terrible high picks for Detroit, but not count Marv/Brandon/Jauron's terrible high picks for us? Does the rebuilding clock keep running for Detroit and San Fran, but reset every time the Bills hire a new coach or GM? I don't get it. Even if you do reset the clock for the Bills, we're still nearing the end of year 2. That's 2 offseasons and 2 regular seasons. Asking for a playoff-contending team in year 3 is hardly the same as thinking great teams are built overnight.

 

For me, being a Bills fan used to be about the team, but now it's morphing into being about the community of fans. I love Bills fans and Western New Yorkers in general, and tailgating together or gathering in bars to watch the games on TV gives us a shared experience and something to bond over -- makes us a community. But I can't really say I love the Bills anymore, because the Bills do so little to return that love. It's been so long since they've been good, a return to prominence doesn't look likely anytime soon, and it looks to me like any future success will be largely luck-based and unsustainable. I would like very much to be proven wrong -- seeing the Bills lose still hurts very much -- but I won't believe it until I see it.

 

Evans -> Johnson?

 

Are those replacements not considered by fans to be better then the players they replaced?

I don't want to get into a larger discussion about the other guys (I agree with a lot of what you have to say, FYI), but this one is way off base. Evans and Johnson don't play the same position, and Johnson was never a replacement for Evans. Evans played split end or "X" receiver, Johnson plays flanker or "Z" receiver. They both started at the same time and played together full-time in 2010. Evans' replacement was Donald Jones.

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You know I am not a big conspiracy guy but this is starting to play out like that movie except instead of winning the pennant the bills will be stuck in the basement of their division. Get the fan base so disgusted with the team that when they do move it will not be such a bad blow to the community. FU Wilson you greedy old bastard.

 

So your theory is that Ralph is intentionally letting this team be sub-par in order to prepare the community for the Bills to leave after Ralph dies? I've heard it all now...

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those of you defending ralph remind me of a woman whose husband keeps beating her and shes dumb enough to keep running back

 

I take it you won't be buying any more tickets then. But if you don't want to be confused with that battered wife, you need to go all the way and get out of the relationship entirely. If it galls you to think that RW is raking in the money while giving the bird to the fans, then you need to stop supporting him.

 

Entirely.

 

As in no more watching on TV or listening on the radio. No more streaming on the internet. Of ANY game or ANY team. RW gets most of his money from shared broadcast revenues as you know, so all these mediums serve to pay him a ton whether you buy a ticket or not.

 

Oh, and MOST importantly, you can't buy ANY product advertised by ANY company in ANY medium because, let's face it, that's what drives the broadcast dollars.

 

When you're willing to do all that, then and ONLY then, can you say you refuse to support RW and his product. Until you do that, you're just that battered women going back for more of the same.

 

GO BILLS!!!

Edited by K-9
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I take it you won't be buying any more tickets then. But if you don't want to be confused with that battered wife, you need to go all the way and get out of the relationship entirely. If it galls you to think that RW is raking in the money while giving the bird to the fans, then you need to stop supporting him.

 

Entirely.

 

As in no more watching on TV or listening on the radio. No more streaming on the internet. Of ANY game or ANY team. RW gets most of his money from shared broadcast revenues as you know, so all these mediums serve to pay him a ton whether you buy a ticket or not.

 

Oh, and MOST importantly, you can't buy ANY product advertised by ANY company in ANY medium because, let's face it, that's what drives the broadcast dollars.

 

When you're willing to do all that, then and ONLY then, can you say you refuse to support RW and his product. Until you do that, you're just that battered women going back for more of the same.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

I think you're misunderstanding what he's saying...And I think his analogy is a bit off...

 

Obviously the battered woman should leave the abusive husband...But none of us are leaving the Bills...If we were leaving, we would have done so a long, long time ago...But I think he was more or less referring to the idiotic defending of Ralph and this Organization as a whole that goes on around here...It's one thing to say "I'm a Fan and I'm going to support this Team no matter how dysfunctional they are." It's quite another to defend the dysfunction and try to make excuses for continuous results that drop far lower than mediocrity... B-)

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The Buffalo Bills Franchise does not represent the City they represent. They represent and mirror the owner of the team. Old, worn out and tired.

 

 

Hmmm. One can say that Buffalo as a city is indeed old, worn out and tired. That is a very accurate view of how Buffalo is thought of today. Since I love the city of Buffalo so I won't go there but please face the fact that Buffalo peaked a long time ago and has been in serious decline for 50 years.

 

I will agree that this Bills team does not represent the people of this fine city. This Bills team is not big enough, not strong enough, not tough enough, and not resilent enough to accurately represent the city or its people.

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I think you're misunderstanding what he's saying...And I think his analogy is a bit off...

 

Obviously the battered woman should leave the abusive husband...But none of us are leaving the Bills...If we were leaving, we would have done so a long, long time ago...But I think he was more or less referring to the idiotic defending of Ralph and this Organization as a whole that goes on around here...It's one thing to say "I'm a Fan and I'm going to support this Team no matter how dysfunctional they are." It's quite another to defend the dysfunction and try to make excuses for continuous results that drop far lower than mediocrity... B-)

 

How many posts have we read over the years by passionate fans that are fed up and have stated their intention of not giving RW one more hard-earned penny until he changes the way he does things?

 

Countless.

 

I don't blame anyone for being angry, nor do I blame anyone who passionately defends him. It's all part of the experience and I respect that.

 

All I'm saying is that if anyone is serious about boycotting RW and his product and are steadfast in not wanting to further support him financially in the hopes of effecting a change, then they have to be all in. Not buying tickets is a mere drop in the bucket. I know it's hard to appreciate but RW gets a percentage of every Budweiser bought, etc.

 

GO BILLS!!!

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