Bills contact NFL about scheduling disadvantage

[NoSaint]

Again... what??

 

 

You people are taking crazy pills. This is the biggest stretch of a point I've ever heard someone try to make on this website, save for old crayonz posts. We play a game in Toronto because it helps us financially. They are still in our market. You can laugh all you want but if the Bills were playing good football, we would have a pretty nice homefield advantage up there. Yet because we play a game up there, you, Homey D Clown, are arguing that that gives the NFL free reign to schedule six games vs. teams coming off extended rest when only one other team has more than three (and they only have four)? What if they scheduled us eight games against teams coming off byes? Nope, sorry, can't say anything- we play a game in Toronto. What if they scheduled us on a Thursday night following a Monday night and the other team was coming off a bye? Nope, Toronto. OK, what if they scheduled us at 1 o'clock at home and then at 4 o'clock in San Diego on the same day? Nope, sorry, Toronto.

 

i dont think they are arguing it gives free reign to the nfl to do whatever they want, but that it makes the complaints ring a bit more hollow.

[metzelaars_lives]

i dont think they are arguing it gives free reign to the nfl to do whatever they want, but that it makes the complaints ring a bit more hollow.

I get what he's trying to say. Kind of. A lot of people on here are probably too young to remember when the Packers played half their games at Lambeau and half their games in Milwaukee when they sucked in the 80's. Those were still considered home games for them. The Toronto game is in our market and, again, would be a home game atmosphere if we gave them any reason whatsoever to be interested.

[8-8 Forever?]

Agree with you completely. The central issue is rest, not location. In addition, Toronto is located within the Buffalo market area so for most US observers of this issue, I'm fairly certain that the perception is that Toronto is a "football suburb" of Buffalo.

Toronto is so not a suburb of Buffalo, football or otherwise it is impossible to list all the ways. That stadium will be a tomb in 3 weeks.

[NoSaint]

 

I get what he's trying to say. Kind of. A lot of people on here are probably too young to remember when the Packers played half their games at Lambeau and half their games in Milwaukee when they sucked in the 80's. Those were still considered home games for them. The Toronto game is in our market and, again, would be a home game atmosphere if we gave them any reason whatsoever to be interested.

 

oh, i understand the practicality of it all and dont disagree. really, at this point, its surprising more of games in buffalo havent gone the same lackluster direction.

[drinkTHEkoolaid]

 

Once the schedule was announced, do we think the nfl was actually changing several games for multiple teams?

 

No. But that would have been the appropriate time. Not when the majority if the season is over, now it sounds like whining after the fact because we are losing.

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

 

When you willingly create a self-inflicted scheduling disadvantage every year, you don't have a lot of room to complain about somebody else doing it to you unwillingly.

 

The word "unwillingly" is to be questioned. A computer doesn't make the schedule. Humans do. A computer would be fair and have the Bills play a monday night game at least once every two years, not once every decade. It would also not disadvantage by having us play more than 3 teams coming off byes/playing the Thursday night game the week before which gives them a 10 day rest.

[NoSaint]

 

 

No. But that would have been the appropriate time. Not when the majority if the season is over, now it sounds like whining after the fact because we are losing.

 

Agreed there, but I'd be curious what the unofficial talks before the season amounted to vs the official now. I can't imagine it's widely different, and as many noted likely geared towards putting it in front of casual fans as a reason believe there's something other than poor play responsible for poor results.

 

 

 

The word "unwillingly" is to be questioned. A computer doesn't make the schedule. Humans do. A computer would be fair and have the Bills play a monday night game at least once every two years, not once every decade. It would also not disadvantage by having us play more than 3 teams coming off byes/playing the Thursday night game the week before which gives them a 10 day rest.

 

The MNF schedule is a totally different discussion than the bye week stuff.

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

 

 

Agreed there, but I'd be curious what the unofficial talks before the season amounted to vs the official now. I can't imagine it's widely different, and as many noted likely geared towards putting it in front of casual fans as a reason believe there's something other than poor play responsible for poor results.

 

 

 

The MNF schedule is a totally different discussion than the bye week stuff.

 

It's all part of the scheduling. What's different about it? Getting hit with a bat in the head and getting hit with a bat in the knee are two different injuries but the weapon being used is the same.

Edited November 14, 2013 by DefenseWinzChampionshipz

[NoSaint]

 

 

It's all part of the scheduling. What's different about it? Getting hit with a bat in the head and getting hit with a bat in the knee are two different injuries but the weapon being used is the same.

 

I may be incorrect but I think espn, much like nbc for Sunday night, gets to pick games for that time slot while the nfl picks byes and Thursdays

 

Additionally, it's long rumored we request not to play Monday night because the crowd has proven unable to handle the excitement of gruden coming to town and being on TV responsibly

Edited November 14, 2013 by NoSaint

[FLFan]

From the article: The subject of the Bills scheduling disadvantage came up over the summer, but the team didn't formally contact the league about it until this week. Bills president Russ Brandon called the schedule 'disappointing.'

 

So why did the Bills wait to bring this up until now?

It would have been too late then anyway. Now is the time, for next year.

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

 

 

I may be incorrect but I think espn, much like nbc for Sunday night, gets to pick games for that time slot while the nfl picks byes and Thursdays

 

Additionally, it's long rumored we request not to play Monday night because the crowd has proven unable to handle the excitement of gruden coming to town and being on TV responsibly

 

Lol. I'm one of the few who likes watching my team in primetime.

 

Also on another note, if we were a winning team I doubt we'd be complaining about scheduling issues which also goes hand and hand.

 

I guess win, and the love will come is in play here. Til then, no love from outsiders.

[Security]

That makes total sense. It is like if you smoked a joint, you can not complain if somebody gives you an overdose of heroin.

 

Funny!!!

[RealityCheck]

It's all part of the scheduling. What's different about it? Getting hit with a bat in the head and getting hit with a bat in the knee are two different injuries but the weapon being used is the same.

The problem with all analogies is that when you make them, you stop talking about the specific details that define a situation and bring in an abstract set of unrelated circumstances that have their own specific flaws. For instance, in your analogy the weapon being used may be the same, but in the eyes of the law, the knee shot will at least be a lower grade assault charge while the head shot is likely to be much heavier charge. Forget about the differences in potential civil cases. See, a poor analogy that gets us off topic. Extra rest and preparation are advantages. The ability of a team to capitalize on said advantage is a different subject entirely. The degree at which teams are getting extra prep time against the Bills is extreme and is something that should be addressed effectively by the league moving forward.

[wnysteel]

Guessing but the two reasons I see for bringing it up now are:

1) Playing the Jets this week, second time they are coming off a long break (bye week last week, Thurs. game the week before the first meeting)

2) In spite of other notes on this board suggesting there is no statistical advantage to the long break, Bills are 1-3 in these games. 2-2 leaves us in the playoff hunt.

 

while i do agree with the main point of this thread, this is not statistically relevant. we are 2-4 in other games

[Security]

Complain less and win more.

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

The problem with all analogies is that when you make them, you stop talking about the specific details that define a situation and bring in an abstract set of unrelated circumstances that have their own specific flaws. For instance, in your analogy the weapon being used may be the same, but in the eyes of the law, the knee shot will at least be a lower grade assault charge while the head shot is likely to be much heavier charge. Forget about the differences in potential civil cases. See, a poor analogy that gets us off topic. Extra rest and preparation are advantages. The ability of a team to capitalize on said advantage is a different subject entirely. The degree at which teams are getting extra prep time against the Bills is extreme and is something that should be addressed effectively by the league moving forward.

 

Who's to say the hit in the knee won't hurt more than the head? You can get shot in the leg and die while people have been shot in the head and survived?

 

It's not off topic to talk about the Bills not getting a MNF game. It's all part of the same problem. Schedule makers. They overlook and at times seem to purposely want to hurt the Bills.

 

All of this is coming from a Bills fans' perspective of course. But if you step away from being a fan and look at the history of our schedule with primetime games and playing teams coming off of byes, it looks like the Bills are being picked on.

 

We're the Jonathan Martin to the Bully Incognito schedule makers...

[dubs]

Buffalo should have addressed this immediately after the schedule came out. Doing it now simply makes us look like a group of babies. What's done is done and the team has to man up.

 

My question would be, what does Brandon hope to accomplish by raising the issue now? It's not like anything can change.

 

I can just picture Goodell (or whoever is unfortunate to have the desk this lands on).

 

"Holy crap, the Bills. I totally forgot about them. Boss, do I have to address this nonsense or can we simply ignore them until they at least finish a season in second place?"

[BillnutinHouston]

 

Toronto is so not a suburb of Buffalo, football or otherwise it is impossible to list all the ways. That stadium will be a tomb in 3 weeks.

I think you missed my point. So let me ask you this. To the average NFL office exec, or to, say, a random fan in Atlanta, which NFL team is Toronto most closely tied to, if not Buffalo?

[NoSaint]

 

 

It's not off topic to talk about the Bills not getting a MNF game. It's all part of the same problem. Schedule makers. They overlook and at times seem to purposely want to hurt the Bills.

 

but again, espn not choosing us for prime time among the assortment of games for that week is a totally different discussion than the nfl putting a team on a bye the week before us. You are mixing time slots within the weekend, with weekly scheduling issues. the espn issue is more akin to cbs having a choice between 1pm and 4pm in that regard, or protecting us from being moved to sunday night. thats nothing to do with nfl schedule makers saying the jets have a week 9 bye.

 

 

"Holy crap, the Bills. I totally forgot about them. Boss, do I have to address this nonsense or can we simply ignore them until they at least finish a season in second place?"

 

which is essentially exactly what probably happened in the first place. i dont think we were actively screwed, as much as simply forgotten.

 

Buffalo should have addressed this immediately after the schedule came out. Doing it now simply makes us look like a group of babies. What's done is done and the team has to man up.

 

 

it did say russ has previously addressed this or spoken about it, that this is simply the first formal filing. sounds like a simple way of keeping the narrative alive all year long and not forgotten by fans or the league office.

[dubs]

but again, espn not choosing us for prime time among the assortment of games for that week is a totally different discussion than the nfl putting a team on a bye the week before us. You are mixing time slots within the weekend, with weekly scheduling issues. the espn issue is more akin to cbs having a choice between 1pm and 4pm in that regard, or protecting us from being moved to sunday night. thats nothing to do with nfl schedule makers saying the jets have a week 9 bye.

 

 

 

which is essentially exactly what probably happened in the first place. i dont think we were actively screwed, as much as simply forgotten.

 

 

 

it did say russ has previously addressed this or spoken about it, that this is simply the first formal filing. sounds like a simple way of keeping the narrative alive all year long and not forgotten by fans or the league office.

 

gotcha. sounds about right!