To those who were around during the last playoff games

[Major Mud]

The last text I sent my son, who is freshman in college, last night was one apologizing for making him a Bills fan. Poor kid was less than two yrs old for music city miracle. Has always loved the Bills (as a non-native) and they have always sucked for him - but he's always been steadfast in his fandom, even through the dreck of the last 16 years. Geez - at least we had OJ and other beloved players to root for even through bad/mediocre teams when I was a kid - he's had to live through periods where the friggin punter was considered the best player.

 

I said last night, in 40+ years of fandom this is by far the earliest and deepest I've ever had the annual despair resignation that we suck again. Literally 5 days into the season! How pathetic to wait for months for the season to begin, and all the renewed hope and energy a new season brings, all to have it dissolve in 5 days?! WTF

 

The difference between bad teams in the old days, as people have mentioned, was there were usually little/no expectations- and some teams were lovable losers because they had some colorful characters and at least played hard or seemed to care. This sh!tshow is too much to take - stupid selfish players doing things to let the team and fans down, no one seeming to be on the same page, no universal semblance of organization, effort or caring. And ridiculous moronic coaching that took a top 5 defense and turned it into an embarrassment. I've never seen a team that looked like it was ready to run for the bus so much 5 days into the season. WTF

I think most of us feel exactly as you do. I don't know how to feel honestly. Do I watch and try to make myself not care? Do I walk away for a little bit? Do I try to become a casual fan? It's hard because you invest yourself into this team, year after year waiting to be rewarded. Only to be left with a broken heart again......sigh.

[pi2000]

This was an 8-8 team last season, their personnel got worse this year.... I'm not sure what everyone expected.

 

GONE: Mario, Karlos, M. Lawson, Bradham, Rambo

 

MIA: Dareus, S. Lawson, Ragland, Watkins

 

...this is at best a 5-11 team.

[Pete]

I had a moment last night, early in the game they showed a young kid in the stands maybe 10-12 years old holding his face and it hit me that I was younger than him back during the super bowl runs.

I feel bad for Bills fans 18 and under- all they know is suffering. We have suffered most of our existance- but the 1979 bills, 1988 bills, 1990-94 were the exceptions to our misery

[Freddie's Dead]

Does anyone remember a season where the fans and media gave up on this team so quickly? I've never seen it like this so early and that includes the 3-13 season. Maybe because that year, we knew we were going to be bad.

 

But seriously, I can't find a single article of hope, optimism, anything.

This is the worst I can remember since the back-to-back 2-14's in 80s. The sails have been taken right out of our wind.

[stevewin]

I feel bad for Bills fans 18 and under- all they know is suffering. We have suffered most of our existance- but the 1979 bills, 1988 bills, 1990-94 were the exceptions to our misery

Don't forget 1973! OJ's run to 2000 was a magical thing to this 7 year old (and all his friends)

[pi2000]

I feel bad for Bills fans 18 and under- all they know is suffering. We have suffered most of our existance- but the 1979 bills, 1988 bills, 1990-94 were the exceptions to our misery

 

Yeah, I thought the 80's were bad. I remember asking my Dad if the Bills were ever going to be good.

 

It's always darkest before the dawn.

[IronyAbounds]

 

Yeah, I thought the 80's were bad. I remember asking my Dad if the Bills were ever going to be good.

 

It's always darkest before the dawn.

Unfortunately, it is mid-December and we are at the Arctic Circle - dawn a long ways a way and the light is very short-lived.

[chaccof]

 

Things were much more grim in the mid-80s than they are now - fans and media gave up on the team before preseason games started.

 

There was no realistic expectation they would finish above .500 and in '85 nobody was shocked when they posted a second consecutive 2-14 record.

 

Rich held 82,000 people and while I don't recall exact numbers, it seemed half full at best. - and half of the people that were there rooted for the visiting team.

 

So yeah, it's been worse IMO.

True Dat...the mid 80's we as grim as they come for Bills fans, even darker than the late 60's/early 70's....

[Best Player Available]

Does anyone remember a season where the fans and media gave up on this team so quickly? I've never seen it like this so early and that includes the 3-13 season. Maybe because that year, we knew we were going to be bad.

But seriously, I can't find a single article of hope, optimism, anything.

The media had already almost stopped talking about the Bills after Sundays laugher. the only reason the Bills got press this week was because of a prime time Thursday game. But even that coverage was all negative in regards to Bills football. Now unless they go on a 6-0 run. They will be a running joke until playoffs begn. By then they will be rightfully forgotten. I thnk they should have cleaned house today and fired Rex & Rob too. this season is done. Get it over with and start a new era. Because sooner or later those clowns are gone.

[Dr. K]

I wrote this last December 15th:

 

My desire to see Rex fired has nothing to do with the 15-year drought. Normally, as you may see from my posts over the years, I am quite a patient fan. I've never been one to say "blow it up" after one bad season.

But with Rex it's different. Hiring him, I suspected from the start, meant already blowing up the successful defense that Schwartz had put together with the talented players Whaley had assembled. I could see from the start that he was not Whaley's guy (though Whaley had to sign onto the choice and make the best of it) which was evident from the peculiar organizational structure with Rex and Whaley reporting separately to the Pegulas instead of Rex serving under the general manager as most other teams do.

I did not care for his personality, his arrogance, his aggressive blockheadedness, his mediocre record with the Jets. The Bills under Marone blew his team to bits in both games last year. All the orgasms that Bills fans had over his hire left me cold.

And Rex proved worse than I feared. I'd thought, well, he has great talent to work with; maybe he can maintain the defense's strength. Nope. He did not put the players into a position to succeed, instead he forced his system onto them even if their talents (like Mario's, and Dareus's, and Bradham's) did not suit the scheme. So now they have to get new players, and Dareus is going to either end up playing mediocre at nose tackle or playing great for some other team.

His game management skills are weak at best. The lack of discipline on the team is appalling. The penalties--despite hotheads like Hughes, these same players did not commit anywhere near as many last season.

It's left me furious at the Pegulas for hiring this clown, and in despair at the thought they will keep him on (and maybe fire Whaley instead). As I say, I have never had this reaction to any other coach the Bills have hired (and I've been a fan since the mid-1960s) with the possible exception of Gregg Williams, another man who was a legend in his own mind.

I don't want to blow up the roster. I want to blow up Sexy Rexy and his freakin' pickup truck and sky diving and teeth whitener so that we can get somebody running this team who has a chance of making it better.

[Best Player Available]

The team has taken on the personality of the head coach, too. Body language is not good right now, it is not a team united for a common purpose.

Even calling it a "team" is a stretch. More like a few skill players getting oversized games checks with little to zero interest in their team succeeding. shady is a great example, And then,a bunch of friggin scrubs drafted by Whaley put on a pedestal by some fans when they are basically barely functioning NFL caliber players. Funny how come Rex never knows Watkins condition? I understand coaches being vague for obvious reasons but he always defers and says " you will have to ask him". If Sammy goes out for multiple games. There is not a single player capable of taking over. That said Sammy hasn't done crap anyways. But I don't think that is on him at all.

 

The culture of constant fail has not changed even slightly going back all the way to Philips. He was the last competent Bills HC untill he got screwed over by the owner. For the most childish of reasons.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Does anyone remember a season where the fans and media gave up on this team so quickly? I've never seen it like this so early and that includes the 3-13 season. Maybe because that year, we knew we were going to be bad.

 

But seriously, I can't find a single article of hope, optimism, anything.

I think the overriding theme is the (incorrectly imo) branded defensive mastermind Rex proclaimed he got everything he wanted when they 'won the off season.' Against opponents it's obvious they are outmatched... then you hear about disorganization and the coaching staff contributing to poor execution with a lack of adjustments, late play calls... Players get stupid penalties, all sorts of off the field issues start cropping up.

 

You can see the franchise moving backward from their 9-7 peak into the cellar and its disappointing that the team is clearly another rebuild/overhaul away from competing

[RevWarRifleman]

I get it. But damn. I'm negative and pessimistic as can be and even I'm taken aback.

It's the 16 years of it, FireRex. The NFL have made it easier for bad teams to get better quicker than what it was in the 90's. Bills fans realize

 

this, but still the Bills stay stuck in mediocracy. Four years of rebuilding would be too long for some people, but 16 years and counting? Too much.

[LabattBlue]

I feel bad for Bills fans 18 and under- all they know is suffering. We have suffered most of our existance- but the 1979 bills, 1988 bills, 1990-94 were the exceptions to our misery

The youngins' have a higher losing %, but being a fan since the late 60's(unfortunately to young to remember the 64 & 65 teams), I have sat through way more years of crap than they have. Despite this, revisionist history tells me I'm supposed to revere Wilson? Never going to happen.

[Marty McFly]

I get it. But damn. I'm negative and pessimistic as can be and even I'm taken aback.

Agree. I think its cuz everyone had high hopes. Those high hopes got bashed when Ragland, Shaq, Glenn, and Watkins turned up injured. Then crushed in week 1, then pissed on in week 2. We expected to be competitive and got a bunch of casual fans on the bandwagon. When they realized we werent that good they sky started falling for their fandom.

[Big Turk]

Does anyone remember a season where the fans and media gave up on this team so quickly? I've never seen it like this so early and that includes the 3-13 season. Maybe because that year, we knew we were going to be bad.

But seriously, I can't find a single article of hope, optimism, anything.

The offense has looked completely out of sync, made a few big plays but other than that not much.

 

The defense played well in spots...mainly one half against Baltimore. They gave up huge yardage totals in the first half last week and huge totals in both halves this week.

 

The D was "bad" last year and they held Fitz in check twice...basically the same offense, sub in Forte for Ivory.

This year they get shredded from start to finish with no answers for it...

[mcjeff215]

I'm 42, and the last real excitement this team gave me, I was still a teenager. When I think about that I'm like,wow!

I haven't posted here in probably a good four years, mostly because life gets in the way. I still read every day.

 

That said? You, sir, have driven me to come out of my cave and post. I had this exact same thought last night, with a five year shift on the age. I'm 37 and the last time they were actually worth much of a damn? I was 16. Slowly post-Polian downhill from then on, never to dig themselves back out. I was 20 when that whole backwards lateral thing went down.

Edited September 16, 2016 by mcjeff215

[Major Mud]

I haven't posted here in probably a good four years, mostly because life gets in the way. I still read every day.

 

That said? You, sir, have driven me to come out of my cave and post. I had this exact same thought last night, with a five year shift on the age. I'm 37 and the last time they were actually worth much of a damn? I was 16. Slowly post-Polian downhill from then on, never to dig themselves back out. I was 20 when that whole backwards lateral thing went down.

 

Bravo for coming out of your cave, I too have been a long time lurker, and seldom poster. However my distain the past week can only be shared with my fellow Bills fans. I live in Florida now, and go every year to Miami for the game. But I am really thinking about not going this year. I feel like if the team don't care, why should I? Sometimes you can only vent to like minded individuals.

[djp14150]

Does anyone remember a season where the fans and media gave up on this team so quickly? I've never seen it like this so early and that includes the 3-13 season. Maybe because that year, we knew we were going to be bad.

 

But seriously, I can't find a single article of hope, optimism, anything.

 

 

What I can remember.....

 

starting from when the bills were worse (when the sucked and drafted bruce)....

 

late 80s you had Levy come in and Buffalo had good draft picks and got kelly to come so 1986-1987 fans were excited because the team was fu to watch and you knew there was talent on the team.

 

1988-1995 --Kelly years and playoffs. There was always a bad game the tam played that brought the negative nannies out of the wood work and then you had the Riech vs Kelly controversey

 

late 1990s the team was still competitive and returned to the playoffs with Flutie. The problem was still finding that young replacement for Kelly.

 

since the playoff droght the team has had some talent but couldnt seem to get everything organized on both sides f the ball. some years the offense was good but the defense sucked, other years it was stong defense but ****ty offense (more often)

 

If Chan Gailey had not ^&*(ed with defense and brought in a good d coordinator who kept the 4-3 in place they could have been alot better.

 

Similarly last year if the team didnt change the defense that was playing.

[BreezeMafia]

2001 was different. We kinda knew what was coming as we entered into serious cap hell after making a run for it in '98 and '99. If only Flutie started the Titans playoff game. Tom Donahoe was hired, had a great reputation and had a pretty solid '01 draft.