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Out Of Divison Rivals


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3 hours ago, The Real Buffalo Joe said:

Outside of the obvious ones in our division, what other teams would you consider to be rivals?

 

For me personally:

 

  • Jacksonville. Marrone, Dareus, Ramsey talking crap about Allen and of course knocking us out of the playoffs. I'm sure the fistfight that happened this year will only strengthen that.
  • Tennessee. Music City Travesty. The whole Bud Adams middle finger deal. Some might say the comeback, but I pin things like that on Houston, even though they're technically a different team.

Not sure I'd consider Dallas a rivalry anymore. Yeah, they beat us in two Super Bowls. But it's not like they "stole it" from us. But neither team has done anything special in years. With all the former players/coaches/FO staff, I can see a friendly rivalry budding with Carolina. There's also a friendly one with Cleveland. The whole small, cold city, loyal, blue collar fanbase, but mostly lousy teams the past few years. 

 

....for 17 years, it was OURSELVES......so now we're embarking, hopefully on a new frontier..............

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49 minutes ago, 416BillsFan said:

Agree with the consensus. I think the Jags are our #1 rival currently, no division qualifiers. I'm hoping Cleveland is our main rival over the next few years, would love Allen & Mayfield to dominate the AFC after years of suffering from the fanbases.

Calling the Jaguars a rival is an insult to the term "rival."

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8 minutes ago, The Real Buffalo Joe said:

The Patriots* rivalry never took off, because it seems like we've been on a see-saw since the AFL days. When we're good, they suck, and vice-versa. 

The Patriots have had only 8 losing seasons in the past 43 years, going back to 1976. The Bills have had 24. They were opposites in the 1989-1993 era, but otherwise the Pats have been a markedly more successful organization, at least since the beginning of the final quarter of the last century. 

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4 minutes ago, The Real Buffalo Joe said:

This is the most depressingly true statement in this thread.

 

....not sure what else to say my friend.....certainly a painful statement on my part.....BUT, I am looking ahead as cautiously optimistic to 2019 which will be year 57 of following this club.....ALL I want is just ONE Lombardi before I head down to "Hell's Kitchen"......reception sucks, LCD's melt and Verizon ain't put up a tower there yet so I would never know..:thumbsup:

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Don't forget that Jacksonville also beat us in the 1996 playoffs. It was Jim Kelly's final game ever and our only playoff loss at Rich Stadium. Personally speaking, the Jags are currently my most hated rival outside the Pats, Dolphins, and Jets (in that order). But the problem with the word "rival" is that it kind of implies both sides have a mutual dislike, and I don't think the Jags organization or fanbase even thinks about us much other than Marrone and Dareus.

 

Historically speaking, the Chargers were our biggest out-of-division rival throughout the pre-Levy eras. The Titans were our biggest out-of-division rival during the Levy and Phillips eras. We haven't really had one during the 21st century and won't until we start making the playoffs consistently. Out-of-division rivalries are built mainly though playoff competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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if I were to pick a team, it has to be the Chiefs.  outside of the division, we play them almost every year.  And each year we play them, on paper, it looks like we should always lose to them because they've been a better team.  But, somehow, it winds up being one of our best games each season we play them. 

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I really don't see us as having any rivalries these days.  It's a function of a variety of things.


First, player movement is such that teams don't stay together so it's tough to develop bad blood over a period of time among a specific group of players.

 

Second, we have been pretty irrelevant for a long time, which means the game or losses just aren't that important, so it's harder to build a hatred for a rival.

 

Third, the nature of the game has changed over the years and the players don't really see each other as competitors, but more like work colleagues, even the ones on other teams.

 

If I had to come up with one rivalry, I guess I would go with NE, simply b/c they have owned us for so long now.  I will guarantee they don't see Bills/Patriots as a rivalry, however, which means its not really a rivalry.

 

 

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54 minutes ago, Circlethewagon8404 said:

if I were to pick a team, it has to be the Chiefs.  outside of the division, we play them almost every year.  And each year we play them, on paper, it looks like we should always lose to them because they've been a better team.  But, somehow, it winds up being one of our best games each season we play them. 

 

I thought about that. We did play them almost every year for a good 6-7 years. That's because they were finishing in the same rank in their division as we were. You face similarly ranked teams for a few games in the schedule each year.

 

That's not going to be the case anymore with them as a serious contender. Hopefully the Bills can get their act together and become a contender too.

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4 hours ago, LSHMEAB said:

The Bills are going to have to start winning games in order to have a true rival. 

 

 

Arizona, Cleveland, Baltimore, and NYJ.  Josh Allen must prove to be the best of the QBs.  Id put KC there but I really like the Chiefs.  Andy Reid is a good man and a great coach.

3 hours ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

....not sure what else to say my friend.....certainly a painful statement on my part.....BUT, I am looking ahead as cautiously optimistic to 2019 which will be year 57 of following this club.....ALL I want is just ONE Lombardi before I head down to "Hell's Kitchen"......reception sucks, LCD's melt and Verizon ain't put up a tower there yet so I would never know..:thumbsup:

We may do it with Allen. I was afraid we would take  Rosen and by the time we one a Championship it would be called "The Belichick Trophy". 

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16 minutes ago, formerlyofCtown said:

Arizona, Cleveland, Baltimore, and NYJ.  Josh Allen must prove to be the best of the QBs.  Id put KC there but I really like the Chiefs.  Andy Reid is a good man and a great coach.

We may do it with Allen. I was afraid we would take  Rosen and by the time we one a Championship it would be called "The Belichick Trophy". 

I tend to look at rivalries in terms of the entire team. Josh Allen is the Quarterback of the team for now and the foreseeable future, but I'm not basing rivalries off one guy who may or may not be the long term answer. We all certainly hope he is, but there is no rivalry as of now. We have to win something to earn a rival.

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