THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - On the Eve of the 2025 Season

[Shaw66]

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the Bills for the past year. A different kind of thinking. It used to be that one season would end, and then the focus was on building the team for the next season. My thinking was season to season.

 

This year I’ve been thinking more about the history of the Bills, the bigger picture. What is this team in the bigger story about a franchise and where it’s been. As a result, I’ve been less invested in who the free agents actually were and what they might or might not turn out to be. Same with the drafted players. In my mind, everyone is wait and see until the real games happen. Yes, I know there are reasons to expect one thing or another from each, but I just have been very interested in studying all that.

 

Maybe I’ve been thinking about the big picture because it’s the end of my era. I’ve been a Bills fan since 1960, I went to the first game ever at the stadium in 1973, and I plan to be at the last one, sometime deep into January. It will be my last season with season tickets.

 

I’ve been thinking, for example, about what how big this season is for one of the most memorable runs in Bills history, as memorable in many ways as the Kelly-Smith era. This is a team that has accomplished so much, more than any team that hasn’t won a Super Bowl, for sure. The Bills have been good so great by so many measures.

 

If the Bills actually go on to win the Super Bowl in the 2025-26 season, as so many observers think is a good bet, it would be both a climax of a great story and the beginning of what could be a period of true dominance, a Chiefs-like dominance.

 

On the other hand, if the Bills don’t win the AFC Championship, the season will be remarkable because a good team was once again unable to get it done. A good team like in the Kelly-Smith era.

 

So, how do I feel about the Bills as the season is about to begin? Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I know that over the course of training camp and preseason I didn’t see much of anything that said, “this is a great team.” On the other hand, we saw so little of the starters, it was hard to develop much of an impression.

 

I’m concerned about the secondary, with the Bills down for a while to Benford and several guys who present questions as well as answers. I’m hopeful about the front four, because there seems to be real depth from which a few quality guys should emerge.

 

I expect Josh to take it to yet another level. I have stuck in my head the images in Hardknocks that showed the evolution of Josh’s throwing motion. I think the same kind of improvement has happened, still is happening, in his mindset, his game management, his decision making. I think this is the first season when we’re going to see Josh Allen fully in command, the way fans came to see Peyton, Brady, Rodgers, and Mahomes.

 

Josh and Shakir already have a solid connection, thrower to receiver, and it was clear to me that Josh and Coleman worked hard and had serious success getting together this summer. The others will eat.

 

The offensive line is ready, with some decent depth, and I expect more out of Davis this year, giving the Bills a truly versatile three-man committee at running back.

 

It’s a team that could be good. I’d love it.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

 

The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

[BillsPride12]

Not that I have as long of a tenure as yourself but as another season ticket holder that is giving them up after this season and as we bid farewell to the Ralph I agree this season feels a bit different than usual.  Feels like a little bit of Super Bowl or Bust for those of us giving up our seasons after this season.  The end of an era for sure...there's only one way I'd love to go out on!

[Bad Things]

Let's go Buffalo!!!

[machine gun kelly]

Shaw, as always your Rockpile reviews are legendary, and would be great to retire Rich Stadium as a winner.  Sorry, to me it will always be Rich Stadium.

[HOUSE]

No need for Jabril Peppers, he will just clutter up the room 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

I’m not crying. You are ! 

[27yankees]

Never saw a Bills game there, but saw some epic concerts. Stones/Yes/ the end of the Superfests.

[SoCal Deek]

So you’re saying we have a chance?

 

SWEET! 

[BillsPride12]

29 minutes ago, 27yankees said:

Never saw a Bills game there, but saw some epic concerts. Stones/Yes/ the end of the Superfests.

You still have time...

[SoonerBillsFan]

It sucks long time season ticket holders are priced out.

[stuvian]

I don't know where the sacks or receptions will come from but I am comfortable trusting the process. It feels like we are just a few plays away. 

 

You're a real trooper, Shaw. Would you share with us what led to your decision to discontinue as a season ticket holder?

[Don Otreply]

Shaw66, a good season primer, thanks yet again, always a good read! 
 

GO BILLS!!!

[NC Lifelong Bills fan]

Thank you as ever for your thoughtful musings. I’m wistful, too, for what we were and what we (collectively) might be. It’s with great (but muted) hope that this will be the year. Those of us old timers have lived with high highs and low lows, and I think I like where we are right now. I look forward to your postings here, hopefully most weeks, and Go Bills!

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, stuvian said:

I don't know where the sacks or receptions will come from but I am comfortable trusting the process. It feels like we are just a few plays away. 

 

You're a real trooper, Shaw. Would you share with us what led to your decision to discontinue as a season ticket holder?

Pretty simple. I drive 400 miles, each way, to go to games. I'm 78 years old. Prudence suggests that at some point that travel just isn't a good idea. 

 

On top of that, I moved up to Club seats a few years ago, and I'm spoiled.  Comparable seats in the new stadium come with a $20,000 seat license.  Now, if I thought I'd be going to games for the next ten years or more, I'd probably do it, but there's no way I'm driving to Buffalo ten years from now.  

 

So, it's a combination of age and price. 

[BigAl2526]

I've never been a season ticket holder.  For one thing, my career did not make a season ticket a sensible option.  I was a church pastor for 40 years, serving churches that were too far from the stadium to make a 1 PM kickoff.  Nowadays, my health and my retirement income level combine to render a season ticket a foolish expenditure.  I'm no less interested in the Bills, though.  I am a diehard fan and will be until the administrators here get word that I died. 

[US Egg]

Reading this spikes a sort of Bills melancholy I feel with the advent of the new stadium and a sort of disconnect with it all.
 

But I digress….It is a season to believe, like a kid on Xmas eve.

[Shaw66]

11 minutes ago, US Egg said:

Reading this spikes a sort of Bills melancholy I feel with the advent of the new stadium and a sort of disconnect with it all.
 

But I digress….It is a season to believe, like a kid on Xmas eve.

Bills melancholy is excellent. I do sort of feel that way. I suspect it will pass once I see some real football Sunday night.

[oldmanfan]

I was at the Rockpile for Stratton’s hit, and at the first game at the Rich watching Mul-Key return the first ever kickoff for a TD; took us 4 hours to get in the stadium that day.  We’re going to the Bucs game in November so my younger daughter and son-in-law get to see one game in the stadium before it closes.  I’m praying for snow so they get the full experience.

 

I’ll be 70 this year and I’m thinking about sharing a season with one of my niece’s that live in Buffalo.  But it’s an 8 hour drive for me and I’m not sure how well that would work.  Like every year I am excited about the season starting, I think with Josh and an improved D we have a great shot at winning it all, and of course look forward to Shaw sharing his terrific insights every week!

[Ayjent]

The media hype about who could and should win versus the evolution that occurs during a season is always fun to watch, and it always comes down to the unexpected contributors, injuries, and playing your best when it matters most.  I don’t take too much stock in the hype. I do think the Bills have a good shot but in my mind no one is the favorite.  Opinions will swing wildly like trying to hold a slippery fish during the first few weeks as people try to project how everything plays out based on the early performances relying on irrational connections to past seasons and teams figuring things out. I do have reservations about how the D will hold up in the playoffs, but hope that McD evolves, and to me that is the biggest question - it has to be. It’s been the glaring issue, it’s been the place of heavy investment and it’s time that we see a better showing when it matters.  And I worry that all the investment in the line is lost on the absolute inability for them to be disruptive bc they don’t have the ability to play tight enough coverage providing easy, quick throws and a porous pass defense.  A ton of investment on that side of the ball for years and still major questions.  I love what McD and Beane have done but at the same time this is where they’ve been bumping their heads and it’s very interesting that this is the major question about the team heading into the season.  I think this is also the season where it is likely someone wants to pluck Brady for a HC gig after it. So I do think there is urgency to bring one home. I love that they aren’t saying it out loud while teams like the Ravens feel that they need to - that’s confidence and a mature team that knows this is a marathon.  I think the offense will be better, and it may need to be for the first part of the season as the Defense figures things out. 

[27yankees]

12 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

You still have time...

Lifelong Bills fan from a faraway land.