Mr. T Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Seems there are a lot of folks who would just rather skip the next football season, because in their minds it's a total wash before it begins. Than, there are a few who would like to pretend nothing wrong, just a tweak here or there. Me, I'm in between. I can't help but be reminded of what the Sabres have done this year with a bunch of young, no bodies. No big name free agents were brought in and fans figured this season was loss before it began. Hmmmmm? Anyway, we still have a potential super star back in Willis. A young, fast group of WRs with Evans on the verge of breaking out. A young QB who many thought would be better than he was last year, but wasn't. Maybe, just maybe terrible play from an offensive line contributed to that. We have made a few moves to mix the OLine up and who knows what will happen. Hell, if they just play average that will be a big improvement. Some think the D has taken a big hit by losing Adams. I say that's bull. And that's all Adams was last year, a big pile of Bull----. The D was coached by the biggest flop ever to wear a set of headphones, ....I already forgot his name. This team is essentially the same team that most of us thought would be a playoff contender last year. The biggest difference is we are minus one very big baffoon of a head coach. He himself probably cost us 5 or 6 games last year. Am I trying to campaign and say look out for the Bills this year. No. But I'm not ready to write them off either. Anything goes on Sunday afternoons, and anything is possible. O ye of little faith! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Seems there are a lot of folks who would just rather skip the next football season, because in their minds it's a total wash before it begins. Than, there are a few who would like to pretend nothing wrong, just a tweak here or there. Me, I'm in between. I can't help but be reminded of what the Sabres have done this year with a bunch of young, no bodies. No big name free agents were brought in and fans figured this season was loss before it began. Hmmmmm? Anyway, we still have a potential super star back in Willis. A young, fast group of WRs with Evans on the verge of breaking out. A young QB who many thought would be better than he was last year, but wasn't. Maybe, just maybe terrible play from an offensive line contributed to that. We have made a few moves to mix the OLine up and who knows what will happen. Hell, if they just play average that will be a big improvement. Some think the D has taken a big hit by losing Adams. I say that's bull. And that's all Adams was last year, a big pile of Bull----. The D was coached by the biggest flop ever to wear a set of headphones, ....I already forgot his name. This team is essentially the same team that most of us thought would be a playoff contender last year. The biggest difference is we are minus one very big baffoon of a head coach. He himself probably cost us 5 or 6 games last year. Am I trying to campaign and say look out for the Bills this year. No. But I'm not ready to write them off either. Anything goes on Sunday afternoons, and anything is possible. O ye of little faith! 642124[/snapback] There is no comparison whatsoever between building a football team and a hockey team. Wish it were so, but it's not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 There is no comparison whatsoever between building a football team and a hockey team. Wish it were so, but it's not. 642205[/snapback] Glad you found another punch bowl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Glad you found another punch bowl! 642207[/snapback] In the words of the great explorer Batholemu Hunt, "It gives a man courage to know what he is up against". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 There is no comparison whatsoever between building a football team and a hockey team. Wish it were so, but it's not. 642205[/snapback] My first reaction to this analogy is the same as yours (I know you are old school,, too). But, I've been rethinking it...a little. There are many similarities between what the money ball baseball guys, the Sabres and the NE Patriots have done. There are many, many differences (the differences in the game dictate some differences)...but many of the basics are the same. This approach doesn't guarantee success...and success can still be had using the traditional approach. But, I believe that philosophy CAN be successful in the NFL (certainly has worked for the Pats). I'm not saying that's what the Bills are doing...I'm still not sure. But I wouldn't take the position it can't be don that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 My first reaction to this analogy is the same as yours (I know you are old school,, too). But, I've been rethinking it...a little. There are many similarities between what the money ball baseball guys, the Sabres and the NE Patriots have done. There are many, many differences (the differences in the game dictate some differences)...but many of the basics are the same. This approach doesn't guarantee success...and success can still be had using the traditional approach. But, I believe that philosophy CAN be successful in the NFL (certainly has worked for the Pats). I'm not saying that's what the Bills are doing...I'm still not sure. But I wouldn't take the position it can't be don that way. 642585[/snapback] Not just money ball baseball guys. But... Except that, exactly... Look where the Sox came from this year to win the WS... NOWHERE. They might not do well this year... But, they plucked one last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeLuca1967 Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 Not just money ball baseball guys. But... Except that, exactly... Look where the Sox came from this year to win the WS... NOWHERE. They might not do well this year... But, they plucked one last year 642592[/snapback] I know it makes everyone feel better to take the small handfull of times that a quick turn around happens and pretend it could happen to the Bills. At some point reality has to step in. The Sox have been building a team for years. They have been around the .500 mark then made the big jump. The Bills are not even at the .500 stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 My first reaction to this analogy is the same as yours (I know you are old school,, too). But, I've been rethinking it...a little. There are many similarities between what the money ball baseball guys, the Sabres and the NE Patriots have done. There are many, many differences (the differences in the game dictate some differences)...but many of the basics are the same. This approach doesn't guarantee success...and success can still be had using the traditional approach. But, I believe that philosophy CAN be successful in the NFL (certainly has worked for the Pats). I'm not saying that's what the Bills are doing...I'm still not sure. But I wouldn't take the position it can't be don that way. 642585[/snapback] I'm not saying you can't build a team around players that fit what you want to do, which is in essence what money ball teams are trying to do. Just that building a football team and a hockey team don't equate. Tim Connolly entered the NHL two years after Eric Moulds entered the NFL. Moulds is considered on borrowed time, Connolly an emerging young player. You don't have the kind of time to be patient with players like the Sabres have been able to do. The NHL is also so much about effort and goal tending, the NFL is about systems and skill. For all the talk about the Patriots team first approach, their emergence actually coincides with having the best QB and the most dominating and versatile DL in the league emerge on their roster in the same season, and having the most creative coaching staff in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrite Gal Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 I'd lose the analogy to hockey in the original post and the later analogy to baseball as the sports are so different that any analogy is tortured enough that it proves no point about who will the football game or build a credible team. However, one other good reason to lose the tortured analogy is that i think the argument and the points it makes about this team not being extraordinarily different from a team one reasonably thought would compete for the playoffs last year is true in an of itself. Particularly because the original post does choose to exist in some fantasy world where it claims its thesis is a dead lock certainty to happen (in fact no thesis, including my own or including some well researched pieces on TSW are anywhere near deadlock certainties. The outcomes of the season can easily rest on how the oddly shaped ball bounces or on whether the refs blow the call of the coin flip so no prediction is certain the NFL. This is why they play the game on Sunday and the outcomes of the game are not determined on paper) the thesis that the Bills may be closer to an appearance in the playoffs that is generally expected is a legitimate idea or thesis. It probably won't happen for us this year, but it conceivably happen if we make a bunch of good moves, if the ball bounces the right way from time to time and most of all if dumb luck smiles upon us a bit. worse to first is possible quickly in this league like never before. Few (virtually no one) predicted that a Jake Delhomme team would almost beat the Niners in the SB the year before last and few folks outside of the left coast had the Seahawks even making the playoff much less the SB last year. While i think it is unlikely the Bills will make the playoffs this year, I am pretty comfortable that we have made changes, laid a base and have major opportunities for improvement yet to go in the draft in April, with June 1st cuts and whether this team becomes a TEAM that it is still too early from my perspective to completely write off this group as a legitimate playoff contender (yet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 ... the points it makes about this team not being extraordinarily different from a team one reasonably thought would compete for the playoffs last year .... 642729[/snapback] Therein lies the problem. Too many people thought we were a playoff team last year. Too many thought JP wouldn't experience rookie-itis. Too many people think it only takes one player to make the team. For those of us, like myself, that knew we weren't going to the playoffs last year; that know we're not going to the playoffs this year; this offseason is little easier. We realize that it takes more than one big name free agent to build a team. So we're willing to take a more "wait and see" approach to Marv and Co. So has this been a great off season.. I'll tell you in November or December. Has this been a bust offseason? Absolutely not. We got rid of MM and co. That in itself is a step forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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