VJ91

He was not good. I cannot imagine what the Levy-led circle jerks saw in this stiff in the first place. I will give the jerks credit for opening up their wallets and paying him what the market demanded, something they refused to do with Peters. Just our luck they paid the right money to the wrong player, and were forced to eat about 4 or 5 Million against the salary cap. As far as why they could not trade him? Well it appears they refused to accept what teams may have been offering for Dockery and waited too long. When Detroit offered them a late round pick, they were up against the clock for having to pay him a roster bonus, and decided to dump him when the trade failed to go through for whatever reason.

The President of VH1 went to Buff State and loves Buffalo? No kidding? I'm glad you mentioned that. I'll be the first one to remind you that you don't expect any cheap shots about Buffalo when they throw the first one in about 4 minutes into the first episode. After all, the President of VH1 loves ratings in his present life, more then Buff State or Buffalo, and in today's reality TV, nothing gets better ratings then foul language, sex, and mocking anything and everything that is mockable. But of course I hope you're right and I'm wrong on this one. I just don't trust those two women that run Owens' life for him. They seem like perfect reality TV stars and I'm convinced they will dump on everything they think is causing T.O. the least bit of "stress."

Great post. Well said, and you make excellent points saying it. The best point you make is the sad pathetic "state" of NY State politics. But as long as Ralph Wilson is alive and able to function as owner, he is not about to break the lease before the last 3 years are up. However, that said, Ralph will be going on 94 years old when the lease is up, and his health, if he is still with us, should be a huge issue then. So yes, this would be the best season for the Bills to break out and make the playoffs, and maybe even win a playoff game! That way, the DJ go-round can stop, we can take a deep breath and get behind him to take the next steps towards getting back to our 5th SB, perhaps during the last season of the lease. Here's the worst thing that could happen. If DJ turns in a 4th consecutive 7-9-0 season or worse, and gets fired, Ralph Wilson at his age is not about to bring in a Bill Parcells type football man to turn it all around in one season. He should be willing to do just that at his age of course. But living into your 90's does not automatically mean you will change your entire personality. Wilson "put up" with Polian for 7 years because Polian brought in the most talented players and put together the most talented teams in Bills history. Then Wilson tried out Donahoe, and that failed miserably. I think Ralph is under the current philosophy that he will make the final decisions until he can no longer make them. How much time do the Bills have to get back to the playoffs? The Good Lord only knows...literally.

Almost 25 years before this 24 hour non-stop media blitz we have today, with 5 different ESPN channels, the NFL Network and the internet to keep us tuned in to the NFL year round, there was.........Chris Berman and Tom Jackson, doing "Prime Time" every Sunday night.......and everyone and everything else tied for second place. I happened to be experiencing my most rabbid Bills - fan years the same time "Boomer & Tommy" made "Prime Time" the best NFL game highlights show in the history of the NFL. Well you know who else was a rabbid Bills fan his entire adult life? Ralph Wilson. Ralph and I, and every other Bills fan in the world were stunned and "humbled" by the fact that Chris Berman, the very best NFL studio commentator of that day, decided to take on the Buffalo Bills as his totally biased favorite team, as far back as 1987, when the Bills were just beginning to get good. And we have loved it ever since. Bill Polian may have brought that talent into Buffalo, but it was Chris Berman who showcased that talent to the rest of the country talking them up and admitting how much he liked those teams. Chris Berman is still out there, talking up the NFL like none other, and still joining Tommy for the watered down version of "Prime Time" called "The Blitz." But 20 to 25 year ago he was The Man on ESPN, and the Bills were His Team. The '64 and '65 AFL Champions are still the only real Championships the Bills have ever won, and those teams will always be held in the highest regard. They were built like true NFL styled teams of the 60's, and could very well have beaten the NFL Champions of those years if the game had existed back then. (What a game the '64 Bills vs. the '64 Browns would have been - Cookie Gilchrist vs. Jim Brown!) But those 4 straight AFC Championship teams will always be considered the best Bills teams of all time, and Chris Berman played a special role during those special years. No wonder Ralph called on him. I am not the least bit surprised.

...and he should feel pretty damn bad about that, too! Standing up and accepting his fault means Donte Stallworth has morals and humanity. Good for him. But if he is such a hero, why was he drinking, smoking pot and driving? If he wasn't so stuipid and rich, he would have called a limo and had himself taken to wherever the hell he needed to go drunk and high. (And so what if he smoked that pot 27 freakin' days ago, isn't that still illegal? Oh wait, nobody cares about that, and some think it should be legalized anyway. OK, fine. Then isn't smoking pot breaking the collective bargaining agreement of the NFL anti-drug policy?} Yes sir, that Donte Stallworth is someone to look up to, that's for sure. If I were Roger Goodell, and Stallworth pleaded guilty to this crime bargained down to just 30 days in jail, I would wish Mr. Stallworth a successful career as a motivational speaker for inner city youths aross America, because even just one day behind bars would mean never having the privlege to play another game in the NFL .

Your memory of that victory had to be a dream. The Bills went 0 for the 70's against the Miami Dolphins.

Thanks for the google on Shaw. At least he had one stand out season as an NFL QB.

Nothing against Lamonia, Harris, Rutkowksi and Van Pelt. But the question was "who was my favoirte back up", and no other back up quarterback were favorites of mine. I guess I should have wrote: 2) None. I was too young to appreciate what Lamonica did for the Bills, but I remember him being the "mad bomber" later for Oakland. And after him, during my big Bills - fan years, Fergy was the starter for 12 years and then Jimbo for 11 years. With those two starters being as tough and durable as they were, back ups never really meant much to me. But Frank Reich obviously played some huge games during the Bills hey days, similar to what you said about Lamonica during the Bills old AFL Championship days. I don't even remember watching the second AFL Championship on TV, in 1966, when I was 7, and didn't go to my first Bills game until I was 9 in '68, when Lamonica was already in Oakland and Kemp was pretty much finished. I do remember Dennis Shaw having a great rookie season in what....1970 or 71?? What ever happened to him? When Lou Saban came back in '72, Shaw must have been his starting QB. Next thing you know Saban drafted Fergy in '73 and Joe was starting from game one that season. Does anyone know if Shaw went on to play for any other teams during the 70's??

....and get your ears ready to listen to some cheap shots on our fair city of Buffalo. The first "episode" will probably feature the worried home owner who refused to rent to Owens.

1) Frank Reich 2) Who cares?

I was sarcastically responding to the "scores" listed in the survey. I'm a die hard Bills fan that enjoyed my experiences at the real "Rockpile" on Genesee & Best from 1968 thru 1972. And after going to that dump for 5 years, you know I loved the new experience of Rich Stadium and driving out to Orchard Park since then. My season ticket owning years ended when Jimbo retired in '96, so I've only been to a handful of games at the new and improved "Ralph", but I love how it looks with all the extra suites and and premium seating, and of course I enjoyed my experience as always, during those games as well. So I was far from serious with my "summation" of that BS survey! Going to a Buffalo Bills football game is like nothing else, the only thing that comes close is a big time college program against a fierce rival on a Saturday afternoon.

Damn it. I just knew Nelson would not run those routes and pass block as perfectly as the worst coaches in all of sports would force him to do. Don't worry, but the end of training camp he will piss those coaches off so badly by not understanding their 2,000 page playbook, he will be buried on the bench just like Hardy was last season.

But hey, at least we can afford to get bang for our buck while we watch the worst coached team in all of the sports world, coaching one of the worst teams in all of sports, owned by one of the worst owners in all of sports, at one of the worst stadium experiences in all of sports, where we enjoy some of the worst fan relations in all of sports. How cool is that?

Worthless?? Did you even look at the entire 32 team analysis? All 9 SB winners this decade are in the top 13 team rankings! This has to be the most accurate analysis of actual money spent to winning or losing of NFL teams I have ever seen. This is not like those pathetic offensive linemen stats that are so popular today. Now those stats are worthless, as exhibited by the money the Eagles were more then happy to spend on two free agent OT's that had two of the most "sacks allowed" last season. You really think the Eagles care about that stupid stat? But this report has some real teeth. The Bills' lower ranking in this analysis is what "cash to the cap" means, spelled out to all of us Bills fans.

You are right, sir. But now Goodell can take a stand against this loser and ban him for life from playing in the NFL. Very simple concept: if you are sentenced to at least 1 day of jail, you can never play in the National Football League again. And that would include weekends in jail, and / or home confinement. If you have great lawyers and get your crimes plea-bargained down to community service, your situation would be reviewable with Goodell. But if you plead guilty or are found guilty of a crime and serve time for it, good luck with your new career after you get out of the big house. Make jail the final straw. Every NFL player should be able to understand that simple rule.

You are way off. Jason Peters is one of the elite left tackles in the NFL today. The Bills decided not to pay him the money he commanded. No shock there. The Bills won't pay any elite athlete top money in today's NFL. But the Eagles did end up paying him his money, and now he will anchor their line for years, while continuing to make the Pro Bowl regularly. Now these two road graders the Bills drafted look really good, and I'm happy they drafted them. And I know the Bills used the Peters draft pick to draft the first one, Wood. So maybe the trade will work out well for both teams. But I will never back off from my original stance months ago that the Bills should have paid their Pro Bowl left tackle his money, end of story. Time will tell who is right and wrong. Now I am just rooting for Wood and Levitre to have terrific rookie seasons, and for Walker to stay healthy and lose a few pounds so he can do a good job filling in for Peters.

In the words of the immortal Vince Lombardi, "What the hell is goin' on out there.".....in Denver?? They are about to give up on the 17th overall pick in the '07 draft because of their defensive "scheme"?? Fine by me. I just hope the Bills can get him into OBD for a look before another team signs him up!

No actually, playing in the NFL is a privilege. I think I understand part of your point, that every NFL athlete is talented. But once that talent gets them into the NFL, and they make a 53 man roster, and start earning at least the NFL minimum salary of around $200,000.00 per season....that my friend, is a pretty damn big privilege. Not to mention the fact, that they have money to afford the very best lawyers, consultants, agents, money managers and "possees." If after having access to all of that, the very few idiots of the NFL still cannot stay out of jail, they do not deserve to be earning that kind of money any longer. I don't care how talented they are.

Outstanding!

No problem. I guarantee you the Bills will win this season under DJ........7 games. After that, you are on your own looking for things to be more positive about. Each of the past three off seasons I have argued in favor of the Bills being improved, and making the playoffs. I have even bashed the media "experts" who have gone way out on a limb and predicted the Bills to finish....drum roll please.....7-9-0. However, no matter how positive I've been, and even after their 5-1-0 start last season, DJ has figured out how to finish 7-9-0. So maybe the "experts" are right. The odds are certainly in thier favor.

Unless your team won the SB the previous season, you have something to complain about, because your team finished the season with an L. We complained from 88 - 96, when the Bills' only non-playoff season during those 9 years was the the year after their 4th SB loss, when they finished the year with a Dick Jauron. (7-9-0 in 1994.) We didn't have internet blogs during those 9 great off-seasons, (at least not until after the SB years anyway), but we still found ways to complain. We called into radio shows, and wrote letters to the editors. Get rid of Levy, bench Kelly for Reich, get rid of Walt Corey, get a tougher head coach to get these spoiled superstars over the hump and win a damn SB. We went on and on. Now, we would all give anything for a winning season and a 6th place wild card berth. And of course we're still complaining every off season.

And what has Whitner been asked to to in our awesome 11-gap, oops, I mean, 2-gap defense, play some kind of 4th linebacker/strong safety role, or something? Wow, that would make him even more invisible then he has been in my eyes. Have I missed something? Has he led the Bills in tackles these past 3 years? Has he led the Bills defense to being number one against the run these past 3 years? I certainly have not noticed that. I have noticed him being quite average in pass coverage, and in run support. I'll say it again. For being drafted number 8 overall three years ago, Whitner sucks. He sucks a little less then the safety the Raiders drafted just before the Bills took Donte in that same draft, Michael Huff. Huff has been just about as invisible as Whitner his first 3 years also. And oh by the way, I'm sure the Ravens are very happy they have Ed Reed playing their style of defense instead of Donte Whitner, no matter how different (or I should say better) then the Bills defense, it is!

Skooby, what kind of reason is that? You might as well list: The Bills have not won 6 SB's (yet.) Ralph Wilson is nothing if not brutally honest, most of the time. (I think he lies when he talks about what he can and cannot afford when it comes to signing bonuses) That aside, why don't you just accept and believe the man when he says he is the short term, long term and in between term ownership of the franchise until he dies. End of debate. End of discussion. End of story. What are you talking about when you say "Bills unable" to secure a long-term ownership group yet?? They are not trying to "secure" any other type of long-term ownership group (yet). And oh by the way, (yet) is not a realistic word to use either. Here's what the Bills organization is apparently going to do, according to what Ralph Wilson has told us and not backed off of: when he dies, his heirs will sell the team to the highest bidder. So what does (yet) mean, Skooby?

1.) "Cash to the Cap" excuse to make sure they never are in the running for the very best free agents every spring, including their own. 2.) Keeping DJ after 3 straight losing seasons. Three straight identicle 7-9-0 losing seasons. In today's NFL, when teams go from 1-15-0 to 11-5-0 over one off season. Can you imagine how difficult it has to be to put up three exact same below average losing 7-9-0 seasons today? DJ is screaming out to be fired, to go back to being a good DC, and Ralph won't let him go. Amazing. Main reason in my opinion? See number (1) above, losing coaches are less expensive.