8-8 Forever?

Fair points. This is the hope for those hoping the team stays at the Ralph forever. Overwhelming costs. But remember NFL franchises for sale by auction (not inside sale) only come around every 25 years (Redskins were the last team to move this way -- 20 years ago)… My sense is that the relocation fee will be negotiated away between the buyer and the league by "splitting" the team between Rogers Centre and the Ralph for several years, with the games slowly being migrated to Toronto as the new stadium is built and the fan base is build in Toronto. The lease payments to Erie County continue, supported by the revenue from 5 or 6 games at the Ralph. This could go on for 2-4 years (remember the real money in the NFL is the TV contract revenue, so where the games are played is not the largest consideration for an owner). At the end of this period, the Toronto stadium is built , the Toronto fan base is built, the Ralph lease termination payment is manageable and probably negotiated away by that point, the Bills fans have accepted the inevitable and if they haven't, the Toronto fans have seen what we think is a pretty good team (by that point) playing playoff games in Toronto and building a background with the fans, as happened in Baltimore as the Browns became the Ravens. Again, I don't like it, no one who watched games in the rock pile likes it, but lets be real. This is a rare type of asset and one is coming to the market at auction for the first time in 20 years. A lot of money will be chasing this thing.

Jerry Jones has no problem with the $1B stadium business model (Cowboys the primary tenant). Nor does the Santa Clara county with $1.3b Levi's stadium where the 49ers are primary tenant. Or Gillette Stadium, or Soldier Field (all $1b+ facilities - football only) Been to Toronto lately? It is rockin' economically. 4th largest city population on the contingent (larger than Chicago or Boston or Dallas). Get your head out of the sand, my friend, you don't like it and I don't like it, but the business model is proven by the fact it has been executed multiple times in metro areas smaller and less economically powerful than Toronto. It is coming. When something costs you $1B to purchase, making a lot of money becomes the motive very quickly. Can we just go back to talking about the team again? This topic is a sad one.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) and CEO Tim Leiweke, that's who. Seems they are interested in building the stadium, since they cannot by NFL rules own the actual team. These are big time players (Air Canada Centre, etc) they know what they are doing. Public money would not be involved in any big way. Toronto is not L.A. JBJ and friends buy the team and rent the stadium from MLSE. Simple. Makes sense. One group takes the risk on the franchise, the other on the venue. This could happen. Those are all lovely sentiments and as someone who grew up in that stadium, I agree. But that is largely irrelevant when someone is paying $1B for an asset. That individual can do what he wants with what he or she bought.

Poloncarz is not a player in any of this. This is big boy business… politicians get eaten for lunch by these guys. If someone is ready to pay $1b for the team and is lined up with someone ready to build and lease to them a $1b stadium, breaking the Ralph lease will be the least of their worries. All kinds of groups have Pegula/Golisano $$ or more, the ties to Buffalo thing is irrelevant as every NFL owner will vote to move it to a real market. It is regrettable, but WNY has no shot at keeping the team if big $$ shows up. We've know this for years..none of this is news.

The chances of the Bills staying in WNY after Ralph passes are nil and none. That's a given, no one is spending a Billion $$ on a team and then running it in WNY. Ralph runs it there because he paid 25 grand for the team.

We are getting healthy and with a win vs Atl, this season is officially "back". Jets the best D they will see for the rest of the season and the o put 27 on em

They are all learning. that is what 1st year NFL coaches and players do. and lose a lot doing it. that is what was signed up for by anyone who wanted it all blown up last year. Here's hoping they are fast learners and they run the table for 9 - 7. It can be done. Pats will have the division locked up in a couple weeks and will not catch the Broncos and Chiefs IMO for playoff bye or home field past round 1, so we may see Ryan Mallett in week 17. We should have the healthiest team we've had all year for the last 5 games, so "here we go"

not enough roster space for two kickers

We will find out a lot in the Jets game b/c Jets will stuff and eliminate the run game right away with 8 in the box and force EJ to throw to 4th string WRs. This could get very ugly or we could learn that the kid can throw it 40 times with some effectiveness. This is the first game I can remember where EJ will simply have to beat the other team by throwing it. should be interesting. as with all Bills games this year, who the heck knows what will happen. team is completely utterly unpredictable.

There it is. Someone said it. "i Miss Chan" . Hackett couldn't carry Chan's OC clipboard. Probably the biggest change from last year to this year is our defense got a lot more interesting and our offense got a lot less interesting.

All this tells me is that we have a rookie QB. Next.

Since we have EJ and a bunch of 4th stringers playing WR this week, Jets will put 8 in the box and crush the run game, so right now everyone needs to shut down talk that "we need to run the ball" B/C the Jets will shut it down and see if EJ + TJ + Hogan + Easley can throw it. Which they cannot, so this will be ugly unless Bills' D really comes to play.

I spent a lot of time in that stadium…. made Bills scrapbooks of newspaper articles in the late sixties… imagine that blackmarbly scrapbooks with newspaper articles and photos taped to the pages.. with commentary… man we were hooked back then… wish I still had them.. precious childhood fan memories… that stuff stays with you a long time..

Toronto is so not a suburb of Buffalo, football or otherwise it is impossible to list all the ways. That stadium will be a tomb in 3 weeks.

What? No check down option? Any get your QB killed by leaving him no option but to throw into coverage or get killed? This is professional football, not some game in the backyard. Dangerous business, multiple coverages in back of 330lb guys literally trying to put your QB in the hospital. These guys have to give him a check down option until he instinctively knows what he is doing. geez. You guys all wanted this thing blown up this year, fire Fitz the exciting gunslinger and Gailey the super imaginative , screen calling, 400 page playbook guy…. you got what you wanted, total restart.. what you guys did not realize is that the buffalo bills would have no choice to get a rookie college coach and a rookie QB, which by definition takes all the "excitement" away as they feel their way into the NFL. Can't have it both ways. You wanted the total reset button pushed, but can't handle the fact that the excitement largely gets taken away for a while ….. it is what it is. Deal with it. Tradeoffs were made. Rebuilding is a b--ch. they'll be better, but I doubt this team makes the playoffs NEXT year..

Gragg's big TD celebration in garbage time told me all I need to know about him. He believes he is a very short timer in the NFL so he went to great lengths to celebrate and save the TD football so he can show his kids someday, etc. His hands are terrible; he makes Chandler look like ProBowl. He'll be cut in the offseason never to be heard from again. Yep, looking like 2nd half of a preseason game from the WR position this week. We shall see. Jets will put 8 in the box and absolutely stuff the run game. We'll see what Hackett and EJ can do through the air this week. Jets will give them no choice but to have rookie EJ throwing it to his 4th and 5th WR. Lets hope the defense comes to play. this game could be 9 - 6.

yep there is a lot of truth to that. if they had stuck with Gailey and/or Fitz a lot less tickets would have been sold. don't underestimate the marketing angle here, they used it with TO and Mario as well. right before season ticket renewal time....

This is an important point. Manuel is their guy. I would be shocked if they picked a QB in the draft. Unfortunately, they decided this year was the year to decide on their "franchise QB" (man i hate that term). The weakest QB draft in recent memory. Tough to be a Bills fan. Well, Ralph will pass sooner rather than later and the whole thing will get blown up again, so what's the difference? These aren't the coaches and players you'll be seeing in a couple years anyway.

Betcha he wouldn't. San Diego Chargers vs Buffalo Bills. Now let me see.............

i cannot imagine the MIami game selling out. Talk about a meaningless game. What a snoozer. In 30 deg temps. There will be a about 14 fans in the stands.

Whatever, they still don't have a quality NFL starting QB yet. Maybe by year end. We shall see.

I doubt much consideration is given to the Bills when it comes to scheduling.

I think you will see some good things the last 6 games . I feel it. Going Saints away, KC on a bye and Steelers away after a big loss in consecutive weeks is tough. It doesn't matter who you play, it matters when you play them. Jets after their bye will be tough, too, but maybe we get Woods and Chandler back and EJ gets coached up more this week and we see a different guy. This is a pretty good team. I like the fronts on both sides of the ball. Just weak at the QB position right now, but we knew that would be the case when they blew up the position and started over again. They will get there. Hopefully, free agency doesn't strip the team on the offseason...

Need to respond to this one. Frankly I am too old to know what a "troll" is, so maybe one of you younger fans can enlighten the old man on that. Whatever the definition, not sure I am one of those. I am just putting out there that the schedule seems to set up for a possible 6 -0 finish. Why not? They will clean up EJs footwork this week as they are facing the same defensive idea this week. It is just coaching and practice, not brain surgery. This is the same team took out Ravens and took out the 5-0 over-last -5 -games -Panthers. is the same team, actually plus a few guys they did not have when they finished/won those games. My only mistake was posting on a Monday when all the crazies are out there jumping from windows. Eball, permission to delete the thread if I accidentally act positive on a Monday again. Heaven forbid.

Jets (home), Falcons (some strange neutral site), Jax (1win), TB (0 wins), Miami (home in the cold), Pats (away with nothing to play for?). thoughts?