San Jose Bills Fan

Clearly it was a fabrication… regardless of what his teammates say. That's funny.

We're still awaiting the commission's findings on the topic of "Ribgate." Stay tuned. (However early rumors are that his injury was a fitx)

I guess when you're the Regional Sales Rep for "The Wizzinator" you don't even think about those things.

<insert obvious marijuana reference here>

Well as my last post on the topic, we appear to be making different points. Bottom line for me, the Bills injuries at wide receiver hurt the offense last year.

I've been too busy with more important things to make a timely call on this but I did finally call DirecTV this morning. I've never been a super hardcore haggler but I admit to getting better and more determined about it as I get older. You come to the realization that you only make so much money during your lifetime so that being the case, you have to make a conscious effort to maximize your value at every turn and not piss stuff away like I frequently did when I was young. In other words to you young whippersnappers: learn to drive a hard bargain. It'll benefit you and the people you do business with are EXPECTING IT ANYWAYS. Okay. So I called and after the heavily slanted message about the Viacom agreement, the automated prompt said "tell me the reason for your call today" I said "Retention." I did not get Retention. Tip: The moment the person starts speaking with you tell them that you want to speak with retention… unless you like wasting your time by using your sales pitch twice. Once I got to Retention I explained that I was a longtime loyal customer and was annoyed that there was no announcement of the Viacom dispute. I told them that we missed some of our favorite programs (BIG LIE). I did the usual complaint about new customers getting NFL Sunday Ticket and mentioned to them that I paid $179 last year for the NFL Sunday Ticket Max and that I thought it was ridiculous to have to waste everyone's time by calling each year to haggle. Long story short, I got the Sunday Ticket Max for $147 with no additional taxes or fees, and we got a $10 credit for the next two months ($20 total) for the Viacom dispute. Then she (Crystal) noticed that we had older equipment (a 2008 year, HR21 in the bedroom) and said that she could upgrade our equipment for free. She said it wouldn't be brand new but it would be better than what we have and would probably be a refurbished HR24 which I hear are pretty good. So for my 20 minute phone call I got a $152 dollar discount, a $20 credit, and a newer HD DVR. Some of you will do better and some worse but I'm satisfied with what I got.

Well at least you got to see a Lee Evans cameo.

Absolutely. Teams that are perennially good are given the benefit of the doubt. Teams that are perennially bad are not given the benefit of the doubt. I believe that the Bills are a team on the rise and that the Cheating Bastards***** are a team in decline but apparently until that happens, we have no right to express this view. I also strongly agree with you that the Cheating Bastards***** would tank without Brady. As I pointed out upthread, their drafts from 2006 to 2009 resulted in 2 first round busts, 4 second round busts, and 4 3rd round busts. No team in the NFL drafted more poorly than did the Cheating Bastards***** during those years. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/147769-who-did-si-rate-as-having-the-best-2012-offseason/page__view__findpost__p__2508844 This is not the same kind of team which won 11 games without Brady in 2008. I agree if Brady were to go down, it would be catastrophic for them.

And I could accuse you of the same. I was contending that the Bills injuries to the receiving corps were much more damaging than the Bengals injuries. Apparently you disagree. Let me try to put it differently: The Bills had a clear cut number one wide receiver in Steve Johnson. As you know there's a huge debate here (multiple threads) about who is/was/will be the number two receiver for this team… the guy who can help draw coverage away from the number one and the guy who can make defenses pay when too much attention is paid to the number one. The Bills did not have a true, clearcut number two receiver last year, nor did they have a number three, or a number four. The Bills decision to trade Lee Evans on August 12th was followed by Marcus Easley being placed on IR on September 13th, the placement of Roscoe Parrish on IR on September 20th and the placement of Donald Jones on IR on November 22nd. That's four wideouts that they started camp with that they lost before Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving Scott Chandler missed 2 of the final 4 games. The Bills were playing a second-year running back in CJ Spiller and their 3rd string quarterback Brad Smith as wide receivers. In addition the Bills were forced to use special teams ace Ruvell Martin as a wide receiver, as well as undrafted free agent rookie Kamar Aiken and Derek Hagan, who was signed the day the Bills lost Donald Jones. The Bills also lost Naaman Roosevelt who played only 2 of the final 6 games of the season. You think the Bengals suffered similarly with injuries?

I forgot that you try to be "optimistically objective." I won't let on to the others.

FWIW, Chris White was leading the Bills in special teams tackles before he got injured and was finished for the season by week 7. He and Corey McIntyre were basically destroying our opponents on kick coverage. On the downside, he's still recovering from his knee injury and didn't take any reps during minicamp. I haven't heard where he is in his rehab or whether he'll be ready for training camp.

I like Brandon Lloyd but it's also true that he's a 31-year old receiver who has missed 17 games in the last two seasons. It's also true that Matt Light retired and that Logan Mankins had his worst season as a pro in 2011. It's also true that the Patriots are heavily reliant on an aging Brady and Welker and that they lost their best running back in "The Law Firm." This is an offense that could take a step or two backwards. People will call me crazy but I would not trade our roster for theirs. I would not trade our roster for the Jets roster either. I see the Bills trajectory as going steeply up while the Pats******* and the Jets are slowly declining. Wishful thinking? Maybe.

I'm glad for you that you can more or less take it or leave it. Speaking for myself, I have a good, challenging, fulfilling life so I'm not huddled in the corner of some basement obsessing on this site for 24 hours a day. That said, there would be a considerable void in my life if TSW didn't exist. I'd eventually be fine but if I wasn't able to come here to read and write, it would be a huge hole in my routine. Like another poster said, this is the only fan forum I participate in and I personally don't equate reading and writing with watching pornography.

After his selection last year, Bills Scout Shawn Heinlen was effusive in his praise of White: "He's an instinctive player that plays downhill… one thing that sticks out to me is with Chris is that you can actually see him going to the ball as it's snapped… his ability to diagnose plays and fill run lanes is better than anyone I saw this year on tape." http://www.buffalobi...63-21dd7e765af0 I don't. We'll see.

It would be even more awesome if there were LOTS of Bills fans in the New Jersey stadium that day.

My point is that it's important to have continuity in your wide receiver corps and when you have a revolving door at the 3rd and 4th receiver spots (which teams use roughly half the time), that continuity and chemistry evaporates. The QBs and receivers are not familiar with each other and those two spots are rendered practically useless. Fitz was throwing to guys who had been on the practice squad the week before, playing scout team and catching passes from Tyler Thigpen. To equate the loss of Caldwell and Hawkins for 3 games each is nowhere near equivalent to the magnitude of man/games lost that the Bills suffered. The two situations are very different. That is my point.

That is a sweet hat.

That's what I loved about Darryl Talley. He was a really good player but on top of that, he LOVED being a Buffalo Bill. He bled blue, white, and red.

Your analysis is way too superficial here. Teams routinely use 4 receivers in 50% of plays from scrimmage. From the beginning of training camp, the Bills traded away Lee Evans, then lost Marcus Easley, Donald Jones, and Roscoe Parrish to injuries. Roosevelt went down. During the second half of the season they were using a 2nd year running back (Spiller) and their wildcat quarterback (Brad Smith) as their 3rd and 4th receivers. Hagan and Aiken were pressed into service. The wide receiver situation in Buffalo and Cincinnati couldn't have been more different. I'm gonna go with "B"

You're talking about guys that were drafted in the 1990s for God's sake… you're digging into ancient history in attempting to make your point. The Patsies*** drafts have been weak lately… and particularly they are trying to regain their drafting touch since Scott Pioli and Thomas Dimitroff left the organization. It's too early to judge the 2011 draft. The 2010 draft is looking good. But look at the 4 years from 2006 to 2009: Recent highly-drafted busts include 2009 2nd rounders Darius Butler (cut) and Ron Brace (total non-entity), 3rd rounders Brandon Tate (cut) and Tyrone McKenzie (cut), 2008 2nd rounder Terrence Wheatley (cut), 2008 3rd rounder Shawn Crable (cut), 2007 first rounder Brandon Merriweather (cut), 2006 first rounder Laurence Maroney (traded with a 6th rounder for a 4th rounder), 2006 second rounder Chad Jackson (cut), and 2006 3rd rounder Dave Thomas (traded for a 7th). So in those four years, the Cheatriots*** cut or traded for next to nothing two 1st rounders, four 2nd rounders, and four 3rd rounders. Put differently, in four recent drafts, the *******s have cut or traded away for next to nothing 10 of their draft picks from the first 3 rounds. No other NFL team can claim such recent horrendous drafting. They need to string together a few good drafts in a row before they deserve any benefit of the doubt.

I wasn't trying to paint everyone with the same two brushes. I understand that some people only check in every several days/weeks/months. I'm speaking more to some of the people I've seen posting since this thread started…who are here on a daily basis. Apologies to those who might have been offended. eball did a much better job with his post than I did with mine (if in fact he was suggesting the same thing). Actually apologies to everyone. My comments had no place in this thread.

I'm not aware of any connection between John Fina and the Northstar… but as of yet I haven't been to the Northstar. I know Fina is from the midwest and I believe he settled in Arizona. I don't believe he has any connection to SF but I couldn't say for sure.

Yep. It's not super-widely known but San Francisco pizza (North Beach is the traditional Italian section) like Jim says, is ridiculously good. This is the same neighborhood which houses the Bills Backers of San Francisco, The North Star, and many well-known "gentlemen's clubs." Hope you all visit for the October 7th Bills-Niners game. World Class pizza, dancers, and football.

We'll let you know.

It's a series of blogposts with a recurring theme… a conceit.