hondo in seattle

I think it was a qualified success. I'm guessing Toronto series did help earn us a few more Canadian fans. Combined with training camp at SJF, I think Brandon has been somewhat successful in selling the Bills as a regional team, not a Buffalo-only team. And I also think the Toronto games proved the Bills are much more viable in Buffalo than in Toronto despite the difference in population. I'm glad, though, the experiment is over. The players clearly prefer playing in front of a rowdy home crowd at O.P. As a Buffalo ex-pat, I watch most games on TV and it's exciting watching Bills home games. The moribund Toronto games were uncomfortable to watch.

I remember when the Browns of the Century Division had a rivalry with the Cowboys of the Capitol Division. Then, with realignment, the Browns developed their rivalry with the Steelers which made more sense and was far more bitter. All cool stuff. And I used to think the Bills-Dolphins rivalry was pretty meaningful. I was at the January 1993 playoff game in Miami when the rivalry still mattered and the fine folks of Miami harassed us Bills fans relentlessly before, during, and after the game. Great fun. But the Bills have been irrelevant so long that our rivalries have become irrelevant. In Buffalo, New York and Miami we all just want to see the end of Patriot dominance.

When I read the original post, I was dumbfounded. But some of the subsequent posts have transformed my puzzlement to laughter. Thanks, team.

Is there no middle ground in this debate? Yes, Goodwin probably trained harder this offseason than most Buffalo Bills players. His results are great speed, explosive leaps, low body fat, etc. These will benefit the Bills. No, Goodwin's didn't design his training to maximize his NFL readiness. He probably now needs to work more on upper body strength/bulk, some flexibility, and other things that will help him be more durable. He also needs to start practicing more route running. It was an interesting decision by Goodwin. He went after his dream of medalling in the Olympics by risking his on-the-bubble NFL career.

The Packers represent all of Wisconsin. The Chiefs represent all of Kansas. The Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is nearly double the size of Buffalo's. I'm not sure comparing Buffalo to these other markets is a fair comparison. But I agree with Ganesh's main point. If the Bills moved to Sacramento or Austin or one of the other bigger MSAs, would the NFL really benefit? Would the attendance be as good? TV viewership? Merchandise sales? And how much would a move damage the 'good will' of the NFL?

If small markets are not viable, what do you do? Cut the NFL to 24 teams? There are 53 metro statistical areas in the US with populations over 1 million. Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls is (barely) one of them. Most of the top 30 MSAs have teams within their MSA or nearby. If you moved the Bills, where would you move them to? Would that really make the NFL better? More profitable? Given it's history, traditions, and the loyalty of its fan base, I have to say the NFL is stronger with the Buffalo Bills than without them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

Fortunately, he's not scapegoating... He says playing football has helped him in the long jump. "It's toughness," Goodwin said. "Strain a hamstring going in, you just have to push through it. You can't make excuses. You can't go out there and say, 'I have a hurt hammy or I got a broken hand.' When you're on the field, you just have to go out there and compete. You give it your all. If you win, you win; if you lose, you lose -- you take your L's like you take your W's. "At the end of the day, you have to remember -- this is fun. You can't take the fun out of it." If Goodwin qualifies for the Olympics, he says winning a medal in Rio would complete a dream he has had since he was 9 years old. "It would be No. 1, being that I've never won an Olympic medal," he said. "I've accomplished a lot, but an Olympic medal is something I've always dreamed of. The Super Bowl, as well. If I could get two of those, I could probably die right after. God forbid that happened, but I could." http://espn.go.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/16714136/olympic-track-trials-2016-marquise-goodwin-reaches-long-jump-finals

Born and raised in Cheektowaga. Oddly, I was as much as Browns fan growing up as a Bills fan. But my enthusiasm for the Bills grew when I moved away for college (it was a way to stay connected). My enthusiasm for the Browns declined when they moved away for money.

No tats. Not a tat guy. But here in Seahawk country, I have a Bills case for both my iPhones, Bills stickers on both my cars, a Bills entry mat at my front door, and a nice Bills wallet. Oh, and Bills blankets in my living room. I'm probably going to add that hilarious 'Buffalo Bills - Stanley Cup Champions' flag to my garage. My wife and step-kids are from the Philippines. My biological daughter was born - and grew up - in California. But I've decked them all out in Bills paraphernalia to take them to games or Bills-Backer sports bars.

I was in Desert Storm during this Super Bowl. I couldn't watch it then and haven't watched it since. Not into self-flagellation.

Marchibroda certainly had talent to work with but we still have to give him a lot of credit for transforming an anemic offense into a powerhouse. It took a lot of balls to implement the K-Gun full time and give away play-calling to the QB. Some interesting comments from Eric Schweitz back in 1997... "In retrospect, it seems hardly a coincidence that while the Colts under Marchibroda were slowly and steadily improving as an offensive team, the Bills, in his absence, were slowly on the decline. The last year Marchibroda was with the Bills, Jim Kelly threw for 33 touchdowns. The next four years, Kelly would hover around 20 touchdowns and bottom out his last season with a meager 14 touchdowns. Meanwhile, under Marchibroda's tutelage, Jim Harbaugh and Vinny Testaverde, two quarterbacks who had each nearly been drummed out of the NFL altogether at times, would have brilliant campaigns in 95 and 96... Along with Kelly's almost naked drop in production after Marchibroda's departure, one can see a dramatic drop statistically in Thurman Thomas's rushing production. Thurman averaged almost 5 yards per carry in Marchibroda's last year and the first year afterward. Since 92 however, Thomas's numbers have dropped to the 3.7 to 3.8 yards per carry range. Could all these factors be linked in some way? The answer is very definitely in the affirmative. Without Marchibroda, the Bills were left with a creative and innovative void in their offense. While he had put in place a system that would continue to succeed in the short term, in hindsight it becomes obvious that those entrusted to pick up where Ted left off did not do so. " I think the paradigm nowadays is that any OC could have succeeded with Kelly, Thurman, Reed and Lofton - and Marchibroda was merely a replaceable, unimportant cog in the machine. I'm not convinced Ted was our greatest OC but I do think he's under-appreciated.

Just thinking outloud... Bruce DeHaven isn't a close second as ST Coordinator? Ted Marchibroda maybe for OC. Wade Phillips maybe for DC.

A QB so bad he was waived by the BROWNS in July is only barely newsworthy.

I really bought into the hype (2x All American, Orange Bowl MVP, SI cover, #1 overall pick) and expected him to be a Bills stud for years. He never made the Pro Bowl playing for the Browns or 49ers. Though - with the Kelly pick - drafting Cousineau worked out for us in the end. Given more time??? Collins played in the NFL for 16 years and never became a good starter! Actually, I know what you mean. He was supposed to learn from Kelly on the sidelines for a couple years but was forced into service while still a rookie. That was 1995 when we all still had a ton of faith in our personnel department. A lot of us expected Todd to do well mostly because we drafted well back then. Now when we/if we draft a QB, we expect him to fail because we've lost our faith.

Now that would be a surprise! That was actually the idea - to think about something more positive than Rex's flaws and mistakes.

A childhood friend of mine from Cheektowaga is now a high level planner at CENTCOM. Oddly, he's been both a Raiders and Bills fan since he was maybe 8 years and is still disgusted that the Bills traded away Lamonica.. He took me to Charley's a couple years ago when I was in Orlando for a conference. Good place.

The Bleacher Report recently did a piece projecting a surprise starter for each NFL club. For the Bills, they predicted Glen Gronkowski. Especially if you consider nickel backs and #3 WRs as quasi starters (after all, both these positions play more than fullbacks), I think there are many other possibilities. Who would you pick? Here's an excerpt of B/R's write-up on Gronk: "Gronkowski's versatility will be his calling card," Bleacher Report NFL Draft Lead Writer Matt Miller wrote of Gronkowski before the draft. "He can line up at multiple positions and play on special teams. Coaches asked him to carry the ball at Kansas State, and he has some value in short-yardage and goal-line situations." Gronkowski may also be able to provide an upgrade over Felton, rated just 34th overall among 36 fullbacks by Pro Football Focus last season. With Felton due to earn $1.55 million in base salary this year, Gronkowski will definitely be cheaper. http://xxxxxxxxxxxx.com/articles/2648647-predicting-every-nfl-teams-most-surprising-starter-ahead-of-training-camps/page/5

Yep. Rex effed up last year. It doesn't mean he'll eff up again this year. He has had some very good seasons in his resume - let's hope he repeats his successes in '16, not his failures. On the positive side, Rex probably has the best OC and QB he's ever had in his run as a HC. I'm not convinced Rex is the HC to return us to the playoffs. But no one on this board will convince me he's not. To me the proof is in the pudding: I want to see what he can do going forward.

Many, many years ago, I used to buy into pretty much all the hype. A few years ago, I was buying into maybe 50%. I'm down to maybe 10% now. Time teaches hard lessons.

Ah, the memories.

Erik, very nice work! When you see a play like this live, it can look like an easy TD. The planning and meticulous film study that went into the play isn't immediately obvious. As an aside, we didn't have the best OL in the NFL last year but we did lead the league in rushing because Roman is a good OC.

Well, this is the unpopular opinion thread. And I'm not intending to demean Thurman who deserves to be the HOF. But when Fred was in his prime (a short-lived prime, to be sure) and healthy (not often enough), I was in awe of his ability to consistently make something out of nothing. I think both Eric Moulds and Fred Jackson tend to be underrated because (#1) they played on losing teams, (#2) and their statistics didn't fully reflect their ability largely because of #1.

This is great history. Despite being a soldier, I am not a violent man. But that day I really wanted to beat him to bloody pulp to release all my frustrations and disappointments. He was a good soldier & man and spent the next three days apologizing to me. And my response evolved from "How could you make such a monumental effing mistake like that?!?!?!" to "No worries. It wasn't your fault."

First Super Bowl... I was an army lieutenant serving in Desert Storm somewhere in the middle of the Arabian Desert. I had no access to TV or radio broadcasts of the game and the game was going to be played in the middle of the night, local time. So I went to sleep on my cot as usual but told the young Specialist on radio watch to wake me up if he heard a Super Bowl score. At maybe 3am he did. "The Bills won!" he yelled excitedly. "Really?" I said anxiously. "Yeah! At least I think so. I picked up something from the BBC but there was a lot of static. It sounded like Buffalo won on a last minute field goal." So I spent the next few hours thoroughly scouring the radio waves looking for news from the BBC or VOA, hoping for confirmation. When I learned the truth after all my frantic, hopeful radio searching, I was crushed.

Pretty ingenuous, PTR. I may mimic this.