hondo in seattle

Classic.

Great point! I kind of agree and kind of don't. I prefer little ethnic restaurants to fancy steakhouses. But some steakhouses - like Tom Colicchio's Heritage Steak in Vegas - are special.

Someone told me she once saw Fred at El Gaucho in Seattle (actually the one in Bellevue). That might be one of the nice steakhouse Fred's referring to. The most expensive steak there is $129. They have other steaks for $50-75 but those don't include sides. Real estate and labor rates are cheaper in Buffalo so the prices for a comparable meal in Buffalo should be less. Overpriced? I'm not convinced. A really good steak tastes like heaven.

For the sake of these guys, I hope you're right. I'm in the restaurant business and would worry about opening a high end steakhouse in a smaller, blue collar city that already has one. How many people in Buffalo want to buy $50 to $100 steaks and how often? I do like though that their concept sounds different than Buffalo Chophouse.

I had an order of wings with Death Sauce during my last trip to Buffalo and was disappointed. I've eaten wings around the US and internationally. Buffalo, home of Buffalo Wings, should be the home of superlative wings. The best and hottest wings should be in Buffalo. 7 Alarm wings at the Wing Dome here in Seattle are much hotter. Hell, the wings I make at home are hotter. Maybe I should offer them my recipe.

I know Buffalo already has the Buffalo Chophouse. Does it really need another high end steakhouse? Nonetheless, it's cool to see ex-Bills - especially Fred - investing in the city! “It’s not so much investing in a steakhouse as it is investing in a community we believe in, that we have a lot of love for,” said Moorman. “Buffalo’s not just a place I plan on forgetting about,” said Jackson. “It means more to me than just a place I played football. It’s a place my family will always consider home.”

I love Buffalo's old buildings. I'd love to see them renovated rather than demolished if possible. I was bummed when the old Century Theater was torn down in the 1980s. And driving down Delaware is bittersweet. So many of the mansions gone; the ones remaining giving testimony to the glory that once was Buffalo. And then there's Buffalo Central Terminal - they've been talking about doing something good with that beautiful building for years but nothing much seems to happen. I'd love to see a local billionaire step up with a plan to revitalize some of Buffalo's historic areas. This is another reason Buffalo needs Fortune 500 companies.

I'm going to say something unpopular... Whenever I come back to Buffalo, I can't help but notice how old & stagnant everything looks: old homes, old businesses, and a skyline that hardly changes. I say this with absolutely love. I was born & raised there. And I enjoy uniquely Buffalo places like, for example, Parkside Candy on Main Street which is a decaying architectural gem with great chocolates and sponge candy. Very cool place, emblematic of Buffalo's faded glory. Many American cities look far newer and seem more vibrant and dynamic than Buffalo. Additions to the skyline are always popping up in other major cities. New housing projects are being built all over the place. Standing in one spot, I recently counted 12 construction cranes in Seattle building 12 separate high rise projects at the same time. Bellevue, WA, (across the lake from Seattle) might have a more impressive skyline than Buffalo and Bellevue's skyscrapers have all been built in the past 20 years - most in the past 10. Microsoft, headquartered in nearby Redmond, is behind much of Bellevue's new growth. Buffalo would benefit from a few Fortune 500 companies with the high paying jobs and the ancillary business that Fortune 500 companies bring. I read an article once that attributed a lot of the amazing growth/renovation in the South Lake Union area of Seattle to a small group of high tech mega-millionaires from Microsoft, Amazon, etc. Buffalo has Terry Pegula who, although he doesn't live in Buffalo, does like to invest in the city. The Canalside transformation has been impressive. To gain momentum, though, Buffalo needs more. I think the Bills will stay in Buffalo as long as the Pegulas live, which is great. But for Buffalo to be a sustainable sports town for generations to come, it probably needs to be in the top 50 of the USA in wealth and population. The economic trends of the past 50 years need to be reversed.

Yolo, I agree. Thanks for the post.

Seattle has 8: Costco, Microsoft, Amazon, Paccar, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Expediters International, Weyerhauser. Boeing was started here and still has a huge presence though the corporate HQ was moved to Chicago some years ago. Eddie Bauer, REI, T-Mobile, Nintendo, msnbc, and - oddly enough - Alaska Air all also call the Seattle metro area home. Together these companies have a huge, generally positive, influence on the local economy. New construction and new jobs are the consequences of their presence. And skyrocketing home prices - my town is over-flowing with Microsoft employees who have helped drive up the average home price to 700k.

Marquis has had the two longest jumps of 2016: After taking a three-year break from track and field, Buffalo Bills wide receiver/kick returner Marquise Goodwin returned to long jumping in 2015. Heading into the Rio Olympics this summer, Goodwin has recorded the two longest jumps anyone has made in 2016. In England on Sunday, Goodwin jumped 8.42 meters, three centimeters shy of the 8.45 mark he recorded in May. Both jumps were long enough to have won the gold medal at the 2012 games. Marquis seems like a good guy and I wish him well in the Olympics. http://247sports.com/Bolt/Marquise-Goodwin-now-owns-2016s-two-longest-jumps-45662448

I respectfully disagree. I hope we go 14-1 and lock up home field advantage, and EJ gets the start in the meaningless finale against the Jets.

"I dominated in college with the shoulder hurt. Coming back 100% will be the best thing that happened to me."

Belichick only produced 1 winning season in 5 years with Cleveland. At the time, a minority thought the roster was more to blame than the coach. The majority lost patience and Belichick was fired. Belichick authored yet another losing season in 2000, his first year with the Pats. He's never suffered another losing season since. Pete Carroll achieved losing records his first two years with Seattle and now has the Hawks in the playoffs every year. Sometimes patience is the key. Head coaches need time to build their staff and implement their systems. General Managers need time to acquire the right kinds of players for the offensive and defensive systems of their coaches. I never bought the story of an ultimatum. What business purpose would it serve? If you need to issue ultimatums to your GM or HC to motivate them, you've hired the wrong people. Ultimatums, in fact, tend to be counterproductive. Who, in fact, does their best work when faced with threats and knowing they lack the confidence of their leaders?

Goodell is a NFL guy, not a team guy. When he talks about 'competitiveness, he's talking about the NFL competing for disposable dollars with other sports and entertainment options. Obviously, at the club level, winning sells seats and attracts TV viewers. But to Goodell, Buffalo's win-loss record is irrelevant. The NFL's win-loss record will be 256-256 each year. He's looking at the NFL as a collective product. Imagine the extremes: A NFL with 32 beautiful state-of-the-art billion dollar stadiums versus a NFL with 32 rock piles. Which is better for the NFL brand? Soccer, MMA, lacrosse, motor sports, and other sports are attracting more and more fans. To avoid the erosion of attendance and viewership, the NFL does have to find ways to remain competitive. Improving the game day experience with better stadiums is part of the plan.

JW ~ thanks for an accurate account of what happened. As I shared with you in another thread, I take national reporting with a grain of salt. Big Cat ~ thanks for sharing the tweets. Media spats can be entertaining.

I have experience in the restaurant industry. And there the franchisor is continually putting pressure on the franchisees to update their physical assets. It's the same thing. The NFL is interested in top line dollars and image. The franchise is interested in those but more interested in bottom line profit. Goodell is just doing his job to protect the NFL brand.

The Bills No-Huddle with Levy/Marchibroda/Kelly running it was bad news for a lot of teams. A Bradley/Olson/Bortles No-Huddle is unproven and hard to guess. A good No Huddle takes more than talent. It takes conditioning and quick decision-making as well as a solid scheme. And when I say 'conditioning,' I mean for the D too because they might very well end up back on the field in a hurry.

I just bookmarked his site. When I watch a game live, I don't pay a ton of attention to the chess-match of X's and O's. Mostly, like a lot of fans, I watch the ball the enjoy the athleticism of the players most involved in the play and the drama of the unfolding contest. It's good to go back and examine what's really happening tactically. Erik does a nice job with this.

I don't hold grudges against anyone. I find life happier when I let resentment, disappointment, and all that heavy luggage go. If I met Jon somewhere, I'd be nice to him. That being said, I wouldn't ever pay money to see him perform. I choose not to be a fan of someone who chooses not to be a fan of Buffalo. I never cared much for his music anyway.

For those who pine for Jim Schwartz, a few thoughts... He's worked 14 years in the NFL as a HC or DC. In half of those years, his D ranked in the bottom half of the league in yards allowed. His best showing? His #4 finish with the Bills. On the other hand, his defenses finished dead last in the NFL twice: in 2006 with the Titans and again in 2009 with Detroit. In 2014, everything went right for Schwartz with the Bills. By dumb luck, he inherited a defensive roster that was brilliantly suited for his scheme. And the roster remained remarkably healthy. This had the obvious advantage of allowing Schwartz to field his best players every week. But there were other benefits too. The level of cohesion, and the quality of the communication, were strong because the starting 11 largely stayed together and they didn't much have to integrate back-ups and FAs signed to plug injury holes. It's not all the DC. Circumstances matter. Rex's D finished 19th last year despite (1) a roster that was not terribly well-suited for his scheme, (2) key injuries, (3) Rex only having one year with the team, (4) a disgruntled star barely even trying, and (5) Rex admittedly making some schematic mistakes. I'm also wondering what prompted Rex to make some coaching changes after the 2015 season. Obviously, he thinks the staff he has now will better support his vision. Can he finish top 10 this year? Top 5? Idk.

I agree Belichick is a defensive genius. My point is that you can't entirely judge a coach by his rankings. Circumstances (roster, injuries, etc.) matter. My other, related, point is that even the best coaches have ups and downs in their metrics/rankings as the circumstances fluctuate. Rex has shown that he can run a great defense when circumstances are right. He's shown he can run a poor defense when they're not. So the question is: Are circumstances right for him this year? Did Rex drop linemen into coverage too often last season? Maybe so. But is he a moron doomed to repeating the same mistakes year after year? Maybe not. We can criticize Rex for 2015 all we want. And he deserves it. But given his history, I'm willing to wait and see if he can turn things around in 2016 before giving up on the season.

Erik, this is very nice work!

I'm a NFL head coach. I'm a college grad and have an above average IQ. More importantly, I have 20+ successful years coaching in the NFL. I've been promoted multiple times until I got the HC gig because I excelled at my previous positions. I attend coaching seminars in the off-season to perfect my craft. I break-down game tape all year long, not just to understand my opponents, but to learn what the best OCs and DCs are doing schematically. This is my profession and I'm dedicated to mastering it. And now I have a DC opening and - gosh wolly gee whiz! - I'm going to hire Rob Ryan because he's Rex's brother and Buddy's son so he must be good! Right? C'mon folks. NFL coaches aren't like the characters in Dumb and Dumber. They don't hire DC's because of their last names.

I'd like to know how well Rob performed with the roster he had. Yardage totals by themselves tell us little and I don't know these squads well enough to judge if he maximized their potential. As a fan without inside knowledge, I look at like this: Rob doesn't have a great track record as a DC so I wouldn't want him as our DC. Yet he keeps getting DC gigs so the insiders who hire him must see something good in him. So I hope Rex finds a way to put his brother's strengths to productive work while avoiding his weaknesses.