Bills Fan since '64

Not a coincidence that they call him "Choice" - he's clearly The Chosen One

It seems to me that once or twice a season, some "who dat" RB you've never heard of before and will never hear of since turns into Jim Brown against the Bills. Bilal Powell is just the latest in a long line. I remember the immortal Willie Parker of the Steelers who had 84 rushing yards all season before cruising through the Bills defense for 102 yards in that lamentable season ending game in 2004. It seems to me that there are many others. Can you remember them?

I hate to say it but the Fish may have a shot at the division title.

We may have lost the game, but as Dan Dierdorff said 46 times, "we're defining who we are." We hurry up when you get rewarded for going slow.

That makes 24 men on the field. And they still lost.

Bills got penalized for 12 men on the field on 2nd and goal

Yeh, but what do you REALLY think?

Do you think she can cover a receiver on the outside? We're a little shorthanded at CB.

Dan Manucci played for the Bills in 1979, 1980 and 1987 and never played a down for another NFL team before, in between or after!

I'll bet Quinn starts at least one game this year.

Let's analyze the guys who wore #11 (especially the QBs)

I think they need to have Tuel on the 53 as potential game 1 starter. If EJ isn't ready, they're not going to throw someone in there who has 2 weeks of practice with the team

I was there, although it wasn't the inauguration of "Rich Stadium," it was the inauguration of the "Home of the Buffalo Bills." Ralph was still fighting with Erie County over the name. Opening kickoff - Bills kicked off and Washington ran it back for a TD. The traffic was so bad that many people didn't arrive until halftime. Coming from Rochester, the heavy traffic started at Depew. My buddies and I got the smart idea of bypassing Exit 55 and getting off at Exit 56 instead, probably the only reason we got there before the game started.

EJ's going to miss two meaningless games! What will we do?

Watching Friday's game, one thing became clear to me: long-suffering Bills fans are easy to please but won't tolerate everything. What I mean is, we all know this team is going to lose games this year, by anyone's estimate 8 or more. I don't think Bills fans can tolerate such a number of losses behind a retread quarterback, or a bust or a journeyman or a never-was-and-never-will-be. We've had enough of those, whether it's Rob Johnson, Alex Van Pelt, Losman, Edwards, Fitzpatrick or numerous others. On the other hand, hungry Bills fans are happy to tolerate losses involved in the learning curve of any exciting young team with an exciting young QB, understanding that these are the dues that must be paid for future (hoped-for) success. I, for one, remember some gut-wrenching losses when Kelly was new here, at least 2 or 3 times that he threw picks on what should have been game-winning drives. Everyone took that in stride, painful as it was, and of course what came after was the best period in Bills history. Simply put: I don't see how the Bills fans can stay motivated if Kolb is the starting qb, and quite frankly I'd be happy to see him go and let the other kid be #2. His "seven years of NFL experience" just doesn't seem to be enough of an advantage, just as it wasn't with all the other journeymen who passed through Orchard Park.

This is actually pretty funny, because last time I looked, a golfer carries 14 clubs in his bag and has to be good with all of them. Maybe we should invent "special teams golf" so you'd have one guy hit off the tee, another hit from the fairway, another guy to run the short game and one guy to putt. Actually, two guys to putt, one guy to putt from distances and another guy (we can call him Mariano Rivera) to come in and putt only when the ball is within 10 feet of the cup. Right, because nobody can ever fire you for doing what is considered conventional. Look around the league at who the innovative franchises are, and you'll see that they're the ones that do things that are unconventional. Spread offense, shotgun, cover 2, 3-4 defense, read option - once upon a time these were new and unconventional but now everyone does them, including the franchises that innovate only when the innovations become "conventional." There's a name for franchises like that: Buffalo Bills (with the very important exception of the Marv Levy era). You don't think there are botched snaps on figgys and punts? Happens all the time, even with specialists at LS.

One thing I've never understood: are kicking and punting such vastly different skills that an NFL caliber kicker couldn't also punt? It seems that with roster spots at a premium, carrying only one K/P would make sense, and a kicker who could develop reasonable punting skills would be a valuable property. You could have the backup QB or a WR do the holding, like in the old days. For that matter, why carry a long snapper? Can't anyone else develop the skills to snap the ball and head-hunt downfield? Sounds like a set of skills that a backup LB or SS or TE should be able to develop. Probably the answer to all of this is "nobody else does that." What about the new regime thinking outside the box?

Anyone remember the time that Eric Moulds got flagged for "maliciously spinning the football"? That was a different play. The one where he repositioned Duh Rick was a running play

I'm not smart enough for intentional Freudianisms. I just think that the Tool is a great nickname.

Our first Jewish wideout. I love it! Fortunately, Yom Kippur doesn't fall on Sunday (it never does).

Note that the Tool had to reposition him when he lined up on the right side instead of the left later in the game. Concerns about him were not about his athletic ability, but there's a reason he went undrafted. Does he know the playbook? Does he keep his head in the game?

I had a deposition against Dan Darragh once. I said to him "Dan, your name is awfully familiar, where do I know you from?" And he said "I used to play quarterback for the Buffalo Bills." Oh, that's why it's familiar. He was QB in 1968 the year that the Bills started 4 different guys at QB - Darragh, Flores, Stephenson and Rutkowski, and again in 1969 when they started 3 different QBs - Kemp, Darragh and Harris. Career stats - 4 TDs, 22 INTs. He was a better lawyer than quarterback. As a QB, probably his biggest thrill was handing off to OJ.

I was at that game too. Anyone remember the first play of that first game (pre-season vs. Washington)? Bills kick off, Washington runs it back for a touchdown. Figures. And by the way, Ralph and Erie County were still fighting over the name of the stadium. He wanted to call it the Home of the Buffalo Bills and offered to match Rich's sponsorship offer. By the time of that first game the stadium still hadn't been named, and the first game souvenir memorabilia all said "Home of the Buffalo Bills." I was a fan since 64. My first inking of what it meant to be a Bills fan was in 67. So I was a slow learner, wanna make something of it?

I started in '64 as my name indicates. My first inkling of what being a Bills fan would be like should have come when I saw this game on TV, which is the earliest game I can remember: http://www.pro-footb...96701010buf.htm This was the AFL championship game, and the winner played in Super Bowl I The Bills played the Chiefs 3 times that year, and the visiting team won every game. Interestingly, aside from a tie with San Diego and one 7 point game, every other game that year was a blowout.

Makes me think of my favorite YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZxNeFLuY98. I especially love the part at 0:38 when Pete Rozelle says "fullback" and someone shouts "Oh no!" And this is all pre-Geno...