BillsBackersChicago

I agree that you need a franchise qb to win, but it does not mean that you need him RIGHT NOW, regardless of the pool of talent available. The #3 pick should ideally be the best player on your team for years to come. I think Jim Kelly was amazing, but I would argue that he was not the best player on the team. I would give that to Bruce. Anyways, you cannot build a team in one year. You take the best player available with the #3 pick (as long as it fits some long term need for your team). You can't pass up a stud defensive player (when you have glaring defensive needs) to get an average or slightly above average (by NFL standards) QB just cause you NEED a QB eventually. We should wait until next year or even the year after to wait until the QB you draft or get in FA is worth the price you pay. I don't see any of the QBs in this year's draft being a no brainer at #3/ Anyways, just my opinion.

I respectfully disagree. Any time you put up almost a billion dollars to buy a franchise, you are exposing yourself to MAJOR risk. That money could be invested elsewhere and possibly draw better profits in various investment opportunities, especially given the large amount of upfront liquid asset being used. If buying any NFL franchises was such an amazing investment opportunity, there would be a much longer line of people asking to buy the bills while promising to keep them in Buffalo if thats want Ralph needs to sell. Instead, Jimbo is going door to door to raise enough money to be able to buy the team. Second, Without THESE players, we can easily have a product, probably a very good one. Anyone that thinks we can't sell without the current crop of superstars in the NFL has not watched how much money the NCAA is making with college ball. We will develop NEW superstars with the players who are willing to play by the league's rules, rules which will STILL allow them to become world famous millionaires. The NFL would make plenty of money without these players: there's a whole country full of excellent college players who would (and have) given their life to get a part of the NFL pie, no matter what the "current" CBA rules are. Anyways, just my opinion. I am going to buy the bills... My current offer?: 14 Jim's Steakout Subs... but here's the kicker... I throw in free hot sauce!!! think ralph will go for it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but just because the NFL (the owners) does not come to a consensus with the NFLPA does not mean that they would not be able to negotiate with other parties (TV, etc.) as a group. I imagine the league would go on with non-unionized players and pay them whatever the true "free market" demands that they pay. It would be a disaster for most the players as you said in your post. oh yeah, and peterson is an idiot.

I am not at all an authority on business, but how many other employees get to see all the financial records of the company they work for to determine if they are getting a fair share of the total revenue? I guess its different since the owner's agreed to pay the players a percentage of the revenues. Anyways, I think the players are ridiculous for needing ALL of the financial records of their employer. If they are being paid a percentage of total revenues, then they deserve a disclosure statement such as those given by publicly traded companies to their shareholders that tells what their overall profits are, but they don't deserve the company's complete financial records! I mean, come on, shareholders of large corporations don't get complete financial records and they literally OWN THE COMPANY!! If the players truly feel like they are being lied to about their companies profits, then they should push for a third party investigation (like the investigation that Enron or these other big companies that falsified their financial records got). It should be noted that even after those companies were investigated, their complete financial records were not made completely open to their shareholders and/or employees. A third party investigator simply concluded that there was impropriety and what the financial impact of that impropriety was and what damages should be paid out as a result. Anyways, at the end of the day, if a shareholder does not deserve the entire financial records of the company he/she literally OWNS, an employee of that company certainly does not deserve it. The players need to get over themselves. If they don't want to play for a company/industry that makes them into millionaires, or if nothing else gives them 6 figure salaries that the average person works their entire lifetimes to achieve, they should stand aside and let people who will work for less. God forbid, you make 5 million over 5 years not 17 over 6. I know they have limited work life spans in the NFL, but should a person who makes 35-50K for their entire life really feel bad for a person who got to work for 5-7 years making millions and didn't learn how to save that money in a way that would hold them for the rest of their life? Its like feeling sorry for someone who one the lottery for 10 million dollar and didn't learn how to invest and save that money so that they don't end up bankrupt. Lastly, I know the owners are fat cats who make millions too, but they OWN THE INDUSTRY. Are you mad a Warren Buffet or Steve Jobs or for that matter, Golisano, for building an industry or business that is successful and made them extremely wealthy? Anyways, just my opinion. I am just shocked that everyone wants to tear down the owners who built this league up into the amazing industry it is, and feel sorry for players that B word about the millions of dollars they make as a result of the industry being made so successful by the owners. If you want to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for the smaller sports leagues, like skiing, swimming, even soccer. The players in those leagues dedicate just as much of their lives, work just as hard, and in some cases have just as short of a work lifetime, but since their sport's "industry" is not as successful as the NFL, they get paid pennies compared to what even the lowest paid NFL players make. wow that was quite the rant. I am going to just go watch college hoops until these idiots figure it out. BTW, if I don't get to watch Bills football this fall, there's a distinct possibility I will be forced to kill myself.

I agree, and contrary to previous posters, she did not just sing it, she made it her own, with her on style and interpretation, but without completely changing its core feels/style. Thats what good artists and musicians do when performing standards, and by doing so, they make their performance the NEW standard (anyone notice how every new artist in some way emmulates a portion of whitney's version while performing the national anthem? She was pretty amazing...but like rick james said, cocaine's a helluva drug. I'm just sayin.

i just love the very idea of a "we need a samoan" post. you guys complete me.

wow, i forgot how nice it was to hear a positive post from time to time on this board. Glad you had a good experience, way to groom the little ones into lifelong Bills Fans, My brother and I are doing the same with my nephew. I am not entirely sure it is not a form of cruelty to a minor considering what the last decade has been like, but what are you gonna do? The Bills are family, and you gotta love them even if they do occasionally show up to christmas drunk and make inappropriate comments about your 18 year old cousin. No in all seriousness, great post, way to bring some holiday cheer to the board, lord knows we need it.

Gailey said the reason we went away from the run is because after the first series, the pats changed their defensive front putting all their big men up front to take away the run. He said in that formation, they are inviting you to pass, so you have to beat them in the air. May have actually worked if we had thrown the ball to OUR receivers.

wow, just what I have been thinking whenever I hear anything that has to do with the redskins these days.... If this guy thinks Rex Grossman is the answer to anything, as a Bills coach he probably would have tried to bring back JP We seriously dodged a bullet not ending up with this guy and landing Chan the Man... Wow, never thought I would say that.

Somethin' wrong with you, man. damn you for making me laugh at that. On a serious note, that was a pretty amazing video to watch. Really inspiring and touching... I didn't cry, though.... I swear I didn't cry! .... i cried.

That's not how u spell douche.... Douche.

Just saw on espn that the Vikings plan to put Randy moss on waivers on Tuesday, and the bills get tue first shot at picking him up off the waiver wire. Thoughts? Sorry. This is discussed in another thread. My bad. Anyone know-how to delete this one?

Hey guys, I'm sure you already know this, but Luck is taking on Locker right now (Stanford v. Washington). In chicago, its on the Vs. channel. Stanfords up by 14 and sounds like their offense is clicking, but I just started watching. Should be interesting.

It was nice to have a functional NFL caliber o-line for one game. Time to go back to the hodgepodge mix/match injury plagued line we've all come to love. Am I overreacting? Probably. Do I know anything about the severity of Bell's injury? No. (although chan not saying "it isn't anything serious" has me worried). I am just so sick of having to watch our line fall apart every year due to injuries and having to "rebuild their chemistry" again and again. I felt like they were finally making progress. God I hope this doesn't screw it up. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=txbillsinjuries

Hey Guys, not sure if this has already been mentioned, but I got a chance to watch Steve Johnson's post-game interview and I was more than impressed. I can't figure out how to get the direct link, but its off the Bills website in their media center. Really impressive guy both on the field and with the press. He was clearly enthusiastic, upbeat, optimistic, humble, complimentary of his teammates, and motivated. If he continues to perform on the field, I think we have a very impressive player for years to come. Its really nice to see a (seemingly) nice guy like that have success in the NFL when very few thought much of him during the draft. Good for him, and good for us for drafting him and developing him. Now if we could only pick our 1st round players as successfully as we pick our undrafted/late round players.

Betterman by Pearl Jam, anyone that really knows the song knows that this is the relationship every fan has with the Bills (aka battered wife syndrome)... Best lyric? She loved him, yeah... she don't want to leave this way She feeds him, yeah... that's why she'll be back again If thats not me missing the glory years wanting to see things turn around and still buying jersey's and tickets for a team that breaks my heart I don't know what is.... and yes, I am the "She" in this situation... and no, I am not proud.

good call, because the $100K they get in a free college education is not enough. They need money to spend on Vegas weekends living it up just so that they can look like the big man on campus while other kids are taking 2 part time jobs and actually having to do WELL in their classes to get by. And then at the end, they go through this ridiculous draft, get pain an obscene amount of money UP FRONT for being a great college football player, then they either go bust or F- it up in some other way because they continue to act like the world is their oyster, and that rules and consequences don't apply to them. Why would they think anything else with all the special treatment we give them through college. How about this, they are spectacular athletes, you know what that buys them? A DAMN GOOD COLLEGE EDUCATION FOR FREE. Thats something that a lot of kids dream of and never get despite working just as hard as some athletes. If they still need money for basic needs, make it a rule in the NCAA that there needs to be time set aside for these kids to volunteer or work during school to earn extra money. TEACH THEM SOME RESPONSIBILITY. The world is not full of handouts, teach them that from the beginning, that if you want something, like a playstation3, a spot on a team, a high draft spot, or a fancy car, you EARN it on your own. The hell with stipends, they have time set aside to go to class, they should have time set a side to take care of their financial needs as well by working for it. And what makes us think that these "stipends" will be enough. Do we really think giving kids just enough to get by will stop them from taking when offered lavish luxuries from agents? The point is, college is a place where kids should be turned into adults. Adults that know how to function in the real world. We need to teach them responsibility, ethics and perserverence. We need to teach college kids that hard work, respect, and responsibility eventually may give them their dream of being an NFL player, but that taking handouts, lying, cheating, and trying to "beat the system" will ensure that their dreams never come true. If we do that, we might just get players that don't start dog fighting rings, beat their wives/girlfriends, have outlandish affairs with mistresses, shoot themselves in nightclubs, get caught with pot and firearms in their car, etc. A lot of these kids had to walk away from terrible environments where this stuff was commonplace in order to reach the NCAA let alone the NFL. We shouldn't give them a reason to bring it back into their lives. Teach them to be hard working, upstanding, model citizens, ones that are worthy of being called role models. Then we can fill the NFL with THOSE players. Thats the NFL I want my future son to see.

I don't necessarily agree with him BEING a tight end, but what about being on the field to shadow and/or COVER tight ends. Everyone talks about how fast he is, and despite Kelsay's best efforts, he has proven himself to not be speedy enough to cover elite NFL tight ends. This might be a perfect fit for him. FOR NOW, Maybin is not strong or skilled enough to get around NFL quality left tackles, but maybe if he lined up across from the tight end, he could get around him. We clearly have an issue covering tight ends as we have gotten smoked by them every game this season. What we need is a super fast bigman who can stand up to the tight end's physicality and take him on when he is blocking for a run play, but is fast enough to be able to stay with him when he comes out to run a pass play. Now, I'm not a football coach, so I know there must be some flaws in my thinking, such as 1. if it is a true run play, how do you get him lined up against a tight end and not just create a weak spot on the line. 2. Do we know he has any coverage skills, despite his apparent physical attributes? Anyways, what do you guys think? Aaron Maybin as our dedicated man to cover or block tight ends whenever they are on the field?

True, but Indy gave Vinatieri a 3.5M signing bonus when the Pats didn't put the franchise tag on him and he became a free agent. A good kicker is a valuable asset, apparently worth paying for, and I don't think they are a dime a dozen. Would I say they are worth their weight in gold? Yes, but only because they are usually little guys.

I'm sorry, but have you lost your mind? Not to be a jerk, but Moorman has been the best player at his position that the bills have had for over 10 years. He is the only person that has perennially been in the running for a pro-bowl spot, and thats a position that only takes one (or maybe two) players for the pro-bowl. every time Moorman boots a 50 yard punt, its almost the same as getting a 35 yard punt and plus a 15 yard block in the back penalty that kills the run back. Making opposing teams have a long field to get back to the end zone is the only thing that has kept us in a lot of these games. In addition, the field position we have had over the last few years is worlds better than the field position our team deserves given how little the offense has have moved the ball. How many times have we gotten the ball at the 10 yard line, done nothing, and asked Moorman to come in and be our savior and boot the ball over 50 yards, and at least push the other team to the other side of midfield, which at least gives our defense a chance to stop them before they are in field goal range. Winning the field position battle is critical to giving your team a chance to win the game. I know we will never be able to win the game without upgrades at our key offensive and defensive positions, but you don't sell your big screen 3D TV to buy a surround sound system. We have to address our holes, but shouldn't give away our stars (and create more holes) to do so. What are we gonna do in the future with that philosophy? Give away our future 1st round LT to get a great QB? It just doesn't make any sense. We build through free agency, draft, or by trading players that are redundant in our system (which may have been Marshawn had we not lost Joique Bell from the PS). Luckily, I don't think Chan and Nix are nearly as crazy as those of you that think we should get rid of Moorman. As for Lindell, which stared the post. I think that you don't know how important a clutch kicker is until you lose one. I know Lindell doesn't have incredible distance, but he is incredibly accurate at moderate distances (relatively speaking). Does everyone remember how many times we have stalled in the red zone or at the 30 yard line? Imagine how much more of a blowout many of our games would have been if we did not at least get a field goal during those trips. And as for all those "heartbreak" games that we lost (Dallas, monday night, New England with Leodis' fumble, Cleveland (ugly as it was), Jets (JPs fumble)), we wouldn't even had been in the game had we not scored mid-range field goals. Do I think Lindell is Steve Christie (booting kickoff's through the uprights, hitting 50+ yard field goals with ease)? No. But do I want to create a new hole in a team made of swiss cheese? No. Plus I have a moorman jersey and I don't want to wear it when he is pinning the bills at the one yard line for another team. STOP TRYING TO GIVE AWAY THE FEW SOLID PLAYERS WE HAVE!!

Hey, thanks for the welcome, I happen to be a penfield kid myself. Graduated in 1996. BTW it disgusts me to no end that they changed the name of the Penfield athletic teams from the Penfield Chiefs to the Penfield PATRIOTS!!! Who in their right mind living in upstate New York thinks that PATRIOTS is in any way an appropriate name for a high school sports team. Although, if the football team is as bad as it was when I was there, it gives me a little solace to know that at least one "Patriots" football team that the bills could beat.... i hope.

Hey Guys, I've been reading all these posts for years, appreciate everyone's comments, and as a die hard Bills fan for the past 25 years (from Rochester originally), I wanted to say hello, thank you and that I feel ur pain and wish I wasn't in an abusive relationship with my favorite football team. That being said, I do and will continue to watch and root for the Bills, and buy their jersey's, tickets, and memorabilia. The reason is that in my opinion, its great to be in love with a team the way we all are. Even if that team sucks from time to time, or for the past 10 years, it feels better to have a team that you call your own, that genuinely brings you elation with every small success and heartbreak with every failure. I go to a Bills bar here in chicago, and I can't tell you how good it feels to be surrounded by a group of people that have love and passion for THEIR team, screaming at the big screen, drinking Labatts like holy water, high five-ing and hugging with every big play, and singing the Shout song at the top of their lungs with every score. I genuinely feel sorry for the people I see at sports bars watching every screen to make sure their fantasy team is doing well, and not having any ONE team that they love, live and die by. My "fantasy team" is the Bills, and when we eventually make it to and WIN the superbowl, I will win my "pool". I don't care how long it takes, because I am going to enjoy the ride along the way. Ok, enough grandstanding, down to the discussion... Not sure if this was in another post, and if so, I apologize (if you can't tell, I am a first time poster), I was genuinely disappointed to see Joique Bell signed off our practice squad by Philly. I thought he really had talent that would blossom in the NFL. I also thought that his running style was more of the north-south, bang up the middle and then break free into the secondary type that exhausts defenses (a la the Bus or Brandon Jacobs or even Cedric Benson). I think that Marshawn is capable of that, even if he drives me nuts when he runs up to the line full speed and then stops and looks around, effectively losing all his momentum (like a Big McGahee). I think he would be much more effective taking a second to let things develop, then committing to a hole and pounding through (like a big Ricky Williams in his prime). ANyways, my point is, I like Marshawn, and think that when he runs the way he should and is used in a way that utilizes his talent he can be a premiere NFL back (on a side note, can we please stop running him on sweeps when you have Jackson and Spiller on the sideline!! Its a waste of everyone's talent!). Anyways, back to the point, Bell was a good second option that may have eventually taken the reigns if Marshawn got hurt or was traded. I think that now that Bell is gone, we have no back up POWER back, so any trade ideas are gonna be dead in the water. I wanted to get ur thoughts on losing Bell, and say once again thank you for keeping this forum alive. It makes me feel like I am back home talking with insane Bills fans every morning I open up the computer. Go Bills!