TheFunPolice

The Seneca money comes from WNY is my point. That's where the casinos are and most of their customers are from this general vicinity. I could be wrong, but I doubt people are coming from all over America to go to Salamanca to gamble. Overall, I typically enjoy your posts, so I appreciate the back and forth. We just disagree on this one, and that's fine.

Agreed! Brady had coached up Malcolm Butler to be in just the right spot to win that Seattle/NE Super Bowl when they ran the play! Brady put together a defense in the early 2000's full of great players, borderline HOFers in NE. He shut down that Rams high flying offense most of the game too. I hate defending Belichick, because it makes me want to gag, but this "it was all Brady..." crap is nauseating. BTW, he also shut down Brady too. The Bucs went into NE this past season clearly the better team and it took a missed NE FG for them to win.

if it wasn't for Belichick Kraft would be just another owner, and NE just another team. Belichick not only drafted Brady but developed him and chose to start him once Bledsoe was healthy. For example, what if Brady was drafted 4th round instead and started week 3 his rookie season for an 0-2 mess of a Dick Jauron coached team with a mediocre defense and (insert name here) for offensive players and offensive coaches? Same career? Is Jauron thought of as the GOAT and a genius?

100%, the money could be better spent in an ideal world. No argument there. Subsidizing these stadiums feels a bit gross. We're not LA or NYC. Most NFL cities aren't. But the competition for a "free agent" NFL team would be insane, and "you're rich so you build it yourself" wouldn't seal the Bills staying here. That can work in LA because LA is LA. The money grows on trees for Kroenke in that market due to its sheer size and wealth. The economics of WNY dictate a much bigger public investment in keeping the team. We all know this. Due to the lease expiring, WNY is competing against other cities that want an NFL team. That's why I say it and still say it: if you're against this deal then you are in favor of the Bills moving. They don't stay for less, and they don't stay in their current stadium. It's just not going to happen, even if we write books of totally solid arguments for it. In a way, WNY is paying for it via the Seneca casino revenues that are being used to cover most of the state's portion.

LOL Sorry I'm just overly cautious!

Didn't click because the URL looks suspicious. Summary?

We didn't "moan about" downstate stadiums because most of us didn't even notice, and it took research to even find the numbers. That's kind of the point. We go to work and pay our taxes and most of us don't have time to monitor the state budget. Either way we are going to pay X amount as individual taxpayers. If the team stays we pay X, and if they leave we pay X. X doesn't change either way. We don't all get a discount if the team leaves. We don't pay extra if it stays. Most of the state $$ is coming from the Seneca casinos in WNY, BTW. Instead, "it will be a shame" and we lose an iconic part of life in WNY. At least people will feel really, really bad for us though! Maybe 3 "reallys" depending. Except Florio, he will be in heaven. I would bet he already has that article written and ready to go.

Oh, it's totally understandable to want Pegula to contribute more, but he isn't going to, nor would any other NFL owner in this market. The Broncos are expected to sell for as much as 4 billion. Cities elsewhere will bend over backwards to build a stadium to lure an NFL team. The money is getting stupid. The Bills were once the most expensive team sale in NFL history. Until the next one. Same with the stadium deal. Most generous public money agreement. Until the next one. Thus my point: if you (not you particularly, "you" in a general sense of the word) don't support this deal then you are saying "let the team leave." Which is fine, anyone is entitled to an opinion, but just be honest. There is not a reality where the state/county "plays hardball" and these billionaires "pay their fair share" and finance it themselves. It's just not living in the real world. I am happy the deal is done and the team is staying. We pay plenty of taxes, so let's keep our team here.

That reality doesn't exist in WNY was my point. Anyone who suddenly has a crisis of conscience about NY State spending money for this stadium is actively working to torpedo this deal, which means the Bills leave WNY. It really is that simple.

If Josh Allen is the top 5 QB we all think he is, the Bills will be in the playoffs every year, barring injury. Then it comes down to winning in the tournament. For that, you need difference makers, which we have a few of, but could always use more. It will be fun to see what happens this draft just in general, because there doesn't seem to the top QB prospects that cement the first several picks.

Whoever is against the stadium deal should just say "I want the Bills to leave WNY" Either this deal happens or the team leaves. There is no "yeah but" where NFL owners suddenly have an epiphany and realize how awful it is to take public money. At least be honest. There is no reality where you're in favor of the team staying but don't want to use massive amounts of public money. That world doesn't exist, so it's pointless to keep writing articles about it.

I want Poyer and Hyde out there on their 60th birthdays... We are going to miss having such good safety play for so long. Great safeties are hard to find, let alone 2 at the same time.

Rams GM is salivating at the mere thought of being able to trade all those picks away! LOL "If only I had all those picks..."

I think it's more likely that Allen wins a Lombardi than an MVP. Although the view of Allen is changing, let's remember that for a few glorious (for him, meaning Schopp) weeks to start the 2021 season Schopp and all the stat geeks with their Excel spreadsheets were telling us "this is who Allen is" and saying that 2020 was a fluke, an outlier, and he was really the QB we saw for the first few weeks of the 2021 season. The contract might have been a mistake, etc. Then of course things turned around but there were some weird games in there like Jacksonville too. That was a handful of months ago, so for many, the KC playoff game didn't totally answer all the questions about Allen. That's the MVP part. Rodgers will throw pretty passes, pretend to be all intellectual, never throw a pick, and look the part of the MVP. The thing about Allen is that he is the anti-Rodgers. Allen is a gamer who plays his best when the stakes are highest. Every year we hear about how Rodgers is the best QB in the league from so many yet he plays like garbage in the playoffs every year. It's one thing to lose playoff games, but he doesn't show up. Allen is the opposite. That's why I say he's more likely to get the Lombardi than the MVP. Gabe Davis is the same way. We've got a QB and a WR who play a completely different game when the lights are brightest, and that is great news!

I hope if the Bills win the Super Bowl fans don't boo the Pegulas at the parade... The level of animosity towards them is just plain stupid. They 100% saved the Bills and Sabres from moving. So the Sabres have stunk for a while. It's not like they didn't spend $$ on the Sabres. It's just that somehow NOTHING worked until (hopefully) recently, when they ironically stopped doing that.

Right! Owens would be great for USFL. WTF is "fan controlled football?"

The big difference is that aside from their pathetic division, Tampa has to play an actual NFL schedule this year. It's loaded with top teams. Chiefs Cowboys Packers AFC North NFC West Last year it was cupcake after cupcake for them. AFC East and NFC East, plus a 2nd place schedule and their division opponents. And they still didn't get the #1 seed then. Look at their 2021 schedule. It was a joke: https://www.buccaneers.com/news/bucs-2021-opponents-nfl-information-nfc-afc vs 2022: https://www.buccaneers.com/news/tampa-bay-2022-opponents-nfl-information-nfc-afc

I'm certainly not a guy who wants to defend Belichick, but he has 8 Super Bowl rings and he was instrumental in all 8. I think he's OK. Belichick was winning Super Bowls before Brady was even in the league. His defensive Game plan for the Bills/Giants SB is (unfortunately) legendary. All I'm saying is that there is this narrative because Brady won in Tampa Bay it somehow "proves" that he was the one mostly responsible for their success in NE. You want to talk about "catching a break" how about facing KC in the SB when they had 3rd string players at almost every OL position and a coach who just blew up their game prep by nearly killing a child in a drunk driving crash. Mahomes was running for his life every play because Tampa's DL was a Pro Bowl roster and KC's backups on the OL couldn't block. But all Brady. Again.

For all the people suddenly worrying about public money, look at how much $$ went into "extending" the 219 to the middle of freaking nowhere and just stopping pretty much for good because who knows why. a handful of years ago they built a brand new expensive bridge for the 219 to travel a few thousand feet, then exit onto the same road that already had a bridge over the same area. They are literally right next to each other. Politicians showed up to be seen, have their picture taken, and take that exciting ride from Springville to just outside of Springville, where they then exit and drive down the road that was already there serving the same purpose. LOL you can't make this stuff up. Bridges to nowhere are a thing all over the country. Totally bizarre. We don't even notice because it's so common. Either extend it to Salamanca as originally planned or don't bother. But that's how our Gov't works. More multi million dollar studies and decades of talking (and paying full salaries) for people to do nothing. Then waste a ton of money to accomplish practically nothing. Nobody even blinks an eye. At least this stadium will get built and serve some purpose for the community.

It seemed like when we were struggling we could switch to "throw to Beasley" and he was open and caught it every time. Sad to see him go, but obviously teams aren't looking to throw big $$ his way

The Patriots came close to the #1 seed in the AFC this season with Mac freaking Jones at QB. We're the better team, but they are not a joke.

Belichick's defenses won 3-4 Super Bowls between the Giants and Patriots, if not more. So I would pump the brakes on "it was all Brady" or even mostly Brady. The first couple NE SB wins were mostly defense, as was the last Rams/Ne SB that was unwatchably awful. 3-0 going into the 4th quarter. That was all Brady too I guess? The first pass he threw in that SB was intercepted and he did practically nothing the entire game. Meanwhile, over-rated Bill pitched a near shutout of the Rams high flying offense. But again, all Brady! Brady has as many rings as he does BECAUSE he had a coach that treated him like any other player and forced him to toe the line and buy in.

So they don't count? Really? Peyton went to 4, won 2 with 2 different teams and it's "yeah but he couldn't win big games"

I would think the opening of the conversation is 10% more than the Watson deal, all guaranteed. Lamar has been league MVP and has never caused any trouble on or off the field.

That's good. Maybe that's a newer thing, because we've been in WNY for many years now so between cable for Bills games and Red Zone I've never had any need for it. IMO Red Zone is amazing and much better (and cheaper) if you just want to follow the league action on Sundays.