jad1

Since the Bills are named after Buffalo Bill Cody, LA Bills would make no sense. LA Saints makes more sense, but they would change the Bills name. Not that I think the Bills are moving to LA. I don't think anyone is moving to LA, the only one really interested in moving a team there is Taglibue, and he's on his way to retiring. Other markets, like San Antonio would be considered for expansion before Buffalo. And with the new owners taking control of the NFL, Las Vegas will be the new hot market for expansion or relocation. Jones and Snyder will make short work of removing the gambling issue, and will open their league up to all the giant hospitality corporations in the area.

Yeah, and the Bills have the lowest average ticket cost in the league, no PSLs, and don't have to pay to watch the team practice. When Rich stadium began to become obsolete, he opted for the cheaper solution of upgrading the stadium, rather than demanding a new one. So he is making money, but he has an awareness about what the Buffalo market can sustain, and is willing to work within those constraints, rather than moving his team to a big market area. For that, in terms of NFL owners, I'm ready to crown him 'King of Popes.'

Culpepper might prove out to be a good move, but probably not until 2007. Guys who have had this injury usually take 2 years to fully recover. I don't agree with the coaching staff being that solid. Mularkey's offenses have been pretty terrible the last few seasons, and he seems to have a real problem matching his gameplans to the talent on the teams. Can any Bills fans look back on the last couple of seasons and find a game where Mularkey outcoached the other team's defense? Maybe the Seattle game, but the Bills 9-7 was really driven by their special teams and defense. I believe Miami's going to take a step back this season, especially early, which is why I don't think it's a forgone conclusion that the Bills start 0-2, the orginal premise of this thread.

October 30th is the year anniversary of the injury in which Culpepper tore 3 ligaments in his knee. If he's able to come back within a year from his injury (McGahee and James, by the way, took longer to come back from their similar injuries), that's 6-8 games. And if I were Saban, I would probably would plan for the worse. So let's take a quick look at the options for his replacement to start the season: two young QBs or a recycled has-been. Your boy Mularkey does great job with young QBs. Seriously, take a look at Losman's numbers against the Saints, Bucs, and Falcons last season. That could be your future with Lemon or Berlin under Mularkey. Admittedly Ferrotte is a recycled has-been, but he's the Dolphins has-been, and knows Saban's system. It's hard to imagine that someone like Joey Harrington offers enough of an improvement to negate Ferrotte's experience with the Phins. For a position that has been the Dolphins' achilles heel over the past few seasons, there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the position heading into mini-camp. I think it will cost the Dolphins games early this season.

Cleo Lemon, Brock Berlin, or Ferrotte during an inflated cap year, while Culpepper spends 8 weeks on the bench.... Sorry, I would have worked it out with Ferrotte. Mularkey, as a playcaller, flat out sucks. I know he's new and shiny to you guys, but the Bills set NFL records for offensive ineptitude. Trust me, you'll see. There's a reason that the Steelers went from 6-10 to 15-1 in 2004, and it was more than just a rookie QB.

Yeah, and that was pretty much erased in 2003 when the Steelers finished 6-10, thanks to Mularkey's inept offense.

Yeah, because trading for a QB with a blown out knee, while dumping your starter from last season is pure genius. Not often you can get a guy who posted 6TDs, 12 INTs, and 3 blown knee ligaments for a 2nd round pick. As for Mularkey, I'm sure that Saban took one look at his masterfull playcalling in the 2nd half of the Miami travesty, and said, "I gotta have that guy on my staff."

What do you think the Bills are doing right now? The Indians and A's don't hire expensive big-name managers and coaches, and they don't sign big-name free agents. The difference between them and the Pirates and Royals is that they're better at scouting and player development. It's interesting that you would bring this up, since you've done nothing but B word and moan that the Bills haven't spent wads of money on Parcells junior or blown the bank on a FA guard.

Selling out the stadium isn't the problem. Buffalo can sell out the stadium the next ten years and still be screwed. The only way that the Bills can compete is if they can sell luxury suites, naming rights, and PSLs at NYC or DC rates. True fan loyalty and support plays no part in the new CBA. That's why the deal sucks. That's why Ralph is right to call out this lousy deal every chance he gets.

Miami is going to be starting either Cleo Lemon or Brock Berlin, and whoever starts will be throwing 40 passes in Mularky's "offense." Considering they play the sorry-ass Jets and their boy-wonder coach the next week, the Bills have a great shot at opening the season 2-1. At which point JSP will B word that the Bills haven't beaten anybody good.

You're reading a hell of a lot into unconnected events.

When Polian went to the Bills, the Bills were also a lousy team. Hank Bullough was the first Bills coach to be honored with Polian skills. How long did he last? So, I guess not just any coach would be able to lead the Polian Bills, because if that were true, Hank would have 4 AFC rings right now. Bottom line, Manning:Kelly; James:Thomas; Harrison:Reed; Wayne:Lofton; Pollard:McKeller. The Polian Colts, like the Polian Bills, are loaded with talent. However, neither Mora nor Dungy has gotten them close to the Super Bowl. So coaching does matter. And if you were around when Kelly, Smith, Thomas, and Reed all grew up under Levy's leadership, you'd understand that. If you were around when Levy changed from a conservative 'pound the ball' strategy to the no-huddle, you'd understand that. And if you watched the Bills get up off the mat, four years running, after losing the most heartbreaking game in franchise history, to do something no other franchise has ever done, you'd understand that Levy's coaching was a difference maker.

Tell the truth, you were not a Bills fan during the Levy era, either because you were too young to follow football, or just didn't care. Now name this team, All-pro QB who calls his own plays, double-threat RB who is effective running and catching the ball, WR who can beat a team over the middle or deep; and a speedy DE who can dominate a game. Is that the 90's Bills or the current Colts. Could be either. Which one has won the AFC four times? The one with Levy as its coach. Making it to the SB 4 years in a row is not luck or a fluke; just ask Belichick, Noll, Landry, or Walsh. And to the orginal idotic question of this idiotic thread, if Levy is the most overrated HOFer, what does that make Bud Grant?

You mean the LT of the Jets who helped Curtis Martin win the league rushing title two years ago, win playoff games on the road, and protected Pennington's blind side while throwing for 25+ TDs? Since when is 30 old for an O-lineman? And by the way, when I'm looking for a knowledgeable NFL fan, I look for a Jets fan.

Yeah, they really missed him in the playoffs leading up to the SB, right? Of course, he took little time in trying to cash-in on that SB performance by trying to throw out the contract his signed after bitching and moaning his way out of SF and Baltimore. The Eagles ultimately paid the price for his "character-ladden" performance when he showed up the front office, his coaches and QB in the following training camp. I doubt that TO looked at the SB as a way to show his character, rather it was an audition for him and his jackass agent to renegotiate a contract that was less than a year old.

Yeah, except for the fact that he not only quit on his team, he crusaded against them. He loafed through practice, argued with his coaches, badmouthed management and backstabbed his teammates. Not to mention that he is too stupid to pick a GM that knows his ass from a hole in the ground. So let's have Marv bring the Rosenhaus/Owens freakshow to Buffalo. Brilliant idea. There's a player in the tradition of Kelly, Lofton, Reed, and Thomas. Ask yourself this, if Owens was on a team 32 points down at halftime with the backup QB and RB in the game, how would he react? Would he work his ass off to help the team come back, or would he be making an ass out of himself, screaming at every coach and QB he could get his hands on? That's the type of character Levy is looking for. And Owens never had it and never will.

Kind of like Dan Fouts and Dan Marino. They voted those two "black" guys in pretty quickly also, even though they were huge big-game losers. There's no racial bias here, just a positional bias. QBs are going to get the benefit of the doubt, especially when they can make something as ridiculous as the 'chuck and duck' offense work.

The are many reasons the NFL hasn't expanded to Canada, and the CFL is at the bottom of that list. Outside the Skydome, there are almost no NFL quality stadiums in Candada. When they play in Mexico City, the NFL sells out a 100,000 stadium. The SkyDome only seats only around 53,000 for football. That ranks them near the bottom of seating capacity in the NFL. The NFL has no concession agreement with the Canadian stadiums, like they do with the stadiums in their local markets. It's hard to believe that the Skydome would just let the NFL come in under the current deals they have with their local stadiums,. Canadian teams in the NHL and MLB have had revenue problems due to the exchange rate between the US and Canada. To keep up with revenue by American teams, Canadian teams would have to charge over $100 a game for the cheapest seats. Hard to imagine an NFL team suceeding where teams like Montreal and Ottawa in the NHL have struggled. And finally, the Canada and California have roughly the same population, which makes Canada an extremely small National market. And considering that the NFL already has saturation in the Canadian market, add a team in a Canadian market would only bring a small increase in the multi-billion dollar merchandising revenue they currently generate. It's nowhere near the size of the Latin American market that the league is trying to tap by staging games in Mexico City. So Canada has limited NFL-quality facilities, a small population, and a disadvantageous rate-of-exchange. To be a good neighbor, the NFL propts up the CFL, instead of saying that Canada is too small a fish for the NFL pond, and uses that as an excuse for avoiding the Canadian market.

And yet they lost two franchises and cannot garner the support to build a modern NFL-quality stadium, even though a commitment to build one would have gotten them the last expansion team, which ended up in Houston.

The Bills would lose a lot in this deal. First off, the SkyDome seats around 53,000 for football, nowhere near the 70,000+ the Ralph seats. In terms of sponsorship dollars, the Bills would lose money on their current sponsorship deals because they would have sell a 6 game deal instead of an eight game deal at the Ralph. They might be able to sell their national sponsors on a game in Canada, but they would have to replace all the local sponsors, since local radio stations and supermarkets gain nothing from a game in Canada. And even if they could replace their local sponsorship revenue with Canadian local sponsorship, they would have to split sponsorship revenue with the SkyDome for games in Toronto. Not to mention that the going rates for a are probably much higher for an American football game than a Canadian baseball game, making the ad time tougher to sell. This would also create a nightmare around season ticket sales. Do season ticket holders also have to buy tickets to the SkyDome? If they do, there would only be something like 10,000 tickets left to sell. If they don't you have to sell a ticket that will probably cost upwards of $90 to $100 Candadian to the Toronto market, for a team that's carpetbagging a couple of times a year. Hardly a foundation for loyalty. This deal looks like a complete loser for the Bills, especially since they've sold out over 90% of their games over the last few seasons. The Bills aren't hiring "expensive" coaches because they can't afford them. Rather, the higher-priced coaches expect complete control of the organization, something Ralph doesn't want to give up.

So does this mean that Jauron is going to pass on 3rd and 1 or keep throwing while protecting a 21 point lead? Because if it does, I don't want anything to do with him!

Yeah, it never works out, aside from 3 of the last 4 SB winning coaches (Belichick, Gruden, Shannahan). Vermeil could also be in that group, making it 4 out of 4, but he's more like "hiring a fossil from a different age, when real men weren't afraid to cry in public." But I'd much rather "hire the guy with the HOF QB, whose team continually underperforms." Like the guy who "lost the first home playoff game at Lambeau in the modern age to Ron Mexico." Or the guy who "had his ass handed to him by the Eagles and Rams, over and over again." To me, if you want to beat up Detroit and Minnesota, Sherman's your man. But if the measure of a good coach is doing more with less, Jauron is the better choice.

I know. Just thought it was funny seeing her picture when I was expecting to see looters or wall street traders. I guess I'll take any laugh I can get today.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Center for Disease Control (CDC) director is taking advantage of the disaster?

Points allowed and turnovers. If you keep the other team out of the endzone, and give the ball back to the offense with good field position, any other stat is just gravy.