RuntheDamnBall

While I can't disagree, the team hasn't earned a lot of trust over the years. Be above .500 in November and those games will sell out. I can't guarantee it, but I'd say it's pretty likely. Atlanta is a bad team but they have had a rough year on the injury front and they were one really bad bobble away from at least tying SF in the last regular season game in front of devoted fans in their storied house. It always comes down to a few plays in the NFL separating good and bad, lucky and unlucky. Being good scores you a bit more luck, but let's not act like this is the Lions 0-16 team.

I am going to quibble with this. Have you ever been to the Rogers Centre? I have, as a Jays fan, many times. It has not aged well and it was NEVER built for football or the football experience. The games are not cheap there, tailgating is horrible/non-existent, the food is far more expensive than at the Ralph, traffic is HORRIFIC en route to the stadium (I left on time from Fredonia for a Jays game and made it for the top of the 7th, to give you an idea of how bad). Why is it worth the hassle and extra expense to go see them in a lousy stadium, with fewer people, when even the players aren't excited to be there? It's asking a LOT of Bills fans. Put them in an outdoor stadium there and it would help. Fix the horrorshow city planning and it would help. Make things more affordable and it would help. Provide an NFL tailgating experience and it would help. There are four major factors that keep Bills fans from coming to the games. You cannot possibly blame them, and these are all on top of the mistrust and suspicion that either ownership or the NFL would secretly be happy to see the team migrate northward. Edit: all of this is to say nothing of the hassle of crossing the border twice in a day, which is nowhere near as easy and pleasant as it was, say, twenty years ago.

Losing any game in a 16-game season has everything to do with missing the playoffs. Giving up your home field advantage and putting a dome team in comfortable surroundings instead of in your house in the weather absolutely contributes to a loss. As it turned out, it was a loss that had a ripple effect into TB, as others have noted. Also, if you look at how the Bills have played on the road this year, generally, with their rookie QB, putting him at home is a no-brainer. Even in the games where they lost at home, he played better.

Or CJ...

It seems like even Russ Brandon is prepared to examine how much truth there is to this proposition. I'm hoping he sees the wisdom of bringing this team home to its fans, to its advantage, and into a better position to bring playoff games to the Ralph. That will be the most lucrative scenario of all. They need to make the Bills a hot ticket - not just a fun one or a regional one. Stick with this program, end the Toronto series mistake and go for playoffs at all costs in 2014. The fans and the team's veterans deserve it.

This team has the chance to go 4-2 in the division. That is worth a lot. Let the draft fall as it may. Can't agree about Thad vs EJ but at least you are rational in your explanation.

Sure, should be easy to recreate someone else's offense and teach it to everyone on the team in mid-season.

Trent Edwards? I didn't think he was good, but I did think they were trying.

I think there's an art to it in that you need guys who fit in with what your team does, and you need for your team to have some belief in the guy. Russell Wilson is, to me, a bigger outlier than Brady, if that can be believed. He was first-round talent in a third or fourth rounder's frame. If he went to a team where he was going to be discounted for his height, he probably wouldn't have made it. Carroll made it clear that he was going to give him a chance, even if he didn't want to hand the rookie the job in an ideal world.

No doubt. At some point you have decide if it's worth paying your QB3 over a million bucks though -- which is what Flynn is costing in the long-term. Also, no way is he settling for that pay or position if he can help it. QB2 in GB is a sweet deal.

Let me know when Jeff Tuel is throwing to Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Jarrett Boykin, and getting 20 carries at 6.7 per from his RB. Flynn had a nice game (one that, thanks to Tony Romo, afforded him more opportunities). He has a nice team to play for in a familiar system. Comparing what he was doing over three weeks on the Bills or in his other failed stints this year with him in his comfort zone... is just folly. Flynn showed his ceiling yesterday and it still took the Cowboys coughing it up for him to win against a horrific defense.

The draft doesn't occur in a vacuum, though. Hard to draft consistently when you are doing so for a new regime (or even just a new DC) every few seasons. I think we need to be prepared to give Whaley and Marrone a lot of rope to see this through, lest we fall into the same trap and start the cycle all over again. Despite people's proclamations that they aren't young or that they should be able to turn it around quickly, I think it's very difficult to find a situation where you have most of the players and just need a culture change. Most of the time you're going to need a season to identify who stays and who goes.

OK. So he doesn't look better than he did in one win against a SB contender and one tough loss in his pro debut against the perennial division champs? I recall him looking pretty good in the Jets game, too, but let's not be objective here; the pitchforks are sharp and the torches have been lit.

People like you and I have just never applied the "eye test," aka the favorite nonsense of every erudite and thoughtful poster here. Doesn't this sh-- ring like a new car commercial every year? THERE'S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BUY!

Which is why the comparison to Trent Edwards is hilarious. One glaring difference is that Trent (and Fitz, for that matter) often started out the game strong with one scripted drive, then fell apart over the course of the game. EJ seems to get stronger and trust his instincts more over the course of the game, and he tends to come through more often under pressure (though not exactly when he's under siege due to OL play). Food for thought.

Did you guys watch this dude on Thanksgiving day? He is probably a better backup but it's all about asset management at this point. I haven't seen enough out of Flynn to convince me that he's going to outperform Thad Lewis over the course of an NFL career. He is right where he belongs in a comfortable system playing the B. Volek role, and he made himself a boatload of found money getting back where he belongs.

Let's lay off of him for today.

Agreed. If this team sees a game-changing player where there won't be others later, I expect them to move mountains to get to the spot they need to get to to draft him. Losing to score a draft pick is bad form if nothing else. I know a lot of people think the Colts did so, twice. The QBs they've had are nice but they've only netted them one SB in those 15 or so years, so there's that. Plus, can you imagine what it does for this team -- not just in terms of morale, but in terms of team-building -- if it beats NE in week 17?

Thinking of you and your family. Your wife has an awesome partner in you.

What, you mean an average QB that will hit him in the numbers, like Fitzy, or Manuel. Whoops.

It was kind of a joke, but yes, I agree. Now, is that statistically consistent with what happens to other teams? I have to say not entirely, because we've seen the Pats go a few games without getting ANY called on them. You should catch hell for this. The way this team played through the first 8-9 weeks before they were "out of it" says to me that the problem lies in some players. I think Crossman has been awful, but I can't say that this team hasn't come to play, until the last few weeks. You can put that on Marrone, if you want, but I am not sure that Harbaugh would have fixed all that is wrong here in a year. A lot of people around the NFL liked this hire and I'd like to give it time. If Sean Payton sees something in the guy, it means something to me.

I'm a believer in Manuel, but I think you're right on here. I do think it'd be folly to draft a QB round 1 in all but the luckiest scenarios, but otherwise, they shouldn't close the door. Manuel has the skill set and a great attitude, but he still has much to prove.

My answer is simple: they should fire whichever coach is not telling them to stop committing penalties.

I'm OK with that and would have been fine with him in the first last year if he'd been there.

Woods and Urbik I think both got some jersey. Cannot tell about E. Wood from that camera angle.