sullim4

Alright, who is suckered back in? I'm not quite yet. They have to beat the Brady-less Patriots* for me to be fully bought in again after those first two disasters, but they at least looked like a competent NFL team today. McCoy looked like his old self and the defense played up to expectations. I'm still having a hard time trying to figure out if the Cards were just really bad, or if the Bills were good. The 4 INTs were all in the fourth quarter on throws that Palmer was forcing due to time running short and/or a bad route from his WR. AZ historically plays poor 1PM games on the east coast. I wasn't particularly impressed with Taylor, either... accuracy is still a problem and he had only 150 yards of passing although the game plan was clearly run first today, so that's somewhat excused. The one thing that they are going to absolutely have to change next week is the penalties. 9 penalties for 75 yards and Arizona got 3 first downs off of penalties... you cannot do that against NE* and expect to win. Jerry Hughes, Cyrus Kouandjio, and the secondary in particular should pay attention to that.

I'm convinced that this team could have drafted Andrew Luck and we'd still be cellar dwellers. Likewise, who knows, EJ could have been drafted by a competent organization and might be starting QB material. We have never had a coaching staff capable of developing young players. When you're in a situation like that, quite honestly, we could have every single first round pick in a single draft and STILL strike out most of the time.

They are going to get picked apart the next two weeks. Arians and Belichick are in a completely different league from the bobsey twins. I hope they retain Rex through the entire season. I want to truly bottom out and get the first overall pick. We just honored one of those guys tonight.

Absolutely pathetic. Every time Fitz threw the ball, you knew the guy was going to be wide open. The defense is a joke.

"Bills Win"... there's something you'll only see next to a Bud Light can this season...

I too think they are going to go 6-10, but this is one game that sets up well for Buffalo... - They have the Jets' number. - It's the home opener. - Fitz self destructs when in the national spotlight. - It's early in the season and the Bills usually don't self destruct in September (this always happens in October or November). Frankly I was surprised by the number of people who thought we could beat Flacco and the Ravens in Baltimore on opening weekend. This one was set up for a loss IMO since the schedule came out.

unless they have a shot from the other side of the goal line, it's going to be inconclusive.

McCoy looks slow, even when he got that opening.

Taylor is not impressing...

Buffalo BEEOWS! It's like we have our own personal pbp/color commentator. Wilcots is going to get what, half of our games this season?

@Baltimore - L Jets - W Arizona - L @New England - L @Los Angeles - W San Francisco - W @Miami - L New England - L @Seattle - L @Cincinnati - L Jacksonville - L @Oakland - L Pittsburgh - L Cleveland - W Miami - W @Jets - W 6-10. They start 3-3 and then in classic Bills fashion, lose 7 straight in October/November. Then they win the meaningless games in December to knock themselves out of prime draft position. Rex gets canned.

At the very least, this thread possibly would get someone like JW to poke around and see if there is anything to this...

I know I will probably get flamed for this, but... I really like the name change. It's got a Buffalo connection, it's a good name, and it doesn't sound like a complete sell out like "Land Shark Stadium" or "Qualcomm Stadium". Other than "Rich Stadium", this would be my #2 choice. I frankly found it odd that RCW allowed the stadium to be named after him while he was alive. I feel like you should only name things like a stadium after people once they leave the organization, or they pass away. After having called the place "Rich Stadium" for my entire life, it felt awkward to call it "The Ralph". "New Era Field" doesn't feel as awkward for some reason.

OT, but this thread is an example of why I hate it when speculation threads turn into news threads... you have to wade through pages of outdated discussion, leaks, and bickering until you find the spot where the most recent news got reported.

Ranked by % capacity, we are #19: http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance/_/sort/homePct

Well, I think that stat is skewed somewhat because different stadiums have different capacities... I think % capacity would be more interesting to look at. Anyway, I think two things have played into the good attendance numbers over this dark period for the franchise - the fact that the Bills are ingrained into the WNY culture, as well as the continued fears that the team would move away. Now that the second has been resolved for a few years, I will be curious to watch the actual attendance numbers for this season to see if there is any change (assuming the team's performance remains relatively consistent with the recent past).

I would agree. I sat in the M&T club and it's just weird being completely shut off from the crowd. It feels like you're in a bubble. It also doesn't help that you're sitting in the end zone, so you have some of the worst seats in the stadium. That said, the buffet and comp drinks are nice... but it is not a good value. The club seats at the press box level are significantly better.

Honestly, my biggest beef with time management in the NFL are QBs that take timeouts to avoid 5 yard delay of game penalties. Unless it is a critical third down or something, there is absolutely no reason to take the timeout - those are significantly more valuable than 5 yards of field position.

... and of course, Bills are on the clock, so commerical time!

Bills on the clock based on the screen in the auditorium!

Heh, Seattle would have been a match made in heaven.

ESPN has been reading TBD it seems... http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15421505/ryan-fitzpatrick-sit-new-york-jets-budge

This is going to be heard en banc by the second circuit... no way NE* appeals this to SCOTUS. We are not out of the woods yet.

Outside of live sporting events, I stopped watching ESPN about 15 years ago. I'm not sorry that I did.