sullim4

He played well enough to win today, which I think is a major step forward for this team. But, I'm a little concerned that the offense couldn't score touchdowns in the red zone today. You can't kick 5 short-range field goals (and miss another) against a good team and expect to win.

I'd like to see more touchdowns, but what we are seeing is encouraging if they can keep it up week after week.

Ummm.... am I the only one looking at that play and wondering if Watkins fumbled out into the end zone?

These announcers are HORRIBLE. They keep messing up down and distance, keep confusing Spiller with Dixon, and have called the "Bears" the "Bills" on a number of occasions. I mean honestly you could get two random guys off the street and they'd be better than these two clowns.

In the "old" days of 8-10 years ago, I felt like there was a lot more leeway given to posters with respect to creating new threads. I actually liked this a lot, because other forums that I used to frequent (NYYFans, anyone?) turned into 3 or 4 stream-of-consciousness megathreads. It was always a struggle to get news and gauge reaction to it, because you'd end up starting at the end of the thread, and then go back 5-6 pages until you found the first post that broke a particular news story. I can't tell you how much I hate doing that - you end up reading a bunch of comments that 'spoil' the original post you're looking for and it's extremely disincentivizing to do. I'd much rather click on a new thread entitled "Trump drops out of the bidding" instead of needing to click on the "Sale of the team" thread, and then sort through all the irrelevant posts that aren't related to Trump, and then find the post about Trump dropping his bid, if it even exists yet. If there are two clearly duplicate threads? Sure, close/merge the dupes. But, threads still need to have granularity to them if you want to encourage discussion... otherwise yeah, no one is going to bother clicking through mega threads to find the bits and pieces of conversations they'd like to read and contribute to.

I'd be totally fine if they sold the name. Rich Stadium, anyone? Has a certain ring to it.

As has been said in a number of other threads, Pegula initially threw a lot of money at the Sabres, in the hopes that it'd translate into wins. Think Villie Leino and Christian Ehrhoff. He then doubled down on Darcy only to find out that he was one of the problems. The whole LaFontaine thing was pretty bizarre too. I think he realized his mistakes and has them on the right path. Build through the draft, get a good group of core players, pay them if they're good. Supplement that with some solid FA signings once that core is together. I've been happy with Murray so far and I think he was a good choice for GM. With respect to the Bills... I think he leaves the current administration in place to the end of the season. I think Russ is canned no matter what, but Marrone/Whaley's jobs lie with Manuel. I think Terry sticks with them if Manuel demonstrates solid consistency throughout the season. Otherwise I see him cleaning house and starting fresh.

I guess Crayonz, Sammy, and Carl have been busy in their absence from TBD? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2672636/Get-ready-Googlebot-Search-giant-start-selling-humanoid-robo-firefighter-winning-military-robo-olympics-contest.html

I took that train once from Albany. It was a terrible experience - you ended up meeting it at 6am at Albany/Rensselaer and got to the stadium at about a half hour before kickoff via a bus transfer from the Transit Rd station. Then you got right back on to the bus after the game, fought traffic, and took the train back - arriving back in Albany around midnight. The number of drunken fools on that train trip back... my lord... After that, while I still lived in the area, we always drove to the game. Got back around 10pm instead of midnight and didn't need to deal with a ton of riff raff.

We'll see. This is the same guy that spent $7B on aQuantive (and subsequently took a $7B charge on earnings a few years ago as a direct result of this purchase) and wanted to buy Yahoo for $39B back in 2009 (current market cap = $34B). There were a ton of other deals that he made that were duds - I could go through the list but each one was a dud. He's a nice guy - he works out at the pro club in Bellevue with the regular joe-type employees and he ate in the cafe with us... but a good businessman, he is not.

Ballmer is a doofus. I work at Microsoft and have seen his handiwork - he had no business being CEO. He got the position solely because of his connections to Bill Gates. God only knows how he managed to stay for 13 years as CEO. The difference in culture at the company since Satya Nadella took over has been striking - a breath of fresh air. I don't see why his management of the Clippers would be any different. The stupidity begins with the $2B bid for the team.

NFL Ralph Wilson Stadium Giants Stadium Lincoln Financial Field MLB Old Yankee Stadium New Yankee Stadium Shea Stadium Milwaukee County Stadium Jacobs Field PNC Park Veterans Stadium Camden Yards Fenway Park Dodger Stadium Safeco Field NHL TD Garden Madison Square Garden Prudential Center GM Place (Rogers Arena) College Football Giants Stadium (Kickoff Classic) Beaver Stadium Olympics GM Place (Canada Hockey Place)

I gave him a 'D' based on the team's on-field performance. I don't doubt RB's effort. I don't buy the "Russ is cheap" talk (more like Littman is cheap). I think Russ is a good man. If I was judging him solely on his desire and work to keep the franchise in Buffalo, the grade would be higher. But I don't think you can excuse him from the team's poor performance over the last 5 or 6 years. Tom Donahoe was hated by many, including myself, but that game we blew against the Steelers' scrubs in week 17 of 2004 was Donahoe's team and is the closest we have been to the playoffs since the RJ/Flutie era. Brandon's teams haven't gotten to anywhere near that level of success (i.e. controlling your own destiny, even if you fail to clinch, in Week 17). I think a lot of the blame has gone on the coaching and while that blame is deserved, there are several decisions made by RB that have negatively impacted our ability to compete: - Bills in Toronto Series - Team has a ton of dead cap space tied up in players like Fitz. - Inability to sign top FA talent, particularly in the secondary (Clements, Greer, Byrd come to mind). - Making large, "splash" type moves with the little cash Littman gives him. Example number one in my mind is the Terrell Owens signing. - Spending Ralph's money on extending Jauron's contract mid-season. - We still do not have a legitimate, proven, franchise quarterback. The last time we even had a proven quarterback on the roster was ten years ago with Drew Bledsoe. Again, I don't think Brandon is a evil guy like Donahoe. I think he wants to win... but I haven't seen any evidence that things are changing. I feel like the Watkins move is another "splash" - in my mind you only trade to the top 5 of the draft if you're drafting a franchise QB. Watkins is a good player but I wouldn't have spent two #1 picks on him. In my mind, Brandon's job depends on the success of Watkins and the team as a whole... and while I hope the team performs, I still "haven't see the baby" so to speak.

Really hate this trade. Giving up next year's #1 when Evans would have been available at 6 or 7 is foolish. We very likely traded two top-10 picks for #4.

BILLS TRADE WITH CLE!

... but is he worth Stevie Johnson + our first to trade up?

"Selfish acts of these 5 girls"? Seriously? One of the allegations of the suit is that they were groped. Do you seriously believe that whistleblowing about being groped is a selfish act? Would you let your girlfriend or wife be treated that way? If you haven't read the "Grooming Standards" document that was posted a page or two back in this thread, please go ahead and do that. Not only does it read like it was written by a high school drop out, but it crosses the line a number of times. Specifying tampon size and replacement schedule? Don't eat too much bread in public? That document reads like someone who knew they were taking advantage of young women that had dreams of becoming cheerleaders, and in so doing wanted to exert ridiculous amounts of control over their lives.

Anyone notice that we have games on FOX against NFC opponents in NFC stadiums? Both the Bears and the Lions are away games and both are on FOX. Usually that'd be CBS.

Ding ding ding. This is the scenario that they are looking to avoid, and in my experience, is all too common in NFL stadiums. Ideally having cigarettes on your person shouldn't be a problem, but too many jerks ignore the rule, tell complainers to pound sand, and it creates an unnecessary hostile situation. I think the better plan here is to ban them, confiscate cigarettes if found, and eject only if used. I think banning them sends enough of a message that their use will not be tolerated. No need to eject so long as they are not being used.

This is the single biggest deterrent to moving the Bills to LA, and it is the single biggest thing working in favor of moving the team to Toronto. I don't think the relocation fee would apply if the team moved to Toronto since that city is currently considered part of the Bills market. So there's $400 million in savings. I don't know what Toronto's/Ontario's financial situation is, but if they could get an NFL franchise, I could see them funneling public money to a stadium.... so you could see savings there as well. That type of government support is far less likely in LA, where government is up to its ears in debt. If someone with connections to Canada gets the team, I think our best hope as fans is to have the team relocate to Niagara Falls, ON and have ownership build a stadium in the entertainment district there. At least the team would be closer to Buffalo than Toronto.

Honestly I think there's a deal or some sort of arrangement to keep the team here. Everyone with ties to the organization that has discussed this topic in recent years has made it clear the team isn't moving - whether it be Jim Kelly's supposed shadow group, or Russ Brandon's comments every time this topic comes up. Brandon may have a reason to mislead or lie but I don't see Jim Kelly having one. He is the one guy that I truly believe would do anything he could to keep the Bills in Buffalo... why would he do something that didn't further that objective? Kelly is a blowhard but he's a good guy. Gaughan also mentioned in his article something I had forgotten about - Ralph voted against every franchise relocation that's ever come before the owners. I could be completely wrong and the team could go to the highest bidder and move, but if someone offers a few hundred million less to keep the team in Buffalo, I think the estate is likely instructed to take it.

I always feel like he's gonna fumble the ball anytime he catches a pass.

This is typical behavior from a Pete Carroll coached team. He doesn't care about off-the-field behavior. Seattle leads the NFL in the number of PED suspensions since he took over the head coaching position. Given Carroll's past history at USC, this shouldn't be news to anyone... Richard Sherman just happened to put it on display for the entire country to see. Carroll's reaction to the fake punt against the Bills last season in Toronto says everything you need to know. Honestly I don't care about the "playing with class" argument. I think Carroll is the type of guy that looks the other way when he knows his players are breaking the rules (PEDs, cheap shots, etc), and denies it until he's caught with his pants down, at which point he declines to take responsibility and either runs away like he did at USC, or blames someone else. As a transplant living in Puget Sound that roots for an AFC team, I'm a prime candidate to have Seattle as a #2 team, but combine the fair weather fans here with unlikable players and an arrogant SOB as a head coach, and you get something that I'd rather not cheer for. Go Broncos.

I live in greater Seattle and never started rooting for the Seahawks for two reasons: - The city pales as a sports town compared to any east coast city - Buffalo, NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. The fans are almost all bandwagon with just a few exceptions. - Their organization is full of !@#$s, going from the players through the coaching staff. That postgame interview, the multiple drug violations this year, and their sideline's reaction to the fake punt against the Bills last year says a lot about how Carroll runs his ship. Carroll bolting USC after he knew they were getting nailed with NCAA sanctions again says a lot. Go Broncos.

It is definitely an NFL-wide problem. I've seen fights, unruly behavior, etc at the Meadowlands and CenturyLink Field in addition to Buffalo. Seattle is a much different landscape stadium-wise and yet the unruly behavior is still there, though perhaps not to the extent that it is in both Buffalo and East Rutherford. Honestly I fear for my car when I park in Orchard Park because inevitably someone has an open fire pit just a few feet away from my car. There are a few ways to mitigate it. Generally I will only sit in 'good seats' where there's a contingent of long-time season ticket holders that know how to behave. Lately I've been picking up club seats to late season games at a fairly substantial discount off face thanks to a combination of the Bills already being eliminated and season ticket holder Christmas travel plans. The atmosphere in the clubs and on the lower deck inbetween the 40 yard lines tend to be significantly better than anywhere on the upper deck or in the Rockpile. Though I have to admit, being able to sit on my warm living room sofa with a Ninkasi oatmeal stout watching the game on my 52" TV is mighty tempting as opposed to fighting traffic, paying for parking, and getting stuck with drinking an $8 Bud Light makes the decision to buy a ticket to the game seem foolish. The NFL has almost done too good of a job at refining their TV product that their in-stadium product has almost no hope of beating it.