SouthernMan

Kelly's first regular season opponent in Rich was the Jets. 1986. I was there. Stayed the week in Buffalo and made a stop halfway towards Atlanta the following Sunday, stopping in Cincinnati for Kelly's second regular season game. Lost both.

Yes. You guys are good! Thought for sure I'd get someone saying OJ. The hint was "never indicted". On # 31, I believe JD Williams was the first in a long time to have it. A few others have had it since. Wasn't # 31 the number used on a cartoon drawing of a player for a program or some other marketing thing?

Here's one: What Buffalo Bill, who started in his career with the Bills in the 60's, is widely suspected of killing his ex-wife after she was found dead? It was determined to be homicide. The murder occurred in the 1990's, within a couple year of a contentious divorce? He was eventually held liable in the civil suit but was never indicted for a criminal trial.

I was in my 30's. The Georgia Dome was a little over a year old and had hosted only 2 football seasons for the Falcons. This past Sunday, the Falcons played the last football game there and the stadium is scheduled for demolition. Since then, the Atlanta Braves started playing at a new stadium in 1997. They'll begin playing in a just completed stadium this April. in 1994, I didn't yet have a personal computer at home. I believe I had a Nokia cell phone, but we had to watch our minutes so we didn't run up insane bills. Paid extra for roaming outside of coverage area. I think I shared the cell phone with my wife. No texting, apps, web access, etc. It was A PHONE. Our big TV was a 35" tube TV that weighed a ton and was expensive. We couldn't give it away today. I can get a 55' LED Ultra High Def flat screen for about the same price today. We had to go to sports bars to see the Bills games every week that they weren't shown locally in Atlanta. We've enjoyed watching in the comfort of our living room since Directv in '97. I've moved once (2005), married to the same woman that I'd married 3 months earlier, changed jobs a couple of times, met a huge network of new friends through local musician community 6 years ago, played in tribute band, lost several friends and family members, grayer, fatter, sorer, wiser, sleep in separate rooms now, yet still a Bills fan.

There was a rookie draft pick called Cornelius Bennett whom the Bills traded for on Halloween day, 1987. Hadn't played a single snap in the NFL up to that point, but signed a contract and played immediately after the trade. Made huge impact in his first game in a Bills uniform and continued to play at a high level. We don' need no stinkin' trainin' camp! Who knows? Lawson may take time to get oriented, or he may just jump in and make his presence felt right away.

John Brodie was the QB for the 49ers in 1972 when the Bills beat a pre-merger NFL team for the first time. I was at that game, played in War Memorial Stadium.

Getting a little football fever, I pulled up some of the Bills games that were DVR'd last season. This is not by any means a scientific analysis - just my observation and opinion following a couple hours of review...... Taylor is at present, an o.k. quarterback - nothing special. His quickness on his feet are his best asset. His timing is not great following the snap (holds the ball too long), he's not consistently accurate with his passes, doesn't possess very good field vision, his decision-making is dubious. Sure, he had some moments that show potential, but he's not there, based on his 2015 performance. It's my belief that Taylor's agent wants a better deal and extension now because the very real possibility that Taylor may regress, or at least have another season of average play. The Bills have no need to re-do Taylor's deal. They're in the driver's seat on this one. Based on the existing and known past performances of Taylor, it wouldn't surprise me if the Bills take a QB early in the draft as a bit of insurance. IF they think it's a good value, I wouldn't be shocked if it was the 1st rounder - though I don't know there will be a QB at 19 worthy of that pick. I don't think they have complete faith TT being the future of the franchise. He still has to show a lot more than he has so far. At any rate, TT's agent has zero leverage at this time in regard to trying to get a new deal for Taylor.

The only way it's worth it if there is a way to prove the trade of picks and choice of Sammy Watkins translates into more wins, playoffs, championships. There's no real way to tell. The question for me is, could we have picked another WR or equal impact player at # 9, and had a second impact player in 2015 at #19? What we now possess is a highly talented WR who has sustained injuries in 2 consecutive seasons that kept him off the field and who doesn't have a Tom Brady caliber QB throwing to him. Having a middle of the road QB with limited experience diminishes the value and impact that a star WR gives to the team. Would the Bills have gained more by selecting a player with potential to be a dominating RT or LB? I don't know. It's possible the Bills could have had a WR like Beckham, drafted a top edge rusher, safety, or LB in 2015, leaving the 2016 1st rounder available for a different need position - possibly #2 receiver or RT. It's impossible to measure at this point. If the Bills never get to double digit wins, continue to miss the playoffs, and Watkins becomes a FA in 3 years, it could be viewed as a wasted move. The simplest way to guage it is asking: Is Watkins + no 2015 1st Rd pick more likely to get the Bills into contention than (e.g.) Beckham + 2015 1st Rd. If Watkins stays healthy and is complimented by other offensive players who can make plays, it will turn out to be a good trade. If he's doubled up and nobody else is getting them into the end zone, it was a waste.

It could be that factors other than just the game played on the field were considered. The cloud hanging over the event with the ongoing news of the emerging gulf war and magnified patriotism in America surrounding the spectacle may have factored into the ranking. The emotion felt before and during that game probably played into it.

This is exactly my thought. Glad someone finally said it. For all the talk about effective ways to stop Brady and Gronk, the Bills best chance is to keep them out of the equation as much as possible. The Bills need to have sustained, clock-eating drives that result in points. Use Felton or 2 best TE to block for McCoy and Karlos and grind it out. I totally disagree with the other viewpoints that suggests blitz, blitz, blitz. Committing half the defense to blitzing Brady is a waste of manpower when the guy gets rid of the ball in under 2 seconds. Instead, why not take a page out of Belichick's superbowl XXV playbook and go with 6 or 7 DBs flooding the zones and go with a 3 man rush. Dare them to run. If the Bills can get points off of sustain drives, make plays on special teams, and avoid stupid penalties, they might have a chance. If they let Brady have his way and rely on TT to play catch up, it could be a long night.

Watching the early part of the Jet/Patriots game and see a Jet receiver in the endzone, arms extended, ball placed perfectly...but just prior to ball reaching his hands, Patriot defender chops Jet receiver's left arm, making his hands scissor so he couldn't make the catch. Line judge is right there. No call! Jets settle for FG. If the roles were reversed, guarantee PI would have been called. Making it worse, the talking head commentators doing the broadcast credit the Pats defender with making a great play! I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but the breaks the Pats get on a regular basis has to make me wonder if there isn't incentive for the NFL to rig games. Without the PI on Robey, the Bills would more than likely have won today's game. One game in a 16 game schedule can be the difference between post season play or not being there. In hindsight after the season ends, the Robey call may turn out to be the difference (especially against an AFC team) between making the playoffs. side note: EJ sucked in the early going, but it's a 60 minute game, and EJ did enough in the 2nd half to put them ahead after being down by 24. The Robey non-call and consecutive Hughes non-holding call made the difference IMO.

I've been searching for the steps that need to be taken in order to view the Oct 25 game through Yahoo. I've yet to see how we go about it. It's on-line. I get that part of it. So, my computer is on....now what? Do we need to download a specific app, or is there a portal or link through Yahoo's main homepage? Do we need to create a new log-in, even if we already have a Yahoo login for email, etc.? Anyone have an idea how good or poor the quality will be? Will there be buffering or bandwidth issues? I assume we could use HDMI, USB, AVG interfaces from laptops to connect to our TVs - correct? All in all, this whole thing blows. This should have been in Jacksonville - a game I could have easily driven to and bought affordable tickets for. Figures - the Bills would be in the first and only NFL game I won't be able to just enjoy from my comfortable den with DVR/pause/rewind/time delay. And 9:30am??? WTF - bagels and scrambled eggs tailgate at 7am !?! Anyone have a link to walk us through the protocol so we can watch in real time?

The truth is this team is not as good as they've been portrayed by the media and fans. The defensive line is supposed to be the anchor of a great team, but they look very average. Maybe age is catching up with Kyle and Mario and they peaked the last two years. Or maybe, everyone is depending on "the other guys" to make plays instead of each one giving it their all. Other than Icognito, the offensive line is average or maybe even slightly below average. The receivers aren't fighting for the ball or making the tough catches that championship teams (Patriots) make. Not convinced Karlos is an every down RB, though he has raw talent that can be developed. Too many missed tackles. Our "money" kicker has been inconsistent. Somebody remind me why a roster spot is taken by Thigpen. Maybe the least effective return man the Bills have had in years. Tyrod has the skills to be a very good QB, but he still needs the support around him and more experience reading defenses and finding open receivers. Just once, I'd love to see an nice interception or punt/kick return that wasn't negated by a holding or blocking in the back penalty. Too many bone-headed penalties and plays. With time a factor in Giants game, why the hell was Woods fighting for extra inches instead of getting out of bounds. Instead he gets stood up, keeps his feet inching forward just enough to not have the whistle blown while two Giants use that stupidity to their advantage and wrestle the ball from him. Duh. They've been out-coached twice in four games. The defense is not playing nearly as well as it did under Schwartz, or Pettine for that matter. On the plus side, the secondary has exceeded expectations and is a solid unit, despite being without a top corner. Schmidt has done a great job punting. I'm not convinced they have the talent to be considered a playoff contender. They have 12 games to play in the regular season, 7 of which are on the road after falling to 1-2 at home. Sound like a team bound for post season action? It's football season, and like all of you, I look forward to watching the Bills games. But I don't watch them through rose-colored glasses. They're an average team. I stand by my preseason prediction of 8-8. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Thanks for answering the question. I'm always a little suspicious when the flag come flying out only after it was clear Buffalo recovered and the play was over.

Forgive me if this was answered previously....was there ever an answer as to which Bill was called for the holding penalty on the strip-sack that was called back? Any evidence on the All-22? Fortunately, it didn't effect the outcome of the game, but if officiating is that poor, there may come a time when it does make a difference.