Lurker

With 'GR, do you even have to ask??

Funny. I moved on from Moron a long time ago...

You're using a message board to render a judgement on a player? Good God...

What the hell does that mean? The only 'people' that matter in terms of tolerating the mediocrity at OBD are the ticket buyers. Everyone else is a bystander with no skin in the game, unless you count the pennies per taxpayer Erie County residents shell out for stadium upkeep. I suppose you could make a case that non-ticket holders' sending money Ralph's way via NFL Properties have an iron in the fire, but that's a stretch. Bottom line: people that "consume" a product they don't pay for get to tolerate exactly whatever they're given, whether it's decades of bad football, lousy recorded music, moronic television, half-assed sports radio or Internet message boards...

Why not just play Madden and ignore the NFL altogether. Skip the middle man...

Better just to ignore the buzzing of message boards...

I actually didn't find anything that shocking in Rauch Jr's comments as it was always pretty clear in that era (and maybe all 50 years) that the Bills were a 'hobby' (or toy, as the article says) for Ralph, much like they were for most members of the 'Foolish Club.' He's always treated them in a fantasy football context, rather than a professional business-like manner like the Pat's under Kraft or the Rooney family business of the Steelers. Sad to say, but his legacy will be as an NFL dilettante, despite the HOF jacket...

Boy, I'm a fan of Buddy but that's just not right. Sigh... Yeah, that's the one constant we can always count on at One Bills Drive, unfortunately...

Yep, easy to give up what you never had...

I agree that you generally have guys only for their first contract in the new NFL. Still, how many guys have teams (not just the Bills) burned through in the past few years because they got thrown to the wolves from day 1? I think a 'red shirt' season can still be accepted with 4-year rookie contracts, and that's likely what Spiller, Troup and Carrington were given last year...

Valid point. But perhaps Buddy's "tough **** if I get fired, I'll go back to Tennessee and sit on my porch" approach is what we need...and what Marv was too gentrified to provide...

Curious how you see making the team weaker (the premise of this statement, I presume) is better for Buddy? If anything, I see it as the opposite...that Nix has big enough balls to make the hard decisions to dump the past mediocrity, even if it negatively affects the team's short-term results, in order to build a solid long-term foundation. If anything, Donahoe and Marv were the 'shifters' since they tried to dazzle fans with a magical slight of hand...

Last I checked, a show of hands when you're in the minorty doesn't usually carry the day. Was Buddy a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs sideways? Who knows. I don't, you don't. All we have to go on is his past record of not drafting 'one year wonders' and favoring production over potential. Which would be a pretty telling opinion on Maybin, I'm sure you'll admit. BTW, how come I can't add you to my 'ignore' list anymore since you became a mod??

And that assumes this GM/HC are committed to playing rookies. Both guys are 'old school,' so it's likely not in their nature to rush young draft picks into the lineup at the expense of their long-run development. They seem willing to loose games, rather than follow the 'burn up the new guys to win now' approach of the past few years. We better acknowledge that reality as fans pretty soon..

Which was the whole point of what Gailey seems to have been trying to accomplish. Straight up 1-on-1 situations, with the only objective being to see how certain guys performed (or failed, unfortunately), with not much interest in a W or an L...

Sure you can, if you know what a national scout's role is. He's maybe the 3rd or 4th guy down the totum pole in the personnel department, where decisions are made by committee with the GM, head coach, director of college scouting (and most likely Ralph, unfortunately) having a bigger vote on which guy to take.

Ah, what fond memories...

Too bad (for us) Sully didn't take the Snooze's buyout.

Not too many 6'2" 300 lbs. LT's running around, but what the hey...he's gotta be stronger than Bell.

This is TSW...bitching is what people do. The coaching staff obviously has concerns about the starters and backups on both lines and put them in situations where they didn't "cover up" any weaknesses with game planning. This was a "stress test" plain and simple, and unfortunately, the raw talent level was exposed (as you might expect it would on team coming of a 4-12 season). That said, creative game planning can (and does) allow a lot of holes to be covered up--and this coaching staff seems to have a pretty good handle on how to polish a turd.

Thanks for doing the heavy lifting for the rest of the board...

Whoop. That's been going on for centuries with attractive women...

Sure, no problem...

People have short memories. Sure you would....

I do...