Lv-Bills

That's the only point I was also thinking of. Could they have beaten the 9er's. I'd still say yes, although it could have went either way. I personally don't think much would have changed with the Cowboys not having Emmitt.

Most likely. If Timmy Smith can win it in Washington behind the hogs, an average runner, who would become better than average behind that line, would easily have lead those Dallas teams to SB's. Their line wore down opponents every week. Aikman had just as much time to throw as Brady does today. Best line ever.

THe Dallas line was better than Emmitt Smith, period. Of course Smith had skills, AND, longevity. Without that line though, E. Smith, Aikman and Irvin would be reduced to good, not great, players. That Dallas line was incredible period. Replacing Thomas with Smith would have done zero to help the Bills. If anything, it might have hurt them a bit because Smith wasn't as good a pass catcher as Thomas.

You've gotta be kidding me. The Dallas offensive line was one of the best in NFL history. The Bills would have been the same team with Smith. Give the Bills the Dallas O-line and they would have most likely won all 4 Super Bowls.

Ummm, no because Troy Brown is nowhere close to the player that Thurman Thomas was. Hell, Brown has been trying to leave NE for years, only for no other team to really show any significant interest, so that he usually ends up re-signing with NE. TB <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<TT Although...... TB > RJ

Cougars

I personally don't think so. The NFL is wildly popular. It's almost ridiculous. Toronto wants a team of their own. Period. They'll make their case by selling these games regardless. I would bet that if these tix didn't sell, Rogers would gobble them up and give them away to make it appear that tickets are wildly popular in Toronto. Although, it won't come to that. This is also their chance to stand on our national stage. They know the US could really, overall, care less about hockey, baseball, or the NBA......but football makes them legit. They want in. Their potential owners seem like dickheads, ala, the Canadian versions of Jerry Jones and Danny Snyder, and seem like the kind of guys that would stick to their CFL counterparts in a minute if they could join the NFL. The novelty would be there if this was a sport with passive interest.....but this is the NFL. Much different.

How are they not selling when they haven't been placed on sale yet? Actually your headline kind of excited me until I read the article. They have about 20,000 people signed up to purchase/receive info about tickets when they go on sale. Hell, that will probably garner about 40,000 tickets right there. That doesn't include Argo's ticket holders who don't have to join that list. Nor, does it include corporations. Add to this, one of the smallest stadiums in the league, and there will most likely be a waiting list for tickets. Unfortunately, this will be an overwhelming success. Especially considering, there isn't even any info out yet about the tickets package.

He was hurt, coming off of a major injury at the start of last season. He played the middle portion of the season for Detroit and was medicore, albeit in a Mike Martz system. Then, at the end of last season he endured yet another major injury and missed more games. He's damaged goods.....period.

I think RF, even at this time last year, was in a very small population of people that thought Leonard was better than Peterson and Lynch. But I mean, cmon man. lol Had to revive that one.

That a new Bryant Johnson thread will be accepted.

Hang on to whatever kind of desparation you need to man. LOL. Biggest whiner hockey fans in the league. Especially for having such a good team. It's a shame.

All the assanine analysis aside, from Sabre "experts" about my team......we can only hope this game is as good as the last one between these two teams.

I don't know to quote everything, so I'll just go paragraph by paragraph. Did anyone say anything about their first playoff series? Hell, I'm not sure the Pens can beat Ottawa THIS year, if we slide into the 4 or 5 hole in the Easetern Conference. I mean, you have some pretty established teams that will be taking on a teenage Penguins team. I mean, I would expect the Sens and Sabres to be better at this point, but the Penguins are at the door as we speak, and they are ready to beat the door down. Our teenagers made need a year of season first. LOL. The salary cap has already gone up. By the time the Pens have to seriously re-purchase the services of their stars, there should be more room to do it. I'm not saying it's going to be enough, but there will be room. I mean, no schitt, who the hell doesn't know this. The is the biggest concern in Pittsburgh at the moment. It's a huge concern, because everyone watching this team grow up, knows that it strikes eery resemblance to the 90's Pens. The cap could be the killer. The amount of punishment Crosby is taking now is high. However, it's not as high as it would have been over the past ten years. And yet, these teenage kids are still putting up gaudy numbers in spite of that. Wait until maturity hits, a little more bulk, and seasoning. These skill players are only goint to get better. Yeah OK, we are talking about Crosby and Malkin, not ERIC STAAL. Jordan Staal is a bit of a surprise. Everyone knows that. But the things he's able to do with the puck show that he is talented beyond most draft picks. His ability to kill penalties and score shorthanded is unreal. And I'll make sure I'll write down that the Pens will be lucky to have ONE of these guys on our roster years from now. I'm pretty Sidney Crosby will be here a long long time. Especially since he lives with the owner. I'll take my chances. LOL And yeah, I could care less about pretty goals. But, the fact that they are pretty shows their talent level, already. THEY ARE ALL BARELY ABOVE HIGH SCHOOL AGE KIDS. They are all teenagers. The Penguins have a stockpile of playmaking teenagers, which means the future is bright. This Penguins team, as a bunch of teenagers, are already in the upper echelon of the NHL. If you take out their slow start this year, you could argue that they are already the best team in the NHL. Although I don't think that, you could say that. Hard to win a cup? Of course it is. Stocked and built to win a Stanley Cup? Well, let's see, when a core group of teenagers dominate a pro sports league, well hell yeah, I think it's reasonable to think this team is destined to do some great things. There might not have been a salary cap back then, but the Pens were considered a large market "type" of team when Howard Baldwin bought them. He bankrolled the PEns like they were the Rangers and then sent them into bankruptcy from it. Thank god though, because those Pens teams were terrific. And I know I'm right about a little bit of Mullen, etc. Points in that era of the NHL were about as easy to come by as fat kids at a McDonald's birthday party. The reason the Penguins were able to get over the top were because of additions like Ulf Samuelson, Rick Tocchet, and the like. Phil Borque was the only Penguin, from those teams, that would go into the corner and scrap for the puck. Even Kjell Samuleson and those types of players were invaluable to the Pens, because it let their top two lines play freely. Guys like Mullen, and some of the other guys (different positions) who played the point were devasting only because of Lemieux commanding so much space on the ice. Jagr also created them space. And Ronny Francis was one of the greatest Pens, back then, at winning faceoffs. It's pretty amazing that no one won anything without Lemieux. The Pens teams without Lemieux, were second round playoff losers consistently. Stevens, Brown and the like, fell off of the face of the Earth when Lemieux was out of the picture. It's even more so proven when Lemiuex came back in 2001, and the Pens rode the 95 year old superstar back to the Eastern Conference Finals. With Jagr and Francis, the Pens suffered a bit. The early 90's Pens power play was so devastating that defenseman used to pile up points playing out at the point. It's easy to see why they piled up so many stats. Guys like Coffey and those caliber players came and went.......but until they got some pluggers, those Penguin teams weren't as dominant. The current Phil Borque is more like Ruutu. Not Orpik. Again, Brian Trottier on our Pens team is laughable. Yeah, I'm sure they couldn't have done it without him. He was definately the key. No, it was kind of because Barrasso really wasn't a GREAT goaltender. Period. With all of these hall of famers in front of him, you'd think he would have done a tad better. Actually Tommy B was considered inconsistent. I mean, he ask any Pens fan about the Islanders in game 7 from the blue line. Tommy B was average. Not that Wregget was better, but Tommy B wasn't anything to write home about either. Very Over-rated.

Don't have one, but I can say what I did with the four extra tickets we bought in 2002 when they played the Wings in the finals. I did about $1600 for four of them. Two games a piece, from a doctor from the Red Wings message boards. Two Stanley Cups finals games in Raleigh.......a total of eight seats sold.......$3200. To me, that's enough to long for another Carolina Stanley Cup series. No such luck last year vs. Edmonton. God bless Wings fans!!! My Bills, bar themed gameroom, in my basement is still thanking me to this day!

Great News. Now, let's hope they buy up a couple of luxury boxes over at The Ralph!!!!

LOL. Oops! Oh well, I may have flunked out of English class, but at least I have two Stanley Cup Champs T-shirts! MIRROR dammit!

This is right on 100%. But their services will be locked up for a little while. In that time, we are hoping the cap will go up just enough to keep them. Who knows, but you are 100% correct, the only thing that will wreck this team from being a dynasty is the salary cap. I have a weird feeling, although nothing has indicated this, that Malkin is going to want to seperate himself from Crosby and prove he is just as good someday. Juat my gut feeling. Legit point!

This team is a mere image, albeit younger, of that team. This Penguins team is already good, and young. Lemieux's Penguins took years to become the team that dominated the NHL for a few years. That Pens team had a core of Lemiuex, Jagr and Francis. Period. There was a little bit of Mullen, Stevens, and Murphy sprinkled in. Guys like Coffey were there briefly, along with Ulf Samuleson and Rick Tocchet. If anything, your argument would have been better if you would have mentioned Robbie Brown and the plugger Phil Borque in that bunch. The fact that you mentioned Brian Trottier is laughable as he was about 90 yrs old when with the Pens. Tommy B was the beneficiary of the offensive skill in front of him. Period. He might have been one the most over-rated goaltenders of all time. The Penguins used to win many games 10-7, 8-6, 6-5 back then. As a matter of fact, and I think unjustified, a lot of Burgh fans sometimes called for Ken Wregget to be in goal instead of Barrasso. Anyway, this current team is already better at a MUCH MUCH younger age. When you add a new arena, the Pens will able not only keep alot of these guys, but also add some new one's that will be like Paul Coffey, Samuelson and Tocchet. Sergei Gonchar is already thriving because of the young talent in front of him. No one will be Paul Coffey though. The things Penguins fans are seeing now are uncanny of things those early 90's teams used to do. Crosby will take Lemieux's place in Pittsburgh lore in terms of statistical achievement. I don't think Crosby will be quite as good as Mario, however, if he stays healthy, he will surpass and reset many of Mario's records. Mario was hurt A LOT. Malkin, in most Burgh fans opinion will be better than Jagr. Malkin has an incredible shot. This guy has a knack for scoring Mario-esque goals already. He has a lot to learn yet, but his flashes of brialliance are already just as bright as Jagr's were. Jordan Staal also comes from a great hockey pedigree and is arguably already as good as Malkin. These guys are all 20 years old or younger, and at certain times are dominating the NHL. Admittedly, the new Pens GM Ray Shero didn't think they would be good this fast. So, after this season, expect Pittsburgh to add your guys like Paul Coffey, Ulffy, Tochett, and the like. The new trio of Crosby, Malkin, and Staal could easily eclipse what Mario, Jagr and Francis were able to do. Mario's health wrecked alot of the Pens plans back then.......if this trio stays healthy, the Pens will be adding more cups than that 90's group. It's been a long time since, essentially, a bunch of teenagers have made the rest of the NHL look silly. Sky's the limit!

Again numbnuts, who the fugg swapped teams? We went down there to root on Ronny Francis in 2002, with Penguins jerseys on. We liked it. When our team wasn't in the playoffs last year, we went again. And rooted for the home team. I still call Pittsburgh "home", just like you. LOL. Unreal. We went for the atmosphere. The atmosphere in Raleigh was good. Instead of sitting around picking our ass in 80 degree heat in May, and heading for a local bar or Hall and Oates concert....we went and watched hockey. Low and behold, we actually let ourselves and had fun. We also rooted for the home team. I haven't paid attention to them any this year. Matter of fact, I didn't pay attention to them last year, until the playoffs. Your philosophy isn't unique to WNY'ers.......that's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. But when a bunch of transplanted Pittsburghers have a choice in May and the only sprorting events going on in the region are Nats or O's baseball, or playoff hockey......well, gee Elmer, sorry we went down to Raleigh and rooted for the home team. When this current Pens team doesn't make the playoffs again (which should be about 2022), we'll choose to go to a Nats game instead. But of course, we won't let ourselves have fun if they aren't playing the Pirates.

It barely works for hockey because hockey isn't as popular. Period. As a matter of fact, it's not even close. And I still think the Canadian fan base of the Bills is smallish. I have absolutely nothign against Canada. I stay over there most Bills home weekends. However, a Toronto team would not kill Buffalo. Buffalo is killing Buffalo. And yes, there would be a mass exodus of football fans going to back and forth to games. Football is a different animal than hockey. If the Bills were decent at all, and Toronto wasn't selling it's tickets, there would be a huge exodus of Bills fan heading up there to see that game. Don't know how accurate this is/was, but about 6 years ago, I knew the assistant season ticket manager up there (Jason Andreef). He told me that, at that time, the estimated Canadian fans at Bills games were less than 5,000. The season ticket numbers were around 2,000. I think, though, this is before the Bills really starting marekting big time in Southern Ontario. Don't know how accurate that is, or even was back then. When you simply go across the border, as close as even Niagara Falls....no one has NFL gear on. The games shown on TV aren't really being watched all that much. There is almost zero coverage on their TV stations, as all that is on is hockey. There is a huge difference as soon as you cross the border. I actually think a team in Toronto would enhance the NFL in Southern Ontario. As it is right now, the Bills winning a little more, and having some direction would fill the stadium again, and a team in Toronto wouldn't effect that one bit, IMO.

I don't agree with this whatsoever. If the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts moved, there is no doubt the Bills could move one day. On a side note though, I am one, in the minority I think, that wished the NFL would expand. I hate divisions only having four teams. I wish they would have 5 personally. I also wish Toronto would be one of the expansion teams. I think they'd make a great rival with the Bills, and those two games would sellout every year in both stadiums. While our friends to the north help the Bills in attendance, I don't think it's as much as some make it out to be. A franchise in Toronto, IMO, would help the Bills. We'd be down to only having to worry about selling out 7 games per year. That wouldn't be hard at all.

No Prob....thanks!

.......is that, even with the new revenue sharing plan, it seems that Ralph wasn't able to change the qualifier that if someone were to purchase the Bills, that new owner wouldn't qualify for revenue sharing. At Ralph's age, that is troubling. A new Bills owner, who would try to keep the team in Buffalo could struggle prety bad, unless he moves the team. That could be the one that comes back to bite us all in the ass.