MattM

Kraft bought the team in '94. They had a losing record the previous season, but brought in Parcells in '94 (hence the optimism/ticket sales) and then went 10-6 and made the playoffs in '94, thereby stoking the fanbase's optimism for '95 when they had a losing season, the years following which they had winning seasons and went to a Super Bowl. All in a metro area of 5 million people. Not selling out there would be kind of like the Jets or Giants not selling out (which rarely happens). See, it's not so hard if you keep up.....

You just made my case for me there if Kraft had nothing to do with Parcells. It's pretty clear (at least to me), that the Parcells hire is what largely drove those ticket sales. Bringing in a HOF coach will tend to do that. Fans don't give a crap who the owner is (and I'd wager at least 20% of seated fans in some cities couldn't even name theirs). Winning (and the increased chances of winning, like the next year coming off that 10-6 record and playoff appearance) tends to put fannies in seats. Hiring a HOF coach tends to increase your chances of winning. Not that tough to see. Let's see where their ticket sales go after they go 4-12 for a couple of years in a row.

They also went 10-6 that year and, more importantly, had brought in Bill Parcells as coach (much more likely to draw in fans than a change in ownership, although admittedly Kraft hired Parcells). Let's see how they do once the winning stops, Bob Kraft or no. And I don't know what to tell you if you can't figure out why it might be easier to sell 70,000 seats in a 5 million person metro area vs a 1 million person metro area.

Interesting "weak sauce" sleuthing on the true origins of our "guest". Looks like that term wasn't used before 2004, so we've either got the hippest grandpa around gracing our threads or a guy living in mom's basement watching Adult Swim--I'll let you make the call-// https://www.quora.com/Where-did-the-phrase-weak-sauce-come-from

Go !@#$ yourself. I lived in Boston (really Cambridge--you do that math) back then. Nary a Pats* fan to be found. Nothing like winning to bring out the "true fans". I loved the story here a few years back of a Bills fan winning Patriot* trivia bets with Pate* "fans" who couldn't even tell him who their starting QB was in the '85 SB......

RIP--like most others here, I, too really liked his work, The stories about his battling depression are incredibly sad and troubling. Here's hoping he's at peace....

It wasn't the arrival of a new owner--it was winning. Biggest bandwagon fan base in sports, as we'll see as soon as Brady retires (or, hopefully, even before then--it would be nice to see some payback for things like his love of blowing out opponents (read his Esquire interview from a few years back)). We both know that the Bills could consistently put a loser on the field and still not dip below 30k in season ticket sales, once again, in a city about a quarter the sour of Beantown.

And just a few years before that, they had less than 20,000 season ticket holders, in a city probably about 5 times the size of Buffalo.....

And if they aren't, they should be. Even scarier to them is the idea that the player pipeline dries up more slowly over the years as fewer kids play the sport, kind of like boxing's slow fall 50-60 years ago.....

I think he's (in my mind, correctly) worried about losing him at the same time we lose KW, which would mean that if something should also happen to Shady during camp we'd be back to the undrafted FA, waiver wire guys starting at RB. For a run first team, that's not ideal generally, but particularly not a great way to start the season. Considering how well Whaley's done with mid-rounders (like KW) the last few years, some of us are also very interested to see how someone like JW (a high talent mid-round pick at a devalued position who slipped largely due to injury concerns) was going to fit with our rushing attack. Personally, if I had to guess, I'd say JW's case doesn't go to trial until at least our bye week. The system isn't set up to try people in a month as a general matter and considering that JW lives and works in another state I'd bet the judge allows things to slip back until then, when JW will have the time to go back to AR. We'll see in time what happens.

Ahh, Joe Gibbs. One of the several coaches that BB took his getting caught in Spygate frustration out on during their 18 and D'oh season by needlessly and embarrassingly running up the score. Here's hoping that what goes around, comes around and that we're among the ones (hopefully many) doing the piling on.....

What's kind of funny is how he always takes the exact opposite tack when it's players from a certain team from the Boston area with a reputation for, how shall I say this delicately, CHEATING.....

Hey, WEO--how's that Alfonzo Dennard suspension looking? You surely remember that--the Pats* DB with a bunch of priors who got popped with a DWI just like JW here at about the same time of the season and who NEVER got suspended, much less immediately. Not even when he pled out in Dec that year. Seems that with Browners PED suspension and injuries early that season the Cheats needed him to play the beginning of the year, maybe that explains it. Admittedly that was before the 2014 rule change, but once again, to paraphrase Orwell, while all teams are equal, some teams are more equal than others.....

Or maybe Tommy Boy sees more than his old buddy, Alex? Ever wonder who Dr. Galea was visiting in Boston the summer after Tommy's knee injury? I know I certainly wonder about that.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/05/AR2010060503547.html

Maybe they, too, are clients of Alex Guerrerro, the medical genius with a degree from some night school you've never heard of who the FTC tagged for peddling alleged cancer cures using phony (as in nonexistent) medical studies. He's just so much smarter than the medical community that it's outrageous.....

I just want to know if he has a lunch pail, like 3rd round OSU DT picks of yore....

I think they're planning to use their good luck quotient on the WR position by bringing in several vets who have produced elsewhere before, albeit in limited roles.

Could be wrong, but buried in the extension thread, I thought someone said $3m savings this year.

I saw that, too, and was also impressed. Seems like a good kid.

My bad on the title of the thread--can one of the mods fix that, as I don't seem to be able to edit the topic title?

Wasn't Robey an UDFA? Or am I misremembering (always possible)?

Discuss

We basically only lost Hogan (inconsistent 3rd receiver) off last year's 13th ranked O. I think they're counting on (a) the natural improvement that comes from familiarity with a new system, especially for TT, who will get all the starter snaps in TC to boot, (b) the maturation of young guys like Sammy, Karlos and Miller and © everyone getting and staying healthy (we had huge injuries on that side of the ball last year), plus (d) one of the "once showed promise" FA receivers to step up and produce as our 2/3 receiver. If we get most of that, I'd say that's enough to push us into the Top 10 on O. Add these pieces to the D and I actually kind of like our chances next season if we stay healthy....

We both also know that even if the Bills were to go 0-16 back to back years, we'd still sell 30k season tickets, all in a city with about 20% of Boston's population. Personally, I predict we'll find out how fair weather Boston fans are once again as soon as Brady retires.....

I lived there from '88-91. Around that time the Pats* had 19k season ticket holders, in a city 5x the size of Buffalo....,