The Big Cat

Haha, right. I was just warding against the lunatic fringe using these photos and the odd furniture arrangements as fodder to flame a guy who--undoubtedly--will provide plenty of opportunities to do so, once football actually begins.

Well, first off, we're all well aware that this isn't Marrone's furnishings, but the seller's, yes?

First the coaches: One of the things that used to drive me nuts about Gailey was how it seemed--even 3/4 of the way through a season the team was still "learning," "improving," "installing," etc. Now, I understand that no coach will ever get on the mic, or even say to his team, boys, we've arrived, the time for improvement is over, you're just the fine way you are. That much is clear, but Gailey seemed to have a 3 year plan that was taking 8 years to execute. Marrone basically said in his interview with Murph last week that his approach is the exact opposite, and I love that. From the players: Firstly, they're saying the same thing: "this is not rebuilding," "we're hear to win a Super Bowl," "we'll be ready day one." Tough to argue with that attitude. Likewise-- Of the prior regime, there has been A LOT of damning-by-proxy. The "tempo" has changed. There's more "enthusiasm." There's more "energy." There's more "excitement." I take this to mean one of two things: Marrone's crew is as advertised, which is to say--he's got a reputation for being a no-nonsense, straight shooting guy with high expectations for his players (aka Capt. Culture Changer). Gailey and Co. were a bona fide snooze fest, and based off some very reliable player-intel I've received, that's likely to have been the case. I haven't seen much talk around here re: the sound bytes that have been coming out of OBD since last week's OTA's, so I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks. NOW: It's so easy to get swept up in blind optimism during a regime-transition, yes. But I gotta feeling about these guys. I truly believe the tides have turned. GO BILLS! :w00t: :w00t: P.S. Cue the "they haven't played any games yet" crowd and the "realists" with their "I'll believe it when I see it" chorus.

streetview or GTFO

Thank you for giving me a more specific tree to sniff out, I'll keep you guys posted! And since the client code data already exists in a spreadsheet, yes, I can copy/paste that into a separate worksheet.

I think you've portrayed the counter-argument unfairly here, and I've already said several times that mind is open to change, once Stevie does something to change it. (I'm hoping this thread makes it to 20 pages) But seriously, I understand both sides of the argument, and don't wish to discredit your points, but that's not the position taken by the "pro-Stevie" group (as if there's a breathing Bills fan who's anti-Stevie )

I could probably take to googles for this, but I don't know if my language is precise enough. I want to set up some conditional formulas in excel that relate column to column so that: IF column a = THEN column b = Is this possible text to number, and can it be done visa versa? Here's the application: For billing, we have client codes and client abbreviations for our time sheets, each in their own side-by-side columns. Rather consult ye-olde code guide very Friday while I'm finalizing my sheet, I'd love to be able to type in the code and have the abbreviation populate or visa versa. Possible?

I made this last year after week one, and it's a bit of a departure from the specific meme, more meme-ish in general, but it's still fun:

Do you remember when Stevie dressed up like Chan for Halloween and Chan's reaction was...less than enthusiastic? Methinks Stevie really knows how to get under his coach's skin. There's no chance Marrone cuts him between now and Christmas, and may be Marrone's style will force the guy to wise up a bit. To a man, all the players present at OTA's have marveled at the change of "tone" and "tempo" at OBD. Perhaps it's an envelope Stevie knows not to push...

No.

hahahah, you can't just change a hypothetical! Jesus, this is like arguing with my wife!

And so long as he displays the same immature behavior, there's evidence to suggest he still has the potential for the same on-field boneheadedness we've seen before. So long we agree that his antics are--at the very least--tangentially related to some of his on-field blunders (and btw, lord knows how he's received in the locker room and in practice, so in that sense, we're all giving him the benefit of the doubt that it's strictly tied to game behavior), then as long as the antics persist, so too might the dumb **** when it counts. Mr. X is a problem drinker. He's gotten drunk a bunch of time and wrecked his car. Mr. X hasn't wrecked his car in awhile, but he still drinks like a fish. Mr. X is your best friend, are you completely fine with his drinking habits, knowing full well he still drives as much as he used to?

Because his lack of maturity and focus has manifested itself on the field...do you think that it has not?

If you've missed it by now, then hope is lost.

If it's Warmack, it'll be the first (and to date only) sign that Buddy's hand is no longer on the tiller.

Consider me wildly indifferent about Kevin Kolb. But I stick by our guys through thick and thin. Don't let my outspokenness about Stevie's immaturity fool you, I looooooooooooooooooooooove everyone who puts on that Bills jersey, no questions asked. That said, I'll repeat what I said on the matter last weekend: with a better defense, Fitzpatrick would have gotten us to the playoffs last year. Of this I'm convinced. He was not good enough to overcome our hilariously poor defense, and we were paying too much for that, so off he went. I fully expect our 2013 defense to be that much better. Unfortunately, our schedule this year is harder. But, this defense last year would have gotten us to the playoffs--that's how optimistic I am. In other words, I think Kolb is inheriting a wildly better situation, but I don't expect him to perform wildly better than Fitz did/would have. By the CBA, correct. Again, listen to Murph's conversation with Kaplan. And then listen to his conversation with Aaron Williams who says his confidence tanked in Week 3 last year, and he never recovered--that he knows he must do better, that last year was simply unacceptable. So, at the very least, he's a master of the obvious!

Then give and take a little yourself and read what others are writing. It's not about A tweet. It's about a series of incidents of Stevie acting like a clownish bone head.

All you need is something heavy to break stones. To burn them? Now we're talking about something abnormally hot.

I encourage any doubting toms to listen to Murhp's interview with Caplan about Kolb's strengths.

Stoneburner is about as badass as a last name gets.

Well, here it is. I think it does affect Stevie's work, because I think there are times--and I'm not saying all the time--that he's more concerned with putting on a little show (on and off the field), and it clouds his concentration on the field. Yes, he has put up some impressive numbers of the past three years--better than any Bills receiver ever. But, we're all aware recent inflation of passing statistics, so I take his numbers (playing for a ****ty team nonetheless) with a grain of salt. But I digress. The following is my own interpretation and based on observations I made two years ago: When Stevie dropped the OT pass against Pittsburgh, he got on the microphone post-game and put on a little show. It looked like he was trying to force some tears, and he had this incredibly self-indulgent narrative queued up about the "young guy comin' up" etc etc. I remember watching it and thinking he came across as severely self-absorbed and ungenuine. SINCE then, I have been looking for patterns of behavior to change my impression of the man. I'm a Bills fan, a hopelessly optimistic one. For the past four years I've predicted 12-4 or 14-2 seasons...with a straight face. I love all our players, and on the "apologist" spectrum, I ping somewhere very distant from "realist"...if you get my drift. But when it comes to Stevie, it's just been one showboating self-promotion after the other. Believe me, I'm grateful for what he's accomplished on the field (although it hasn't amounted to a hill of beans during his tenure here, given the woeful 27-53 record that's resulted from all his "production"). And every time this horse **** bubbles to the surface you have most of the fans saying "oh, take a joke," "oh, he's playful" "oh, he has a personality." but the instances keep piling up, along with the losses, the fines, the 15 yard penalties, and--by his own admission--the wasted resources that may be, just may be could have eked out a few more wins. There's only one person who can change my mind about this, and I don't see him posting here any time soon. I guess I'll repeat it...again...I'm not in the slightest bit offended by the joke--I just think Stevie needs to grow up and not try and be so !@#$ing cute all the time. I believe his Jets joke cost us 15 yards...

I'm wondering how many WNYers don't find fault with this versus us out-of-towners who take enough grief about our lousy team as is.

Marrone (in spite of what folks in the banners thread think) does not work with or for the communications department, so my question goes unanswered. How do you think Bellichick would have responded to: Why so Serious? Tweeting to God Happy New Year I don't work out Let's bomb our rival ?? How come we never see this behavior from Patriots* players...wait...whoops (at least Gronk, though, is tops at his position. Stevie, quite frankly, is not.) I'm not taking this tweet in a vacuum.

If you were Coach Marrone, and you were aware of this recurring pattern of behavior, would you care? Let's not debate whether said pattern exists, for the sake of the hypothetical, let's assume it did...