2020 Our Year For Sure

I'm surprised you didn't jump on "soul purpose." You slacking, JBoyst?

I think about the year-long storyline that WCW used to build up to Sting vs. Hogan, the only time Sting drew truly big money...to build it they took Sting out of the ring for over a year. That could never happen in today's environment. Imagine Roman Reigns or Cena or someone not injured, not filming a movie, but actively there building a storyline for a year even while not wrestling and not necessarily showing up every single week. It would never happen- today stories do not get that time to fester because the company is publically traded and constantly thinking about what numbers they'll have to show the shareholders THIS quarter. They need Roman Reigns on television and wrestling every single week. In the early years of Hulkamania, Hogan never wrestled on TV at all. If you wanted to see Hogan wrestle you ordered the PPV. It kept him fresh and kept his matches feeling like a big deal. And he wasn't an Undertaker-like part timer, he was in the Reigns chair carrying the company. Now WWE has 3 hours of Raw to fill every week and you better believe their top full-time stars are wrestling on every show. The result is we see the same matches over and over again (if memory serves, Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston once worked 15+ televised matches in one year), and wrestlers get stale in a year when it used to take a decade. I saw Jessie Ventura interviewed somewhere talking about how he hates the way they stand in the ring face to face and talk and look at each other for 20 minutes. Before there was so much TV time to fill in-between the big matches, that was never the case. The viewer never got to see that. Wrestlers, matches and storylines were kept fresh. If you wanted to see them face-to-face in the ring you ordered the PPV and watched the match. Some of it is the natural way the game has changed as media has changed, some of it is WWE not having the incentive or desire to take risks or shake anything up. Even if more 'seasoned' fans are getting bored, they're not too worried about it. They proved during the Cena years they don't necessarily need everyone to be happy when they're marketing the show to children. Off topic but what gets me the most is how they seem to hold people down. Cesaro for example is an absolute beast. Like Daniel Bryan he was known as a top talent before WWE even called him. He had a 2 of 3 Falls match with Sami Zayn in NXT a few years ago that was just incredible. He's the kind of guy, like a Bryan, who you just let him go out there and wrestle amazing matches and he will get over with the audience just by working his ass off and showing people a wrestling match like they've never seen before. Now Raw has expanded to 3 hours and there's time to burn, but they refuse to just unleash the guy. They refuse to just say "we're going to book you in 20-minute matches with good opponents, go out there and show off your world-class talent." It would be beyond easy to get Cesaro over, its all in the wrestling, he does it himself. They refuse to unleash him. He's always saddled with the Real American thing or the Sheamus thing or he's inexplicably kept off TV or he's jobbing, working an 8-minute match and losing. It seems like they have a few handpicked people who they want to be stars, and if you're not a chosen one then the company is prepared to pull your legs out from under you to keep you in the midcard, and keep the kids focused on Roman Reigns and the like. Paul Heyman said on the Stone Cold podcast that Vince once told him, "all your money is right here, Paul," and he outlined just his face. To Vince, the face is the moneymaker...if you don't have the face then the office doesn't get behind you as a big star who can draw money and carry the business, no matter how well you can act, how much fans like you, how good you are in the ring. Even if wrestling fans all love you, you don't have the face to put on a poster or on a talk show to draw over the crossover fans, the mainstream non-wrestling viewers. So avid wrestling fans who have already seen the pretty faces come and go, and have come to appreciate talent over size or looks, are naturally going to be disappointed by who they decide to push. There's stuff I like don't get me wrong, I try to just appreciate the talent. They have an unbelievable talent roster in my opinion. /rant

I'm getting kinda sick of WWE and their same old ****, starting to get into New Japan. Los Ingobernables de Japon! Seeing Goldberg beat um up again is the coolest thing though. The Broken Hardys act is hilarious too, a little bummed that Impact lost them as I don't get ROH's channel.

This trade would be highway robbery for the Bills. Git r dun Kim

Cool! Man I hope you're right and that is a sign of what's to come.

Is that the infamous BBFS?

How can people read something like this and still think this is an "average starter?" I am bewildered. There's bewilderment.

Good point, though at the same time I would question McDermott's sanity if he watched that film and came away enamored with the QB and eager to make a 3-4 year investment.

Tyrod had the best running game this century and open receivers all over the field. I'm just not buying the 'blame everybody else' thing with Tyrod, he had every opportunity to come through last year.

Tyrod = Kaepernick, roughly. Bills fans have him overrated in my opinion. These types who can't go through progressions well and therefore regularly ignore open receivers in favor of running out of bounds are not worth 30M guaranteed. The worst or one of the worst passing games in the league is not worth 30M guaranteed even if it boosts the running game some. We can grab Kaep for less if that's the kind of "modern," or in other words "limited" or "one-dimensional," offense we want. Kaep actually did better in his first 2 years starting, under Roman, than Tyrod did, and with less pro experience. Neither one is worth Tyrod's contract- they are too limited. The defense beats them by "making them be a quarterback." Don't let your eyes glaze over on the way out, #5.

The question is not "Tyrod or rebuild." The question is "does Tyrod give me a better chance to win than the alternatives?" I see no reason to think that he does. Kaepernick's first two years playing were in the same Greg Roman system and he had less experience than Tyrod, yet Kaepernick did better in terms of both stats and wins and losses. Foles' best season was better than Tyrod's best season and he has also been to the playoffs. These alternatives are perfectly comparable to Tyrod and will come with less investment, making the decision to move on from Tyrod a pretty simple one in my book. Tyrod is replacement-level so no need for the long term investment.

Awesome! Could be a big year for the Bills DL.

We could go the wormhole route, an Einstein-Romo Bridge could theoretically take us to the other side of the Universe where we could find our true franchise QB without interference from the other teams.

Johnny Manziel was a suspension bridge QB.

mrags should go?

Its not worth it, we see this differently. For me the world is not so black and white. but I've punched enough keys over public relations lol. I hope you enjoy the gorgeous weather this weekend!

:lol:

I'd tell Kyle you're great and we'd love to have ya back, then let him decide. If he wants to come back then awesome, if he'd prefer to be released or traded or to retire then thank you for your service and best of luck. We could have a strong pass rush again with McDermott putting KW, Dareus and Hughes back into a position to harass QBs.

Of course executives, coaches and players affect wins and losses faaaaaar more than PR, nobody is questioning that. I guess I think your job can have a real effect in subtle ways, and you do not. Fair enough. If just one more Bills fan attends one more game because the PR is handled better, that seems like a good thing to me. Very minor of course compared to the actual football department doing their job.

Since you're being dickish, I'll follow suit. The two further logical fallacies you've brought us in bold above do clear up your comprehension skills but maybe not in the way you intended. Are you of the opinion that the perception of the team among Bills fans and in the greater football world can never affect anything, even slightly, under any circumstances? If you think perception is meaningless then why the heck are you a writer? I get it you respect the guy, and I truly have nothing but respect for the respect you're displaying. These strawman potshots of yours, however...

Not only other people around the league but what about the perception of the team from our own fellow Bills fans? The fans who tweet directly to the players on a daily basis or see them at the grocery store during the season. Or relationships with the media who grill the players 3 times a week when they're preparing for a big game. PR is about influencing perception and perception can create reality. If firing Berchtold and bringing in a highly regarded guy from the outside results in just one extra fan adding to the home field advantage on a Sunday then I can only be happy about it. Its like when the Bills sign a minor special team linebacker and people make fun of it with 'championship now right?' No its not Aaron Rodgers but do you want them to be good at special teams or not? Do you want them to have depth or not? Likewise this might mean even less than a 3rd string linebacker but if they're getting better it can only help.

Oh awesome! Don't spin, just win.

Did they show some of Sammy's catches from that game? They were all in the first half and he had 2 or 3 defenders around him at times. It didn't matter, he still went for 150+ and 2 TDs and the Bills led at halftime on the road over a playoff team. In the second half Tyrod targeted Sammy once with an uncatchable ball and the Bills lost. But while the Bills wasted an opportunity to beat a good AFC team, Tyrod had an excellent statline.

True Jeff, and he was happy to sign his little bridge deal which included a team option after one year, even after he watched Flacco bet on himself, take a risk and score the mega-contract. He knows he's not some ascending soon-to-be-elite quarterback.

Franchise QB isn't about pleasing every single member of the fanbase. There are millions of Bills fans, of course we don't ALL agree on anything. That's just the nature of people. No doubt there are pockets of fans in NY, Balt, ATL, Detroit who want to replace Eli, Flacco, Ryan and Stafford. Yet no attempt is ever made by the teams to actually replace these guys, and nobody around the league bats an eye because they are legit franchise QBs who give you a chance to win a championship.