JohnC

The West Coast location is a challenging location to make late reservations for flights and hotels. And the costs would be very prohibitive for many. Now that Kirby is settled in the bayou it is rumored that he will rent out his place to make some extra money for his gambling proclivities.

We can at least agree on the fact that YOLO is not a normal fan. Some people would generalize and say that he is not a normal person. However, that is not to say that he isn't appreciated.

Don't generalize. If Ohio State was in the Championship Game YOLO would be in the stands basking in the west coast sun wearing his red shirt.

They are not enjoying it to the extent of putting out their own pesos to get to the West Coast to in person witness the games.

The Buckeye fanbase is more likely to be drawn from cold weather locations. I'm sure as you pointed out that repeated trips to the championship game against the same opponent has lessened the novelty and incentive to attend a concluding game.

If this game would have been in Atlanta or Dallas or even Florida the tickets would have been snapped up at full value. Having the game in the West Coast makes it difficult for their respective fanbases to make the costly trip during this holiday season. I'm hoping that it turns out to be a great game with a lot of pro talent and potential Buffalo draftees. I'm leaning toward Jonah Williams but am open to one of the many studs on both sides of the field.

The dynamic of the qb being given more leeway than other players is a standard dynamic in football. You don't think that Rodgers in Green Bay or Brady in NE has more latitude with their respective coaches or organizations? Big Ben might be a jerk or backstabber. That isn't the critical issue here with this talented and volatile receiver. The issue is how did he handle this somewhat tumultuous situation? Walking out on the team without giving an explanation to the staff in advance under no circumstances is acceptable or should be tolerated. From a team standpoint it was a despicable and dishonorable act. The notion that the same player who walked out on his teammates should in his warped mind be the designated leader on his team is an absurdity in itself. It's easy being a leader when everything is going right. However, you learn who your leaders actually are when things are not going well. All that needs to be understood is that when he got piqued and frustrated he walked out. That's a testament to his lack of leadership, and not the reverse as you seem to suggest.

Having Daboll on the staff with his connection to Bama could help the Bills mine some talented nuggets from their roster who don't get much playing time. Adding players such as Levi Wallace and Robert Foster as free agent draftees is a bonus that accelerates the roster building process.

The Rex hire demonstrated that being a billionaire success in one field of endeavor doesn't automatically carry over to success in another field of endeavor. I don't care how little he knew about the pro football game that shouldn't be an excuse to make a bonehead hire of a fraud who just got fired from his last football job. How about exercising some common sense? The new owner had the ability to access anyone in the business and get some feedback on how to go about in his new business. There was no excuse for this stupendous foolishness. It set this franchise back in years. It seems that the owner learned from his mistakes. I'm happy and relieved about that.

Terry Pegula made the same mistake with the Sabres as he did with the Bills when he bought the franchises in the different sports. He thought that a lot of action and money even without much thought would get results. What he painfully learned is that acting for the sake of acting doesn't necessarily translate into success. With respect to the Bills in his quest for immediate relevancy for the irrelevant franchise he bought he made the stupendous mistake of hiring clown Rex because he believed that it would provide instant recognition. He got that recognition but it wasn't for success so much as it was for buffoonery. The newbie owner finally learned with both the hockey and football franchise that the road to success is in hiring the right people to run the operation. Pegula is a good owner because he will provide whatever resources that are needed. He is a better owner now because he doesn't interfere with the operation. Very often it takes time for the learning curve to take effect.

The stats, although impressive, don't indicate how important these individual players are to their linemates and teams because they are drawing extra attention and still putting on pressure. The acquisition of Hughes has been one of the best deals this franchise has made in its history. It was a felonious theft. Although sometimes he loses control of his emotions and gets penalized for it, he never lacks in giving maximum effort. I hope the Bills can soon take a step up and be a more serious team so Jerry can get the attention he deserves for his consistently good play.

By maintaining a low expectation you will be rewarded with having your expectation being met. You might be dissatisfied with a Funchess-like acquisition but I would consider it an upgrade. I would take two of those middling players and walk away with a smile on my face. There are times when thinking small can make you walk away with a smile on your face. That is one of my Forest Gump traits that makes me easy to please.

Entering next season the Bills will probably add a #2 caliber receiver to be our #1 receiver. I don't see this regime going out of its comfort zone of adding mid-level talent. My sense is that the Bills will have little interest in getting a Julio Jones or AB type of talent through a trade because I don't see this brain trust giving up a first round pick for any player at any position.

I believe some of the tie breaking calculations such as strength of schedule were complicated. So until the last games were played at night the ranking status for a few teams were still undetermined. So right now I believe we are in the ninth spot. But I won't say it with conviction. On the other hand does it really matter?

I believe the final listing has us at the ninth position. However, I'm not going to say you are wrong because I also saw lists having us draft at the ten spot. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001006117/article/2019-nfl-draft-order-cardinals-own-top-pick-giants-to-take-qb

I respectfully but strenuously disagree with you. There is no debate about his talent. So let's put that issue aside. What there is a debate about is his character. Let's be clear here I'm talking about football character and not civil character. Is he in general a good guy? I can't say because I don't know him. However, what I can say is that he is an atrocious teammate who out of petulance walked away from his team at a critical juncture. His volcanic volatility that resulted in him walking out on his team for whatever reason is not acceptable and shouldn't be tolerated. There is nothing unusual about receivers having diva traits. What's extraordinarily rare and unconscionable is without warning simply not showing up for a game when so much is on the line because he was upset about something. I don't give a dam what the problem was because the way he handled it was despicable. McDermott talks a lot about the team concept and the type of players he wants to build the roster with. He preaches individual sacrifice for the betterment of the team He talks about character ad nauseum. If he brought in a player such as Antonio Brown after his self-absorbed and traitorous non-show for a game he would for the future sabotage his credibility on this topic that he so often preaches about. Again, no thank you on this ugly diva who was willing to sabotage his team because he was upset about something. I would prefer to use that dedicated amount of money on the OL or receiving unit. Some principles are hard to live up to. This is not one of them.

Antonio Brown is an elite talent. However, he is the anthesis of everything that McDermott stands for within his team concept and locker room mesh. If he acquired Brown he would be undercutting his credibility on what he stands for and what he publicly preaches. When the pulpit loses it's credibility the people in the pews stop paying attention! As Nancy Reagan said: Just say no!

I'm not suggesting you are wrong with your approach. But the problem I have with many who apply your approach is that player rankings are not always accurate. A player who is ranked 10th is not necessarily better than a player who is ranked 20th. That is proven out in every draft. If the Bills have a desperate need for an offensive lineman who is ranked 10th on the board and there is a player who is ranked 8th on the board then I believe it is a mistake to strictly adhere to your board at the expense of your need, especially when the imprecise rankings are so close.

I said this in a prior post so I apologize for the redundancy. A football analyst on the radio was talking about coaching in the NFL and said he felt the most important coach on a team was the OL coach. He said they were at a premium and got paid accordingly. I'm not impressed with any coach who has a "my way or the highway" mentality to coaching. Or another way of saying it is I'm not impressed with Castillo. What the good coaches do is not straitjacket players to fit their philosophy but adjust their methods to maximize the talents of the players they have to work with. As you highlighted Castillo doesn't have that required trait. He's not a good and smart teacher! He is a McDermott hire and a McDermott mistake. Cronyism is often a detriment to success.

You are off the mark. Hope is not failing so much as not having the proper perspective. Last year the Sabres were the worst team in the NHL. This year they have moved up the ranks and have a legitimate shot at the playoffs. That's certainly progress. This team is far from being a complete team, especially in their ability to score goals from the secondary lines. But compared to the previous few years you can see a plan not only be laid out but also being implemented. Could the brain trust of this franchise taken a more short-term and expedient approach to being competitive? Yes they could have but it would have been at the expense of being a more seriously competing team down the near term road. Patience in this case is a virtue. Assuming you don't get yourself maimed on one of your local trips to Home Depot hang in there and you will be rewarded with your patience.

I strongly recommend that you do check around and find the best contractors you can find. The work that this crew did is a standard response to your problem. That doesn't mean that it will be permanently fixed. I agree with you that doing chimney work in the winter might make it challenging to permanently fix the problem. As I stated in my prior post the challenge was finding where the leak was coming in from. Once that was discovered then the solution followed. Good luck!

Jonah Williams may be the most versatile and technically sound lineman in this draft. The scouting report that you posted is one of many that existed. Many of the others indicated that he had slow feet which is a disqualifying attribute to have for the pros. In college you can outsize and out-muscle the opposition. That doesn't work in the pros.

Did you watch our line play this year? Our running game was often non-existent because there were no lanes to run. With better blocking you get better protection and a running game that enhances the passing game. You portray the position issue as being mutually exclusive. It's not. You can upgrade the OL and still add playmakers. Our line is an obvious point of weakness that reverberates throughout the offense. Upgrade it and you do a lot to put the qb in a position to succeed.

There is going to be a tremendous demand for offensive linemen this offseason. We are going to be vying with almost half the teams that need players on that unit. Houston and Jacksonville are two teams that come to mind that would be willing to open their wallets to upgrade their lines. Without question Houston wants to better protect their most valuable asset in Watson. Bringing in a quality LT who can play the position better than Dawkins (who I thought had a down year) is going to be a big challenge. I can see us adding a more reasonably priced guards, center and RT to fortify our line.

I had this problem. The first thing the roofers are going to check is the flashing around the chimney on the roof. This is usually the cause of the leak. However, if they check the flashing or even go so far as to redo it and you still have leakage down your chimney then the cause could be from the wear and tear of the bricks and mortar. (I don't want to scare you but if you still have the same water problem then you might have to have the mortar on your chimney redone from top to bottom, even including below the ground. I had to have that done and the lower part of the chimney below the ground re-tared. The roofers can use cameras and get a sense of what the issue is. But sometimes it is very difficult to determine. I got so frustrated repeatedly calling in people without getting a fix. Once the problem was properly diagnosed then the solution followed. Good luck. Again, I don't want to scare you but it has to be properly addressed or you are going to have complications from the water damage.