JohnC

I wasn't feeling morose. I simply didn't find it entertaining. In general, for me, last season was not very entertaining. The bad performances too much out weighed the good performances. What is the basis for your conclusion that I am using last season as a platform for doom and gloom for the this season? The Bills are in a rebuilding mode. That I readily acknowledge.

If you get a contribuiting role player in a trade then that might not be a significant addition but it can still be a solid pickup. If you get a marginal upgrade dealing away a non-contributing player then inching forward is certainly better than status-quo. Neither team is going to be dumb enough to trade away a high end talent with potential that could help their team, especially a player who has been on their roster for a few years. That doesn't mean that a change in scenery and more importanly usage won't bring a positive effect to either player. When you have nothing to lose then you might have something to gain, even if it is not by much.

I was not excited when I watched the Bills get beat by the Seahawks in Toronto by a score of 50-17. It might have been fun for you but for me it wasn't very entertaining. I grant you that being entertained isn't always about wins and losses. It has more to do with watching quality performances and competitive games regardless of the outcome. Most people will probably acknowldege that by the time the team enters the second half of the season the enthusiasm does start to wan and talk about the next draft spikes up.

I'm not sure if you are agreeing with me or not. The record under Nix was worse but that doesn't mean that he didn't marginally improve the roster by making it bigger and stronger. My central point is that anyone who makes the claim that Nix did a good job during his three year stint has little basis to make that claim. When you compare his performance to GMs who started at the same time as he did and took over just as bad rosters then his performance is rated as very poor. A three year rebuilding cycle is enough time to turn around a franchise. He took over a franchise that was stuck in the mud and he left a franchise that was stuck in the mud and out of gas. Yet there are people who are singing his praise. That I don't understand.

The GM for the Seahawks started at the same time that Nix started with the Bills. In the third year the GM for the Seahawks, John Schneider, turned that team around and made them a legitimate SB contending team. He also drafted an exciting qb prospect who Nix passed on. When the roster he assembled played the roster Nix assembled last year in Toronto his team won by a score of 50-17. The GM for the Redskins started at the same time that Nix did for the Bills. Mike Shanahan took over a cap straitjacketed team, including the weight of Haynesworth's contract, and in short order cleansed the roster and got his team into the playoffs last year. He gave up a boatload of draft picks to draft a terrific qb, RGIII, In addition, Shanahan had to contend with a $36 M penalty cap hit ($18M last year and $18 M this year). Now his team is considered a serious playoff and SB contending team. Buddy Nix's record during his three year stint was 16-32. Nix's HCing selection, Gailey, was your standard retread and uninspiring hiring. Any fair-minded person who evaluates what the two prior mentioned GMs achieved compared to Nix's three year record will conclude that Nix was a failure. Arguing that everything he did wasn't wrong is a back handed way of saying that the overall job he did wasn't very adequate. Making an argument that he left the team better than when he found it is a foolish way to rate his performance. First off he took over a team that wasn't very good. In a typical three year rebuilding cycle he made it (possibly) slightly better. In other words he didn't come close to accomplishing what a good GM could have accomplished in that same time period. It is more of an issue of what you could have done than what you actually did with your opportunities. The Bills are in a rebuilding mode again following the Nix stint. If this new regime repeated the performance of the Nix tenure they would unequivocally be declared a failure. So by using that same measure why is it unfair and unreasonable to say that Nix is a failure? If it is not about the record then what is it about? Manufacturing non-existent metrics in order to prove a fallacy is a weak position to take a stand on.

NG, my prayers are with you. As others have said every family in some way is dealing with the issue that you are dealing with. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Being open about your troubling issue is an act of courage. I saw the documentary on Chris Herron. It was both gut wrenching and at the end inspirational. Best to you and your family.

I don't believe that this season the Bills are going to win more games than they lose. That doesn't mean that they can't have a successful season. If the rookie qb demonstrates that he is a legitimate franchise qb and the young players, mostly this years rookie class, play well then I will be more than satisfied. The issue isn't one of lowering one's standards so much as doing things right and moving forward. There are a lot of prior personnel mistakes that need to be addressed. This year's team can be better yet still not have it reflected by its record because of the tougher schedule. But starting the process of getting better is more encouraging than meandering back and forth and going nowhere.

Thanks for the research. Terrific effort. I can't say that it is surprisingly bad because it isn't a surprise to me. The Bills have been such long-term losers that not only have they become irrelevant but they also became the invisible franchise in a high profile sport. Sad, very sad. One frequent poster believes that this descent into gut wrenching mediocrity is the fans fault. LOL There are a number of Wilson apologists who believe that he has been an enlightened owner for this bad luck franchise. LOL

Without crunching the numbers I would guess it is in the 15%-18% range. Looking forward to see what you come up with. The point is as bad as the record has been it didn't accurately reflect where the franchise ranked in this parity designed system. I'm still optimistic that this new regime is much more capable of turning things around than the prior regimes. This year the critical issue is not about the record so much as it is about finding out what EJ is capable of doing.

The link is from the radio interview you referred to. It is an 8 minute interview. He and Easley are players I am rooting for. http://audio.wgr550.com/a/79045139/8-5-bills-dt-torell-troup-with-an-update-on-his-health-and-how-he-feels-in-the-new-defensive-scheme.htm

Do you have the stats for the Bills record against winning teams over that same period? I suspect that it is less than 33%. There is a large segment of posters who demand optimism from others pror to the season at the risk of being harshly vilified. That in itself makes little sense. In essence those who have been overwhelmingly more right in their prognostications for almost a full generation are being coerced to toe the crooked line of the same toads who have been consistently overwhelmingly wrong over the same generation. Think about that.

I don't believe that there is a quick fix for this franchise. Without a doubt the first priority was getting the organization staffed properly and then from there good things should follow. Marone was a Brandon pick with Whaley's support. I like Whaley's elevation into the GM position. Brandon diplomatically handled Nix and then Whaley was placed in a position to leaI the football operation. After Nix retired Whaley quitely made a couple of high level staffing hires for the college and pro scouting department. I like bringing in some outside help to this insular franchise. There is little reason not to like Marone's coaching hires. There is more energy and creativity with this coaching group than with the prior retread crews. Maybe I'm over-reading the draft but for me it had a different feel to it. This staff could have taken the safe route drafting either Barkly or Nassib but they selected the riskier route by drafing the more physically gifted qb with potentially more upside. I have strong suspicions that this year's record is not going to be too impressive. Whether the Bills are 5-11, 6-10, 7-9 or 8-8 doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. The most important issue that needs to be determined is whether EJ is going to be a credible franchise qb. If he demonstrates that he is capable of leading the franchise then the season will be a success. As many other teams have demonstrated that once that position is fllled with a high caliber player then the foundation of the franchise is established. Right now I am mostly concerned with the state of our OL. As it stands I find it to be a very vulnerable area for this team. I hope that the Bills use some of its abundant cap money to get some help from the free agent market.

If the objective of Mike Schopp is to be irritating then the show is a tremendous success. Isn't there a good possibility that if the show was less annoying that the audience would be larger?

Schopp's commentary is not only thin regarding the Bills but it also is just as superficial with the Sabres. WGR is the mainstay for both of these two teams. He has exhibited a lack of interest not only on the respective home teams but also the respective sports. The Bills have been bad for a generation. No one is challenging that obvious ugly fact. If your job is to comment on a team and sport and you don't care about that team and sport then it comes across. I give Mike Schopp some credit in that he is so disinterested in those pro games that he doesn't even bother to fake that he is interested. The central point of the original poster is that Bulldog performs much better and with more fluidity when paired with another radio partner or working alone. There is little chemistry between Bulldog and Schopp (my opinion). No doubt Schopp is more controversial when in the radio booth but it is a better show when he is not shackling Bulldog.

After the draft there was a radio show in which an NFL analyst was asked why no team would take a gamble with a low draft pick on such a talented player such as Rogers. The analyst stated that many teams had him in for a pre-draft interview and to put it mildly he didn't interview very well. It is not unusal to draft "smokers" but not only was he a multiple repeat offender but after his interviews most of the teams didn't feel that he had the maturity to handle his troubling issues. Don't get me wrong I want him to succeed. If he actualizes his physical talents I will not only happy that the team benefits but also that he as an individual benefits. With regard to his drug use is he designated as a one strike drug user before he even plays his first professional game? If that is the case then I understand why so many teams didn't want to have anything to do with him in the draft.

I don't think that Bulldog is intimidated by Schopp as much as they are simply a bad match personality wise and interest wise. Schopp doesn't have much interest in most of the sports. Whenever he is asked a question about a particular sport it is apparent that he is faking the issue and turning it around to rudely forcing the caller to justify what he is asking. Capacio is a better partner on air with Bulldog. There may be some criticisms with Capacio's style but one thing that comes across with him is that he is genuine in his enthusiasm for the Buffalo Sports teams. That is not to say that he is co-opted by them so much as he is knowledgeagable about the various teams. Bulldog is even better by himself than when he is on with Shopp. There is less stammering and he has a better rapport with callers, including knowing how to handle the dumb bell calls. He can dispatch them rather quickly without being nasty and condescending. The best analogy I can make with Shopp and Bulldog is that it is like two people on a long car trip stuck trying to force a conversation that neither one is interested in. Torturous and Awkward!

He is being enmeshed in a controversey that he didn't want to be involved in. (You made that observatin.) The authorities investigated a complaint of preferential treatment for a high profile person. The facility didn't cooperate to the extent that satisfied the investigators and in addition the investigators found some other issues with the operatiion. Is the training center permanently closed? Or is it closed until there is better cooperation and other problem areas are fixed? I'm not a fan of Mario the person. But in this case I'm sympathetic towards him. He was trying to do something positive by exploring his interests in police work Much to his surprise he ends up getting caught in the swirl of controversey. It is well known that he has a genuine interest in police matters. He has donated money for police cars in Houston. On this issue I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was acting with good intentions.

Sometimes stories that appear to be factual don't necessarily give a full picture of the situation. There are occasions in academies that the students for a variety of reasons might not fully participate in the classroom work yet pass the tests on the individual subject matter. If you don't attend a class on search and seizure law but pass the test on the subject you are demonstrating the required proficiency. Law students don't always attend class but if they pass the test at the end of the course they are certified in that subject matter. You can be studying to be a doctor and not attend a particular class on chemistry. If you pass then you pass. If you attend all the clasess and fail the test then you fail. You can have a doctor from one country going to another country who doesn't take the required course work but passes the qualifying test. That doctor is certified even if his course work from where he came from was far from being comparable in the new country. In some police academies shooting takes up a large part of the curricular. Shooting can be a frequent endeavor during the 6 or 9 month course work. If a person doesn't participate in many of the shooting sessions but at the end of the course scores very high in the shooting tests with a variety of weapons then the student has demonstrated an adequate level of proficiency. I know of cases where a police officer from one jurisdiction joins a department in another jurisidiction. There is really no need to duplicate the topics that the transferring candidate already knows very well, such as shooting and an understanding of a number of police topics such as the law and search and seizure, crime scene, driving courses, ethics, writing reports etc. In that scenario the training length can be very short. If a police candidate is a certified EMT is it necessary for that candidate to attend the class on first aid? I don't think so. The candidate still has to take the test but if he didn't attend the class on that subject matter it didn't hinder that student in understanding the subject matter. It's not unusual for a police cadet who gets injured or suffers an extended illness or a cadet who has to leave the academy for a family emergency back home to have an individual schedule set up when the candidate returns to duty . Sometimes in those situations the training is done on a fast paced one on one basis to get the candidate fully caught up and then certified with his course work. The only point I'm making here is that the reported story can be true yet not fully reflect the situation.

If someone has been covering the Bills for the past dozen years or so what is the new refreshing story? This is a new year under basically new management so hopefully there is a greater opportunity for more positive commentary. But if one has been commenting on the Bills for the past number of years the storyline has been consistent. It certainly doesn't have much to do with inspiring play or management. If you find Jerry Sullivan to be so irritating there is a simple solution: Don't read his column or listen to him when he is on the radio. Why get agitated over what he says when you have the option to ignore what he says? When I read his columns or hear him on the radio if I agree with him on an issue I agree with him. If I don't then I don't. I don't find him aggravating or annoying as others do. I find Mike Shoop to be annoying and condescending. So I don't give much credence to what he says and try to limite the times that I listen to his show. If you participate in the social media such as twitter you are not going to get meaningful reporting and responses. You are getting snippets of first impressions. If someone such as Graham cuts you off, so what? That is the individual's prerogative, just as you have the prerogative of cutting off the reporting member to your account. That is the nature of that particular medium. The people reporting on the Bills are not cheerleaders. That is not their role. Many fans come at the game from a more team embracing perspective. Media members are going to be more critical than a diehard fan. They are much less willing to accept the company line than fans are. How else are they going to do their jobs?

Les Carpenter of Yahoo gives his take on EJ Manuel and the Bills after a camp visit. The following is an interview with Howard Simon on WGR. He gives an upbeat view on the future direction of the Bills after their organizational changes. http://audio.wgr550.com/a/78938909/8-1-les-carpenter-of-yahoo-sports-on-bills-training-camp-and-what-he-s-liked-about-ej-so-far.htm

Jerry Sullivan is a columnist. He gives opinions. You may disagree with them or not but that is the purpose for writing his opinion columns. His job is to provoke others into thinking about the topic that he is writing about. After each game he most often doesn't write a piece on the specific plays as much as he gives an overview of the game or a particular aspect of it, such as play calling or coaching strategy. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with his take on things. If you are reacting to what he wrote then he is accomplishing his mission i.e. getting you to think. Good columnists very often invite backlash responses to what they write. For them that is a positive sign that they hit a chord. In many ways a good columnist is anti-establishment in approach who challenges authority. That is his role and what he gets paid to do. I simply don't understand why he gets vilified for being critical of a franchise that doesn't have much of a recent history for competency. There are too many people who believe that media types should be cheerleaders for the home team. It doesn't work that way. The Buffalo market in general is not covered by sharks seeking prey. The western NY media coverage is very tame compared to the ravenous media coverage in Philly, NYC and Boston. If some of the media critics believe that the western NY reporters are out of line in their coverage of the team then what would they think of the more unruly, aggressive and obnoxiious people covering those other more intense markets?

I watched part of the video and audio of the press conference where he got exasperated with the repetitive questions. The reporters were asking questions regarding the health status of arguably the highest profile player who has a history of issues. Marrone is smart enough to know that there would be questions regarding Mario who last year had an injury that wasn't fully reported to the press and resulted in him having a procedure done during the season which also wasn't fully explained. The organization isn't obligated to tell the press or at least volunteer information regarding the health of any player. But because of that reluctance to share what you know it is not surprising that the press digs a little more. Were the questions from the reporters repetitive? Yes. So what is unusual about that. Were some of the questions simply anal? Yes. So what is unusual about that. When Marrone went to the podium he knew very well that the focus of attention was going to be on the Mario issue. I thought he could have prepared in advance a better status update on him. It was refreshing to see a HC be more authentic and exibit more personality than the standard auto-pilot HC at the podium. However, if he is getting frustrated answering questions at this juncture prior to the season then how is he going to respond at the podium late in the season if his team only has a few wins and the press are asking tougher questions? Make no mistake what I am saying here. Marrone didn't act inappropriately but he could have acted with a little more composure and preparation for questions that he knew he was going to face. addendum: At the end of the auidio Marrone and JW were engaged in a brief discussion where both of them came to an agreeable understanding. .

What a striking difference it is to watch Manuel effortlessly throw the deep ball. Watching Fitz or even Kolb throw those deep passes you immediately recognize how much effort and body torque they are applying to a type of pass that EJ comfortably makes. As the prior posts state having arm strength doesn't automatically translate into being a successful qb but at least it indicates that the qb has an important attribute for the position. The most important issue in this upcoming season is determining whether Manuel is a legitimate franchise qb. That is even more important than what the team's record is. I would rather EJ get plenty of playing time at the expense of victories if that will accelerate his development. Winning more games with Kolb as the starter is less meaningful than having a worse reocrd with Manuel with the benefit of more quickly learning his position. The foundation for success for any franchise relates to the caliber of its starting qb. Once that is established then your team has a legitimate chance to be a serious team. That is the central issue for this team and franchise this year.

Astro, Your efforts are appreciated. As an expression of my appreciation I sent you a large check that can only be cashed at the Bank of Sicily located in Palermo, Sicily. The only requirement is you have to hand deliver the check to the female teller with a mustache. There is also a time limit on the check. You have to get it cashed by noon July 30. So hurry up and make arrangements.

If you can't luck into finding a dollar on the ground then finding a dime is better than finding a penny. Getting whatever you can get is better than having nothing in your pocket. At least you can buy a bubble gum. Another player who is on the questionable "salvageable" list is Easley. He also has been plagued with a stirng of injuries and health issues. I'm rooting for him but I'm not betting on him.