Why are some of you so Pessimistic?

[Pilsner]

I'm just curious about the make up of some of the people on here. Is it in your genes that some of you are so pessimistic of the Bills? Is it so deeply ingrained in your souls that the outlook is so bad?

 

I know that most of us here have an optimistic outlook of the Bills, no matter how bleak things have looked for a while. The majority of us have read up and studied our team and know things haven't worked out the best for years. But we realize things can go better. How can things go worse?

 

We've upgraded our D and we have a man in charge who is known for making the most of an O. If we had upgraded our O in the draft instead of the D, I bet some of you would still find something to complain about.

 

Seriously though, I'm just curious, have some of you been so pessimistic all your life?

 

I'm not saying at all that you shouldn't post. I actually like reading your points of views at times because it's good to see different aspects and views of the game. But really, pessimism can go too far.

 

I'de much rather read optimistic posts from people who do their research (like a lot of people here do).

 

Thoughts?

[Spiderweb]

I'm just curious about the make up of some of the people on here. Is it in your genes that some of you are so pessimistic of the Bills? Is it so deeply ingrained in your souls that the outlook is so bad?

 

I know that most of us here have an optimistic outlook of the Bills, no matter how bleak things have looked for a while. The majority of us have read up and studied our team and know things haven't worked out the best for years. But we realize things can go better. How can things go worse?

 

We've upgraded our D and we have a man in charge who is known for making the most of an O. If we had upgraded our O in the draft instead of the D, I bet some of you would still find something to complain about.

 

Seriously though, I'm just curious, have some of you been so pessimistic all your life?

 

I'm not saying at all that you shouldn't post. I actually like reading your points of views at times because it's good to see different aspects and views of the game. But really, pessimism can go too far.

 

I'de much rather read optimistic posts from people who do their research (like a lot of people here do).

 

Thoughts?

 

A matter of pessimism? I thought it's a pragmatic evaluation of the state of the Bills and not having a playoff team since the 1999 season ended.

[mpl6876]

I'm just curious about the make up of some of the people on here. Is it in your genes that some of you are so pessimistic of the Bills? Is it so deeply ingrained in your souls that the outlook is so bad?

 

I know that most of us here have an optimistic outlook of the Bills, no matter how bleak things have looked for a while. The majority of us have read up and studied our team and know things haven't worked out the best for years. But we realize things can go better. How can things go worse?

 

We've upgraded our D and we have a man in charge who is known for making the most of an O. If we had upgraded our O in the draft instead of the D, I bet some of you would still find something to complain about.

 

Seriously though, I'm just curious, have some of you been so pessimistic all your life?

 

I'm not saying at all that you shouldn't post. I actually like reading your points of views at times because it's good to see different aspects and views of the game. But really, pessimism can go too far.

 

I'de much rather read optimistic posts from people who do their research (like a lot of people here do).

 

Thoughts?

 

It's not a matter of being a pessimistic or an optimist. It is a matter of objectively evaluating the "total picture" and making an informed decision/opinion.

[kota]

I don't get it either. Why root for a sports team if you think they will lose all the time? Doesn't make any sense to me.

[mpl6876]

I don't get it either. Why root for a sports team if you think they will lose all the time? Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

I think it is easy to get. I was born in Buffalo and proud to be a Bills fan. I am who I am. I would never change teams because the Bills stink. I will cheer for them whether they stink or I think they will stink. I have been doing it for ten straight years and likely it will be 11 straight.

 

What don't you get?

[SWBuffalo]

Yes, I will continue to root for the Bills no matter what the outcome. However, I actually believe the tides have turned with Chan Galley. This is a real football coach with a lifelong dedication to succeeding in the NFL. If you know his track record, he is primed for success. I have naive optimism for the season. And I like that I don't know any better. Go Bills!

[el Tigre]

I'm just curious about the make up of some of the people on here. Is it in your genes that some of you are so pessimistic of the Bills? Is it so deeply ingrained in your souls that the outlook is so bad?

 

I know that most of us here have an optimistic outlook of the Bills, no matter how bleak things have looked for a while. The majority of us have read up and studied our team and know things haven't worked out the best for years. But we realize things can go better. How can things go worse?

 

We've upgraded our D and we have a man in charge who is known for making the most of an O. If we had upgraded our O in the draft instead of the D, I bet some of you would still find something to complain about.

 

Seriously though, I'm just curious, have some of you been so pessimistic all your life?

 

I'm not saying at all that you shouldn't post. I actually like reading your points of views at times because it's good to see different aspects and views of the game. But really, pessimism can go too far.

 

I'de much rather read optimistic posts from people who do their research (like a lot of people here do).

 

Thoughts?

You wanna know why some of these cats look at everything in such a pessimistic way? Cuz they're losers. They look at their sports team with such a critical,pessimistic eye cuz thats how they look at everything. Thats just them. It's no use arguing with them,they'll just tell you you're stupid and you'll never change their minds anyway. Ignore them and focus on the many cool,fair minded people on this board. There's plenty of them.

[#1BillsfaninTx]

You wanna know why some of these cats look at everything in such a pessimistic way? Cuz they're losers. They look at their sports team with such a critical,pessimistic eye cuz thats how they look at everything. Thats just them. It's no use arguing with them,they'll just tell you you're stupid and you'll never change their minds anyway. Ignore them and focus on the many cool,fair minded people on this board. There's plenty of them.

 

 

Amen to that

[BillsPhan]

I'm just curious about the make up of some of the people on here. Is it in your genes that some of you are so pessimistic of the Bills? Is it so deeply ingrained in your souls that the outlook is so bad?

 

I know that most of us here have an optimistic outlook of the Bills, no matter how bleak things have looked for a while. The majority of us have read up and studied our team and know things haven't worked out the best for years. But we realize things can go better. How can things go worse?

 

We've upgraded our D and we have a man in charge who is known for making the most of an O. If we had upgraded our O in the draft instead of the D, I bet some of you would still find something to complain about.

 

Seriously though, I'm just curious, have some of you been so pessimistic all your life?

 

I'm not saying at all that you shouldn't post. I actually like reading your points of views at times because it's good to see different aspects and views of the game. But really, pessimism can go too far.

 

I'de much rather read optimistic posts from people who do their research (like a lot of people here do).

 

Thoughts?

 

I'm optimistic that the overall performance of the Bills will improve over last season. But that's as much optimism as I get squeeze out considering the lack of talent the Bills still put on the field compared to the rest of their division. Sorry, but reality wins out over optimism, every time.

[Meathead]

over the years ive learned that when it comes to sports some people have fun having faith their team will be good every season while others have fun trying to evaluate the team and predict how they will do each season

 

ive also observed that each approach doesnt like to do it the 'other' way. even more still, each side often cant understand wth anyone would want to do it the other way

 

i am definitely the latter. and to me the case is simple:

 

* all new coaches - so everybody has to get to know how each other works

* all new systems - so all the players and some of the coaches have to get to know new mechanisms

* many players playing in new positions - sometimes for the first time ever

* generally modest talent base - some mediocre to bad drafting leaves the team light on established playmakers

 

most teams have at most one of those things to deal with. this bills team has hit the jackpot and is dealing with them all at the same time

 

put it all together and my decades of football fandom says: four wins

 

or you could just have faith

[mpl6876]

over the years ive learned that when it comes to sports some people have fun having faith their team will be good every season while others have fun trying to evaluate the team and predict how they will do each season

 

ive also observed that each approach doesnt like to do it the 'other' way. even more still, each side often cant understand wth anyone would want to do it the other way

 

i am definitely the latter. and to me the case is simple:

 

* all new coaches - so everybody has to get to know how each other works

* all new systems - so all the players and some of the coaches have to get to know new mechanisms

* many players playing in new positions - sometimes for the first time ever

* generally modest talent base - some mediocre to bad drafting leaves the team light on established playmakers

 

most teams have at most one of those things to deal with. this bills team has hit the jackpot and is dealing with them all at the same time

 

put it all together and my decades of football fandom says: four wins

 

or you could just have faith

 

Short, sweet and to the point. Good post. I think we might win 5 games.

[Mickey]

I don't get it either. Why root for a sports team if you think they will lose all the time? Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

If your son played little league soccer and you knew that soccer wasn't his game and that his team was going to get beat every game, would stop rooting for him?

 

Loving a team to death doesn't mean you are blind willfully or otherwise to their shortcomings.

 

Realistically, I think this team is a huge question mark mostly. This is a league of QB's and we don't have one who has proven himself to be a quality starter. As Buddy said, "...those that have one is winnin and those that don't aren't..."

 

We are radically changing our defense and it seems silly to me to think that you can make that kind of transition personnel wise all in one year. Could it happen? Sure, but the odds aren't good. We don't have a single solitary pass rusher on the team with any proven ability to get to the QB. The one decent threat we had there was Schobel and he is all but retired.

 

There have been no drastic improvements to what was a pretty sorry OL last year. And you have guys on the line coming off major surgeries in Wood and Bell. For rookies, Levitre and Wood did all right last year but that was grading on the rookie curve. They need to take big steps forward this year.

 

I do think that Spiller will add some options and that Chan is everything Jauron wasn't when it comes to understanding how to score points in this league.

 

Against this background, we are playing in a division full of solid teams who all appear to have made some good offseason moves to improve themselves.

 

Overall, my prediction is that they are going to have a rough year, maybe even epically rough. But I also think they are going in the right direction. They will need more than one year to get where they want to go.

[sabres...yawn]

I'm just curious about the make up of some of the people on here. Is it in your genes that some of you are so pessimistic of the Bills? Is it so deeply ingrained in your souls that the outlook is so bad?

 

I know that most of us here have an optimistic outlook of the Bills, no matter how bleak things have looked for a while. The majority of us have read up and studied our team and know things haven't worked out the best for years. But we realize things can go better. How can things go worse?

 

We've upgraded our D and we have a man in charge who is known for making the most of an O. If we had upgraded our O in the draft instead of the D, I bet some of you would still find something to complain about.

 

Seriously though, I'm just curious, have some of you been so pessimistic all your life?

 

I'm not saying at all that you shouldn't post. I actually like reading your points of views at times because it's good to see different aspects and views of the game. But really, pessimism can go too far.

 

I'de much rather read optimistic posts from people who do their research (like a lot of people here do).

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

If you change the word- pessimistic - to- optimistic (in the title of your post) then I would agree with you.

 

I'll be at every home game again this year but c'mon man, get real.

 

Let me know when they get to .500

[8-8 Forever?]

Short, sweet and to the point. Good post. I think we might win 5 games.

 

If they are healthy all year allowing continuity in execution of an schematically exciting but brand new offense and defense, the O line is reasonably reasonable, they get a decent pass rush and come up with reasonably good QB play, I say they can surprise some people and get to 9 -7, kind of what Miami did a couple years ago. That is quite a few "iffs". We shall see. The least injured teams tend to do the best, so lets hope (there's that word again) they avoid any serious injury problems at thin positions ( O line, WR ).

 

The NFL is not club football, where anyone has a chance to win the thing. It is an intensely competitive league, probably the most competitive sports league in the world. If your team is not constantly doing absolutely everything possible to stay competitive, you have little hope of consistent success. I think its fair to say Ralph W. has not done absolutely everything (including burying his ego) and it has shown up on the field for most of the Bills 50 year history.

[Albany,n.y.]

I've watched football for over 45 years. I know a 1st year rebuild with new offensive & defensive systems when I see it. I've also learned a team isn't built in a day. This team has a lot of holes. A realist fan is not always a pessimist. As San Jose said in another thread, it can be very enjoyable watching a bad team grow into a good team over the course of a few seasons.

It's time to remember the goal is to play in and win the Super Bowl, not be satisfied because the Bills won the game you watched even though they lost 2 or 3 times as many games by the end of the season. 7 wins this year would be an improvement. I find 7 win seasons unacceptable. I'd rather my team totally stink a season or two & win a Super Bowl a couple of years later than 3-4 years from now be a team that sneaks into the playoffs every year & never has a chance of getting by the 1st or 2nd round.

So the way I see it, this team is undermaned at C, OT, QB, WR on offense. I don't care if Chan Gailey has done a lot with little, he doesn't even have little with all the holes on the offense. Chan can't work miracles, he can only get the best out of players & the best our QBs & OTs can give might still result in a very poor offense. If one or 2 young WRs can prove they're NFL players & we can get a QB & LT in the next offseason, there's cause for a lot of optimism-next year, not this year. The team is switching to a totally new defense with question marks about the NT, DE, & the former DEs switching to LB has a lot of room for improvement. If a foundation can be formed on defense, the future could look bright.

Right now our goal should be watching players who will be around for a Super Bowl run, not getting on the case of people who think the W-L record is going to be dismal. The odds are pretty good the record will be dismal. If it's the 1st year of a rebuild, so be it. Here's something to think about. In the 1990s I used to look at old programs from the mid 80s & see how many of the guys on our really bad teams were destined to play in the Super Bowl as Bills. The 1984 team had 2 guys who made it, 1985's team had 7, and the 1986 team had 16. That 1986 team had almost 1/3 of the Super Bowl teams, yet still won only 4 games-with Jim Kelly. How many of the current Bills could be on a Super Bowl team in 3-4 years? Here's my estimate: QB -none; RB Spiller; WR Evans, Easley; TE Nelson; OL: Wood, Levitre, Meredith, Wang, Calloway; DL: Troup, Williams, Carrington; LB: Batten, Posluszny, Maybin(?), DB: Corner, Langster, McGee, McKelvin, Byrd, 1 more who stays among vets. So my total is 21, about 40% of a potential future Super Bowl team. Take 2-3 away for the optimism I have on this rookie class & it would be closer to 1/3rd. A little better numbers for the 2010 team over the 4-12 1986 team, but that team had future HOFers at QB & DE, and some more wall of famers.

If I conclude 4 to 5 wins for this team, it doesn't make me a pessimist if I have an eye towards the future. The optimists around here who are thinking they have to win every week, even though they know they won't will look at the small picture, "feel good" the week the Bills win that 4th game and miss the bigger picture. As I've said before, Herm Edwards had it all wrong, you don't "play to win the game" you play to win the Championship. The record a year, 2, or 3 years before that championship becomes irrelevant when you've got the Lombardi Trophy.

[thewildrabbit]

Most of the fans posting here have watched enough football to know the difference between the good teams and the bad ones.

 

We can see what will happen when the HC hires a bunch of college coaches instead of experienced NFL coaches.

 

We can see what will happen when the GM makes no trades or moves in free agency to shore up the weakest areas of the team.

 

We can see what will happen when the GM drafts a Reggie Bush type RB with the #1 pick for an area the Bills were already strong at, instead of an obvious need at OT-WR-QB.

 

Anyone who thinks that a speedy RB is going to make the O line pass block better is delusional, the Bills won't be able to use 5-7 step drop passing plays because the QB will only have 3 seconds to get rid of the ball.

 

We will all still root for the Bills to win games, but in stark reality we know in our hearts the Bills will be lucky to repeat as many wins has they had last season.

 

We have witnessed enough losing teams over the history of the franchise and have earned the right to be pessimistic.

[Albany,n.y.]

If they are healthy all year allowing continuity in execution of an schematically exciting but brand new offense and defense, the O line is reasonably reasonable, they get a decent pass rush and come up with reasonably good QB play, I say they can surprise some people and get to 9 -7, kind of what Miami did a couple years ago. That is quite a few "iffs". We shall see. The least injured teams tend to do the best, so lets hope (there's that word again) they avoid any serious injury problems at thin positions ( O line, WR ).

 

The NFL is not club football, where anyone has a chance to win the thing. It is an intensely competitive league, probably the most competitive sports league in the world. If your team is not constantly doing absolutely everything possible to stay competitive, you have little hope of consistent success. I think its fair to say Ralph W. has not done absolutely everything (including burying his ego) and it has shown up on the field for most of the Bills 50 year history.

Miami did it with a proven NFL caliber starting QB, whose main weakness was staying healthy, who managed to stay healthy the entire year. If they had stuck with the QBs on the roster during mini-camp they would have been lucky to have won 4 games. We don't have anybody who can hold a healthy Pennington's jock at QB.

Look at where Miami is 3 years later-they're still no better than the 3rd best team in the division. 9-7 this year & still only 3rd best team in the division 3 seasons from now is unacceptable. I want to be a Super Bowl contender, not a playoff contender, in 3 years.

[KD in CA]

Taking a realistic view of the organization during the offseason and rooting for the team to win the game on Sunday are not mutually exclusive.

[Nanker]

I've watched football for over 45 years. I know a 1st year rebuild with new offensive & defensive systems when I see it. I've also learned a team isn't built in a day. This team has a lot of holes. A realist fan is not always a pessimist. As San Jose said in another thread, it can be very enjoyable watching a bad team grow into a good team over the course of a few seasons.

It's time to remember the goal is to play in and win the Super Bowl, not be satisfied because the Bills won the game you watched even though they lost 2 or 3 times as many games by the end of the season. 7 wins this year would be an improvement. I find 7 win seasons unacceptable. I'd rather my team totally stink a season or two & win a Super Bowl a couple of years later than 3-4 years from now be a team that sneaks into the playoffs every year & never has a chance of getting by the 1st or 2nd round.

So the way I see it, this team is undermaned at C, OT, QB, WR on offense. I don't care if Chan Gailey has done a lot with little, he doesn't even have little with all the holes on the offense. Chan can't work miracles, he can only get the best out of players & the best our QBs & OTs can give might still result in a very poor offense. If one or 2 young WRs can prove they're NFL players & we can get a QB & LT in the next offseason, there's cause for a lot of optimism-next year, not this year. The team is switching to a totally new defense with question marks about the NT, DE, & the former DEs switching to LB has a lot of room for improvement. If a foundation can be formed on defense, the future could look bright.

Right now our goal should be watching players who will be around for a Super Bowl run, not getting on the case of people who think the W-L record is going to be dismal. The odds are pretty good the record will be dismal. If it's the 1st year of a rebuild, so be it. Here's something to think about. In the 1990s I used to look at old programs from the mid 80s & see how many of the guys on our really bad teams were destined to play in the Super Bowl as Bills. The 1984 team had 2 guys who made it, 1985's team had 7, and the 1986 team had 16. That 1986 team had almost 1/3 of the Super Bowl teams, yet still won only 4 games-with Jim Kelly. How many of the current Bills could be on a Super Bowl team in 3-4 years? Here's my estimate: QB -none; RB Spiller; WR Evans, Easley; TE Nelson; OL: Wood, Levitre, Meredith, Wang, Calloway; DL: Troup, Williams, Carrington; LB: Batten, Posluszny, Maybin(?), DB: Corner, Langster, McGee, McKelvin, Byrd, 1 more who stays among vets. So my total is 21, about 40% of a potential future Super Bowl team. Take 2-3 away for the optimism I have on this rookie class & it would be closer to 1/3rd. A little better numbers for the 2010 team over the 4-12 1986 team, but that team had future HOFers at QB & DE, and some more wall of famers.

If I conclude 4 to 5 wins for this team, it doesn't make me a pessimist if I have an eye towards the future. The optimists around here who are thinking they have to win every week, even though they know they won't will look at the small picture, "feel good" the week the Bills win that 4th game and miss the bigger picture. As I've said before, Herm Edwards had it all wrong, you don't "play to win the game" you play to win the Championship. The record a year, 2, or 3 years before that championship becomes irrelevant when you've got the Lombardi Trophy.

Nice post. Go treat yourself to a Big D or Augusto from Cardonas.

[JohnC]

Tim Graham who follows the AFC East for ESPN predicted a 5-11 record for the Bills. He has no axe to grind. His job is to objectively assess the teams and give his views. Few people can make the claim that he isn't fair minded in covering the NFL.

 

For those fans who seriously believe the Bills are a playoff contender this year you are fooling yourselves. Being a loyal fan doesn't mean that you have to be blinded to reality.