Billsguy Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 In a word, yes. There were several worse times, but you must be too young to remember. Ralph Wilson has been a screw up for the majority of his 51 years as owner.
Bob in STL Posted August 24, 2011 Author Posted August 24, 2011 The Kay Stephenson / Stew Barber era was worse. Maybe so, that was a bad era, but we had less communication outlets to put spin on it.
PromoTheRobot Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 This is the most negative things have been since last season...and the season before that...and so on. Things never change. We were negative at 7-9. We were negative with Flutie/Johnson. We were even negative, to a degree, during the Super Bowl run. Bills fans are by nature negative. PTR
Haven Moses Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 Stew Barber drafted worse than Marv, and he was here twice as long.
Coach Tuesday Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 This is the most negative things have been since last season...and the season before that...and so on. Things never change. We were negative at 7-9. We were negative with Flutie/Johnson. We were even negative, to a degree, during the Super Bowl run. Bills fans are by nature negative. PTR Yeah it's the fans. It has nothing to do with the product. God, you're a sucker.
PromoTheRobot Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 Yeah it's the fans. It has nothing to do with the product. God, you're a sucker. Read my post again. Bills fans ALWAYS find something to whine about. It doesn't matter how we do on the field. It comes from the victim mentality that living in Buffalo generates. PTR
LabattBlue Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 Sports Bills fans are by nature negative. PTR I fixed your post.
PromoTheRobot Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 (edited) I fixed your post. You are correct. Go to any message board and I think you'll find that to be true. But Bills fans really crave misery. Even when things go well they are drawn to the negative. e.g...Who talks about Dareus and Merriman any more? PTR Edited August 24, 2011 by PromoTheRobot
Bob in STL Posted August 24, 2011 Author Posted August 24, 2011 26 years ago, 1985, the 2nd season of back to back 2-14 seasons, the Bills were in similar shape. What was worse was in the prior 6 years they had lost 2 of their 1st round picks to other leagues. In 1979 Cousineau became the only player in NFL history to be the top pick in the draft & sign with the CFL and in 1983 Kelly signed with the USFL and we lost Cribbs to the USFL in 1984. The redeeming factors were we had drafted Bruce Smith in 1985 and maintained the rights to Kelly, who arrived a year later. Good points. I was going to mention that the era between Chuck Knox and Marv Levy was very grim. Never under-estimate what adding a HoF QB (Kelly) and an all time great defensive player (Smith) can do. Each of this men helped to make the people around them better. did we get rid of Johnson, Dareus, and Merriman recently??? I have no idea what you're talking about Kyle williams is the best football player on the team right now. I hope to say I'm wrong and Dareus, Merriman, and Johnson have great seasons.
billsfreak Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 did we get rid of Johnson, Dareus, and Merriman recently??? I have no idea what you're talking about None of the three you listed are bonafide NFL stars. Johnson has had one good season, as a #2 receiver, with Lee Evans drawing the majority of double teams, he has to prove he can do it consistently and as the #1 guy. Dareus has played in two preseason games? Really? Merriman has to prove that he can stay healthy and that he has anything left in the tank. If there is a star on this team it would be Kyle Williams, and he is just approaching that level. I do agree with the other poster, this is one of the, if not the worst NFL roster I have ever seen.
Bufcomments Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 Bob in STL...I hear ya, after 11 years of not making the playoffs and the STRONG possible 12th I am in a funk over this team. I love em to death but they just may cause mine over a broken heart lol Thurman Thomas said things wont change until Ralph passes on, ( I dont wish death on NOBODY but Ralph is living on borrowed time now) sadly I think this is true. I think they care but they just keep on making bad judgements with Lee Evans being the latest one. Hard to cheer them on but that is what I will do until they leave town or I die. Bills Fan for life baby.
Mike in Syracuse Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 Nothing holds a candle to the Flutie vs. Johnson era!
section122 Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 I'm a third generation bills fan and started rooting for the bills the year ronnie harmon dropped the ball in the endzone. I missed the early 80s misery the 60 and 70s misery. If I could I would leave the bills but they are like an ex girlfriend who cheats, has a drug problem, and is absolutely no good for you... and for some reason you can't say goodbye. I wish I could be a steelers fan or a giants but I'm not I'm a bills fan and at this point people don't even laugh at me like they did after the sb years. They just say wow that sucks - I didn't think anyone still rooted for them, and I live in cny! Things are bad real bad and it seems the fans are the only ones who care. I don't know how much longer I can do that. If there is no commitment by this team to try and put a good product on the field I can't keep caring - its not fair to myself and it sucks to feel that way about my favorite team in my favorite sport.
skibum Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 26 years ago, 1985, the 2nd season of back to back 2-14 seasons, the Bills were in similar shape. What was worse was in the prior 6 years they had lost 2 of their 1st round picks to other leagues. In 1979 Cousineau became the only player in NFL history to be the top pick in the draft & sign with the CFL and in 1983 Kelly signed with the USFL and we lost Cribbs to the USFL in 1984. The redeeming factors were we had drafted Bruce Smith in 1985 and maintained the rights to Kelly, who arrived a year later. Agreed. I remember the Rochester D&C publishing a spoof on the Bears' Super Bowl Shuffle, called "The Stupor Bowl Shuffle", mocking the utter aimlessness of the Bills' franchise. Actually, the Bills have been desperately bad at many points in their history. The '90s were really a fluke for this organization.
bananathumb Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 After scanning the topics on this board it was really dawned on me how bad things look for the Bills right now. While the team is making some strides in some areas there really has been very little done in the past year to improve this team. Some of the negative stuff: 1. Ownership issues - more than any other time there seems to be a lack of a winning comittment. They will make tons of money no matter what. 2. No known succession plan for the inevitable passing of Ralph. 3. Lack of respect from the national media has reached an all time high. Maybe today's journalists have more insight or is it our culture now? 4. Just when we think we have a football man running the show a story leaks that maybe that is not so. (Overdorf and the Evans trade) 5. Front office taking a slow deliberate approach to rebuild, almost a reluctance to bring in better players and depth. 6. Not since the early 70's (prior to Lou Saban's return) have we had so little talent on the roster. At least relative to the rest of the league and especially our division. Are things that bad for the Bills or could it be the mass communications blasting away at us? Think about how things are today - sports radio, all sports TV, internet, blogs, tweets, youtube. Seems like the focus is on the negative. I even find it to be happening to me. I've almost always been negative about the Bills, but you are right in feeling that this is the nadir. Let's just call it WILSON TIME (sort of the opposite of MILLER TIME).
Ennjay Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 (edited) Some of the negative stuff: 1. Ownership issues - more than any other time there seems to be a lack of a winning comittment. They will make tons of money no matter what. 2. No known succession plan for the inevitable passing of Ralph. 3. Lack of respect from the national media has reached an all time high. Maybe today's journalists have more insight or is it our culture now? 4. Just when we think we have a football man running the show a story leaks that maybe that is not so. (Overdorf and the Evans trade) 5. Front office taking a slow deliberate approach to rebuild, almost a reluctance to bring in better players and depth. 6. Not since the early 70's (prior to Lou Saban's return) have we had so little talent on the roster. At least relative to the rest of the league and especially our division. I agree the pre- and early-OJ years and the mid-80's were pretty grim. But in terms of how bad I felt personally, I bottomed out two years ago after the last preseason game: -- Everything Bob says is true now was true then. -- The Bills braintrust had committed to a no-huddle offense with no no-huddle personnel. -- With an awful O-line, they cut a starter. Sure Walker sucked, but who replaced him? -- With the offense a shambles, Dickie fired his O-coordinator. -- Wasn't our nominal best defensive player (Aaron Schobel) already hurt? -- And IIRC, wasn't our nominal best offensive player ("Beastmode") suspended at the start of the season? As bad as they are now, I still think Gailey is better than Jauron as HC, Nix is better than Brandon as GM, the overall staff is better, and the defense is better. Which is not to say things are good. Just not as bad as they were. Edited August 24, 2011 by Ennjay
BobbyC81 Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 OL - trainwreck WR - Very little experience. Now counting on a guy who last year struggled with the dropsies to be your #1 guy. LB - Those that were counting on Merriman to save this woeful group have come back to earth TE - We don't have one Except for Williams and Dareus, there isn't a player on this roster who is within a country mile of being a star. Some of you guys are being too critical and overreacting. 1. Merriman is going to help give the Bills their best pass rush in a few seasons 2. N. Barnett is an improvement on Poz at ILB. Sheppard should provide more depth than they've had. 3. Aaron Williams will improve the cornerback play 4. Dareus will help greatly with the rushing defense 5. A year's experience for another budding start in Stevie Johnson should make him even better this year and all of the other young receivers have a season under their belts 6. Wood is an upgrade at center and i believe that Chan will put a OL five on the field that will be better than what started 2010. 7. Scott Chandler has shown to be gaining a rapport with Fitz so I believe his production will be better than what we've seen out of the TE position in a while. All this adds up to a better team than in 2010. Chances are there may not be a significant improvement to the win-loss record, but it'll be an improved team for sure.
mattsox Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 The last two years of the Stephenson era were brutal, but this team could be on par if Fitzpatrick regresses at all. There are holes all over this team... OL - trainwreck WR - Very little experience. Now counting on a guy who last year struggled with the dropsies to be your #1 guy. LB - Those that were counting on Merriman to save this woeful group have come back to earth TE - We don't have one Except for Williams and Dareus, there isn't a player on this roster who is within a country mile of being a star. Jackson and Merriman has potential to be included in the group. But that's all I see. Johnson has to play out of his mind this season in order to get that type of recognition.
billsfreak Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 Nothing holds a candle to the Flutie vs. Johnson era! That was a mess, but it doesn't compare to this era for disappointing. They were competitive, for the most part had winning records and were in the playoffs, especially under Flutie, whom which they should have stayed under.
Homey D. Clown Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 How do you make a team better by leaving the same players in the same positions? This preseason, and Chan Gailey is shaking some things up. How soon do we forget the Jauron era where the team keeps doing the same thing expecting winning results. Everyone moaned about Lee Evans drop in production, so the guy gets traded, then everyone is up in arms about how we desperately need him. I'm sorry but I see things a little differently. I am very happy to see CJ running with the first team, he looks like he can play, and there's no reason CJ and Freddy can't share the load. The defense will be an improved unit as long as they stay healthy And the new notion that no position is safe on this team. sorry, but the soft, cushy, win some lose more attitude isn't cutting it with our new head coach, and I for one applaud it. None of the players, including the likes of Lee evans ever won anything of significance, so it's time they are held accountable. As far as the ownership concerns made by the OP, I share those feelings too and think it's time the team is passed along to someone who is interested in keeping the team in Buffalo, and winning. enough of this playing games in toronto crap.
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