How the state of the Bills franchise has changed dramatically

[NoHuddleKelly12]

21 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

There isn’t a single fan who isn’t tired of that look you get when you say you’re a Bills fan, who isn’t tired of being favored to lose most games, or the natural media bias against us.  

 

Does it matter, maybe not to some.  But we want to be the Bills of the 90’s again. The place where no one wants to play in December 

We really did kick some tail during that era, didn't we? Figuratively speaking, the scalps of many a HOF QB were dangled from the top of the press box during the playoffs in Buffalo...to see this happen to someone like Brady now, would be bringing it around full circle. 

[The Wiz]

1 hour ago, machine gun kelly said:

 

Wiz- you seem to be a good guy.  Probably a third of this board are Buffalonians of origin, but have moved away for business or other reasons.

Well I can assure you that you are very wrong. 

 

But I wear my bills/Sabres gear anywhere I travel and have never had an issue. 

 

Hell I probably get more ***** from the people I work with than when I travel to away games. 

[billsfan_34]

22 hours ago, Jasovon said:

The focus of this team now seems to be winning games instead of selling tickets, this pleases me.

Canning Brandon A++ move

54 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

We really did kick some tail during that era, didn't we? Figuratively speaking, the scalps of many a HOF QB were dangled from the top of the press box during the playoffs in Buffalo...to see this happen to someone like Brady now, would be bringing it around full circle. 

This is a real possibility- Brady has lost arm strength and is finally showing signs of wear and tear. Sure, he gets the ball out quick and processes very quickly- that will begin to diminish soon as well. 

[BADOLBILZ]

14 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

The rest of the "duds Beane signed" include Hauschka, Levi Wallace, McKenzie, Foster, Anderson, Gaines, and a bunch of others, some of whom have done well, and others of whom haven't. And he brought them in in a year when they had serious salary cap problems and not a lot of cash to throw around. How come you left out those guys? 

 

 

Because they weren't part of Beane's 2018 UFA class?

 

That's what we are talking about here.

 

Well "a" Gaines was part of the 2018 UFA class.........but not the one you are talking about........and Hauschka was on the team when Beane arrived.

 

Here is Beane's UFA class from 2018:

 

Vontae Davis.......supposed to be the starting boundary CB opposite Tre White

Star Lotulelei........he wasn't great with Carolina in 2017 but his production fell off a cliff with Buffalo

Trent Murphy........injured pass rusher McD wasn't able to faith-heal

Russell Bodine........signed to be starting center

Marshall Newhouse.......was supposed to compete at RT but he was hilariously bad in preseason

AJ McCarron.............supposed to be the starting QB in 2018.......another who didn't make it out of camp as a Bill

Chris Ivory..................rushed for almost a full yard below league average per carry.........which has become the norm for him

Phillip Gaines.............signed to be the starting slot CB.....his backstory is similar to Kevin Johnson in that the analytics said he was terrible(and he was)

Jeremy Kerley...........was supposed to be the slot WR between Zay Jones and Kelvin Benjamin at the X and Z positions.

 

That was the class.......everyone thought Beane must have mined a bunch of diamonds..........but alas......nope........it was a terrible batch of UFA's.   

 

They did a good job drafting and in UDFA but they have kind've followed the same formula in UFA as they did last year......hopefully it works better this time.

 

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by BADOLBILZ

[Warcodered]

21 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Because they weren't part of Beane's 2018 UFA class?

 

That's what we are talking about here.

 

Well "a" Gaines was part of the 2018 UFA class.........but not the one you are talking about........and Hauschka was on the team when Beane arrived.

 

Here is Beane's UFA class from 2018:

 

Vontae Davis.......supposed to be the starting boundary CB opposite Tre White

Star Lotulelei........he wasn't great with Carolina in 2017 but his production fell off a cliff with Buffalo

Trent Murphy........injured pass rusher McD wasn't able to faith-heal

Russell Bodine........signed to be starting center

Marshall Newhouse.......was supposed to compete at RT but he was hilariously bad in preseason

AJ McCarron.............supposed to be the starting QB in 2018.......another who didn't make it out of camp as a Bill

Chris Ivory..................rushed for almost a full yard below league average per carry.........which has become the norm for him

Phillip Gaines.............signed to be the starting slot CB.....his backstory is similar to Kevin Johnson in that the analytics said he was terrible(and he was)

Jeremy Kerley...........was supposed to be the slot WR between Zay Jones and Kelvin Benjamin at the X and Z positions.

 

That was the class.......everyone thought Beane must have mined a bunch of diamonds..........but alas......nope........it was a terrible batch of UFA's.   

 

They did a good job drafting and in UDFA but they have kind've followed the same formula in UFA as they did last year......hopefully it works better this time.

 

 

So last year they signed 2 OL and this year they signed 5 yeah that sounds about the same.

[oldmanfan]

5 hours ago, The Wiz said:

Well I can assure you that you are very wrong. 

 

But I wear my bills/Sabres gear anywhere I travel and have never had an issue. 

 

Hell I probably get more ***** from the people I work with than when I travel to away games. 

Live just outside Indy and wear my Bills varsity jacket every day.  Have my sign outside my house.  And the thing I'm proudest of is that my older daughter, born and raised here, wore her Bills stuff every time they had Colt's Spirit day when she was in school.  

 

Get some static simetimes times but I love it.

[2ForMacAdoo]

9 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

?

 

They got arguably the best pass rusher in the league at the time. The problem was the rest of the team lacked any talent at all.

 

I beg your pardon. Mario Williams, a GREAT Marcel Dareus (at the time of the signing), Meatball and Jerry Hughes arguably made up the most talented DL in the NFL. Now where I will agree with you is we didn't have the franchise QB so0 all that talent didn't matter. But, please, spare me with the "team lacked any talent at all."

[Codyny13]

Mario Williams was in his prime, and was a double digit sack man 3 of 4 years. Never got the hate.

[2ForMacAdoo]

19 minutes ago, Codyny13 said:

Mario Williams was in his prime, and was a double digit sack man 3 of 4 years. Never got the hate.

Me neither.  Probably the biggest free agent signing since Takeo. Both immensely productive for several years here. 

[Shaw66]

9 hours ago, RochesterRob said:

  I can't get too down on Ralph wanting a positive bottom line over the years.  It was the only way Ralph was going to be a part of the NFL long term.  Ralph could see as a younger man during the 1970's the league evolving into an entity where ownership would be dominated by those that could own a team as a rich person's hobby.  It would not be possible given Ralph's other comparatively meek ventures that he could stay in as an owner if teams were run at a loss to buy top shelf coaches and players.  People here would say "damn Ralph's passion for paintings and horses.  I would move to Buffalo and buy a house next to the stadium so I could put every spare penny into the team."  The trouble is that any one of us here after walking a few miles in Ralph's shoes might feel different about the team in terms of approaching it with a fan's point of view.  They would most likely say that "I should be entitled to some personal reward for the work that I have performed in terms of building the league up."

 

  The Bills have had talent other than Kelly or Bledsoe over the years but it takes a special talent to make it a NFL QB.  Todd Collins had the physical tangibles and knew the playbook but he could never lead the team.  Losman could relate to his offensive teammates and chuck a ball but could not read the tougher NFL defenses.  I see people beefing about younger QB's that only a couple years ago they were complaining that the Bills missed out on those same players and therefore were incompetent.  Being a Star Trek fan I can only think about Commodore Stone's quip to James T Kirk as Kirk was about to face court martial.  "You and I have done something that very few men have done prior which is to command a starship."  Which is to say if being a QB was easy as plucking one off of a tree and running him through a class then every NFL team would have a franchise QB.  But we should know that is not the reality of it.

I'm not down on him at all. I revere him.  He brought pro football to Buffalo, kept it there when it was in his personal interest to move, assured it would stay when he died, and gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the City to boot.  

 

But he often was tight fisted and he generally didn't make good football decisions.   Running a winning pro football franchise just wasn't something he was good at.  

 

 

[Shaw66]

8 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Because they weren't part of Beane's 2018 UFA class?

 

That's what we are talking about here.

 

Well "a" Gaines was part of the 2018 UFA class.........but not the one you are talking about........and Hauschka was on the team when Beane arrived.

 

Here is Beane's UFA class from 2018:

 

Vontae Davis.......supposed to be the starting boundary CB opposite Tre White

Star Lotulelei........he wasn't great with Carolina in 2017 but his production fell off a cliff with Buffalo

Trent Murphy........injured pass rusher McD wasn't able to faith-heal

Russell Bodine........signed to be starting center

Marshall Newhouse.......was supposed to compete at RT but he was hilariously bad in preseason

AJ McCarron.............supposed to be the starting QB in 2018.......another who didn't make it out of camp as a Bill

Chris Ivory..................rushed for almost a full yard below league average per carry.........which has become the norm for him

Phillip Gaines.............signed to be the starting slot CB.....his backstory is similar to Kevin Johnson in that the analytics said he was terrible(and he was)

Jeremy Kerley...........was supposed to be the slot WR between Zay Jones and Kelvin Benjamin at the X and Z positions.

 

That was the class.......everyone thought Beane must have mined a bunch of diamonds..........but alas......nope........it was a terrible batch of UFA's.   

 

They did a good job drafting and in UDFA but they have kind've followed the same formula in UFA as they did last year......hopefully it works better this time.

 

 

This is just your negative spin on that class.  

 

Davis they hoped would recover from injuries.

 

Star has been, I think, exactly what they wanted. 

 

Bodine was signed to compete to start.  Morse was signed this year to start.   Big difference between those expectations. 

 

McCarron was supposed to be a veteran presence and compete to start.   If the Bills had expected their free agent qb to start they wouldn't have stayed out of the free agent and just signed the last guy left.

 

Ivory couldn't run behind the oline any better than Shady could.

 

I think you may have had unrealistic expectations out of that class.  I didn't. Many of them didn't disappoint me because I didn't expect much from them.  Beane also didn't expect much from them.  He has always said that you build through the draft and fill in with free agents.  

 

 

[Seoulful Soul]

On 3/16/2019 at 5:27 AM, DJB said:

 

Gone are the cheap Ralph days. 

 

Gone are the days of signing an aging and deteriorating Mario Williams to am oversized contract when we had nothing else around him and we should have been tearing it down instead of that marketing ploy by Russ Brandon. 

 

Gone are the days of trading up for a WR using valuable draft stock when we had no QB to throw to him. 

 

Gone are the days of hiring a flashy coach like Rex Ryan who was all talk with little substance and had the team pulling in different directions. 

 

I'm just so pleased with this front office and ownership group who appears to have an actual plan to be successful and be a perennial team in the playoff hunt. 

 

Obviously going for Allen was their biggest and smartest decision they have made. And now free agents are actually wanting to come to Buffalo because of our QB!

 

McDermott and Beane have built an actual team with character and skill who care for each other, the city of Buffalo and are excited to be a Buffalo Bill!

 

And for once in a very long time im proud to be a Bills fan! The time is now!

 

Go Bills !

 

I like this idea, but I am lukewarm on it.  Win the six out of the first eight games of the year but blowing out opponents on both sides of the ball, then I'll start feeling better about the turnaround.

[machine gun kelly]

On 3/15/2019 at 5:41 PM, The Wiz said:

Just curious, why does it matter what anyone outside of Buffalo thinks? 

 

Wiz- you must have misunderstood me.  I live outside of Buffalo, (FL) but grew up on South Park Ave. and went to St. Francis.  I’m just as much a Bills fan as my brother, sisters, cousins, and nephews who still live there.  Yes, I have my Bills towels I bring everyday to the gym, wear my gear and have my Fred Jackson jersey on every Sunday during the season.  To think that you have to live in the Buffalo area to be a fan is silly.

 

I already said, you seem to be a nice guy, but look at the posters and, and how many live in another city, but are from Buffalo.  FL is full of Buffalonians especially on the west coast.  That is why I spend the money on a the ticket every year since 1996.

 

i agree with you I don’t care what people around the country who are not Bills fans thinks.  They have their right to their opinion, but I don’t have to agree.

 

i hope you enjoy you’re Sunday and Go Bills!

[auburnbillsbacker]

Until we start winning consistently nothing  has changed.  Hopefully that happens soon.

[BADOLBILZ]

5 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

This is just your negative spin on that class.  

 

Davis they hoped would recover from injuries.

 

Star has been, I think, exactly what they wanted. 

 

Bodine was signed to compete to start.  Morse was signed this year to start.   Big difference between those expectations. 

 

McCarron was supposed to be a veteran presence and compete to start.   If the Bills had expected their free agent qb to start they wouldn't have stayed out of the free agent and just signed the last guy left.

 

Ivory couldn't run behind the oline any better than Shady could.

 

I think you may have had unrealistic expectations out of that class.  I didn't. Many of them didn't disappoint me because I didn't expect much from them.  Beane also didn't expect much from them.  He has always said that you build through the draft and fill in with free agents.  

 

 

 

 

1)  They expected Davis to recover and start........this wasn't a $1 yr $2M contract........and they didn't draft another boundary CB so who was the fall back?

 

2)  You think they expected Star to totally lose his ability to make plays?   He was a consistent 8-12 TFL+QB hits guy in Carolina......his Buffalo total was 1...for $10M per year?

 

3)  Bodine was expected to compete and easily defeat Ryan Groy.   Again.......they didn't draft a center.   Where is the fall back?  

 

(btw....I like Morse.   I'm not comparing classes position to position, the Morse signing is the big fish of this class.........like Lotulelei last season.   I like Morse signing a lot better than Star though......despite the injury concerns.........because he actually plays every down.   I won't be surprised to see Star de-activated for a game or two this season and cut after the year)   

 

4)  So you are saying the plan was for McCarron to "compete" with Nathan Peterman?   You really gonna' go with that as a DEFENSE of the move?

 

5)  Ivory's stats in Jax were nearly identical.   To paraphrase Bum Phillips......"if you need 3 yards he'll get you 3 yards and if you need 5 yards he'll get you 3 yards"

 

6) I didn't have unrealistic expectations from the class.    People like you did.   You have to take acquisitions at face value and not get caught up in the hype of "well in 10 snaps as a slot corner Phillip Gaines had elite numbers".  

 

Try to put it in perspective..... 

 

Somewhere a team will sign Jordan Mills for peanuts and the spin will be like........"WOW we got a guy with 48 straight starts at RT that played for the best rush offense in the NFL in 2015 and 2016....he just had terrible coaching the past two years.....2nd worst offense in NFL......those are the idiots that thought Nate Peterman was a starting QB!  Our GM is a witch!  Great signing!!!" 

 

Being realistic........for instance, take this OL class.......it is very much about getting guys the new OL coach Bobby Johnson KNOWS.   His guys.   Not necessarily guys the Bills pro scouting staff selected as the best from an impartial analysis.......but guys that Johnson knows and likes that were available.   Hopefully Bobby is a good judge of talent and it works.  Like Bob Babich Jr. suggesting Jordan Poyer.   Of course McDermott hiring his best buddy Juan Castillo and Castillo then importing his beloved Vlad Ducasse didn't work..........the buddy system is a questionable way to build a roster and coaching staff and its a really bad look when it goes REALLY BAD the way it did with Castillo. 

[Tcali]

17 hours ago, Codyny13 said:

Mario Williams was in his prime, and was a double digit sack man 3 of 4 years. Never got the hate.

because half the plays he was zero factor. his pressures were few. he was just an above avg DE with a superstar contract. thats why the criticism.

[DuckyBoys]

7 minutes ago, Tcali said:

because half the plays he was zero factor. his pressures were few. he was just an above avg DE with a superstar contract. thats why the criticism.

He took a lot of plays off and the sacks never came where they made a difference.  Big talent but the effort never matched it especially in critical moments late in games.  Far as hate for the Bills outside Buffalo I have to tell you there are more passionate Bills fans outside Buffalo than you would suspect  That 90's run is a  awful long time ago but I see more Bills gear here in Florida than most teams. 

[Tcali]

2 minutes ago, DuckyBoys said:

He took a lot of plays off and the sacks never came where they made a difference.  Big talent but the effort never matched it especially in critical moments late in games.  Far as hate for the Bills outside Buffalo I have to tell you there are more passionate Bills fans outside Buffalo than you would suspect  That 90's run is a  awful long time ago but I see more Bills gear here in Florida than most teams. 

right on ducky

[Codyny13]

5 hours ago, Tcali said:

because half the plays he was zero factor. his pressures were few. he was just an above avg DE with a superstar contract. thats why the criticism.

An above average player on a bad team, the exact player he was with the Texans. I can understand not liking the contract, which would be Buddy Nix’ fault not his. As far as effort, the last year under Rex, I get it, he was completely unfit for the scheme Rex ran and he made it known with body language. Ryan and the defensive staff did a horrible job adapting the scheme to fit the players on the roster. They turned the 2nd rated defense into a middling unit that used disguises to try and fool opposing offenses rather than using the best d line talent we’ve arguably ever had to wreak havoc. He was being misused and didn’t handle it great, but the bills got the player they bought, a double digit sack guy used to try and hide the fact we still had no qb and no chance of sustained winning. 

[BuffaloBillsGospel]

I like your enthusiasm OP but the Mario Willliams comment I don't agree with at all, the dude had 43 sacks for us, made our defense a powerhouse and if we even had a Tyrod taylor in the first 3 years we had him  we would have been a playoff team no doubt about it.