Thoughts on Bills’ 2008 schedule, losing Miami game to Toronto
The NFL released the Buffalo Bills schedule Tuesday afternoon and there is some good and some bad news. As for the good news, for a second-straight year, Buffalo is getting a Monday Night home game, after not getting one since 1994. In week 11, the Bills will host the Cleveland Browns.
However, the most popular home game each year against Miami, will be played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto instead of in Buffalo. To make it worse, it would’ve been a December 7th game, where Miami would’ve froze in the Buffalo weather. Now, it’ll be in front of potentially less Bills fans in an indoor climate. Losing home divisional games is not fair. The Toronto game would’ve sold out no matter what opponent it was. Why take a popular home game away from the dedicated fans?
Here’s a rundown of the rest of the schedule, with my thoughts on each:
Sunday, Sept. 7 – Seattle Seahawks, 1 p.m. – Another home game to kick off the season. Should be a tough test against last year’s NFC West champs.
Sunday, Sept. 14 – at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m. – The Jags were one of the best teams in the league last year and should be better as David Garrard has more experience. The teams met last year and Jacksonville won 36-14. A tough start to the season for Buffalo.
Sunday, Sept. 21 – Oakland Raiders, 1 p.m. - The Raiders sure spent a lot of money this off-season, we’ll see if it pays off.
Sunday, Sept. 28 – at St. Louis Rams, 4:05 p.m. – The Rams were horrible last year, but with a healthy Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson, they could be dangerous.
Sunday, Oct. 5 – at Arizona Cardinals, 4:15 p.m. – The Cardinals should have a potent offense to test the Bills rebuilt defense.
Sunday, Oct. 12 – Bye week – A nice rest in week six, to prepare for one of the toughest opponents of the season…
Sunday, Oct. 19 – San Diego Chargers, 1 p.m. – Bills fans can get an up-close look at Ladainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates and Shawne Merriman. Buffalo will need to bring their A-game out of the bye week. The Chargers could be drained after playing New England the week before.
Sunday, Oct. 26 – at Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m. – A long wait until the first divisional game of the year. Miami should be better under new coach Tony Sparano, but who will throw the ball?
Sunday, Nov. 2 – New York Jets, 1 p.m. – The Jets can’t possibly be as bad as they were last year. Should be a loud atmosphere for the first home divisional game.
Sunday, Nov. 9 – at New England Patriots, 1 p.m. – Three consecutive divisional games, with the hardest coming last. Also, the Pats don’t get the Bills off of their bye week for once.
Monday, Nov. 17 – Cleveland Browns, 8:30 p.m. – Buffalo should be just as crazy for the Monday Night Football atmosphere as it was last year. Could the Bills pull off a win this year in a rematch of the snow game?
Sunday, Nov. 23 – at Kansas City Chiefs, 1 p.m. – The Chiefs have questions at quarterback, but Larry Johnson still is a load to bring down.
Sunday, Nov. 30 – San Francisco 49ers, 1 p.m. – Corner Nate Clements returns to Buffalo a rich man, but how will he be received by fans?
Sunday, Dec. 7 – Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m. (at Toronto) – I’m going to be mad about this all year as a season ticket holder.
Sunday, Dec. 14 – at New York Jets, 1 p.m. – With the season wrapping up, this could be a key game in the fight for a playoff spot.
Sunday, Dec. 21 – at Denver Broncos, 1 p.m. – This will be a very tough road game in the December weather. The Bills likely want payback for last year’s week one loss.
Sunday, Dec. 28 – New England Patriots, 1 p.m. – I’m guessing the Pats will have the division locked up by week 17, so Bills fans likely will see the New England scrubs.
Overall, Buffalo’s opponents had a combined record of 115-141 in 2007, the sixth-easiest schedule in the NFL, which is a lot better than last year. In 2007, the Bills faced the NFL’s toughest schedule, as their opponents went 138-118 the year before.
What do you think of the 2008 schedule? What games are you excited for? Leave a comment!
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17 Responses to “Thoughts on Bills’ 2008 schedule, losing Miami game to Toronto”
April 15th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
WRONG!! WRONG!! WRONG!! They should NOT have taken the Miami game away from the Buffalo fans. They lose a home game. It’s bad enough, but yea, if they were gonna take any game, it should NOT have been against a divisional team. It should have been the Oakland or San Fran game.
This SUCKS!!!!
April 15th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
This is an outrage. It is the most anticipated home game every season for all Bills fans, and they send it to Toronto? Is the plan to piss everyone in Buffalo off so they will chase the team the Toronto with pitchforks?
April 15th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
so what they got a monday night gmae vs clevlend wich will be the tougher game to win. miami sucks
April 15th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
As a Canadian, and a Miami fan, I’m really excited for this game. I think its going to do a lot for the NFL’s popularity in Canada. And don’t think of it as taking a game away from Buffalo fans, but think of it as giving a meaningful exciting game to Canadians.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I don’t really care about giving the Canadians a good game or not. But it was the wrong move to put the only game that the fans of Buffalo look forward to in Canada. Having a MNF game in Buffalo again is great, but at the cost of losing the Dolphins it is a tight rope to walk.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
brandon raises an interesting point. The Cleveland game will be much tougher than Miami. Having the Ralph loud for tough games is the point of a home field advantage. The Dolphins are opponent they should be able to beat either way.
April 15th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Yeah, I’d have to agree. It’s a deep rivalry between us and Miami, but they are just not very good right now. Even with all that Parcells had done already, they still don’t have a very appealing roster, and they had to overspend in FA a little. They’re gonna be a little better than last year, and probably win at least 3 or 4 games, but, yeah they suck, and I’m not really that concerned about it.
April 15th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I’m still pissed that my season tickets don’t include a Miami game. Why couldn’t it have been San Fran or Oakland?
April 15th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Buffalo Bills games in Toronto
The NFL certainly is only concerned about itself and the bottom line. They do not care about the loyal fans who are the suckers. Going to Toronto is more than a “good business” decision. It is a greedy move that few Bills fans are fooled by. Why would an NFL team consider a “grass is greener” move when that team sells out every game year after year? Is there any guarantee that Toronto will go beyond it’s business support of an NFL team? Are their football fans any better than their baseball fans? There will NEVER be fan support from Buffalo fans crossing the border to see the Toronto Bills. Spitting in the face of Bills fans will eventually catch up with them.
Jim
April 15th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Your definitely right about the NFL’s motives for heading North Jim. I just hoped that Bills management might have a say in what game would be played there.
However, the NFL does seem serious about keeping football in WNY as they did give the Bills a Monday Night game for a second-straight year, you can’t ignore that.
But I do agree that Bills fans wouldn’t support a Toronto team.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Seriously…the dolphins game? come on the NFL has to be smarter than that to take away the game that Bills fans get amped up for the most. i mean if canadian fans want to watch the Bills they can come down to good old orchard park and get a ticket at the ralph.
But heres my biggest question about the schedules…why do the patriots have the easiest one?
April 16th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
The NFL didn’t get any choice really in giving the Pats an easy schedule. They have to get the Bills, Jets and Dolphins twice. They get the AFC West and NFC West like us.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Hey Dan, I haven’t weighed in on this yet but I think putting the Miami game up there is not wise even on the $ side of it. Miami isn’t a big draw for Toronto b/c they are horrible right now. So what was the logic of pulling our most heated rivalary? I mean the NFL is very aware of it b/c they left Miami in our division b/c of it. Why not put the Raiders, chargers or niners game in TO? Although I suspect some would rather see the chargers over the dolphins anyway, so maybe they did get it right.lol
April 17th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I don’t think it’ll hurt the money for Toronto. Over 100,000 have registered to get tickets for the eight-game package. Since you have to buy all eight at once, and that many people are interested their going to make a lot more than they would at the Ralph for those eight.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I feel a lot of the same emotions as most Bills fans do, however as I have read some of the comments, one thing has bothered me. Yes, the Miami game is highly anticipated, but it is not the “only game that the fans of Buffalo look forward to” as KJD put it. I am as much a Bills fan as anyone. I moved to Houston this past year and look forward to EVERY game, regardless of the opponent. With that said, if home field advantage is truly a factor, I would rather have it on Monday night than for a poor Dolphins team.
Let’s not think of it as losing a game to Toronto. Let’s think of it as giving the Bills a chance to shine in front of a new crowd in what will be a highly-anticipated game. I am sure ESPN will be talking about the game the whole week before…so if the Bills win, it will be good publicity.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:35 am
That’s a good point Brian, losing the MNF game to Cleveland would’ve angered people a lot more.
Hopefully Buffalo wins the Toronto game and gets some national attention.
April 20th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
As a Torontonian and Bills fan, I’d like to submit the following:
Regardless of Bills games scheduled for TO, I really think many in Buffalo either neglect or ignore the fact that lots of people in TO have a real weak spot for Buffalo, and genuinely enjoy the city. Yes, we’ve been to the games, enoyed the Anchor Bar and even the Albright-Knox. We grew up watching Commander Tom too.
The priority of this exercise should be to insure the Bills stay in Buffalo. Down the track, that may necessitate playing more games in TO. It sounds as if the prospects of the Bills staying in Buffalo post-Ralph are grim. Maybe the best chance is if TO and Buffalo SHARE the Bills. Eventually I could even see 3-4 regular season games in TO, maybe even a name change to something like “BTO Bills”. This may strike many Bills fans as grossly unfair - but the alternative could be much worse. No Bills at all.
The worst thing would be for Toronto to pull an “Indy” and take the Bills totally. That would be a shame, becuase the Bills are the heart and soul of WNY and the fans there have earned the right to keep their team. There is nothing worse than loyal fans being stripped of team merely for economic reason, but sadly it does happen.
So in summary:
Buffalo, you DO have friends in TO…
In 15 years, you may be sharing your team with them.
It may be the best way to ensure the Bills stay in WNY.
Everyone will always know what the “B” in BTO Bills stands for.
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