8-8 Forever?

Exactly. If they look good, meaning they are competitive, are in it to the end fighting hard despite the usual turnover/big play/mistakes trading with the other team, we should be happy. They won against the Ravens because they dominated the turnover trade with the other team, plain and simply. Running the ball at a 2 to 1 ratio doesn't beat the Ravens unless you get 5 or 6 turnovers (the "act of G_D" I forecast was needed to win). Kiko doesn't make that pick we probably having a very different discussing this week. This is not, repeat, not the year we expect playoffs from this team. If it happens, great, they progressed a lot faster than should be the case, and we take it to the bank. But we should not be expecting it. This team could cart 4 or 5 guys off tonight with season ending injuries who shouldn't , but will, play. What if Fred's knee injury expands and his season ends tonight? McKelvin comes back too early and completely blows the hamstring out? Just take it one game at a time. No expectations. This game is a hold your breath game.

I think he is playing this perfectly. He waits until he is 1000% healthy and can go at full strength without taking shots, etc. Goes out and plays very well for 7-9 games, signs a $20-30m guaranteed deal after a quality up year for the Bills and its all good. The Bills aren't going there with Pettine's defense emphasizing corner and slot corner play way above high safety play. Everyone is happy. We pay Gilmore, Brooks or whoever is awesome at Corner and pay and live with Searcy and Williams at the low-impact safety position. Just hope we trade the guy before all this happens, but the word is probably out and teams will just wait until FA and compete for him there. Kind of stinks, but it is what it is. In the Jauron/Wanny schemes, high safety was a key key position, in Pettine's immediate pressure scheme, not so much. Heck, f ing JIm Leonhard is effective in Pettines defense.

Fitz is in a perfect spot. This is why he left. He wore it out here but gets new life there. Good for him. I always liked him. With a Pettine defense, he is probably still here.

Assuming there are no additional injuries to the secondary, which is unlikely. But yes, if McKelvin's resurgence is real and Byrd is 100% and motivated and Gilmore is still Gilmore and Brooks is still Brooks (he is starting all over because it was a foot injury... he is 2nd half of year probably), then on paper the back 4/5 looks good. Which allows Pettine to open up the playbook more, yes. But those are a lot of ifs. We shall see. In a pass first league with a bunch of teams playing cover-2 defense and with Byrd in his prime, his stock probably hasn't dropped at all. PF is not like blowing out a knee. He won't play until he is 100% as this is a contract year. He would rather play 8 games healthy than come back early and relapse, which would demonstrate that (a) he is a risk and (b) probably takes him off the field for the rest of a contract year. You won't see him tomorrow IMHO.

Last time I looked power rankings mean absolutely nothing. This is not college football. If the Bills lose to the Browns, they'll be back at #30 and everyone will be complaining. Power Rankings are garbage.

Yep, this discrepancy is big. Need to somehow get past the Browns. Rest for Bengals, and win that home game. And then go from there and get a half dozen starters back on the field.

As we have seen, safety play is not critical in Pettine's scheme. His D is all about pressure up front, close pressure from the corners with pass plays being over (due to the pressure) in under 3 seconds. Need pro bowl corners, not safeties, in this defense. Who cares? Spend the cap money on Spiller, Dareus, Carrington, guys who make this particular defense work. Heck, Jim Leonhard is a workable safety in Pettine's scheme. Byrd needs to go to some tampa - 2 team where safeties are in the play a lot more. I have to believe scheme plays into how they are dealing with Byrd. We need McKelvin, Brooks and Gilmore back, not Byrd, unless he can play pressure corner.

Oh please. Calls are missed in every game. The top teams are under the microscope with 5 camera angles, so they get called out more than teams that no one pays any attention to. Stop whining. Manning is freaking amazing and they have reloaded at other positions and their best D player is suspended... give it up to the Broncos. Between Manning and Brees , when playing at home, they look simply unbeatable this year.

amazing Promo. great stuff. as I always say, fan is a shortened version of "fanatic"

Never happen. Forget that idea. The Ralph is cool. Retro stadiums will be all the rage in 10 years. Just give it some unique looks. Take the stupid "Gilmore's Goofballs" signs off the ground walls for starters. I am embarrassed for the franchise when I see those on TV. I know they are trying to clean up what fans will hang over the walls, but I liked those better.

If no more serious injuries to starters, I could see this, as injuries and turnovers decide seasons and games in today's NFL. But that is big ask, so I am thinking 8-8 as a few serious injuries will happen to derail this party , plus playing all those games against teams coming off extended rest

geez, what is this? shut er down

He does pitch it around pretty indiscriminately doesn't he. Jeff George with not as good an arm. But he sure looked good bringing them back against the Bills last year in the 4th Qtr. Really good.

American football is neither the biggest (not even close to the "other" " football") or, from a global perspective , nearly the "best" sport in the world ("best" is a subjective term, but in the subjective judgement of the rest of the world, soccer is king -- watch the unbelievable scope and scale of the coverage of next years World Cup for example. Expanding the NFL to other parts of the world is a very long term strategy. American football is not terribly popular anywhere other than here.

If they are good enough for Tuel to catch em, that much easier the real WRs... I am good with it

eee yep .. long term project.. think Ron Brooks. not ready for prime time

Wow. Ngata will destroy Colin Brown. that will be ugly. I almost want to watch that matchup to see what total destruction looks like in the NFL trenches. What a mess that will be.

gonna be ugly Sunday. will take a 4-5 turnover game to win this. anything is possible, and a huge turnover margin resulting in lots of short field drives is what it will take.

Wrong. You need to put a burner out there to keep the safeties off the line. Simple as that. what I would like is to see Goodwin and Easley out there. Or Goodwin and Hogan. This was probably the plan before Goodwin was injured... so we wait.

OH please. My understanding of Plantar Fascitis (or however you spell it) is you simply cannot push off , the pain is excruciating. can't do it. I am sure he wants to play to show his worth come free agency time, so why come back and play like crap and re injure yourself. Everyone loses. Everyone. Let it go

Yeah, the current rebuilding team is tough to stomach, but die hard fans will watch every minute of every game because they are fans. And not understand why they cannot win, and will have the right to poop and moan over every decision and play. That's the deal. Just the way it is. The Bills are only game in town. Sabres are nice, but the NHL is not even close to the NFL and the Sabres are not a winning franchise either, so put them aside. Fans will be fans. Patience is in short supply when the NFL demands you invest your entire Sunday into one team every week. So it is what it is. This is fan board, meaning "fanatic" . So rant away. We "patient" ones just need to deal with it.

Will be another good learning experience for Marrone/Hackett/EJ that will benefit them down the road. Always better to play against teams/coaches who are better/more seasoned than you b/c you learn more competing against them. You also lose the game, but for a full restart rebuilding team currently fielding an Arena League secondary in a pass-first league that is besides the point.

I'll actually be in Rochester visiting family, but you know what, I am going to play golf with my brother and maybe see some of the second half, instead of paying scalper prices for tickets just to blow an entire day seeing what could easily be a beat down. rebuilding year. maybe I'll come up for a game when the roster is back intact.. KC game maybe??

yep 26 - 19. Lots of FGs.

I am really looking forward to week, say 7, when the secondary is back at full strength. Unless a bunch of other defensive players get hurt between now and then ( a distinct possibility ) this defense should be fun to watch, say after the bye week. Unless at 2-6, they have packed it in by then (another distinct possibility ). Oh well, such is the life of a Bills fan . we shall see.