offsides#76FredSmerlas

If we had drafted Wilson our running backs would look great all the time too. A great QB makes everyone better, especially the coach.

Here's the bottom line. All of the coaches and all the general managers and all of the front office will look bad until we get a QB that can control a game, be a leader, and win. I am hoping with everything in me that EJ is the guy but I am still not sure and his progression these last 4 games for me is crucial. Good QB's can win with just about any coach and any front office. What did John Fox do in Carolina, now he has Manning! What did Bill Bellacheat do in Cleveland, now he has Brady! What did Marv Levy do in KC, then he got Kelly! If the Bills landed a good one in EJ then they will be a very good team next season. If EJ is a bust we will endure another dreadful year, bottom line...

First of all he is not the leader of this offense. Second of all Stevie is a very good #2 receiver. He contributes on a consistent basis. I guess he isn't allowed to make mistakes. The ball got knocked out, it sucked, my heart sank... Does this mean he should be run out of town? If would be stupid to release players who are talented and he is talented; just not a #1 receiver and that's not his fault. I know your question wasn't asking if we should keep him or not but I have been hearing it by fans and talk radio and it just dumb to even think about. Stevie is not the leader and he is not our captain. Wood and Jackson are our leaders. Honestly, it is just a bad thread...

I could possibly see the Jets picking him up.

It's a good thing we waited on Eric Moulds to develop. Also, I hear all this talk about the fact that TJ was taking over Russell Martin. Guess what, so were probably 65 to 80 other guys and I am betting that only about 20% panned out to be above average players if that. The Bills can't hit on every pick and I think their last few drafts have been as good or better than most of the other 32 teams in the league. TJ might never be good but give the guy at least the length of his contract before showing him the door.

We did, just the wrong one!!!

The Bills have brought in 30 new faces this season. The team brought in a QB for QB competition and he is now on our practice squad. We upgraded our depth big time. We traded for Larry Hughes who plays a ton. We brought in a kicker who has been filling in nicely. How many more moves do I need to mention. Also, how in the world does anyone know what the front office does unless you are part of the management team for the Bills. We have no idea who they call, who they ask about, what agents they chat with. Believe me every team in the league does their homework on players each and every week. We need to face it that some players don't even want to play here but the Bills would never broadcast that. Once we change the culture and we start winning some games and maybe go to a playoff game then maybe we will see some players actually choose to come to a cold, run down, poor economic city. I love how people just assume the front office never try's to land players in trades and what not...

How terr I'm not sure how terrible are line is. You have a rookie hanging on to the ball to long and you have a Jets defense that blitzed us with more defenders then we could block every play. We can't run because they are bringing extra defenders up in the box. Our QB and receivers need to take advantage of those situations and then the D will back off and play more honest. Our line is not as a big a problem as you might think.

I was nothing more than a JV football coach in high school so I don't claim to know all the ins and outs of the game but it seemed like the Bills were getting blitzed right up the middle the entire game by the Jets. I would have loved to have seen a middle bubble screen to take advantage of their rush from time to time just to keep the Jets on their heels a bit.

I would like to see them mix it up. Don't stay in the no-huddle the whole game but rather give the defense a change up and maybe use it once a quarter. This will keep the opposing defense guessing and will also allow our defense a much needed rest. The better our offense gets over time the more we could run the no huddle. -sounds logical anyways...

I didn't hear Jim compare Stevie to Andre unless I miss heard it this morning. I heard Jim say there's a lot of similarities with Hull/Wood, and Thomas/Jackson & Spiller.

and if the Bills didn't drop a bunch of passes, and didn't have a bunch of penalties, and didn't turn the ball over it wouldn't have been close and the Bills would have crushed them. So, anybody could say if they did the "what ifs" better it wouldn't have been close. You can say that about every game every week, really Jabber be serious!!! so pressuring Brady and having him only complete 55% of his passes is not a direct affect of great pressure. seriously! turnovers are vital but incompletions are huge, especially on 3rd downs. I bet Brady doesn't missfire and only complete 55% of his passes to many times this year.

+1 "well said"

I didn't get the Monday night game totals but as of Monday morning the Bills defensively were on the field by a far more than any other team in the league. This is directly related to our offense not being able to sustain drives. The time of possession was absurd for the Patriots. This is the reason we had the stats Jabber pointed out: -26th in game stats (431 yards): http://www.nfl.com/s...=1&d-447263-n=1 -30th against the rush (158 yards *But anyone who watched the game and knows a little bit about football could tell you that our defense hit hard, stopped the run until late when they were exhausted, had tight coverage on almost all of Brady's 52 pass attempts, banged Brady up repeatedly, and even scored 7 points. I was in a Bills Bar in Charlotte and it was packed with former Buffalonians and everyone was hyped about how they couldn't believe a Buffalo defensive team was just dominating the Pats offensive line. We were high fiving in amasement because it has been forever since we have seen a defense play so aggressively and just dominate physically. If you are not excited about our defense then I really feel bad for you because not much will make you happy. Like you, I am ticked off that we lost and winning and losing is the bottom line, not effort. But if I was the head coach Mike Pettine would get a pat on the back Monday morning and a big thank you for great execution of a game plan. Then I would walk in to the offensive room and tell Hacket things better get a lot better because if you can't move the ball, eat up some clock, capitalize on 3rd downs, and put points on the board your not going to win many games. Then I would add that the turnovers in our red zone and the penalties were inexcusable. Finally I would say when you have a hot back "Jackson" and you have a back "Spiller" who crapped the bed rushing the ball "give the ball to Jackson and stop trying to make Spiller throw up". Then I would kick myself in the butt because as the head coach it all falls on you.

So acording to your logic the team could lose 7-0 on an interception (pick 6) thrown from our QB and you would not say our defense played great even though they shut the team out. A defense can be great and still lose. It happens every week by teams.

+1

Here's what I found in an ESPN article today: Hard to top this group. The Detroit Lions (with Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley, Jason Jones, and Ziggy Ansah) come close, but the combination of Williams, Williams and Dareus is the best in the NFL. When healthy and clicking, Mario Williams is a premier pass-rusher with excellent athleticism for his size (6-foot-6, 292 pounds). Dareus (331 pounds), Kyle Williams (301 pounds) and Branch (325 pounds) are stout across the middle. At 6-foot-5, Carrington has ideal length for the position, which has also shown up on special teams (three blocked field goals last season).

+1

You have to look at the body of work you are given and so far it is only one game. In one game they looked damn good defensively. I have way more problems with the offense and the "playing not to lose" mentality. The drops by our players, the fumbles, and the penalties that crushed any chance for Manuel to sustain a drive are a lot bigger concern for me after one game. Also, Coach Marrone needs to get the right guys on the field quicker, 12 men called twice in one game is rediculous.

I understand your one of those guys who simply doesn't understand logic and there will be no winning with you. Coach Marrone was impressed by his defense but he doesn't have more knowledge about the game than you do. The defense played one hell of a game for being on the field as much as they were. The Patriots had a much shorter field to work with for the majority of the game and I'll state it again that we coughed the ball up in our red zone twice. How many teams are going to shut down Brady like we did, are you kidding me? I had season tickets for ten years before moving to Charlotte NC. I grew up watching the Bills since I was 4 years old sitting next to my dad and I have only missed one game in my life that I can remember but I taped it and watched it at a different time. So, to tell me you drove from out of state to watch a game doesn't impress me to much sorry. I'm driving up this week with a bunch of Carolina fans but I don't consider that to be anything to brag about. I told them they better not wear Carolina jerseys if they know whats good for them. I have a feeling were gonna pound Carolina and get this thing rolling next week. If you call that drinking the Kool-aid so be it. I'm a believer in this team and I will always bleed red, white and blue. Go Bills!!!

In all due respect Mr. Jerry Jabber you sound like the next making of Jerry Sullivan. You continue to talk in your several posts about how bad the Bills defense is and how depleted the poor Patriots are. They were only without Gronk. Hernandez and Welker don't play for them anymore. That is like saying we were without Levitre so maybe are run game would be better with him still here. We are missing two of our best defensive backs and two of the best defensive backs probably in the NFL. You also rip apart our d-line. Our d-line put great pressure on Brady. Anybody that knows anything about football will tell you pressures are almost as good as sacks because they cause incompletions and even better interceptions. Brady completed only 55% of his passes. Brady had a QB rating of 59.39. How many teams will be that affective against Brady??? The other BIG thing you fail to mention is that our damn defense was on the field the entire game. The time of possession was 37 minutes to 22 minutes because we could not maintain any drives. Any defense playing that long would be winded, hence the reason we started to get gashed in the second have by their running backs. Are defense recovered 2 fumbles, had an interception, scored a touchdown, and held the Pats to 6 points in the second half and you are gonna rip on the defense??? In fact if our offense don't cough the ball up twice inside our own 20 yard line and gift wrap points for the Pats maybe we win easily. If you look at the NFL stats only 13 teams had more than 2 sacks, but only 3 had more pressures. Are defense also led the entire NFL in tackles, 14 more tackles then any other team. Again, this is because our offense was conservative and in my opinion played not to lose instead of playing to win. I give the coaches an excuse though because they want to bring Manuel along slowly and let him get his feet wet a little. You mention that the Bills are in trouble the next time because Gronk will be back and their receivers will be more in sink. How about our guys coming back? How about the fact that we have very young receivers that need to mature some? I think I heard that we were the 3rd youngest team in the NFL at an average age of 25. I honestly thought you were a Pats fan until you said you couldn't wait for Brady to retire and for the Pats to be bad again. It doesn't sound like your a Bills fan and if you are then you need to look deeper in to what you are talking about in your many posts. C'mon man be a little positive.

I drank the kool-aid last year for the first time in years and I am drinking it again this year but a little more cautiously and thats only because we have a rookie QB. I thought we had the players last year to make the playoffs and if it wasn't for Wanstsandt, and Fitzjunk we probably would have at least threatened to make it. This year I feel that we have an even stronger roster but again we have to see what we get from the QB position. I believe EJ will shine but not sure if he'll be first year ready or not. If the Bills get good, not great QB play, they make the playoffs. I'm confident our defense will drastically get better under Petine and we have more offensive weapons to throw at opossing teams. Love me some Kool-aid.

I'm glad Bruce was nice to you because I met him one night at Jim Kelly's bar and he was one of the biggest pricks I ever met. He was rude and treated me like I was an ass for wishing him good luck on the upcoming season. He wouldn't even extend his hand for a hand shake. I still rooted for him as a fan when he played but as a person I never respected him again. I see why he held out so much, skipped a ton of practices, and got a few DWI's.

All of these people on this board moaning and groaning. You can't say it was a good draft or a bad draft until you see the guys perform. Personally I love the pick and this is who I wanted but I can't say it was the right pick until we see the product play. I know this though; I'm excited!

Kelly83TD I guess I wanted the same guy the BILLS wanted. Sorry, we didn't draft Barkley. lol So much for all your trash talking and knowledge.