San Jose Bills Fan

Yes. Bad defense can have a negative effect on an offense. It's a team game and everything is interrelated both from a strategic and a morale standpoint, IMO.

Here's some good reading: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/151548-cj-should-be-named-starter/

Good point. Players can be granted permission to have their agents talk to other teams to agree on contract parameters as a prelude to a trade. It happens from time to time. Also there's a case to be made for getting a veteran wide receiver regardless of whether the Bills do so. If Chixley feel they are in a "win now" situation, a rookie wide receiver next April does them little good. How many rookie wideouts are having a significant impact this year?

Ralph… is cheap?

Wasn't that Colin Campbell, the former NFL Czar of Discipline? He was always after someone.

The Dick Jauron extension was the worst one for a few reasons. It was also a bizarre chapter in Bills history as the team kept it a secret during a mid-season slide which saw them lose 7 of 8 games. It was almost like they were waiting for the right moment to announce it (after a big victory) and that moment never arrived.

Or Doug Flutie's drop kick for an extra point in the final game of the 2006 regular season for the Cheatriots***? It was the first drop kick for an extra point since 1941 and it came in Flutie's last season. Belichick described it as a retirement gift to the 44 year old quarterback.

Another Hall of Famer, quarterback Sammy Baugh is one of the greatest punters in NFL history. Like wide receiver Don Hutson, Baugh's punting stats were way beyond those of his contemporaries and have stood up well to the numbers put up by modern punters.

And that's where we disagree. I agree that lousy quarterbacking shouldn't effect an entire team but I believe that it occasionally does.

Let me try making this clear again. I'm not talking about any specific game. I'm saying that poor quarterback play can demoralize an entire team, including the defense. Am I understanding correctly that you are saying that poor quarterback play has zero effect on the defense?

Great. Now I definitely won't sleep tonight! But I will try. Buenas noches.

Yep. I recall the Ron Kramers and George Blandas, guys who weren't specialists but were kickers for their teams. Paul Hornung also spent time as a placekicker in addition to being a star halfback. Those guys played mostly in the 60s and 70s and earlier. Russell Erxleben played in the 1980s and is the last player I recall handling both duties… but he became exclusively a punter fairly early in his career.

Like I said, I don't think piss poor quarterbacking should affect a defense but I believe it sometimes can. BTW, are you sure we won two games 9-6 in 1999? I don't think that's the case. But regardless, there's a difference between when an offense is not scoring and when an offense is not scoring AND is turning the ball over.

Which one did the excellent job as the holder on the OT kick? Just kidding.

Bowe's career stats: http://www.nfl.com/player/dwaynebowe/2495558/profile Gailey was his OC in 2008.

Cassell is one of the small handful of QBs who's not as good or at best, just as good as Fitz. I would say this is a lateral move except that Fitz is intimate with the offense where Cassell is probably not. Seems like a non-answer, my friend. On another point, regardless of who would be the number one and who would be the number two, I'd bet Bowe is looking for a better deal than Stevie just signed. You are most likely correct. No extension, no trade. Good point. Possibly. Agreed. I think most wideouts who see themselves as stars would prefer to play with marquee QBs. I'd go so far as to say that Bowe wouldn't be excited about playing with Fitz. JMO.

I was talking more generally and not so much with regards to specific parts of games. My point is more that if a team has zero or near zero confidence in the QB, that it would have a negative effect on the entire team, defense included. Also as you undoubtedly noted, I did say that this shouldn't be the case, but I feel that it sometimes is.

Yeah I think for a multi-hour extravaganza on network television and one of the biggest TV events of the year, that the ratings are kept for every time slot. So like Hopeful says, they're trying to avoid a big drop-off in halftime ratings lest they have to charge less for advertising next year.

If the Bills traded away one of their running backs, they'd immediately be thin at the position, IMO. New Orleans has Pierre Thomas, Mark Ingram, Chris Ivory, and Darren Sproles. That team is flush at running back. Carolina has Jonathan Stewart, DeAngelo Williams, and Mike Tolbert. I'm not against trading a RB (it would have to be Freddy most likely) for a QB but I'm not sure what caliber of QB we'd get in return for a running back.

There have been a few players who both kicked and punted but it seems they've gotten more rare. I seem to remember that Russell Erxleben performed both duties for a short while.

I laughed. Good stuff.

Hopeful, you know I love you and agree with you 99% of the time but would you entertain that the poor play of the QB might have some detrimental effect on the defense? p.s.- regardless of whether it should or not?

Yeah, having gone to the game and then watching the condensed version on NFL Game Rewind, I don't think this was a cheap victory at all. The Bills played pretty well with the exception of Fitz, and at least he was able to avoid the big mistakes. One factor you didn't mention is that dating back to last season, the Cards had won 11 of their last 14 games going into the Bills game. I'm pretty pleased with this win and thought that there was a lot of improvement in several areas.

Yeah, the 5000 is a conservative estimate. It sure seems like there were a lot more Bills fans than that. The way it was explained to me is that because Phoenix is a boomtown, many of the people there are not native Arizonans. As a result, there are not many super passionate fans like there are in many other NFL cities. But yes, the people down there seem pretty friendly and it was definitely the least hostile away game I've ever attended. By far. I don't know how you feel about watching the Bills games at a sports bar but if you wanted to, you could watch the games with a ton of Bills fans.