WhitewalkerInPhilly

It's not a horrible call if your wildcat QB can make a decent throw. Brad Smith obviously can't. Kill. The. Cat.

As an argument against the "A quarterback can't fix a horrible defense" crowd, I would like to point out that the longer the offense is able to keep up sustained drives, the more time the defense has to rest. But we could have taken Luck in this draft, and our defense would STILL have taken a pound from the Pats and 49'ers. Whether it's more time needed for the rookies or a simple need for more talent, any team with a half decent offense has walked all over us.

I'm going to take a stab and say "Act of God"

Look, it's not over, but realistically speaking we're going to have to win at least three games in the division to have a shot. This means we're going to have to get those playing the Patriots at home, sweep the Dolphins, and win the last game of the season against the Jets, We have an incredibly tough looking two game road trip ahead and we'll be lucky to be 3-4 at the bye. Panic time? No. Time to get serious? Yes.

I know! I'm in Philly too and I thrilled I can watch it!

Mankins being out is big. Attack D-line, attack!

I can't say that this isn't the beginning. But the Patriots used to be a team that could be very good even if Tom Brady was out (See the 2008 season) But now, if Brady is out I don't see them doing it again. Brady, though a very good at reading a defense, and is now 35. Favre was pushing it at 40, and was first going to retire at 37. I won't say the Bills are going to take over, but I do think that something is coming down the pipe.

I'm entirely OK with trusting our O-line for once. Seriously, they've earned it. Last year, even with the injuries, they were good. This year they have Wood back and brought in Glenn who is looking like a STEAL. I don't want to tempt fate, but we've spent time and effort making our trenches better and it's starting to show.

I don't really get the "i want them to be fully healthy so we can beat them that way" attitude. We, quite frankly, would lose 9/10 times. MANY teams in the league lose 9/10 times when Tom Brady is on track and with all his receivers. I'll take whatever we can get and teams do as well. Is a O-line player hurting? Guess who you gun for. Is there a rookie cornerback? Guess who you're picking on. The entire game is exploiting your opponents mismatches while trying to minimize your own.

Dancer's hip? ... IT'S A LEGITIMATE CONDITION!

I can't believe that the transition from the (honestly weak) D-line last year and what we have this year is without Williams being added. Our numbers a little low from the fact that we laid an egg in Game 1, and in game 2 we got gouged in run yards since we played 1.5 quarters simply making sure the deep pass was gone. Up until then, there was no running game, and in Game 3 we shut down Trent Richardson. Now, you can argue that Anderson or the return of Kyle Williams is doing more, but I still think we have a formidable D-line and Williams is getting better every game he's back.

This thread is probably a lost cause, but if I make a new one it'll be closed in three posts... 1) Pressure on Brady! This is obvious, but it has multiple factors. If, indeed, Logan Mankins is not going to play, the Pats line looks surprisingly weak. After all, this is the group that allowed the Cards to push them around. If we can beat their offensive line with 4 playerss like Wanny likes it gives us two things A) Allows our young CB's support, especially while we're in the nickel, allowing us to double team Welker and B) Forces Gronk to block. Tom Brady had all day Sunday night, but Gronk only had three targets because he was blocking so much. All in all, that takes out Brady's receiving targets and gives us more flexibility to throw in a blitz every so often. 2) Keep the ball running. Yes, Fitz did a pretty good job through the air last week and had his second straight INT free game. But the quickest way for people to get him off balance is BLITZ, BLITZ, BLITZ! An effective run game, and screen game makes the Pats look, and will buy Fitz time. Now, we don't quite know how the injury status of our RB's is.Chan says Jackson should play, but how effective will he be? I don't want Spiller out there if we have a viable option by rotating in Choice and Freddy. After this, we go on a two game road slog against very strong defensive teams (Cards and 49'ers). If we're going to have a chance, both of them need to be healthy. 3) Keep the spread going The spread still plays to our strengths. Our O-line is looking A LOT better this year, but it still prevents teams from stacking the box. Spiller AND Jackson can take it through the middle now and if teams try to cheat, Fitz can audible in a pass play. With that, and a heavy dose of #2 we might actually stand a chance.

The odds of the Patriots putting Mallet in are the odds that the Bills leave Brady mewling with pain and unable to stand. Anything else, and they have him in.

Well, it certainly makes sense geographically. But playing the Steelers and Bengals twice a year is a pretty trick proposition. At least we wouldn't play the Ravens twice a year...

Interesting! It's good to see both Spiller and Jackson practicing. If they can be rotated in with Choice (neither should be made to carry the load if they aren't 90%), we might be able to stay alive on offense. But the Patriots injury report is even more interesting. I think we all knew Hernandez would be out, but if Mankins and Edelman are out this week, that could lead to some possibilities. The Patriots already have a pretty banged up O-line, and they were using Gronk as a blocker in a lot of the Ravens game. (only 2 catches) Without Hernandez, their 2 TE formations aren't as effective, and they've been going 3 WR. If Edelman is out, they are going to be pretty far down their depth chart there as well.

Look, I'm happy for him. I really am. But it's kind of like finding out that your college sweetheart has found someone while you've been shacking up with a someone hotter and lower maintenance. Sure, it would be better to have both at the same time, but probably not worth the inevitable spending.

Yeesh, what is with the Welker hate? Sure, he's reaching the end of his career but he definitely has a decent few years left during which we can recruit a solid WR core. Because, let's face it, our current group is sub-par. A third round pick would be a great deal.

Until I we get corroboration I'm not buying it. The move makes NO sense at this point in the season.

I don't really give a half a hump who won or not. But we're talking about two primetime games on back to back nights with extremely contentious officiating. If this doesn't end the lockout, the next stage may be an all out brawl.

"The Controversy Which Ends the Lockout"

No. Which is why I am paying very close attention to Fred Jackson's injury report. I simply don't see Choice making himself a big enough threat to make the Patriots to do anything besides blitz the crap out of Fitz. If we get Fred back, it opens up more opportunities. We've spent a lot of time with ways to run effectively, and if Freddy is 85%, our offense can do something. Whether or not the D can stop Brady is another matter entirely.

HA! Not to the idea of Bills winning, but after the thrashing just two weeks ago, I would be shocked if they weren't out for blood.

I think Young, unfortunately, has a point. Now, I'm not against having new blood. I wouldn't have a problem if these replacements were being broken in slowly, but they're NOT. They are being handed full control and they are clearly not ready. I'm not talking about missed/blown calls. Those happen with the old refs, on both sides. They are happening more, but if that was the only problem I wouldn't care. What I care about is that games are stretching to crazy lengths. What I care about is that we find out after the fact that refs had clear conflicts of interest. (a Saints fan reffing a Saints game, a ref with an Eagles player starting in fantasy football) What I care about are the scrums which keep erupting (Bills second TD, Ravens/Eagles, MNF). These are all problems, and they are going to get worse until some superstar gets his clock cleaned and we have a new Kevin Everett (if it has to be someone, God forbid, please let it be Brady), field-wide fistfights break out, or someone is proven to be throwing games.

Is the NFC stronger than the AFC? Quite possibly. Does that make this an ideal season for the Bills? I don't think so. We *might* have a slight edge playing the West, which was a weaker division last year but is looking pretty strong now, but I really think the most competition for a spot will come from our own division or the AFC North. With a division loss against the Jets, we're going to have to thrash the Dolphins both times and win at least one more division game to be in the running. The AFC north has cleveland at the lowest rung, but all of them they get to play the Chiefs and Raiders, as well as an aging Peyton Manning learning a new system. I don't think the NFC is going to help with that too much.

The best? I don't know. We still aren't phenomenal at power running. When you watch the game against the Chiefs, most Spiller runs came out of the spread. But there still is something to be said for our rushing strategy (as long as Fitz can make them pay by calling an audible if they keep 8 men in the box) and our pass protection looks good. We've allowed ZERO sacks, and are tied for second in number of QB hits. I think playing Houston and San Fran will tell us exactly how good we are.