flmike

Exactly. HOW did you get to 9-7 this year? Lots of indicators suggest that this record is the top floor, not a step on the staircase. If you saw lots of promising things that will benefit from more time, then great, but if you saw big problems that could sabatoge any progress, then not so great.

1990-91 was the most exciting year to watch the Bills. The Giants were the one team they should have beaten. In fact they sowed the seeds of their own loss by knocking out Simms in the regular season.

I have to side with the non-playoff-caliber comments. The Bills benefited from a very soft NFC schedule (although no one saw the implosion of the NFC North at the beginning of the season). Their AFC record says all you need to know about how they are as a team, which is still not close. Our D was good this year, but not all the time. Sure, too much was asked from them, but they gave out at inopportune times, especially against the run. It was nice to go into December with a chance, but it wasn't real hope, now, was it? If they took care of business against KC and Miami (or just held serve in their own stadium!), things would have been different. Hey, you lose to bad teams on the road sometimes. Remember the 90s Bills? They occasionally laid a stinker in Indianapolis or somewhere. You have to win enough games to survive that sort of thing. I don't like the offensive plan this team has (which I still don't understand). The D has some great talent and can be good enough, but Schwartz is no genius, either. He just has better tools and doesn't make unforced errors like Marrone (whom I believe has been in charge of the offense). I really don't expect the team to be better next year if we keep the staff and the same basic players.

Has anyone considered that our likely "best" record in a decade is due to a really soft NFC schedule? I would rather look at the hideous AFC record we have and the fact that we let the Raiders, Chiefs, and Dolphins beat us. We live in the AFC East with Brady. We need to really improve to have any chance. Marrone is not the answer. We can keep him around but all that will do is cause our good defensive players to bail in free agency.

Someone posted a while back that the blocking schemes seemed to be "Pop Warner" style. If that's true, then those guys had no chance.

It's so hard to say. Is it the talent on the offense or the coaching/preparation? Look at Belichek. Who was he before he had 2 great QBs? OTOH, a good staff would have figured out a way to make the best with what we have, even on the fly. They have misused EJ and the O-line players. We have some good men on that line and they are not being given a chance.

At least the Bengals would be fairly new. Just be glad its not the 70s. Same teams every year because once you built an awesome team, you could ride it w/o worrying about Free Agency. I stopped watching football for a while because I didn't want to see only the Raiders and Cowboys (or Steelers and Fish).

If Marrone takes the blame for the offense, then he should also take the fall for it. There is some talent there and he has completely misused it.

Amazing how many people like Romo. Cowboy fans diss on him all the time. I don't seem to recall the SB he played in .....

Doomed!

Yeah, the Detroit time will haunt him. Good for us.

Bleh... Finally got a good uniform and ruined it.

Give the OP a break. He's not saying the offense is good, just better than some have said. I don't think anyone believes that it is a playoff caliber offense. With 44 posts, it obviously was a discussion point, not an excuse. I won't be upset if the Bills change QB and OC next year, even HC. I hate to imagine it, but we are likely to lose some good D players who don't see a good team emerging in the years they have left.

The HOF QB's all hated losing more than anything in the world. They mostly came from programs that were winners (the idea of drafting for pure potential is kind of silly) and they had a knack for making everyone around them better. Rare birds, but that's what you look for. You can't teach accuracy, pocket instinct, and the ability to read a defense (although different at the pro level, it transfers).

Well, let's see how all those teams do in the bowl games.

One also has to consider the conference he plays in. I don't think Oregon has been tested yet this year.

Yeah, if I'm Winston, I play baseball. Fewer chances of losing your mind to concussions. If he wants to play football, he probably needs to stay in college another year to work out some issues.

I'm not a fan of the dynamic duo, but they didn't lose us the game today. They are fairly limited with Orton in there and he just wasn't up to the task of carrying the team when it needed it. The Bills must find a good QB for next year. EJ Manuel is not going to be that QB, no matter what they think. Draft another QB and overpay a free agent next year and that might give us some hope. Did anyone else notice the Broncos kind of sleep walking through this one? It almost caught up with them, but they are so much better than Buffalo, especially at home, they didn't need to even try that hard today.

I don't question using Gay for the onside. Geez, he is on the roster as a kickoff specialist. You think he practices onside kicks? If not, what does he do all day?

I do hope the Bills win, but I've not been impressed by how they play at home. They seem to be much better on the road (including in Detroit for a home game).

No to arena football. Cold and snow used to be an advantage for us. We need to build a team to take advantage late in the season. Kelly was a PA kid who knew how play in the elements. I loved the cold weather games. I'm actually hating S. Florida for the weather!

What hasn't been mentioned is the complete lack of adjustments at the half. Other teams adjust to us, but we never seem to. That loses close games all the time.

I hate the idea of starting all over again, but this is not your dad's NFL. Changes come much more quickly and with all the parity, you can go from crap to champs in a very short time. With all the movement in players, coaching is much more important than it used to be. I hope to see a change next year. If we had poor talent, I'd give the staff a break, but there are some really good football players on our team that are not going to stick around if this keeps up.

Perhaps it's more true that the Bills are a "better" team than in past years. They have a very good and mostly well-coached defense that still needs a replacement for McKelvin and more of a killer instinct on 3rd downs. There is something really wrong offensively, considering the talent there. The OL is not pro-bowl quality, but I feel they are being misused by the staff. Now, some teams do get into the playoffs with strength on just one side of the ball, but when that's defense, the offense has to be able to control the ball better. Let's hope. I will enjoy watching what happens but I do hope for some significant changes in the coaching staff next season.

Not to mention that Louisville is the No. 1 D in the ACC. Nothing to see here. Not a very mature kid, but he can sure will a team to win. FSU might not even be in the top 10 without him this year.