thewildrabbit

wishful thinking for Bills fans... Sure, he and his #22 ranked offense are no longer ranked the # ONE offense in both points & Yards like they were last season. But there are reasons.... #1) No WR Wes Welker to catch 100+ passes, as he is now in Denver. Then the player they brought in to replace Welker in Danny Amendola in true to his past as he has been injured a lot this season #2) No TE's as both Gronkowski was out the first 6 weeks as he was recovering from an injury. Also, the Pats #2 TE Aaron Hernandez on their depth chart is gone because he is sitting in jail pending a murder trial. #3) The Patriots let 3 WR's, Dion Branch, Brandon Lloyd & Donte Stallworth & TE Kellen Winslow Jr all leave. So they are left with Rookie WR's Aaron Dobson & Kenbrell Thompson who are both just learning the offense. #4) The run game hasn't been quite the same with Shane Vareen on IR, and the primary RB Stevan Ridley riding the bench due to fumble - injury problems. #5) 3rd down & possession receiving RB Danny Woodhead is now in san Diego The Patriots still have possession WR Julian Edelman, they now have WR Amendola & TE Gronk back playing. RB Stevan Ridley looks to back in form. Although, the Patriots may never get back to that #1 ranking this season because they just lost starting RT for the season to a broken leg. I feel it won't be very long before those rookie WR's are tearing it up for Tom & Bill. The Patriots were without their most productive offensive players the first 8 games this season, and STILL went 6-2. HA, Atlanta... The only guy in that receiver corp doing anything this season is TE Tony G, as both Roddy White & Julio Jones (on IR) have done nothing so far this year. Kinda why the Falcons are 2-5. Brady is way better then Matt Ryan anyway.

I would say that the Patriots have the talent, and more so then the Buffalo Bills. Their problem is they tried to replace a guy who is almost never hurt with a player that is almost always injured in Welker vs Amendola. Plus, they have a mini Welker in WR Julian Edelman. Then they have the best TE in the league in Gronkowski who has been recovering from an injury for the first 5 weeks, and they have two rookie / young receivers in Tompkins / Dobson. Kinda why NE is still 6-2, and hasn't completely fallen apart. So Brady was forced to deal with two new / young WR's the first 5 weeks. Player who need to learn hot reads and get their timing down with Brady. Now, look at the Bills receiver corps. SJ has hobbled, and has been playing injured in many games, and missed some. Injuries with Achilles, bad back, and now a hip flexor. Rookie WR's in Robert Woods (22 rec) & Marquise Goodwin injured (6 rec), a 2nd year player in Graham who only has 14 receptions in 8 games. Bills TE Scott Chandler who will never be mistaken for Gronk or Jimmy Graham, and seems to get tackled as soon as he see's a defender. Then, lets not forget how bad LG Colin Brown was thru 5 games before they cut him. So, even with Brady / Brees behind center, they both might have some difficulty in winning more then 5 games IMHO.

The Bills are mostly losing because the Bills QB is just off the PS, and lots of stars on the offense injured. (EJ, knee.Spiller, high ankle sprain. SJ back, hip flexor. Jackson, knee) Plus, the bad play of LG Colin Brown who was finally cut loose. Then you have, "Buffalo – Three Performances of Note Monsters in the Middle Though it was in a losing effort, the Bills got a pair of monster performances out of their defensive tackles Kyle Williams and Marcel Dareus. Both terrorized center Brian De La Puente all game, with the Saint finishing the day at -4.6 for his efforts. Williams did his part early forcing a punt on New Orleans’ second drive (1Q, 8:36). De La Puente didn’t have much of a chance on the reach block as Williams exploded through the lane vacated by the pull blocker and tackled the running back for a two yard loss. He also had success against left guard Ben Grubbs (e.g. 1Q, 1:16 and 3Q, 13:15), and finished at +4.8 with two sacks, two pressures, and a stop on all three of his tackles. As with his counterpart, it’s difficult to pick out just a few plays for Dareus (+4.5). He made plays in both run defense and pass rushing against De La Puente as he stopped Khiry Robinson for a short gain at 3:30 of the first. Also at 1:27 of the second quarter Dareus came away with a QB hit (though the play was nullified)." https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/10/28/refo-bills-saints-week-8/ The difference this season is that the defense isn't only rushing the front four with little or no success like last season. The players are also playing their hearts out this year. Once the offensive performance starts to match the defensive performance the Bills will win more games

The hold up with Byrd besides the franchise tag so nobody can sign him is he wants to be the highest paid safety in the NFL!! Plus this...

"Jairus Byrd, S, Bills: The fact he is a franchise player and cannot extend his deal with any club in 2013 greatly limits the options here. Plenty of teams like Byrd -- contenders and non-contenders alike -- but they won't part with a significant pick for a player they might only end up renting. Still, the Bills are reeling some, even with him back from injury, they won't franchise him again in 2014, which means he walks for a 2015 compensatory pick. I could see a proactive team like Cleveland, even though rebuilding, maybe flipping a pick they have received from some of their recent trades to land Byrd, and then get a jump on trying to extend him before the market opens in March. Dooo eeet...He doesn't want to be a Buffalo Bill anyway.

And points. Its the two stats that most sites go with. Pro football reference. ESPN. CBSSports.com Its usually the yardage per game that most sites rank the teams on. ---------------- To all the fans thinking this years defense isn't any better then last years.... 2012 Week one, 48 points Jets week four, 52 points Patriots week five, 45 points 49ers. which was a power running team that managed to set franchise offensive record by the QB that Hof QB's Joe Montana & Steve Young never set. The Bills defense allowed both franchise and NFL records for being bad, a record that had never been set in the entire history of the NFL. week fifteen 50 points Seahawks It was by far the most embarrassing season for the Bills defense that I can recall.DC Dave Wannstadt was a joke. -------------------- The starting quarter of this season has been marred by several injures to the defensive secondary. One replacement player (CB) in particular allowed 74% of the passing yards, and two TD's to the NY Jets. This season I'm proud of the way this team hangs in there and plays their proverbial hearts out. Something they never did for Gailey / Wannstooge.

2012 finished #22 in yards allowed #26 in points allowed. 2013 .............#26 in yards allowed #25 in points allowed. Buffalo ended the 2012 season #31st against the run. Currently the Bills are 30th against the run! See what I was referring to?

The Bills are currently 3-5, and in reality only face two teams with winning records in the next 8 games. 9-7 a good possibility. Ya know what tho, even 7-9 is an improvement over Gailey - Jauron considering the QB's this season. 8-0 Chiefs* @ 2-5 Steelers 4-4 Jets bye week 2-5 Falcons @ 0-7 Bucs @ 0-8 Jags 3-4 Dolphins @ 6-2 Patriots*

Stat wise the teams appear to be very similar on paper, and that is as far as it goes. This years defense has heart, has a scheme, has play makers. They have a DC that knows what he is doing, and can get the most out of his players. This years team has Kiko at LBer. The Bills were leading the NFL in tackles up until last week. They were +5 in turnover ratio. They have a pass rush that can really bring the heat. Super Mario is playing like superman with 11 sacks. Last year it was an embarrassment to be a Bills fan! This year is completely different. It might take another year or so to build a playoff defense. The difference this year is now I have faith they can get it done with Pettine.

My thoughts about this game, and team. This years 5-1 New Orleans Saints had the #5 offense in points scored, the #6 offense in yards. The #1 TE in yards in the NFL. A top 5 QB in Drew Brees. Plus, the Saints have the #4 defense in points allowed, #12 in yards allowed. A definite playoff team, and perhaps even the NFC SB participant. According to the late, great 49er HC, Bill Walsh. If it generally takes 3-4 years for any QB to fully develop, so that he fully understands what he is looking at when he looks over the opposing defense. Understands and learns how to set O line protections. Learns how to set his receivers for the hot reads. Learns how to go thru his progressions as the play develops. Then when you watch QB's like Peyton Manning - Drew Brees you expect your QB to perform as well. When he doesn't during the game you come to the realization it ain't gonna happen any time soon, not with a rookie or guy just off the PS. I look back at the 2012 season with very experienced Bills coaches / journeyman QB, and then recall what that years team played like against a top defense, and better then average offense in the 2012 SF 49ers. After that week 5, 45-3 blowout I can only remember how embarrassing it was to be a Bills fan with Chan Gailey as HC, Dave Wannstedt as DC, Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB. This new Buffalo Bills coaching staff has a rookie at OC, a rookie at HC and a QB just off the PS. I can only think I couldn't be prouder of the combined effort of the entire team. Nobody gave up, and conceded defeat. Many played injured and played their proverbial hearts out for HC Doug Marrone. Were there nothing but perfect calls, perfect game management, perfect player performance, heck no! But this years players believe they can win, that they can make plays. I can only think that this entire team will learn and grow as they go. For the first time in years I feel like this franchise might be only a few players from being a playoff team. Unfortunately QB might still be one of those players! But it really is to early to see If Lewis or EJ will or will not develop into a decent QB. The O line is exactly what I've been thinking it is, and in need of some serious upgrades at several positions to help protect those young QB's. Same with the defense in only lacking a few players. However, unlike in the past. I now have faith that Doug Whaley can find those upgrades. Watching this team play its heart out made me proud to be a Bills fan again.

Holy cow, it is getting tougher and tougher to read all the incessant crying & whining from Bills fans this year. The OC needs to go!--The HC needs to go!--The ST teams coach needs to go! C'mon guys, really, really? Look at the rest of the NFL ...Pittsburgh 2-5*, Houston 2-5*, Jacksonville 0-8, Washington 2-5*, NY Giants 2-5*, Minnesota 1-5*, Atlanta* 2-5, Tampa bay 0-7. Six teams from last year that were in the playoffs are worse then the Buffalo Bills. All except Tampa bay with experienced QB's. The Giants & Steelers both have super bowl winning QB's. The Redskins gave up 3 first round draft picks for RG3!! My lord, I look at this game and see a tremendous effort by an out matched team in almost every aspect. Yet was still very much in this game until less then 5 min to go. You guys wanna B word about something? Go back to last season and re watch that Bills @ 49ers game. Think back to last year and Gailey / Fitz / Wannstooge going to SF and getting owned by the Niners 45-3. The Bills defense set NFL & franchise records for being bad, AND the 49ers offense set record that neither HoF QB Joe Montana or HoF Steve Young never ever set. Man, I'm so proud of every player on this Bills team that played their proverbial hearts out!! I look at the play of FJax and Stevie Johnson, and think the Bills have some of the toughest, most hard nosed, selfless players in the league. Even QB Thad Lewis to a beating and kept getting back up and making plays.

here,here Some fans gotta find some reason to complain in a loss...

Lewis made some plays, and did well considering the rush and pressure he faced today. You guys gotta remember the Bills were without Spiller and played a gimpy Stevie. Then remember how just how limited Thad Lewis is experience wise.

Man you guys are brutal against a rookie HC & OC, and all this with a QB just off the practice squad starting. Where was all this criticism for the real moron in Chan Gailey when he took his multi year NFL experienced arse to SF and was owned by the Niners, who went on to set both franchise & NFL records against the Bills 45-3 blowout. At least the Bills were in this game. Get a freaking grip!

Yep, fans don't care about that stuff tho. If they don't win, they whine.

jeez, Brees still throwing it.... hope he gets bonked

ahh well, over on downs

Go Stevie, better then most with only one leg

Roby!

man love for FJax

at least not continuously with your helmet

oh no... was an INT

Alligator arms...

wonder if Pettine will change his calls now that he was burned on that deep TD on another note, Miami 17, NE 3

so wide open ...