Indy Dave

Earlier today, they had a picture on the front page of ESPN.com, showing Red Sox fans who had climbed on top of a billboard. They were drinking beer (OK that's an assumption, but you take a guess) and one of the guys had his middle fingers out. Very classy. I got an email this morning from a friend who works at ESPN. She is miserable today with all of the Red Sox fans up there. I'm sure it would be fun if you were a Red Sox fan, but the fact is ESPN is not NESN. They are supposed to be professional journalists, regardless if they grew up rooting for the Sox. Their completely biased coverage has been ridiculous for a few years now. Peter Gammons was about to spunk all over himself last night. It's one thing to be happy over what happened...I would be too. But there is also a time to be a professional, and ESPN employs very view of those on-air types these days.

Right now, I'd say I don't care. But once it starts, I'll be rooting against Boston. After all, 1918 makes for a much better chant than 2004. I think the Cards have a better shot at beating Boston, and the folks at Fox would probably rather have St. Louis vs. Boston because it's two of the best baseball cities in America. The Clemens vs. the Red Sox thing would be nice, but that's only happening once or twice during the series. Overall, the more attractive series would be Red Sox-Cards.

Well as Yankee fan, some of that imagery stung a bit. But I got a great laugh at the one at the bottom. Affleck is such a dork.

Well....congrats to the Red Sox and their fans. You took it from the Yankees when all odds were against you. I can't stand Boston, and I'm sure these last four losses when only intensify my dislike for Red Sox Nation. But I'll give credit where credit is due. People will continue to harp on the Yankees' pitching (especially the starters), and that certainly cost them Game 7. However, the pitching was good enough to win the first six games of this series and would have been good enough to win the World Series, but the bats went cold when it mattered most. My biggest problem with this Yankees team since April has been the inability to hit with consistency with runners in scoring position. Too much waiting for the three-run homer. Gantrules said it another thread...the turning point (in my mind) in this series was the 8th inning of Game 4, when Jeter sacrificed Cairo to third and A-Rod failed to get him in with one out. Would have been 5-2, and probably would have slammed the door on the series. Woulda, coulda shoulda though. I realize the starters weren't great in Games 4 and 5, but to give up 6 and 5 runs to that Red Sox lineup in that ballpark (and playing eight extra innings) isn't too shabby. The Yankees need to address their pitching problems...no question about that. But they also need to start hitting in the clutch. In my mind that's why my Yanks were the statue in this series, and those damn Red Sox were the pigeons soaring about the statues. Well, those pigeons just took a big crap on us. So again...congrats to the Red Sox and their fans. You earned it. But remember, there are high school kids who were alive the last time was Boston was IN the World Series. The object is to win it. You got over a major hurdle by beating New York, but as far as I'm concerned, if you lose to St. Louis or Houston, you didn't accomplish jack squat.

Who did you think played poorly on the OL yesterday?

First of all, Travis needs to know better than to listen what the media and fans have to say. Why should he give a rat's ass? If the players start asking the front office for a trade, then we have a situation. But that's not happening. I didn't see the game yesterday so I'll reserve the comments about Willis' play to those of you who did see it. All I know is Willis had more than 100 yards against a very good defense. Are the Dolphins a deflated bunch, and if so, did that help? Probably so. But he did what he did and deserves credit. Would Travis have had the same type of day had he not been injured. I'd like to think so, but who knows? All I know is that I'm happy we finally won. I don't care if it came against Winnipeg. We finally got in the win column. I still don't think TH should be traded. It's way too soon to tell if Willis is all the way back. I, for one, am rooting for both of the guys. This isn't about individual competition. It's about the Bills winning games. I think it's too soon to say that Willis gives us the best chance to win, but as a big TH fan, I admit that yesterday was a start.

OK, OK....I didn't start this thread to continue the Willis/Travis debate. As far as I'm concerned, they should both let their games do the talking, and whoever is in the game should play hard and produce. I think we have a good situation with our running back depth and competition, yet some people around here want to act like we have a Rob Johnson-Doug Flutie thing going on all over again. I'd like to hear more about the play of others. Ron Edwards played well? That's good. Someone wrote something about Josh Reed? I don't even remember seeing him in the play-by-play. Did he do anything? Did we control Jason Taylor?

I've seen two highlights...TKO's TD and Campbell's TD. I looked at the stats and read the play-by-play. The only thing else I have to go on is a short conversation with a co-worker, who doesn't follow the Bills. I need details. How did Willis look? 31 carries? That's awesome that he was able to carry the load like that in his first start. Disappointed he didn't get in the end zone when we were near the goal line, but nevertheless...a great effort. Did he make his cuts well? I saw Joe Burns in the play-by-play. Just a rest for Willis? I hope so. Also, on the play-by-play that I looked at, it was cut off with two minutes left in the game. Were we able to run the clock out? If so, that's pretty impressive. Miami might suck, but they still have a good defense. Any offensive or defensive lineman play well? Sorry for the general questions, but I was on the road all day and ESPN Radio was treating this game as if it didn't exist. I wonder why that is?

Yeah, I know you were kidding. I think there are several people around here who have a distant second-favorite team. I don't think it makes us less of a Bills fan.

I can't believe we are talking about bad history. I would think we would want to cheer ourselves up. But since we're all making ourselves miserable, the Music City one is #1 on my list. Others would include the "Just give it to them" play against the Patriots, and the entire Dolphins game in the playoffs in '98. I've haven't seen that game since it aired live, but I was fuming after it was over. I thought the officiating SUCKED throughout the day, capped off by Andre getting tossed towards the end. Another play that really sucked was Tasker getting tossed in his final NFL game in Green Bay. Talk about the wrong way to go out, and it's not like he had a history of being a hot-head.

Damn it, ofiba. I knew someone would call me out on that! I said I adopted a second-favorite team. They are still a distant second-favorite. VERY distant. But since they are entertaining to watch, have four Syracuse guys on their roster, and they are local, I'm taking an interest so that the playoffs will be watchable. So shoot me. I got a free ticket when the Packers came to town (the Bills' bye week). I went and had a great time watching an entertaining game. I might try to go to the Monday night game when they play the Vikings in a few weeks. That should be entertaining too. But I would never go to a game when it conflicted with a Bills game. I have lived and died with the Bills my entire life. I won't turn my back on these guys, even if watching them makes me want to repeatedly stab my eyes with a set of Ginsu knives, then light myself on fire.

Whoever is healthiest should start. I don't think Willis will be 100 percent for another 8-12 months, but if Travis is less than 100 percent because of a current injury, then Willis should get the call. With Miami and Baltimore next on our schedule, I will be glad (and admittedly surprised) if we can effectively run the ball, regardless if it is #20 or #21 carrying the load.

Yeah...it's too bad Travis couldn't be more like Ricky Williams. Well, let me think for a second. Travis put up better numbers than Ricky did in 2003, and didn't quit the team right before training camp this year so he could smoke pot every day. You know what, on second thought, I'd rather have Travis. But hey, thanks for being the 5,243 contestant on "Let's rip Travis a new one."

Took the words right out of my mouth. Or right off my keyboard anyway.

Bill...I don't know where in my post did I come across as unfair. I was teasing about your TH-related posts and your head exploding. If you took it another way, my apologies. I respect and understand the negative opinions about Travis. I've always defended the guy (what he's done on the field anyway). While I don't think he's near as bad as you, SDS and Va Bills have made him out to be, I also admit he's not the 9th or 10th RB in the league like I thought he was. I think part of the blame goes to the lack of a passing game, part of the blame goes to our offensive line, and an equal part of the blame goes to Travis. I guess I have opinions, you have opinions, and somewhere in the middle, we can probably find the truth about how good a running back #20 is. For the record, I thought Josh was going to be a very good #3 receiver. He obviously hasn't been. I also laughed hysterically when people suggested that the Raiders send us Gallery in exchange for Travis. After all, some experts had Gallery has the top prospect (among offensive lineman) in years. It cracks me up to read a post made by someone who has such negative feelings about Travis who suggests that we trade him to someone in exchange for a first-round draft choice. I think, "Excuse me, but if he's not any good, why would a team give up so much for him." That seems pretty simple to me, but apparently it's hard to comprehend for others. I guess my point about Travis, one of which I have made to you, SDS, VA Bills and others, is this: I don't understand why so much blame is directed at him when he's one of our better players. That is our problem. He is a decent running back, and he's one of our better players. That's why we are 0-4-- not enough talent on this team. And I blame that on Tom Donahoe. I understand that some people on this board have overrated Travis, and I understand that sometimes we all just want to scream because he missed a block, trips at the most inopportune time, or whatever. But like I've said before, it's my opinion that he gets too much blame, particularly by you. My perception of you is that you wait for him to make a mistake (like dropping the pass late in the second quarter against the Jets on Sunday), then you find a way to tie that single play into him single-handedly costing us the game. I take that as you absolutely despising the guy, and taking some kind of enjoyment out of his failures. I could be wrong, but you definitely tend to come across that way. Like I said Sunday, what are you going to say when he fumbles at the goal line in a 10-6 game? Yikes. One final point...people complained throughout the 2003 season about his fumbles, when in fact, his fumbles were way down than previous years. This year, he hasn't fumbled yet (knock on wood), and today I read something like this from a poster: "The fact that Travis hasn't fumbled is just luck." Criticize him for fumbling, then he makes strides to correct the problem, and critcize the poor bastard anyway. You talk about unfair. THAT'S unfair.

That's exactly right. And 17 wins in 52 games is one thing. But when the same mistakes are plaguing the team game after game, year after year, the fan frustration grows and grows. It would be slightly different if we had problems other than a lack of pass rush or a good offensive line year after year. But that's beent he case, and those two areas have never been successfully addressed in the TD era.

We can talk about the players until our heads blow off. (As a matter of fact, Bill in NYC could be in grave danger should he make another anti-Travis post.) But the bottom line is, I think we are 0-4 and going nowhere fast because of Tommy D's lack of success on draft day. I think he did the right thing by trading for Bledsoe. It hasn't worked out like we had hoped, but it was the right move at the right time. His free agent pickups have been very good...Takeo, Vincent, Villarial, London, Lawyer, Sam, etc. But I don't think you build a successful team around free agent pickups. You do that through the draft and player development, then you look at your weaknesses and fill the holes with free agents. His drafts have been, for the most part, BIG failures, and that's why we are what we are...a bad football team. Granted, some of the players haven't had enough time to develop to make an accurate assessment of their ability to be quality NFL players. Willis hasn't had enough time to heal from his injury to judge whether or not he will be the star we hope he will be. But the fact is, several players have been huge disappointments, given the time they've had to develop, where they were taken in the draft, the money they get paid, and their lack of production on the field. I mean, really, does anyone think a light is going to come on in Ryan Denney's head and he's going to turn in to a good player? Josh Reed? It's true that some of our better players make too many mistakes (Eric and Travis first come to mind). But the fact is the people around them aren't good enough to overcome those mistakes, so it's those mistakes that people remember and those players (especially Travis) get the most criticism. For example, you don't see 20 threads about Josh Reed, even those he's on pace to catch 16 passes this season. Read that last sentence again. 16 passes. Yet there are dozens of negative posts about Travis, who despite his mistakes and limitations, is on pace for 1,100 yards. The fact is, we have some good veteran Bills and many very good free agents who have become Bills. But Tom has failed this team on draft day, and I think that's reason No. 1 why we are sitting at 0-4.

This should be a great series. Hopefully it comes down to which team is playing the best baseball over the course of the next 4-7 games, and nothing else (bad calls, brawls on the field and in the stands) comes into play. May the best team win. And afterwards, may Red Sox fans not be too depressed. Oh, and by the way, did you see that Sunday's Game 5 got moved to primetime instead of the previously-scheduled afternoon start. They switched it with the National League. Translation, BF: no one give's a rat's ass about the NLCS.

Yeah, no kidding.

Talent? What talent? Tell me what player on our offense is really talented. Our two best offensive players are Eric Moulds and Travis Henry, and they make too many mistakes to overcome the lack of talent around them. Lee Evans looks like he's got a chance to be a good one, but right now he's a rookie getting limited opportunties. None of our linemen are much better than average. Our quarterback is average. Our tight ends are below average. Bobby Shaw is probably above average compared to other #4 receivers in the NFL. Woopie for us. And don't get me started on Josh Reed. So please tell me where all of this talent is.

True. The CFL playoffs.

Yes, Travis should have caught that pass. Once again, he didn't play a perfect game. Name someone who did. You can't assume that he would have got the first down. It was third and 18, so there was little (as in none) chance of keeping the drive alive. Yes, the clock would have kept running, but the Jets moved into field position with plenty of time left, and let the clock the run down to kick the field goal. In fact, their fans booed them for it. They were at the Bills' 29-yard line with 41 seconds left. If Travis caught the ball, 18 seconds would have ticked off the clock (until the two-minute warning arrived). You do the math. They still would have had plenty of time to kick the field goal. You also can't blame him for the defense giving up the field goal at the end of the half, or the field goal at the end of the game, although I'm sure you will.

So you say Travis is washed up, yet Dallas should trade their first-round pick (which right now would be the #1 or 2 pick in the draft) to us in exchange for TH. Oh, and Dallas signed Eddie George in free agency and spent two top-four picks on running backs in the 2004 draft. OK...maybe the Cowboys will thrown in Roy Williams while they're at it.

OK...I'll bite. I'll try and have a civil conversation with you about our running back situation. Who should start next week? Travis. He should start. He did nothing to lose his starting job today. But I liked the balance today between using the two guys, and I think there's a way to make that work. Willis finally got some carries, and we finally used him in short-yardage situations (twice, I believe), and guess what? It worked. Martin, who is an early-season MVP candidate, was held to 77 yards on 22 carries. Travis and Willis had 75 yards on 20 carries. I'll say it again...our running backs our not our problem. Maybe you can address another topic, Bill? If you think Willis wasn't involved enough, how do you feel about Lee Evans?

I'm thinking the Jets are about to blitz their asses off. Make them pay, Drew. Let's get a good return with no flags!