Sisyphean Bills

Relating to the OP: Wood is exactly the sort of OL this team has lacked for far too long. You want guys with a mean streak up front and not just 2 tons of goo.

Of course, there are a few cerebral fans that know all the pain and sacrifice the players and coaches go through is to merely "give it a go" and the ultimate goal is simply to exist.

I think it was about Wood being the starting RG.

You asked why anyone would think the Bills underachieved. Dick Jauron said he felt the team, in year 3 of his rebuilding project, was ready for a playoff run in 2008. They had the 2nd easiest schedule in the NFL and finished 7-9 with a 2-8 stretch run. Donte Whitner even guaranteed the Bills would make the playoffs. Why indeed? But to answer your question: no, not every coach says every year that he feels he has all the pieces in place and that his team is ready to become a playoff team. Dick did not say that his first year here. In the first year, they were rebuilding and trying to change the attitude from one of losing. Talking playoffs would have set unrealistic expectations for a team in total flux. Although the Dolphins did make the playoffs, they didn't go out and say they were a playoff ready team coming off a 1-15 season. It'd be foolish. You don't see the Lions talking about being in the playoffs this year, do you? So, yeah, there is a difference between aspiring to be successful and making a public proclamation that success is at hand.

It's a good question actually. The line that was blown up was pretty good (though not perfect) at staying healthy. If the Bills lose a nominal starter or two for a long stretch, well, click your ruby slippers furiously and hopefully Lloyd's of London has Trent's back.

Dick Jauron did say that the playoffs were the goal last August.

It does simplify the discussion when the only two adjectives one can use are "good" and "sucks".

In the NFL, everybody is pretty good and everybody works hard. Even if they can't count to 4, I'm a fan. And the Bills are on the top of that list. Which might have 4 teams on it, or more, or less. What down is it? Kick a field goal; we'll even it up here in the last minute. We're only down by 4.

It's shocking that Scouts failed to notice the Bills have 5 pre-season games. The OL will be totally ready with 5 pre-season games under their belt.

This is the NFL. Everyone can count to 4. Oh, wait. Never mind.

Tune in and find out.

But, we have Terrell Owens. Just kidding.

Way to warp and twist my comment around. Do you think that the Eagles coaching staff does not coach their players? That the Eagles OL has meetings and the OL coach, Juan Castillo, just stands there like a post? Did you forget that Kugler's first year as the OL coach was last year? Do I need to remind you of the results? Which unit on this team was completely blown up? How does that compare to Castillo's body of work and experience? http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/eagles_f...castillo_1.html

Not to mention that Buffalo was the 14th largest city in the country and geographically very close to the heart of football fan interest when the Bills were put here.

I never said he doesn't deserve a little crap flung his way. Heck, I'm sure his new coaches will explain to him that giving up sacks isn't what they want or expect out of him. If he wants to be the best, he's going to have to work his ass off. Still, being the best does not mean he's going to be perfect or that perfection should be the objective standard against which he should be judged. At any rate, my comment is about the hypocrisy, not the player Jason Peters. The hypocrisy is to assume that the Bills rookies will work out all their rookie mistakes in pre-season and never get beat or make a serious mistake once the regular season is here while out of the other side of the mouth saying Jason Peters got beat on a couple of pre-season plays so that proves he is a bust and that the front office is above criticism. I get it that Wood and Levitre are Bills and we all hope they do well. I also get it that some people are ticked off at Peters. It doesn't make the above hypocrisy "more real".

Ralph getting in the Hall seemed to have a lot more to do with his efforts to bring about the AFL, keep the AFL alive, the eventual merger, and helping to grow the sport's general popularity. I don't recall anyone remarking about his consistent ability to orchestrate, as President of the Bills, championship winners through masterful domination of the NFL on the football field.

If this were half way through the season, you'd have a great point. I would expect rookies to still be making some mistakes and the All-Pro to have things well in hand. But, we're not exactly there yet, are we? So, taking a mistake or two from the first couple of snaps, in either case, and extrapolating from it is moronic.

Damn straight. All real fans should be peacock proud if the team they root for can't ever get its sh-- together or they should simply find a new pastime altogether to save the "proud to be mediocre" peacocks the trouble of facing reality.

But, real fans have to have it both ways. If Levitre or Wood make a couple mistakes, then it is "only the first preseason game, hater" and they will be fine. If it is Jason Peters in his first few snaps in a different system, then "look, he totally sucks and he's only going to get worse" followed by plenty of tugging and pulling on how superior our FO really is.

Exactly. It's one thing when your execution is flawless and you take the ball right down the field and into the end zone. But when your starters are confused and blowing assignments, why just give up an opportunity to have them go at full-speed against players they don't see every day so you can get a little more tape on the kids on the bubble that may or may not make roster spots 45-53?

Emotion and pride have no place in football. Players should exhibit stoic discipline at all times since they must accept that their success or ultimate failure could hinge on a simple gust of wind at the end of a game. Speaking of which, it was an interesting day weather-wise. Seriously though, the Bills have had, what, one fight? Big whoop.

No, he showed up just in the nick of time to be on the roster for the first game, having missed that entire week of practice. So, yeah, he missed the first game of the season. Immediately after the Seattle game, Langston Walker was moved back to RT and Peters was installed as the starter at LT despite having had 0 practice time and not really being ready. Of course, one would be an idiot to not see that Walker is an upgrade over Peters now.

I'm not debating the definitions; I know the difference. The problem with conflating and lumping cherry picked social problems under a single banner word is that it diminishes the word's true meaning and ultimately the historical social ills themselves.

The holocaust wasn't about getting useful work out of the Jews.