Buddo

Good viewpoint, and probably largely accurate. Where there is an element of 'fail', is in the last sentence or two. If it read 'we need to screw Hughes' and then 'it just is happening that way' you would be spot on. Jerry probably won't get another holding call in his career - unless it's against him. Because he had more attitude than most, even before the blow up with the zebra in the tunnel, he used to cop some very dubious calls, now, the only stuff being called, is against him. I think this should be as clear as day, tbh. The problem I have with that, is that if the zebras are going to act like that against a player, it's a simple extension of the principle, that they can act like that against a team. I don't, however think they are out to shaft a particular team i.e. the Bills, but rather that there may be some who would be quite prepared to try and influence individual games.

As Thurman says above. I don't care about quite 'how' he's dropping back, providing he sets himself correctly when he does throw, as he is then pretty accurate. In recent games, I've not noticed anything especially obvious, about how he has been setting himself when throwing, so I'm assuming he's mostly got it right. Much like with the O-Line - if you don't hear their name mentioned, it's because it's happening correctly.

While Lawson is obviously in his contract year - a fact, not saying anything else about it either way - it needs to be remembered that initially, he was 'damaged goods'. He was pretty much invisible his first year due to shoulder problems, that he could get away with in college, where he qualified as man amongst boys, but not in the NFL, where it made him a boy amongst men. Last year, he made strides, and he started to look like the player he could be. This year, he's showing up on an increasing amount of plays. I don't have an issue with the non-extension of his rookie deal - I think both McDermott and Beane wanted to see continued development this year, to be comfortable with making him an offer. As someone else said earlier in the thread, he's a solid football player now, and while by no means a star, he makes his fair share of plays (and I'm not referencing sacks especially), and also appears to have bought in to the 'process'. I expect the Bills to make him an offer, and I hope it's a fair one, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does move on somewhere where they will pay him more. As an UFA, he will get offers, I just hope we are trying to get him back. I have no idea what a fair price would be, but hope that the Pegulas can wield a bit of influence when it comes to guarantees.

With the wind as it is, I think Bojorquez has done a good job today. Easy to get carried away with the wind, and he's held them up well into it.

Quite possibly. It might also be a situation here they need to wait for a week or two to see how he responds to treatment, to see if they can get a timeline for potential availability especially as he's no spring chicken. This appears to be the exact sort of situation, that the investment in the new training and medical facilities, is there to help with, by shortening recovery times. Fingers crossed.

Woohoo - we get ope.

probably won't get it, but to me that was a clear catch and fumble. One of the zebras was going to give it to the Bills, but the other one overruled him.

Tbh, I suspect it's a whole variety of factors, including having to kick further on a regular basis on kick offs etc. where they will be being told to clear end zones. My view on this would be that technically, they are having to put more effort into every kick, and in doing so, it makes them a touch more prone to errors. Ideally, you would want to kick with exactly the same form on every kick, but I don't think they are able to do that in todays NFL.

Lee Smith has been penalized 9 times, with one of those declined. 5 false starts and 4 holding penalties. Tied for 2nd mmost in the NFL - there are 3 guys above him on 10 penalties. Everyone above him (and quite a lot just below) are tackles. Smith is the most penalized Bill by far. With the exception of Spain, the rest of the O-Line are the nearest contenders. And they aren't really close.

Nice write up as usual Shaw. For me, the major problem on offense, is that we do nothing well consistently. Some weeks we run ok, some weeks we pass ok, some weeks the kicker makes his FGs. Trouble is, we haven't done all 3 on a regular basis. Then there's the play calling. Which goes between brilliant and abysmal as a regular event. There might be a huge playbook, but you don't have to try and use it all every game. Find the stuff that works, get that sorted out, and then add to it. We seem to be regularly doing something wrong every set of downs on offense. Bad run blocking, or a wayward pass, a drop of something that should be caught. A bad call of a play. Something just seems to go the shape of pear on far too regular a basis - penalties also. I would also say that the offensive game planning leaves a lot to be desired. It's not the first time that we have tried to be far too clever, to little avail. You wonder at times, if the coaches pay any attention at allto the stats. Bad run D, so we go pass heavy. Not so much head scratching, as infuriating. As much as I think McDermott is a good HC, he needs to take some of the can for yesterday. On two counts. Firstly, allowing Daboll to go pass heavy as a gameplan, and secondly for going prevent on the drive the Browns scored the go ahead TD - that's something we see too much of. Currently, the offense might be singing from the same songsheet, but they aren't all on the same verse. ;( Talent wise, the O still needs another tackle, and a top WR. I think you fairly pointed out Shaw, in a game of small margins, the Bills were marginally short in most areas.

In another thread, someone has posted a video of the first pass to Brown - possibly the postgame thread. It sure looks like the ball is there before Brown expects - even though his hands are up, and it gets there in a hurry. I suspect that it may have had a little help from the wind, and that might be why it just seemed to get big on Brown, quickly. As pointed out, it was a harder catch made by Brown just a couple of plays later, in a very similar set of circumstances. I'd agree that the Bills aren't a dominating team, at all. But they could make life an awful lot easier for themselves by not trying to be so blasted cute half the time - particularly on offense, for which I largely blame the OC. Defensively, Edmunds is still a talent, even when he isn't having his best game. He's also still something of a 'man-child', he's so young. I believe that some of his struggles are more a result of gaining experience, than an inability to be a MLB. People need to remember it's only his 2nd year also, and he's got almost as much responsibility defensively, as Allen has for the Offense. The O-Line is definitely better than last year, but has some poor moments in just about every game so far. Some of that is attributable to not having found exactly the right blend yet - although we did keep the same 5 starters on the field for the whole game yesterday, for the first time this season. Ford being missing from any snaps. In respect of Ford, I think they will just get him up to speed as a Guard, where I'm sure he will excel, and look to find another tackle. As far as I can tell, the largest (probably literally) weakness is at LG, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Ford get a start there before the season's out. Wallace is being exposed somewhat. less because of a lack of talent, but mostly through a lack of physicality in respect of size and strength. Teams bigger receivers are being targetted against him, and while I don't really blame him for not stopping AP, it surely wasn't a coincidence that that play went to his side of the field. We might need to find another CB with more size, that we can use when we play teams with larger WRs. I'm still encouraged by Allen. He does seem to take coaching well, especially from the limiting mistakes pov. I am concerned about his ball retention though - that needs to get better. As fans we always want to see the big plays, but the last couple of weeks have obviously not been much good for that, with some very hefty winds. Allen has made enough plays, without getting carried away, and while it hasn't been overly exciting, he has been effective. There is still plenty more to come from him. Very pleased for Singletary. Definitely the MVP on Sunday, and displayed everything we were told he had. Elusive isn't really a good enough word for how he made some people miss around the LOS. We should beat the Browns next weekend, as we have beaten teams we should beat so far. It won't be easy, because there is undoubtedly plenty of talent on the Browns atm. Thankfully, there isn't especially good coaching. That should take us to 7-2, and we have 3 more games we should win, against the Broncos, Jest and Fins. We will probably lose one of those games, and win one of the ther 4 we have left against the Cowgirls, Ravens, Steelers and Cheats. Ealier in the season I would have said we should beat the Steelers, but they are back on track. Getting Minkah from the Fins has made a lot of difference to them. They have once again got a ball hawk at safety, and they know how to play defense with that set up.

Playcalling was poor but the blocking was just as awful. No idea what the O-Line were doing there, leaving guys free all the time.

Green is simply stating what is best for him. End of. Players generally don't like being tagged when they are about to hit FA. Moreso when you get to Green's age, when he just going to get one more good deal for his services. Franchise Tag for Wrs this year was $16million plus, iirc. I don't know what Green is currently making, but I'm not sure he would expect any more than that. I would expect that he simply wants a new deal for about the next three years, from someone - note, he hasn't said he doesn't want to play for the Bungles - he just wants them tosort out what they are doing. Much of the rest of this, is the media stirring the pot, where simple propositions are trying to be portrayed as conflict.

I don't think it was a bad decision at all - we were, in theory, playing with the wind at our backs for the 4th quarter. Trouble is, the D couldn't stop the run, and have let the Eagles run the clock accordingly.

Not so much a bad look, as an awful one. You have to say that whoever was saying that the guy should still be playing, is in for a wealth of humiliation. Including, especially, the Jests medical staff.

I'm not against the idea of trading for a guy like AJ Green. He may not be the unstoppable force he once was, but he would still be the best WR on the team if healthy. Because even with a drop off, he has an almighty high bar to begin with. Getting Green for the next 3 years, could be extremely valuable for Allen's development. All the talk about wanting guys for the future, is all very well, but we only know we have Allen for the first 5-6 years of his career, and we are in year 2 of that. Unlike years ago, you are a lot less llikely to have QB and WR combinations that will (largely) see out their careers together. I believe if you have the opportunity to get someone like Green for a portion of a career, it's well worth doing. No idea what the actual trade vlue could be, but I wouldn't give any more than a 2nd round pick. I would also be potentially interested in Green as a FA for the next few, if Cinci aren't going to move him by the deadline. When you are talking elite talents, like Green, age is a little less of a factor, assuming the injuries that have been incurred aren't of a serious nature.

Tbh, we have had a tendency, even when going well, to play to the level of the opposition, whether it be up or down. This, I think, is one of the reasons we are so hard to fathom. Over time, I expect that to change, especially if we keep winning, but I would suggest that it's part of a 'process' teams have to go through prior to becoming consistent performers. It's frustrating as all heck, but as I said before, providing the W's keep coming.....;)

I was a bit surprised at the booing, yet understood it. I think the fans were basically saying that the team needed to get over itself. Just in case the coaches somehow failed to point it out at the half. I also believe it was aimed at the overall sloppy play on both sides of the football. Too many mistakes, penalties, etc. many of which were pretty poor showings, from missed tackles to eminently catchable footballs dropped. And far too many pre-snap penalties. They might drive the coaches mad, but they really get fans pissed.

D is playing badly. Offense can't get out of their own way with penalties. The riot act might have to be read at the half.

Talent isn't the problem, attitude is. After seeing the 3 ring circus he performed with the Steelers/Raiders/Cheaters, a team would have to be truly desperate to sign him - especially as he would probably want silly money as well.

I know what you are saying, but on the one hand, Brown, up until now, has been healthy, whereas Foster hasn't. Being careful after maybe tweaking something when practising, from a 100% starting point, isn't the same as being active when you might not have got to 100%. Tbh, I can definitely see the contrary argument, but if Foster isn't 100%, but could still have played, I'd rather he didn't, until he is fully fit.

I'd rather Foster be 100% healthy before he returns. Also, with Brown having had an issue after a practise, I'd say it could actually be a shrewd move to be certain we have at least one deep threat available if anything does happen to Brown. We really shouldn't need Foster today, but we might in the coming weeks. Rather to be safe than sorry. Managing the roster can be a significant factor when you get deep into the season, and if it's done well, can give you an advantage, by having guys who are both rested and healthy to come in, and either spot for starters, or take over if need be.

Looks to me like mostly idle speculation. It also seems quite amusing that in trying to address their own teams depth, they appear to pay little attention to that of the Bills. Should be no surprise that Wallace gets mentioned, as his play is getting him noticed around the NFL. But there's no way we would trade him. The notion also that we wouldn't want to pay him, also seems pretty unrealistic.

Rugby fans are well known for getting along with each other - despite the drinking - and are frequently seen mixing together. The All Blacks needed no luck today, they simply obliterated Ireland. Hopefully they have peaked too soon, as England now play them in the semi final next week. Should be a terrific game - although not necessarily high scoring. Likely to be very hard fought. While by no means certain, the tournament winner will very probably come from that game. Tomorrow's games should be entertaining. France still have the ability to be a handful to anyone, or a nightmare to themselves. Japan have shown some impressive handling skills throughout, but will need them to be on full display to get past South Africa - even with rabid home support. I expect the second semi-final to be between Wales and South Africa.

From what I saw yesterday, Evans didn't look like he could catch a cold. On that performance, I wouldn't even give up a 2nd for him tbh.