IronyAbounds

Additional perspective on the 7-7 record: Bills have 4th worst Strength of Victory in AFC (including Cleveland, which obviously has no victories), and 3rd easiest schedule in the AFC (only New England and Miami have had easier schedules). The Strength of Victory number is inflated since one win was against 12-2 Patriots when the Pats had to play their thumb-injured 3rd string QB. The easy schedule is what gets me. The Bills have been blessed two years in a row with playing the suckiest conference in the NFL as their out of conference opponents, and yet haven't really capitalized on it because they can't take care of business within the AFC. And if you compare this year's Strength of Victory and Strength of Schedule to last year, the Bills have regressed considerably in both categories. Rex isn't the only problem, but it is hard to argue that he is the answer unless the question is "How can the Bills continue their mediocre ways?"

Not very many teams are built for a deep playoff run, it's just the way it is. I laugh when KC comes up on this board because it seems that so many people hate them for accomplishing what Rex and the Bills can, find ways to win games they probably shouldn't win and make the playoffs. If the Bills had hired Reid instead of Marrone the Bills probably would have made the playoffs a couple of times. Can't hate KC for doing it, be pissed at the Bills for consistently failing.

It's getting tiring missing the playoffs for 17 straight years. The Buffalo News crew is the least of the Bills' problems.

Lesson here is don't rely on other teams to do your dirty work. Just win. And don't hire a complete asshat as head coach. I simply don't see how anyone can defend the job Ryan's done in Buffalo.

Bills win 3, which is somewhat likely, Dolphins lose last two (Bills hold tie-breaker over Fins, strength of victory), also somewhat likely, Ravens lose 2 of 3, making them 8-8, not very likely, Titans lose 2 of 3, making them 8-8, sort of likely, Colts don't win out, pretty likely.

I'm not sure why you bother either. Your point on the NE, AZ and Cincinnati games was that there were upsets at the time and somehow hindsight doesn't matter. In fact, hindsight is exactly how the performance of the Bills and Ryan should be judged. Arizona this year is not the Arizona of last year, they are not very good this year. When the Bills played them in September people were still thinking of them as last year's Cardinals, but the Bills didn't play last year's AZ team, so it was not some stellar upset win. To a lesser extent that same logic applies to the Bengals game. As for NE, only a bad Bills team would have lost that game. Belichek may be a genius, but NE's record would be far north of .500 if its 3rd string QB with a thumb injury started all year. I don't disagree with your main premise that a fair number of people were expecting 8-8 or 9-7, but that was at the beginning of the year when the schedule appeared to be more daunting that it turned out to be. Those three "upset" wins you noted were anticipated to be defeats at the beginning of the year, and if you told people at the start of the year the Bills would win those games, a great many people would have said the playoffs were a lock, and they wouldn't have predicted 8-8 or 9-7. Consequently, in judging whether the team has performed to expectations, you can't go by what people were thinking in August, but rather how the team has actually performed. In my book it has been subpar and below expectations given that the Bills' opponents have performed below expectations.

Frankly it will be surprising if the Bills don't end up 9-7. Two home games against one of the worst teams in history and a team w/o its starting QB, and a road game against an inept opponent with an untested rookie QB. A loss to any one of those three teams is inexcusable and should be cause for firing. Three wins does not mean, however, that the Bills are headed in the right direction.

Beating NE with its 3rd string QB, who was hampered by a bum thumb, was not an upset. The Cards were thought to be good heading into the season, but have proven over the course of the season to be less than good. So, it was an upset at the time, but in hindsight it wasn't much of an upset at all, particularly since it was at home against a team on Pacific time. Cincinnati is also terrible this year, and that game can not be considered an upset. All in all the schedule this year, which at the start of the year looked fairly imposing, has proven to be much softer than expected. The NFC West has one good team in Seattle (and I'd argue that Bills' best game of the year was their loss to Seattle) one mediocre team in AZ and two complete stiffs. A 9-7 record, all things considered, has to be a disappointment, which is why there is so much hate directed at Rex (well, that and the fact that he's just a dick).

What is this "football" of which you all speak?

Actually, given their QB situation and schedule, the Broncos and Dolphins may well fall apart and not win another game. The Bills SHOULD win their last three games, given who the opposition is, and that's coming from someone who loathes Ryan and thinks he's inept. The Ravens collapsing may well be a bridge too far, and there are also the Titans, Colts and Texans to deal with.

Why anyone would assume the Pegulas have a clue about running a sports franchise is beyond me. It is completely different than the fracking business. One reason you have so many lousy sports franchises is that most are owned by rich know-it-alls who don't find good football/baseball/hockey minds to run their companies. The fact the Pegulas were snookered by a clownish buffoon like Ryan is that they really have no clue what it takes to put together a good football team. It's all very sad.

9-7 would not be an improvement over last year. Going into the year it looked like the Bills had a tough schedule, but the NFL West has proven to be almost as bad as the NFC East last year, and the Bills at most will have two wins over teams with winning records, both of whom will have played back-up QBs (and in NE's case a 3rd stringer with an injured thumb!). If Rex is rehired and more than 30k season tickets are sold, the people of Buffalo deserve to have a losing team because they will have proven themselves to be dumber than a bag of rocks. Rex is a bad head coach. A bad bad bad head coach. And a douchebag to boot. He has got to go if the Bills are to see the playoffs before year 20 of the drought.

My bad, I thought they were Brandonistas.

As much as I hate Rex Ryan, I think 10-6 is possible simply because of the schedule. With three homes games in a row they could go into the Jets game at 9-6. Pittsburgh will be tough, obviously, and who will cover Brown is anyone's guess, but may Ben goes down. I could see the Bills needing the Jets game for the playoffs and losing that one in a reversal of last year. The Dolphins in Buffalo in December are usually toast, so I do see that game and the Browns game as wins.

Here's a thought. The Bills have a mediocre offense led by a mediocre QB, a mediocre defense, and a below average head coach who talks a good game but really is a pretty clueless bastard. No one should be surprised by the results this year, no one, and trying to pin the blame on the offense or defense is just silly. It's hard to overcome an inadequate head coach, and the Bills simply don't have the talent to do that.

He also took last year's team with a 1-5 start to the playoffs and won a playoff game. If he sucks, what does that make fat ass big mouth Rex? Those two playoff runs his first two years are a long long time ago. I'd say the statute of limitations has rendered them moot.

Except of course he has made the post-season within the past several years with talent that is no better than that Rex Ryan has had to work with.

Actually the Bills' defensive ranking didn't change all that much as a result of the Pats' game. The Bills entered Week 8 as the NFL's 18th-ranked defense, allowing 360 yards per game, per Mike Rodak. So, if anything, the post was a week late. Even some Bills' defensive players are calling their squad mediocre. I don't see how anyone can honestly complain about the substance of the post. The defense is good against bad teams and bad against good teams. In other words, average or mediocre. Not top shelf as always promised by the bloated one.

You should expect to win every home game. If not, why even get excited about the playoffs since you obviously think the team has no chance to advance very far. Any playoff team should be able to beat any other team at home, so if you think the Bills are a playoff team you should expect them to at least have a fighting chance to beat the Pats at home. I think beating the Pats at home was more likely than beating the Seahawks on the west coast. In any event, the losses to the Ravens and Jets likely spoiled any hope for the playoffs.

Well, the Bills hired one as head coach, perhaps that was the reason.

As was noted, while the offense is plagued by injuries, the defense was relatively healthy. Yes, A. Williams was out, but if your defense depends on one guy, particularly a modest talent like A. Williams, you really don't have a defense. The Bill really needed either this game or the Seattle game, and traveling to Seattle looked like the least likely of two. Can't give up on the season yet, but playoff chances are marginal at best. In other words, this is the Rex Ryan Groundhog Day Movie, where there is always a game or two that gives you hope mixed in with many other games that just leave your head shaking and which cumulatively leave your team in a murky grey zone where excuses for losing compete with anger about a blowhard whose mouth is always far ahead of his accomplishments. The poor citizens of Buffalo deserve far better.

The Bills under Ryan are like the Jets under Ryan. Stunningly mediocre. Hiring Ryan showed just how clueless the Pegulas were to hire him.

Nice play Lawson.

Ok, TT ain't the man.

The comeback begins!!