purple haze

I think the Bills win. And I don't think it will be all that close either. Something like 24-14 or 21-10.

Today... I'm not mad about anything. God bless the Pegula's.

It's on like a mofo.

Our starting CB was out. So was our starting OLB. The OLB that was replacing our stud 2nd year OLB. And we lost Rivers in game and A. Williams too. Bills played better when it counted. Simple as that. And they have more talent than anyone gives them credit for. Understandably so based on results.

I really wish they would give Schopp's weekday spot to Sal. It would be so much better.

Agree with you on McKelvin. And LM also missed a lot of the preseason practices and games. He's not facing 6'4 receivers every week. I thought he did fine between the size advantage and missed time in preseason. He did manage to do some good things out there. Yep. But Byrd did have a forced fumble on Julio Jones just before he crossed the goal line for a score. JB is in usual form.

Amen. And Amen.

LoL. You really want him to catch a tail-whuppin' then.

You're a straight fraud. You never were a fan if you can just hop out like that. I didn't need to read past the "ex-fan" part. But hey, you're entitled to express your opinion. Good for you.

Agreed. But maybe they will bring him back. I heard Murph interview Andrew Brandt, former exec with the Packers, who talked about how teams will cut some vets so their salary isn't guaranteed for the year, and bring them back after week 1. I'm not sure we've seen the last of Cohen. And I hope he is back. But at the same time, Bryant and Charles have been lights out too, against starters, have been with organization for some time already, and if the Bills keep five tackles what other position loses a player? Won't be the RB's or CB's. Between Williams, Dareus, Bryant and Charles there aren't a lot of snaps to go around.

Orton is a good insurance policy, who could, if healthy and playing at his usual level, manage games enough for the Bills to win if the defense is playing up to their full capabilities. Orton is not going to single-handedly win many games, if any. EJ doesn't have to look over his shoulder. Orton is on if EJ gets injured, or if he just shows nothing at all. If EJ plays the way he played last year even, he will continue to start. EJ has a lot of improvements to make, and he can look straight-up inept at times. But there are other times, such as Cleveland, the Jets in Buffalo, Atlanta in TO, when he looked like a good young, up and coming QB. For some reason people choose to forget about those games. If EJ didn't get injured against Cleveland that looked like a "W". They were rolling the Browns. If Stevie and Chandler don't fumble, they beat Atlanta... bc EJ put them in position to do just that. And then his regular season record isn't 4-6 in games he started, but 6-4, even with the total duds in Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, and the inconsistencies in other games. What I don't like about EJ is that inconsistency in performance. What I like, is his demeanor, his physical talent, work ethic and what appears to be an ability to come back from adversity with something positive, even if only keeping a positive attitude. That's important. Negativity can eat a person up and ruin them. We might eventually need to draft a QB or go get one in Free Agency in 2015, but I'm hoping to see what #3 does over a 16 game season. In all fairness, 10 games in isn't enough to tell us anything one way or the other. The jury is out. And even if Orton did take over, he isn't a QB of the future. So I'm hoping the one we drafted is the guy.

Then you want an offensive line, because out of what we saw the past two weeks, that's a bigger problem than EJ. They can't run block worth a damn.

Totally agree. Schopp is hard to listen to. I don't want or need a cheerleader for the team, but I also don't need someone who constantly whines about everything and harps on the negative. A nice, even-handed host would be most welcome and Sal would be that, and his enthusiasm would be welcomed as well. Schopp is a Grinch and a Scrooge rolled up into one. I think he might need therapy.

He did get one. Kevin Kolb. Then Kolb got hurt. It's EJ's gig now. Like you said, it's logical not to create controversy. EJ has the skills to do well. He just has to do it. I'll give Whaley credit for this: he is decisive. He chooses a path and pushes all his chips in. He's willing to go down for his choices. Re-signing Alan Branch was a good move at the time. It's not the Bills fault Branch went belly up. He played well. He got rewarded. Ftizpatrick didn't want to stay, after that phone convo with Nix hit the public. And truthfully, having him around would have been counter-productive. Just because you think he would make a great back up, and I think that, does not mean Fitzpatrick felt that way, seeing as how he was designated the man.

EJ was bad. But PTR is on the money about that Oline. There is no way you watched that game and came away without seeing the Oline was just as bad. They had little push in the run game. They broke down in protection, particularly up the middle. Receivers falling down. Turnovers. It was bad all the way around. EJ played his part, but he was far from alone.

They opened up the playbook a bit in the 3rd. They ran some different plays. It was obvious. Why? Because Tampa figured out the four or five plays they continued to run in the first half and they were embarrassed by getting boo'd at home. Actually, I would say it was getting boo'd that made them do it. If the fans hadn't voiced any displeasure we would have seen the same four or five plays in the second half as well.

There's nothing to say they had to execute any better against the 2nd team d, either. I'll give the offense credit for not totally rolling over and coming out in the 3rd quarter with some fire and execution.

Look at the stats of most starting QB's in the league, in preseason. You will notice similar stats in terms of making a lot of completions and yards, etc. The ticky-tack illegal contact calls are going to make pass defense across the league suffer. All in all, though, I'm not worried about the pass defense.

Team didn't look alright at all. The defense looked good. The offense looked embarrassing. At least they decided to stop running the same five plays over and over in the second half.

Winning and iconic events gave old Yankee Stadium it's character. It wasn't just the baseball games either. It was the iconic boxing matches. Football games, etc. The new place is great to be in, but definitely lacking in the intangibles. That's partly due to the fact it's so new it hasn't built up the equity moments yet. Also partly because the Yanks are not winning. Cashman needs to go. But that's a discussion for a different place and time. The new stadium shouldn't have tried so hard to be a cash cow. I don't get it with these owners/leagues and trying to give fans an "experience" not many ask for at all. All I want are great sightlines and a great team.

I don't know about hate, but I would say they are fairly terrible. Bulldog, by himself, is fine. He's a side man anyway. But Schopp is the king of the strawman argument. He makes up possibilities then whines miserably about how terrible the possibility would be; mind you his strawman argument isn't actually something that has happened. And in terms of radio, his voice grates on my nerves when he starts all that hemming, hawing and whining. He needs to be on NPR. But a sports radio show, that he seems ill-equipt for, is not the place. I'd rather they give Sal that time slot.

Why shouldn't they run up tempo? The starting offense has consistently moved the ball into scoring position during this preseason, even with the O-line issues. The Bills problem is finishing drives with TD's. It wasn't just you. I said after the first five minutes of the game the Bills seemed lethargic. Maybe the wed and thurs. practices tired them out. And having to travel down to PA. Then travel from Pittsburgh to Latrobe and back on both days. I don't trust Hackett either. I think he's the biggest issue with the lack of finish on offense. His play-calling baffles me. I disagree on Tuel. I think he's fairly terrible. And Thad has taken a giant step back for some reason. EJ has to stay healthy at all costs. It's that simple. We have good depth, especially on defense. FINALLY. Good thing about that play is he wasn't scared to take the shot. That's something many around here complained about last season. He put it up there for Chandler to make a play on it. Shazier just made a better play. And that dude reminds me so much of Kiko it's scary.

The report was just news. The Pegula's still are the best ownership choice based on finances, method of operation and NFL desires about ownership in regards to the first two items. That's clear. I wish folks would stop CHOOSING to worry about the TO group. I don't like the TO group either and I believe they are done. Too much chaos. What's strange is that not many seem to be mentioning the Beignini report about Kelly having discussions with Golisano. That is a more likely scenario. Less of a "group" in that scenario. One majority owner and one minority owner and Golisano gets Kelly's cachet with the community/trust. THAT pairing could compete with the Pegula's, although I still don't think they would win. Kelly and three other owner principals in the TO group would be more of a mess than they already have.

Not many reporters have a named source on record. If they do, they probably don't have the entire story. People are not going to give info and out themselves as the leak in the newspaper while the story is playing out. Been that way since before Woodward and Bernstein. They had a "source" too. I've been critical of Tim Graham over the years, but it does him no favors, as a journalist, to make up a story. I don't doubt his story because it makes sense. He didn't say Bon Jovi and Kelly WERE doing anything except talking. And even with that Bon Jovi initiated it. Folks need to calm down a bit.

I think he'll definitely be on the team if he performs well on ST's. Looks like a potential SLB of the future.