dpberr

Hackett doesn't utilize any of the weapons he's got effectively whatsoever.

If you are Jerry Hughes and you're sitting down with your agent, do you have a realistic appraisal of the reasons for your success? You did nothing as a Colt. Upon trade to the Bills, in the Pettine and Schwartz systems, surrounded by elite talent, you now play to your draft selection and have turned into quite the impressive football player. Do you stay in Buffalo even if it isn't the max dollars you'd get elsewhere where there is no pressure to be THE man on defense, or do you chase that big contract from a team that will be counting on you to produce without elite talent surrounding you?

If you wanted to buzz up a good conspiracy it'd be the NFL telling the Bills to give EJ the opportunity to fail....until the ownership issue was resolved. When he does, take him out and put Orton in there to ride the team to the playoffs. Feel good story about being in the playoffs for the first time since 2000. The new owner in the NFL fraternity rides into town on a white horse, giving him leverage on the county and state for a new stadium. "Are you not impressed? Are you not entertained? I'm the new owner for 3/4 of a season and I've already made a winner."

I think people are too quick to label quarterbacks a bust if things go poorly. You have to appreciate and consider the context around the player. I wasn't completely sold on labeling guys like Tim Couch and David Carr busts as professional players because they were talents on really crappy teams with offensive lines so poor that they were running for their lives all game. True lousy players are Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith and JaMarcus Russell, largely due to their own problems and terrible attitudes. As for E.J. he's not there yet because he's got a good attitude and he hasn't played "a lot" of games. However, he doesn't have the out of playing on a bad team. Bills are loaded with playmakers.

Looks like a competent, capable QB to me. That's all the Bills need at this position. Get it to the playmakers. Connect from point A to B. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the offense move a little better this Sunday.

I've wondered if the entirity of the show is actually the past. It's both sons reading dad's (Jax's) letters to them. As the camera pulls back you see the eldest son as the current (future) county sheriff, looking across the desk to his younger brother, a newly minted deputy in the department. End scene.

I've watched this show from Season 1 to this season, which will be its last. This season, along with last year's really changed the show in a fundamental way, in my opinion. At the outset, Jax and the rest of the Sons were generally likable characters. You wanted to root for them. The only people that usually got killed were other "bad guys". Now it seems that each show tries to outdo the last in terms of violence and body count and Jax and the gang are now a bunch of homicidal socioapaths for the most part. You wonder who isn't on that show.

Cool background. Thanks for the info.

I don't think Orton has to go all Madden to peform well. If he hits the passes he's suppossed to hit and is accurate, that's going to go a long way.

The whole GM+Coach approach never provides long term success. Sooner or later, one is going to suffer. Human beings aren't great high level multi-taskers. Something inevitably slips. New England has done a poor job of assembling talent around Tom Brady and I think that's beginning to show. I'd argue that they are worse at player development than the Bills are in recent years.

I'm totally into the Amazon Kindle woman, Amy Paffrath. http://amypaffrath.com/

So it's sorta along the lines of BSG and the Cylons? (Assuming you watched BSG.) Where are the ancients? On Earth?

I think the decison looks favorably upon the Doug Squared. I applaud the quick (relatively...) action to try to correct the problem.

What's the story with the "good" heavily armed vampires?

The offense needs basic, competent quarterbacking. They are not getting that with E.J. That game yesterday is won with basic competency. For the life of me I don't understand why a general manager, head coach and offensive coordinator stake their careers on forcing the premise that Manuel is that kind of quarterback or more. Make the change. At least see what you have. There is no unwritten rule E.J. can't be a starter down the road. This is a playoff-caliber squad but we're going nowhere with E.J. besides a season of learning and growing pains. It's wasted miles on our talented vets.

Wow. I really wanted him in a Bills uniform. A linebacking corps with Alonso *and* Mack. It'd be almost unfair.

I think he is deserving of all the attention and media fawning. Not a fan of the Yankees whatsoever but I appreciate his talent and greatness. I add to that his character was always above reproach in an era where we ended up questioning everything thanks to Palmerio, McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, etc in an era where everything was awesome and nobody was happy. All that being said, he should have hung it up last year and skipped the year long farewell tour. The Yankees were at best mediocre, and I think for a player of his caliber, that farewell tour had to be absolute agony to live through. Should have just dropped the mic at the end of the season.

You don't need Chan on the sidelines to incorporate some of the things that worked. I don't know if it's ego but if your most potent offensive weapon had his best year doing certain things, why wouldn't you as current OC, incorporate those things into your plan? It's like there is an unwritten rule you can't do that.

I will yet again pull the divorce papers out of the desk and silently, yet loudly, lay them on the desk as a warning to the Bills. Not because of Fitzy in particular but because I believe Houston is a team Buffalo can and should beat.

Amen to that.

Kyle Williams has been doing the hard work for years. Bills Wall of Fame, yes. Hall of Fame, maybe. I think he's got a good start (4xPB, 2xAP). IMO, he has been one of the AFC's most dominant DT's over the last five years but he will need a few more productive seasons to safetly navigate out of Peter Boulware territory.

Absolutely. Once teams get film on you, you have to adapt and be skillful at misdirection. That's where I felt the wheels came off with that start in 2011. You can't be a stonecutter and simply rely on execution to get the job done. By the third or fourth game, teams know where you're going to be if you get predictable with the playbook.

The courts take child abuse seriously. AP is in trouble. Should he be convicted and serve time, no team is going to touch him. Nobody wants to employ a convicted child abuser.

Streaks on the china, never mattered before, who cares...

My big takeaway from not only what was written but the sale itself is that it is a story of faith being rewarded in a world where we've largely come to expect to be disappointed. One of those rare events that actually exceeded our expectations by a mile.