hondo in seattle

Like every NFL roster, our has its shortcomings. The one that disappoints me the most is OL. These guys don't protect our QB well-enough and struggle to open holes in the running game (the recent success against Cleveland not withstanding). But we'd probably be 9-1 if not for injuries - most of our star defenders have missed significant time. We'd probably be 10-0 if not for the Miami heat. If everyone suddenly got healthy, I'd like our chances for a SB run.

Agreed. Not cool in the summer, not warm in the winter, not ever comfortable. And they do get stuck. Once in Korea, my driver and I were driving a narrow dirt road that was bordered by a 4-5 foot drop. I told my driver he was too close to the edge, but he insisted he was fine. I said him, "Okay. But if we fall off the edge, you have to get someone to two us back up." Sure enough, the side of the road crumbled and we ended up stuck with two wheels over the edge. Another time in the Arabian Desert, a different driver was swearing that it was virtually impossible to get stuck in a Humvee. Based on my experience in Korea and elsewhere, I disagreed. But he was persistent, confident that his driving skill combined with the capabilities of the Humvee made it impossible for us to get stuck. I let him drive over a big sand berm, built as a defense wall, to prove his point. Only it didn't. We ended straddling the berm with four wheels dangling in the air. Stuck. It is hard to get a Humvee stuck, but possible. Maybe the Bills need to provide players with snowmobiles? Or put Squirrel on the payroll and give him the addresses of all the players and staff?

I’m not either. But imagine this squad if everyone was healthy!

Here are the three most important players on the Bills offense: Joshua... Patrick... Allen... I agree the offense needs some tweaking, but there is no bright side to JA17 being injured.

As a Buffalo ex-pat, I have to confess that I do not consider Buffalo a great foodie city. It's not nearly in the same league, for example, as LA, San Fran, Chicago or NY. Even more Buffalo-sized Portland OR has it beat. However, I do eat well when I visit Buffalo by focusing on what Buffalo does best: Pizza. Buffalo pizza is widely underrated. I can't support my position with scientific studies, but I'll still make this assertion: There are more GOOD pizza places per capita in Buffalo than any other city in the States. Wings. Sadly, I can no longer say the best wings I've ever had were in Buffalo. But I still eat wings every time I'm back (often at Duff's) and if you haven't been to the birthplace of Buffalo wings, you owe yourself a trip to the Anchor Bar - and not the one in the airport! Beef on Weck. Celebrity Chef, Jeffrey Zakarian, said the beef-on-weck from Benny the Butcher is one of the best things he's ever eaten. Polish Food. It's hard to find good Polish food outside Poland but you can in Buffalo. The Asian and Latin food in Buffalo is generally underwhelming though there are couple of outliers. I've had good steak in Buffalo but better steak in beef-loving cities like KC, for example, and in the upscale steakhouses of more affluent cities. Obviously, you'll find better seafood on the coasts.

Decades ago, I had the pleasure of eating at the original, grungy, only-one-in-the-galaxy Mighty Taco. Tremendous flavors. On my last visit to Buffalo, I raved about Mighty to my family. But when we ate at one, I was crushed to discover that Mighty had devolved into a bad version of Taco Bell. Don't go.

Exactly! Beane's done a remarkable job overall building this roster. But I continue to be puzzled why he doesn't get better bodyguards for his MVP.

I'm not worried about being 6-2. That's a strong record. I do worry about home field advantage because I worry about the injuries. Too many of our best players have been missing games and now Josh has an UCL injury. If we were 100% healthy going into the second half (more or less) of the season with a 6-2 start, I wouldn't be worried at all.

This is a good point by the OP. Good teams will have bad games over the course of a season. Those old enough to remember will recall the 90s Bills suffering frustrating losses to inferior teams - and still running through the AFC playoffs and into the SB. Presumably the best NFL team wins the Super Bowl every year. But not since 1972 has the best team in the NFL not lost to an inferior one at some point. In fact, the best team will typically have maybe 4 or so losses over the course of the season to less talented teams.

When Kelly had a bad day, Thurman picked up the slack. When Thurm had a bad day, Kelly carried the load.

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. I've decided to accelerate the process and skip all the way ahead to depression.

Sad but expected. I'll always love the guy for The Comeback.

That was the worst game I remember from Allen since his rookie year (or maybe his sophomore). Those two picks were hard to understand. Josh smiles a lot in games, even in close ones when we're down. But he didn't smile much the 2nd half against the Jets. I don't know if he was hurt, hungover, brokenhearted, overcoached, undercoached, angry at the play-calling... but something was off.

This is a good point. The general trend of the NFL is more passing and less running. It seems to me that McD and Frazier are the only coaches that have truly embraced the modern era. Our statistical rankings since they arrived in Buffalo suggest they're on to something, though our vulnerability to power backs - and now maybe injuries - is concerning. Yesterday 4 our 5 best defensive players (Hyde, Power, Milano, White) didn't play due to injury. It showed on the field.

As others have said, our offense is too Josh-centric. And as the OP accurately notes, it's the Josh-Diggs connection that drives this offense. Games like yesterday's shows that if Josh has a bad game, we have trouble moving the ball because we have no run game - outside of Josh himself. It's too early for me to jump to conclusions, but I think it's fair to question Dorsey despite our statistical rankings. But let's keep perspective and remember he's a rookie OC who's still learning. I also think it's fair to question Beane. Of course, Beane took over a crap team and turned into a competitor and deserves massive praise. But his building process has been imperfect. He's neglected the OL. It's not a great unit. It struggles to protect Josh in certain games and pretty consistently struggles to open holes for our backs. You would think that Beane would want better bodyguards for our most valuable player. And you would think, we'd want a better run game. If Josh is off (or, Gridiron Gods forbid, hurt), where do we turn? Our OL isn't great at run blocking and we lack elite backs. NFL coaches talk about being "multiple." There's noting multiple about our offense. It's an Allen-to-Diggs game.

Maybe. But I prefer blowouts to games where we’re clearly not playing to our potential.

While I know this is true, I find it weird when we hear players saying the grades they get from their own coaches don't align with PFF.

3 punt returns for 27 yards. 2 receptions for 19 yards. 0 carries. 0 KO returns. 0 TDs. It's just the beginning.

Von... for the reason the OP gave. Zach plays poorly and makes mistakes when under pressure.

I agree money is part of it but it's not the whole story of why these young men play in the NFL. I remember Fran Tarkenton saying once that he would have played for free, and I don't think it was pure hyperbole. Kids with little/no hope of making the NFL play high school and college ball for free despite the risks. If I had a chance to play for the Bills for free, I would have done it. Imagine the rush of putting on the uni and stepping out into the stadium on game day. That rush by itself is worth the risk. Then there's the joy of the game itself, the competition. Soldiers join the military often for less money they could make as civilians. When you love what you do, you accept the risks.

The injuries in the secondary concern me. So do the turnovers. And I'm still not sold on the OL. Overall, we just might be best team but we do have flaws and on any given Sunday...

I think " What an idiot!" when I do stupid stuff. If I don't give myself a pass, why would I give a Bill a pass?

Three ways to get a player... Draft. My favorite way to get players is in the draft. The only appreciable cost is the opportunity cost. For example, if we draft the RB we like in the 3rd round, it means we didn't draft the LB or whoever else we liked. Free Agency. A difference-making free agent is usually going to cost a large sum of money. I'm happy to have Von, but we can't sign a bunch of high-priced FAs if we want to build a roster that achieves sustained success. Trade. This is my least favorite way to acquire a player because you often give up draft capital and then assume a big contract. Or you're looking at a big contract to re-sign him when the existing contract soon expires. Miami got a good player in Chubb but are giving up a 1st rounder and will have to pay the man. If I'm a Phin fan, I'm probably not a fan of this trade.

I actually agree with you, Shaw. I just can't do it with any enthusiasm given how much space their RBs had to run through.

Edmunds was always making tackles... 6.7 yards downfield. I'm not being anti-Edwards. I probably appreciate him more than most Bills fans. But it's hard to give props to any LB when our defense was gashed for over 200 yards rushing at nearly 7 yards a pop. But, yeah, this defense was built primarily to stop the pass (despite our gaudy rush d ranking pre-Packers). We line up in a nickel defense 90% of the time and our LBs are better at pass d than run d.