hondo in seattle

That was funny... in a sad, pathetic kind of way.

I'm with BigDingus... I don't believe that Marino was "far superior." BD's characterization as the two QBs being "2 different animals" is right on. Both guys were very talented and both now deservedly find their busts in the HOF. Marino was a pocket QB known for his accuracy and quick release. Kelly was known more for his gunslinger confidence and toughness. But Kelly was pretty darn accurate as well. In my estimation, both were great. Which was greater - I don't know. But Kelly was the right QB for that team.

I never expect Pro Bowl voting to be perfectly fair and objective. These results seem fair enough not to elicit any surprise or righteous indignation in me.

I remember hearing that Mini Max Andersen swallowed his tongue after receiving a hard hit. I was maybe 8 or 9 years old at the time and the idea horrified me until my mom explained what the expression really meant.

The problem with generating pressure is that Brady is the best in the NFL at handling the blitz. In fact, he's scary good. For example, Brady had a 122.3 passer rating versus the blitz last year - best in the NFL. Since 2006 he has 70 TD and O INT against 6+ man blitzes. So how do we generate pressure without blitzing? Our front four just isn't that good.

I think there were a couple hints in yesterday's interviews about the "Process." Shady when asked to compare this team to last year's: "We’re all accountable. Guys are really accountable. They come early, they leave late. There’s a thing where coach asks all the players questions to see their preparation for the weekend. Guys are on it. Guys are looking at old film on a team for a year or two years before. That’s something I do just because I’ve been around for nine years, but young guys are doing it. Everybody’s prepared. Guys are on time for meetings. It’s like they want to be here. They want to win and they’re ready to put everything on the line to do that." Kyle Williams: "Day in and day out you spend the time with these guys. You see the way they work. You see the way they care about their teammates and the way they care about preparing. Everybody wants to win but not everybody is willing to prepare. These guys are willing to prepare. These guys are willing to get ready and pay the cost Monday through Saturday." http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/What-theyre-saying-Bills-discuss-home-win-over-Miami/22c74ef0-adba-4cf1-8014-55d5984aca5c When the OP says we shouldn't trust the process, we should just win he's ignoring what it takes to win. The process is all about the culture, the preparation, the commitment, the accountability... all the things that lead to winning. Without that process, we wouldn't be 8-6 right now and the game in Foxboro would be meaningless.

Winners do things differently than losers. In NE, they call it the "Patriot Way." Bill Walsh used to call it "Standards of Performance." McD calls his twist on this the "Process." It's all about striving for excellence, not settling, holding people accountable, high levels of commitment & teamwork, and so on. I can't say McD will be a great coach. But this roster is probably over-achieving at 8-6 and it's only his first year. Trust the process!

If we start the season 0-6, we'll make the playoffs by Week 7!

While I'm not a TT hater, I agree with this. Tyrod has had problems getting balls to WRs throughout his tenure with the Bills. Part of the problem is that our WR corps hasn't been great and has often suffered more than it's fair share of injuries. But part of the lack of production is on TT too. Zay does kind of have the look of a bust so far. But you have to give him the benefit of the doubt: he's a rookie on an offense that doesn't use its WRs very effectively.

Robey-Coleman isn't saying anything we haven't already heard from other sources. No surprises here. But I think C.Biscuit97's point is a good one. Our D isn't any better this year - with McD and Frazier in charge. What's going wrong?

I voted "Yes" because I think McD's done a good job with the roster he has. This is not a playoff caliber roster so to be even sniffing the playoffs at this point is something of an accomplishment. I do wish, though, that the options on the survey were more than a binary yes/no. My "yes" answer is not an emphatic one. There are going to be a lot of questions this offseason. I want to see how he answers them.

Yep. I've always suspected that Sammy was let go more for character issues than injury and productions concerns. Maybe Sammy's different now, but in Buffalo he was not a McD, team-first kind of guy.

It's a honor to Moulds to mentioned with those guys - two of the all-time greats. Good to see Billy Shaw on the list, too. A little bit of Bills trivia that probably lots of Bills fans know but not many people outside of Buffalo (correct me if I'm wrong): Shaw is the only guy with a bust in Canton who never played in the NFL.

Awesome article. I loved reading about how Shady confronted Watkins on his selfishness. "We hear you need 10 targets a game," McCoy said aloud to Watkins. "Here you go." And with that, the running back handed the disgruntled receiver a manila envelope with 10 red targets printed out inside.

I was a little disappointed when I read Eric Moulds was only "honorable mention." How could they underrate such a gifted receiver?!?! Then I saw who their starters were. This is indeed a talented squad.

While I do think the list is robust. CJ was great for one year. Greg Bell was a very talented back. Cribbs was one of the best backs in the league in his time who could both run and catch. Cookie didn't have a long, productive career but he was a beast as a FB for three glorious years with the Bills. Terry Miller had a strong rookie season only to have his career ruined by medical problems... It seems that every year we have a good-to-great RB in our backfield. We rarely have a good-to-great QB back there with him. It would be interesting to see how many Pro Bowl teams our backs have been on over the years versus other teams. And then do the same comparison with QBs.

I'm more inclined to agree with Shaw66 than SoCal Deek. We have one legitimately good QB on our QB list: Jim Kelly. We have several legitimately good backs. The All-Time Bills team will have a lot of depth at RB. Our #5 best back is better than most teams' #5 best back.

I don't expect us to make the playoffs this year. But I guess it's nice to still be in the hunt so late in the season.

I've made this point a few times in other threads. We've been blessed with good running backs while being cursed at the QB position. Beside the backs in the Top 100, we've had a number of other guys who were talented at toting the rock. Cookie ~ I beleive Larry Felser once said that Cookie was the best RB he ever saw. Joe Cribbs ~ an exciting, dynamic dual-purpose back. Jim Braxton ~ once ran for 800+ yards in a 14 game season as OJ's FB and sidekick. CJ Spiller ~ had that one magical year when he ran for 1200+ yards at 6 yards a pop Roland Hooks ~ my favorite backup whose heroics helped us beat the Pats one year Greg Bell ~ ran for over 1,000 yards as a rookie Terry Miller ~ ran for over 1,000 yards as a rookie

Assuming TT and Rico both stay, I'd hire Roman as a consultant and have him work with Rico on developing an offense that best utilizes TT's skill set. Rico studied the tape, but clearly didn't grasp what made last year's offense tick. I think part of it is that Roman's plays and Lynn's play-calling forced D's to account for two runners on every play: TT and Shady. This year's O is anemic.

I watched it at home and thought it was a lot of fun. To me it was one of the most memorable and interesting games of the year. Part of the appeal I suppose was the nostalgia value. The game reminded me of the snowy sandlot games I played growing up in Cheektowaga.

There's not a ton of talent suiting up each Sunday. The fact that McD has us in the playoff hunt speaks well of him. But I want to see what he does this off-season. Will he tell Beane to draft a QB with a high pick? Will he replace his struggling offensive coordinator? How will he shore up the D? And so on...

Faulk supposedly groped a female staffer. If true, that's sexual harassment. I get your fear but as the father of two daughters I'm happy to see these pigs get called out and suffer the consequences of their actions.

Why do the Pats keep winning? Brady? Certainly a big part of their years of dominance. Cheating? Undeniably, also a contributor. But when Patriot players and coaches are interviewed, they frequently say things are different in NE. There's a higher level of accountability. The expectations in terms of commitment and performance are higher. And they talk a lot about love and loyalty. Guys who aren't 'team-first' get shipped out. The guys they do have really care about each other and don't want to let each other (or their coaches) down. All this is a product of Belichick's leadership. Hate him all you want but all I hate is that he's the coach of the Patriots.

If we win out, we're probably in. We don't have the talent to win out.