hondo in seattle

Good observation on the TT horse collar.

If Kromer's return doesn't help the OL, then why would we pay him?

That was a beautiful thing! Maybe my favorite play of the game.

I love all the talk about risers and fallers. Usually, these terms just means the talking head originally over- or under-rated the prospect and now that they've learned more information (that they should have had in the first place), they've reassessed.

I actually like Collinsworth but on any given Sunday... No game is a lock. That's just media talk. I'm not convinced we've seen the best of the Rex/Roman/Taylor Bills just yet. I think/hope they're still forming their identity both on offense and D. And I'm hoping the Cincy game turns out to be a milestone in their evolution.

While the D hasn't looked as good as advertised, I agree with NG. We're 3-2 and it's just too early to judge. It's certainly too early to give up. If the playoffs started this upcoming weekend, we'd be in as a wildcard. The sky isn't falling. No NFL team is truly horrible. So it's really a binary thing. We won. We get to celebrate. Titan fans get to mourn. Life in the Bills Mafia is good today.

Coyle was doomed from the moment Philbin was fired. Maybe the Fins will hire a consultant or adviser to help Anarumo but as NoSaint pointed out, you can't bring an outsider in as the DC in midseason. You need someone who knows the players and the terminology. Tough news for Fin fans, many of whom had high expectations.

Unless Whaley says it would have been financially impossible to resign Marcel if we didn't cut Freddy, I will always disagree with the decision. But, other than missing his family, Fred seems to be doing well in Seattle. I wonder if this is his last year? Would he want to move the family to Seattle next year knowing there are no guarantees? Or would he want to live apart from them another season? Hard choices.

With a new OC and QB, I think this is an offense in a state of evolution. Maybe Roman will use more spread concepts as TT gains in experience and Roman gains confidence in TT. While I wouldn't say this offense has reached it's potential yet, it' shard to criticize Roman for his productivity so far. But didn't I read somewhere that TT has actually been more effective throwing the ball when lined up under center??? The spread typically puts the QB in shotgun. I might be wrong about TT.

Good find. Not insightful at all, but an entertainingly different perspective. Then one day, years from now, someone will ask, “Remember that Bills team that was rocking out with Sammy Watkins, Percy Harvin, Tyrod Taylor, Rex Ryan, and LeSean McCoy?” Yes, yes I will. Next to 25 teams trying to imitate the Seahawks and Patriots, this is different.

I'm not sure I understand this post. It makes it sound like small companies don't know or care how their advertising dollars are spent, and don't control that. I used to run a restaurant franchise that advertised on the radio. While we certainly took much of the advice of our advertising agency, we also provided our own input. We had immense say when and how our ads were heard. Absolute say, in fact. It was our dammed money. The companies listed can spend their money however they like. If they hear enough complaints about WGR, it's possible they might say or do something. But clearly it's a business decision and it's all about TRPs (Target Rating Points). As long as people listen to WGR, advertisers will advertise there.

I almost voted coaching because I think Rex is being too ambitious coaching a new scheme to new players. There's no doubt Rex's scheme works. Just look at his resume. There's no doubt we have good D-Linemen. Just look at last year. But the combination of Rex's scheme and our D-Linemen so far this year has been disappointing - probably because the players need to think before acting as Marcel suggested. Another player (forget who) said the defensive scheme is entirely different week after week. This compounds the problem. Too much thinking and not enough pure aggression. I'm hoping Rex gives the players assignments this week that will allow them to line up and play with decisiveness. While I voted for penalties, this is actually probably my biggest concern.

A local (Seattle) startup is introducing an innovative new helmet. According to an article, "There is so much proprietary technology in the helmet, Vicis [the new company] uses a dazzle camouflage to wrap and hide all the unique features so competitors don't catch on." The CEO of the Vicis says the helmet “is designed differently. It's designed with multiple layers. It's designed to protect from both traumatic head injuries and skull fractures. And it functions differently. It has a novel outer shell material. It feels different. It sounds different." http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/football-helmet-offer-new-levels-safety/nnyQc/

When your players are better than the opponents, it's best to keep the scheme simple and let them play. As Marcel says, he just wants to be cut loose. If your scheme isn't enhancing the play of your players, you need to rethink your scheme. Schemes should only get fancy when you don't have the talent to outplay the other side.

Yards after contact. I think he led the league once. Fred's a tough runner. He's also adept at blitz pickup.

Yes. Rex is grasping at ways of making penalties more top-of-mind.

We're #1 in penalties with 47 (far outdistancing #2 with 38)> We're #1 in penalty yards with 428 (#2 has 336). We're #1 in net penalties (14 more than our opponents). We're #1 in net penalty yards (139 more than our opponents). We're #1 in Unnecessary Roughness with 8 (#2 has 5). The sages and gurus said we'd be a dominant defensive team this year. Well, we're dominating when it comes to yellow flags. http://www.nflpenalties.com/ http://www.footballdb.com/stats/penalties.html?sort=ur

Every team has bad halfs. The Bills are still 3rd in the AFC in scoring, despite an inexperienced QB, injuries to our most potent playmakers (Sammy, Shady), a "mediocre-to-crappy offensive line," and being only 4 games into Roman's system. Oh, and besides those bad halfs. It's just possible that Greg Roman - who has been coaching for 20 years - has a better understanding of what our personnel is suited for than you or I do. I'm just humbly suggesting this as a possibility. I imagine Roman's offensive ideas have been limited by having a new QB and injuries to his most dynamic weapons. It seems to me he's off to a good start and it'll be interesting to see where he takes the offense from here.

I get the logic. Your argument has some sense. But I choose facts over logic every time. And here are the facts so far: we're averaging 27.5 points per game in a new system with a QB with no starting experience. We're scoring more points than any other team in the AFC except the Pats and Bengals. And we're scoring a lot of points despite the weak OL you mentioned. By the way of comparison, in the glory days of the K-Gun (1990-1993) we averaged 24.9 points per game with multiple HOFers. So far, I'd have to say Greg Roman seems to know exactly what he's doing.

Or Rob Riddick

5'10", 213 lbs. 4.6 40 time. Has averaged about 4.5 YPC in the NFL. Zack Keefer of the Indianapolis Star said it was a "huge loss" for the RB room when the Colts cut Boom due to his shoulder injury. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2562182-boom-herron-waived-by-colts-latest-comments-and-reaction Greg Doyel, also of the Indy Star, was likewise unhappy with Boom's loss: "The Colts know football at the Ph.D. level. But what happened to Boom Herron, who was waived Sunday after being hurt Thursday? Stupid. Just stupid. And not only for Herron’s sake, but for the Colts’ sake. This is more than a nice guy you hate to see suffer an apparent season-ending injury. This was a guy the Colts were counting on as their backup running back..." http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2015/09/06/doyel-curious-treatment-boom-herron-duron-carter/71822758/ Supposedly Boom is not great in pass protection but a strong runner with decent agility. Worked out for the Pats yesterday. Sounds like a decent signing under the circumstances - assuming his shoulder is now okay.

Desperation is a wonderful thing.

+1

The game of football is meant to be played. That requires a ball on the field. Batting the ball out of bounds anywhere (EZ or not) should be a penalty and possession should return to the last team to actually have possession at the last point of that possession (plus the penalty yards). That would be a simple rule. When the fumble happened last night, I was looking forward to a fight for the ball - a fitting way to potentially determine the outcome of the game. Not a batted ball followed by a blown call.

A Grateful Dead reference? And it almost seems to be about football. Anyway, I'm worried about Rex. Schwartz had this defense playing at a higher level and he wasn't doing anything exotic. Mostly we just lined up and balled. But we won our one-and-one battles and played smart. You don't need to out-scheme the other team when you can outplay them.