hondo in seattle

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.

I'm glad Doug Flutie joined the board to bestow The Truth on us. We were dangerously short on The Truth until this post. In all seriousness, it's too early to judge this edition of the Bills. The new owners have owned the team for just 1/4 of one season. The HC, OC, and DC have all coached the Bills for a grand total of 4 games. Our starting QB has just 4 starts under his belt. And we're 2-2 - two games from utter despair and 2 games from complete football euphoria. There's just not enough data to make a sound judgment yet - one way or the other. How did Jim Kelly look after 4 starts? How did Marv Levy look 4 games into his regime? What tale-tell signs were already visible that suggested HOF careers? It's too early to make any predictions about the remainder of this season that aren't mostly just speculation and guesswork.

Campbell's resume is awfully light for a HC. From the Fins press release: PRESS RELEASE: Dolphins Name Dan Campbell Interim Head CoachPosted 36 minutes ago Campbell has served as Miami’s tight ends coach for the past five seasons.The Miami Dolphins have named Dan Campbell interim head coach, the team announced today. Campbell has served as Miami’s tight ends coach for the past five seasons. He originally joined the Dolphins prior to the 2010 season as a coaching intern/offense. Campbell joined the Dolphins after 11 years of playing experience with the New York Giants (1999-2002), Dallas Cowboys (2003-05), Detroit Lions (2006-08) and New Orleans Saints (2009). A third-round selection of the Giants in the 1999 NFL draft, the former tight end appeared in a total of 114 games with 75 starts and caught 91 passes for 934 yards and 11 touchdowns. Campbell attended Texas A&M where he was a four-year letterwinner and agricultural development major.

I'm mad at myself for getting caught up in the hype and believing the Bills would make the playoffs this year. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. But my belief that they were a playoff team makes these losses harder to stomach.

Even if we paid him HC money, he'd leave for a good HC opportunity. Maybe if DW & Rex told him that he's the designated heir when Rex retires in four years. Maybe. I think we need to get used to the idea that Roman is only on loan to Buffalo. It would be great if we could find a new OC who knows Roman's system and doesn't change everything once again.

I guess it's time to eat some humble pie. I was really worried when McKelvin got hurt. I didn't think Darby, as a rookie, was up to the task. While I didn't imagine he'd play as bad as he had in preseason, I never thought he look this good.

Welcome aboard. Aside from occasional trolling and an ad hominen attack here or there in an overheated disagreement, this is a great place to be. Especially when the Bills are winning.

I had to post this article just because I can't remember the last time I read an article from an opposing team's local press praising our QB. I guess the last time was when Fitz was QB-ing in Chan's early days - but the praise was kind of like, "Not sure how this Harvard kid better suited for Wall Street is doing it, but he's leading a potent Bills offense."

In general I agree with you. But our very good DB coach, Donnie Henderson, has been with the Bills since 2013.

Thanks for posting. Warner is jumping on the TT bandwagon. And so am I. Early in camp, I was expecting the QB battle to shake out like this: (1) MC, (2) EJ, and (3) TT. I couldn't have been more wrong! TT has been a revelation. It's still an open question as to how well he keeps this up but clearly through 3 weeks, TT has been one of the best QBs in the league.

I think you blitz up the middle and jam the receivers at the line of scrimmage. By the time the receivers break free, someone will be in Brady's face.

Interesting thought. Never considered that as a possibility.

There was a little poetic license going on regards the stadium and weather. All in good fun.

Wasted draft pick

Ayers: “He’s real dynamic and he doesn’t play like this is his first time being a full-time starter, for sure... He’s impressive, will give him that. He caught my attention.’’ Hosley: “As much as people like to talk about how versatile he is as far as running the ball and being able to scramble and escape the pocket and make guys miss, he can throw that ball. He will put the ball on the money, he’s got a nice soft touch. He’s a complete quarterback... He’s an athlete all the way around, in every way, shape and form. Nice build, fast guy, very smart guy. From what I know, he never likes to force the ball, so very good in the decision-making. He’s a ballplayer, man, he’s a leader." Quotes are from a good article in the New York Post. "A Giant Task, Stopping the Bills Sudden' X Factor." http://nypost.com/2015/09/29/a-giant-task-stopping-the-bills-sudden-x-factor/

TT looked good in preseason (as did EJ) but I never imagined that Bills offense would be this productive. 100 points in 3 games. Wow! And Shady, supposedly the engine of our 2015 offensive machine, has been hurt. So far we've played 2 good defensive games and 2.5 good offensive games (we scored lots of points against NE but the 3 picks and 8 sacks taint the performance). It's a promising start.

As a Purdue alum, I'm glad the guy had a great career. I wonder when he'll decide to hang up the cleats. He's 2 years younger than Brady and 3 years younger than Peyton Manning.

Exactly. I could throw an accurate 10-20 yard pass standing on the street out front with my kids. No wonders PFF gives it an easy grade. But what Brady does is read coverage and deliver a tight accurate pass, hitting the receiver in stride, in less than 2 seconds with defensive players flying toward him. It looks like an easy completion but it's not - not when you do it that fast, accurately and consistently. We all know a quick pass is hard to defend. Yet PFF doesn't give any points of passes thrown quickly.

Your interpretation makes sense, despite the naysayers. But where does Rex say he can't repeat Cam's opinion? I had wondered why Rex was interested in TT in the first place. Inside information from former Raven players and coaches explains it.

Packers - Bills Super Bowl? (SB1 really should have been Packers - Bills)

26CB, thanks for posting the GIF. After watching Fred spend much of his career running into brick walls, it's fun to watch blocking like that.

Did anyone else notice that all three down linemen for the Fins get knocked on their asses on the first gif for Special K? Gawd, after a decade of mostly inept OL play, that's fun to watch! http://www.wgr550.com/JW-All-22-Review-Bills-Dolphins/22014895