hondo in seattle

Cost me that much (maybe more), the last time I flew from Seattle to Buffalo. Congrats! My mom was French. Don't generalize.

When Whaley made the trade, the Bills looked this: great defense, good receivers, but no one to get the ball to the receivers. Good wideouts without a QB are almost worthless so how were we going to score points? Since it didn't look like we were going to have a good QB to build a passing game around, Whaley went out and got us a good RB to build a running game round. It was an entirely reasonable thing to do at the time, even considering the contract DW gave Shady. Hindsight is 20-20. Maybe Karlos Williams with Freddy backing him up would have been a better (definitely cheaper) option than Shady/KW especially given Shady's injury. Let's see how the season unfolds before making that judgment. But at the time of the trade, it seemed very smart to me.

PFF makes some valid points in defense of their grade. But still... By their own admission, Rodgers made two beautiful throws for TDs. But somehow, two bad plays (one of which, never officially happened) offset those two good TD passes. Their weighting system seems broken. And while they rated many of Rodgers' completions as easy, there's something to be said for a QB who can read coverages, correctly identify mismatches, and get the ball to playmakers while making it look easy. Hasn't Brady's recent career been about just this? Rodgers did his job very well. If PFF thinks his performance warrants a negative score, PFF needs to rework its scoring system. I don't think GB's coaching staff is going to tell Aaron he had a subpar day.

Did he really say that? Maybe it was a typo. Maybe he said we'd never score less than 21.

Didn't we score 32 against the Pats? Yeah, there were also the 8 sacks and 3 picks. But if a HOF coach was cheating in this game, couldn't he have figured out a way to hold us under 30? 2 of the 3 picks were opportunistic - off the hands of our receivers. That's neither good cheating or defense by NE. It's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. They only thing NE figured out was how to pressure our QB. I blame our OL for that more than I credit Belichick. Did Bryce Brown sell them our blocking schemes? Because Belicheck doesn't have hours of video of Greg Roman offenses that he's already studied?

You can't take out the plays you don't like ("garbage time") and then compare the stats to other teams when you aren't taking out the plays they don't like. It's not an apple-to-apple comparison. However you slice and dice it, the Bills D played well against the Colts and Fins. They did not play at all well against the Pats. It's a small sample size and I'm guessing Dennis Thurman and Rex are still fine-tuning the execution of their scheme. So I'm expecting better things ahead. But, so far, we have not been a Top 3 D if that's the implication. And that, frankly, is disappointing. Let's see what happens against the Giants.

The pick by Hicks was a gift. It was a batted ball that came right to him. Anyway, who besides homers vote for ROW? I voted 10 times for Karlos without looking at the highlights of any other nominee.

Maybe only the first one counts?

I sense the sarcasm, but I really thought Sean Payton would be able to do this.

The numbers are the numbers. If his escapability makes his numbers better, bravo! Brady's pocket presence and quick decision-making make his numbers better. It's all part of the game at that position.

And have the 3rd best point differential, behind NE and AZ

Yep. Maybe no carries at all if he's not needed.

eball nails this. Consider, Rodak writes: There also are questions about how much homework the Bills did on Darby. He said he met with the Bills at the combine and "had a few words exchanged on pro day," adding, "That's about it, really." Combine interviews last 15 minutes, which hardly seems like enough time for the Bills to gauge Darby's character face-to-face. Darby said he didn't even meet coach Rex Ryan until arriving at the team's facility Saturday. Rodak says there are questions about how much homework the Bills did, but he never asks the Bills those questions. Maybe DW and his scouts talked to Darby's coaches and the answers satisfied them. We just don't know and the hint that they didn't do sufficient homework is specious. If you watch the accompanying video, Rodak clearly doesn't think Darby or Williams will contribute this year because the Bills don't need DBs or RBs. In other words, he criticizes those picks for more than just character reasons. And he's already wrong.

I'm hoping Rex and Dennis Thurman are still perfecting the execution of their scheme as well as fine-tuning it to the strengths and weaknesses of the players on the roster. Rex typically has his Ds in the top ten, if not the top 5. I'd like to see top 3 this season with this cast. NE rattled our QB and we rattled the QBs not playing for NE. It's a big part of our 2-1 record and I do think Dave's stats are meaningful.

You may be right but it's still unproven. Many teams are addressing their ifs while the Pats keep proving they're the king of the mountain.

About 1 of every 3 yards gained is a rushing yard. This is still significant and being able to stop the run is important, especially when an opposing team is ahead and trying to run the clock and in short-yardage situations. But, here's a scary stat: The Bills have the 30th ranked D in yards allowed per game. Rex is usually in the Top Ten. And the Bills had the personnel to finish in the Top Five last year. What's going on? The Bills offense, in contrast, is #10. Who would have expected that the Bills O would be far ahead of the Bills D in the rankings after three games?

Very few teams beat all the teams they 'should' beat. The NE game proves this squad still has the ability to lay down stinkers. On any given Sunday... I'd be happy with HamSandwhich's 7-3.

Depth is part of the game. Injuries and suspensions happen. Brady is a cheater and would have richly deserved the 4 game suspension originally meted out by Goodell. Would we feel a win was unjustified or tainted because Brady was flagged for intentional grounding or some other foul? Probably not, if the penalty was deserved. So why should we feel tainted if he was penalized for a more serious offense? I would have enjoyed the win if he hadn't played. And 2-0 would have got us closer to the playoffs - which long-suffering Bills fans deserve.

I hate to fault a guy who lead an offense to 32 points but this is very true. And, then again, this was only TT's second start. I'm expecting him to get better.

Geez, I hope this is true. While I agree with those who say the line didn't have a great game, I also agree that TT could have made them look better by being more decisive. Some of the sacks are certainly on him.

I always liked the man. The player... hmmm... I also liked the way he grunted like a pig as he used his entire body to throw deep balls up for grabs.

I apologize gents because I did many things wrong. First, I invited a couple Raiders fans to watch the game with me with the Bills Backers of Seattle. One even quietly rooted for the Pats for some incomprehensible reason. Second, I neglected to order my traditional Buffalo Wings until the second half. My wife is actually the one who caught the error and corrected it - and she's from the Philippines. Clearly the gods are angry with me.

On the one hand, we lost by only 8 to the SB Champs playing with a HOF QB whose skills were on display. The early 90s Bills suffered some worse losses than this. On the other hand, Rex is supposed to be a defensive guru and the Pats just hung 40 on us. We had no answers to their offensive game plan despite having a Pro Bowl defensive line.

I'm still struggling to understand Rex's game plan. Rex and his defensive coaching staff are all intelligent men. Yet, it was hard to see evidence of that combined intellect on Sunday. All we needed was a scheme that would keep the Pats under 32 points. Was that really to much to ask? Press coverage, inside blitzes... we needed to try something - anything - else.

Denial — The first reaction is denial. In this stage individuals believe the diagnosis is somehow mistaken, and cling to a false, preferable reality. Anger — When the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue, it becomes frustrated, especially at proximate individuals. Certain psychological responses of a person undergoing this phase would be: "Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; '"Who is to blame?"; "Why would this happen?". Bargaining — The third stage involves the hope that the individual can avoid a cause of grief. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. People facing less serious trauma can bargain or seek compromise. Depression — "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "I'm going to die soon so what's the point?"; "I miss my loved one, why go on?" During the fourth stage, the individual becomes saddened by the mathematical probability of death. In this state, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time mournful and sullen. Acceptance — "It's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it."; "Nothing is impossible." These are the 5 stages of DABDA in the Kubler-Ross model. Yesterday, I was Stage 1 - I can't believe our defense is getting freaking shredded like this. This can't be happening! Today I'm at Stage 2 - Was that really the best game plan Rex could devise? That @$#?{)(%$ Ryan is so effing overrated as a defensive guru. It looks we're stuck with another bad head coach! Why are we Bills fans forever cursed??? With a little Stage 3 - Maybe if I had eaten Buffalo Wings earlier in the game, as per tradition, we would have won. I'll order the wings early next Sunday and every Sunday. We can get this season back on track with a little luck. And a little of Stage 4 - Man, will this be another year of disappointments? With just a touch of Stage 5 - It's all going to be okay. It's just a football game; it's not the end of the world. My family still loves me.