hondo in seattle

Three games is a really small sample. Sacks tend to happen in streaks. Bruce Smith had consecutive games with no sacks and then consecutive games with multiple sacks. If you judged Bruce on a sub-par three game streak, he wouldn't be in the HOF. I'm not worried about Mario, yet. Mario isn't getting double-teamed either because (1) teams don't have that much respect for him, or (2) teams are forced to double-team other players. I suspect, given Mario's history, it's more #2 than #1.

Noticed in the sidebar that 30% of Boston Herald readers who took the online survey are predicting the Bills to win. Pat confidence seems to have hit a low.

Tony is smart, articulate, and won the Super Bowl.

PTR, I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points but for sentimental reasons I just can't agree with your conclusion that realignment would be good for Buffalo. There's just too much history with the Jets, Pats and Fins.

12 tackles in 3 games isn't that impressive. Somebody has to get credit for the tackles. How many were behind the LOS? One sack puts him on pace for 5 for the season. Two forced fumbles is good but probably more luck (right place/right time) than anything else.

Or trying to prove he's not a homer.

Yeah. As a former soldier, I don't see many similarities between being football and combat. Going to an away game is not quite like going to a foreign land and wondering if you'll bleed out in the sands and never see your loved ones again.

Geographically, PTR's suggestion makes sense and no doubt we would develop new rivalries. But I have to agree with K-9, there's a lot of tradition in these old AFCE rivalries. In this case, for me, tradition trumps reasoned argument.

Good work!

+1

You can get a quality player at any position in the 7th round - if you're lucky. But your odds of getting a talented player are better at the beginning of a draft. And RB is important enough still in today's NFL that I would draft a RB in the 1st round under the right conditions. I really disagree with "RB's are a dime a dozen." There aren't a ton of RBs as good as FredEx and CJ. We're a better team for having them then say the RBs the Pats or Jets have. I'd go far as to say Chan would have been fired if Choice was lugging the ball last year instead of Freddy and CJ - the season would have been that bad.

There isn't much difference between 2-1 and 1-2. The difference might only be one blown call by a replacement ref. Without arguing the merits of the Patriots, it's too early in the season to rank-order teams by won-loss. Are the Bills really a team that will win twice as many games as it loses? Are the Pats really a team that will lose twice as many games as it wins? It's too early to tell but looking at rosters, many will answer both questions with a resounding "no." If we win this Sunday, I would expect that we'll move ahead of the Pats in most power rankings. If we don't, the power rankings with the Pats ahead of us will be vindicated.

Who would have expected a Bills forum to turn into an argument about Socialism and Capitalism. I think anyone who doesn't think the owners have a right to draw a line in the compensation sand is just a little bit loco. Likewise, I think anyone who doesn't think the refs have a right to demand the moving of that line are also a little crazy. America is all about negotiated agreements. I don't know if "right" and "wrong" really apply here. Each side has a valid POV. Personally, though, I wish America was more of a meritocracy. Service men and women who risk their lives to defend our nation get paid $30,000 per year. Teachers who instruct and guide our children get paid $35,000. Police officers who protect us and our families get paid $40,000. But almost anyone associated with NFL gets rich. Players - who are simply talented entertainers - and the club owners all get millions. Officials who work maybe 20 weekends a year get six figure salaries. The whole thing is warped. As much as I love the Bills, sometimes I remind myself that it's just a game. So in the end I don't care which side gives in, I just want the "real" refs back.

The Bills started the season with 4 WRs and 4 QBs. Once TJack learns the playbook, we'll cut Thigpen and add a receiver. Right now we're just doing our due diligence in advance of that move. At least, that's my guess.

So we'll probably win 2 or 3 games in that stretch. But if you like long odds,there's roughly 1 chance in 200 that we'll win all of them.

Moorman averaged over 48 yard per punt last season. The Bills were 5th in the NFL gross punt average last season and 7th in net. He has been shaky on directional kicks so far this year - but I would have thought his career with the Bills earned him more patience than just three games.

Fortunately, intensity of pain doesn't always equate to a serious or lingering injury. I used to have a glomus tumor in a toe. I would more-or-less black out in agony when I stubbed it but be fine 5 or 10 minutes later.

The Bills are the highest scoring team in the AFCE right now. The Pats have given up the fewest points. On paper, next week's game looks like an offensive juggernaut (Bills) going up a defensive juggernaut (Pats).

Choice and White did combine for over 100 yards and looked good doing it. But they don't have the ability to break the back of the opponent's defense the way CJ and Freddy do. Gailey's offense has been at least partially dependent on big plays. We haven't been consistent enough (yet) to score a lot of points on long -grind-it-out drives.

The biggest playmakers on our offense are arguably CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson. It sucks they both play the same position and won't usually be on the field at the same time. It really sucks that both are hurt for the biggest game of the season so far. Do the Bills have enough talent remaining on the offense to keep up with the Brady led Patriots?

I'm usually a Fitz apologist but today I have to agree with the detractors. He made some important plays and avoided picks but was really off-target on some throws. Maybe the rain was bothering him on those throws as it seemed to on the "fumble." Whatever the cause, Fitz averaged less than 6 yards per pass attempt and barely threw for 200 yards against a weak Browns secondary (the Browns Pass D was ranked 28th in the NFL). Fitz hasn't yet this year looked at proficient as he did during the first 7 games of last season and it's starting to worry me. I'm happy for the win but with CJ and FredEx both hurting, we need better from Fitz next week.

I thought the refs were okay in the Jets game but just terrible today. There were two bad calls on turnovers (the fumble and the non-INT) that really, really hurt us. I remember thinking there was one bogus call against the Brownies as well but now I can't recall it. My wife, who doesn't know football, was wondering if the refs were Brown fans. Fortunately we won. If not, I would have been raging about the refs all day!

This is funny!

I think JW is convincing me that JW is a "run-guy at heart." He certainly hasn't always been as pass-happy as he was last year. I guess the question is: Is last year an aberration or a conversion? My guess is that eventually we'll look back upon 2011 as an aberration. If he was trying to emulate the Pats, the experiment failed in the 2nd half of the season. Gailey is a smart guy and any dreams of leading a Pats-style offense would have been crushed with Fitz's ribs.

Cool vid, thanks. In Buffalo we know Kyle is a beast but nationally Mario is far better known. Maybe this year changes that.