ThurmasThoman

although i hate dave wannstedt more than probably anyone on this board, i am going to have to say that he is more than likely NOT related to either mario williams or marcell dareus.

this thread is completely on point. i want everyone who thinks fitz isnt the problem to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVoqA-LKGb4 its long, yes, its 8 minutes--but you're a bills fan. we havent made the playoffs in 12 (soon to be 13) years. i have faith in your ability to watch something for an extended period of time, despite any discomfort it may cause you. did you watch it yet? good. lets discuss. the spiral is the most efficient way for a football to travel from point a to point b, as clearly shown by drew brees in that video. and as you saw, even a slight "wobble" can cause the ball to be off target by feet, when that variance in aerodynamics is taking place over 20+ yards. now, today, even on the td passes to stevie and jones, fitz was throwing some ducks. THE MAN SIMPLY CAN NOT THROW A PRETTY SPIRAL. never has been able to, and never will learn. maybe he comes from a home without a father, i really dont know. now you can say that this has nothing to do with anything - but as you know, because it was posted here earlier this week, fitzpatrick is at the bottom of the league when it comes to yards gained on balls thrown over 5 yards. he is god awful, he cant get it done. simply put, he is stat padding right now. he has two absolutely phenomenal running backs, maybe top 5 in bills history, playing behind him, a big, mean offensive line, a good tight end (first time since reimersma) and a legit #1 wideout in stevie. OF COURSE HE HAD A DECENT 3 QUARTERS AGAINST ONE OF THE WORST DEFENSES IN THE LEAGUE TODAY. its like thats chris rock sketch. "always want credit for things you SUPPOSED to do. what you want? a cookie?" with the talent on offense, against that d, at home, in good weather, in 2012s nfl, with a coach that (despite how much i hate him) calls a good game on offense when the stakes are low? YOURE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A GOOD GAME. but, when the chips are down - like the fourth quarter, he was terrible again. bottom line is this: anyone that doesnt think thigpen could come in RIGHT NOW and play better, is kidding themselves. we might have put up 60 today with him at q.

great thread. only thing that even comes close to me was seeing tiger win the us open in 2008, draining that putt on 18 to force a playoff, on a bad knee. that was probably the single best moment ive ever had as a sports fan. can remember everything about the moment, who was there, how we reacted, just the pure joy of the moment. and if i had to rank, on a scale of 1-100, with 1 being the highest, my priorities in terms of who i want to win championships, its literally 1) bills 20ish) tiger woods 100) the new york knicks i mean, just the thought of the bills winning the superbowl... its a part of who i am. im a bills fan. some people follow teams, but i AM a bills fan. them winning would just be... i cant put it in words.

why so much talk about romo and the bills lately?

the difference is - they tied their wagon to fitz. they gave him a starter contract, with starter years, and anointed him "untouchable" going into camp this year. there exists the possibility that gailey/nix arent infallible, and may have made a mistake here. they havent cut bait yet, because its too early. but you have to think gailey knows this is his last shot at a head coaching job. one or 2 more weeks of fitz looking like garbage, and he'll be benched. i think 8-8 may get a 6 seed this year. call me crazy, but mediocrity is the story of the nfl this year.

power rankings are the most assinine, pointless, mind numbing waste of time in discussing a sport. they are completely irrelevant to the game, to playoff implications, to statistics, to enjoyment of the sport, and to anything that could in any way be construed as a reason why a fan would follow the sport. they exist solely for the purpose of generating page views for espn.com. if i was the moderator of this site, i would allow snuff films child pornography uploading of movies/music/video games and ebooks copy/pasting of entire sections of websites that are locked to those who arent "insiders" racial language non-censorship of every word in the history of humanity the planning of co-ordinated illicit activities including, but not limited to, terrorism, violence and the selling and/or purchasing of narcotics and things far worse than all of those before i allowed posting of links to power rankings. FOR INSTANCE: in the magical kingdom in the clouds, where this list is constructed, lets just say that the God-appointed-ESPN-rulers-of-the-universe/the-NFL were allowed to hold a "tournament" of sorts for their power rankings, inviting the top 16 teams on their list. 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, standard tournament affair. well, the cardinals are the "11th best" team in football, so they would be in, while we are the "25th best," so we would be out. yet we just went on the road, and beat them in their house? 3 days ago. so...?

not to mention the fact that our kingdom is mogadishu at this point in time, so who really cares if it "falls apart." what are we going to do, miss the playoffs? i think its the type of radical thinking that would happen if mark cuban was our owner. cut the punter, DONT punt on 4th downs unless were inside our 20 or its 4th and over 10 yards, and then just have our field goal kicker boot it away.

what in the last 3 years has given you confidence that ryan fitzpatrick can take us on the road to beat new england or houston? not only do i think we'll lose, i think it will be by 3 touchdowns or more, because as i've mentioned, over a 3 year statistical sample, ryan fitzpatrick's buffalo teams have lost division games by an average of three touchdowns. i am basing my prediction on a 3 year time sample. you are basing your prediction on a belief that an 8 year veteran, who was mediocre in the ivy leagues against bad competition, and has been bad in the pros against good competition, and has never won more than 6 games in a year as a starter, and has won 2 divisional games in the last 3 years, and has been a career backup for 3 teams, and has been deemed not good enough to be a backup by 2 of those teams, and who is at the bottom of the league in yards per attempt, is going to miraculously in the next 12 days capture lightening in a bottle, and reverse nearly a decade of trends, and beat two of the premier teams in the league? and IM delusional???????????

i guess we will have to agree to disagree. however, i know with CERTAINTY, win or lose this weekend against tennessee, that we will lose in new england and in houston. we will have no chance of winning those games, whatsoever. and if even thigpen was under center those weeks, i would think we could legitimately be the favorites in new enland, and a push against houston. you're asking me if i think a quarterback that led the seahawks to the playoffs last year can throw a screen pass? count me among the kool-aid drinkers that think, yes, tavaris jackson is capapble of throwing it 3 yards to cj spiller. can i just add, that fitzpatrick has BARELY completed that pass, on several occasions this year. many times, cj has had to come back to the ball, or freddy has had to jump and get it. this is the simplest play in the book, and fitz struggles with it.

i am in no way trying to be facetious - but it is a solution because he can throw the ball further than 15 yards on target. that changes EVERYTHING about the way our offense could potentially operate. if the safeties couldnt cheat towards the line every single play and leave stevie single covered by a corner, and if the outside linebackers had to cover tight ends breaking into routes towards the sideline, the screen plays that we run would be absolutely brutal, and the play that we have designed to graham would be our version of wes welker going for 20 yards every time he touches the ball. that doesn't even take into account spiller and jackson running behind this line. the reason we have lost so many of our games going back to our bye last year is because teams have figured out how to stop us - make fitz throw it past the line of scrimage. our wins have been marginal at best in this time period (like the win over arizona and cleveland this year (both of which we almost gave away and looked like garbage on offense,) other than that we dominated denver at home (all because of our defense,) and kansas city at home, which has been the only time in the past 15 games our offense has looked competent in a victory. again, i am in no way trying to be glib or facetious, but defensive coordinators have figured out how to stop us dead in our tracks. this is even MORE evident in our divisional games - games in which opposing coordinators have an understanding of our base offense, and the practice for the week is generally given to installing wrinkles that will give you a slight advantage. ie, around the league, divisional games are generally considered a 50/50 proposition for a team to win. yet with fitz at quarterback (even including our hot start last year) the results have been staggering: 1-4 in 2010, with the one win we scored 17 points 1-5 last year, granted fitz lit it up that day, but we trailed 21-0 and that game was the miracle of miracles, we could have lost that easily 0-2 this year and we have been absolutely torched in both games in fact - in our division games with fitz at quarterback, we have lost by an average of 3 touchdowns, and our wins have come by an average of THREE points. those numbers are indicative of one thing: lack of ball control. were turning it over too much, and not possessing the ball for long enough. thats why it drives me crazy when people try to pin this sh*t on the defense. if you give tom brady the ball for 2/3rds of the game, and a short field, were going to get blown out, and thats whats happening. teams dont respect fitzs ability to throw the ball (he cant,) so they stack the line and force him to. the fact that we have won AT ALL and spillers average yards per carry is as high as they are is the reason why a switch at qb could turn this thing around so fast in such a marked direction it will leave us in a state of blissful euphoria. the weapons are there on offense, our defense is loaded with talent, and special teams are playing fairly well. we have an offensive minded coach, which is NOT a liability in today's nfl. all the pieces are there for a... i dont want to say it, but a deep playoff run... a big oline with good running backs coupled with talent on the dline? ask the giants how that formula works.

hasselbeck scares me infinitely more than locker. that team is 1-1 under hasselbeck now, 1-0 with him starting. they were good to close last season, and they've been in games this year. gonna take a lot to beat them this sunday. oh well, maybe its the straw that breaks fitzpatricks back (finally)

im on the green day bandwagon for the superbowl. i've seen them play to hundreds of thousands of people at lolapalooza (2010,) they can carry a crowd. their lead singer is in rehab though, so i doubt that happens anytime soon.

can't wait til it's green day.

my wife "watches" 99% of bills games with me. we live out of market, i buy sunday ticket, we usually watch them together, its fun. she loves fitzpatrick, hes her favorite player. that pass, coupled with my frustration... she got it. she saw it. she even knew it was bad. it was not the action of a professional athlete. it was the action of someone who is not capable of completing the functions necessary for him to fulfill the duties of his job. my WIFE understands this. fitz is not long for the starter role, and he will be cut this offseason to save money.

4 possible outcomes to this weeks game: a) we beat tennessee convincingly (see: kc, week 2) b) we beat tennessee barely (see: cardinals, week 6) c) we lose to tennessee barely (see: the jets game, week 15 or 16 last year) d) we lose to tennessee convincingly (see: weeks 1, 4 and 5 this year) if b/c/or d happen - jackson gets the start coming out of the bye. if a happens - jackson gets the start after we come home from the houston game

and this model has proven to be wildly succesful in winning games in the national football league. for instance, gaileys win totals in this offense, with fitz as his quarterback, have produced wildly succesful 4 and 6 win seasons, with ONLY 2 of the longest losing steaks in Bills history. It's truly a success story worth marveling at. To think, with a different qb under center, we may only have won 3 and 5 games, or 2 and 4... and we could have had THREE of the longest losing streaks in bills history. its actually quite alarming to think of the disastrous fate that gailey and his super smart qb have saved us from. also, it's worth noting that franchises with quarterbacks who can air the ball out RARELY experience the thrills of 4 win seasons. the brady's, mannings, rogers, brees, and rothlisbergers of the world, that have combined to win 10 of the last 11 superbowls, and who find themselves at the top of these lists in terms of yards through the air only have rings to show for their efforts - not the satisfaction of having grasped a complex offense built for people with ivy league educations. those ruffians!

if stephen hawkings wheelchair was on a downhill slope, and someone put a football in his lap, the gravitational force of him hitting a bump in the road would cause the ball to go further in the air than fitz's non yac passing yards. cut fitz. immediately.

so why start him? what evidence do you have that thigpen or jackson are NOT able to do that. we have never seen thigpen playing with our first unit for a full 60 minutes. what if he comes in and throws for 400 yards and 3 tds, and we beat new england? what if jackson does that? what if the defense we have assembled, and the running backs we have on this roster, and our dominant offensive line could make tyler thigpen a qb on the level of joe flacco or matt ryan? what if those variables could make tavaris jackson a BETTER qb than those 2 examples? all of those are possible scenarios, yet we KNOW for a FACT that fitz doing that isnt possible. if thigpen started, and we SMOKED new england (which isnt that far fetched, we have built big leads on them the last 2 times we've played them, then lost the game in the end, for all intents and purposes, we should be on a 3 game winning streak against them,) would we not instantly be the favorites to win the division? i mean, seriously, consider that option. if thigpen came in, started, and we beat new england, we would be the favorites to either a) host a wild card game, or b) host a divisional game and get a bye. but yet, we insist on sticking with fitz, who we KNOW wont produce those results. i dont get it. and dont say "you saw thigpen in the preseason, he's not the answer." i saw thigpen i the preseason, playing with our second stringers, and guys fighting for roster spots. let me see thigpen with the option to throw to spiller for 60 minutes. let me see thigpen with stevie breaking free on the sideline. let me see thigpen with a vote of confidence, knowing hes got our d to bail him out.

i would imagine that given the organizational history of ownsership making qb changes (flutie benched,) and our coaching history of making qb changes (edwards benched,) it wont be long that fitz is out there. i think it is the one thing holding this team back. there are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes of sports teams that don't make it to espn.com. if jackson and stevie start becoming friends, then jackson starts saying to stevie "man, fitzy is terrible, i got more game than this, when are they putting me in?" that sentiment can spread through the team like wildfire. i think that may be happening - the players themselves have never looked more disgusted with fitz than this last week. freddy and stevie BOTH have had moments of looking incredulous on the field. it is very VERY rare that you get defensive shots of players looking bewildered with their own offensive plays - to see mario watching the game and looking exasperated tells me everything i need to know. once an idea takes hold in a group of people - "group think," - its impossible to get rid of. just like everyone hates a certain coworker, they could stand on a chair and say they discovered the cure for cancer, and a significant portion of the room would role their eyes. these guys care about their job and what they do. not to mention, most have incentive laden contracts. fitz is going to start costing them money with his sh*tty qb play. im sure stevie or jackson has gone to gailey and asked for a change at qb already. once gailey feels like he's losing the locker room, the change will be made. the most logical time would be heading into the bye week, but it wouldnt surprise me to see fitz pulled if he has a bad couple of series against tennessee this week.

great quote lol

true, what a crazy year it will be. even in years when we DONT make the playoffs, (which is every year for the last decade and a half, lol) we're still not mathematically eliminated until the very end of the year. if i remember correctly, even that game against the titans at home last year had playoff implications for us (although the odds were EXTREMELY long.) my only point being, as long as we can stay right there in the middle of the pack, those games at the end of the season are going to be extremely meaningful for us, and they are somewhat winnable. how fun would it be if the NFL flexes that week 17 game against the jets to primetime... 8-7 bills v. 8-7 jets, for the 6 seed, at home, win and you're in, the night before new years eve, maybe snow in the air... god i love football... if THAT game has playoff implications, ill consider this season a success. GO BILLS!

if you look at our division, new englands remaining schedule is easy as can be. it would have made a big difference had we managed to hold on to that lead against them at home. i know things may have played out different in this alternate universe i'm constructing, but if the patriots were 2-4, and we were 4-2, their season would be on the brink, and we would be sitting pretty. that didnt happen, though, so... as it is, it is hard.. very hard... (thats what she said) to look at their schedule and talk yourself into them NOT winning the division. so that leaves us fighting for a wildcard. concede the north to baltimore, the south to houston and the west to either the broncos or the chargers (i lean towards denver.) that leaves you with: jets 3-3 dolphins 3-3 bills 3-3 chargers 3-3 bengals 3-3 steelers 2-3 for 2 wild card spots. thats a tough group to beat out, but the records of those teams are all .500, or a game below. although it's a small sample of games that have been played thus far, it seems that the middle of the conference is hovering at .500. its hard to see TWO of those teams breaking away from that distribution of winning pct, and going more than 1 game over .500. one team certainly will, so i like the 5 seed to be 10-6, but the 6 seed SHOULD be 9-7. this is due to the afc's low win pct. against the nfc so far this year. this doesnt always happen - 11-5 patriots in 08 missed the playoffs. UNFORTUNATELY, out of that grouping of 6 teams, the buffalo bills have the hardest remaining strength of schedule, although the difference between us, and the 5th place strength of schedule is 5 pct. points, which is statistically insignificant, but still... we do have the hardest. the chargers remaining schedule is a cake walk. 4 games against teams that only have 1 win at this point, 6 games overall against teams that are under .500 right now. that means that the chargers only need to win 1 "hard" game to get that 5 seed. can they? will they? who knows, the league is so unpredictable. BOTTOM LINE: we need to win our divisional games. it's so important, it can't be overstated. if we can go 4-0 in the division to close the year, we're going to the playoffs, it's as simple as that.

second time i've heard this today, but it's not on buffalorumblings. link?

Give me Brad Smith overthrowing a receiver on a deep route 100 times out of 100 instead of fitz throwing up a limp-wristed, 15 yard, duck of a pass that lands 5 yards behind stevie and is picked off. Was it a bad call? how can anyone know? if jones ran the wrong route, AND there were other reads, then who's fault was it? but after watching dick jauron run this team for 3 years, sometimes its refreshing to see our coach take risks at inappropriate times. and how much time was left in the game at that point? 6 minutes? 5 minutes? i cant quite recall, but we were on the 30 or 40, so there wasnt much more time for us to kill. the odds of us grounding and pounding down to the endzone and coming away with 7 may have been good, and thats what arizona was expecting, which makes us trying that play that much better of a call. because if we get the 7 right there, we go up by 10, kick off, hold them to a 3 and out--game over. OR even if they do drive the field, they STILL need to recover an onside kick AND THEN score again, just to force overtime. so all in all, i would say; good call by gailey refreshing to see a qb who can throw the ball 40 yards cut fitz immediately, and we instantly become super bowl contenders

if beliceck and the pats do it, its shrewd, cut-throat, and the type of no-holds barred front office manuevering of an NFL front office that has one thing in mind: winning a super bowl at all costs. if the bills do it, it's because we have a 96 year old owner who is senile and can't keep track of the finances of his team, an aging gm who is clueless to how the NFL works, and is grasping at straws by bringing back someone who used to be good, and is living off name recognition alone, a coach who has no control over the defensive side of the football, and a defensive coordinator who doesnt know how to properly utilize the talent he's been given, and now wants a second chance at merriman, because after reading twobillsdrive.com, he discovered something called a "blitz" and is interested in incorporating it into upcoming game plans.