Turbosrrgood

Week 3....Seems the timing is right for the sky to start falling. There are certainly players that deserve some criticism on this team, like Rogers (I also criticize the FO for keeping him when he has never looked better than terrible). However Kiko Alonso just finished his 3rd NFL game (he already has 2 INT's BTW). Complaining about mental errors of a rookie is nitpicking a bit don't you think? Besides the running game certainly is not why we lost that game, it was the inability to cover, and the inability of the offense to move the ball.

I started typing a well thought out explanation as to why this is a horrible idea...Instead I'll just leave it simple, this is a horrible idea for many reasons. The one simple reason I will provide is that this is young team with many rookies, and rookie coaches. Having a panic attack and trying to give away your good players does not help the team.

It is indeed common. The Bills used Moulds a few times to defend hail mary's back in his day.

Yeah the clock only starts on a return, you can fair catch or kneel and the clock will not run. The idea was obviously to run out the clock, and it was a smart play/good coaching by the defender. My only issue with that play is that it was simply a poor squibb kick. It should have been harder. I think you'd ideally want a defender to field it around the 25-30, that way they either return it (by a blocker), or are out of hail mary range. I do believe it was the right call though. Carpenter hasn't been getting touch backs and you don't want to have to defend a return. Kicking out it out of bounds is simply asinine, as it guarantees hail mary field position, and it guarantees that time will be remaining on the clock. One other thing to note...This call was absolutely made by Marrone, no way he is letting his ST coach decide what play get's run in this situation.

So there were a few hits I considered to be pretty dirty this past week, they at the very least violate the NFL rules on leading with the helmet/helmet to helmet contact. I've always been afraid that the new rules would make football soft, and I've always been a fan of big hits...These plays are exactly why the new rules have been come necessary however, and this is exactly what the NFL has tried to stop. The Ahmad Black hit was particularly dirty to me. I believe this hit deserves a suspension, although I'd be surprised to see one. He was about 2 seconds late, the ball was dropped, defenseless receiver, he was already down, ect...He then game in full speed with a spearing helmet to the head. This replay on the web isn't great, it looked even worse with the different angles on TV. It's tough to tell how late he really was, but if you watched it live it was obvious. http://thebiglead.co...n-jimmy-graham/ Meriweather wasn't as bad, but still illegal, and unnecessary. He clearly lead with the "crown of his head", and seemed to be intent on causing injury (which he did). Karma got Meriweather though, he lead with his head on another hit against Starks later in the game...Except this time he knocked himself out. http://deadspin.com/...iwea-1319556985 There is a difference between accidentally clashing heads, and deliberate attempts to use it to cause injury such as these. Have there been any worse than this so far? I'm also curious what people think the dirtiest hit ever was.

I very much want Reed to get in, I believe he deserves to get in, and I still think he has a decent chance to get in (although the chance is slowly fading). However I understand why he is not. As great Reed was for Buffalo on a very good team, most non-Bills fans don't think of him as one of the top receivers of all time. Decades later his stats look good, but not great making it hard to quantify how valuable he was to that team if you didn't watch him live. This may not be a popular view, but taking an unbiased approach I think he should be in the HOF, but is by no means a lock to make it. I think he's got a 50/50 chance at this point, having narrowly missed out on his previous opportunities. I would argue that Steve Tasker is the guy that should be a lock for the HOF. Simply because he was the best ever at what he did.

No argument there. Certainly it's good to hear that he's working.

I agree that he is overrated, and I still think the Bills could have drafted him 3 rounds later if they wanted him. The kid was drafted almost a full round before TY Hilton (every bit as fast), who had a terrific college career, while TJ did virtually nothing in college. AND they traded up to take him. However I DO think that TJ Graham gets plenty of separation. The kid is fast, no doubt about that. He will win a foot race, and has several times on the field. This is why the Bills drafted him I believe...Unfortunately he rarely ends up making a catch despite winning those races. He really lacks pretty much all other skills that you would want a receiver to have. He has poor hands, and is worse at tracking the ball in the air than McKelvin. He can't handle physical play from CB's. He runs poor routes, and has a really problem with timing. He is a very poor blocker. I'm sure I'll take heat for being negative on the kid, but it's what I've observed during his time in the NFL, and he looked exactly like this in college. I don't dislike Graham, he is just put in a tough spot because the Bills drafted him too high. He is a project type, and they are trying to force him into a prominent role before he has developed the necessary skills. To be honest though, I just don't think he ever will have the skills he needs to succeed.

Gilmore has a wrist injury, so certainly he can still work out. That has no bearing on how well the wrist is healing. He had pins put in it, and it is a serious injury. I still think we are looking at week 5 as the "early" scenario.

Ahh yes of course, 1 game decides everything! McKelvin did play well, but in case you didn't notice the Pats don't have much viable receiving talent on their roster (The 2 they did have ate us up, Edelman/Amendola despite Amendola having a serious injury). We all want this to be a sign of things to come from McKelvin, but lets wait until he matches up with Steve Smith, AJ Green, Julio Jones, ect. before we declare him an all-star, not Kimbrell Thompkins. Secondly, Kiko played pretty for his first game in the NFL. Actually the defense in general played pretty well considering who they were going up against, and the injuries they have suffered.

I had this injury, and a bad one, for about a year. It lasted so long for me that I thought it was going to be something I'd just have to live with. It made it difficult to walk at times, let alone run. Luckily it did eventually heal. It's actually a pretty common injury in football though. Obviously Mario had it earlier in training camp, but seemed to be just a minor thing for him. Antonio Gates had a huge problem with it a few years ago that basically cost him a season (he did play some, and was very limited). All that being said, I think Byrd is milking or possibly faking this to avoid playing in as much of the season as possible. He hates the Bills, doesn't want to play for them, and just wants to make it to the next round of negotiations without a "real" injury. Money is the only thing on his mind. BTW, a doctor can really only diagnose this by discussing the symptoms with the patient. An MRI would reveal a tear if there was one, but mild injuries probably wouldn't show up. An X-ray doesn't help, because it's not a bone injury. So they are likely relying on what Byrd is telling them about his "pain" levels.

Our offensive line should (and probably will be), what has been shown so far. Glenn, Brown, Woods, Urbik, Pears. Not a terrible unit if they could stay healthy. Brown is the only guy that really could be replaced, but we have no real contenders at guard, so.... Our depth is terrible though, so if there are any injuries to starters, the O-line is screwed.

Really isn't that much of a hit. He was our backup up tackle, and a very mediocre one at that. It also shouldn't be a surprise, he's been very injury prone. I just hope they don't keep Sam Young in his place, that guy is terrible, and a penalty machine.

Yeah, something tells me you won't have to worry about that. Actually I'll think there is a chance Leinart doesn't even make the team. The Bills traded for Lewis, who may be a better fit for the type of offense the Bills are trying to run.

The Bills aren't for the faint of heart. If your psyche can't handle negative news, perhaps this team isn't for you.

You do realize this is a FORUM, right? Where people are allowed to express their opinions one way or another (respectfully of course). A BILLS forum at that. When negative things happen, people will react negatively, and why shouldn't they? If you want only the positive news and remain oblivious to the many bad things that have happened to the Bills over the last 2 weeks, BB.com is probably where you want to be. Telling people to think only happy thoughts probably won't make the Bills any better. When positive things happen, I'm sure people with think positively.

Haha. I like it. A nice change of pace from people whining about negativity over the last few days. When negative things happen, people will react negatively. People will react in their own way.

I don't read that out of it at all. It seemed pretty obvious that Marrone was talking about their plan for THAT GAME after Kolb got hurt. Once the Bills pick up another QB Smith will be in as much trouble as ever, since there could be one less roster spot if Kolb remains on the roster.

You've missed a few things here. We are still relatively thin at CB on the outside...Goodwin has only returned KO's and only a few of them at that. McKelvin's strength is on PR's...There is certainly promise for Goodwin, but it's a little early to start declaring him a great return guy. Personally I think McKelvin should be a Nickle CB, with a guy who has better down field skills and size playing on the outside. However there is still a ton of talent in McKelvin, so I am happy he is here.

Usually up to 4 games for a first drug violation. And the charges really aren't an issue here. Even if he wasn't charged, the fact that he was caught with it means he is violating the leagues substance abuse policy. I don't consider this a huge blow to the Bills anyway. Bradham has been mostly hype to this point, and is easily replaceable IMO. The cop must have been a Jets fan.

It would be difficult to trade Byrd at this point, but I'm with you. I have no respect for these types of players. The worst thing about this is, Byrd is good, NOT great. He is no Reed or Polamalu, he just thinks he is. Not worth the hassle. For the record I believe that Byrd will eventually report (he doesn't get paid otherwise, obviously something very important to him). He will play this year (whether he starts right away after missing training camp is another story). And then the whole saga will continue next year.

Exactly, a DUI by it's self is relatively minor but people seem to be forgetting that this guy was just convicted of assaulting an officer, and had been sentenced to a 30 day jail sentence, which was deferred. He almost certainly will now have to serve that, and probably more for violating probation. Isn't a suspension pretty standard for DUI's (I certainly could be wrong about that, and was too lazy to look it up)? If not it probably will be after the fatal Brent DUI incident last year. I'd have to imagine the assaulting an officer charge factors in as well. DUI's while stupid, generally don't signify any ill will...Assault does.

I know what you are trying to say, as Anderson has shown occasional flashes of pass rushing skills during his career (with extreme inconsistency). I'm as familiar with Pettine's style as anyone else here. And I am very happy to have it. It's an aggressive defense, however I wouldn't call it a gimmick defense (we haven't even seen it yet). They had a plan in NY to make the most out a lesser player in Aaron Maybin...That's great and all, but it's much better to have GREATER talent where gimmicks aren't required for success. For instance, Maybin was a huge liability against the run. Pettine himself has said multiple times that he likes guys that can do multiple things, Anderson is not one of those guys. He certainly hasn't been one of those guys to this point in his career (he's 30). I do however feel that we have much more complete players upfront than Mark Anderson, and in a huge way. I still buy into this team having a lot of talent up front, but they have not had the coaching to use it. I also like the moves we made in the offseason such as getting Jerry Hughes and Drafting Kiko. I still believe we have terrific talent in KW, Dareus, Williams, and Carrington up front. I certainly don't equate Anderson's talent level to theirs. By all accounts, Anderson is well behind the other Journeyman guys like Jerry Hughes and Manny Lawson (For good reason). Yet he is making much more. Like I have been saying from the beginning, he is a strong candidate to be cut. If Aaron Maybin could do it, you don't need to pay 28M for a guy like Anderson to do it.

Yeah, it's one thing when this happens to someone in the relative clear, it's another when it happens to a guy on probation. He got his free pass when he got let off extremely light after assaulting an officer (possibly spending no time in jail). However when you follow that up with another felony, a few months into your probation the chances of a second free pass are slim to none. We aren't talking about someone with star power here either. He'll definitely be doing the original 30 days in jail, but very likely he'll do more. ^

He was not comparing them directly as players, but was comparing their usage/skill set. If you have to start coming up with schemes like the ones needed for Maybin that doesn't bode well. That's my point. They way they used Maybin was basically as a blitzing DB on the outside in overloaded formations so that he didn't have to take on a LT on his own. And that was only successful for a short spurt. If he can only contribute in a gimmick like that, it basically says he is not a complete player, despite getting paid like one. I'll point out that Maybin and that scheme were completely neutralized last year (1 tackle, no sacks). Regardless, Anderson is still getting a healthy salary this year, and the contract information you mentioned supports my opinion that he is a top candidate to be cut. The Bills can save quite a bit of money on him. He's older now, and has had only very limited success in the NFL.To be clear, I'm not saying necessarily that he should be cut, but that the Bills are almost certainly considering it.