mjt328

Outside of Tom Brady (who is playing terrible again today), the talent gap between the Bills and Patriots is marginal. With Gronk and Wilfork injured, I would probably give the Bills an edge. The difference is, New England gets spectacular performances from waiver wire fodder like Legarrette Blount and Pro Bowl quality seasons from bums like Julian Edelman. They pull out games in the 4th quarter, while we blow them with turnovers, penalties, missed tackles, etc. We aren't close to ANYTHING until someone can figure out how to stop these ridiculous mental breakdowns that kill us every single season.

This team is ridiculous. Dropped passes. Penalties. Missed tackles. Blown assignments. What good is a top draft pick, or big free agent pickup going to do for this team? You can't draft or sign focus or mental toughness.

Brady and the New England has looked like garbage quite a bit of the season.

Offense gets us back in the game. Special Teams puts us right back in the hole. Patriots are already in field goal range.

Spiller's first instinct is to break the big play. His second is to get out of bounds and avoid contact at all costs. His third is to come out of the game and take a break.

Belichik just likes the attention. Low-risk trick plays when his team has a comfortable lead. Then watch the announcers kiss his butt for 10 minutes.

I know watching this run defense is REALLY depressing... but WOW, our offense really sucks.

The Patriots are a criminally overrated team. If I could trust our team to play decent on the road, I would fully expect them to walk away from New England with a win.

This week, I would agree. The whole front 7 looks like garbage. However, the recurring problem with our run defense Weeks 1-17 has been discipline.

If the problem was our DLine getting manhandled every week, I would be screaming for a big NT as well. But the real problem is that our defensive players are undisciplined and unfocused... Overrunning plays, hitting the wrong gaps, missing tackles, etc.

Why does this team look sloppy and unfocused for almost every road game?

Undisciplined Play. Bad Tackling.

This is one of the reasons I can't excited about this team's future. The Buffalo Bills just don't have the mental makeup to compete. They put together an excellent game at home against Miami - at times even looking dominant. Then they go on the road, and all I see is undisciplined play - missed tackles, defenders going to the wrong gaps, dropped passes, fumbles, etc.

Missed tackle by Jerry Hughes.

Missed tackle at the point of attack by Lawson.

Absolutely no way the refs are going to let us win this. The NFL wants Manning vs. Brady in the AFC Championship.

Excellent article, and unfortunately very depressing. EJ has a long way to go.

Identifying the problem is only part of it. The harder part is FINDING someone better. It was obvious that Fitz and Gailey needed to be replaced. We were headed nowhere with them. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything to suggest Marrone is a better coach than his predecessor. And the trio of Manuel, Lewis and Tuel haven't done much better than Fitz. Many would argue they have collectively played worse. Quarterback is still our biggest issue. Hopefully with Manuel only being a rookie, we haven't seen the best of his game. I think it's obvious that Mike Pettine and Kiko Alonso have helped tremendously on defense. We are still struggling at stopping the run, true. But nowhere remotely close to as terrible as 2012. And in almost every other category, we've skyrocketed towards the top of the NFL - mostly notably #1 in sacks.

The Pats are overrated. I expect the game to be close, regardless of who is playing QB for us. Wouldn't be surprised if we win. My biggest worry is the officials. If the Pats are playing for a bye, this one has "ref screw job" written all over it. The NFL is salivating over another Brady-Manning AFC championship game.

I never said it was better "because" of Carrington's absence. I said it seemed better with Alan Branch getting more reps.

Very happy with this move. Besides Jairus Byrd, he was the 2014 free agent that I was most worried about losing. I really can't see the Bills making much of an offer to Alex Carrington. He's been hurt almost the entire season, and the defensive line never missed a beat. In fact, I think it was a little better with Branch. The coaches also seem to really like Corbin Bryant and Stefan Charles as rotational linemen.

The Bills only seem to re-sign players that are willing to take a "hometown discount" - such as Stevie Johnson and Eric Woods. When a player digs his feet in the ground and asks for top Free Agent money, then we usually have a big problem. Letting players go (regardless of position) almost always hurts the team, unless there is a legitimate backup plan. We can talk about the perceived "value" of a guard all day. But losing Andy Levitre was a big blow to this offense, and will likely require a pick in the first 3 rounds to (hopefully) fill the hole that he left. Nate Clements may have been overpaid, but think about how bad our cornerbacks were once he left. And consider that we've drafted Leodis McKelvin, Aaron Williams and Stephon Gilmore very high (amongst other mid round picks) - all trying to fix that position.

This team has talent everywhere. One of the biggest issues with the Bills is MENTAL. They need to learn how remain focused and consistent for 4 quarters, then win those close games in the 4th quarter. The best thing for this team is to close out 2013 with a 3 game win streak, and a road victory over the division winner. Besides, most of our weak spots this season (QB, CB, WR) are being filled by 1st/2nd year players, who had injury troubles and still have lots of room to improve. Other weak spots (LG, WLB, TE) are positions where we can get the best college prospect without spending a Top 10 pick.

It seems like forever ago, but McKelvin was also a high 1st round pick. He always seemed to have great position/coverage on receivers, but for some reason just never TURNED HIS HEAD to make a play on the ball. It baffles me that it took 5 seasons for our coaching staff to help this click. He would have been a Pro Bowler 3-4 years ago. It really makes me wonder what our previous coaches WERE DOING to help players get better. How many of our other busts would have developed properly, if they only got the proper coaching...

The Bills have NEVER been clear about the jobs/input/responsibility of front office personnel. People have been blaming Ralph Wilson for years, because he is the common denominator throughout the (mostly losing) history of the Bills franchise. But nobody can prove that he's done anything over the last decade to help or hurt our team, other than hiring Donahoe, Levy, Brandon and Nix. I don't know what Russ Brandon does. Heck, I don't even know what Doug Marrone does - since our play-calling seems to be handled by the coordinators. .