BringBackFlutie

...Because people all over the different BB message boards were talking about tearing down the goalposts.

But during the SNF pregame he was talking about his biggest surprise being the Bills who beat his Patriots and are sitting atop the AFCE...

Ah that's BS. I wonder if fans will ever storm the field again...

I think the pass rush will open up more...we just came off of a rare run of playing three teams who had offenses that don't allow to take anyone out of position for a blitz.

Video? Something?

...Didn't they score on that drive anyway? They were in our territory on that and unless that was the fieldgoal drive I'm pretty sure we didn't stop them once they were in our territory...

I think that winning AND stopping the run and having a sound defensive performance is absolutely key and here's why: we can sit back and realize that maybe our team is actually good by improving things like our run defense. It means that after that game we can have confidence in our abilities to beat any team because we can stand up and take away their strengths. Granted, on the field, in the heads of the players, football is a different game. Just winning is enough to boost the players' confidence, no matter how it happens.

I LOVE what he says about Buddy Nix and how he trusts him. I like that he said "After all these years I found out that you really need a scout...a football guy to be GM." Took him 52 years, but better late than never! I get good vibes from our latest team. Not the good vibes like we got all decade when the FO told us "Don't worry, we're young and SMARTER than everybody! Have faith in our reach draft picks because we knew more than the rest of the league, blahblahblah." This team is young, nasty, hard-working, and everyone has a chip on their shoulder. There's something better in the air at OBD.

I still make that argument.

Bledsoe was my favorite QB when he played for the Pats and I was ecstatic to have him play here. Even after he left I felt bad for him and his steep decline. Now I will no longer respect him.

Am I missing something here? Why do so many people say that it has to happen now? Can't we wait until right before he becomes a free agent? Or at least midway through the year? I don't want Dick and Trent 2.0 happening. That being said, if the guy gets an extension and DOESN'T play his heart out I guess it wasn't worth extending him at any point and we'd know that sooner than later...

Uniforms were changed the year before, when Bledsoe showed up. The team didn't go 8-8 in '03, they went 6-10. Those things aside, this Bills team is growing, and showed flashes of how talented they are/will be. That Bills team was just riding old talent and trying to sustain a lost legacy. If anything, the only similarity is that we thought we had offense set in '02 and only needed a defense, so coming into '03 after upgrading the defense seemed like we were going to be competitive. We had a competent offense last year and took care of the defense in the off-season, but I don't think any part of the team is declining like the offense did in '03.

...and the Bengals at 21...

Fitz's arm strength I know isn't stellar (has arc and takes big wind-ups)- though I have trouble placing it in any categories of arm strength because he still manages all of the throws. Edwards actually had a pretty strong arm but refused to throw down field. Flutie easily had the weakest arm. Edwards-Fitz-Flutie

I'm equally haunted by that game. But don't forget that was an aging Bledsoe that needed all the time he could get in the pocket. And that offense really only had Moulds as a weapon. Additionally, this is a fiery new breed of young players mixed with old vets who know how to win. The chemistry and attitude of a team goes a long way.

Agreed. Fitz played up to and even beyond what people said he needed to do this year to be a "starter" (since apparently last year was no proof) and he immediately came out and played like top-10 in only the first week. "Teams have caught on to Gailey and Fitz, expect more games like the NE game in week 16 last year..." Well, Haley was Gailey's former boss, and had played his offense just last year en route to a playoff birth. Looks like he really caught on. I'm not trying to "count my chickens," but on the basis that Fitz is a career back-up and last year was uncharacteristic this game is proof otherwise.

In my eyes, there were VERY few designed blitzes. I don't think they blitzed more than twice at the most. This is because they were trying to be prepared for the run (we over-pursued a LOT on the run in preseason when we blitzed) and depending on the front 3 to 4 players to give a little push on passing plays. Because our front 4 are so big now, it seemed like the 4-man rush was doing plenty to make plays for the secondary.

It's probably not a good idea to say it until we are more than 1-0 anyway. I mean, there were some strange games yesterday.

Or Bills V. Bengals, 2010, for that matter

...but you probably had a different receiver than we did. They said they were having issues with the HD feed.

I think that the consistency remains to be seen, but we all questioned how Fitz and the offense would look, and Fitz was fully in control like any other top-tier starting quarterback. Extremely impressive to see this from the get-go.

Actually, I don't think Peyton Manning held that record- and the person who did, would greatly surprise you... http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/7426/gamelog;_ylt=ArBuLcDLl0DF3buFSAV59T3.uLYF?year=2005 Actually, double-checking it looks like Otto Graham and Ed Rubbert are the first two on the list. From Wiki: "...The others were Otto Graham, 346 yards (1950); Ed Rubbert, 334 (a replacement player for the Washington Redskins during the 1987 strike); Mark Rypien, 303 (1988), and Peyton Manning, 302 (1998)."

This. Too many years we have seen the Bills play up to the good teams and lose by a small margin, then play down to the bottom dwellers and lose just as badly. 3rd-string Steelers ring a bell? The Chiefs are clearly having some issues right now, but the Bills completely exploited those issues like a good team should do.

Tough game for tough people...