R. Rich

But meaningless, nonetheless.

The good thing was I got to watch the game @ Jimmy's Tavern in Herndon VA w/ over 300 rabid Bills fans. I got to meet Scott Norwood and Charley Taylor (Redskins WR, Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of '84, former NFL all time leading receiver); both were very pleasant and took the time to chat w/ anyone. The bad thing was that I got to watch the game. Ugh! I give the Saints props for balancing out their offense to the point where they were able to pull away from the Bills late in the game by wearing down the defense. A lot of that wearing down was due to the inept offense. Alex Van Pelt just had no answer for Gregg Williams' defense in this one. Trent Edwards started off okay, doing a decent job of rolling out to avoid the rush and actually having a few moments where he read the defense pre snap and adjusted. But, as the game wore on, his performance just tanked. He forced passes into tight coverage (as he did on the INT), overthrew a wide open Terrell Owens on a play that probably would've gone for a score, and regressed back to his old self, looking to check down far too often. My big question for Van Pelt would be why did you not do more to get Fred Jackson going in this game, especially when the game's outcome was still in question and he was doing a good job of picking up tough yards? No, instead, you wait 'til after the defense wears down to get Jackson more carries. Sigh. What fun this week is going to be for the coaches, huh? I am reminded of a tune from Prince, actually it's the title of his 4th album........Controversy. I think the Bills were a bit too worried 'bout establishing some sort of passing game and also trying to get the wideouts more involved. Well, Josh Reed did make some gutsy plays, but the outside guys just didn't get it done. Lee Evans had another bad experience over the middle (maybe the Bills should just resign to keeping him to the outside to run his beloved "9" routes) while Terrell Owens missed the opportunity to come up w/ the catch that became an INT. Now, on that one, grant you, Edwards threw a bad pass. But that is still one Owens can come up w/ and has come up w/ in the past. Is it time now for the drama that everyone from some Bills fans to most of the media is craving for? I hope not, but I'm sure that people will work hard to engineer it. The offensive line. You ain't kiddin', "offensive"! What a putrid performance by all. Eric Wood looked awful; it was almost like that was a hazing instead of a game. Andy Levitre also looked bad (Sedrick Ellis made him look particularly bad on the one play that resulted in a sack). The tackles? Well, Jon Scott wasn't as bad as Demetrius Bell, but niether guy could be proud of their performance. Too many penalties and not enough protection. Granted, they did have to face a very good pair of pass rushers in Charles Grant and Will Smith, so for that reason I am not going to condemn either guy. Let's just say they got worked over by some very good players yesterday. I thought the D line played well. Ryan Denney and Chris Kelsay had some nice plays in this game, and that's not to mention the solid performance of Aaron Schobel. Inside, I thought Kyle Williams continued to show that he's not as bad as many on this board claim he is while Marcus Stroud was good also. One thing w/ Stroud that I've noticed though is the fact that he can be taken out on plays going away from him. Stretch runs, misdirection plays, any of the stuff that calls for him to be doubled and kicked to a particular side, he has problems beating those double teams. When they try to double him on runs going inside, he eats that up like candy. The outside stuff is a problem though, and it allows for the O linemen to get to the 2nd level and make the blocks to spring the RBs. On Thomas' first TD run in the 4th, the block that FB Heath Evans (he had a very good game) made was certainly key to Thomas getting sprung, but the way Stroud was doubled allowed for the Saints line to get on the LBs, so that when Evans made his block, Thomas had a gaping hole to hit. I thought the linebackers struggled in terms of getting to the outside to stop the run, but also showed the usual deficiencies in terms of pass coverage (Jeremy Shockey got the better of Kawika Mitchell on a play that went for a big gain). W/ the D line eventually wearing down late, the LBs just got manhandled as the Saints guys got to 'em to clear the way for the running game. As for the secondary, Leodis McKelvin got hurt early and didn't return, but Drayton Florence did a very good job of replacing him. Also, Terrence McGee did a good job after being beat deep on the Saints' opening TD drive. Was that Donte Whitner coming over to knock down a potential TD play later in the game? Really? Whitner??? Also, those of you who blasted the drafting of Reggie Corner last year, you should be grateful that he's in the lineup. He provided some nice coverage out there, and was a big part of why Drew Brees was held to under 200 yards passing for the first time in 23 games. Take a bow, secondary. You earned it. Special teams came up w/ the play of the game for the Bills in Denney's TD on the fake. But, there were also the penalties that are becoming far too common w/ this group in 2009. Bobby April needs to light a fire under the special teams and get this stuff corrected. Now. Last but certainly not least, the coaching. Aaaaaaargh!! Not only do you not challenge the Josh Reed play, but then you PUNT on the next play instead of going for 4th and 1? It seems like there's a critical point in many Bills games where the tide turns, usually due in part to a poor coaching decision. This could have been the point yesterday. You showed no faith in your offense, and you put your defense, which by then was exhausted, right back on the field. And, the Bills are still having to waste timeouts. How many more years does Jauron need to get the team to the point where they can run the offense in clutch situations w/out the need to waste timeouts? Sad thing is, he'll probably get as many of those years as he needs. Okay, so the Bills now sit @ 1-2. As G. Host said to me @ the end of the game yesterday, "does that mean we're as good as the Steelers?" I don't know if I'd go that far, but both teams have the same record @ this point in the year. Things can continue to slide downward, or they can go upward. It's up to the coaches to right the ship. Good luck, and Go Bills!

Hey JDG, long time no see! As to your Hull thoughts, I agree that it will be tough for him to ever get inducted to the Hall. Dawson was just so dominant, and there were so many others who also got Pro Bowl consideration during Hull's tenure (Mosebar in Oakland, Matthews in Houston/Tennessee, Stepnoski in Tennessee come to mind) that it's amazing that Hull was able to be voted to 3 Pro Bowls w/ all of that competition. It wasn't quite as brutal as the competition NFC receivers had for years, but it certainly puts Hull's 3 nods into a clearer perspective. Oh yeah, and you beat me to the punch on Kenneth's omission of Hull's Wall of Fame induction. It's so rare that Mr Crippen is off that it is shocking. Well, there is that whole Unitas vs Graham thingy...

Another job well done, Kenneth. Though, I do take exception w/ this: Hull was inducted to the Bills' Wall of Fame in 2002. I do agree that he is HOF worthy and have said so numerous times.

The 2009 tailgate begins on Sunday @ noon. I plan on attending and I hope to see some of you folks who live in the VA/DC/MD/PA area there. 2009 Tailgate Details

Objectivity is overrated, Johnathan.

First off, the 10th annual TBD tailgate was fun. There were a few MIAs (like Sidbuff!!), but all in all, a great time. The band was really good too. I actually didn't win anything from the raffle this time. Wow. But, I did win the grand prize: some of Mrs. Mead's stromboli to take home!! Thanks folks, and be sure that we'll be coming up there some time this offseason for a visit. Also, thanks to everyone who wished us a happy anniversary. We appreciate the well wishes. Extra special thanks to Psycho Ward 86. I'm sure there's plenty of other place you would've liked to go for our anniversary. Thanks for allowing us to be in Buffalo, since it just happened to fall on opening weekend. Aw, who am I kidding? Like you would've passed up the opportunity to get some more of that stromboli! As for the game... Fred Jackson showed some great stuff! He runs decisive, makes people miss on the fly, is only scratching the surface in terms of his receiving ability (much room for improvement, so that is a HUGE plus w/ this guy!), and does a solid job in terms of blitz pickup (not perfect, but he wins more than he loses there). Man, this defense plays hard. They get after it in terms of run defense: swarm to the ball. Sometimes, that causes 'em to overpursue, but overall, they do a solid job of either stopping plays for minimal or no gain, or routing the play to the outside so that the pursuit can slow it down. Kyle Williams has really impressed me in terms of shooting the gaps and disrupting running plays. He also has done a fine job in terms of an interior rush; Donte Whitner owes his INT for a score to Williams' pressure. If Demetrius Bell is a work in progress, then he appears to be learning quite well. Not nearly as many boneheaded errors as week 1, and I love how he gets out in front of running plays to the outside. Heck, the line in general has done well getting to the second level so far. It's early, probably too early to make any real judgments, but the line seems to be progressing and not regressing. They'll certainly get a test in the coming weeks, as some good pass rushers are on the horizon. One thing I have noticed w/ Reggie Corner is that he seems to do well in man coverage and struggles a bit more in zone. All the more reason for Perry Fewell to let these guys press cover more, I think. I've seen good stuff from Corner, Lankster, McGee, and McKelvin when they let 'em get up in the receivers' grill. Maybe we'll get a bit more of that in the coming weeks. W/ the red hot Drew Brees coming to town this weekend, there's no time like the present to start. Did you like the more aggressive approach to the passing game? I know I did. Even though not all of it worked (Owens and Evans dropped BIG plays), they took their shots down the field. It paid off w/ the big TD catch by Owens. I still would like to see Evans' route running be a bit sharper. He rounds stuff off too much, which can make it appear @ times as if the QB is erratic on throws. Josh Reed continues to be a guy who can run all the routes and come up w/ some clutch catches. From here, you just hope that Edwards begins to trust these guys to the point where he'll throw to guys in single coverage and let 'em make the play. I hope this is only the beginning, and judging by Alex Van Pelt's play calling so far, it very well may be. Nice. Well, it was nice to get to see a win! I have a couple more trips lined up (Houston game, Miami game), and maybe I'll get to see 'em win all of those games. What a thought.

Oh yeah? Well, today marks the 10 year wedding anniversary for Psycho Ward 86 and myself! So, Happy 10 years/12 years/22 years, honey! (10 years married, 12 years since I proposed and we got engaged, 22 years since we became a couple) AND... T Minus... 2 days and counting!!! I'm off to Rochester, so I hope everyone enjoys the game and I'll see you on the board either Monday when we get back or some time Tuesday. GO BILLS!!!!!

Nick Tahous on Main St in Rochester.

Well, we're bringing Damien again, so she'll either be in the car or she'll leave us early to tend to 'em. Hopefully she'll choose the latter. Good that you're getting into character, bro.

Uh huh. I've made 25 posts in here, which means I've been doing this for 'bout the last 870 home openers. But, I will work a bit harder to contribute to the football discussions 'round here. I may stop over @ Brunners on Saturday. We'll see. I'm not sure yet. Maybe in the 10am-11am range? I'm sure we'll see you guys @ Perkins. No matter what time we show up, you guys are always there. Wow; tomorrow morning @ this time, I'll be on my way to Rochester!! Oh yeah, and... T Minus... 3 days and counting!!!

Puh leaze! The guy was a good sideshow, but not even close to being one of the best pool players. Willie Mosconi, who coached the late actors Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman and even performed some of the trick shots seen in the movie The Hustler (my all time favorite film), had no peer when it came to pool. Now, as for Jordan being unquestionably the best........nah. We used to have some really good debates on that when I was in the Air Force. I would always come back to a couple points: Point 1: Game 6 of the NBA Finals, Kareem is out injured, and rookie poing guard Magic Johnson steps in to score 42 points, grab 15 boards, and dish out 7 assists in the win. As great a player as Jordan was, I don't think he could do the same. Now here's the kicker... Point 2: When Jordan's Chicago Bulls met Magic Johnson's LA Lakers in the NBA Finals, look @ both teams. If you switched superstars (put Jordan on the Lakers and put Magic on the Bulls), which team has the better shot of reaching the Finals that year? Is Jordan going to lead Mychal Thompson, Sedale Threatt and company to a Western Conference title? Doubtful. Is Magic going to be able to take a very talented Bulls team to the Eastern Conference title? There's a good chance of it. The difference being that while Jordan was an incredibly tough matchup individually, I don't believe he was as good as Magic in two areas you want your star player to be great in: 1. Getting guys to "step up" their game 2. Being versatile enough to play a variety of positions Jordan could defend very well (his help defense was phenomenal) and could dish off when he needed to, but mostly those assists were due to him drawing defenders to him and hitting wide open spot shooters (Paxson, Kerr, etc.). Magic could find the open man IN TRANSITION like no player before or since. He also could score like Jordan (as evident by his Game 6 heroics as a rookie), but chose to be the guy who leads the fast breaks, dishing off to open guys or not so open guys (uncanny court vision!), and be the catalyst for the team. "Showtime" didn't start for the Lakers 'til Magic wanted it to, and when he was ready to go, the whole team followed. For all this and more, Magic Johnson is still the best basketball player of all time in my opinion. Not that Jordan is a slouch; hardly. Here's my all time starting 5: G Magic Johnson G Michael Jordan F Larry Bird F Julius Erving C Bill Russell

I want 'em to win.

So, here's what we have so far: Roll Call: 1. Jay Rubeo 2. Rockpile (aka my twin) 3. Psycho Ward 86 4. R. Rich Maybes: Just Jack hmmmmmmmmm's: taterhill

Just two more work days for me (counting today) before I make my way up to WNY!! Oh, and happy "22 years since our 2nd meeting" to Psycho Ward 86! If you woulda known then... T Minus... 4 days and counting!!!

You shouldn't hate.

What excuse? I just don't think Evans is a polished receiver. You mention he's one of the fastest. That may be true, but what does that have to do w/ the ability to get to the open areas of the field, especially when protections break down? NE gets the ball to Moss and Welker 'cause they can find the open areas, and do so often. I mentioned this in my thread on the game: watch how Wes Welker works w/out the ball. The guy works hard to get to an open area for his QB. I cannot say the same for Evans, nor can I blam that inability on the scheme.

He's in Detroit. I'd start Aaron Maybin and let the kid get better w/ reps. Maybe. Moving Kawika Mitchell inside isn't the answer in this scheme. I know I wouldn't be comfortable w/ him as a middle 'backer in a cover 2. No. For depth purposes maybe. That's 'bout it.

This is a two way street. Have you watched the routes Lee Evans runs? They leave a LOT to be desired. How a guy w/ his speed cannot get open against marginal DBs (I harken back to the Miami game last year) is beyond me. Evans has some skills, to be sure, but I just don't know if he's an elite wideout @ this point.

Psycho Ward 86 and I will be there. Hope to see a bunch of you guys n gals there. Roll Call: 1. Jay Rubeo 2. Rockpile (aka my twin) 3. Psycho Ward 86 4. R. Rich Maybes: Just Jack hmmmmmmmmm's: taterhill

Hey, the Bills made a game of it vs a team many people (myself included) feared could make that game ugly early. There is hope!! T Minus... 5 days and counting!!!

Wow, the season is here! It just didn't feel right w/out having the Bills do what they do 'round the beginning of a season: get my hopes up and then rip the heart out of my chest. That is one area where I dare say the Bills can claim to be the absolute best in the league. If there's another team that's better @ these kinda gut wrenching games, then I feel sorry for their fans. Like my good friend William mentioned in his "Thoughts" (required reading on the Wall), the absence of Posluszny was certainly felt last night. This is a better defense w/ him in there, and I hope he's not out for long. Demetrius Bell....yikes. Plenty of mistakes and poor play (who was he blocking on that final sack?). I feel sorry for the kid, who, lest we forget, was making his NFL debut. He shows flashes of potential, so maybe he'll learn from the mistakes and improve. I sure hope so. Eric Wood and Andy Levitre really played well. Wood had struggled a bit in pre-season after what I felt was a fine first game vs the Titans and Levitre had struggled quite a bit more throughout the pre-season. But both guys gave the Bills what we have wanted to see for years: toughness up the middle. Vince Wilfork, a member of the New England All Time Team, was virtually a non-factor. Congrats to Wood, Levitre, and Hangartner for a job well done! Trent Edwards did what he's done successfully before: limited bad plays by not going all out for the big play. It worked well for the Bills in the sense that they were able to sustain some drives and keep the NE defense (if they don't play any better than they did last night, even w/ a healthy Jarod Mayo, they're not going anywhere; the LB play was putrid) guessing for most of the game. One thing I was anxious to see out of him is how would he respond if the team needed him in the clutch. W/ less than a minute remaining and w/ the team needing to get into FG range for the win, he did some things that I think need work. He needs to work on better awareness in the pocket; so if your newbie OT is struggling and you are working w/ just seconds left in the game, GET RID OF THE FOOTBALL!! Holding onto it and then coming up w/ a completion for short yardage, an incompletion, or a sack does nothing to help the team win. On that last drive, Edwards did all three of those things. Like many components of this team, he showed some good stuff and some bad stuff. All in all though, he worked his tail off to put the Bills in a position to win the game. Fred Jackson did a fantastic job in this game! He was able to not only be decisive when running the ball, but he also had a good feel for knowing when to bail out the QB in terms of being the safety valve receiver. He got open and made big plays to keep drives alive. And his TD reception helped to sucker me in one more time! "We're winning 24-13 w/ 5 minutes to go! We're actually gonna do it!!!" Hey Fred, you did your best to stop the Bills from being, well.......the Bills. Great effort, and I look forward to more of that. I have been critical of the TEs, but they did a solid job. Schouman and Nelson made some nice catches, and I also saw some good things in terms of helping out the O line in blocking. I hope to continue to be pleasantly surprised by their play this year. WRs, on the other hand, did not look that great. People will get on Owens for only having 2 catches, but he was being blanketed by the Patriots (as they should've done, being that he's the top offensive option on the team) w/ double coverage and w/ a safety rolled to his side all night. That said, his drop on the 3rd down conversion was inexcusable. Gotta come up w/ those. Josh Reed did make a great catch 'cross the middle, but where was he the rest of the game? And as for Lee Evans....wow. If any of you still have the game tivo'd or taped or whatever (gluttons), go back and watch his route running. It is atrocious. Oh, and even though it was desparation time @ the end of the game, did you see the apathetic way Evans ran his route on the final play? Instead of actually getting into a position where maybe he could get the ball tossed to him and do something in open space, Evans just half-a**ed a route AWAY FROM THE PLAY!!! It's getting very tough to overlook his shortcomings and to consider him an "elite WR". Not to say he can't get there, but he must do a better job of getting open and helping out his QB. Watch Welker work w/out the ball and you'll see the difference. The guy busts his butt to get into a position to help the team. Lee? Not so much. Props to the defense for keeping the Bills in that game! Kyle Williams did a solid job of coming up the middle for most of the evening. Marcus Stroud got a good push and helped to either blow up plays in his direction or force the action away from him and put the pursuit in place to make plays for either no gain or a loss. Denney kept up the pressure from the strong side, even though he did screw up on the interference call (it was legit; please no conspiracy theories). Aaron Maybin, as a situational rusher, also put good pressure on Brady. I look forward to his continued development. The other Aaron, Mr Schobel, went all out! Many on the boards, myself included, have been skeptical of his performance. But he really worked hard all game. Getting that sack and then the INT for a score showed that he still has plenty left. I still have concerns on the huge holes he leaves by always going to the OT's outside shoulder (why Belichick didn't take more of an advantage of this, especially when their backs had some success running on early downs, I have no idea), but you can't fault the guy's effort in this one. Keith Ellison was overmatched on the inside guys when NE ran the spread offense. But, why didn't Perry Fewell do a better job of matching up? Why didn't he go to more DBs? Ellis Lankster showed that he can play in the pre-season; maybe he would've helped stop those short conversions by Kevin Faulk? Also, whatever happened to the press coverage, Fewell? Didn't you say that you didn't bring Leodis McKelvin here to play 10 yards off the ball? I could've sworn I read that somewhere. Terrence McGee shadowed Moss for most of the night, and though Moss ended up w/ plenty of catches and yards, he was not THE factor for the Pats' win. McGee worked hard to make that so, and he deserves some praise for it. Donte Whitner didn't get any sacks or picks, but did do a good job of minimizing the gains of the NE receivers. W/out many of his sure open field tackles, you have to wonder how many more points NE may have put up. Decent effort. 'Til these guys are put in a scheme where they can be factors instead of playing in this "play not to lose" type scheme where they're too far off the ball to actually make any kind of difference, how much more can we expect from any of these guys? That leaves everyone's Goat of the Day: Leodis McKelvin. I like the guy and I think he'll be a terrific corner for the Bills. I really do. But he made plenty of bad plays last night. Yeah yeah, the fumbled kick was disgusting. Before that, though, McKelvin had @ least 3 opportunities to come up and make a tackle for minimal gain, only to take a poor angle and watch the receiver get away from him. His open field tackling was as poor as Whitner's was good. In coverage, he still is too far off the ball to make the kind of impact plays that I'm sure he can make. All you have to do is watch 'em on kick returns (well, not that last one) to see that when he gets the ball in his hands, he can make a difference. On a pick, where there's no coverage set up and, in many cases, it's just a matter of beating one or two guys, he will do damage. Of course, it's tough to get in those spots when you're so far off the ball. The guy really screwed up on the return, but he worked to do something to put the Bills back on top. It was that same aggressiveness that caused him to fight for extra yards instead of just going down and keeping possession. Considering how well he runs on returns, I don't know if I'd wanna tinker w/ that much if I were Bobby April. It's almost akin to Ben Roethlisberger and the sacks: he gets so many by how he plays, so the Stillers live w/ it, even when it hurts 'em. Take the good w/ the bad. Coaching wise, ask yourself this: how confident were you when the Bills got the ball late? No, not after NE scored the go ahead TD, but after NE closed the gap to 24-19? W/ McKelvin's fumble, we won't know how Jauron would've handled the situation, but I admit that as they were teeing it up, I was concerned. I still think there's too much of the "play not to lose" mentality w/ Jauron. Now, I don't think that of Alex Van Pelt's play calling. Some of the plays, like the play action throw to Nelson and the well called and executed counter to the left side, were examples of Van Pelt not calling "same ol' Bills" type calls and catching NE off guard. It will be interesting to see if they can continue to keep opposing defenses guessing this year, or if they've "shot their wad" w/ this game. But, I was impressed w/ the start. So, here we are. Another heartbreaking loss in the opening game. Yeah, like we haven't seen that before. But, though there were plenty of negatives to hit on (and I'm sure folks 'round here will continue to hit on 'em for the rest of the week), there's some positives as well. How many of you thought the Bills had a chance of not embarrASSing themselves last night? Well, they not only did that, but were in control of it for nearly 55 minutes! Moral victory and all, but hey, this team hasn't had much success over the past decade, so take what you can get. Despite the annual heart ripping loss, I still feel good 'bout this team's potential. In fact, I can't wait.............well, you know!

I'm as frustrated as any Bills fan can be @ the moment, but you are incorrect in hinting that Whitner didn't show up. He's the main reason that many of those quick passes Brady completed didn't go for huge gains, as he was one of the main guys to make good open field tackles and minimize the gains. So was Reggie Corner. As for the # of catches they let Moss and Welker have, well, when a team throws the ball 60 times and most of those throws are to the same two guys, that's going to happen.

How? He's a good safety valve receiver, especially since he can hurt teams down the field. But, if the QB cannot get the ball out fast enough due to a rush, it doesn't matter. So, what does he offer to remedy that?

I'm always hoping the Bills win. No change for tonight's game.