clayboy54

He’s got the patented Quinton Spain boo-boo.

Ihr wiener ist sehr Klein!

Virgil, I believe you're overthinking this. That is to say, unless you're planning a class-action lawsuit for cruel and unusual punishment. Remember, Bills fans are chronic complainers.

This HAS to be the worst!

17

Remember that Belichick's scheming however great it may be, is only as successful as the players trying to execute it. This year, the Pats just don't have the horses to accomplish the ideas in BB's mind. Between their opt-outs, defections and injuries they are a much weaker team physically. It doesn't mean they won't still try, but it means that the match-ups are much more in our favor on both sides of the ball. Plus, it looks to me like Gilmore might be checking out, or at least thinking about it. You always meet the same teams on the way up and on the way down. This year the Bills are the team on the way up.

Their offensive line is suspect and has two injuries this week. Don't be so sure to jump on the bandwagon of "they're going to kill us on the ground."

I can't say that I agree with you. There are plenty of middle-of-the-road teams. There are really only four truly elite teams and only a couple really bad ones. Okay, add the Cowboys in and there's a few. As you see on here, the perspective of what makes "bad" is skewed by frustration. The Bills don't stink, no matter what anyone says. Neither do most of the other teams. The Jets truly stink. The Giants stink. The Cowboys are playing like they stink, although their talent says otherwise. Evidenced by the shellacking that Washington put on the Cowboys, they do not stink. They are middle-of-the-road. Maybe on the fringe, but still... Rivera has them playing ball. Same with Philly. It's just that expectations were so high for some of the clubs and they are falling short. They don't stink. Even the Jets will almost surely win a game.

If we make the playoffs this year, we’re legit - no question.

The NFL should go back to a true "sudden death" format and play until there is a winner.

I really don't believe that any single game can define any coach or player. Time and time again it has been shown that bad teams can win big games and good teams can lose big games. Seldom is a good organization suddenly bad (maybe the Falcons were after their SB collapse) and almost never are poor organizations suddenly good. It takes a long time for these things to change. Beane and McDermott have begun a transformation to a good organization and have a good team. It will be a nice measuring stick to win at home vs NE. We should win and we probably will because we are the better team. But, in the NFL no team cannot win a given game. The Jets will surely beat someone who least expects it. There is one absolute. We will all know without doubt where the Bills are in their transition after the NE game.

This is a very straight-forward and accurate view of the where the Bills are right now. I agree, a very nice write-up, Shaw! After watching the Seahawks loss Sunday night, it became more clear that every team has a little "collapse" at times. The vaunted Seattle Seahawks had that in their 2nd half in Phoenix. Who really cares? They're still the class of the NFC. The mighty Chiefs has theirs against the Raiders. I imagine the Steelers will have theirs soon. They keys to a successful season is to get it turned around quickly and to scheme to take advantage of holes left when teams take away your strengths. Sunday afternoon, Greggo followed the blueprint of the Titans and Chiefs and took away our downfield passing game. But Sunday, the Bills found success underneath with Beasley repeatedly and also has some modest success on the ground. I'm 100% certain that Belichick will do the same against the long pass. The Bills have to start with their underneath game and sprinkle in the runs early and often. BB will undoubtedly adjust to move the defense up to shut that down. Then, Josh will need to hit a few long balls. This is exactly how the Bills can continue to grow in their new identity. As this develops and matures, we will be able to compete with the most elite teams, and probably beat one or two. Shaw, you are completely right. This is progress and the process.

Nice work Matt!

I respect what you are saying. I don't think it's a realistic gauge in today's NFL because there are no dynasties anymore. Today, if a Team wins all their games against non-elite teams, they will make and win in the playoffs every year. Then, barring a fluke where a non-elite team makes it to the championship game or the Superbowl, you will have to have a signature win or two to take home the Lombardi. Until we get to that place, I could care less about signature wins.

The case that I most remember isn't a good Bills team loss, but rather a bad Bills team win. In the 1968-69 season, you know - the one where Joe Namath guaranteed a Jets Superbowl win over the Colts - the lowly 1-12-1 Buffalo Bills beat the soon-to-be Superbowl champion NY Jets. The Bills were clearly the worst team in football. It was technically our 2nd worst team of all-time (1-13 in 1971). Those were dark days to be a Bills fan. On September 29th at the Rockpile, we beat Namath and the Jets 37-35. I was at that game and it was fun. It proves a point that even the worst team in football can beat the eventual Superbowl champions on any given Sunday. In that game Tommy Janik had a 100-yard pick-6. Butch Byrd had a 53-yard pick-6 and Booker Edgerson had a 45-yard pick-6. Talk about embarrassing for an elite Superbowl champion! I'm not sure that the good Bills ever had one get away from them like that. But in 1968, the bad Bills snatched one from the elite Jets.

The game was 24-0 on ice when Tua stepped in. What in God's name are you thinking?

As I said in my other post, I am finding wins against everybody except the Seahawks and the Steelers. I predict we'll probably lose to one of the Cardinals or 49ers depending on their health. I will stick to that and say 11-5. Yes, that means we are losing to all the elite teams we face.

Wow! That is really a surprise to me. Fitzy was having a really good season. Why not let the kid learn while you can and put him in when Fitz inevitably cools off? This could be a real mistake if Tua has some rookie struggles.

Like the Bills, there's a difference between solidly elite and pretty elite. The Bills might be considered pretty elite, at least on some days. Same with the Packers. IMO, the Seahawks, Chiefs, Steelers, Titans and Ravens are solidly elite right now. For whatever reason, there is a dropoff to pretty elite in the next bunch which includes the Packers, Rams, Cardinals, Raiders, 49ers, Bills and possibly the Colts. The Browns should be pretty elite, but they're the Browns. Everybody else is either you never know what you'll get week-to-week or they just stink. Injuries affect this assessment, but that's life in the NFL. This is certainly possible, but I don't see it that way. Getting embarrassed by the best elite teams does not make losing out probable.

I do not disagree with your assessment. I believe the problem is not with calls, but rather with scheme. You can only make the calls from the plays you have already installed. Unfortunately in the NFL, you don't have time to install a new playbook in-season. With the losses we have from last year and the new personnel we have this year, our defensive playbook does not match the personnel on the field. We couldn't possibly have known all this with the dramatically shortened offseason. So, the only realistic course of action is to switch out personnel (as they are trying to do) until you can find a grouping that is capable of executing the existing playbook. Next offseason, they can either change out personnel to match Frazier's playbook or install a completely different defensive playbook with a different coordinator that matches the personnel we have. I suppose we could do both. Unfortunately, this cannot be done in-season despite what fans might think. That is, of course, unless you're planning on tanking and cleaning house at the end.

While I certainly can't disagree with the toilet scrubbing part, you have to admit that there aren't too many teams that would've done much better in that game. At the end of the day, we move forward and win the games we should win and try to make improvements where we can. I still think this team can beat most of the NFL right now. We are still not in a place where we can expect to beat the 5-6 elite teams. There could be a surprise or two in either direction, but I fully expect that the Bills will end up 12-4 or 11-5. This is where we are at in the growth curve. We should lose the Seahawks and Steelers games. We probably will lose one more, perhaps to the Cardinals or possibly the 49ers. If we don't lose one of those, we could lose the finale to the Dolphins, I suppose. Then again, it's why they play the games.

We’re gonna lose 4-5 games this season anyway. Let it play out before you fire coaches.

1. What would firing Frazier do other than deep-six this season? If he needs to be replaced, do it at the end of the year. 2. Moving Edmunds now with no replacement will just further kill the defense. Again, if he needs to be moved, do it in the offseason and pickup a better alternative.

Really? You have no idea what you’re talking about. What McD has done in such a short time boarders on miraculous. Accept that we’re not ready for prime time yet and that’s okay. It’s where we are right now. As long as Beane and McDermott keep building this team up, I am satisfied. Eventually we’ll be championship material. Because everybody jumped the gun and wanted us to be Super Bowl ready doesn’t mean we are.

That is a great observation. We are simply not there yet. That’s okay, we’re more competitive and I’ll take that for now.