Mickey

This is what I like about modern America, its okay for a man to whine, where a man is free to steep himself in irony by using wuss-whining to protest wussification. Well played. Truth has a well known liberal bias and you know it!

Ummm....he quit because they pulled his song that one night. There was no "move by ESPN".

It was a bad call, no doubt but that happens to every team, every Sunday. The ones we remember are the ones that were critical and that happened to us. If they can't get past this, then they were bound for serious trouble sooner or later anyway. I am sure they will move on. Our problem isn't that call, our problem is a sieve of a defense that is giving up mind jumblingly huge chunks of yardage.

"but a better passer" is not an insignificant difference. George Soros is just like me, but a little richer.

I guess I don't understand the obsession over whether or not Fitz is or is not our quarterback for the long term. He is our quarterback for this season and if he continues to play anything like he has been, he will be our quarterback next year too. If he suffers some sort of collapse and plays terribly the rest of the season, then we will be looking for a replacement. No matter how convinced anyone might be that he is the guy, I can't believe they would still hold that opinion if he plays terribly over the next 13 games. And no matter how mediocre someone else might think he is, if he continues to play like this, even they would have to change their minds. Fortunately, we don't really need to predict this and we certainly don't need to argue over those predictions. We can sit back and see how it all plays out. Yes he has played great, yes he played well last year too. I expect him to continue playing well. And he is just about the easiest quarterback to root for we have had since I don't know when. But all that matters is production on the field.

We need him back. And I can't agree with you on Corner being adequate to replace McGee, Corner didn't even make the team. If not for injuries, he would be watching the game from his couch like the rest of us.

I don't really get it. I watched McKelvin get beat on a play where he went up to the line to play the WR tight but then he didn't chuck the guy at all or even try. Getting off the line clean allowed the WR to get a step past him and to get deep a step or two ahead of the safety who couldn't get over there in time. If Leodis chucks the guy, he buys himself, the safety and the pass rush and extra second to get the job done. And it wasn't like the WR did some fancy move at the line to shake him or stiffed arm him. He didn't even try to chuck the guy. It just didn't make any sense at all. Was that coverage? What kind of man to man coverage has the CB up tight on the WR but doesn't chuck the SOB??!

I don't see much evidence that we have a pass rush yet, at least not one that will worry the Patriots. So a track meet it is. Given the points we have put up, I think we could keep up with them, if only just.

I won't take a back seat to anybody when it comes to appreciating what Fred Jackson does on the football field. I can't think of a better player to represent this franchise, this city and Bills fans. Unfortunately, when he got his contract extension, he wasn't a free agent, he was an exclusive rights free agent which meant the Bills owned him once they made the minimum tender to him of $460k, which they did. Fred had no leverage in negotiations other than Lynch being so problematic that the Bills wanted to keep Fred happy and productive. He got a new deal but I don't think it matched value and it still doesn't. Even so, Freddie is stuck with it. And with Spiller and his potential behind him, the Bills have an alternative if Freddie goes all sour grapes on them. I would have no problem if the Bills did redo his contract but I don't really see that happening. For whatever reason, I don't think Buddy and Chan think all that much of him otherwise there would have been no reason to take CJ in the first place.

I don't know about letting McGee go though the injuries are getting frustrating. The same and more actually could be said about Roscoe. I remember McGee as the one player we have had over the last 5 or 6 years that Belichik was actually afraid of. When McGee was returning kicks, he was an absolute terror. After a few good returns against the PATs one year, Belichik switched to squibb kicks whenever McGee was back there and did so every game after that. For my money, he is the best returner we have ever had. I would be inclined to give him the benefit of every doubt.

For those of you interested in the history of pro football and who recall the Lamonica trade, you might find this article on Art Powell to be an interesting read. Powell was one of the players the Bill's received in the Lamonica trade and though his career pretty much came to an end afterwards, he did play an historical role in the history of pro football. In his last year with the Raiders, he had over a 1,000 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns so the Bills were by no means idiots for wanting him on their roster. In fact, he was one of the earliest and biggest stars in the AFL. The article below (scroll down to where it says "The curious case of Art Powell") tells his story fairly well and points out the disconnect between his career and that of Fred Belitnikoff who he surpassed on just about every level. Powell married a white woman which was pretty big news back then when teams still played in segregated stadiums. The author thinks that the Raiders' reputation for rule breaking may have originated with Powell's interracial marriage rather than with the use of stickum which, he points out, was not illegal when the Raiders used it and in fact, they didn't even hide the fact that they used it. I warn you though, the author actually has some good things to say about Al Davis given his contributions regarding race relations and professional football. An interesting comparison is made between the near veneration of George Preston Marshall, the owner of the Redskins and a lifelong opponent of integration and the treatment Al Davis gets. Not saying I agree but the guy makes a few points. I always enjoy it when the Bills play the Raiders as the two teams played such a key role in the history of the AFL. The Curious Case of Art Powell

The pungent flatulence of the average Bills fan could drop a horde of Raiders at a distance of a hundred paces.

You are right of course but it has been so freaking long that I am going to just go ahead and get giddier than my daughter at a Justin Bieber concert anyway.

I like your optimism but they won 10 games last year and beat us on top of that. Add in that this is their home opener and we will have to deal with the Arrowhead crowd and I just don't see us as a favorite in this game. I wouldn't be surprised if we won, not at all but I would consider it a mild upset. It sure would be nice though.

I think we all knew going in to the season that the line was weak but the defense was even worse and you can only fix so much in one off season. They took a run at the best OT in free agency but he didn't want to leave his team and just used us to get a better offer. We are stuck with what we have for this year. Chan, to his credit, is giving just about every conceivable lineup some time on the field to see what the best combination is. No one is in a panic, they are just doing their jobs, if it isn't working, try something else. It is no more complicated than that. I think they like Chad R. but he isn't better than Levitre just yet so why not see if there is a way to keep them both on the field? The only thing that has me wondering is Urbik. How is that he has been left out of the experiment? Are they just trying to get him as many reps as possible because he needs them more than anyone else but have no intention of starting him on opening day? Is it just me or is there some sort of disconnect here? How can you say that Bell is not starting material in the NFL without also concluding it was a mistake to let Peters go? At the time, that was the choice the team had, sign Peters or go with Bell. There was no third option. The justification for letting Peters go was that Bell was just as good or soon would be and he was cheaper, younger and not a pain in the neck. There was no personnel fairy-godmother that was going to get rid of both and cause an all-pro LT to materialize from nowhere. The choice they had was Peters or Bell.

It is the preseason for referees too. They are not at the top of their game just yet and it is not unusual for them to emphasize things and call it tight in preseason games to send a message to the players that maybe they are going more strictly interpret certain rules.

They are not paid to break the rules. And if the game being made a little less tough means that more guys can go home on their feet instead of in a wheel chair at the tend of the day, then I have no problem with that. This is a job for the players and entertainment for the fans, its not life and death. If you look at the history of the game, the biggest threat to its existence came from the frequency of injuries and even fatalities in the early days. They almost banned the sport. Rules were changed and equipment was improved and the game survived. And when those changes were made, I am sure there were some who complained about pink panties and all. Despite what some might say, the game has, will and always should continue to evolve and I am sure the league is not going to listen to comments like yours about pink panties and all, which is pretty sexist by the way, though I am sure that was unintentional. I don't get how it is, in this day and age, that the go to metaphor for weakness always involves a comparison to women, whether it be their anatomy or their underwear. The women in my life are anything but weak.

Who do we have that is a "burner"? Roscoe is quick but his 40 time is 4.43, Nelson's is 4.54, Stevie's is 4.59, Jones runs a 4.47 and Easely runs a 4.46. CJ runs a 4.27, probably the fastest guy on the team but he isn't a WR. Davis runs a 4.4 which is solid but not quite what I would call a burner and he has been a bust so far. Lee ran a 4.33. He may be getting old but he hasn't had a serious injury which neither Easely or Roscoe can say. I think we will survive without Lee just fine because what these guys lack in speed they make up for with other qualities whether it's quickness, height or strength. Even if we get along fine without him, the fact is that we lost a very fast, experienced and sure handed receiver and a 4th round pick wasn't exactly a brilliant coup trade-wise. Couldn't you say the same thing about Spiller?

Picking a QB is a tough thing to do. Only time will tell if Mallett will succeed at this level. He has all the tools he needs but I have no idea if he has the brains and the nerves of steel the position demands. He has a hell of an arm, that's for sure. In a way, every QB pick is a gamble and given how long he lasted, I think he was worth it but then again, I wasn't smart enough to see what a great pick Maybin was so what the hell do I know?

You must like 'em BIG...your nose tackles I mean.

You and your crazy "facts". we don't need your kind around here

All he said was that it was a "nice first start" for a rookie and the fact is, it was. He also said he always liked the guy, i.e., he liked him long before this preseason game. No where does he state that the fact that he had a nice start against the Jags means that he will be an all pro. He thought that before the game based on his talent and college career. Ease up. Which doesn't change the fact that Mallett had a nice first start. No one is saying that because he has one nice first start he is a pro bowler. He has the talent to do it, no doubt and only time will tell. The fact that he had a nice first start though is indeed a fact. What that means for the future no one knows.

I am a doom and gloom guy and yet, I think this team is capable of a .500 season. I think we are loaded at WR and RB. I think that Fitz showed enough last year for me to be optimistic about this year. I don't know, call it leadership, gravitas whatever, I think that he can be a winner. I think we will get mauled by the Pats and the Jets but other than that, I think they can beat anybody. Chan is a clever guy, we saw a little of that last year. This year we should see a lot more of that. At least on offense. The defense is young and a work in progress. I think they will be capable of scoring a lot of points and with even a small improvement on the defense, we should finally see some light at the end of the tunnel this year.

"High risk" ???? A couple of 5th round picks? To me, "high risk" means a major downside if you are wrong. I highly doubt that in the future, if this doesn't work out and the Patriots drift back to the pack for a while that their fans will look back and say, "jeez, if only we hadn't wasted those 5th round picks on Haynesworth, we would have won at least two super bowls and cured cancer." Compare the consequences to the Pats of this deal being a mistake with the mistake of drafting Maybin. If there is any coach capable of kicking Haynesworth back to sanity, its probably BB, damn his soul.

I think we have an embarassment of riches at WR and if CJ can live up to expectations now that he has a year under his belt (granted, a big "if") then I think we have all the skill people we need to be able to score against anyone. There are questions about the line and about Fitz as well but I see no reason why we shouldn't be as good or better than last year both along the line and under center. Couple that with Chan's creative game planning and the addition of a unique player like Brad Smith and yeah, I could see this offense being pretty explosive. It had some good days last year, like the 34 points it put up against the Ravens, a team that averaged giving up only 17 points per game which was 3rd best in the league. I am not worried that offense won't be able to win games, I am worried about the defense. It is starting to get enough talent to significantly improve but for the most part, that is all on paper and it remains to be seen how they will perform on the field. A lot of the talent is young and untested. Merriman is a huuuuuge question mark. He could make or break that defense, remember Bryce Paup?