Rocky Landing

Are the Phins going to win this division?!

No offense, but perhaps that is part of the losing mentality at work. As if we feel ourselves competing for #2.

I don't agree with this perspective at all. I am a fan of the game every bit as much as I am a fan of the Bills. Suh's objective (IMO) is to make other players feel like they have to keep him in their peripheral vision because they're not sure when he's going to take a cheap, illegal shot. That may "help" his team win by way of distraction, but it is bad for the game. This type of play injures people unnecessarily. It adds pressure for the types of rule changes that we all lament. It's unprofessional. And, I don't buy his excuses one bit. If he doesn't have the awareness that the play has moved downfield (he does), then he shouldn't be on the field. And, just to clarify, I don't care so much about character, or reputation. I'm fine with there being "bad guys" on the field. Just not cheaters. I put some of this on Jim Schwartz, as well. I'm all for coaching a team to be feared. But, it's gotta be for the right reasons.

I really, really, really try to be objective about football, and football teams (Bills notwithstanding)- mostly because of my propensity for gambling. The Bills, and the Pats have always been two teams that I almost never bet on, because of my inability to be objective about either of them. But, last year, I found that I had to add the Jets to that list. I can't help getting an emotional reaction to them. The Bills are my team (obviously). The Pats are like the Evil Empire- I cannot think rationally about them. The Jets- they're like the obnoxious co-worker who messes up everything he touches, but gets the promotion anyway, because his self-delusion about how "great" he is has somehow rubbed off on management, who really aren't paying attention to the details, anyway. ARRRGH! SCREW THAT GUY!!!

Vegas Insider consensus has the Pats at -12. Most sports books opened at around -10. I actually have some money down on the Jets covering the spread. Not that I think the Jets are being underestimated, but I think the Pats are being overestimated- especially on a short week. The Bills have been three point underdogs all week long.

Sure, you have to pay for all these rewards. But, the heartbreak is free.

I'm having a hard time caring who wins. But, I will say: both teams are going to be losing some games this season.

I predict I'll be drunk before halftime.

Thanks for posting this. This is a really good article, worthy of a bookmark. It also contains quite a few links to sites that explain some of the more advanced areas of football strategy. Great for someone like myself who is trying to expand my knowledge of football. For anyone interested, here is another link to an interesting article on the mindset of NFL players: http://www.theonion.com/articles/hannah-storm-on-what-shes-learned-from-interviewin,33706/

Maybe we could sign Tebow and not tell anyone, then start him.

I'll say this: I've never been this interested in watching a fourth preseason game before.

I don't see how Leinart or Lewis can be expected to start week one except as an absolute last resort. I think Tuel needs a full half and they should keep the front line solid for longer than you would generally see on a week 4 preseason game to keep him upright. As bad as our QB situation looks (even if Manuel starts, he'll be three week out of practice), I think it is a mistake to write off week one against the Pats. Vegas has dropped our stock to 10.5 point underdogs (it was 6.5 a month ago), but I believe it is still a winnable game. New England is not without its issues, and I suspect (hope) that pettine has withheld some of the more aggressive plays in the preseason. I'll be at Buzby's in Los Angeles with all the other transplanted, upstate New Yorkers in the Bill's Backers Club. The mood may be somber, but I will remain optimistic- at least until the chicken wings run out.

So did Kolb.

I have to believe that with these two acquisitions, Kolb is done.

I could see that. One thing about Barkley, though, is that his stock fell dramatically before the draft. Leinart went round one, and anybody who was even vaguely a USC fan thought he was going to be the next Payton Manning.

I live in Los Angeles (born and raised in Rochester) and when Leinart was at USC, he was a big damn deal. People who followed college ball talked about him ALL THE TIME. Needless to say, he was a huge disappointment in Arizona, and had a bad attitude to boot. My jaw dropped when I saw him going to Buffalo today. I took a quick look at his stats- he's only started two games in the last five years. My understanding of him now is that he's a huge guy with a not very strong arm.

I think the media often over-hypes stories like this, using dramatic words like, "bad blood," etc. Sure, there are bad feelings at the moment. But, it's all just business. There's a whole season to fix the "bad blood." Winning games would go a long way towards that.

"Deadskins" is a derogatory term that denigrates zombies.

Googling a subject is not a meaningless endeavor. Along with all the insipid, drivel, insidious advertising, partisan demagoguery, and rule #34 pornography, a Google search can find reliable news sources, peer reviewed journals, statistics, definitions, and even well thought out, coherent opinion. It is one of the most amazing educational tools ever invented. The internet is like a giant library, on top of a news stand, on top of a festering trash heap with a toxic sewage moat. You just have to wade through the excrement, climb over the trash, ignore the tabloid material, and find what you're looking for. CAN'T... NOT... CLICK...

No one should take this personally, but as I was reading Easterbrook's quote (and I didn't know he was a Buffalo native/fan), I thought that it reminded me of some of the posters on this site who will form an opinion of some member of the franchise and then only acknowledge those stats, or events that back up their claim, while utterly ignoring any controverting evidence. Come to think of it, I'd be surprised if the author of this article weren't a Bills fan. Were he not, he would probably be able to be a little more objective.

I was half expecting to open this thread and see a link claiming that we were fifth in our division.

Forgive me if this link has already been posted (I really couldn't bother with 33 pages on this subject), but here is a pretty good link on the subject by an extremely well-informed, reliable, and prestigious news source- The Onion. http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-redskins-name-only-offensive-if-you-think-a,33449/

I've always thought that Trent was not as bad as Jaurons coaching/play-calling made him look.

It's too risky to start him if he has missed the final weeks of practice. Week one, against a heavily favored division rival, just after being cleared from a knee injury, and procedure, is no way to start an NFL career.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you regarding Kolb. But, I think that in order to reach the conclusion that Tuel should start against the Pats, you have to ride a wave of hype that seems to be made almost entirely of foam. I can't get there, myself.