Dan

Bingo. We have a winner. It's an old cliche for a reason: you practice how you want to play. The Bills practice soft; they play soft. Result - they look weak on the field and get beaten up, literally. Anyone watching the game heard Gannon's opinion about Jauron's practice schedule. You don't give players the Friday practice off. But there's our coach, giving players a day off just 2 days before he's about to give them a week off. So there they are on a pretty Sunday afternoon, running at half speed, just going through the motions with visions of their vacation in their head and BAM! someone smacks them upside the head.

Once again Jauron shows us exactly why he shouldn't be here any more. First, having big, slow DTs dropping back to cover small, fast WRs is just dumb. Someone should be fired and banned from attending any NFL games for life for even considering that as a viable defensive "scheme". So, Jauron gives TO Friday off!?!!?! He's got a QB with 2 starts under his belt. An offense struggling to even resemble being professional, let alone find a rhythm. And you give your guys days off just before they go into a bye week! Infrggincredible. Another brutal game to remind us all just how bad they can be.

(I'm paraphrasing, of course.)

I read your last sentence, then glanced over to see the poster... and noticed the avatar pic. Brilliant! It summed up my initial reaction perfectly as I read that.

I know. It's tough to sift through all the hatred and crap being spewed.

Has there ever been a thread with so much misinformation in it? Uuum.... the Bills only play 7 regular season games a year in their stadium, not 16. That may or may not go back up to 8 games in a few years. We just recently went 13 years without a Monday night game. We're now 3 years running with a MNF game; however, this year it was a road game. So, no guarantees that the advertisment gets seen on MNF. This year's other prime time game is in Toronto. So, any advertiser expectingto get national prime time spotlight would be SOL this year. Again, with a team like the Bills, there's no guarantee that your advertisement gets a national spotlight. That's actually not a bad idea at all. I believe this inaccuracy has been addressed. Jerry Jones even turned down the money because he didn't like the deal. And he's a billion dollars in debt. Apparently, all NFL owners don't agree with your assessment that a crappy deal is better than no deal at all. Yes, because we should only honor people or recognize their life achievements AFTER they die. What a great world you must live in. My guess is no one will care.

I'm sorry, but when has Ralph ever threatened to move the Bills?

I've wiped quite a few computers in my day and re-installed all, for a variety of reasons. My advice, before doing so, download all the drivers for all the various components first. Then copy them to a CD or USB stick. Actually, I would do this for any computer I owned. The easiest way to make sure you get everything back up the way it was is to go to the My Devices and double check all the hardware and drivers. In the few times I haven't been able to do that. I just google the laptop brand and model and can usually find all the drivers that are supposed to be installed in short order. So, its still just about as easy. So, I'd say getting everything to work properly on a laptop with a new OS install is usually pretty easy. Worst case scenario, it may take you a day to do it if some of the hardware is atypical to that model.

You obviously missed the point of his rant. He's already written Ralph off as having moved the franchise years ago because he hasn't sold the team for a buck fifty to Kelly with the promise that the team will forever stay in Buffalo - even if Kelly sells the team again in 5 years. See basically, either Ralph does something right now to absolutely guarantee the team stay in Buffalo for another 50 years or he sucks and has no loyalty. Understand the beauty of the arguement now?

//hanging head in shame// Yes, yes, I do.

And, for the most part, I agree with you. However, as I alluded to just prior, how do we really know there's a local investor that's actually capable of buying the team. Ok, yes, Ralph can sell it at a discount. But, even 10%-15% off market value for the Bills is a hell of a price tag. Does someone really have that kind of money that has also approached Ralph and said here it, let me buy the team? Also, we have to consider the league. What's to say the league hasn't told Ralph he can't discount the price of the team more than a certain percentage. Let's not forget, the league has the final say in who buys the Bills. Maybe the only serious interest he's gotten has been a group from LA? And Ralph really is doing the right thing by not selling and giving a local investor ttime to get the funds. We really just don't know.

Firstly, I think that the financial burden of buying an NFL franchise brings can change the way an owner feels. Do you think any of the teams that have moved, moved because they didn't like the city they were in or because they wanted/needed to make more money? I don't think a Kelly-backed group would want to move the group. However, the financial reality may force his backers into a decision that Kelly has no choice but to accept. Bottom line, any new owner will have to make quite a bit more money than Ralph currently does due to their much larger debt. Secondly, do we have any solid evidence that someone like Golisano or a Kelly-backed ownership group has the money or interest to actually buy the team right now? Everyone keeps saying sell it to Kelly. Well, where's Kelly's money? Where's his backers? Where's anything more than Kelly dropping cryptic hints at oppurtune times? How are we to know that Ralph didn't sit down with Kelly and discussed it, only to realize that Kelly's group is woefully unprepared at the moment to buy the franchise? Bottom line, here, is that we have no idea who has legitimately approached Ralph to buy the team.

Agreed! Another horrible decision by the league, IMO. The Pro Bowl now becomes just another of the Super Bowl spectacles. Not to mention, a large number of the league's best players won't be participating in the game nor any of the stupid little challenge things they do. As meaningless as it is, I enjoy it all. The season is over, you know football is done. So, its become my one last chance to see some of my favorite players for a while. Yet another reason Goodell is an abomination of a commissioner.

What I just don't get is how does selling the team guarantee that the Bills stay in Buffalo? There's absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that a new owner will keep the team here. Regardless of what they say, they'll be buying something that leaves them 100's of millions of dollars in debt. They'll do whatever they can to make money. Ralph has owned the team since its inception and has said that as long as he's alive, the Bills will be in Buffalo. That is the only sure way to guarantee the team stay. Period. We have an owner that has promised to keep the team in Buffalo as long as he's alive. So, what do people want? They want him to die so some unkown person can buy the team and do with it as they wish. How does that make any sense? It doesn't. So, everyone's upset about the quality of product on the field. And rightfully so. But booing Ralph during a HOF ceremony does not send a message that you're unhappy about the Bills' play. It sends the message that you're unhappy about Ralph making the HOF. There's a time and place for everything. And a ceremony honoring a person's lifetime achievement is not the time nor the place to boo the present. It's a time to honor him for giving us a reason to cheer, and cry, for 50 years. There's plenty of oppurtunity to boo Ralph for the Bills' current state of affairs. Heck, there's a smart guy that's taking donations to put that message on billboards. There are plenty of other avenues to state your dislike of the current state of the franchise. It would be far more effective to pursue one of them. I've said it before, and I'll say it one last time, I read threads like this and it's like listening to some spoiled little brat kid pissing and moaning about their parents. How much they hate them. How unfair life is. Because they wanted a new Porsche for their birthday and all they got was Mustang. Whaaa... whaaaa Mommy and Daddy have so much money, they should give it all to me, me, me. Pathetic.

For all the people that complain about the lack of quality journalism or reporting.... read the above linked article. A very good read, Tim (and this from a guy that tries not to read).

Although huddling up may have helped the line get their heads in the game regarding the snap count, the Bills' no huddle was not a hurry up offense. In other words, it did not lead to less time of possession - that is yet another falsehood that is rampant on this board. week 1 - Bills -22:52 Pats* -37:08 week 2 - Bills -29:33 Bucs -30:27 week 3 - Bills -26:26 Saints -33:34 week 4 - Bills -22:51 Fins -37:09 week 5 - Bills -31:34 Browns -28:26 week 6 - Bills -39:03 Jets -33:13 week 7 - Bills -25:20 Pants -34:40 source: nfl.com In the no huddle, we lost TOP in 3 games, won TOP in 1 game, and 1 game was essentially equal. So, 3/5 or 60% of the games we lost TOP. In the last 2 games we huddled up, but only had the TOP advantage in the first game. So, 50% of our games we lost TOP. Yeah, yeah, not enough games, stats are flawed, did I watch the games, all of that. But, the end result is the same. The Bills did not run a hurry up no huddle; they routinely hiked the ball with 10 seconds or less on the clock. Hence, they did not lose TOP in every one of their games. However, I do believe going back to a huddle offense has helped the offense the last two weeks. The line seems to be much more on the same page and making fewer fundamental mistakes. But, I there's no reason to think it's given them an edge in the TOP statistic.

Breaking down QB play is really hard in the NFL.

Agreed. I say playoffs or bust. I don't care what the record is - playoffs or bust.

What are you saying, Trent... you take what the defense gives you? While I agree, your gameplan should change week to week to take advantage of the defense you're facing; that doesn't mean you allow the defense to dictate what you do. Do that and you lose. Yes, sometimes a defense may be shifting coverage to your best WR, but that doesn't mean you don't try to get him involved in the offense. You have to dictate to them, not the other way around. On your second point, it's difficult to average out the plays over a longer time frame considering that Fitzy has only started one game and played roughly half of another.

Am I the only one that watched the 2nd half just hoping for Delhomme to thrown because you just knew Byrd was back there about to get another interception? Byrd is single handedly transforming this defense making everyone more agressive, trying to get hits and turnovers. I just hope he continue it for another week.

Well that would be a short debate.

You sound like a Bills whore. So you'll cheer for anyone, just as long as the Bills are winning? Pick a side! Choose a player and defend him through thick and thin for years, and if the Bills cut him all the better watching them lose because it proves you right. This wishy washy I just cheer for anyone in a Bills uniform has no place around here.

I truly hope you're wrong too. Because, as I see it, I'd be absolutely shocked if they draft an OT early next year. I'm sure they'll be thinking... "Bell had a full year and with another offseason, he'll only get better. And we have Butler coming back, who is solid." I guess we'll have to see how the season plays out, but we may be in desparate need for a QB as well. And we've been in desparate need for a LB. I guess we'll know more in a few months.

Perhaps its just my Bills colored glasses, but I see our line getting most abused by bull rushes. The outside rushes don't seem to do as well against the. If so, then their technique wouldn't be so much the problem as would their strength. Am I correct in thinking these guys could get better, in time, with more strength and conditioning work? Or am I just hoping against hope?

No doubt. I would completely agree that our play calling and predictability add to the problem. And, of course, let's not forget the inexperienced line. That play in the end zone was horrible. You're running ar Peppers, pulling guards, deep setup, not to mention the Panthers had it read perfectly. They did nothing to disguise it even after several audibles and after a time out.