BarleyNY

They just need other teams that easy to hype. Let's face it, they'll be re-hashing the same crap on the Patriots come playoffs and there's only so much of that anyone can hear. Flashy offseason moves and a coach who's the anti-Belichick on camera make the Bills a great early season media darling. Winning will be necessary for them to be a late season media darling, however. If not they'll move on to whatever new teams are in the playoff mix.

Exactly. Although it was enjoyable getting ripped by posters who thought the Bills were a near Super Bowl 50 lock. I still say they'll be better than average and have a real shot at a WC spot, but they are not able to compete with the NFL elite. QB play is most of the reason for that.

I just watched the play Clay got the PI on (about 5 min left in 2nd qtr). He very noticeably pushed off the defender and did gain an advantage. It was a good call. Incidentally, it would have been a short gain and the Bills got a 1st down on the following play. Good call and not exactly a game-changer.

A lot of people who don't know much about something often have very strong opinions about that thing. Often those are wrong. My uncle referees at the high school level. He has told me how incredibly difficult the job of an NFL ref is, and how good NFL refs are overall. There are exceptions, of course, but overall they are great at what they do. The rules are much more complex than they used to be. That has increased the difficulty of the job. Also, believe it or not, a lot of fans don't actually understand the rules all that well. No one likes to get jobbed on a call - and it happens - but people tend to remember the ones that went against them a lot more vividly than the ones that went for them. As for other sports I find it unbelievable that MLB umps are still calling balls and strikes. Automated systems are more reliable and easily verifiable. You can't tell me that "good" pitchers don't get the benefit of the doubt on balls and strikes a lot more than ones that aren't considered is good. It'd be nice to see that change. The worst officiating would have to go to the NBA. They probably have the toughest job but I give it to them based solely on the fact that they've been caught taking cri they probably have the toughest job but I give it to them based solely on the fact that some of them got caught taking bribes. THAT got swept under the rug quickly.

If you haven't seen the birthday cakes she's given Brent you really need to google that - but not if you're at work, around kids, etc.

A lot of posters here concluded that he WAS worth it before he even played a snap for the Bills so.........

On a neutral site or in Buffalo I take the Bills. In Miami I give the Phish a slight edge.

Depends on whom you ask and whether you're talking about before or after he got traded.

Apologies. I didn't catch that. Still, 13 rushes isn't much to draw any conclusions from.

That's 5.15 ypc for the TEAM and includes Taylor's 6.0 ypc. Their most effective RB has been Shady who is at 4.1 ypc, which ties him for 20th amongst RBs. So, yeah, that's pretty average for the RBs - or actually slightly below average if you want to be technical. Again, two games doesn't tell us much with any certainty. My point was that running QBs tend to inflate team rushing numbers so if you want an accurate picture of how the RBs are doing you have to look at their numbers, not team numbers. Stats: http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/rushing/sort/yardsPerRushAttempt Edited to add: I double checked in case the Bills had players w/o enough qualifying carries, but higher ypc averages than Shady's 4.1. They do. Just looking at RBs they're averaging 4.4 ypc. That's pretty average.

When Deflategate was in full swing I looked at team fumbles by the Pats versus the average team fumbles. I'm not doing it again, so this is from memory: Over eight seasons they were the best or nearly the best at not fumbling seven times. If they had fumbled at the average league rate over those eight years they'd have lost eight more fumbles per year over that span. (And yes, I figured that by total fumble differential times average lost fumble rate.) Eight additional turnovers by a team over the course of a year would equate to an average of about two more losses per season. That was figured by looking at win percentage as a function of turnover differential. So, yeah, two additional wins a year just by not fumbling as much. Over 8 years. That's stealing a whole season of wins.

Taylor is helping the Bills rushing totals quite a bit. It's nice to have a QB who can run, but I don't want to depend on rushing yards coming from him. And it does inflate the team's rushing yards so don't look at the total or rank and think the RBs are doing a great job because without Taylor's yards the Bills are pretty average. Still, that's only through 2 games so the small sample size disclaimer applies.

Appreciate the kind post, but I'm not really looking for moral victories on this one.

Kyle's absolutely correct and I'm glad he's calling out his teammates. Now let's see how they respond.

Miami with the home field advantage of +3 seems fair as I'd say the Bills and Phins are a pick 'em on neutral ground.

There's a lot of overreaction on both sides today. (Did someone actually play the "real fan" card? Wow.). The Bills aren't a sinking ship because they're 1-1 or because they lost to the Cheatriots - and they're going to be a pretty good team. But the fans who had them down as a dominant team this season should be adjusting to the reality check they got today. They're not an elite team and a lot has to do with their QB situation. Brady showed what an elite QB means to a team and what one can do to even a loaded defense. The Bills' inexperience in games like this showed too. The Pats* said all the right things in the lead up to the game and they stayed evenly keeled throughout the game - even with the Bills' fast start and the loud crowd. The Bills have to grow as a team and they'll need better QB play if they want to compete for a championship. Right now they're above average, which is nice, but it's not enough to compete for a Lombardi.

Glad to hear he's doing well. Scary.

Yup. This is what it looks like when a great player stays too long. His exit from the playing field with be neither successful nor graceful.

I think it's a huge deal. Swinging a 22 oz framing hammer is light years different than playing defensive end in the NFL. 2x4s don't fight back like, say, Joe Thomas. DEs grab OTs jerseys and wrists almost every play. Hand fighting is a huge part of their game. Plus then there's tackling. He's likely done. He sure won't get his franchise deal. Someone (like the Giants) might sign him on the cheap, with incentives, but his big payday is gone.

Depends how they win, but it will be a huge jump up in rankings and expectations from the media at large. That said, the Bills have to win first and they'll have a much, much tougher time than with the Colts. Time to step up.

I hate Power Rankings. Cheap way to get clicks. But Scout has the Bills at #9, up from #12 to start the season. http://www.scout.com/nfl/browns/story/1587233-the-obr-nfl-power-rankings-week-one

Only when they don't rate a Bill as highly as the fans do. Here's a link to the PFF article: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/09/14/ind-buf-grades-qb-andrew-lucks-high-powered-offense-struggles/

Tyrod hands off to Shady who runs off left guard for 3 yards. 16 first downs.

Wow. Pats fans are insufferable. I mean, I knew that already, but wow. What a bunch of bloviating, pompous asses.

And potentially alcohol use thrown in. It was a tailgate.