TigerJ

I think that comes under the heading of "coach speak." It may be true for the moment, but if Tyrod continues to poop his pants, Peterman earned himself some more late game reps. If Tyrod continues to play like he did today, it looks like a matter of time before he plays himself out of a starting gig.

I don't necessarily agree with every decision Beane has made, but I don't think he should be fired. I also think that McDermott has made some strategic errors. I think Tolbert has some positive qualities, and I don't mind him getting some carries in certain situations, but I think McDermott should make use of the other running backs on the roster too. Joe Banyard can do some things that Tolbert can't. Right now Banyard happens to be the fastest RB on the Bills roster and he hasn't had a carry all season after playing well in the preseason. Getting rid of Dareus is a questionable decision because it leaves Buffalo significantly undersized at the DT position in the present. However, I get that Dareus was an underachiever, and the Bills may be better off in the long run spending money somewhere else versus continuing to pay Marcel's big contract.

I won't disagree on Tyrod. I'm not in favor of deliberately tanking to try and draft high. The science of drafting a QB is too inexact. This coming April is a perfect case in point. Before the college season started, Sam Darnold was everybody's perfect QB prospect - now? Not so much. There are a bunch of college QBs who might be worthy of a first round pick. Besides Darnold, there is Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, Mason Rudolph, Baker Mayfield, Luke Falk and several others. None of them is perfect or even a clearly superior choice over the rest of the group. All have their faults, and all have played at least one bad game this season. Any of them could be successful in the NFL, or conversely bust. I think the Bills need to play their best throughout the season, and pick the guy they think has a chance to be the best among the ones which are still available when they pick, either with their own pick or the one they got in the KC trade.

I am generally an optimistic guy, but it's hard to be optimistic after a game like the Bills played today. Let me make a few general observations if you will, please. 1. I'll start by giving credit to the Saints. The Saints are a good team. They deserve some credit for the way they have played today. However, they are not so good that they should be able to hang the kind of drubbing they hung on the Bills today. 2. The Bills are hurting from the lack of beef they can put on the front four of their defensive line. Granted, Marcel Dareus has been wildly underperforming his contract, and it may be right in the long run to have dumped his salary in the trade with Jacksonville, but Adolphus Washington at 295 lbs is too light to play the run effectively as a one technique. The Saints offensive line pushed the Bills around today. 3. At the start of the season the Bills were doing an excellent job tackling. Now they are lousy at it. The Fox commentators to the time today to point out one play where Sharice Wright tried to run his shoulder into Mark Ingram to bring him down. Ingram blew by him for another 6-7 yards. That kind of stuff was happening all day. 4. It is fair to say that most of the time Tyrod takes pretty good care of the ball, but the reason the Bills have to look at replacing him (with a high draft pick if Peterman is not able to demonstrate the ability to start between now and the end of the season) are the plays he won't and can't make. In some ways, it looks as if he has regressed, (deep accuracy) and he's still not willing to trow his receivers open or trust them to make plays on 50/50 balls. It looks a lot to me like he is playing not to lose. He has become completely predictable on 3rd and long (which the Bills were in a lot today). He will complete a pass to the open guy underneath 5-6 yards short of the first down. That player is then tackled, giving Buffalo a 4th down. It happens over and over and over again. Enough venting for now I guess. Feel free to vent some too.

I am generally reluctant to rush to conclusions, but I think it's time to let Peterman start.

I think the ice is thinnest under McAdoo's feet.

I don't think the Bills are as bad as they looked on Thursday. I believe some of the improvements they have made this season are real. The results of the Saints game is really going to depend on which Buffalo team shows up. I believe that when the Bills play their best they can compete with anybody in the league. That means it largely depends on how focussed the Bills are in practice this coming week and then next Sunday.

Not that there isn't truth to what Rex Ryan said, but isn't that a little like the pot calling the kettle black?

Hughes didn't do the team any favors when he let his temper get the best of him, but the Bills were probably on the way to losing anyway. I'm sure he'll get a lecture from Sean McDermott, but I don't think his stupid act was any more costly to the Bills than a lot of other stuff that other Bills players either did or failed to do, like Nick O'Leary not being aware the play was still alive after making a first down catch and losing his balance.

The Jets have played well tonight and deserve to win. On the other hand, this might be the worst game the Bills have played in a couple years anyway. Everything they've been doing right thus far this season, they've done wrong tonight. Lots of penalties including wildly undisciplined ones, poor tackling, poor play calling, poor offensive and defensive line play, committing turnovers and failing to take advantage or opportunities for takeaways, not to mention some really creative stupidity (Nick O'Leary assuming the play was over because he lost his balance and went down without being touched leading to a forced fumble because he wasn't anticipating being tackled.) The only bright spot that I could see in the whole game is that Zay Jones appears to be losing his rookie jitters and is now catching everything that comes his way. I'll give Sean McDermott a mulligan for this game, but not the pressure is on him to get the team to do a quick turnaround and beat an opponent in ten days that is probably better than the Jets.

If you keep suggesting "trap game" until the Bills lose, then you can say, "Aha, I knew it."

What he may not understand is that it takes hard work to stay wanted.

Yeah, missing Luck just about guarantees a Buffalo win. Without Luck on the field, the Colts are a legit threat to get the first overall pick in the draft.

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Yeah, he could play, but don't expect a huge impact. He's not going to attract a double team as a decoy and I would be surprised if he's targeted more than a couple times. It's going to take a while to develop some chemistry with Tyrod. The Bills would be better off having Tyrod throw to receivers with whom he is familiar. That's not to say this trade could not be good for the Bills long term, I'm just not expecting a lot of instant payoff from it.

I'll be happy when there is no more Tom Brady in the NFL.

Not that I would wish injury on a player, but I have to say, what if Brady gets hurt? There is no other QB on New England's roster, not on the 53 man roster, not on the practice squad, not on their injured reserve. They will need to sign a free agent off the street. It would serve Belichick right for trading his backup QB.

Was Ed Hochuli phoning in calls from the Bills game?

I know players don't like Thursday night games because it cuts down on recovery time from the previous Sunday, and they really do need that. The reality though is that both teams are hampered by the short week, so it doesn't really give either team an advantage, and since this game is only a short distance from Buffalo, the flight and transportation issues should not amount to much of a headache for the Bills. The bottom line is that the Thursday night factor should not hurt the Bills all that much. The Bills need to concern themselves more with controlling McCown's passing. McCown has experience and some ability, and Buffalo has given up a lot of yards through the air lately. Gaines is still dealing with the hamstring. I hope he recovers for Thursday, but the short week does make that less likely. I suspect Poyer may be ready, and Elston showed he can play, so that is good. I think the Bills will win this, partly because they are far more comfortable with the offensive and defensive schemes now than they were in the first game of the season. The learning curve with new schemes can be an issue for a team in their first year of using it, but Buffalo is getting past that now. I don't think the Jets have a lot more they can throw at the Bills now than they did in week one. CBS and the NFL Network have been simulcasting Thursday Night football.

Too early to grade, but the draft looks promising. Obviously, the personnel staff of the Bills leading up to the draft (headed up by Whaley) deserve a lot of credit for setting up the draft board, but it doesn't look like a Whaley draft. It looks like a great deal of effort was made to draft players that were a scheme fit for what the Bills want to do. They want to play mostly zone coverage on defense. TreDavious White does not have an elite man coverage skill set. He's a zone cover guy who can play some man in a pinch. I don't think Whaley would have come up with that pick on his own. I think McDermott probably argued for the trade down. "We don't need Lattimore. White will work perfectly in this offense." Players like Milano and Villeho are McDermott type players, not Whaley players. Whaley gets credit for the homework, but I think McDermott gets credit from making the picks.

Two unnamed teams are specified in the article. I get that the OP put a question mark in the title, but whether or not Buffalo is one of the teams, I don't really expect that Johnson is going to change his mind about retirement. Call me when ther is real news.

In recent years, there always seemed to be games that we could absolutely expect a loss. I don't think there are any such games on the Bills schedule this year with the way Buffalo is playing. Conversely, there is no game ever that is "unlose-able." Even the Colts, if Andrew Luck somehow becomes healthy again, could be dangerous in December. That doesn't mean I'm predicting the Bills will win out, or lose out either. If forced to predict, it looks to me as if the Bills are likely to win another five games, which gives them a decent chance to make the playoffs. I think they could do better, but I am constrained by caution. I would not be shocked to see Buffalo beat the Patriots.

The Jets are playing better than predicted at the start of the season. So are the Bills. I think it can be argued that the Bills are surprising observers more on the upside than the Jets. The biggest change for the Bills is in the reduction of mistakes. Penalties are down, Buffalo players are holding on to the ball. That doesn't depend on the opponent either. It's true that the game is in New Jersey, and that makes it a little tougher than it would be at New Era Field, but there is no particular reason to think the Jets will win.

I think Buffalo got through this game without significant injuries. Poyer could be back Thursday, but Elston did a nice job in his absence. Buffalo should be in nice shape for the Jets game.

Quietly had himself a nice game. I think he caught every pass that came his way except one that was uncatchable. Actually he caught it out of bounds. He would have needed 6 foot arms to have it count.