TigerJ

I don't expect it, but not only would the Bills get to .500, but the Chargers are the kind of team the Bills need to learn to beat. They have pretty much only lost to good and very good teams. They have a well rounded team with no serious weaknesses. If Buffalo beats SD in San Diego, there is not another team on their schedule that they absolutely can't beat. They will have confidence and momentum. That's a huge if they have to overcome though.

To play QB you have to have a short memory. Sounds like he qualifies.

The article says he'll be on crutches for a week. That sounds like any claims will be small. We're talking hundreds of dollars, not thousands, and we're certainly not talking the Barnes firm.

Cowherd is heavy into hyperbole. He makes outrageous statements to get attention. That puts him close to the edge. If you're constantly close to the edge, the risk of falling off is very real. It sounds like he fell off. The only question is, how far down is it. Too far and he's dead (figuratively speaking).

On one hand I believe the Bills and their fans need to act as if we are still in this thing until mathmaticly eliminated, or close to it. On the other hand, they have an almost impossible task remaining. The Chiefs are a good team. The Chargers are better than their record indicates, and the Carolina Panthers may end up in the Super Bowl. Those are Buffalo's next three opponents. If Buffalo only wins one of those three games, they have games at Miami. Miami isn't the bunch of patsies they were a year ago, and this one is in their territory. The second Patriots game isn't a gimme, and Denver has been very tough this season. Buffalo has five losses and needs to go 6-2 minimum the remainder of the season to have a chance at the playoffs. I just can't see them getting through the rest of the season without three or more losses.

I thought you were going to say the deer came back to life.

I think Holcomb will probably start the next two or three games, leaving JP with 5 or 6 more starts this season. Hopefully that will be enough to let JP start cooling, let the game start to slow down for him, and let the Bills begin to see whether or not they actually have something in JP. I have an idea they will sign another young QB (Rohan Davey?) to compete with JP next summer unless he shows tremendous improvement by the end of the season.

I agree. I don't think he'll be activated. He's supposed to be the best athlete among the Bills tight ends, but no way will he be able to go full tilt for a while. The injury brings him back to the pack as far as his athleticism is concerned untill he has a lot more time to make it stronger and get comfortable with running and cutting again. Then there is the issue of his preparedness for the NFL. He was one of the least polished tight ends in the draft having had limited playing time in college (behind Kellen Winslow Jr. most of his college career). He may have been studying the Bills playbook during his recuperations, but I have to believe there is a big difference between head knowledge and polishing technique through reps on the practice field. It's great that he's coming along well. It will get him on the practice field where he can get some much needed reps, but the Kevin Everett story is going to begin in 2006.

Right now Buffalo has an overpriced center in Trey Teague and an outrageously priced guard in Mike Williams. Teague will be gone after this season, I think. This is how the line may look next season: LT - Mike Gandy - cheap, but apparently very adequate and may get a bit better LG - Mike Williams - extremely expensive, but he could be dominant at the guard spot. I think the Bills will try to get him to make some accomodation to bring his cap numbers down. Center - Duke Preston - cheap, but he might be pretty good RG - Chris Villarrial - fairly priced, not cheap but not too expensive. He's starting to get long in the tooth but probably has a decent season or two left in him at least. RT - Jason Peters - bargain basement, but if Jim McNally is right in his assessment he could soon be the best lineman on the Bills. The only question is when will he decide he ought to be paid more and demand a new contract? Given that the Bills have inexpensive players at four of the five starting positions in that scenario, they can obviously afford Mike Williams' salary for the time being. The only question is how soon they will want to try and get him to accept a pay cut since his salary is out of line with that of even very good guards, and will Williams balk at that?

There could be a couple teams that might show interest, but I think any contract would have a relatively low base (for him) and lots of incentives. Teams know they have to protect themselves from TO's head.

Yeah, I think Davey is much more of a prospect than Boyd. He played an unconventional offence in college (strictly shotgun, I think) but I presume he played a more conventional offence in Europe.

Four of Greenbay's losses were by three points or less. I have not watched any of GB's games, but I know Favre has always been a bit unconventional. I know also that GB is considered to have a lousy defense. Their top two running backs are on IR. They are starting Rashard Lee. Remember him? The Bills cut him, keeping Lionel Gates who hasn't seen the field for a single play for the Bills. At WR they lost Javon Walker and rookie second round draft choice, Terrence Murphy, and oh yeah their offensive line is considered to be awful. What they have is a good TE in Bubba Franks and a good second receiver in Donald Driver. The trouble is even a suspect defense can take away two players, leaving Favre pretty much by himself. I am not surprised that he is struggling. At least one media guy was saying on the radio that he is still playing well and the NFL stats seem to bear that out. He's completing 66% of his passes, the highest of his career, and has 15 TD passes in 7 games. That's pretty good. The 13 ints. are understandable in a QB who's running for his life most of the time. I'd take him in place of Kelly Holcomb.

My finalists are Jennifer-Amherst, Melissa - West Seneca, Sara-Wilson, and Sarah-Lewiston. I suspect the last one looks better than her picture shows. She doesn't have the most complimentary hairdo. I hope Kerri from Elma has a wonderful personality. It's only fair that she should have something going for her.

Here's a story from Boyd's college career where he singlehandedly lost a game by telegraphing his pass (to normal QB Jared Lorenzen who had lined up as a WR) then throwing it directly to the DB. Let's just say he's not a threat to be starting any time soon.

Sounds like that Tory Woodbury who was with the Bills in preseason, except I think you mean Boyd, not Wyatt. Wyatt's the writer.

Then lost me at Holcomb.

Agreed, I saw nothing in that article that indicated Green would not start. The only way Collins starts is if something unforeseen happens between now and the start of the game tomorrow.

I'm certainly intrigued by Ngata, and was before I read this thread. He's strong, but that Terne Nandi as a 230 LB has a better bench press and squat. I'd like to see Ngata get stronger.

I think the cap hit the Bills take for cutting Williams would be intolerable. My line in 2006 would be LT - Peters, LG - Gandy, C - Preston, RG Villarial, RT - Williams. It hink the Bills can get rid of Teague next season. I would keep Beefy Anderson as my guard backup. Geisinger may be a seviceable backup by next year, though he was very disappointing in training camp this year. They may need to find backups for center and tackle.

Since the spelling and grammar jokes have just about been exhausted, I'll simply say the article echos my sentiments too.

It's true that even discounting phenoms like Ben Roethlisberger, other teams have gotten better performances out of young QBs like JP (Matt Schaub in relief, Kyle Orton and others, but I agree that it's way to early to label JP a bust. I think Houston would be better off investing in some quality offensive linemen. Joe Pendry is not exactly the best OC in the world either.

Except that coming back from an ACL injury he wouldn't have had his speed back for quite a while yet. He would have contributed next to nothing if Buffalo had tried to activate him this season. It would have been a waste of a roster space. Smart decision Mularkey.

If they are that big, they have to be giving up something, namely mobility. The obvious counter to their size is to run outside and use a lot of pulling linemen. Ted Washington will have a heart attack if he tries to chase Willis McGahee to the sideline on every play.

He's the short one, only 6'5"

It turns out his ankle sprain is a high ankle sprain, which is notoriously slow to heel. That's why it's been several weeks. Bills Daily says he's practiced this week. http://www.billsdaily.com/injury/