Gray Beard

I find the rants to be entertaining. I like the rants with a "plan" much better than the "nothing changes as long as Ralph is the owner" type of rants. The "plans" are much more interesting, and occasionally somebody makes a good point or has a thought provoking idea.

What I don't like is that EJ seems to force his passes to SJ. It sometimes takes a few seconds for the juke moves to allow SJ to get open.I wonder... If EJ is waiting for the right moment to throw to SJ, then is he ignoring his other receivers? I am still hung up on the fact that EJ's best game in the past month was the game when SJ wasn't playing. Did that give him a different attitude which caused him to look to other guys to throw to?

I was a Fitz fan for a while, but he did not have a very good year last year. However, I always thought his quick release and a reasonable level of pocket awareness were assets. Unfortunately, his long wind-up, accuracy issues, and the lack of zip on his passes were weaknesses that made him unsuitable as a starting NFL QB. Not to mention his habit of end-of-game drive killing interceptions.

I had the game on in the background while I put up Christmas decorations and grilled some steaks. Sometimes I flipped stations to see what else was on. Having the game on in the background while I mostly do other things has been my standard procedure for the past few seasons. Wathcing them implode was a lttie painful. Even though I am trying to distance myself emotionally, I am concerned that they will once again become a joke and embarassment for the rest of the season.

The inconsistency of ref calls is pretty frustrating, But it's a different guy throwing the flag for pass interference downfield versus the guy who throws the flag for an illegal hit in the backfield, or decapitating a defenseless receiver on a crossing route. I think the individual refs have different tolerances for what is a penalty and what isn't, and that adds to the inconsistency.

I'm optimistic that a few high-profile draft picks and some free agent pick-ups will have most of us looking forward to next season.

I saw this on TV. The girl won big. She didn't try to throw it like a football, She used two hands and threw it more like a basketball. She made almost every shot.

I will be watching. There are still games against Miami and NE, which could be interesting. My hope is that the play calling gets more aggressive, the players who never get much playing time start to play more, and EJ starts to show some improvements in accuracy. And I hope nobody gets hurt. Maybe Easley, Summers, Gragg, etc. will show us what they can do. Or can't.

My son and I laughed for about an hour when we saw that commercial.

When that bomb was thrown on third and two (along the sidelines to a well covered receiver) I immediately gave up any hope that the Bills would win the game. Gailey used to make that call all the time. Fitz didn't have the arm strength or the accuracy, and EJ doesn't have the accuracy. As expected he threw it over everyone's head. What sort of cleverness do these play callers think they have when they call that play? I know the Bills aren't the only ones who do it, but I will never understand it.

They are now showing the movie that was in the listing for 4 o'clock, so maybe I will get the Bills game after all!

So according to the TV listings, in Utica the double header game is CBS, which shows AFC games. This game is on Fox since it is an NFC team visiting an AFC team (I think that's how it works). The end result: This game is not televised in the Utica area. Fox has us seeing Arizona at Philadelphia for the early game, and no late game. I hope that is a mistake in the listings, but this has happened before so I won't be surprised if it happens again.

Got it. Thanks.

I don't understand the third chart. The average value of passes 20+ yards downfield is 11.6. How can the average value be less than 20 if the passes must be 20+ yards downfield to be included in the data?

The shoutbox ain't the shoutbox unless CGF is there!

During the Pittsburgh game EJ seemed to force almost all of his throws to SJ13. With SJ13 not there, EJ spread the ball around much more. Coincidence?

I've often thought the same thing. A time out is 30 seconds. Challenge a play and you have several minutes before play starts again.

TJ Graham will be the most experienced WR on the field. I bet he gets 3 out of 4 passes that are thrown to a WR.

I have no problem giving EJ a Mulligan on that Pittsburgh game. I hope the "he's a rookie" and "he's only played in five games" and "he's not used to the weather" and "Rex knows defense" rationalizations aren't needed.

People have been asking why Lewis and Tuel seemed to get more chances to throw the ball around, but EJ seems to have the training wheels on. Maybe EJ is the one who is playing conservative and checking down. Maybe the play calls have been similar for all three QBs.

Bowling ball type back... Last year they had McIntyre and didn't use him. This year they have Summers and don't use him. Please, please, please Somebody explain this to me.

I wouldn't trade him. With some creative play calling he is still a weapon. However, a bigger workhorse back should be a priority. Fred is getting old and will retire within a year or two. There should be a big back who can move the pile a few yards every time. Choice is ok, but he is not going to move the pile. Summers is in the same category as Easley: Big, strong, seems like a useful weapon to have, but for some reason he is not used. Go figure.

During this game, I was starting to think that the Bills would have a better chance of scoring when their defense is on the field than when their offense is on the field.

It seemed like the running game with Fred was starting to work early in the second half, before the game got out of hand. If Fred was able to gain four or more yards pretty consistently, why not let him do it? Spiller was also starting to gain some yards on the sweeps, so why not let him do it? It seems as though they run when they should pass, and pass when they should run. The idea that you don't want to be predictable is getting predictable. IMHO, the offensive play calling was offensive. (I was going to say I was disappointed with the offensive offensive play calling, but that seemed like a confusing way to phrase my confusing thoughts.)

I was going to post the same thing. You beat me to it.