***PetrinoInAlbany***

What?!? You mean Aaron Schobel and Ron Edwards AREN'T superstars ?!?!?

Make that 26 carries! Are you kidding me? This kid is sure starting to look like the real deal ... Travis may never start again.

I can't think of anything that would improve the fans' moods more - if they somehow manage to lose to an 0-5 team at HOME - and it's the Dolphins, no less ... than getting hammered with ice-cold drizzle besides. If that happens, at least the sleet & rain will beat down the bonfires ...

If we can't beat an 0-5 team at home ... Well, then maybe they'll do what they do in the European pro soccer leagues, and "relegate" the Bills. In the Italian league - as in a lot of others - based on record, at the end of a season, the worst teams are "relegated" to the B league. Its like this ... they start the season with fourteen teams, but when the season ends, they take the 2-24 teams and say "Relegato! You are not good enough to be in the A league next year!" So the absolute worst teams have to play next season in the B league, and they move up the best teams from the B league into the majors ... Hey, I say ... If we can't beat the 0-5 Dolphins at HOME, then ... "RELEGATO!!!!!!!"

This morning, I went into BuffaloNews.com looking for hard news, but found a story that got to me. I loved what Troy Vincent had to say about forgiveness and welcoming people back who've made mistakes. Anyone else see the story? (It was the same article wherein I read that Moulds was OK with the Bobby Shaw move - or, at least, in his words - he "understands" it.)

This UB Bull (BA,'83, Communication) was wondering ... Any of you hear anything official or not on whether they pulled the plug on activating Haddad by today's 4 o'clock deadline? I've accepted the Shaw decision already, mostly because Moulds says he understands it ... and he's closer to the situation than any of us. Since Bobby Shaw's gone, I can now at least hope to get a chance at seeing a UB alum catch the winning TD in a 9-4 Bills win !!! Yes, that's 9-4 ... as in Miami's offense is SO bad that it will score against itself. We will do it twice.

- - MIKE IN SYRACUSE - ----- "We could trade Travis & Drew and secure a high draft choice! - -- COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - -----"You mean ... trade two players who are finished here, and get a draft selection in return?!? BRILLIANT!" - - MIKE IN SYRACUSE - ----- "Brilliant!" - - COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - ----- "BRILLIANT! Are you working on anything else? - -- MIKE IN SYRACUSE - - ----- "Well, you know how sometimes you spend a high draft choice on a player, and he turns into a useless load of driftwood, not worth the food he eats at camp? I've come up with a solution. You draft a skilled player!" - - COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - ----- "You mean ... with the selection, you select a player with talent?!? BRILLIANT! " - - MIKE IN SYRACUSE - - -----"Brilliant!" - - COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - ----- "BRILLIANT!"

Amen. Every time we give the kid a chance, we have had positive results. Even the incompletions at fifty yards put the "Oh, Jesus" thought into the DB's minds ... I love this guy, and I feel a little guilty now about thinking it was a questionable choice at the very first. I loved it when they lined him & Eric up as far apart across the field as they could. We're at least going to have SOME fun this season ...

- - MICKEY - "Turn Blesoe, Moulds and Evans loose, Not a power running team, accept it." - - COACING INNOVATOR 2 - "You mean, if you abandon a futile running attack and throw more passes, you create the possibility of more big plays?!? BRILLIANT!" - - MICKEY - "Brilliant!" - - COACING INNOVATOR 2 - "BRILLIANT!" - -

All right, I will. They gave up 13, 13, and 14 in the three games outside the Pats game. They kept all four games winnable until the 4th quarter. They are giving up points at a rate that puts them in the league's elite, and a rate which with EVERY team OTHER THAN THE BILLS, has produced a winning percentage of 82% ... The DEFENSE is NOT the problem.

Harriet, dear ... Don't say "Hummer" ... I haven't been with a woman in over a month. (*sigh*)

- -COACHING INNOVATOR 1 - "I've devised a way to put points on the scoreboard. It's called a 'touchdown' ... You merely place the ball in the end zone, and they put six points on the scoreboard." --COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - "You mean ... you put the ball into the end zone, and they give you six points? BRILLIANT! --COACHING INNOVATOR 1 - "Brilliant!" --COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - "BRILLIANT! Are you working on anything else?" --COACHING INNOVATOR 1 - "Well, you know how Drew is always getting slammed to the ground by opposing pass rushers? I've come up with an idea to stop that. You place blockers in the way of the opposing pass rushers! They impede the path to Drew, and he can throw the ball!" --COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - "You mean ... they actually block the path of the opposing pass rushers?!? BRILLIANT!!!" --COACHING INNOVATOR 1 - "Brilliant!" --COACHING INNOVATOR 2 - "BRILLIANT!"

---- WHAT?!?!? - - The Jags went 3-0 on last moment heroics, so apparently "stopping them" late in games was a bit tricky. We were trying to win while scoring ten points on offense... - - Oakland, bad team, period. So bad that St. Francis' offense would've scored 21 or 28 on them. We were trying to win while scoring ten points on offense ... - - New England, best team in NFL. We were trying to win while scoring ten points on offense ... - - I see a pattern. Do you?

I may be in the minority here, but I'm not backing down. An optimist, like me, might have looked at the schedule before opening day and reasonably said, "We will probably lose to the Pats, but we COULD be 3-1 after our first four!" Now, if I told that person that in the other three games, we'd hold our oppenents to 13, 13, and 14 points, even a PESSIMIST would have predicted a better record than 0-4. The D is playing well enough to produce a winning record. (See original post ... only a handful of teams are giving up as few POINTS as we are, and they're ALL in the league's undefeated or one-loss ranks.) The DEFENSE is fine... outstanding, actually. And the OFFENSE doesn't belong in the NFL.

Oh, God... Anyone want to try to imagine what the fans will be like this Sunday if we SOMEHOW hand the Dolphins their first win ... at home?!? I'm bringing flammable objects with me just in case I want to join in ...

"The same year [1879], a twenty-four year old Doug Flutie won his first MVP Award in the fledgeling Canadian Football League."

The University of Albany is scoring twenty-eight points a game... Their D is allowing only 16 a game, and they're rolling. I say let's adopt the Danes, BUT lets start slow so as not to shock anyone's system with our team scoring (yikes) TOUCHDOWNS ...

- - - Willis averaged five-plus-per-carry, and his run (on the shotgun/counter-sweep) on third and long was great. - - 1) Start him. 2) Hand him the ball twenty-five times a game. --- 3) Repeat steps one & two as needed ...

Did I say that we opened with punts on six CONSECUTIVE possessions? My bad ... we punted on our first SEVEN possessions. Yeah, the D's the problem ...

Again, the point is, they are holding opponents to 18 points a game. The question you should be asking is, "When has this OFFENSE done IT'S job?"

Again, I disagree... and it goes back to the point I was making in my original post. Would they have been "game winning scores" for the opponent if our OFFENSE was able to score more than ten points? Would our D "scare" more people if they could tee off once in a great while instead of having to play 'box' all the time because our offense punts on six CONSECUTIVE possessions? How many sacks does ANY defense get when the opponent is CONSTANTLY runing to protect a lead? I respectfully but STRONGLY DISAGREE. This D is among the best. At the end of the game, take a look at which defensive "stat" makes it to the scoreboard... it's POINTS. The teams giving up the same amount of scoring as our D are a combined 18-4. WE should be 3-1.

Disagree, also respectfully... The "bend but don't break" philosophy works for me, because it accounts for teams getting tough down close. The number that gets posted on the scoreboard is points, and if you are holding your opponents to 18 points-a-game, you better be winning games. And as for the Jets, it's true they "shot themselves in the foot," but the ref had their back with the ridiculous interference in the end zone. Our guy got his hand on the ball cleanly and had already looked back. That was a bad call ...

- - To date, the Bills defense is playing at a level that ... well ... check this out ... The Bills have given up 73 points in their four games, total. Let me put that in perspective: Only five teams in the NFL have allowed LESS. The Giants, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle and the Pats. So what? Well... the COMBINED RECORD of those five teams is ... 18-4 ! The comparison is almost head-to-head because three of them played only four games (like us) and THEY are a combined 10-2. We're wasting a superb defensive season. - - Is it just me, or did it infuriate you at SOME point yesterday when you realized you were making all your mid- and late-game assessments of our chances knowing that if the Jets scored 15 we couldn't win? To me, this is the most frustrating kind of season there is to be a part of. Your D is out there smothering opponents and keeping the games right there to take ... and we haven't taken one. - - Oh, and McGahee averaged five yards a tote, while Travis went 2.75-per ... I remember two weeks ago when Mularkey was saying that, at that time, they didn't want to give Willis more than 25% of the workload. Well, yesterday was two weeks after that. And the guy has to wait until Travis turns an ankle? Please.

Bledsoe has led his team to victory after trailing in the fourth quarter 18 times in the past 10 seasons -- tied with Denver's Jake Plummer for the most such wins. The top five "comeback QBs" since 1995 (starters whose teams trailed at any point in fourth quarter): Quarterback - Teams (1995-present) - Comeback Wins Drew Bledsoe - New England, Buffalo - 18 Jake Plummer - Arizona, Denver - 18 Peyton Manning - Indianapolis - 17 Vinny Testaverde - Cleveland, Baltimore, NY Jets, Dallas - 17 Kerry Collins - Carolina, New Orleans, NY Giants, Oakland - 15 NFL.com - Top QBs rise when going gets tough Lori, you just beat me to it. Great post.

Classic. Brutal, but classic. Rodney would love that one ...