Typical TBD Guy

Sure, it's very possible the Chiefs could finish 10-6 and get a Wild Card. But the Jags, Bengals, and Steelers each have a great shot of finishing no less than 11-5 this year.

Welcome. I don't agree with what I highlighted of your post. Scroll down to my final post HERE for a brief explanation of the current AFC wild card climate. The Chiefs have a very tough schedule, so your team's only realistic chance is to win most of your remaining division games and hope that the Broncos do their annual second half slide. This upcoming Bills game, as well as your Houston away game, are the only freebies for your Chiefs. If you guys run Holmes/Johnson for 70% of your plays, you will have the Bills game wrapped up by the early 3rd quarter. Don't worry about your pass defense. As you already mentioned, Holcomb can't challenge them. And if JP Losman ends up starting, even better for ya. See you around. Peace.

NFL = WWF. A very small, perverse part of me wants to see the Bills get it over with and finally relocate to LA so I can stop forcing myself to watch this sham league. Anyone still think the officials weren't paid to help the Pats out in the final minutes? Normally I'm not one of those wacko conspiracy theorists, but well, maybe now I am. !@#$ing joke this is.

What's the deal with the Ross Tucker problem? That's the first I ever heard of that. Good article, though. Tom Donahoe should be fired in January if we don't make the playoffs, especially if KH is starting for most of the second half of the season.

Did you mean to spell it 'Ben Sobruschi'...? You know, the guy who had been on college IR for 2 years and now pro IR for 3 straight years but who is on the brink of making a huge comeback in 2006??? Can you just hear the Nickelback song playing in the background right now? I can. Oh, BTW you left out Jamie Nails, Marcus Spriggs, Corey Louchiey, Robert Hicks, and of course, Mike Rockwood. What gives, man?

BUMP, with note that this thread doesn't die until I've crunched all the numbers and realize that the Bills are mathematically out of the playoffs. Playoff standings after 8 weeks (w/ official playoff tiebreakers in effect): DL1. Colts: 7-0 DL2. Broncos: 6-2 DL3. Bengals: 6-2 DL4. Patriots: 4-3 WC1: Steelers: 5-2 WC2: Jaguars: 4-3 7. Chiefs: 4-3 8. Chargers: 4-4 9. Raiders: 3-4 10. Dolphins: 3-4 11. Bills: 3-5 12. Ravens: 2-5 13. Jets: 2-5 14. Browns: 2-5 15. Titans: 2-6 16. Texans: 1-6 AFCE division title race note: Division tiebreakers go to common opponent record right after head-to-head record and then division record. So even if the Pats lose to the Colts Monday night, we still would need 1 more Pats loss before we can control our own destiny for the division title. Wild card race analysis: The Jags, Bengals, and Steelers all have pretty easy schedules (ridiculously easy in the case of the Jags) from here on out. So it's not unreasonable to suggest that not only will both wild card spots go to the AFC South and North, but that 10-6 may not be good enough to secure either wild card spot this season. Bad news for the AFC West teams who will be beating each other up, as well as our beloved Bills who are unlikely to finish 8-0 Week 9 games and who to root for (assuming that you still want the Bills to compete for the playoffs, as opposed to starting JP sooner and getting his reps in): Sunday, 1pm games: Falcons over Dolphins (H) - division title race importance. Texans over Jags (H) - wild card race importance. Browns (H) over Titans - better 3rd round draft pick! Chargers over Jets (H) - division title race importance. Ravens (H) over Bengals - wild card race importance. Chiefs (H) over Raiders - I'd rather not play a desperate Chiefs team coming off 2 straight division losses. Sunday, 4pm game: Packers (H) over Steelers - wild card race importance. MNF: Colts over Patriots (H) - division title race importance. Enjoy your NFL weekend, everybody. At least the Bills can't spoil it with a loss!

Fair enough, but I won't be jumping on this bandwagon any earlier than the first half of next season. An injury that devastating takes more time than you are allowing...IMO.

You could look at it that way, but the reality is that the Celtics organization always remained the Celtics. The only thing that changed for the Celtics during the great Buffalo switcheroo was their owner. Same goes for the Buffalo Braves/SD/LA Clippers. Whatever. Why am I even talking about the NBA? The NBA = RJ!!!!

Great post, but I have one big problem with it. Your assumption that McGahee is more of a Bam Morris type than a Tomlinson/Alexander type is unfair. Unlike the other top 5 NFL RB's, McGahee had to come back from one of the worst knee injuries in college football history (if not the worst). Give the man a little more time to recover before downplaying his ability. McGahee looked to be every bit as good as the elite NFL RB's before that injury - speed, power, pass-catching ability, everything. Oh yeah, and don't forget that all the other top 5 NFL RB's (LT, Alexander, James, etc...) are several more seasons of pro experience ahead of McGahee, who himelf has yet to complete 1 full season as an NFL starter. Oh, and also you have to account for the Bills' crappy OL which you yourself acknowledged in one of your paragraphs.

I wouldn't be THAT harsh on the TE's. The OL is so bad that the TE's are often forced to stay in to block rather than become a factor in the passing game. A 'D' average would be more fair, with a 'C' grade in blocking but an 'F' in receiving. Also, I think you're being a little generous at LG, center and at both DE positions. Teague, Schobel and Kelsay/Denney all have been far too inconsistent to deserve your grades. I'd give all 3 positions (center, RDE, LDE) about a 'D+.' As for Bennie? Easily an 'F.' He is among the 3-5 worst starting LG's in the league. And finally, I'd give Mularkey a 'D+', both Gray/Clements a 'D-', and the GM (Teflon) an 'F'. Mularkey deserves the blame for having such a mentally soft team, Clements has had way too many Kevin Kill-drive scheming moments that hurt KH's chances as well as JP's development, and Gray can't make second half adjustments this year if his life depended on it. As for Teflon? Despite managing the salary cap well and despite all the "look-at-me" draft day shenanigans that actually brought in some very talented skill position players, his inept handling of the entire OL and DL after 5 years has been almost "Cleveland Browns bad." And the Gregg Williams decision was inexcusable (which alone set the franchise back another 2-3 years). I know I'm doing some major nitpicking here, but overall you did a very nice job of grading, Mr. Kzoo. - Mr. Gazoo

"Half man, half God, half...possible centaur, but either way, I wish he was my Dad!" "His communication skills...he can speak 38 different languages, and he told him that one in Arabic; told him to fair catch that."

I wouldn't get too worried about Evans just yet. He tends to run the deeper routes (you know, the ones beyond 10 yds) which Kelly's noodle arm can't reach. And during the first 4 games of the season, JP's crappiness gets the bulk of the blame for Lee's quietness. If/when JP gets better in the future, look for Lee's stats to improve. His run blocking, on the other hand, is legit cause for concern.

I still don't think Gandy is nearly as bad as Anderson and Teague. His skills seem better suited for G (IMO). Move him inside at LG, and he may prove competent. But yes, I agree he's not getting the job done at LT. Well he is at times, but that's because we've got a TE and FB helping him out... .

Teague didn't get the job done in the 4th quarter. McGahee needed some tough yards up the middle to sustain some drives, and Teague was too busy getting manhandled to help out. That 4th quarter performance last night was the epitome of the Trey Teague saga at C - inconsistent at the worst moments.

Who the !@#$ is citing that nonsense?

!@#$ Teague. Peters-Gandy-Preston-CV-MW

A. Teague will be a free agent this offseason, and I assume his replacement will be Duke Preston. Hopefully Duke can get more reps at C this year, but even with his limited performances at G this year, Duke looks to be a major upgrade over TT. B. Holcomb is a dime-a-dozen, noodle-armed NFL QB who will be easily replaceable. If it's not JP, then it can be any of the veteran QB journeymen who are annually re-circulated into the free agent pool. FYI, he's signed through the 2006 season. C. Posey sucks anyway. Easily replaceable through free agency or the draft. He has 1 year left on his contract. D. Shelton is a FB, and not an amazing one at that. Very capable replacements can be found in day 2 of the draft. But if you prefer experience, veteran free agent FB's are also pretty cheap. Even so, I'm not a big fan of the FB position and would prefer a third WR or second TE or even second RB on most plays, anyway. Also has 1 more year left with the Bills. E. The 6 other players mentioned who are worth anything are: Milloy, Vincent, Fletcher, Adams, Moulds, and Villarial. All 6 are under contract at least through next year, so we have at least 2 full offseasons to find their younger replacements. That's 2 drafts and 2 years of free agency to fill 6 starting positions. VERY doable, provided that Teflon Tom isn't the one doing it.

Why not try the 6-1?! RDE - Aaron Schobel RDT - Ryan Denney RNT - Tim Anderson LNT - Sam Adams LDT - Chris Kelsay LDE - Jeff Posey MLB - London Fletcher Better get your sprinting shoes on, London. It's gonna be a long day!

FYI, the Samoan War Chant requires the full capacity of your lungs.

I'd like to see them try Peters at Defensive Coordinator.

What's your point? Mine was that a Bills fan isn't being impatient or fickle by complaining about 5 to 6 straight years without playoffs. Do you disagree? If you want to consider breaking a playoff drought as making the playoffs two consecutive years - or winning a playoff game - then be my guest. So that would set the longest playoff drought in Bills history at 13. Now what? 13 is pretty bad, but 5 to 6 is pretty bad as well - particularly in the free agency/salary cap era where a GM has many more opportunities to build a winner quickly.

Great research, bills_fan! My only dissent is that your selection of games doesn't account for the times when our D got absolutely raped. If you - or anyone else - were to look at those games, my best guess is you'll find that the lack of consistent pass rush generated from Kelsay and Schobel puts way too much strain on the LB's and DB's, which causes the entire unit to collapse against the smarter/better offenses of the league who can pick up our blitz packages. So in other words, we may be more than just a run-stopping DT away from a top defense again. We may also need 1-2 solid pass-rushers at DE. And a healthy Spikes would definitely help. As would a replacement for Posey. And a younger safety tandem. Oh, and a more innovative DC wouldn't hurt, either .

We are rapidly approaching the longest playoff drought in the franchise's mostly dismal 46-year history (will be 6 straight non-playoff seasons if we don't make it this year; the record is 7 straight, from 1967-73). And yet you are characterizing many of us who are losing patience as "fickle?" Check this out, Bills GM's that I've ranked by regular season winning percentage: 1. Bill Polian: .622 (69-42) Seasons: 7 Seasons with playoffs: 5 Playoff record: 8-5 Accomplishments: 3 AFC championships, 4 division titles 2. Dick Gallagher: .602 (56-37-5) Seasons: 7 Seasons with playoffs: 4 Playoff Record: 2-2 Accomplishments: 2 AFL championships, 3 division titles 3. John Butler: .578 (74-54) Seasons: 8 Seasons with playoffs: 5 Playoff Record: 3-5 Accomplishments: 1 AFC championship, 2 division titles 4. Stew Barber: .561 (32-25) Seasons: 4 Seasons with playoffs: 2 Playoff record: 1-2 Accomplishments: 1 division title 5. Pat McGroder: .500 (8-8) Seasons: 1 Seasons with playoffs: 0 Playoff record: 0-0 Accomplishments: None 6. Teflon Tom Donahoe: .408 (29-42) Seasons: 4 plus this current one Seasons with playoffs: 0 Playoff record: 0-0 Accomplishments: None 7. Bob Lustig: .317 (53-114-3) Seasons: 12 Seasons with playoffs: 1 Playoff record: 0-1 Accomplishments: None 8. Terry Bledsoe: .125 (4-28) Seasons: 2 Seasons with playoffs: 0 Playoff record: 0-0 Accomplishments: None My conclusion? Pretty much the same that I had back in April: playoffs this year or the pink slip. Finding a new GM of the same caliber or better as Teflon Tom shouldn't take too long. Is Stew Barber still available?

This would be a HUUUUUUUUGE plus, if true. I'm bumping your question to see if more people will respond to it...

POST OF THE YEAR!!! It's why the OL and DL are the most important positions in football. Some teams already know this, and so for them it's only a matter of how to obtain these quality linemen - through great scouting, clever trades, thoughtful free agent pickups, and so forth. Other teams - like Teflon Tom's Bills - aren't even within the ballpark of recognizing how to build a great football team via the lines. What's most puzzling is that Tommy Boy actually did a pretty good job in drafting linemen while with the Steelers. So at some early point during his time with the Buffalo organization, he became all googly-eyed over the skill positions. Maybe Ralph has been interfering too much???? I don't know.