Typical TBD Guy

Are you trying to argue that TD has done an adequate job of addressing the OL?

No, I believe Holcomb is only signed through the 2006 season (2-yr contract).

Another solid game for the Swordsmen! We're currently tied for first in the conference! And another solid game by Miller, too. Now if only we could figure out what to do with Biron or Noronen...

I see we also signed OL Marques Ogden to the PS. Any relation to OL Jonathan Ogden, by any chance......?????

CTM, is that quote for real? Wow. Really, just wow. On one side of the modern US political spectrum, we have the people who interpret the Bible literally. And then on the other, we have that radio station .

Read Post #24. Sorry for the confusion.

True. While we're 11th overall on D and 1st in pass D, we're 31st in run D . Also, we're 26th in 3rd down D

Your model of the football entertainment business is seriously flawed. Most fans desire more from their football product than the team simply going through the motions. Unless you're content with Ralph giving TD and MM life tenure, you must be no different. Not every fan is exactly the same, but the vast majority expect: A. Some reasonable attempt at fielding an entertaining (i.e., winning) product. B. Basic security for their family/friends when attending a game. C. Fundamental respect. Point C was the big issue in this thread. If you treat the fans and the messengers to the fans (media) like a bunch of mentally inferior lemmings long enough and consistently enough, maybe eventually the fans will stop offering their free time and money. Me personally? I'll continue supporting the Bills in Buffalo no matter how bad they are for how long or no matter how stevestojanny they think of me and treat me. But I do know that there are many others not as fanatical as me.

Regarding MM’s public relations issues, once more: Let me preface by saying that this isn’t – and never was - really a big deal to me. I care about winning first and foremost, with all this frivolous stuff coming last. So if MM wants to be secretive about injuries and who’s starting and such for strategic purposes, then I suppose that’s perfectly fine with me (although I wish he’d reveal more to us about CV’s ongoing mystery injuries). But having said that, it would be nice if MM acted more professionally during these press conferences and less like an immature prick. While I agree that Jerry Stevestojan and his fellow sports media cronies are of tiny intellect and could be easily fired and replaced by most of the people who post here, it’s not very adult-like to be condescendingly sarcastic and short in temper with other adults. I know this is the norm here at TBD, but you can’t get away with that type of behavior in the “real world” unless you’re a man of great genius or leadership. So far MM has shown to be neither, so in the meantime – for MM’s sake (and I really do want him to work out here in Buffalo) – he’d be wise to take the higher road during his media interactions. Regarding the injuries, once more: I can’t think of a Bills injury list worse than our present one since the last quarter of the 2000 season. But then again, my brain has purposefully tried to black out most of the past 5 years of Buffalo Bills history, so I could very well be wrong here. I know in 2001 we lost Cowart very early. I don’t remember 2002 being bad. We lost EM to a hammy in 2003, and as has been already noted we had the Vincent, Milloy, Campbell, and Euhus injuries at various times throughout 2004. Oh well, hopefully a few of you have more credible injury stats to add to this discussion. But just looking at the other total injury reports around the league (injury report plus IR plus PUP), I’d have to say that we are easily among the 10 worst in terms of both pure numbers as well as severity of particular players lost.

. OK, well on the first subject, I think this is a bad idea of MM's to not publicly declare the starting QB. MM is already on the hot seat with the fans and media, and this only aggravates them more. The media affects the fans' perceptions to a degree, and the fans are the ones who buy the tickets and make the home field advantage an advantage. And speaking of "advantages," there isn't really any in terms of keeping opposing D's guessing on what our QB will do on offense. Take McGahee out of the game, and our O is finished no matter who is QB'ing them. Neither QB can hit the long ball, so the opposing game plan remains focused on beating our crappy OL with the front 4 DL while containing the first 10 yds with the back 7 LB's and DB's. On the second subject of injuries, I guess you could say that this Bills team may not be quite as bad as they're playing since they've had an unusual number of injuries after only Week 5. I'm certainly no TD apologist - and neither are you- but facts should not be ignored, and the facts are that the OL, our Day 1 2005 picks, and some key components of our run-stopping D crew have been hit somewhat hard and early by the injury bug.

First things first, reports out today are that MM refuses to tell the media which QB will be starting against the Jets. The reasoning is that this will keep our opponent guessing on how to gameplan against us. And the inference was that we could expect this type of uncertainty for the next few weeks if not for most of the season. In my opinion (which is probably similar to most of yours), this is not much of an advantage because, A. We're not talking about Kemp vs. Lamonica here. B. No QB, whatever his skills, could accomplish much behind this OL. C. Would any NFL team honestly expect us to start JP coming immediately off of a KH-led win, especially considering that the team is still mathematically in the center of a playoff race? Secondly, consider the team's current injury status: We have 5 guys on IR: LB Takeo Spikes OL Ben Sobieski OL Lawrence Smith WR LaDaris Vann LB Kellen Brantley 1 guy who is on his way to IR any time now: DT Ron Edwards 2 more on the PUP list: TE Kevin Everett CB Kevin Thomas 3 role players who have been on the injury report for at least most of the season: WR Roscoe Parrish TE Tim Euhus SS Coy Wire 2 key defensive starters who are playing in spite of nagging injuries: MLB London Fletcher SS Lawyer Milloy And 3 OL who may not be playing at full strength, if at all, this Sunday: LT Mike Gandy RG Chir Villarial RT Mike Williams Something to think about, is my point...

posts that go bump in the night...end of Week 5 update: DL1. Colts: 5-0 DL2. Broncos: 4-1 DL3. Bengals: 4-1 DL4. Patriots: 3-2 WC1. Steelers: 3-1 WC2. Jaguars: 3-2 7. Chiefs: 2-2 8. Dolphins: 2-2 9. Browns: 2-2 10. Bills: 2-3 11. Titans: 2-3 12. Chargers: 2-3 13. Jets: 2-3 14. Ravens: 1-3 15. Raiders: 1-3 16. Texans: 0-4 Playoff Race Analysis: If we take care of the Jets, we will be 2 favorable Week 6 outcomes from holding the AFCE division lead and 4 favorable Week 6 outcomes from holding the final wild-card spot. As for the other teams, I still can't imagine a postseason without the Colts, Pats, and Steelers. The Bengals are a bit overrated, but their remaining schedule virtually guarantees a wild-card spot. Some people like the Broncos, but I expect them to fall late in the season (like they normally do) once they have to start playing their division rivals on the road. I still like the Chiefs and Chargers, and so I think one of these two will be our main competitors for the final wild-card slot if we can't compete with the Pats for the division title. Browns and Dolphins will be good in the future, but not this season. As for the Jags, I have no idea. If they beat the Steelers this Sunday, I'll start giving them more respect. Week 6 games to watch and who to root for: Sunday, 1pm games: Bucs (H) over Dolphins Redskins over Chiefs (H) Ravens (H) over Browns Steelers (H) over Jaguars Sunday, 4pm games: Bills (H) over Jets...yes, it's obvious Broncos (H) over Patriots

About freaking time! Looks like the Sapester's return flight to Hawaii is going to be paid for by the NFL this season.

There are enough people and enough businesses in the greater WNY area to justify keeping the Bills in Buffalo for the post-Ralph era. Someone will step up to buy the Bills. It will probably be Tom Golisano and his family, or maybe some collection of joint owners. And wasn't the estate/death tax recently eliminated? If so, that should help out things even more. Either way, I can't imagine any city politician who would be willing to let the Bills excape on his/her watch. Let's stop worrying about the Bills moving and focus on the season instead.

Dear SoCal, Have some patience. We're only in year 5 of TD's masterful 12-year plan to make the playoffs. If you can't wait that long, then you're probably a fan of the Hot Pockets food variety. Sincerely, TBD faithful

! Ralph Wilson, is that you?

Or what about what I said? In post #13? How not signing Jennings to the type of contract he was going to get elsewhere was a no-brainer? Only a few franchises had GM's dumb enough to entertain JJ's particular demands in the offseason; the 49er's were one of them.

Link I copy and pasted all of his Bills comments here: Stats of the Week No. 7: Buffalo kicker Rian Lindell, who missed a key 45-yard field-goal attempt in the Bills-Saints game, has not hit a field goal from beyond 44 yards since November 2002. Stats of the Week No. 8: Buffalo has scored only 3 points in the second half all season. Why Are You Punting???????????: Trailing 16-7 with 4:21 remaining, Buffalo faced fourth-and-5 on its 35; in came the punting unit. Sure fourth-and-5 is a tough down, but you trail by two scores with the sun setting on the game: all New Orleans had to do was go three-and-out and the clock situation would become impossible. It took the Saints only four snaps to get past the point where they would have been had the Bills gone for it and missed anyway. Two weeks ago, the Bills trailing by 13 on the final play of the third quarter, coach Mike Mularkey ordered a punt from the opposition 39, signaling his players it was okay to quit on the game -- that the priority was containing the margin of defeat. Again this week Mularkey seemed more concerned with containing the margin of defeat, thus deflecting criticism from himself, then trying all-out to win. Tuesday Morning Quarterback asks: if Bill Belichick is trailing 16-7 with 4:21 remaining and facing fourth-and-5, is there even one chance in a million he sends in the punt unit? Worst Blocks: In my preseason preview, I noted Buffalo management's strange indifference to the team's need for offensive linemen. During the past five drafts, the Bills have invested eight No. 1 and No. 2 picks in the glamour positions of quarterback, running back and wide receiver; against only one first- or second-round pick invested in blockers. It's showing, as the Bills so far have a cover-your-eyes-awful offensive line. With the score close in Week 3, Buffalo failed to convert a fourth-quarter fourth-and-1 in opposition territory; the Bills offensive line got zero push. In a close game on Sunday, Buffalo failed to convert a fourth-quarter fourth-and-1 in opposition territory; five Saints hit the runner in the backfield! These were the decisive plays in Buffalo's past two losses, and on both the offensive line might as well have brought out pillows since it lay down on the field. To add insult to incompetency, on the snap before the failed fourth-and-1 against New Orleans, Buffalo failed on third-and-1 -- as the Bills offensive line got zero push. The Bills have only three touchdowns, and some blame the poor performance of new quarterback J.P. Losman. But pass-blocking is so consistently bad, Losman has to start scrambling on the count of "one thousand two." The Buffalo offensive line is going neck-and-neck with the Houston line for the dubious distinction of worst in the league -- but unlike the Texans, this season the Bills expected to go somewhere other than back to the drawing board.

You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding.

TD also made a statement early in the offseason about how starting JP would not be taking a step back for the team .

Shane Matthews never had "it" in him .

Teflon had all offseason to make a trade - or use free agency or the draft - to fill the hole at DT. Even if the trade rumors are true, it comes 4 weeks too late.

What are we? Snyder's Redskins?! Collecting plenty of good players isn't enough. There has to be some overall vision for the team. And TD doesn't have one. And back to the original subject of Jennings, you TD apologists are giving him way too much credit (nothing new here). Not matching the contract that the 49ers gave him was a no-brainer. What really would have impressed me would have been signing a better LT than Gandy, or trading for a better LT, or drafting one in 2005, or - God forbid - having a little foresight and obtaining our future LT in 2004 via free agency, trades, or the draft.

I'd expect something along these lines: 1. Colts: 14-2 2. Steelers:12-4 3. AFC West team: 11-5 4. AFC East team: 10-6 5. Bengals: 11-5 6. AFC West team: 10-6

But you're not being slammed for your criticism of the team; you're being slammed for the first paragraph of your original post where you clearly describe yourself as a bandwagoner.