RJ (not THAT RJ)

Well said, jboyst62 [my quote function is on the fritz]. I think it is at least in part a result of the Internet's ability to produce the illusion of deeper knowledge, combined with a societal lack of patience. I certainly understand that fans want the players on their team to be the best, I know I do. And I also know that focusing dislike on a particular point can be intellectually and psychologically satisfying. I can't wait for the Bills to turn it around so people can focus on good things.

I am astonished at how every season the collective Id of TSW decides that one person sucks no matter what. It is usually based on a combination of draft position (especially if in TJ's case, there is someone that the Collective wishes had been drafted instead) and focus on bad plays, combined with a willful refusal to notice good ones (TJ did catch a nice bomb from Fitz [of all people!] against Jax last year]. It allows people to claim to be such experts that they can clearly identify one player's faults whether they are actually paying attention to the games or not, and there is usually no way for a player to overcome it. We should call it the Whitner Effect, though the historian in me thinks it can be traced back to the weirdly specific attacks on Glenn Parker twenty years ago orchestrated by Chuck Dickerson. Parker who was no star but a decent journeyman lineman, who ended up playing well for the Giants afterward. This is not to say that TJ is faultless, but the relentlessness of the negativity is remarkable. The weekly bashing of Hackett's play-calling is also worth mentioning here. The original impression is maintained and advanced by so many that it becomes immune to reexamination.

Football is so entrenched in American society any decline would take a long time to be felt, but there is a parallel here, and it is boxing. Boxing was once the biggest sport in the USA, with huge events on free TV/Radio and huge gates. Over time the promoters discovered the joys of PPV, and various slices of the population turned away from the sport's brutality and its obvious health risks. Now boxing still exists, but it is a niche sport drawing its competitors from the ranks of the poor and disadvantaged who have little to lose.

I sure hope EJ plays, both for the Bills' sake and because he is the backup to Aaron Rodgers on my fantasy team….

I thought that every home team takes the press box side of the field.

Lazy referee was too busy backpedaling to pay attention… reacted late to the play. Not impressive.

That was epically incompetent officiating. Wow.

Man, I remember when Tatum hit Sammy White in the Super Bowl…. Of course, all that celebration of Tatum's hard hitting tactfully avoided mention of Darryl Stingley.

"no flag thrown whatsoever…" Wow. And I liked Joe Greene.

Amen, Eball!

you can't listen to the game through the WGR app, but can through WGR550.com

Recent reports also indicate that upstanding citizen and locker room asset Richie Incognito was a key player in the harassment….

what game got bumped?

Johnny Football is going to be Johnny Jaguar….

O. M. G.

I remember when I was teaching at Furman in SC, Billy Shaw (who lived not far off) came to talk to the FCA chapter. What a genuinely nice Christian gentleman he was. After the presentation, I had a chance to chat with him and ask him to sign my Bills sweatshirt (he had just gotten into the HOF). I asked him about Kemp and Lamonica, and he had good things to say about them both, only adding, "Daryle was a little wild back then, not as mature as Jack. He needed a change of scenery to settle down."

It's getting almost as old as people wishing away EJ halfway through his rookie season....

What went wrong with James Harris? Lou Saban.

Golly, that game was almost as bad as next week's Seahawks-Rams tilt is gonna be!

Some things are true even if Dick Jauron says them.

I understand the complaints about the goal-line playcalling... but ask all to remember that in CLE that heavy set led to two easy TDs from the one. Coaches are, for better or (in this case) worse influenced heavily by recent history. Would not be surprised if next time they go wide on the goal line. And if they fail, people will talk about how the obviously should have gone heavy....

"Run more screens! Why won't Hackett run more screens!!!!" "Running a screen is a terrible idea... terrible...!" Choose one. Or, if you want to criticize the Bills coaching, choose both. A screen can be smart against an aggressive D... in that case, it did not work out well. That happens, because the other team is playing hard too.

It's not that hard at all, though you can choose to look at it any way you like. They have not played the Dolphins yet. That makes it, by definition, too early to claim they are 2-5 and 0-3 in the division. The Dolphins are solid this year, but are not the 1972 version of their team. This Bills team has a lot of talent and potential, and has been in every game this year. If they can pull it together, they can certainly win in Miami. If they do, the season can turn around. That is an example of the use of the subjunctive in the service of positive thinking.

Thanks to the mods for continuing the search for ways to make the threads coherent and manageable.

Even as a Fitz fan (I have his jersey!), I am afraid one can find examples where poor play down the stretch led to lost leads. In 2011, Bills were leading the Giants... Fitz throws an INT on an underthrown bomb, Giants march to winning score. In 2012, the Tennessee Game was already mentioned. One could argue that the offense's poor performance against St. Louis left the door open for their comeback as well.