ChasBB

Ah, but the sauce decision is to be made before approaching the drive-thru. In other words, DJ needs to have a situational chart on what to do in certain situations instead of the deer-in-the-headlights look.

You know, what it comes down to is wanting this for the City of Buffalo. I'll admit that I'm not really much of a football fan any longer. I used to be when I was younger, but I really don't follow the game all that closely now. In fact, pretty much all sports is just a passing form of entertainment (when I have the time). Unfortunately, the people of Buffalo have placed too much of their identity into their sports franchises -- primarily the Bills, but to a lesser degree, the Sabres. I want the Bills (and/or Sabres) to bring just ONE championship to the City of Buffalo. I just want that for the city. However, I think it is time for the city to find a new identity. Think about it -- it's quite sad for an entire community to identify itself by a f'ing sprots franchise. That's just pathetic. You have Lake Erie (fishing/ice fishing, water skiing, boating, swimming), the Niagara River, Niagara Falls, Canada, culture, history, art, rolling hills to the south (downhill skiing -- Holiday Valley & Kissing Bridge), cross-country skiing, beautiful farms & farm land), abundant fresh water supply (never have to worry about drought conditions like in the south), good people. Buffalo has a lot going for it. It's time Buffalo starts to promote these things because the Bills won't be around here forever. Ralph is a businessman and that's the bottom line. Ralph just won't pay for a front office and a coaching staff -- he just won't pay like other owners will. You get what you pay for. I don't know why. It makes no sense. You pay millions and millions for players (some pretty marginal at that), but you won't shell out another million or two for top-flight coaches and talent scouts? The commitment to winning starts at the very top of the organization and Ralph just is not committed to winning. He's content to just ride it out w/o bringing a championship to the City of Buffalo. The sooner everyone realizes this the better.

0-6 against the division. 'nuff said. Bye bye Dick.

I'm with you on this. Though I've never stated anything on this board about Johnson, I've just had a hunch that this guy was going to be something special. For starters, the "lights are on". You can tell the guy has intelligence. He has great height and very good physical skills. Why is it the average fan can recognize this, but it takes the coaching staff 14-15 games to figure out that he should be getting some playing time?

I pretty much agree, but I actually would REALLY like to see a victory over the Pats. Does it salvage the season? No. Does it give reason to expect more next season? Not necessarily. Does it about destroy the Pats playoff chances? YES -- ABSOLUTELY!!!! Go Bills.

That about sums it up. Playoffs or bust. There's no in-between. Nothing less than the playoffs will due. Any other outcome must be considered a failure.

So, is Jason Peters the next Reuben Brown? Does he just keep making the Pro Bowl on reputation? Actually, Peters DID have a decent season after his slow start, but given our offensive production, it's really hard to make a case for ANY of our offensive players to be selected.

A player who gives a damn. Give him a big raise. I like Reed and want him to remain a Buffalo Bill his entire career.

I agree. However, I don't know what you mean ay an "extra possession"? There is no extra possession. The only possession that is guaranteed by kicking off in the 1st half is getting the ball first in the 2nd half, but I wouldn't refer to it as an "extra" possession. In any event, it makes no sense to defer unless you've got the Steel Curtain defense out there or unless your defense it putting up more points than your offense. If that's not the case, then it is just plain stupid to defer. You are right -- it is not playing to win -- to pin the opponents backs to the wall early. It is playing with the expectation of failure. What a $%#&% loser Jauron is. The players can back him all they want, but it won't change the fans' opinion until they win football games. Great point you make about the kick return game -- if you've got a weapon like that you use it and you use it EARLY. With any luck, they won't be kicking the ball much during the game, so let your kick returner get one to start the game.

Ralph has never gotten it and he never will get it. He meddles when he shouldn't and vice-versa. He's about two years behind on acknowledging what the fans already know and always has been slow in recognizing problems. You can NEVER have success when you are slow to recognize problems. Being slow to react guarantees mediocrity year-after-year-after-year and mediocrity is EXACTLY what we've become accustomed to. I actually miss he days when we just plain sucked (2-14) because at least you KNEW something would change after such a year. Mediocrity is even worse. You never really get a top-5 draft pick unless you trade up. You never quite know where to pin the problem when there is mediocrity because you can look around and find just enough positives which serve only to cloud the real issues. Mediocrity sucks and so does Ralph. His final act will be to flip us the bird by not selling the team to a person or group with Buffalo's interest in mind. Well, on the upside, maybe the City of Buffalo will find an identity that doesn't involve its sports franchises after the Bills leave town. It's probably about time anyhow.

How can you be so confident about that? I'm just saying -- we were 4-0. Evans gets a HUGE deal, players start to think about their own situation -- it's just a big distraction -- takes the focus away from football and winning games -- now suddenly everyone is back thinking about their paychecks again when they should be thinking just about football. This stuff needs to be dealt with in the OFFSEASON. The season is for focusing on the opponent and winning games. They should have got Evans signed in August and be done with it. If Evans was reluctant to do a deal then you let him play out his contract. You don't distract your entire team in the middle of the season with this crap. I'm sticking to my guns on this one (but agree that there are other factors, too).

Isn't is curious that the Bills were 4-0 and the Evans signs a HUGE contract extension and we go 2-7?! Sure, the players all publicly said "he deserves it" and "good for him" and so on. However, I think maybe it was a distraction. I think it probably got several players thinking about their own contribution to the team and maybe many of them felt under-compensated after that contract. It's just human nature after all. You work just as hard as the guy next to you at work and he gets a big promotion and you don't -- those things don't sit well. It would have been good to get the deal with Evans done BEFORE the season started. I don't think it was helpful at all to get it done after 4 games into the season. Damn it, that's what the offseason is for -- you take care of that kind of stuff during the offseason and focus on winning football games during the season. I like Evans, but the guy will NEVER be a Randy Moss type of player. That contract was too big. The offense just didn't seem to function well after that contract -- guys just seemed to quit -- don't know exactly what it was, but SOMETHING changed in this team and the over-the-top contract awarded to Evans was the news of the day when things went south. Just trying to connect the dots here. Can never know for sure, but I think it was a fatal distraction to this team.

Go Miami. They went out and got a proven winner in the front office and a head coach that their team believes in and responds to -- a guy who doesn't pamper his players and actually demands that they (gasp) WORK HARD. Sure, Dick says his guys "work hard", but they are not TOUGH. The Dolphins are becoming a TOUGH team while the Bills don't even know what it means to play a physical game. Miami turned around from a 1-15 team to possibly a playoff team in a single season. They humiliated the Bills twice and took away our "home field advantage". They were losers who took the necessary steps to become winners. Go Fish. The Patriots will FOREVER be known as CHEATERS -- who can ever root for the Patriots?! The Jets just don't seem for real to me. If they make it they'll go down early. Other teams actually have knowledgeable football people making football decisions. We have a marketing guy making football decisions. There's something very, very wrong at One Bills Drive.

Let's start with one who has a pulse. That bar shouldn't be too hard to achieve. Once we establish that he has a pulse, let's find someone who is a motivator. I know, I've heard the BS before that these are professionals and if they need to be motivated, then they shouldn't be here -- blah, blah, blah. I don't buy it. Your HC needs to be a motivator. Guys just respond to that. Look at the Steelers. Look at the Falcons. Lou Saban was that sort of guy and he actually brought 2 championships to Buffalo! That's the kind of guy we need at HC. Ok, let's continue to raise the bar a bit higher -- let's find someone who doesn't defer the kickoff -- someone who wants to score early and put the opponent's backs to the wall right away. Let's find a guy who has intelligence -- knows when to challenge a call and when not to. Let's find a guy who tells it like it is -- someone who is not afraid to get in a player's face if he's not performing well -- someone who simply DEMANDS production and doesn't just ASK for it like Dick. If you don't produce, then you either sit out or get shown the door.

Anyone see the Pittsburgh coach getting into the celebration when the Steelers scored the go-ahead TD on a pick-6? THAT's what this team needs.

Hmmm, I remember a guy named Bill Polian who used to actually make trades on draft day to get the guy he wanted. Oh, wait, that would be proactive and aggressive -- can't have any of that stuff going on, can we?!!

I appreciate the link -- thanks. I was there, too.

What is Lindell's career long -- 45 yards?

I'd like to see a fight! Why not?! Maybe wake this team up. Just send in a scrub backup and have him punch Pennington in the solar plexus after the play is over.

I like it -- about the only way he'll get touched.

Yep, success starts at the very top -- with the owner. Only a new owner will inject life into this club, but unfortunately that new owner will likely not have allegiance to Buffalo.

Sounds worse than 50-50 with the crowd -- almost sounds like a Dolphin home game.

Any good reason for deferring? Maybe we should try to score first instead of playing from behind if the opponent scores on the first drive. Idiots

Oh, I watch the Bills. He's a weak kicker. He cost us the playoffs a few seasons back and has effectively removed us from the playoff race with his Monday night performance and he didn't help us against SF, either. He's not the answer at K

Well, Lindell is still on the roster, so no action taken. Winning coaches don't keep bad kickers on their rosters. They get sent packing.