[Does Schwartz stay if he's not the HC?]

I don't think the question was how likely it is that he will leave voluntarily. It was: how likely is it that the new HC keeps him? I hope they do!

[Something's about to happen]

Just hire Rex. He will be so pissed and we would never lose to the jets again. Plus he can actually scheme to beats the pats

Plus he knows how to drag a team down from playoff caliber into the muck in just a few years. But gosh, if we go 4-12 beating the Jets and Patriots it woud be so awesome!

 

Jets record w Rex (just say no): NYJ 2009 9 7 0 .563 2nd in AFC East 2 1 .667 Lost to the Indianapolis Colts in AFC Championship Game NYJ 2010 11 5 0 .688 2nd in AFC East 2 1 .667 Lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in AFC Championship Game NYJ 2011 8 8 0 .500 2nd in AFC East – – – – NYJ 2012 6 10 0 .375 3rd in AFC East – – – – NYJ 2013 8 8 0 .500 2nd in AFC East – – – – NYJ 2014 4 12 0 .250 4th in AFC East

[Marrone could be headed to Jets]

Can anyone guess the Jets first play next season ?

Punt?

[Doug Marrone opts out of contract]

Promote Swartz and hire a new OC and OL coach.

No. I love Schwartz as DC, but fear him as head coach. Detroit was getting worse with him.

[Doug Marrone opts out of contract]

Previously I said that Buffalo might not be attractive to HC candidates because we lack a proven QB.

 

But I've changed my mind. We're the only winning team to have a HC opening. That's gotta mean something.

Exactly:

Jets at 4-12 with uncertainty at QB

Bears at 5-11 with Cutler controversy that may have dragged down prior mgmt/coach

Falcons at 6-10 with no defense

 

Then there's that Bills at 9-7, with a great D, with the downside a QB need. I'd say we ought to look best!

[Can anyone believe another NFL team would want to hire Marrone]

Chicago may want him....he took the Bills to 9-7....and was 4-0 against the NFC North

Or maybe that was due to the Schwartz

 

I see BuffTex beat me to that thought +1 then...

[Orton Retires (per twitter)]

I appreciated having a 9-7 season and having a real late December shot at the playoffs for a change. Kyle was part of that and so I'll thank him (and the rest of the Bills). To all the Orton haters who are whooping it up, you've got to admit there's no guarantee we're going to be any better off with whomever is our starter next year. Of course we would all like a "franchise" top 10 QB, but the fact is the Bills are not in position to land one any time soon. We can speculate all day about EJ, or Cutler, or Bradford, or (fill in the blank), but there's no way to know any would pan out better behind this line. I'll hope for the best, but don't think this is a day to celebrate.

[Bills @ Pats - 2nd half thread]

Even though it was against some backups, it's still feels great to beat the Patriots, especially in Foxboro.

It feels a hell of a lot better than it would have to lose against their backups (cough cough Pittsburgh). But it just doesn't feel great to me. Still it's a W, I'll take it.

[North Korea 1 - Hollywood 0]

I tend to think the major theaters declined to show it not because of fear of terrorist attacks (and lawsuits if such happened), but rather because Christmas season is when they fill the theaters, and they were worried that if this movie was showing lot's of nervous moms and dads would simply say we're not going to see ANY movies at a theater that's showing The Interview. The almighty dollar speaks loudly. Don't believe the drivel that they had the safety of their employees and the American public in mind when they decided not to show it.

 

I commend Sony for getting it out on line today, and to those independent theaters brave enough to show it. Here in Atlanta the one theater showing it sold out all show times within minutes of becoming available on line yesterday.

 

I tend to think the major theaters declined to show it not because of fear of terrorist attacks (and lawsuits if such happened), but rather because Christmas season is when they fill the theaters, and they were worried that if this movie was showing lot's of nervous moms and dads would simply say we're not going to see ANY movies at a theater that's showing The Interview. The almighty dollar speaks loudly. Don't believe the drivel that they had the safety of their employees and the American public in mind when they decided not to show it.

 

I commend Sony for getting it out on line today, and to those independent theaters brave enough to show it. Here in Atlanta the one theater showing it sold out all show times within minutes of becoming available on line yesterday.

I just wanted to add I just posted my 500th post, and noticed that I advanced from Rookie to RFA. Cool, only took me 11 years - I'm moving up fast!

[NE and Buffalo Meaningless Again]

This game or any division rival game has never been meaningless , that would be like saying Yankees/ Red Sox or Cowboys/ Eagles are just a game, could give more examples, but I think you get the drift of this post

 

a rival is a rival, beating rival is the cherry on top

If we win, we may not be learning much because they really have no reason to try too hard, and we'll never know if that's why we won or not. If we lose, we can learn that we're still not good enough to beat the Pats, even when they have no real reason to win.

[Hard Knocks here we come?]

Just say no

No

[Is Peyton Manning quietly playing his last season?]

I think if they win the Super Bowl this year he will retire on a high note. But if they don't he'll come back as he seems driven to want to win another one.

[Marrone - "you're stuck with me"]

While the performance of the offense this year has been horrific often, I'd be surprised if Pegula blows it all up considering that the Bills have their best record in ten years. There have been some losses which really sting (ie Kansas City, Miami, Oakland, Denver), in which Marrone declined to go for 4th and 1s late. That's one part of Marrone's in game management which I question, but the Bills have also pulled out some of their best wins in a long time this season too. I'd say Marrone gets at least one more season as head coach, to see if he can get to 10 or more wins next year.

Do we know if those 4th down calls were Marrone's, or was it Hackett? If they were Marrone's, bad decisions - lack of guts. If instead he let Hackett make the call, the coach still gets some of the blame, as those kind of huge game changing decisions need to be made by him.

[The dual nature of being a Bills fan of my age]

I am actually getting worse as i age(52)...just the opposite as you LOL.This Simmons column spelled it out perfectly. http://espn.go.com/e...=simmons/020204

 

The fear(irrational as it may be) that I will be in the ground before this team wins a Championship makes every stupid decision, screwed up play, bad call etc just send me through the roof. I dont want no stinking continuity ...i want freaking wins against 2-12 teams!

 

I am getting to be that guy I said i would never be...the one that is no fun to watch a game with. That sucks

At 56, I'm conflicted. After 45 years cheering for this team, I too want a championship in my lifetime. I keep getting optimistic about us getting better, but then keep getting disappointed. Part of me says I've been foolish investing so much of my time and emotion in this. The other part can't stop watching, and hoping. Even during games I'm schizophrenic - euphoric with each great play, but spending much of my time braced for the next improbable disappointment. As Springsteen said in The River: "Is a dream a lie, that don't come true, or is it something worse?".

[I'll say one thing about Orton]

Wrong! Wrong! I have seen Big Ben shred defenses while playing behind offensive lines worse than this one. Same with Rivers. Yes, the line is putrid, but the main problem is the guy under center.

Rivers in the game last night just seemed to will the Chargers to a win, like no way he was going to stand for a loss. And that was after getting down by 21. He delivered with gutsy play (bulging disk to boot). I get the feeling with Orton it's just "oh well, we tried, and a few things didn't go our way".

[Punked by one of the worst teams in the NFL]

That good news is little consolation for me tonight unfortunately. But luckily I have 9 months to get over it.

Would it have felt better if we were instead knocked out by a blowout loss at NE? It sucks that it was Oakland, but the result is the same.

[Bills/Raiders second half game thread]

This team does not deserve the playoffs. If you can't play hard and beat Oakland, no need to even think about it. On to next year (sigh).

[Bills/Raiders second half game thread]

We beat the crap out of the Packers last week. Yet somehow, season on the line, we have absolutely no intensity in any phase of the game. This should have been a smackdown. Maroon must go, and he must go now.

It's just what I was worried about. Seems we thought we'd win by showing up.

[Chargers at 49ers Game Thread - 8:25 EST on NFLN and CBS]

Maybe you should go back out shopping

I was just about to say the same thing

[Chargers at 49ers Game Thread - 8:25 EST on NFLN and CBS]

Just got in from some Christmas shopping. 21-0, I'm loving me some San Fran

[Can we hold onto Schwartz for next year?]

I'm a bit concerned, but this has been a good situation for Schwartz, too. In his own best interest, he might just stick it out for another season and boost his value on the market even more after next season. He's has a load of talented players on his side of the ball and it would be great to see him stay on as DC. Salary caps don't apply to coaching staff to best of my knowledge, so having a committed and deep-pocketed owner is a good situation, as well.

If we make it to the playoffs and make some noise, I could potentially see some offers. But just because we had a decent defense and beat Green Bay does not mean the guy is going to be a hot HC prospect. I simply don't see him leaving until end of next year at the earliest. It would take a desperate team willing to take a chance that a good DC who inherited a very good defense would also make a good HC. For a team to be that desperate, they are probably not talent loaded, and thus would be more of a risk for his long term future. He cannot afford to be considered a failure at head coach again.

[Updated: The AFC Playoff Picture]

If we got to the game in NE at 9-6 with a need to win and chance to be in (with a bit of help), I think that would be awesome. I don't care how "unlikely" it is for us to win, it would effectively be a playoff game. It was also unlikely that we'd beat Green Bay. I think this particular team, with this defense, could show up in NE hungry and on fire. It's been freaking forever since the last game in the season meant anything!

[Describe our Defense in One Word]

Relentless(+1)

[Describe our Offense in One Word]

gudenuf2day

[Aarond Rodgers QBR: 34.3]

I've always loved a great defense and this year's is special. Awesome playoff atmosphere and the win was the sweetest in recent memory. Finally the defense had a chance to win the game outright - by virtue of protecting a lead - and they were up to the task big time! Hope we can hold onto these guys!