BuffaloWings

I think everyone's being a bit harsh here... It's called being a spoiler for a team that needs to win to make the playoffs. The Jets are a division rival, who fired your coach a year ago. At least there's something to play for. For those who don't think Boobie Dixon is a leader, you might want to pay attention. At least someone is speaking up and trying to motivate the fans. This alone would impress me if I was a coach.

I don't know when we'll find out, but if the Vikings hold on, I'll guarantee the Minn @ Green Bay game will be the Sunday night game.

I hate these arguments - we don't know for sure if Beckham would've still been available and even if we did grab him, he'd be in the same situation Sammy is now. Sammy was pretty highly regarded and has shown his talent. My big issue with all of this is that if Whaley & company knew what Rex wanted to do (ground and pound, play his style of defense, and change everything), then why did they hire him?

Bill, I'll miss your posts after the season is over, even from games like these. Merry Christmas to you, as well! At 21-0, I was calling for team security (if they exist) to not let Rex back on the plane to Buffalo. Whatever the issue is - Rex forcing his scheme on players not fit for it, players still ticked off that Jim Schwartz is not coaching them, or Rex's lack of discipline - someone has to take the fall for it. After all the hype from January to September, we were sold a lemon. This season was a big-time failure. I will never quit on the Bills, but I'll enjoy rooting for teams like Green Bay, Carolina, & Arizona and rooting against Pittsburgh & New England.

I never said I wanted to keep Rex - I just said (implied) that he won't be fired. It's also not fair to *any* coach to dump him after one year, unless there's a specific reason that is making the situation between him and the players so bad that it's not worth it to keep him around.

Rex isn't going anywhere and neither is Dennis Thurman. Unless there's some extraneous info showing how he's divided the locker room to the point of a mutiny, then Rex deserves to at least finish his contract to bring us a playoff team. I also expected a better result, but it's clear that you can't force your players to play a system that doesn't take advantages of their strengths.

This is the biggest problem, if you ask me. Good coordinators build a system around their players' talents, not force a player into their system. If Rex is going to succeed, he needs to get the right guys for his system. He can't force his system on the guys who don't have the skills to do what he wants them to do.

I wouldn't say that...Fitz was actually productive. I will say that was a classic game by Fitz. Gutsy performance, but still couldn't quite get the win.

I'm color blind, so I had a bad feeling I'd have a headache by the end of the first quarter. It really wasn't THAT bad, but this wasn't worth the effort. It's all a marketing/money scheme by the NFL, anyway. That said, if they had a red Tyrod jersey in the Bills store last week, I would've picked one up. I'm not sure if Gailey called this, but the Fitz 3rd down run set up a manageable 4th down. It looked like one of those things where Fitz saw the middle wide open and just took what he could get out of it.

As much as we all know Fitz and how he is, I don't like this argument. We MUST get more pressure on the QB or we're going to keep getting burned. Give Tom Brady more than 2 seconds and he'll chew up our defense again.

It all depends on the defense - they still give up too many yards and become a bend-but-don't-break defense. If they can't get pressure on Fitz, I think they're in trouble. The offense will be interesting...I don't know what to expect in the passing game, since they'll bottle up Sammy and we'll have to rely on Woods, Clay, & Hogan. The Jets will figure out a way to keep Tyrod in the pocket and not get loose, so the running game has to be effective and the receivers have to get open. Perhaps a lot of short WC-style passes?

Not sure if this was discussed already, but that's a tell-tale sign of players trying to be forced into a scheme instead of a scheme developed around your players' strengths. I hated how they'd have 7 guys on the line of scrimmage, then drop 3 or even 4 of them into coverage. Tannehill had all day to throw yesterday and it clearly bugged the H out of me.

I feel your pain. I lost Dez Bryant in Week 1, Sammy Watkins for half the season so far, & Matt Forte last week. Russell Wilson has underperformed, as did Tavon Austin & Michael Floyd for a while. Every time I drop a guy that sucks for me, they score TDs and get yards all over the place. I'm 1-7. I know how the Jets felt last year.

But isn't that only against New England? Seems like every time I see the Bengals with a prime time game, it's against the Patsies.

This. Wade has more than proven himself to be an excellent DC. He has never proven himself (in my mind) to be a good HC.

I still say that because they've been caught cheating and been continually accused of little things here and there to gain advantages, you can't help but wonder what are they doing now that is illegal. How are Gronkowski & Edelman open on every single play? When will they not be able to get away with the WR picks? How does Brady never get touched (either sacked or hit as he throws)? How do they keep making other elite teams look like Pop Warner teams? There are so many questions around this franchise that I can't yet call them the greatest franchise ever. Perhaps a dynasty since 2001, but even that is under scrutiny.

I just read through this entire thread and now I feel like crying.

Thank God for RedZone

I've said this a million times - you design a scheme (offensive or defensive) based on your players' strengths. When you force players to play a system, it rarely works.

My thoughts will be with him. He's well-respected by many (if not all) around here. Get well soon, Bill!

All I remember about Blake was that he was an average QB who threw rainbows for deep balls. Way too early to compare TT to anyone, but he does play like Russell Wilson in that he doesn't look to run first. He'll go through his progressions and then run - or run if the protection breaks down.

What you mean is that of the first FIVE games, the Bills face a team with 10-14 days off leading up to that. The thread title was a bit confusing. But here's a twist...the Bills play at New England in Week 11 on Monday night. In Week 10, they play the Jets in the Thursday night game. So, they'll have 10 days to prepare for the Patriots. I guess when you complain to the league about this, you get your wish.

I see baseball umpires as the most arrogant - as if the fans are there to watch them, not the game. I still think football officials miss more calls, but a lot of them are very subjective. You can make a case on almost every holding, pass interference, or roughing the QB penalties that they shouldn't have been called.

Couldn't another offensive player come by and knock one of the defenders down? He'd be trying to block for him, right? I said the same thing as Coastie - get out of bounds. They were down two scores and time was running out. I also appreciate the effort, but get down or get out of bounds. Did anyone else see a problem with their lack of urgency at the end? Just under two minutes to go, the offense was very lackadaisical and didn't seem to want to score. It was as if they had no idea how much time was left. I figured if they got a quick TD and still had a minute left, they could at least try an onsides kick.

I'd think the bank presidents making 6-figure salaries are exactly the type of guys who could be bought. Maybe even more so than the 9-to-5ers. I hope this isn't an excuse for yesterday's ugliness, but the penalties being called and not called have been more questionable over the past 5-6 years. It's either rigged or the officials are just incompetent.