MadBuffaloDisease

It's a shame for N'Awlins, but it was probably coming anyway.

Makes sense. The Saints weren't long for N'Awlins BEFORE Katrina struck, and there's no way they're going back now. Might as well tell Benson to get ready to move to LA and finally fill that market. Then Benson can complain and move from LA when ticket and merchandise sales suck, and after all the hounding he gets from Al Davis because it's infringing on his territory.

...or Troy, or especially Lawyer. I say a season-ending injury for Moss if he's dumb enough to suit-up today.

Got tomorrow's powerball numbers?

WTF? I was following the game on GameCenter on NFL.com, and they played that Brady-Pats' O-line "figurative metaphor" commercial in the place where the field is. When did they start doing that?

That Wes Welker kid was a find for them.

Yeah, he's not eligible. I think they'll offer him a spot as #3 if he gives up the goods on the Pats.

Bledsoe is obviously on the downside of his career and has been for a few years. We're talking 2005, but I was talking about 4 years earlier, i.e. 2001. Brady is obviously is in his prime. My point in talking about the Steelers AFCCG is that it was a big game, on the road, against one of the top defenses in the NFL, and still Bledsoe was able to not lose the game, and actually help win it by a TD, thus proving the Pats could win without Brady. And that was coming off the bench a little before the half, and after a 4 month layoff recovering from his injury. With a week to prepare to face the Rams, a team with a weaker defense and on a neutral field, I have little doubt he could have won that game. Maybe not the other SB's, but again, he was on the downside of his career. Maybe back in the mid-90's he could have, and maybe if his defense in the Packers SB could have mustered 3 turnovers, which is what the Pats defense has averaged in their 3 SB wins under Brady, that might have been a win as well.

Usually I agree with you 100% Lori, but I think you're WAY off on this one. Ha ha! Just kidding.

It's "pinned topics..." I missed it myself.

Roscoe has officially been cleared to play by team doctors. Whether he plays however, will be a gametime decision. I say, just win, baby! http://billsdaily.com/news/index.shtml#102105

You just HAD to go there, didn't you?! I don't remember, but could Bucky catch the football in practice?

Technically they lost to the Raiders, so that's not correct.

I don't think it will look too different from when the Dolphins played the Bills.

Well I WAS hoping someone could expain to me how Bledsoe could, according to some, play so crappy in that Pgh AFCCG in 2001 yet STILL not lose the game for the Pats, and what exactly happened in 2002 to cause the Pats to miss the playoffs despite returning their SB team totally intact, but I guess it won't be happening. So yeah, we CAN let this thread die.

I think it will go down after the Bills thrash the Raiders and the Pats don't get back as many players as they hoped.

Or win.

Thanks. Ah...closure.

No that is NOT what I'm saying, but it's not surprising that that's the only thing you gleaned from it.

Sorry, my bad.

But what about Peters?

So you're saying that Brady becoming the starter made the defense and ST's into elite units? Is there any coincidence that once Bledsoe went down, the Pats started to feature Antowain and the run? Or how about the fact that an offense with 6 new starters needs time to jell? What about Brady throwing twice as many INT's as TD's over his last 8 games? Or what about that pesky Steelers' AFCCG (Or the 2002 season)? Suffice it to say HD, it wasn't Brady taking over that suddenly made the Pats a good team and it wasn't like they couldn't win without him.

I agree. I thought they should have IR'd him from the beginning. But putting him on IR gave me hope that he could return. I just thought we'd read a piece on him by now.

They went 5-11 in 2000, Belichick and co.'s first year. Then after that season, they added a spitload of players through the draft and FA so that their team in 2001 had 50% new starters. IOW they basically replaced half the starters, so the team in 2001 wasn't even close to the one in 2000. Then to open the 2001 season, they played the mighty Bengals and the defense gave up 23 points, and Bledsoe didn't have a single turnover and led them to 17 points. You'd think the defense would have played better against an offense as woeful (at the time) as the Bengals, but no. The following week the defense held the Jets to 6 points and the Pats ended up losing 9-6, with Bledsoe admittedly playing lousy, but I remember a certain game in Buffalo to start the 2003 season, so that really can't be held against Bledsoe since divisional games are always tough. And then in Brady's first game as a starter (against the Colts, the 3rd game of the season), his stats and QB rating were worse than Bledsoe's in the season opener, but the difference is that the defense shut down the Colts' high-powered offense and gave the Pats' offense numerous scoring chances. The biggest difference is that the team woke-up and realized that they as a group had to pull their weight without the "franchise" playing anymore. They also dumbed-down the playbook and decided to run the ball more. And later on in the season, as I've pointed-out, Bledsoe came off the bench cold and rusty from month of inactivity and led the team to a win over the Steelers, to propel them to their 1st SB. I have no doubt he could have beaten the Rams in the SB the following week, given his performance against a better defense in their house (the Steelers), versus the Rams' weaker defense on a neutral field. He might not have won the other SB's, because he's on the downside of his career, unlike Brady. Maybe back in the mid 90's he could have, but he never had a defense or ST's as good as Brady has had back then.

Yeah, I know. Same here. But the Raiders are NOT the Steelers, and they were a bad team BEFORE Moss got hurt. In their lone win (against the Cowboys), Moss had over 120 yards receiving, and Jordan had over 100 yards rushing. Take away Moss and they have nothing. And their defense is bad.