RuntheDamnBall

#30 NEVER FORGET

Randy Moss?

hey man, Larry Deans don't grow on trees.

It just seems like a marginal improvement at best, no? Couldn't Preston Brown fill that role? Powell? Searcy? I'll buy that the results have been better on ST, but it seems to me that they are better led with Graham and Dixon in the fold and this is a greater reason.

No, but is there not another guy on the active roster who could make the same contribution that Larry Dean is making, AND not cause them to sit a guy who has scored plenty of TDs and had 1000 yard seasons? It just seems like shooting yourself in the foot to not put the most talented players in the field. They can't lie and call it a "numbers" thing like they were a few weeks ago, either.

It's a good thing we didn't have any game-breaking special teams blunders yesterday.

What if it's a party at Prince's house?

Just because some dude from the Bible thinks this is true, doesn't make it true.

do they have a Moral Victory Bowl this year?

I forgot my calculator.

He's a beast. I am not worried about Terry being able to pay him. I am a little more worried about how much salary cap we can invest in the DL. The two aforementioned FAs will be due raises. Hughes will get paid. Dareus will get paid. Mario will still be getting paid. I expect Kyle to play until he can't, and that man definitely deserves some playoffs. I wonder if Mario would restructure for cap purposes, to ensure the other guys can stay...

Like clockwork!

Get real interested in all the hot stove action at baseball's Winter Meetings? Do actual work? See my family?

Right. And it certainly doesn't preclude the idea that the game could have been won with a better performance from Orton. It's just, don't look in his direction and say "if only," because you're basically asking for one of only 10 QBs in the league who could have guaranteed you a better performance. And even the good ones have some duds (just ask Peyton).

I'm with you on this. I don't think they called a horrible game, in the main, but when you add it up it seems like they just aren't playing their best cards when the situation calls for it. The fact that Sammy was contending with the groin injury should have really helped support this strategy. I also think that if we had a QB who was very mobile, it might allow for what Hackett was calling to work in the red zone. As it stands, they got nothing.

I'd love it. As I said, we need a 5-2 -- at minimum -- or 6-1 run, and those are rare around these parts. You're basically asking the Buffalo Bills to play the best football they have played in years, to have a string of 7 games that they haven't equalled since 2011, and to not wane at the end of the season.

Orton was not super but he had a few gimmes that were dropped, and no one is talking about his performance if Brown doesn't fumble.

Who cares, we have that position on lockdown for the next 40 years with Sanborn.

I guess, but Stanton is completing under 50% of his passes. He'll have to be better than that, even to ride an awesome D.

Arizona looks to have just gotten a lot more beatable, and their 8-1 is built on a house of cards. I would call that one a push.

To go 8-4 and then 11-5 means they need to go 3-0 for the rest of November, and 6-1 for the rest of the season (when is the last time the Bills have EVER put together a 6-1 stretch?). That seems very, very unlikely. 10-6 would in most seasons be a mark that every Bills fan should be ecstatic about, but that is still a major challenge to pull off, and an unsure path to the playoffs given how the Bills would have gotten there. I think more people are pencilling in the Green Bay game as a likelier win than at Denver or NE, but the fact is that winning against the AFC opponents is going to help them more than anything else. It needs to start with the Dolphins, and I really don't think their playoff hopes can stomach another AFC loss.

I hope so, and I expect it, too, to be frank. But I wish it would matter more, because this team has dug itself a HUGE hole in the AFC. It's to the point where I think we need to be as lucky against 2/3 of the Pats, Broncos and Packers, as we were unlucky against the Chiefs. So I'm saying there's a chance, but not one that any Bills fan should be putting money on regardless of the Miami outcome.

No doubt about this, but aren't they in a better position to execute if they don't play into the opponent's strengths? I can't and won't argue that we're talking about none of this without the fumbles. It still feels like the game could have been won despite them -- since they have in fact done that a couple of times this year. I do think it goes back to the idea that you can't expect to have that kind of fortune when you do turn the ball over. I'll say this, too, now that my rage has cooled -- if this win was seriously unlucky, the Detroit one now looks even more lucky to balance it out. The Bills have handed them one of their two losses, even if it was with a hobbled Megatron and some circus plays from our guys. It pains me to say this as a guy who rooted (and still does) for EJ, but that Houston game will probably be the one we rue even more than this one. This is a better football team than that one, even if JJ Watt is a man of many talents and steroids.

There are a few guys here who either play so well at times, or are so talented that they should be stars. But it's what they do at other times that seems to define them. I'm thinking of McKelvin in particular, and Scott Chandler as well, though they are very different players. McKelvin is just one of the most athletically gifted guys on the team -- and perhaps in the league, at his position. He does get victimized at CB at times, but other times he just holds terrific coverage, usually on his own. It's what he does with the ball in his hands that is especially frustrating, though. The fumble today was inexcusable, but he also just seems to lack awareness in certain game situations. If he had just called a fair catch right before the final possession, the Bills would have had time for 1-2 more plays. Chandler has the size and presence to be excellent at TE, but his hands absolutely leave something to be desired. He has at times this season shown flashes of being a great second-tier TE, but he is still good for a dumb penalty, a critical drop, or today, an inability to simply fall on the ball in the end zone and help protect the lead. Chandler is also frustrating because he represents the front office's general attitude toward a position that is defining the NFL right now. There are talented, unstoppable TEs out there tearing up the league. Our team won't draft one. Our TE can bail out the QB at times and can kill a drive at others. He is a mid-round castoff who is basically found money as a FA, considering his production. But he's also a signal of what we're not getting at the TE position. Who is your most frustrating player? And I don't mean guys that just suck (Lee Smith), or most guys who are on the bench right now (I think that EJ's frustrating play is a non-factor at present, and the team has recognized that it was, in fact, frustrating).

Maybe sense that your QB is having an off-day and call something different one of the four times? This happens all the time with RBs -- they aren't seeing the field well that day, or are fumbling, so their numbers aren't called as frequently. Maybe hoping that Orton was going to hit one against the league's premier pass defense wasn't the best idea. Look, you'll find no argument from me that there were myriad opportunities for the players to win this game. Bryce Brown in particular. I'm just terrifically disappointed that this team can't minimize mistakes. Individuals make those mistakes, of course, but good coaches also have a habit of reducing the frequency of them -- whether through personnel decisions, play calls, or what-have-you. It is a shame -- and I've said this often -- that McKelvin has multi-million-dollar natural gifts and a ten-cent head. He often keeps us in the game but costs us big time on more than a few occasions. I don't even know what a coach can do to get through to a player like this. I think you roll with him until you decide you've found someone more dependable. Bryce Brown has always had a known case of fumblitis, but I can buy that he was the best they had for his role, today. I still think Dixon was under-used.