BuffOrange

I don't think Thad has been appreciably better but I do think nobody would know the difference if you put the same # & name on the jerseys. Considering Thad is not an experienced vet, that's a bad sign for EJ.

Look at the yardage totals. There's not nearly as much there as you'd expect for 40-50pt outputs. That's the Redskins Special Teams & Raiders being Raiders. @Indy should be interesting because the Colts stink too.

Yep just like we hated Josh Reed unfairly. Guys who can't play tend to get hate.

I guess I'm the only person who likes those two, but I do feel like they're mailing in the postgame this year. The locker room interviews which anyone can access anytime in 2013 if they really want to are a complete waste of time and take up like half the show. Goes against everything Schoop has always ranted about - "players/coaches don't ever say anything" - which I agree with. Bleh.

Yup. I almost drove off the road listening to Bill Simmons' podcast last week whining about the Panthers/Jets calls. Those calls are at worst, a wash with the Saints game and this one. Throw in the bizzare "illegal batting" among other calls that helped turn around their game vs Miami, and zero penalties @Cincy (in a losing effort) and they're probably about a 6.5 in benefitting from calls this year on a scale from 1-10. When you're so accustomed to 8s and 9s I guess that feels like getting hosed though.

I don't know which odds were better: that chickensh!t call being made or the Browns actually recovering the onside kick.

Correct - taking a touchback while obviously preferable to fumbling, would've given NE an extra 40 seconds. Running it out was the right move. The Eddie Robinson blunder was an embarrassing moment in a lopsided game and a rematch of the much more frustrating "the Chad Morton game" who obv. went on to have a nothing career.

I don't like the conspiracy theories partially because I don't believe in them and partially because it gives people an excuse to ridicule said conspiracy theorist & get on their high horse and brag about being above it all. I agree w/ whoever said officiating in the league sucks and always has. Pretty much why I never complained about the replacements last year. "Oh no they got a call wrong on Monday Night. the game's integrity is ruined!" Whatever, I didn't notice anything especially bad with the Bills games; maybe we were lucky? These regular clowns ruin games all the time and people will make excuses for them all day so they can say they're objective. Good for you I guess. If they called the wrong # on the McKelvin flag then who was it on and why couldn't we get a replay of the real foul - too much to ask?

I feel exactly the same about it as I did Thursday morning last week: Tampa is the toughest one by far leading up to NE. If you thought ATL & Miami were going to get crushed at home last week I don't know what to tell you.

I grew up there too & can confirm the bandwagony nature: lots of random Cowboys, 9ers, & even Dolphins fans. Like someone else mentioned I don't remember any Jet fans but they were always terrible then too. I don't know if they have more fans than the Giants or not. True test is who do they show when they're on the same time & station? If it's still like it used to be they don't bump either team from their "usual network", meaning they show the Giants if the Bills are hosting an NFC team on fox & vice versa.

All those flaws are valid but the rest of the AFC still blows donkey balls. Unless someone like Andy Dalton flips the "4game Flacco magic switch" the winner of the conference will be one of these flawed teams we saw to tonight.

Yah. I mean their bad luck w/ close games & injuries not withstanding, they weren't a SB favorite this preseason to anybody smart. They had the exact opposite luck last year (they were extremely lucky to not lose to Oakland at home and get swept by Carolina...KC I think scored more points on them in week 1 than they scored for the next month combined). And Steven Jackson is a RB with lots of miles so who cares. I'm not sure what you're hoping for if you're afraid of this game; can't play Jacksonville 5 times. Honestly the only game that worries me a bit before Foxboro is @Tampa. If we can't beat ATL or Jax or Miami at home I'll be resigned to the "we don't deserve it anyway" mindset.

My favorite post of the thread, with extra agreement bolded. There were definitely a lot of squares who put down some cash on NE on the basis of the "omg Brady is an underdog vs this Johnny come lately team?" thought process. Well Carolina has been a better team all year by most metrics so they really shouldn't have been laying any less than 3 at home. I'm not going to get in to the minutia of the play because frankly - whether Gronk could've gotten to the ball or not - nobody ever nitpicks whether or not a ball is catchable to the extent they're doing with this play when there is that much contact...it just draws a flag almost every time in the first 59 minutes. Oh well. Somebody mentioned the blatant hold that went uncalled in the Saints game. There was also the leg-whip that went uncalled in this game on NE's first TD drive, a plethora of favorable calls vs Miami that helped turn that game around for the Pats including a very bizzare "illegal batting" call, and 0 penalties @Cincinnati (a game which they didn't win anyway). I think when you weigh all of that vs. the quasi-hail marry in Carolina & the Jets FG, NE comes out about 'even' on the scale of officiating luck this year. Maybe that's not what they're used to, but there's not much injustice there even though the powers that be in Bristol, CT only ever mention the two calls that went against them.

That really is an abysmal list. Sorta makes me wish the Bills would switch conferences.

How many of those games were we favored in though? Probably just the one game we won. Miami might've been a pick 'em I guess. Good snapshot. That's a tough enough road for the Steelers that I'd want to rule them out too. Two likely losses @B'more & @GB (with Rodgers) and two coinflips @Cleveland & vs Cincy makes it very unlikely they win 5 of 6. Three games the Ravens should win and then three tough games...hopefully the Bengals are playing for something that last week. The Jets are set up to go to Miami 8-7 if they win those winable home games... It's actually possible an 8-8 team gets in on some crazy 4way tiebreaker. For the Bills I am confident about the ATL/Jax/Miami games. Tampa could be a tricky spot.

Not true. He had Flutie drop kicking extra points vs Miami. Nick Saban is his buddy though.

It's charming that "let me educate you on vegas" guy is dead wrong for the 873rd consecutive time. Dividing the body of bettors is not remotely close to the same as dividing the $.

I'm already in 2006 "please just launch it to Evans twice per qtr" territory with this guy. Part of that is still just not having a ton of faith in the "normal offense" but still... He's now done it with 3 different qb's vs 3 excellent defenses (Bengals/Chiefs/Jets) as a rookie? Ridiculous. Nice play by Graham but I still think he sucks.

Most teams with a good QB.

But only us & Denver score 20pts every wee.... Oh, that lame garbage stat is gone now because our defense is no longer getting 5 int's & scoring TD's? Nevermind.

Yup. It will also mark the 18th straight year without a franchise QB. Hey what a coincidence!

Ya, this game was embarrassing. The uber conservative punting was the one thing I hated about Marrone @Syracuse. I was hoping his relative youth and apparent openness to analytics might help him see the light (the 2pt conversion vs Carolina & the 4th downs vs Cincy was a good start) but I guess it is in fact more of the same. If I were on defense and had the ability to chose the other team's 3rd&Goal from the 1 plays, I would gleefuly sign for Fade, FG every time. And yet we actually chose to do this voluntarily as not even LeBeau has this magic genie power afaik.

This looks like a BuffaloBills.com press release. Or maybe EJ's agent. "24pts and driving for the lead" in Cleveland makes it sound like the injury was the only reason he didn't put up 30+. They had 17 & were driving when he got hurt; 3 of which were gift-wrapped on a turnover, and 7 on a 50yd Spiller run. Now that's maybe the last game I would criticize him for but as long as you're sticking your nose out about getting facts right, it might be a good idea to try that yourself. 10 for 24 vs B'more = "solid". Sure, thank heavens for a billion Flacco picks and well, playing like Flacco plays in the regular season. Of course he has shown flashes. Almost every QB in 2013 shows flashes. Has a played a really good game or not? He really hasn't. There is a lot of room between making an occasional play and "lighting the league on fire".

This guy is garbage.

1999 w/ Flutie? Johnathon Linton closed out the game grinding out 1st downs.