BuffOrange

Ya no chance to win the first game all year to actually be favored in.

One thing to keep in mind is how weirdly consistent our schedule has been. Much like our running game has faced good Front 7's week after week (of course we weren't lucky enough to play the Pats/Bengals post Wilfork/Atkins injuries) we also have not played any real potent passing attacks outside of the Saints. So I think when you factor that in, along with getting lit up by Geno & Weeden for huge plays, along with playing well in other games despite numerous key injuries, along with benefiting from a pretty good pass-rush, the Secondary grades out to about average for me. But ya all the griping about lacking depth was never really fair. 5th string CB's aren't supposed to be good afaik. That Robey stat is interesting.

Bruce terrorized Young in that game iirc.

Smart fans haven't said that since 2004.

"Well the fans are boo'ing but [completion of process buzzwords, blah blah]". OK be more condescending Deirdorf, as if every red blooded football fan doesn't remember that Calvin Johnson play & the explanation. I would like to ask him if he remembers the Lance Moore 2pt conversion in the Super Bowl that same year, which was ruled a catch. I'm sure he doesn't. As mentioned above and by Marrone, it sure looked like he still had the ball after the first bounce off the turf, which in my book is "completing the proccess". But I guess it's sorta like holding - it's just insanely subjective even though the league will pretend otherwise. I mean does it actually say anywhere in the rule book exactly how long you need to hold the ball after hitting the ground? Did the Tuck rule ever specify how long you needed to complete the tucking motion before fumbling for the fumble to be negated? I mean sorry for the Mike Schopp rant but he's right that the sport is maddeningly stupid sometimes.

Insult to hot & cold players everywhere. Unless making one play vs the Bengals counts as occaionally hot. Guy is a dumpster fire.

I just can't get into college for the draft this year. QB are needs 1, 2, 3, and 4 and I don't have any confidence we're going to draft one.

Ha, I thought I was the only the one who remembered this. Ya still to my knowledge the only grounding call in NFL history for throwing at the crossbar.

Agree, but don't tell anyone who was associated w/ NE at the time. I heard Scott Pioli on Francesca a few weeks ago "clearing up the revisionist history"; condescendingly scoffing at other Front Office's who claimed they really liked him - basically saying "why didn't they pick him in the 4th or 5th round then"? Obviously begging the question, why didn't you, Scott? His excuse was the roster was depleted and they were sorely lacking depth so they took a nobody TE with one of their two 5th rounders. Ehh, whatever. Sorta similar to the 30 for 30 on the '83 draft, where every personnel guy interviewed swore they had Marino as the #2 QB on their board. Funny how a lot of real life GM's are like warped fans (and politicians) in that regard - they're just always right, and everything that went wrong was someone else's fault.

Agree w/ Matt. Would probably be worth it if Cameron is stuck on your bench, but not when he's your best option @flex; which I think he will usually be. All 3 RB's are ideally matchup plays and not every week starts.

That's a shame. I'd like to hire whoever has been spiking Ron Rivera's drinks the last few weeks.

That's all true - is anyone arguing that? Benefitting from a nice schedule and no good QBs in their division isn't the most ringing endorsement. They haven't had those injuries on D all year - if they did they'd probably be 4-4. They'll likely be a slight favorite or underdog vs Indy or Cincy in round 2 depending on homefield, then a big dog @Denver. I know, tough life, we'd love that for the Bills. Still its a big step back from their usual spot as a massive 2nd RD favorite.

Agreed. As usual on this board, there needs to be this strawman on one side that implies "declining = sucks". Wow. How much better is he this year than last? The difference w/ the Saints is clearly their defense making the jump from historically bad to at least mediocre (which is a massive difference). Even if the thing about Brady/Manning were true, two of the top five greatest ever is an awfully high standard even for the HoF. Whatever. My point was Brees has never had the benefit of a Welker or Moss (or a Gronk equivalent until two years ago). Why does Brady need them now when Brees never has (and Brady didn't used to either as Merriman mentioned above)? You can rationalize it with Payton being the greatest offensive mind in history if you'd like. I'm going with the 36yr old QB losing a step.

He definitely is in decline. The lack of weapons thing is severely overblown. Of course he had a lot more last yr. But how many QBs have 2 stud TEs and a historically great slot wr? The guy we played last week was elite long before Graham showed up and he has had a glorified TE in Colston as his #1wr for 7yrs. Rodgers right now has Nelson and a bunch of guys. And NEs OL is vastly superior to those teams.

I hope by "experience" you mean Aaron freaking Rodgers is why GB would win. Lions > Bills. Panthers > Bears. Bears D is in shambles, Panthers D is top 5. Bengals & Chiefs are pretty much the same team. ATL is a dumpster fire without their WRs because their OL and defense both suck. Cardinals -1 at home last week was one of the best bets of the year. I'd take the Steelers there. I still have no idea on the Chargers.

All I can say fellas is lots of luck convincing anyone who doesn't already know these obviously correct things to be true. 'Pace adjusted' stats have been around in basketball for much longer. Yet there are still hoops fans who refuse to acknowledge that comparing pts per game for a run&gun team vs a team that burns the shot clock on every possession is ridiculous. It's going to be a looong time (if ever) before this sinks in w/ some football fans. I suppose we're 1 play away from being .500 with a terrible defense because...our offense is so good? At least we don't have to hear that stupid stat about scoring 20pts in every game (thanks to our defense in half of them) anymore.

Meh, plenty of people who study analytics and things like point differential & record in 1score games said the Colts were frauds all along last year. It's a big reason why their Over/Under on their Win total coming in to this year was much lower your typical 11-5 team (7.5 or 8 I think). Do the 2013 Colts prove that the "stat geeks" are idiots? Not exactly. The same methods were a big reason why the 3-13 Lions were a 5pt favorite over the 10-6 Vikings in Week 1. I think what the Colts prove is you can negate all the traditional signs of regression when you have a 2nd yr QB who was the best prospect out of college in 30yrs. Soft schedules can be overrated when you're killing bad-mediocre teams (which is what good teams are supposed to do). But this KC team has just grinded out 3 consecutive close home games vs not very good teams (the score in the Oakland game ended up misleading). And Alex Smith is no Andrew Luck. So yah I'm not convinced this is an elite team at all. And I <3 their defense & picked them to make the playoffs this yr.

I promise you this was not on Billick's mind - he actually thought the Lions might run out of time on one drive with 2:30 and a time out. And ya they could've clocked it down to 20sec's without the holding penalty, which cost 'em the game.

The sick thing is I wasn't that shocked they were able to go 80yds in a minute and no time outs. Someone needs to wake up Brian Billick and welcome him to 2013. 27-24, 3:30 left. Lions with 3 time outs. 1st down run for -3yds. 2nd down run for 1yd. 3rd down incomplete. Billick: "Oh no they stopped the clock! That's the risk you run by throwing!". Right Brian - the 3rd down throw is the problem with this sequence. Because 2:30 isn't enough time for NFL teams. Pretty much why old recycled coaches are stupid in a nutshell.

I didn't know anyone thought McCarron was an NFL prospect.

That really is bottom of the barrel. Probably a good league to be in though if everyone is bothering to carry 2-3 defenses. I try to pick home teams when streaming but I think you just stick with the Steelers there.

Not rape at all. Don't think I'd take this one. I don't think J. Thomas' TD pace is sustainable going forward w/ all the weapons they have; doubt he outscores Tony G. the rest of the year by the same margin he has in the first 7 games; which he almost has to if you're giving up a top 10 WR.

Yes, ez deal.

You can't just find any RB off the street to get 3ypc when Donald Brown needs a breather. Totally worth a 1st rounder.

The draft is one of the few things where I don't think hindsight criticism is unfair. GM's watch loads of film, have regional scouts working for them (which they hire), contacts in the college ranks, and generally have a crapload of resources that fans don't. I don't think it's asking too much for an NFL FO to be better than a TBD poster who copies Mel Kiper's board, which the Bills too often haven't been. Now hindsight criticism re: 4th down coaching decisions is total Bush League (which unfortunately a lot of fans are guilty of) and it drives me nuts. But 4th down decision making are clock management are things I could do in my sleep better than NFL coaches.