MartyBall4Buffalo

Good I hope they don't take us lightly. Gut check time for this team. The only way you can really measure yourself is against upper echelon teams not beating the dregs of the league. I don't think we'll win, but this is the kind of game you want to prove yourself in.

I hate to be cliche, but if the bills beat the bears, then it's just another sunday in the nfl. You're happy about it for a few days then get ready for the next game. Maybe it's just that this team hasn't made the playoffs since 99 or won a playoff game since 95, but I find it hard to get excited about a regular season win. I know, I know the team is young, and they're growing within the system, and I have the patience for that, but a win is just that a win. It beats losing What we need to do to win- 1. Dictate field position- This will be crucial, the last thing we want to do is give the bears short fields to work with. Moorman will have to have a big game. Forcing Punts and hopefully roscoe can get us good returns. I'd rather not see too many kick returns that would obviously mean chicago is scoring far too much. 2. Run the football- I'm old school in my football beliefs. More so then at home running on the road is crucial to success. Namely wins. Simply put the top 10 rushing offenses in the nfl right now are a combined 23-14. Establish the run. I think we can have more sucesss running up the gut this week as opposed to last week. Where I would have advocated attacking the outside of the vikings defense. This week I'd test the middle. They have smallish interior but amazing speed. Power it out is our best bet for an effective run game. Chicago is 19th in the league in yards per attempt allowed, so they can be run on 3. Manage the game- I dont know why people so get so offended at this. The best qb in the nfl is a game manager (Tom Brady). Substain long drives, put ourselves in manageable down and distance. Convert key 3rd downs. We're not gonna win against the bears if we're facing constant 3rd and longs they'll tee off on Losman and The run game will become a quick non factor. Hopefully Losman takes what the defenses gives him when its there. Managing the game does not mean Marty Ball conservative football. It simply means limiting game killing mistakes, and keeping the team ahead on the clock and tire out the defense so taking shots downfield becomes easier. 4. Pressure/Pressure/Pressure- I know the bears offense has performed well, and while they will run the football their rush offense ranks 3rd in attempts 27th in yards per attempt and 17th in yards I'm not saying completly ignore the run, but if we can get the bears in passing situations and force grossman to beat us I think we can expose the bears offense, and create turnover opportunities. All in all while the realist in me doesn't think we will win. The Bears are not an invincible machine and can be beaten. Prediction- Bears 20- 14

It would be nice to have Spikes back in the mix no doubt, and I really do hope he can return healthy, but it will now be over a year since hes played a full game of football. like kzoomike pointed out even if he doesn't come back in 2 weeks or even the year getting valuable experience for ellison will only be a greater benefit if and when spikes does return.

actually McGee did he played in 14 games in 2003 and had 2ints, I believe he split time at nickle with kevin thomas. He started out at nickle in 2004 until Vincent's injury forced him into the starting lineup. I like Youboty's potential a lot I'm just tired of seeing very good corners get away for nothing in return. I also dont want to see Jabari greer as a starting corner. If he is I definitly hope we go de with our 1st pick in next years draft.

Asante Samuel has his moments, but he's not overly good. If we lose clements it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but he's not someone I'd be all that excited to see here.

I dont know the colts salary cap situation, but I can't imagine they'd let Freeney walk. Pass on Leonard Davis. He's a turnstile, that whole cardnials line is brutal. If Tim Anderson doesn't work out at dt Darnell Dockett would be a nice guy to look at. I dont think the rookie class for dt's next year is all that good. I'll eat my shoe if freeney hits the open market.

ME THREE

I agree with the original poster, especially on the road, against a defense that thrives on turnovers. The Less we minimize the potential for interceptions or blind sided hits and fumbles, and keeping ourselves in manageable down and distances we'll be fine. Chicago has a great defense however they do not have the best rush defense in the nfl. They rank 19th in the league in yards per attempt allowed. 10th overall in yards against the rush. A game plan similar againt the vikings, even if the run game isn't producing big yardage totals, having the threat of a run game can be just as productive in keeping defenses honest. The last thing we want to do vs the bears is go there and try to throw all over the field. If that happens it will get ugly fast.

It's realistic to expect anywhere from 7-10 pts. Anything more then 10pts against a chicago team that has only allowed 29pts this season is asking for a lot.

Batman Carroll back to the bat cave. I've seen Carroll play quite a bit he gets cut up more then swiss cheese. He'll catch on somewhere cause of his speed, but he's not a good corner and never will be.

Urban legend is a great LP it's still on rotation in my cd player. Haven't picked up king yet I'll have to dl some songs off limewire before buying it or not.

I listen to very little new rap. The only new rap artist I can listen to is T.I, Young Jeezy, and some Ludacris. Otherwise it's strictly: NAS, Pac,Biggie, ,Outkast,Busta Rhymes, Wu Tang, Bone Thugs, Sticky Fingaz, Big L, Cannibus, Scarface, Fat Pat, Old Snoop/Dre, Redman, Rakim, Mobb Deep, Slick Rick among others. Newer rap is pretty much garbage.

"Neufeld you're still here the !@#$?"

Peerless Price- great effort to make nothing into something and come away with a td. Willis McGahee- great blitz pickup, yeah the running stats aren't pretty but anyone who saw that game knows we ran when we had to and it kept the vikings defense honest. JP Losman- no turnovers, no glaring mistakes, did some great things. His best throw was a 2nd and 20 dart to Josh Reed, where he was pressured got away and threw it right over winfields head. Josh Reed- Reed has probably been our most consistent wr so far this season. I dont know if he was worth the contract extension, but he hasn't been a goat so far Keith Ellison- how could I not. The way he's filled in for takeo spikes and been productive doing it is very reassuring. He's a player and with more experience and putting on some weight I wont be suprised to see him starting full time within the next 2 years. London Fletcher: Doesn't really get his props when talking about the top mlb's in the league, and he's not as good as urlacher and ray lewis but he's not all that far behind either.

I would've gone with the giants as the most dissapointing team in the 1st quater of the season. There was some pretty big expectations for them this year, their running game has yet to get it going and their defense is brutal, not to mention the problems in house between the players and coughlin. That situation for big blue could get really ugly. For suprise team I would've said the saints. Getting Drew Brees was a big coup. Late Pick Marques Colston has been great, Joe Horn is Joe Horn, Mcallister and bush are going to make a very good 1-2 punch. Their defense is playing far better then I expected them too. Started out the season going 2-0 on the road beating atlanta at their home opener, then almost beating carolina yesterday. Sean Payton has that team ready to play. They dont look like the same old aint's anymore.

I'm pretty sure SportsNation Ken Moll is one person

nope not yet. He's getting progressivly better, but he has a ways to go yet. When he can have these kind of games consistently then I'll say yeah he's a top tier qb.

I noticed McCargo a lot today, who seemed to get some good interior pressure, but no I didnt notice kyle williams much today.

Our safeties are a step or 2 slow to react in zone coverage, but that will come with more experience in the system, until they learn how to react quicker we will be susceptible to being beat deep, thus I think a large reason why our corners are playing off the receivers, however this defense might not be all that good yet, but they will get there eventually. I'm very impressed with keith ellisons continued improvement in place of spikes.

Indeed I also loved how the clips of the guy youboty is hitting is ne's very own Laurence Maroney

I'll hold out on saying qb giving losman the season. I'll say right now our biggest needs are de, lb, te, lt,rg

I'll be very shocked if losman has any more then 150 yards passing against the vikings defense, as much credit as pat williams is getting it seems like antoine winfield is getting no respect. I expect winfield to blanket evans all game long. If we're gonna win this game it's going to be because our defense and running game had a strong day. I dont expect a big day passing against the likes of winfield/smoot/dwight smith/darren sharper.

Yeah we should let our defensive captain, a team leader, high character quality football player and the guy who's lead the nfl in tackles for the past 5 seasons walk. I'm sure that will go over well. John Pizza boy can replace him

I posted this in another thread, but I'll do it here again. I really don't think the whole unit across the board are good runblockers. There's a staggering difference between runs to the left side of the line and runs to the right. McGahee rush stats to each part of the line avg in bold Wide Right 3 7 1 0.0 0.1 0 Right 3 21 56 0.0 2.7 0 Middle 3 16 78 0.0 4.9 0 Left 3 24 161 0.0 6.7 0 Wide Left 3 3 15 0.0 5.0 0 So either someone is a real liability run blocking on the right side of the line, or Mike Gandy and Reyes are superior run blockers.

Normally Id take this stuff as rantings of a disgruntled player but seeing his difference in attitude between marv and the donahoe regime, makes me wonder what more of the players thought of them. I still wish we had fat pat, and wish him the best in the closing of his career, just not against us. It's another great test for our oline to see how far they're coming along