Luxy312

Evans has been on fire recently. Hope Sammy can turn it around. He's been a bit cold.

Nice funny, but no. I want the Bills to show me that they can beat playoff caliber teams. Winning against Denver without Manning, Green Bay without Rodgers or New England without fancy boy doesn't do it for me.

A lot. He's caught 52% of his targets. The better receivers leading the NFL right now are mid 60% to low 70%. He's dropped a lot of balls. I've watched all the games and some are baffling.

It wasn't you. It was someone else that suggested "trading up" to draft Connor Cook. I'll tell you what, his completion percentage wasn't better than Gary Nova at Rutgers. I'm not sure I would draw the conclusion that he can make all the throws. 58.2% at the college level is pretty paltry, where as Mariota was sitting at 68.6%. At least Mariota was mobile. At the end of the day, I didn't take exception with taking a shot at a guy. Regardless of conference. I did take exception with trading up for a guy that doesn't blow me away at doing anything at the college level. As someone said, he probably will spend another year in college anyway, so it's pretty irrelevant. Anyone remember 2nd round pick Todd Collins by the Bills out of Michigan? I do and was not impressed.

It doesn't to me, but this guy thinks somehow playing in the Big Ten actually matters and that the conference does a better job than others at preparing QB's for the pros. I like and follow the Big Ten personally, but would not ever support the notion that what he's saying is true.

Not really. That was the first game in NFL history where a team rushed for 200+ yards, had zero turnovers, and held the ball for 40+ minutes and lost. Running the ball is still very rated.

If I need to add something to that, I'll give you this figure. 81%. That's the percentage of time that Denver gets touchdowns in the red zone at home. That is an insane percentage. For the year, the Bills have scored TD's only 41% of the time in the red zone. Crazy is an understatement.

It's nice to pick the couple of guys that had success. Off the top of my head, how about Tony Banks, Chad Henne, Drew Stanton, Todd Collins, Chuck Long, Jeff George, and Jim Harbaugh? I'm sure I'm missing a few and those are just early 1st/2nd round picks, but none of them are worth a damn. I would gladly take your M.State guy in the 3rd round ala Russell Wilson or even in the 6th ala Tom Brady. I would NOT take him in the 1st or second like so many other average to horrible big ten QB's drafted in recent years. I sure as hell wouldn't trade up for him.

I think the title is misleading. It's not incomplete passes to Sammy that are holding back the offense or any other offense. It's trying to force plays to receivers just because they're supposed to be your "#1 guy". You absolutely try to find ways to get a guy the football, but if the opposing defense really wants to take a guy out of play, they will. See the Pittsburgh game where they didn't let Jimmy Graham get the ball even one time. No targets, no receptions. They game planned to take him out of the mix, which is what teams are doing with Sammy Watkins. Prior to the BYE week, Sammy had two games with a total of almost 300 yards receiving and 3 TD's. Why wouldn't you try to take away a teams #1 weapon if you can? On the flip side of the coin, do I want Orton throwing to Sammy in double coverage or Woods in single? The latter, and all damned day!

I hate making predictions based on data, but here goes. Broncos have been absolutely phenomenal at home. I think they score a minimum of 30 and upwards of 42 points on 360-450 yards of offense. If they even have a turnover, it's only going to be one. Buffalo on the flip of that coin has been pretty awful offensively. The most I think they can score is the low end of what Denver does on the low end of the yards that Denver should generate. Barring at least a disparity of +2 in the turnover battle, I wouldn't take the points and the Bills. 37-24 Denver.

Here's my perspective on it, so take it for what it's worth. Denver, Green Bay and New England are all playoff teams and right now the likely winners of their respective divisions. If the Buffalo Bills aren't able to compete with these teams and more importantly rise up and win some games, then it really doesn't matter. If they're ready for the playoffs, then they have to be able to beat playoff caliber teams. Thus far, we've seen a mixed bag. They beat Miami once and Detroit, but lost to San Diego, New England and Miami. Only 3 of their wins came against teams with a 0.500 or better record. All of their losses did though. We're at a minimum going to know this weekend whether this team is ready to compete at the next level or not. A blowout loss tells me they're posers.

While I love all of the in depth analysis of edge pass rushing, filling the middle, etc., there's only one thing that really matters to me. Every team that has beaten the Broncos this year has won the turnover battle (+1, +1, +2). The Broncos overcame turnovers versus Arizona, who was +2 in that game, but that's it. Miami was in the game, because they were even in turnovers and scored 36 points. If the Bills offense turns the ball over, I don't really care what the defense does. They probably lose the game. If the Bills defense doesn't generate turnovers, I really don't care what the offense does. They probably lose the game. Both sides need to bring their "A: game. Getting to Manning with just 4 guys is a must. If they blitz, they get shredded.

This. He did sign at $127 million contract and up front it looks like $61 million is guaranteed. The fact is only $13 million is guaranteed with the other $48 million guaranteed only if he got injured. So, the reality is that his cap hit would be like $11 million for San Francisco assuming he doesn't get hurt. Unless Buffalo assumed the responsibility for the remainder of the guarantee, there's no way San Francisco moves him. I still think too that even $11 million hit is too big to consider. His contract is also ridiculous. Why would Kapernick accept a pay cut to play in Buffalo? Would the Bills really pay him $15+ million per year?

The Dolphins-Jets game was an abomination, but here's my take on it without reading through 21 pages of this thread. They have 4 games left, of which 3 of them are at home. If they win 3, I think they bump the Bills out of the playoffs, even if Buffalo finishes 10-6. That said, I don't think they do and here's why. Baltimore is the defacto better team than Miami and they have to play them this weekend. A loss for Baltimore versus Miami, even if they win out from there, and they're almost certainly also eliminated with a 10-6 record. If Baltimore can beat Miami in Miami, they could win out versus Jacksonville at home, at Houston and then at home versus Cleveland. As long as they beat Miami, Baltimore is in the driver's seat to win the NFC North. Cincy has 3, and both Pittsburgh and Cleveland have 2 games remaining in the North and some tough other games on their calendars as well. Cincy gets Denver, Cleveland the Colts and Pittsburgh both Kansas City and Atlanta. The Jests should have won last night and didn't. However, Baltimore should win this Sunday and then it will be on Buffalo to put together 3 wins to make it happen. I don't see Miami beating the Pats at New England, so if Baltimore can win, their best chance is 9-7.

Healthy or not healthy, I would rather have Orton throwing to someone else in single coverage than Sammy in double coverage. That's what it comes down to for me. You take what the defense is giving you instead of drawing up a game plan to "force" getting the ball to someone that the other team was hell bent on keeping out of the action. See Jimmy Graham against the Steelers this weekend. Same thing.

They can't. Teams ahead of them play each other. Someone has to win and lose each week. Impossible for all teams to tank just as it's impossible for all teams to win out.

The line is already up to 10.5 at some places. The Bills are 17th in points scored and 2nd in points allowed. Their differential ranks them 10th overall in the NFL. Denver is the opposite. They're 5th in points scored and 17th in points allowed. Their differential ranks them 6th overall. I get that offense in the NFL is sexy and that Peyton is probably the best QB in the game right now. Personally, I think it should be easier for an offense to get up for a game then for a defense to do the same. For this game, Orton cannot give the ball away at stupid times and the offense must get it done in the red zone. I don't see Denver winning by more than a touchdown and think the Bills will be in this game. The offense can't really be much worse than it was versus the Browns. They do however have a much better defense than advertised.

By beating the Browns, the Bills are now ahead of the Ravens, Steelers, and Browns for the tiebreaker. None of the teams with which we'll be competing for a spot with have easy schedules either. Let's look at the 5th seed Chargers right now. Does anyone think they'll actually catch Denver for that division title? They do get New England and Denver at home next two weeks, but then have to go on the road to San Francisco and Kansas City. The Chiefs go to Arizona, get the lowly raiders but then got to Pittsburgh before finishing at home versus San Diego. So no matter what here, ONE of the two teams directly above us loses in week 17. Don't think a tie is likely. With Cincy taking the North right now, they get versus Pittsburgh, @ Cleveland, versus Denver and @ Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's schedule not much easier @ Cincy, @ ATL, Kansas City, and Cincy to finish. I think that given all the teams that have to play each other that are all vying for a playoff spot that if they can get to 10-6, they're a virtual lock to be in the playoffs. Outside of Denver and New England, I don't see any team that I would want to put money on to run the table. In fact, I think most of our direct competitors can't do better than split.

How many stupid dump routes can they call????

Hackett is a moron. This play calling wants to make me smash my head against a wall.

Stop playing scared and bend them over!

Pathetic. Pretty glad I'm not paying for this garbage.

Just a terrible first half. I'm not sure they could try harder to lose a game. Pathetic.

Promo is correct. Each of the teams in the NFC North have at least two games WITHIN their own division Baltimore plays Miami to boot in another game. So as he said, everyone can't win every game if they play each other. 10-6 will be almost a lock for the playoffs, especially if they win the 4 games we're talking about.

At this point, the playoff picture is clear to me. Cleveland is a must win game. If they lose to Cleveland, their season is definitively over. Cleveland would essentially have a three game advantage over the Bills by virtue of the tiebreaker, with only 4 games left to play. Extending out the scenario, if you assume that Cleveland loses all the other games on their schedule, then Baltimore by virtue of that would pick up a win. If you assume that Baltimore then loses every game except the Cleveland game, then Miami and San Diego would both pick up wins. So now we're talking about a Miami team that wins the tiebreaker over Buffalo anyway (by virtue of division record); that has two games left this season against the Jets. So the way I see this is that the Bills have to win against Cleveland out of the gates next week. It will then come down to whether they can actually put it all together and win against teams that they shouldn't win against. A loss to both Denver on the road and Green Bay at home would also end their season (IMO). A split or winning both of those games (which I admit is highly improbable) would put them in the driver seat. They pretty much have to beat what may be the worst team in the NFL in the Raiders. There is no doubt in my mind that if they're not sitting at 10-5 or 9-6 come the final road game at New England, they have no shot. A 9-7 record will not be good enough to get them there by virtue of all the tiebreakers and the fact that much of their competition has to play each other in multiple games. I.e. someone will be taking Wins no matter what.