SectionC3

Bingo. It shortens the game for us. Keeps the ball in the hands of one of our two best offensive players (apologies to Stevie J.), keeps the ball out of the hands of our erratic QB (who admittedly had his fastball today) and helps keep the defense off the field. Our offense is built to grind, and we prefer to be cute.

Absolutely. There's something to be said for imposing one's will and running someone over. An RB who falls forward on third and two typically gets the first down.

I wish I could add this to my list of observations about today's game. I totally agree. I get that the circumstances are a little different in short yardage situations, but sometimes we overcomplicate the game. If we average 4 yards a carry, why on earth are we constantly throwing on third and short? I appreciate that the response will be, "because Spiller got knocked backward on third and one." I saw that too. In the demarcation of Spiller/Jackson touches, however, that's an instance where Fred gets the ball.

Bill, thanks for nice comments as always. I wish I could say that I look forward to Sundays to watch quality Bills football, but in the absence of that I at least have the thoughtful post-mortem you produce every week. I'll add a few thoughts. 1. I'm glad we "fed" Spiller the ball only 11 times today. I was worried he might get tired. Fortunately, I don't think that happened. 2. Sarcasm aside, Fred might be a battering ram, and it is important to get him a critical mass of carries, but this year he looks slow to me. Maybe it's because he pales in comparison to Spiller's dynamism. Whatever the case, enough is enough with alternating series. It's time to give the job to Spiller and use Fred as the sub. 3. I cannot put into words how tired I am of the lousy defenses we've fielded throughout the Bush II and Obama administrations. The stat lines are disgustingly predictable - opposing QBs with 65% completion rate, couple of TDs, no picks, great third down percentage and astronomical quarterback rating. It happens every week, and it happened again this week. 4. Our backers, with the exception of Barnett, suck. Painfully so. But not as much as Aaron Williams. If they're going to put him back out there when he's healthy, they should either move him to safety or make him change his number. Seriously. Right now, if it's third and long, I throw it at 23. Every. Single. Time. I think the NFL has figured this out, too. 5. Gailey seems to have one major brain cramp as a playcaller each week. This week it was the three throws-and-out to start the second half. 6. If we are ever behind in a close game with a chance to come back and win, we better not need the two-minute drill. That plodding, ineffective effort sucks. Then again, our four minute offense sucks, too, so even if we're ahead in the close game, we're still in trouble. 7. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I'll see you all next Sunday to talk about Mr. Brady's Madden-esque statline.

I could have lived with the knee, but I can hardly blame Gailey for trying to win the game. If we can't trust the TE to hold the ball against the type of rake that knocked it loose, we shouldn't throw him the ball. What annoys me isn't even the knee on the ensuing kickoff, but the knee that we took immediately thereafter with (I believe) three timeouts. It's not like time and field position were that much different from the play on which we fumbled, and I don't get the inconsistency in approach at that point in the game. The "worst" had already happened in terms of the turnover, so why not let the "NFL" quarterback use his three timeouts to try to get three points back?

My memory stretches back to the 1984 season (having been 5 years old at the time, I remember it faintly). This is one of the worst games I can recall. I have never felt so disheartened about the Bills. We are absolutely inept, and it's the same old story. Lousy quarterback, defense can't get off the field on third down, too many untimely mistakes. The flea flicker was insult to injury. I guess it could be a little bit worse; we could be Browns fans cheering for Brandon Weeden instead of Robert Griffin III.

I was born a Bills fan, and am now 33. As I watch my parents, particularly my father, age, I frequently think about the day I won't attend or watch a game without him. I dread that day. I'm very sorry for your loss, and I hope you're able to think of your dad fondly today.

Totally logical as far as I'm concerned, and I suspect this is the first truthful thing we've heard about our draft plans all week. I think they see the draft as having fewer than 10 top-flight talents, and they feel like they can get the same type of talent a in the mid to late teens as they can at 10. Hence all the recent interest in players who make absolutely no sense for us, i.e., Tannehill and Barron, but who could interest a team looking to trade up with us or ahead of us to grab a guy we don't want and push our target or targets closer to our pick. To the extent we can't move back from 10, and to the extent Kalil is the guy the front office wants, it makes sense to take a shot at moving up to get him.

A few posters in this thread indicated their contempt for an $84 million handout for the Bills. I'm not getting into the politics of this - normally I would agree that an already-profitable business shouldn't get $84 million in tax incentives and breaks - but in this case I believe the Bills pay about $20 million/year in payroll taxes. So, if the $84 million is spread over ten years, and if that money is a condition for the Bills to stay, it's actually a relatively sound business deal for the state.

To be fair, it should also be noted that if history holds true, the Bills are going to want to talk to the Governor to seal the deal. Like John said, I wouldn't worry about what Collins did or didn't do on the issue, and the vigor with which Poloncarz is approaching the issue is outstanding, but Pataki sealed the last negotiations, and Cuomo will likely have to do the same thing this time.

Losing streaks.

I second that opinion.

For what it's worth, Poz throwbacks are on sale for $20 at the Bills Store this morning. There are lots of McGee and Evans jerseys on that rack (in addition to a few stray Ellis Lankster threads) as well. Just sayin' . . .

Reality.

It's upscale. I can't believe this happened, and I am particularly shocked that it happened there. I used to work in the Main Seneca neighborhood and walk through there a couple of times a week now, and I don't even think of stopping at City Grill for lunch because it's too expensive. FYI - it's also known as a place where people who are having affairs go for clandestine dinners because it's kind of out of the way given the lack of on-site parking.

You have no idea what my political beliefs are. Arguing with someone on the Internet never gets "you" anywhere, but there are a few things that need to be said. First, I didn't combat anyone with a political belief. The only beliefs that I espoused are that the tax burden on the middle class in this country sucks and that someone as dumb as Sarah Palin should never, ever lead this country. She's Alaska's problem, and I hope it stays that way. I bet nobody who reads this cares whether the next Congress and President are Rs, Ds, Is, etc. so long as they can fix the economy and allow us to keep renewing our season tickets. (Except maybe evangelicals, but that's a different story and God bless them for their conviction.) Second, the reason I'm writing is that people, and you fall apparently fall in this category, often conflate a minimal intellectual threshold for such things as elected office with an "ivy league degree." Personally, I think those of us who support an agenda that calls for reduced spending on education but can't practice proper grammar defeat their own argument. That's just me. One need not go to an Ivy League school to have half a brain. Moreover, just because one attended an Ivy League school does not mean that he/she has half a brain (see Dick Jauron on Sundays between 1 and 4). Finally, let's get to the "I'm dumb" point. The quote you referenced demonstrated nothing in the way of political belief. It speaks for itself, and if you can't recognize that, you may want to ask yourself a question similar to that which you have placed beneath your avatar.

I'm just about done with this because I've had my laughs, but here's a little insight for you. If Sarah Palin runs for president and wins the republican nomination, a democrat (Obama, if he chooses to run for re-election) will win the White House in the next national election cycle. She's just like Howard Dean would have been in 2004. Too far right (vs. Dean's left), and too stupid (vs. Dean's airy intelligence) to appeal to the middle. She's nice for all of the evangelicals who hate abortion and want to hear a pretty face articulate the message, but if she wins the Republican primary, Obama or any other democrat who doesn't drool on himself or herself will destroy her by following the Rove plan - let others make her look stupid, treat her with kid gloves personally and avoid stooping to her level. So, contrary to your point, come 2011 and 2012, all of those "liberals" for whom you show disdain will be busting out their "Palin for President" buttons. Bank it, and vote for her in the PA or NJ republican primary.

Dude, what about our apostrophe lesson?? Let's try it again: WRONG: Sarah Palin should sue her elementary school and many of the community college's she flunked out of for providing her limited educational opportunitie's. RIGHT: Go Bills!

Actually, it's an apostrophe. This sentence---Sarah Palin appeals to religious zealot's---contains an improperly placed apostrophe. This sentence---I am a democrat and I too dislike the federal income tax rates---properly avoids the use of an apostrophe.

This.

Yeah, that whole "liberal" bit about improving education, particularly the finer points of the use of the apostrophe, and not starting a war over some phantom yellow cake really stinks. If Al Gore had won, we'd probably all be drooling morons now, have blown away several countries that angered his dad and taxed the rich instead of the middle class. That would have been a real mess that Sarah Palin, as smart as she is, couldn't even clean up.

I don't mean to be cruel, nor do I mean to make light of what is probably a trying situation for his family (I too deal with elder care issues, and it is a difficult labor of love), but I am skeptical Ralph can still think on that level. That said, I don't think your logic is lost on whoever is running this franchise. I suspect, without anything to support the theory, that it dawned on someone that the $6.5M spent on T.O. could be better dedicated to a coach, and when the big game hunt failed, your logic was probably front and center on the mind of whoever helps Ralph run this billion dollar train wreck.

I'm turning in my fan card if this is true. Ugh. EDIT: AND my season tickets. I was hopeful that suffering through several years of Dick Jauron would lead to something positive, but it looks like we may have another guy who couldn't cut it somewhere else. I don't know if anyone saw the comments allegedly attributed to Ryan Fitzpatrick on another Bills board (e.g., Ralph talking into an overhead projector during a speech at camp thinking it was a microphone), but I'm starting to believe that the Bills are one gigantic mess. I realize that there are more important things in the world, like the suffering of the Haitians, but I find this very disheartening.

I was going to point out fourth and stupid as well -

Let me start by saying that I'm not doing this to cause a firestorm - I'm simply curious if someone can corroborate what I heard today. Someone to whom I am close and trust implicitly works in a "private" area of RWS told me this morning that Shanahan was at RWS for yesterday's game. Again, I don't know whether this is true, but I haven't heard anything on the issue and thought it was important (and interesting) enough to see if somebody else saw and/or heard something similar. For what it's worth, I have better things to do with my time than cook up fake or bogus reports of Mike Shanahan's presence in Buffalo, and am not trying to stir any pots here. I obviously did not see Shanahan (I sit with the masses in the lower bowl), but I was wondering if someone else did or heard the same thing I did.