SouthernMan

Of course. Well, yes then. It makes perfect sense. Alright...... Geez, I don't know what to make of your comment. Were you born without a heart? But just out of curiousity, just what was it, in your estimation that McNair did that was deserving of having his life ended and having his children and other loved ones deprived of ever seeing, touching, or hearing him ever again? Ever. For eternity.

Curious...anyone know if other NFL teams have as much commraderie and an active an alumni association as do the Bills? Interesting to see all the different era players frequently converging for Kelly's yearly tourney, 50th anniversary celebration, and many other events that bring together all our heros from the past. Is this typical with most NFL teams or do the players from the Bills family have an uncommon bond? Not that I pay that much attention to the Falcons, but I don't remember hearing much of this kind of thing here in Atlanta.

Actually, it's very lucid and well-said. Good post. I'm often caught in the middle about coaches. Part of me says that no matter how good the coach, without the right players, he will not be successful. Conversely, there've been many coaches who inherited a good team (think Siefert, Switzer, Collier, etc.) and had fleeting residual success before they were exopsed and the thing blew up. Humor me for a second.......Just for the sake of argument, let's look at the Jauron thing a different way; what if he made a medicore team out of one with less than average talent? Maybe those 7-9 teams had talent comensurate with more typical 4-12 teams. He was dealing with a lousy offensive line, bad quarterback (JP), later swapped out for inexperienced one. Average receiving core. Fair-average tight end talent, fair-average linebacking, less than average defensive front, and maybe better than average secondary. Now tack on to that scenerio the infirmary list from the last couple of years. The injury numbers are just the luck of the draw, and it had to have an effect. Then, consider that there were at least a couple of games last year (I'm not researching the archives) that were a play or two away from a victory. Right away, the Jets, Browns, and Cowboys games come to mind. The Bills weren't that far removed from being a 10-6 team. Again, keep in mind the obstacles they had in terms of talent and injuries. There have been coaches in the league that have failed under less than ideal conditions - teams not have the right chemistry or mix of players, scouting, management, etc. Parcells, Belichick, Johnson, Gruden, and others have all struggled at one time or another, though all have won superbowls under a different set of circumstances. Shula and Cowher have had 6 win seasons. Were they suddenly bad coaches? No. Circumstances beyond their immediate control dictated a season of struggle. Jauron is obviously highly regarded by his players. How much of the success or failure can be attributed directly to the head coach is a tough call. I tend to think it's the whole package. All the pieces have to be in place in order for it to work. I think over the past couple of years of drafts and signings, the Bills area finally putting together the kind of presonnel that are winners. Just looking at their revamped O-line as compared to the previous collection of mismatched road-graders tells me they're headed in the right direction. I can see the young Bills offense may be a power to be reckoned with in the coming years. I hope that Dick Jauron can make all the naysayers eat crow by leading the Bills into the playoffs. I'm not an apologist for him, but like the original poster, I think we need to be fair, consider all the facts, and look at the situation as objectively as possible. Here's to his success in the coming weeks. And yes, I think the Bills can and will beat the Saints.

Yes. Glad you asked. "Dandy", as used by some Brits to descibe a man who dresses with a lot of fashion sense, flair, and panache. Cockney accent: "oh he's quite a dandy awright, he is". Very faggy in my opinion.

I don't know what it is y'all are seeing that makes you want him back. Let preface this by saying that I'm in his corner - I really like T.O. - I'm a fan and had been excited about him as our #2. But....would love it if he were more than just a shadow of his former self. Too me, he looks very slowwwwwww - like he's out for Sunday jog. I don't see the quick burst or much in the way of leaving his cover man in the dust. And it's not as if he's Mr. Dependable in the pass catching department. He let what should have been an easy catch (for a top tier WR) go right through his hands. Another one that got away was the bobbled ball in the end zone. Coulda had it. The only thing keeping T.O. as a #2 is his experience and savvy and use of physicallity against lesser DBs. I predict it won't be long before opposing D's stop doubling him, freeing a DB for other support. If Johnson or Hardy aren't ready to make the jump to the #2 WR, maybe there'll be a good pickup in FA - a la Randy Moss. I think this season will be the end of the road for T.O.

What really stings is that if the Bills had held on to beat the Pats, assuming everything else went the same this week, would effectively have a 3 game (including head to head tie breaker) edge on them for any playoff positioning. 3 game lead! That is huge! One fumble and a defensive meltdown in the 4th quarter puts the Bills a game behind them, each at 1-1 and the Pats having the tie break advantage. Hopefully, the Bills will use that as a reminder if they start to get complacent again. I thought they almost did yesterday when there was a mid-game lull. Fortunately, they put their collective feet on the throats of the Bucs and put 'em away. BTW - Loved the 4th quarter jailbreaks by the defensive front. Should have given a little of that to Marcia last week.

I doubt they give a rats ass about kids watching. If they did, you'd see commercial time dedicated to selling Pop-o-matic Trouble and Lucky Charms. I guess my issue is that that the Robot animation thing makes zero sense. How do over-armored CGI robots and football have common ground? Why not show Moe hitting Curly in the head with a jackhammer? It'd be about as relevant (but more entertaining IMO).

Not necessarily heros, but quietly doing their job nonetheless. Josh Reed has turned into Mr. Dependable. Not flashy, or trying too hard to get that extra yard - just holding on to the ball and moving the chains and giving the O another set of downs. A really clutch player and standup guy, making the most of the abilities. Kyle Williams on defense - really starting to look like a vetran DT, and a great compliment to Stroud. I thought he showed great potential last year, and he may the Bills breakout player this year. Honorable mention to Lindell and Buggs.

For Kids!?!? That's what dads are for - to sit with their kids and explain stuff like football. What is the robot - a surrogate for single mom households? Hey look, I don't wish for archive footage from the Colts-Giants 1958 game or the Heidi bowl to encroach on your cablecast of friggin Sponge Bob, so keep the damn animatrics away from my leather and turf, thank you. Enough with the mixed multi-media crap. BTW - in terms of graphics that best reflect the smashmouth "manliness" of NFL football, NBC has it going on.

I find there are two different camps in this issue: Those that like the circus atmosphere, player dance celebrations, and general bafoonery. And those more like me - a football purist,who has great love and respect for the sport, I don't need a sideshow carnival to enhance the game. Maybe baseball or curling need that to hold your attention with the lack of action, but football....?

...or does anyone else find the FOX animated robot and accompanying guitar riff, ripped off from the Christmas song "Sleigh Ride" (giddyup, giddyup, let's go) incredibly annoying? Are we beer drinking adults or is this Saturday morning cartoon time? What the hell does that retarded Transformer-looking thing have to do with football? As if it wasn't bad enough, now they have it doing that bronco rodeo ride motion that McGahee used to think was so clever. Glad the Bills are done with FOX games after next week.

I know Tasker was doing a CBS game, but anyone know why Kelly missed it?

If Jackson were a couple of years younger, I say trade Lynch for a high draft pick or a need position, if at all possible. Problem is he's going on 29 years old - close to the time RBs often hit the wall. He may have a year or two of equal productivity left. After that, he'll start to look average. Lynch is a douchebag nitwit who needs to grow up. You're a professional now a-hole. Act like it. Maybe acting all gangsta was a good defense mechanism back in the hood, but time to put that act behind you. Apart from the character issue, his running style is not very fluid. He's great at churning out those extra yards with 3 defenders wrapped around him (the anti-Antowain Smith), but he's slow to hit the holes and takes too long to hit full speed. Jackson, on the other hand, sees the field, adjusts well, runs with patience (overused cliché, but true), and has a good burst when he sees an opening. Besides that, I think he's a better receiver and a whole lot smarter. If the question were, "if you could have only one of them, who would it be?", my answer would be Freddie. It's a bloody shame the Bills weren't able to draft a few picks higher when the took Lynch. Can you imagine the Bills skill level with Adrian Peterson (and Fred)?

Here's a suggestion - for all the outdoor spectators, most of whom will have cell phones with them.... phone a friend, put it on speaker at full volume, and have them scream at the appropriate time along with the in house crowd. The 13th man!!!!

Did anyone mention the 1966 AFL Championship game? Admitedly, I was too young to have much memory, and can't even say that I was interested in the Bills at that time, but for the franchise, it has to be one of the great heartbreakers - missing the opportunity to play the Packers in the first ever AFL-NFL Championship game (later known as Superbowl I). Not noted in original list, but mentioned as follow-up posts are a few I concur with: The Pats (just give it to 'em) game, where the Bills were called for pass interference on a Hail Mary endzone free-for-all. Worst play calling ever!!! The Bills-Dolphins game, something in the 70's (was it the perfect season?). Pat Toomay recovery of the "fumble that wasn't", preventing a likely Bills win. First Rich Stadium playoff loss against Jags - Kelly carted off the field, never to play again in a Bills uniform. All four superbowls sucked, but the first was the worst, especially knowing that the Bills were truly the better team that year, already having beaten the Giants on their home turf a few weeks earlier, but blew when it counted most. A little rambling: The San Diego playoff game from 1980 will always be a big one for me in the disappointment department. Fouts throws a 50 yard bomb with 2:08 remaining to give the Chargers the win, 20-14. Ferguson was toughing it out with a severly sprained ankle. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Chuck Knox era and especially the 1980 edition. That was the same year that the Bills finally beat the 'fins (I was there) and later beat the Rams at home (I was there), and Haslett, Smerlas, & Co, returned from the winners locker room, and all came out in tee-shirts for a chorus-line, arms locked, feet kicking, rockettes-style encore. The crowd, who refused to leave, went wild. The next night, watching the Monday Night game, Howard made the shocking announcement about Lennon being shot. There was a weird surreal "grayness" about that whole month, December 1980, even before that night. "Strange days indeed". All the new guys on the Bills were about the same age as me. Me and my pals had a great little "boys" club. Roommates, friends, young horny women usually hanging around. The week prior to the San Diego game, the Bills had beaten San Fran out west. We met the Bills at Prior Aviation to welcome them back and show our support. It was like 3:00 in the morning, and we we're all still in the middle of an acid trip and half drunken stuper , waiting in the 20 degree air and light snowfall, to greet our heros. So what if I had to punch in at the foundry Monday morning at 7 am? I made it on time, and even left a little early that afternoon to make the company blood drive! Pity the poor bastard who got that batch. The games in which the Bills were blown out (see SB XXVI, SB XXVII) don't bother me half as much as the one (such as the most recent defeat or the Music City Mirage), where they let an almost sure victory slip away from them in the last minute or two. Those are the ones that tear your heart out. Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew Said A little I'm hurt but not yet slain. I'll just lie down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and Fight again.

Yes I did. Mostly because in both cases a single play that could have been the turning point, got a player labeled as "a goat". The issue for me is not whether McKelvin came out of the end zone, or even that he ran it up the gut. It's that when things got dicey, he wasn't smart enough to play it safe. He should have known that Pats were in desparation mode and were going to make their priority getting the ball, rather than putting him to the ground. They were more than glad to let him grind out those extra 4 yards, giving them more time to swat at the rock. BTW - McKelvin needs to review the sack that Trent took - the one where he drew the 15 yard pile-drive roughing the QB personal foul penalty. Notice how Trent was savvy enough to concede the imminent tackle, and immediately changed his priority from advancing the ball to protecting the ball. He quickly assessed the risk, and wisely clung to the ball for dear life, knowing that (as John Lennon once stated) "possession is nine-tenths of the problem". Unfortunately, McKelvin didn't use the same judgement. He should have realized that retaining possession was THE main priority - far more important than gaining a few extra yards. When he was first hit at the 26 yard line, and quickly surrounded by red jerseys, that would have been the time to hit the turf. I don't know if Jauron's statement, commending the decision to "try and ice the game", is really how he felt. I gotta think he wanted McKelvin to go down. The game would have been iced if the Bills could have gotten the ball back with 2 minutes and gotten at least one first down. If you're playing the odds, I'd go with that choice. Maybe Jauron's backing of McKelvin is part of the reason he's so endearing to the players. I just hope he doesn't actually believe that it was a smart choice. I hope he had a word on the side with McKelvin and said something like, " I hope you learned something from that, and if we're ever in the same situation - go down".

Whomever produced that piece has got to be from Buffalo. Incredible how they summed up the Buffalo (Bills) experience in a 30 second animated ad. The whole thing is perfect. Grey skies, typical East or South side tract housing, half asleep family member.... Then suddenly..... the Bills take the lead, sunny skies, green grass, exhaltation all around.... And then....back to doom and gloom....leaves fall, frustration, ugly smoke belching from distant factory Even the drab decor/wallpaper and furnishings of the house has the look of the aging, half run-down homes that populate the working class neighborhoods of Buffalo. Amazing to capture all of that in such a short sequence. Brilliant. If they could have captured smell, I'm sure we'd have experienced the aroma of stuffed cabbage and kielbasa coming from the kitchen.

Agree. Yeah, hard to feel sorry for these guys, knowing they're in their early 20's and financially set for life (assuming they manage their money intelligently). Maybe a note from the offending Hamburg vandal saying, "If I had another chance 100 times, I would probably do the same thing. The only thing I've got to do is paint a more lifelike wiener."

Anyone know a link for who was active and inactive for the games (and upcoming games)? Was McCargo inactive? Part 2: Directv Shortcuts...... Are there no half hour edited Shortcuts games produced for the Primetime (ESPN, NBC) broadcast games? I swear they did last year. Don't see any of them scheduled in the guide. What's up with that?

Bingo. Until I hear the actual sound byte or see it in quotations from a reliable press source (i.e. - from One Bills Drive), I don't have substantiation that "surgery" is required. In the event of a hairline fracture, it would be unusual to do anything invasive. Unless they thought they could expedite his return by installing some hardware to reinforce the bone while it heals, I doubt they'd be doing any cutting. Just going by his reaction following the initial injury, and if in fact it happened during the diving tackle, it probably is of the hairline fracture variety. If it's a more severe break than that, Poz has one hell of a threshold for pain, considering how he toughed it out for several plays with the unwrapped forearm.

Just wondering - is it me, or did T.O. look slow? Maybe I'm just not used to the long strides or something, but to me, he didn't appear all that quick. Haven't really followed his career that closely, so maybe his style is just deceptive and he uses his great route-running to make up for flat out speed. Somebody fill in the blanks for me.

Not sure if it means anything, but he did stay in for several plays after the fracture. It was first injured on the Wes Welker reception at around the 13:00 minute mark of the second quarter. That was the play where Welker lost control of the ball (after he was down) and there was a scramble for the loose ball. Not sure if Poz injured the arm during the diving tackle (I suspect this is where it happened) or during the subsequent scrum when the ball was loose and several players were fighting for possession (it was ruled that Welker was already down by contact). Poz was holding his left arm immediately after, and again after the next play. Shortly thereafter, the Bills burned a timeout during a late player substitution. I suspect this was when Poz came to the sidelines to get the arm wrapped. He missed a couple of plays at that point, but came back in afterwards, staying until coming out for good around the 8:00 minute mark of the quarter. Maybe it's not all that serious, considering he was able to stay in for several plays after the injury. I'd guess he has a slight fracture to the ulna (or possibly radius bone), and if it's not too severe, he'll rest a few of weeks, get a soft cast, and be back in about 4 weeks, maybe sooner, depending on severity. I'm not a doctor or orthepoedic surgeon, though I do play one on the internet. BTW - I haven't seen anything official yet stating that surgery is required, but if it is, I'm there if you need me.

Thank-you. I was looking to see if anyone would mention the lone 1968 win, against of all teams, the Jets who were on their way to win the Superbowl - an AFL first. This is without question the biggest Bills upset in their history. Can't believe it took the board this long to mention it. Funny anecdote from Joe Namath's book, "I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow...." where he confesses to being a real late night party animal, frequently drinking late into the night before gameday. The one game in '68 where he behaved and got a good night sleep without the nighttime partying ritual? The game in Buffalo where the lost to the hapless Bills. Joe Willie played his poorest game of the year. Anyway, when your only win in 14 games is against the soon to be superbowl champs, that's your big upset right there.

I'm in the "getting rid of shiit" mood, just unloaded a bunch of stuff in garage sale. Have piles of Bills crap: tapes,media guides (including 1960), posters. I've enjoyed it, now it's time to move on. I'll be glad to send you the VHS tape of the no-punt game. Any other tapes ou want?, I probably have 'em. Send message with address.

Ummm....I believe he's still being paid for the same job he was originally hired to do. He has yet to punch the time clock for a day's work. Really bad analogy on your part.