Fan in Chicago

I look at matchups and standings: Bills D: # 26 overall, #25 passing, #20 rushing Cowboys O: #7 overall, #7 passing, #12 rushing Cowboys D: #11 overall, #16 passing, #10 rushing Bills O: #12 overall, #15 passing, #7 rushing On paper, it does not look like a good matchup for us as they will pass on us and gain a lot of yards. With the Bills on O, they are evenly matched with our strengths. So, overall, they will gain yards. We must do our darnest to: - Limit their scoring even though they may gain a lot of yards - Emphasize the rush try to go deep occasionally - Make our passing game a bit more vertical as opposing defenses have caught up with our dink and dunk, YAC offense - There will be a lot of pressure on our DBs and LBs to cover the passes. but Miles Austin is out. This may allow us to blitz a bit. Perhaps we take a few more risks by jumping routes to get interceptions Hope Hairston is back so our OL is back to 'normal' with Levitre at LG. Hope Kelsay is back also. I hate calling this game against the Bills and just because I am a homer, I will say the Bills win a shootout 34-31.

Problem is not just that we lost this weekend. It was the way in which we lost and that we are alternating wins with losses since the Pats* victory. As of now, I am not sure if yesterday was a anamoly or did we blow our load already and are now fading away. We HAVE to beat the Cowboys and I think we can.

Very disappointing loss today. Not just the loss itself but the way in which we lost. The O looked putrid and the D just could not get off the field. - Agree on Dareus. Once we have Kyle Williams back, we will have a formidable front D - Whats the deal with Troup anyway ? Is he hurt to the point that he cannot play or is he Maybinot part deux ? - Agree about Carrington and McK. - Gailey did not prep this team adequately and made some real big mistakes in-game. The challenge, not taking the FG, balance between run and pass etc - WRs were just not getting separation. Should have had plan B which Gailey did not have - Barnett continues to excel and makes plays all over the field - Somehow Gailey is not finding enough ways to get Spiller involved. - The OL weakness, masked several times earlier in the season by Fitz and Gailey, was evident today. Lot of pressure, forcing Fitz to make early throws However: - we are 5-3 which is the same record as the Jets - have winnable games against the Cowboys, Dolphins and Denver. - should get better with Bell/Hairston returning which will allow Levitre to return to his position of strength We are far ahead of where I thought we would be, 10-6 should be doable and 11-5 with playoffs is still reachable. We have to consistently win against the above average teams.

Are you a girl ? It shows four sizes to me. Nice find though.

I hope you get your wish. Happy Birthday !

So Simon, are you in football heaven today with this matchup and the Steelers game at night ? Truly a day when we can just lay on the couch from noon to 11 (CST) and not do anything else. Jets @ Bills, Giants @ Pats* and Ravens @ Steelers. (my picks in bold) All games with early playoff implications. Wow !

Yeah. Pooj. Huge game and has me amped up. My mental clock says its almost game time but this Daylight savings time is throwing me off. we havent' felt this way in ages as we are the thick of things and find ourselves in a tough division. If we pull this one off, it will be a remarkable 6-2 at season's mid-point. Go Bills ! That throbbing inside me is the thrill of the game (for a change)

Sorry didnt see your post till now - Burbs guy here. You ?

Hairston has looked good in the limited time we have seen him. Isn't it great we all feel so positive about a 4th round rookie at one of the most important positions on the O ?

Wasn't Nix responsible for Gailey ? The nomination quoted by the OP was not for COTY, it was for Executive of the year.

You know Cap, this whole Hindsight thing of yours is catching ...

Well, then we have hope. I think CBS still has Jets @ Bills as the featured game. Oh well, now that we got the no-win@Toronto monkey off our backs, winning on national TV maybe the next step in our evolution.

Actually I must say you are a decent poster even though you root for a despicable team As I said in another thread, Mangold vs Dareus will be fascinating. Looking beyond the smack talk, I have no way of predicting who will win that battle. Dareus is really coming on, whereas Mangold is good and a vet. How much the Jets score and how the Bills play D will be determined by this battle. (BTW, promise me that if Dareus dominates Mangold, you won't use the 'lingering injury' excuse). I think we have a better chance of limiting the Jets' scoring than we have of putting up lots of points. Apart from the on-field discussion - This should be the game of the week though I shudder to think it being televised nationally. The Bills typically haven't been doing well in such games

I am guessing not, cos he said post and not poster I keeed, I keed ..

Both teams look incompetent tonight. Penalties, Turnovers, ugh !

I just had a question for all those who are saying 'who cares' in this thread. Why are you posting in this thread ?

Dear Pittsburgh Steelers, You neutralizing Brady and holding him to under 200 yards passing had the biggest effect on your victory. The O helped - ergo, a good offense is not the best defense. As Mr Neanderthal tells us, the best D is a really good D. Sincerely, Nit Pickering Not disagreeing at all. I meant if there was a choice, I would rather have AWilliams back first (Sorry DJones, you get well soon too)

You should know that is utter BS.

I am not so sure about that. Yesterday's effective pass rush helped our DBs but the Jets' OL is better and our DBs will be exposed again. Considering I don't trust McK that much and that we have been doing okay at WR (Spiller, Smith, ROosevelt), I would rather have AWilliams back. Or were you talking about Kyle ?

Loooking at the match-ups, their O ranks in the 20s in rushing and passing. It always seems though that they typically have success over us on the ground. So, we need to continue to load up to stop the run and dare Sanchez to beat us through the air. Dareus vs Mangold will be a fascinating battle and the winner may control the Jets' scoring. In fact, their battle in the early going may decide our D philosophy for the rest of the game. If Dareus is holding up, I can see us blitzing quite frequently. On O, rushing D is their weak spot and we need to exploit it every which way we can. To mix things up, the 5 wide look will be important. Revis alone cant cover so many guys. My thoughts: - Big doses of FJax - Get Nelson involved early assuming Revis is covering Stevie - Blitz Sanchez at regular intervals - Control the edges and dont allow SGreene to break to the outside or Sanchez to scramble - Limit our turnovers This will be a close one and we should be able to pull it out late with the 12th man helping

We are in this position (top of AFCE and contending) because of that game. We got that monkey off our back and have confidence that we can literally beat any team. In that regard, the Pats* game was the 'biggest' so far. When we talk about how our games affect playoff chances, every AFCE game is big. The moniker of 'biggest' wont be decided till December rolls along.

Here is a link to the tie-breaker rules: http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakingprocedures Ofcourse these are applicable at the end of the season to determine playoffs, but as it stands right now, we have beaten the Pats*. Conference record is 3-1 for the Bills and 4-2 for the Pats*. I say, the Bills lead the Pats* in the AFCE. Not sure what the argument is about.

Considering there hasn't been a second meeting yet, what the OP states is exactly right - at this point, the Bills are at the top of the AFCE.

HBD, mead !

Steelers ~ 440 yards, Pats* = ~ 160 !!!