Fan in Chicago

Coffee maker and shaver ? Really ? Coffee maker ? EDIT: okay that was good. I got conned.

Ha ha ha . Wait, were you serious ?

Thanx. That was quite educational. I followed up on the 'body type' term very loosely. I should have said that if he had to put on weight, he should have done what he could this past offseason.

He did ? Really ? If so, the (previous) FO was even more idiotic than I thought. If he was a project, he should have been drafted in a latter round. And we are not a team that can afford luxury first round picks. We needed and continue to need players that can contribute either right away or latest by year 2. Maybin has done neither. If his body type is not prototypical, he should have worked at it in the past off-season. Why does he need two off-seasons to do that ? To your final point, as a high draft pick, he should develop into one of the leaders on the team. If you are so confident that another team will see his value and use him better, I am sure Nix will get a decent draft pick in exchange. Right ? Seeing what little he has accomplished so far, I doubt any GM does that.

Right after the Bills beat them.

I don't think the gist of this thread is to say that the Jets suck. BUt good teams rise to the occassion and in what was one of the biggest games, of two 9-2 teams, the Jets came up very very small. Call it poor game planning, or poor lack of adjustments or just lack of motivation but the Jets just did not look like they are in the same class as the Pats* despite the similarity of their pre-game record.

You need to post more. I agree with most of what you are saying but would probably try to keep Youboty for depth if not for anything else. Also, while we are at it, consider giving Fitzy and Kyle Williams a raise even if their contracts are not up.

While it looks like doom and gloom, we need to do our part in primarily drafting well. We have sucked in this department for ages and we have to hope that Nix, whaley and co. do a better job in adding and replacing talent consistently through the draft. Then we need to draft a 'franchise' QB such as a Manning/Brees/Brady or build such a superior defense that the opposing teams QB is neutralized. Finally, tough as it may sound, out-coach Bellicheck. For far too long he has taken their talent and enhanced it with some very good game prep and in-game management. We need to beat him in coaching as well. We will not become competitive overnight but do the above and in a few years time, when Brady's skills start to wane, we will have a chance to take over the mantel of an elite team one more time.

Exactly. He signs bums with names like Wrotto and Urbik. God forbid if we ever trusted those two on the right side, our already pathetic offense would resemble a Pop Warner offense (and thats being generous). Don't even get me started on no names like Donald Jones and David Nelson ....

And if he doesn't, it will obviously be because he is playing hurt.

Kyle "Pile Driver" Williams

I am confident that this is the week we put it all together and beat the living daylights out of the Vikes. Stevie out to redeem himself, Spiller back, Evans wanting to prove he is still relevant, Favre with no where to throw but to a Bills DB - a recipe for a big Bills win.

Considering he also 'uncovered' Maybin, I would keep him in the dog house a bit longer...

Though I must say I would like to see Fitzy hit the out routes with more consistency. And we still haven't seen his abilities tested in cold, windy and/or rainy conditions.

The difference between being fiercely competitive and arrogant. You find both in all walks of life and the latter kind may find success in their chosen field but suffer overall in life and have a tendency to fall hard. And PTR - This year has been all too painful as I have spent the better part of a few months wallowing in the pain of a terrible project. If only I was able to separate emotion and focus on the next one, I would have been a happier person. Or were you talking about football ?

I am a big fan of #20 myself. One thing I am not sure you have mentioned is something Gailey said about Fitzy a few days back that he has that ability to instantly forget a bad play and move on. It is highly desirable quality - the power to get over a poor pass and focus on the remaining game.

If he was on the Bills, he would be looking for a job today. Truly pathetic game yesterday.

Count me in as one who is unpleasantly surprised. Even before this news, it was weird when Kubiak came out with a wishy-washy press conference response which essentially meant 'boys will be boys'. Then I believe he gave the game ball to Johnson in effect offering no retribution to his actions. The event looked like an old fashioned brawl and the league's action is inconsistent with its demonstrated 'tough love' philosophy.

Yes but do you recall the talent he had at his disposal especially on Defense ?

9. Last season and early part of this season, I had stopped caring. And since the past few weeks, losing has started to hurt again. Which is a good thing. 11. This was my most glaring observation yesterday. I kept waiting for the clutch catches from Evans that would pull us out of trouble but none came.

I have defended Evans so far but was sorely disappointed today. He came up very small today and was virtually non existent. Not sure where the Evans we saw a few years back has gone. But I doubt Fitzy misses him consistently. Perhaps the criticism against him is valid after all. Hope he turns it around. On a day when Stevie was having the dropsies, his veteran presence and catches would have been a great help.

I will bite. I wasn't and still am not on the 'at all costs' side but to say that we should turn away from drafting OL high is being short sighted. We still cannot gen enough push to make a critical 3rd and short. While we are much better than last year, I wouldn't shy away from drafting top flight OL talent in the earlier rounds.

Yes I watched the game. The D bounced back after the first quarter nicely and played an inordinate amount of time while holding them to 3 more points in regulation. I do not fault the entire defense but do blame the gaffes by Kelsay, Stevie Johnson and McK for the inability to put the game away. Make no mistake this is a team of no-name players who just gave one of the best D's in football (led by the great lebeau) a run for the money. And this just a few weeks after scoring 34 against the ravens. Do not underestimate what we have achieved in the second half of this season.

Not only this game but the remaining ones against the Jets and Vikes will be telling as well. As for draft plans for next year, I think this regime seriously believes in BPA and as I have said before, I don't like a slavish adherence to one particular strategy. Which means that if the BPA is not at a position of need, either 'reach' for a pick placed a couple of spots lower or trade down. I hated the Spiller pick and nothing so far has made me change my opinion, despite me desperately wanting to be proven wrong. Back to your topic on OT, if Bell plays even adequately the rest of the year, we can get somewhere close to a happy place with the BPA plan. The choice between OT (and by that I mean LT), LB or DE will be equivalent. A franchise QB trumps all ofcourse, despite the stellar performance of Fitzy.

Do you really believe that ? We hung 34 on the Ravens, taking them to OT. Then we lost close games to teams with good winning records. Then we won two in a row scoring 49 points in our last game. Don't you see a pattern of a hard playing team that can give even the good teams a run for the money ? I think the Ravens game was actually the beginning of our turnaround and we are just seeing a tough bunch playing together as a team and performing far above their individual talent levels. So, the Ravens game was close NOT because they overlooked us.