Casey D

Finally a Festivus thread. I can't wait for the feats of strength after the conclusion of the airing of the grievances... :-)

Gailey said not a long term injury. Likely out next week. Get a more definitvie prognosis tomorrow. No break per Gailey

yikes

I just think you are being too dogmatic-- I like the running game as much as the next person. We were behind a lot in many games early. Three runs and a punt when you are losing 17-0 in the second quarter is not going to happen over and over if you are coaching-- you've got to get points fast. Your idea is good in theory, it is not when the game is unfolding as it did many times last year after the 5-2 start. But whatever.

Your statistical analysis is misleading IMO. In most games the defense was so poor that 31 plus points was needed to win on relatively few possessions. This problem was exacerbated in several games when the team was down 14-21 points early in the second quarter. In those situations, the running game was shelved for obvious reasons, and its not surprising you lose when you throw alot because you are throwing alot when you have gotten far behind. I agree there were some instances where the game was tight and we could have run more, but largely we threw too much because our defense was awful, it was not a strategic decision. Improve the defense-- as the FO is doing-- it will take pressure off the O to score all the time and the running game will be used more. Just my opinion... CD

There is a Boston Herald article from two days ago making the comparison to Brady. Not warranting the comparison, just that it was made.

Aaron Corp Richmond, formerly USC. Some comparisons to being Brady-like. Seems like a good pickup.

I think the front office has done a good job of recognizing the weaknesses on the team and have tried to address them in an intelligent way. Did not reach with the first pick, and got by all estimates a very good CB at a position of somewhat need. Got lucky when Glenn fell and got the BPA at a position of great need. As to Graham, seems like a bit of a reach BUT clearly a position of huge need-- a speed WR. We got boatloads of posession receivers like a Sanu of Rutgers (who was still available) and I have not looked but I doubt there was much better available with the third pick in terms of speed. On third and 6, if Graham can just sprint down the sideline every time and clear out space, he's probably worth the pick. And if he can do more, as the FO seems to think, then it is gravy in my book. They need to create more fear of a deep threat to make the rhythm passing attack of Gailey work more efficiently. So they've tried to address the problems. The FO does not appear clueless as in the past with other regimes. So I am happy. Some LBs and more OLs today and I'd likely be very happy. As to whether these guys are actually any good, only time will tell, but the new FO seems pretty saavy so I am optimistic. CD

This guy looks like he will be an amazing NFL WR. Where is he projected in the first round?

Gailey said they are going to evaluate the players, and decide if going to a 4-3 might make sense. Sounds like a totally reasonable evaluation and approach.

10th

This season has been so emotionally charged from the great start to the 7 game losing streak to the win yesterday, it has been hard to give a dispassionate analysis of the season to get some handle on where this team is abilty-wise. If you look back at the season now, the team was probably more competitive than it feels given the losing streak. Out of 15 games, the Bills won 6 against some good teams, including NE, Oak, Philadelphia and Denver. They crushed two weaker opponents in KC and Washington. So those 6 wins are of fairly high quality. Three of the Bills losses were tight games that could have gone either way-- Cincinnati, NYG and Jets2. Those are all solid teams, so 3 more solid games by the Bills, albeit losses. There were two losses where the Bills were in the game, but deserved to lose, Tennessee and Miami2. Not disaster games however--watchable to the end. Then there were 4 putrid performances, Jets1, Dallas, Miami1 and SD. Because the putrid performances were largely strung together later in the season, they provide the most vivid image of the season and indicate that the Bills are truly awful and totally lack talent. But when you look at the whole body of work, there were 9 good games and 2 fair games to go with the putrid 4, so 11 games out of 15 were at least reasonable efforts. It suggests the team is not as bad as it has felt for the past two months, and that while the team is not as good as the 5-2 start, it is not nearly as far away from that standard as it has felt recently. With a good off-season keeping and adding talent, and some better luck next year injury wise, they might be as consistently good next year for 16 games(or for most of them if they could, say, reduce the true stinkers to 1 or 2 games) as they were for the first 7 this year. Here's hoping and Merry Christmas!

I agree. It's like a baseball pitcher going through a dead arm period. Fitz has never played a full season like this. He needs to rest his arm, and work on a workout regimin that will help him through the rigors of a long season.

If we had Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady, this team might be 6-7. Consequently, anyone who thinks this team is a QB away from being a contender is mistaken. The defense is so bad, that we are pretty much out of most games lately early in the second quarter. You cannot win if your offense needs to score 30 points a game or more, which is basically what the defense has demanded all year. The offense obliged early in the year, but asking an offense to score 30 points every week, especially when you are down 14/21/24 points early in the second quarter is absurd. Stick with the run? When you are behind by 14 and the other team scores on every possession--good luck with that. It is a vicious circle. Fitzpatrick is a middle of the road QB, maybe top 15-- he is not paid like nor expected to be a "franchise QB." He is paid like, and expected to play like a Matt Cassell or Kevin Kolb or Joe Flacco, not a Brady or a Rogers or a Manning or even a Vick. He plainly is not nearly good enough to take this team on his back and win lots of games. But when the whole team is functioning, as it was in the first half of the season, you can win with Fitz and he might steal a game or two for you, and lose you one or two on a bad day like yesterday(although that game would have been lost even if Fitz had a good day IMO). Get a better defense and supporting cast on offense. A QB for the future is a luxury we can't afford right now. If you think this team would be rocking right now with a Christian Ponder, Blaine Gabbert or even Andy Dalton(what happened to him by the way), or next year with one of their 2012 counterparts, you are wrong.

Particularly early. We get in a 17/21/28 point hole, and it puts too much pressure on the offense, which is bad enough right now without having to throw on every down.

Yeah, this D is great.

Yep.

Bingo!

Really-- who'd have thought that was your opinion?

You really can't tell that from his 47 identical posts?

Amen!

Please stop. It wasn't funny to start and repeating the same thing over and over is annoying.

He's getting no pressure on the QB at all.

if any, not much

A cross-eyed man perhaps!