smokinandjokin

JP could be Eli Manning/Carson Palmer. JP could be Kyle Boller/Joey Harrington Either way, plan on spending the next 2-3 years finding out. It may not always be pretty, but it should be exciting. What I do like is that he really does want to do well, and he doesn't shy away from the criticism when he knows his performance is not adequate.

I disagree with that statement, only because of the fact that Willis would AT LEAST give the defense another option to think about. With Shaud, you know it is a pass, or on a small fraction of the plays, a "sneaky" draw or inside handoff out of the shotgun which haven't worked in weeks. You really don't think, at this point, it would be worth it to have 21 in there, if only because the defense may have to play a bit more honest?

Bills 24th in NFL in 3rd down conversions I heard Mularkey's press conference yesterday, and he cited the red zone and 3rd down as the Bills major offensive obstacles. He said their 3rd down problems in general are magnified in the red zone. He then seemed like he was searching for a magical solution to the problem, and said something to the effect of "I don't know. We just have to figure it out and execute better in those situations." While the link proves that 3rd down conversions are not the be all and end all (as evidenced by Green Bay near the top of the league, and Denver below the Bills), they certainly go a long way toward winning the time of possession battle, resting your defense, and not constantly settling for field goals. As MM was searching for answers and dreaming of better execution, why didn't one of the reporters ask him "Isn't this a good time to play Willis on 3rd downs?" I mean, really, seeing as this has been an issue all season, and they continue to look for answers, why not have your best player on the field on 3rd down? I could buy the "blocking" excuse and the "pass catching" excuse, (I never really bought the "Willis needs a rest" excuse) at the beginning of the season. But now that the job isn't getting done, can we please give this a shot? BTW, the horse is down, but I think I just saw him move a leg...

17 More: "Randy McMichael over the middle for a gain of thirty-six yards. Coy Wire late on the coverage."

I remember a few years back, when Fina was still on the team, he had a morning show on 103.3 The Edge here in Buffalo. He would call in and talk to Shredd and Regan on their morning show, and take some call-in questions from the listeners. I was listening one Monday, after a particularly bad game for Fina the day before, and a caller called in. The exchange was as follows: Shredd: "Okay, let's go to Rick in Williamsville." Rick: "Hey guys, good morning. I just had a question for John. Hey John, do you have any windburn on your face today?" Fina: "I don't understand the question." Rick: "Well, just seeing the way (insert defensive end name here) was blowing by you yesterday, I figured you might have some windburn." Fina (to Shredd and Regan): "You know what guys, I don't need this. I am sore, and I wake up early to call in and do this show, and I really don't need this. Goodbye." He hung up. Shredd and Regan didn't really know what to do. It seemed like they wanted to burst out laughing, but had to remain polite and professional. I believe the John Fina Show continued the next week as scheduled, but that call had me dying as I listened in my car.

Did you mean "They blow up so fast?"

Could we still kick the FG on 5th down?

Buffalo over Miami Detroit over Minnesota San Fran over Arizona all underdogs who will win outright Sunday, IMO Tennessee over Indy?? Lay off the pipe Mike Irvin

I think everyone is way off base when suggesting that Ralph brought in Donahoe to sell seats, and he is happy now because the team is making money. Ralph, in his mid-80's, has enough money to care for himself and his extended family for a long time. I think the man wants to win more than we know. He has devoted over 45 years of his life to this franchise. The purpose of bringing TD in was to take a run at a championship. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Ralph is pleased with attendance and revenues, but it seems very rediculous to me that people would suggest he is primarily concerned with padding his pockets for a few more years. Besides, as his family has shown little interest in taking over after Ralph passes on, his estate stands to collect a few hundred million dollars upon sale of the team. Ralph has been loyal to this team and this city for so long, that to suggest that his #1 priority is something other than winning a championship seems short-sighted and wrong.

Miami week part 2 and Puhonix is running scared already!!!

I think it is obvious that we would see an obvious upgrade in Vanek's play if we switched uni's back to the blue and gold. It is depressing to watch us play teams like Montreal and Toronto, who haven't made any major changes to their uniforms in over 50 years, while we skate around with a horned goat head on our jersey and wearing black (or even worse, red!!!) I had a slight tear in my eye when I saw the Sabres coming out of the locker room on Danny Gare night wearing the old home jersey...I thought they were going to wear them for at least that game....unfortunately they all had #18 on and it was just for the ceremony. It was obvious what Gare thinks, as he made a point to mention "You guys sure look good in that uniform." Sporadic clapping ensued from the dozens in attendance.

Anyways, that's some good info. Sacks are the absolute best when your team is on defense. I love 'em, and likewise, hate them all the same when the Bills get sacked.

Not positive, but isn't it "pass attempts per sack"? 9 sacks per pass attempt seems tough.

I think JP is ready to call his own plays.

here I am. What do we want to talk about? Snowing in Amherst right now, but nothing really sticking to roads or accumulating.

I trust that the Bills fans will use the upcoming 8:30pm start against the Broncos to restrain their drinking and prove that we can have a healthy, loud atmosphere without all of the drunken antics. The Jets game that started at 4:15 seemed to have a high occurance of "incidents." This night game (with 4 extra hours of drinking) is going to be something else. Personally, I'm excited.

There are plenty of places where political correctness exists. A football internet message board would typically not qualify as one of those places. If you have a problem with someone saying a chick is a little busted in the helmet, you are in the wrong place. Furthermore, Sheehan is more than a dead soldier's mother now. She had an opportunity to mourn, voice her displeasure, raise awareness, and perhaps even create change. Instead, she vaulted herself and her "demands" for a meeting with the President into a circus arena, the publicity of which lost her more supporters than it gained her. She made herself more important than her message, and it turned people off. Now she is not a dead soldier's mother, she is an unattractive author.

I read through this thread because I was about to post the same thing. Everyone likes to remember our defense from the 6-game winning streak last year to cite how incredible they were. Where were they against Corey Dillon when he took a dump on them in the ESPN game? Baltimore's backup last year? Pittsburgh's 3rd stringer? I even remember Rudi Johnson doing quite the number on them without Palmer in at QB in the Cincy game. They shut down Shaun Alexander and Curtis Martin last year, the two leading rushers, but I'm not sure the rest of the competition was anything to brag about. It is easy to cite the play of our DT's as the major reason for the defense's decline, but no TKO is the more glaring weakness. With 3rd down being the major problem, the guy was a playmaker when it was the most necessary, and was strong in both run and pass coverage. Spikes?

Pay cut to play in Indy maybe? Aren't they going to lose Reggie Wayne?

Nobody's disputing it. That fact has been laid out here several times per day since Week 2 in Tampa.

<<--- me yawning at this thread

You spell practise funny. Would you rather watch the offence or the defence? I was always under the impression practices were closed to the public. I think the media is sometimes allowed to attend the first or last 20 minutes of a practice, but even that's not guaranteed. Some are closed all together. Of course, this is a policy I have never questioned, I've always just assumed. It stands to reason that if I could go watch the Bills practice this week, so could the Miami coaches, so that's why I figure it's a "no." Score yourself a media credential, though, and you could be on to something.

I agree Bart, Navy is the better team. For the past few years, they have been leaps and bounds ahead of Army. In fact, Navy has won the last 3 games by a combined score of 144-31 to tie the overall series at 49-49-7. I'm just going out on a limb and saying that Army has figured out how to win- they've won 4 in a row- and that Army's senior class does not want to go out losing all four years to Navy. No doubt this game is more important to Navy than the Poinsetta Bowl, but this is Army's bowl game. It looks like some of the money has been on Army. The opening line was Navy -7, and most books have it at -6 right now.

I disagree. There is always second-guessing, but I think Dungy would get a pass for taking a run at a prestigious record which would cement your team in history. There will be plenty of media members who would lambaste him, but plenty others who would applaud him. I know it only takes one play, but Manning, Harrison, and Edge have been among the most durable players in the NFL over their careers. Why give them two weeks off at the end of the season, plus the bye week? It is ultimately Dungy's call, but it is my feeling that the players want to play and want to win every game. Guys get hurt when they're playing not to get hurt.

I am a big fan of Roy and Gaustad. Both usually play well, but ALWAYS play hard. Vanek looks like a dude who has had the game come easy to him his whole life, and now that things are not so easy, he is letting up, and maybe even sulking a bit. It is more noticable on a line with Roy and Max because they are always flying and working their tails off. I think Vanek needs to get to work and pump in a few dirty goals battling for rebounds. Once you get those, the pretty goals start going in also.