smokinandjokin

Just a dusting, similar to the amount of snow around your nostrils

Bills 24 Dolphins 13 1 TD each for offense, defense, and special teams

I said "Uh oh" when Thornton rang a blast off the post about 8 seconds into the game. He definitely gave their team a shot in the arm.

Agreed. Auburn RB Kenny Irons is the real deal. Nobody talks about him because of Brown and Cadillac last year. Almost losing is the key phrase there. I was at that game, Fresno was amped up and were #16 in the country at the time. However, that loss sent them into a freefall and they lost the next two after USC. That doesn't make the Trojans look any better. However, your #2 LSU DID lose at home to the disaster that is Tennesee. They did look horrible and almost lose at home last week to pathetic Arkansas (who USC beat 70-17.) LSU won 19-17 and needed an INT in the end zone at the end of the game. I like when you use your logic for one team but not another. Either way, USC has to handle UCLA and they are in. Georgia has their chance tonight in a "home game" against your #2. They are underdogs but I have picked them to beat LSU in a low-scoring game. IMO, neither 'Bama or Miami deserve Top 10 status, but I do realize this is the Simon Poll. WVU maybe, Florida no, and I would've thrown Oregon in at #10. It's tough to criticize one loss to the #1 team in the country. But their bowl game (BCS bowl or not) will tell the tale of that squad. I'd maybe give Notre Dame a sniff of the Top 10 because they beat Michigan at the Big House (something your #3 couldn't do) but besides that, their best wins are BYU, Tennessee, and Stanford. Hardly a murderer's row.

I don't think anybody, regardless of party, should be following the sh*t show we have now.

Congrats Blue. 10-10 is nothing to sneeze at. But picking without the spread is so funny. I love when ESPN runs on the ticker who Corso and Herbstreit pick every Saturday. Virginia Tech is favored over Wake Forest by 38 points, so of course those two strokers pick VT-- Do they even have to show that??? We really want to know if you think they will win by 39!!! (FWIW, I like College Gameday...Corso is sort of a clown, but he plays his role well and does know his stuff...And I listen closely to what Herbstreit says. He is typically spot-on with his analysis and picks.)

That is awesome. Fuggin hilarious. My buddy has this at the end of every email he sends. I never knew what the hell it was, but I always thought it was great:

Donahoe or Mularkey, pick either one: "We will evaluate every player at every position once the season is over." There, he addressed it.

I was 12 years old and it was summer break between 6th and 7th grade. My dad was out of town on business, and my mom had gone somewhere and drove my dad's car. I decided it would be cool to take my mom's car for a spin (she had a Subaru wagon.) She had let me drive a few times from the store around the block when she was in the car, so I kinda knew what I was doing. I pulled out, drove the 3-4 blocks over to my friend's house, and he got in and we drove around for about 5 mins, doing the drive-by past some young girlies' houses with the hope they would see us. That didn't pan out, so I dropped my friend off and drove home. All in all, I was out with the car for about 20 mins. However, now the hard part. When my mom pulls into the driveway, she always backed it in. We had a two-car garage, and on my dad's side, he could pull straight in, but on my mom's side, (just the way the garage was in relation to the driveway) there was a slight turn to navigate. As I backed it in, everything was going fine, I got to the slight turn, made it, and continued in reverse. Attempting to straighten out after the slight turn, I overcompensated, and the car was crooked. I couldn't leave it crooked, she would know I was out with it. I stopped, with my foot on the brake, and said "Okay, just pull forward, straighten it out, and we're good." Well, I forgot to put the car in Drive, hit the gas, and went right back through the center of the two-car garage, badly damaging both garage doors and the the center frame that separated them. I almost shat my pants. I pulled forward, parked the car, and waited. Sure enough, my mom came home, and you could only imagine the lashing I took. It was brutal. There was no hiding the evidence and no way to make the story sound good. It's not like I drove my little brother to the hospital or something. The only real lucky break was that my dad was out of town. My mom gave it to me pretty good, but nothing like what would've happened if that badass had been around. He got home about three days later (my mom didn't mention anything to him while he was gone) and by the time he arrived, my mom had graduated from extreme anger to almost seeing the funny side of it. She's a saint, and she broke it to my dad nicely. He still gave it to me pretty good, but luckily it was all verbal, rather than the welts that I know would've come had he been home. Now it is a pretty funny family story. My parents still live at the house and have a framed photo of the garage all busted up hanging in the pool table room in the basement. What a mischievious youth. I know I am in for it if I ever have kids.

The '02 Draft was a win-win situation for The Stadium Wall. Bills trade down at a discount (because nobody wanted to move up), Big Mike and McKinnie are drafted, and Wallers B word about TD and the state of our offensive line. -OR- Bills draft "can't miss" prospect Mike Williams at #4, Wallers B word about TD and the state of our line. Either way, everyone gets to do what they're best at: bitching and hindsight

Also acceptable are "shoot the cougar" and "dive on the grenade."

3rd string rookie QB who's played one half against the worst team in the league? ? ? ? Now facing a top-10 defense? ? ? ? Orlando Pace with a bum hamstring? ? ? ?

I heard the Chargers' media/fans are not thrilled with what they've gotten out of Jammer so far. He's been decent, but not top-5 pick worthy. Hmmm...a high first rounder in 2002 out of Texas who has underperformed as a starter??

On the card it might be +4, but the line is 3 now. I don't see St. Louis' 3rd stringer Harvard grad pulling another one out of his ass. This isn't Houston this week. I'm taking Washington.

Estimated project completion: 2048

Drafting the versatile linebacker/safety/special teamer Coy Wire, who somehow slipped to the 3rd round, was TD's best draft move ever.

I don't know Pipe. Billick has never done anything for me. He has been in a division with Cleveland (still in expansion) and Cincinnatti (a joke from 1988-2003) and an up and down Pittsburgh team. He has not shown he can be consistent. He is supposed to be a QB/offensive genius, and while he hasn't had much to work with (Dilfer, Boller) you'd expect he could groom some success there. He's good at finding the TV cameras, but I'm not sold on him as a coach. I agree, Gray may need to move on. Capers will be available, might not be too bad. In reality, I don't see MM or TD going anywhere. This is a VERY expensive venture, and does not always pan out. Jonas Jennings was the best free agent OT last year, and the Niners overpaid and got a few games out of him. The idea is good, but like everything else, is very risky and could strap the team financially for several years if it doesn't work out. (Clearly, the cheap journeyman linemen don't always work out either though ) Yes and Yes.

Absolutely. While I don't know for sure, I'd guess that those Bills teams were not lumped in the bottom 1/4 of the league in 3rd down conversions. I'd guess that Marv wasn't at every press conference racking his brain trying to explain why they are only converting 30% of their third downs. I do like Shaud Williams, but if the results you are looking for aren't there, is it time to try something else? That's my only question. Maybe, if the Bills are long gone and lose a few of the next games, the forgotten man Lionel Gates will get a shot?

One of my buddies, a Jets fan, asked me if it was true that Losman had not thrown for 200 yards yet this year, and asked if the Bills were running the option... Would not surprise me...

I actually agree with you guys too. I'm not suggesting Willis is the answer; I'm suggesting that Shaud Williams isn't the answer. We continue to struggle on 3rd down, but no noticeable changes are made. Obviously, we can't switch the entire line...I think our best receivers are in the game...I prefer JP in there, whether or not he's better than KH right now...So what's left to change??? Why not try??? And I completely agree that Willis skip-stepping his way to a gain of 1 on first down does not help the 3rd down situation. But is there any doubt that this guy is the key to the success of the team? Are any defensive coordinators worried about Shaud Williams?

Hey Plenz, it's Sunday at 4, and the Bills just won 43-42 on a last second bomb from JP to Evans...greatest game in Bills history....sorry you missed it buddy!

What percentage of the 28 did they pick up the first down?

I would be willing to wager that 20% of the 3rd downs are 3 yards to go or shorter. That 20% is also a big part of the reason the Bills are even as high as 35% as a team. Come on man, I know he plays in short yardage. You know what I'm saying.

Doesn't the fact that Mularkey has cited this as the team's major issue, and the fact that they are in the bottom 25% of the league in 3rd down conversions, warrant at least attempting to leave your best player on the field? What you are saying may be true, Willis would not make a difference. But instead of inferring that, isn't it time to find out for sure? What the facts do bear out is that with Shaud in there, we have a mammoth problem converting on 3rd down. Not saying it's Shaud's fault, just saying that if we're searching for answers, that is an easy attempt at a solution.

Primeau is the quintessential Sabres forward from 1997-2003: solid, hard-working defensive forward. The main reason he didn't fit in with the Sabres is because Buffalo used a 1st round pick (#17) on him and expected more than 6 goals a year. Every forward on Buffalo's team at that time seemed to have a built-in "defensive" mode. He would be looked at as a solid, hard-working player everywhere else because he's not carrying the media/fan/organizational pressure of being a top draft pick. He can simply play his game, and not worry about scoring 25 goals or being compared to his brother, like he was in Buffalo.