Rubes

Watching repeated shots of Brady, Moss, Welker, and Hoody looking stunned and dismayed on the sideline at the Ralph.

This is one hell of a game, I have to say.

That is hilarous. At the same time, I can't for the life of me figure out what this has to do with the topic.

True enough. I finally went back to that hellish Eric Wood thread back when he was injured and you did make that point, plus you weren't really trollish at all. In fact, I think we've agreed most of the time. I haven't really followed close enough to know that other people have been saying that about him, though.

Really? I need to spell it out for you? Where on here did I ever say anything other than in the immediate hours after his injury, when nobody knew anything? All I said is that the injury was gruesome, and it had the potential to be career-threatening. Based only on my general knowledge of such injuries. Sure, I mentioned people can and do come back from broken bones, but it just looked nasty and could have other ramifications. That was it. Never said anything after his surgery, after any information came out, anything against what he said his doctors told him. But if you want to go ahead and believe that, feel free, tiger.

Of course, most people with sense already know that anything on a message board is not a "real" assessment. In the absence of any information form Eric or anyone else (the situation when most of those opinions were offered), it is precisely our knowledge about the general nature of the injury that allows us to offer an informed opinion. That's the whole idea behind that expert opinion thing. I guess I must have missed the part where myself and other doctors said or implied that our assessments were real and based on our personal examinations. You see the divide between those two extremes because you fail to account for the fact that many of the worrisome opinions were offered at a time when no information on Eric's condition was available. That, of course, is different from now, after he's had his surgery and there is at least some sense of the condition of his leg before and after the procedure. But even that knowledge (what little of it there is) doesn't guarantee anything. Some of us can appreciate the fact that not every broken bone is the same, and that some broken bones don't (or cannot) heal well enough for someone to return to a violent game like this, even after a successful surgery. It was a horrific injury, and there was (and still is) a reasonable chance that he will not heal well enough to return to football. Some of us also know that, just because the patient himself says everything will be fine, doesn't always mean it will be, or that he has a full grasp of his situation or the challenges ahead. You also see that divide because you can't seem to detect any difference between the "OH MY GOD HIS CAREER IS OVER!" cries and the "Man, that was a gruesome injury, and based on how bad it looked and what I know it certainly wouldn't surprise me if he couldn't play again" opinions. But I'm sure next year when he returns to action we'll have to endure more of your trolling because of this. Only in your fantasies. Keep on trollin', though.

Amen.

Yeah, silly of us to actually think we might know a little something about it. But you go right on believing we're "overriding" his statements, rather than just suggesting from experience that things aren't always as straightforward or proceed as smoothly as you believe everything is. Good screen name, by the way. I'll give you a ring if I need some backup.

Speaking of which, when it was the third quarter, with the Bills down 14-7 and the good guys facing 3rd and 1 from the Miami 36, I actually thought to myself: this has to be two-down territory. Sure enough, Fitz tries the deep sideline pass to Lee, but misses short. Then on 4th and 1, they go for it and make it easily. That was one of the first times this season I felt like this coaching staff finally gets it. No doubt somebody else would have punted to try and pin them back, even though the other team had just finished a crazy 16-play 9-minute drive.

Actually, I find this shaping up to be a very interesting audition for the Bills (and Fewell) over the rest of the season. Specifically, if you take yesterday's game into account, we'll be playing all of our division rivals in home games over a relatively short time period. Being able to take care of your division should always be the #1 priority of any head coach, especially at home. If you can't beat the teams in your division, you don't deserve to win the division. The Bills showed they can hang with and beat the Dolphins, even with a crazy, injury-depleted roster. The next test is against the Jets, who they already beat once on the road. Then it's the Patriots a couple of weeks later. Strong showings against all three could prove to be a very enticing draw for a prospective head coach. If they feel most of the pieces are already in place to take care of the division, it might make the job seem more attractive. Then again, if Fewell manages to beat all three division opponents over the next few weeks, with something like 13 or 14 players on IR, this man deserves much stronger consideration for the long-term job than we're currently thinking. At least in my opinion.

+1

The only way that really works is if the player can demonstrate an ability to drop into coverage. If there is no ability to do that, then the converted LB is just another undersized DE who only rushes the passer. The real question is if Maybin can actually drop into coverage effectively. If he can't, don't make the switch. And maybe, just maybe, that's why they haven't so far.

I said "yes" but to be sure, Miami's strength this season has been long, plodding drives that rely heavily on the running game. They aren't exactly a team that can strike quickly through the air. Certainly not multiple times. That said, it will take a long time for the Jauron stink to finally evaporate from the Bills. Speaking of which, I can hardly believe anyone is complaining about "running up the score" by a team that seems to invent new ways of losing in the final minutes. I mean, after the debacles against New England and Dallas, can anyone seriously find a gripe with that?

Well, there was this little snippet from Nick over at WGR550.com: It seemed to me from watching on TV that there were a lot of Fin fans there. But I couldn't tell how loud and crazy people were.

Is it sad that I think that sounds pretty good?

Not exactly. At the time, Florence was still something of an unknown. He had some success early in his career, then not so much last year. It was a solid signing for certain, but mostly now in hindsight. If the FO knew before the season that he would play this well, who knows if they would have paid what he would have been asking. The real key is: now that he's proven himself this season, will the FO pay to keep him around?

Honestly, it seems like we are so jaded by this front office that it needs to come down to a choice between McKelvin and Florence. A real front office would say that McKelvin has a great future and Florence provides savvy veteran leadership, and would find a way to keep both. Florence would make a very good nickel corner.

No, it's just that a decade of mediocrity has lowered everybody else's, apparently.

One good game that you saw. The rest of us have seen him play very well most of the season.

Jauron is gone, so 7-9 is gone with him.

As usual, our main problem is that we can't rely on our starters to last through the season. My sense is the starting line of Bell-Levitre-Hang-Wood-Butler is not too bad and will get better with more experience. I would prefer someone with more experience at the LT spot, but my opinion is the starting group has the potential to become very good if they can stick together. Our real problem is with depth, and it's painfully clear that we need to use that depth extensively, especially at the tackle positions. We need better depth. Meredith is a decent option, but he needs to get a lot better. If Simmons has anything left, that would represent good G depth, but beyond that it's pretty ugly.

Outstanding.

Perhaps, although I'm not sure how you can say that Minnesota, Green Bay, and Chicago all have coaches who "have brought their teams to the top of their respective division," considering that: (a) they are all in the same division, (b) only Minnesota is really at the top of the division, with Green Bay hovering around mediocrity and Chicago in a free-fall, (c ) Minnesota's coach was widely considered to be on the hot seat this season and lucked out by getting a youthful Brett Favre, and (d) Chicago's coach is almost certainly going to be fired at the end of the season. I don't necessarily disagree with your approach or argument, just pointing out it isn't as clear and obvious as you would like it to be.

Brother-in-law and family live in Illinois. They are Bears season ticket holders.

Lovie is almost certainly gone in Chicago after this season. Word on the street is that Shanny and Cowher both have a particular interest in that opening.