Rubes

Damn, that made me laugh. But I was thinking the same thing. Is he thinking Shayne Graham instead of Shane Matthews? The kicker, right? Hell, he'd probably do better than Drew right now....

I think most Pats fans will tell you they went through that precise process, and came to that same conclusion.

No kidding. You know, I'm really believing now that most of this is Drew. It's really amazing to see all of the stories from a couple years ago about how Pats fans were in the same position we are now. How they wouldn't admit it was Drew. The offensive line sucked. Drew just needed better protection. You know what? I really don't think our offensive line is THAT bad. It's not great, but I've seen them wear down three really good defenses this year, only to see some boneheaded play screw things up. I think once Drew is out of there we see just how decent this line is.

But next year....we couldn't possibly be as bad on offense as this year, right?

I guess that depends what kind of doctor I am...

I thought that we would certainly be better this year compared to last year. I thought there was no possible way our offense could be worse than last year. We lost so many close ones last year because of a completely inept offense. With all the new talent and coaching, there would be no possibility our offense could be worse. No way. Even a slight improvement on offense would be enough to get us to 8-8. Could we possibly regress with a healthy Moulds, a speed receiver, and a new toy like McGahee? No way. Damn I hate it when I'm wrong.

Man, you guys are really ripping BF. Oh wait, never mind. He prodded the bear pretty bad.

Not bad overall, but I don't think you'll find many people here who are very supportive of keeping Jonas under any circumstance. I think most people here believe he is too injury-prone, and even with that tag he will still probably get offered more money on the FA market than he's worth. We seem to end up playing Price quite a bit as it is, so why not just keep Price in there? I think it will really depend on how the coaching staff feels about McFarland. If he is ready to be a productive backup next year, then we may see Jennings leave, and have Price as the starter backed up by McFarland. If McFarland is not ready, I'm not sure what will happen, because depth is everything in this sport, particularly on the offensive line. A lot can happen between now and the end of the season, and Jennings' value on the FA market will likely change before then in some way. If there aren't many takers, we may see him back, but I'm not counting on it. If teams are willing to pay through the nose for above-average players -- and it seems they are -- then we're not likely to see him back.

I hope that's not all that you're hanging your hat on at this point...

It's interesting...I've been able to tell if the Bills will run a pass or run play very consistently, mostly by watching Drew's movements prior to the snap. I couldn't figure out what, specifically, make me think that though.

Isn't that the $6,000,000 question? If this group knew how to replicate past success with Drew, we wouldn't be here asking this question. Problem is, nobody knows how to fix this train wreck.

Great, I'm flying out on a 737 later this week. Just great.

Hindsight is always so awesome, isn't it?

You know, to be perfectly honest, and I'm going out on a limb here, I disagree with you. By no means do I think that our offensive line is filled with Pro Bowlers. Our offensive line is, at best, average. But I really don't think that they are as God-awful as many here are making them out to be. I have now seen, in a few games this year, how our line has been able to start taking over games in the second half. I think it's the sign of a decent unit when the group starts wearing down a defense in the third and fourth quarters. That's what I was seeing in this Ravens game, and I saw it in the Miami game, and I saw shades of it in the Jacksonville game as well. Perhaps even the Jets game. Some of this has to do with Willis, of course, but I think it goes both ways; Willis makes this line look better, and this line makes Willis look better too. One important thing to keep in mind is that Baltimore, Miami, and Jacksonville all have very very good defenses. The fact that this line was wearing these defenses down in the second half, I think says a lot. Granted, they are not opening the holes they need to when we're in the red zone. I am almost certainly making them sound better than they are, don't get me wrong. But this line is a big reason we beat Miami, and it's a big reason we should have beaten Baltimore and Jacksonville. If Drew sees Henry open for a TD on the first drive, and he manages to hit Moulds for the easy TD, then we're probably here talking about how our offense got the job done against a great defense. In the same way that a good running back makes an offensive line look better (and vice-versa), the same holds true for the quarterback. This line is certainly much better at run blocking than pass blocking. And Drew is like a deer in the headlights back there. Neither the line nor Drew does much of anything to make the other look better. I do believe, though, that if you stick a QB back there who has better touch passes and a better feel for the pass rush, and both will look a lot better. And nod's right, all it takes is a step or two here and there in the pocket to get it done. Like when I was watching the Jets-Pats game yesterday, the Pats DE clearly beat the Jets RT with an outside rush (shades of Mike Williams), but Pennington merely stepped up in the pocket and the rusher was out of the play. In our game, the same thing happened; Drew doesn't step up in the pocket, and the guy MW did or did not block is still able to reach him; sack, fumble, end of story. I've had enough of that.

You're not an ass...how I forgot that is completely beyond me, though. No, wait, I guess it's easy to forget that.

And yet if Jerry Sullivan pointed that out he'd be crucified!

Yes, but you'd be surprised how many gals would like to sit on your lap!

Considering we hadn't scored two offensive TDs in one single game all year (much less one half), plus we were on the road, plus we were playing against the frigging Ravens defense for God's sake, and I had the same thought at halftime.

My favorite costume I made a few years ago was a toilet. Just remove the seat from your toilet (not too hard) and strap it around your belt. Wear all white if you can. Then just cut the top 3-4 inches off the top of a box, but a hole in the top for your head, and slip it over your head to rest on your shoulders. Make a handle out of aluminum foil and attach it to the box top. I also glued a tissue box and a TV Guide to the top. Now, when you sit down, you look like a toilet.

Not only that, but.... She's going to give it another try tonight!

Two things that never seem to change. Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback, and Rudy's BS.

Whoops, I thought you were talking about the "running into the kicker" penalty on the punt, not the potential turnover on the Bills punt. I don't know about that one; it really looked too close to call on the replay. Sure, Fletch didn't really commit a penalty, but what can you say? If he stays on his feet instead of jumping, and nails the QB cleanly, there's no penalty. I hate it when guys jump up to try and block a pass like that; the rule I always go by is forget the ball, just take the guy out. A solid lick on Boller might go a long way later in the game if he starts feeling the pressure. I won't argue the Fletcher thing too much, though. It was definitely a bogus call. But it's just another instance of Fletch doing something to screw us again.

You know, I agree with you for the most part. I think a lot of people here are dogging the offensive line a bit too much. I think our line is definitely not filled with Pro Bowlers by any stretch, but I really don't think they are as bad as people think. A few times this year -- against JAX, NYJ, MIA, and now BAL -- the offensive line has shown significant improvement from the first half to the second. In each of those games, it looked like the line (and McGahee, as well) was doing a great job of wearing down the defense. I could sense in today's game during the second half that the offensive line was really starting to win their battles and wear down the defense, and it's exactly what they did last week against Miami, another very good defense. It was the same against Jacksonville, when only a bogus holding call prevented us from doing the same thing against another very good defense. It does take too long, perhaps, for this line to start taking over a game, but we're talking about some really good defenses here, and it sometimes does take three or more quarters to start seeing the tide shift against teams like that. The fact that they are doing it -- with McGahee, I would add -- really does mean something to me. I think you are correct in saying that Bledsoe does some little things to make this line look worse than it is.

Yes, but... 1. Fletcher once again screwed us with another untimely penalty. Perhaps it was a bogus call, but how many times is he going to do this to us? 2. The punt penalty actually woked out for us in the end, since they missed the FG and we ended up with much better field position. Hindsight, of course, but what can you do. It was a terrible call.

I don't think Drew ever had a touch pass. Since he arrived, Buffalo has easily been the worst in the league at running the screen pass. His short over-the-middle throws are pretty awful as well. I really think that a young, energetic QB who can move around in the pocket, make good decisions, and hit the short and medium throws is precisely what this offense needs. Not coincidentally, it's also the exact opposite of what we have right now. Drew can hit the long ball pretty well but that's not helping us a whole lot. It's time to get away from Bledsoe-Henry-Moulds and more toward Losman-McGahee-Evans. Moulds can still stick around for a while, though. He's still a gamer. He's just not one of the elite in this league like he thinks he is.