Rubes

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.

There was plenty to be upset about in this one, but really it took this game to make me believe that the future of this team is actually pretty decent. - The defense played a little suspect in the first half, but they did force a turnover, and they didn't give up much overall. Plus, they really adjusted extremely well in the second half. Granted, Baltimore's offense is about as stinky as Miami's, but on the road they did just about everything they needed to do to win this one. - Willis is really a gamer. If he can stay healthy, he is going to be very very good, particularly next year. He didn't look so great in the first half, but it really became obvious to me in the second half that he (and the offensive line as well) are capable of wearing down a defense slowly but surely. Just like last week against Miami. That part of the offensive strategy is working. - The biggest problem for us on offense is, unfortunately, Drew Bledsoe. I was hanging on to the Drew bandwagon as long as I could, but it's painfullly obvious now. The sacks aren't even the real problem, it's the ability to see the field and make the right choices. He is throwing far too much into double coverage, and his accuracy is just not great anymore. The biggest factor in our loss in this game is a quarterback who could not make the throws in the red zone. - I'm really looking forward to seeing JP in action now. He offers us a whole other dimension in the offense with his feet. I'm eager to see how accurate he can be, and how well he can make decisions in the clutch. But it certainly could not be any worse than Drew right now. I think we have a lot of the tools on both sides of the ball to give this team a lot of wins. I'm convinced now that the biggest missing piece is a quarterback that is capable of making better decisions and better throws. I'm still not terribly happy with some of the playcalling (especially the trick plays, which I have seen just about enough of), but I do think this team will be capable of much better things with only a switch to a better quarterback.

I play racquetball with a guy here in Utah who owns a coin business around the corner from my house. It's a small shop that you might never notice if you didn't look carefully enough. Yet after getting to know the guy, it turns out he used to be president of the American Numismatic Society (or something like that) and he's one of the top coin experts in the country. Who knew?

Confidence comes with success, my friend....more success than we've had so far, at least.

Like others have said before, we lose this game and we're 1-5 with 5 conference losses, 3 outside the division. That pretty much means you can kiss the playoffs bye-bye. Hopefully this team has some sense of that and plays lights out. They still have a lot to prove, especially on the road. If they fall flat on their faces against the Ravens this week, that will say a lot to me, and not just that the Ravens are a decent team.

What if we ban you? Will that help?

This is the stuff of legends...

I remember the greatest thing about that show was those giant strawberries. Man I wished I could have feasted on one of those.

Does this whole situation remind anyone of the RJ/Flutie thing a few years back, when RJ injured his rib cartilage? Flutie kept getting the start because RJ "wasn't 100% healed." Meanwhile, Flutie just kept winning, and I think most of us secretly hoped RJ would stay 99.5% healthy for a few more weeks.

Perhaps we should consider the fact that the Yankees have actually won more championships than the Bills could ever dream of.