mannc

More, please!

Great posts!

I disagree regarding the tackling. I thought it was the best the Bills have tackled since McDermott took over. NFL backs are going to break tackles; that's just a fact of life, but I didn't see many broken tackles on Sunday. It seems to me this defense has clearly stepped it up from the high level at which they played last year. Wonder if anyone has any theories as to why. It's basically the same personnel. Is it Oliver? Edmunds's development? Another year in the system?

I’ll go with Kelvin Sheppard for Jerry Hughes.

And he’s already proven he can get the Bills to the playoffs?

Just got home from work. Looks like we’ve got another great Monday Night matchup!

Nice try.

Barkley didn't have a great game, but he wasn't awful, either. There was one sequence where he threw three low but catchable balls that were all dropped by Jones, Brown and Beasley. He was coming off the bench against the best defense in the league. I think I'll wait until I see him this Sunday with a full week of preparation before I decide that he sucks. Last year he put up the Bills' best QB game of the year against a not-terrible Jets defense. I'm not sure why people think he can't do that again. He reminds me of Orton, with a slightly weaker arm. Demonstrably false, as he proved last year against the Jets.

Better

Probably not true. The early lines I've seen have Titans -2.5 and Allen's status has not been announced yet. I doubt the line changes if Barkley is the starter Sunday. Like it or not, the general betting public thinks Allen sucks. Not saying they love Barkley either, but most outside of this board don't think he hurts the Bills' chances.

Let me guess, Fifty Percent: You picked them to finish 8-8...

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an NFL QB throw the ball away so quickly, at the first hint of pressure. Maybe it’s the smart thing to do, but it looked like Brady made a lot of “business decisions” out there yesterday. I mean, we really didn’t come close to sacking him, and the pass rush was pretty good.

We’re averaging less than 20 ppg. And throwing for 300 yards in a game seems like a pipe-dream, even though it’s routine for a lot of teams. It just never seems to change.

It sure is. And we’ll win a lot of games with it. The problem is, we still have a primitive, Stone Age offense. I’m losing faith that that’s ever going to change.

Agreed. His tendency to hold the ball too long might be a symptom of failing to quickly process what’s happening on the field, which would be a huge problem. Unfortunately, he’s looking like a guy who can only win games by mixing in a heavy dose of QB runs, whether planned or not. He’s not looking like a guy who can beat a good defense from the pocket. And it’s not just against Belichick.

I’m not sure why it makes more sense down 13-3. It makes equally good sense in both situations.

I was really bothered by his inability to get rid of the ball timely. That’s something that happened to Tyrod regularly against better defenses and, as it turned out, it was not something that got better with time and experience.

There are a lot of people in this republic who are immune to things like facts and evidence. Golic apparently is one of them.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Can we agree that if the Bills knew Ford couldn’t play tackle in the NFL, they would not have traded up to take him at 38?

I agree. The problem is, Belichick just proved they can still beat good teams on the road even when they get lousy QB play. They aren’t going away when Brady retires.

That was frightful. He literally could have been killed.

I think they should have prioritized WR this year. But you’re right; that’s not a deal-breaker.

He was a tackle at Okla. they did not draft him to play guard. There were outstanding WR prospects available who they passed. I’m not sold on Beane’s ability to draft offensive players. Is that heresy?

I really hope we didn’t think we were drafting a guard with the 38th pick in the draft.