Rockinon

This game is being played in our house, people. Our team is not laying down for this one and Cincy has some serious weaknesses. Their kicker will give our returners some opportunities. Field position could play a big part here. I sure hope Moorman can still put up some serious hang time. If he does, more field position battles can be won. Byrd is back. I have been listening to all of the comments about his injury for quite some time and I have been disappointed with the overwhelming assumptions being made. Coach says he can see that Byrd has been hurting because he is eager to be out there with his team mates. Now he is excited to be back. His return is a big boost for our secondary. McKelvin saw limited action last week and now he is healthy.....big boost. Gilmore I think may just play a limited role this week if at all, but Byrd, McKelvin and Aaron Williams in there instead of the scrubs we have had, is still a major boost. Having our back end covered will allow the defensive linemen to pin their ears back. Our secondary is no longer as weak as some think. The Bills defense is one of the leagues most opportunistic. We are 3rd in sacks, 2nd in interceptions and among the best in turnover ratio. I see Cincy struggling mightily to move the ball against our team and our fired up hometown crowd. The Cincy offense is 22nd in the league for cryin' out loud. Not exactly a powerhouse. This game could be ugly for them. How will our offense match up? Now this is where things get hairy. But the coaches seem to have a lot of good things to say about Thad. Not sure I buy all of the hype, but I do think the Bills run game will continue their trend of putting up serious yardage against some of the best run Ds in the league. Thad doesn't have to win this game all by himself. One of the things I really like about the kid after watching some of the vids is his ability to extend plays by rolling away from pressure. I don't expect him to put up big passing yards, but then again, he doesn't need to. Besides having the same mentor as both the Manning brothers can't be a bad thing, right? Our offense has weapons. Goodwin back in the line up as both a kick returner and a WR could be big. We lost Manuel but for the most part this team has been getting healthier. I read that Cincy is practicing for the read option. Gotta chuckle at that one. Practicing for it and actually playing against it are two completely different animals I'm calling it now. The Bills are taking Cincy down.

The guy just had a death in his family. I think there is a better time to have discussion like this. Love him or hate him, he is still one of our own.

We have guys getting healthy all over the place. Last week McKelvin played on a limited basis. Look for him to get plenty of reps at CB. I'm excited that Gilmore is back too, though I don't know how much he will play with a club on his hand. I have been patiently waiting for Byrd to come back and he will be pumped for this game. Our secondary just got a major boost and all across the league everyone is clueless how well they have played with far less talent in there. Looking forward to seeing Moorman put some serious hang time on punts. The rookie just couldn't give our guys time to get down field. The kicking game will be very interesting. Goodwin will have opportunities to bring it out. I'm also looking forward to seeing him at WR. The way I'm looking at this game.....all of the so called experts predicting that the Bills lose in their own house are being down right disrespectful. This years team has shown me some things so far and I'm looking forward to watching a bewildered Cincinnati team go down in flames. Go Bills! yes

Half a dozen sacks on Dalton and a whole bunch of hurries would make me happy.

Oh no!! You're going to regret that. Shoulda played the Bills D.

I am feeling that too, man.

Bills have been facing 8 man fronts all year and still are among the best in the NFL in rushing yards. Not worried.

Here's my take, for what it's worth. Don't get me wrong when I say this board is whacked. I love this place because there are some really good discussions and a quite a few very knowledgeable board members. Sometimes this place is just great for a laugh. Other times though, I see a lot of members posting the most ridiculous nonsense, particularly after the Bills lose a game or when someone gets injured. Now when I saw the title to this thread, I thought the OP was seriously asking where is the confidence in this coaching staff and would then defend some of the decision making, but he didn't. I shouldn't be surprised. Thing is, I have to take a step back, look at where we started this year, look at where we are right now and gauge where we might be headed. To do this honestly, you have be able to listen to what the coaches, players and staff are leaving us with. Not just reading and instantly dismissing things because they don't make sense to you. When a plan is put into place and everyone from top to bottom is buying into that plan, we should do more than quickly dismissing what someone says because many people have worked hard to put this thing together. These guys didn't get where they are because they lucked into anything. They had to earn their stripes and that is why they are there. So in summary, our rookie coaches have been here for 5 regular season games. The comments concerning their very small body of work really are out there. Football is something I love to watch as a fan because it is such a fun game to watch on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. It's also a surprising game. Things happen, good and bad. I think some of us are prone to over analyzing things. I am not ready to ditch our offensive coordinator because I think his ideas can't work. I am not ready to dismiss a guy like Thad Lewis before he even has a chance to play for us. I am not ready to give up on this season. Call me crazy. I could really give a crap. I like many of you are disappointed that we have only 2 wins, but I sure don't think its time to start ripping up the whole plan and start all over again. I'm pretty sure we have more wins to look forward to and it might just start this week against Cincy. Go Bills!

Another positive note....Jets and Patriots lost and Dolphins likely lose too this week so we haven't lost any ground in the standings. So far this year EJ has established himself as a decent game manager for a running team. He has a ways to go but he has been improving. If the Bills pick up a QB who can at least keep us on track, the season may not be a complete waste. I keep thinking that getting some of our injured defenders back on the field could be huge. We don't need Payton Manning to play for us on offense but a good game manager could keep us on track to at least compete. Wonder who will be practicing this week behind center.

Actually it was Jarius Byrd.

Um....who is Mike Williams?

I think the Bills are going to keep running the ball. This week, instead of CJ and Fred it'll be Fred and Tashard. Oh, they will pass, but this offense has a run first mentality. Hopefully some of those deep passes finally start to connect. And I've been pretty impressed with EJ's play action fakes. This up tempo is all about wearing down the opposing defense. I just don't see them moving too far away from that mentality. Get the defense tired and run right at them. Did anyone listen to Fred Jackson wired for sound against the Ravens yet? Good stuff. Linky

Good stuff! The sack given up by Minnesota's left tackle doesn't happen against Glenn. And the sack from the right side of the formation is iffy against Buffalo's offensive line. Minnesota's offensive line looks awful this year. I think that's part of AP problem too. This Browns D is pretty good, but I still think Buffalo's improving offense is going to score. On the other side, their offense looks average at best. I can't help thinking that the big story in this game is not going to be about the Cleveland D, because it will be the Buffalo D that steals the show.

Browns fans seem pretty sure they have the better team. They don't seem to know much about our team though, which kinda surprises me(saw a lot of Browns fans commute to Buffalo when their team moved away). One brought up not being worried about Stevie because of their top CB, but no mention of Woods or Chandler. I think they will be surprised by our offense. The Bills offense has been improving every week. I'm sure the running game will struggle(I think Summers may get more involved so maybe not). It's going to be interesting, though. I just can't seem to bring myself to fear them though. One thing that really is going to catch that team off guard is our awesome defense. Somehow I think the Browns D takes a back seat to the Bills D. I almost feel sorry for them. Used to love that team back when Bernie K was leading them and really felt their pain when the team left. OK. not so much...we win, I won't be crying for them.

I am not scared of the Browns offense. They cannot handle a strong defense. If the Bills continue to play D the way they have to this point, Cleveland won't put more than few measly pts on the board. The real question is how will our offense match up on the road against a good defense. I think the pressure is all on the Browns. All the Bills have to do is stay focused and we walk away with a solid win.

Look what happened after Buffalo lost to the Jets. They must of been real pissed off.

I am going to go out on a limb here. IMO the Browns have not been able to score against a good defense. They could only manage 10pts against Miami and lost the game. They could only manage 6pts against the Ravens and lost. They put up 31pts against the Vikes but their defense this year is awful so far. The win against the Bengals was big for them but they only managed 17pts. The Bills should go down there and make a statement. I think our defense is too much for them and our offense continues to improve. This should not even be close. We win by 2 TDs.....maybe 3.

Man, this place is going to go nuts if the Bills go on a 4 game win streak defeating the Ravens, Browns, Bengals and Fish.

Browns playing best football in AFC North......Wait What? Linky

Not to shabby of a prediction. I wasn't too far off.

Williams will go back to playing safety And no.....Byrd and Williams do not play the same safety position. One is a strong safety and one is a free safety.

That fake EJ did, pretending to hand off and then turned around to throw to Chandler in the endzone was a thing of beauty. Too bad Chandler tripped over his own feet or that would have been a TD.

He's not the only Williams that did well today.

Good eye. I think also EJ was focusing too much on the hot read when there were some throws underneath the coverage. I also kind of think it is odd that screens have not been used more. Mostly though I am convinced that what we are seeing is simply the growing pains of a rookie QB. I also think EJ after reviewing film will figure it out. Hopefully by tomorrow.

I just don't think its as simple as not giving him easy throws. The way the Jets D was working is that the hot read was often downfield along the sidelines. EJ was doing what he has learned so far. There were opportunities in the middle of the field. Something a veteran would pick up on and something EJ will pick up after studying some film. I'm not at all surprised by his struggles this early. What did you expect? For him to just light things up right out of the gate? He still throws a nice ball. The guys around him also have some things to work on. Things rarely just fall into place perfectly. This is pretty much what I expected. Hopefully, everyone starts to get it. I think Hackett too, is smart enough to adjust as well. It's early. Who knows, they might start clicking tomorrow against the Ravens. Not holding my breath but I wouldn't be overly surprised. The talent is there.