The Big Cat

Then, by all means, post to the last time I referred to someone's points as "an excuse."

I COMPLETELY AGREE Winning teams tend to have quarterbacks who can at least match a three point deficit with 2:16 remaining and all three time outs. So...?

I find these rigid parameters fascinating. Care to define them further? I'm very curious as to what kind of defensive performance would cause you to denounce a playoff berth.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, his 13/23 for 141 yards no TD's in a pick will go down as one of the worst QB SB "wins" of all time.

Just notify me the first time I do.

If you're just going to diminish salient and relevant details of a game to "excuses" then you don't care to discuss. Also, at no point before or after their game against the Bills was the Packers offense in 2014 as productive as how the Bengals begun in 2015. Nobody's making excuses. Dalton connected on some long throws to start the second half. **** happens.

Yeah? You didn't like how we matched up against the 12-4 Bengals? Who came into that game with the hottest offense in the league? Then proceeded to have their worst statistical performance to that point? You're talking about the game when the offense had four consecutive three and outs while the Bengals scored 17 points starting drives from our 45, our 49, their 45, our 36? You want to isolate the defense from all these factors?

If you're going to deem it a failure by comparison, then you have to do an honest comparison of the 2014 defense. Failure before the injuries started piling up? Specifically which game are you referring to? Week 2 against the Pats. If that's your benchmark, and if 2014 is the control, how do you account for the track meet that was the Pats game last October? The 2014 defense was very very good. But I also think you're conflating HOW good it was to make 2015 look worse by contrast.

And the part that you won't come off, the part that eball (like me) is stuck on is your choice of the word "ruin." It wasn't a disgrace. It was an epic failure. They weren't "literally castrated." And it's not "ruined." All of these descriptions are woefully inaccurate hyperbole. They were average. They were decimated by injury, they had some growing paints with scheme installation and the unit's most expensive player quit. All of these things add up to a disappointingly mediocre performance. There is no direct line between Rex Ryan and "failure" as you keep insisting. We can continue arguing why it's not as linear as you'd prefer it to be, but one thing we must first agree on is the destination: failure. That just wasn't the case.

Which is not remotely the same thing as drafting for need, let alone a self-created one, like you suggested it was.

Assuming they drafted for need, which I don't think we can.

Completely agree. There's become a Pavlovian response in Bills nation that any time a halfway decent, aging player at any position becomes available, then invariably, the Pats* will sign him.

A lot of people think he's going to the Pats now. He's not. Some compare him to Chandler Jones: http://twitter.com/PFF_Sam/status/704734911601709060 There's no chance Mario has the versatility the Patriots* covet on D, I say.

Definitely the receptionist who gave EJ a big hug on draft weekend. But seriously, I'm willing to wager the Bills sign him. That this is ALL smoke.

This doesn't sound very severe. But I doubt it's even as severe as it sounds. Media gonna media.

They played well enough to win, but people can't help but get stuck on the fact given the chance TO WIN they didn't. Baffling PI, safety coming up lame, doesn't matter, Bortles' go ahead TD is all they remember. NEVERMIND the fact that the touchdown created only a three point deficit, which was too much for our QB to overcome, even with all three timeouts AND the two minute warning.

Sure, but the phantom PI on Robey turned everything around. Call it an excuse if you want to dismiss it out of hand. But the defense had them dead to rights.

I think there are shades of truth to much of what you've said. My trepidations about Rex have always centered around what I perceive as being a lack of consistency. He certainly does not come off as a no-stone-unturned type of coach like Bellicheat (who, granted, is one of a kind) and his teams (we saw it from the Jets and we definitely saw it last year) sometimes come out swinging and other times come out flatter than piss on a platter. Marrone thought he was instilling some kind of Bellicheatian steadiness/consistency, and I believe, to an extent, he was. But he was also kind of a prick:

The last time this was discussed there were shirtless pictures involved. May be a good time to alert your IT guys.

I was imagining a lot of commercials for adult diapers in South Korea. But yeah, we're on the same page. There is a very real chance that he does photags for fragrances and **** like that. I mean...he has an in. And that probably opens up a whole world of "commerce" that we lowly, middle class football fans just aren't exposed to. LAMP: I was fraternity brothers with a dude who at one point just a couple years ago was a top three global male model. This is him. He was getting started when we were still in school. Let's just say his early career and the people who paid money to take his picture weren't quite as glamorous as the CK/Express/Armani/Polo/Abercrombie/et al ads he worked up to. Nothing unsavory or off-center, but definitely some stuff that was...out there. Also in France. I have a funny story about when we met at freshmen orientation. But we'll save that for another day.

It happened. Literally.

I'm not ready to buy the conspiracy either. At least not yet. But unless he's doing local and/or international endorsements only...?

Apology accepted.

Got it. Yes. He did say that. And I'm beginning to think fans only believe Rex's comments to the media when the provide some kind of evidence. Otherwise they believe (as I do) that he was (as he is 80% of the time when in front of the media) full of beans.

Why have you identified this game as the "eureka" moment? Also, are you meaning to suggest the Bills made Eli look great? This is nonsense. Blake Bortles look great? He was 13/29 for 182 yards...74 of which came on the game winning drive... You seem to be distorting reality to get to your point.