Dr. K

Tipster, I like your post a lot. I am another old timer (saw my first game in 1966) who feels much the way you do. I think the talent level on this team is growing steadily, They are a young team, and the kind of players they are, in terms of their personalities and willingness to work as a team, gives me a lot to look forward to. I think this is going to be a motivated and focused team at the beginning of next season. I think they will surprise as they did at the start of last season, but stay strong through the year.

Please say it isn't so.

It may surprise you to hear this coming from me, but I think this is a fair assessment. I worry about the seeming fragility of Wood and Bell.

Disgust

I don't remember that. I remember him looking great in the only extended use he got. Are you thinking of Ruvell Martin, who couldn't catch a cold?

And yet here you are waving your whiffle bat around in the air.

minus 2

+1. This.

If the Bills let Stevie walk, then despite being a fan for MORE THAN FORTY YEARS I am going to have a hard time caring about anything they do. I don't think he's a great receiver (yet) or ever a very smart one (he does lots of stupid things), but letting guys like him go is a cast iron indication that they will never get seriously better. I think I need a break from this silly team.

This sure does remind me of a Rob Johnson-Kevin Kolb situation.

These are exactly my sentiments. Gaily was 100% right to bench him. But bring him back next year.

Sign him and bring him back, but give him a brain transplant. He's a well-meaning idiot.

I think they have moved in the right direction. But this off-season and draft are going to be crucial on deciding whether they continue. We can argue about the coaching and strategies, but the fact is they need more depth and better starters. If they don't draft well and make at least a few credible moves in free agency, then whatever progress they have made means little. I think it's all about personnel evaluation and roster building. After that, it's development of players and coaching. I think they ahve shown signs of improvement in all of these areas, but I am not totally convinced yet.

If the Bills don't re-sign him it will pretty much make me give up hope on their being a first-class franchise. Stevie is exactly the kind of player you need to keep. Yes, he could be better, yes tey could use a reliable deep threat on the other side, but they've developed him, he has considerable value, and letting him go only creates another hole to fill when they have serious holes already and not enough depth. In the current NFL, every team is going to lose significant players to injury every season. It's not bad luck or bad training, it's the nature of the game today. The Bills need to keep their better-than-average players and seek more. If they can't keep Stevie, then it's a sign they are not a serious team.

This attitude of "cut him he's not good enough" is why the team is continually spinning its wheels. Yes, Kelsay is not the kind of player I want to see as the best the team has to offer. They are paying him too much for what he does. This team needs to be one where players like Kelsay are outshone by numerous others on the field. They have to draft or otherwise obtain players better than Kelsay. But you also NEED players of his ability because you can't have stars at every position. Otherwise you HAVE NO DEPTH. Which is one of the major problems with this team. Cut Kelsay and then what? Draft a rookie to replace him? Where does that leave you? YOu draft somebody hoping he will replace Kelsay eventually, or draft somebody who plays behind or next to him that's better. Eventually you let him go or have him playing backup. And if that better player gets hurt or needs a blow you play Kelsay instead of some guy you picked up yesterday from somebody else's practice squad. Same goes for all those shouting to cut Bell. Aside from the fact that I think Bell, healthy, is better than Hairston, there's not enough depth on the o-line as it stands. You need at least three offensive tackles who can play. If you can get someone better than Bell, get him. But don't just let Bell go when he can be a valuable player either starting or filling in.

Don't be an ass. I'm not trying to justify anything. If you read my other posts you know I readily admit the many problems this team has. But it seems schizophrenic to me that they could go 9-7 in 16 consecutive games, and 0-14 in the games before and after that stretch.

CJ had almost 170 yards of offense by himself and two touchdowns. And this was on 12 carries, and 9 receptions. What do you expect him to do? This isn't "I told you so." It's to counter all the people on here who insist he's a bust.

So what about the Bills team that, in the 16 games from the middle of last season to the middle of this one, went 9-7? Was that a complete mirage?

Yeah, I'm familiar with "regression to the mean." I had thought Fitzpatrick might be one of those players (they do exist) who make a quantum leap in their play to a new mean and stay there. But you're probably right.

Changing coaches so often doesn't help a team, IMHO. But I do think that if Chan survives he is going to be on a short least next season. If they start badly, he will be out the door. I do expect some changing of the coaching staff after the season is over. I think Edwards is gone, whether the trouble of the defense is his fault or not. Probably some other changes, too.

Bill, I'm curious. Did you really think that Pears played better than Bell did? Did you not see the trouble he was having with Cameron Wake, the penalties he took that hampered an already struggling offense? I generally have thought Pears has played better than anyone would have expected, way better than any RT they have had recently (which I realize isn't saying much). But I did not think this was a good game for him .

My spirits are low regarding the Bills. How could they not be? The most frustrating thing is seeing how far Fitzpatrick has regressed. I did not think he could play as poorly as he did last week, but in the first three quarters he was easily as bad. I don't know what to think about the team as a whole. Occasionally the young players show some flashes—Aaron William looks like he will be good, and Dareus of course. The more Spiller plays the better he looks--I even saw him pick up some blitzes today. I think the o-line is much better than last year's overall, but inconsistent and missing Wood. They need more pass rush, they need better receiving, they need better quarterback play from somebody. The defense still makes horrible blunders--the blown coverage on the first TD pass to the tight end, the 80-yard-run by Bush. If they could just stop making these mistakes they might actually stop someone. But these are frail hopes given how lousy this team is playing. I can't imagine anyone feeling very optimistic about this team.

Pears took two crucial penalties and was was having trouble with Wake all day, allowing one sack. The only penalty I remember on the other side was taken by Hairston. After one of the Pears penalties one of my pals joked, "They shouldn't have renewed his contract." I'll have to re-watch the game play by play, but my suspicion is that your vision of Bell is clouded by the fact that you just can't stand him because the Bills let Peters go and expected Bell to replace him. I don't think you will ever got over that. But I could be wrong.

Bills win this one going away.

I was at the Colts game, sitting in the end zone of the Rockpile. As I recall, James Harris was the Buffalo QB, and the game was played in a snowstorm (though I could be confusing that with a different equally humiliating loss). Those late 1960s Bills were much worse the the mid-80s Bills or anything we have seen in the last decade. It doesn't make what we're suffering now good, but it's the plain truth.