Dr. K

In the Miami game last week, Sanchez, trying to get a screen to a running back, tried to loft the ball over a defensive lineman. It hit the Miami lineman in the helmet and chest. It was a pure pick-six, but the lineman was so surprised by the terrible decision that he dropped it. He also threw another ball that was almost intercepted, that would have likely been a TD. I just hope he keeps making those decisions. It would help if the Bills could generate something resembling a pass rush. Sanchez may have not turned the ball over so far this season, but I think that is a temporary situation and I expect him to produce a lot of turnovers before the year is out.

Been following them since the 1960s I'd say the teams of the late 60s were the absolute worst--they could not beat anybody. And the 0 for 20 stretch against the Dolphins in the 1970s was worse than the current miserable record against the Pats. Having said that, the last decade has been extremely painful. But what somebody said about the Bills earlier this week is true--they have never been a good team with stretches of badness, but a bad team with only two good teams: the team of 1963-66 and the team of 1988-1999.

Stop off at the Heavy Pass Rush store. (Not trying to bust you--I hope they can put it together for this game.)

Looks like Tennesseeboy is available to step in and right the team in a single season. He knows all the right moves and will get them done. But that idiot Wilson hired Nix when T-boy was available every day, right under his nose here on TBD. What a fatal mistake.

I was skeptical at the time about Mike Williams because he was a 380-pound right tackle. I thought he might be too big and slow for end rushers, that his success in college might be because he overwhelmed much smaller college players. And everyone was saying he'd easily transition to left tackle after a season or so. He was not even the number one OT on many people's boards. About Donohoe, I hated his essentially dumping Ted Washington and Pat Williams. Under Wade Phillips the Bills had one of the best rush defenses in the league. That went away and we've never come close since. Overall I thought Donohoe at least had a plan and I was willing to be patient. But it didn't work. I'm not sayng the front office since has been any better. I have hopes for Nix and Gailey and think we ought to see what they do with this and next season.

You may be right. I would guess that the Jets game, then, will help tell us whether or not you are. If the offense moves the ball, the o-line looks decent and Fitz completes some long ones and even scores, it might indicate that the QB change makes a difference.

No, John McCain is not a progressive. Are you serious? This would be funny if it weren't tragic that you have the vote. I'll leave this now--it belongs on PPP.

R's are liberals and progressives? Right. You're a Libertarian spelled L-U-N-A-T-I-C.

I have to admit, your command of the Jersey dialect is pretty impressive. Funny, too. You are obviously smarter than Jimmy. We'll see how that game on Sunday works out. PS: Don't hang around the Ralph after the game too long.

Great post, good reasoning, and as you say a very mature discussion. This is the reason I keep coming back here despite the "junior GM's" you mention.

. . . and the sun will shine and bluebirds will sing over Western New York. It could happen. The reaction? National media commentators will go into long discursions about "what's wrong with the Jets?" Jerry Sullivan will grind his teeth and mutter about how this doesn't erase all the terrible decisions Gailey and Nix have made. A host of the regulars on this board (you know who they are) will insist the Bills should cut Maybin and trade Lynch. But some of us will have a spring in our step and a smile for the barista at Starbuck's.

...among other small, improbable things that happen in a science fiction story I just published. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2010/20100913/iteration-f.shtml

No comments because the article doesn't easily feed into any of the OL/QB rants that are taking up 60% of the board.

Yeah. Run the ball when the D has nine men in the box, 11 within five yards of the line of scrimmage. You need a QB who can make the D pay for playing run. We don't have one.

...but I thought I'd start this thread so you all could obsess about him some more.

I suspect most women prefer to date men who can spell the word "woman." You know the difference between "man" and "men," right? It's the same thing for "woman" and "women."

I desperately wanted the Bills to draft Rivers the year they drafted Losman. Rivers was rated as a second-round pick (because of his odd throwing motion) until he played lights out in the Senior Bowl (and blew away the opposition tems, QB'd by Losman) and climbed up the draft charts into the top 10. *sigh*

I've reserved judgment on Edwards, was even encouraged by the pre-season, but I'm done. Just cut the cord and bench him. Start Fitz or Brohm. He just cannot play. Starting him leads the team to despair. My impression of Gailey is that he is not a sentimental man and if a player can't play, he will see it and go in another direction. I hope he has the guts to quit trying with Edwards.

I'm worried about the defense in general. It was bad in all phases (except interceptions) in pre-season. Bad run defense, no real pass rush, and gave up tons of pass yardage. Seemed to me that the linebackers were getting torched in pass coverage. I'm hoping it's just because it's a work in progress, and we'll see them get steadily better (barring injuries) in the regular season.

I'm more optimistic that I have been for the Bills in a long time, but I begin to think a lot of us here are getting a little ahead of ourselves. I think the Bills show signs of being able to win more games than most observers are giving them a chance to win, but I don't see any easy victories on the schedule. I'm not ready to say this team is going to be any good until they have shown me they can play well in the real season, over entire games, and close the deal. I HOPE they will beat the fins, but I don't count on it.

I remember this exact game, and how out of my mind I was that the Bills actually came back and won it. They had been so bad through the laste 60s and early 70s, and this was just the kind of game they always lost. When Braxton fumbled, it was just like when McKelvin fumbled in the NE game last season. I had no expectation the Bills could possilby win the game. But then Fergy came roaring back. Until that game the Bills were known as only a rushing team, with Fergy handing off to OJ. But he won the game throwing, and that established that he was a QB to be reckoned with. I was a much younger man then, but I hope to see another such game, heralding another turn in the team's fortunes.

The Pats won Super Bowls without either of those guys on the team.

That's a lot of tight ends I never heard of. I think I'll just shut up now.

Would they ever consider picking up Derek Fine again?

By the way, Die Hard, you played for the Bills during one of the most difficult times in the franchise's history. There were some very bad years under John Rauch. I remember them well, in particular one game against the Colts played in a blizzard in the old WMS. James Harris played QB at that time. The Bills lost a lot of games in the late 60s, but laid the foundations for the better teams of the 1970s. It must have been hard then, but also exhilarating to be a pro football player on the field with future Hall of Famers. And given the Bills record during that down period, it must seem ironic to see people complaining so much about how bad the Bills are now.