BillsVet

Kelsay is out this week. I know Troup has been banged up, but Kellen Heard being ahead of him on the depth chart with Williams out is not a good sign for a second year player who was picked high.

Parked in Hammer's Lot. All was well! We wait until about 5:45 before leaving and everything was OK, until the turn east after the Big Tree.

Jones took the cart off the field. And I love how 40 time is demonstrative of game speed. Sprinting in shorts at the combine is a whole lot different than running routes against press coverage on game day.

Cincinnati scored 8 points in their Week 3 matchup at home to San Francisco, totaling 228 yards of offense, 149 of it passing. Buffalo yields 450+ yards of total offense, 298 of it passing to the same team. Did Cincy in 1 week become an offensive juggernaut or are is Buffalo's defense just not good right now? I'll take the latter. 1400 yards of offense surrendered in 3 games can never be considered good, nor are there any reasons to justify. Next thing you know, someone will say Dick Jauron's about as good as Belichick if you take away DJ's bad seasons. Oh, wait, that's already been done here. Big Cat? Never happen.

Maybe, just maybe, the Bengals game plan took away Buffalo's strength over the middle of the field and the Bills couldn't respond. David Nelson was a complete non-factor, which, as Buffalo Rumblings points out, began in the second half of the NE game. Cincinnati forced Buffalo to throw outside the hashmarks, which is clearly not Fitzpatrick's forte. All of this isn't surprising considering the NFL is about taking away team strengths. And Buffalo couldn't run the ball against a good front 7, further compounding their offensive woes. This week will go a long way to showing whether Chan is as good an offensive mind as some are already saying he is.

I go from beating Belichick and then losing to Marvin freaking Lewis in one week. Dadgumit.

I used to think Steratore was a solid referee. After this game, I have serious doubts about he and his crew. That said, Buffalo was out-coached and out-played.

Last year, Buddy failed to show after his team got out to an 0-5 start. He finally appeared for a short interview after a Sullivan article needled him, though whether the piece hastened Nix' short Q and A is not certain. That said, I have to give credit to Nix for not riding out in front and taking credit after Buffalo's 3-0 start. It's important at this stage to allow the team and HC to be the focal point of all press. GM's aren't typically the face of their franchise and Nix has remained true to this idea. And while I still see most of the play-makers on the team as being acquired before Nix became GM, the team has some very good players found in unconventional ways. I would hope Fitzpatrick, Stevie Johnson, Levitre, Wood, and perhaps Fred Jackson are re-signed in short order to provide some certainty for future seasons. That's something I do expect the GM to be working on.

When you look at the people making plays so far this season, most of them are not Nix finds. Fitzpatrick, Stevie J, K. Williams, Kelsay (!), perhaps Bell, definitely Wood and Levitre, and of course Fred Jackson. Even Florence, McKelvin, and Byrd were there before Nix became GM. In fairness, Dareus, David Nelson, Chandler, and Donald Jones have all been added since 2010. No one can expect a rebuild to be completed in 1 season, but I wouldn't say the team has been reconstructed at all. Having said that, they've gotten great production from people Nix didn't find. And the 2010 draft hasn't yielded any starters yet.

IIRC, the thing that Nix and/or Gailey admitted could be the hardest thing to break was the losing mentality. I think it's safe to say they've gone a long way toward destroying that with these first 3 games. Those younger players may not know the pain a Kelsay, Moorman, Lindell, or McGee knows as veterans since earlier this decade, but they realize it's they can win games people don't think they can. Kudos to Chan and the host of guys who made plays when it mattered most today. They earned that win.

It's a shirt for Brian Wilson, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. But after this one I can see someone adapting this to Fitzpatrick.

Ditto. Well coached by Gailey and staff. A W is a W. The fan base and the franchise needed this more than any other team in the NFL.

IIRC, FJ fired his agent not long ago and this isn't the first time he's expressed disappointment in his latest deal. 7.5M for 4 seasons is modest, but I can't see the team putting him ahead of Fitzpatrick or Stevie Johnson. He's got a lot less wear and tear than most 30 year old backs, but giving extensions 2 years into a 4 year deal on a team friendly contract probably (EDIT: won't happen). He'll need to wait his turn.

Guess Fred Jackson/Spiller and the OL isn't/wasn't good enough either, especially when Buffalo was averaging 8.7 YPC. So much for the deep DL Oakland had.

IIRC, the first team that ran it, MIA, displayed it against NE early in the 2008 season. The Dolphins won that game, but didn't have as much success the next time. It needs to be used in very select and opportune times, because Belichick isn't left unprepared for much, especially the wildcat.

On the day of a great win, it's concerning that they weren't able to get after the QB more. I don't think Merriman's name was called at all and he struggled to even pressure Campbell.

Have to give credit where credit is due: The play calling exploited weaknesses and even without Johnson at the end still converted. Get well Stevie.

He always seemed to have a puzzled look on his face and predictably was slow on the draw. The onside kick on MNF against Dallas was completely inexcusable and yet he and his staff permitted it. Guy just couldn't make decisions in a timely manner. Caveat emptor Cleveland.

Gailey definitely game-plans around his offensive weakness: the OL. No deep drops and Fitz isn't asked to wing it deep or throw many deep outs. Throw in FJ, who is a strong between the tackles runner and their plan worked for today. It will be interesting to see how they adapt to opponents now having film on them. Not saying they'll have trouble moving forward, rather, just how the staff can stay ahead of defenses.

Not to mention a terrible hair piece.

Last time Buffalo whipped anyone was at KC in 2008 when they won 54-31. EDIT: Thanks Marv Albert.

Very solid performance on both sides of the ball.

The Bills are rebuilding now because Marv and Mr. Smithers were so bad from 2006-09.

Praying for you and your family.

Not to mention they've seen an 11k drop in ST sales from 2009 to 2010. This is a franchise that know their ST base will again decrease to perhaps as low as 38-39k in 2011. Not bad for a team, as you say, that's without a playoff appearance since the 20th century.