A Few Thoughts About The Game, in no particular order.....

[Rockinon]

Thurman Thomas ‏@thurmanthomas 55m

BS, source is wrong... RT @WGR550: Source: Bills benched Dareus for tardiness http://bit.ly/J7IHJg

[3rdand12]

Agree about the EJ v. Thad comments Bill.

 

Thad seems to have more football savvy. EJ seems to struggle to find receivers (hey, maybe it's not the o-line after all...).

 

CJ is not a bright man. The difference between him and Freddy could not be more stark. That people still, today, describe CJ as a guy "who could take it to the house at any time" is unreal. He must lead the league in percentage of runs for 2 or fewer yards.

 

Robey is awesome.

 

Leonhard is a solid pro.

you sir are getting soft. Leonhard is a solid pro ? of course he is and a great Vet pickup for the Bills . but you should be describing in gorey detail how slow he moves and something something : )

[K-9]

At this point in time, it looks to me like Manuel is still afraid to throw guys open - he seems to want to everyone to be "college open", which doesn't happen nearly as often in the NFL. Lewis doesn't seem to have the same hesitation, though his accuracy is as big a question mark as it is for E.J.

 

Lewis made good decisions most of the day today but he wildly overthrew some guys deep who were open.

 

I would expect a four year NFL veteran QB to have more confidence in his game. The premise was "can EJ make that throw?" I'm saying yes, unequivocally.

 

I have no problem with anything Lewis has done. But there is no way in hell I'll say he's a better QB prospect than EJ Manuel based on what I have and haven't seen all year.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Mr. WEO]

you sir are getting soft. Leonhard is a solid pro ? of course he is and a great Vet pickup for the Bills . but you should be describing in gorey detail how slow he moves and something something : )

 

Nope. Have said the same thing several times this season about Leonhard.

[flmike]

CJ is a threat only when he can get past the LOS, which is a rare occurrence.

[3rdand12]

Nope. Have said the same thing several times this season about Leonhard.

you are still leaning towards nicer and more sympathetic than you once were

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

Jim Leonhard is a smart player and rather opportunistic when there's decent pressure. He had a nice year with Baltimore under similar circumstances, but struggled during his first stint with the Bills when the pass rush was abyssmal.

 

I'd like to see him kept around next year.

[Alaska Darin]

CJ is a threat only when he can get past the LOS, which is a rare occurrence.

He seems to not be able to find the creases or consistently set up blocks at the LoS.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

 

He seems to not be able to find the creases or consistently set up blocks at the LoS.

 

Which is sad. All the bills do is run stretch plays for him where if he can pick the right lanes, he can get a nice run. but he can never do it.

[thebandit27]

On the EJ-Thad issue, I see virtually no difference in the way Tha played today and the way EJ played in the week 4 win against Baltimore.

 

Both games were won on defense and running the football. I suppose EJ did make a big time throw to Woods in that game, but the overall body of work was similar.

 

I can't say I feel more comfortable with Thad at QB; I can say, however, that I feel that EJ can make throws that Thad cannot.

 

Beyond that the comparison yields very few conclusions for me.

 

I agree with pretty much everything else, except that I'm not a big Searcy guy. He's a fantastic blitzer though.

 

Oh, and I like Doug Marrone as the coach of this team.

[Maury Ballstein]

He ran for 3.85 yards per carry and had 3 catches for 28 yards.

 

 

Spiller if fine IMO. 2 back system for one more year w Freddy w upgrade in OL is the play IMO.

[Jkgobills]

CJ was a "luxury pick" when we selected him 9 overall to a team that already boasted Freddy and Lynch. Over the course of his career with Buffalo CJ has looked the part of a luxury weapon on the offense. Great to have for what he can do with his unbelievable speed, and athleticism but not a player to build your offense around.

 

However, we are a better offense with both him and Freddy next year than with Freddy alone.

[RevWarRifleman]

Good post again, Bill and thanks too. Agree w/ a lot of your points, especially #'s 4 & 10. With #10, a big goal for next year's Bills has to be getting the offense more up to the caliber with the defense. The D has carried the team this year & kept us in many of our games. Coaching on the o side has to be much better in 2014. If that happens, the Bills should have a winning record, and hopefully into the playoffs. Merry Christmas to you Bill, and, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL BILLS FANS. Go Bills!

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

CJ was a "luxury pick" when we selected him 9 overall to a team that already boasted Freddy and Lynch. Over the course of his career with Buffalo CJ has looked the part of a luxury weapon on the offense. Great to have for what he can do with his unbelievable speed, and athleticism but not a player to build your offense around.

 

However, we are a better offense with both him and Freddy next year than with Freddy alone.

 

Quite true. Freddy is a warrior, but those knees would be like something from a horror movie if he had to shoulder 350 carries. Given that it's a need to give another guy 200 carries, I'm glad that guy is CJ.

[dave mcbride]

I didn't see the "bad offensive line" that everyone's been bellyaching about.

 

Clearly our O-line is better than theirs and our O-line is better than their D-line.

 

Miami was 7th in the NFL in sacks. They got 1 sack on us.

 

We destroyed them in the run game with excellent push on the majority of run plays.

 

On the other side our D-line dominated, even in straight 4-man rush situations.

 

Tannehill had no room in the pocket in which to step up.

 

The Bills won today's game IN THE TRENCHES.

And the one sack was a cb blitz. The o-line had nothing to do with it.

[CodeMonkey]

I do not share the thought of many in this thread about how great the play was today. To me it was two bad teams in bad weather. Those two factors combined makes a Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz game, which is what I saw today.

 

I thought Robey and Freddy J. had great games. Several on the Bills D had solid to good games. Spiller impresses me less and less every game. Thad could well make a decent backup. That's about it. When the Bills D has that good of a result against a good team in good weather, and the offense joins them, then I will be optimistic. Until then a win is always better than a loss, but unfortunately it's just same ole, same ole.

Edited December 23, 2013 by CodeMonkey

[Dibs]

I do not share the thought of many in this thread about how great the play was today. To me it was two bad teams in bad weather. Those two factors combined makes a Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz game, which is what I saw today.

 

I thought Robey and Freddy J. had great games. Several on the Bills D had solid to good games. Spiller impresses me less and less every game. Thad could well make a decent backup. That's about it. When the Bills D has that good of a result against a good team in good weather, and the offense joins them, then I will be optimistic. Until then a win is always better than a loss, but unfortunately it's just same ole, same ole.

 

19-0 is same ole, same ole?

Some are harder to please than others I guess.

[Jkgobills]

I do not share the thought of many in this thread about how great the play was today. To me it was two bad teams in bad weather. Those two factors combined makes a Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz game, which is what I saw today.

 

I thought Robey and Freddy J. had great games. Several on the Bills D had solid to good games. Spiller impresses me less and less every game. Thad could well make a decent backup. That's about it. When the Bills D has that good of a result against a good team in good weather, and the offense joins them, then I will be optimistic. Until then a win is always better than a loss, but unfortunately it's just same ole, same ole.

 

The enthusiasm is related to watching the Bills play today, like the team we hoped they would be this season. Great defense (a shut out in the NFL is quite an accomplishment) that attacked the QB. An offense that focused on running the ball.

 

The passing game is a mess. I agree with you that Thad shows the makings of a fine backup QB. CJ drove me nuts with that play at the end of the first half, and he needs to get it together for next year or it will be his last year in Buff ( he reminds me a lot of Reggie Bush during his time in New Orleans). Rare athleticism, maddening on field performances at times followed by amazing (infrequent) plays.

 

But beating the Fins twice this season will make the most surly of fans celebrate for a day. Despite the fact that we are in year 14 of the rebuild.

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

I do not share the thought of many in this thread about how great the play was today. To me it was two bad teams in bad weather. Those two factors combined makes a Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz game, which is what I saw today.

 

I thought Robey and Freddy J. had great games. Several on the Bills D had solid to good games. Spiller impresses me less and less every game. Thad could well make a decent backup. That's about it. When the Bills D has that good of a result against a good team in good weather, and the offense joins them, then I will be optimistic. Until then a win is always better than a loss, but unfortunately it's just same ole, same ole.

 

Nothing about shutting out a division opponent with an 8-6 record is same ole, same ole. They never even got past our 35.

[Solomon Grundy]

Like I said in a different post "A dominant defense and a game managing QB can take you far in this league." This defense isn't far from being dominant. Get that "playmaking" LB they're missing and look out!