Prickly Pete Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 They are competitive. That's nice, because it's been a while. They aren't contenders, and lots of things need to get better before they are contenders. I don't believe that Marrone and Orton can get them into the top 10 of NFL teams, because neither of them are top 10 at their job, and they are 2 critical pieces. Not good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeyBomb Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 (edited) I'll tell you what, we are NOT as bad as everyone is saying, but Kyle Orton is. And without the QB this team goes nowhere simple as that. Point blank. And Marrone HAS made some very questionable decisions. If this red-zone offense that he's supposedly going to "work on" implodes I say Marrone needs to go. I'm already saying it but if he can fix it and get us to a 8-8 or 9-7, I will change my mind. Edited November 17, 2014 by DukeyBomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterpan Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 What if the bills magically have a chance at the playoffs the last week of the year going into NE. The pats have the number one see locked up and determine they want to play te bills in the playoffs. They purposely go vanilla and lose the game! bills make the playoffs!!! Then they lose 58-3 the next week and billy bello heat laughs all the way home because he knows he gets two more wins next year with matrons and jacket at the helm!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 What if the bills magically have a chance at the playoffs the last week of the year going into NE. The pats have the number one see locked up and determine they want to play te bills in the playoffs. They purposely go vanilla and lose the game! bills make the playoffs!!! Then they lose 58-3 the next week and billy bello heat laughs all the way home because he knows he gets two more wins next year with matrons and jacket at the helm!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zow2 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 In true Buffalo fashion, the Bills will win 5 of their last 6...losing only to the Raiders giving them their only win. The Raiders will keep them from the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC in St. Louis Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 In true Buffalo fashion, the Bills will win 5 of their last 6...losing only to the Raiders giving them their only win. The Raiders will keep them from the playoffs. Not for nothing, but that would actually be hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir andrew Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 The Sabres just blew the doors off the Leafs...Championship! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBaumer Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Can we just get a QB and a real coach and forget all of this other BS about the Bills not being that far off...please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsoldier54 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 New England pummels Indianapolis, Houston routes Cleveland on the road, and KC beats the world champion Seahawks. What does that teach us? The Bills may not be that far off after all. The Bills have been competitive against teams that supposedly superior teams-- like Indy, Cleveland and Seattle-- have not done very well against. 5-5 against difficult competition, with few easy opponents, while not good enough is not horrible. Seems to me it shows the team is getting better, and may not be as far off as many think. Perhaps it is not the "same old Bills," but an improving team with a little ways to go. Certainly, directionally, good enough to stay the current path (with tweaks) and not "blow the thing up." I think the next two weeks will illuminate this point. If the Bills can get to 7-5, who knows? Denver got beat bad the last two weeks, and New England may be playing for nothing as it looks right now. Lose one or both of the next two games, and maybe it is the same old Bills, but I'm willing to reserve judgment for now. I admire your optimism and wish I could share it. I just don't see it happening though. I'm not even sure they will win against the Jets at home on Sunday. Last Sunday and Thursday were both games that they could have and should have won. They played so poorly though that they just gave those two games away. I see no end in sight to our misery. At least not this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 (edited) Yay! We're not horrible. When do we get the "good" part? I think the next two weeks will illuminate this point. If the Bills can get to 7-5, who knows? It's like crack, man. We keep saying this every month, every season, every decade. Edited November 17, 2014 by Rubes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey D Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 Is this supposed to the salve on wounded possibilities from a couple of weeks ago? Hey guys! We're mediocre! Let's have a party! Why do you make straw man arguments like that? I did not say mediocre is great. But to move forward you have to honestly assess where you are and figure out the best path forward. To me, this team is much better than the past 3-5 years, not good enough but better. i understand and feel the current unhappiness after the last two games, but I'd like to reach happiness. I just don't think "blowing it all up" yet again is the right answer. Staying the course and tweaking some things may be the better approach. I admire your optimism and wish I could share it. I just don't see it happening though. I'm not even sure they will win against the Jets at home on Sunday. Last Sunday and Thursday were both games that they could have and should have won. They played so poorly though that they just gave those two games away. I see no end in sight to our misery. At least not this year. I don't have optimism, I'm simply trying to discern the difference between reality and pessimism. The Bills should have beat a very good KC team, and about 6 things had to go wrong for them to lose at the end and they did. Unfortunate, absolutely. The team flat out stinks, not so much. Same with the Dolphins, leading 9-3 with 20 minutes to play. Tough loss, yes. Losing on the road to a solid team on a short week means the team stinks, not so much. I am trying to think this through like the Pegulas will have to do. Anger and hysteria are not great foundations for improving any organization, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 (edited) Why do you make straw man arguments like that? I did not say mediocre is great. But to move forward you have to honestly assess where you are and figure out the best path forward. To me, this team is much better than the past 3-5 years, not good enough but better. i understand and feel the current unhappiness after the last two games, but I'd like to reach happiness. I just don't think "blowing it all up" yet again is the right answer. Staying the course and tweaking some things may be the better approach. Strawman. Everyone's favorite response when they have noting else to counteract something stated. I'm not an advocate of blowing it up, but I have reached the conclusion that the current HC is leading this team nowhere fast. He and his philosophy are simply not good enough. If your "staying the course" includes keeping the current HC and OC, I wholeheartedly disagree. Edited November 17, 2014 by 26CornerBlitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey D Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 Yay! We're not horrible. When do we get the "good" part? It's like crack, man. We keep saying this every month, every season, every decade. I went to far with that. Just seeing Denver, Cleveland and Indy obliterated yesterday just made me realize just how unpredictable the NFL is week to week, and strange things happen. Strawman. Everyone's favorite response when they have noting else to counteract something stated. I'm not an advocate of blowing it up, but I have reached the conclusion that the current HC is leading this team nowhere fast. He and his philosophy are simply not good enough. If your "staying the course" includes keeping the current HC and OC, I wholeheartedly disagree. That's fair. I think Marrone has brought the team into the 21st century in terms of attitude and discipline, and it has been a welcome change. I give him another year to see if he can do the rest of the job necessary. As to OC, I do know the offense is not good. What aspects of the QB, OC and line issues are the true problem is impossible for me to know. I'm guessing it is a little of all three. If Hackett had a quality QB, the O might be fine. If we had a great line the O might be fine. If we had a world class OC, Orton/manuel might be fine. I don't know. I think Pegula needs someone a lot more skilled and knowledgable to evaluate and come up with an evaluation. I do know that improving the line and finding a better OC is a lot easier than finding a great QB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 I went to far with that. Just seeing Denver, Cleveland and Indy obliterated yesterday just made me realize just how unpredictable the NFL is week to week, and strange things happen. Which is why it's so mind boggling that the Bills haven't even lucked into the playoffs for 14 straight years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey D Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 Which is why it's so mind boggling that the Bills haven't even lucked into the playoffs for 14 straight years. No question-- they defy the point of the salary cap every bit as much as the Patriots. Makes me want to puke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Cool. It is just that we think so many other teams are all that great, when they are not. I watch lots of supposedly good teams yesterday do the same stupid things that people here seem to think is the exclusive domain of the Bills. Every team that beat the Bills are .500 or better. It's not like the losses-- with the possible exception of Houston-- were bad teams. And wins against Detroit and Miami were quite good. And the Bills are in all the games, which is a far cry from 2 or 3 years ago when the games were over after one quarter. Another knee-jerk post. And not even true. Here is what the NFL has become. there are probably 4-5 teams in this league that are truly elite. Right now I could think of 3 of them & that is NE, Green Bay & Arizona. I am kind of reluctant to throw Denver in there right now the way they have played the last month. Then you got on the other 3-4 horrible teams that don't have a chance of winning most Sunday. I include Oakland/jets & Jacksonville on this list. & then you have a bunch of teams that they could win anywhere from 5-11 games depending on if they get the breaks or not/what type of schedule they have/do they avoid major injuries. The Bills fall into this category along with most of the other teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBear Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Yes and No. Yes, we aren't terrible, but, no, we aren't good either. Our results are pretty typical of a mediocre/average NFL team. Records of opponents we've beaten 2-8, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4 and 7-3. Records of opponents we've lost to: 5-5, 6-4, 8-2, 7-3 and 6-4. We have one win against a truly terrible team that we should always beat (Jets) and one loss against a world-beater type that almost all teams would lose (Pats). The rest of the games fall into the winnable/competitive kind of category and we've split them. Pretty average team. Pretty average results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2o Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 The defense isn't bad and when we get Kiko back it's going to be even more ugly for opposing offenses. I don't like Marrone and I especially don't like Hackett. The offensive line needs upgrades at the OG positions, but we all know this. If we are going to roll with Orton and EJ as QB's the OL has to be atleast solid. The lack of a consistent running game puts whatever QB is in there at a disadvantage. Fix the OL and you will fix the running game which in turn will make our passing attack that much more potent. I agree that we are not that far away and I still think we end up with 8 or 9 wins this year. I don't think we make the playoffs with 9 wins, but I think that's where we end up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heitz Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 he's 2-2 sans stache, 1-1 with stache. That's like, 100% better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey D Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 The defense isn't bad and when we get Kiko back it's going to be even more ugly for opposing offenses. I don't like Marrone and I especially don't like Hackett. The offensive line needs upgrades at the OG positions, but we all know this. If we are going to roll with Orton and EJ as QB's the OL has to be atleast solid. The lack of a consistent running game puts whatever QB is in there at a disadvantage. Fix the OL and you will fix the running game which in turn will make our passing attack that much more potent. I agree that we are not that far away and I still think we end up with 8 or 9 wins this year. I don't think we make the playoffs with 9 wins, but I think that's where we end up. I don't know the answer to the QB question. I can't imagine the team is thrilled with the current QB options. But it is simply BS to say, let's get our franchise guy and roll with it. No one seems to know who will be a franchise guy and who won't. That is the case for literally every team. That's the effing problem. And there is no solution, unless you just get flat out lucky like Indy-- twice! Perhaps a couple of guards and one kickass OC will do the trick. Easier said than done, but easier than picking up the franchise QB on your next visit to Wegman's. Yes and No. Yes, we aren't terrible, but, no, we aren't good either. Our results are pretty typical of a mediocre/average NFL team. Records of opponents we've beaten 2-8, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4 and 7-3. Records of opponents we've lost to: 5-5, 6-4, 8-2, 7-3 and 6-4. We have one win against a truly terrible team that we should always beat (Jets) and one loss against a world-beater type that almost all teams would lose (Pats). The rest of the games fall into the winnable/competitive kind of category and we've split them. Pretty average team. Pretty average results. And for this year at least, the new mediocre in the AFC is 6-4. We are atrocious in comparison at a lowly 5-5... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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