DrPJax

I really think you’re on to something here. Was just watching Steve Young and Charles Woodsen on MNF. They were discussing all the turmoil that has happened with the Dolphins this year , even Gase calling his offense garbage. However, the Dolphins are 4-4 despite all the things like losing their starting QB, a coach seen snorting coke, bringing Cutler in. Young and Woodsen both pointed out when the team is facing all this mess or adversity, it all depends on the leadership capabilties of the COACH to overcome and get your team playing up to their potential despite the issues. They both noted how the Dolphins players are playing with passion still , and the players have also given credit to the OWNER as being extremely supportive making sure they each have things they need to help develop a winning culture. Young and Woodsen went on to say they do think there is a real change in culture with the Dolphins because of Gase ( remember ,this guy really called the players out and who thought after he called his offense garbage that with a win tonight they will be 5-4 as well) and his LEADERSHIP QUALITIES. MAYBE , this really does speak to what’s going on in the Bills locker room and McD,’s ability to connect with the team as a leader. When you have players saying they have no answers and they may end up 5-11 if this keeps going on, kyles statement of no energy the past two games, the terrible offense and play calling , no adjustment by the D to get pressure on the qb and having the ball run down their throat 24 straight plays yesterday , I think it’s a legit question about McD’s leadership ( perhaps even the owners interaction since it seems both the bills and sabres are struggling), and after after watching him look so passive on the sideline and then his shell shocked apppearance he had during the postgame interviews may speak to him being a rookie head coach in over his head right now. He didn’t even appear to be angry about what had just happened. I’m sure he is but his external appearance wouldn’t generate passion in my mind to want to play hard. I can’t see someone like the pats coach or Gase being so passive and almost meek after those two ass kicking loses. How can you explain those lackluster performances and all we saw was passive behavior from the players and staff. It’s just a question or theory, but when two previous hof players say it really is about the coaching and leadership in truly changing a teams “culture” , is this an early warning sign that McD’s constant talk about the process is not really a style that motivates passion and accountability in a team ? Another game like the previous two and I think the Peter principle may be true with McD having risen to his level of incompetence. I’m interested to see how the team reacts against the Chargers.

Well one blowout maybe a fluke; two BLOWOUTS is a disturbing trend , especially when one of the blowouts was by a jets team that almost every analyst agreed was less talented than the Bills roster. I get McD needs another off season to acquire more talent, but what I am beginning to see is a flawed process in coaching and personel decisions. I am not willing to just give the coach and Gm a full pass because “ they don’t have their players for their scheme” They are responsible for the decisions to part with young talent , and they are the ones who have shown such tunnel vision so that we have Tolbert ,DiMarco ,Wright and Johnson here. How many more passes in the flat to Tolbert can you take? The rams were bottom dwellers last year but getting rid of Fischer and landing a talented head coach along with some former Bills and now they are a good looking team. Badobilz is correct, you don’t have unlimited time to demonstrate you are at least progressing. We are seeing a team regressing and what I am interested to see is how does McD Handle this mess now. I can’t remember two worse performances than what we witnessed the past two weeks. That’s not just a lack of talent , it shows a team not being able to adjust , using excuses about playing on Thursday because it “ didn’t give us time to prepare”, only to actually do worse with more time to game plan and getting clay,Benjamin playing was supposed to give Tyrod more options and open up the run game again. You have a serious offensive scheme flaw when you still have not scored a TD yet in the first quarter 9 games into the season! So i have a hard time given the past two historically bad performances ,that all we need is players for McD ‘s system. We were out coached on all levels badly; we were never in these games unlike earlier in the season. We got all those turnovers but how many times did we settle for FG’s or just three and out offensive series? Also we continue to hear prior nfl players like Romo and Barber commenting on poor Qb play, no sacks or qb pressures, and watching us drop into soft zone coverage knowing that rushing our 4 d lineman and resisting to change things that aren’t working , is not a way to instill confidence that the “process” is promising. The past two games McD has not looked like he has any answers except for cliche coach speak. Hearing the same old BS that “ I have to coach better or we just have to come together and we will learn from this “ continues the rhetoric we’ve heard during the drought Hey , I’m ok with losing this year until we do actually get a Adequate QB ( this is the first time with these repetitive terrible offensive results I firmly believe Tyrod is a huge problem and he can’t be salvaged) , but what is disturbing is how bad we look now and how we are showing no ability to do any game time adjustments . I think it will be telling if McD is willing to allow Dennison to continue on with this play calling that produces only in garbage time. . Will McD get involved after watching Frazier to continue with this only rushing 4 and letting qbs keep converting 3 rd and 15 or 20 while also playing so undisciplined with offside or personal fouls that repeatedly bail out the opponent resulting in sustained drives ? He may not have all the talent he needs yet , but he is still the head coach and hopefully he is capable of demanding accountability from his staff and the players for the product on the field. Time will tell , but if we see more play like the past two weeks , I can’t see his process being successful. Other teams have shown it’s possible to do quick turnabouts in today’s NFL and it’s hard to sell tickets to watch what we did these past two weeks. ( obviously I mean to include the gm as well). It’s hard to not “overreact “ after seeing back to back absolute blowouts. If the offense keeps underperforming for two more games , then I think you have to find out what you have in Peterson before the draft. Man that was tough to watch today! ?

I respectfully disagree. I don’t know what 20 year olds you are hanging around that are “ doing / experiencing things “and don’t like being spectators. ( if your children are like that I commend you as a wonderful parent truthfully) How do you explain the multimillion /billon dollar video game industry. People are making a living in their 20’a playing video games on places like Twitch tv with millions of viewers and thousands of subscribers sitting for hours playing or watching others play. Why are we seeing e sports being broadcast on tv? If anything this generation is less personally engaged and they will be spectators as they continue posting on Instagram etc even while at games. Do you see college football which is also huge money and funds large universities athletic programs just disappearing.? Not in our lifetime. As a doctor who has done literally thousands of pre-participation physicals , I can factually tell you every year there are several parents who get angry and will even go to another clinic if I fail someone who needs further evaluation for possible life threatening conditions if they play. And I am just ONE dr who goes thru this every year. I do believe education and income levels come into play, as mentioned previously because of the POTENTIAL of a scholarship or more. There will always be parents and their children who will disregard any medical information even at the high school level where no money is involved who will do anything to play or get their children involved for social and fiancial reasons. I have seen it consistently. I have told parents your child could be at risk for sudden DEATH without further evaluation or they have something that does instantly disqualify them, and those parents become irate and many times try to work around the PROVEN MEDICAL RISKS! If they will disregard the risk of SUDDEN DEATH, why would anyone believe the far down the road risks of CTE would dissuade them? I personally believe contact / tackle football should not be available below the age high school. Just like rules changed in little league baseball to limit how often a child can pitch because of risks associated at the elbow , some changes are necessary to protect children from parents who will ignore proven science. I’ll give you one other analogy why football won’t disappear tho. I went into medicine knowing there are risks asssociated with the lifestyle , eg long hours ,stress, high divorce rate, exposure to body fluids that are potentially lethal. I did it because I loved the science of it and I loved being able to help families at periods of crisis, and I also hoped to make a decent living given the sacrifices the profession demands. I don’t make millions of dollars as a family practice / er doc. Some people just do something because they love it and if you add the potential life changing money, there is no way the sport fades because of lack of interest by younger people. I don’t see them as more active either. Why do we have a national epidemic of childhood and youth obesity and diabetes occurring now at ages I never saw when I finished my residency in 85. The medical facts and literature don’t support your premise of young people being more active. Quite the opposite. I’m not trying to be argumentative or be an A## to you. Just posting 30 years of experience. Go bills.

Great stuff! I have been a bills fan since ‘66 approximately. My dad was watching a game on tv and it was the jets v bills. He was for the jets and I liked the helmet , name ,and had fun rooting against my dad that day and have been with the bills since. I had forgotten about Shout ! I got it with pro football weekly to follow the nfl and actually played fantasy football back then and used those two papers for info about who to start. Actually won a city wide league in Jax being a bills homey and had several bills on my roster. I still have most of the shout papers and all the sports illustrated mags with the bills Super Bowl coverage on them stored in a storage unit. I don’t exactly remember finding TBD, but like many of you I joined back in 2001! I think you beat me by a month according to our profiles. Have been here ever since. Thanks for reminding me of Shout. ! I developed some some close friends on here including #89( Cindy) and cablelady ( Harriet ). My father passed from lymphoma in Jan 2002 and I posted about it here on TBD , , and #89 reached out with her sympathy. That part I will never forget. TBD has helped during rough times and so many fabulous hours giving me insight from some great people on the board. Scott has always been amazing and I can’t thank him enough for being my first source of all things Bills. Really love the people here and check in daily. Funny thing is I have been a bills fan all these years , actually went to SB’s 27 and 28 which I was able to take my parents to before my father passed ( Mom still alive in Ohio at age 91!), yet unfortunately I have never made it to Buffalo to actually take it all in live at least once. So still have that on my bucket list ! OP, great topic! Thanks for that and to Scott and TBD for years of fellowship thru all the ups and downs of being a Bills fan for life!?‍????

Pretty funny article by Florio. Didnt see this posted elsewhere, apologize if I missed it. Main thing is how getting rid of a coachlike this and actually getting a coach who is not a headline seeker,but just embraces his job and where he is. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/10/26/more-revisionist-history-from-rex-ryan/ Doing this from an iPad and not sure it came across as the correct link. I think it is , maybe try copying to your browser. Again from Mike Florio.

You missed my point or question, which is how do you make the Bills better NOW with an open roster spot. I’m not arguing he shouldn’t have been traded but he has had at least a history of several good seasons and Darby had one as a rookie. I was just wondering why we might not have added or gotten something like Gaines ,Matthews , etc Obviously Jacksonville has the need or they never call. Fans down here are just as fed up with lousy teams as we are as Bills fans. Their owner has been widely criticised here for never spending money to actually field a competitive team. They obviously think they are playoff worthy and felt the need for a move now. I don’t think we were bargaining from a weak position which is what the results look like to me. I never stated the Bills were worse without MD, just asked what move would you consider with an open roster spot and current needs now !!! Also anything you say about how Dareus was affecting the lockeroom or being a cancer or whatever derogatory Name you use is nothing more than your uneducated subjective assumption. Unless you work for the BILLs or you are doing their laundry or somehow have access to the locker room and can give me quotes from players complaining about him , just projecting your thoughts doesn’t amount to any truth. Obviously we all agree he was not appreciated by the current coach etc ,but that at least is proven fact. I merely suggested it’s POSSIBLE Dareus helps solidify a defense competing against us for a wildcard spot and I just wondered if perhaps we might have gotten a little more. This is not directed at you but rather other posters stating things that 1) probably not true 2)don’t add to further any discussion They just now discussed the trade from the jags standpoint in the media here in Jax. They are last in yards/ carry in the nfl yet much better against the pass. They understand the risk and his history ( including his good history) and the beat writers feel like this was a “great move and possible steal” . Knowing Jacksonville’s weakness with the run, maybe we could have done better than a 6 th round. It is a plausible and not comical premise. Thx for your insight.

Wow, I am not surprised he was traded, yet I am surprised we didn’t get someone like Yeldone ( rb) thrown in with 6 th ,possible 5 th round pick. That’s just my opinion comparing to what we got for trading Darby who doesn’t have the experience that MD has. The other thing that slightly concerns me is that the Jags have a very good pass rushing front 4 so adding Dareus will help shore up their run D since I think it’s evident he is not going to be relied upon for sacks at this point. The jags are much like we are this year, relying mostly on their D and we might be competing for a wild card spot this year if both teams keep playing at their current levels. I am good with getting rid of MD given his play now for the Bills, but would have rather seen him traded to a team not in contention for the same wild card position. MD will quickly find out there is no being late for anything given Coughlins presence back down here, so we can hope Dareus continues to be Dareus which is possible, or he finds out it’s pretty easy to get into plenty of distractions believe it or not in Jacksonville. It’s not the same place, red neck, good ol boy town it was when I moved here from Ohio in ‘85 to start my medical Career. How do you guys think this will make the Bills better this year ? Just asking as a long time Bills fan; I don’t think the cap space means that much now or next year,and with an open roster spot who would you like to see added? We are really thin In the D backfield which I think will hurt us this week unfortunately. That seems a likely move to me even with the glaring receiver need as well. They probably need bodies there despite the latest addition cb who will take some time to fit in the current scheme. Any news on Streater since the workout? I think he would get snaps more quickly ( wr, special teams) having been at training camp, as opposed to someone from a different practice squad for example. Lots of smart posters here and I’m jus interested in your thoughts ? ( I haven’t seen any other moves yet, so sorry if I missed that )

Hi Dr Piratehooker! Good information from a specialist is priceless. Always like to meet a colleague on here. I am Board certified in Family practice , from Ohio, but been in practice since 85 here in Jacksonville. Did solo Fp a lot of years and lots of procedures including many files Sigs. Never got old or boring since it’s surprising how much pathology you find on asymptomatic pts for screening. After a lot of years in family practice ,director of rehab and eating disorder inpatient programs, I did however tire of what medicine has become under third party payors. Really is about numbers now and not so much about personalization of care that drew me to FP in the first place. Finally I sold and became a regional director for Solantic urgent care in Florida. It was started and owned by the infamous Medicare fraud man, owner of HCA , and now governor of our state, the infamous Rick Scott. I loved urgent care because every moment you never knew what would walk impn the door and medicine became exciting again. However, there is never enough money for people in power and I whistleblew on Scott using my credentials to bill full charges for Medicare patients even tho they were seen by arnps with no doctor on site. I had lawyers from Washington show up in my driveway one morning and the interviewed me for 16 hours over two days. I definitely had indisputable proof. Turned all evidence over to their investigators and somehow things “ disappeared”and rick went on to beat McCollum that year to become governor! I moved on to be a director for another urgent care chain until in 2014 when suddenly without prodrome both my arms went numb and left leg gave out while during a shift. Turned out to have 4 cervical discs that had pinched my spinal cord at c4/5. Underwent 4 level anterior decompression so I wouldn’t become a quad ; went ok but damage to my cord resulted in terrible parenthesias and complete numbness of both hands and some permanent loss of balance. Tried to go back a month after surgery but I couldn’t keep up with all the computer documentation and couldn’t feel lumps etc or do fine suturing on patients. Finally I am facing my career may be over at age 60 but I miss seeing patients so much. It was such an honor to have people choose me to care for their families and no other feeling comes close lto that that. Sorry this wasn’t football but appreciated your input on the use it TNF inhibitors etc. what a change from my days in residency in the early 80’s when surgery was almost a given with all chrons patients. Nice to meet a fellow doc and bills fan,and I hope you and your practice are well!, Time flies. Not long ago I was at SB 27and 28 watching the 2 of the 4 losses in person. Crushing but what a time to be a BILLS FAN! Sure misss those days as well. Take care and hope to talk / chat more soon!

I think a telling statement is when McDermott pointed out there was a “silver lining “ with the injuries as he discussed missing clay for weeks. He stated it gave a chance for 5 rookies to get substantial playing time. If he is putting the spin of seeing a silver lining when you have just lost your leading receiver and best offensive mismatch for game planning , I believe that signals they don’t plan on bringing any significant outside players in and the only possible change I see might be if forced by sheer lack of bodies they have to bring up a player from our practice squad. Adding any other ps players rather than ours is unlikely to reallly benefit since they wont know the offense and who is just sitting on a ps anyhow that could jump start this mess of questionable offensive play calling ,experimentation at the 5th game with offensive line combinations that make no reasonable sense with “healthy” scratches of prior starters, and a limited qb who is a good scrambler being forced to be a pocket passer by defensive planning or our own offensive philosophy? If you are standing there seriously saying that there is a silver lining after watching 5 weeks of a passing attack that ranks 31 st in the league even with Clay and Matthews present for 4 of those games, then you are willing to stick it out the remaining of this season with the decisions made in the preseason when these problems were already evident and choices were made to trade players for draft picks. To give away picks now would make those prior moves appear foolish and I don’t see McDermott or Mcbean being willing to lose credibility so soon in their tenure. I also can’t see any scenario of trading ShAdy because you have a locker room full of veteran players who do want to win now and that type of move would not go over well given he is the only playmaker left on the offense. The defensive players aren’t idiots and they see the lack of talent on the other side of the ball so try keeping them buying into the process if you completely dismantle the offense now by looking toward the future. I think some of them would even question the commitment to this season if by some crazy chance Peterman replaced Tyrod this early in the season. McDermotts actions say it all. They already tried to just go with Philly Brown as their wr move and would have stuck with him had they not had a shortage of corners this week. I bet they place clay on Ir with him being the possible one player eligible to come back later in the season ( however as a physician I am pessimistic he will return this year with a meniscal tear , mcl sprain that could possibly be a high grade sprain or partial tear, while already having problems with his other knee ). They may possibly bring philly back and stick with O’Leary and Logan so they know what they have at TE before the draft. I am impressed by the defense, happy to be tied for first in the division, yet it’s frustrating to see how any decent production from the offense might actually make us a playoff contender this year. I would be very surprised to see any trades or new acquisitions based on McDermott’s statements so far.

There is no question we are using an unacceptable group of receivers even when healthy. Injuries took away the only two respectable playmakers with clay and Matthews gone. Why they continue to force feed zay into the second receiver position is hard to understand. He is a rookie who is understandably mentally having difficulty adjusting to the nfl and high expectations for him. I think trying something like even putting Logan Thomas in the slot with O’Leary on the field as well ( assuming clay is out for awhile which appears a certainty), and using Holmes or a call up from the ps might help take the pressure off zay. We are getting almost zero production from him so he needs to be on the field less for now. Why we have Kaelin Clay still on the roster is a mystery to me. It seems such a shame to lose a game where teams with 3 turniovers have a 10% chance of winning usually. The season is still so early so why not adjust when the trend is obvious ? I like Tyrod but history doesn’t lie. As one article pointed out he has won one game when down more than four points. His record is also dismal whenever he throws over thirty pAsses. When you know if you get behind more than one possession you have almost no chance of success , it’s foolish not to consider some change. Heck at this point I would even start Tyrod but if he gets behind why not bring in Peterman when history says we will certainly not come back with Tyrod. I would keep Tyrod starting but the leash should be getting shorter with each performance like today. The classic Tyrod play was not throwing to an open Logan Thomas in the flat on time and then throwing it away. That is a trait he has not changed despite coaching emphasizing that point. I really do like this team and feel they are way ahead of where I thought they could be. So why just settle for the Status quo on offense IMHO?

Hi guys, long time bills fan ( since 60's and. Went to sb27, 28 cuz " they cant lose 3,,,er in row" (f#@$ cowboys forever!), and because I had my first practice ever in the building right under the group who origininally were behind bringing the jags to jax, I was a season club ticket holder of jags for 6 years with seats 5 rows behind visitors bench on 32 yd line praying to see the bills come down.. they never did. My last year as jags ticket holder was year of music city bull crap so I was 16 sec from being able to see the bills come and beat the crap out of the jags for the SB as the bills d under wade was amazing that year. So i sat thru the jags getting killed by the Titians who went on to lose to the rams that year. Was my last year as jags ticket holder since it interfered with me watching bills games, bills never came down here during that time until the following year !). Just mention as background to my thoughts. So i think having watched all these guys over the years, this is going to be a good thing for the Jags. I really would have loved to see coughlin with the bills. Remember he does know how to build a team from ground zero . He was working two years building the structure before the first jags season. He put that organization together. He brought in Boselli, jimmy smith , Fred Taylor, got Brunell from Green Bay and remember sadly who put an end to Kelly's career and the bills home playoff win streak. Tough to watch as a bills fan in jax. Problem with coughlin back then and what led to his firing was he was so dictorial, (like players being made to keep helmets on in practice at all times in 90 degree plus temps , crazy stuff ) that eventually he lost the team and was known for never talking to players. He woke up with the firing and was a different coach with the giants by all accounts I have read. He does live here and is amazing with his generosity (jay fund) and he is a two time SB winner endiing the Pats undefieatd season and just for that I will always be grateful ! He is softer but still commands respect and discipline and he sticks to his Vision of how to win. He will be great helping turn this directionless organization after his departure, back around. The other gm is a young guy like Whaley, who I think will learn tremendously under coughlin. Actually i see this as a very smart move by Kahn. This guy is a good owner and also done many things to develop a vision for a struggling downtown Jacksonville. Bi As far as Marone, I hated him as a bills coach for all the reasons we all watched, and when the pu$$y walked from the bills, i was happy and thought good riddance. We all know he appears to be an ass personally , and coughlin was always seen like this in his time here. Who better to stand up to a bully than someone with documented Super Bowl success, who was that same personality before his reevaluation of his style and life. Coughlin is not some tired 70 year old. I bet he is in better shape than many of us and he is tireless. PLUS he still has PASSION that has sustained and is not phoney rhetoric like the Ryan hype. Marone will have someone to answer to who he will respect. Who would ever respect Whaley et al? Making more and more sense seeing why Marone left the mess that is now being exposed at OBD. So sadly i do believe the jags will be a contender well before the bills can right this deep deep dysfunctional mess. Which finally brings my long post (forgive me since i help all this in for years) to the billls. I have no idea who can help fix this. I really hoped Polian would come back and if you listen to him on Sirius, you know this guy is a true master of the big picture of an organization and can verbalize that so well. ) . I dont have any faith things will change with Whaley still there. I see this as a huge mistake by the Pegulas when they had a chance to clean this up and perhaps attract a good candidate. Unlikely anyone except those wanting their first shot will want to walk into this situation. When Kelly is even calling the team out nationally, i think this has reached an all time low in my 40 plus years of following the bills, at least in the modern era of the salary cap. One thing i know for sure after watching him here for 4 years, is that Bradley is a disaster. He may have been an ok D.C. Once. But he was the most inept coach I have ever seen. Nice,nice guy. IMHO, too nice to be brought into a locker room where rookies like Lawson are even calling out the trash efforts we have seen the past two years. So if Anthony is hired and would bring bradly in, that already tells me he is not forward thinking and i would not see how anything changes with the pathetic d we witnessed. I see us not getting coughlin as a loss; here we go again in the same learn on the job mess we have all watched over and over. I would however be happy to at least watch the team if Frank was brought in. Who could not get behind THE MR COMEBACK?. Lets see, but it hurts watching this mess now and I think those who criticize coughlin just because of age will wish he had come to the bills when the jags beat us to Respectability. Thx for tolerating a long post. Frustrating supporting the bills for so long and watching close up as another once poorly run franchise like the jags look like they may even prove how it is possible to not continue accepting mediocrity.

I have the same problem found the Washington broadcast on 225 Sirius radio. Listening now. Bills up 3-0 first quarter. Hope that helps.

I am a family practice doctor and also do emergency room work, and I see this type of injury all time. Your son experienced a contusion to his large bone in the leg called the tibia. This is a very large bone and is extremely hard to break. The smaller bone on the outside of the leg is called the fibula, and is easier to break, but it doesn't sound like you're son got hit there. Because UIC area, and there was no swelling, I don't think that there is a hematoma present. A hematoma represents a collection of blood under the skin and is common when you sustain a hit to the area, but is associated with swelling and a persistent lump. Because your son's pain is resolving and he is having no difficulty walking, I don't think x-rays would be of any benefit. The numbness is due to bruising of superficial nerves in the area and medically is called a neuropraxia. This doesn't have any long-term consequences, and should resolve anywhere from one to three months at most. As long as he can run without difficulty, and I think it's OK participate without any extra padding in the area. If he does start to have any difficulty walking or persistent pain an x-ray might be necessary. Hope this helps and to a bills fan there's no charge.

Thanks for the feedback; tried not to be to emotional and just wanted to think of some constructive ways of righting this ship. I think we can turn the offense around if Clements or someone else (Wyche) adapts, but the defense that was to be our backbone is failing terribly. We just get no push in the middle, and this is dragging our ends and secondary down as well. If we could pick up Winborn from the 49'ers, who sounds like he just got caught up in a problem with the way the new staff was using him, I would seriously consider going more to a 3-4 to have better playmakers on the field. I think we might get a better rush that way without having to keep sending our safties or corners in blitzes. Also with the Spikes injury and Posey being in his last year of his contract next year, Winborn would be a good fit. We could also then use our draft picks to fortify both lines. I also think we really need to watch Vincent's play. He may have finally hit a wall, and he looks slow and out of position frequently to me. Might even consider putting Greer in there for more speed, or if we continue to tank, consider getting Leonard some playing time. This is a critcal time for TD to make a move, as we are about to lose the season.

Is our quarterback play the only reason that we are having such a dismal beginning to the season, and are there any other possible solutions that we need to look at to salvage the season.?While losman's play has been less than impressive, I believe it's the defensive team's poor play that has really let us down.. Our defense has repetitively failed to hold teams from converting third downs, and have been guilty of prolonging drives by committing stupid penalties negating any positive plays that they have had. A classic example was today's play by Nate Clements that negated a 12 yard sack on third down and resulted in a drive that culminated in a field goal for the Saints. How many times has the containment broken down, to allow the opposing quarterbacks to scramble for a first down? Every time our defense fails to stop the team on third down a bar, losing the battle for field position and either allowing the other team to score, or allowing them to flip the field position on us. The result is requiring a inexperienced quarterback to have to convert longer drives and the statistics are against that in the NFL. We're not creating turnovers, and we are not putting our offense in a position to have a shorter field to operate like we did last year during our winning streak. One of the reasons we're not creating turnovers is we are not getting any pressure on the quarterback. Specifically, we get no pressure up the middle, and Sam Adams has practically disappeared. With no pressure up the middle the opposing quarterback either steps up into a well-defined pocket, or breaks containment for a good scramble. We could have addressed this issue this year by signing Corey Simon. I believe this was a major mistake by Donahoe, and I don't think we'll be able to fix this until next season in free agency. If we can fix our problem with getting pressure up the middle, I think this will allow our ends to perform better and result in more sacks, pressures and possibly turnovers, and obviously shore up our run defense. In addition to our defensive play, our special teams have also let us down so far. Our special teams left 10 points out on the field before the first half was over today. During our win streak last year, our special teams provided a spark for many of those wins. Due to lack of concentration, Magee's incredible return was stopped short when three blockers lost focus and allowed the final Saint to get in and trip him up. That was inexcusable, and I think Campbell also was the player responsible for holding on Freddie Smith's long kickoff return. Instead of starting a drive on the opposing team's 35, we were forced again to start our own 30 yard line. All of our games have been marked by this sloppy penalty plagued play. Unfortunately, Lindell also chose to revert to his previous form when he missed the 45 yarder. Rather than being tied at the half, this flipped field position that allowed New Orleans to drive for another field goal and we were down 13 to seven.. Our special-teams play is the one area I think that will probably correct itself as the season goes along, but the lack of focus so far has been a disappointment and contributed to our losses. It is not all on JP and the offense; we are not playing mentally sharp football in this phase of the game either. Finally, what can be said about our abysmal offensive performance? I agree with many of you that have already stated that the majority of the blame should be on Tom Clements. With the exception of the first half against the Texans, the playcalling has been atrocious. The opening drive today was well done, but Clements shows no ability to adapt his playcalling based on either previous success or failure of prior plays. He shown a Gilbride- like quality to abandon the run despite the exceptional play of McGahee. I think our passing schemes are poorly devised. We are keeping our tight ends in for maximum protection, and only sending out. two wide receivers and occasionally a third slot receiver. I think our tight ends have only caught two passes in four games. Most productive passing teams in the NFL are taking advantage of a tight end; for example, look at Kansas City, San Diego, Dallas. We also continue to run out routes and JP continues to struggle with his accuracy hitting them. There was one quick slant run over the middle today, and it was caught by moulds for a first down. I don't know why we continue to avoid these, as I think these quick routes could help JP's confidence. Clements also refuses to run any reverses to get Evans or moulds involved, and the reverses would also make other teams defensive ends stay at home and allow JP to roll out more effectively. Denver did this very effectively last week against Kansas City. I would solve these problems by stopping the maximum protection, spreading the defense out with either four receivers and one back or five receivers, and then let JP use his scrambling ability to avoid the rush. That's why we made the decision to go with him instead of Bledsoe wasn't it? Our tight ends are absent for some inexplicabe reason, and We need to get more receivers out in the patterns. Hopefully when Parrish returns that will provide a difficult matchup for the nickel back or linebackers on the opposing team. If Clements demonstrates another poor game of playcalling against Miami, mularkey should either take over playcalling himself or allow Wyche to assume offensive coordinator responsibilities. Our current schemes will continue to fail against the better teams we will be playing. Finally, I think we have to stick with JP The rest of the year and quit pulling him. It's obvious our backup quarterbacks are no answer, and we need to find out if we really do have a quarterback of the future. With our poor offensive line play, Holcombe will not stand a chance of offering us any improvement. It's obvious our lines on both sides of the ball need to be addressed by Donahoe, but it is what it is for this year. Pulling JP in the fourth quarter, today, when we are only down by six, just serves to delay his development that much longer. More than any other thing this year, I feel that our coaching on the offensive of side of the ball has failed terribly, and our defensive tackles poor play has hurt us the most defensively. We should be able to correct the offensive problems now, but I'm less optimistic that we'll be able to find a quick fix for our defensive woes. I believe the next two weeks will tell us a lot about our hopes with mularkey and his future in Buffalo.

Wow, two go patterns on the first series of play calling. Very innovative ! Completely predicatble playcalling the rest of the game as far as down and distace was concerned. If I as a non professional, casual fan, can read the tendencies of our offense, that is a problem. Others who are professional, for example Jim KElly, stated similar things. Not "brilliant" insight to quote you, but then again football is not a "brilliant" sport, and if my recall is correct, most of the players, and quite a few of the armchair analysts (fans) can't even speak appropriate english or finish complete thoughts. I might even include someone who is still enamoured with the fantasy and adolescent world of Star Wars in that category of "non-brilliant" thinkers who might actually miss the point of my previous post. But that wouldn't include someone as enlightened as you would it ? The results of our coaching speak for themselves, 1-2. Ill-timed and ineffective blitzing, "personel packages" that keep a premiere running back off the field for third downs, and inablity to get the ball in the hands of playmakers like Evans and Moulds will contiue to provide a predictable coaching outcome; losing ! "Brilliant", to quote both you and a now infamous commercial !!!

I think you are right, for some unexplicable reason Mularkey has committed to these "packages" and seems inflexible to change his thinking during the game. I don't think he did this last year as noticeably. They are trying to do so many shifts and formation looks, yet the actual runs or routes turn out to be the same off tackle plunges or simple outs and hooks. Contrast our playbook to the broncos tonight who have run reverses, options with Plummer, toss options, cirlcle route from the backs, and rollout and bootlegs. JP and Plummer have similar qualities, and I just see very unimaginative play calling from out staff. Willis showed last year he can catch the ball out of the backfield and be a dangerous threat , but he has not be used this way at all this year. They have scaled back the offense so much that it has become very predicatble and easily defendable. This is not an impressive year so far for Mularkey, and is eerily similar to the days of Gregg Williams. Coaching not to lose instead of to win.

Bingo,,,,you hit the nail on the head !! The coaching and game plans the past two weeks have been as poor as those of the days of the properly named Gregg Williams. When you read Mularkeys comments to the fan's questions, it comes across as " we are going to stick to our came plan" no matter how poorly it may be working or regardless of developments in the game. That is poor COACHING, and is reminiscent of the days of Greggo !

I was not giving JP a pass on his poor play so far. I am just unimpressed with the staffs ability to try and compensate during his "learning curve" while he is playing poorly. Jp doesn't have to be accurate to hand the ball off to MOulds or evans on an occasional reverse. If he can't get it to them in the air, why not try handing it off to them to at least have the chance they could make a big play for us. What would we have to lose when we were averaging just a little over a YD. per pass attempt ? Why not try a half back option when Jp is so obvioulsy having difficulty, and the falcon's were playing with a secondary of street free agents who had never played together before according to their coach? Wouldn't they be more likely to bite up on a reverse or half back option? Why does Mularkey "have" to give Mcgahee a breather on third downs, obviously taking a premier playmaker off the field when we are terrible on third down conversions? Is a premiere back in the prime of his career really that out of shape that he needs a breather every third down, or is the coaching staff sticking to a personel package and unwilling to change as the game dictates? Despite Mcgahee's obvious running, he is continually pulled off, and made a non factor on third downs by the coaching staff. Do you remember Thurman being pulled off the field this frequently? What about some toss plays to Mcgahee, or if they are willing to call QB draws with JP as they appear to be, why not try an option with him pitching to Mcgahee? My point, which you failed to grasp, was if Jp is playing poorly, what can you do as a COACHING STAff to help him succeed ! OUR staff is trying to protect and simplify things so much for him, that they have become so predictable and they are compounding our chances of failure. They are falling into the old cliche' of calling the game not lose it rather than take some chances to win.

Pennington gone with a second tear to his rotator cuff, and Harrison gone with ACL. MCL, and PCL ligament tears (sounds similiar to Mcgahee's injury). That may result in the Jets game as the only game we may be favorites in the rest of the year. The rest of our schedule looks very tough considering our previous two weeks performances. Even if our D regains some of its composure, we just don't have enough offensive firepower to compete with the AFC west teams, Cinci, New England, or even Miami who will have Ricky back by the time we play them. Not getting to Vick even once is an ominous sign since he is a frequently sacked QB. Our DL is getting no rush, as compared to a vastly improved Indy unit for comparison, who have 13 sacks already by their D lineman ! Also, given that we are going to be facing very good backs the rest of the way, like Mccallister, holmes, tomilinson, ricky,dillon, and the Denver group, we appear to be in for TEAMS following the blueprints of Tampa and Atlanta, and just ramming the ball down our throats. Add the loss of TKO to this, and this begins to look like a bleak picture. I also don't really think Parrish or a rookie tight end coming off of an acl injury will turn this offense around. For some reason, Mularkey and Clements are not doing anything to get the ball in the hands of Evans or Moulds, who could be used for reverses and other creative plays. Anyone watch LT for the chargers last night ? He was used very creatively, and yet our staff continues to keep the ball out of Mcgahees hands on third downs and even short yardage situations. This is a very puzzeling start to what we all hoped would be and exciting year for us. Lets hope the coaching staff quits the conservative play calling before the season is gone by our bye week !

Sorry to hear this Ramius. My father passed away on Jan. 16th, 2002 of the same type of Lymphoma after a ten year battle with it. He was a very young 78 at the time, a wonderful father and husband, and I still think of him daily. Parents are the one unconditional source of love in all our lives, and there is no way to be prepared for their loss even if it has been anticipated for some time. I miss just being able to share the simple things, like talking about the Bills, or just being able to share a hug. My dad just made everything in my life better. There is no way to tell someone how such a loss feels until you unfortunately have to experience it with your own family. The pain from the loss will eventually get better,but we can never forget the love they added to our lives. My prayers are with you, and I hope to see you in th chat room some time this year during the upcoming season. Hang in there, do the best you can, and remember, he will always be a part of you.

Will be thinking and praying for you and your sister. I know how you feel. I just spent 12 hours in an ER here in Jax with my mom having severe abdominal pain. STill no answer for her, and she is in pain again tonight. Hope you get some rest Cindy, and let me know if you have any questions I can help you with if the docs don't explain everything. Big hugs for you and you both will be in my prayers until Mary is back on her feet.

Correct, except hydrocodone and oxycodone are equianalgesics. Both have equivalencies of 30mg equivalent to 10 mg IV morphine sulphate. Both are highly addictive. I would suggest the patch also, but you would have to start at the lowest dose (25mcg/hr) or you will likely experience nausea and sedation. Good luck.

NFL network reported he got a 12 million dollar signing bonus to join the 49'ers. Singed to protect the new rookie qb they expect to draft ! Jennings would never have gotten that from the bills, and I'm glad he didn't.

Your doc should have given you amantidine or tamiflu which would have significantly shortened the duration of your symptoms. I do believe you should have the ears rechecked, could be a superimposed bacterial infection requiring anitbitics. Best wishes.