IQ

Interesting news. Not sure where the "early word" is coming out of but hopefully its true and they get Peters on board so we can all stop worrying about the LT position and creating yet another need to be filled. I would find it hard for them to sign TO in a clear effort to save DJ and the current makeup of players and then dump a top end LT (non-dominant year notwithstanding). Trading down from 11 makes sense unless by some miracle we can get Brown.

Agreed. Orton isn't as bad as everyone thinks. He is certainly no Cutler but he'll manage the game fine enough to get some wins with his great supporting cast. Denver has too many other needs to to for a QB this early (round and year).

The most ridiculous thread has the most replies. This is #155. Why bother to even reply? Props to Skooby Dobby Doo for duping everyone into creating a heavily read and replied to thread.

Burress is not going to be out of the NFL. Talented guys always have jobs. It will be interesting to see who (or when) will sign him. Lets look at the TO situation. A few weeks ago he was considered the NFL's worst cancer by everyone including most on this board and when we signed him, it took a few hours, but pretty much everone was ecstatic. If TO can generate this kind of emotion in conservative and risk averse Buffalo, you know that Burress (and Vick) will do the same for some other team.

Is this is a "win now" move or a "keep my job move" by Jauron? He's been hurt recently to its hard to say how much he has left in the tank but he can't be any worse than our current guys. I'm all for this move.

I think you guys are cutting down Whitner a little too hard. Its difficult to play in the backfield when your half of your front 7 should be coaching high school football rather than playing in the NFL. If we get a solid DE with our first pick and Schobel can return to some form of a legitimate player, the backfield will reap the benefits. Bryan Scott is a solid player and his play at SS will only help the rest of the guys.

I happen to think Schobel is probbaly overpaid but get rid of all 3? Are you serious? You think you could get three DEs that would be better than Schobel? We need to draft a DE to line up with Shobel, not draft/sign three DE's. We have enough holes as it is.

JP is an unbelievable talent. We can deny it to make ourselves feel better *if*/when we lose him, but there is a reason that he keeps making pro-bowls. Just ask other teams' right DEs. 11.5 mil is not unreasonable. Its what the market bears and we need to realize that he will get this money elsewhere. If Buffalo is to remain a legitimate team, they need to sign the guy at the market rate. If the Bills are smart they'll close the deal in the 10 mil range with more guaranteed money to offset the lower salary per year. But they need to do this before Detroit possible drafts an O lineman first and maybe 2 of the top 3 picks are o linemen. This can only set the market higher and reinforce JP's credibility in asking for his 11.5.

Keith Olberman has some of the most solid and lucid political takes on TV. Hating on his sports reporting because of his politics? That classifies one as an idiot (and probably redneck, pro-war Palin supporting fool). Oh, great game BTW. If we go 2-1 over the next three, talk switches to SB, not just playoffs. What a year. Anyone know where video of the game will be availabe (if at all?). I haven't missed watching a down since 1987 when I was 13 yrs old and it just feels wrong. I can't relate to any of the stats because I only got to see about 45% of the game. Talk about frustration!

Well you might be in right in terms of other people's perceptions of the Bills, but an educated NFL player should be able to evaluate another team in an unbiased fashion and its no secret that (like them or not), the Bills are a young team with emerging talent that are knocking on the door this year and for sure the next few years (especially if TE pans out as the real deal). TG's impetus for wanting to leave KC was for playoff participation and possibly the SB. Only a few teams had a need for TE, concordant intersest in him, and the possibility of playoffs + SB. The Bills were clearly one of those teams and arguably the team with the most interest in TG. For him to cut them out with the knowledge he would be back on KC and lose out on his chance for his new goals says a lot. One part of me can't fault him for it affecting his media hype. The other part of me thinks he's quite foolish to not have a chance to be on a winning team. Buffalo is going to get a lot more media coverage than KC, especially if we win the div and get into the playoffs. And TG would undoubtedly have gotten a lot of that limelight. Oh well. Here's to hoping Donte takes it personally when we play them and gets a good lick on him. We definitely need to draft a TE high (2nd or 3rd rnd) for the first time in a long time (Kevin Everett excepted).

Post surgical infections are no joke. While its not uncommon in orthopaedic surgeries (lots of soft tissue and joint manipulation, some are longer cases), it would be interesting to know if this was an open surgery or not. In any case, depending on the infectious etiology, the results can sometimes be bad. If he has MRSA (methicillin resistant S. Aureus), some bugs take long to heal or cause a bit of damage on their way out. A college basketball player (George, the 7'7") guy just had half his foot amputated and ended his basketball career. I'm sure that Brady was not your typical 65 year old that sits at home and comes in to the doc after a week with pain with a brewing infection and that, rather, this was picked up very quickly. He'll probably clear up and be ok but the situation does warrant close evaluation. The fact that they needed to do a second surgery (probably to debride the infected area) is significant and indicates that the infection did not respond to intravenous antibiotics alone. Keep a close eye. If I was a Pats fan, I'd be at least a little bit concerned and hope to god its some easily treatable strain of bacteria.

A bulging disc is a very grey area. If we did an MRI on everyone on this list, I'd bet 50% of the folks over 30 would have some (or many) "bulging discs." This is really a non issue unless the disc becomes focally larger (i.e., a "protrusion") or the bulge itself starts to block some of the nerve roots or causes pain. From what I understand, he had no motor muscle weakness and no pain. In that sense, the bulging disc diagnosis is fairly useless unless its a huge bulge without symptoms in which case they may be worried about it getting worse. This brings up two points: 1) Maybe Indy did use this as an excuse 2) Maybe McCargo has been limited by pain and has not really told anyone. Second unrelated question. How do we know that McCargo was "unmotivated?" It seems everyone has just taken that as a fact. Minus an offhand vague comment from the D-line coach, what evidence has there been that he's not working hard? I ask more out of curiosity. It seems if you aren't Edwards, Denney, or Kelsay, you are never heard on Buffalo radio/newspapers. Has McCargo said anything to lead people to believe he is unmovitated? Have people watched him in practice to see this? He looked pretty damn motivated for his previous 2-3 yrs to me. What changed this offseason?

According to Vic Carucci on Sirius NFL Network today, the report out of KC was that Tony Gonzalez had a few "no trade to" teams and one of them was Buffalo. They didn't have details as to why this was and his partner on air questioned why TG would not want to go to a 4-1 team (weather vs. media attention?). So despite what the Bills were going to offer, TG was going to veto the trade and Peterson was not about to trade him where he did not want to go. Either way, I hope this doe snot bode ill for future FA signees.

First of all, if you can't spell HAMDAN's name correctly, don't post about him. I don't think I've seen a player's name misspelled more than his on this list. Everyone sounds like Dan Dierdorf doing his only Bills game of the year. Please! Secondly, as a newbie to the list I've seen references to the Losman vs. Edwards controversies, etc which I was never a part of. But to blame this loss on JP indicates a complete lack of understanding of the game. Its a good way to judge people's NFL knowledge. This team lost because the Cardinals offense was sick and our defense was also sick (in a different way). I sincerely hope it was a bad day for our D but its become clear to me our D-ends are simply not going to provide edge rushing pressure and we are going to come out of the Cover 2 more often to blitz a lot more on earlier downs. This loss goes 100% to the defense. JP did an admiral job but there is no way the Bills were going to score 41 points today with Edwards. With a re-energize Miami and NE coming up in our next 4 games, the SD game becomes as close to a must win without eing a must win.

By wireless card I meant a Sprint or Verizon card to pick up a wireless signal if there is none at the wedding reception site!

First off it WILL be a fine...it was a helmet to helmet hit and when that happens + injury, there is definitely a well deserved fine. Secondly, they passed AGAIN after that play to Fitzgerald!!

Youboty to starter, McKelvin to nickel. Helps to have the bye in a week. Boldin's presence will play a huge factor in this game (hoping he has a speedy recovery but decides to "rest it out" for a week!).

Arizona is one of those teams that can score on anyone from anywhere. They do scare me quite a bit. 5-0 will be a great accomplishment. In a way, I think this game will be tougher than SD at home but I'd hate to take a loss going into the bye. Our pass rush will be of paramount importance because the secondary will truly be tested, especially if McGee is gimpy/absent. Things may be a little different in Boldin is ok (lets hope he isn't severely hurt--and I'm not just saying that because he's on two of my fantasy teams--that hit was scary and brought back the inevitable bad memories of last yr's season opener). Either way it should be a great game and turnovers will be key. Warner can light it up but his penultimate weakness his his proclivity to fumbling. He hurt his thumb in the early part of the game and the announcer astutely observed that it could cause problems for him later...and it did. Take away his fumblitis and its a difficult offense to stop or even slow down.

I'd bet my house that Fewell blitzes on 2nd down more than any other down. And that it's probably not even close. I tried to google this info but could not find it. Do you have a source? If so, I stand corrected. If not, is your house paid off?

Long time Bills fan but new to this list. Does everyone turn on each rookie who doesn't put up stellar or even average numbers on his first significant playing time? WR is a hard position to learn. There is no other position that is so intertwined with another (qb) and his idiosyncracies. Secondly, there is no other position (minus the line maybe) where your X's and O's better be the exactly the way they were written up. An RB can take a play and a cut back and decide on his one which gap to hit or use this athleticism to juke someone or run someone over. A DE can use pure athleticism to bullrush or swim past a lineman on a busted stunt. An MBL can use speed to chase down any play. A WR can do whatever he wants, but if he isn't exactly where he is supposed to be at exactly the right time, the QB will either check down or miss the throw. What we have in Hardy is a big guy who is naturally going to run a lot more timing patterns rather than fly's where he'll burn by his receiver. This requires practice, practice, practice and experience, experience, experience. This is why WRs usually break out in year 3 of their careers. This is when things either start to click or synchronization with the QB takes effect. Lets give Hardy a break! The man (er, kid) has had almost no significant PT minus whatever reps he can get in practice. He has a lot to learn about the game. What I have noticed is that he can get his body to the right position on most plays, he just has to learn how to use his body to shade off the receiver with that subtle arm push that the refs don't see and to screen defenders away from his long arms. That said, Bartell clearly had excellent coverage on Hardy for almost every play. He'll start to pull those down eventually. But don't judge him this early. There was a reason Schonert was keeping him buried on the bench prior to Parrish's injury and that's that he is still learning his way through this offense. Fortunately, we have the luxury of bringing along a rookie during games now thanks to our overall great play. Lets watch the guy learn and develop as a receiver and give the rookie playing his first significant game action a break!!!

With all due respect, I'm going to have to disagree with Tarrytown. Watch the game, there will be more weddings! I remember that prior to my own, I had sufficiently inundated the in-laws with enough pro-Bills propaganda that they understood the events would have to be timed around the game (alas it was right around the start of the year we whupped the pats 31-0 and it all went downhill :-(). Option 3: Get your wife a nice gift and just go watch the game. Then plead temporary insanity that occurs 3 hrs a week for about 16-20 times per year. It'll work out.

Since our defense is playing great (for the most part) and we are 4-0 I hate to be one of those guys that picks on things to do better, but that's probably what mos of the players are doing anyways. Our edge pass rush is simply lacking. I became a Schoebel fan over the last few years but he seems like he may have lost a step over the last year or two. If you heard him miked up vs. Seattle he was insinuating the same thing on the sidelines when talking to another player (Kawika, I think). Kelsay, as a poster has mentioned on this thread earlier, is not exactly a pass rushing specialist. As a result, it puts pressure on the backers to come with blitzes. Fewell has called his boys off the last few games. I personally would like to see a lot more early blitzing like we saw in the first half of the Seattle game. Whether they disguise it or fall into a zone blitz doesn't matter, we need to get some pressure on the QB to help create turnovers in the secondary. Whenever we've brought a safety/cb with either the Mike or the Will, we've had success and it definitely has helped contribute to our excellent 3rd down D. I'd just like to see it a bit more on 1st and 2nd downs and let the corners play a little more man. I think this is the best way to compensate for our weaker edge rushes.

It was the Pats and I vividly remember that game. Man, I am feeling old reading these posts and I'm only 34.

I've had to occasionally be away from the game during Sundays and as I see it, there are two options for you (besides the obvious one of bailing on the wedding). 1. Get the NFL Sunday Ticket with Superfan (I sound like an ad) and get a laptop with a wireless card and watch the game at the reception. OR 2. TIVO/DVR the game and make sure no one tells you the outcome. If the wedding is during NFL sunday, this probably won't be a problem minus some other husband that is forced to come along but has a web connection on his phone (steer clear of him). Immediately after the game, go straight to your DVR and watch it. If its not at home, get a slingbox and log on from your laptop and watch it. No excuses.

I would say that if we end up 9-7, then the rest of the season would have still been a failure or there was some big problem if not injury. I would set the over/under on "disappointment" 7-6 for the rest of the season.