ColdBlueNorth

I would be worried if it was picked off. The alternative is that Fitz starts playing it safe and "checks down" to a safer route and morphs into Trent Edwards.

YUP

I thought the O-Line would blow chunks... outside of Wood and Levitre and I was wrong. I thought Evans meant more to our passing game than he did, and I thought Easley and Nelson were destined for greatness - I thought Manning would be back and I took him late in my fantasy league along with Mr. Holdout Chris Johnson .... I was soooo wrong. Jury still out on: thought we did not have enough O-Line depth... thought Merriman would be lights out already thought Dareus would have completely gone Suh on a QB by now (don't get me wrong, I am happy with his run D and pressure). It would not upset me if he started with Brady.

True, but it is what it is. The road for national repect for the Bills team goes through Foxboro. They are the proverbial monkey on the backs of this organization. The media pundits seem to discard the fact that the AFC East has been the toughest division in football when organizing these rankings; although more of them are adding that fact and strength of schedule commentary to thier assessment of the Bills. I agree about the Steelers.

There is plenty of room for Nelson in the spread to work the middle and he could split time with CJ in 3-receiver sets. Roscoe is not going to get back anytime soon and when he does he will just trip over a blade of astroturf and injure something; not that I am against guys in the NFL that have the size and build of middle school children, but they have to be tough as nails to play with the grown ups.

I like Roosevelt, Aiken has a bigger frame, but I think we have that covered with Nelson and Roosevelt came on really well last year when pressed into service. I like Aiken too, but I just think that it is more likely right now that Stevie (groin) or Jones would need to be spelled in the lineup and I think Roosevelt projects better to the outside. ...and he is a scrappy obscure B-Lo guy that you would like to see get more chances.

With Parish out, I think Chan should just line Spiller up in the slot. That immediately creates mismatch headaches for Belichick and he can be motioned into the backfield from the spread to operate from the HB position. This gets Spiller out in space where I think he works best, it also can be used to get both RBs on the field on 3 receiver sets. I do think that Chan should go the IR route with Parrish who has just not shown much durability over his career and bring someone up from the PS, because we are too thin at WR and are in danger of having to scrap his successful spread offense if one or two receivers got dinged during a game.

i dunno... I think Welker would eat Williams' lunch and that would be tough on a rookie with so much upside. I like the idea of Byrd shadowing him for the game; Jarius has great quickness, a nose for the ball, good hands, and has been a pretty solid tackler. That leaves our new and improved LB core to cover TE's releasing out in the flat along with Wilson or Scott. They have a lot of weapons and Brady knows how to get the ball into their hands, this will be a tough fight as always. NE would much rather have a Buffalo team that they can crush and keep under a rock for another decade than one that starts to get all uppity thinking they can actually be competitive in the AFC East.

I actually think the Bills can dial up some pass rush, but against Oakland, they didn't have the lead till the second half and when they did get the lead they would give it right back and we never put Oakland in a passing only catch-up situation till the last few plays. Against that team the defense had to stay focused on being disciplined and staying in thier run lanes and not getting too deep, basically keeping McFadden from tearing it up and scoring. McFadden has a lot of speed and has done that against really good teams so they had to respect the delays, draw plays, and screens - especially considering they bit big on a screen play rushing Campbell that went for a lot of yards early in the game. NE is not known for their rushing attack, so I think the Bills defense should throw a bit of caution to the wind to get to Brady and I think they will.

Some rambling thoughts about the upcoming Patriots game.... Man am I tired of this team losing to these clowns - there I said it. I don't think they are stronger, or faster, or have better football players than all the guys who currently occupy a Bills roster spot, but NE is confident they can beat the Bills. They have a system they tweak it and they need to do little else. They have won many games against the Bills, but they certainly have not been all blowouts. The worst losses for me being the ones where the old Bills have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and let them escape games with that mystique intact instead of in-tatters. Brady will complete his passes, the only thing you can do is take a page out of the Jets playbook and hit Brady over and over and bring pressure up the middle. That is the only way to get to a prolific veteran QB who is in a zone, you make him wince, you take him out of his rhythm, you get him to "tuck the ball", make him move around and hopefully make mistakes. You have to take Welker out of the game PERIOD. Every QB, even Brady has their go-to guy, that guy that can move the chains for you and turn a check-down pass into a 15 yard gain - that guy is Welker. The most uncharacteristic games I have seen from NE and Tom Brady have been when Welker was not in the lineup. When he is not in, Brady does not look comfortable. The Jets have been able to do this because they trust their corners and safeties in man coverage and can commit the extra men to the rush and covering Welker, but the Bills have some big boys up front now and my hope is that they can generate pressure with 3-4 rushers (something we have never been able to do against this Brady NE team). If they can do that, then that paves the way for more creative coverages and blitzes. Hopefully Troup will be ready to go because we need to be able to rotate defensive linemen and keep them fresh, the Bills front 3-4 will need to be HUGE. Collapsing the pocket and creating pressure right up the middle to prevent Brady from stepping up or getting comfortable. If there was ever a time to start dialing up the pass rush it would be this game. Byrd is due a pick 6, I don't know why I say that... other than he has been around the ball and I guess I am just hoping he starts making some noise back there again. He played a lot in the Oakland game, but I think he was limited to trying to keep Oakland from running all over us. I would rather see Byrd covering those deep routes like those ran by Moore than Wilson. Although still raw and a step behind in coverage I like what we have in Aaron Williams, I also believe Searcy is good insurance for Scott and I think will develop into a good SS for this team. I am not going to give this team the out of saying they are young and just figuring out how to win because you should play every game to win, and should expect to win. However, win or lose this team is on the upswing and I expect better things from our defense than what we saw in the Raider game. They can be more dominant than they were, particularly the pass rush and covering down field.

Yeah, I found that video back when we drafted him and my son loved it - especially the part where he twitches and scares the crap out of him. A healthy Dareus makes this whole squad better.

I disagree mainly because I want to believe they can beat them, and I do think they will make a game of it. I do share your concern about a raw Williams getting picked on by Brady, but this is what an athlete should look forward to... a chance to go out and compete against one of the best QB's in football. I think that Buddy and Chan look no further than NE when trying to build this team defense. We all know that even with the resurgence of the Jets the road to the division title still goes through Foxboro. There is a reason they did not resign Poz - he cannot cover TightEnds, they swapped him for linebackers with more range and resigned safeties Wilson and Scott who are both IMO better in coverage than Donte' who was always a step behind - well maybe Scott not-so-much, but Scott really brings it when he closes on a player. The Bills D-Line also traditionally got "powned" (video game term my son taught me - pounded and owned) by NE's o-line. Dareus, and Kyle will not stoop to such weakness this year. I predict Brady will hit the turf a lot in that game - maybe enough to get him rattled, I have seen it happen before. It isn't easy because he doesn't usually hold it too long. They design most of their routes to be quick 3-step hitches, slants, and underneath stuff for 4-5 yards with a lot of downfield blocking which is as good as a successful run. Make no mistake Belichick will talk us up, most NE players will listen and yet feel that they will crush us, but that is why they play the games. Let's see how the next game goes against Oakland, maybe that will temper my giddiness over our ability to game plan and own our opponents.

Yeah, I didn't even think about that. Even if Williams did close on him....I like Williams and think he has a lot of promise, but Charles with a head of steam is not going to be stopped by Aaron Williams 2 yards shy of the pylon. Being plowed into the end zone would have looked worse IMO:)

Yep. 10 Carries for 56 yards, one did bust out for 22, so outside of the one run he did break, he had 9 carries for 34 yards - a paltry (for Charles) 3.7 yard per carry with one fumble while our offense was running up the score. They didn't stick with Charles because it wasn't working, and certainly not fast enough to catch up to our offense. Not too shabby for a team that was gouged last year at KC for over 240 rushing yards, 177 given up to Charles alone who was sporting an 8 yd/carry average. We're better this year and stats can be misleading.

Williams was close on that out they threw to Charles - he gave up that score, but if he is a split-second faster that goes all the way the other direction. It is that split second difference that comes with playing time. I agree this could be a good thing, throw the kid in there and roll safety help his way early and see how he develops.

Why do some fans exaggerate?? Hardly (crying or whining) I am just as pleased and excited about the win as the next person. Just pointing out the flaws in NFL news coverage by national outets. Also, seriously dude I am not exactly jumping off any buildings, just a comment to launch into other topics and get the occasional grouch to tell me how much I am crying - and what do you know, it worked.

I agree, with most of that and hope the Bills finally break the Patriot curse, but I just don't think the Chiefs are as bad as folks are saying. They had bad breaks, but the Bills just looked more prepared to counter their different offensive and defensive looks. If they come out next week and lay an egg I will take it all back and say that they are a team imploding, but I just think they were outplayed by a better coached team that has improved more than they anticipated. King has always had a soft spot for the Bills, ever since he cursed our early Superbowl teams by having them on the cover of Sports Illustrated he has tried to make amends - OK, its a theory.

Wont argue the point, if he was solid outside of that one speed rush then who am I to pee in everyone's cornflakes:rolleyes: I hope you are right - Gailey certainly thinks Pears has some upside, but did single him out in his post game. It's not like I think he has reached his full potential, just that he has some work to do. The Bills were also smart with the help they gave Bell, chip blocks at key times allowed Fitz and our receivers ample time to get open and slow their pass rush on longer routes. It is such a welcome site to see an offense actually coached well.

the Chiefs did not play well, not that the Bills simply outplayed a good team in every facet of the game. Typical, but somehow always aggravates that chip on my shoulder. ...words like inexcusable regarding the Chiefs performance from most "informed" analysts have me wondering if it is a term better reserved for what passes as sports reporting these days - bring back Tim Graham or someone who at least as a whiff of what the team has done in the offseason. If they said something like "the Bills went in with a lot of question marks surrounding their offensive line" now that I would agree with. Fortunately, the line played better than anticipated by most all of us who do follow the team. Now lets hope that we have some depth in the few O-Line rookies and castoffs they worked into the roster. That starting unit did not look bad, and even Pears who was badly beat a few times could develop with more playing time - at least that is not Fitz's blind side:) But most of us expected much more from our defense this year and were not surprised that they did a better job of hemming in a really good running team.

Dareus is exactly what we have been begging for ..for years. A big man who can finally help this team win the battle in the trenches and push the pocket. I remember watching sick as other teams grabbed up the Suggs, Ngatas, and Ndamukongs of the draft classes transforming their defenses with players that elevated the play of all those around them. Finally, finally, we have a GM that looked down at the field and simply said, we need to get bigger and stronger. Kudos to Nix and company for getting it right. Though Cam looked good in his first game, interesting to see what happens as teams get more film on him... Byrd came back from groin surgery last year and just was not the same player he was his rookie season, it's early, but he looked like the old Jarius - fast, instinctive all over the field, and constantly around the ball. Chandler is what we have needed at TE for a long while as well. Big, soft hands, and some wheels to find the soft spots in opposing defenses. Might as well raid other teams for their backups since the Bills simply have not been able to draft and develop a meaningful TE since Friggin Lonnie, and he was meaningful in the sense that he had all the physical tools you could want, would have flashes of great plays but would follow them up with the dumbest things. We had Kevin Everett who looked like he may have had potential to developed behind Royal, but we all know what happened there, and we had a few journeymen and castoffs and the promise of Shawn Nelson with his headaches, injuries, drug suspension. Yeah, you guys know....you older guys who remember the K from the K-gun remember what has been missing from Buffalo's offense for more than a decade - great TE play. Too early to tell, but maybe we have some hope in this Chandler kid. Dallas did pretty well with that Witten pick, so maybe tapping their backups was not a bad idea. Let's see if they can carry this confidence and momentum over to the Oakland game. I like Chan's "pressers" - who hasn't wanted to stick it to his or her old employer. I loved his answer when they asked if he enjoyed sticking it to the organization that fired him, "it felt good, I'd be lying if I said otherwise". Classic.

Yeah - Can't get a satellite feed from my location. Couldn't hit the local Bills backers spot today, but I paid good money for Sunday Ticket To Go for my PC and feel like I got totally jobbed on that deal (Every game every Sunday is on their promotion page). Nothing but a grayed-out button all game long. Fail.

Money, on that prediction eball - Jasper was put on the PS.. I was most surprised that Hangartner was cut - sure his game has slipped the past 2 years, but he was our most experienced backup center. They did sign a center Michael Switzer to the practice squad, but I don't know squat about him other than he played left guard in college and the Bills list him as a Center. I thought Coleman played more than well enough to earn a spot on the PS, but he wasn't on the announcement. He should catch on with another team somewhere.

The terms "veteran" and "sucks" are not mutually exclusive because a player can be a veteran that sucks, but I think you are saying that everyone said he sucked and now they are saying he is a veteran who does not suck. There is some truth in that statement and it is pretty simple to explain. I never thought Hangartner sucked, that is a term I reserve for lost causes. He struggled against some of the bigger NTs in our division, and many (myself included) felt that Wood holds more long-term promise at Center. My confusion regarding this move is that a veteran who can and has played all 3 interior positions on the line if not great at least adequately, on a team without veteran depth across its o-line, deserves a spot. If I am wrong, and he is damaged goods, another team wont pick him up. Maybe he wanted out if he was not going to start - who knows? I just see what looks suspiciously like cost-cutting moves on a team that is well below the cap. If that is not the case, and it is strictly a performance issue, then Hang will not make it onto another squad or at least not for very long. Years of suspicious moves by OBD, have left me a bit jaded.

Umm...Toronto comes to mind, and psst I really didn't have to think too hard. Looks like they jettisoned the veteran O-lineman Hangartner because....we have sooo many capable backup o-lineman? Really? Couldn't be that they are cheap - not hard to predict with this organization. I think what he was saying was that it is not Russ' skill in running a business that prompts his steady promotions, rather his mad skilz at sucking up to the Wilsons - it does happen in business. Do you really think the Bills organization would lose a dollar of revenue if Jasper sat on Brandon and popped him like a zit?

I thought he was wasting roster space...just did not show enough commitment - should have been doing more to improve while rehabbing the hand. Buddy and Chan have to free up space for prospects that they feel have a chance, this makes sense. Hairston looked like a keeper. Need to pick up a few more o-linemen off some rich team's practice heap to round out the depth. Although I would keep Hang around for that purpose as well, but Littman and Brandon will probably cut him so we can get 50% under the cap. Brandon must have something over on ol' Ralphy, went from Marketing, to GM, to CEO of the Bills - not sure what he has ever done, but show a remarkable ability to not only survive, but to flourish after making blunder upon blunder. It was not his marketing prowess that has kept the Bills viable in WNY, but rather the fans that fund stadiums, and keep buying tickets and gear despite all the cheap bone-headed football moves - my own opinion and folks are free to disagree. That being said, I do feel that Nix and Chan could be successful - they know the game and can put guys in a position to win. If only they are given enough funds to do so... they are taking care of the young core of Bills they are building like Kyle Williams, lets see if Ralph or the next owner is willing to spend down the road to keep any more gems we uncover and develop.