Indy Dave

Great post Mark. Great additions to the thread too, particularly by nodnarb and POOJER.

Congrats on a great season. If it comes down to you and New England, I'm sure most of us here will be rooting for you.

You think that would be fun? Wow...

Anyone have the game on TIVO? On the play that sealed our fate...the defensive TD by Pittsburgh in the fourth quarter, they blitzed two men on our right side. Either Mike Williams or Willis missed #21, who forced the fumble. I think #33 was picked up by both Willis and Mike, when it appeared to me one of them should have taken him and the other could have picked up #21. Did I see this play correctly? Who missed the assignment?

Crap...I think you're right. They do use that to determine that tie-breaker, not the same head-to-head sort of thing you'd use to break a playoff tie-breaker. With our schedule including San Fran, Miami (twice), Cleveland, etc., our strength of schedule might not be that great.

Yeah...I suppose it is a pretty big deal. Sure, we don't have a first-round pick, but great teams draft well in the later rounds so maybe it will make a difference. The Vikings are terrible. 8-8 and in the playoffs. Seattle...couldn't hang with us on their home field. 9-7 and getting a home game for the playoffs. St. Louis...couldn't stay within three touchdowns of us. 8-8 and in the playoffs. SIGH...

From a thread I started earlier... You never know what would have happened, but it is my opinion that if Josh doesn't commit the pass interference call, we go in for a TD and take a 24-16 lead, and start taking control of the game. Instead, we end up missing a field goal. Then the defense loses focus for one play and the next thing you know, we are down a point instead of up eight. How is that not the biggest play of the game and one of the biggest turns in fortune in a Bills game in recent memory? All I know is just about every player on this team, right or wrong, has taken his share of criticism. One of the rare exceptions is Josh Reed. The guy was a complete zero this season, and that penalty cost us BIG TIME. And yes, it WAS a penalty. He made a blocking action before the ball was thrown. It was a penalty. But everyone can now go back to blaming guys like Eric Moulds, who makes plays and makes Lee Evans better; Travis Henry, who gets blamed for the weather; Nate Clements, who did more positive than negative today; and anyone else you want to point out. Josh Reed...our training camp All-American. The first person who posts "Josh Reed is catching everything" this August should be banned from this board. Follow-up post: It looked to me that he put his hands out and made a blocking motion. Call it a block or an illegal pick...either way it's a penalty. Completely unnecessary too. The play called for a short pass to the fullback into the flats to convert on third and short. The guy Josh blocked wasn't going to prevent Shelton from getting the first down. It would have been first and goal from about the seven, the Steelers are on their heels, and Willis was where Willis is at his best...near the goal line. I was looking ahead, thinking of a inevitable 24-16 lead, a subsequent three and out, and the Steelers pack it in and call it a day. That penalty, along with the missed field goal and 58-yard run, changed everything. But it all started with Josh's penalty.

With Baltimore and Jacksonville winning, we move up two spots in the draft order. Face it, our loss, combined with losses by Baltimore and the Jags, would have dropped us two spots in the draft order. Their wins move up us a couple of pegs. OK...that was a crappy way to try to find something good about this day.

That's right. Mularkey did a nice job, especially for a rookie coach. He will learn from his mistakes and be better in '05.

It looked to me that he put his hands out and made a blocking motion. Call it a block or an illegal pick...either way it's a penalty. Completely unnecessary too. The play called for a short pass to the fullback into the flats to convert on third and short. The guy Josh blocked wasn't going to prevent Shelton from getting the first down. It would have been first and goal from about the seven, the Steelers are on their heels, and Willis was where Willis is at his best...near the goal line. I was looking ahead, thinking of a inevitable 24-16 lead, a subsequent three and out, and the Steelers pack it in and call it a day. That penalty, along with the missed field goal and 58-yard run, changed everything. But it all started with Josh's penalty.

We're not quite ready. Everyone is right though...we must build on this year and not start from square one in September.

I should have known that despite the turnaround from 0-4 to playoff contender, a loss today would bring out all sorts of negativity. I was hoping we could focus on the positive. How foolish of me. Yet with all of the finger-pointing at Drew, Teague, Moulds, Nate, Lindell and several other players, coaches and front office people, has there been one post about the least productive of our players? I'm speaking of Josh Reed. I just read a post from someone talking about our young talent, and they included Josh with guys like Lee and Willis. Is that a freakin' joke? You never know what would have happened, but it is my opinion that if Josh doesn't commit the pass interference call, we go in for a TD and take a 24-16 lead, and start taking control of the game. Instead, we end up missing a field goal. Then the defense loses focus for one play and the next thing you know, we are down a point instead of up eight. How is that not the biggest play of the game and one of the biggest turns in fortune in a Bills game in recent memory? All I know is just about every player on this team, right or wrong, has taken his share of criticism. One of the rare exceptions is Josh Reed. The guy was a complete zero this season, and that penalty cost us BIG TIME. And yes, it WAS a penalty. He made a blocking action before the ball was thrown. It was a penalty. But everyone can now go back to blaming guys like Eric Moulds, who makes plays and makes Lee Evans better; Travis Henry, who gets blamed for the weather; Nate Clements, who did more positive than negative today; and anyone else you want to point out. Josh Reed...our training camp All-American. The first person who posts "Josh Reed is catching everything" this August should be banned from this board.

Even if we win, but the Colts and Rams lose, we should at least go a day (or a week, a month, a whole off-season?) without much negativity. It would be unfortunate, to say the least, to miss the playoffs despite a 10-6 record. But even if that happens, there is a lot to appreciate about this season and even more to look forward to for 2005.

Let the clanging continue... GO BILLS!

Under normal circumstances, I'd agree with you. The Broncos play at home against a team that isn't really playing for anything. But if I were a Jets fan, I'd feel pretty good about things. Why? Mike Martz.

...a big thanks to the 2004 Bills. This has to go down as one of the strangest seasons in the history of the Bills. At one point this season, I was completely disgusted with this team. No fire. No guts. No wins. No nothing. Somewhere along the way, though, a light came on. Willis got healthy and proved his worth. The offensive line started to gel. Drew re-found himself after looking lost for so long. Eric and Lee became a great 1-2 combo. The defense got healthy and played awesome football and the special teams were spectacular. I can't say enough about those two units. Now here we are, steam-rolling towards a possible playoff spot. Unfortunately, we have to play one of the league's best teams, led by a coach who really wants to beat us. On top of that, we need help from other teams. One is on the road, and won't play up to its potential. Another is at home and has to be the least trustworthy team in the NFL. Given that, I don't know if we will be in the playoffs. But all we can do is hope for the best on Sunday. No matter what happens, here's an apology to all of the players, coaches and front office personnel who I doubted, as well as a thanks for making the last 2+ months pretty damn fun. Sunday will either be a great or a lousy day, but either way, the apology and appreciation needed to be expressed.

No, I think there was a redshirt season, so in 2000 (when Terrence emerged), Coach Goodwin had retired. In '99, Northwestern had an established guy named Tony Taylor returning kicks. Taylor caught on with the Bucs, I think.

Count me as one of the people who was down -- way down -- on Tom. I'm still not running for president of his fan club, but you can't argue against the progress this team has made, and he deserves some of the credit for that. That's one thing about this message board. Some people criticize Tom. Some criticize Drew. Some criticize Travis. And so on. But I think just about every Bills fans on this board would rather be wrong than right...correct? I mean, Bill in NYC doesn't want Travis to fail. He is a big critic of TH, but I assume Bill would rather Travis prove him wrong than prove him right. The worst fan is the one who criticizes a player and then hopes he fails so he can say, "I told you so."

On another note, I talked to a high-ranking athletic department authority at Tulane (not a football coach) earlier this year. I asked about JP and all he would give me is, "He's got a chance. He's a bit of a different kid...a typical California kid. He's a pretty good kid. He's got a chance." He's got a chance was repeated at least twice more. It was very hard to read him. Then he went on and on about what a great kid Mwelde (sp.?) Moore is. Moore had a nice game or two for the Vikings earlier this year, filling in for the injured or suspended Minnesota RBs.

No one probably remembers this, but shortly after the 2003 draft, I posted the details of a conversation I had with Terrence's college coach from his first two seasons at Northwestern St. Granted, he retired from coaching (and became an athletic director at another school) and so he didn't get to coach him during his prime collegiate years. But he did recruit him and still followed the Northwestern team closely through his friendships with the Northwestern staff. He told me that he thought he could develop into a decent NFL corner, but he said where he would really help the Bills would be as a kick returner. After that kickoff return to start the Miami game, I got a call from Terrence's first college coach, telling me "I told you."

Has anyone seen the MasterCard "commercial" that Comedy Central did about the Red Sox fans having to pay up for all the times they said, "I'd give anything to see the Red Sox win the World Series." It is hilarious...a must see for any Boston fan. I have it if anyone wants to PM me.

Relax Darin...it's not going to be THAT bad. The players on the team are too talented for the Yankees to go into the gutter like the '80s. For one, I think Steinbrenner learned from his mistakes. More importantly, players did not want to come to New York. Now every free agent wants to at least look into the possibility. Remember, in September Carl Pavano swore up and down he wasn't going to sign with the Yankees or Mets. The Yankees need more winners and fewer superstars in order to get back on top, that's for sure. But I think they are light years from heading to where they were in the '80s.

"And to thank you for your contribution, we're going to trade you for Jay Payton."

Good for those guys. All deserving. As for the rest who coulda shoulda woulda been there, may this snub put a chip on your shoulder for the remaining two games and the playoffs.

Hey slash...put down the guitar and take the hair out of your eyes. If you think Manning couldn't be doing what he is doing on any other team, you're on acid. By your theory, the Colts could put in Jim Sorgi and still be effective. Manning has a lot of weapons at his disposal...no question about that. But he makes them go.