Wing Man

That would cause fumbles to become too large a factor in any game. Fumbles are far too random to be allowed to have that great an impact, IMHO. It would be like forcing the kicker to score touchdowns.

The rule that gave the Bills their game winning safety dates back to September 10,1978. John Madden's Oakland Raiders were at San Diego trailing 20-14 with ten seconds left. Oakland had the football at the San Diego 16 yard line. Kenny Stabler dropped back to pass and was about to be sacked so he fumbled the ball forward. Raiders running back Pete Banaszak was in position to pick up the fumble but realized he would be tackled so he pushed the ball forward. The Raiders tight end Dave Casper then got in on the act kicking and shoving the ball until it crossed the plane and he fell on it. Referee Jerry Markbreit ruled it to be a touchdown because it couldn't be determined that they had purposely did what they did. The Chargers couldn't believe they got away with it and the Raiders on the field that day remained mum for years about their duplicity. The controversy forced a rule change that off-season that said the only player who could advance a fumble after the two-minute warning was the player who fumbled the ball. The only thing more epic than the play itself was the radio call from the Oakland play-by-play announcer Bill King. King: "... The Oakland Raiders have scored on the most zany, unbelievable, absolutely impossible dream of a play! Madden is on the field! He wants to know if it's real! They said yes! Get your big butt out of here! He does!" Markbreit says he cringes whenever he sees the replay on television.

Damn. I didn't think about the off-season coaching carousel. There's no way he doesn't get offered a head coaching job. Crap. We seem to pick great DCs and lose them the next season. After that game, how do you not get a coaching job in the NFL?

Schwartz has done such a tremendous job with the defense this year, it's hard to notice that we lost Byrd at all.

I don't know who Mike Pereira is but he doesn't bring a whole lot of clarity or believability to the situation in my mind.

Some of the Bills players, Dixon and Robey, are quoted in an ESPN piece speaking out about the refereeing in the game today so look for some fines from the league. I wonder what they would say to that fist bump vine if they felt they wouldn't be fined and suspended for life. With Goodell under serious fire over the conduct policies in the NFL, the chances of another controversial investigation beginning as a result of the fist bump is zero. This will slide neatly under the table. You never heard the CBS announcers make mention of it during the broadcast and you'd have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to get wind of this from social media. Someone at the network saw it and either didn't pass it on or did and the crew was told not to mention it out of deference to the league. Problem is, if there really is point shaving or game fixing going on at the ranks of the referees, everyone will point back to this game and the s*it will fly horizontally.

The CBS cameras must have been pointed at the stands during the game because you may have seen part of a half of one angle for every five penalties we received.

The offense didn't apply much pressure on Manning. Never-the-less, it was a great performance by a defense hamstrung by fist pumping refs. Imagine what would have happened if the game hadn't been fixed.

8-8, but I could've told you that last week.

Looks like they passed on him again. I wonder if this was a payback game. It sure looked like it. Welcome to the Bills dude.

Journeyman nobody puts up 25% of our offense today. Freaking awesome!

In case you didn't recognize that TE for the Bills who was burning up the field today, that was MarQueis Gray. If you've never heard of him, there's good reason. He played a hybrid halfback, wide receiver, and quarterback for Minnesota in college for four years catching 60 balls for 766 yards and 6 TDs in an obviously part-time capacity. He came into the scouting combine as a quarterback which surely crushed his chances of being drafted. The 49ers brought him into camp as a h-back but moved him to tight end before cutting him at the end of the pre-season. He was picked up by the Browns where he caught 2 passes for 8 yards and rushed 6 times for another 43. Cleveland waived him at the end of the 2014 pre-season and he got picked up by the Vikings where he caught just 1 pass for 16 yards in 8 games. He was waived again and picked up by the Bills a week and a half ago. In his first appearance at TE with the Bills, he caught 2 passes. The first for 30 yards and the second for 41. The kid has serious YAC. He outgained his career in 1 game with Buffalo. At 6'4" 242, I'm looking forward to seeing this kid play.

I liked Mallet out of college. He could really zing the ball at Arkansas and ran up some impressive stats. Fitz is no more the answer in Houston than he was in Buffalo. The Texans appear to be getting the message themselves. Houston is 5-6 and out of the AFC playoff picture. I see no reason why they shouldn't run Mallet out there and see what he can produce.

At the end of last season, I built a spreadsheet to see how quarterbacks who went on to win Super Bowls did in their first year (which I defined as being the one where they started at least half of games in that season) versus EJ Manuel's opening season. Manuel finished middle of the pack among the 30 by QBR, surely a duplicitous statistic if there ever was one. If you extrapolated Manuel's 10 game campaign out to 16 games, he would have finished with 288-490 3155 yds, 18 TDs 14 INTs and a QBR of 77.7, good enough for 15th on that list of Super Bowl quarterbacks. Payton Manning threw for more yards and more touchdowns (26), but also threw 28 INTs (QBR 71.2). Among the bottom feeders were two quarterbacks who won three Super Bowls against us: Joe Theismann and Troy Aikman. Aikman was really awful: 155-293 (52.9%) 1749 yds, 9 TDs 18 INTs in 11 starts and an 0-11 record in those games. Theismann fared little better: 187-390 (47.95%) 2593 yds 13 TDs 18 INTs in 14 starts, at least he was 7-7. Worse still, 2 time Super Bowl winner John Elway: 123-259 (47.49%) 1663 yds 7 TDs 14 INTs, winning 4 of 10 starts, and 4 time Super Bowl winner Terry Bradshaw: 83-218 (38.07%) 1410 yds 6 TDs 24 INTs, who somehow won 3 of 8 starts. But the thing that stood out to me most was the quarterbacks who started their first season out of college. Based on 13 Super Bowl QBs who started right out of college (by QBR), Manuel would place 4th right in front of Johnny Unitas. Peyton Manning, Aikman, Elway, and Bradshaw all started from behind center in season 1. Of Aikman, Elway, and especially Bradshaw, no one would describe them as being accurate. It may be hard to win in the NFL, but it's harder without a year holding a clipboard. There are the freaks of nature, Russell Wilson, Ben Roethlisberger, and Joe Flacco, but that's three quarterbacks among hundreds drafted over the years. Even if you throw in the whole thirty, that's still a pittance compared to the number drafted over the last fifty years. Jim Kelly's numbers exceeded Manuel's his first year in the NFL but he had two years of "semi-pro" in the USFL where he lit up the league. I'd argue that he would have been magnificent as a rookie even if he hadn't spent two years in exile. Win-loss records of rookie quarterback can be misleading as well since the ones who were the most highly touted in the draft often went to the teams with the worst supporting cast. Hence, while Kelly had a great first season, the team still went 4-12. I'm not sure Manuel was much more fortunate as he went 4-6 and was one horrible Atlanta finish from being 5-5 that was completely out of his control. I'm not saying that Manuel is the saviour of the Bills franchise. He looks genuinely dreadful a good part of the time. But he deserves more than 14 games to prove his true worth.

Aside from games against the Dolphins, when was the last time a Buffalo Bills team played a dominating game in the snow to defeat an opponent? I remember them being almighty in the 1990s for snow games, but despite all the talk about the Bills being a snow and cold weather monolith, I'm at a loss to remember a memorable non-Miami performance. The December 2007 blizzard game in Cleveland where we lost 8-0 frustrates me to this day. Trent Edwards was an abysmal 13-33 124yds, hardly a traditional Bills cold and snow monster game. Derek Anderson wasn't much better for the Browns but Jamal Lewis rolled up 163 yards on the ground on 33 carries to push them to a win. The Bills were a promising 7-6 coming into the game off a blowout victory at home against Miami and they dropped their final three to finish 7-9.

Amazon.com - People who bought a Buffalo Bills EJ Manuel jersey also bought a rope and a chair.

We've had three 6-10 seasons in a row. If the team comes out at 9-7, playoffs or no, it's going to be hard to dismiss Marrone and his staff, including the OC. 8-8 puts everyone at risk. If Accorsi comes in and feels like Pegula should clean house, it'll probably happen.

Appears as though this is going to be another toss up game like Chicago or Detroit. We play well, we'll have a chance at the end to win. Somewhat better than a coin toss chance we win.

Look, barring some sort of career threatening injury, the eye test says Watkins is going to be an NFL superstar. I'm not hearing about any other 1st or 2nd round receivers lighting it up like him. He blew the TD on the 80+ yard reception against the Jets on Sunday, but honestly, SJ never gets separation or catches that ball. Williams hasn't panned out as a top receiver and EJ was just short of a Geno Smith size bust. Watkins gives an average backup journeyman quarterback a weapon to compensate for any weaknesses he may bring to the game that few other teams will have for years. Furthermore, it looks like we won't be giving the Browns a top 10, maybe even not a top 15 pick in the draft next year. It would be great to have that first rounder and I'm sure Pegula and whoever he brings in to evaluate the entire organization will have something to say on the subject. Whaley may or may not have a job after that. Either way, it was an extremely bold move by Whaley to execute the trade and the Bills have been bold averse for too long.

Shoulda traded him to the Patriots for Tom Brady.

Yes, but Rex is likely to be the first casualty.

I'm fairly good with Hackett. Some of his plays are really creative when the offensive line gets their act together. Key to my belief is that receivers are getting open and are regularly fooling defenses. We just need someone who can get the ball to them consistently. Hopefully, Orton is that man. On the negative side, some of his play calls and situational personnel choices are downright bone-headed. There just aren't enough of them to prevent the Bills from winning every week as long as the quarterback isn't throwing balls into the stands or God knows where else.

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Thanks! I needed that after all the crap I've been reading about the league the last couple of days. #KellyTough

You are the man!