Utah John

There were two really bad calls I saw against the Titans, one a phantom OPI and the other the one where the D lineman shifted and was called for a neutral zone infraction, giving the Pats a first down. Torbert didn't make either of those calls. And it wasn't his regular crew working -- in the playoffs, the put together the top-ranked guys from each ref position and make sort of all-star crews. So don't blame Torbert for those calls. Still this stinks. There shouldn't be any perception of bias.

On defense, Tom Sestak. On offense, Cookie Gilchrist. Maybe Billy Shaw. You youngsters have no idea what you missed out on. Of the guys you've heard of, OJ. The most talented and most individually outstanding Bill ever. Big enough to be productive even with our questionable O line. I wouldn't argue about Kelly, though. He's a very good choice.

Well, it looks like they screwed up the tank everyone was expecting in August. Can't these guys stick to the script?

The Bills lost their chance when they lost to Cincy and the Jets. The other losses were to clearly better teams, including the Chargers. I think the Bills are better than the Ravens and would beat them 7 or 8 times out of 10, but that's not how it works. In 2004, the Bills needed a lot of games on the final weekend to go one way or the other, and ALL those requirements came to pass. The Bills didn't have any reason to expect all those breaks to go their way. They still lost, at home, to the Steelers backups. That loss, I think, plus all the front office turmoil, instilled a sense of loserdom at OBD that is just now being washed away. I'm very hopeful of a big improvement next year.

I'm hopeful but realistic. The fact is, the Ravens and Chargers are both better than the Bills. That doesn't mean the Bills don't deserve to get in, but I won't be complaining if they beat Miami and still don't get in. They're on an upward trend, but they still have a lot of weak spots. The thing is, almost all teams have several weak spots. So let's hope for the playoffs this year, but keep a warm feeling in the back of your mind, because even better days are ahead.

I think the NFL already does have a system to grade referees, and they quietly demote people from being the crew chief to other positions, or let them go. Watch a tape of a game from 10 or 15 years ago. You'll remember that you used to see certain refs all the time. You don't see them anymore but you don't think about particular people being there or not being there. Some of them have let their own personalities intrude. I don't think anyone would miss Ed Hoculi if he was dismissed. Walt Coleman, who has screwed the Bills on so many occasions, is often one of the highest graded refs. I wonder though if the grading includes failing to make calls when penalties do occur. I've seen Shady's helmet almost twisted off by a blatant facemask grab, and no penalty called. Missed calls happens a lot. The ref who called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Von Miller for pulling his hand away from Tyrod Taylor, helping the Bills win a game back when the Broncos were still a team to be feared, should be fired. But actually I think he was doing the second Bills-Pats game. And how many times is offensive holding NOT called, and then they get a guy for a ticky tack push. It's inconsistent and unreliable, and it's ruining the game.

The focus is really on building and preparing for next year. This year they shed a lot of guys who didn't want to be in Buffalo and who would not have re-signed. And they opened up cap space. And they got a lot of draft picks. Also very important, they got the team thinking they could win. Odds are they won't make the playoffs this year. The killer loss was Cincy -- all those turnovers and we couldn't cash in. Terrible. But the Bills are fighting and learning to work together and trust each other. As to hurting our draft position. Well, yeah, that's true but it's a lot more important to have a winning attitude and draft at 20 or so, than to have a loser's mentality and draft at 6 or so. Teams (I'm thinking of you, Sabres) that lose a lot and get a lot of high draft picks, end up with some good players on a rotten team. All season long, with the exception of Cincy and that horrible three game stretch, the Bills have been scrapping and fighting. I'm very satisfied with the progress and very hopeful for next year. And until Sunday night arrives and we see what we see, who knows.

Well, I get it. Gronk is not a hold-back kind of guy. He loved the Bills growing up and was really disappointed not to have been picked. But as much as he's mad that the Bills didn't pick him, every Bills fan is even angrier. Or maybe disappointed is a better word. What a weapon he turned out to be, and who knows whether the Pats have as much success as they have without him, and who knows how the Bills would have done with him.

It isn't the successes Taylor has that people focus on, it's the failures. His S/F ratio is decent but not good enough. He fails to make makeable plays way too often. Today on two occasions he took sacks on first down that critically affected the play calling and the scores. And he's the chokemaster, completely unable to make plays when trailing in the fourth quarter. He's an adequate QB for teams in two positions. First, very strong defense, great supporting cast on the offense. In other words, a situation where there are other guys who can make plays. Second, a mediocre team for whom mediocrity is a step up. And that's where the Bills have been. He is NOT an adequate QB for a team that is learning to win but has so many holes that they need the QB to find ways to win. My preferred option for next year is not to have the Bills spend all those draft picks moving up to take the third or fourth best QB in the draft, and failing to address all those holes at DT, DE, MLB, OLB, WR, OL. Also RB since Shady is still great but is on borrowed time. Putting a good rookie into this situation will turn him into a bad rookie. Look what happened to Peterman when he had to face the ferocious pass rush of the Chargers. I hope Peterman can recover. Mayfield would have the same thing happen to him. So the Bills should draft to build the entire team, and pay a lot for an experienced FA QB who understands and can execute all aspects of the game.

The last Bills player I can remember returning a KO for a TD was CJ Spiller. I think it was on a Thursday night game. Does anyone know the last time it happened? The point is, it's really hard to break through. ST coaches and squads are very good at covering kicks. The best approach seems to be to kick it high and have it land around the 5, and force the other team to try to return it. Stop them at the 20 and get the blocking in the back penalty, and they're pinned deep. We don't do this often enough.

I think it makes sense to bring in a veteran QB and fix the holes all over the team. The options basically are to take the two firsts plus a lot more and move up to take the third or fourth best QB in the draft, and hope he survives long enough while the revolving door keeps spinning for the Bills to assemble enough good players around him. And hope he turns out to be a good player, There are so many examples of highly ranked rookie QBs flaming out, usually because the O line is bad or the WRs are bad or the RB is getting old. Huh, who does that sound like. Or, the Bills can put in a guy who can win with the right pieces around him. With a very strong draft plus the current crop, and a few good solid FAs, the team will be much stronger next year. We're still making a bet on a good draft, but we're not putting all the chips on one guy, a QB. We have serious problems at O line, D line, LB, and WR. We can fix most of those problems.

There were a lot of missed calls yesterday. Cut and paste that statement, and use every week.

From now on, it's clear which teams we should root for. Or rather, against. When the Chiefs played the Chargers, I had no idea which outcome would be better. From now on, root against Tennessee and Baltimore. Oh, wait, I think we need the Chargers to be tied with us too. What I said about it being clear -- never mind.

If Kyle Williams has indeed played his last game as a Bill, he won't be playing anywhere else. If he wants to keep playing the Bills will keep him, period. What's happened with some guys like Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, and Bruce Smith is that the Bills cut them before they thought they were done. The Bills will not cut Kyle Williams, at least not next year. And when the time comes for him to retire, he'll do it with class and style. What a great player and a great man.

That someone is the Steelers. Or at least, it's the Steelers who they're going to play. I posted about this a week ago. I said the Pats would overlook the fish and lose a trap game because they were thinking ahead to the Steelers. Now if the Steelers can beat the Pats, the Pats drop to 10-4, and if the Bills beat the fish, we'll be at 8-6. This sets up the possibility of the Bills beating the Pats (dream on, I know) and then we need the Bills to beat a dispirited Miami team in fishlandia, and the Jets who hate the Pats as much as we do have to hit them with the killing stab. If this happens and the Bills and Pats are both 10-6, the Bills win because of their 3-3 conference record as opposed to the Pats at 2-4. I am NOT putting money on this. It's just within the realm of possibility.

Minnesota and New Orleans are two of the top teams. The league likes to make stars out of its top teams and the players on those teams by showing them as much as possible. The Bills and fish are not on the A list. As to the quality of the play and whether it's a competitive matchup, they don't care.

I have to agree with those who like Tony Romo as a color announcer. He just talks without a filter, giving you his true thoughts. And he knows so much. He's like the neighbor you had over to watch a game, who won't shut up, but with Romo it's OK because he has so much good and interesting to say.

So much about the NFL is pre-calibrated. The coaches know everything their players can and can't do, and just about everything the other team's players can do. They figure out everything that's possible to do, and at the 90% level that's what happens. It's the occasional mistake and the rare incredible play that make the difference. If the Bills and Colts had played on a dry field, the Bills win 8 out of 10 times by 10 points. This was a game where there was a great equalizer. Gore and McCoy were the only two who apparently had things figured out. Everyone else was stumblin rumblin bumblin big guy. Anyway, I love it that there was a game when all the pre-packaging went out the window. Two teams slugging it out, trying to impose their will. I thought at halftime that if the Bills could get another TD and go up 14-0, the Colts would lose heart and the rout would be on. But NP got hurt and there was no magic outcome. And then the Colts went on that long drive and seemed to get fired up about their chances, and the Bills D could never make a key stop. And this is what football should be about. Guys trying hard and digging deep for the courage and determination to impose their will on the opponent. No cheap shots, no dirty play, just trying to play as well as possible. I loved it.

Cassel is a good backup QB. That's all he's ever been. He's not starter material on most teams (i.e., any team other than the Pats, where I could play QB and win 3 or 4 games). But he is a guy who can come in and play solid football when he's needed. He's a pro who will be ready with the game plan and will do OK throwing. MM is a much better player but look around the league and every team has a big dropoff from starter to backup. Except, ahem, Buffalo.

Not even close to first. That's the Bills' theme song.

I think it's gonna be the best QB on the board when we get to our first pick in the first round, whether that's ours or KC's. I think we need the other first rounder for ... well, fill in the blank. WR, LB, DL, OL, CB. Basically the only position on the team that doesn't need more good players is RB and even then we should be looking for Shady to start losing it. So I don't think we can package a lot of draft picks to move up a couple of slots. I'm not sold on Mayfield, who seems to be a good cog in a great machine and not necessarily a great QB on his own.

ZJ is not a speed guy or great after the catch, but he does know how to get open and in the past had very good hands. I think in time we'll see we've found the next Bobby Chandler -- and if you don't know who that is, all I can say is you missed a lot of great Bills games before you were born.

OK, here's a scenario no one's mentioned. This could actually happen. Tonight, the Pats overlook Miami. It's a trap game, with the Pats looking ahead to the Steelers. Miami could win. The game is in Miami, no Gronk. It's possible. Then the Pats have a short week to prepare for their matchup with the Steelers, in Pittsburgh, a game they could certainly lose. Very seriously, the Pats could go from 10-2 now to 10-4, while the Bills beat Miami coming off a short week, in Buffalo. I think we need TT or NP healthy for this to work. That makes the Bills 8-6. The Bills are one Tom Brady injury away from being able to go into Foxboro and beat the Pats. (C'mon, Suh, what are you getting paid for??) That would make NE 10-5 and the Bills 9-6. Final week: Pats play the Jets in Foxboro, the Bills play the fish in fishlandia. If Brady is still hurt, the division is ours for the taking. 10-6 for both teams. Bills 4-2 in the division, NE 3-3 in the division. If Brady is hurt, we need the breaks to go our way. If Brady isn't hurt, it will take a miracle. But Al Michaels asked us if we believe in miracles (ok, that was in 1980) so why can't this happen too.

The one thing I can confidently predict is that there will a surprise. Some team that needs to win to help their playoff chances will lose to a spoiler. It always happens. I don't know which team will be the one that loses a game they should win on paper, but if you just look at records you'll miss the possibilities. The Jets crush the Chiefs, and then get shut out by Denver, which had lost 8 straight. Go figure. The Packers, desperately needing to win, almost lost to the winless Browns. Go figure. (I know the bottom line is that a team is as good as its record shows, but the Browns have some play makers and will be a lot better next year.) The Bills need to go 2-1 over the remaining games. Even if they beat the fish here and then lose to the Pats, and then go to Miami knowing a win would get them into the playoffs (could happen under various scenarios) they could still lose that last game. Just ask Drew Bledsoe.

As much as I resent the Pats' domination of the Bills since Belichick and Brady teamed up, my touchstone for rivalries is the Dolphins. We went 0 for the 70s, for Pete's sake, with some of those games decided by terrible officiating (anyone remember Pat Twomey going nuts?) or freak plays. When the Bills finally broke through and beat the fish, the fans tore down the goalposts. THAT was a rivalry against a team that there was no reason to assume would be better than us. We had OJ for a lot of those years, for heaven's sake, and still couldn't get past them. Of course, they had Shula, IMHO the greatest coach of all time, which was a big advantage. Anyway, for me, who's been a fan since I can remember (roughly 1962) the true rivalry is with Miami, not Boston. Pardon me, New England. Since it's in the Bills' interest for the fish to lose, I am not conflicted about this at all. Of course if Brady gets hurt, that will save the need for the Bills to break his bones in retaliation for Gronk's cheap dive on White.