Utah John

What we should root for is a good, entertaining, competitive game, in which the Pats need to pull out all the stops and show the Bills coaches their latest and greatest plans. The Bills players have some time off, but you betcha Ryan and his coaches are putting these extra days to good use, doing a Belichick and figuring out how to stop their offense and move the ball against their defense.

The Bills bring a lot of CBs to training camp each year and they keep the best ones. They must be just stupid to continue keeping Robey, I guess. Or not. Actually not.

The weather doesn't matter. These teams are mirror images. Strong D lines. Questionable O lines. Good runners (I really, really like Ivory, but if Shady is 100%, we have the edge). One good receiver and some other guys. Good D backs. The Jets have better LBs than our guys have been playing. Now then, the QB. If TT is playing well, and IMO he hasn't played badly all year, we get the edge. Fitz can be good and bad and good and bad all in the same game, as we well know. I have no read on how good the Jets special teams are. Maybe that's the edge to the Bills. The other thing is that the Jets center and guard are both hurt. If Rex finally turns the dogs loose, we could be fine. Let it rain. Or not. There won't be an advantage to either team either way.

This. The Bills weren't looking to stay at 7-9 or 8-8 with a QB only good enough for that. They blundered by drafting a QB high in the wrong year, but sticking with Fitz meant losing years and years to continued mediocrity, instead of developing the guy they actually need. I'd love Fitz back on the team. I think having him as the #2 behind Taylor gets us a win vs the Jags which could be the difference in making the playoffs or not. Taylor looks great but he keeps a lot of drives alive by running, and that's why he missed two games this year. We need a competent-or-better backup. EJ is not that guy.

Does anyone think that Jim Schwartz's defense from last year, with Greg Roman's offense from this year, plus all the talent the from office picked up, would be struggling to make the playoffs? Ryan's hiring was a monumental blunder.

No way the Bills would go after Brandon Marshall. His salary is over $7M. The Bills had other holes to fill. I'd love to have him on the team, but there's no way he'd be a Bill.

For those who argue that the Bills are transitioning toward what Ryan wants to do, and it will take a year or two to replace great players who don't fit his scheme, with unknown players who do fit his scheme ... I get that he has a plan for the future, but the games are being played THIS YEAR with this year's players. Are we supposed to think this season is just an extended pre-season for 2016? That Ryan is just using 16 regular season games to evaluate how well the talent on the field will work once he gets the guys he wants in place? I'll tell anyone who'll listen, that last year's defense led by Jim Schwartz, along with this year's offense led by Greg Roman, and led by a less egotistical team manager and leader as head coach, would be challenging for the division lead, not just hoping for a wild card. I hope I'm wrong but this defense is playing like crap, and even weak offenses are shredding it. The defensive players are frustrated and look like they're giving up, a lot of the time. What a shame because the offense is finally hitting on most cylinders, and the kicking game is good. The problem isn't the players, it's Rex Ryan. Example: Early in the season, when a team tried running up the middle, I expected the Bills to stuff it, sometimes for a loss, sometimes for a yard gain. Now when teams run up the middle, the Bills clog the area but "stuffing" now consists of the pile falling forward for three yards. Either Kyle Williams is vastly better than his replacements (granted, that's possible) or Dareus and Brown aren't free to get to the runner. I think Dareus is being directed to take on two blockers instead of penetrating to get to the runner, and two huge O lineman will push even Dareus backward. This ain't a lot of fun for Dareus and it also ain't working.

I've said this before. Rex Ryan has done what no offensive coordinator in the NFL could do the past two years: neutralize the Bills' pass rush.

Suh was trying to wrap Taylor up but couldn't do it. The only way he could have tackled Taylor on that play was to make an illegal tackle involving a horse collar. He'd have hurt his team with a penalty and probably been fined. So he didn't make that illegal tackle. He probably also would have injured Taylor. Suh did the right thing. From a Dolphins perspective, it would have been better if he'd secured a solid grip on Taylor and made a standard, no-fuss sack. But Taylor was too illusive. It isn't Suh's fault that Grimes is a terrible player and Watkins burned him like day-old toast on the next play.

The Bills found a couple of plays that worked against Miami's D line, and kept running them. They've got Suh, and no one else. So good for Buffalo, keep doing whatever works until the other guys stop you. But the Jets OTOH have a great D line, all across, and none of those plays will work consistently. McCoy and K-Will aren't going to light up the Jets. And with only one real threat at WR, I'm pretty sure Revis and Co. will have more success than that bum Grimes. Fortunately the Jets' offense is pretty bad right now due to players out or players playing hurt. I'm thinking, take the under, and don't bet the farm on a win. Rex is going to try to out-do himself for this, putting in schemes his players can't execute.

It's true of course that the Bills lost to the Jags. However the varsity players are returning for the Bills, and the Jets are stuck with an injured QB who wasn't as good as EJ to begin with, let alone Tyrod Taylor. For the Jets game a lot depends on whether there are any new or recurring injuries for the Bills from the Miami game, and whether Kyle Williams continues to be out.

I voted no, thinking he would make a great DC but he's always been limited in abilities with the head job. But there's no way Rex brings in another DC. He has the arrogance to think he can make this work better than Schwartz or Pettine, both of whom got a lot more out of about the same personnel as Rex has. Rex has done what no OC did the past two years -- he neutralized the Bill's pass rush.

Whaley is not the problem. Ralph Wilson and his cheap underlings were the problem, God rest his soul, and Whaley is trying to use Pegula's cash to dig us out of the huge hole. He's made a lot more good moves than bad ones. He brought in a QB who seems to be good enough to get us to the playoffs, he found an excellent OG, he's worked the salary cap for this year and the future to get and keep the key players together. He didn't hire this blowhard fiasco of a coach, the Pegulas did. He didn't tell the O line coach to beat up some kids on the beach. He didn't horsecollar his QB and hurt his knee. He didn't tell EJ to forget to breathe or whatever was the problem during the second quarter of the Jags game. He didn't make Harvin weird, but he got him for what looked like cheap to be a #2 with Watkins, and that plan made sense. True, he did trade Cassel for a bag of donuts, but did you see Cassel suck up the joint for the Cowboys? He did overpay for the right to draft Watkins, who I believe will still be an excellent receiver, just not worth the price. The worst mistake, I think, was cutting Fred Jackson. The team needs leadership, and there's no one especially on the offense providing that. Maybe McCoy will step up. Taylor doesn't have the creds yet, and no one else deserves it based on their playing. Maybe Incognito, considering he's probably the best, most consistent, least injured player on the offense. How about that for irony. But really Richie is doing just great, and I applaud him for making the most of this chance. So anyway, be glad we've got Whaley. The Bills haven't had this much competence since Butler. And, aside from cheap underlings, Ralph Wilson deserves the blame for firing Polian and Butler, and letting A.J. Smith leave too. 25 years of incompetence in the front office is now over.

Rex Ryan did what no other team's offensive coordinator managed to do the past two years: neutralize the Bills' D-line. Amazing incompetence and arrogance that he knew how to fix what clearly wasn't broken.

#1 by far. Year after year the Bills build up the hope and fail. This year, they had a pretty dominant roster at most positions, and a lot of other teams don't have a QB either, so this had to be the year, right? If they don't make it, five years from now no one will remember all the injuries. All they'll be thinking about is how it's 2020 and the Bills drought has reached 20 years. And even Kim Pegula has stopped coming to the games.

The last thing I want is for Miami to start believing in itself. Beating bad teams badly has given them a little confidence, but deep down they know that doesn't prove much. If they beat NE at NE, and them come to Buffalo thinking they're actually a good team, the Williamses will have a tough time not going to 3-5. Much better the Pats crush them, demoralize them, and they lose any faith they've got in their new coach.

Wouldn't you prefer to play with Tyrod Taylor than Typhoid Manuel?

There was also a QB whose name escapes me, who I think we gave up a 3rd rounder for, who was a backup who had to play due to an injury, and admitted he hadn't studied the playbook. Does anyone else remember that? For a few years after Kelly retired, I was keeping track of all the draft picks the Bills had used in actual drafts or in trades, to find his replacement. I quit after a while because the total was getting ridiculous. The Bills have definitely been trying all these years, they just haven't succeeded. The more damaging failures have been the many first rounders who were busts or who didn't play well for Buffalo. From 1990 to 1996 their first rounders were James Williams, Henry Jones, John Fina, Thomas Smith, Jeff Burris, Reuben Brown, and Eric Moulds. All good players. Maybe not great stars but they were good. After that, they couldn't pick many good players, and they couldn't keep the ones they got. 1997. Antowain Smith. Did better for New England than Buffalo. 1998. No pick. Rob Johnson. Fred Taylor. 1999. Antoine Winfield. Great player. Should have kept him but let him go in free agency. 2000. Erik Flowers. Never learned the game. 2001. Nate Clements. Very good player. Should have kept him but let him go in free agency. 2002. Mike Williams. Makes Erik Flowers look good. 2003. Willis McGahee. Big bet on a big talent that didn't work out. 2004. Lee Evans. Good player. Not in Eric Moulds' class. Not a true #1 WR threat. 2004. J.P. Losman. Nope. 2005. No pick. Traded away picks in 2005 for the J.P. Losman pick in 2004. Losman was a very expensive acquisition. 2006. Donte Whitner. Not a first round talent. Pretty good player. 2006. John McCargo. Seriously? BUST. 2007. Marshawn Lynch. Pretty good Bill. Great Seahawk. 2008. Leodis McKelvin. Good player, not worth the first round pick. 2009. Aaron Maybin. The depths of drafting ineptitude. What a joke. Even worse than Mike Williams. 2009. Eric Wood. Average player. Probably not worth the first round pick. Andy Levitre whom they picked the same year was better. 2010. C.J. Spiller. Occasionally great. Overall a bust. Definitely the wrong pick for the team at the time. 2011. Marcel Dareus. Probably the Bills' best player last year. Disappeared this year. Ryanitis? If you look at this list, the Bills were drafting DBs while they had Kelly at QB, which worked out well overall. After that, they spent just as much effort trying to replace Thurman Thomas as they did Jim Kelly. Look at all the RBs. Smith. McGahee. Lynch. Spiller. And they had others through that period as well. (Remember Travis Henry?) They lucked into Fred Jackson, who all Bills fans love dearly for his effort and accomplishments, but seriously, Fred was never in the same category as the top RBs in the league. That's 15 years listed. Arguably the only players worth a first round pick in that set were Winfield, Clements, and Dareus. Conclusion: the Bills not only couldn't draft QBs, they couldn't draft at all. They seem to be doing much better the past three years. When Whaley has been in charge. Kick Whaley for his mistakes if you want (trading Matt Cassel was just so stupid) but his batting average is the best the Bills have had since Bill Polian and John Butler and A.J. Smith.

The title of this was "What Bills should go?" The answer is, all of them. They'll have to pay their way in of course, but it would be a chance to see professional football players, as a reminder of what they're supposed to be.

OK, I get it, the Robey call was a bad call that led to the Jags having the chance to score the TD when the Bills D screwed up, that won the game. All true. Note that the Bills D could still have clamped down and stopped the Jags last-gasp chance. After that, the Bills got the ball. On first down, they got 9 1/2 yards and it was spotted as a 9 yard gain. On second down they got 1/2 a yard and it was spotted as no gain. If there's ever a replay available, go back and check. They should have had first down at that point. On third down, doofus Manuel screwed up the QB sneak, and on fourth down a lousy play call had Manuel running to his left. He had Hogan open but instead of rifling it in he flipped it, and the D back made the breakup. So, where did the failure come in? Was it bad spots on first and second down? Was it a bad QB sneak? Was it a stupid play call and a pass that wouldn't be good enough in high school? It's always a combination. If the refs just did their jobs, the Bills wouldn't have to overcome the refs' mistakes. But, two points. The Bills got favorable spots at times. This happens a lot, that the offense (no matter who's playing) gets a little extra, and quite often gets a first down they didn't deserve. And, second, why does it come down to such a narrow margin of victory or loss, when this powerful team is playing a 1-5 loser?

I was done with Rex Ryan after the Giants game, when his team as a whole played so badly and his legendary defense couldn't stop Manning. My thoughts were confirmed during the Bengals game. I think Whaley put together a lot of great talent, but Ryan can't adapt to the players' strengths.

The scoop on Harvin before the year was that he was a highly talented player who couldn't get along with teammates. This year he apparently has been just fine in the locker room, and he started the year playing well. The last couple of games, not so much, and it could be he's been playing hurt. Saying he was useless is not fair. He did what was asked (got his personality issues under control), learned the offense, was ready to go, and demonstrated what he could do. Then, and this is of course the first time it's ever happened to an NFL player, he got hurt and can't play as well. If he's worried about being 45 and not being able to get out of bed due to long-term effects of playing hurt, then good for him. The reward for being such an exceptional athlete should be a long and happy life, not a miserable pain-filled existence thinking about a few great years when he was younger. At the start of the year the Bills O skill positions looked outstanding, the line looked improved, and the only question was QB. Now the skill positions are looking pretty limited -- a less-than-healthy McCoy, no Watkins, no Harvin, no Karlos, no McRib. The only bright spots are Clay and a pretty-good McCoy. The line is not great but is as advertised -- much improved. To everyone's surprise, we found a decent QB, but even he's hurt. So no wonder the O is more like Eh. But you can't blame players for getting hurt playing a violent game.

Kelly is right. A lot of us have been expressing doubts and concerns for three or four weeks, as the sacks dried up and opposing QBs all looked like Tom Brady. Even Mariotta, who was supposed to be a deer in the headlights rookie facing this sophisticated defense, nearly beat the Bills. Only Miami, playing to get their coach fired, and the Colts, who must have spent their offseason thinking how great they were instead of getting better, couldn't handle the Bills' defense.

This. Manuel was accurate on about half of his throws. The others were either injury-bait for his receivers because they had to adjust quickly to where the ball was instead of where it should have been, or because they had to move into harm's way; or they were too far away from where they should have been for even a professional receiver to adjust to (starting with the first little dump-off pass that was too short to be caught); or simply intercepted. TT is accurate on a much higher percentage of throws. I think at least 85 percent of his passes hit the receiver in stride. Both have strong arms, decently quick releases, nice touch on soft passes. Manuel is simply not consistent enough.

There are 6 or 7 teams in the league that are clearly better than the Bills. Patriots, Giants, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers, Cardinals, maybe the Broncos. All the rest, the Bills are about even with or better than. It so happened this year that the Bills played three top-tier teams at home early in the season, and lost to all three. I think they could and should have given the Giants and Bengals better games, possibly winning one, but injuries and Rex's head up his butt with regard to defensive play calling really held them back. They had BETTER beat the Jags next week, taking them to 4-3. After that they're in a position to catch fire and go 6-3 or better the rest of the year. 10-6 and a wild card are still very much within reach.