Utah John

There's an old joke that Las Vegas is a place where you can drive to in your $60,000 car and ride home from in a $200,000 bus. Rex took an elite defense and made it average. I coulda done that.

I am coming to the conclusion that Rex is running on reputation as a defensive genius. Could it be that Pettine was really the mastermind of the Jets D? The Bills did great with him as DC. They also did great with Jim Schwartz. Ryan, and Thurman, seem to have taken a great defense and made it average. They have a scheme that appears easy to figure out, and they don't make effective adjustments. Brady showed the league how to beat the Bills, and even though there's only one Brady, there are other excellent QBs, and they're all doing the same things. The pass rush QUIT. I saw several plays today when the Bills front four did the standard push they always do, then Dalton broke out of the pocket, and there was almost no pursuit. I'm afraid the D is quitting on their coach.

Does the NFL get any revenue from commercials on those vines? Do the television networks that filmed those games get any revenue? I think that's your answer. Your convenience is not relevant.

I didn't know a player on one team's practice squad can decline an offer from another team, if a regular roster spot is offered. This is interesting. I don't blame him, BTW. He had all preseason to make a case to stay, and the coaches were not impressed enough to keep him around. Why would they like him more now, enough to keep him after TT is back to health?

The newspaper this morning said the Bills were 1.5 point favorites over the Bengals. I don't think you'll find too many Bills fans who think that makes sense, but the professionals doing this must have their reasons. The Bills' D did an excellent job Sunday, keeping things under control when the O wasn't doing anything, and then shutting the door after the Bills got the lead. Mariotta is a great talent and he was held in check. Dalton is not as talented but is an experience pro with good skills, but he'll be playing in noisy RWS. If we get Watkins back, that changes a lot for the O. I'm reasonably optimistic about this game, depending on Watkins more than anything else.

If you divide the league into quintiles (five equally sized groups, so 6 teams in each group plus one here or there), I think the Bills are solidly in the second quintile. There are six teams with much better records. The Broncos I don't believe in, they're winning ugly, but I think the Giants are better than their record. The top quintile gets into the playoffs, and the competition for WCs is in the second. Each division in the AFC has a top dog, and only the East has real contenders other than the lead team. Right now the best looking non-leaders in the AFC are the Bills and Jets. Both could make it. The Bills have that status without Shady, Sammie, and Karlos. And Kromer. Can they crack the top quintile when they get those guys back? Let's see what happens if the top teams start getting key injuries too. I've been considering their defense. Where are the sacks? Are they giving up too many yards per game? Statistically, Rex took a dominant Schwartz defense and made it average. Well, sacks are down but the opposing QBs are adjusting their games and if the Bills catch on to that like they've started doing, their pass defense will become much more effective. No sense playing for deep routes when the other team will be running quick outs and slants all the time. Gilmore's interception at the end of the Titans game came about just as much from Dareus forcing an early throw without stepping into the throw, as from Gilmore making a great play (both are true, no offense to Gilmore). The Titans were averaging something like 30 points a game. The Bills D held that good offense under control while the offense struggled for the first three quarters. I'm leaning now toward the view that what counts with a D isn't sacks, it's overall performance, and the Bills' D looks pretty darned good.

I think there were other holds going on by their O line. Our guys were getting turned, choked, etc. Maybe it was going the other way too and I wasn't noticing.

If a Bills player ever completely loses it and punches a ref, God forbid, the Bills might not win another game all year. The Bills only hope is to play teams the refs hate more than they hate the Bills. So much for the importance of drafting, and conditioning, and coaching, and practicing, and executing.

Three games out of five, the other team has extra time to prepare. Seriously?

Gray had some really good plays last year, and I was hoping Roman and his TE-friendly offense would find ways to make Gray even more productive. Hasn't happened so far. Maybe next year.

For whatever reason, it has been clear that the Dolphin players were trying to get their coach fired. Any team that plays that badly against a decent-but-not-great Bills team in their home opener, and then perhaps even worse against a pretty strong Jets team, is sending a clear signal that the party's over. It's a sad thing when a team quits, but there's no getting back from that point. The owner had to make the change.

It's the defense that has me worried. Generally the Bills are quite good at rush defense, but against the pass we're getting killed. This is the case with very few injuries on defense, except for McKelvin and A. Williams. I've been wondering for a few weeks now whether the defense is better this year than last. The conclusion for me, so far, is that it's not as good this year. Sacks are way down, passing yardage and more to the point the ease of beating us through the air is way up. I think Darby is doing well and the coverage generally seems to be fine initially, but rushing the passer has become a weakness and the QBs are getting too much time. Eli was not throwing just quick, short routes. There were several plays that took longer to develop, and he was not usually hurried. What has me really upset is that Ryan has the Bills blitzing so seldom. The other teams don't seem to be worried about the threat because we don't do it enough. If Ryan can't make defensive adjustments as the game moves along, he needs to let his defensive coordinator coordinate the defense, instead of being Ryan's puppy. I wonder what Jim Schwartz is doing these days.

Looks like the Dolphins are trying to get their coach fired. That puts a talented but disorganized team (Miami) into the division cellar. The Jets look good although I watched their game against Philly and I think the Bills offense can do even better than the Eagles did. Having Chris Ivory back is a big deal -- he is a tough tough tough runner.

Leodis better hurry up and get back before Darby locks down the starting position. Somehow this team has become really deep in a lot of positions. Way to go, Whaley.

This ain't exactly McCoy for Alonso we're talking about here. Two marginal players who might find a better situation where they're going than where they've been.

Possible? Sure. So is 2-7. This team is one year removed from beating Green Bay and losing to Oakland back to back so let's step back. I think 6-3 is more realistic. The Bills will probably lose to either the Bengals at home, or the Jets in New Jersey, and they'll stink up a game they should have won and lose to someone else. These are the Bills, after all. But hey, if the Chicago Cubs can make the playoffs, maybe this is the year for us too. The Bills are getting their injuries concentrated in two positions, CB and safety. They had good depth but if Rambo keeps assaulting Darby who knows. Injuries to any team that accumulate in the same position are usually trouble. If we lose Gilmore for an extended period, before McKelvin returns, that will be seriously bad. Is anyone else having trouble figuring out if the Bills defense is better this year than last year? The stats say no, but the NE game is an outlier. In their two wins, the defense shut down the Colts and the Dolphins through the first half, and then played clock ball, ceding long slow drives that choked off the opponents' chances to win. individual stats aren't great. Mario Williams is, the coaches say, playing great, but you never hear his name called, while he seals the edge and prevents the off-tackle plays to the defense's left, but doesn't get to the QB. Compare this to the right side, where teams seem to find regular space to run off tackle. Maybe this is all by design. I would be OK with making the playoffs while other D linemen make the Pro Bowl.

The Bills offense scored 32 points against a very good defense and a brilliant coach. Sure, let's hate the QB.

Who's to say how the game would have gone without Brady? Both teams would have completely altered their schemes. Maybe the Bills would have played like they played against the Colts, all-out. Who knows. If the Bills played the Pats without Brady and won, and eventually get into the playoffs by one game, I promise you no one in Buffalo would hang their heads in shame.

What I read is that the Bills and Cowboys switched 5th and 7th picks. So we moved a pick up two rounds. Well, OK, I can't get excited about that. But if TT or EJ get hurt I'll bet we're paying a higher price than that to get someone else here, who probably isn't even as average as Cassel. Also I read that Cassel passed up more money to avoid moving to another team, that by staying with the Bills he was in a system he knew and could avoid moving with his 8 month pregnant wife. So now he ends up going to a new system and his wife is ready to give birth, while he's off in Texas. And he gets the smaller paycheck. OK, OK, he's still getting $2,000,000 for being a backup, not chump change, and that baby who's getting ready to be born won't have to eat stale Cheerios in the car seat. Still I feel a little sorry for Cassel, who's discovering what it feels like to be a $2M piece of meat.

Looking just at this year, even taking injuries out of the equation, the Bills won. They got a top RB for a guy they didn't need, even considering that Kiko was a very good player. They want to win NOW and there's no question that McCoy is an upgrade over our backs last year, no matter how much I admire Fred Jackson. Longer term, we'll just have to see. McCoy is getting on in years and by, say, 2017 he might have lost the quickness that makes him so good. Hope not, but we'll see. What's not questionable is the money. Kiko will be playing under his cheap rookie contract for another year, and McCoy's salary is using up cap money. Also there's the consideration that top-notch RBs aren't really that rare, taking into account how much more important passing is than rushing these days. You can give up a small amount in RB skill and save a bundle. I think both McCoy and Kiko are excellent talents. Kiko seems like a good guy and I wish him well, and that he gets back to playing like he did the first half of his rookie season. I saw one incredible interception he made this year so the talent is obviously still there. McCoy is acting and playing in a completely professional manner, and I'm glad he's a Bill.

I had the same thought, that perhaps the pass wasn't intended for Watkins. It's a little unusual for two receivers to be aligned that way so I wonder if one of them ran the wrong route. If so it was probably Watkins who wasn't where TT expected him to be. Nevertheless, when Watkins saw the ball coming his way I can't fault him for trying to make a catch. Only an exceptional athlete could elevate enough to deflect the pass. So the Bills might have had a combination of bad luck factors all working against them.

The Bills front four had the ends playing to contain the edge, leaving the middle of the line for the two DTs to attack. But Kyle Williams and Marcel Dareus were neutralized by three rookies, and there was no blitzing. Brady didn't usually have all day, but he had as long as he needed. Why didn't Ryan adjust? Brain cramp?? He thought his scheme was too beautiful to mess with it.

I think Rex's game plan was to rely on the front four to contain Brady, and not to blitz much. When the entire front four vanished, the game plan fell apart. It was a good plan but it relied on great players to play great. They didn't. It was good to see Corey Graham back. I'm praying for Aaron Willians.

So who's the #2 receiver on the Falcons? If Julio Jones is double covered and Matt Ryan throws to him anyway, it could be because Ryan doesn't have other good options. TT has a lot of other good options, including Harvin, Clay, Woods, and probably a RB and another TE. Why throw into double coverage when there's a high quality receiver open somewhere else? It could well be that TT could be giving Watkins a little more attention, because it sure looked to me that Watkins was getting open. But on any given play, it's TT's job to get the safest and greatest production he can. One other point. Once the Bills got up 17-0, even before 24-0, they knew the game was over, and they stopped given the Patriots more looks at what they could do. I feel confident that the Bills could have kept their offense in high gear if there was a need to do so, but Roman was looking ahead. And good for him for doing that.

The best anti-Pats sign I've seen (apologies if someone else suggested this, I haven't read the entire thread) is a sign that someone hung at the side of the tunnel where the Pats players were exiting. The sign said CHEATERS EXIT HERE. Perfect. And I see someone posted that while I was typing. Great minds...