jethro_tull

completely disagree. it is far from exciting football but a W is a W. winnng ugly, as was the slogan for some chicago white sox teams who were horrible offensively yet played very good "small ball" and defense to win a championship back in '05. true, it was painful at times today. however, no ints and orton is still in good health. the OL is still marginal at best.

it seems as if the fantasy gurus had it figured correctly! the o-line pass protected better than last week, but run blocking was horrible. it also seems like the coaching staff knows the roster well and definitely have the running back depth chart where it should be. although credit to the jets defensive line who are very good stopping the run. playcaling was conservative- excruciatingly conservative most of the time- yet a W is a W! the Bills are well positioned to make a real run for a WC. Unfortunately the patriots are on a mission and look to give the broncos a challenge. the patriot defense is surprisingly real. Go Bills! time for a well deserved extended rest!

Kyle Orton is receiving props as a fantasy pick this week vs. the Jets based on his 5 TDs and ~900 passing yards in the last (3) games. The Jets have the weakest pass protection vs. TDs scored in the league. I hope they are right! Also, the idea that Nate Hackett plans to "ride the hot hand" between Bryce Brown and Anthony Dixon is one I have questioned during many a Bills game lately. The Bills have favored the idea to rest and rotate their featured backs. I have always wondered what would / could happen with keeping the hot back in the game and just keep plugging away, riding the momentum. Kind of like the game was played previous to this. Football is an emotional, momentum paced sport. Runner rips off a big gain, keep him in there and plug away.

No. It seems like the best part of the Jets and Ryan's regime left with the departure of Brian Schottenheimer. As to Jim Schwartz departure for a HC job- a head coach who loses his job and lands as a coordinator usually does not make it back to the head coach position.

van was special. we were lucky to have him. not only capturing those memorable bills moment-s he was also a very good nba play by play announcer for the braves and really new the game of basketball. i think he did some college basketball too- maybe canisius? heck- he was an outstanding game show host too on the old "it's academic". murph is good- and i like mark kelso too- but van was once a millenium. you realize after watching / listening to other citiy's local broadcasters how lucky we were. heck, even most national broadcasters are horrid.

Agreed- enjoying one game at a time. Just like what happened to Trent in Arizona could happen to EJ. However I will get excited when the team is playing for their 9th win on the year. Very excited.

The fans in this area are fuming after losing to the "lowly" Bills at home for the first time in history. Possibly more like foaming at the mouth given that they all believed the Bills to be an easy win. The local media are all in for fueling the fire and have called out Cutler, Trestman and DC Mel Tucker. They cite Cutler "is what he is" an unpredictable undisciplined gunslinger who throws pics at the most inopportune times and will never learn proper footwork or the ability to check down when its called for. The fans are falling just short of being out for blood, but the absolute indignant, entitled and enraged attitude is appaling. These fans don't deserve a winning team and neither do the media blow hards who are so negative and belittling as to make Mike Shopp look like John Murphy. Screw them Jay.

should have run

break!

bend but don't .........

loving some boobie

f yeah!

good for something...

chicago area for the past 25 years. hated the bears at first then kind of liked them because the fans in this area are knowledgeable and many of my friends / acquantences actually started to like the Bills and enjoyed watching them, especially from 1989 to 2000. i respect bears fans because they respect other teams and only really dislike one team- green bay. as for the bears now- I am apathetic at best.

EJ actually resembles a starting quarterback because the run game gives him numerous 3rd and short yardage situations. The defense is on its heels not knowing what coverage to put in becaues the Bills haven't been able to achieve consistent 3rd and short yardage in over 15 years Manuel caps of a nice one with 2 minutes to play, earns the nickname "Afternoon Drive".

Heck no- he'e only played 5/8 of a season.

Agreed. McClellin as the strong side linebacker is puzzling- almost as vulnerable to the pass as Chris Kelsay was (maybe not quite that bad). I'm in far west Bartlett and watch the games at home. When they turn the corner I'll be out and about a little more!

I stayed away from the front four because they aren't the liability of the back 7. Jared Allen could have plenty left in the tank and remains an iron man having not missed a game in the last 6 years and registered 11.5 sacks last season. May have lost a step vs. the run though as his tackles are down. Lamar Houston (5th year, free agent from the Raiders) is a very good run stuffer on the left side. Jay Ratliff at nose tackle is basically a second string player who will be staring for the Bears. RDT Stephen Paea is a home grown Bear in his 4th year who has not shown very much either. Basically the Bears D starting 11 has (2) pro bowl players, one out of gas, one with something left, 2 or 3 players that are decent and 6 or 7 players that are pretty much 2's or 3's at best.

see response in post#6. agreed but in this case we're talking a mix of players past their prime / declining speed and reaction time and those that haven't proven themselves yet. of course the local fan base is calling for DC Mel Tucker's head on a platter which may be somewhat deserved as well. many are fearing that the defense may finish worse than last year's 30th place.

Giving up (2) number one picks and (1) third round pick in the last (5) drafts have contributed to this problem. In addition, the Bears had to fill other holes (e.g. WR, TE, OL) in order for their "sell the farm" investment to have a chance of paying off. Their Sam LB, Shea McClellin, is not very good at pass coverage and opens the door for TE passes on first and second downs. The defensive personell is still a liability until proven otherwise.

It ALL hinges on the OL. No defense can be on the field for 45 minutes beause the offense can't move the chains.

Short answer- An extreme mix of too old and too young because of the continued fallout of the deal with Denver for Jay Cutler. Linebackers that are too old and lack the speed and reaction time of their youth- example DJ Williams starting ILB, 11th season; the formerly great Lance Briggs, starting OLB, 12th season. Or they are too young and lack experience, example Shea McClellin, starting 2 down OLB, 3rd season, and Nickel LB Jon Bostic, 2nd season. A very below average LB corps. In the backfield you have the same thing- Charles "Peanut" Tillman, starting RCB, 12th season; Tim Jennings, starting LCB, 9th season and Brock Vereen, starting FS, in his rookie year. These are the questions the Bears had to address going into this offseason and they have not answered a single one of them. This could play into the Bills offense wheelhouse of short quick slants or seam passes just beyond linebacker depth. If the Bills OL can patch it together of course.

When he was hired I looked up the stats of the Jets when he was o-line coach. Unfortunately a case could be made that the O-line regressed under his tenure. In 2002 (Marrone's first year) the Jets offense was 15th. In his 4th and final year, the offense was 29th.

I'll cancel the dam DTV and the golden ticket for oher reasons before i do for the bills. Namely conviently adding the sunday ticket MAX to my bill even though i never had it or ordered it in previoue years. only took about 45 minutes on the phone to fix it. another thing they did was back charge some online PPV items from 2009. my bill last month was 223.00 and ususlly its 125 or so.

They are still watchable, competitive and entertaining in enough of the games to make it worth it for me and definitely showed some improvement last season. start talking about a 3 or 4 win season or less kind of team and it's a no go.