skibum

Not sure I buy the argument that nobody will pay Melton after he's had surgery. ACL repair is fairly common these days and there are a great many players who have gone on to have great careers after rehabbing this type of injury. But I get the point - and there are certainly plenty of opportunities for career-ending or performance-diminishing injuries in an NFL season.

Regarding point #9, I have not seen any indication that Freddie's skills are diminishing. His big run tonight was classic FJ - he eluded a wall of tacklers, accelerated away from the linbackers, and pulled his trademark swerve to add a good 15 plus yards to the run. Yes, he got run down by the CB, but he has never been known for his breakaway speed. I think he's still every bit the bad mofro he always was.

Geno is making the Bills FO look like fools.

Oh dear lord this is getting bad

We are actually getting a lot of breaks and lucky bounces this game. And still we are losing badly.

EJ looking like a less-polished Trent Edwards today.

How about Schobel, so the poor guy can at least have one good thing come out of his long tenure here.

The full list is pretty imposing! There are a lot of deserving players back-logged now. I'm not sure Reed will ever make it at this point - can you really argue that if it comes down to Reed or Marvin Harrison, you would snub Harrison?

Maybe that's because the hurry-up-and-punt offense only gave them fleeting moments of rest throughout the entire game. They were probably, and rightfully, gassed by the fourth quarter.

Wow, I can't believe how hard Byrd is getting trashed on this board because of a bunch of bloated rumors and sports-media-talking-head hearsay. Did anyone on this board actually speak to Jairus himself about the contract situation? I'm guessing that would be "no" all around. I'm not going to comment on his attitude, desire, or anything else I know absolutely nothing about. The only thing I really know is that Byrd is starting the season with the same injury he had 8 months ago. Technically I don't know that either, because I'm not in the locker room with him. But I trust the word of doctors more than that of sports journalists and bloggers. For the record, I think he will play on Sunday, but not a lot. Plantar fasciaitis is awful stuff.

Our secondary is suspect enough in pass coverage to warrant lots and lots of blitzing.

I find it very discouraging that Byrd's foot problem has persisted throughout the entire off-season. It means one of two things: (a) it is a performance-sucking problem that will never go away. (b) he had 8 months to deal with it and either chose not to or completely botched it. I mean, if you skip all of training camp and play in zero preseason games, you should not be entering the season injured, so long as there is anything medically possible you can do about it. Right? Neither scenario (a) nor (b) is one the Bills should commit big bucks to. This is totally independent of whatever alleged shenanigans are going on with Byrd's agent (about which I profess to know nothing). This is looking more and more like another "we're cursed" situation. We finally hit a home run in the draft, and then the wheels fall off.

I live in New England now, and it's horrible. I tried going to the local sports bar with a Bills shirt on game day, expecting some good natured ribbing. The ribbing was not good natured. It was hostile and threatening. Worst fans in all of American sport.

I have always thought the whole concept of "starting" a game is so overblown in sports. As long as you played a significant role in the game, what difference does it make when you got on the field?

You know things are bad when you don't have enough NFL-caliber players to field a full 53-man roster on final cut day.

Are we over-reacting a bit? I missed the game, and in reading these comments I assumed the Lions QBs went like 45 of 50 for 600 yards and 7 touchdowns. I look at the box score and see they went 15-29 for 151 yards. DBs lose their battles a majority of the time - That's why good QBs routinely complete well over 60% of their passes. I feel like the expectation on this board is that our DBs must break up every single pass that comes their way, or else they're deemed terrible. Discuss.

Ha ha, that's exactly what I thought when I read this. Seriously, who gets "dusted" in this day and age? Did he have a quaalude habit, too?

Tuel will get his chance. If EJ runs as much as he's inclined to, he WILL get hurt eventually. Count me among those curious to see what Tuel can do, with the caveat that I would like to see it happen after he's had some more seasoning.

Better Tuel than Matt Leinart or that other new guy whose name I already forgot. Good luck, Bills!

Portland may be different, but I live elsewhere in Maine and I have been openly mocked at every bar I have been to wearing Bills garb. The Patriots fanaticism here is pretty funny, because Mainers are forever talking trash about "Ma$$ holes", "Patheticut", and every other populace in the warmer parts of New England. I guess they have no other choice when it comes to picking an NFL team.

My first words were "Joe Ferguson".

Why So Sea-rious?

The Undrafted

#9 is a common type among Bills fans.

So he can't block, but has 4.5 speed. Maybe he gets a shot at WR?