IronyAbounds

The Pats are likely playing for home field throughout. If so, they will need this game more than the Bills. As for the type of season it was, of course it was a bad season, the Bills didn't make the playoffs yet again. They really only had one quality win, against the Packers, the others were wins against crap teams or lucky wins or both. The Bills rolled the dice dealing away next years #1 draft pick and are likely an 8-8 team, most likely 3rd in the Division, and have nothing at QB, a running back situation that is dicey, and an OL that is awful. Any Bills' fan satisfied with this year deserves another 15 years without the playoffs.

Says something when you are outcoached by the coach of a 2-12 team.

My problem with Urbik's statement was this: "“We’ve felt we’ve been playing well for the most part all year." The guy is delusional. The OL has at its best moments been marginal, and in recent weeks it has been terrible.

Nope, not me (and I think not most of the people you were pointing fingers at). Making the playoffs for the first time in 15 years would be huge, win or lose at any point in the playoffs. It would give the fan base a huge shot in the arm. It's important for the team as well. Players with even one game of experience in the playoffs are in better shape down the road if the playoffs are made in the future. It also makes it easier to attract FAs if you are a playoff team. In any case, with the defense playing as well as it is, it would be a terrible shame not to make the playoffs.

Of course it matters if the Bills make the playoffs. A 10-6 record would be nice, but if no playoffs, it doesn't mean a whole lot. You can't assume a 10-6 record this year sets the floor for next year. Who knows what injuries could happen, who the friggin QB will be, who the RBs will be, what kind of OL they can assemble, whether Hughes can be resigned, etc. Given who the head coach is, the OC is and the QBs may well be, banking on improvement could well be a foolish dream. In any event, if they don't make the playoffs at 10-6 I'd almost rather they go 9-7 so I wouldn't have to think back on the Houston and KC games and reflect about how the playoffs were missed by giving one, let alone both of those games away.

Since Baltimore is the only team the Bills can actually win the tiebreakers against, it is almost essential that they lose one game (either or both Cincinnati or Pittsburgh will have 10 wins). Looking who they play, I'd say that's a tall order. Houston will have a backup playing, while Cleveland is one team with a worse QB situation than the Bills (not coincidental that the Cleveland FO is also one of the few teams that sucks worse than the Bills' front office). Both KC and SD will be dogs next week and that certainly helps since it would knock them both out of 10 win contention. Of course the problem with Cincinnati is that either the Bengals win, which is bad for the Bills, or they lose, which means the Pats will have something to play for against the Bills, which is also very bad. I'd say the Bills need to draw to an inside straight, but that would be a bit optimistic. It would be a damn shame to waste this year's defense on another non-playoff year. I disagree strongly with the thought that if the Bills get to 10-6 but don't make the playoffs it is cause to celebrate. All that means is you wasted a 10-6 year and there is no guarantee they can even match that next year. Of course, they still have to win 2 games, both of which will be tough (particularly Foxboro), so the whole point may be moot.

Whatever the OP is drinking, I'll take some!!!! Perhaps it will make me forget this will be the 15th year in a row the Bills haven't made the playoffs. Or that the Bills have no prospect for a decent QB. Or that the OL is in shambles. Or that Fred Jackson may have hit the wall and suddenly the Bills RB situation looks bleak. Or that the head coach and OC are complete nimrods that don't deserve the jobs they hold. That will have to be some really powerful stuff.

There was tons of conflicting evidence in the Michael Brown shooting, and one of the many points of conflict was whether or not he had his hands up at any time. So to suggest that the "hands up" protest is completely in error is wrong. One of the biggest problems some people have with the no indictment is that, as is commonly stated, a prosecutor can get an indictment against a ham sandwich if he or she desires and it was clear in this case that the approach the prosecutor took was very much out of the ordinary in that he focused on the exculpatory evidence rather than the evidence against Wilson. With that said, I actually agree that an indictment shouldn't have been handed down because there was no chance in hell Wilson would be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I just wish prosecutors would apply the same approach in all cases and avoid indictments on very marginal cases. As for the demonization of Michael Brown, he was no angel but nothing he did was close to a capital offense, and he didn't deserve to be gunned down.

I'll get back to you. First I will check to see if any monkeys are flying out of my arse.

So it's ok to chase after him and shoot him dead? He wasn't shot and killed while struggling with the police. Yeah, that's appropriate punishment. I must have missed it when the death penalty was imposed on alleged shoplifters and obscenity shouters. Besides, it is a somewhat moot point since the black community has another person to rally around who was executed for simply being big, black and protesting his innocence. Or perhaps a better cause would be that 12 year old black kid in Cleveland who was gunned down by police for playing with a toy gun - and the statements given by the police in the matter are clearly shown to be lies given the indisputable video evidence. Well, he was tall for a 12 year old, so I guess it was ok to take his life. As far as I am concerned, Ditka can go F himself.

Plug in the winners based on defense rank and the Bills win out, win the division and are the 2nd seed with a bye. The pigs will be flying out of my arse, but hey, that's what the machine says.

I have to laugh at the argument that criticizing the trade is just 20/20 hindsight. Of course it is, because that is how you judge whether or not the GM and staff has a frickin' clue. Even if Whaley would have taken Ebron all that suggests is that Whaley and the Bills' staff are not good judges of talent. Taking Kujo in the second round also suggests a level of incompetence. Now you can counter that with Preston Brown in the 3rd round. The point is, hindsight is exactly how you judge a team's draft and its free agent pickups.

gosh, that injury could really impact Orton's mobility.

The Arizona Wildcats begin their march to the National Championship tonight against mighty Mount Saint Mary. Just what is needed to put the NFL behind me.

Perhaps I'll lapse into depression about the Bills later, but for now, I'm just pissed to high heaven. I'm so damn tired of waiting for next year, which turns into the year after, and so on. I'm pissed they hired a hack coach, I'm pissed the hack head coach hired his butt buddy to be his incompetent OC, I'm pissed they traded the future the a WR who, while very good, is not that much better than the alternatives that could have been had without mortgaging the future, and I'm pissed about another year where the NFL holds no interest for me past early November. If I want to be depressed, I'll think about the Yankees without Derek Jeter next year - THAT is depressing.

Excellent points. I don't think you can give Whaley a pass for not making the playoffs this year. I don't care how good they thought Watkins was, they should have known WR was very deep in this draft and not mortgaged the future, particularly given how messed up they should have known the QB situation was. I know messing up 1 round picks is a Bills' specialty, but not having one next year is gonna bite, and even the loss of the 4th round pick hurts. A bad front office can keep a good coach down. When you have a bad front office and a horrible coaching staff, 7-9 is about your ceiling. And one more thing, what is really the aberration: losing to the Chiefs and the Fins, or getting lucky and beating the Bears, Lions and Vikings. This team could very easily be 2-8 right now and staring at a 4-12 season.

Cruise: I just want the truth!!! Nicholson: You want the truth!!! You can't handle the truth!!!!!!!!!!

Note to Board Administrators: There can never be too many fire Hackett threads. I don't care if the entire front page is various fire Hackett threads, there can never ever be to many, so please do not lock any of them down, not one of them.

sigh, why do I punish myself for ever having hopes about the Bills' making the playoffs

Watkins isn't close to healthy, and given the list of rookie receivers they showed earlier, Bills clearly made a bad trade

F*** it, Marrone has to go along with his butt boy Hackett. This team has playoff talent and little league coaching.

With Hackett as the OC, I'd say yes. No TDs, wash, rinse repeat

It's really quite simple. If the Bills would have screwed up the pick they had in 2014 and the pick they would have had in 2015, its a good trade. If they are competent drafters, it is very unlikely that Watkins, no matter how good, would contribute more to the team than two mid-level first round picks and a fourth round pick. Given their history with the draft, they probably would have blown one or both of the first round picks, so getting one relatively sure thing is probably the best, although as long as the Bills have mediocre at best talent at QB and O-Line Watkins' value at best will be maybe 2 wins a year, which doesn't get the Bills the playoffs. On the other hand two quality 1st rounders in 2014 and 2015, along with a decent player in the 4th round almost certainly gets you more wins down the road. Football isn't basketball where one player can completely change a team's prospects, there are lots of positions to fill. Megatron is the best there is, and the Lions have made the playoffs exactly once while he has been there (and while they are 5-2 thus far this year, he has been a non-factor). The Bills need to hope AJ Green is a better example, although the Bengals have a better situation at QB and O-Line than the Bills do, and even so they haven't made it out of the WC round.

Ummm, that can be said about most Bills' draft picks.

Crappy O-Line, Crappy Team - that's a given in the NFL