tennesseeboy

I work directly for presidents of largeentities (four so far) and when they retire the word is out that most of folk at my level are going as well. This has never happened to me, as I kept a low profile and made myself useful in transition. As luck would have it in two of the cases there were major crises in the first few months that made me indispensable and I gained the trust of the new boss. In the most recent case I was a finalist at another place and had a long talk with the new president resulting in my staying here, a place I really like. I guess my observation is to keep your head down and do the best job possible, maintain the internal contacts who know your worth, and get references and put some irons in the fire. Don't overthink the situation, just continue to be the person they need and either or someone else will realize your value. Your reference to physical conditioning is spot on, but it is not the be all end all of spending your days, rather part of a bigger plan. Best of luck and I hope whatever happens you are better off for it.

I'm happy to see Mario delivering what we expected when we first got him. If he keeps this up and keeps inspiring the defense we are going to make some noise this year.

Right. I do like this team and I kind of have limited expectations to make me happy with so many new people and new coaches. Six wins would be okay and I'm ecstatic if we get eight wins. So many years I have expected to make the playoffs, but this is truly a rebuilt team which is feeling its way through the first five or six games. So far I'm in "like" with the team....another game or two like this and I'll be swooning again.

Spot on Bill. I'm giving the Bills consideration for getting the bugs out given the new coaching, new personnel etc. But despite that they have managed to win. I suspect this team will get better and better as they work together. This win was a nailbiter against a poor team, but there were some real flashes of what this team can be with a little more experience playing together. Lots of new talent. I think Williams is finally proving to be the guy we wanted to get. 4.5 sacks is outstanding!

In New York, if the fans aren't with you its a miserable and depressing place to be. I wonder if Geno has it in him to handle it when the fans turn against him.

You are right on this one...but even I sense a change here (I did not with the two previous coaches.) The acquisition (gutsy) of EJ Manuel, the new offensive strategy of an up tempo offense, the new bodies all over the place, and frankly the way they played New England has me pretty optimistic. Let me clarify that. At the beginning of the preseason I thought a stretch goal should be 6 wins. Watching the preseason I think I would revise that to eight wins this season and aim for the playoffs next season. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. Lots of rookie, new strategy, new coaching errors, but that is to be expected.

agree...this is the best of all time.

I would add that women look way worst after their forties than they used too. Yeah, yeah...so do men....

First game with a new coach, coaching staff, and rookies and subs in key areas, and they came close to winning. EJ is only going to get better and more mobile, The defensive secondary played better than I thought they would and should get better. I thought we put a lot of pressure on Brady. The offensive line is still a question mark, but should get better barring another rash of injuries. I didn't expect us to win this game, and we played better than I thought we would. I watched it in a pub here in Tennessee and the fans around me, Pats and Titans fans commented that they were surprised at how aggressive Buffalo was on defense.

I thought the d-lay had a lot of pressure on Brady and I liked the aggressive style a lot. I've been a huge non-fan of Williams, but he was in it to win it Sunday and if he keeps on playing with that hunger good things will happen. This defense has a lot of potential.

Let me preface this by saying I am happy with the Bills play against New England. They were rookie sloppy, they were new coach sloppy, but they were talented, aggressive (maybe too aggressive given the amount of penalties, but that is a tradeoff to some extent) and they are definitely going to improve. 12 wins is not going to happen. I think a successful season for this team will be an 8-8 and I would have thought even that a bit of a stretch, but now I am more and more confident that is where we will end up. This is a true rebuilding year, in contrast to the clussterfxx that were labeled "rebuilding" years over the last decade. I liked our spirit, and I think we will do all right in the season. Nothing I'd like more than 12 wins, but I will be happy with 8.

and he played even better than his statistics. I think the coaches are going to keep loosening the reins on his game as it is proven he is healthy enough and that he can manage the full playbook. I'm very optimistic about this guy so far.

Bills 24 Pats 21 What the hell..I'm an optimist.

The same stat that resulted in the win by the Giants over the Bills in their superbowl. Time of Possession.

come on...there is no such thing as bad publicity. Transition from child star to adult performer. Who are we talking about? Miley? Who is topping Syria on the nightly news? Miley. How many pages are we devoting to her? Smart move.

Sounds like a plan. We will be kind the Anti-bills for this game. Slow paced. possibly two tight end and using a blocking fullback...slow it down and eat the clock.

Or, as dirty harry used to say...."Are you feeling lucky..punk?" Actually the little I've seen of the guy he looked better than Kolb. Now take being thrust into a first regular season game with only one pre-season game with the first team, and the odds have to be against him. But what the hell..David beat Goliath didn't he? Game strategy...eat the clock...run the ball...slow it down...keep NE offense off the field. Play two tight ends and occasionally have a blocking fullback in there. Special teams have to play balls to the wall.

There has never been a good Batman since Adam West.

Tuell is probably the best bet right now. Leinert isn't all that good to begin with and he doesn't know the offense. Tuell is almost certainly the back-up so we might as well roll with him and see what we have. If he poops the bed, we can throw Leinart in to finish the game. Tough break, but the game is one where there are tough breaks and you have to deal with them.

This is the most important, and most likely scenario. Right now we might have some problem for game 1, but we'll be ok for the regular season. This is a transition year and we should be patient.

I suppose I have been as negative as anyone...mostly because the team was heading and wallowing a negative situation in the past. Not so right now. I don't think Kolb was in the cards to do much, and don't think that we were in much of a position to win the New England game with him. Manuel is looking good from what we have seen and might still make game 1, but even if he doesn't he certainly should be ready for game 2. This is a transition year and I think we will be even better than last year (more than six wins) with the transition group as they look well led and talented (although raw). Should be an exciting year.

Difficult job. I remember the Attica takeover and the bloodshed that resulted. Miserable place.

We have had a losing team for a long time and we're not a winning team until we do better than 8-8. Nobody gets off the hook until that happens, not managers,not coaches and not players. Trying to point fingers at "losers" on a losing team like this isn't going to get us anywhere. We're all losers until we're winners....its a team sport. The sooner we learn this the better.

It is the regular season against a division opponent (THE division opponent) The coach will put in the qb who is going to perform best on that day. If Manuel is healthy and had a good week's practice, I suspect he will have to consider him, given the outstanding play and the lackluster performance of Kolb. On the other hand Kolb has beaten the Patriots and has a lot more experience. All in all, I'd go with EJ if he's healthy and prepared. I suspect it won't be that easy and Manuel may only get a day or two...and the coach earns his paycheck making the decision.

My peerrI guess its still my perennial concern...the o-line. We'll see how much of a problem it might be when the regular season starts. We have the qb who can throw deep and the receivers who can get deep, but do we have the line to give the qb the time he needs? I don't have a lot of worries elsewhere. If the O-line holds up and the injury bud doesn't bite to deeply we may make a lot of noise this year.