hondo in seattle

I respect Brandt's opinion because of his background. He's probably forgotten more about football than I'll ever know. So I guess I'm encouraged that he thinks so highly of our D. But mostly I don't care. We all see the quality of this D each week. It's a really good D. Good enough to take us to the playoffs? Gil thinks so but we won't know until we know.

With Brown out and Foster possibly still less than 100%, we're not going to have much outside speed. Though I don't know how much that matters considering who we're playing and how little we've utilized our speed so far this year.

A weak armed QB who tends to force passes into coverage versus a strong armed QB who tends to force passes into coverage. I think we have the advantage.

This is an interesting breakdown - thanks! If we go 6-1 against the truly crappy teams but only 1-3 against the mediocre and good teams, we'll still finish 11-5. As a Bills fan, you can never take the playoffs for granted. But it's hard not to feel optimistic right now.

My wife noticed that I've been moping around a lot and has been encouraging me to start popping Xanax or see a shrink. But today I learned that I don't need to feel bad anymore about that 2017 draft. What a relief! I've been carrying around deep, dark feelings of disappointment, frustration and failure for the past two years now. Suddenly, today, I can finally smile again!

That made me smile. Reminded me there were some bright moments during the Dark Ages.

Moulds would be great for Daboll and Allen.

I saw the vid when you posted it. Thanks! Seems like Duke's transformed himself from an immature punk into a man - a hard-working, team-first, McD kind of man. In recent interviews, Duke shows that he's really grateful to be where he is right now and you can see why. It wasn't a short, straight, or easy road for him. Really rooting for him to continue to grow both as a man and as a player. And hoping to see him in the endzone every game!

Why is this a new thread? Our scoring woes are well-known and thoroughly discussed in other threads.

We clearly have a playoff caliber defense but the offense has to score more than 18 points per game. There are reasons for optimists to think the O will improve. The OL is still gelling. Singletary is going to start playing again. Zay's been replaced by Duke. Josh is going to improve as he gains in experience and as he develops chemistry with a new group of wideouts. And so on. While I'm hopeful (Napoleon once famously said: "A Bills fan is a dealer in hope"), I don't know how much the O will improve by the end of the year. I don't think it'll be enough for 13 wins or a deep push into the playoffs. I hope I'm wrong.

I get why folks are recommending Duff's and other places over the Anchor Bar. But why do people go to Independence Hall in Philly? Because it's the most beautiful building in the city? Or because it's where history was made?

I'm jealous! As a guy who hasn't been to a home game since 1974 - and clearly an expert - here's what I do: * Go to Hammer's Lot to see all the Pinto Ron and other shenanigans. * As long as your in Buffalo, get the true Buffalo culinary experience. Eat wings at the Anchor Bar (even if Duffs are better); sample a Beef on Weck at Charlie the Butcher; and try some good Buffalo Pizza (pizza aficionados rank Buffalo's pizza up there with NY & Chicago and miles ahead of LA). If you like sponge candy, go to Parkside Candy near UB - a beautiful, dilapidated relic of great Buffalo architecture with a wonderful selection of chocolate. * I personally stop at the gift shop at New Era Field to gear up whenever I'm in Buffalo. Hoping we win for your first home game. Have fun!

I doubt he's wasted his time on suspension. I'd guess he's in great shape and has a fair understanding of the D already - though 6 weeks of no practice/contact does hurt. But I agree that he's bound for the PS at best. He's a marginally talented UDFA rook coming off a suspension - hard to see him making the 53.

The title of article - combined with the focus on Milano & Edwards - implies the two LBs are THE reason the Bills D excels. Obviously the real situation is more complicated. The Bills have talent at all three levels: DL, LB, and secondary. And one thing I really enjoy is listening to opposing coaches talking about how fundamentally strong this D is and how it doesn't make mistakes. McD, Frazier and the entire defensive coaching staff are doing a nice job. Thanks for sharing, 17. I thought it was an interesting article.

Curiously, despite all their concerns about his character, effort and speed, NFL.com rated Duke (5.25) only slightly lower than Zay (5.71) out of college. Listening to Duke talk - and his teammates talk about him - it does indeed seem like he's turned his life around.

Good post. When I watched this live, I thought it was a good play call by Daboll and a good throw by Josh. I didn't give Duke much credit - but it actually was a nice route.

49 out of 50 voters thus far have put the Bills in the Top 6. Who's the one traitor??? Here's what I think is interesting. The Bills are pretty much who we - the wildly intelligent fans of Buffalo - thought they would be. The D was very good last year and it is very good again this year as we expected. With massive changes to the lineup, the O is improved but still not elite. Josh Allen has taken some steps forward in his 2nd year but is still not Jim Kelly. Despite this season unfolding more-or-less the way an informed fan would expect it to unfold, the Bills are shooting up the national power rankings. In fact, the Bills are not getting better as the season progresses - the national media folks are simply catching up to the new reality. At the beginning of the 2019 campaign - when they were placing the Bills in the bottom 5 or 10 - they were wrong about the Bills. As we all knew.

The author - Curtis Rush - used to cover the Bills for the Toronto Star. Is it possible he knows something about Duke's 40 time that we don't know? At his pro day (not combine), Duke ran between 4.66 and 4.69. Maybe I'm wrong but he doesn't seem that slow. Then again he doesn't seem to be 4.3 fast either. Incidentally, I found this in a 2016 draft report: SOURCES TELL US "I can tell you that he burned all of his bridges over there (Auburn). He's a selfish, me­-first guy and I don't think he's trustworthy in the locker room at all. He didn't compete at all this year. I wouldn't draft him in any round." -- NFC Director of Personnel http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/profiles/dhaquille-williams?id=2555210

I probably cheered as wildly on the clock-kill drive as on the winning-TD drive. Maybe more. I think it confused my wife who - being from the Philippines - doesn't yet understand all the nuances of American football. We had a banged-up, no-name line out there and we shoved the ball down their throats to seal the victory. I was surprised, impressed, and wonderfully happy all at the same time.

I guess the key doesn't work.

* Chunk plays. * Open targets. Either the WRs can't get separation or Daboll isn't designing/calling the right plays. * Ball security/decision making. Too many dumb picks by Allen. * Passpro. Not consistent enough. * Holes for backs. Not consistent enough.

I'm not surprised that Allen's better with medium passes. We have better wideouts this season and Allen's been working hard on this. I'm not completely surprised with the turnovers. I expected more growing pains. I am surprised with the anemic deep game. The Bills have guys who can run and Allen has a cannon for an arm. I expected more accuracy and productivity than what we've seen so far. I admit, I'm worried.

I thought passpro was poor in the Pats game - though the Pats blitzed a lot and I'm not sure how Next Gen Stats graded out the five offensive linemen in those situations. Someone else may be assigned the blame when the D blitzes. I think passpro has been average-ish thus far this season. And I'm happy with the progress versus 2018.

1990. I witnessed some of the wins leading up to our first SB experience didn't suffer the pain of watching that SB - I was deployed in Saudi for Operation Desert Storm. Great to watch the Bills offense that season move the ball almost at will. 1973. I loved watching OJ play. His skill was preternatural. Going to a Bills game was like visiting the Sistine Chapel - you would gape in awe - except that Bills games were a lot more exciting of course! 1989. A fun team: Jerry Butler, Joe Cribs, the "Bermuda Triangle"... Breaking the Fin Streak gave me a sense that good times were coming. 1991. Another great offense and SB run. 1975. Another great year by OJ as the Bills led the league in scoring, producing 30 points per game (which was awesome in that era).