hondo in seattle

Hard to disagree.

Once we're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, I don't care if Cardale and EJ both get starts. In the meantime, we've got to keep trying with our best people on the field. And the coaches think TT gives us the best chance of winning.

It's a sad commentary on the state of Bills desperation that some of us are looking for Ryan Fitzpatrick to be our savior. I remember when we thought anyone not as good as Jim Kelly wasn't good enough for us.

How many owners are instantly successful? How many owners find their long term GM, HC and QB in their first year of ownership? It takes time to build a winner. And there will be some trial-and-error along the way. I have no idea if Terry and Kim will prove to be good owners. At this point, I can only hope.

They don't have a clue? And you say this because you've sat down with them, discussed their long term strategy, and analyzed it deeply based on your in-depth knowledge of what it takes to build a winning organization in the NFL? You have noticed, haven't you, that the Bills are a .500 team? So the Pegulas are exactly average owners in terms of success, despite their newness to the sport.

If some great HC came out of retirement to coach the Bills, I'd be all in favor of firing Rex. But should we fire Rex to gamble on another retread with a mixed resume? Or some DC, OC, or college coach who's never been a head coach in the NFL? I'm not convinced. Most of the names suggested so far either (1) don't inspire much hope for a better result, or (2) aren't realistic.

The legitimacy of the illness is immaterial. Percy may indeed have debilitating migraines. But there's seemingly always something going on with Percy. So his missing games with some kind of problem was predictable. And in the end he'll get paid something like $400,000 per reception. That's fairly described as 'robbery.' I say this even though I don't blame DW for giving Percy a shot - given the circumstances.

Seriously, after watching the Bills all season long, do you think they can win out? To me, they look exactly like the 6-6 team their record says they are. So I'm expecting 8-8 plus/minus one win. It's hard to imagine them going 4-0 over the next four games. I just don't have that much imagination.

This is how I feel. Obviously, this year's WR corps has been hurt by injuries. Nonetheless, it's easy to see the same flaws: an unwillingness or inability to throw over the middle, difficulty finding open receivers, a tendency to feel phantom pressure, and inconsistent accuracy. I really hoped TT would elevate his game this year. I hoped the Seahawk game would prove to be a turning point. But my hopes have dimmed. At this point, I see him as a good backup.

Yeah. The Bills aren't bad. We just aren't good. We showed flashes in the Seahawk and Raider games. But like most mediocre teams, we tend to beat bad teams and lose to good teams. It's not about heart or character. The Bills try hard enough. They just aren't good enough.

I agree with this. I also agree with the observation that Percy has a remarkable talent for earning a lot of money for very little actual work or production.

I didn't use to agree. I was in the wait-and-see camp. But I agree now. I don't think TT will ever take the leap. His shortcomings remain his shortcomings and he will probably never overcome them.

Remember when Ditka traded all his picks away to move up and select Ricky Williams? It didn't work out well for him. But I understand the temptation to go to extremes to find the player that will turn the franchise around. Ditka needed a RB. We've needed a QB forever. Maybe it's time to try a little harder.

29 unanswered points - I think there's plenty of blame to go around - enough for the O and D to share. About the only guy I don't fault is Shady.

I've said "I'm done" so many times during the drought that they've become empty words. Like the OP, I know it's not fair to my family for me to ruin Sundays by being grumpy after a loss. There are better things to do than watch another disappointing Bills defeat. So, occasionally, I'll skip a week or two when my frustration reaches a certain level. But then I'll glue myself to the TV set again, with a plate of Buffalo wings and my jersey on. Even though I turned off the TV yesterday before the last second ticked off the game clock, I didn't bother announcing I was done this time because no one would believe me anymore.

Ummm... Don't mean to burst your bubble but I don't think surprises many people. He was shaken up pretty badly last week.

I used to think headaches were a sad excuse to miss a game. Then again, I used to think the same about turf toe. I remember when Jack Lambert missed nearly an entire season due to pain in his toe. How can a little toe sideline a big, tough man? It was incomprehensible to me. Then I developed a glomus tumor in a toe. If I stub that toe the wrong way, the world goes black and I fall to the ground in agony. I've decided not to question the pain tolerance of others any more. We just can't know how much pain they may be feeling.

You can't in the blink of an eye build a team that's strong everywhere. In fact, in this salary cap era, you can't ever build a team that's strong everywhere. DW built us a running team. He acquired a great RB in Shady and a running QB. He got us Watkins, Woods, and Clay for the WR and TE positions. For a running team, that's not a bad threesome. Yep, injuries exposed the fact that we don't have a lot of depth at wideout. You just can't have depth everywhere. We have better depth at RB which makes sense for a running team. If I'm upset at Whaley for anything, it's RT. It didn't take any injuries to expose a weakness there.

A year-and-a-half of watching TT and you're convinced he's not a franchise QB. But a decade of watching Cutler and you think he is? I don't get it. TT might still have some upside. But we know with certainty who Jay Cutler is as a QB and it's just not good enough.

Gotta respect a man who goes boldly far out on that limb.

According to the computer models, if the Raiders and Bills played 10 times in Oakland, the Bills would win 4 of those games. I just want this weekend's game to be one of the four. Is that too much to ask for? A win against Oakland would not only enhance our playoff chances, it would also convince a lot of people (myself included) that this squad might be more than a middling team.

Not one of our more momentous FA signings.

I love the historical reference! I'm also feeling optimistic but will predict a repeat of the '93 season playoff game instead of the '90 playoff game: Bills 29, Raiders 23.

I know this idea is out there but I'm not convinced. Please explain to me the different schemes used in the NFL and how Rex's scheme is more reliant on communication than the other schemes in use. As far as I know, all NFL schemes rely on good pre-snap communication. It's not the 1940s any more. The problem has been - as we've all seen and the Bills have talked about - is that the pre-snap communication hasn't always been timely and accurate.

One of the AFC playoff contenders will win 4 of their last 5. Why not the Bills? We've won 6 of our last 9 since ALynn replaced Roman. Upping our streaking win percentage from 67% to 80% doesn't seem completely unrealistic.