hondo in seattle

This is a fair question. My impression is that Klemko implied the Bills fan used the term as an epithet, as if "Muslim" was a bad term and anyone who was Muslim deserves to be tackled. I can't read Klemko's mind but I felt like he was insinuating some sort of drunken racism that doesn't reflect well on Buffalo. Worse, after reading the young lady's article, I'm wondering if he made the whole thing up and that would certainly be outrageous.

The term I heard most was "raghead." Sadly, we soldiers always come up with terms to demean our enemies. It makes killing them easier. But personally when I heard the that term I would quickly correct the speaker and remind him that some of our own were from this part of the world. A lot of so-called "ragheads" were fighting on our side, either as American soldiers or as allies. We were going to kill a bunch of SOBs bearing arms against us and supporting ignoble causes. There was no need, however, to denigrate the culture. Come on man? Where? Americans stand up for what's right and demeaning Muslims - or any other religious or ethnic group - is wrong.

It is outrageous. I had the honor to lead 165 soldiers into combat in Iraq. At least one of the soldiers serving with me was Muslim. He was a courageous, honorable warrior originally from Kuwait. Patriotic Americans and good human beings like him should not be demeaned by racist remarks. This is what pisses me off about Kap. I'm not honoring racists cops when I stand for the anthem. I'm standing for the guys I served with which includes Christians, Muslims, Jews, blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc. To me, Kap's refusing to honor these guys. The crappy, imaginative journalism disappoints but doesn't surprise me. I had a guy from the NYT interview my soldiers during the war and then present a canned, incendiary quote, asking, "Anyone willing to have this quote attributed to them?" One naive 19 year old PFC volunteered and became famous, much to the chagrin of my chain of command. So would Klemko invent a quote to add spice to an article? I don't know Klemko at all but I do know journalists sometimes make stuff up to make articles more compelling. It sounds like this young lady has good reasons to be pissed and I'm glad she's speaking out to defend herself (and all Buffalo).

Do any of the football websites keep a yards-per-dropback stat? I think it would be interesting to see how TT compares to traditional pocket quarterbacks. Tyrod is not as accurate as I'd like him to be. But when other QBs are getting sacked or throwing the ball away, Tyrod is often off and running, turning a negative play into a positive one. How does it all balance out? We've won 4 straight without a highly productive passing game - with TT just as he is. I think we have a real chance to make the playoffs this year.

Good thought. So we should all be happy we started 0-2?

I'm feeling the complete opposite. 1. While I expect a few boos, I think Bills fans will mostly ignore Kap - though the national media won't. Bills fans will be focused on football, not politics. 2. He won't play well. He'll be rusty and I think he may be a bit overrated as a QB anyway. 3. The Bills will win, 22-13.

Why is this so mysterious? People are ultimately accountable for their own decisions and actions. Mario played poorly in 2015 and so far in 2016. He has the ability to play better and - in effect - chooses not to. That's fully on him. On the other hand, coaches are supposed to bring out the best in their players. Rex is doing that this season with Z. Brown and L. Alexander. He didn't last year with Mario. So, yeah, you can call that a leadership failure. Then again, no leader is successful in bringing out the best in everyone who works for them. That's an impossible standard. I'm really not much surprised Mario is dogging it again this year. Then again, I don't much care.

It's real, but unquantifiable.

Good retort! Beyond stats, the most concerning thing is Tyrod's inaccuracy with short and medium length routes. He's off target more often than the average starting QB, certainly more often than elite QBs.

Always loved the Bills, But if Trump bought the franchise, I'd root for the 'Hawks.

Fifty years a fan. Donald Trump our new owner? The bloom off the rose!

Agree. The win streak is great... all quality wins. But it's a long season. The jury's still out on Rex. We'll get the verdict later.

No one stat can tell the whole story but 'points per drive,' IMHO, is the best indicator of a D's true performance. As for individual stats, I'm thrilled to see Zach Brown lead the NFL in tackles and Lorenzo Alexander lead in sacks. Who would have thunk? You're right, it was not a good game against the Jets. But Fitz was on fire. I've never - before or since - seen him throw with that kind of accuracy. He was something like 9 of 10 on so called 50-50 throws and frequently putting it where the DB couldn't make a play.

After an efficient start to his career last year, I had hoped TT would take a step forward this year and prove himself to be a franchise QB. While I'm enjoying the wins and I do appreciate (1) he's not turning the ball over, (2) he's made some nice plays with his legs, and (3) he has made some key completions, I'm beginning to doubt he'll ever be a top tier QB.

I know I didn't predict Zach Brown to be leading the league in tackles and Lorenzo Alexander to be leading the league in sacks after 5 games.

I think Roman had a tendency to overthink things. Lynn has shown the same propensity. Lynn seems to like the obvious: do what you're good at; attack where they're weak.

I agree. Bad teams lose a lot of close games. Good team win a bunch. We've lost our games by less than a TD but won our games by more than a TD. And we're winning the turnover battle - one stat that correlates highly with winning. I get that the offense has not be dominant, that the passing game produces only sporadically. And I get the defense looks soft at times. But we deserve to be 3-2, and we deserved to beat the Rams.

I predicted the Bills to win last week and I'll go with the Bills again. Bills 19, Rams 17.

Football is a violent game. Injuries happen. And not every injury will be fully corrected by one surgery. Medical science just hasn't reached that level yet. I seriously doubt our doctors are incompetent. And I don't know it's okay to denigrate people online without any actual knowledge.

The NFL's best teams have a bunch of solid starters and then a few superstars who put them over the top. We don't have enough superstars to be one of the league's best teams. So I can't be in favor of giving up one of the few we have unless we get a guaranteed superstar in return. I wouldn't even trade Marcel away for a #1. I think the chances of Marcel learning from his mistakes are greater than a first round pick becoming as good as him.

I flew armed on a commercial airplane once... as a soldier going to war. It was surreal. We were all geared up but had stewardesses on the airplane offering to stow our weapons for us. When we arrived at our destination, the stewardess returned our weapons and offered tearful goodbyes. If a movie showed a scene like this, I would have thought it implausibly stupid.

This is the league of second chances and if he's fit and healthy, I'd give him one.

Marcell mentioned the ADHD and now everyone is running with it. But I think he may also have a problem with depression. Both his parents died. His grandparents died. His brother was murdered. His high school coach and mentor died in a car accident after dropping him off. While he doesn't often talk about these things to reporters, when he does these personal tragedies clearly affect him deeply. My guess, as a distant observer, is that Marcell would rather talk about the ADHD than the depression because it's an easier topic to address. But, in fact, he's having trouble dealing with both.

I actually think Roman's deficiencies are more complicated than that. Roman is not a good coordinator. He's a good play-designer and an okay coordinator. He's especially good at designing running plays, not so much at passing plays. When it comes to game planning, he doesn't take a lot of input from subordinate coaches. So the collective wisdom of the coaching staff is wasted. That's not smart leadership. And he tends to over-complicate things. He requires players to learn more plays each week than the average coordinator. So they end up mastering none of the plays. And, you're right, he's not a good play caller. He tries to outsmart the opposing DC rather than playing to our strengths and developing rhythm.

My wife's theory is that whenever we... um, get friendly... the night or morning before a game, the Bills win.