hondo in seattle

Frustrating game. D better than expected. O worse... But ALMOST making some plays.

Dumb return

The D made the Pats look confused and out of sync.

I don't think we're polar opposites but none of it really matters. We'll see what Greg Roman dials up and hopefully it's a winner.

So - if you were coach - Belicheck has already taken away your team's offensive strength: the ground game. The man's a genius because we haven't played a down yet and he's already taken our best weapon away from us. I certainly believe in taking what's given. I don't think they're going to give Sammy a lot of space, so I'd love to see more of Woods and Clay. I also believe in balance and not being predictable. I think we should run outside, run inside, throw short, throw long. We have the weapons to do all those things. I think we should keep them guessing and on their heels.

I'm not sure about the idea of not emphasizing the run. We're 2nd in the NFL in rushing. Are we supposed to shy away from our strength because we're afraid of the Pats defense? If we don't even attempt to establish the running game, Belichick has already won an important battle. I want to see a good mix of passes and runs. I want TT to take some shots down field. I want to see Woods and Clay integrated into the game plan. And I want to see Shady with 20 or more carries. Last time we played the Pats, we passed more than we ran. How did that work out?

Back in 2011 and 2012, McKelvin averaged 19.5 and 18.7 yards per PR. Amazing. He hasn't been nearly as good since. Btw, this was during DeHaven's second stint as ST Coordinator.

I think you guys are all crazy. This is the first game this season that I didn't think we had at least a 50-50 chance of winning. But, man, it would be fun to beat the Pats on MNF!

I think the Pats will crowd the line of scrimmage with the dual intent of clogging the running lanes and pressuring Tyrod. Just because I'm a homer, I say the Bills win anyway 28-27. But if money was involved, I hate to admit that I might pick the Pats.

I'd guess I'd care if I knew who he was????

Once in a blue moon, I'll accidentally read a Sully article. But he's just too whiny and negative for me to enjoy.

I've got to admit my expectations are low for this game. The Pats are clearly the better team and they're at home. Then again, on any given Sunday...

I'm sorry but this sounds like the typical Loser's Lament when someone else wins a lot. I don't believe there's any institutional bias that favors the Pats. I do think that occasionally some refs might give a questionable call to a certain coach or player due to respect, complaint-fatigue, or whatever. That's just human nature. What would writing the NFL a letter accomplish? There are complaints about officiating every week. They already know they've got to find ways to make it better. I don't think there's anything we can do to escalate the NFL's awareness of fan concerns. They're already highly aware. Remember, owners are getting screwed by bad officiating as much as fans. And the NFL is its owners.

Big time college wideout... 2nd round draft pick... relegated to a down-the-field blocker.... It's got to be sorely disappointing.

Not as one sided as Sheppard for Hughes, but I thought trading Greg Bell and picking up Cornelius Bennett was an awfully good trade for the Bills.

Big Cat... I get you're reasoning AND YET.... Chan Gailey found a way to make CJ productive. What can't other OCs?

Yeah, I thought if anyone beside Chan Gailey knew how to use CJ, it would be Sean Payton. Maddog69 might be right.

After he strung together a few nice games, I once thought Drew Bledsoe with the franchise QB we all had been waiting for. We all know how that worked out. TT's play has been impressive. I just think it's way premature to judge him better than RW. Let him build up his resume a little more first.

These models are based on algorithms that attempt to predict future performance based on past performance. I hope this turns out to be a flawed approach. * The offense is still getting better in the first year of Roman's system. The TT-Watkins-Shady combo is still improving. More importantly, the triplets are healthy now and hopefully remain so for the rest of the season. * The defense is still getting better in the first year of Rex' system - which has obviously been a problematic transition. Execution will improve as the season progresses. I'm not convinced that the Bills we've seen at the beginning of the season are the same Bills we'll see at the end. I think there are sound reasons to expect an uptick in performance.

The Pats have won every game this season with the average score being 35-18. We're a squeak ahead of .500. You mention Rex's ability to game plan Brady. What about Belichick's ability to game plan the Bills? I really, really hope we beat the Pats. But I don't see anything in the matchup that says we do.

I hate when WRs are measured by their stats. The strength of the team around them is so important. I agree Moulds was one of the all-time great Bills receivers. Potentially a HOFer if he had played for a team that routinely played on national TV and went to the playoffs.

I know all the Freddy-was-overrated-and-over-the-hill-anyway guys will disagree, but I thought the same thing. Which is not to say I'm unhappy with Shady. Not at all. Shady looks great when healthy. Our O Line, on the other hand, doesn't look great. Besides Richie, we're not winning a lot of one-on-one battles. But Roman's play design combined with Shady's speed and shiftiness seems to work.

Without compelling evidence that Rex is lying, I'm going to take him at his word. Rex has flaws but so far I don't think dishonesty is one of them.

When talking about the team captain controversy, I got the impression that Cowher doesn't like Rex. He made some good points, and in all honesty, I'd rather have Cowher for a head coach. But it was good to see most the commentators supported Rex's decision to make IK a captain. Rex is our coach and I gotta take his side.

That's what I thought when I saw the play live. Davis was looking at Decker as if wondering why he was still tangled up. He wasn't looking at Fitz and was apparently not expecting the ball. I disagree. We earned the turnovers. Then we gave the Jets a gift with the muffed punt and they did nothing with it. The Bills executed better than the Jets. That's why we won. Even the pass to pass to Davis... I think we earned that incompletion by knocking the receivers off their routes when they tried to run an illegal pick play.