hondo in seattle

On a related issue, who gets more carries this week: Bryce or Boobie? Boobie's supposedly been dressing - and Brown has not - because Dixon plays ST. With both dressed, which one does Hackett, Marrone actually like more in the backfield? Brown is averaging 4.6 ypc for his career. Dixon, a short yardage specialist, is averaging a mere 2.5 though he's picking up 3.9 as a Bill.

I'm surprised by the pessimism. Yep, the Jets are better than their record. But their record is 1-6. Despite their strengths, they pretty adept at finding ways to lose. Despite our weaknesses, we've found ways to win more often than not so far this season. And, yes, the interior of our OL isn't good. But that isn't news. We've been worried about this since camp. Somehow, we're still 4-3. Because of the matchups, I think both teams will find it challenging to move the ball but I'll go with the Bills in a low scoring affair.

I never feel embarrassed by a win. This is football. Lots of games are won by grit, determination... and defense. We committed four turnovers and still won. Somebody did something right. I've too often seen the Bills find ways to lose. How exciting to see them find a way to win at the end! Go Bills!

From a Seattle message board: "Danny O'Neil is talking about it on KIRO right now and is speculating that it may have something to do with the fact that Percy hasn't been practicing the past few weeks, basically he's saying that it may be an attitude thing." http://forums.twobil...er/page__st__40 (Thanks to Smooth for the link).

This is comical. Certainly Marrone and Hacket open themselves to criticism. But none of us know half of what you need to know to be a successful OC in the NFL. It's often true that outsiders think they can do some job better than the insiders. It's rarely true. The question isn't whether Hackett knows the OC better job better than the average fan. He does. The question is can he do it better than the 31 other OCs in the NFL. He can't. At least not yet.

The old adage, "Game are won in the trenches" still has some validity. Our own defensive trench guys are (usually) keeping us in games. But our offensive trenchmen limit our ability to run or throw.

I voted Marrone because I expect Marrone to continue. I might even want Marrone. I don't think he's doing a great job but I don't want to fire him just to fire him only to replace him with someone worse. If The Chin wants to come coach Buffalo, though, I'm all for it.

I didn't want Trump to buy the Bills - despite his promises to keep them in Buffalo - because I just don't like the guy. His classless, sour-grapes criticism of the Pegulas reinforces my non-liking of him.

As has been said maybe a million times in various threads, Hackett has a lot to learn. Spiller would be more effective in a different offense run by a different OC. He'd also be more effective if we had a better OL. And, finally, he'd be more effective if he was stronger and hit "holes" (as much as the OL creates them) with decisiveness. Mods, can we merge the Hackett-is-a-failure thread?

Mostly true but we had 600 yards passing in the past two games. Someone is getting some receiving yards, just not Williams.

I hope EJ learns and gets better. But for now, I agree with this. Orton is throwing for 300 yards a game. You can talk about QBR and passer efficiency rating but sometimes you just need production. Though production w/o turnovers would be much better!

I've seen some good Bills assessments from the Globe before (after the SB years, let me add in deference to House). They seem to cover the NFL pretty well. But it's kind of funny to read: "Corner Leodis McKelvin has excellent ball skills..."

I like this plan because his ideas on building a NFL winner are repeatable. He built the Bills into a team that could get to the SB every year. Got Carolina to the NFC Championship game in his 2nd or 3rd year. Then built the Colts into a SB winner. Polian also loves Buffalo. (Btw, I was reading parts of his book in the bookstore the other day - he spends most of the book reflecting on his time with the Bills. Great stuff).

6.0 YPC carry a couple years ago. Maybe we can trade Hackett????

If I recall, we had a run of maybe 6 games when Fitz was the starter where we averaged close to 30 points per game. And it was amazing - partly because Fitz was the QB. Any coach who can get 30 points per game with a Fitz led offense and a weak OL is a genius! But Chan couldn't sustain it. So in the end I don't think Chan was a genius. And I don't think Hackett is entirely unqualified to be an OC. I even sympathize with Hackett for the guards and QBs he had to work with last year. All the same, I do fault him for misusing CJ. Chan may not have been a genius but he did use Spiller better than Hackett. Let's see if Orton gets the passing game going and if that, in turn, starts to open up the run game, making CJ more productive.

It's true that it took Chan a while to learn how to use Spiller. But he did learn. Hackett has not. At least not yet. You would think he'd study the tapes and figure out the problem. The stats you cite show Spiller getting about 600 total yards offense less under Hackett (1st year) than under Gailey (last year). That's a significant drop. Worse, maybe, are the stats you leave out. Let's look at CJ's yards per carry: 2011: 5.2 2012: 6.0 2013: 4.6 2012: 3.5 In Spiller's last two years with Chan, he ran for more than 5 yards per carry! That's awesome productivity that he hasn't been able to match under Hackett.

It's almost anticlimactic now... but this is a day worth celebrating!

So Khan says we need to upgrade the stadium experience. So do McNair and Rooney. Today, I suspect, other owners will say the same. Of course NFL owners want us to either upgrade our stadium or, preferably, build a new one. It's all about branding. Every stadium reflects on the NFL brand. Why wouldn't other owners want us to upgrade our stadium when it costs them nothing?

I'm not certain I've seen Orton make any throws EJ couldn't make. I am certain that Orton was more consistent with both his throws and decisions than EJ has been this year.

Severe desperation often results in the sacrifice of principle. I'm in.

So I guess we lost to the Lions in Detroit by like 20 points.

It's not entirely irrelevant. In his best games this year, EJ was efficient but not very productive. Sometimes you need your QB to throw for 300 yards. Yesterday our backs were not very productive against a good Lions D, but Orton was. I doubt if EJ - at least at this point in his career - would have put up 300 against the Lions.

While I'm far from a Hackett apologist, I wonder how much the deficiencies of the OL effect Hackett's play-calling. Does he call low-reward plays over and over because they're also low risk? Does he want to call better run plays but doesn't believe the OL can execute? I'm just playing devil's advocate. We didn't have a great OL under Gailey yet Gailey's offense created run lanes for the backs. I believe I've heard Marrone use both.

Which proves that a one game sample isn't enough to go on - something I think we all understand. Still, it's more encouraging to see a 300 yard game than a 100 yard game. Especially when the new QB is a veteran and not a rook. Orton was expected to play like a vet and, after a while, he did.

I wish Hackett could figure out how to use him. But since that's not happening, maybe he has some trade value. But it would tough to watch him get 1,000 yards for some other team. Lynch made the Pro Bowl three times with the 'Hawks and was an integral part of their Super Bowl season. We gave him away for a 5th rounder. I really don't want to get into the habit of dealing running backs with the potential to excel.