hondo in seattle

Sully's tone has changed since the Raiders game. Far more upbeat now. Still, I couldn't resist emailing him: Jerry, Back before the Chiefs game, many of us "Billievers" were enthusiastically optimistic about the upcoming season. We loved the way Nix was dumping the baggage of the old regime and acquiring players who had both the desire and ability to win and fit into our offensive and defensive schemes. We loved Chan's no-nonsense leadership and innovative offensive ideas. Even the more astute members of the national media were cautiously positive about the Bills. Both PFT's Mike Florio and SI's Peter King, for example, wrote that they would not be surprised if the Bills made the playoffs. Ever the contrarian, one of our own Buffalo sportswriters, though, had this to say: "This roster is a crumbling monument to neglect and bad personnel moves." It's odd how two people look at the same thing and see something completely different. When we encounter differences like this, we learn more about the observers than the thing observed. I wonder when the mea culpa is coming? Go Bills! Brian

+1 All the male fans should should up at the Ralph sporting fake or real beards in homage to the Amish Rifle.

The Chiefs game turned out to be an "easy" win. But I don't think the Bills are good enough yet (particularly not the defense) to count on "easy" wins. I think we need to fight hard every game. Even the early 90s Bills fell flat some games. This team has less talent. They can't afford flat efforts.

A sportswriter in Houston had us #5 BEFORE the New England game. http://blog.chron.com/nfl/2011/09/week-3-nfl-power-rankings/ It's amazing we're ranked between #3 and #8. People are jumping on the Bills bandwagon awfully fast. Btw, in the NFL.com scoring system (combining the rankings of their 9 'experts'), the Bills are tied for the Pats for #5. Only the Packers, Saints, Lions and Ravens are in front of us. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8229d2e3/article/week-4-power-poll-pack-solid-while-eagles-jets-take-big-falls?module=HP11_headline_stack

Really? I recall not being super excited or hopeful back then. I felt like I just flipped a quarter 3 times and each time it came up heads. Random luck, nothing more. We looked like a .500 team getting some breaks. The current team does have a different feel. There's a lot more heart, a lot more drive to win. I just wish (1) we don't suffer any catastrophic injuries and (2) the defense comes together and starts keeping the yardage/point totals down. Even with those concerns, this is the most hopeful I've been in a loooong time.

This is ranked according to sacks given up - a misleading stat. The Bills don't give up a lot of sacks because Chan designs quick-hitting plays and Fitz gets rid of the ball quickly. I do agree, though, that the Bills offensive line has played surprisingly well.

In years past, Freddie averaged 4.5 yards per carry behind a bad line. He'd make something out of nothing and was among the league leaders in yards after contact. This year behind an improving line, he's averaging 6.4 yards per carry so far. Fun to watch!

Two games doesn't make a trend. The slow start against the Pats wasn't due to a lack of preparation. Fitz threw two picks. One was a good throw that should have been a positive gain. The other was just a bad throw - Fitz does that from time to time. Even the best coaches have to deal with receivers occasionally dropping balls and QBs occasionally misfiring. In both the Raiders and Pats games, you could see early on that the Bills were going to move the ball. Sometimes the best prepared teams just don't execute at 100% the whole game. Players have to play.

I'd feel a bit better if Roscoe was healthy and if we hung onto the ball more often. But even as it is, the receiving corps does indeed look good.

I do billieve the Bills are for real. But I am not impressed by the rushing stats. Both the Chiefs and Raiders had a high yards-per-carry figure. In fact, the Bills were giving up 5.0 ypc after the first two games! The Bills ability to score forced opponents to throw, thus keeping the yardage totals down. The Rush D did look good today, though. And the offense has been spectacular in every game so far.

For the most part, the Bills are playing as I (and many of us) thought they would play this year. The one thing surprising me is the play of the offensive line. Freddy's getting some big holes to run through and Fitz isn't getting sacked a lot (though this is also a factor of his quick decisions).

He was angry. Didn't want to talk. Short, bitter answers. "Chan did a great job with the team."

Today's a day to celebrate but, yeah, I'm worried about the defense, too. We've given up a lot of points the last couple weeks against, admittedly, good offenses. The four picks were nice but we don't get consistent pressure on opposing QBs nor do we cover particularly well.

There are a lot of Belichick and Pats lovers on this site who seemed to think Belichick is infallible and the Pats unbeatable. The Beli-philes, for example, praised the signing of Ochocinco and Haynesworth and attacked anyone who suggested that the Pats maybe made a mistake with these two. So far Ochocinco and Haynesworth haven't done much. Ochocinco's biggest play in the Bills game was his drop of a long Brady pass. The Beli-philes also thought the Bills had no/little chance to beat the Bills. Obviously, that assessment was wrong. I understand the respect for the Pats. It's a great franchise and Belichick is a great coach. But they do make mistakes. They do lose games. And their Defense has looked pathetic so far this year. Today's win over the Pats was not shocking! Like many BILLIVERS, I expected a track meet and, boy, was it fun to come out on top at the finish!

We have a few posters who seem to be servicemen by their locations. Thanks for your service! Go Bills!

Some great locales... a bar in Bangkok... the Taj Mahal... I guess if I was on a mountain in the Himalayas, I could probably find a Bills fan.

I envy all the big screen TVs. I'll be watching online on my laptop here in cloudy Seattle.

"Online" wasn't invented yet when I was in. Never saw a single Bills game in Korea or Saudi Arabia. I'm glad this weekend the brave folks in uniform can see the Bills beat the Pats. Good Bless our troops! Go Bills!

A pic of a very determined Freddy running through Pat defenders vainly trying to bring him down.

+1 He doesn't have a really strong arm. He says sometimes he likes to let receivers make plays. From a fan's perspective, this often looks like his long balls are being tossed up for grabs. Those concerns aside, I really like Fitz. He seems very capable of reading defenses and making quick decisions. And he's something of a coach on the field, making little adjustments with the receivers.

The Pats should be favored given their Coach, QB, recent Win-Loss record overall and against the Bills. But as I wrote earlier, many expect a track meet. Here are a couple typical predictions from PFT: Patriots at Bills Florio’s take: The Patriots have beaten the Bills 15 straight times. New England coach Bill Belichick said that the guys who won most of those games will be watching the latest installment of the rivalry on TV. But not Tom Brady. One of the greatest quarterbacks of all time is playing like a guy who thinks he can retire someday as the consensus greatest of all time. Florio’s pick: Patriots 35, Bills 27. Rosenthal’s take: Raiders-Bills last week felt like an old AFL shootout. Patriots-Bills should be more of the same, except the old AFL Patriots weren’t very good. This New England group, even without Aaron Hernandez, can win shootouts with anyone. Rosenthal’s pick: Patriots 38, Bills 31.

I agree with you but want to point that a chip on your shoulder isn't going to make you a productive NFL player. It requires talent too. For whatever reason, the talent of these guys was overlooked by other teams.

Fitz is goofy & silly sometimes and screams like a 12 year old girl. But he's self-confident and instills self-confidence in the players around him. He's a good, if quirky, leader. Thanks for the link.

The national media types I've seen/read are predicting a track meet for obvious reasons. Both Offenses are scoring a lot of points. Both defenses have some weaknesses. Given the following facts, most the national guys are justifiably expecting the Pats to edge the Bills in a close high-scoring game: * The Bills haven't beat the Pats since Fitz was studying for Economics 101 * Brady has been amazing so far this year. * Whatever their flaws, the Pats usually win no matter who they are playing. The way to silence our critics is to keep winning.