hondo in seattle

You can dissect even a game like this and find lots to improve. That's what a coach has to do - continually push the team to get better. As a fan, however, I just want to luxuriate in the afterglow until the Raiders come to town next week.

Very solid. Not great. Made a couple of tackles. Pushed the pocket a couple times. Jumped offside once, giving the Chiefs a first down. It was first game and a good start to his (HOF???) career. Looked like he belongs in the NFL.

Sully is the friend who always points out that every silver lining really covers a dark cloud. If the sun is shining and you say, "What a beautiful day!", Sully will respond, "Yeah, but it will rain tomorrow." Just by chance, sometimes he'll be right. I wonder what he'll say about the KC win?

Agree on both counts. Neither of the other Bills backs, incidentally, had as many yards per carry as Freddy behind the same line.

We all think the Senator is nuts but he was pretty close!

I wonder about Haley. He fired Chan which didn't seem like a smart move. And Charlie Weis left after one year take the same job (OC) at the college level. Makes you think that Haley can't get along with his assistant coaches. Maybe a control freak? Maybe too arrogant to listen to other ideas? A lot of fans in KC don't seem to like him and I'm glad we have Gailey instead.

Wanny is the mentor that Edwards needs. And he'll have the LBs ready to play.

Best wishes to you. Life is cyclical and better times await. I hope they come soon. And I hope the Bills win for your family's sake - and for all of us!

I often think Jauron was under-rated as a coach. He simply had too few NFL caliber players. He achieved 7-9 records despite having 4-12 talent. Look at Jauron's staff. Bobby April was a great ST coach. Perry Fewell was a very good DC. We were an OC away from having a great coaching staff. Obviously, Jauron wasn't a fiery leader. Statements like "It's hard to win in the NFL" aren't what fans - or players - want to hear from their leader. Nonetheless, the team played hard and mostly played up to their potential. But the ceiling was low because of years of bad drafts and poor personnel moves. I am happy with the Nix/Gailey combo so far and don't want to go back. But I do think Jauron is somewhat better than his record or his reputation.

In honor of that song, I won't shave game day weekends. Great post.

The scary truth is that the Bills would be even more profitable in SoCal. However, it is good news that the Bills are profitable. Business isn't just business. Businessmen are people with emotions and they are often sports fans too. Our hope has to be that a local billionaire buys the Bills when Ralph goes off to Valhalla. Buying the team would be an emotional decision. The fact that the Bills are profitable makes it justifiable from a business perspective.

PTR, I usually agree with you but this is just speculation based on far too little information. The fact that someone with a MBA is making a wild-ass guess doesn't make it any more than a wild-ass guess.

+1

Ralph is a businessman and is supposed to maximize the value of his investment. This is good news for Bills fans. If the franchise was a financial mess, Ralph (or whoever owns the club after Ralph passes) would have to move it somewhere else where it would make money. No one will operate a NFL team at a loss for very long. Nix and Gailey are not caretakers. Nix has said repeatedly that he has the authority to spend to cap. In fact, he says he's had to discourage Ralph from signing high-priced big-name FAs. The Bills activity in free agency seems entirely consistent with the Nix/Gailey vision for the team. They are signing players that fit the Nix/Gailey mold and ignoring everyone else. Nix/Gailey are in charge of the players and coaching staff, not Ralph. Though I'm sure Ralph gets involved somewhat like all owners do. If you owned a NFL team worth hundreds of millions of dollars, wouldn't you get involved? How do you know what Ralph cares about? Do you have some kind of supernatural insight into his emotional state that you want to share with us? Have you ever even had a conversation with the man? I'm trying to understand why you think you can guess what he cares about with more accuracy than the average fan. My guess is that Ralph cares about winning and I base that on two observations (1) he says so, and (2) people generally prefer winning to losing. The fact that Ralph has not proven himself exceptionally adept at winning is not evidence to the contrary. But let's not forget 4 SB teams and 2 AFL championships.

Senator, do you honestly think it will be that close???

I think Bell gets overlooked because the Bills have been blessed with good running backs over the years. Bell is just one of a distinguished group that has included Gilchrist, OJ, Cribbs, Thomas... Terry Miller was very good for a year. McGahee, Lynch and Henry weren't bad at all. Even some of our back up Running Backs (e.g. Roland Hooks) and Fullbacks (e.g. Jim Braxton) were pretty good. Our list of distinguished QBs would be much shorter.

Bills at Chiefs Florio’s take: Former Chiefs offensive coordinator Chan Gailey returns to town as head coach of the Bills. And the Bills could give the Chiefs everything they can handle. And I wish I had the guts to pick the upset here. Florio’s pick: Chiefs 23, Bills 20. Rosenthal’s take: Does the preseason matter at all? If so, the Chiefs offense is in huge trouble. No group looked more disjointed. They haven’t solved their receiver issues and the offense line struggled badly. Buffalo’s attempts to improve their rush defense will be tested here. They’ll pass the test. Rosenthal’s pick: Bills 26, Chiefs 21. Hondo's Take: The Bills refurbished defense will shut down the Chief's Wies-less offense. And Buffalo's no name offense will start making names for themselves Sunday in Kansas City. Hondo's pick: Bills 21, Chiefs 13. http://profootballta...picks-2/related

Bills at Chiefs Florio’s take: Former Chiefs offensive coordinator Chan Gailey returns to town as head coach of the Bills. And the Bills could give the Chiefs everything they can handle. And I wish I had the guts to pick the upset here. Florio’s pick: Chiefs 23, Bills 20. Rosenthal’s take: Does the preseason matter at all? If so, the Chiefs offense is in huge trouble. No group looked more disjointed. They haven’t solved their receiver issues and the offense line struggled badly. Buffalo’s attempts to improve their rush defense will be tested here. They’ll pass the test. Rosenthal’s pick: Bills 26, Chiefs 21. Hondo's Take: The Bills refurbished defense will shut down the Chief's Wies-less offense. And Buffalo's no name offense will start making names for themselves Sunday in Kansas City. Hondo's pick: Bills 21, Chiefs 13. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/08/pfts-week-one-picks-2/related

Bills 24 Seahawks 21

Bills 20, Chief 13

Thank God the Greg Williams years are behind us too. His defense didn't look well-prepared yesterday.

Ron Wolf, the GM who made the Packers a Super Bowl team in the 1990s, said that he didn't care much about draft position either. He said a fair draft was getting one Pro Bowl type player - regardless of the round. He said a really great draft included 2 or more Pro Bowl type players. He said he didn't care if the 1st rounder was a bust... they just couldn't all be busts. One or more players each draft had to be more than just role players - they had to be impact players.

so nice to see a guy with a buffalo on his helmet have time to throw and good to hear van miller too

Folks will get tired of the national media talking about Fitz when the Bills go 12-4 this year.

+1