RealityCheck

I agree. Let's keep in mind that Hacket had Thad to run the offense in 2 of the division wins. Who was playing wide receiver in the 4th quarter yesterday? You are so right about these divisional games. A win next week would make my season on so many levels. Go Bills!

Don't forget the spear to Fitzpiksix in Toronto. Championship?

According to my calculations, the Bills are due to draft Spiller's replacement in the first round this April. Who is considered the best runner this year? They need more runners.

Chandler is done in Buffalo.

Evaluating Stevie for me is quite simple. I have seen him help this team lose more than I've seen him help them win. Moving forward, I don't see his game improving. He and Chandler are expendable.

The Texans defense has never been predicated upon fooling anybody or a reliance upon blitzing to create a pass rush. They are getting pushed around up front on 3rd downs with regularity and have no answers.

The kid is young and simply struggles playing zones right now. He is obviously thinking more than playing. Hopefully he can shake it off by the end of the season.

The fact of the matter is that a tremendous amount of change has occurred over the past 11 months. Some good and some bad. All of which are in constant flux when you look at things annually. The one thing that I have noticed is that unlike the previous decade, this team is healthy in December after a season of running a full-time no-huddle, a blitzing defense, and ran a ton of plays through 3 rookie QB and 2 beat up running backs. The second thing is that the Bills are 2-2 in the division with a legitimate shot at being 4-2 in the division. Even 3-3 in the division this year means quite a bit to me. A win against New England under any set of circumstances would make my off-season so much better.

You went in a circle. You mentioned a bunch of hypotheticals and made analogies but didn't really speak to the obvious advantage of extra rest and prep time. Again, having an advantage and capitalizing are 2 different things. Every season there are coaches and players that f*** up a wet dream and mismanage their bye weeks or win the division early and think that they can chose to take games off. Those are choices that are made in the face of obvious advantage that each have specific outcomes and are open to debate on their own merits.

You are confusing what is an obvious advantage with how well teams capitalize on this advantage. They are 2 different things that don't take into account the specifics of those match-ups. Even when you look at that 54% as the beginning and end of the discussion of bye week advantage, how do you quantify it for 3 games in a single season?

Well said. All the cliches get away from talking about what is specifically going wrong for this team. Hopefully this Sunday goes well as I've barely managed to not jump head first off of my roof the previous 2 Sundays.

No offense, but you are all over the place. Now you believe that malice is involved in the schedule? I think you see what you want to see. Good luck.

The problem with all analogies is that when you make them, you stop talking about the specific details that define a situation and bring in an abstract set of unrelated circumstances that have their own specific flaws. For instance, in your analogy the weapon being used may be the same, but in the eyes of the law, the knee shot will at least be a lower grade assault charge while the head shot is likely to be much heavier charge. Forget about the differences in potential civil cases. See, a poor analogy that gets us off topic. Extra rest and preparation are advantages. The ability of a team to capitalize on said advantage is a different subject entirely. The degree at which teams are getting extra prep time against the Bills is extreme and is something that should be addressed effectively by the league moving forward.

It's very simple. The Jets have a tenuous grip on a playoff spot right now, and coaching jobs may in fact be on the line for them if they miss it. At best he has a handful of great games left, and that depends on a great many factors, with health and assignments being the big ones. For the Bills to have made that move given current events, you would have to ask what he brings to the table next year first.

TJ gets open down field at least 3 or 4 times a game where a pass is not attempted. Could Marcus get open for big plays? I think so. Will he get an accurate throw when he is? See TJ above. EJ has to give his guys an accurate ball before I can form an opinion on some of these guys. Since EJ and all of the receivers are inconsistent in execution, it is hard to tell. When I watch the all-22 for myself, guys are getting open.

The NFL will do whatever it takes to squeeze every red cent it can out of the fans. What us fans would like to see or what is best for the players will remain irrelevant unless an issue falls into the realm of affecting profitability. The real question is what mechanisms exist for fans to influence the NFL on this subject effectively without it costing us more money and time than we already spend.

I just look at it like this. For a fan, fantasy and opinion are real things. As much football as I watch, all of my BS analysis comes full circle from time to time, and simplicity comes back to the picture. The sole purpose for an organization is to win the Super Bowl from a marketing perspective. That is their message every second of the day. The top QBs say it dozens of times to the media every week. Fans spend billions together, in the hopes that this is their year. I think that some of you are confusing the ultimate goal in football with the various consolation prizes that come with valiant but futile efforts. That is the romance of the game. I am with that too. It is just that when you guys bring up Trent Dilfer, I know exactly who that is, and can remember some big 3rd down conversions against the Giants defense. I hate the Giants, and Dilfer did his part. Thank you Trent. When you bring up Marino, the first thing I think of is Ace Ventura.

One became a champion on the biggest stage of the year, the other...had some records.

Super Bowl wins is an excellent way to grade a QB.

Run defense is a function of everybody on defense. KW struggles against the double team, but 99% of players struggle in that situation. Love him or hate him, who on this roster plays DT better than Kyle Williams?

The Bills number one problem is execution of the play call. Bad throws, drops, and not seeing guys getting open elsewhere is the problem. Once they hit OT, like it or not, running the ball re-enters the big picture.

Going for it on 4th and 1 should be attempted any time you are inside your opponents 10. Just my opinion and nothing will change my mind on that one. It's a mindset that I believe leads a lot more good than bad. Let's keep in mind that the real pressure in those situations falls upon your opponent's defense if you are a good offensive play caller.

QB is the missing piece. Consistent, quality play at that position makes this team a division leader at this point in the season. I don't know how to accurately grade the rest of the team when so many plays are left on the field in the passing game. It completely skews the game when the most important position on the field is so wildly inconsistent.

I would say Alive from 1993 is pretty close.

I fail to see your point. You're making even bigger generalities than I did. The Byrd situation has it's own specific set of circumstances to draw conclusions from. If Byrd really was injured this whole time, then his asking price made little sense. If he was faking it until now while guaranteed 7 million for the season, then he is a fraud as far as team players go. Either way closure is imminent. As for the lack of playoffs for 13 years, it hasn't been missed because of guards and safeties jumping ship. QB play is the lynch pin. When you have a QB play at a really high level, teams tend to spend more. Without a franchise QB, they get cold feet. Byrd isn't going to lead a team to the playoffs.