RealityCheck

I have one thing to say here. Crying about the play call "into the end zone" is ridiculous. There were 4 more routes underneath that were run. How long will some of you guys watch football and still not understand what the hell is going on. Fitz chose to throw it to the wrong guy in that situation when the money throws were underneath with enough time on the clock to take at least one shot into the end zone at close range. Wow! Chan calls the play, Fitz makes his reads, then decides where to throw it. If he throws it where he shouldn't or is inaccurate, then that is on Fitz. So you"re saying that it doesn't matter which route the receiver runs, why call any plays then? Just let everybody run around and leave it to the QB to make the right "read".

If the rest of the league can't figure it out, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the Bills to stop him either.

I could not agree more with the OP. In any walk of life you back your people up when others step over the line. Is a few chop blocks too much to ask. With all the penalties the O-line was racking up what would have been a few more?

Chan is not a genius, but if this team had a high quality QB then he would at least appear to be one. Fitz simply cannot drop the ball in between 2 defenders with any kind of precision. The other QBs on the team are garbage too.

You make a lot of sense. When it comes to the passing game, I am far more tolerant of conservative play calling where Fitz is concerned. But when it comes to the running game, you have to keep swinging the hammer at them. If Chan would have stayed balanced and kept that wildcat garbage on the shelf, I am confidant that the final 2 minutes of that game could have been exciting. The irony is that Chan is the one that seems to lack the mental toughness to run the ball consistently.

A penny saved is a penny earned. You and many others continue to bellyache, but Ralph is in the money making business first and foremost. If you can find a quote from him to the contrary please share. The man's actions over the past 50 years speaks for itself. The fact that you chose to vilify the man when you can't admit to yourself that you've duped yourself is based on ego. If you're gonna buy the ticket you take the ride.

It's one thing for the team to suck. But wow, most posters around here have such a quitter mentality about a game they really don't understand. I love the fact that the odds are truly against this team, and if they happen to steal a big time road win my beer will taste absolutely amazing. The birds will sing and the clouds will part, and a beam of sunlight will shine upon my barstool. Some of you sound like the crybabies that always got picked last for dodgeball, would just stand there knowing your gonna get targeted first and not even try to compete, then go sit under the tree and sulk.

Something else to think about is that Bill Bellicheat won his Super Bowls using a cover-2 scheme. Cover-2 is his bread and butter despite his history as a 3-4 style coordinator. As another poster has stated, there are numerous coverages within that shell, or "look" if you will. Belichek ran a bend but don't break scheme that was focused on letting the opposing team's offense run time off the clock, don't give up the big plays, for every completion underneath you punish the guy with big hits and as the field shrinks you creep up on the line and jump routes out of a common cover-2 look. Obviously he sprinkled in some exotic blitzes for specific situations but most of his scheme was based on a very basic "look" to disguise small coverage adjustments as an offense would pass the 50 yard line. BB was also fortunate to have quality players all over the field to execute the scheme. Currently, even his defenses of late struggle at times against the better teams.

I don't think anyone could spell it out better than what you just did. The Bills own their record and their reputation. Only they can change this. The schedule change as the OP suggests is unreasonable.

Exactly! That's another industry I no longer support. I love my road trips.

There seems to be a lot of sour grapes in this thread. RW has been a constant for over 50 years. His business approach has been consistent the whole time, yet somehow you people always expect a different outcome. The world is run by the supremely wealthy and RW is not anywhere near that league of influence. It's simple economics. If you don't like the product don't buy it. Otherwise you are a fool, and there is nothing more foolish then not taking a fool's money. The writing has been on the wall for a long time and giving up my tickets was a personal challenge this offseason, but my irrational funding of an industry that is a proverbial economic vacuum cleaner has finally ended. The MLB strike poisoned my love of baseball, and current trends have poisoned my desire to make the 12 hour round trip to Buffalo. The fear that an underachieving sports franchise is going to skip town is based on a classic ploy that is almost as old as prostitution. The notion that these huge nationally connected franchises care about the fans is for children. It's all about the money. The fact that a portion of the fan base cares so much about the finances of this team is truly irrational. Is Ralph gonna help you pay your bills? But hey, what do I know, it's your money. I mean Ralph's money. One last thing. It appears that the fair market value of many season tickets at the Ralph is far below the face value. People resell their tickets at massive discounts. Why be the moron that pays face value to be surrounded by fans that paid half price?

You seem focused on fans perceiving the team as you do. As a consumer who's MO is "you vote everyday with how you spend your money", I can't fathom blind loyalty to a corporation that merely costs money with no tangible exchange of quality services being rendered. For most fans it is a TV show for C*****'s sake. The only way to send a message to the FO is to give up your tickets and don't give them your money. If you lack the courage to cast your vote in the only way that matters then you share culpability in the final product. I gave up my season tickets based on the current trends in the NFL. The costs to the fans moving forward is undeniable, and if the Bills do in fact stay in Buffalo long enough a new stadium is inevitable and don't be surprised by a huge uptick in either ticket prices or PSLs which amount to the same thing, money the average fan simply will not have. I don't mean to lecture but you are insulting a lot of Bills fans that simply have not gotten their money's worth and are questioning if it is still worth supporting the team. In this economy moving forward, how can you question their logic?

I love your optimism. The best part about optimism is that it doesn't cost a thing. Go Bills!

Of all the odd aspects of this thread I find it suspicious that no one blames Minny's vanilla defensive scheme and lack of adjustments for the blowout. They play a basic defense and challenge you to beat them in the one on ones. Even when they blitz it is usually out of a cover-2 shell whether it be 4-3 or nickel packages. Not particularly complicated.

The problem with the predictability argument is that the offense will also attack in a predictable manor. That's when players who play fast start jumping routes with success, which is the idea. When 7 and 8 guys drop back on 3rd and long it should be to the defenses advantage. We have nothing at LB, a secondary that doesn't trust what it sees yet, and DEs that can't beat the man in front of them.

If the rest of the team can't fill gaps consistently in a base 4-3 then what will additional front combinations add?

The great DTs in this league if healthy aged like fine wine. I don't care how well a guy flashes early in their career, it takes years to become a consistent player. KW flashed early in his career but is not in the same zipcode as KW before his ankle surgery. That is a testament to experience, hard work, and natural physical maturity. MD if everything goes right will play his best football in the years to come. Keep in mind that these are not one year contracts. MD is an investment and only time will tell.

Most of last year's playoff teams would beat the 1990 Bills for one reason only. The physical disparity between those players of the past to the present would decide the game. The size and speed of the average modern NFL roster decides it. I loved what we had in the 90's but they were physically overmatched then in the big one and it would be far worse today.

The rule changes in the NFL are starting to sour the milk for me. I have always been a fanatic about defense but the rules are trending towards the absurd. PI and roughing the passer calls these days are very hard to digest. As the OP stated the NFL is in the greed business. The game is becoming what they can sell on TV. No more and no less.

As disappointing as this team has been so far, reading these threads have usually cheered me up. The bellyaching and woe is me attitude amongst people with no skin in the game is pretty funny. Common sense should have told people that with all the starters coming back from season ending injuries combined with young players in a new defensive scheme that this season was going to be rough. For those of you wanting Wanny fired I suggest you take a look at Perry Fewell's vanilla scheme growing pains with the Giants who have more talent on defense than the Bills do. For those of you who understand what they see without a 3rd party explanation Belichek is running a vanilla 4-3 scheme as well. The rules favor the offenses too much for defensive cleverness to be the linchpin of success anymore. Dick LeBeau's zone blitz scheme offers nothing new these days and the good teams use the spread to expose it. 8 guys in coverage should make it virtually impossible to convert 3rd and long. As much as I love heavy blitz schemes you need instant pressure or your toast. Until this team can handle a simple defensive game plan I fail to see how they could possibly manage a more complex one. If you're failing algebra you don't jump into calculus. The rules and current trends favor the spread offense vs. the nickel. Look at some of the big half time collapse this year. The teams down by a few scores late in the game turn to the hurry-up spread, start to pass and run out of it and the D that shut them down gets exposed. I am not saying that fans should not be disappointed but crying about it everyday just seems silly.

This thread has a lot of estrogen. It reads like a chick flick. Some of you people need to realize that the Bills can't commit to winning. No matter how long you sit around waiting for them to kick off, no matter what you cooked that day, they come home and lose all over the place. Your left drunk, dizzy and violated for 3 hour and they leave without saying goodbye. I bet some of you sell your own bodies to pay for watching. I say take a shower. Get some self respect and stop crying. Maybe then they'll pop the question, give you the ring, and show you the baby.

The only change I want to see is winning football games. Who and how doesn't matter to me.

The final 2 minutes was garbage. The only problem with isolating the final 2 minutes is that the defense played like garbage for 60 minutes. I am eager for this team to get a better QB, but the real story this year is that the very best this defense can do is show up for 30 minutes, tops. Sometimes not at all. People with season tickets for the Bills should be able to use them as a charitable deduction for their taxes, then perhaps I would have kept mine.