Forward Progress

I feel like I've waiting for years for the Pats** to fall back, so we could take over. Now I don't care how good the Pats are because I believe we are climbing up to where they are. Do I expect to win the Super Bowl this year? It's a tough road for any team so expecting Super Bowl feels a little over the top. I do believe we are a playoff team that can beat other playoff teams. I also think our opponents get a little tougher when they have more film to better prepare for our new systems installed this year. FP

At the expense of my fantasy team, I'd like to see Karlos Williams get a larger share of the carries. He hits the hole more decisively than McCoy who (much like Spiller) prefers to break the big gains. They could make a great tandem. Our O-Line run blocking didn't seem to improve as much from last year as I'd hoped. I hope our back-up O-line coach is up to the task.

I am pretty excited about Tyrod, but... I was excited when Doug Flutie got 10 wins I was excited when Drew Bledsoe won 31-0 on opening day I was excited when JP Losman was dropping long bombs on Lee Evans I was excited when Trent Edwards was 5-2 I was excited when Ryan Fitzpatrick was 5-2 I guess what I'm trying to say is you shouldn't rely too much on my level of excitement as a valid predictor of success. I've decided to be excited again anyway, mostly because I'm excited by what Roman brings to the offence and I think Tyrod will become very rich in 2-3 years because of his OC.

Screen Pass to Shady, Right Side, 6 yards 18 First Downs

I am so happy!! This is the biggest move of a pretty active off-season. I thought his deal would be closer to Suh's than this, which doesn't ruin our cap situation going forward. FP

I'm just happy that we now have an owner that allows our team to spend the full cap space. We were well under the cap before the Pegula's took over. Outside of the cap, it feels like our owners are willing to pay a premium for our coaching staff too. FP

When I look at Indy's schedule from last year, they benefitted from a pretty easy schedule (thanks to playing in a weak division). Other than a win over Baltimore in October, I don't see a win over a high quality team. Okay, I will count a 27-0 drubbing of the Bengals as a quality win too. Our biggest win was a 21-13 W over Green Bay, so we know we can play with the big boys (who don't break the rules). Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site Common Opponents 1 September 7 at Denver Broncos L 24–31 0–1 Sports Authority Field at Mile High 2 September 15 Philadelphia Eagles L 27–30 0–2 Lucas Oil Stadium 3 September 21 at Jacksonville Jaguars W 44–17 1–2 EverBank Field 4 September 28 Tennessee Titans W 41–17 2–2 Lucas Oil Stadium 5 October 5 Baltimore Ravens W 20–13 3–2 Lucas Oil Stadium 6 October 9 at Houston Texans W 33–28 4–2 NRG Stadium 7 October 19 Cincinnati Bengals W 27–0 5–2 Lucas Oil Stadium 8 October 26 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 34–51 5–3 Heinz Field 9 November 3 at New York Giants W 40–24 6–3 MetLife Stadium 10 Bye 11 November 16 New England Patriots L 20–42 6–4 Lucas Oil Stadium 12 November 23 Jacksonville Jaguars W 23–3 7–4 Lucas Oil Stadium 13 November 30 Washington Redskins W 49–27 8–4 Lucas Oil Stadium 14 December 7 at Cleveland Browns W 25–24 9–4 FirstEnergy Stadium 15 December 14 Houston Texans W 17–10 10–4 Lucas Oil Stadium 16 December 21 at Dallas Cowboys L 7–42 10–5 AT&T Stadium 17 December 28 at Tennessee Titans W 27–10 11–5 LP Field When I look at common opponents of Indy and Buffalo, the teams were more even last year than our records would suggest... We each lost to the Broncos by a touchdown We lost to the Pats** by 15 (ignoring our week 17 win over Garropollo), the Colts lost by 22 We beat the Browns by 16, the Colt squeaked by with a 1-pt victory They beat the Texans twice by 5 and 7 points. We lost by 6 points and we (the fans) were punished, being force to watch J.J. Watt's pick-6 over and over on the highlights. Is Indy still a tough opponent? Yes. Are they out of our league? No way. Some of the other posters have pointed out that our running game should take advantage of their poor run defence and our D-Line should control the line of scrimmage while Luck may have fun exploiting our rookie CB. I like our chances with a new (and is it premature to say improved) offence lead by Roman that the Colts have no film on with our personnel. I expect we will run the clock with a steady run game to minimize the number of drives that Luck has to play with. Our defence won't shut down the high flying Colts offence, but I trust Rex to build a game plan to cause plenty of disruption for Luck. My prediction... Bills 23 Colts 21 Go Bills!! FP

I wish every expert had us pegged to be this bad. Keep taking us lightly. I love being the underdog, I don't think we get to carry the underdog label much longer. FP

After reading this this article, it's clear what we need to do... We need to find a QB who has been learning his trade as a backup behind an established starting QB, like Rodgers did behind Favre and Young behind Montana - ideally about 4 years. The perfect scenario would be behind a Super Bowl winning QB. Aw shucks, we will never find a QB with that kind of start in the NFL to be our QB. It's just a pipe dream, I guess. FP

We are pretty thin at linebacker, so we are one injury away from regretting the Alonso trade. (I may be biased, because I now have an obsolete Alonso jersey)

Of all the personnel upgrades that have occurred during this off-season, I'm most excited about the coaching staff, especially Greg Roman. I can't wait for the season to begin!!!

I'm a Bills and Leafs fan. My football and hockey fantasy teams are the Billievers and BeLeafers.

The NFL does have a policy that requires the members of the NFLPA to co-operate fully in any investigation, so it's pretty clear that Brady has violated at least one policy that the NFLPA has agreed to.

Don't forget the Ideal Gas Law.

From YOLO: "Oooh Steward got Kiko's #" I hope Steward is the next superstar - I want my Alonso jersey to be salvagable.

I went to Arrowhead two years ago and it was a fantastic environment. The people are friendly, the tailgating is great with lots of parking right beside the stadium and the fans are totally into the game, standing at all times except for some of the commercial breaks. I would go back in a heart beat.

I agree completely. If we had an interior oline that could open running lanes and not collapse in pass protection, our offence becomes the average NFL offence that we need to win with our Super Bowl caliber defence. There aren't a lot of QB upgrade options, so I would prefer to focus our first upgrading efforts on the O-line.

That was my first ever live Bill's game and both fumbles (Brown & McKelvin) were right in front of me. Such a tough loss to swallow, since we outplayed KC in every phase except for these two fumbles. We were already celebrating Brown's TD when the ball was knocked loose. We all knew what an important game that was at the time, and it is likely the loss that keeps us out of the playoffs again.

I was just in Denver for a guy's weekend and we watched the Dolphins/Broncos game. The Broncos offence is a good as advertised - no surprise there. I was very surprised by how badly their defence played and I expected better. They whiffed on so many tackles - just poor fundamentals. It's the only game that I've seen Denver play this year, but in that game, it was the Denver defence that kept Miami in the game until Denver's offense pulled it out in the 4th quarter.

Like the OP, I think penalties should be reviewable too, but I don't want to give the coaches more than the current two challenges because they slow down the game. It's up to the coach to use their challenges when it matters.

I know that many disagree with me, but I feel that more penalties need to be challengable. The pass interference penalties are such game-changing calls that they need to be called correctly. I don't want to increase the number of challenges because it would slow down the game, but if a coach wants to use a challenge to correct a bad pass interference call, he should have that option.

I think you can only challenge the spot as it pertains to a first down. Since the Bills gained a first down with the spot at the 4, they can't challenge to gain the spot at the 2. I can't remember a challenge for the spot of the football without a first down on the line.

This is the Bill's biggest test so far, as the Chargers are legit. The Chargers have some tough-to-cover targets in Keenan Allen and Antonio Gates. These two are really good at creating separation and Rivers can hit them with an accurate passing attack. I've heard some arguments that since we held the Bears offence in check, that we can stop the Chargers as well. Rivers isn't likely to turn the ball over like Cutler did. This game is pretty tough to predict the outcome. Win or lose, this Bills team has shown that it shows up prepared and hungry every week. We are tough in the trenches and I don't expect us to beat ourselves. I can't wait 'til kick-off to see this game. This game is pretty important for the AFC wildcard race. If we want to be a playoff team, we need to beat playoff teams. Go BILLS!!! FP

I'm always willing to help out for a good cause.

I agree with the OP that our game planning seems to be much improved. If there is an area for improvement, it's in relation to half time adjustments. In both games this year, our opponents have taken it to us in the third quarter. In both games, we had success again in the fourth quarter, so I will assume that, with in-game adjustments, we were able to put our players into positions to succeed. Overall, I am pretty happy with these coaches and I wasn't thrilled the hires of Hackett and Crossman. I guess 2-0 makes everyone look better. FP