Just in Atlanta

They will be the best tandem.

Too funny. Yes, your avatar is disgusting.

Like I said, I'm not saying it's great. I'm simply saying it's mega silly to have such a hard-lined stance against it. When I was a rookie reporter, my stories, by the logic exuded on this board, were more credible than a subject-matter expert non journalist writing about the issues I wrote about. Having recently read some of my stuff from back in the day, I can assure you that is not the case. I can also say that recent stuff I've written as a non professional journalist were better than some stories from "real" reporters. For the record, I think the insight provided on this board is far, far better than the insight provided by most professional news organizations.

The ESPN blog is mostly one guy's opinion. Rarely does he have exclusive insight, or interviews with news makers. That doesn't mean I don't read him. But it's a blog, and I don't see it as much better than BR. As for BR being akin to this board, it's not. It's semi professional. Hardly a fan boy of it, but the hard-lined attitude toward the site is kind of silly.

Good grief, enough with the BR bashing. It is what it is. A fan site for fans. Some stories are good, others bad. We serious fans don't have enough "real" news sites to satisfy our cravings. So Bleacher serves a purpose. I read it several times a week. It shouldn't be the pariah it is on this board. Is it really worse than the AFC East blog on ESPN? No need to apologize for posting a BR story, if it's a good one.

Remember when the X Files' Smoking Man admitted that a shadowy government agency had a mission to never to let the Bills back into the Superbowl? Laugh...but since then, we've only been in one playoff game. And that game was decided at the last minute by what was really an illegal forward pass but ruled a legal reverse pass. The only other time the Bills were close? A game against the Steelers in the mid 2000s. All the Bills had to do was win, and they'd likely make it to the playoffs. The Steelers were guaranteed homefield advantage and played third-stringers. They beat us. With ease. The Bills also have the curses of Doug Flutie and Billy Joe Hobert to deal with. Oh, you've never heard of the Curse of Billy Joe Hobert? Legend goes, he hired a practitioner of voodoo when he moved to New Orleans to play for the Saints after being cut by the Bills for admitting he never opened the freaking play book. The witch doctor summoned an evil spirit called a Baka to, you guessed it, prevent the Bills from ever making the Superbowl. Baka spirits take the form of animals. Their favorite? Buffalo.

I'm shocked at your analysis, senator.

We have a guy named Tank. How bad can the LBs be?

You have 100 M&Ms, 32 people. 10 of those 32 people have 60 M&Ms. The remaining 22 have only 40. That is meaningful. I know it's not perfect, but it's a quick analysis. I measured top and bottom, because it's logical to assume, more often than not, that good teams will have top 10 stats in seemingly important categories and bad teams, bottom 10. You're more than welcome to measure top 15 and bottom 17. I didn't have enough time for that. I agree, it would be interesting to see a couple more years, too.

I agree, but it doesn't explain why a seemingly important stat--yards per run--had the more yards you ran, the less chance you made the playoffs.

Hardly. You're not looking at it the right way. There are 32 teams. Of the top 10 of any category, a 60 percent stat is substantially meaningful.

It's amazing that most available running stats really had no seeable correlation to making playoffs last year. Am still surprised that top 10 average yard per run actually has a negative correlation to making the playoffs. (Why is this?)

Thanks Astrobot. Source for all data: ESPN NFL stats. Source for playoff percentage: My brain.

Buffalo no doubt is on track to have one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. We're also bound to go from near-last in the NFL in sacks to Top 5. So...I checked sack totals for last season to see the correlation of sacks vs. playoff berths. The top 10 sackers had a 50 percent chance of making it, while the bottom 10 had a terrible 10 percent chance. Here are some other stats correlated for playoff berths. Feel free to add more or adjust: Defensive sacks - Top 10 sack leaders--50 percent playoff rate. - Bottom 10--10 percent rate. Buffalo is the No. 6 worst. Defensive INT - Top 10 INT leaders--60 percent playoff rate. Buffalo is No. 6 best. - Bottom 10 INT leaders--40 percent rate. Defensive INT touchdowns - Top 10 leaders--40 percent playoff rate. Buffalo is No. 2 best. - Bottom 10--30 percent rate. Defensive forced fumbles - Top 10--50 percent playoff rate. Buffalo is No. 9 best. - Bottom 10--30 percent rate. Offensive sacks - Top 10 most sacked--30 percent playoff rate. - Bottom 10 least sacked--40 percent rate. Buffalo is No. 1 best. Offensive INTs - Top 10 most offensive INTs--10 percent playoff rate. Buffalo is No. 1 worst. - Bottom 10 least offensive INTs--60 percent playoff rate. Offensive passing TDs - Top 10 most TDs--60 percent playoff rate. Buffalo is No. 9 best. - Bottom 10 least TDs--10 percent rate. Offensive fumbles - Top 10 most fumbles (AFC)--40 percent playoff rate. - Bottom 10 least fumbles (AFC)--20 percent rate. Buffalo is No. 1 best. Rushing yards per attempt - Top 10 most yards--20 percent playoff rate!!?? Buffalo is No. 5 best. - Bottom 10 least yards--30 percent rate!!?? First downs - Top 10 most first downs--70 percent playoff rate. Buffalo is in neither top or bottom. - Bottom 10 least first downs--10 percent playoff rate. So...what can we glean from this? Buffalo fared well in most stat categories. However, many of those categories had little correlation to making the playoffs! It appears that the following stats have a strong correlation to making the playoffs: Defensive sacks. We were bad. Defensive forced fumbles: We're already top 10. Offensive INTs: We were worst in this category. Offensive passing TDs: We are in the top 10. Offensive first downs: Buffalo is average. We need to get more. Other observations: Buffalo has some good overall stats. But the ones that killed us were offensive INTs and lack of defensive sacks. Pittsburgh and Denver have horrible stats. Both teams are in the bottom 10 for many categories, but still made the playoffs. For offensive INTs and defensive sacks, both were mediocre. Why? And what can we emulate from these teams? Buffalo had some good rushing stats. But it appears rushing had little to do with playoff success last season. It truly is a passing league now. Summary: Buffalo will be a playoff team if it continues the good stats of last season and improves on defensive sacks, first downs and substantially limits offensive INTs. I believe a lot more sacks and a few fewer INTs will definitely happen, as offensive INTs piled up after Fitz' injury and our D line is so improved. The real question marks are... Can we substantially decrease offensive INTs and somewhat increase first downs? Can't wait for football.

I think Merriman, if he's healthy, will be DE. I love that Tank Carder got a trademark, though.

OK, this is my last negative Pat Moran reference, as everyone deserves to have his mistakes forgiven after a year... If Merriman isn't healthy, may someone run over Moran's... Can't even say it. How can anyone say you can run over my kid if I'm wrong?

I'm game for The Bill Collectors.

It's sad. What a train wreck. One of the greatest receivers of all time being fired by an indoor football league in East Bumble!@#$ Texas. It appears this guy will never get his life on track.

I think it's a great programming move. Crazy owner. In-transition team. Three-way QB battle. Frustrated fanbase. Bills division rival. Guest appearances by South Beach Tow and Jimmy Buffet and J-lo and Tannehill's wife. Getting HBO next week.

Hopeful, This board is supposed to be fun. But I'll bite. The media, by and large, are not saying the Bills are an elite squad, let alone good enough to be No. 2 in the AFC East. I have no links to prove that, only memory from what I read. I gave you two from ESPN links that had us ranked in the 20s, behind the Jets. I'm not going spend my Memorial Day weekend searching for more articles. I think this post gave almost every poster here menstrual cramps. Lighten up, everyone. I think for the first time in a long time it's going to be a good thing to be a Bills fan.

Since so many people are piling on this guy, I'd thought I'd join the fray. Owen: Your post, for the most part, is spot on. You are no troll. However, your punctuation--capitalization in particular--needs serious work.

Here. And here for starters. I'll let you Google Vegas odds.

Never have seen so many people on this board miss a point. Wow. Love the headline analysis too. Vegas, and much of the sports punditry elite, has this team last or third in the AFC East. Read before you blast. I also believe this motley crew--and it is a motley crew--will perform to playoff standards. Why? They're in the third year of a planned system with little turnover and great additions. It's also our year.

EA does not dish out praise much. I've got to say Whitner was hardly a bust. But, I hope he's right about Nix being different.

This post is unsustainable.