2003Contenders

And, yet, without that int-TD-return, which was a 10-point swing, the Bills win that game.

5-3 is about what I expected. I think I had them winning the Jets game but losing the Jags game in my early predictions. However, I never dreamed that would be enough for them to be in first place, given that I couldn't have predicted Brady's injury.

Can he play Free Safety?

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Maybe, just maybe, it will force the coaches to become creative.

You really think we are going to lose at home to the 49ers?

Exactly! This was the type of game that we used to win routinely back in the 90s. Play like crap for 50 minutes, then get a big play (Greer interception return). Force a 3-and-out behind the loud crowd noise, get the ball back on offense and march to the game winning TD. For a few minutes there I even thought that is what was going to happen yesterday. Alas, the defense couldn't make a stop when it had to.

Save yourself some grief.

I agree that there really has been something very bizarre related to injuries this year. I am not sure whether to blame it on misdiagnosis, poor precautionary care, poor treatment -- or simply to the team being less than forthright with the nature of the injuries. The Schobel one takes the cake, but I have been scratching my head since the Crowell fiasco in training camp.

Agreed. Before we start talking about extending a chump like Jason Peters, we should lock up Greer long term.

Also sounds like Schobel isn't anywhere near close to coming back either.

Just gives Jauron/Fewell one more excuse for backing off the WRs and applying even less pressure on the QB this week.

Indeed, death by a thousand paper cuts from Wes Welker. I agree. Throw everything but the kitchen sink at Cassel.

I can't say that I blame Trent for throwing it away in that situation. 1. He had just killed the other drive in a similar situation with the INT-RETURN. 2. I am sure when the coaches called the play, they told him that they were going to go for it on 4th down if they failed to convert on 3rd. The conversation probably included a reminder for him to just throw it away if it wasn't there on 3rd.

Call me an optimist. First, I think the team needs to treat this week as their Super Bowl. The coaches need to have a game plan for going into New England and coming away with a victory. It really should not be THAT formidable. The Pats are down to their 3rd or 4th running back. Cassel is unseasoned -- and could perhaps wilt if the defense can find a way to get to him. Both the Dolphins and Chargers were able to put up some serious points against this defense. Turk needs to come up with some imaginative plays. The only "trick" plays I can recall this year came on Special Teams. Moreover, the Bills need to bog down and commit themselves to the running game. Put the ball in Marshawn's hands. If they can somehow eke out a victory here, you would imagine that they would be favored to win the next 3 games heading into their next gauntlet of division games. That would then put the team at 9 victories with 4 games left to play. Barring a serious collapse, I still believe that they can find a way to win 11.

Oh, kudos to Washington no doubt for knowing the rule and doing what he did to draw the penalty. The problem is that the rule itself is just dumb.

I wonder what the real story is with Schobel... These have been two VERY important games he has missed. For a guy that had previously never missed a game in his entire career, I am really starting to worry about the true nature of this injury.

Moreover, I think it was Wyche that had the infatuation with JP. He was the one that scouted him in Louisiana at a workout headlined by Eli Manning. Wyche came away feeling that JP had actually had the better workout of the two.

Bingo!

In a way, I kind of admire Mort for sticking up for TD. Still, like some have said, he shouldn't cut down the current regime to do so. I will say, though, that I don't think he was necessarily doing that here. He went out of his way to praise the current team. Now, the John Butler reference is itself amusing. I don't want to berate a man who is no longer with us -- or who certainly did do a number of good things for the franchise over the years. We all know that Butler wanted the San Diego job for a year or more before he actually took it -- and he left us with a wonderful 2000 draft class as his parting gift of apathy.

Schobel did play in the Arizona game, which is where he aggravated the injury. Looking back, they should have held him out of that game.

I think part of it is that he is very conservative by his very nature. A good, early statement yesterday, for example, would have been going for the the TD on 4th and goal from the 1.

As someone said, that wasn't Turk's best game by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I almost wonder if his putting Jackson in wasn't an attempt to outsmart the Dolphins with a package that maybe resembled more of a pass formation than a run formation with Lynch in there. That is the sort of out-thinking that hurt us so badly with prior OCs, whom I choose to leave unnamed...

I think the root cause is the absence of a real pass rush. The team is incapable of applying consistent pressure with the front four. That means that the DBs have to hold coverage for FAR too long. I also believe that the pad that the CBs are giving the WRs is a crutch because the coaches realize the anemia of the pass rush.

Does anyone know when Schobel acquired his foot injury? The first I remember hearing of it was the week leading up to the Arizona game. He was ineffective that day and on the bench since then. He didn't register but 1 sack in the first 4 games; however, he was at least applying pressure. Chad saw very little pressure yesterday -- unless blitzers came at him.

Honestly, I was not especially impressed. We have all seen Chad enough to know that a game like that from him was an aberration. Every aspect of the Bills team underperformed yesterday. However, given the following: 1. Pennington and Ginn having career games 2. No Schobel and, therefore, no pass rush 3. No Josh Reed for most of the 2nd half 4. A totally reshuffled OL by the 4th quarter 5. Probably the worst overall Special Teams we have seen (except for Lindell) 6. Turning over the ball on 5 straight 4th quarter possessions (counting the safety as a "turnover") 7. Trent having probably his worst game, since being named starter 8. The Dolphins, as Chad Pennington admitted after the game, realizing that this game was their season 9. A horribly coached game all the way around (abandoning the run, not pulling McGee, playing DBs 10 yards off the WRs, etc) If I had told you that all of these things would be true, you would have figured a blowout loss -- rather than a game that was undecided until the final few minutes. I hope the coaches burn this tape and just move forward. The team played probably their worst game of the year (even worse than in the Cardinals game, where they were clearly simply outclassed) against a team that played probably as well as they are capable of playing. Nothing more.