mjt328

What exactly was "ridiculous" about the taunting penalty against the Jets? From my TV set, I couldn't hear what was said. Maybe your ears are better than mine. Kyle Williams also got a taunting penalty this season. Was it equally as ridiculous? I already mentioned the celebration penalties. Stevie has gotten 2 flags in his whole career for excessive celebration, and both occurred 2 years ago. I think it's fair to say he learned from that mistake. There is absolutely NO evidence to support your accusations about Stevie's injuries. Since his injuries are of the "muscle pull" variety, doctors will say the best cure is rest. AKA sitting out practice. And oh yeah... Stevie caught that pass against the Bengals.

Stevie gets criticized (heavily by some Bills fans) for three things: excessive celebrations in the end zone, dropping passes and injuries. I think all issues are highly overblown. From my recollection (correct me if I'm wrong), Stevie has drawn exactly TWO celebration penalties over his 6 seasons in the NFL. The Plaxico Burress-Gun imitation, and the Happy New Year writing on his t-shirt a few weeks later. Both happened 2 seasons ago, and we haven't seen ANY excessive celebrations since. Meanwhile, Victor Cruz can do a salsa dance practically every week and Gronkowski can imitate a British guard, and get no criticism. The injury criticism is even more ridiculous. Until 2013, Stevie hasn't missed a single start because of injury. He's a very tough player, who guts it out for his team. Fred Jackson does the same thing - gets injured and plays hurt every other week, But he gets praised because of it. Dropped passes? Probably the only legitimate issue with Stevie. But the truth is, everyone drops passes (even Jerry Rice and Calvin Johnson). Stevie has had 2 big ones in his career - Pittsburgh 2010 and New York 2011. It's not like he's got a chronic dropping problem. He's just had the unfortunate luck to lose them at very memorable times.

I've watched Manning/Brady several times this year. Last night was not the first time I noticed the drop off. "Velocity" and "Zip" have just as much to do with a QBs mechanics as physical arm strength. When standing in a clean pocket, both guys still have the footwork and body control to deliver a nice ball. But when they are moving, don't have time to set their feet, or are asked to heave a ball downfield -- that's when you notice the difference (compared to 5-10 years ago). It doesn't make much difference, because even in decline Manning and Brady are better than most of the QBs in the NFL.

Watching the game last night, it was clear that BOTH Manning and Brady have lost quite a bit of arm strength. And despite the Patriots won-loss record, I think the team around Brady is VERY average. In fact, if I was given the opportunity to trade New England's players for Buffalo's (minus Brady) - I would take the Bills in a heartbeat. With that said, it would only take a few breaks at the right time for New England to make a serious Super Bowl run. Look at Baltimore last year. They weren't even close to the best team during the regular season. They barely made the playoffs. But they caught on fire during the postseason and ended up winning the whole thing. Along with Denver, the best teams in the AFC include Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Kansas City. No matter how much they have dropped off, would it be surprising for New England to beat ANY of those teams and go to another Super Bowl?

OK. How many dropped passes does he have in his career then? There are lots of great receivers that drop big ones from time to time. We are watching one tonight (Welker). You don't just boot them off your team. We all remember the Steelers game 4 years ago. I refuse to hold one mistake against a player for his whole career.

How many "celebration" penalties has Stevie had in his career?

Why So Serious? Sorry. I love Stevie Johnson.

What he said. Good news is, there may be 3 tight ends with 1st round potential in this draft. I keep hearing Amaro, Ebron and Jenkins mentioned. No matter where we pick, a good one will likely be available. Chandler is a big target with good hands, but he offers almost no YAC ability. Our offense has good running backs, fast deep threats, and strong possession receivers. A big/athletic target in the middle of the field is the biggest missing piece.

Peyton wasn't needed for the first 40 minutes of the game. He's just heating up.

Maybe it would be best if the Pats just win another Super Bowl. Then Brady/Belichek can retire, and this can finally be over with.

NE almost always gets the calls, but this collapse is all on Denver.

You could see the difference in the Broncos defenders from the 1st play of the 3rd quarter. Less intensity in the pass rush. By the time they "woke up" - the momentum had shifted to the Patriot's side. Now the Broncos defenders are playing unfocused and sloppy, desperate to make a play. I see this crap every week in the NFL. Teams get up by 2-3 scores, then the coaches and/or players decide to lay off.

They fumbled a couple times in Week 1. And Brady threw something like 4 picks last time we beat them.

Probably not much. The trade deadline has passed. The draft isn't for 5 months. The rules forbid me from re-signing Byrd.

It may seem like common sense... but it makes me happy that this new regime can RECOGNIZE the players that are pulling this team down, and aren't afraid to cut them if they aren't working out.

I think every player on defense looks better than last season, except maybe Gilmore.

I like this post. It expresses my feelings very well. Before the draft, I honestly liked Geno Smith more than EJ Manuel. I probably would have been more upset at our selection of Manuel - but honestly I was just relieved we FINALLY took a QB and that we DIDN'T take Ryan Nassib. Yesterday's game was great - and I hope it's a sign of things to come. I'm a Bills fan more than anything. And despite my criticism of Manuel, all I want is for him to succeed (and for Geno to fall flat on his face).

I was just thinking the same thing. I'm very skeptical the Bills will win their next game against the Falcons - much less run the table. However, if they can beat the teams they "should" win against (pretty much the next 4 weeks) there is a good chance we face New England's backups.

It also helps that Alonso, Lawson, Searcy and Aaron Williams are doing a good job of covering underneath routes (TE and RB). Those two positions absolutely killed us last year with mostly Sheppard, Barnett and Wilson. This team got a massive upgrade on coaching/scheme (Pettine), personnel (Alonso, Lawson, Hughes, Robey, Branch) - and some guys are playing better in new positions (Aaron Williams).

There are a lot of stupid posts that are 100% serious. Makes it hard to tell when someone is being sarcastic. I think I do.

Carpenter has been fantastic this season as a FG kicker. He's been below average on kickoffs.

These "apologize" threads are ridiculous. Our team is a pathetic 4-7, and has already (unless there is a miracle) screwed itself out of playoff contention before Thanksgiving. So when they finally put together a solid win, we are supposed to forget all of the crap that came before it? The word is consistency. I'm thrilled about winning on Sunday. But until we start winning 3, 4, 5 games in a row... on the road... against good teams. Well, I'm not going to get too excited. Sorry, but this team hasn't proven anything yet. As far as Hackett goes - most people would acknowledge that he's been pretty bad most of the year. He was OK yesterday. I was happy to see Manuel under center 99% of the day, because I think the read-option is terrible. I was happy to see us hit a couple deep throws. I was not happy to see us run the ball on 20 of 25 first down plays (again) - because I'm sick of us being so predictable, and it's killing our run game. It was nice to see us score 37 points. But don't forget that our defense was directly responsible for 17 of them (Fumble setting them up on the 4 yard line, Searcy's INT return, Byrd's INT setting them up on the 27). I would like to believe that Hackett is "improving" but I thought he called pretty good games against Baltimore and Kansas City earlier this year, only to watch him go backwards a week later.

I hate when defenses start playing soft with a big lead. Just let them score points. Why?

It's throws like that, which make me worry about EJ being the guy.

How is that not illegal contact?