Peter

One of the main problems in the Pats game is that we got down early. If we can stay ahead or be within one possession of a tie or lead, we can stick to our game plan and should be fine on offense.

Between the Arsenal game and the Bills game, it was a very tough weekend. I am still recovering. If there are two teams that I want my "football" teams to beat, they are Chelski and the Pats. Ugh.

I am staying in the Paddington area.

No, I have not received my ticket yet. I just checked the Ticketmaster UK site and in my account, it states: "Your tickets have not yet been dispatched." I am not sure about any events. I emailed my BB season ticket rep the other day, and he was not aware of anything. I was surprised. I would have thought that there would be something Bills related. I have a vague recollection that the NFL itself does something, but I still have to look into this.

I will be attending.

Thank you for being the voice of reason. Also, you guys have one hell of a football team and a HOF head coach and QB.

I have a feeling that your views may be a tad influenced by the Bills' cutting Fred. I think what would have really helped is if we did not get behind early and could have committed more to our running game.

Of course Rex knows who Dion Lewis is. The point is that Dion Lewis was not, is not, and will not be the focal point of their offense. Also, to be fair, as much as some like to complain about Rex and his style, Rex took all of the blame and credited Belichick and Brady. We can debate whether just how much "blame" Rex deserves, but Rex does a good job of accepting the heat.

I would rather have JJ Watt than probably any other player on our team. I was responding to a post that made the claim that "[o]nce these D linemen get paid they get fat and lazy and stop caring."

Of the penalties that were called, which ones were both legitimate and stupid?

Belichick is a great coach. I knew that when he totally confused Jim Kelly in Superbowl 25 and relied on the fact that Kelly would not be satisfied giving the ball to Thurman most of the game.

I will have to watch the All 22 to be more definitive, but every time I watched Seantrel, he seemed to be playing well.

The reason the Bills got beat had nothing to do with how much or how little our HC said in the preceding week. You seem to have forgotten all of our previous coaches who have paid homage to the Patriots. That had no effect on those losses either. P.S. In his press conferences during the past week, Rex showed a lot of respect to the Pats. His main point was that we were not going to be intimidated. I see nothing wrong with that. Why wouldn't a coach want his team to believe that they could win against the Pats or any other team.

Getting paid really hurt JJ Watt's game. I have faith in Dareus.

Well said. Aaron Williams is passionate, loves the team, and his teammates. I will take this every day of the week. I am still waiting for CBS to show the replay of the call that went against him. I would love to see whether it was another phantom call.

This.

If it was the right call in this game, it was the wrong call last week (especially after Luck did his fake slide). On the other hand, if it was the right call last week, it was the wrong call on Sunday. As for the Watkins flag, I totally disagree. It was not close at all. The guy slipped pure an simple. Aaron Williams was benched for part of the game.

I remember when I was a kid going to Sabres games, there was a season ticket holder behind us that would scream out "Martin, you suck" every chance he got (Rick Martin of the French Connection line for you young guys). The guy was fixated on screaming about one of our best players. Sully had a fixation about Mario Williams and his refrigerator and criticized his play (even though he had a broken bone in his hand and continued to play). Sully wanted to cut Dareus at the beginning of last year. Sully tweeted a snarky comment about Dareus and his contract during the game. I see from reading this thread that there are those who are going to take the same approach as that season ticket behind us many years ago and Sully. They are a machine and they never seem to lose a beat. Remember when Belichick converted one of his receivers (Brown?) when they had injuries to their DBs.

All of those were VERY frustrating. When they picked that flag up after the hit on TT, I could not help but think back to last week. Throwing a flag on Sammy when it was obvious to anyone that the QB slipped (it was not even close) is another example of a horrible call. The fact that CBS could not even find (or was willing to show) replays of the killer penalties at the beginning of the game frustrated to me to no end. I am afraid to look at the All 22 because I may just get more upset about the phantom penalties against us and non calls on the Pats.

This is true. It is funny how many people on this board use the phrase check down as a negative slur. Brady is amazing at completing quick, short passes. In a sense, the Pats do this as an alternative to a running game. They have been doing this for years. Of course, that is not to say that he cannot throw deep.

I guess we will agree to disagree. I thought that the refs had one standard for the Bills and another for the Pats. I am not taking anything away from the Pats. They are a great team with a great coach and QB. I just would love to have a fighting chance to play them without (what I thought) were BS calls against the Bills.

I presume you believe that it was a well officiated game.

This is 100% correct. The calls at the beginning of the game after we went ahead and the Pats were stopped on their first drive gave us horrible drive starts, killed our drives, and turned the game very early. The Pats are a great team with a great QB and coach. They do not need any help. I would have loved to have seen how the game would have gone without those penalties that turned the momentum, put our offense in bad positions, and gave the Pats all too favorable drive starts, and, in turn, substantially lessened the intensity of the crowd. These types of calls always seem to happen when we play the Pats. I would love to just have a fighting chance against these guys. Just my two cents.

I could post this in any number of threads, but boy is this a depressing place to be when the Bills lose. We have a lot of posters (Debbie Downers) who seem to have waited for a loss to post things that fit their own narrative. I have always thought that guys like Sully post under other names on this site to wind people up with their own narrative. I still think that is true. Nevertheless, there seems to be plenty of others who love the negativity. Maybe that is why Sully, Bucky, Harrington et al still have a job. I probably need to take a step back from here and not read TBN for a few days (although I am not sure I will be successful at that). I am still bullish on the Bills and Rex (as well as ownership). The outcome did not go the way we wanted. We do not have Tom Brady as QB (there really are only a handful of elite QBs). Yet, notwithstanding some of the BS penalties (that killed drives or gave us horrible drive starts), fans leaving early, and the emotions after Aaron Williams was hurt, the team kept on fighting and was one drive away from tying the score. It is only September 20th and we have 14 more games to play. I am going to focus on the positives, look forward to the rest of the season with these players, Rex, and the rest of the coaching staff. P.S. I am still amazed at just how many people left the stadium early -- really early. It would have been nice to have a full house when the Patriots were on their last drive and ended up scoring their last field goal. It was very odd that so many people left. Those that left bought their tickets and have every right to leave whenever they want. I was really hoping that the Bills would have tied it at the end mostly because I wanted to beat the Pats so badly, but also so that another group of people who gave up on the team would have felt like those that left the comeback game against the Oilers early. I am not going to give up on this team. Again, you spent your money and certainly can do whatever you want. Just my two cents.

Cordy is losing $$$ each week. Pats also seemed to concentrate pass rush on that side. As an aside, when I was watching Seantrel, he seemed to be doing a good job. It is tough to draw definitive conclusions without watching all 22.