JoeF

Shoot, mine said Continue to Drink Heavily...guess I need to shake harder...

Has anyone ever thrown for 500 or 600 or 700 in a playoff game??? One drive in the second half and then start watching film of the Pats secondary without the Ty's (Poole and Law).

A couple of thoughts on this: 1) Sam Wyche and Tom Clements made great progress with Drew this year. Except against the defenses that could take advantage or could scheme with their talent to exploit Drew's weaknesses (re: Steelers, Patriots, Jets with Abraham) Drew showed more pocket awareness. Also Evans and McGahee's presence had a lot to do with this. Wyche and Clements have shown they can improve a QB's skill in short period of time. I agree with the perspective that if under the close watch of Wyche and Clements, JP spends the off-season working his arse off in the film room and on the field--that he can win the job in camp...but it won't be until the end of camp. This would be the best scenario of all--because if JP wins the job 4 or 5 games into the season--it means we are probably playing less than .500 ball at the time and again putting ourselves in a hole for a playoff run. What does JP concentrate on? a) Reads, reads and more reads--he needs to look at every Defense he can in every situation particularly focusing on the AFC east and the upper tier of AFC teams and plot out exactly what he sees and what he would do if the D shows this look. b) His mechanics--he is very unorthodox with his footwork in the pocket..throwing off his back foot--crossing his legs alot in his drops---letting the ball drop from the throwing position some--drill, drill and more drill. Play fake work is also necessary. Alot of the bad mechanics developed his senior at Tulane when he was under siege...but keep in mind he also led his team to a pretty good record that year all things considered (5-7) c) Planned roll outs--he will be very effective on these and this is a way to take advantage of his speed and strong arm--mechanics are less important here. This adds a whole new tab to the playbook....probably 3 or 4 times the number of roll out plays that we ran this year--up from 2 a game to 8 to 10. Lots of other things--but these are the main ones I saw from watching the pre-season games where he got his most work. He can gain familiarity in the film room--alot of his work need is mental not physical. 2) As to the draft choice--I kind of agree with Ramius's logic, although I am not as vehement as him---and we are all kind of saying the same thing..we gave up a second and a fifth round choice in '04 to make our '05 first round choice in '04. So the JP pick literally cost us a second and a fifth..That is a high price--but not an unreasonable one. QB depth last year was 4 first rounders--I don't see that depth this year. Was it worth it....well--we won't know that answer until this is Mr. Losman's team my friends....

More like Marvin Harrison's, Chad Johnson's, David Given's, Antwan Randle El's hands..... Too bad Vincent has so many entrepreneurial interests outside football based on his results with Evans it appears as if he would be a hell of a coach.

Vincent = Yoda Terrence = Luke If Terrence is a good pupil the force will be with us....

This is probably Sullivan's most unbiased article of the season. He has displayed an obvious bias against TD and DB, but this assessment is based on a fairly unbiased interpretation of the facts. I would only add this diatrabe to these thoughts. We all consistently want to make things to simplistic--gather sides on Drew Sucks or Drew shoud stay. Its not that simple... First specific to O play the last two years. Drew played horribly against all levels competition the most of '03 and the first 9 games of 04 (Sans Arizona, Miami, Jets)--horribly defined as turning the ball over, taking negative plays, etc. Even the biggest Drew hater would agree this was not 100% his fault but a combination of Drew's shortcomings, bad O-line play, bad offensive scheme and play calling, lack of a receiving threat. So go to '04 second half--what changed: 1) O-line improved and McGahee proved a more willing blitz blocker than Henry 2) Receiving talent upgraded and performed well 3) Scheme was better and more suited to our talent 4) Drew improved the quickness of his reads, showed some mobility and some ability to avoid the rush Result is we beat two playoff teams handily (Rams and Seahawks) a good team (Bengals) and some also rans (Browns, Niners, Dolphins)..the offense wasn't wonderful but it scored on turnovers, made big plays and most importantly avoided negative plays and turnovers--a substantial improvement. All of these O improvements came to the forefront except against 2 talented defenses that know Drew well and/or know the Bills scheme well--the Pats because he played there, the Steelers because LeBeau has the Bledsoe book from his year in Buffalo and the Mularkey/Clements O is not exactly a mystery in Pittsburgh... Our troubles against these two elite squads get to the real issue. The only thing that matters is preparing this team to beat the elite in the AFC...you have to anticipate who the elite are going to be next year--the Steelers with their depth, the Chargers with a slew of draft choices will only get better for example; the Jets, Broncos, Texans, Jaguars, Bengals, Ravens are all formidable and any could take a step up--I think the Pats due to age and the Colts due to cap will begin to slip a bit--they are probably still playoff caliber teams but more weaknesses start to show--the rest are still a season or two away. Bottom Line, we have to build a team that competes with this elite/emerging elite group of AFC teams..I don't think you can just say Drew sucks and leave it at that--you have to look at the major competition and assess if Drew's weaknesses or the O-Lines weaknesses or other O positional weaknesses kill you against two or three of the best teams from this group -- you have to make changes. That in more vivid terms is what Sullivan is trying to say--he believes Drew will always put us two or three teams down in the AFC no matter what the other factors...O-line, scheme, skill position talent--Is that true? Who the F knows...... I do know that this coaching staff got us from 6-10 to 9-7 with the roughly the same team as the year before -- Vincent for Winfield/Chris V for Ruben with a side switch...have they milked all they can from this talent base and this QB?? Its going to be an interesting time from the draft prep through the end of August and maybe not the stable off-season I first thought. This staff is good--they know what they want and need to reach elite and they have an owner and a GM who will listen based on this year's success...

Apologize in advance to those who favor metal, rap or something other than show tunes... The sun'll come out Tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow There'll be sun! Just thinkin' about Tomorrow Clears away the cobwebs (and Cowbells) And the sorrow 'Til there's none! When I'm stuck a day That's gray, And lonely, I just stick out my chin And Grin, And Say, Oh! The sun'll come out Tomorrow So ya gotta hang on 'Til tomorrow Come what may Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya Tomorrow! You're always A day A way!

Good call... I guess I should have clarified it CW--it would have been more accurate to say he has proven he can do it against B tier competition -- but against teams that execute more complex coverage schemes and have more talent on the defensive front 7 (the Pats and Steelers) he reverts back to Old Drew....the result however is if we can't get past those two teams--we can't go anywhere.....

Congrats Coach Mularkey. Today was a bummer...but going 9-3 the last 12 is good. There are 3 teams that are clearly better than us in the AFC right now Two we would lose to about 90-100% of the time...(Steelers and Pats) and 1 that would probably beat us 70% of the time (Colts)..I think we could go 50/50 or better against the B tier--which is Chargers, Ravens, Jets, Bengals, Broncos, Texans, Jags right now. What distinguishes the Pats and Steelers--wonderful depth, great coaching/scheming, verging on elite QB play, solid and consistent offensive line play and defensive front 7 play. Colts are distinguished because of their phenomenal Offensive Talent. So each area; Front 7: I think on most days our front 7 stacks up with any in the league..but some days (particularly against the Pats and the Steelers) I see us having trouble reaching the QB in blitz situations....I think our existing talent can improve just like they did in turnovers this year-the only place I would look at a potential upgrade would be Posey--but he is by no means awful. OLine Depth--we need O-line depth in the worst way. Resigning Marcus Price would help here..and then adding an interior nasty guy and a Tackle to replace Jennings (who is almost certainly headed to Atlanta). O-line--we simply have very poor communication in both run and pass blitz situations, and the Pats and the Steelers D coordinators abuse us because of it--its been that way for 5 years---I don't understand it--but maybe with a talent upgrade and another year of the mouse--we can get this corrected. QB QB play--I have never written about this issue--but there is obviously a defensive plan for Bledsoe that good teams can execute correctly. Part of the book on Drew reads: 1) Hit him early--he never settles the rest of the game. 2) Take advantage of his tendency to be slow in his progressions and the related tendency to lock on receivers (The interception today is a perfect example--he never took his eyes off Neufeld...Foote just read his eyes and saw how Neufeld sat in the route stepped in front and voila)... 3) Very little pocket awareness--Bledsoe needs the perfect pocket most of the time--and can't deftly step away (ala Marino/Manning) when he "feels" pressure... Unfortunately -- these three traits--probably mean we don't currently have a QB that can win a SuperBowl--we don't need a messiah--just a guy with the ability to not make the majority of Offensive Line mistakes result in a negative play or turnover.. At 33 -its tough to learn new tricks--this job is open come training camp--and as many have pointed out--a relatively cheap vet may be brought in. Coaching/Scheming--bring the staff back en masse next year--but I would add one more experienced D coach to coordinate 3rd down D.. I am as bummed as anyone--but we batted .750 the last 3 months--we just aren't elite yet--but it needs to happen in '05 or '06 because our D is not getting any younger...

Congrats from Raleigh, BillsFanNC...great stuff! and just in time to see us make the playoffs. Brendan will be our good luck charm. Mayor Sears will be happy to have another constituent....

You did in the Eastern Time Zone....now kiss your wife...jeez....Go Bills

Ironic that Bulger's quick recovery from a shoulder may have a lot to do with the Jests downfall and that Pennington's lingering shoulder injury (first suffered in the second game against our beloved Bills) may also contribute to Jests downfall...

All I needed to know about Plummer boils down to two incidents...reaching up the girls dress uninvited at a party while in college and flipping off the fans in Denver from the bench recently...both spell dirtbag.....and stupid. I hope he throws like 6 picks on Sunday...and not just cause we need them to lose.

Always USMC---add my prayers to our brave men and women in harms way as well.

To quote the philospher M. Levy---"Where would you rather be than right here right now." Thanks Bills for turning this thing around. I am very proud of this team. Thanks everyone for making this forum mostly fun, always interesting. Thanks SDS and the moderators for all your time and effort to make this work...it is trully enriching for everyone who visits. Say prayers for those in Asia and Africa who have suffered because of this terrible Tsunami.... God bless everyone.

We'll agree to disagree on this one FFS....Peerless's fumbles at critical times cost a couple of games, he had unsportsmanlike conducts again at inopportune times. What are Moulds and Drew going to say he's not clutch --- we don't want him..they were saying what 95% of players would say (other than TO and Garcia) about a prospective FA. I look at it this way--who of the regulars/semi-regulars has left since Drew came--Peerless, Winfield, Morris, Sullivan, Shaw, Ahanatou a few others --and Drew makes this comment--there are only a few choices..... Sullivan definitely fits the category. Chidi also. Morris and Winfield--probably not...Peerless---let's just say---we lost a lot on the field--as Evans has displayed this year -- but we probably didn't lose much leadership or lead by example.

McCay is so much in charge that Blank roams the sidelines during games....the guy has an ego the size of Atlanta--McCay will do what his owner wants....just like any GM...

1) You can always make the cap room -- you only need it for the time the tag is used...we get $3-4 million in dead money back from Ruben and then the rise in funds (estimated right now at about $6 million) and then whatever we had to spare. Plus Moulds will redo. 2) We are in a perfect position to pull this off--no glaring needs with the priority being to sign our own UFA or extend those with contracts expiring. If we want to do it-- it is an option and TD and Overdorf have already made it work once. Something tells me Mr. Blank will do it again...I don't even want a first for Jonas--a package of a second and third will do.

You remember Drew commenting that there were no jerks on this team and that it was unique not to have a few guys in the locker room that he would classify as jerks....something tells me that Peerless fit the jerk category.......I doubt we wanted him when he hit FA and I doubt we want him back. Jonas is a different story. All this coming home stuff is nice to hear, but face it--during the season these guys are extremely busy--it makes no difference where they play and in the offseason, they can travel "home" as much as they want. Hell Matthews and Willis go home during the season during the Monday and Tuesday breaks Coach Mularkey gives when they win. Jonas will make a decision on dollars...but I bet we franchise him and then try to get something for him---similar to Peerless...we still have the tag why not use it. If Mr. Home Depot wants to overpay again, let him...but we need to find a replacement that Coach McNally can blend into the fold.

Which track is open down there--Hialeah, Gulfstream or Calder....oh and if you missed the God thread--some of us are praying.... but drinking is always good... edit--see how friggin old I am -- Hialeah is closed ---geez...

I can't pick just one...I have been really impressed from day one--even though I didn't want to be. 1) Very little ego/very self-effacing 2) Smart-Surrounds himself with the best assistants 3) Dry wit/great sense of humor in press conferences 4) Knows when to push the buttons--can sense when guys are dogging it or are tired and gives them the nudge they need. As I excited as I am about this year...I am more excited about the next 4 and beyond with him as our coach.

All I can say Spidey--is that Mrs F is a very understanding woman....JoeF (referring to myself in the third person) has not been blessed in that way, but in so so many others.... Now back on topic.......please God, please....5 more wins this season...that's all I ask...

First off--nice post Rudy--explains why you fret so much in times leading up to the games. Mr. Bradyfan, you seem to have some anger about Rudy getting Sunday Ticket and not inviting you over....I can see why he wouldn't really want you around. You don't have many friends do you Mr Bradyfan.......that's so sad....how about posting something cathartic like your buddy Rudy just did. It might help you. Your teams have won, and yet there is still an empty anger in you....what could it be...bare your soul to us...we will be understanding and helpful.

You mean I could be 5' 9"---wow--never thought about that... and the Lord says to nodnarb.... "That's why enzyte was invented--what do you think you get it for free????"

See my answers Rich.......