PolishDave

You guys aren't season ticket holders are you? All this talk about tanking is B.S. Tanking is for losers and quitters. It's unsportsmanlike. It is a kitty move. And it sucks. This makes the most sense to me. I am in the camp that this has been brewing for a while, mainly over the late play calls.

Yes. I agree. Tyrod is getting blamed for poor play (and rightfully so) but he wasn't getting any help from his Offensive Coordinator who was upping the pressure and difficulty level on the QB by making him rush through pre-snap preperations. If you want your QB to have maximum chance at success, you need to help him remain calm and clearheaded as best you can. At times Tyrod was making hand gestures to the sideline that said "come on man, hurry up, give me the play"

Depends on the defense they're up against, but I would like to the offense use Clay in the middle of the field a lot tonight. And for Christssake, stretch the field a few times using Watkins and/or Goodwin.

I don't know you, but it feels like you are exaggerating your position on this. If the Bills come out tonight and dominate on offense against that really good Jets defense, I bet that the vast majority of Bills fans will come right back around and start thinking this team has an outside shot at the playoffs. I don't have any confidence that the Bills offense is going to come out and dominate like that, but if they did, wow. They don't have to win 45 to 0 in order to call it domination. I just want them to move the ball against the Jets easily and sustain scoring drives and ultimately win the game.

I heard someone call it the NERF as in New ERa Field. I like the NERF better. Yes. Transit to Southwestern is a breeze once you get past Clinton Street. If you have a faster alternate route to Transit near Clinton I would take that instead of dealing with traffic all the way up Transit from say Williamsville - East Amherst area.

We aren't going to find a much better back than McCoy. So, if he isn't having consistent 100+ yard games back to back to back then our guys up front aren't getting the job done. Yes and unfortunately it makes for mostly boring football. I don't mind being a run first team if you have the right lineman and scheme in place to dominate the line of scrimmage consistently and oppose your will on the defense. But the Bills aren't that good there. And it makes for pretty damn boring (not to mention unsuccessful) football if you keep banging your running backs against brick walls. It is also really hard to come back for a win in the fourth quarter when your strength is your running game and you don't have a formidable passing attack.

Nice...promote that kid to team staff... I don't know why we don't see it more often out of teams. I think it gives you a big advantage in the mental aspect of this game. And the mental aspect of this sport is under-appreciated in my opinion. There are so many ways you can use the mental part of this game to your advantage. Get defenses playing scared by throwing deep early and often. Get inside quarterbacks heads and get them down on themselves by bringing overwhelming pressure early in games. Going for the throat on the first play from scrimmage after your team intercepts a pass. Stepping on the gas by throwing the deep ball on the very next play after your offense makes any sort of big play. (things like that)

Based on your avatar, I might guess you are in graphic design of one sort or another? Or perhaps some other job where you are glued to a computer screen all day and nobody cares if you spend time here - like contract work in graphic design or something along that line....anyway doesn't matter 26....you're cool.......

He is a full time Bills fan. Must be independently wealthy.

Yes I believe you are correct. It was incomplete, but I think Sammy pretty much owned Revis in that game. And of course the Bills won that game. Any other times you can remember a Bills' quarterback attempting to throw a touchdown route on their first offensive play of the game or was it once last year? You just don't see teams try it very often, the Bills included. I think it is because there is so much on their minds already when the game starts - and they are jittery - and they are just trying to get on with the game. That is also why you hear announcers talk about sometimes after a quarterback gets hit once, he will settle down and start playing better football. The mind clears and they just get back to playing the game the way they know how and stop trying to overthink things. And I'd love it if they throw that pass again tonight. Please...please....please.....

Exactly. Good point.

Dude...he was insane... He made the game infinitely more enjoyable to watch. And I think he was the greatest ever at his position, even better than Reggie White was in that era. Bruce made a huge percentage if not the majority of his big plays while being double teamed. And he still made the play. Opponents had to dedicate a significant amount of game planning to figuring out how to neutralize him. It was a true pleasure to watch. You had to see it with your own eyes to really understand how great he was. In my opinion he was a better defensive end than Jim Kelly was a quarterback and Thurman Thomas was a running back - And I hold both of those players in the highest regard. Of those 90's era teams, Bruce was the best player at any position on the team respective to each player's position. (in my opinion)

I voted hang in there, but...... My attention would shift from getting psyched up for the game each week to getting more psyched up for the tailgate party instead. I enjoy both, but when the Bills teams really suck, I try not to think about them often and instead think about how much fun the pregame party is going to be. And I focus my attention more on what needs to be done to fix the team's problems long term more so than what needs to be done during this season. In other words, how to convince the team that they need to have the best offensive line in football if they really want to dominate.

It is obvious in this example that there were plays to be made that weren't. Here is something to think about though.. When was the last time you saw a Bills' quarterback go deep on the first offensive play of their first possession? I can't remember when. It has been that long. I bet it hasn't happened more than a handful of times since Jim Kelly was QB. When Jim Kelly was quarterback, it was one of the things that the Bills did regularly. Every game I would sit in anticipation of that first offensive snap wondering if JK was going to throw deep and put the defense on their heels from the very first snap of the game. Heck, I think that attitude was largely responsible for a lot of the Bills' success moving the ball in most games. The opponents were scared that at any moment Kelly and crew were going to go deep. That attitude and threat has been lacking for almost the entire time since Jim Kelly retired. None of the coaches in here since Marv have been that aggressive (or allowed the players to be) on a consistent basis. These days, all everyone talks about from the first offensive snap is how the quarterback is supposed to just get a few easy completions under his belt to start to develop a rhythm. I can almost guarantee you (as history as my proof) that the goal in that first play from scrimmage was never to (go for the homerun) even if it was there. You can't blame that on the quarterback entirely. Almost every one of these guys is told to just get a few easy completions at first. You can tell that because many of the announcers say that when they are covering a game. They constantly talk about how the offense wants to just execute some simple plays to get moving rather than try to get a touchdown on play #1 from scrimmage. Rex and crew are no different in that respect. (Or at least they haven't show themselves to be any different in that regard than any other coach.) If you put yourself in Tyrod's shoes and think about what his mindset was likely to be on that first snap, it is ridiculously easy to see why and how he could overlook Woods being open for 6 on that play. Both of the defenders on Woods' side of the field could have been laying on the ground for that play. Tyrod still probably would have thrown the ball where he did exactly how he did. I'm not saying Tyrod is not at fault for missing it. I am saying that because it was the first play on offense and because this team lacks the (go for the throat mentality) that those factors combined along with Tyrod not even looking for the homerun are what was responsible for the outcome of that play.

That is some damn good insightful commentary. Thanks for visiting champ.

Yes there were plays to be made that weren't. That is the case in every single game you lose and most games you win. My point is that Tyrod wasn't acting like normal Tyrod. The question is why? All I tried to offer was one possible plausible scenario that could explain why. Could be right. Could be totally wrong. I just find it hard to believe he was in his normal game element and just flat out played that bad. I am assuming there had to be other factors involved. My proposition is that the game plan going into that game took Tyrod out of normal "big play first" mode that we have seen from him in the past.

Bruce looks younger than any of the guys he played with. I am so glad I was around and able to watch him play through his career, especially when he was in his prime. He was a one man wrecking crew that (at times) single-handedly destroyed the opponents' drive and forced them to punt. Remember all the times he tackled running backs in the backfield from behind? He would chase them down and bear tackle them. They didn't even see him coming. Man it was great!

I agree with your basic premise that I would rather have a team with a strong passing attack. It sure is more fun to watch an explosive team rather than a boring run, run, incomplete punt team. But, you can win a championship with a strong defense and not so powerful passing offense. Denver just did it. Their offense was ranked 14th in passing a year ago.

The Jets are going to try to do the same thing defensively against Buffalo that Baltimore did - except this time it isn't going to work. Tyrod is going to have a much better game, especially in the intermediate passing range. Fans will be saying – “Where was this last week?” The Bills won't be able to run the ball well in the first quarter, but it will open up as the game progresses. My main concern is still whether or not the Bills defense will be able to stop the run. I think the Jets will have a much better day running the ball than Baltimore did. But their passing game led by Fitz will let them down. Statistically, Fitzpatrick will have a terrible game. His lack of productivity will be the excuse Jets’ fans give for why the Jets lose this one. Bills over Jets 20-16

Your reasoning is sound. But as fans, we want to hold on to any glimmer of hope for as long as we can until our team once again reaches into our chest, grabs our heart, throws it to the ground and stomps on it. They play the game for a reason don't they? Otherwise, why not just throw in the towel right now and refuse to enjoy any of the remaining season, which is quite long yet.

My guess is that coming into the Baltimore game, the Bills coaching staff was very optimistic about winning that game and purposefully took their foot off the gas pedal before that game even started. I say that because Tyrod has a history of liking to go for the homerun play. And he just didn’t do that. He looked to me like a guy who had been told not to get too carried away in this game. I envision him having a conversation with the coaches leading up to that game that goes something like this –coaches “Listen Tyrod, this game is very winnable. If we just play a smart, conservative game, we are going to come out of there with a win. Take whatever the defense gives you. We know they will have a strong pass rush. In this game we want to just get the ball out of your hands and keep it moving even if it means a lot of check downs to the safe receiver. As long as we don’t turn the ball over, we will win this game. We know there is already a lot of pressure on you going back to your previous team on their turf. You don’t need to win this game for us by yourself. Let some of our other players share that burden in this game.” Of course, the conversation I just pictured is a fictitious one. But I wonder how close to truth it was coming into that game. I can totally see the Bills coming into that game with the attitude that it isn’t going to take a lot of scoring to win that game and therefore they intended to play conservatively right from the start.

Fixed it for you. You're welcome.

Nonsense about lack of playing time in preseason. That is not why they sucked against Baltimore. The veteran players don't benefit much at all (if at all) playing in preseason. Yes they will develop chemistry over time as they play together more and more, but the preseason would have made no difference in the Baltimore game. The game plan for Baltimore sucked and the quarterback play during that game sucked. It had zero to do with preseason games.

I think the fact that the Bills were playing the Ravens had a lot to do with Tyrod's poor performance. Harbaugh knows Tyrod's weaknesses better than anybody and he exploited them. I don't think we will see Tyrod play that poorly again in another game this year (at least not mentally). It seems to me that Tyrod was beat mentally in this game more so than physically. But one thing that really bothers me about that game is that other teams (if they're smart) will learn how to defend better against Tyrod. And that will be a problem at various points in our near future. Tyrod has to adapt and improve or he won't make it in this league long.

Some of the worst offensive play and play calling we've seen in years. It was like watching a Dick Jauron style game. Tyrod had time in the pocket at times, yet refused to stretch the field. I kept thinking....when are the Bills going to take a shot...why aren't they taking a shot???????????? fricken maddening... Games like this are won with one or two big plays. It felt like the Bills didn't want to make (or even try to make) a big play on offense. Seemed like they were hoping that Shady would magically break one for a touchdown. Sorry, but even with his talent, if the defense doesn't respect your deep threat, you aren't going to be able to run the ball well enough, consistently enough, to sustain drives all the way to the endzone. It just ain't gonna happen. Feels like the game plan for this game was pathetic. And I don't think the Ravens are a very good football team. Feels like the Bills just lost to one of the weaker teams in the AFC. That does not spark any confidence going forward.