AKC

The three lowest forms of life on the internet are: Virus writers Pedophiles Trollscum That's some fine company you're keeping!

You can cease for our sake with the whining excuses, and for goodness sakes feel free to amend that one item in the article so it makes more sense for your lifestyle; try- "apologize for your lover that he's not Tom Brady".

What's amazing about the base story though is that what the first half of the 2005 season proved was that when given an average defense (the kind most QBs around the league have to play with every Sunday) Brady and company were nothing better than a .500 football team. And this goes far in supporting what some have contended all along- that the Pats winning streak has been based upon great defense and the toe of their kicker. As the media and fans are wont to do, adulation of the quarterback position remains the popular trend while the reality of the outcome on the field proves the fallaciousness of that logic. But don't hesitate to cry for Tom- he is, after all, the "emotional" type!

Statistically that's simply not supported. The following is a post from early December that outlines what appear to be a coaching versus personell issues on the offensive side of the ball, and just the opposite on the defensive side: There are a number of objective assumptions that can be reached from our rank among NFL teams in performance by quarter. Patterns tell us much about the team we’re fielding and the conclusions are clear. Here’s some critical patterns from the 2005 Buffalo Bills: Our defense has opened games allowing the 2nd least number of points in the league during the first quarter. We drop precipitously from there to 22nd in the second quarter before getting a halftime breather and rising to 14th in the third before falling all the way to 26th in the 4th quarter. Offensively we open up the first quarter as the 7th best scoring offense and then fall to 22nd, 30th and then last in fourth quarter scoring. The defensive numbers are an easy read- we open halves well and quickly fade. The rank of 2nd overall holding our opponents in the first quarter suggests good preparation during the week and a well designed strategy entering the game. The fall in the second quarter and fourth quarters is the classic symptom of personnel issues along the defensive line. The graph clearly supports the supposition that we simply don’t have the horses in the middle to carry a defense. And when you get tired in the middle it’s really of little consequence the quality of the balance of players in a defense, you will fail. See: Sunday. Offensively there’s an inverse outcome to having a poor middle- you’ll simply be a poor starting team out of the chute. Based upon all the squawking about our offensive line you’d expect our offense to be poor initially and throughout the game, the classic symptoms of a weak OLine. But that’s simply not what is happening to the 2005 Buffalo Bills. Our offense has come out after the Pledge of Allegience and scored more points than all but 6 other teams in the league during the first quarter. The reality is you simply don’t do this with a poor offensive line. There is much to learn about our offense in studying the scoring trends by quarter and seeing the steady plummeting from a top ten offense right down to last in the league by the fourth. Here’s some fair assumptions we can make based upon our offensive scoring graph: A) It tells us the background staff who handles “quality control” for the Bills are doing their jobs effectively. It also tells us the offensive coaching staff- under the approval of the head coach- are doing a very good job in preparation. They’re devising strong opening game plans and getting the offensive players ready to play leading up to the game. B) Most importantly it tells us our offensive coaching and those they answer to are failing dreadfully on the sidelines on Sundays. They have the talent necessary to outperform 25 other offenses league-wide when having the advantage of all their research, film study and preparation; yet in real time their strategies each week are uncovered in our opening drives and opposing coaching staffs very simply are beating us mentally as they adjust to our game plan. We’re good enough physically to score with regularity, and this is proven by our rank as the 7th BEST OFFENSE IN THE NFL during the first quarter. Where we fail is when we have to do it over the course of the game. Fans will be begging for Tight Ends and OTs and other players on the offensive side of the ball this coming off-season, even though this would directly contradict the greatest needs of this team based upon our performance throughout games this season. If the team is to find any level of improvement in 2006 the focus on off-season personnel acquisitions must HEAVILY favor the defensive side of the ball. At the same time it will matter little if it is the same decision-makers on the sidelines and in the box calling the game- our offensive coaching is unquestionably failing us every week. Whether heads must roll is the biggest question, IMO at least one head must be sacrificed and responsibility for failing us should end up at the feet of the OC. Most good OC’s with a top 10 first quarter offense will end up with an even better rating by the 4th quarter, our falls to the bottom of the league. The bodies are there, sure we can add some wrinkles and depth, but it’s the decisionmakers doing the substantial damage to this offense at this time.

If you were here to discuss the game of football you wouldn't have a disrespectful garbage mouth name and you surely wouldn't have spent in excess of 2/3rds of your posting capital talking about your QB and former Bills QBs. But that's been your choice, and that's what separates you from honest fans of other teams who have shared their insight with us over the years. You have nothing but garbage to share, exemplified by your garbage name and garbage posting- try your cheeky little "I'm just here to talk football" with the idiot who invited you- if he was stupid enough to bring a disrespectful pox like you in here he will most surely buy that garbage too.

And yet you spend countless hours trolling the websites of other fan bases! Ah maturity, that elusive little characteristic unbeknownst to the twisted losers drawn to become internet trolls. Do carry on! You're kind of comical- in a Travis Bickel sort of way ;-)

Aren't you more interested in who your own team is considering? I'd think even you trolls would have more to do this time of the year than bottom-feed on our board.

And yet the gutless jellyfish troll, to no one's surprise who understands trolls, quivered and shook at his opportunity and refused to take the proposition. You French?

And those dynamics should be a big assist to Marv in his new role. As a bystander to the ultimately disastrous cap strategy adopted during his coaching days at OBD and considering the very good situation he's stepping into, I have to assume Marv has soaked up all the possibilities and will take the wiser course. That would mean we'll be forced to see some good ball players move on when their contract to contribution ratio reaches into the red. All we have to find out now is how Marv's people are at talent evaluation. If they've very good at it we could become an undesirable opponent in short order, especially in one of football's worst divisions top to bottom at this time.

It's always fun to watch a fungus cower under the pressure of a precise wager- good to see you're still shaken up by it!

To be completely accurate, the scientific community has determined Trolls like you two are a subspecies of athlete's foot.

Mawae followed the 2004 season where by all rights he deserved to be the Jet's MVP- he literally carried their running game on his back for the whole season- with a season hobbled by injury. It's a tough call, he's the best at his position in the league when healthy but you hate to pay what he'll get in FA and have anything like his '06 season happen. Since we have bigger holes at LG and at DT I think reluctance to take a shot on his health is the prudent approach.

I have no problem being civil to "human beings". It's scumpuppet Trolls with derogatory names that deserve nothing from anyone in this forum, and the even lower form of life that are trolls like your buddy who try to hide the fact that he's a troll altogether. If you're looking for civility you might try a Patriot's board, but then why would they be interested in your vacuum of football content?

Always refreshing to see catostomids like you and Rico sucking up to each other ;-)

Well then eat a pickled lamb tongue for me and tell the Basques that their contribution to modern pub crawling is greatly appreciated- ah, the Tapa!

When you're coaching "the best O in the land" and yet on half your drives you've ended up with no change to the scoreboard, I'm thinking it's prudent to start taking your opponent into consideration. Texas may not have the star defensive line some might argue but they do have incredible depth with something like 9 DTs on their roster. I'd argue against the call even if USC had made it and obviously closed the game out- it just seems to me that in the college game you'd like to give your D every opportunity to force a mistake by the opponent. Ceding them 1/3rd of the field ain't the way this guy would go about doing that. In fact, retrospectively I'd add that if you think Vince Young is the biggest danger, adding to the length of the Texas drive is EXACLTY how you diminish his importance- longer drive means the clock forces him to throw instead of running, and this puts the ball in the hands of his receivers. It didn't take me until the 4th quarter to see that the Texas receivers were hardly the threat #10 was- what game was Carroll watching? I understand fully the logic behind "closing down the game", but all things considered I find the argument for kicking the ball far more compelling on that one play. I believe USC would have won had they punted since Texas would have had to convert likley two more first downs and they simply would not have had the clock for that.

Since you've never identified your actual team to us here, now might be a tremendous opportunity. Maybe you can just give us Bill's fans a hint- how about "what selection does Rico the Troll's team have in the 2006 draft at this time?". Let me work it out from there!

If he's the best DT in the 2006 draft then I'll be perfectly content picking another position in the first round.

Due exclusively to Sam Adam's apparent temper tantrum over being asked to play a 2 technique versus his much favored 3 technique I'd agree. There are positive signs from Anderson's play as he got more time and he should be an asset in a rotation of 3 or 4 DTs for many seasons. At the same time the team highlighted Big Sam's skills in the Jets game by letting him play his favored 1-gap. That could indicate they think they might be able to move his 2006 contract for some value to another team. The bad news about it is that Sam, playing alongside a true 2 technique DT is one of the best 1-gap players in football. Picking up a big run stuffer in the draft/FA and moving Sam will simply be another hit to the quality of our DT rotation.

I don't look at college ball the same way as the Pros. 2 minute college offenses are more likely to make mistakes that cost big chunks of time, and the best way to increase the likelihood of mistakes is to increae the number of plays necessary for your opponent. Under 3 minutes, I believe making Texas run the course of the field puts more pressure on them not to make a mistake than it does on my defense to simply wait for one guy to step up and make ONE play. I saw the clock as USCs friend, but the 4th down play took that friend away and wiped out 1/3rd of of the field Texas would have otherwise been forced to negotiate to win. I can appreciate that there is no definitive answer to the right thing to do. My original point was that I didn't second guess anything done on either sideline with any conviction throughout the game, yet the moment I saw Carroll deciding to play another down I thought "This is the first major mistake made coaching tonight". Up to that decision it had been a football game played by a couple very good football teams. For my money the football decision was to keep the clock advantage by putting the opponent as far back as possible and improving the chances of a Texas error.

I'm all for settling the DT issue first and foremost, and if Ngata is the real deal and can play 2 gap while showing some upfield burst I'm all for him. The next guy we'd want would be a great one gapper to take over for the passing of Big Sam and I saw no indication at all that Wright could wear those spikes. There do appear to be 3 or 4 other viable options within the first 3 rounds to get a one-gap player though.

You are correct Sir. Let me purchase your next pint of Porter.

I've seen him on a number of sites like this as a 1st rounder, and somewhere as a "can't miss" 1st round DT. Defensive Tackles

What a coach in his right mind does is tack the extra 25 or 30 yards onto the Longhorns and let the clock finish them off. The bottom line is that you MIGHT pick up the first down and win the game as a result, but giving the ball to the opponent who has some MO on offense and shortening the field for them makes the proposition an very poor one. BTW- Shortly after I said that the Trojan offense proved my point very effectively. This wasn't exactly the Notre Dame defense the Trojans were playing.

In the biggest game of his life so far Rodrique Wright sure looked like a stretch to be taken in the first round of the upcoming draft. In fact, I’m not sure he was the best DT on the Texas defense- one of the non-starters in the rotation seemed to have less trouble with USC single teams than Wright did. Wright has almost flawless form- he sets up and fires low, gets his hands in position and on top of it for a big guy he has very good foot speed- he’s clearly had good coaching as he’s moved up the food chain and he’s absorbed the lessons. At the same time there’s something wrong when the opposing team guesses right when they keep you out of a running lane with merely a fullback block. Far too many single-teams the balance of the night without breaking off the block for a guy being suggested as a first rounder by some of the draftniks. Looked like a high third round talent to me based on this one game. I haven’t seen Vince Young play before but I’m surprised anybody believes this kid will be a pro QB; he’s got great, if a bit awkward, talent and he’s strong and cool as the proverbial cucumber, but the fact is mechanically in the passing game he’s horrendous. In the NFL simply his setup time for a pass will doom him, and that “coolness” he gets away with at the college level would translate to lots of sacks in the Pros. An intriguing WR prospect who will probably be taken too high. BTW- I couldn't have been the only one in a Trojans bar last night who yelled BAD BAD DECISION when Carroll went for the 4th down yardage. Since I had no horse in the race it was my lone outburst of the evening.