AKC

As a kid growing up in WNY with the Bills and the Yankees showing up on my cable stations I've had two different fan worlds to enjoy- one with a championship winning tradition unrivaled in sports and one an inveterate workmanlike underdog. While my youth was spent with an equal passion for both teams, as an adult I find myself far more drawn to the Bill's organization, community and promise. The team in '04 made a prideful run at the prize even though we're 5 or 6 roster spots away from fielding the type of complete teams that hold the top AFC spots right now. If there is anything I'll allow myself to be disappointed in this season it's been the limited but ugly segment of our fan base who have become increasingly hostile towards Bills players. Outside of this embarassing phenomenon I'm as proud of the '04 Bills as I have ever been of any of my Yankee teams- even the many of those who have come away on top of their sport. The trend for our football team is to the postive; I'll join you in the optimistic hope that was the original inspiration for the name taken from "fanatic", a derivative that is best described by how you, me and the vast majority of our community feel about the team that we love.

I'm skipping the 9:30 mass tomorrow morning.

I'll hoist one to you, me, and everyone else hoping for the same.

That's right, I forgot the one where you demanded that W/L was the only sign of a good QB! I had no idea winning would be this difficult for you.

I'm sure I missed a few-

That would be indisputable IF he would pull his head out of his butt feeling sorry for himself- but that's a big if. I'm not saying I can't understand his disappointment in falling to 2 on the Depth Chart but is there any chance he comes out in '05 totally ready to play the roles he's given (like all the quality #2s do)?

Different dynamics for Dillon since he's always been considered kind of a "Pigpen" character by teammates, leaving a risk of spreading any malaise he might suffer among the balance of the team. The risk has paid off handsomely so far for NE, we'll see what the future of it brings since the weakest point in Belichick's game looks to be his individual relationships with players. He can get a team to play for him but it's almost amusing how some of the biggest talents on his rosters don't trust him personally. I'm guessing there's room around the league for Travis to draw up a #2.

I agree with you 100% BBevis- I considered the Bills/Bengals a "Big Game" and you clearly were putting a good product on the home field at the time- both teams had to have the game and Buff played well enough to earn it. The only unfortunate thing is we'll have to do our work against the Steeler with Maddox at the helm, which will become the excuse for others- and even a tiny little percentage of our own fans, to claim it a less than "quality" win. But for the 99.5% of the rest of us Bill's fans it should be the same thing our win over your team represented- a big win an a big game against a quality opponent.

In addition to being meaningless when analyzing a running back's ability to hang onto the football, "lost fumbles" is an oxymoron. A fumble is ALL READY a lost ball. What happens after that is more a process of how well your teammates clean up after your mess.

I have to believe that the presence of a solid cover guy at FS is giving him more room to play ball the way he wants to. We moved up a notch in the quality of our D when Vincent took up with Milloy as our safety tandem. We'll get to test that out next week with Maddox, a guy who will throw balls at our safeties in play action.

We were hollering at that too- the one where he uses just enough hand on the first guys helmet to slip outside and then do his "uncanny" forward stumble for another 6 yards! It's always best when Tasker is calling our games- the second game Tasker had with Willis playing this year he said "he's not a real physical runner". That's become the common yell for my room full of fans every time Willis gets a touch now ;-)

It's an unfortunate truth that Travis on the bench has made the Bills better on the field. Willis is at least a willing, and sometimes very effective, backfield blocker who is always moving to find the unblocked rusher. Travis on the other hand has trouble stopping guys he knows he'll be responsible to block from before the start of the play. You hate to pick on a guy who ran hard for us through minor nicks and major dings but the simple change in running styles between he and Willis has made all of our OLine talent look better. Travis gets the ball runs into whatever is in front of him, Willis gets ball/reads field/makes decisions. Both ran hard, but only one runs with excellent instincts and dare I say smarts. None of this though should diminish the fact that Chris Villarial is the real deal in run blocking, a tenacious player who never clocks out before the whistle. I'd go so far as to credit his aquisition as a more important personnel move than the selection of Lee Evans in giving us an offense that shares the credit with our other units in improving to become a good football team today. Of course in the long run Evans will be horse that sells the jerseys- and no doubt rightfully so in the future, but for my money, this season, Villarial has been the big impact guy.

I'm guessing he's going to command a lot more money to play in a pure passing offense than he will be worth to us with our play action scheme. He's got possibly the best slide in football but he's hardly outstanding in run blocking. It's quite possible Big Mike moves to his spot and we pick up a RT in FA for about 1/3rd of what we'd have had to pay Jonas.

I'm guessing that SF's strategy will be to keep a safety up on Lee all game but leave Moulds covered with a Free Safety who's playing CB due to injuries on their roster. Eric with single coverage will draw Bledsoe's attention all day.

That statement is absolutely false. At this time, with this team playing possibly the best TEAM football in the league, there's but a tiny fraction who are still so ingrained in some foolish position that they can't be downright giddy like the majority of our fan base. We all understand that your pre-season postion hasn't played out the way you insisted it would- I'd welcome you to let go of your disappointment in being wrong and join the rest of us in supporting this team 100%. You can't imagine how awesome it is until you jump onboard!

Poojer- Am I missing something in the string? I don't see a single negative thing being suggested about a sausage smoking lifestyle- in fact don't most of us share a fondness for the women who choose and master the same?

The only question for me is would J.D. Hill trust him in the showers?

Mark Haynes challenged me to a bong-off when I was visiting a buddy who played QB for Colorado in '78. He won. Major lungs-

If you’re still bitching about our team or any individual member of the Buffalo Bills or their staff at this time of this season it’s reasonable for others to conclude you’re not really a Bill’s fan. The primary reasons for this is that it’s the only conclusion an objective person can reach knowing that: A) The vast majority of the national press is fawning over the team in Buffalo and how well the three segments of the team are putting complete games together and helping out whatever unit isn’t getting their best performance in on any given Sunday. Say Team. Now say Team again. And continue reciting it over and over until it begins to mean something to you, like it obviously does to the guys on our roster. The reason no one is quitting on Sundays is that they believe in each other. It would be nice if the fan base could adopt the same stance. B) NFL analysts, including former Pro-Bowl NFL Players, are talking about the good fit of ALL our personnel and their adoption of the new scheme on the offensive side of the ball, the improvement on Special Teams and the difficulty opposing offenses are having with our aggressive defense. Sterling Sharpe on NFL Playbook last night said- "Buffalo is very lucky to have Drew Bledsoe running their show right now". But hey, what the heck does he know? No doubt 2% of our fan base understands the game of football FAR better than Sharpe ;-) C) Bill’s fans are excited about the possibility of a playoff berth and the opportunity to play our best ball going into the post-season. Even most pessimists are optimistic at this moment in time. If they’re actually Bill’s fans. Does our position allow questioning of coaching, player abilities and roster decisions? Of course- but right now in a positive way because for Christ’s sake we’re IN POSITION TO GET IN THE PLAYOFFS. I’ll offer a twist on an old adage- If you don’t have anything good to say about our team at this moment, in this season,- STFU!

You're just asking for trouble with that post :-O

Google Search: "Tom Brady" gay 47,700 hits "Terrell Owens" gay 16,300 hits "Jeff Garcia" gay 9,580 I don't know what the read is on Owen's "outing" of Jeff Garcia- I guess it's possible he was trying to hide his own, uh, "fancies" ;-) But to answer the original question- Yes- he's quite a bit bigger than Tom Brady.

The Comedy Central version is awful with the dubbed language cleanup. I bowled in the lanes they use in the film but I believe that property has since been redeveloped- at least that was in the works 4 or 5 years ago. Many of the other sets are places around the Westside of LA. If any of you fans of the movie are going to be in LA and would like a "Lebowski" tour let me know and I'll be happy to show you the spots.

In the Bedford Falls Insane Asylum the patients are having a good time ripping the quarterback of the local team while that same team is on a tear including the possibility of going to the playoffs! But wait- life's about to get even more wonderful for the idiots in the asylum- time for meds!

Takeo Spikes- "It may be scheduled for 4 quarters, but we're trying to knock you out in the first".

Just announced, should be on in a few minutes.