AKC

Since you appear fully consumed by our week 2 game why don't you go out and compile the stats, then share them with us along with the reason why those stats from week 2 are so much more compelling to you than the week 8 stats of a team with a new coach, a new starting running back and a brand new scheme? Before proceeding, and in the interest of your answer to why week 2 consumes so much of your thought, you might look at the current board and try and figure out why the topic of our most current game is prevalent over the other games we've played. Let me give you a hint- rearange the letters to find your answer: mercentost

Then dispute the facts in my post. That's a dare- see you later! Or under some other unregistered title of foolishness.

I'll leave "loving" our players to others with more random chromosomal orders. For my money I like seeing the players on our roster who can do the most immediate good for us playing. All Bledsoe has done this season is play 6 of 7 games well within the system designed by our coaches who have asked to have it implemented by him on the field. 6 of 7, I like those kinds of numbers. As for love you'll need to look elsewhere.

It might brighten your outlook to know that Martin's numbers through the year have declined in all but one week (against SanFran) 196 119 110 77 111 70

Shouldn't you be preparing to soften up the Jets for us? ;-)

Of course he does, and never let any facts that challenge that premise get in the way of allowing your opinion to be overtly influenced by those who spend every Sunday watching the football on every snap. There's probably lots of us who could throw for more yards than all but 10 QBs in the history of the NFL!

It's hard to imagine being a fan of the Bills and not viewing a very good effort against a team who has played pretty well against some of the teams considered the best in the league ( Seattle/Falcons/Pats) and kept all their O numbers down. I'm no Denny Green fan but he is a superior regular season coach and the Cards HAVE played well on D this season. Sunday was the type of game we hoped we'd see early in the season and it's disappointing we had to wait, but now that there's signs the team WILL run the ball the way a deliberate back like Willis obviously can it seems a little more prudent to put away the bags of Sour Balls and get back behind the roster and team we'll be watching for the balance of the season. It won't change that we should have snuffed the Traiders in their house, but a couple of good games in the next 2 weeks would go a long way in predicting what we might expect under the Mularkey flag over the long haul.

With 5 scores in 5 trips to the Red Zone Sunday Drew Bledsoe had the league's highest points per Red Zone penetration among all QBs with multiple Red Zone opportunities in week 8. Arizona's #1 ranking in Red Zone Defense entering the game comes in a year of diminishing Red Zone scoring from teams league wide, a statistic attributed by some to increased pressure up the middle by defensive lines/ improved physicality of corners/ more spread formations being used in the RZ and inviting pressure packages from defenses. Arizona's fast start on defense in '04 was helped mightily by the addition of Darnell Docket to play alongside Russell Davis in the middle of their DLine, and until Sunday the duo had created plenty of RZ pressure against teams like New England ( held to just 3 FGs in 4 Red Zone opportunities in the second half of their 23-12 week 2 game ), their 6-3 loss to Michael Vick and the Falcons ( 2 FGs in 4 RZ opps) or their 25-17 win over Seattle in Week 7.

The emergence of Ron Edwards as a 2 gap penetrating tackle is incredibly promising considering his lack of sustained performance in his career prior to this season. I had little faith in him becoming a possible strength of our line coming into '04 but Krumrie is getting seriously strong play from him on single teams this season- Edwards can flat blow up interior OLineman when left with a single team and has the ability to penetrate a double at times. IMO the staff has really figured out how to mix Edwards in and it is not good for opponents facing us- it's also especially good for Schobel who keeps insisiting on relying on his outside rush. 5 trips to the red zone, 4 TDs and a FG. Hmmmmm........... It's too funny to imagine us using Bannon as an HBack/blocker for our running back in the red zone- while it worked yesterday it does not speak highly of our blocking skills at two other positions ;-) First drive was a pass-happy, second one looked like we'd drive the ball down their throats the rest of the day- the offense continues to search for identity but the good news is that we won't see as many excellent interior DLines as the season wears on. The likelihood is that our running game will end up being the buzz about our team that follows us into the pre-season pubs before 2005. Watching Josh Reed and our trainers on the field after returning a punt and apparently taking a helmet in the knee was a continued reminder of what I hate about having NateC return punts. I can never get the risk/reward ratio to favor the reward side of the equation.

Only if the diners have carnal knowledge of or prior lust for said equine ;-)

Lizard can be great, Chuckwalla is a superior one with VERY tasty meat. Snake is OK to good in small quantities, the problem with cat is it's foul even in a single bite.

The truth is it's one of the worst meats of all, a real last option. Keep in mind that I watched Sunday's game in a bar in Mexico eating lengua tacos, just this past June I ate (on purpose) a pigs brain in Costa Rica (the little lady joined me for the very nice but incredibly rich organ) and I've tried way too many Asian "delicacies" to list here, but having tried cat I have to say it is downright nasty- oily and tough with a seriously foul flavor. If I was in charge of preparing it I'd choose braising or wet roasting in a very hot pepper base, then throwing the base away and serving the cat with some sauce that had none of its rendering. Enjoy!

With the change at RB I won't be surprised at all to see our team move up before the end of the season to become a top rushing team. I believe that will happen with the OLinemen we have on the roster. The reason I think that will happen is that in watching the two different styles between Henry and McGahee I see our "former" starter who wants to hit a hole and run, take it off the exchange and dash into a hole. We both know that's not been an "ideally" fruitful style, in fact I'm leaning towards the opinion that it might just be making our line look less competent than they may really be. I base that on when McGahee gets the ball behind the same guys running the same scheme- I keep noticing his patience in letting the blocking mature before he makes his move. It's an interesting trait for a guy McGahee's size- a 240 pounder with some of the blocking instincts of Thurman Thomas? It's intriguing and too long in coming this season. From this I believe with Willis in the starting role the line will look better than they do with Travis as starter (in my opinion it's already evident). I also think if Travis can keep his juvenile sensitivities in check he'll excel as the change-up back who hits holes quickly in spot duty. He can therefore increase his off-season value becasue his fuble number will be reduced by his more limited opportunities to fumble and that will hopefully allow some team manager to covet him going into 2005. And before we COMPLETELY give up Big Mike remember one stat from this season that we might be paying a lot more attention to with this starting RB change- Willis is averaging a full 4.9 yards per carry over the right side at this time. When he gets a chance to pound on a team like Arizona all day long and go into the 4th with the lead I wonder if he might not just extend that average a bit higher?

Strike while the iron is hot :-) Seeing that Sunday we'll face Arizona and Willis is slated to go end to end here's one voice who says you will not be able to say the same thing next week.

You can't possibly be serious. A fabricated formula that has been exposed since the introduction of the West Coast offense to be fatally flawed? Do you honestly believe that Steve Young was the best QB of all time as the "Passer Ratings" suggest? You honestly would rest your reputation on TBD stating that Dante Culpepper and Jeff Garcia are among the top 10 Quarterbacks of ALL TIME? Please stop with your obvious attempt at humor- you can't in any lifetime be suggesting that Brad Johnson and Brian Griese are the 15th and 16th best QB in the History of The NFL?!!! Here, let's explore your theorum- Are Brad Johnson and Brian Griese even the 15th and 16th best QBs in the NFL TODAY? You've got them at 15 and 16 ALL-TIME, where do they rate among the league's best in their own era? I'm ANXIOUS to hear your answer!!!!

Kurt Warner, Brad Johnson, Trent Dilfer and Jim Plunkett know how to "move a little"?

Check out the Streaks and Notes Section here- it might be helpful to know that Bledsoe threw for 203 yards Sunday ;-) Facts So Crystal Clear Even A Pat's Fan Can Grasp Them!

I see flaws in his play the same way I recognize flaws in every QBs play simply becasue of their visibility. But here's a guy being asked to do less, having some of the weight shifted to his running attack, and making adjustments for the better. His first 5 games this season he was even showing some good touch in the short game, or at least better than I remember from him. Fans tend to want to blame players instead of teams for losses, and if you want to take a checklist through this season's losses the name Bledsoe should not top the list on any game, although there is at least a supportable argument for having him atop the Raven's loss. This isn't really a post about whether he should be starting, more fundamentally it's about how fixated some portion of every fan base gets aboutthe positon when in reality there's 10 other guys out there that on any play can make or break the effectiveness. Are there better QBs in the league I'd rather see running our O, that's affirmative. Are there better QBs on our bench to go out in this climate- not for my money. It's simpy that typiccal fan reaction, it's historically documented, "Our Team Is Losing- Change The QB!". Let 'em scream for the QBs head. As I said before, this fan will continue to offer his screams in the positive support of his team.

I've read some classic columns the make the same arguments, the funny thing is they're from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Bascially the same ones heard when Jim Plunkett was thrown on the scrap heap (just prior to his 2 Super Bowl wins). Maybe some day they'll come true, but in the meantime they're simply the "the usual" in any market where a team is struggling. No one in Tampa Bay said it when Brad Johnson was at the helm of a Super Bowl winner, or in St. Louis when Warner was leading them to the big win. Heck, among Giant fans you won't hear a peep about mobiole QBs! And how did that pesky Trent Dilfer...... Has the game of football made Peyton Manning a has been? If you truly believe the "mobile QB" is the way the game has to be won "in the years to come" would you care to make a guess as to how many Super Bowls Mr. Vick will win?

I can't imagine anyone calling Green Bay a "big city market" and if I'm not mistaken KC is only about 35th (population) in the U.S., another I assume most would consider a "small market" team.

Bill’s fans have been recognized over history as one of the best fan bases in the game. Often there are examples that support this presumption, instances like the Orchard Park reception given Takeo Spikes in his last game in tiger stripes. Pride and loyalty are the keystones of many Bill’s fans foundation in the team. It is this same pride and loyalty that allow us to display our allegiance at all times, in better or worse seasons, to emphasize the difference between us and the hollow fan bases of teams in other markets. Big City markets offer different appeals to their sports teams. As a former resident of South Florida, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston who has spent the past 20 years in the fan vacuum of Los Angeles there has been much opportunity to observe the types of sports “fans” to which I do not aspire. In football there is one simple rule about the general fan that holds true within any fan base- there is a pre-occupation with the Quarterback position that bears little or no correlation to the actual influence the Quarterback has on the outcome of games. It is perfectly understandable that most fans spend Sundays watching the ball- and hence the Quarterback- for the majority of the game. One of those things that has long separated Bill’s fans from many others though is the healthy percentage of our fans who actually pay attention to the other aspects of the game, the aspects that on far more Sundays than simply the play of the Quarterback actually make the difference in the game outcome. Take for instance the naïve fan base of the New York Jets. The papers in New York have fed the ignorant fan base into buying Chad Pennington as the Gunslinger in Chief, the Savior of the Franchise, the Player Most Responsible for their fast start. Funny thing is, you don’t have to watch a lot of Jet’s ball this year to realize that the Jets offense is being carried along predominantly on the play of Kevin Mawae, their center. Now for naïve fans it’s impossible to beleive that the center on a team could be more important than the Quarterback, but the simple truth is, ( and you can get on their chat sites to ask Curtis Martin is he agrees <he will>) that Mawae IS carrying their offense. But you’d have to watch the play on the field to recognize that, and that’s something that is just too involved for the big market sports fan. One thing that separates us from fan bases like the Jets is that we have more students of the game on a per fan basis. Many of the most knowledgeable fans on TBD have and do support a change at our own QB position while other equally informed fans do not. There are surely things that can be brought up to support both sides of the issue— we start a QB who’s production can not be ignored- he’s the 11th leading passer in the history of professional football. You might not like Eric Dickerson as a person but he was a productive player. Beldsoe, it could be argued, is past his prime. There’s a long list for both arguments. My own biggest complaint about Drew is that he doesn’t seem to motivate the playmakers around him to make big plays- I remember when I played ball as a WR it was the best QBs who came into the huddle and looked me in the eye with a “MAKE A PLAY HERE” that I knew my number was up and it was time to go high, low, over or under to make something happen. I don’t see that with Drew. He's not getting our playmakers up and they're not doing it on their own either. Our failures to date in 2004 highlight a season in which the playmakers on our offense have been LESS rather than MORE likely to make the big play when it makes a difference. The 2004 season has played out with a new staff asking our old offensive roster to play a different game. We’ve seen blocking breakdowns game after game from our running backs. Our WRs continue to lead the league in dropped balls. The play from our QB spot has been one of the more steady and even positive spots on our offense. Surely there have been those vampires waiting through this early struggle to blame everything on the QB, and they’ve picked a 3 tipped ball game to do so. It’s very convenient to ignore the balls bouncing off our “star” WR’s chest in the end zone and focusing on the QB. That’s certainly what the big market fan always thinks- the QB must play perfectly to make up for the likelihood that everyone else will fail at times. But football doesn’t work that way. Every player will fail at times; the QB has ample opportunities to fail and has the highest visibility. So the QB consumes the frustration of some. The simple reality is that the biggest improvements we can make on our offense to win games right now have nothing to do with the QB position. It’s clear that Mularkey has finally decided that coddling Henry is not in the team’s best interest and that a back who can actually USE his blockers will result in improved rushing performances. That in turn will improve our pass blocking. It’s Football 101, and the change to start Willis is a positive addressing one of our biggest problems- we were leaving our best running back on the bench to avoid frustrating the other back. Now the key is to get our best formation up and use our talent, and in doing so we could see more one-back sets with Evans getting more field time. Moving DBs away from the box will open up the way for Mr. McGahee to power into the second level. Our offense has improved with the simple decision to start Willis. Our front 6 blockers and backfield blocker will benefit by spreading the field and reducing the effective blitzers. Our QB will benefit by the speed of the rookie, especially if he’s allowed more underneath routes instead of simply having him run Flys and Posts. Clements has shown signs he understands this. It would be a very good to see 3 WR sets right away against the Cards and let our front 6 block try to pound out the room for McGahee to get to the second level and then break away. Let’s get our best talent on the field- Damien Shelton hardly fits in that category. I am a proud and loyal Bill’s fan; I’ve watched/listened (the old AM console radio in the 60s)/attended games every year of their existence from the AFL to last week. As a fan I believe that Tom Donahoe knows a hell of a lot more about football than I do. If we were a team being routed regularly by bad football teams I’d have a lot tougher questions for him, but the continued improvement of this team is what I expect from his forces. Did we help two teams reach the undefeated ranks or were we beaten by two much better football team? I’ll go with the latter. Effectively our ’05 season starts Sunday- and this fan is getting ready for the opener. There won’t be anyone in Cabo this weekend cheering louder for their team than this fan. And that’s one football guarantee this Bill’s fan can make and keep.

Trust your strengths my brother ;-)

They're the subjective numbers of Stats Inc., which include their analysis of all receivers league-wide. They do NOT include balls lost because of QB error (in the opinion of their analysts). That is to say, if Stats "credits" Reed with 3 drops he has had at MINIMUM three catchable balls thrown to him that ended up on the ground or in the hands of a defender. Considering his limited opportunities it's clear Reed is right now one of the league "leaders", if not #1 league-wide, in dropping catchable passes per opportunity.

It's hardly complete to project our receivers numbers for the season while ignoring the most critical stat affecting our W/L record- here's the extrapolations with that stat included: Moulds: 99 rec, 1264 yds, 10 TD 10 Dropped Passes Evans: 32 rec, 794 yds, 3 TD 3 Dropped Passes Reed: 16 rec, 195 yds, 0 TD 10 Dropped Passes Aiken: 6 rec, 38 yds, 0 TD 3 Dropped Passes Might go a long way also in explaining some of the fan dissatisfaction with Mr. Reed, who isn't having his first season with dropped pass issues. While I personally like his tangibles, the fact that our #1 has a history of losing easy grabs is exacerbated when receivers down the totem pole have as bad (or in this case worse) problems. With even one of the "Dropnamic Duo" having even a "decent" season in this area this is likely a 3-2 football team right now at worst.

1. WM reminds me a little bit of a more physical Thurman Thomas. His ability to gain extra yardage by contorting his body or finding a small crack is the largest similarity. Of course, he has a long way to go to reach such lofty heights. He has the patience of our former star without a doubt, and apparently the physical tools to make a D shudder as the game goes on-something Thurman lacked. He's got a long way to go in pass blocking but he's already ahead of the more experienced Henry. He's averaging over 7 yards per carry over the right side of our OLine, which is almost 4 yards a carry more than Travis. Did I mention he's a plus in the passing game over Henry because he doesn't automatically give up a sack if he's asked to pick up a risher? He hasn't shown any signs of horrible ball handling characteristics- like the kind that have made Travis one of the least reliable ball carriers in the league over the course of his career. 2. Travis is a douche bag. I just needed to say that. I really don't care if you disagree. I'll sign on to "mentally frail". 4. Our defense continues down the road of overrated and poorly prepared. It was painfully obvious to me that Fiedler wasn't completing a pass into the wind if it had to travel more than 15 yards from the LOS, yet we continued to allow their underneath receivers to faux block and then release to the flat for big gains. They only thing that saved snatching another defeat from sure victory was the fact that our offense actually executed when it mattered. Another box score showing a TE as our opponent's leading receiver. Hardly a coincidence and hardly insignificant. 5. Drew can still unleash the beast. Some of those passes were breathtaking in those elements. Of course, he still made some remarkably stupid decisions (Zack Thomas' dropped pic in the red zone being the most glaring). Shane Matthews would have made Fiedler look brilliant in those conditions. Trust me. He's doing what he's been asked to do while taking the naive public scorn for the worst WR corps int he league at dropping throws this season. A big plus on a team that could use three or four more. 6. The Dolphins OLine makes ours look "Hog-like". Schobel's sacks were the result of the same pathetic "around rush" that has been so pathetic all year. The first time the tackle simply missed him, the second the responsible party NEVER EVEN LOOKED AT HIM. Amazingly, we didn't fall on either fumble. I agree with Bill below- if the middle continues to get a little more push he gets to double digits in sacks quickly this year. 9. The holding penalty on Campbell was a terrible call. Taylor wasn't making that play no matter what, considering there were THREE players blocking him and Bledsoe was already running forward when NOTHING actually happened. Drew diving forward was a VERY smart play. Had no idea he was still capable of such endeavors. What holding penalty? Haven't had a chance to review the film yet but on first look it was non-existent. 10. Mooreman's late 2nd quarter punt may very well have been his greatest kick ever. 47 yards into that wind in that situation was AMAZING. Of course, our defense played the ensuing series holding their collective Johnson's, so it was for naught. And yet old faithful Lindell still put the opening kick on the 5 yard line- with all that wind at his back. 11. Shelton actually showed me something yesterday. It wasn't much, but it was a huge step up from the previous 4 weeks. All he has shown me all year is that he doesn't really like physical play. And he's in the worst spot for a player who doesn't like a dirty uniform, especially next week. Physical FBs can eliminate Ray Lewis from a game, Shelton will guarantee Lewis has a shot at their game ball.