Sammy Watkins' Rib

Problem with trying to tank, presuably to get a top QB next year, have you seen how well the Jets are set up to tank this year? I'd also still throw the Browns in there as well. They will be a very young team all around next year so I still see them as a 2-3 win team max. I know anything can happen, but currently as the two teams are constructed it is hard to see the Bills losing to the Jets twice. And that speaks more to how much worse the Jets are on paper compared to last year because I don't think the Bills currently are any better on paper, we've probably taken a step back for sure. But Jets have taken several steps back. Also, throw in the very real possibility of Darnold going back to school. Because there are plenty of examples of teams that have used a "bridge QB" and have still managed to make the playoffs. Dolphins last year are a perfect example. Their team was nothing special overall and there QB is nothing special. Yet they made the playoffs. For the Bills to not be able to make one playoff appearance over the last 17 years with a bridge QB is just another embarrassment on a long list of embarrassments. How many times have the Browns and Rams blown it up and gotten nowhere? Tanking does not guarantee success. Jets seem to have a leg up on us in that race anyways. Even if we released Taylor, Jets overall are probably worse. And Browns with such a young roster will likely still be pretty bad, much like the Rams have always been bad with young rosters.

He's a good corner. I wouldn't say elite. He's getting paid like an elite corner.

Not the ideal way to wake up in the morning.

It's shocking from a Patriots stand point. When is the last time they went out and signed a free agent for top dollar? That is not there thing.

That is shocking if true. Hopefully this signing works out for them as well as the Byrd signing did for the Saints.

Well seems like we are doubling down on the ground and pound philosophy even without Rex. Re-sign Taylor and bring in a bruising back to go along with the two good backs we already have on the roster.

As long as it's in New England it should be close. For some reason they whoop us good at our house.

I think it ends up being New England actually. Only divisional opponent the Bills have not played on Thursday night. I believe we have played both the Jets and Dolphins twice each. Overdue for the Pats on Thursday.

I'm totally fine with spending a little extra cash to keep TD Mike. Just don't want to break the bank, hopefully it won't come to that. We all thought we might miss Karlos and that never happened. RB's are easily replaceable so who knows, we could keep running and not miss a beat without Gileslee but rather just keep the guy.

If we somehow lose both Taylor and Gilmore in the same off-season it may be the final straw for Whaley.

Only way Pats remotely consider trading Brady would be if he puts up a couple stinkers at the end of the season. Maybe if we get after him like we did Rodgers and Peyton, and then he has another poor game in the playoffs to kill the Pats chances. It would depend on how much they really like Garpalo too.

Edit: Sorry Metzelaars, don't know why I quoted your post because obviously you agree Pats need to win tomorrow. I'm not 100% sure about that. If Miami wins tomorrow against N.E. , odds are they win out and go 10-6, their two remaining games would be against the Vikings and Jets. I think at this point you have to assume one of either Baltimore or Pittsburgh locks up one of the wild card spots. Or possibly even one of them wins the division and Cinci falls back to one of the wild cards. If that is the case, if the Bills also win out and finish 10-6 would we win tie breakers over the Dolphins, we will have split the head to head and also have identical division records. I think the next tie breaker would probably be common opponents. If so, we may finish ahead based on Bills beating Green Bay and Detroit (miami loss to both) while Miami only holds a victory over San Diego who we loss too. However, if the next tie breaker is conference record then we would lose out to miami 6-6 to their 8-4.

Or so the legend goes... haha.

Hoyer was injured on the Browns second series and less than five minutes into the game. He also had picked up three straight first downs to start that second series before getting hurt on the scramble.They likely would have gotten it going with him. EJ's injury came two full quarters later. It's possible that had Hoyer not gotten knocked out of the game so early, we may have never had a lead at the half in that game like we did.

I think it was more that they knocked our QB out and our back up gave them the game by not being able to move the ball. The game seemed to turn when EJ went out, not when Hoyer went out. Hoyer went out first and we still lead until EJ went out.

Considering our d-line, I don't see this happening. And even if they lose this week I think they will be 6-5. They probably wait until the wheels completely fall off. But I seem them just playing Hoyer for the rest of the season, especially with Gordon back now. They have to figure out what they have with him. I think they are pretty sure at this point that they have a back up QB in him, but they need to confirm that 100% so they can start fresh for next season.

I'm still holding out hope for a 12-4 record and first round bye. We would hold tiebreakers over both New England and Denver assuming they each dropped another game besides the ones against us.

Leodis is fine. He is arguably still our best CB. He isn't great, but he is good enough. Lee Smith is extremely expendable. Summers is meh.

Yes, we should be complaining because our punt returner is not up to par as the greatest punt returner of all time? You do realize that that is equal to complaining that Scott Chandler doesn't have the ability of Gronk or Jimmy Graham.

We really don't deserve the playoffs if we can't find a way to win at least one against those three teams. Heck, you don't want to be going to the playoffs as losers of three of your last four games.

Anyone know when Josh Gordon comes back this year? Did they shorten the suspension to 12 games? If so, that would be perfect because game number 12 is against us.

Just two weeks ago San Diego looked like a shoo-in for the a wild card seed. But back to back loses and looking at their schedule, I think they have a tough road. Their last five games of the season are brutal with three of them on the road: @ Ravens, Patriots, Broncos @ 49ers @ Chiefs. We need to take care of the Chiefs next week to hold the tie breaker over them and home that the Dolphins ca beat the Chargers this week. And if we can beat the Dolphins the following week, our playoffs chances would likely rise to over 60 percent. The NFC North is a huge mess, but with the division playing the NFC South and AFC South this year it seems likely that they will produce at least one wild card which is why it is critical that we beat the chiefs this week and hope for as many san diego losses as possible.

Hopefully Orton can turn into our own Rich Gannon.

As good as Benjamin has been this year, I think you can tell that he is not a true difference maker like Watkins can be. Watkins already has one multi-TD game (should be 2) compared to Benjamin's zero. Watkins has (3) 100+ yard games to Benjamin's 1. And Watkins played with a terrible QB his first 4 games of the season, that is half the games he has played in this year so far. I think you could easily predict an extra 150 yards and 1 or 2 more TDs if Orton was the day 1 starter. Those numbers would look historically good for a rookie QB through 8 games.

It's not so much Benjamin's numbers coming down, he has actually been fairly consistent through his first 8 games. It is more telling of Sammy really starting to get going with the QB switch.