jad1

A pretty assinine comment considering Bledsoe gashed the Jags for over 300 yards last year, while Henry was held under 50 yards. Unlike the Pats, the Jags know how to stop the run. The Bills controlled the clock, gained yards on the ground against the best run defense in the league, and converted 50% of their third downs. Bledsoe played within the context of the offense, and if the team avoided key mistakes, it would have easily won the game. They didn't avoid the mistakes and lost. By the way, using your moronic theory, the Titans are paying way too much for McNair. How could they turn the league MVP into a guy only passing for 74 yards a game? What a waste of money!

Well that was the case yesterday. The Bills did find a way to lose. The question is though, can what went wrong be corrected. Last year the whole offensisve philosophy was flawed. The only way to fix it was to remove those responsible for it. Yesterday, it looked like the offensive philosophy was strong, but it was individual mistakes that cost the team. Can Moulds stop fumbling? Will Henry continue to run the wrong way on plays? Will Clemments continue to call finesse plays that end up in lost yards or turnovers? Will Lindell continue to miss makeable kicks? Honestly, the only thing I'm really worried about is Lindell. The other things will take care of themselves. The loss yesterday was disappointing, but it looks like that the factors that caused the loss can be fixed. That wasn't the case last season. I don't believe the Bills will be considered a "bad" team for long, but we'll see.

Bash 'em. Use Henry and bring McGahee in earlier to spell him. Tire out the fat DTs. Force the DBs to support the run and tire them out making tackles. Woodson missed camp, and Buchannon is fragile, so be physical with them as often as possible. Oakland gave up 91 yards to Staley in Pittsburgh and 3 goaline TD runs, so Ted and Sapp aren't invincible. The Bills should control the clock like the Bills did against the Jags. The Jags big DTs were in their early 20's, Oakland DTs are in their 30s. I'd consider bringing McGahee in for short yardage situations. Oakland can't run, and their Oline is suspect, so I'd attack Gannon as often as possible. Forcing the Raiders O into some early 3 and outs will also help to wear down Oakland's D.

I must have missed something, because this team, especially the offense, looks completely different than last year. They didn't lose because the offense couldn't sustain drives, or protect the QB or gave up on the running game. They protected Bledsoe, controlled the clock, and racked up some good ground yardage on one of the best run defenses in the league. Unlike last year, were the whole offense game plan and execution just looked wrong, you can point to specific plays yesterday where the game broke down. Bottom line is that the mistakes that cost the game were made by veteren players. You'd expect veterens to be able to fix these mistakes, and once they do, this offensive scheme will work.

Yeah, and the right now the Cowboys look like idiots for trading the Bills their first round pick this year, giving up the chance to draft Steven Jackson. I doubt the Tuna's gameplan was to force his 41 year old QB to throw for 300 yards every game, while watching Eddie George stumble for 2 yards per carry. A 2005 draft pick is the last thing on Dallas fans' minds right now.

A. Brown was the fastest guy on the team last season. How good of a returner was he? There's more to it than just speed.

Point out where he "hit the nail on the head," and I'll debunk it. I can refute just about every point he made, but don't have time to do so.

Another piece of crap from Sullivan. Somebody should call the cops on this guy for the way he steals money. The fact that the Buffalo News employs this guy is proof that many of us have gotten into the wrong business. And somebody should tell this imbecile that Adams, Spikes, Milloy, Fletcher, Williams, McGahee, Reed, and Posey aren't "finesse" players. What a freakin' moron.

The problem with the point is, and we've been over this before, is that TD's plan was to draft a rookie prospect and groom him while Bledsoe finishes out his career in Buffalo. TD believed that his new coaching staff could implement a better system for Bledsoe and the offense while Losman was learning the ropes. And if Sullivan had half a brain, he'd recognize this plan and would be writing about it now. In preseason, Bledsoe has been getting rid of the ball quicker, the interior line has improved, and the coaching staff looks dedicated to the run-first mentality. In other words, the plan is working. Bledsoe looks comfortable in the new offensive scheme. And while Losman did get injured, he has showed flashes that he can be a good QB in the league. Clouding the issue by bringing in a QB who is the same age and has similar skills as Bledsoe would prove an unneccessary distraction to the team's preperation and a drag on the salary cap, while offering no long term benefit, since Losman is expected to be the starter in the next season or two.

Yeah, c'mon. You have to give us SOMETHING to B word about.

But is the competition for sportwriters that weak in WNY? Does Sullivan have a lifetime contract? There has to be someone out there who sticks to jounalistic principles like, I don't know, doing research before writing the stevestojan he does. Maybe the pay's not that great, but there has to be talented, hardworking journalists out there who would love the opportunity to write in an NFL market. Is the Buffalo News just stupid or lazy in believing that this is the best guy that they can find for the job?

And you call Flutie crafty!

Never say never. The pro-Flutie crusade was more powerful than the anti-Drew one ever was. All's it takes is 10-20 delusional Flutie flakes to drop you into the bizarro world. You guys better hope that Belichick saw something that he liked in Davey's performance this pre-season, and avoids this thing like the plague. It would suck for you guys if you had to defend your two time SB MVP QB from some CFL fanatic nutjob, who thinks that it's only fair that Flutie gets the opportunity to lead a team to the SB. We would enjoy it though!

Yes, six months will make a difference. We're not talking about a 40 yard dash here. McGahee is still a rookie, and as he gets more comfortable with the pro game, he'll improve. In the preseason, the goal has been to get McGahee carries to test his durability. In the regular season, the goal will be to use him to exploit weaknesses in the defense. So instead of crashing him into the line, they'll find ways to isolate him more effectively. The offensive line will improve as their playing time together increases, and they get the opportunity to play an entire game and wear out the defense. In the regular season, it might take a couple quarters of 2 and 3 yard runs to wear out the defense for the 3rd and 4th quarters. And that's when you can pop the big run. Judging by Mularkey's comments during the Broncos game, that seems to be the Bills philosophy this season. Henry and McGahee will be used to batter defenses.

What the general feeling about Flutie in NE? Is he still an icon there? Does he still garner irrational support? If the they sign Flutie, and Brady has a game like he did in the opener in Buffalo, would there be a faction in the area calling for Flutie to get some snaps?

The Panthers didn't give up on a recovering Foster last season, and he delivered as the season wore on. The Henry/McGahee combination will wear teams out this season, and give the Bills the advantage when the playoffs are on the line late in the season. Even if he's only a 7-10 carry a game back, McGahee will add value. The fact that Williams looks strong will also benefits the team.

What do you expect? The guy has great moves on the goal line. Just ask Eddie Robinson!

Reed has looked good in this offense. He's become much more effective, now that he's not being asked to go deep on every play. Evans will be worked into the offense as the season goes on, but will be a situational player. If they can hit him deep early in the season, he can put a scare into opposing defenses. Sort of like Tyrone Calico did last year for the Titans. Reed however has earned the starting position.

Obviously these terrorists are doing this because they hate Russian freedom. This is how the weak fights the strong, it's ugly, but so is war.

Parcells knows how to play the percentages and doesn't take big risks. Two things I've read and seen about this guy that are impressive. In a Sports Illustrated article last year, it recounted Parcells running plays out of Dallas' own end zone. He basically told the QBs that if he ever called anything but an up the gut run in that situation, they would know that he went insane. Sure enough, later on, as a test, Parcells called a sweep, and the scrub QB tried to run the play. Parcells stopped the practice and chewed the guy for trying to run the sweep. The message was that his team wouldn't take foolish risks. NFL Films did an "In they're Own Words" feature on him and had footage of him working with Dave Megget on punt catching. He explained that catching punts was extremely important, because when he was the Giants coach, an opposing team let all the Giants punts drop and roll during a game on a windy day, while the Giants returner fair caught the opposing team's punts. Parcells figured out that the opposing team lost over 100 yards in field position by letting the punts roll, while the Giants lost none. The guy just understands the way the game should be played.

A vote against a candidate is just as valid as a vote for a candidate. A ballot is a multiple choice question, not an essay question.

Does anyone know if Kelly is a delegate or a guest at the convention? I'm guessing that Kemp is a delegate.

It's hard to condemn anyone for playing in Spurrier's joke of an offense. Spurrier never understood the concept of pass blocking in the NFL (kind of like Gilbride). The Bills have shown a more controlled passing game in the preseason, which should suit Matthews skills. He could surprise some with his arm strength every now and then, kind of like Reich used to. He should be a better #2 than Brown.

Actually, they'll most likely use him like the Pats used Deion Branch and Bethel Johnson their rookie years. Seeing how both did have an impact, and the Pats had a QB question about going deep, they seemed to work out well. Neither were starters, but each provided a down-the-field threat at least a couple times a game. Evans will do the same. You really seem to confuse attempts at analysis with apology (i.e. making excuses).

The fact that Sullivan gives Gilbride any credit at all shows how little Sullivan knows about football. Short, controlled passing games HELP offensive lines, they don't hurt them. NE is the latest example of this. Despite the fact that NE hasn't spent 1st round picks, or huge FA money on their OL, and yet are successfull at implementing a horizontal passing game disproves Gilbride's and Sullivan's idiotic argument. And regarding the defense, the defense moved from a bottom third ranking to a top third ranking in ONE season. Donahoe overpayed? It's more like he got a bargain. If Gilbride was more concerned about controlling the ball on offense, instead of calling high-risk, low reward plays, the defense would have been even more effective. It's hard to sack the QB and intercept the ball when Miami is running Ricky Williams at your defense 50 times a game, meanwhile your moron offensive coordinator keeps trying to complete 50 yard passes against Jason Taylor and Patrick Surtain. Gilbride's lack of faith in his own players is damning to his ability to coach. Sullivan's support of this moronic strategy is damning to his ability to analyze and report on football.