TigerJ

He's big anyway.

I have diverticulosis and have to plan on getting nearly half of my daily fiber requirement at breakfast because it only gets harder the rest of the day. I only eat cereals that give me 8 grams of fiber or better in a serving. I love Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but restrict myself to nibbling it on occasion.

The Baltimore defense scores touchdowns on a fairly regular basis. That would be nice. Regarding McGee, I think he just needs experience. Fortunately we're playing Miami next Sunday. Sage Rosenfels is no Chad Pennington. Miami's receivers are pretty good, but you have to have a QB that can get them the ball before they can become dangerous.

Usually players selected in the top half of the first round are expected to succeed, and thus are not normally considered "steals." I agree Roethlisberger is the real deal, and will likely go on to have an excellent career, and yes, had he fallen to the Bills I would have been thrilled had TD taken him. I'm still very optimistic that Evans and Losman are going to be winners for the Bills. I know when the team is losing, we all develop a case of "the grass is greener" syndrome, but I'm going to try and not worry too much about what players for other teams are doing.

It was a pretty bad draft, although Mike Williams is actually starting to play well. Not just pretty good or average, but well. Historically there have been some pretty horrible drafts. Remember Phil Dokes or Tom Cousineau? I think Phil Dokes was a first overall pick and a complete bust, making Mike Williams look like an all pro.

I sure wasn't feeling confident.

I agree with you somewhat. Buffalo does not have the offensive line to run every down. Some teams are set personnel wise that even if the defense is stacked against the run, they can run successfully anyway. I don't think the Bills are. The Jets were stacked against the run and were keying on Henry. I think given that scenario, the Bills should have played a more open offence from the start of the game. If a team does not stack against the run, I don't have any problem with having a 60/40 running ratio as long as you're moving the ball.

As a rule, I don't watch offensive line play that closely, but I did notice that on one sack it was Jennings who did his best imitation of a statue to let Abraham get around him.

The players who are being underused (Evans and McGahee) are very talented.

I wouldn't want the coaching staff to dump the running game at all. I just want them to be smarter about it. If your opponent all week says, "We have to stop Travis Henry," and they line up obviously keying on him, they you can't keep running him into a brick wall for 1 and 2 yards a pop for the whole game. If the defense uses a balanced approach, i.e. plays both run and pass with some honesty, they you can run the ball and mix in a few passes. If however they key everything to stopping your running back, and it works, then you have to do something else. Namely, you start passing, and you mix in a few running plays to demonstrate that you're still will ing to do that. The other thing that bothers me is Drew's fixation with Moulds. I think Moulds is a great player, and not a bad guy for a go to receiver, but if you spread things around a little more, it gives the defense more to think about, and should open up everything a little more. There's no justification for Drew throwing to Evans only once, when that reception is a 46 yard touchdown toss.

I don't know. I got up at 5:15 to leave the house at 6:15 to drive three and a half hours to spend 6 hours and 45 minutes at a meeting an then drove another three and a half hours home (stopping 45 minutes for supper). I'm watching the LSU Florida Gators game right now, but I'm too tired to get much out of it.

Impossible! The Super Bowl is next year.

I think Tucker will be fine at center. I guess the one question is whether he would be quick enough. Being a total non-athlete (I never went out for sports in HS because I had bad knees) I can only go by what I hear, but I understand after the snap the center has to be very quick to get in position to take on the defensive tackle, and not everyone can do it. Tucker is supposed to be very smart and he has mean streak, but he's not reputed to be the most athletic guy who ever played offensive lineman. It is a little odd that Teague has this reputation of being too small to play center. The average weight for an NFL center isn't much more than what Teague's listed weight is. Many starting centers are in the 300-305 range. Teague's listed weight on NFL.com is 300. However there are a number of respected, successful starting NFL centers who are smaller and lighter. Dan Koppen of NE weighs 296. Olin Kreutz of Chicago weighs 292. Dallas starter, Matt Lehr is 293. Kevin Mawae, whom the Jets signed a number of years ago specifically to try and better handle then Buffalo DT Ted Washington, weighs 289. Atlanta starter, Todd McClure is listed at 286. So is Denver stalwart, Tom Nalen. Dominic Raiola of Detroit is 295 as is Jeff Saturday of the Colts Seattle center, Robbie Tobeck is 297. John Wade of the Buccaneers is 299. Casey Wiegmann of the Chiefs weighs 285. By my count almost one third of all starting NFL centers has a listed weight less than that of Teague. I don't think you can find a starting center in the NFL whose listed weight exceeds that of Teague by more than 10 lbs. So lets put to rest this myth that Teague is such a lightweight among NFL centers. In view of all the reports we've heard that he's been playing well this year, I think like everyone else on the line he's been starved for good coaching. BTW, while he spells Teague, Tucker is probably the biggest, heaviest center in the NFL. I think the reason that centers tend to be sop much lighter than guards is the necessity of getting from the position to make a snap up into the position to block and taking an initial quick step back. It you're too heavy you can't do all of that quick enough to be effective.

Those are pretty much my thoughts. I believe there is talent on the Bills and they've shown they can do good things some of the time. The key is consistent execution and elimination of stupid penalties.

He can start by marrying the baby's mother.

The "explosive offence" remark is based ono the fact that Eric Moulds has been a big play receiver, while Lee Evans has the potential to be one. Willis McGahee has home run potential at running back while Henry can giv you a solid 4+ yards a pop when things are working, and Drew Bledsoe still has a big league arm. I think he knows as much as we do that the Bills have not been explosive most of the time on the field (a couple long pass plays to Evans being an exception), but the potential is there if Buffalo were to get better execution all the way around, particularly the elimination of penalties and dealing with the blitz. I don't have any trouble with what he said.

Have you checked special teams stats? The Bills are at or near the top of the league in several categories. The Bills has moved the ball reasonably well in all their preseason games, and particularly against defensive genious, Bill Belichick. Comparing the offence when Kevin Gilbride came to the Bills and in the first three games this year: The Bills started out like a house afire under Gilbride, only to turn sour for about a year and a half. I think what happened is that Gilbride used a system that was unfamiliar to most of the NFL. Novelty or unfamiliarity often breeds some initial success because defensive coordinators need time to make adjustments. Once they adjusted, Gilbride was dead in the water. Mularkey and Clements aren't doing anything that defensive coordinators havent seen before, though I understand some of the Pittsburgh stuff they imported is not done widely around the league. That means they don't get the benefit of a novelty effect. There is more of a dependence on execution. Buffalo suffered from being a little too vanilla, I think, in the Jacksonville game, but the coaching staff is trying to be cautious in developing the new offence, and there are clearly some execution problems. From all indications the training camp was well run and more intensive than the ones Gregg Williams ran. So why there have been problems with execution and discipline so far is anyone's guess. Seeing that there are serious execution and discipline problems, dealing with the problem is squarely in Mularkey's lap. He has intimated that further problems could result in lineup changes. It will be interesting to see if London Fletcher gets benched for his next personal foul, and if that sends a message that gets heard. I think it is rediculous to suggest Mularkey should be dumped at this juncture though.

I'm not questioning you, BiB, but I've never heard that. Where did you hear it? I'm assuming Jim McNally can spot stuff like this and help him correct it.

Absolutely, if you mean he's taking heat from fans. I don't think that means he ought to be fired now or even at the end of the season. He made a major mistake when he pulled the famous "I know more than you" line on Jerry Sullivan in a post game press conference. That was a classic Gregg Williams approach. But I don't think it can be conclusively said that he's doing a bad job on the basis of the three losses so far. None of Buffalo's opponents so far has a sub .500 record. Obviously their last opponent is the reigning Super Bowl champion. They have done a lot of good things. They played New England very tough. In the last game of the season last year, NE completely befuddled the Bills offence, but in Sunday's game, Buffalo moved the ball well. I'm very frustrated with the penalties and dumb mistakes, but I have to concede a first time head coach needs more time to be judged on whether he can establish discipline on a team. Some will make a comparison with Atlanta which has a new, first time head coach and is 4-0 to this point. I think Atlanta has had an easier schedule though, with two bad teams in San Francisco and Arizona, and two erratic teams in Saint Louis and Carolina. Carolina was in the Super Bowl, but they are playing .500 ball so far, the same as Saint Louis. I'm as unhappy as any Bills fan, but I never support rash actions made on the spur of the moment. Gregg Williams had three years. I think Mularkey ought to have no less than two to produce a winner.

Losman didn't have much of a team period around him at Tulane, and yes, he was running for his life much of the time. That he had decent stats is to his credit and no one else's. I'll trust the Bills at this point to make the right choice. What I think may happen is that after Losman has had a couple weeks to practice, the Bills may put him in during garbage time if Buffalo is in a game where they are either far ahead or behind with no chance to catch up. There will be no pressure. If the Bills are leading, he'll spend most of his time handing off. If they're losing the opposing team is likely to throw a prevent defense at him and concede the underneath stuff, which Losman will be instructed to take. I would be a little surprised to see Buffalo start him this season, but I think Sam Wyche is one of the best in the business as a QB coach, and I think Buffalo will handle him very carefully. Losman, BTW, has it all over Todd Collins in terms of physical talent. It's not really fair to compare the two of them.

Ross Tucker will start until Teague is back. He is not quite as athletic as Teague, but if you recall, the offensive line play improved last season when Tucker started the last few games at right guard over Mike Pukecillo. Tucker is smart and tough. He 's not as athletic as Teague, but I think he has a quick enough first step to handle it. He is a little bigger and stronger than Teague. I won't be a fool and say there is no difference between a starter and a backup. The guys who start do so for a reason. Just ask Pukecillo who no longer does. But I don't think the dropoff is going to be huge. Center is Tucker's natural position IMO.

All I know is that I feel a whole lot more secure with Jonas Jennings at left tackle than I ever did when John Fina manned the spot.

Once he's healthy, and has had a chance to practice for a couple weeks, I would not be surprised to see him at garbage time in some games. However, I'm not convinced that Buffalo regards Bledsoe's season as an utter failure. The Oakland game revealed that there are still a lot of problems dealing with blitzes. Drew did exactly what was asked of him in the Jacksonville game. In the NE game, a lot of the sacks happenned when Buffalo was playing catch up and there was pressure on Drew to complete something deep. NE took advantage of the situation. I would not, however, be disappointed to see Losman start sometime in November once he's had a chance to get back into the swing of things. I want to see what he has. I want to see if he can play with some discipline so he doesn't get himself killed by running all over the place (an occasional scramble is fine).

I agree, it was a team effort. You can't simply assign blame to Lawrence Smith either. When the ball is snapped, depending on the design of the play, linemen may have responsibilities elsewhere from the position in which they line up. They have to move quickly to get to those positions. It is generally up to the QB to backpedal quickly enough from center after the snap to avoid the traffic. It happens some times that an offensive lineman trips, or steps on the foot of the QB. You have to admit that Bledsoe is slower of foot than most QBs however, and it is incumbent on the team, Bledsoe and the linemen, with help from coaches, to get that whole mess straightened out so those plays work. Yeah, that was a seriously blown call. Officials NEVER call intentional grounding in that kind of situation. Yeah, everyone knows the QB is throwing the ball away, but as long as a receiver is in the general area, it's not intentional grounding even if the ball is way over the receiver's head. Yup, bad call. Don't recall. Yeah, Rodney Harrison was playing pretty dirty and got away with it. Other than the phantom helmet to helmet call on Fletcher, it's tough to be too hard on penalty calling by officials. It's a pretty subjective business, and I think it's safe to assume Buffalo players got away with a few too. I agree that Buffalo played well enough to win if they cut out the stupid mistakes at critical points in the game, and considering the injuries on the offensive line and secondary their play was very solid. All of which makes the stupid mistakes that much harder to stomach.

I still believe there is talent on these Bills. There may be some holes, but I think there is sufficient talent to be a strong team. I guess that's what makes me more frustrated than anything else. If I was convinced they were talent poor, I would just resign myself to the fact that it's going to be a terrible season, like three years ago. But these Bills are better than that. Take away even some of the stupidity, lack of concentration etc. that we've seen the last 4 weeks and Buffalo could conceivably be 3-0. (Let's leave the officiating out of this discussion OK. I'll concede that may have made a difference too.) At 0-3, Buffalo is not mathematically out of the playoffs. It's way too early for that, but realistically, I don't see Buffalo going 10-3 the rest of the way, which is what it would take. I suppose, I would take some encouragement idf Buffalo went 9-4 the rest of the way, particularly if we finish strong. So, how are you feeling to this point? Do you still hold out hope for the playoffs? What would it take to salvage something out of this season for you?