Dawgg

They play different positions

Now you're really stretching it. You're holding onto the fact that only 10 points resulted from the turnovers on offense. What you fail to point out is that there is an opportunity cost associated with a turnover. One of the turnovers was in Jets territory. While the ensuing drive didn't necessarily result directly in points, losing out on scoring opportunities essentially has the same effect as giving them points. The only way this team will win is by winning the turnover battle by PROTECTING the football. JP needs to learn how to feel the rush and Willis needs to learn how to execute his blocking assignments.

It happens here too. Wade Phillips had a won 30 games in 3 years and people paid more attention to the fact that he didn't wear a headset. 6 years later, the Bills have yet to post a playoff-caliber season.

One aspect of the gameplan that stood out to me was the use of Roscoe Parrish. I loved the screen pass in the red zone for the touchdown that was called back. The first play on offense had Roscoe as the primary target and it looks to me like Fairchild is trying to find ways to utilize his speed...

That is where it has to begin. The nonstop, relentless arguments regarding Troy Vincent's value to this team have to lie at the top of the "Eat Crow" list. Everyone saw today why this is a better team with TV far, far away from the field.

You really have no idea what you are talking about. Of course TKO doesn't like rebuilding -- NO competitive player does! And while he expressed some shock and diappointment in Vincent's departure, he quickly turned around and said that he would do whatever it takes to speed up the rookies' learning process and help them out. He went onto say that you have to have faith in the kids the organization drafted and that they would continue to play to win. So before you go out B word and whine about TKO, read all of his comments first and then make a judgement.

Spikes told me he doubts it.

He told me he's most likely out this week, much to his dismay.

I agree that with the assessment of the McCargo pick. What would you rather have -- a high 3rd and a high 2nd or McCargo? The question is a fairly easy one to answer to me, especially considering how unusually deep this draft was. Where I disagree with you is the strength at defensive end. While the starters are good, there is no depth and in order to be a playoff caliber team, you need to have MANY players who can rush the passer. Pass rushers are to football as pitching are to baseball -- they are rare commodities and you can never have enough of them. If Schobel went down to injury, God help us.

What he fails to mention is that the "deposed Bills football axis" SIGNED him to a long-term deal when he was on the wrong side of 30.

Shocked.

Not a chance. Those types of skills are evident relatively early in one's career.

"I never did want to look at it that way, but you have to be a realist about every situation," said Spikes, who is coming off Achilles' heel surgery and has never been to the playoffs in his nine seasons. "Write it down on paper or even call it out loud, it spells rebuild. The thing now is do you complain and worry and go off on a rampage? No. Regardless of what may happen, we'll bring everyone together and still work toward that common goal (to win)." What an A-Hole. Seriously folks, we needs more of TKO on this team. He's a breath of fresh air, showing some emotion and actually "caring" about this team unlike certain other players.

if this team had more playes with the menality of spikes, it would have made the playoffs a long, long time ago.

TKO has no problem with JP whatsoever. He just wants to go to the playoffs and doesn't care how they do it. That's the bottom line.

It certainly seemed like the playcalling was conservative and geared more towards controlling the clock, avoiding turnovers, and keeping Tom Brady off the field -- for the most part, it worked. Against Miami, however, I would tend to expect a more wide open approach. We'll see come Week 2.. but the one thing I did like was Fairchild's balance. There were just as many run plays as pass plays and even though the run wasn't working in the 2nd half, he continued to use it which IMO sends the right message to the team.

Yes, we never saw what Rob Johnson was made of.

Yeah b/c that's what I was implying I was just saying that given a 3 step drop, he should know he has to be careful and get rid of the ball early.

No, we cannot. When you're inside the 10 yard line, a QB has to know that a 3-5 step drop puts him in dangerous territory. If it's a pass play, you get rid of the ball ASAP. You don't just sit there in the end zone waiting for a play to develop. First and foremost, a quarterback's job is to protect the ball, maintain posession. JP screwed up. He also screwed up by taking that delay of game penaly -- as Phil Simms pointed out, there is no excuse for those types of mistakes from a QB. That said, he's a young QB and I thought he played pretty solid given it was opening day and in one of the NFL's most hostile environments. I fully expect JP to learn from it and for it to not happen again.

I agree wholeheartedly. Willis is a great runner and has more skill than most running backs ever to put on a Bills uniform. But skill alone is not enough in this league -- you need some mental awareness, desire and a whole lot of heart. Did Willis show heart in his tireless effort to come back from a devastating injury? You bet -- and that probably had a lot to do with why the Bills chose him. However, I don't see it translate consistently in the way he runs. He turned some negative plays into postives and I thought those were awesome... but when the team is in need of 1 yard... for Willis to dance around and then shrug it off afterward... to me, that's just ridiculous. Given that same play, even with Fowler beat, I guarantee you Portis, LJ, Shaun and Rudi get that yard. Willis is right up there with them in terms of skill but there is definitely some intangible elements missing.

I also had the game Tivo'ed and you are correct that Wilfork won the one on one battle with Fowler. Where I disagree with you is the fact that it excuses Willis. As he clearly admited after the game, he thought it was 3rd down -- for that, there is absolutely no excuse. Willis has the ability to make people miss... there were a few occassions in which Willis looked like he'd be tackled for a loss but he changed fields and made huge gains despite the O-Line getting beat. The top running backs in this league find a way to move the chains when the team absolutely needs it -- this is one occassion where I expect Willis to rise to the occassion.

For the most part they are accurate: PCs get viruses, Macs don't. PCs get spyware, Macs don't. PCs require all kinds of setup once opened in order to do anything meaningul. Macs have it all working coming out of the box. PCs need drivers installed to use external devices. Macs don't. It just works. etc...

Yeah, there's always some overpaid and underpaid players on every team. But it is important to note that the teams that have success year after year are the ones that find solid contributors in rounds 2-5 of the draft. I'll give you an example

Not necessarily true. A guy chosen in the mid to late rounds has A LOT more to lose than a guy chosen in the top 3 rounds. With that being said, he is more likely to sign a long term deal earlier because he is making very little to begin with. Peters was probably making around the minimum... he can play it out and risk a severe injury or take the money now and know he is taken care of for a while. Clements on the other hand had a first round contract -- so he doesn't have the urgency that a guy like Peters or Terrance McGee had to get a pay raise.

I don't buy any of that. The real problem was that LJ was trapped behind the undisputed top running back in the league in Priest Holmes, who for two years in a row was virtually unstoppable. Was he in Vermeil's doghouse? Yes. But Vermeil has never been one to share carries amongst his backs, especially when he has a workhorse on hand. We saw that in St. Louis and we saw it in KC... if LJ were actually given a chance to play, he probably would have developed into a solid running back much earlier.