Inigo Montoya

Didn’t even occur to me to see Belichick’s finger prints on Brady’s tweet, but it really isn’t like the “Golden Boy” to take the League to task on social media is it? Maybe my tin foil hat is just on too tight, but you may be on to something here...

Belichick is right, most teams beat themselves. Atlanta and Seattle both lost the Super Bowl to the Pats with stupid play calling at the end allowing the Pats to win. The Bills have been masters of this for a long time. These last two games the Bills managed to stay out of their own way and not give the game away. They had the four turnovers in the Jets game but they were the result of bad bounces more than bad decisions or choking. If the Bills can keep playing smart, clean football they are going to stack up some wins.

When the national sports media talks about the Bills starting 2-0, they all point out that the two wins were against the Jets and the Giants and that neither team is any good. To be fair, it's a valid point. The Jets and Giants do look woeful right now. That's what they see. I see something different in these two victories. As a long suffering Bill's fan who has watched this team wandering in the desert for 20 years, what the national sports media has clearly missed is that in years past I have no doubt that the Bills would have come out of these first two games with a record of 1-1. I have no doubt that the "old Bills" would have found a way to lose one of these two road games. We all know what we saw during these last two games, but what is even more important that what we saw in those two victories, is what we didn't see in those victories. We didn't see stupid penalties twenty yards away from the ball negate big plays over and over again. We didn't see a QB and offense that turned the ball over 4 times, gave up a Pick-6 and a safety, and not score a single point in the first half, just implode and collapse. We didn't see that fourth quarter comeback drive fall just a little bit short... We didn't see questionable coaching decisions and horrible clock management cost the team late in the game. We didn't see some late game special teams collapse, a late TD / punt return, or missed field goal cost us a game. We didn't see Bills players yelling at each other and standing around looking dejected on the sidelines when things went against them. We didn't see a QB who looked over his head and playing simply not to lose the game. We didn't see a blown coverage on defense or a missed tackle give up a last minute touchdown snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Sure it was just the Jets and the Giants, but the thing that impressed me most is not what the Jets and Giants brought to MetLife these last two weeks, but what the Bills didn't bring. They didn't bring all the dysfunction that has sabotaged winnable games over and over again for the last 20 years. If the Bills can just continue to get the hell out of their own way, they have enough talent on this roster to be playing football well into January this season.

Maybe you're right. I just think that these guys who have been "The Man" ever since Pop Warner have a hard time when they flame out spectacularly. What will make it worse for him is that he will know that he never really got a fair chance to succeed and that will be the thing that eats at him more than anything. It's one thing to lose, it's another thing to be cheated. I think it's a lot harder to let those ones go.

I can't imagine what it's like to be Josh Rosen right now. He was traded from last year's most dysfunctional team to this year's even worse dysfunctional team. Talk about "out of the frying pan and into the fire...." At some point he is going to get thrown onto the field in Miami and he is going to get destroyed. He knows it, his family knows it, and the Dolphin's front office knows it. At least Fitz can scramble, Rosen is a statue. He's like a dead man walking right now. This season is going to make his year in Arizona look like a day at the spa. I don't like Josh Rosen. I don't know why. I guess he was just on the wrong side of that fine line between confident and cocky or confident and jerk to me. He just struck me as an entitled rich kid, the kind that I grew up around and couldn't stand. The kind of kid who pulled up to school on their 16th birthday in a new Audi and acted like they had done something to deserve it because their father was a doctor. He just exuded that vibe to me. Maybe I'm wrong and he's a great guy. Who knows? Either way, I don't think he will get a third chance in this league and he'll be out of the league at the end of his rookie contract, maybe even before. He will have to live with the title of "1st Round NFL Bust" attached to his name for the rest of his life. I can see him going the Ryan Leaf route and self destructing along the way. He is going to walk away with a lot of money in his pocket and still be absolutely miserable.

Mayfield has the talent, but I don't think he has the temperament to last in this league long as a QB. I think it's important to be able to stay even keeled over the course of a season and not get too high or too low. I don't think Mayfield has that trait. Everything is right now, everything is the most important thing ever, everything is either amazing or a crisis. That's just not a recipe for success for a team that has to follow his lead.

Certainly possible Sunshower. I think there may be more to it than that though.

Playing the Pats is like a playoff game for this franchise and being able to even split the season series with them would be huge and give us a chance to win the division out right and not need a wild card to make the playoffs. If the Pats and the Bills both sweep the Jets and Phins it’s not an overstatement to say week 4 at New Era has significant playoff implications. Do you think Daboll and McDermott haven’t thought of that? Maybe you have a better explanation for why you don’t let someone touch the ball who is averaging 17+ yards per carry. Daboll isn’t stupid, he knows how important week 4 is for this team. If keeping Singletary under wraps for the first three games gives them an advantage against the Pats I think that’s exactly something that Daboll would do.

My bad. You’re probably right. I’ve long suspected the real reason teams watch film on their opponents is because they’re bored and you can only watch “Golden Girls” reruns so many times. There’s nothing useful to be gained by watching tape to learn what types of plays they run out of certain formations or what their tendencies are. That’s probably why no one in the NFL does film study. Because it’s not helpful. Absolutely absurd... ?

The Patriots are always hard to beat. No news flash there. I thought the schedulers helped us out by scheduling them at New Era week 4 because the Pats usually start the season slow, but not this season. The Pats look mid season form already. The Steelers and Dolphins might not be great teams, but the Pats dominated both in all three phases of the game. It is going to take a great game from the Bills and some luck to beat the Patriots in week four. Having two dozen Singletary plays to spring on the Pats would help even out those odds a little bit.

I was wondering going into the second half yesterday why Daboll wasn’t putting the ball into Singletary’s hands. Obviously he is electric when he touches it and it got me to thinking. We didn’t see Singletary let loose until the second half versus the Jets when the game was on the line and the Bills were staring a week one loss in the face. We barely saw Singletary yesterday but the game was in hand for the most part. I’m starting to suspect that Daboll is deliberately keeping Singletary under wraps so he can unleash him on an unprepared Patriots week four. He might see Singletary as his ace in the hole that will give the Bills a shot to beat a Patriot team that looks dominant. Surely Daboll has a hundred Singletary plays drawn up. Is there any possible reason we haven’t seen a single screen pass to Singletary this season especially when we have lineman who can pull so effectively? I think Daboll is going to keep Singletary under wraps as much as possible until he faces the Pat’s defense. It’s like playing a vanilla scheme in the preseason so you don’t tip your hand on the regular season’s playbook. I just can’t think of another reason why Daboll is sitting on the most electric player on our offense. I hope Singletary’s tweaked hammy doesn’t render all of this a moot point.

The Pats look incredible. Damn it. Doesn’t do any good to sugar coat it. Their defense looks incredible, as good as ours, maybe better. Their offense is clearly better than ours. If the Pats stay healthy they are going to make another SB run. That doesn’t stop the Bills from doing their thing though. I think we can win 10 games this year. If we make the playoffs I truly believe it’s an “any given Sunday” situation and we will have a shot to make our own little run.

Things are different this year. We have an elite defense and a real NFL offense. Josh is continuing to improve every game. They look like a playoff team.

Exactly! The key to beating the Giants today was containing Barkley. Frazier wasn’t worried about getting pressure, it was more about plugging running lanes and keeping edge containment. Eli wasn’t going to beat us.

If you hurry, you can just make it to that hair splitters convention in Poughkeepsie... ?

Every quarterbacks path to "franchise" status is different. Brady sat behind Bledsoe and learned and stepped in and was a "game manager" type of quarterback for years while he learned his craft. Drew Brees was actually released by the team that drafted him, the Chargers, in favor of Phillip Rivers and only flourished later in his career in New Orleans. Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith and stepped into an offense with one of the best O-lines and some of the best skill position players in the league and has taken full advantage of it. Jared Goff was widely regarded as a bust until Sean McVay showed up. Peyton Manning's first year was a disaster. It's so variable. A lot of it simply has to do with the situation QBs find themselves in. Who are the coaches on the team? Do they have an O-line? What kind of supporting cast is around him? Will he be given time to learn his trade or is he trapped in a dysfunctional franchise that can't get out of its own way?. Those are all things outside of a QBs control. I don't know what Josh Allen will turn out to be but I'm encouraged from watching the last half of last season and the Jets game last Sunday. It looks like he is learning and improving. I think the Bill's front office has worked hard to put an O-line in front of him and skill players around him to help Allen's game develop. I think our franchise is stable and finally shedding the dysfunction that we have seen for the last two decades. Time will tell about Allen, but I'm inclined to believe that the odds are in his favor of him becoming something special.

Dawkins definitely got exposed on that sack fumble play. I haven't watched the rest of his snaps to have an informed opinion about the rest of the game on Sunday.

I agree. I think the best line is; Dawkins, Spain, Morse, Feliciano, Nsehke. Ford's not there yet. I think he will be at some point, but if they were to lace them up tomorrow, he's just not one of the top five yet. I hope they let the on the field play determine the O-line starters and not something arbitrary like draft position. If Ford let's someone in off the edge and they blow up Allen, that's the season.

It will be interesting to watch Antonio Brown heading across the middle with Jordan Poyer out there playing center field. I'm sure nothing would give Poyer more satisfaction than laying out AB at the 50 yard line. You can bet the rest of the Bills secondary will be looking for AB's scalp too. It's bad enough that AB called the Bills and the City of Buffalo trash, but there is also that business with Poyer's wife and AB. I would never call for someone to try and injure AB, but that's because I'm a nice guy. My guess is that there may be a couple of people in the Bill's secondary that aren't quite as forgiving as I am. I think they will be looking for any opportunity to hammer AB. If it's a clean hit all the better but I suspect there are quite a few people on our defense, not just Poyer, who would consider it well worth the 15 yards to send a little message to AB. AB better keep his head on a swivel...

Shady did look good yesterday. I think McBeane's thinking is that Shady and Singletary have the same running style. They are both shifty, speedy, illusive, video game style running backs, and I think they see Gore as the ball security, grind the play clock down, pounder. Keeping Shady would have been redundant and expensive with Singletary there. Daboll may see a Thunder and Lightning type set up with Gore and Singletary. I agree with you that Gore couldn't get it going yesterday, but the Jet's D is strongest up the middle. In the second half Daboll seemed to realize that the Jet's couldn't contain on the edges and started dialing up Singletary's number and Motor feasted off the edges. I wish Daboll would have noticed that sooner. Mosley going out at the end certainly didn't hurt either...

Fair point.

I think Shady and Singletary have a very similar style of play. They are the flashy, speedy, illusive, pass catching running back. Gore is the pounder. The Bills have their own version of Thunder and Lightning with Gore and Singletary on the roster. Keeping Shady would have been redundant and expensive.

I thought Singletary’s game looked a lot like Melvin Gordon’s today. That’s saying a lot. Gordon can ball. No reason to go out and pay Gordon when we have Motor on a rookie deal.

I’m not sure which of them is the most important. I listed them in no particular order. Each of them answered a question about this team coming into Week 1. 1. Oliver; 5 QB hurries, 1 QB hit, 2 tackles, played most of the game on the Jet’s side of the line of scrimmage. He looks legit. 2. Bill’s run defense; 68 total rushing yards allowed. Looks like the run D is going to be significantly better this year. 3. Singletary; 4 rushes for 70 yards, averaging 17.5 yards per carry. 5 completions on 6 targets for 28 yards. Motor looks dangerous. 4. Allen leading two 4th quarter touchdown drives on the road. Didn’t get down on himself, rallied the offense for the win. 5. Hauschka 1/1 on field goals with a 43 yarder, and 2/2 on extra points. Our kicker didn't lose the game for us. Kicking game may not be a dumpster fire after all.

I have no idea what is going to happen on Sunday. I believe the Bills have a chance to be a playoff team this year. I think the Jets are going to be a tough out every week too. A lot of people on both sides are wearing their homer hats right now. This game is going to answer a lot of questions and there are going to be a whole bunch of disappointed people afterwards trying to figure out what went wrong.